A'rillia repeated herself a few times, her mind reaching out for David's.  

<Dae, try to have Kaylin get his attention will you?>
**David... Breda, it's A'Rillia... the new kestra'chern... David??**
<Dae, hold me... I have to touch him... he's not strong enough...>

Arri shuddered in fear of what she knew was coming and plunged her hands 
through the scattered threads to rest her hands on his temples.

<**Blackness/Wind/Anger/Fear/Falling/Hatred/Cold/Hot/Alien... Who?!!**>

David, without opening his eyes, spoke in a language Minty or the healers had 
never heard.  

Arri tried not to be taken aback by the gasp of disbelief from the others 
in the room as David began to speak, concentrating only on holding him 
steady in that incredible swirling, clutching vortex. As the liquid 
syllables of a language dead save to scholars to thousands of years came 
pouring out of his mouth in a strained, tight voice, the last vestiges of 
her reserve about this drained away and she responded in the language that 
she knew like the beating of her heart...

{What do you ask?} David said, his tounge working fast in the old 
speech.  Arri was taken aback, but only for a second.  

{To heal your mind, you must let me in.  Will you?} She said, the people 
in the room now looking at her, confused even more to know that Arri 
understood the words.

There was a long silence as she sensed David weighing the import of her 
words. Those standing about her had no idea what kind of trust allowing 
someone to walk the halls of your mind knowingly required. She had heard 
tales of the wounded healer at Keldarra with the power of the gods in him. 
This was nothing like that at all. It was an opening deeper than sex, 
stonger than love... their souls would never really be apart after this... 
She tried to express all of this to him in a heartbeat, and to the larger 
presence that would be his dragon, hovering protectively nearby.

**I mean you no harm, bredu, but it is always your choice. It must be, for 
it is your mind and I wish to walk it to help you find your way back...**

{Enter, but know it is your choice...} David said, and his face grew 
taught as his mind now reached out and engulfed Arri's, pulling her into 
what lurked inside....

Arri snapped her eyes open and felt the barrier break. The tendrils of his 
mind, waving in the dim vision of her mind, reached out for her hungrily, 
latching onto her heart and her mind... and drawing her....drawing...
<DAE!...I ...can't....>

<***Spinning/Blackness/Anger/Hatred/Many/Feed/Kill/Wind/Dust/Darkness/Light/
Breed/Fear/Lost/Frightened/Alone..***>
{**David...David... talk to me... you are not alone...***}
{**Running... I can hear them... oh gods I can still hear them... I am 
going to die... I am so alone... Help me... Make them stop...Make them 
stop... Falling... Spinning.. Blackness...Pain!... Forgotten... 
Forgotten...Dying... Alone...**}

In horror, Arri watched David's mind replay the final moments of his 
memory/life with the wraiths over and over again... With every cycle, she 
could feel him sliding away from her and into his own mind... 

{**David... hold me... that's it... talk to me... drown them out...**}
{**Minty? Oh gods Minty, I am going to die here... help me... help me... 
why can't I see you.. I'm so scared... Minty I love you... help me...**}
{**I am not Minty. I am here to help you. Where are you?**}
<***Blackness/Despair/Fear/Anger/Loss/Regret/Blackness/Feeding/Revenge/Pain
Whirlwind/Emptyness/Kill/Dust/Spinning/Falling...***>

<:*David*:>
Arri started slightly at the unfamiliar touch on their shared mind... 
{**Kaylin? What? How? Where am I**} said David in the most lucid voice she 
had heard since she Joined him in this nightmare.
Accepting that it was the dragon belonging to the injured rider, A'Rillia 
reached for Daetyn's mind in a desparate attempt to touch normalcy before 
David's attention wandered and the dreaming began again. Wrapping herself in 
the warmth of her dragon's concern, she called out to the strange presence 
by speaking to David aloud...
{**Daetyn, Kaylin'sha... if I back out, can you hold us stable? I'm afraid 
to leave him, but I'm too close for it to be safe and he obviously has no 
control here...**}
<:*You are the healer?*:>
{**Yes I am. If you can hold David back from the dreams for a moment while I 
stabilize?**}
<:*I will do what I can.*:>
{**That's all I ask... Just keep talking to him... that seems to help...**}
<:So will I. Arri, let go and let me carry you... Lean into my mind and let 
him go...:>

Suddenly there was a flood of energy from her dragon as Arri bonded with 
her at a deeper level than she ever had before. With a shudder, she blinked 
back into her body, emitting a small cry of pain and disorientation.

