From the Veil to the Mountain
"Now, if you are done venting, how long have I been out?" Rhapsody asked Achmed.
"How should I know, I only just got here. I've been in that timeless veil for the last month."
"A month!" She asked surprised.
"Don't be so surprised, you're the one who spent seven years in there without even loosing a day in the real world."
"I suppose. Well, if it is the same day as it was when I left the veil, I have only been out for about an hour or so. The sun had just risen when I had left."
"Which means I have lost how much time since the Nain caves?" He asked.
"The cave? Achmed, we left the caves and traveled two days to the Nain capital before I brought you to the Veil."
He stared at her, not sure if he believed what she was saying. "Don't you remember killing the second F'dor and saving Faedryth's life?" She asked him.
He thought for a moment. There were vague flashes of what felt like memory, but could easily have been some of the hallucinations that he had been having ever since the F'dor taken him as a host.
"I'm… not sure. I remember leaving the caves and then leaving the road on the way to Nyeath. Then the next thing I remember is performing the Thrall again and then next being in the veil and you telling me that I was a host."
Shaking her head she said, "Achmed, we left the caves almost four days ago. A little less than a day ago I left with you from the Nain capital to the Veil as Meridion and Grunthor left to return to Ylork."
Achmed's head snapped up at that, "What do you mean Grunthor left to return to Ylork? He should have already been there," He demanded.
"Achmed, he met us on our way to the capital. He followed after us when we didn't return to Ylork right away. If it hadn't been for him, we would never have made it to Faedryth in time."
"And he left the child unguarded," he snarled as he walked a few feet away and grabbed the reins of the same horse that Rhapsody had ridden out of the Nain capital yesterday. Apparently it had been brought into the Veil with them. It never would have survived the obvious firestorm that Rhapsody had created here.
"He did seal the Loritorium entrance before he left to help guard her while he was away," Rhapsody stated.
"Hmmf," He answered.
Before Rhapsody could say anything more, Achmed had mounted and was reaching down to her. Grabbing his hand, she mounted easily and sat behind him. She was forced to grab a hold of him as he jabbed his heels into the beast, forcing it to gallop off once again.
"It is worse than you might think," Rhapsody told him as they tore towards Ylork. "Meridion used his power to look in on Ylork and Rial was already there when we all left the Nain capital."
"And your just telling this to me now?" he growled, prodding the horse to go even faster.
"Well we were a little busy dealing with another F'dor at the time. I think that it's safe to say that I have had other things on my mind."
"Other things other than the sleeping child left unguarded in Ylork while a demon is roaming about inside my kingdom!"
"Yes!"
"Of all the stupid things that you have done Rhapsody, barring what you just pulled back there, this is the top." He snapped. "You tore off, away from Ylork where the child is in danger to save me? What was the point? You very well may have saved me only to come back here and witness the F'dor rain ruin upon the Earth!"
"And what good was I going to be in Ylork!" She hollered back. "If Meridion and Grunthor are unable to do anything about the demon, what good am I going to do?"
"The Il'lichever is asking what help she could be in fighting a demon? Isn't that part of your job description?"
"To protect and help the helpless is what I am supposed to do. And as my son pointed out, that is what I was doing. The child had Meridion and Grunthor rushing to her aid, which left me to help you."
"I'm not that important," she just barely heard him growl as he forced their horse to practically fly over the mountains.
Rhapsody realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere in this argument. They were both much too stubborn and high strung with emotions to ever be able to see eye to eye on this point.
"What's done is done," she said firmly. "All that matters is that we get back to Ylork as fast as possible."
"First sensible thing you've said all morning," he grumbled.
And that was all that they said to each other until well into the night when they were forced to stop and give the weary horse a rest.
Having nothing with them, they lit a small fire and lay next to each other to rest for a few hours. But neither was able to sleep.
Finally, the King broke the silence. "Rhapsody… I know why you did what you did." He said falteringly.
