The Battle
The fury and wrath that filled the face of the woman turned her once recognizable face into a grotesque mask. Rhapsody stared up at her for a moment before she realized who it was that she was looking at.
"Jewel? Jewel Steward?"
"Very good Lady. But what has happened here? They are both supposed to be dead," she said, indicating Meridion and Achmed. "And you so wrought with grief that you would be all too easy to possess," The woman answered with a barely contained rage just under the surface of her clear and almost politely said words.
"Careful mother, she's another F'dor. She was supposed to take you over to get to the Cymrian government. Rial is already being possessed in the Lirin and Gyrlyth as well. They wished to gain control of all the powers in order to amass an army to take control of Sorbold and then eventually the Firbold mountain."
"If taking the mountain was the ultimate goal, why didn't they just use Achmed as a host? They obviously were able to get a hold of him," Rhapsody asked.
"Because, Lady, a Dhracian is unable to host a F'dor. To take him over it would cause death to both F'dor and man, a genetic final defense against us in the hunt," the woman explained as she began to walk down the steps, dragging the now almost completely limp form of Omet behind her. "It was Heiles job to win the king to our side by capturing his name, but, as he was obviously not able to do so, we had to come up with a new method to breach the mountain."
"Well, it seems your new plan has failed just as miserably," Rhapsody replied coolly. Meridion, who had been standing beside his mother, turned and returned to Achmed's side to help him up. He knew that there was going to be no keeping the king still while a F'dor lingered so near by.
"Yes, and look who is responsible for the plan's failure yet again. They really should have followed my advice and outright killed you and focused on your son here as their target. But no, only the Lady would do, 'she not only rules over the people but she holds their hearts as well,' what do those fools know?" At that, the F'dor was standing only a few feet from Rhapsody as she violently threw a gasping Omet at the Lady's feet.
Resisting her urge to check on Omet, Rhapsody stood her ground, not letting her eyes leave the demon for even a moment. She knew that Meridion was now just behind her, supporting Achmed. The Dhracian must be dying to initiate the thrall ritual by now, but he may not be strong enough for that. If so, there wasn't much that they would be able to do.
"Well, now that their plan has failed, it looks like I'm going to have to resort to my plan," Saying this, the demon drew a wicked black sword. It felt to them that she grew before their eyes as she glared down upon them, a picture of hell itself. A black fire burned in her eyes and the stench of burning flesh nearly suffocated them. Holding her black sword in one hand and a glowing fireball in her other, the demon bore down on them.
Drawing their swords, Rhapsody and Meridion quickly went into action. Meridion hauled the injured and less agile Achmed out of the way of the fireball that was bearing down upon them. Rhapsody reached down and grabbed Omet's arm, pulling him to his feet and bring both of them out of reach of the flashing sword. The demon now found herself in between the four. Omet was now standing and had regained his breath enough to draw his own sword. Meridion now stood between the demon and Achmed who had fallen after the first attack.
Rhapsody knew that, despite his weakened condition, Achmed was the only one who would make escape possible in this situation. She had to keep the F'dor too busy to pay attention to him and hopefully he would be able to perform the thrall. With the demon's back to her, Rhapsody rushed her, blazing sword flashing through the air. But a split second before reaching her, the demon suddenly erupted in black flames, knocking Rhapsody to the ground, leaving her eyes dazzled and her cloths more than a little singed.
When her eyes had cleared once again, she saw that the demon was now bearing down on her. Hastily, the Lady parried the wild sweep of the F'dor's blade and rolled out of there. As she was about to stand once again she found that the F'dor had somehow followed her and was again forcing a deadly blow down upon her. This time Rhapsody was not as quick and was barely able to deflect the blow meant to sever her head from her neck to raking down her shoulder, pulling an unwanted cried of pain from her lips.
At that moment Meridion drew a like response from the demon as his blade slashed across her back. Stunningly fast, the F'dor spun around to focus her attack on this new foe. Meridion managed to block her every move, but found that she was too fast for him to do anything but defend. Step by step the Lord was being beat back before Rhapsody once again took over. But as with her son, the demon was too fast and there was no way to get a blow in. And worse was, this demon showed no sign of slowing or tiring where as Meridion and Rhapsody would soon ware out.
But then Omet joined the fray and it was a little easier to keep up with the demon, even if none of them were still able to make contact. It went on in this way for several minutes, each fighter trading off with another, trying desperately just to stay alive against their foe. Sometimes two would take her on at once, but still she was too fast.
