A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long! Homework and projects have stopped me from updating this for a while. Thanks to GossipQueen2000, Kiaga, and Laramie, my faithful reviewers. Enjoy! ~NSTaN
Black locks swam as snakes through the shattering gale, flapping furiously in the wind that threatened them and seeming almost to be alive. The force of the storm was such that each individual hair, propelled by the inexorable powers so much that they left welts on their owner's cheek. But she had no time for unruly hair. Her crystal blue eyes, wolflike in their directness, pierced through the impenetrable clouds as if they saw what others could not. Though the expression was somewhat glazed, her young face was contracted in obvious concern, and her lips were parted as if in shock. As the lightning darted down to earth around her, steadily increasing its dreadful tempo, she remained oblivious to the danger and the discomfort her physical body must surely be facing. Her slender, pale hands suddenly took hold of the thin, decorative iron rail which kept her from the storm, and pressed so hard against it that her knuckles turned deathly bone white. Small globes of prickling power appeared around her hands, emanating an angry blue light, as her pupils dilated impossibly. Finally, she snapped out of her rigid pose, and spun rapidly, obviously highly unsettled by something she had just seen, and made to stride away from the scene and into the welcoming, friendly amber light of the room behind her. Full skirts, made of the thin wool which the people of the Innail Fesse so highly prized, and coloured with a curiously dark blue dye, swirled around her hidden legs, just brushing the warm red of the floor tiles and contrasting unusually with them. As she took a determined, definite step, she collided with an ambiguous, shadowed form.
At first, the girl seemed afraid, and let out a little gasp, but she was soon reassured, for she then straightened up, a tinge of joy possibly colouring the otherwise grave, tired landscape of her emotions.
"You scared me, Cadvan!" she breathed, and then hurried on. "Listen, please! I felt the...the presence of death in the air at dinner, and I felt that it was important, immeasurably important. So I ran up here, and I tried to See...Oh, it was horrible!" She fixed her eyes upon him, holding him there with a strange, almost unintelligible command that seemed out of place in a slight teenager such as herself. "Hem...is going to die."
In her left eye there materialised a tiny, shining tear, which reflected the soft starlight above, and threw it off in a million quivering facets. "He...was spiralling downwards into a dark, dark hole of utter blackness. And I knew in an instant that it was death itself."
She collapsed into Cadvan's arms, openly sobbing now. "I-I don't know what I'll do if Hem dies! I've lost him, and found him, and lost him, and found him again...to lose him again would be the deepest...the fullest sorrow I could imagine."
"Sshhh, Maerad," he said quietly, his head bowed over Maerad's, dark strands cascading into his face and eyes. "There's nothing we can do now. We can lend him our strength if we try, but we cannot get to Turbansk in an instant. I swear, Hem will be fine. We must hope for the best and try to get to the heart of your vision. Maerad, I promise. I promise. It will be fine."
Maerad raised her face, eyes glittering and defiant. "But...We have to do all we can. We just have to...or life will never quite be the same again...I have a feeling that, if Hem's life comes to an end before its natural span, something will happen. Even though we have sung the Treesong, I believe a part of it remains in him still. We cannot let it escape!"
She straightened as if she had come to some decision and, tugging furiously on Cadvan's hand, she marched inside like a woman transformed.
"Get Silvia. And Malgorn. Please! And hurry," she said beseechingly, all the while setting out a circle of the most comfortable silken pillows in the room. Cadvan nodded sharply, comprehending her motive in a moment, and left the room quickly.
Only when she had arranged everything to her satisfaction did she let herself sink to the floor and whisper, utterly exhausted of all her cares, "Let him be fine. Please." And she remained there, inert, completely silent, until the others rushed into the room.
"Maerad! Cadvan has told us what you Saw. I'm so sorry...!" cried Silvia, her auburn hair coming to an abrupt halt behind her. Like Maerad's, her eyes shone with the determination only those know who have come to a true crossroads in their life, and to a true crisis, and have had to stand and watch their comrades being slain beside them; that determination which comes from knowing that there is nothing whatsoever in this whole universe that you can do, and yet trying to do it anyway for the people you love.
"It's not too late yet. It's...never...too...late..." choked Maerad, overcome with emotion. "Just do it!" she hissed, with uncharacteristic sharpness. As if bidden, the three sat hastily down on their cushions. The four joined hands, and closed their eyes, aiming to rise above Edil-Amarandh and become as one power, to vanquish the darkness in the vision. Maerad felt the soft, understanding pressure of the three, not inconsiderable, powers against hers, and she let them enter her mind. They combined to such an extent that Maerad was only very dimly aware of her own identity; everything was us. In her mind, the image that had tormented her so showed itself before their eyes, and they set themselves to the task of lending strength to the boy in the picture, and fighting the darkness below and within him.
Many thousands of leagues south, Hem felt a presence leap into his mind. It was a curious one, and, though unfamiliar, it reeked familiarity and, above all, an overpowering love and caution. He laughed bitterly, and the sound echoed off the plains eerily. He no longer needed such things. Let the earth have them. Let the loved have them, the ones who felt no torment or neverending black despair.
And he leapt.
A/N: There it is. Chapter 5 will be coming shortly, and that will probably conclude the story, but I may also write an epilogue for it. Please review, and concrit would be appreciated. ~NSTaN