Night Falls

[cassandra]

Cassandra couldn't believe her eyes! "Dyra just stabbed Kaden!" She thought to herself in horror. Her horror only grew when she heard Dyra addressing Melacham. Her mind reeling from the double shock she just stood there for long moments..."Dyra? Dyra was his inside person?" Her mind still reeling Cassandra gave herself a mental shake, and allowed her newfound powers to take over. "Narym? See what you can do to heal Kaden. Now! She all but yelled as Narym seemed to be frozen in shock. "Fiona? You and Lily stay with Dyra and if she makes a move against either of you...kill her!

Gone was any trace of Cassandra's former indecisivness....along with any of her compassion.

"Melacham? Come and get me you coward! C'mon big boy! Fight the little girl face to face!" Cassandra taunted him.

[Cassiel]

Cassiel answered the king, "Well, to risk cliche, your worst nightmare. Sleep tight." And with those words, she plunged a pin tipped with a sleeping potion into his arm and watched him fall onto the couch. "Alright Eli, all we have to do now is lock this door and Cass will take care of him when she gets the chance. Ready?"

[Kane]

Kane knew that Dyra was in trouble, but when she lost control of her powers, his link to her was mostly blocked. When he finally found her, it was almost too late. She'd just struck down one of her friends, instead of an enemy. Kane could see the wizard's life force pouring out of him, into Dyra.

Still invisible, Kane put his hands over Kaden's wound, blocking the flow of both blood and his soul. He knew that if he left now it would be a matter of minutes before Kaden bled out and died. The last thing Dyra needed on her conscience was the death of a friend. and Kane would do all he could as a man and a god to make sure that didn't happen. He was not a healer, so all he could do was wait for someone to come and heal the other man.

[Alledyra]

Leaving the dagger buried in Kaden's back, Dyra turned away from the invisible sorcerer to see who was yelling, a cold smile filled with insanity lining her face. Her gift was only focused on energy, and through it she could feel swirls of raw power flowing from everyone around her...and something else...Kane? Shaking her head, she looked for a moment confused before the cold smile stole over her again.

Turning involuntarily towards the greatest source of power, her eyes latched onto Cassandra and her glowing amulet...small quick steps took her closer towards her friend, one hand held out as though to offer comfort. Shadows flickered around her, over her shoulders and trailed the ground beside her as Dyra drew closer.

[narym]

Narym ran to Kaden and fell to her knees on the ground beside him. She rummaged thru her pouch and found a small blue bottle. Laying one hand on Kadens wound, she pulled the stopper out of the bottle with her teeth and trickled a small amount of the colourless liquid onto it.
She started to pray softly as she concentrated on the deep wound Dyras knife had made. It was so difficult to think. Dyra! Gods, she knew she should have stuck with her!
'It's my fault, all my fault!'
She stiffened and looked up. There was another presence, she could feel it. But all she could see was Kaden, pale and bleeding. But she couldn't shake off the feeling. " Help me," she whispered, her frosty breath coming out in ragged gasps. " If you're there, help me!"
She placed her other hand over Kadens heart and shut out everything else going on around her. She visualised the blood pouring from his wound and followed the flow back to his heart. She willed the beating to slow, to reduce the flow whilst she repaired the damage to the flesh. Gradually, the bleeding slowed down until it was just a trickle. She shifted her attention to the gaping sides of the wound and began to will them to knit together. She had never had to do this alone before. This kind of field healing was usually done by two, or sometimes even three healers.
She began to shake with the effort. She pulled out another bottle from her small store and poured it on Kadens skin, to either side of the deep cut. She continued praying.
" Please, if you're there, help me."
Then slowly, she became aware of a gradual increase in her strength, as if several other healers were now beside her. She opened her eyes. No, she was alone. She watched in wonder as the deep knife wound gradually closed. She sent herself back to the wizards heart and slowly increased its pumping, until she felt the wound would hold.
She hastily applied a field dressing, but in her heart she knew it would not be needed and sat down on the frozen floor, oblivious to the ice.
Gods, she was exhausted, but Kaden would live.
" Thank you," she whispered," whoever you are."

[Kaden]

The wizard gasped, finding himself grasping for breaths when he awoke. Unable to believe he'd actually fainted, Kaden tried to sit up quickly only to be reminded by his body that that was not an option. "Ow...Damn..." He grimaced. He'd been stabbed, he remembered that much. Gingerly touching where the wound was, he was surprised (to say the least) that it was gone. This was when he saw Narym on the ice. "You healed me again..." Kaden noted, before smirking sort of oddly. "Thanks. You're very useful to have around, you know."

Standing up more slowly, his eyes zeroed in on his target. Now that Cassandra was there, he wasn't paying any attention to Melacham at that moment, only worrying about the traitor. Incidentally though, he noticed her heading over to Cass. "Narym, this room's gonna start getting even colder and I'm not gonna be able to control it." Kaden warned her, the room already starting to prove him right. His anger had his power flaring out of control. Patches of ice were forming on the walls and the ceiling. The wizard drew his scythe, never taking his eyes off Alledyra. Pointing his free hand out toward her, a ring of ice formed around her neck, choking her.

[narym]

Narym looked up at Kaden and felt a surge of relief and, just as quickly, a cold and wet rear! Damn but the floor was like a skating rink!
She heard his words but they didn't register for a moment. Can't control what? Then she felt the bone numbing cold hit her with a force that almost knocked her flat.
She managed to scramble to her feet." Kaden?" She slipped and slid as she tried to reach him. " Kaden don't!".
The wizard had pulled out his scythe and was pointing to Dyra. She looked over at the young woman and saw that she was choking. " Kaden, please! Look at her eyes! Something's wrong with her! Kaden! Don't!"

