Original: To Fire It Shall Return

Chapter 2

Lelahn watched through the small barred window of her cell until the tall man in black had disappeared up the narrow winding staircase that led away from her prison. Only when she was sure he was gone did she gather up the dirty rags he laughingly called 'clothes' and cover herself with them. She curled up on her side in a corner and stared at the opposite wall, only six-feet away.

She noted dispassionately that she wasn't crying. Once, years ago, she would have kicked and screamed, sobbing hysterically until she passed out from exhaustion. But it had only made him laugh harder, and didn't prevent the inevitable pain. Now she didn't bother. The whole ordeal would only weaken her until she could only lie there under his weight, too weak to even turn her face away from his kisses.

He had never told her in the five years since he had kidnapped her who he was, but she knew. She had heard stories of the Black Wizard - little more than myths - when she was young. Every story had always ended with the words: "But, in the end, the White Sorceress, Alainna, defeated him and he died, never to trouble us again". The words, as much a ritual as the winter feast, had always produced a warm glow in her heart. Now, the words that had been spoken around a nightly fire, produced only a cold lump of irony in the pit of her stomach. As she looked into his fiery black eyes and pale, drawn face with the scar like a red thunderbolt shooting down his left cheek, she could hardly suppress a bitter laugh at their naïveté.

She also had some idea of why he wanted her, though he had never told her that either. Before beginning her almost nightly torture, he recited an incantation. She couldn't understand the words, but the spell would make her very weak. In the first few years, she had thought it was meant to stop her from resisting; however, as she had stopped resisting anyway, she realized that that wasn't it at all. He had nearly died, she reasoned, and was now almost certainly preparing to make a second appearance. He was taking her strength to heal himself. He had probably been kidnapping young girls for this purpose all this time, but she had a feeling that she was the last. The thought of being the one who helped him to rise from the grave never failed to make her shudder. As the shiver raced through her body, she tried to banish the thought from her mind.

She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the aching and the faint scratching of rats in the dirt wall behind her. Her last thought before falling into an exhausted sleep was, They had better be ready.

Kelden crept silently through the bushes, keeping his eye trained on his quarry. He had cast what he privately called a 'Missed Me' spell on himself - though it was actually called 'Shadowing'. This didn't really make him invisible, only decreased the chance that he would be noticed. As a result, he moved very carefully as he worked his way over to a good viewing position.

Kelden looked young, only about twenty, but his three-hundred years of life had given his dark, almost black eyes an ancient look that bellied his exuberant smile and strong, unlined features. His hair was ash-blond and tumbled to his shoulders in waves that seemed as unbridled and carefree as he himself did.

He watched as Corin marched confidently up to the stone edifice, his sword in one hand, Alainna's powder in the other. The tower was basically a huge block of sheer mica, the only opening being a single door in the bottom. The moonlight made the stone glitter brightly, illuminating the area around it. Corin opened the door and paused to sprinkle some of the powder on the threshold. A few moments later, the door closed.

Kelden settled down to wait and see what happened. He half-wished he could go with Corin and share in the fun, but as the Wizard Observer for the City of Koranna, he wasn't able to risk his life that way, especially after what had happened to Chyrie. Ah well, he sighed mentally, them's the breaks. Kelden was dreading telling Alainna of the death of her favourite student. He had been putting it off for the last three days, hoping that Corin would rescue the children and he would have some good news to tell her as well.

After over an hour, Kelden was roused from a light doze as his familiar, Karim, a white lizard, looked up suddenly, his tongue flicking in and out.

What is it?

Look, was Karim's only response.

Kelden followed his gaze to the tower where a terrific racket had erupted. A moment later, a black shape flew up from the tower, followed by a terrific series of shouted curses from Corin which Kelden could hear even at the distance from which he sat.

The black shape was silhouetted briefly by the full moon as it turned and began moving south. It seemed to be a team of black Horses, pulling a huge chariot. Kelden couldn't see what was inside, but he suspected that it most likely had been a man all along, not a monster as it had been described.

A few minutes later, Corin stumbled dejectedly out of the tower. Of the almost twenty children who had been taken there, there was no sign. Sighing, Kelden began sneaking back toward Koranna.

