A few minutes later the whole company was packed up and, on the march, again. Arie was back in SandStorm's saddle with NightSky trudging placidly behind her. Neal rode beside her while she explained the finer points of removing the poison, and what it did to the person it affected. She also impressed upon him how painful what they were doing was; not physically, but mentally.

"Imagine someone else looking into your head and making you confess to everything wrong you have ever done. Everything you are ashamed. We essentially force them to own up to it all and then give it up. Not everyone is strong enough to do that. What we are doing will kill some, but letting it stay, fester, and spread would be worse. It takes away any chance of a future if left untreated."

Neal swore to himself. "Someone actually managed to do this?"

Arie nodded sadly. Her fists were clenched on the reins, she had to force the memories away before they crushed her under their weight. Neal blew out a breath.

"How long has this been going on?"

"A few months."

Neal pulled sharply on his reins, causing his horse to come to an instant halt and snort annoyed that her rider was being so hard handed. He patted the horse's neck apologetically, then he turned to Arie with a shocked expression on his face.

"Why did it take so long for you to come to the Crown for help? As a healer, you know as well as any that the longer this thing is allowed to exist the more harm it causes to everyone."

Arie grit her teeth and looked away from him. She would not lose her temper here; she couldn't afford to.

"I had no idea just how fast it spread, at first. We thought we could handle it. Plus, it took time to understand what we were dealing with, and track down the ship that carried it. Then I realized I couldn't do this with just my little family." Lies, a voice in the back of her mind whispered. That's all a bunch of lies, you knew within days of discovering it. You were too prideful to ask for a nobles help after what happened to your mother. Now people are being hurt because you didn't have it in you to ask for help sooner. How was I supposed to know the nobles who would care; she asked the voice; they certainly had proven they looked out for themselves first.

Neal ran a hand through his hair. A sign he was very distressed by the news, though you wouldn't know it by the way he was looking ahead. Neal spurred his horse forward.

"I guess it can't be helped now."

Arie nodded, she noticed Twitchy had turned around in his saddle. Anyone would have thought he scanning the woods, but Arie knew better. He was looking back at her to check to make sure she was okay. Arie gave him a subtle nod and he turned back to front. Another horse pulled up beside Arie. It was Lady Knight Keladry on her gelding. The horse was a strawberry roan and he eyed SandStorm in a way that made Arie worried.

"Peachblossom behave." The knight told her mount. The horse snorted. Arie laughed and patted her own horse.

"SandStorm doesn't look it, but he protects his herd. No matter what. I've seen him seen him go after a man who was beating one of his herd. And he's not afraid of predators neither. Trust me when I say, he will not be someone you want to pick a fight with carelessly my friend." She told the other horse. Peachblossom turned his head to see the human addressing him. He looked into her grey eyes then turned back to the road. Kel blinked.

"You do have Wild Magic."

Neal snorted. "You should have seen her messengers, they-."

Arie gave him a sharp look silencing the young man. "Part of their protection is that no one knows."

Neal closed his mouth sharply before murmuring, "Right, sorry."

Arie took a deep calming breath and took covert glances at anyone nearby. No one was paying too much attention, but that didn't mean anything. People have ears.

"So, about how much farther is this town?"

Kel's eyes had amusement dancing in them, yet somehow her expression was perfectly neutral.

"Sea King is a few leagues south of Pirate Swoop, it's the halfway point between Pirate Swoop and Port Legann. Didn't the Lioness teach you about the towns and villages around her home?"

Neal had opened his mouth to say a quick remark when Arie gasped in pain. She nearly slipped from SandStorm's back. Her horse whinnied when she yanked hard on the reins to keep herself from falling. Neal and Kel reached out and steadied her. Arie hunched over the saddle and dragged in breath. She couldn't hear either person's questions of what was wrong, or was she alright. All she could hear or feel was the roar of Gift. The normally itching tingle was now a fire that raced through her blood and clubbed her. It had happened like this once before, during the Immortal's War. Her mom had gone to a battle field nearby. So many dead. It was SandStorm's voice that brought her mind away from the well of her Gift.

(*Arie, what is it?*) Her friend knew what she felt. He recognized the symptoms of her Gift's power. He probably even sensed it flickering to life on its own. Before Arie could answer she felt something in the midst of the roar of so much death. A flickering light. Two. Then a voice whispered across her mind.

(You can save them.)

Oh Gods, she thought to herself. She forced the pain away from her mind and focused solely on those flickering lights.

