Chapter XXIII: The Illusions
As the blast of light rippled like a shockwave through the forest, Teelina braced herself for the attack. She knew that the power bolt sent out by both Evil-Lyn and Skeletor would wrack her defenses, and strengthened her power shield as much as she could, awaiting the attack.
It didn't come. Tentatively, Teelina checked her crystal viewing glass, and breathed a sigh of relief. The Masters had arrived with their uncanny sense of perfect timing, and were now battling Skeletor and his minions with fervor.
It had been quite some time since the last major battle between the two groups had taken place, probably due to Moria's insistence. Still, Teelina was glad to see that the Masters had lost none of their knack for grinding the Evil Warriors into dust. Idly, Teelina watched the battle for a few delusional minutes before she realized something was very wrong.
Quickly, she scanned the scene again and her eyes began to widen. Skeletor and Evil-Lyn weren't there. Skimming the tree line, she found that Moria was also absent. Immediately, she raised her arms in a defensive mode, empowering her shield with all the strength she could muster.
Just as she did, a shattering ball of power came raining down upon the castle, its impact making the very stones shudder as Teelina's force field struggled against the blow. It held, barely.
The Sorceress buckled against the weight of her shield, expending more energy into it, all the time wondering if it was Moria's power that was causing this attack to be so potent. It was possible, albeit improbable, that Skeletor and Evil-Lyn together could create an attack of this magnitude. But to do so would take days, even weeks of withholding magic use....
Teelina's eyes widened considerably. Of course! That was why there had been no attacks on the castle recently. They were building up power... which meant that the next attack, when it came, would be even stronger....
...............
Idly, Moria sat, not really all that interested in the proceedings. The battle below did not matter all that much to her, as her daughter was not in it. Smiling gently, she looked to the side, and winked at her child.
Lady Moria had Skeletor, her child, and herself levitated above Grayskull. And, while they had created the massive thunder shock that had just coursed through its walls, the elder Dereskian had entertained herself by wiping out the flying mechanisms in the 'Masters' methods of transportation. No one could get to them now.
Looking again to her child and their esteemed 'leader,' she said calmly. "Good. Now you have the measure of the force field and know its power. Hit it hard and fast, in the exact same place as you just did. It will be weaker there."
As they powered up for another blast, she looked around, disinterested. She didn't truly care whether or not Skeletor got what he was after. Moria knew that, in the unlikely event that he did achieve his goal of power, he would not share it with anyone, even her daughter. She looked below at the poor fools that made up the rest of Skeletor's little band. Quite pathetic really, she said to herself, shaking her head. They all have such visions of being in power, being able to consider themselves in control of something. She looked over at her daughter slowly, and sighed. Even her. She has much to learn, but I will not be able to teach it all. The Collective will do that. Moria closed her eyes and looked below, her thoughts dwelling towards the sole inhabitant of the castle. Nor will I teach her all she should know. A pity.
She slowly brought herself out of her reverie, noting with minimal interest that it seemed the 'Masters' were winning the ground battle yet again. It looked as though that fool Man-at-Arms was tinkering with the flying mechanisms of his machine, trying to get it airborne again.
"You may wish to consider doing this quickly," Moria said absently mindedly to the two beside her. "We may have company."
Evil-Lyn looked over, slightly concerned. Her mother had been acting oddly lately, even to her. Ever since their trip to the palace, she had seemed... more distant than usual. Lyn shrugged. Perhaps Moria was just tired. Looking over at Skeletor, she nodded and raised her staff as he raised his.
............
Teelina's eyes began to lose their pupils as she rushed to the crystal chamber, begging a silent plea from the Elders as her hand extended towards their great power. "Forgive me," she whispered, and set her hand upon the blue crystal.
............
At the same instant, Moria's eyes flew open as she realized what Teelina was doing, and how badly it would affect them. Her thoughts fled not towards herself, but to her daughter. "Lyn...." She whispered. "Stop!" she cried out to the two beside her, and they looked up suddenly. "You cannot fight this power!" Moria exclaimed, her hands rising in spellcasting."
