Alternate Ending To "The High Lord"

Windows To The Soul

Sonea turned to Akkarin. She could feel him fading beneath her. Panic struck her suddenly as his eyes began to roll back in his head. No, she thought suddenly, no, you don't get to leave me like this. It was almost as though he had heard her. A familiar frown faintly creased his brow and through his laboured breaths she thought she heard him sigh. But what was she going to do, she had no healing magic left and she daren't leave his side. The Arena was too far away and she would not part from him if these were to be his last moments. Think, she admonished herself. Suddenly, it came to her. How obvious. What did it matter, it was only a building anyway. The sudden realisation snapped her into clarity and confidence. As though heralding her newfound hope, a series of footsteps clattered towards her. All three of them wore expressions of horror at the dying man laying before them, a High Lord they had respected, then feared and finally admired. "Get back," she said forcefully, command in her tone, and pointed them towards the gardens of the Guild. "Go, now!"

Rothen jumped and exchanged a quick glance with Dorrien. Balkan, realising something imperative was underfoot that he did not quite understand grasped his fellow magicians by the arms and briskly led them away. Now that Akkarin had her full attention again she could concentrate. His eyes briefly opened and flicked up to hers. All fight in them seemed to be gone and she could sense the defeat creeping in. She did not waste any more time on further communication but set herself to the task at hand. They were still lying on the steps of the University. All she needed was a little power and then she could shield. She let her senses draw into the stone of the steps, and recalled the book Akkarin had given her about Lord Coren. He had inadvertently discovered a way to strengthen magical buildings and mould materials through his experimentation with black magic. Now she was using this same skill in the service of something she loved, not the construction of an exquisitely beautiful building but something far more precious - preserving the life of the man she loved. She felt the power draw into her and quickly drew up a quick shield, in case any rubble from the weakened building would fall on either of them. At the same time, she divided the energy pouring into her, sending half of it to Akkarin. It would not be enough to heal him yet but it would prevent him from slipping into unconsciousness and help him hold on a little longer. She heard him take in a deeper breath as the power flowed into him. She did not open her eyes to check on him but kept her attention on the stone and began increasing the flow of power. Soon it was rushing into her and she created a stronger shield. She could hear cracks and rumblings from above. She heard a violent crash from behind the closed doors and knew the elaborate staircase had collapsed. Good, she thought. It must have taken an immense amount of magic to have held up something so fine and delicate. As if in response, she felt a tidal wave ripple into her. "That's enough," came a hoarse voice from beneath her. She looked down and his eyes were open, staring into hers. There was light in them again. She sensed into his body to begin healing the broken parts, though with her little knowledge of healing she was not sure how much she could do. She was about to call out to Dorrien to help when something almost stopped her heart. The corner of his lips turned up. He was healing himself. She hadn't realised it but she accessed an immense amount of power from the buildings. She didn't look up to see if any of it was still intact. She probably would have heard boulders clattering against her shield but at this point she wasn't even sure of that, so transfixed was she by the possibility that she might get to keep him. "Fascinating thought process," he said wryly, "but if you wouldn't mind, I don't think it would be a bad idea if you called Dorrien. I am not an expert in this myself." She looked down at the knife still wedged in his chest and the beads of sweat that had collected at his forehead. He was obviously still in a great deal of pain and nowhere near safe yet. She looked around in alarm, how far had they gone? Mentally she screamed his name. "Dorrien, help!" "I'm coming" was the immediate response. She looked around at the buildings to assess their state of disrepair. Dorrien would not be able to shield. She would have to protect him somehow until she could send him some healing energy of her own to help restore his exhausted magic. "Dorrien will not be able to help me that way," Akkarin stuttered between gasps. "I need to enter his mind to see what needs to be done."