Alanna shuddered. Somehow she remembered what had happened next, even though most of it wasn't her own memory.

Chapter Ten

Two Years Ago:

Raoul was sitting next to Jon's bed in the back room one day during the last months of spring. It had been almost three months since Alanna had been 'killed' and Jonathan blinded and almost gutted. Life in the palace hadn't been the same since, especially for Raoul, Gary, Alex, Myles, Douglass and Sacherell. Jonathan's condition had long since stabilized, but he was bedridden--permanently. What was Tortall to do with a blind Prince?

"Has--is there any news of Alanna?" Jon asked, his usually sparkling eyes blank, as they had been ever since the damage. The spell Alanna had cast 'killing' herself was supposed to have brought his eyes back, but it hadn't done so.

Raoul gripped the edge of his stool until his knuckles turned white. "I'm sorry, Jon, none. There hasn't been any. Your father wants to offer her up to the Goddess, because she's 'dead', but the Duke Baird insists she's still 'alive' somehow."

"Offer her to the Goddess? Why?" Jonathan's blank eyes sparkled as he stared, unseeing, at the wall before him.

"Because the Goddess saved your life, through Alanna, 'killing' her in the process. The King thinks that the Duke has lost his edge. He says she's really dead, and we should give her up to the Goddess."

"You mean the Dark God."

"No, I mean the Goddess. Look, Jonathan, I don't understand it either. I'm not sure why they want to do this, they just do."

" 'They'?"

"Your mother and father. The King and Queen want to give her to the Goddess as thanks for saving you. They think that somehow admitting she's dead will bring your sight back, like the spell was supposed to."

"I don't want my sight back!" Jonathan snarled, ramming his fist into the bed cushion. "I want Alanna back. Forget my damned sight. I don't give a damn. I just want Alanna!"

Raoul was shocked to see the tears start falling from Jonathan's eyes. Slowly, the big knight squeezed his friends shoulder. "So do I, Jon, so do I."

Early June turned to late June, and the King and Duke Baird continued to argue. Raoul, Gary, and Myles always sided with the Duke, as did Jon, Douglass, and Sacherell. Alex remained silent during the arguments.

The first ball of summer came too. The day before it Raoul was pacing his chambers, fretting about the ball ahead. He hated balls, almost as much as Alanna did, if not more. Though he knew she had a real reason to hate them. She was a girl, forced to dance with a girl as if she were a boy. He made a face. He missed her. Her witty jokes and sharp tongue; her temper. . .

There was a knock on his door, bringing him out of his thoughts. He opened the door, and was nearly plowed over as Gary came into his room, holding a tome to his chest. "Look at this!" Gary said excitedly, slamming the tome onto Raoul's bed and flipping it open. Raoul sat down on the bed next to the tome, eyeing it suspiciously. Gary flipped a few more pages, and then found a page with the strange symbol that was on the cover on it. He picked it up and began to read it aloud. " 'Sometimes, during magics beyond our knowledge, the caster of the magic will seem 'dead', but really they are just in a state of otherworldness. When they use the powers more divine than the Gods', sometimes the powers are so great that the Gods' must call them away from earth for a time, until they can safely be taken back. The more power that was put into the output, the longer the Gods' must keep them. As soon as possible, the Gods' will return them--safely.'" Gary snapped the tome shut, his eyes lit up. "You see, Raoul? Duke Baird's right! Alanna's not dead. She's just being held up by the Goddess because she used so much power."

"You think?" Raoul tried to squish the spark of hope that was forming within him. He wanted desperately to agree. "But. . . It's been almost five months. Do you really think she could have used that much power for one thing?"

Gary put the tome down, sitting on one of the chairs in Raoul's room. "I don't know what to think, Raoul. I just hope that the book's right. I don't want to lose her."

Raoul nodded solemnly. "Me either, Gary.

"Now, about that ball tomorrow--" Raoul stopped midsentence, laughing.

"What's so funny?" Gary asked, his eyebrows drawing upwards.

