The Broken Sword - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Panting heavily, Gregory half jogged and half stumbled up the road and came onto the small plateau. His second wind kicked in when he saw Nathanial and Yamara rolling on the grass beside he road. Already Yamara was struggling back to her feet, though she seemed more then a little disoriented. By the time he reached them she was on her feet, if a bit unsteadily. He offered Nathanial his hand and helped his friend up. He followed their gaze to the cliff, from which smoke and waves of heat rose.

They approached the edge and looked over it, squinting as the heat from the fire baked rocks rose upwards. Fifteen feet down Bobo hanged by his arm draped over a spindle of rock, though he hung limply and only because his arm was wedged into another rock. His clothing was blackened or missing, and much of his hair was singed to his scalp as well. The smell of burnt flesh rose to meet them, making both Gregory and Nathanial pull away. Yamara stared for a moment longer, then looked down, beyond Bobo, to see the golden dragon statue nearly completely immersed in the lake below.

She began to pull away when he saw Bobo move. Looking back wide eyed, she realized that he moved because he still lived, even if only briefly.

"Look!" Gregory said, drawing her attention. He pointed to the sky, where the shimmering blue shield of the sky was thinning out and disappearing to reveal a clear sky filled with a nearly full moon and clear view of the stars.

"Rope!" Yamara snapped, thankful that the shield was disappearing, now she could leave the city and return to a semblance of normality. But before that she had a debt that she owed.

"What?" Nathanial asked, turning to her and away from the sky.

"The Prince still lives, give me a rope so I can climb down and get him," she said calmly and evenly, but with a tightness to her voice that brooked no question.

Gregory rifled through his backpack quickly, pulling out a length of silk rope. Yamara studied it briefly, making certain it was sound, before she handed one end of it to Nathanial then tossed the other end over the edge of the cliff. Gregory watched, wide eyed, as she followed it over climbing over it quickly and without the aid of the rope, her bare fingers and toes touching the still hot rocks.

"How does she do that?" Nathanial asked, amazed. Gregory just shook his head, unable to explain it. He could sense no magic about her, it defied everything he knew about the laws of nature and the laws of the arcane.

Nathanial felt a tug on the rope a few moments later, then glanced over at Gregory who was peering over the edge. He nodded and grabbed on to the rope as well, helping Nathanial haul the roasted Prince up. Yamara climbed beside him, helping when she could to keep any further damage from being done to him. Her face was a mask of intense concentration throughout, though it had nothing to do with the several hundred foot drop to the lake below.

On level ground again they saw that Bobo was breathing shallowly and with great difficulty. In a few places the damage was so bad that his bones showed through where the skin had been eaten away by the flames. Without magic of an extreme caliber he held on to life only by the hardy nature of his unique heritage.

Yamara sat beside him on the grass, her nudity ignored and all but forgotten by all three of them. She reached out and placed her hand on Bobo's chest, ignoring the crackling of his tunic and skin and the wetness of the blood that seeped through. She closed her eyes and focused on feeling his heartbeat, slipping into a trance as she felt it and focused her energy on it, strengthening it as she once had long ago for another man on the brink of death.

Nathanial saw Bobo's breathing strengthen, although only a little, and the blood staining the grass under him grow thicker. He knelt beside him and began a chant of his own, preying to Alto for the healing magic to bring Bobo back from the brink of death. Enough of the soothing energy poured through him to lessen the pain of the Prince's wounds and to make his blackened eyelids flutter open. His eyes were a milky white, blind to the world. His mouth opened, the skin of his lips and cheeks cracking with the movement. Gregory leaned forward, the only unoccupied at present, and listened as Bobo struggled to speak.

He whispered broken words in Elvish, garbled with the ruin that had been done to his body. Gregory heard enough to hazard a guess though. He reached into a pouch at Bobo's side that had been shielded from the fire and he opened it up, taking out a wooden token emblazoned with the image of a moon rising over crossed swords. He threw it down on the ground and stomped on it, grinding with his heel and breaking it in half.

Gregory stepped back and waited. His wait was short lived, for within seconds two figures appeared before him, startling Nathanial and making him rise up and back away in surprise. Kelnozz and Alesha stood before them, looking around hurriedly and then noticing the ruined body of their son. Alesha flew to him, kneeling down where Nathanial had been and placing her own hands upon him. She let out a pained gasp as she sent her power into him, searching out his condition and learning what his immediate fate would be.

