Rionan’s expression was unreadable, but Alianna noted the grief that stirred in her chest for the Stormbringer.
For several long moments, neither of them spoke.
“What happened, Rionan? I remember seeing Rannirr. I remember running. I couldn’t get the stone out of that damn bag. What happened?”
Rionan took a deep breath. “Are you comfortable? This is quite the story.”
Rionan recounted everything that had happened.
He told her of Rannirr finding him on the battlefield. Of Rannirr scenting his and Alianna’s bond, and disappearing off to the ramparts to find her. His eyes had clouded with tears as he paused his story, like he was wrestling with something that brought him physical pain to think about.
He told her what he knew of her falling in to the Well. He froze as he said the words, taking deep, shuddering breaths, before regaining his composure.
He told her that he suspected she was carrying the stone when she entered the Well, and unleashed the power of the four Lords directly within the Well, as they had planned.
Alianna gasped as Rionan told her of the new power that dwelled within him, and that he had been able to destroy the entire enemy force, including Rannirr.
That had all happened ten days ago.
Alianna had been unconscious for ten days.
She had remained inside Rionan’s bedroom in Savangrad. The same room they now sat in. He had reclaimed his ancestral home now that Rannirr had been wiped from Xanthia.
As Rionan spoke of the Well, Alianna vaguely recalled what had happened. She told him about Rannirr taunting her, and her realisation that she had a choice: die by his hand, or die by her own. Rionan gripped her hand tightly, his face pained, as she continued her story. She remembered how she had pushed off of Rannirr to fall into the Well, expecting to be obliterated by the power within it.
“I can’t remember anything after that, until waking up here,” Alianna finished. Rionan looked at her tenderly, his eyes soft with what looked like an apology.
“How, exactly, am I here? After falling into the Well?”
“That is a really good question,” came another male voice. Alianna and Rionan both turned to see Thallax standing in the doorway, a smile on his face. “Good to see you awake, Ali. You gave us all quite the scare.”
“Thallax,” said Alianna, grinning broadly. “It is so good to see you. Your partner, your child – have they come home?”
Thallax seemed to wince. “Not just yet. There are a few things we need to take care of in Xanthia, first. All in good time. Rionan can talk you through that. This is about you right now, and Rionan was going to tell you how it is that you are still here.”
Rionan looked towards Thallax. “It was Thallax that found you first. He picked you up and carried you to Ykava.”
Alianna looked between Rionan and Thallax, waiting for one of them to continue the story. Thallax rolled his eyes, sweeping into the room and plonking himself down on a chair at the end of the bed.
“Toput it bluntly, you were just floating above the Well, Ali. You should have been…well, not that. Nobody has ever heard of this happening in the history of our people. But there you were, floating above the Well. Unconscious, but unharmed.”
Alianna blinked at Thallax as Rionan began speaking.
“Ykava thinks that it is because we are bonded. You fell into a Well of my power, and you hold a fragment of my soul within you. The power in the Well would not harmme– it is mine. The most likely explanation is that the power in the Well could not discern between the two of us, and did not harm you, either."
“You’re damn lucky, Ali,” Thallax breathed. “Lucky that you two had such strong feelings towards each other that you bonded, even if you didn’t know it was going to happen. Any other circumstance, and – well. We don’t need to talk about other circumstances, because that didn’t happen.”
Alianna nodded slowly, trying to wade through the information she had been presented with. It would have been easier if it weren’t for the awful headache.
“So, you are saying,” she asked, “nobody in the history of your people has ever been left unharmed… by falling into the Well of somebody that they are bonded to?”
“It is recommended that you avoid jumping into the Wells of any of the Lords, if you value your existence,” Thallax huffed. “It is even less likely that somebody who is bonded to a Lord of Xanthia would – I don’t know – just throw themselves into their Well. Thankfully, we met this human girl who managed to put the theory to the test for us, while we were in the throes of battle.”
Thallax gave her a soft smile and stood, going to the fruit bowl nearby to pick up an apple.
Alianna wondered if she should speak to Thallax about Ulreah.
She couldn’t shake the vacancy of Ulreah’s stare as the life faded from him.
