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.Zasian closed his eyes and let his fingers caress the wound.Where he touched, Kaanyr felt cooling sensations, and the swelling seemed to go down the slightest bit, while color returned to the skin.Kaanyr let out a deep, satisfied sigh, not realizing until it was made better just how bad his arm had felt.Zasian continued to work for a few moments more, magically leeching all of the poison and infection from Kaanyr's arm.When he was finished, the priest smiled vaguely up at the cambion, then turned his gaze away again, lost in his own stare.Kaanyr stared at the place where the wound had been.His arm felt perfect, and there was nothing to denote that he had been injured at all other than a very narrow white scar that was already fading.The cambion flexed his arm a few times, testing its mobility.Satisfied, he rose to his feet and turned toward the others.It was only then that he realized what a sorry state Aliisza was in.Her body looked beaten and bartered, and blood poured from several wounds.She had balled herself into a knot and was retching blood.She gasped for breath as she writhed on the hard stone ground, even as the blue glow around her faded.Kneeling down beside her, Kaanyr said, "You look like death warmed over.Do not tell me you aren't hurt.""I am hurt." She coughed again, and more blood dribbled down her chin."I think my newfound arcane power is devouring me.""What?" Kaanyr asked softly.All his recent thoughts and memories of their happier times together surged through him, jumbled in a painful revelation.He felt sudden fear."Why would that happen?"Aliisza drew a deep breath."The backlash of Mystra's death," she said."I felt it course through me when I first came to, back in the rotunda.Just as I suspect it is what fused Micus and Myshik together and stole Zasian's memories, it must have imbued me with unparalleled power." She trembled."But that power draws on me, on my lifeforce, to function."For a moment, the look on Aliisza's face reflected Kaanyr's own pain."I don't understand," he said."Yes, you do," she said."Great power.Killing me.Slowly."Kaanyr felt his chest tighten, found it hard to breathe."How bad is it?" he asked."Can you recover?"Aliisza shook her head."I don't know.I dare not—" Another wracking coughing fit hit her.She wiped away the smear of blood from her lips and tried again."I dare not invoke the magic again," she said."Each time, it gets worse.I can rest and feel better, but if I cast another spell, it takes me all the way down.And then some."Kaanyr sagged back against a stout stalagmite.I'm losing her, he realized.Perhaps Zasian could.Kaanyr rose, crossed over to the priest, and grabbed him by the arm."Come here, you," he snarled, pulling on the man."Come make her better."But Zasian didn't react.He merely toppled over onto his side."Damn you!" Kaanyr shouted, drawing his leg back to kick the priest."Kaanyr, stop it!" Aliisza cried out.Her voice was weak, and she could hardly hold herself upright, but she crawled toward Zasian anyway, trying to reach out and ward off the impending blow.Kaanyr paused, stunned.You would protect him, even if it meant your own death.You'd defend him even from me.As feeble as a lamb, yet you still—Then his indignation and rage left as realization struck him.You're a fool, Kaanyr Vhok, he told himself.You've created a mess of massive proportions and stuck yourself right in the middle of it.Well, it's time to fix it.It's time to fix everything you've fouled up.There can be no future for you until you resolve this.With that, Vhok felt a great weight lift from him.He sensed many tendays' worth of anger and frustration dissipate.It was time to act.No more hesitation, no more succumbing to inaction.It's a new day, Kaanyr Vhok.Vhok saw Aliisza's eyes widen, staring at him.She's wondering, he thought.She's worried that she's just crossed a threshold, revealed her deepest, darkest weakness to me, and that she can't trust me with the knowledge.Let me show you, lover."It's remarkable," he said."A day or so ago, I would have wanted nothing more than to ram my blade through his gut.Today, he restores my arm without a thought.And I mean that.He literally doesn't seem to have a thought left in him."Tauran coughed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]