[Alledyra]

A collar of ice clutched at her throat as she neared Cassandra, but Dyra didn't notice. Moving her lips as though still madly speaking to herself, she only began to notice that she was out of air when her lungs started to burn...but even if she'd wanted to, she couldn't control her gift at this point. Turning to face Kaden, her skin had taken on a blue tint from lack of oxygen and cold, but a blank smile stayed in place. Shadows flickered up and down her shoulders as her gift struggled with the lack of oxygen. Taking a few steps closer to Kaden, Dyra paused halfway there and fell to her knees, one hand grasping for Kaden even though he was surely too far away and the other going to the ice around her neck...and finding instead her leather pouch...

Her body was beginning to shut down, but her gift was keeping her animated with the energy she'd stored. Stumbling back to her feet, she started stiffly walking towards Kaden. Blind, deaf, with her heart stuttering in her chest as it, too, began to fail, she was following the tiny tendril of magic that was connecting Kaden with the ice collar...

[Kaden]

She'd betrayed them. He'd been attacked and almost killed by people he'd trusted too many times. These were the only things that were going through the wizard's mind at first. His smirk only widened, even as he saw her drop to her knees. She tried to kill him, so they couldn't fault him for...He cut off his thoughts as he saw her get back up. Wasn't she just...? Narym's words finally clicked. Her eyes.

They'd gone glazed over. She was out of oxygen, yet she was still coming after him? Something WAS controlling her. It was in that moment that he found himself again. Cursing yet again, this time because his conscience won over him, he waved his hand and vanished the ring from around her neck. Yet she still came towards him. All the consciousness seemed to be gone from her; she was shuffling toward him...almost like a zombie. Waving his hand once again, Kaden began to fashion a cage of ice around her.

[narym]

Narym watched Dyra with disbelief. How could she keep moving with a body starved of air? What was controlling her? How?
Then Kaden let the choke hold go and she realised then that she had been holding her breath. Gasping, she moved forward even as the wizard began to fashion something out of ice.
" Don't hurt her Kaden, it's not Dyra doing this!"
She moved slowly towards her, trying not to slide on the ice.
A cage! Kaden had enveloped Dyra in a cage of blue ice. Narym stretched out a hand, but it was too cold to touch.
" Dyra," she said gently, " Dyra. Come back."

[Alledyra]

Dyra's steps slowed, as her gift burned through energy in an attempt to keep her alive for a few more moments without air. When the ice that was choking her vanished it was more of an instinct to take a deep gasping breath than a thought, coughing up blood from burst vessels in response to the cold air. Using more energy to heal the damage that was done, her steps slowed even more, until she was standing unsteadily inside the cage. Her eyes flickered from black to grey, and she looked around confused as her gift abruptly shut down, exhausted of excess energy.

Looking out of the cage, she heard Narym call her name and turned terrified, childishly innocent eyes out of the cold clear bars, her voice rough, "Oh, gods, I lost control..." Pausing to take a shaky breath, she queried quietly to Narym, "Did I do good?"

Dyra was waiting on Narym's response when she suddenly realized what was coming next, and turned away. Leaning on the bars, she let herself slide down to the floor, and wrapped her arms around her knees. The pain was instantaneous as her soul fractured to absorb the new pieces it had taken, and her breath once again stopped. This was the opposite side of her gift...when she used her gift on people it inevitably happened, but usually not this strong, or quickly...but she'd taken too many pieces of soul.

[narym]

" Kaden!" Narym screamed." Kill the cage! Let me in, I've got to help her!"
She turned to the wizard, pleading. " Please Kaden!"

[Alledyra]

Dyra had a core of what she considered to be her true 'self' hidden inside all of the fractured pieces....a part of her that she'd been able to keep hidden and protected during the healing of her soul...but she'd never taken so many lives at one time before this. This time, she couldn't protect that area, as tiny pieces of soul broke through barriers she hadn't realized she had. As untouched areas of her soul were bared, ripped to pieces and healed together, her mind snapped and she had a physical reaction for the first time...she started convulsing....for unbearable seconds her body twisted on the iced floor before she fell into blissful unconciousness.

[narym]

Narym threw herself at the cage, heedless of the searing cold. She reached thru the bars and touched Dyra, whilst fumbling in her pouch. Gods the woman was a mess. Blood dripped from her mouth down the front of her clothes and pooled on the ice. Her convulsions had stopped but her body was still suffering.
Narym was desperate. Taking a deep breath, she forcibly calmed herself and dripped the potion into Dyras mouth. Closing her eyes, she touched the stricken womans forehead and called Fallow. ' Need you pal,' she said. 'I know you can't get in here, but can you join with me?'
' We have only done this once,' he replied.
' No choice,' she said tersely. 'She's dying.'
'There is another there with you.'
'Yes, I felt him. Hope he helps.'
She lowered her head and praying, sought Dyras beleaguered soul.

[Alledyra]

Dyra had been born to be a healer, until her teacher had found her. Twisting her gift into a misshapen tool, it had taken her years to realize what her gift did to those she healed...it had taken her longer to realize what it did to herself, and she was usually much more cautious in it's use than she had been recently. Inside the soothing darkness of sleep, her soul continued healing as it always had, only deeper, leaving scars etched over her persona. Her breathing eased as the potion Narym had dripped into her mouth soothed her body. A key on a thin chain around her neck also began to glow slightly, as though active. Kane had given her the key and told her that when she wanted to leave she only had to use it...and deep in her subconcious, she was opening a door that hadn't been there before. What little of her spirit she could pull together was fleeing what the rest of her soul was becoming. The glow on the key faded, as she mentally pulled a door closed, leaving her body in a state of undisturbed sleep...