Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce Page A

her. She was very warm. The city called to her, its beautiful towers and shining streets singing in her brain.
    The city vanished. Now raw energy rammed through Alanna’s arms, into her body. She choked back a gasp as her flesh turned into purple fire contained only by her skin. She glowed; she shimmered; she burned with raw magic. It hurt. Every part of her screamed for cold and dark to put out the fire. She couldn’t hold it. She would burst like a rotten fruit.
    A voice spoke, and Alanna screamed. That voice was never meant for human ears. “Call him back,” it chimed. “I am here. Call him back. ”
    Tears ran down her cheeks. The voice and the painwere killing her. The fire was eating her alive, like a tiger.
    Something inside her rebelled. She clenched her fists and fought the pain. She ground her teeth together. She would ride this tiger. Her body had never given the orders before—she could not let it start now. Am I a silly child? she thought angrily. Or am I a warrior?
    She fought back, shoving the pain away until she had it under control. Now she ruled the power she had pulled from the flames. She rode the tiger. She was a warrior!
    Alanna walked to the bed. Myles got out of her way. He had watched, helpless, when Alan screamed as he turned a bright, sparkling amethyst. The color had dimmed, but Alan continued to shine with a pale purple fire. Myles sensed that if he touched Alan now, he would be burned to death.
    Alanna stood beside the bed, looking down at Jonathan. He seemed so far away, so far from her. “He has traveled a long way,” the terrible voice said. “Take his hands. Call him back. ”
    A small part of Alanna realized that the voice was female. “Thank you,” she whispered.
    She took Jonathan’s hands carefully. Her mind reached into his unseeing eyes.
    â€œJonathan,” Alanna called. “It’s time to come home. Jon.”
    Myles stared. He did not hear a boy-child calling the Prince. He heard a woman’s voice, speaking from eternities away. Awed by a power he could not understand, the knight moved even farther away from the bed.
    Alanna fell into the blue depths of her friend’s eyes. She was twisting in a black, writhing well. The alien place pulsed around her, enclosing her like a living thing. Shrieks and cackling and the screams of doomed souls sounded all around her. She was on the edge, between the world of the living and the Underworld. She drifted between Life and Death.
    â€œJon,” she called steadily, feeling the power in her shoving the ugliness back. “Jon.” At last she could see him. He was far below her, near the bottom of the well, near Death. A huge, dark shadow shaped like a hooded man came between them. Even in her strange state Alanna was afraid. This must be the Dark God, the Master of all death.
    It was crazy to argue with a god, but he was between her and her friend. “Excuse me,” she said politely. “But you can’t have him. Not yet. He’s going to come back with me.” The shadowy handsreached for her. Alanna stood still, her mind sending up a shield of purple fire. “You can’t have him,” she said more firmly.
    The shadow hands passed through her shield and held her by the shoulders. Alanna felt as if unseen eyes were looking her over. The great dark head nodded—and the shadow was gone. The Dark God had vanished.
    Alanna reached out to Jonathan. Their hands clasped. “Come back,” she told her friend. “This place isn’t for us. Come home.”
    Jonathan smiled. “I’m coming.” His voice was that of the man he would be one day, deep and even, calm and commanding. Did he hear a woman when she spoke? Did he think it was her? “I’m with you, my friend. Time to leave.”
    Their gripped hands glowed white-hot, melting the shadows around them. Their combined Gifts burned away the walls of that unreal place. At