Chapter 12

She was in some nondescript place in the middle of forest. For some reason she was in ranger form - even her Snow Staff was there. Everything else seemed normal, yet Udonna was sure someone was watching her. Slowly she turned around.

Before her stood Leanbow, exactly like she remembered him. But there was something deeply disturbing about him – his eyes were emotionless, as well as his face. She waited for him to do something, not trusting herself enough to speak.

"Finally we can decide who's stronger, witch."

Her eyes widened. The voice didn't belong to Leanbow – it was Korrag's heavy, harsh voice. Suddenly a sword materialised in the man's hand. He pointed it at her.

"Prepare yourself."

Udonna barely had the time to raise her Snow Staff to protect herself from a deadly slash of his weapon. Before she could do anything, he attacked her from the left, but she managed to dodge it. Udonna knew it was impossible for her to win. Her every spell was being interrupted by him. She was never good at close combat – she prefered using magic or long-distance weapons. The only thing she was able to do now was to defend herself from an onslaught of strikes.

Her resistance didn't last long. With a particularly strong hit her weapon was knocked out of her hand. Her back collided with a tree. There was no way to escape. He was going to kill her.

"Any last words?" he asked, his face still emotionless.

"Drop your sword!"

They simultaneously turned their heads. Udonna couldn't believe what was she seeing. Korrag was standing there, his sword raised. Leanbow backed away from her and turned to him instead.

Korrag took a careful step towards her, yet still watching Leanbow. "Who sent you?"

Udonna could only shake her head in disbelief. Korrag's voice sounded exactly like Leanbow's - the real Leanbow, not the impostor.

"It is none of your concern. Do you want to fight with me too?"

Korrag sheathed his sword. "No. You don't have any armor or a shield. This fight would be unfair. I am letting you go now, but when we meet again, I won't be so indulgent."

"I hope so," the impostor said. He muttered something and a dark magic circle appeared under him. After a moment he was gone.

She sighed and let herself slide down to the ground. Unwittingly she looked at her hands. They were not what she was used to see. Instead of forty four year old woman's hands, these clearly belonged to someone at least twenty years younger. She didn't have time to observe them better, because something distracted her from them. Korrag had already put his shield and sword away and was currently sitting in front of her.

"What on earth are you doing here? How many times have I told you not to go to the forest alone? You know how dangerous it is here. That man was surely The Master's servant. You could have died, Udonna!" He dropped his head and sighed. "Do you realise how worried I was? Please, don't do that again. If you need something from the forest, you can send me or Daggeron. Are you even listening to me, Udonna? Udonna?"

She couldn't utter a word in response. Why was Leanbow attacking her? Why did Korrag defend her? It was like they swapped places. Their images in her mind were overlapping each other and becoming one man who was neither Leanbow, nor Korrag – just a weird mix of them.

He stood up and offered her his hand. "Okay, let's just go home. I'm sure Bowen misses you already."

Bowen.

That was too much for Udonna. Edges of the forest started to vanish and soon everything went black.

Then she woke up.

The door's loud creaking woke Korrag up. He didn't open his eyes yet. Instead he focused on the noises made by his night visitor. Their footsteps were light, barely audible. He heard the person draw a shaky breath. After a while his curiosity forced him to crack one eye open just the slightest bit.

In the pale moonlight he saw the White Sorceress sitting in a chair next to him. She had her head in her hands and her shoulders were shaking. He wasn't sure what it meant, but somehow he knew she was sad. He squashed down the strangest urge to take her hand.

Korrag quickly closed his eye when she moved. For a moment he heard nothing. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his cheek. He fought hard not to lean in to the touch, but to no avail. The witch emitted a strange sound between a chuckle and gasp and ran her fingers through his hair. 'Why does it feel so good?' he wondered, utterly amazed. He was sure she didn't know he wasn't asleep, but this time he didn't react - just to be cautious.

"Just give me a sign if you're here, Leanbow... that's all I ask for. Nothing more," she whispered in his ear.