"He will die in minutes," Alesha said, looking up to Kelnozz with tears running freely.

Kelnozz stared down at his son, his hands and jaw clenched to reign in his pain. "Save him," he ordered.

"The cost will be great," Alesha warned him. She too wanted their son to live, more then anything, but she feared what making him live might cost them all.

"No matter the cost, save him!"

Alesha looked up and saw Yamara. She gasped in surprise, not having realized fully she was there a moment before. Yamara looked back at her, though the look in her eyes showed her mind was elsewhere. Alesha nodded to her. "As before, Yamara, give him strength to make him hold on."

Yamara nodded slightly, then closed her eyes and focused her will. Around her neck the ruby glowed brightly, casting a reddish glow over them. Alesha looked at the others and said in a soft and tired voice, "Who will share their strength with him?"

Nathanial and Gregory looked at each other, not entirely understanding. Nathanial stepped forward after a moment and opened his mouth to speak. He fell silent when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"He came because of me, I will bear the burden," Kelnozz said. He knelt beside Alesha and she took his hand and laid it upon Bobo's forehead, her own hand on top of his. Her other hand she laid beside Yamara's on his chest. Her eyes closed and she reached inside herself calling upon the darkest of her powers that she had locked away decades before.

Kelnozz gasped as he felt an icy vortex open in his palm, sucking the heat and the life from him. He pushed down, ignoring his instinctive reaction to pull away, knowing somehow that breaking the connection would seal his son's fate.

Yamara's eyes widened as she felt the power rushing through the Prince and through her because of their temporarily linked life-force. She gazed at Alesha in equal parts admiration and fear. She had never witnessed such raw naked power in her life. It made her shudder. Alesha glanced up, her eyes a pure glowing black with no sign of her pupil or iris. Yamara could faintly see the outline of lips on her forehead as well, glowing as though it were under a black light. Her mouth moved, uttering words silently of names and things best left unknown. Around Yamara's neck the ruby grew brighter and brighter, until finally it flashed so brightly it seemed it had exploded. When the flash had faded Yamara was truly naked, the ruby had disappeared and the leather thong that held it had fallen to the ground.

Yamara picked herself up from where she had fallen, noticing as she did so that almost everyone else had been knocked to the ground by the pulse of power as well. She glanced down, not feeling the familiar weight of the amulet and gasped. She reached out with her mind, trying to sense it, but again she met with emptiness. Yet her power remained unchanged, or perhaps even more stable and sure then before. Her eyes widened as another possibility occurred to her. She sent her senses inward and found it, though the ruby was gone the spirit within it had merged with her. In contacting the darkness and the planes of the dead a tunnel had been opened. Brina, or a part of her, had been drawn to her and now she was truly a part of her. Dead and gone forever, but she lived on within her. Thankfully unseen, a tear fell from Yamara's eye.

Alesha alone remained kneeling over Bobocateya. She rose slowly, her skin glowing with non-light. She looked to the sky and raised her hands almost beseechingly. Then she fell to the ground, her hands touching the ground and causing an unseen tremor as she released the stored up energy into the earth. She looked up at last, breathing heavily, and stared at her son.

Bobo's clothing remained charred and blackened, or just absent. His skin was healed, however, and a slightly darker hue, as though the burn had left him with a permanent suntan. His chest rose and fell evenly as he slept.

Kelnozz stood up slowly. Weakly. He looked at his son where he slept and nodded, a thin smile coming to his face. He looked at his own palm and saw that it was pale and thin, almost emaciated looking. He clenched his feet and felt the weakness within it. Throughout his body he felt bone tired.

"Thank you," he said, walking over to Alesha. And placing his unmarked hand on hers. She looked up at him and nodded. Her eyes had gone back to normal but a haunted look remained in them.

"I had to open a portal to dark places to give him life. Many things tried to follow me through that portal," she said softly. "I fought them off, but some may have come through and touched him before I dispatched them."

"You healed him?" Nathanial asked, staring at the smooth and unmarked skin of the Prince. He was astonished to think that such a thing could happen without the holy blessing of a God. It shook his system of beliefs to the core, in fact.

"I can not restore life," Alesha said, turning to him. "Only trade it. That and I gave him a touch of my power, enough to understand the darkness that threatened him and to live with it as an ally instead of an enemy."

"I felt it," Yamara said, speaking at last. She hugged her arms about herself, not for modesty, but because she felt more alive and aware then ever before. "Some of it came into me."

