Debts

By mid afternoon the next day, Grunthor knew something was wrong when the king had not surfaced once. The giant had known that Rhapsody was on her way back and he had respected Achmed's privacy, thinking that he wished to be alone before his wife returned. But now it was getting rather late in the day and Rhapsody should be there soon; Achmed should have shown up to greet the Lady when she arrived, but he was no where to be seen.

Grunthor began hurriedly searching the mountain first in all of the usual places and then the more unusual for the king, and still there was nothing. What really worried him was that the mountain didn't have the feeling that Achmed was there at all. It was a strange thing, though Achmed would come and go on his own without informing anyone, the Firbolg always seemed to know when he was there or not; the sense of his presence was absent from the air today. The Firbolg seemed more at ease and were moving about the place as if he wasn't there, but Achmed had always told Grunthor in the past when he was going to leave and the giant had gotten no such indication from the king about today.

It didn't take long for the Sergeant Major to work himself into a small panic. His dearest friend and king was missing and it was his job to protect Achmed. After his searching had turned up nothing, Grunthor found himself standing in the center of the passage way that the Bolg called the Hand because it was an opening that had five passageways branching off from it in the vague shape of a hand. Grunthor reached out his own hand and, in a last desperate attempt to locate Achmed, placed it against the tunnel wall. Silently, he asked the Earth if she knew where he was. He searched through the Earth for any sense of where the king may be standing at that moment and what condition the Earth felt he was in.

He stood there, searching the Earth for any sign or feeling of Achmed, but nothing was coming up. This was very disturbing, not only had he gone missing from the mountain, but he was missing from the Earth.

Just then, Grunthor was suddenly racked with the feeling of Achmed's body impacting the Earth. He could feel the place on the ground where his friend lay and what the Earth was telling him was not very reassuring. He was not moving and the Earth screamed to Grunthor that the king was not well.

A howl of rage rang and echoed throughout the halls, shaking the mountain and causing the Bolg to scatter and cower in fear. Something had angered their Sergeant Major greatly and they had no way of knowing if it was any of them or not.

Grunthor nearly ran out of the Cauldron, heading directly for the stable, but as soon as he burst from the entrance, Rhapsody rode up with a look of confused fear at the sight of her friend.

"Grunthor!" she yelled as she leaped from her horse.

He didn't respond at first but kept moving right on towards the stables. "Grunthor, what is going on?" she tried again as she reached up and grabbed a hold of his arm.

He stopped and turned a rage filled face upon her, causing the Lady to take a step back for fear that somehow his rage was directed at her.

"Grunthor, what's wrong? What has happened?" she asked.

"'E's gone! Oi felt 'im almost a days travel from 'ere. Someone took 'im!" Grunthor was rambling as he tried to shake Rhapsody off to continue to the horses.

Rhapsody doggedly clung to the giant's arm and demanded to be told what was happening. "Grunthor!" she cried, using all the force of her naming lore to pull his attention to her. "Who's gone? Who are you talking about?" Fear began to creep into her voice as she began to realize what may be going on here.

"Achmed!" Grunthor howled at her, meeting her eyes for the first time. "E's been taken away. I sensed 'im through ee Earth a few minutes ago, barely moving and in pain! And ee was almost a day's ride from 'ere, heading towards Nain territory!"

Rhapsody stared at him blankly for a moment, trying desperately to understand what Grunthor was talking about. "How could Achmed have been taken?" was all the further that her thought process would allow her to go.

"D'ya 'ear wha' Oi'm saying?! Ur 'usband 'as been taken away! And Oi'm goin' after 'im," Grunthor pulled his arm from Rhapsody's now limp grip and turned towards the stabled once again.

Finally, Rhapsody understood everything that she had heard and was able to realize what had to be done. "Wait Grunthor," She called. "You can't go after him!"

"Like 'ell Oi can't!" He said as he continued to stride away.

Rhapsody ran and interjected herself between Grunthor and his destination saying, "Grunthor, you can't. With Achmed gone, you're going to have to stay here and watch over the child. I will go after him."

"You can just as easily stay 'ere while Oi go after 'im!" Grunthor responded as he was about to move Rhapsody out of his way.

"No!" She used her Namer tone once again to force him to listen. He paused and looked at her once again, allowing her to have her say. "No," she said a bit more calmly. "I have to be the one to go after him. I am his wife and I should have been here when he was taken away."

Grunthor opened his mouth to say something but Rhapsody cut him off, "I have been saved by Achmed more times that I can count but within the last few months alone he has saved me three times. Once each physically, emotionally, and mentally. I owe him and I am not going to let him down. He saved me from the F'dor and then he was there, keeping me emotionally intact after Ashe died. Then just a few weeks ago he saved me from the mental breakdown of telling a lie to all of the Cymrian's. I have three debts to repay to him and I am going to do so now!"

Grunthor stared at her for a moment as he realized how very serious she was being. He could see that there was going to be absolutely no stopping her on this and it would be pointless for him to even try. Using a calmer and more in control tone he answered her, "Oi see there's no stoppin' ya duchess. Olright, Oi guess you can come too, but Oi'm going with ya."

Shaking her head, Rhapsody said to him, "No Grunthor, I'm sorry but we both can't go and you know that. One of us has to stay here and guard the child. It's highly likely that Achmed's abduction is meant to lure both of us out and leave her unprotected and we cannot take that risk."