<:Okay?:>
<What did you do?>
<:I can't explain now. Hurry:>

In a distant sort of sense she noticed that the WarrenLady's mate and a 
young lad she didn't know had come into the Med Centre, and that Minty and 
D'sarrian were walking towards her.

"No. Do not touch me. Do not touch the anama-bach. I am not finished."

She reached up and carefully combed away some of the blackest strands from 
her temples, cleaning them, weaving fresh ones in from places where her fear 
was not until they were no longer clutching at her in the need to be whole, 
but could lay within his own mind quietly.  The starlight touching her heart 
she left alone, before she reached back into the web with a sigh and a 
mental nod to her dragon.

The sensation was not unlike digging one's fingers into a damp fishing net 
full of tar and carrying a very low voltage current. Slightly painful, 
sticky, dirty and very slippery to the touch. With more delicate control, 
she touched David's mind again.

{**Anama-bach? Heart-son? Are you still here?**}
{**Yes/Yes**}

Bleak grays and blacks met her eyes, a desert landscape against gray 
mountains and gnarled gray trees. Wind blew gray sand into her eyes and her 
skin as she stared disbelievingly at what she saw.

Dressed in perfect fighting leathers, were two Davids. Well, one of them 
looked like David.. the one in white with the concerned look on his face. 
The one in black with the amulet on had David's body... but the grin on its 
face made her skin want to crawl off into a bath without her.

She looked down at the standard green leathers that were Healers garb 
everywhere; tight pants, snug shirt, weskit and medicine pouch complete with 
tinctures. Nothing was amiss, save that she was seeing what looked 
frighteningly like a splitting personality, and she had no idea how to deal 
with that.

The real David (as opposed to the doppelganger) looked at her with a sad smile.

{**Failte, kestra'chern**}
{**Failte, slainte', anama-bach.**}

That's when the doppelganger grabbed David around the neck with the amulet 
and began to laugh horribly in a voice that was not one, but many discordant 
giggles and hoots and howls raking across her mind. It was David, but it was 
*not* David...

Hunter's reaction took over and she aimed a full force drop kick into the 
face of the doppelganger, rolling to the side and standing to assess the damage.

The doppelganger was obviously in pain, but was still laughing through 
broken teeth and bleeding gums. Far more alarming was the fact that David 
seemed to be in pain as well... less so, but still there.

**Hhee'ss mmiinnee, bbiittcchh** the doppelganger hissed in a soft burble. 
**Wwee hhaadd hhiimm oonnccee aanndd yyoouu ccoouullddnn'tt ssttoopp uuss...**

Standing, it/they began laughing again and lunged at her with the amulet. 
Unwilling to risk attacking it for fear of what the reprecussions to David 
might be (who was slumped against a tree, struggling to catch his breath), 
she rolled out of the way again, reaching into her pouch for the sling and 
stones that she knew were there.

{**Why? Why is he yours?**} she taunted as it/they stood up again, covered 
in the powder-fine sand that seemed to cover so much of this place...

It/they threw their head back and howled in triumph.

**Bbeeccaauussee yyoouu ccoouulldd nnoott ttaakkee iitt ffrroomm uuss.**

It? Take It? 

