He released his grip on her cloak and fell to the ground. In that same instant, the horse turned back into swirling mist, becoming non-corporeal once more, and Halisstra found herself flying through the air. Snow-covered branches whipped at her face as she struck the trees ahead. She landed heavily, knocking the air from her lungs, and lay for a moment, too stunned to do anything but gasp. Then she realized they'd done it - they'd reached the forest.
Scrambling to her feet, she staggered out of the trees. She could no longer feel her feet - they were like lumps of ice, somewhere at the bottom of her legs - but somehow she managed to walk. She was relieved to see Ryld sitting up, apparently unharmed by the fall. She knelt beside him and draped one of his arms across her shoulder.
"Can you walk?" she asked.
He shook his head.
Looking more closely at him, Halisstra was alarmed by the gray-ish tinge of his skin. She hurriedly dropped his arm.
"Wait, then," she told him. "I'll pray."
"Pray . . . quickly," he gasped, then his eyes closed and he sank back into the snow.
Halisstra gasped in alarm. Was he dead?
No, Ryld's chest still rose and fell. Leaning forward, she placed a hand upon his chest, forcing her frozen fingers into the shape of a crescent moon.
Eilistraee,she prayed silently, unable to speak the words aloud because of the trembling of her lips.I beg of you. Help me. Send me the magic Ineed to drive the poison from his body. I could not sing your praises this morning as the sun rose, but I beg of you - let me do that now. Bestow your bounty upon your servant, and give me the blessings I need so that I can save the life of this male who serves. . .She paused then, and sobbed, then corrected herself.This man that I love.
That done, she began humming the morning prayer. Singing the words was impossible - she was shivering violently again, and her lips didn't seem to be working properly.
She paused. Was that the crackle of a breaking twig in the woods?
It didn't matter.
Continue the song, she told herself.
Teeth chattering, she resumed her humming, but it was difficult to concentrate. The fiery tingling had left her hands, leaving a com-forting numbness. All she wanted to do was lie down in the snow beside Ryld and sleep. . . .
Was that someone calling her name? No, she must have been hallucinating.
Keep humming, she told herself. Keep praying. Ryld's life de-pends on it.
But what song had she been humming? her teeth had at last stopped chattering, but with the shivering gone, Halisstra found her-self unable to remember the melody. Instead she sat, staring, at Ryld. Was he even alive?
None of it mattered. Not any more.
Her prayer unfinished, Halisstra sighed, then crumpled to the ground. Strangely the snow was warm, not cold, like a comforting blanket. She lay in it, watching the flakes drift down from the wide gray sky. Funny, she'd never dreamed she'd die with so much space above her. . . .
There. That dark patch. That was the ceiling of a cavern . . . wasn't it? Then why was it moving? Why was it bending down and taking her hand?
As if in a dream, Uluyara's face swam down toward hers. Frag-ments of a sentence drifted down into her ears, like falling snow.
"We . . . scrying . . . found you."
Halisstra felt hands lifting her and for a moment thought that Uluyara was shifting her body so she could remove the Crescent Blade and songsword from her backpack. Then she heard the melody of a prayer - that was Feliane's voice; she must have been here, too - and she felt a tingle of warmth. Halisstra realized that her pack was being removed so Feliane could hold her, warm her with her body . . . and her magic. At first she was shocked - then she realized she was still thinking like a drow of the Underdark. Knowing that she was saved, she cried in relief, then she realized she was being selfish.
"Ryld. . . ," she whispered.
"Don't worry," Feliane said, her voice growing more intelligible as magic flowed into Halisstra, warming her and driving away the icy hand of death. "He's alive. Uluyara is driving the poison from his body even now."
Sighing, Halisstra allowed herself to relax, to drink in the warmth of Feliane's spell. She'd done it