Instantly Evil-Lyn looked to her mother with amazement, before once glance from the elder woman told her to get down. She did so, and Skeletor followed suit after a moment.
As blue light from the crystals quickly rippled through the castle, a great gust of amethyst wind appeared over it. The Ancient Dereskian's eyes spun in pools of whirling light as her great wings, one feathered, one membranous, ripped from her shoulder blades. Both Skeletor and Evil-Lyn froze, unable even to cover their heads as they looked in wonder at the sudden outburst of power.
Below them, on the battlefield, participants from both sides stopped their fighting, shielding their eyes from the fierce winds which had come from nowhere, looking up in the direction of a glowing amethyst fire that seemed almost black, as if light and dark at the same time. The sky began to go completely dark as the Sun was eclipsed in an unheard-of phenomenon. The Red Moon rose completely, falling in front of the Sun and sending the battlefield into momentary night.
All of this happened in a few fractions of a second as the Elder's power flashed through the castle, finally reaching the outer ramparts and higher, moving towards the frightening Majicks display in the sky.
Within and outside the castle, the two spell casting females suddenly cried out loudly as the powers met in a thundering crash. Instantly, thousands of voices filled the air, crying out the incantations along with Lady Moria, the awesome power of the Collective revealing itself for what it truly was.
"Tarea magcht! Tarea magcht! Seiyou Eläni Morieyo! Eleka namen namen a-tumn a-tumn eleka namen! Eleka name namen a-tumn a-tumn eleka- eleka! Isil de camaan es crà-dhearg et Morifania corundo de neson coulog!"
As power flowed from both parties, the Ancient Dereskian zeroed in on the Collective, drowning out all other distractions, including the very threat she was fighting. She focused solely upon her power source, and felt the Red Moon enveloping her in its energy, like a blanket.
Teelina paused in her attack for the tiniest of moments, alarmed at such opposition. "Moria," she whispered with a snarl. She re-aligned her attack, aiming now for the Dereskian Queen herself rather than the general area in which she stood. Harnessing the Elder's might, a great burst of power went up from the crystal, as if a second tidal wave was arising from the recesses of a first one.
As the great wave of the Elder's force threatened to crash down upon her, the elder woman let out a small gasp. She was struggling terribly to hold off this awesome might, her arms beginning to buckle under the stress. Moria knew she could not do this in her present state. Slowly, she closed her eyes. A voice, calm and serene and not her own, echoed deep within her mind, "'The entire world is driven by a will- blind and ruthless. In order to transcend the limitations of that world, one must stop willing, stop desiring, stop hating.'"
Moria opened her eyes and looked calmly upon the great blue power wave that enveloped her. Her wings spread almost unconsciously, and the light of the Red Moon formed a single beam and shone down upon her. She inhaled deeply, emptying herself of all will, and exhaled. An enormous blaze of light erupted from her hands, lighting the darkened world a thousand times brighter than the sun.
Rather than outwardly clashing against the light of the Elder's magic, this force from the Dereskígía melded with it, entwined with it and wrapped around it as a blanket. And then when it had fully intermixed and the blue and amethyst had blended into a new and pure color, the eyes of the last Queen of the Dereskígía flashed suddenly. "Moria," she whispered slowly, calling out her sister's name... her own name. Her eyes flashed a second time.
"Chentagh!" The incantation flew from her lips, filling the air with a cold, chilling sound as her eyes flashed a third and final time, raising her arms as the Majicks of the Dereskígía exploded from their entwining with the Elder's power, self-destructing it. The explosion sent a massive shockwave through the air, rippling down into the castle itself, passing through the walls and finding the wielder of power, causing the Sorceress to cry out as it crashed over her, sprawling her unconscious body out over the floor.
Moria herself was not unaffected by this convulsion. It came towering over her like a tsunami. Rather than saving herself, the Dereskian Queen cried out "Nëintára egin!" and sent what little strength she had remaining towards her child, creating a force field around Evil-Lyn before the wave crashed and enveloped her into the waiting arms of oblivion.