A girl sits in a clearing, the awesome beauty of life surrounding her and reflecting in her youthful, innocent eyes. She smiles, holding the flowers her beloved had given her. A stream bubbles and gurgles at her feet. Then a shadow covers the sun and she looks into the dark eyes of a man. He speaks to her and she flees, her blue dress tearing on the branches that reach out to grab her, stop her flight.

She has almost reached safety; the buildings of her home town are ahead of her, opening their arms in welcome as she runs. Then the man swoops out of the sky astride a monstrous black Horse and grabs her around the waist, bearing her up into the sky--

--Lelahn was awakened from her fitful sleep with a start, stifling a scream as she always did, as the scratching in the wall behind her suddenly penetrated into her consciousness. She sat up tentatively, the dream already fading from memory, listening to the noise. Suddenly the sound ceased as clods of dirt and something large and furry tumbled into her lap. She barely repressed a yelp of surprise. After a moment the heavy creature clambered off and began sniffing around her cell. It moved into the faint beam of light coming in through the door and she saw instantly that the creature was, in fact, a mole. Lelahn reached out hesitantly to stroke it. The mole's fur was coarse, but warm. It reached around and licked her hand gently. This one was much larger than most, almost as big around as she was. This gave her an idea. She left the mole for a moment, eliciting a squeak of protest from the animal, and examined the hole it had made. She could fit her whole head inside and, doing so, could see a faint glimmer of daylight above.

She stepped back to think about this. Five years of near starvation and abuse had taken their toll, making her almost thin enough to fit her whole body inside that hole. With just a little work, she thought, I could get out of here.

She looked at the mole. "Bless you" she said. Then she attacked the hole with her fingernails, widening it until she could fit her slight body through.

Alainna set up the various implements she needed to restart the interrupted spell with a feeling of disquiet. What if the Black Wizard had come back from the dead? She had defeated him once before, but she didn't want to go through that again. Was there anything she could do now, at this early juncture?

"Yes, there is," she muttered to herself. Sharra, she called in her mind. With a desperate flutter of wings, Sharra flew into the main spell chamber and alighted on her perch.

What? she demanded good-naturedly.

How would you feel about going on a trip?

You want to check out the Black Wizard's fortress?

Alainna nodded, Any objections?

What if he is back from the dead and he sees us? Sharra's voice contained only a little sarcasm.

I don't want to attack Akarris, I'll just use the transportation powder to get in, look around, and get out again.

You realize that that's the last of the powder, warned Sharra.

Yes, but we probably won't need it again anyway, we can always use Horses.

Then let's go, said Sharra, taking her place on Alainna's left shoulder.

Alainna picked up the canister of powder with which she had sent Corin back to Koranna. There was only a little bit left, dusting the bottom. She shook half of it out into her palm and flung it into the air. The powder coalesced in a cloud around the two and they were bound for Akarris.

They found themselves in a jungle on the edge of a dry, grassless plain. The trees served to conceal them from the view of whomever may be in the castle. Alainna had studiously avoided this place since that terrible day when she had defeated the Black Wizard, and now she saw that during the hundred years since his death, nature had gradually begun to take back the land that had been spoiled by his evil experiments in magic.

The castle, which had been the site of the final battle, was made of black obsidian. There was no sign of activity inside the fortress. It stood, silent and forbidding, without a sign of life. Alainna could still feel the evil presence that permeated the area like a clammy, invisible mist, but the signature was old and fading.

I guess you were wrong. said Sharra cheerfully,

You're right, let's go back to Solarna. Alainna answered. She was about to shake the last of the powder out of the jar, when a surprised squawk from Sharra brought her head up. She looked toward Akarris again where someone had just appeared and was heading toward them.

Lelahn pushed and clawed her way up the tunnel, never taking her eyes from the welcoming point of daylight ahead. Though the last five years had given the girl an advantage in making her small enough to fit in the hole, it had also robbed her of her youthful strength. She gasped quick ragged breaths until her throat burned. She felt a sharp stinging pain and a gush of warm blood run over her hand as a nail tore off, but she hardly noticed.

