Chapter 6

Achmed and Gwydion were obviously nearing the port of Avoanderre. The smell of salt and water assaulted their noses as a cruel reminder that they may be too far away to reach Rhapsody in time. Achmed had been pushing the horses as hard as they would go for the last several hours as he realized how close to the ocean they were getting.

Suddenly Achmed rained his horse to a dead stop, just outside the city walls. What Gwydion could see of the king's face, it had gone completely white and blank. He seemed to be unable to gain breath and was shaking.

"Achmed, what is it?" Gwydion cried as the Firbolg slummed over in the saddle, trying desperately to catch his breath.

"It's… gone. I…lost…her" He gasped.

"What do you mean? What's happening?" Gwydion was becoming agitated. Something was very wrong with his companion, more than just losing Rhapsody's trail. Something was physically wrong with him.

The Duke quickly dismounted, just in time to catch Achmed as he slipped from atop his horse. He still was having difficulty catching his breath. He wasn't unconscious, but he seemed to be heading that way. Gwydion had to find a secure place, and fast.

Glancing around as he supported the faltering king, he saw a small clump of trees not very far off. "Achmed, we have to get to a secure place. If I support you, can you make it to those trees?

He gave only a weak nod in response, but he did seem to be regaining his breath some. Slowly and carefully, the duke helped Achmed along till they made it to the cover of the trees. Both nearly collapsed with exhaustion once they reached the relative safety.

After a few moments of watching the Dhracian closely, Gwydion noticed that color was beginning to return to his face, and his breath was becoming more even and less gaspy. When Achmed seemed to have himself under control once again, Gwydion once again asked, "What just happened?"

"I'm not sure. I thought it was the sudden braking of my link to Rhapsody. My heart has been beating in time with hers for a long time now."

"You thought, you mean that you're not sure that that was the case?"

"No, I have been in contact with other heartbeats for longer time than this and I didn't have such a strong reaction before."

"So what could have caused what just happened to you?"

Achmed thought for a moment. This was something very new to him. He was loath to show any type of weakness to anyone, and this man just saw him at one of his weakest moments. He had been a bit overcome with emotion with the loss of her heartbeat. But there really had been something more happening.

"It felt as if something were happening to her heartbeat just before our link was severed. It had slowed down far too much. If her's continued at the rate it had been, she would be passed out by now."

"Maybe something has happened to her," Gwydion quietly suggested.

Something had happened, this Achmed was sure of. Something, or more precisely, someone had caused her heart to slow to a point that could not keep her consciousness. And the one thing Achmed did not want to voice was his thought on who, or what, that someone was. Achmed had felt, almost smelled, a faint taint to the influence that was slowing their collective heartbeats. A taint that he had known only too well from tracking and hunting down others of its kind.

"Even if something has," Achmed muttered, "I have no way to track her. She is now surrounded by water."

Gwydion was quiet for a moment, then an idea struck him. "Can you get me to where you last felt her?"

"Yes."

"If we can find out which direction the ship that took her at sailed off in, then it would be easier."

"Easier for what?" Achmed demanded impatiently.

"For me to pick up her vibration on the wind. I have been learning how to do that with Tysterisk. Rhapsody is actually the one who encouraged me to learn how to do this. I have been practicing with her vibration; I know it very well now."

"And you failed to mention this before?" Achmed snarled.

"I'm sorry, I never really thought that I would ever be using this particular power. I just did it to appease Rhapsody."

"Well now your going to use it to save her, isn't that ironic. I wonder if she may have had one of her premonitions, or maybe it was her son's premonition."
"Whatever the case, let's not waste anymore time," Gwydion concluded as he stood up, offering his hand to the king.

Accepting the hand, Achmed rose and followed Gwydion back to where they had left the horses.

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Bouncing in a sack against the man's back, Rhapsody struggled to stay conscious. She wasn't sure where pretending to faint had gotten her, other than being aware of being transported elsewhere, but at least she would know what was happening. If her hands had been tied, rather than shackled, she may have been able to work her way out of the knots by now, but of course that wasn't the case. But maybe she could get the gag out of her mouth and send out a warning or call to someone.

She began working her arms around her legs to bring them in front of her. It was hard work while being bounced around in a dimly lit sack. But just as the sack she was in was dropped, she had her hands where she wanted them. She reached up and pulled the gag out of her dry mouth. Taking a few moments to work her cramped jaw muscles, she thought of who she should send a call to.

She knew that with all the sea noises going on around her just shouting would gain nobody's attention. Especially since she was sure that she was already on board the F'dor's ship. She was only going to be able to call someone who she knew their true full name. She knew many names, but only a few were either in range to help her and that she trusted enough to save her. The obvious choice would be Achmed since he is the only one who can truly defeat the F'dor. But he was a very long ways away. Gwydion Navarne was closer and more likely to reach her in time. Also Achmed had a very important child to guard, he was needed in Ylorc. She could tell him of the F'dor after she got away and he could track the demon down when he felt like it. Besides, she knew that there would come a time that Gwydion would need to use his tie to that sword to find her.

Quietly she began to hum the tune of Gwydion's name under her breath until she was sure that it was completely right. Then she softly sang his name, adding a summoning and warning tone in with it. Hopefully her song was making it through the thick canvas of the sack and onto the wind. And hopefully once it reached Gwydion, he would know what to do and to move quickly before she was completely out of anyone's reach.

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As his ship was leaving port, the F'dor turned and felt, more than heard, a strange vibration coming from the sack that held his captive. He turned and looked over to the sack as it lay slumped against the main mast. In quick hurried steps he rushed over to the sack and tore it open, glaring inside at the now conscious woman inside.

"And what do you think you are doing my dear?" he said gently as he very roughly lifted her out of the sack by her hair and rudely dumped her onto the deck.

Rhapsody only glared back at him, too sore and angry to do anything more. "You should be more careful with the names you reveal to the wind, my dear," the F'dor continued. "One never knows who is listening."

Suddenly, as if she had gone brain dead for a moment, she recalled that she was sure that this F'dor, at the very least, had the skills of a Namer, if he wasn't a Namer himself. Who knows what use of that name he would be able to make.

"I doubt that was the name I was looking for though, so I really have no use for it. I couldn't imagine anyone summoning the Brother to a rescue."

Rhapsody suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. Well now she knew what the F'dor was after, Achmed's name. But how did he know of the Brother, and how did he know that the Brother was even still alive and living under a new name? As far as they knew there were only four living people who know this fact - Ashe, herself, Grunthor, and Achmed.

"Well now that you know what I want from you, I guess now would be the time to finish your great shocks of the day by revealing who I am." With that the F'dor slowly lowered the hood that had hid his face from sight. Rhapsody looked at him at first with still no recognition. But there was certainly something familiar about that face.

"Yes, I know the face has change some since you last saw it, and it was a very long time ago besides," he said. "But one would think that you might remember your own mentor, Heiles."