They were looking for me, even my sister in her wedding dress. They were walking across the whole countryside, coming to get me and bring me home. How fast could they move? Could they find me? What would happen when they did? As I though this, my sister strode into the light of the fire.
"Zia! I've been looking everywhere for you!" My sister held her arms out to embrace me. I stood to run and hug her and let her take care of me. I ran, and then I was suddenly falling, then on the ground, Epiphany holding onto the hem of my skirt.
"Epiphany! Let me go!"
Epiphany held on with silent determination. I kicked and rolled, and the end of my hair fell into the embers of the fire and suddenly my hair was burning. I screamed and tried to put it out, I clawed at my face and hair and it was burning all around me. I did not notice anything around me anymore, I just screamed and rolled and tried to kill the fire. And then the fire was gone, and I lay in the darkness, panting. It was silent. I sat up to see if everyone around me was staring at me, but I could not see anyone. There was no fire to give light. I could not even see any stars.
"Epiphany? Roun?" I paused. The silence was complete. I sat, my gut filling with fear. "Is anyone there? Anyone?"
I had died. The world was gone. I was gone.
For half of a moment, I wondered if I could be dreaming. But I pulled my eyes wide, and I was still in dark and silence.
"Help!!!" I yelled, hoping someone could hear. Maybe if I yelled loudly enough, someone somewhere would hear me. "Help me!!!! Someone!!!!!" I summoned all of my strength and screamed. "SOMEONE! HELP ME! HELP!!!! HELP ME!!!!!"
"Zia?" My wide eyes finally opened so wide that they opened a tiny crack, and I saw two faces, dark against the blinding brightness of the fire.
"Zia, are you all right? Was it a dream?" Roun asked.
"What?"
"You were screaming. Are you all right?" Epiphany was next to Roun, equally concerned.
"It was a bad dream. It was horrible..." I realized that I was sobbing.
"It must have been," Epiphany sympathized. She pulled me toward her in a hug. Our faces touched. "Zia!" Epiphany sounded horrified. "You're burning! Roun, feel her face!"
His hand brushed my cheek. "Zia! You're so hot!"
I felt hot. How odd, to be burning when I had never been so cold.
"Lie still," Epiphany ordered. "This will cool you." She wiped my face with a wet corner of her cloak. Roun put another cloak over me like a blanket and put a branch on the fire. But even before I could thank them, I slipped into half-sleep. I stayed that way most of the night, afraid of dreaming.
I woke from a deep sleep after dawn, to see the fire still burning high and alone. Epiphany and Roun were talking a small way off. I stood unsteadily and walked slowly toward the stream. The world felt frighteningly surreal. The cold water of the stream made my head spin. I walked back slowly, and noticed that the bite on my ankle, which I thought had healed, throbbed. I lay down and listened to Roun and Epiphany as their voices rose. They were arguing again.
"We can't do that! Zia is too weak!" Epiphany sounded upset, but there was also a calculating note in her voice.
"We can get help, find a wagon that will carry her back." Roun sounded afraid, and almost desperate.
"No."
"Epiphany! We have to get her someplace warm and safe, someplace where a doctor or someone can help her!"
"Three of us, deeper in the wilderness than most people have gone in their lives, with a sick girl?"
"Someone will help us!"
"Whether anyone will help us or not, who will not take notice?" "What do you mean?"
"Do you forget what we are doing? She is the One! We are going to fight the Dark! We have to be careful!"
"What, does the Dark have spies and informants now?"
"She is weak now! Anything could happen!"
"You are right. She is weak. She is sick. She could die if we don't help her!"
"We are helping her!"
"A cloak and a fire are not as good as a warm bed."
"You remember, Roun, when Zia was bitten by the rat? And there was Dark in the bite, and I could not cure it?"
"Peh."
"You remember!?"
"Yes."
"This sickness is the same way, except that the Dark is all through Zia."
"You tried your curing trick again?"
"Yes! It won't work!"
"Which only demonstrates the high level of your skill."
"Roun! I know what I am doing! This sickness is strange."
"Sickness is sickness. It's all the same."
"If you know so much about magic, you try and heal her! See what happens!"
"I already have."
"You.. what?"
"I only did a little- I relaxed her enough to get her to sleep. I planned on doing more today, in the light. But even healing her will not do everything. She still needs to rest in a warm bed."
"Try healing her, truly healing her, now. See what happens."
"I'll indulge you." Roun stood and strode over to me. I saw that neither he nor Epiphany was wearing a cloak, though their breath came in clouds because of the cold.
"Zia, you're awake!" Epiphany exclaimed hopefully. "How are you feeling?"
How could I tell her that I felt like my world had turned sideways? "Tired. Strange."
"Let's see if I can make you feel better," Roun said as he knelt next to me. "Lie still." He put his hands on my forehead, took one deep breath, and muttered a word. I suddenly felt as I had when Epiphany had tried to heal me in the barn, what felt like so long ago. But the feeling that ran through me, both hot and cold, was a hundred times stronger than it had been then. I gasped. Roun pulled his hands away from me. I tried to catch my breath. The bite on my ankle was throbbing almost unbearably.
"Is that what happened to you?" Roun asked Epiphany.
Epiphany put her cool hand on my forehead in concern. "Yes. Zia was sleeping then."
Roun stood. "If neither you nor I can do anything, there is nothing to do but go for help."
"You can't go!" Epiphany yelled. "Zia is the One! We can take no risks!"
"Is letting Zia stay here not the greatest risk?"
"We can let no one know that she is here!"
"I don't care! We need help. I'm going." Roun strode off.
"Good." Epiphany spat the word out, and then turned to me.
"What?" Roun turned around and walked back, quickly. "I see what you're planning. The moment I'm gone, you'll take Zia and venture into the wilderness." Epiphany did not reply. "You two may be safe next to the fire but nothing will protect you outside its light!"
"I can protect Zia quite well by myself," Epiphany said.
"No you can't. If you are going to risk Zia's life like that, I'm staying here."
"Fine," Epiphany said. "Just remember, you decided to stay. I did not force you to."
Roun retreated to the far side of the fire, a dark look on his face. Epiphany rubbed my forehead, and I immediately fell asleep.