After what seemed like an eternity, she struggled her way out of the stinking, dirty hole. Blinded by the first real sunlight she'd seen in five years, she stumbled away from the fortress. Her bare feet burned on the parched earth and for the first time she realized how much danger she was in. Her heart in her throat, she looked around wildly for cover, and spotted a small figure in the jungle ahead. To Lelahn's eyes, the figure shone like an angel. It seemed to beckon her forward without moving. She stumbled toward it, tripping on the small imperfections and cracks in the ground, and barely managing to stay on her feet. When she reached the jungle she finally fell, nearly on her savior's feet. Before she descended into unconsciousness amid the leafy green silence she managed to croak out one word;

"Help."

Kelden laboriously climbed the rock staircase toward the front door of Solarna, his mouth moving in ceaseless complaint. "Why does that blasted woman have to do this to us? Why can't she just have a house on the ground like normal people? Why…"

He had escaped from Koranna and ridden a Horse to the bottom of the staircase, which was as close as he could come. No one on a Horse could approach the doors of Alainna's stronghold, though Horses with no riders were not subject to the protective magic. Finally he reached the top of the staircase and pulled open one of the doors. As always, he misjudged its weight and the ring flew out of his hands, and the door crashed solidly against the rock face. The blow prompted a flurry of snow to fall from the top of the cliff, covering Kelden and his familiar in a thin film of wet flakes. The cold dusting only increased his tension as he stomped inside, slamming the door behind him with a distinct lack of respect.

"Alainna!" he called. He peered down each of the corridors around him, trying to figure out where the mistress of the household was.

At his shout, Alainna emerged from a door at the end of one of the corridors to his right and made an irritated gesture for him to be quiet. Then she waved at him to join her and disappeared behind the door again. When Kelden reached the door it opened on a unique sight; There was a small, unhealthily thin girl lying on the bed. She was dressed in a white cotton robe that hung on her loosely, accentuating the thinness of her arms and face. Her dark hair was long and unkempt, and framed her face in a way that emphasized her unnatural pallor. Even starved as she was, he could still see the beauty in her face, the perfection of her body that seemed almost magic-borne. But she wasn't a sorceress; he didn't sense the magic aura that would identify her to other sorceresses and wizards. She was simply a beautiful young woman. Her hands and feet were bandaged and her face was red with fever but her chest rose and fell strongly and evenly.

"Who is she?" Kelden whispered.

"I don't know, you can't Work a Divining on someone who isn't conscious. I found her outside Akarris." As she spoke, she picked up a rag and dipped it in a tub of warm water, laying tenderly it on the girl's forehead. Kelden smiled privately, she was always a little off-guard when she was helping someone, and one never saw the pure goodness within her as clearly as during those moments.

"Do you know what she was doing there?"

"For all I know she has been living there alone for years." She rose to her feet and gestured again. "Come, we should talk elsewhere." she said. Kelden followed her out a side door, through the small spell room and into her private bedroom.

The room was sparse, but comfortable; there was a chest that held her clothing; a soft bed; and a chair, all covered with the same white silk. Kelden was motioned to the chair and Alainna sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard and pulling her knees to her chest. The robe fell away as she drew her legs up, revealing their smooth, perfect shape. In that position, she looked almost like a vulnerable child, an image that made Kelden smile again. He couldn't indulge in fantasy at the moment though, he had more important things to worry about.

"What did you find out at Akarris?"

"Nothing. There was no sign of life, except for the girl. Nature has nearly taken back the area." Kelden grimaced at the memory of the blackened, scorched earth and dead trees that used to surround the fortress for miles, "If he is there, he is certainly keeping himself hidden."

"But he must be there." Kelden insisted.

"I hope not."

"Then how do you explain the girl?" She didn't answer, only regarding Kelden with a pleading gaze. Please, let me keep a little bit of hope, however misguided it may be, her eyes said. After a moment, she brightened, obviously preparing to change the subject.

"So why have you come, old friend?" she asked,

"Actually, I came to give you the scoop on the 'monster' of Koranna" Alainna smiled, Kelden had a way of coming up with meaningless, archaic phrases and tended to sprinkle them into his language.

"What happened?"

