A/N: Sorry in advance, but this first scene between Daine and Numair had to be broken into two sections. Hope you enjoy!

The Third Rider division traveled down the well worn, wide path of the forest silently. They'd been called just the day before to respond to a plea for help in a small village called Moreland, a days ride from Pirates Swoop. Rumor was spreading that flesh-eating unicorns had appeared, as well as the breed of centaurs that feasted for war and blood. When the village had been attacked and cases of unicorn fever had developed for the first times in centuries, the Third Riders had been the only troop ready to assemble and leave immediately. Because of the specific creatures, Daine and Numair had been called upon.
The entire time while packing Numair had attempted to convince her to stay. "Would you please just think about it?" he asked, his tone sounding like he knew he'd have better luck bouncing his head off a wall. It wasn't too far from reality, with her stubborn ways. "If you get injured-and knowing your luck with wild creatures, they'll come straight for you first- then there will be no one to communicate with all of the other immortals. Tortall needs you to stay here." I need you to stay here- but he didn't say that. Doubtless she'd laugh or think him addled.
"Numair, I have to go! If there's a chance that they can be reasoned with-"
"Reasoned with? Do you hear that?" the mage yelled at the ceiling. "Reasoning. With flesh-eating unicorns and centaurs. Demons that live to kill and destroy! Daine, the reason they were created was to kill. They cannot be reasoned with! They have no capability of such thoughts!" His hands grasped her shoulders, and however much his voice may have raised, those hands were still gentle.
"Well," Daine huffed angrily, pushing his hands aside, "at he moment, neither can you, so there's no use for this conversation!" At his wounded look, she stopped and sighed. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Numair, you have to think of this from my view. If there is anything that I can do to help, I have to be there. Please tell me you understand." Her endless sea-storm eyes searched his.
Resigning himself to the fact that it would probably be impossible to say no to her now anyway, he shook his head, putting a hand on her shoulder and bending down until they were eye-to-eye. "Magelet, if you get hurt..." he couldn't continue. His eyes said it, though, and Daine paused at the emotion she read in them. Surely that wasn't... She shook the silly thought of unnamed emotions off and smiled gently at him.
"I'll be fine, you'll see. Besides," she added, grinning, "I have Tortall's most powerful mage to protect me!"
"Yours is a happy nature," he muttered, ruffling her hair all the same.

The Third Riders, plus the two mages, Sir Raoul of Goldenlake, the Lioness, Onua and Sarge, had just entered a clearing when a rumbled passed through the land. Instantly Buri knew what was about to happen. "Riders, arm!" she shouted, drawing her own weapons. Evin Larse was the leader of the squad and took position next to Buri. "Riders, positions," he said. His voice might have been much softer than the K'mir's, but those who heard it trusted that command with their lives. The group of warriors settled in a circle, enclosing Numair, Daine and Alanna, much to her protest.
"We'll need that fandangled Gift of yours, if I'm right," the slightly taller woman said.
Daine looked uncomfortable. "Please, can I at least have a chance to speak with them? They may be just like the griffins!" Her eyes pleaded with the commander's.
"If they stop when you ask from inside this circle, then you may step forward." Numair didn't look at ease with this, but Buri settled him. "If we can avoid bloodshed, then I'm willing to try." He didn't look appeased by this, but neither did he say anything against it. Daine put a hand on his arm and smiled at him comfortingly. His heart skipped a beat in its already fast rhythm and he closed his eyes, putting his hand over hers and squeezing. Don't let her be hurt, he prayed.
When the herd of centaurs emerged, javelins pointed, Daine drew her magic close and threw it out like a net, hoping to make them pause. 'Please, stop!' The half-horse, half-human creatures came to an abrupt halt.
'Who dares to speak to us as kin?' The deep, enraged voice came from a large stallion, his hide and skin the color of sunlit dark chocolate. His long black hair was in twisted clumps- dreadlocks, Daine remembered they were called. Evin and Buri parted, letting Daine step forth. Numair tried to follow, but Alanna held him back.
"Let her try," the Lioness whispered. The mage's face tightened and hardened into impotent rage and fear.
'I do, sir. Please, you must stop fighting. It will only bring death, to the people you kill and to your herd. Please, don't let it come to that!'
She stepped forward and the stallion did the same. Shifting his feet agitatedly, his tail swishes in quick flicks. 'You are a foal. Who are you to speak to one such as me?' His blade pointed at her heart, stopping her advance. Several of the Riders made noise, but Buri held her hand out.
'I know I'm only a filly, but please, listen to what I say. Fighting like the way your herd has will only bring pain in the end. If you will speak with my leaders, they are more than willing to help you find a home that you would like. You wouldn't have to fight or kill, and the humans would leave you alone. Just please, speak with us.' Blue-grey eyes met black ones and held.
The leader made a noise of agreement in her mind and she smiled hopefully. She turned towards Buri to tell her he news – and heard a shout of fear. In the blink of an eye she saw Numair thrust his hand out and heard Alanna's cry. Within a heartbeat she turned, just as fire ripped through her stomach, and met the dirty white of a unicorn's coat. Even as she fell, she saw it rear up, bloody horn gleaming, saw the hooves come down towards her to finish the kill. A black cloud sparkling with silver veins wrapped around the monster and threw it into the herd of white horse-like creatures emerging from another side of the clearing. Daine's last sight was of Numair running towards her, shouting something frantically, but she couldn't hear. Only his lips moving rapidly and the terror on his face was something she could understand. Then a black fog overtook her and she sank into a deep chasm.