Then something inside him jerked and he felt like there was another person occupying his body. It was an angry, almost furious presence – Korrag was sure that in that moment it wanted to kill him. There was also another strong emotion coming from that person, but it wasn't directed at him – its attention was focused on the witch. Korrag had never felt something like that before.

Let me out!

Somehow he managed to keep a straight face – he didn't want the witch to find out he wasn't sleeping.

Don't ignore me! Let me out, Korrag!

'Who are you? What are you doing in my body?' he thought at the presence.

This is not your body – it's ours. And if you're not going to let me out, at least try to comfort Udonna! I know you feel the same about her as I do!

'Why should I do that? I hate her! I don't care what happens to her.'

He felt rather than heard a bitter laugh in his mind. Keep deluding yourself, Korrag. You might not be aware of this, but we're two pieces of the same soul, if you might call it that – the only difference between us is that you are still under The Master's spell.

Confusion shot through Korrag. 'What are you talking about? No one is controlling me, that's impossible!'

Tell me, how often do find yourself confused about what's happening around you? Or maybe another question: what do you remember about the time before you started to serve The Master?

Korrag focused hard. Was there even a time before his service to The Master? He'd always assumed that The Master had created him.

Wrong answer. What about that memory of you training with Daggeron? Yes, it's Leanbow's memory, but we are Leanbow. You and I are pieces of his soul, which was split by The Master. If we won't become one, that emptiness inside you will never disappear. You'll be forever incomplete.

'I will do nothing like this! I am Korrag, not Leanbow! You're only a product of my imagination! Just disappear already!'

With a powerful mental push from Korrag the annoying voice was gone. When he looked around, he realised that the witch was also gone.

'Good riddance,' he thought just to spite the presence inside his mind, which was surely listening.

The door she'd just closed seemed to be laughing at her. 'Of course it does, you fool. Who wouldn't laugh at you now, Udonna?' she thought scathingly. She was so stupid. Why did she go in there in first place? It seemed like a good idea ten minutes ago, but now? She was just glad he was asleep, because then he would think she was a stalker.

Udonna was well aware that there would be no more sleep for her tonight. It wasn't unusual – she had nightmares frequently. They'd been getting progressively worse since the Xenotome had chosen the next Mystic Warriors. She was sure that these nightmares had already covered every possible death scenario for all Rangers.

Her desperate need to calm her mind had directed her steps to the highest point in Rootcore. It was a balcony surrounded with giant leaves, making it an ideal spot to relax after a long, hard day. She'd hoped it was empty, but apparently Daggeron had the same idea.

He was sitting on a bench and drinking something. Udonna had a sneaking suspicion that the contents of his glass were a bit stronger than his favorite orange juice, so she walked up to him and took it out of his hand.

"Daggeron, half past one in the morning isn't the time to get drunk."

Just as she predicted, he jumped and turned around to see her.

"Oh, come on, I've just started! At least let me finish this one glass!" Suddenly he went quiet and blinked in confusion. "Wait a second. What are you doing here?" His expression became worried and he stood up. "Is everything alright?"

Udonna walked up to the railing and leaned on it, staring at the forest bathed in the moonlight. After a while Daggeron joined her and put an arm around her. She was grateful for the comfort he gave her. It was one of the reasons she missed Leanbow so much. During these nineteen years of fragile peace there was no one who could really understand her pain. Her family was dead and she never told Clare much about her past.

"Udonna... I know this is hard for you – hell, it's certainly hard for me – but we must focus on what's truly important. We need to set our feelings aside for now."

She let out a bitter chuckle. "We could say whatever we want, but what will we really do? If it was so easy to forget about our past, then it wouldn't be a problem. And in response to your earlier question: no, I'm not alright - I will never be. Too much has happened."

Daggeron said nothing – he didn't need to. Udonna knew he was just as broken as her. They fell into a comfortable silence, born of mutual understanding of each other's problems. There was one thing that went unspoken between them: Imperious was never going to get their guest – no matter if he was Korrag or Leanbow.