New Problems
"Achmed!" Rhapsody exclaimed as the king sank woozily to the floor. She rushed down the steps and across the room to his side. Kneeling beside him, she found that he had lost consciousness and his fever had worsened again.
Meridion hurried to them as well and knelt beside the couple with Grunthor close behind him, towering over.
"Meridion, what's wrong with him?" Rhapsody asked as she placed a hand over Achmed's forehead, trying to use her fire lore to draw the fever from him. It didn't seem to be working.
"I don't know, Mother," he answered softly. He watched his mother work over the ailing king for a few moments before rising to talk to Faedryth.
"Your Majesty, the Bolg king is very ill and must be brought to a place where he might rest."
"Say no more," the Nain King answered. "I owe my life to him; it is only honorable that I seek to save his."
With that, he gestured for two of the guards who had recently came out of what had felt like a living nightmare of being Thrall. "Take the Bolg King to the hospice; he is to receive the best treatment that we can offer." He told them. At firs they look vacantly at him but only for a moment as their heads cleared and they realized that their king had just given them an order.
As the king spoke, Grunthor leaned over and lifted the limp form of his king and turned to face the two guards. They nodded to him to follow. They all left with Rhapsody in close step.
"Your Majesty," Meridion said as the procession left the room. "I am in need of a private room for a few hours. I believe I can find out what is going on and now that the F'dor is dead, I can use my powers now without fear of being used by a demon."
"You may use my study," the king replied. "I will see to it that no one disturbs you."
"Thank you sir," Meridion bowed and left.
It was several hours later that a much worn and haggard Meridion found his mother and Grunthor still glued to Achmed's side. He had been brought to a private chamber in the Nain Hospice. Rhapsody sat, clutching her husband's hand, humming non-stop. She was still trying to heal him, even though she had by now realized her song was having no effect.
Grunthor hovered in the corner, staring at his two friends looking, and probably feeling, utterly helpless.
Shaking his head, Meridion sighed silently to himself. Things were only going to get worse he knew. They had all already been through so much and now the worst was taking root. They had to act quickly if all was not to be lost, but it would dangerous and there was no certainty in the plan that he had to propose; only a dim hope.
Meridion stepped from the shadow of the doorway and cleared his throat to gain attention. Rhapsody and Grunthor nearly jumped at the unexpected sound of another in the room.
When she saw who it was, Rhapsody broke of her humming. "Meridion," she said. "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry I left you for so long mother," he replied. "But now that the F'dor has been killed I deemed it safe enough to use my powers to look into time once again."
"An' wha' ya see?" Grunthor asked.
Shaking his head, Meridion replied, "Nothing good." He took one more long look at Achmed before saying, "We need to talk. There is an empty room next door where we can do that."
"Why not here?" Rhapsody asked.
"Just trust me Mother," he answered. With that he walked out, leaving the other two to follow.
A moment later, they were seated in the nearby room faces full of grim doubt.
Meridion took a moment to collect his scattered thoughts before bringing the others up to speed. Well, mostly anyway. There were some things that it would do no good for them to hear.
"There is a lot happening right now that will do none of us any good and we are going to have to act quickly in order to counter it," he began.
"First off; it was good that you came to help us here, Grunthor, but your leaving Ylork unprotected may have dire consequences if we do not get back there right away. As we speak, Rial is in Ylork, searching for the entrance to the child's chamber."
Rhapsody gasped as Grunthor sat silently for a moment, looking as if he was about to rip somebody's arm off. Before he could explode, Meridion put a hand out and took hold of the giant's arm. "Grunthor, there was no getting around this, if you hadn't left, we never would have brought down the F'dor here and the Nain would now be under the rule of a demon.'
'The good news is," Meridon said, leaning back once again. "The Archons are keeping a very close eye on Rial. It seems that they don't trust him, as they were taught. They have been making it very difficult for him and he has not yet been able to discover the child's location. Also, Grunthor's sealing the Loritorium passageway adds some extra security till we can reach the mountain."
"But Meridion," Rhapsody said, "What are we going to do? Achmed is sick and won't be able to help take this F'dor out. And I don't know of any other nearby Dhracians."
Meridion sighed. He was going to have to be careful with what he said from here. "No, Achmed will not be able to help us; at least right now…"
He paused as he thought how he was going to tell them what must be done with out giving too much away.