"Corin went in but the 'monster' managed to escape and fly out of a hole in the top of the tower. It turned out to be someone in a chariot, pulled by those flying black Horses that the Black Wizard was so fond of. I didn't get a good look at him, though."

"Where is Chyrie? Why didn't she come back with you?" asked Alainna suddenly. Kelden sighed.

"She's dead. She went to confront the 'monster' herself and never returned. We saw Soren die though, which was a pretty good indication that she wasn't coming back. She's either dead or insane now. I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do." They sat for a moment. Alainna's face was very still, and paler than usual, she was obviously fighting tears. "By the way, what was that powder you gave Corin?" Kelden asked, in an attempt to change the subject. Alainna looked at him, the sorrow clearing from her blue eyes. Kelden knew she would deal with it later.

"It's quite rare. It does exactly what you believe it will do. Unfortunately, it's rather useless to me. For obvious reasons, it only works if you don't know what it really does."

"So you give it to people like Corin."

"That's right." She paused. "Are the children all right?" Alainna asked, concern showing in her voice.

Kelden suddenly looked uncomfortable, "We couldn't find them. They were all gone."

"How many?"

"He was there for almost three weeks so…" Kelden made a quick mental count, "Nineteen." The misery on Alainna's face was evident. A tear rolled down her cheek as her sorrow overcame her defenses. She wiped it away violently.

"Why didn't you come to me yourself instead of sending a measly report that no one could understand, or waiting for that fool Corin to do it?" she demanded. Kelden was affronted.

"First of all, my report was as informative as I could make it. We didn't know anything, so obviously I couldn't tell you anything. Besides, what would you have done? Blindly throwing spells would have been stupid and wasteful and you certainly couldn't have gone in yourself. Maybe a century ago you could have, but now that you're the White Sorceress-"

She interrupted his tirade. "All right, all right, I see your point. You're right, there was nothing I could have done." A sad silence ensued. Before Kelden could move the conversation onto a safer topic, Alainna's eyes fogged as she listened to her familiar. Kelden looked at her, and she met his eyes urgently. "She's waking up," she said.

The Black Wizard glared at Lokkar, his only permanent companion at the fortress. The Wizard's face was reddening with rage and the scar on his cheek stood out whitely in his anger. The mortal stared back impassively.

"How did she get out?" Koldar demanded.

"I'm not sure, sir," Lokkar replied, "She seems to have dug her way out, but I think that would have taken a lot longer than-"

The wizard interrupted him, his eyes suddenly clearing of all emotion as his rage reached a fever pitch. His voice was low and dangerous, whispering with unsaid threats of torture and death. "You're right, it would have. But I don't care about what you think. Tell me where she went."

Lokkar was tall and very thin, an occasional victim of the Wizard's strength-sapping spell. His dark brown eyes stared out of an even darker face topped with tightly curled, frizzy hair. His face seemed etched in obsidian as he stared at the epitome of evil. His lack of fright existed because of a simple fact: the Wizard needed him, and both of them knew it. Lokkar knew that there would one day come a time when that would no longer be true, but he was certain he would have an escape planned by then. He considered the question carefully, determining exactly how to answer his master's question.

"I'm not sure of that either, sir. I believe," he said, putting a subtle emphasis on the word. The Wizard's mouth twisted slightly, the only indication of his deepening displeasure, "that she was rescued soon after her escape, perhaps by the White Sorceress." The Black Wizard swore vehemently.

"Find me another girl, and carefully, I don't want Alainna to notice that I'm alive before I want her to notice," he ordered, "And get on with finding me a new location, we must move before my plans go into action"

Lokkar took his leave of Koldar and navigated through the maze of hallways to the central courtyard. He knew exactly how the girl had escaped; a mole had been found in Lelahn's cell, a clear indication that she had used the hole it made to escape; however, in the twenty years since he had rescued Koldar from the half-death that Alainna had left him in, he had learned that withholding information from the Wizard was the only way to keep some measure of control over his life. As long as Koldar thought that Lokkar knew more than he was telling, he wouldn't kill him until he had told the whole story. The key lay in deciding what information to skip over.