...............
As for Skeletor, he was in utter shock that anyone, even the Dereskian Queen, could possibly have the power to contest that of the Elders. He was very grateful that he did not have eyelids, so that he was able to watch every single millisecond of the attack, watching with rapt attention as the Ancient woman closed her own eyes and then redoubled her attack. He wondered at where this power could be contained within such a relatively small woman.
And as the tidal wave of her own making crashed over her, he marveled that Moria's last act had not been protecting herself, but her child. He quirked his head slowly, considering. Perhaps Lyn was worth much more than he had imagined.
Then, suddenly panicking, he noticed that the force field was around Lyn only. Too late, he realized that he had no protection from the looming field of power. He raised his staff, trying desperately to do something, anything to deflect this massive surge of power.
He was unsuccessful, and could only look on helplessly as the gigantic tsunami of both Moria's and Teelina's making crashed down over him, screaming in agony as he sailed from the top of the castle, landing in a broken heap with a sickening thud.
Evil-Lyn was speechless. The field that her mother had cast kept her very well protected indeed from the now receding shockwave. And now, as the last shocks of the wave dissipated, the elder Dereskian was nowhere in sight. The force field dropped, and Lyn clutched her staff, as she began to plummet towards the castle. It had been Moria who had kept them levitated, after all.
Immediately, a bolt of light shot out from her staff, catching her as she fell, carrying herself safely to the ground. "Skeletor.... Morämé," she whispered slowly, determined to discover where her mother had gone. She ran to a Terror-dactyl, and made to board it before Whiplash grabbed her arm.
"We don't have time for heroic rescues!" he exclaimed, indicating the now fully recovered Masters. "Your mother can care for herself, we hafta go now!" He boarded the dactyl and grasped her wrist, pulling her onto it and starting the machine. "Retreat!" he called to the other warriors. Someone, probably Beast-man, boarded one of the great griffins and scooped up the crumpled form of their leader before departing. Lyn's screams of protest filled the air the entire way back to the mountain.
They boarded their dactyls just as Man-at-Arms got the flying mechanism of one machine working. He-man boarded it and gave chase to the Evil warriors, followed by more and more of the Masters as each machine was fixed.
Of them all, only Evil-Lyn gave a second thought to the woman who had disappeared above the castle, and not a soul on the entire planet gave one for the woman who had been within its walls.
Save one.
...............
Teelina came back into reality slowly, her brow furrowed with pain or worry. She became slowly more and more aware of physical sensations. She was lying on a soft surface, most likely bedding, probably her own. This perplexed her, as the last thing she remembered was being in the crystal chamber and fighting. She did not yet open her eyes, but realized her body felt very strained, as though all of her muscles had been wrenched and then healed. Her headdress was not on her head, she knew, because her hair was billowed all over her pillowcase. Slowly, she became aware of another sensation: a cool, damp cloth slowly sponging her forehead and cheeks.
Little by little, her eyes opened, and her vision was fuzzy at first. As her eyes adjusted, she drew in a small breath. "...Moria?"
The elder woman smiled, her amethyst eyes shining gently as she mopped the redhead's brow. "Shhh..." she hushed gently, her tone soft and caring. "Just rest, Teelina."
Though her body screamed at her to do so, Teelina fought it, asking instead, "Do you often heal wounds of your own making, Moria?"
Lady Moria smiled gently, caressing the Sorceress's cheek lovingly. "Only when they are made out of necessity and not choice. You did not leave me with much of an option, love. Now rest."
The elder woman sat in a chair she had pulled up beside the redhead's bed, and had sat at her side for the entire three hours that she had been unconscious, to make sure she awoke.
Teelina refused to do as Moria said, finding energy in some childish sense of arguing. "Didn't the attack affect you at all?" she asked, her voice almost annoyed.