"Grunthor and I will be returning as fast as we can to the mountain. We will do our best to keep the F'dor away from the child. I have looked into the future and I believe we will be able to do this."
"Just you two? What about me?" Rhapsody asked. "I am the Sword Bearer after all. This is what I am supposed to do."
"Mother, you are going to have to act as an escort right now rather than a protector. You need to take Achmed as fast as you can to the Veil of Hoen."
"The Veil! But no one is allowed there unless…" She cut herself off as she realized what it was that Meridion was telling her.
He nodded slowly to her before completing her statement. "…Unless it is a matter of life and death. I don't want to alarm you Mother, but this is defiantly a matter of life and death. Right now, only the Lord and Lady will be able to heal Achmed. If they can't…" He allowed himself to trail off. Seeing the fear and hurt in both his mother's and Grunthor's eyes was more than he could take. He couldn't bear to tell them the reason for the King's ailment.
"But… but what's wrong with him? His ribs are healing and as far as I can tell he hasn't lost too much blood nor has any infection." Rhapsody pleaded, trying to discover if perhaps her son was mistaken in some way as to the seriousness of the situation.
"No, it is none of that," Meridion answered. "But I cannot tell you what it is. You just have to trust me that this is the only way to save him."
Grunthor and Rhapsody exchanged a quick glance before returning their gaze to Meridion. Meridion was able to see that nearly a whole conversation passed between these two friends in that single moment and now they were ready to take action.
"That's all that I have to tell you. I cannot guarantee anything, but this is the best course that I can offer us."
Rhapsody rose and said, "Then that is what we must do, I will leave you two now. Apparently we all have long journeys to make and not much time to complete them in. I will go now and see to getting Achmed and I to the Veil." She turned and hugged first Grunthor and then her son, clinging to him for a moment longer than she meant to before silently leaving the room.
It seemed like only moment later Meridion watched as his mother pounded away on one of the Nain king's fastest horse with her husband strapped to the saddle behind her. That was all that he was going to be able to do for them. It would be up to the Rowans now if the Bolg king were to live or die.
He turned from the sight of the two monarchs rushing towards Tyrian and looked to his own traveling companion. Grunthor stood beside him, watching his two best friends disappear from sight over the mountainous terrain. Even after they could no longer be seen, he continued to follow them through the Earth.
He should be with them, he thought to himself. But he knew that this was the only way.
"Grunthor," Meridion said. "We have to go now."
"Oi know," the giant sighed as he turned to his horse. Both he and Meridion mounted and were off, racing in a different direction from their friends and family.
Rhapsody could hardly believe that it was less than a week ago that everything had been just right in her world. She had been hurrying to Ylork only six days ago, to her husband. All had seemed fine and in order in Tyrain and she had plenty of time to spend with Achmed before having to return to High Meadow once again.
Her son was now Lord Cymrian and was going to be fine at it. He commanded just as much respect from the counsel as Ashe had and was just as strong a leader.
She had even come to terms with Ashe's passing. She had stopped blaming herself; after all, it would have happened sooner or later and it was probably better for both of them that it happened now. If Ashe had continued to stay in his human form just for the sake of Rhapsody, there would have developed a tremendous strain between them that may have made their last years together anything but happy.
This way he was able to pass on with out fear of leaving her alone and broken and their time together would have none of the horrible pressure that it may have otherwise had.
But now, everything that had so recently settled in her life was now again in turmoil. Here she was, racing to the Veil of Hoen with her husband and dearest friend near some nameless death. It was obvious that her son had known what it was that was ailing Achmed, but he thought it too horrible to actually tell his mother. That, above all else, is what scared her the most.
Achmed was still unconscious, but at times, it seemed as if he was trying to fight his way back to awareness. She could here him muttering and trying to thrash against some unseen force. His fever refused to break and continued to climb. Rhapsody knew that she had precious little time to reach the Veil before he was lost to her. But it was so far away.
The only entrance to the Veil that she knew of was in Tyrain and, though she had never made the trip from the Nain kingdom, she knew that it was going to take much too long to reach it in time. She would ride as far and as fast as she could, but even if she was able to make the journey all the way there non-stop, it was still going to take days and Achmed didn't have days. It was her fear that he may not even have hours.