A sad smile crossed her lips as she turned to face him. "I… I would have done the same," he said.
Stretching up, she gently kissed his lips. Breaking away, she smiled wickedly and answered. "You're welcome," she said before turning back and snuggling up against his chest once again. She was finally able to truly rest for the first time in days and very soon feel asleep in his arms.
Sighing, Achmed closed his eyes but was still unable to fall asleep. There was something that was still bothering him. He still couldn't recall much from after he left the Nain caves, but there was something that he did remember that he had not told Rhapsody. Mostly because he wasn't sure if he had been hallucinating again or not. But also because it dredged up memories from a time that he had never told her about. Something that reminded him of the old world before they had ever met.
The Fireball came screaming towards him. There was no stopping it this time. Rhapsody probably didn't even realize that he was in danger as she fought for her life. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the heat waves of the flame grew nearer. The caustic smoke from the flames burned the back of his throat, causing him to nearly end the chant.
Suddenly, there was a scream above his head as a shadow swooped his head, aiming for the ball of fire. He knew that the silhouette was that of the Glythery, but suddenly it seemed to have grown in size and had a bluish glow about it.
Instead of gliding as he had seen it do before, it almost seemed as if a brisk wind were propelling it, driving it ever faster towards the dark flames.
And suddenly, in the instant before the creature met its doom, a silence settled as the glow from the Glythery tripled in intensity. It was as if the thing were creating a shield of light against the flames.
The bal erupted against it's body, flames swirled around it reaching towards his body, but they were extinguished before a single tongue was able lick his body.
As the scene played out, he slowly drifted into his own exhausted sleep. He still had not completely recovered from his ordeal and new that it would still take some time before he was back to his full strength.
Rhapsody slept very soundly. He didn't realize it, but she had hardly slept or ate in nearly a week and her internal battle with the F'dor had nearly taken all of her reserves. Now all that she had been left to continue on was adrenaline and as she was slowly coming to terms with the fact that Achmed was actually alright now, she had very little of that left.
As a result, they both slept much longer than they had planned. When Achmed first awoke, the sun was nearly to its zenith. Their fire had long ago burnt down to the coals and was quickly cooling.
Suddenly realizing how very late it was, he quickly jumped up, expecting Rhapsody to be awakened by his movement. But she continued to sleep on soundly. Achmed let her sleep for a few more minutes as he quickly saddled the horse and made ready for a fast departure.
When he returned, he found that she was still sound asleep. He began to worry; she was usually a natural early riser and would become angry at herself for missing a sunrise. But here it was nearly noon and she was still dead asleep.
Bending down, he gently shook her, "Rhapsody," he said. No response. "Rhapsody," he said a little louder and more urgently, accompanied by a harder shake.
Finally her eyes fluttered as she pulled herself from sleep. "Wha?.." she voiced as she tried to shake off the exhaustion that still filled her.
"Rhapsody, we have to move, it's nearly noon!" Achmed urged.
Shaking her head as if she still wasn't able to grasp what was going on, she tried to sit up. Unfortunately, her body protested as she nearly passed out from the sudden movement.
Once again Achmed caught her before she hit the ground. His face was defiantly full of concern now. "Rhapsody, what's wrong?" he asked.
Struggling back to full consciousness, her eyes fluttered for a moment before she was able to answer. Finally she said, "I guess I'm more exhausted than I realized. This was the first solid bit of sleep I have had in nearly a week."
"A week? Why didn't you say so?" he demanded.
"Well, there were some more important things to take care of. I am not going to have this conversation with you right now Achmed. Just help me up."
Carefully, he lifted her to her feet and made sure that she was steady before he brought the horse nearer. He quickly mounted and slid back in the saddle. Reaching down to her he said, "Here, you can sit in front and I'll make sure you don't fall off if you fall asleep," he said.
Very grateful, she smiled weakly and took his hand as he hauled her up and allowed her to settle before he dug his heels once again into the horse's sides. It was going to be another long hard ride.