Free A Land Of Fire (Book 12) by Morgan Rice Page A

down the halls,
twisting and turning, until finally his mother instructed her to raise her
hood, and approached Erec’s door. This time, the guard stepped aside without
any questions, and his mother strutted in, holding Alistair’s hand.
    “All of you, leave us,” Erec’s mother
commanded the guards in the room. “I wish to be alone with my son.”
    Alistair kept her head down, waiting,
her heart pounding, hoping no one detected her. She heard the shuffling of feet
as several guards filtered out of the room, and finally, she heard the slamming
of the wooden door behind her, and an iron bolt being slid into place.
    Alistair pulled back her hood and
scanned the room immediately, looking for Erec. It was a dim room, lit by a single
torch, and Erec lay in a kingly bed on the opposite side, beneath piles of
luxurious furs, his face more pale than she’d ever seen it.
    “Oh, Erec,” Alistair said, rushing
forward, bursting into tears at the sight of him. She detected his energy
before she even got close, and it was a death energy. She sensed his life force
on the way out. She had been away from him for too long. Alistair knew she
should not be surprised; the first healing she’d given him had only been enough
to immediately revive him. He had needed a longer session of healing to prevent
him from dying, and so much time had passed.
    Alistair rushed to his side, knelt down,
and grabbed his hand in hers, leaning it on her forehead as she wept. He was
cold to the touch. He did not stir, did not even flutter his eyes. He lay
perfectly still, as if already dead.
    “Is it too late?” his mother asked as
she knelt by the other side of the bed, panic-stricken.
    Alistair shook her head.
    “There might still be time,” she
replied.
    Alistair leaned over and placed both her
palms on Erec’s chest, slipping them through his shirt, feeling his bare skin.
She could feel his heart beating, though faintly, and she leaned over him and
closed her eyes.
    Alistair summoned every power she’d ever
had, willing herself to bring Erec back to life. As she did, she felt a
tremendous heat rushing through her arms, through her palms, then felt it
leaving her body and entering Erec’s. She watched her hands turn black, and realized
how desperately Erec needed this.
    Alistair remained there for she did not
know how long.
    She did not know how many hours had
passed when she finally opened her eyes, feeling something subtle shift within
her. She looked down and saw Erec open his eyes for the first time. He looked right
at her.
    “Alistair,” he whispered.
    He raised a weakened hand and clasped
her wrist.
    Alistair wept, and his mother wept, too.
    “You’ve come back to us,” his mother
said.
    Erec turned and looked at her.
    “Mother,” he said.
    Erec’s eyes closed again, and he was
clearly still weak and exhausted; yet Alistair could see his skin turning back
to its old color, could see the life force once again flowing within him.
Slowly, his cheeks came back to color, too. She was elated, yet drained.
    “He will be weak for quite a while,” Alistair
said. “It could be weeks before he can stand and walk. But he will live.”
    Alistair leaned over, exhausted, nearly
collapsing on the bed, all her energy taken from her. She knew that she, too,
would need a long time to recover.
    Erec’s mother gave Alistair a look of
profound love and gratitude.
    “You saved my son,” she said. “I can see
now how wrong I was. I can see now that you had nothing to do with his attempted
murder.”
    “I would never lay a hand on him.”
    Erec’s mother nodded.
    “And now you must prove that to our
people.”
    “This entire island has me convicted,”
Alistair said.
    “I will not let them,” his mother
insisted. “You are like a daughter to me. After tonight, I would send myself to
the dungeons before you.”
    “But how can I prove my innocence?” she
asked.
    His mother thought for a long time, and
slowly her eyes lit up.
    “There is one