Chapter 5

"Achmed, I know that it is important to go as fast as possible, but I think that we need to stop for a short rest. These men who took her must be stopping at night. It would be much too suspicious to push travel night and day. And we are not going to be any help to Rhapsody if we're too tired to lift a hand once we reach her."

The king gave a growl. Of course he knew all that, in fact he had known from the start that their quarry was stopping at night. He was able to tell by the resting of her heartbeat. For at least four hours, the heartbeat ceased to travel away from him, and would allow him to gain some ground. In fact, even while the captors were moving, Achmed could tell that they were the faster, but it was still hard to gain enough ground to satisfy his need to catch up.

"I know that they rest for about four hours every night. But it is what I don't know that pushes me. I know she is still alive, but beyond that, I have no idea what is happening to her. I have not been able to see her again using my path lore since the night she was captured."

Gwydion, curiously, was growing more and more worried about Achmed rather than Rhapsody. This did not sound like the confident, aloof king of monstrous men, impervious to emotions and feelings that he had come to see Achmed as. Achmed was worried, more than that, he was scared. Gwydion had been under the assumption that there was nothing that could frighten this king, and now, to see him cracking under such strain was difficult for the duke to comprehend.

I know he hasn't hardly stopped since he left the Bolg lands three days ago, the duke thought to himself. Besides being worried about Rhapsody, he must be exhausted. He must need to rest at least for a moment. Even this not-quite-man must need to stop at some point.

"Achmed, if they are stopping for four hours every night, then it can't hurt too much for us to stop for two. You said that we are going faster than them after all. We are going to need all of our strength once we reach them to free Rhapsody with the numbers that you're talking about."

A scowl passed over Achmed's worried face, but he began to scan the area for a safe place to stop. He soon spotted small rock outcropping nearby and started guiding his horse towards it.

Gwydion waited in silence for a reply but none seemed to be forth coming. Then he realized that they had altered course just slightly and they were now heading for a rock outcropping. Good, he thought to himself. He's not so far gone that he can't see reason.

"No more than two hours. You sleep an hour while I watch and I will sleep the second," Achmed growled as he stiffly dismounted once they reached the rocks.

"I think that maybe you should take both hours. I know you have hardly rested since you left Ylorc, let alone slept. I just woke up not too many hours ago. Not to mention, between the two of us, I have better horsemanship and am more able to rest in the saddle than you would be." There, now Achmed would have nothing to argue about and he will have to let himself relax for at least two hours.

The Dhracian merely glared at the duke for a moment before tossing down his pack to the ground and laying his head down upon it. He closed his eyes and immediately was asleep. Gwydion took his time setting himself up for the two hour watch. He used his own pack to help cushion his back against the rocks. This was going to be a long, hard journey, with one of the most callous and inconsiderate men that he knew. He better take this time now to prepare himself for the road ahead, just to insure that he kept his sanity. For it was becoming clear that his companion may not be able to keep his head on him the way things were going now.

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Rhapsody was awaken abruptly by the blinding light that poured through the open door. Weakly she lifted her head and squinted into the opening. A gentle breeze was caressing her face that smelled slightly of salt.

"Well my dear, you don't look too worse for wear. You may be a bit hardier than I remembered you to be. No matter, time will soon tell where your breaking point is," the voice of the F'dor gloated. Slowly his form was taking shape in the blinding glare. He was coming into the wagon again, with keys in hand. Two men were right behind him, carrying some type of cloth.

Sudden Rhapsody realized that the demon was humming a strange tune under his breath. She was becoming dizzy and disoriented the closer he got to her. Soon she would be passed out and they would be free to move her without resistance.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped completely to the floor, breathing shallowly. The F'dor continued his humming for a moment more until he was satisfied with her unconsciousness. Reaching down, he unlocked the shackles on her ankles that chained her to the floor. With a quick hand wave, the two men stepped forward and brought their cloth sack down and began to stuff the Lady inside.

The F'dor quickly and securely tied off the top of the sack and turned on his heel, walking back out of the wagon. One of the two men hefted the sack over his shoulder and hulled it out of the wagon, carrying it up the near by gangplank and on to the waiting ship.