The barest wisp of a smile appeared on the elder woman's face. "Yes, actually. Two of my ribs were broken and I was knocked unconscious for at least ten minutes." She caressed the Sorceress' cheek gently. "You wield that power very well indeed."
"Not well enough," she muttered in reply, trying to fight off the urge to fall back asleep. "How badly was I injured?"
The white haired woman ran her hand along Teelina's collarbone. "Badly enough that you would have been in grave danger had I not awoken as quickly as I had. Your body is very tired now, both from the attack and the healing which I forced it to undergo. Rest, Teelina."
The Sorceress fought with every fiber of her being not to do what Moria said. Regardless of conflicting emotions, she did not trust the elder woman being so close to her while she slept. "I think not, Moria," she replied, fighting to stay awake. Her eyes closed subconsciously. Even now, her body racked with fatigue and begging her to sleep, she fought the Ancient Dereskian's hypnotic tone, denying herself rest even though she desperately needed it.
Moria began to softly, almost inaudibly, chant in Dereskian, intoning a low power sleeping spell.
Teelina knew this and tried to fight it, her body tensing. She felt the cool cloth on her head once again, and slowly opened her eyes, the image blurry. "Let me be..." she pleaded, her voice trailing off.
The elder woman smiled gently, and continued. "Athar lisse colletë mo myo kard, mes dïl, prootëri lir warë, kan mëere neson qerush atele dagor li maethor carë. Itas mênu kan proo ambär, én et ilya alta calan. Il elen wod galëte minalkith. Athar lisse. Máren, máren." Slowly, the younger woman's eyelids began to droop heavily, and by the time Moria had finished her incantation, she had completely fallen into a dreamless sleep. The elder woman smiled, and slowly rose from her position, breathing in sharply at the painful sensation of movement. The Ancient woman slipped slowly through the wall, and she reappeared in her chambers. Her own body needed rest as well. She had neglected to mention to Teelina the fact that the two ribs that had broken had punctured her lungs. Or that she had not yet bothered to fully heal them, preferring to save her energy to cure the younger woman.
As the blast of light rippled like a shockwave through the forest, Teelina braced herself for the attack. She knew that the power bolt sent out by both Evil-Lyn and Skeletor would wrack her defenses, and strengthened her power shield as much as she could, awaiting the attack.
It didn't come. Tentatively, Teelina checked her crystal viewing glass, and breathed a sigh of relief. The Masters had arrived with their uncanny sense of perfect timing, and were now battling Skeletor and his minions with fervor.
It had been quite some time since the last major battle between the two groups had taken place, probably due to Moria's insistence. Still, Teelina was glad to see that the Masters had lost none of their knack for grinding the Evil Warriors into dust. Idly, Teelina watched the battle for a few delusional minutes before she realized something was very wrong.
Quickly, she scanned the scene again and her eyes began to widen. Skeletor and Evil-Lyn weren't there. Skimming the tree line, she found that Moria was also absent. Immediately, she raised her arms in a defensive mode, empowering her shield with all the strength she could muster.
Just as she did, a shattering ball of power came raining down upon the castle, its impact making the very stones shudder as Teelina's force field struggled against the blow. It held, barely.
The Sorceress buckled against the weight of her shield, expending more energy into it, all the time wondering if it was Moria's power that was causing this attack to be so potent. It was possible, albeit improbable, that Skeletor and Evil-Lyn together could create an attack of this magnitude. But to do so would take days, even weeks of withholding magic use....
Teelina's eyes widened considerably. Of course! That was why there had been no attacks on the castle recently. They were building up power... which meant that the next attack, when it came, would be even stronger....
...............
Idly, Moria sat, not really all that interested in the proceedings. The battle below did not matter all that much to her, as her daughter was not in it. Smiling gently, she looked to the side, and winked at her child.
Lady Moria had Skeletor, her child, and herself levitated above Grayskull. And, while they had created the massive thunder shock that had just coursed through its walls, the elder Dereskian had entertained herself by wiping out the flying mechanisms in the 'Masters' methods of transportation. No one could get to them now.
