Fever

The climb seemed to ever become steeper. Meridion and Rhapsody were themselves out of breath and struggling with the incline. Achmed, was even worse off. He wouldn't allow himself the barest of stops despite the fact that he looked as if he were to pass out at any moment.

Finally, the path leveled out some and Rhapsody signaled to her son that they had to force a stop. Meridion nodded over Achmed's head who was still between the two of them. The Bolg king had been so intent on just placing one more foot in front of the other that he was oblivious to the world around him.

Meridion came to a stop and waited for the King to catch up to his location. The King came to a stop for a moment without ever looking up at Meridion. He took a few labored breaths before he walked right past Meridion and continued to pick the path out on his own.

"Achmed! What are you doing?" Rhapsody cried, unable to believe that he could be so possessed.

They could hear him saying something, but his words were too mumbled to make out what. Rhapsody looked fearfully to her son, hoping he would have some solution for her. When she saw that he was just a baffled as she, she pushed passed him and tried to grab a hold of Achmed's arm to stop him.

At first he just weakly shook her off and kept pushing on. But as she tried to halt him again, he suddenly found strength that neither Rhapsody nor her son thought possible of him at the time.

Achmed wheeled around, standing perfectly upright for the first time since the caves, drawing the dagger that Meridion had given him. He didn't utter a single word, just glared down his blade at Rhapsody.

Completely taken off Guard, Rhapsody froze. She didn't have a clue what it was that had gotten into him. True he had his moments of pigheadedness, but he had never pulled a blade on her before. A small part of her brain began wondering if some curse were put on her that men she fell in love with had to draw against her at some point.

"Achmed, what has gotten into you?" She asked astonished.

Looking him over, she saw that his chest was heaving, drawing huge amounts of breath. His face was completely covered in sweat and he was flushed all over. But then Meridion said something that shook her to the core.

"Gods, Mother. Look at his eyes."

As she did, she realized what it was that her son had seen there, or rather the lack of what he had seen. Every once of pure calculating shred of sanity that was usually there in his eyes was gone. It was as if he wasn't really seeing anything around him.

"He's hallucinating," she breathed, completely taken aback that something like this could have happened.

"By the looks of it, I'd say it's a fever that's causing it. But what is causing his fever, I have no idea."

"What do we do?" she asked, backing off from Achmed ever so slightly. There was really no telling what he might be capable when he didn't know what was going on around him.

"I have an idea, but I'm going to need you to distract him," Meridion whispered, hardly loud enough for Rhapsody to hear who was right next to him.

Nodding ever so slightly, Rhapsody began to once again cautiously advance towards her husband. Raising her hands so that he could see that she wasn't a threat, she moved closer.

At first he backed away form her advances before he stood his ground and brought the point of his dagger a bit higher.

"Achmed, it's me… Rhapsody," she said, trying to think of some way to get through to him. "What ever it is that you're seeing, it's not real. You're hallucinating Achmed."

Shaking his head as if to clear it, Achmed didn't seem to buy it. "Achmed, you're sick. Please, let me help you," she said, taking another step towards him. This time he didn't move, but he didn't lower his weapon either or seem to relax at all.

"Look at me!" Rhapsody said as his eyes seemed to glaze over a bit more.

Shaking his head again, he looked right at her, and yet it felt as if he was looking through her. "I'm your wife!" She said. "I am not going to hurt you but you have to let me help."

Taking another step, she saw him tense a little more, ready to lash out at any moment. Taking a step back again, she rethought her method. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her own tense and taunt nerves.

There had to be something that would get through to him, she thought. Finally she had it. Taking a breath, she began to sing…

In the quiet, misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed;

When the sparrows stop their singing and the sky is clear and red;

When the summer ceased it's gleaming, and the corn is past its prime;

When adventures lost its meaning, I'll be homeward bound in time

Bind me not to the pasture; chain me not to the plow;

Set me free to find my calling, and I'll return to you somehow.

She could see that something of her song was reaching him. He began to relax and lowered his dagger ever so slightly.

If you find it's me you're missing, if you're hoping I'll return,

To your thoughts I'll soon be listening, in the road I'll stop and turn.

And the wind will set me racing as my journey nears its end,

And my steps I'll be retracing when I'm homeward bound again.

He lowered his weapon now, but none of the sanity had returned to his eyes. He still was not entirely sure that he wasn't among enemies.

Bind me not to the pasture; chain me not to the plow;

Set me free to find my calling, and I'll return to you somehow.

In the quiet, misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed;

When the sparrows stop their singing,

I'll be homeward bound… again.

As she brought the song to a close, he finally seemed to snap back to himself for a split second. He shook his head again and began to sag as the false strength that his insanity had granted him left. But before he could hit the ground, Meridion suddenly appeared behind with one of his quills in hand.

As he caught the falling king, he picked him in the neck, causing his faint to change to a drug induced slumber.

Rhapsody raced over to where they were, kneeling to the ground where Meridion had laid him out.

"God's Meridion, he didn't even know who I was until a moment ago. He was completely gone."

"I'm not surprised," Meridion said, leaning back. "Feel how warm he is. It's defiantly a fever. But I can't imagine what could be causing it. None of his wounds are infected and you have nearly healed his internal wounds. I just don't understand."

"What are we going to do?" Rhapsody asked. We can't carry him all the way across the mountain but we can't stay here either."

"Maybe Oi can 'elp," a booming voice sounded a short distance back down the path.