"Well, Oi'm certainly not lettin' ya go alone," Grunthor told her flatly.

The two stared at each other for a moment, hoping that the other would relent and knowing that neither would. Finally, the sound of someone near by clearing their throat made both of them jump and look back to the entrance of the Cauldron. Emerging from the shadows where he had been listening to the two for some time now, Omet walked towards them.

Rhapsody looked at him and realized that it had been a while since she had really looked at him. Over the years he had aged rather well for having next to no Cymrian blood. He had thinned out and became lithe and wiry; strong, well honed muscles lightly rippled under his skin as he approached them. Where once he had been bald by choice, now he was bald by nature. A thin ring of hair outlined the edges of his head with the top being as bald as it had ever been when he was shaving it. But all in all, he looked very healthy and active, ready for almost anything.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but I couldn't help but over hear what is going on," He began as he approached. "Achmed has been taken you say?" he asked with a bit of amazement in his voice.

Rhapsody and Grunthor exchanged a look before nodding to him. They both trusted Omet completely; after all, he was one of their Archons. But this was a very sensitive matter and they needed to confirm with each other that it would be acceptable to include Omet in the information.

"I see. And Rhapsody, you are going to go after him?" Omet asked.

"Only if Oi go with 'er," Grunthor answered before she was able to.

Seeing that Rhapsody was about to argue with the Sergeant Major once again, Omet cut her off saying, "Grunthor, would you allow her to go if someone else went with her instead of you?"

The question had caught him off guard and he stood there with his mouth open for a moment, trying to decide if this was something that he would be willing to consider. Rhapsody was a bit quicker on the uptake and asked Omet, "You are willing to go with me?" At his nod she asked, "Why?"

"I too have debts to be repaid to the king," Omet started. "Those many years ago when you and Achmed showed up at the Raven's guild, looking for the demon spawn, there was a moment when Vicane nearly killed me by up ending a vat of molten clay. Achmed didn't even think as he reached a pole out and snatched me out of harms way and so saved my life. That was the first debt. When he offered me a new life here in Ylorc escaping from the evil guild mistress who would murder me sooner or later, he save my life yet again, giving me a second debt to be repaid. And then when Esten, that same guild mistress, came here to Ylorc to ruin the king and his kingdom and had poisoned me, I realized how very vulnerable I was and completely unable to protect myself. When I had recovered from the ordeal, I came to Achmed, asking him for help in training me to be able to defend myself. And since then, he has been training me in fighting and sword play for what started as every night and now has become once a week. He has given me confidence and strength that I never had before. This is the third debt that I owe him, and it was his own training that has provided me with the means to repay that debt," Omet ended with confidence.

Rhapsody and Grunthor looked to him and for the first time realizing when it was that Omet had become much more fit and seemed to carry himself with more confidence. Upon looking at him, they realized that he really did look like he could be a force to be reckoned with when provoked.

Rhapsody turned back to Grunthor and saw that he had made the same assessment of Omet as she had before she said to him, "I don't think that you are going to be able to prevent either of us from going after Achmed; we both have debts that we must repay."

"Oi see that," Grunthor said and then sighed before saying, "Oi guess you two will 'ave to be the ones then oo go after 'im. Oi'll stay here and make sure the child is kept safe," he concluded.

Rhapsody gave Grunthor a huge hug, both to thank him for understanding and to draw comfort from him during this emotional ordeal. "Thank you Grunthor," she said muffled into his chest.

Pulling her back from him, he looked down into her eyes and told her with all the sincerity that he had, "Now you bring 'im back an' don' ya get yerself caught er 'urt either. Ya got me?"

"Yes Grunthor," Rhapsody said with a smile pulling at her lips.

"An' ya better make sure she keeps 'er promise," Grunthor called over to Omet.

"Yes sir, I won't let you down," Omet answered. "No matter what," he said almost to himself as an after thought.

"Alright, we better get moving." Rhapsody declared as she now moved to get her horse once again.

"Wait," Grunthor stopped her. "'Ow are ya gonna track 'im?" he asked.

Rhapsody paused for a moment and realized that Grunthor had a point. She was not all that good at tracking and she didn't have the same ability that Grunthor had to sense Achmed through the Earth. Of course she didn't even have the same ability that Achmed had to track heartbeats either.

As she thought this, she realized the last time that she had went over this problem in her mind. She had come to the conclusion then that, even though she was unable to track heartbeats, she should be able to track vibrations. As a singer, she was a tuned to vibrations in the air and, in theory, she should be able to follow a specific one to where she wanted to go. In this case, she should be able to track Achmed's unique vibration right to him.

"Just a second," Rhapsody said to Grunthor as she moved a few paces away from him and Omet. Pulling her sword from the sheaf, she raised it into the air, humming her naming note in perfect harmony with the call of the sword. Once she had joined in union with her sword, she changed her humming to the tune that she sought, Achmed's name. This was a name that she knew very well, not only from being with him for centuries, but because it was she who had given it to him.

She stood and listened, hoping that Daystar Clarion would be able to amplify her search. Just as she was thinking that her experiment was not working, she heard a faint echo to the call that she had sent out. Her call had found him and was echoing back through the air, pinpointing his location and tying her to him.

A smile crossed her lips as she opened her eyes and lowered her sword. Turning back to Grunthor and Omet, she told them, "I found him, let's go."