"Neal, SandStorm, we must hurry. Someone needs our help." She collected her Gift in her hands making a small ball of fire. To herself she said, "Find where his door is creaking open, don't let them go." The fire shot from her palm and darted in between the riders up ahead. Horses shied at the sight of the fire, while their riders turned back to see what had happened. "Go," she said to SandStorm. Her friend reared and whinnied, before galloping after the ball of blue green fire. Arie clung to her friend's neck for dear life while trying to control her breathing.

"Outta the way," Neal shouted from behind her. The riders ahead had just enough time to move out of SandStorm's way as he and his rider burst past them. Magic fire ducked left into the trees and SandStorm didn't hesitate to follow. Branches lashed at Arie's face and body, but she didn't care. One of the lights was slowly dimming, growing fainter and fainter. Somewhere behind her she heard Rauol call up to Neal.

"What's going on?"

"No clue," the young noble called back. Up ahead the trees were thinning then SandStorm was standing in a vast clearing. It might have once been a field for some farmer, but now it was a graveyard. The grassy field was bathed in blood, bodies, and arrows. Stormwings were already rolling around in the blood, gore, and feces. Desecrating the bodies of the fallen.

The fire moved off to the left of the field, following the tree line. It settled above the ground just outside of the trees. Pulsing.

A cry brought Arie's gaze to the sky. Two Stormwings were spiraling in the air over her flame. Then they dived and Arie knew they wouldn't make it there in time, even with SandStorm practically flying over the ground. She reached for her Gift; like she had done when she arrived in Corus, and she swept her power in an arching band at her enemies. "Leave the living! The bodies of the dead are yours," she yelled at them. Blue green magic collided with the immortals. They were sent spinning and spiraling away though they both managed to right themselves. The creatures must have decided there was easier prey elsewhere because they flew off to join the rest of the immortals rolling in the muck of the dead. SandStorm came to an abrupt halt before the flame that was bouncing above two men. They were lying huddled in the tall grass. Only one of them was actually awake and aware.

"Please don't hurt us, I just wanna help my brother." The men were both dressed in King's Own uniforms, blood and mud soaked the once pristine clothes they wore. Arie swung out of the saddle and grabbed her bag of medical supplies out of SandStorm's saddle bag.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I'm a healer."

The man was about to tears. He sobbed, "Thank you! Gods be praised, thank you!"

Arie reached out with her Gift and sent the man to sleep. No need for him to be in even more pain, she thought to herself.

"Rest easy now. You are in good hands."

Neal came riding out them. He looked out over the field as he dismounted. "We will need to get a search party to check for survivors and run these beasts off." The way he snarled when talking about the Stormwings made Arie think he had had a particularly bad experience with the Immortals

"Don't bother, there are only dead out there. These men are the only ones that live, and they need our help now more than the dead do."

Neal looked like he was about to ask how she could know that, but then he saw the young man Arie was working on. Arrows were sticking out of his body like a grotesque pin cushion. Blood dripped out of his mouth and he stared unseeing at the flame above him. He was fading fast. Arie pulled the man's head in her lap.

"Hold on there, it will be alright."

The young man tried to look at her, he was gasping desperately for breath.

"Stay," Arie cooed at him in a soothing voice.

"Tryin-," he gasped. But Arie could already feel him slipping to the path that would lead him to the Dark God's realm. She reached into the well of her power and followed after the man. He had already begun to move down the path. Arie rushed after him, catching his hand.

"It's not your time to go this way," she told him. He looked down at her and her hand on his. She tugged gently the way they had come from.

"I don't know if I can get back," he confessed. Arie smiled reassuringly at him, her Gift moved down her hand and into him.

"No worries, I'll help you." Arie lead the way back up the path; hand in hand, until a hooded figure blocked their path. Arie squared her shoulders and squeezed the man's hand, before addressing the God, "You told me I could save him."

The Dark God nodded, but remained in her path for a moment longer. He seemed to be looking her over, whatever it was he sought he seemed to have found because he stepped aside and allowed them to pass. Arie opened her eyes to see the man smiling at her. Neal's Gift was laid over the wounds, the arrows laid next to him.

"Thank you," he wheezed before his eyes slid shut. Neal looked crestfallen, until Arie laid a hand on his shoulder.

"They live. I sent them to sleep. Rest will help with gaining their strength back."

Neal breathed a relieved sigh. "We should check to make sure they and the battle field are clean of poison before we let any of others here."