Looking again to her child and their esteemed 'leader,' she said calmly. "Good. Now you have the measure of the force field and know its power. Hit it hard and fast, in the exact same place as you just did. It will be weaker there."
As they powered up for another blast, she looked around, disinterested. She didn't truly care whether or not Skeletor got what he was after. Moria knew that, in the unlikely event that he did achieve his goal of power, he would not share it with anyone, even her daughter. She looked below at the poor fools that made up the rest of Skeletor's little band. Quite pathetic really, she said to herself, shaking her head. They all have such visions of being in power, being able to consider themselves in control of something. She looked over at her daughter slowly, and sighed. Even her. She has much to learn, but I will not be able to teach it all. The Collective will do that. Moria closed her eyes and looked below, her thoughts dwelling towards the sole inhabitant of the castle. Nor will I teach her all she should know. A pity.
She slowly brought herself out of her reverie, noting with minimal interest that it seemed the 'Masters' were winning the ground battle yet again. It looked as though that fool Man-at-Arms was tinkering with the flying mechanisms of his machine, trying to get it airborne again.
"You may wish to consider doing this quickly," Moria said absently mindedly to the two beside her. "We may have company."
Evil-Lyn looked over, slightly concerned. Her mother had been acting oddly lately, even to her. Ever since their trip to the palace, she had seemed... more distant than usual. Lyn shrugged. Perhaps Moria was just tired. Looking over at Skeletor, she nodded and raised her staff as he raised his.
............
Teelina's eyes began to lose their pupils as she rushed to the crystal chamber, begging a silent plea from the Elders as her hand extended towards their great power. "Forgive me," she whispered, and set her hand upon the blue crystal.
............
At the same instant, Moria's eyes flew open as she realized what Teelina was doing, and how badly it would affect them. Her thoughts fled not towards herself, but to her daughter. "Lyn...." She whispered. "Stop!" she cried out to the two beside her, and they looked up suddenly. "You cannot fight this power!" Moria exclaimed, her hands rising in spellcasting."
Instantly Evil-Lyn looked to her mother with amazement, before once glance from the elder woman told her to get down. She did so, and Skeletor followed suit after a moment.
As blue light from the crystals quickly rippled through the castle, a great gust of amethyst wind appeared over it. The Ancient Dereskian's eyes spun in pools of whirling light as her great wings, one feathered, one membranous, ripped from her shoulder blades. Both Skeletor and Evil-Lyn froze, unable even to cover their heads as they looked in wonder at the sudden outburst of power.
Below them, on the battlefield, participants from both sides stopped their fighting, shielding their eyes from the fierce winds which had come from nowhere, looking up in the direction of a glowing amethyst fire that seemed almost black, as if light and dark at the same time. The sky began to go completely dark as the Sun was eclipsed in an unheard-of phenomenon. The Red Moon rose completely, falling in front of the Sun and sending the battlefield into momentary night.
All of this happened in a few fractions of a second as the Elder's power flashed through the castle, finally reaching the outer ramparts and higher, moving towards the frightening Majicks display in the sky.
Within and outside the castle, the two spell casting females suddenly cried out loudly as the powers met in a thundering crash. Instantly, thousands of voices filled the air, crying out the incantations along with Lady Moria, the awesome power of the Collective revealing itself for what it truly was.
"Tarea magcht! Tarea magcht! Seiyou Eläni Morieyo! Eleka namen namen a-tumn a-tumn eleka namen! Eleka name namen a-tumn a-tumn eleka- eleka! Isil de camaan es crà-dhearg et Morifania corundo de neson coulog!"
As power flowed from both parties, the Ancient Dereskian zeroed in on the Collective, drowning out all other distractions, including the very threat she was fighting. She focused solely upon her power source, and felt the Red Moon enveloping her in its energy, like a blanket.