"How?" Alesha hissed, staring at her with a sudden curiosity.

"To keep him alive I had to link our life force. To long and he would have died, pulling me with him. But we lived together for a brief time. I saw everything about him and within him, from his earliest memories to his fondest dreams," Yamara said, turning to Kelnozz and looking at him fondly. She smiled and shrugged.

"It will fade from me, but the memories will remain," she said. "What touched him touched me as well. Already I can see better in the dark, what else may have happened to... us, I do not know."

A noise behind them drew their attention. Kelnozz spun about first, his senses dulled slightly by his encounter. His hands went to the swords at his hips, but his left hand could not grasp the hilt strongly enough to pull it free from his scabbard. His jaw twitched as he realized his sudden vulnerability. He left both swords sheathed, concealing his weakness.

Doguren approached, numbering in the dozens before they could no longer count. They took up positions along the road and parted to let their Queen through. She strode boldly forward, moving so smoothly she seemed to be floating rather then walking. She studied the small party of people and smiled widely when she saw Kelnozz, recognizing him instantly for who and what he was.

"Hello mother," Kelnozz said, hiding his trepidation and uncertainty well.

"At last, my son has come to free me from this prison!" She said, walking towards him and smiling widely. "All these years... I knew you would come eventually."

"You have done well for yourself, I see," she continued. "King of the reunited Elves. Such a destiny beyond what I dreamed."

Kelnozz hid his scowl. "Release your servants, mother, and return with us to Innowendyn. See that which the elves have made their home."

Kalista shook her head emphatically. "This is the home of the elves!" She insisted. "I'll not go into exile as they did! Belurian belongs to our kind, it must be reclaimed!"

"Many will return to Thoragloorin," Kelnozz said evenly, "but only those who wish to do so and only those who understand that while Thoragloorin will again be a safe place for elves on Belurian, only Thoragloorin will be under their control."

Kalista opened her mouth to retort but Kelnozz persisted. "The world has grown and evolved, mother. Much has changed since your time. There are many different peoples now, dwarves, humans, halflings, and others. Many are descended of the ogres of old, but now they are separate races scattered about in many towns and cities. They have greater numbers then the elves, and they possess armies as well. No, the time of the elves ruling all is past. It died in your time, with the betrayal of the forsaken ones."

"Impossible," Kalista spat. "Rule at my side, my son, and we can claim it all again! These are but a sample of the army I have at my call. We can sweep through the lands and reunite it!"

"You were married to the brother of the King ages past, I was named heir and King through direct blood and ability. You and I shall never rule together. You forsook your claim to nobility by betraying your husband and everything he stood for!" Kelnozz said, his voice rising with his ire. His concerns over her nature had proven to be true, he saw at last. In spite of his hopes to the contrary, his father had made a mistake by imprisoning her instead of executing her.

Kalista looked at him in shock. Then her shock faded and was replaced by condescending laughter. "And what will you do, King Kelnozz? I remain your mother and your elder, you have no right to challenge me."

"I grew up having no mother," Kelnozz growled, matching her challenging stare. "And no father, thanks to you and your consort. You are nothing more then a relic of the past. Unfinished business that was left for me to take care of."

Her eyes narrowed hatefully. "So be it, I will show you first hand the strengths of my magic and my army!"

Kalista raised her hand and the doguren drew their weapons, everything from swords and spears to bows. Gregory looked back and forth rapidly, seeing an unavoidable and obviously unpleasant confrontation rapidly approaching. Yamara cursed under her breath behind him, seeing the same thing.

"Got any tricks up your sleeve?" Yamara whispered to Alesha, who stood nearby.

The woman glanced at her briefly and shook her head, looking none to amused. "I must focus on stopping whatever Kalista does."

Unseen at their feet Bobo's eyelids fluttered open. He stared up at the night sky, his eyes still a milky white and seemingly unseeing. What he actually saw was the world in a different way. Around him he sensed the life force of those closest to him. Even the grass beneath him he could sense. Then it faded, his eyes clearing. With it so too did his special vision fade. The brighter glow of the people around him faded and he recognized them as those he had known.

He sat up slowly, dimly hearing the talking behind him, but paying no attention to it. He looked down at his body, studying it and noting that his armor was in tatters and worthless, yet his body was whole. Somehow though, he felt different. More aware, more alive, then ever he had before. Bobo stood up and turned around, seeing his mother and father were now with them, and they were facing his grandmother. A family reunion from hell.

