Help Arrives
"Grunthor!?" Rhapsody cried, looking to where the voice had come from. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Oi'm wonderin' the same for you," He grumbled as he strode closer. "'Ow'ed 'ee get 'ere?" the Giant asked, indicating Meridion. "'Nd wha's that thing on your shoulder?"
Rhapsody suddenly realized that the Glythery was still quietly and stilly perched upon her right shoulder, completely forgotten about as if it had become a part of her.
"Long story," Meridion said. "But we could sure use your help."
"Oi can see that," He replied. "Wha's 'appened here?" Grunthor asked, finally catching sight of Achmed. "An' where Omet?"
Rhapsody and Meridion exchanged a look before Rhapsody answered hollowly, "Omet's dead. He died saving us," She paused and gathered her nerve before pressing on. They had other things to worry about right now, there would be time later to grieve for their friend.
"As for Achmed, we don't know," Rhapsody answered. "He was beaten up pretty bad while he was captured, but that doesn't explain why he's sick now. He has a fever that we can't explain."
"Why didn' ya return ta Ylork then?" Grunthor said accusingly, shaken by the fact that Omet was dead, but also seeing that there were more important issues right now.
"We have to get to Nyeath; it was Gyrlyth, who's a F'dor, that had captured Achmed and now that same demon is about to kill Faedryth and take over the Nain kingdom," Rhapsody explained.
"So 'ee wouln' let ya take 'im back then," Grunthor said as he looked down at his king. He knew all too well how deeply the Dhracian's hatred of the demons ran.
"No," Meridion replied flatly. "But he was right. We have to try and stop the F'dor before it is able to take out Faedryth. It will mean only ill if it gains control over all of the Nain."
"Wha' about 'is Majesty?" Grunthor asked.
"That's what we don't know about. We know that we have to kill the F'dor, but without Achmed, I don't know if it is possible," Rhapsody said, trying hard not to become too overcome with emotion.
"Well, Oi can carry 'im and can prolly get us there in time… But Oi'm not sure what ta do beyon' that," Grunthor replied uneasily. He didn't much like the idea of running towards danger while his best friend was in such a state, but they were right; the F'dor had to be stopped.
"I suppose that we'll just have to hope that he snaps out of it before we reach there," Meridion said.
"Not very reassuring," Rhapsody said, as she placed the back of her palm against Achmed's forehead. He was still very warm, but as he had lain there, the redness of his skin had gone down.
"It's the best that we can do. One way or another we have to make it Nyeath if only to warn Faedryth. If nothing else, we may be able to keep the F'dor from killing him and succeeding as the Nain King," Meridion replied.
"It'll 'ave ta do," Grunthor said as he bent over to pick the King up. Grabbing him at the waist, the giant threw the limp form's arms over his own shoulder and lifted him up as any mother might carry their sleeping child to bed.
"We'll 'have ta do some backtrackin'," he said. "Oi can clear the path for us an' can prolly use da Earth ta slow up our fiery frien'."
"Were our horses still nearby?" Rhapsody asked.
"Yup; Oi left 'ol Rocksides with 'em."
The climb back down was no where near as difficult as it had been up. In what felt like less than half the time it took to ascend, they found themselves back where they had left the path. Grunthor placed the unconscious king on the ground as he went to bring their horses over.
While he was gone, Rhapsody tried to get some more water into the rapidly dehydrating Achmed. She wasn't sure how much of the water he was actually swallowing, but she was sure that not all of it fell to the ground.
"How long is that drug supposed to work?" she asked her son.
"I only pricked him with it, so probably only a couple of hours, if that. But if he hasn't gotten any better by then, he may still be out of it."
Rhapsody nodded; she hoped that maybe just some rest would help bring him out of it, but since they had no idea what was causing the sudden illness, there was no way of knowing.
When Grunthor returned, he said how, if they wanted to travel faster, it would be better if Achmed rode with Rhapsody to make it the lightest lode. But since it would take all of Rhapsody's strength to keep Achmed from falling out of the saddle, Grunthor tethered her horse to Meridion's so she wouldn't have to worry about guiding it.