"NO!" Numair's voice was the first heard, seeing the unicorn charging from the right side of the clearing towards Daine. He threw his hand out to stop it, but he was a second too late. He watched in agony as the deadly poisonous horn pierced the front of her just as she turned and emerged, horrifyingly covered in her blood, out her back. His rage and terror for her amounted in the blink of an eye and before he could think of what he was doing, his magic sped out of his body to wrap the beast in his grasp, crushing it and tossing it aside. Roaring, he ran towards her as a battle raged around him. The only thing that mattered was reaching her. Daine. His student, friend. His Magelet. His love. He dropped to his knees beside her, realizing just then the full depth of his feelings for her. This wasn't some idiotic attraction he'd been trying to squash- he loved her. And she was dying before him. He looked into her eyes and saw unimaginable pain before her eyes rolled and her head slumped to the side.
His fury erupted and he picked her up, determined to reach Alanna. Somehow, some way, they would cure her. He refused to let her die because she was too caring. Numair stood with his limp beloved in his arms and walked with a terrifying coldness in his step. Any creature that dared to step in his way was suddenly torn to pieces, looking like they had been ripped apart from the inside out. A terrible black and silver cloud settled over Numair and his charge, and any who lived long enough to touch it died within agonizing seconds, leaving charred and smoking ashes remaining.
The Lioness turned from her opponent in time to see the tall, lanky mage stride towards her. Something in his face stopped her from saying it was too late. There was something beneath the cold mask, something that spoke to something matching in her- her love for George. For whatever reason, she knew this was right. Numair Salmalin, one of the most powerful people in the world, was head over heals for this young girl. Not knowing how to respond, Alanna put those thoughts away for a much later moment, when she could puzzle them out at length. At this second, she instinctively knew that if she told Numair she couldn't heal Daine right at that second, she might not live very long indeed. Something about his black eyes caught at her heart- they were the only part of him that showed the agony and desperation raging inside of him. Moving to take the child away, she halted when the barrier between him and the outside world remained.
"Numair," she said softly, "I can't heal her if you won't let me see her. Set her down and protect me while I work, alright?" She used her most soothing voice, let it sink into his mind until the words made sense again. Reason appeared in his eyes and he sank down, laying Daine in between him and Alanna, and raised his arms to create a dome that protected them from any and all harm.
"If you need energy, take it," he whispered raggedly. "I know... I know how Unicorn Fever effects the body." Kills the body, he refused say.
The look in the Lioness's purple eyes was enough to have the breath stilling in his lungs. He was going to lose her. 'Please, please, please,' he prayed in his mind, 'Let her live.'
He watched over the two women for hours, knowing that with each passing moment his Daine was slipping farther and farther away from him. When he could take it no more he raked his hands through his hair, catching the tie and sending it flying behind him, unnoticed. Raoul saw this as he unbent from entering the tent that had been erected around the trio. He stopped, analyzing the fact that Numair would be so upset as to be visibly trembling and uncaring if anyone saw.
"Numair," he said softly, lest he brake Alanna's concentration. "You know what always happens now. The most we can hope is that she dies quickly and with little pain." The look on the mage's face made him stop. Absolute agony spread across his features, his black eyes glittering with pain.
"This is all my fault," he rasped and his knees gave out. The knight caught him and settled him outside the tent where the fresh air would do him good.
"You couldn't have known this would happen any more than you could stop the tides."
"I told her not to come. I've had dreams the entire past week and I didn't listen. I thought that with all my magic," he sneered in self-loathing, "I could stop anything from happening to her. Now she's dying because of my inflated ego and the fact that I couldn't say no and hold my ground for once." He lowered his head into his hands. "What am I going to do?" he whispered so softly Raoul would have thought he'd imagined it, had he not possessed exceptional hearing.
Putting a comforting hand on the taller man's shoulder, he gripped hard, as if to transfer much needed strength. A thought hit him then- Numair hadn't mourned for the loss of his parents when the letter had come from an old family friend in Tyra. But here the man was, grieving as if his heart was shattering at the loss of a student he'd known for only a handful of years. There was something more than the two had let on, sure as the Hag cheated.
"Numair, what is there between you and the little lady?" he asked gently.
A shocked head came up and broken eyes looked into his. "What do you mean?"
Raoul sighed and decided patience was best. "I'm no fool, and we've been friends for longer than I can remember. As far back as my memory goes, I've never seen you upset to any degree before. Not when your parents died, not when I first saw you and you were about to be beaten, robbed and murdered- not ever. Now... you look as if a harsh wind would blow you over. Why is that- what goes on that neither of you told your friends?"
"I'm in love with her."
The words were uttered so simply that Raoul choked in disbelieving indignation. "You jest when her life-"
"It's no jest!" Tears clogged his throat and his head bowed down again. "I… I thought that if I said anything, she would reject the notion outright. Why wouldn't she? I'm much older than she is, I happen to have an… ill reputation in Carthak, and I'm her mentor. For what reason could she possibly return my feelings?"
Raoul paused to digest this. They did spend the vast majority of their time together, after all. And Numair was not the type to force himself on people- he would never harm her.