"Welcome back," Nathanial whispered to him. Bobo grunted, hearing him clearly.

"Seems your grandma and dad are not getting along to well," Nathanial continued.

Bobo nodded, focusing on the world around him and wondering at how differently he was perceiving it. Something was nagging at him, something he could not quite place. He sensed something behind them all. Unable to deny it any longer he turned around and walked to the edge and peered over the cliff. Faint heat still rose from the cliff wall, sending an unpleasant shiver down his spine at the memory of it.

Far below, climbing up out of the water along the rocky wall was what had tugged at his mind. A giant...thing, was crawling up the wall. It possessed six legs, each ending in vicious talons half the size of a man. A tail with a bony club on the tip of it swung behind it. A thick shell protected its back and its belly, and spikes of hardened shell protruded from it further showcasing its violent nature. The head of the monster possessed four multi-faceted eyes and sharp pincers that could grip and tear food before feeding it to the sharp looking teeth of the beasts mouth.

"Mother! Father!" Bobo called out, backing away and reaching into a pouch that was secured to his belt behind his back. He pulled out some small items wrapped in silk and shoved them into the barrels of his pistols. He followed this with two iron balls, one for each barrel, and reached for the wooden rod that was normally stored alongside the barrels to ram the bullets and powder in with. His eyes widened when he realized the rod had burned up in the flames.

Gregory approached the edge quickly, seeing Bobo up and acting somewhat frantic. Bobo saw him approach and snatched the wizard's wand out of his hand, shoving it quickly down each barrel and completing the action of arming his pistols. Gregory looked at him in shocked outrage, then snatched his wand back as soon as Bobo was finished. The Prince shrugged and gave him a weak grin by means of apology.

"What is it, Bobo?" Alesha said, alarmed by the tone in his voice. Kelnozz turned away from Kalista, but made sure he could still see her out of the corner of his eye. Dimly he noticed a smile was spreading across Kalista's face.

"It is the guardian that was left behind, in case the shield should ever fail," Kalista said. "It will not stop until all of Thoragloorin is destroyed and everyone within it is slain."

Bobo leaned over the edge, took quick aim, and fired both barrels of his pistol. One slug bounced off the hard shell of the guardian's back, and the other glanced off one of the cruel horns coming out of its head. Bobo fell back, dismayed at how useless his ranged attack had been.

"This is bad," Gregory said, having looked over the edge as well.

Nathanial glanced at him and then at the army of doguren behind them. "You have a talent for stating the obvious." Gregory smirked and tried to think up some creative ways to use his spells.

"Let us destroy this mindless creature and then we can debate the future of the elves and the legacy I gave you!" Kalista said, emphasizing her last words. Kelnozz turned to her then looked back at the edge of the cliff. He looked back to her and nodded once, accepting the truce.

On cue the first of the beast's six feet cleared the top edge of the cliff, landing with enough force to impress upon all of them a desire to not be caught under it. Gregory acted first, flinging his wand forward and spraying magical flames out of it and over the leg and foot. If the guardian was upset or dismayed by the fire he made no sign of it, instead bringing another of its insect-like legs over the cliff.

Yamara, Bobo, and Nathanial acted next, lashing out with their weapons, be they swords in Yamara and Bobo's case or Nathanial's fists and feet. Small wounds were scored on the creature, but nothing that seemed to inconvenience it. It continued its nonstop ascent towards them, gaining a purchase with its middle legs and pulling the bulk of its body towards them.

Kelnozz glanced to Alesha, who nodded with a resigned look in her eyes. He drew Llarothimaril with his right hand and ran forward, dodging under a sweeping horn and lashing out, cutting the tip off of one of the pincers of the guardian. At nearly six and a half feet tall Kelnozz was still dwarfed by the guardian.

Alesha raised her hands, reaching down deep within herself and then deeper still, within darker places she could connect to, and flung tendrils of non-light at the guardian. Where they struck they clung to the creature, leaching away at its strength. It howled and thrashed, throwing the shadowy fragments free of it after a moment. It turned to gaze at Alesha, moving towards her with determined steps.

Alesha reached to the sky again and made a beckoning motion with her hands, backing up slowly as the guardian approached her. The doguren rushed forward, adding their mostly ineffectual help by hacking and chopping at the feet of the creature. Bowstrings twanged and arrows struck about the head and neck of the guardian, bouncing off or sticking in but doing no real damage to the hardened skin.