{**The amulet**} David called with a wheeze

**TTeellll hheerr, ssttuuppiidd hhuummaann. TTaauunntt hheerr wwiitthh 
hheerr ffaaiilluurress. LLeett hheerr wwaattcchh wwhhiillee yyoouu ddiie... 
YYoouu aarree oouurrss...**

{**What is so special about the amulet?**} She tried to get around the 
dopplegangers other side in order to stay between it/they and exhausted, 
shivering David. It/they snarled, but stood its ground. Pulling the sling 
from her jacket pocket, she loaded it with a small, smooth stone, just in case.

**BBeeffoorree hhee kkeepptt iitt. NNooww hhee ddooeess nnoott. BBuutt iitt 
ddooeess nnoott mmaatteer. Wwhheenn tthhee bbooddyy ddiieess iitt iiss 
oouurrss aatt llaasstt aass iitt sshhoouulldd hhaavvee bbeeeenn...**

Before? She didn't really have time to think about what that may mean, 
because it attacked them one last time. 

{**Forgive me for what I must do, David**}

She cocked back and spun a rock into the doppleganger's temple with the 
sling. As it/they lost conciousness, bruises blooming on the temple already 
so did David, and she went careening back into her body, the impact throwing 
her from the chair and onto the Med centre floor... The funny thing was, she 
could have sworn David was smiling as she left.

Picking herself up and ignoring the dismayed cries, she checked his vital 
signs and released the tendrils still fixated on her. She knew he would be 
stable, if unconcious for a couple of hours.

<:Arri?!:>
<I'm... well, not okay, but I'm alive. And so is he. For now.>

She sank back into the chair without a word, holding her hand up for quiet. 
The room fell silent while she thought for a moment.

"Minty," she called in a cool, businesslike voice in strangely lilted 
Common, "Could you come here for a moment? I think I may need some 
assistance here that you, as the only other person who has seen the amulet, 
may be able to provide..."

D'sarrian walked up and reached towards David as Minty shyly moved towards 
the haggard Healer seated next to her lover.

"Do not touch him, D'sarrian."
"But you aren't linked...?"
"I am... I am monitoring him. Please sit down. He is unconcious. I had no 
choice. He will not be unconcious long... he is only stunned."

Minty looked at Arri with concern in her eyes. "Will he be all right?" She 
leaned towards David in concern, hands jittering with the desire to reach 
out and touch him.

Arri heaved a deep sigh and shook her head once, beginning with the litany 
she had been repeating since she came in. "Please, Araminta, do not touch 
him. Perhaps. His mind is splitting in two. He is still aware of who he is, 
but barely. The part of his mind that controls the dreams and caused the 
strange demonic behavior that I saw when I came in seems to be directly 
linked to that amulet..."

She tapped her knuckles against her forehead as she continued thinking 
aloud, "The entity keeps talking about the 'before' when we did not get the 
amulet away from David... it seems to be a physical representation of the 
Wraith mind..."

Looking up at Minty, Arri shrugged in defeat. "Before? I still don't 
understand that. That's why I need your help."

"My help?" Minty looked confused. "What can I do?"

Waving at C'Tain to fetch her a glass of water, A'Rillia sighed again and 
tried to vocalize what she had seen inside David's head.

"It's as if, because David does not have the amulet, the wraiths have 
invaded his mind directly instead of using the object as a conduit." 
Gratefully she took the water from C'Tain and sipped before continuing.. "I 
need to know what the circumstances were behind his losing the amulet... who 
has it now and what possible effect getting it back may have. If returning 
it to him will give him enough concious control to break the bond, then yes, 
he will probably be okay."

Minty stared at A'Rillia in vague derision. "But you still haven't told me 
what I can do, and besides, the amulet was lost to the caverns... we don't 
know where it is."

Green eyes locked onto purple. "Wrong. Lass, you *were* there. I wasn't. All 
of David's memories have a certain smell to them.. and it's the perfume you 
are wearing right now. If I can see your memories, than maybe I can figure 
out where the amulet is, or at the very least who has it. Then I can decide 
what to do from there. However, I need your permission for that, and I know 
that you are carrying a child, and as a mother, it is your choice whether or 
not you want to let me share your memories."