"This is the first ball since--" he paused for another bout of whooping laughter "--since Jonathan's gone blind. I can't wait to see him dance!"

At first Gary didn't see the humor in it, but it only took him a moment or two, and then his eyes were watering from laughter. The two big knights laughed and talked after that, ignoring the knocks on Raoul's door for at least twenty minutes. Finally they heard the man calling, "Sir Gareth? Sir Raoul? Come see, it's a miracle!"

Raoul opened the door, and came face-to-face with Duke Baird. "Alan, the boy, he's breathing again! He hasn't woken, but he's breathing! Come, quick!"

Gary and Raoul followed, Raoul puzzling over it. Gary had told Raoul of what Alanna had said when she was helping Jonathan, about calling herself 'Alanna of Trebond'. Yet Duke Baird had called her 'Alan', and 'the boy'. Not 'Alanna', and 'the girl'. Maybe he was just going to forget that it ever happened. Maybe the Mother had made him forget. Raoul hoped so.

"Lass, how are you?"

Alanna opened her eyes and saw George sitting next to her, his face worried. She sat up, looking around. She was in George's rooms at the Dancing Dove. "George? What's going on? Where've I been?"

"Home," George replied, filling a glass with water and handing it to her. "Drink up, lass."

Alanna put the glass to her lips, was about to drink, then lowered it without sipping. There was an odd gleam about the water. Instead of being perfectly clear there was a dark aura about it. "What's in this?"

"It's just water."

"George? Where am I?" The dark aura was seeping around the room, enclosing them in darkness until all she could see was George.

He sighed. "'Twas too good to be true, of course. You're in the otherworld. The world of the Dead. It's the Dark God's domain here. But you aren't dead. You've got to go back--it's where you belong."

"What? I'm dead?" Strangely, Alanna could feel no panic at the prospect of being dead. She just sighed.

"I wish, then we could be together. No. You're not. You saved his Highness, and used the powers even the Gods' rarely use. The Goddess couldn't help you, for even she can't harness those. But she pulled you out of the living for a while, until the energy on your body fades. Otherwise it would have killed you."

"I saved Jon? From what?"

"He was almost killed by your smilin' friend. There's another sorcerer working with Roger though, this time. He's almost as powerful as Roger. He wants to put Roger on the throne, because Roger promised Nicholas would be the highest ranking noble in Tortall--with almost as much power as the King."

George took a deep breath--if that was possible. "Roger didn't succeed, because of you. But now Jonathan's blind--even though your spell was supposed to fix his eyes. I think it may yet, but they'll have to give him time.

"Speakin' of time, yours is almost up."

"How long've I been here?" Alanna asked.

"Near five months."

"You seem to know as much about the alive world as you ever did. How?"

"Dreams, Alanna. I can come to people in their sleep, bend 'em to my will."

Alanna felt a pang of hurt. "How come you never came to see me then?" she demanded, feeling angry.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I thought it was wrong. You have Jon, and your friends. Why should I come in your sleep and ruin it all?" He said this all simply, as if it all made sense.

Alanna sighed. "Is Thom here?"

"I'm here, sister dearest." The blackness shimmered next to George, and Thom appeared wearing violet robes.

"Thom. . . You didn't come either!"

"I'm sorry I didn't. But--I should have. But just as George said, you have your friends, and a life. I didn't want to hurt you."

"I don't care! From now on I want both of you to come visit me. Promise?" The world was getting fuzzy. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, but it only got worse. "Promise?" Her voice sounded oddly distorted.

Both men leaned in, hugging her. "We'll see, lass, we'll see," George whispered, kissing her cheek. "From time to time."

"Alright," Thom agreed, ruffling his sister's hair. "See you then!"

The two each gave her a last hug and a kiss, and then Alanna fell away from them and into the light below.

Please review! I know, it was odd--sorry there was no fluff, next chapter, I promise--and it was odd. But I hope you liked it, because I did!