Alesha's spell reached fruition then, summoning a mighty glowing rock from the sky, it blazed down from the sky and struck the rear of the guardian with force enough to send nearly everyone stumbling to the knees. The smoke from the strike cleared quickly, blown away by a breeze and showed the guardian still alive and picking itself back up to attack her. Near the rear of the beasts body the ground was littered with dead doguren, either those slain by her spell or crushed under the guardian as it was driven to the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise and she fell back.

Kelnozz slashed across with his sword, opening a great wound on the underside of the guardian's jaw. No blood fell from the wound, instead a viscous fluid filled the gash and sealed it over, hardening before the elf's eyes into skin. Kelnozz stood there, stunned, and for his inaction was caught by one of the forelimbs as it stepped forward. He sprawled to the side, rolling out of the way of the descending foot and scrambled back to his feet.

The guardian plowed its head down into the masses of doguren around it, capturing one between its pincers and impaling another on one of its horns. Kelnozz blinked in shock and realized that the pincer he had severed earlier had regrown its tip already.

Alesha began to understand the nature of the beast in front of her. Enough physical damage might eventually destroy it, but it was a creature of the elements, created to merge both nature and the world around her. Fire, earth, water, and air would not destroy it. Indeed, perhaps nothing could destroy it. But, if given enough time, she could defeat it.

"Keep it busy," Alesha called out over the din of battle. She turned and ran from it, heading towards the portcullis where the stream flowed from the fountain in the palace courtyard. She stopped and turned to face it, reaching out and gathering the dying life forces of the doguren and drawing their energy in to her. It left her with a sour taste in her mouth, yet simultaneously filled her with power and ignited the spark of lust for it within her.

Bobo looked up, sensing something, and saw his mother standing with her arms raised above her. A black cloud swirled around her hands, growing larger and larger by the moment. He felt chilled, as though whatever she was doing was drawing the warmth from the air around him. He squinted and realized that he could recognize bits and pieces of the cloud, they were the souls of the dead.

Bobo gasped when Gregory knocked him aside, barely avoiding a descending taloned foot from the guardian. Gregory gasped as a numbing pain spread through him. He looked at where a talon had torn a gash through the inside of his thigh, nearly to the bone. Beyond that he could see Alesha standing with her arms raised, He saw nothing of the cloud, but he could sense the growing magic around her through his own nauseating pain.

"Powerful stuff," Gregory said through gritted teeth as he grabbed Bobo's arm and let himself be hauled to his feet.

"Necromancy!" The Prince whispered.

Gregory shrugged. "She needs time, let's give it to her!"

Bobo nodded, raising his sword and rushing towards the nearest leg. Gregory aimed his wand and cast another spell, sending his magic ball of super compressed air towards the guardian's head. It exploded, sending several doguren flying, and even managed to tear a chunk of flesh from the cheek of the guardian, but in moments it healed the damage done to it. The guardian's attention was diverted, however, making it lash out with its tail, clipping a ducking Gregory in the shoulder and sending him rolling. Nearby doguren were not so lucky, being struck dead on by the crushing weight of it.

Alesha was ready at last. She gathered enough power within her and above her to cast her spell, a powerful spell of imprisonment. She flung her arms forward and the energy gathered materialized into a dark band of energy that shot out from her towards the guardian in a beam. It struck the guardian easily and spread quickly, enveloping it entirely. It screamed at the spell and tried to move out of it, but the spell stuck with it. Alesha gritted her teeth and focused, lowering her arms slowly and clearly fighting every inch of the way. The guardian began to slowly sink, the ground underneath it yielding as it gradually lowered.

Nathanial pulled away, seeing the beast covered in a dark glow, then he drew back with the intent of punching it again. He was stopped by someone grabbing his arm, the strength as great as his own in his divine fervor. He turned and saw Yamara standing beside him, shaking her head.

"Do not touch it, it will pull you down with it," she warned. Nathanial followed her gaze and saw several doguren that had continued to attack and were now in the very predicament that Yamara had warned him of. Nathanial nodded and relaxed his stance.

They backed away and watched as the guardian struggled, stomped, and screamed its rage, but was unable to break free of Alesha's spell. Finally the last of it slid beneath the surface of the ground. Still Alesha remained focused, lowering her arms more and more until at the end she was pointing nearly straight down. Only then did she relax her stance and swoon, barely catching herself before falling.