It only took a few moments for Grunthor to clear a path through the rockslide that blocked their path and in the process he caused another further ahead, hoping that the demon would be caught behind that one.
They rode all through the rest of the day and continued on into the night. The moon now gave off just enough light to ride at a slower speed by. It wasn't until sometime around midnight that they stopped for a short rest.
They decided that if they were gaining on the F'dor, as they hoped they were, it would be best that they not light any fire. But the night was very cool so they would have to lie close together to keep from freezing.
Achmed had not yet come to, and they were all becoming very worried. The drug should long ago have worn off. It had to be the Fever that was keeping him out, but Rhapsody was sure that the fever was going down and was no where near as high as it had been when he had drawn on her.
But there was still nothing that they could do about it right then; only to try and make him as comfortable as possible and keep pouring water down his throat. The entire ride, Rhapsody had been softly humming a healing tune for him, which seemed to have nearly completely healed the gashes in his back and the bruises on his chest. She was sure that his cracked ribs were nearly knitted if not completely healed yet. It was just the fever that her singing didn't seem to be able to reach.
As they settled for their rest, the Glythery finally climbed down from Rhapsody's shoulder and curled itself up on Achmed's chest, purring. Rhapsody was sure that the little thing knew that he was ill and it was trying to help the only way it knew how.
Rhapsody sighed at the sight of the small creature curled upon her husband's chest as he lay propped against her. It was such a strange sight that she was forced to smile at it. Who would have thought that a creature so friendly and cute would decide to take Achmed as its charge?
Shaking her head, Rhapsody leaned back against Grunthor and was soon sound asleep.
It was probably only an hour or two later that she awoke to the lifting of a weight from her own chest. Achmed had finally awakened and was sitting up, staring into the night.
"Achmed?" She said, hesitantly, worried that he might still be hallucinating.
He gave no verbal reply, but simply nodded, indicating that he was himself once again.
Rhapsody was so overcome with relief that she sat up and threw her arms around him. "You really gave us a scare back there," She said.
His body was still very warm, but not near as overheated as it had been. He sat there, looking strait ahead for a few moments before breaking the silence one again, "Why are we stopped?" He asked. His voice grated and was hollow; the anger and rage that he had spoken with since they had began tracking the demon were gone, replaced with a single minded, dogged yet weary determination.
"We had to rest for a little while. We have been riding all day and most of the night. The horses had to rest and so did we. But I don't think we're so far behind anymore. Grunthor cleared the path for us and has caused some obstructions for the F'dor to slow him up some."
Achmed shook his head, as if he was still having difficulty thinking clearly. "Grunthor?" he asked.
"Yes, he showed up right after you collapsed."
Achmed heaved a sigh, "I hope that this doesn't bring ruin to us. It was better that he stayed in the mountain but I won't turn down his help now." He winced suddenly as the Glythery chose that moment to return from wherever it had gone to and climbed up to perch on his shoulder now. He looked at it for a moment before reaching up and absently patting it's head, eliciting more purrs.
Rhapsody couldn't help but smile slightly at the little thing.
"I'm so glad that you're thinking clearly once again," Rhapsody said after a few more moments of silence where she just simply held him.
"Maybe not completely clearly; it's as if I'm sitting in a fog. Everything seems numb and distant," he said.
"Still, that's an improvement to the hallucinating," she answered softly.
He gave no response. "What was it that you saw?" she asked, almost afraid to ask.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure. All I remember is feeling like I was being attacked. It was all a haze where nothing made any sense."
Suddenly if felt like a chill had taken over her. It was terrifying to think what may have happened if she couldn't have reached him in that state. He certainly was very deadly when threatened and he could probably have killed both her and Meridion if he had completely lost control.
It was now by this time that Grunthor had awakened and realized that Achmed was once again awake as well.
"Nice o' ya ta join us, sir," he said, sitting up himself.
All of the movement now awoke Meridion. "Yes Achmed, you had us pretty worried."
"Yes, now let's get moving, we still have some distance to make up," he answered.