"Will it endanger the child?"

Arri tucked her face into her hands and drew a deep breath. "It *shouldn't*. 
But I don't know what really happened. If it's very traumatic, there may be 
some risk."

"I've already told you all I know."

"No, m'lady, you've told me all you remember. Memory and knowledge are not 
the same thing, and if something bad enough to split his mind in half 
happened and you were there, some of your knowledge may be too frightening 
for you to access conciously. If I put you in a trance, I can walk you 
though the event again."

"Can't you do that with him?"

Shaking her head, she replied.. "No. He isn't stable enough to remain 
concious without the split attacking me again. I got the dragons to yank us 
apart once.. I don't know what kind of damage was done. It was a desparation 
move. The whole affair has been a 'well, why not' kind of thing. I don't 
want to take chances if I don't have to, but if you refuse I may need to try."

"What will you do with the information?"

"Send someone to get the amulet. Failing that, trace the connection to it's 
source and try unweaving it. That is far more dangerous and time-consuming."

"I need to think about this."

"It be your risk, m'lady and I respect that. Take an hour... he should be 
stable that long and let me know your reply. I should probably eat something 
anyway, and if he is unconcious then the healers can keep him under control."

Araminta got up and walked out of the room with a stiff back and tear filled 
eyes.

"I'm-a-gonna go fetch me some edibles. I'll be back in an hour. Keep him 
sedated until we are back, okay?" Arri got up and went for some dinner, also 
crying, but for different reasons... for the memory of the last life she lost.

<I don't know if I can do this Dae. They all expect so much from me..>
<:You are trying. They respect how hard this is for you.:>
<Do they really?>
A wash of affirming love from her dragon made her smile.
<:I have been explaining to their dragons about B'Nair's loss... they know 
of your memories and fear. This is why they heed you. What you do is.. 
unusual, and a little uncomfortable to them.:>
<It's that to me too.>

(**NRPG: Insert Waylene encountering Arri in the dining room here... during 
a lull in the meeting about Trey, perhaps? I can't figure out where else she 
would have seen her since she's been hiding for days...**)

Arri entered to find Araminta seated in the chair beside the bed, hands 
resting in her lap, looking down at David's sweat-stained face while tears 
fell silently from her eyes and dropped to her clenched hands. D'ssarian 
came over and whispered, "We haven't had any trouble with him, but Minty has 
been sitting like that for twenty minutes now."

"Araminta are you willing and ready to do this thing?"

Minty nodded once without even looking up, choking back a sob.

With that, A'Rillia crossed the room and took Minty into her arms, cradling 
the distraught woman while she cried and sending calming thoughts to her 
until the storm subsided to a few sniffles.

"I'm sorry..." Minty said as C'Tain handed her some tissues.

"Nothing for you to be sorry about, Minty. I came close to losing someone I 
loved once. It hurts. I understand. Just take a moment to collect yourself."

Minty nodded, dabbing at her eyes while Arri touched David's forehead 
lightly. Still out. That was a relief... not lost to her, but not present 
either. That was what she needed, and it was something drugs might have 
hampered. She could call him back at need. Besides, he needed the rest.

"First, I want you to go through everything you remember happening from the 
time you arrived one more time... as *you* remember it, okay? Take your time."

<<<--------------------------->>>
Bets.

========================================
 "Learning that we're only Immortal for a limited Time..."  ---N. Peart (*Rush*)
 "What does my body have to do with my gratitude?"            ---A. Di Franco
<<<<<-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------->>>>> 
    Slainte'!    <Good Health...>           |          Shadowsinger@greatgig.com
          **Shadowsinger**                    |        
tlw663@winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca
 
<<<<<-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------->>>>>
                         ***Heart And Soul of A'Rillia and Daetyn***  
     ( **Periodic Bard of CuddleLand**     -<Will Sing For CheeseCake>- )
========================================