Alesha shook her head, sending her raven hair flying about her face. She reached up and pulled it away then looked to Kelnozz and the others. "It is done."

Kelnozz hurried towards her, sheathing his blade and when he reached her he pulled her to him, wrapping his strong right arm around her. She only gave minimal strength to returning his hug, but she did move her head next to his ear so she could whisper into it.

"Was Thoragloorin worth it?" she asked, her voice a mixture of anger and despair.

Kelnozz pulled away, looking at her questioningly, but found the look in her eyes stilled any response he might make.

"Where did Kalista go?" Gregory asked, breaking the tension. Everyone turned to look, trying to find the elven sorceress, but she was nowhere to be found. The doguren that remained among them retreated as well, heading into the castle.

"She had no intention of helping us fight the guardian, it only served to help her escape!" Kelnozz said, nearly grinding his teeth in frustration. "We must find her and stop her!"

"She is gone," Yamara said, opening her eyes and looking at him. "I felt my link with her break during the fight, but I did not notice it at the time. She has fled Thoragloorin."

Kelnozz cursed softly and looked at those surrounding him. His gaze went back to Yamara and he cocked his head as he stared at her. She stood still and firm, weathering his gaze as he studied her nude body.

"You look well for a woman who has aged over thirty years since last we met," he observed.

"I try to eat healthy," she responded.

Kelnozz smirked and stared around Thoragloorin, looking beyond the cliff into the more common sections of the city below, as well as the fabled park that surrounded the lake. His gaze returned to Yamara, as it always seemed to, though this time he made no attempt at pretending he was doing anything other then studying her face and her eyes.

"Why are you here?"

"I brought the blade here, I heard there was a place within to hide it, a place where no one would ever find it," she responded. Kelnozz closed his eyes and shook his head.

"The Well of Lost Worlds?"

"Yes, that is the place," Yamara said.

"Then you may have doomed this world," Kelnozz said sounding tired. "That sword may not leave this world through any portal, for it is bound to it. By doing so it forces the portal to remain open, allowing entry to whatever chances across it."

"The Well of Lost Worlds can open a rift to almost anywhere," he continued. "And though the blade no doubt went to whichever world you were thinking of when you cast it in, a rift has been opened in every world where it can reach for those who can see it, allowing anyone access."

"For the truly talented a beacon or a thread can be seen connecting the blade with the portal, showing them the way to it," Kelnozz finished. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Thoragloorin is a place of many forgotten wonders... chief among them is the wonder that perhaps we are not ready for it to be returned."

"I will go and get it," Yamara said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed. "It was mine to safeguard and still is. I will ensure that it is returned."

Kelnozz nodded, "Do you remember what it is you were thinking about when you tossed it in?"

Yamara grinned, her smile resembling nothing so much as that of a predator's. "The most inhospitable place I could think of."

"Where is Gregory?" Nathanial asked, looking about for his companion. At last he found him lying amongst several dead doguren, his face pale.

The monk rushed to him before anyone else could reach him and knelt beside him, carefully lifting his head. Gregory's eyes fluttered open. "Leave it to you to ruin a good dream," the enchanter said, his voice weak. Nathanial's eyes widened. He looked at his friend and saw the wound on his leg.

"Rest, I will see if I can heal you," Nathanial reassured him.

Gregory smiled faintly. "About time you earned your keep."

Nathanial fought the smile and the tears in his eyes and instead focused on his internal conduit to Alto. The priest had used much of his power already, but surely for such a worthy cause Alto would grant him an additional spell. In his arms Gregory closed his eyes and relaxed back into a deep sleep.

When Nathanial looked up there were fresh tears in his eyes. Bobo, Kelnozz, and Alesha all stood nearby looking down up on him. Yamara alone was off retrieving her clothing. "I could not heal him in time," Nathanial whispered.

Kelnozz nodded, resting his hand on the monk's shoulder. "It was a grievous wound, it is no fault of your own he bled out so quickly."

"You healed your son when he was all but dead, is there nothing you can do for him?" Nathanial said, looking to Alesha pleadingly.

Alesha's face drained of color at the request. "No!" She nearly shouted. Then her tone softened. "I am sorry, but I can not, to restore his life another must die, and even then he would forever be tainted. Not he alone, but it would damage me as well."

Nathanial looked away then stood up, picking up his friend's body as he rose. He walked over to the edge of the cliff and, after a long moment he dropped the enchanter into the lake hundreds of feet below.

Continued in Chapter 12

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