It was then that Achmed had finally pulled himself to his knees and had somehow found enough breath to begin the thrall. Calling forth one wind at a time, he slowly and painfully began to build his net. But, despite being thoroughly distracted, the F'dor heard the beginnings of the ritual and knew that a stop had to be put to this at all costs.
Knocking Meridion, who was her current opponent, to the ground, the F'dor built up another fireball in the palm of her hand and let it fly across the room to where the Bolg king knelt. Rhapsody, seeing what was happening, called to the small portion of the fireball that was true fire, willing it to extinguish. At the same time she sang a song of protection against fire, wrapping it around the king, hoping that it would be enough.
As the slightly smaller, less hot ball of fire burst over the Dhracian very little happen. The fire was able to briefly catch on the little fabric that Achmed still wore and did cause a few burns, but the flame quickly dissipated and the burns were nothing compared to the racial hatred that now boiled in his blood. There was nothing short of death that could possibly cause him to stop now; and the F'dor knew this.
Achmed was now calling upon the last wind to form his net and would soon cast it, bringing the F'dor's battle to a halt. Desperate to stop him, the demon made a mad rush, knocking over both Rhapsody and Meridion once again, wildly and furiously bearing down upon the Dhracian. There was no way that Rhapsody or her son could ever reach the king's side in time to stop the deadly assault. Rhapsody was about to relive her moment of losing her husband all over again. A chill filled her as she vainly raced after the demon.
Then, out of now where, Omet rushed in between Achmed and the homicidal demon, barring her path with his own body. He had rushed in so fast that he didn't even have the time to bring his sword up to defend himself. He just ran, head on, into the charging woman and was rewarded with a swift and deadly sword shoved through his gut. The force of his charge rammed the blade through and through, burying the blade to the hilt into his middle. And he kept charging, even after the blade was protruding out of his back, he kept on coming at the demon and didn't let up until he had knocked her to the ground.
Still, the F'dor quickly recovered and thrust the body off of her and was standing before the Thrall had finally been cast. The F'dor lurched to a halt in mid-stride as she tried to finish off this Dhracian before he had her. But she was too late, Omet's sacrifice had given him just enough time to capture the demon.
Before the F'dor had anymore time to think up any tricks, Rhapsody and Meridion both bore down upon the now frozen demon with their elemental swords flashing. Rhapsody ramming her blade through the demon's heart and Meridion a step later, viciously slashing the head from the shoulders before the F'dor could utter a word or cry.
Stepping back after dealing his blow, Meridion watched as his mother, seething with hatred, caused the flames of her blade to grow and completely consume the corpse of the once F'dor. Only after every last piece of the demon had become ash, which didn't take all that long due to the intense heat Rhapsody force the flames to burn at, did she make a move and did Achmed end his chant.
Dropping her sword right there, Rhapsody turned and fell beside Omet. Gently she lifted the bloodied form and turned him over, placing his head into her lap. The sword of the demon still protruded from his stomach and Rhapsody reached to remove it. As her hand brushed the hilt, Omet opened his eyes. "Leave it," he whispered weakly. "I'm finished. My debts have been repaid with all that I had to give."
Tears once again spilled out of her eyes as Rhapsody looked down now at the face of the boy that she had brought up out of Yarim.
"No, Omet. I can save you, just hold on," she softly crooned as she began to sing.
"Rhapsody, let me go. You cannot bring me back. I have lived a full life, now please let me go."
His words rang in her head as she faltered and ended her song. She knew he was right. Even as she looked down at him, she knew that she could not save him and there was no point in wasting her energy that was needed to escape in trying. Then, she once again began a song, but this was not meant to save his life, but to allow him to leave it.
She sang for a few minutes as she watched Omet struggle with his final breaths. And then, he drew his last as his body went limp; slowly the air seeped out of his parted lips. Rhapsody watched as a faint glow rose from his chest and hovered in the air for just a moment before drifting away, through the cavern ceiling, and into the sky.
Drawing her song to an end, Rhapsody laid his body out and walked back to where her sword lay. "I am not able to light your pyre with true star fire because we are not under the sky. But I shall do my best and use the pure fire and star light of Daystar Clarion to send you on your way to the next life."
With that, she touched Omet's unmoving chest with the tip of her blade, bidding the flames to spread and consume the body. This was not the raging inferno that she had used to destroy the demon, but rather a soft gentle yet fast burning that quickly engulf and almost lovingly consumed the body of her long time friend.
Finally, turning back to her husband and son she said, "Now, let's get out of here. We have lost and suffered enough for one day."