Teelina paused in her attack for the tiniest of moments, alarmed at such opposition. "Moria," she whispered with a snarl. She re-aligned her attack, aiming now for the Dereskian Queen herself rather than the general area in which she stood. Harnessing the Elder's might, a great burst of power went up from the crystal, as if a second tidal wave was arising from the recesses of a first one.
As the great wave of the Elder's force threatened to crash down upon her, the elder woman let out a small gasp. She was struggling terribly to hold off this awesome might, her arms beginning to buckle under the stress. Moria knew she could not do this in her present state. Slowly, she closed her eyes. A voice, calm and serene and not her own, echoed deep within her mind, "'The entire world is driven by a will- blind and ruthless. In order to transcend the limitations of that world, one must stop willing, stop desiring, stop hating.'"
Moria opened her eyes and looked calmly upon the great blue power wave that enveloped her. Her wings spread almost unconsciously, and the light of the Red Moon formed a single beam and shone down upon her. She inhaled deeply, emptying herself of all will, and exhaled. An enormous blaze of light erupted from her hands, lighting the darkened world a thousand times brighter than the sun.
Rather than outwardly clashing against the light of the Elder's magic, this force from the Dereskígía melded with it, entwined with it and wrapped around it as a blanket. And then when it had fully intermixed and the blue and amethyst had blended into a new and pure color, the eyes of the last Queen of the Dereskígía flashed suddenly. "Moria," she whispered slowly, calling out her sister's name... her own name. Her eyes flashed a second time.
"Chentagh!" The incantation flew from her lips, filling the air with a cold, chilling sound as her eyes flashed a third and final time, raising her arms as the Majicks of the Dereskígía exploded from their entwining with the Elder's power, self-destructing it. The explosion sent a massive shockwave through the air, rippling down into the castle itself, passing through the walls and finding the wielder of power, causing the Sorceress to cry out as it crashed over her, sprawling her unconscious body out over the floor.
Moria herself was not unaffected by this convulsion. It came towering over her like a tsunami. Rather than saving herself, the Dereskian Queen cried out "Nëintára egin!" and sent what little strength she had remaining towards her child, creating a force field around Evil-Lyn before the wave crashed and enveloped her into the waiting arms of oblivion.
...............
As for Skeletor, he was in utter shock that anyone, even the Dereskian Queen, could possibly have the power to contest that of the Elders. He was very grateful that he did not have eyelids, so that he was able to watch every single millisecond of the attack, watching with rapt attention as the Ancient woman closed her own eyes and then redoubled her attack. He wondered at where this power could be contained within such a relatively small woman.
And as the tidal wave of her own making crashed over her, he marveled that Moria's last act had not been protecting herself, but her child. He quirked his head slowly, considering. Perhaps Lyn was worth much more than he had imagined.
Then, suddenly panicking, he noticed that the force field was around Lyn only. Too late, he realized that he had no protection from the looming field of power. He raised his staff, trying desperately to do something, anything to deflect this massive surge of power.
He was unsuccessful, and could only look on helplessly as the gigantic tsunami of both Moria's and Teelina's making crashed down over him, screaming in agony as he sailed from the top of the castle, landing in a broken heap with a sickening thud.
Evil-Lyn was speechless. The field that her mother had cast kept her very well protected indeed from the now receding shockwave. And now, as the last shocks of the wave dissipated, the elder Dereskian was nowhere in sight. The force field dropped, and Lyn clutched her staff, as she began to plummet towards the castle. It had been Moria who had kept them levitated, after all.
Immediately, a bolt of light shot out from her staff, catching her as she fell, carrying herself safely to the ground. "Skeletor.... Morämé," she whispered slowly, determined to discover where her mother had gone. She ran to a Terror-dactyl, and made to board it before Whiplash grabbed her arm.
"We don't have time for heroic rescues!" he exclaimed, indicating the now fully recovered Masters. "Your mother can care for herself, we hafta go now!" He boarded the dactyl and grasped her wrist, pulling her onto it and starting the machine. "Retreat!" he called to the other warriors. Someone, probably Beast-man, boarded one of the great griffins and scooped up the crumpled form of their leader before departing. Lyn's screams of protest filled the air the entire way back to the mountain.
