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"Kara!"

My name That was my name I knew that too The dark-haired one shouted my name He stood several feet from me, as if reluctant to approach Barefooted Never seen him barefooted Face twisted in concentration, he worked the arcane with blinding speed, tracing sigils and patterns and sending theain "Rhyzkahl seeks to follow You h the conduit" He turned to the blond one "Prepare to seal it as soon as it is clear"

Cast hi hurt The sense of wrongness filledcry I felt hiht to touch led to push the wrongness away, gathered what shreds of will I still had to drive back the sain Cast him from you!"

I moaned and recoiled as the foul touch returned You are mine, it whispered No other may touch you thus You will be eternal

I sucked breath through a throat raw fro, I threw e and pain and betrayal and hatred, then let it all loose upon the wrongness, upon the Tor I had left

And then I collapsed, spent I could see the blond one tracing quickly I no longer felt the Tormentor, as if the door had been closed upon hi, deeply soiled, and aith relentless pain

The dark-haired one crouched, still several feet away, eyes intent upon h he was still far fro froers, dispersed it It stung, whatever it was he did, and I flinched and whimpered

"Kara" Kara

I heard

He continued to inch forward, continued to pluck things fro, like the snap of a rubber band againstthe sense of yuck seemed to fade

"Idris," the dark-hairedhis eyes frorainning to rapidly trace He glanced over at me for the first ti as if holding back the urge to spew

I knew this dark-haired one Not the Tormenter, but one of his ilk

"Mzatal," I breathed

"Yes, Kara, Mzatal," he responded, exuding utter cal, steadily clearing the arcane crap that clung to me Behind him, the blond one--Idris, yes, that was his nanited it Mzatal instantly breathed deeper, and I could sense the flow of power as he drew potency from the new pattern

I wanted oblivion I wanted to pass out, escape the pain, escape everything I’d just been through, but that relief eluded aze drifted to the pattern I didn’t try and focus on it I didn’t want to focus on anything My mind wanted to drift, and I let it I didn’t want to be aware or awake I didn’t want to be in the here and now

Kara!

I jerked back tothroughto let ht never findhis way forward "And I aht to work moisture into my mouth "You…have ht back in his control, right back to being his prisoner

"Yes, almost," he replied "And until I can touch you, I will continue to call you so that you do not slip away"

He did continue to call to an to drift Every time, his voice and an incorporeal touch--ht me back After what felt like an eternity, he reached htly on edfroed breath

Mzatal shifted to sit cross-legged besidethe bruising and swelling of ers ca must have cut me when he’d backhanded me

"Tired," I mumbled, easier noith my lips and face not so swollen "Sleep"