Lokkar reached the main courtyard and mounted one of the many black Horses that stood tethered to a pole against the south wall. Responding to his commands, the Horse sprang into the air and took an easterly course. Within minutes he was over the wide ocean. He relaxed and began running through the progress of the plan so far. The agent assigned to Koranna had not succeeded entirely as planned, but he was due to deliver the nineteen children that evening. The trouble is, he thought, I didn't anticipate Alainna's intervention. She has ignored the common people for so long.

The next time would be different. Other than that, things were pretty much proceeding as anticipated. After all, one can't expect a plan of this magnitude to proceed perfectly, he thought.

Lokkar lay down on the Horse's back and allowed the sounds of the waves and seabirds to lull him to sleep.

Kelden and Alainna arrived in the sickroom just as the girl's eyelids began to flutter. Karim was crouching on her chest chirping soothingly into her face, but as soon as they entered he hopped off and scurried up Kelden's leg with a mutter of relief and took his place on his shoulder. Karim sometimes made it a point not to be paternal. Alainna removed the damp rag from the girl's forehead. At the slight pressure from her hand the girl's eyes flew open and she sat up with a gasp, the blood rushing to her sun-starved face. Her eyes fell on Kelden and she whimpered, bringing her bandaged hands protectively toward her chest. Kelden reached out to try to comfort her and she seemed to stifle a scream. She threw herself back against the headboard, pistoning her legs sharply as if to get away. The eerie silence in which she did this and the dead look in her eyes made Kelden's heart grow cold with despair. She seemed afraid, but that empty look in her eyes… At a loss as to the reason for her reaction he drew back, which seemed to calm her somewhat. Then, he remembered the one time he had met the Black Wizard. With the same dark eyes and ash-coloured hair, the resemblance had been... eerie, to say the least.

"It's all right, I'm not the Black Wizard," he reassured her, "My name is Kelden." The distrust in her eyes was evident. Alainna rescued him with some soothing noises that attracted the girl's attention. She interposed herself between Kelden and the girl and spoke in reassuring tones.

"It's all right. You escaped from him. You're safe." It wasn't clear whether she meant Kelden or the Black Wizard.

"Who are you?" The hopelessness in the young voice stabbed deep into Kelden's heart.

"I am Alainna, the White Sorceress. You are safe with me." For the first time, an emotion showed in her cat-like green eyes - surprise, and a little apprehension. Then she flicked another glance at Kelden. He pretended not to notice her look, stroking Karim lightly on the head as if to say, you see, I have a white familiar, I must be telling the truth.

"Who is he?" the girl asked Alainna.

"He is Kelden, a friend of mine. He helped me to defeat the Black Wizard a hundred years ago," she answered in the same measured tone. "Now, I need you to tell me some things." The girl nodded. For a moment Kelden was surprised; why didn't she just Work a Telepathy spell? Then he remembered that she considered that to be an invasion of privacy and only used it under certain circumstances. It was a quirk of hers that Kelden didn't understand. Wasn't magic there to be used? Certainly the spell was not painful, in fact, it was often calming and reassuring to mortals. Alainna began to question the girl, speaking in a slow, friendly tone intended to keep her from feeling as if she was being interrogated.

"What is your name?"

"Lelahn."

"And how old are you, dear?"

"I'm twenty." Kelden was surprised at this, she didn't look any older than her late teens, perhaps eighteen years old.

For a moment it looked like the questioning may have gone on for an eternity, except that Lelahn plowed on. "I've been held by the Black Wizard for five years and he's raped me nearly every night since he kidnapped me from Lorenton," she snapped with sudden energy. "There are more important things to worry about than my welfare. The Wizard is going to reemerge soon and world had better be ready when he does."

"Yes, yes," Alainna calmed, "but before then there's time for you to get some sleep." Lelahn looked about to protest but Alainna silenced her with a wave of her hand. "When you wake up, your feet and hands will be Healed and then we can begin to make plans to deal with the Black Wizard." At the word 'we' Lelahn's eyes widened, but she obediently slid down under the covers of the bed. Alainna took her hand and muttered something. Her amulet glowed slightly with the effort of using a simple calming spell to such an extreme use. Within seconds, Lelahn was asleep. When her breathing became deep and regular, Alainna gave Kelden a worried look.

"You said it." he muttered.

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