They boarded their dactyls just as Man-at-Arms got the flying mechanism of one machine working. He-man boarded it and gave chase to the Evil warriors, followed by more and more of the Masters as each machine was fixed.
Of them all, only Evil-Lyn gave a second thought to the woman who had disappeared above the castle, and not a soul on the entire planet gave one for the woman who had been within its walls.
Save one.
...............
Teelina came back into reality slowly, her brow furrowed with pain or worry. She became slowly more and more aware of physical sensations. She was lying on a soft surface, most likely bedding, probably her own. This perplexed her, as the last thing she remembered was being in the crystal chamber and fighting. She did not yet open her eyes, but realized her body felt very strained, as though all of her muscles had been wrenched and then healed. Her headdress was not on her head, she knew, because her hair was billowed all over her pillowcase. Slowly, she became aware of another sensation: a cool, damp cloth slowly sponging her forehead and cheeks.
Little by little, her eyes opened, and her vision was fuzzy at first. As her eyes adjusted, she drew in a small breath. "...Moria?"
The elder woman smiled, her amethyst eyes shining gently as she mopped the redhead's brow. "Shhh..." she hushed gently, her tone soft and caring. "Just rest, Teelina."
Though her body screamed at her to do so, Teelina fought it, asking instead, "Do you often heal wounds of your own making, Moria?"
Lady Moria smiled gently, caressing the Sorceress's cheek lovingly. "Only when they are made out of necessity and not choice. You did not leave me with much of an option, love. Now rest."
The elder woman sat in a chair she had pulled up beside the redhead's bed, and had sat at her side for the entire three hours that she had been unconscious, to make sure she awoke.
Teelina refused to do as Moria said, finding energy in some childish sense of arguing. "Didn't the attack affect you at all?" she asked, her voice almost annoyed.
The barest wisp of a smile appeared on the elder woman's face. "Yes, actually. Two of my ribs were broken and I was knocked unconscious for at least ten minutes." She caressed the Sorceress' cheek gently. "You wield that power very well indeed."
"Not well enough," she muttered in reply, trying to fight off the urge to fall back asleep. "How badly was I injured?"
The white haired woman ran her hand along Teelina's collarbone. "Badly enough that you would have been in grave danger had I not awoken as quickly as I had. Your body is very tired now, both from the attack and the healing which I forced it to undergo. Rest, Teelina."
The Sorceress fought with every fiber of her being not to do what Moria said. Regardless of conflicting emotions, she did not trust the elder woman being so close to her while she slept. "I think not, Moria," she replied, fighting to stay awake. Her eyes closed subconsciously. Even now, her body racked with fatigue and begging her to sleep, she fought the Ancient Dereskian's hypnotic tone, denying herself rest even though she desperately needed it.
Moria began to softly, almost inaudibly, chant in Dereskian, intoning a low power sleeping spell.
Teelina knew this and tried to fight it, her body tensing. She felt the cool cloth on her head once again, and slowly opened her eyes, the image blurry. "Let me be..." she pleaded, her voice trailing off.
The elder woman smiled gently, and continued. "Athar lisse colletë mo myo kard, mes dïl, prootëri lir warë, kan mëere neson qerush atele dagor li maethor carë. Itas mênu kan proo ambär, én et ilya alta calan. Il elen wod galëte minalkith. Athar lisse. Máren, máren." Slowly, the younger woman's eyelids began to droop heavily, and by the time Moria had finished her incantation, she had completely fallen into a dreamless sleep. The elder woman smiled, and slowly rose from her position, breathing in sharply at the painful sensation of movement. The Ancient woman slipped slowly through the wall, and she reappeared in her chambers. Her own body needed rest as well. She had neglected to mention to Teelina the fact that the two ribs that had broken had punctured her lungs. Or that she had not yet bothered to fully heal them, preferring to save her energy to cure the younger woman.