The Phoenix Ring(62)

He gently lowered her to the ground, his heart already back to full speed. She began to moan in agony, and he was helpless to do anything but cradle her head.

After about twenty seconds she stopped and seemed well enough to speak.

“Aaliyah, what’s going on?” Aidan asked, his voice shaky.

“Poison,” she said, her voice weak. “The wizard forced me to take it.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Aidan asked, horrified.

“I thought when we got to the island, your master might be able to heal me.”

“Aaliyah, you’re an amogh,” Aidan said, “He’s a great warlock, but he can’t perform miracles. There isn’t a warlock I’ve heard of that could heal you.”

“Oh,” Aaliyah said, more than a hint of fear in her voice, “Your mission is still far too important, Guardian.” She let out a weak chuckle. “This is not the death I had hoped to die, poisoned by a coward, my last words spoken to a mage.”

“You’re not going to die,” Aidan said, though he felt a despair growing in his chest. It was strange, a few days ago he had cared no more about Aaliyah than any other girl in the world. In truth, he had probably cared less. But now, the thought of her dying so quickly and brutally was worse than anything Aidan could think of, save the death of his mother.

“Aaliyah, how long do you think you have?” he asked, but the girl didn’t answer. She was still breathing, but only barely, and her eyes had closed.

Aidan stood and ran to the packs, looking for anything that might save his friend.

His book of magic fell out of one of the packs. As soon as he saw it, he grabbed it and ran back to Aliyah.

“Come on, come on,” he said, flipping to a small section on healing. There were spells for healing humans, dwarves, elves, even cave trolls, but none for an amogh.

Finally, he reached the end, where a folded wad of paper fell out. Aidan’s shaking fingers pulled it flat, ripping it a little at the sides. On the one side in huge letters was written “Extremely dangerous. Do not attempt.” On the other were the instructions for a general fix all healing spell called “lifeline,” but it wasn’t like any spell Aidan had seen before.

It only consisted of one word, kianis, the word for Arror in The Sorcerer’s Tongue, but there the simplicity ended.

Aidan would literally have to reach inside himself and pull out his Arror, then connect it with Aaliyah’s. If he pulled out too little, it could tear in two. If he pulled out too much, it could kill him. If he and Aaliyah weren’t compatible, they would both die.

If something were to go wrong, Aidan would have no idea how to fix it. He knew nothing about Arror, save that it was the strongest magic of all, and that it was intricately connected to a person’s soul.

Aidan stared at his friend, and back at the parchment, his heart torn between loyalty and practicality.

Then, with a small shudder, Aaliyah stopped breathing.

Loyalty won out, and Aidan shouted the word, putting his hands to his chest and closing his eyes.

And he felt his soul. It was warm, a little too warm in fact. Almost angry. It didn’t want to be caught, and slipped away from his hands like a wet stone. After three tries, he caught it, almost by the tail, and began to pull it out of himself.

The agony of that moment was almost akin to having a morka spell cast on him, but somehow the mage pushed through, sweat dripping down his back. He pulled his Arror slowly, never losing his grip, never letting it rip. Finally, when it was an arm’s length away, he pushed it down onto his friend’s chest. From somewhere inside her, he felt her Arror, broken and helpless, begin to reach up and touch his.

He felt something connect and opened his eyes, a moment before an agonizing pain filled his stomach. In one moment, everything in him changed. There were no words to describe what he was feeling, but in that one moment he began to feel, and at the same time not feel, everything his friend was experiencing. He felt her pain, her fear, and something else, something good, that he couldn’t quite understand. And more than that, he understood her. Her anger, her passions, everything about her was unveiled to him. He was still reveling in his new world when Aaliyah suddenly breathed in a great gasp, though she remained unconscious. He knew that she was dreaming about sitting in a tree by a beautiful lake, waiting for a deer to unwittingly wander too close to her lookout.

Then Aidan felt something wrong with the connection. He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed to cause a break in their mental telepathy for a moment.

What could possibly have gone wrong now? The boy thought. He whispered “Kianis,” and his world changed.