The more he thought about it, the more he saw that the love was not one-sided. He'd often caught Daine stealing glances at Numair, but had thought it had something to do with something Numair had said, or a private joke, or some other reason to that point.

Actually, the two of them fit nicely, he thought with a slight grimace; he was becoming an old spinster, matchmaking in his mind. True, Numair was 14 years her senior, but it wasn't unheard of for marriages to have such an age difference. And if they were in love... Goddess, no wonder the man was such a mess.
"Numair, you know that the Fever-"
"I know!" he shouted. Black and silver fire erupted at his hands and raced up his arms. The big man jerked his hand back just in time to avoid getting maimed in some mysterious, most likely extremely painful way. Instantly Numair looked horrified and the magic/fire disappeared. "I'm sorry," he said in a dazed voice. "I don't know what came over me."
"The-" girl? Woman? "one you love is..." he couldn't be as cruel as to say it.
"I know." It was a whisper this time, but even so Raoul felt the sorrow before Numair stood and walked away. Raoul looked up at the sky and a troubled sigh escaped him. 'Please, Goddess,' his mind whispered, 'Don't let Daine die.'

Alanna stumbled out of the tent at dusk, pale as snow beneath her tan and unable to stand without help from Raoul. "I did what I could," she said, looking sorrowfully at Numair. "I swear I've done everything I can. The infection was burned out, but Numair... she's dying." Alanna collapsed against her friend, shaking with quiet tears.
Numair felt numb as he walked into the tent. It was swelteringly hot, unbearably so, but even the heat couldn't stop the chills that racked Daine. Seeing her like this brought a lump to his throat that couldn't be swallowed. He believed Alanna when she said she'd done everything in her power to save her, but he couldn't bear to watch his Magelet go through this.
Her skin was even paler than Alanna's and tinged with grey, her hair limp and lifeless, her lips blue and the quakes that racked her shook her entire body. Suddenly she cried out, and the scream tore through Numair like shrapnel. He lunged forward, taking her into his arms and holding her close to murmur nonsense in her ear. Crooning gibberish in an attempt to soothe her, he cradled her close and rocked back and forth. This seemed to pacify her, or at least enough so that she stopped thrashing about and settled into his arms.
Numair still quaked. If the infection had been burned off and she was still going into deliriums, he knew she was truly dying. And that, above all else, he could not allow.
Gathering his magic to create a speech-spell, he started his way through the list of the many people he knew. Surely, among all of Tortall, Carthak and Tyra someone knew of a way to cure the incurable. With one last kiss to her forehead he left the tent, preparing himself for a long night of endless work.