Dawn trudged by slowly. By the time the sun's light lit the whole sky it had felt like a lifetime had passed. Celia had stayed by Deo's side, watching his progress and counting heartbeats. They wouldn't be moving anytime soon. She didn't even have the strength to pull him into the shelter of the cave. So instead she did her best to set up shade for him with what little they had, using sticks and a cover to set up a makeshift ceiling. By the time Helios had reached the center of the sky Celia was worn out. Her wounded arm throbbed and felt like a dead weight.

"Ce...lia…" Deo moaned as he turned his head to face ehr. She quickly looped over to where he was and kneeled beside him, using a piece ripped from her chitin and some water from their waterskin to damped his forehead and cheeks.

"Shhh… I'm here." She could not bring herself to ignore him or be angry with him like she had been the night before. All that went through her mind was keeping him calm, safe, and alive. At the sound of her voice his eyes fluttered open and settles at half way. They looked lifeless and the normally bright blue seemed to be darker and more stormy. He said nothing more, just stared at her. He was amazed that she hadn't tried to escape even once with him in this state and was thankful for her touch when he felt so numb otherwise. The confusion he had been fighting with over her had started to clear for him and yet it felt like it might be in vain.

"We need more water…" She wasn't speaking to him. No it was just an observation she was making as she dampened the piece of cloth again. Their food supplies would last a few more days, however without water there was no hope in surviving. Deo's brow furrowed as he thought.

"Up a bit… there's a stream…" His words seemed like a mixture of a statement and question. He felt this was truth, but acknowledged that he had no memory of this pass to truly know if he was right.

Celia looked up the pass, in the direction the hounds had come from the night before. There were many large rocks that made the path narrow and it would be hard to climb many of them if she couldn't find away around them. However they needed water. On the other hand, if she attempted to retrieve the water what would guarantee that she wouldn't come back to a corpse?

"I'll be fine…" As if reading her mind, Deo took hold of her hand as he spoke. "We need it." In truth he had no idea if his life was ending or not. However for her survival she needed that water. After a moment's pause she nodded and stood, allowing her hand to stay connected to his until they just naturally fell apart. She grabbed both waterskins and headed down the pass, only looking back once to see Deo following her with his eyes.

Once she was out of sight of him Deo sighed and looked skyward. Somehow he knew that last night's attack was planned. He knew that someone was watching them and that that someone was out for his head. His conversation with the oracle came to mind. She had told him that if he wished to find himself again he would have to find her first… What did that mean?

Celia had already gone a decent way down the pass. She was able to squeeze past the first few large boulders, but now she was at an impasse. The rocks that were before filled the space between two mountain faces tightly, leaving no room to slink past. She would have to try to climb them. She lifted her arms above her head to grab onto the first boulder, her wounded arm protesting every move. Kicking off the ground Celia scrambled up, barely making it to the top of the rock. She looked up at the next one she would have to tackle. Her arm throbbed in pain, but her heart was set on getting over them and getting the water for Deo. Taking a deep breath she once against grabbed footholds and tried to push herself up onto the boulder. However this one was much larger than the last and she couldn't quite get her bearings fast enough before her weight pulled down and she began to fall backwards. She braced herself for impact and prayed she would just land on the boulder below her and not the ground.

However instead of impact she felt a jolt. Looking up she saw a large hand wrapped around hers. Following the arm up to the face it belonged with, her breath caught in her throat. The man from Delphi. The man who reminded her so much of her beloved god, Apollo. A bright smile graced his lips and the sun's light danced across his exposed shoulders and cascading curls.

"It's a good thing I caught you. That would have been a nasty fall." The man's music like voice mused as he pulled her up to the top of the pile. Celia's heart pounded. How was he here? How did he get to the top without her noticing? Who was this man? "Are you heading to the stream?"

Dumbfounded she nodded, forgetting to question how he could have known that. His smile seemed to grow at her answer as he jumped down the other side and held out his hand to help her. Celia paused a moment, looking over her shoulder in the direction of Deo. After only a second of questioning she turned back to the man. "Where you not in Delphi only a few days ago?"

The man's smile never faltered as he answered, taking her hand and helping her down the boulders. "I was, but I don't stay in the cities long. I just so happened to have work there and now I have work here."

She timidly followed behind the man as he traveled down the pass. He spoke more on small things, asking about what brought her to the mountains and asking about her time in Delphi. Each time she gave him false information. Something made her fear mentioning Deo to the stranger. "So do you still sing? Or has something choked the music from your throat?"

The question stopped her in her tracks. This was the second time he has mentioned her music. And yet she still had no memory of singing or performing in front of such a man. "How do you know about my singing?"

"I told you before didn't I?" The man stopped and looked back at her, his smile wide yet not reaching his eyes. "I know your voice better than anyone. After all I was the one who gifted it to you."

Her heart skipped a beat. Was she hearing things? Could this be some kind of cruel trick by the gods? The only one who could have gifted her her voice and know it so well without her ever seeing him would be her beloved Apollo. And yet mortals rarely saw gods and when they did they were normally higher standing in society. The name was pulled from her lips however, in question of her own sanity more so than truly wishing to see if she was right. "Apollon?"

The man smiled devilishly as he walked towards her. "You kept praying for our help, little Celia. I am here to help you now." His words seemed cold. As if the music that was in his voice before had somehow dried up. "I will take you from that cruel man. I will take you home."

Panic formed in the pit of her stomach. As much as she had hoped to be saved for so long, she now wanted nothing more than to stay with Deo and keep him alive. Now that her prayers were being answered she wanted nothing to do with them. Gripping the waterskins tightly she bowed her head. "With all respect Lord Apollon I do not wish to go home anymore. Now if you would excuse me I need to fetch the water." She tried to hurry past him, her head lowered out of respect, however as she passed his side his hand reached out and roughly pulled her to him.

"Do you really wish to defy me?"