Still, she rode hard and fast, forcing her horse to a gallop through the rocky terrain. Any other horse could never have been able to maintain such high speeds through this land but this was a Nain horse. It had been born and bred in order to make trips such as these.
She pushed the horse all day and through the night. It wasn't until sunrise the next morning that she knew her beast could not travel another step without a rest. She wished she would have been able to make it to some city or way station where she could trade for a fresh horse, but these parts were barren and there was no one who would be able to help her.
Stiffly climbing down, she carefully undid the straps that had held Achmed in the saddle and lowered him to the ground. It scared her how relatively easy it was for her to do this. Any other time, she would never have been able to support him. But he had obviously been loosing weight ever since he had been taken from Ylork and now, was no where near the burden that he would otherwise have been.
Hastily, Rhapsody gathered a few sticks and branches to start a small fire with. She made a sketchy camp before pulling Achmed closer to the fire. She propped him up with his head on her lap. He was still mumbling and looked as if he was trying to awaken, but his body was on fire. His normally pale skin was nearly scarlet with fever and his lips were dry and cracked. He was completely covered in sweat with pain creases crossing his forehead.
Rhapsody tried to force some of the water she had brought into him, but she couldn't be sure if he was swallowing any of it. It just seemed to spill over his lips on onto her lap.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he stared strait up. "Achmed!" Rhapsody called. But he didn't seem to hear her. Once again, she saw the same ghostly look in his eyes. He wasn't seeing anything that she was able to see. He was hallucinating again she realized as he tried to rise but was unable to. She tried to calm him and keep him still and was able to keep him from getting up, but that was more to do with his utter lack of strength than anything she was doing.
"Achmed, please…" she pleaded. "Stay with me. I'm right here." Tears began to stream down her face. If anything could pull him out of his hallucination it would be her tears. Long ago she had seen how much he hated it when she cried. Maybe he would come to long enough to tell her to stop it.
But he didn't. After a few moments of struggling, his eyes closed once again and he sank once again into unconsciousness. But this time he no longer seemed to be fighting it. There was no more muttering and no move struggling. He was truly unconscious now, claimed by some unknown illness.
"Achmed!" Rhapsody vainly called to him, despair quickly setting in. She was loosing him. "No! Damn you! You can't leave me now. I nearly lost you once a few days ago; I refuse to let you go now." But her words seemed to have no effect on him.
Suddenly she realized what it must have been like for him all those years ago when she had been injured trying to save Joe. He too had tried to wake her with words and had failed. He had carried her failing body in a desperate attempt to save her all the way to Sepulvarta only to have them tell him that they could do nothing for her.
But now, though she raced to the Veil for help, she was not even going to make it there to find out if they could help him or not.
This thought caused the last of her hope to completely vanish and she broke down, weeping over her husband's body.
"Lord… Lady…" she whispered through her tears. "I need you…"
"All you had to do was ask," A calm voice said above her.
Rhapsody jumped and looked up. She found herself staring into the eyes of the Lady Rowan. Glancing around, she saw that she was no longer in the sparse terrain that she had made her camp. And even the camp was no longer in sight.
She was now in a mist covered grove with just her and Achmed and the Lady standing over them.
"How…?" Rhapsody tried to voice her confusion.
"There are many ways into our land, dear one. All it takes is a need and the desire to find it," the Lady said calmly as she knelt beside them.
Gently the Lady placed a cool hand upon Achmed's forehead. For a moment her brow wrinkled and then she quickly rose, signaling to some unseen people standing at the edge of the mists.
Four white clad men came and lifted Achmed and bore him away. The Lady lower a hand to help Rhapsody to stand. As she stood Rhapsody asked, "Lady, what is wrong with him?"
The Lady gave Rhapsody a leveling look before saying, "your son chose not to tell you then?"
"No, he wouldn't tell me. He just said that the Veil was the only place that could save him."
"That is true," the Lady responded as she began to follow after those who took Achmed. "Your husband is very ill and normally there would be nothing that I nor anyone could do to save him. But in this case, I believe that there is a small chance that we can bring him back."
"Why? What is it that is wrong with him?"
"My dear," the Lady said as she stopped and took both of Rhapsody's hand and looked her in the face. "Your husband has become the host to a F'dor."