The Fates
Chapter 12

Dusk had come and gone and Celia had fallen asleep leaning on Rhale, her anger momentarily forgotten as she slumbered.

It was early morning when she woke up, the sun was just starting to rise and the horizon was illuminated in the most amazing pink glow that Celia had ever seen and she gasped at the beautiful sight. Her round eyes watching it in complete awe as Taurus slowly trotted forwards.

"It is a warning, bad weather is coming this way" Rhale said behind her and she glared up at the sky like it had betrayed her, how can something so amazingly beautiful mean something bad? Celia kept her eyes on the sky but there were no dark clouds in sight, maybe Rhale was wrong, at least she hoped so. Bad weather was the last thing they needed.

"We do not want to be stuck in the open when it blows in, we should try to find shelter" Rhale told her as Taurus trot turned into a gallop.

They rode on and despite their fast pace they were not able to find any shelter before the rain set in.

It started pouring down heavily and the sounds of water hitting the ground around them filled Celia's ears. Her dress started to cling uncomfortably to her skin as the rain soaked her but she was at the very least thankfully that it still wasn't cold here, this rain in cold weather would have been unbearable.

Celia's heart fell as she realized that their tracks would be washed away in the storm, the King's guard would not be able to trace them now and that had been her only plan. A feeling of desperation filled her when despite her best efforts she could not come up with another plan.

"Why did you do that?" Celia said when Taurus slowed down, there was a line of trees up ahead and she guessed that they were headed there, the trees canopy would at least lessen the heavy rain, or so she hoped.

"Do what?"

"You know what! It was my choice!" She needed to yell now, the rain splashed heavily on the ground and the wind was picking up pace, making it hard to hear much of anything else.

"That wasn't a choice, it was foolishness!" Rhale needed to yell too in order for her to hear him, the wind was howling in their faces and it was becoming hard for her to catch her breath, as soon as she opened her mouth gusts of winds filled it and it was with much effort that she spoke.

"What is foolish is trying to run when there is nowhere to hide!" Could he not see that? What did she need to say to make him understand?

"Then we keep on running!"

"You're a stubborn fool!" She yelled out in frustration, shocking herself at her words. Water was dripping down her face now and she angrily tried to rub it away, it did not help, her hands were just as wet as the rest of her.

"And you are a righteous pain in the ass!" Celia was too busy trying to breathe to care about his hurtful words.

They were riding past the trees now, their crowns moving wildly from side to side but thankfully the trunks served them as a barrier from the wind but they did little to stop the rain from hitting them.

They stopped and Celia angrily jumped down, landing in mud so deep that it covered her ankles. She angrily tried to pull her feet up and walk forward but the mud would not let her go and she screamed out in frustration.

How in the world had she ended up in this situation? It felt like forever ago that she was sitting at home by the fire awaiting her mother's arrival at the end of the day. Celia missed those simple times and badly wished that she had relished in the calmness more than she had.

She gave up on moving forward and turned to Rhale, her fists at her sides as she glared daggers at him.

"Is it so wrong of me to want to do what is right?!" Her words were almost lost in the sounds of the storm but Rhale had heard her.

"It is not right! It is not up to you to save the entire world!" His voice was a lot louder than hers so she could hear him clearly, she had never heard him yell as loudly as he was now. At least not to her.

"I am the only one who might be able to!" Celia tried to walk away again only to sink deeper into the muddy forest floor, the lower part of her dress completely ruined now. She really wanted to storm away dramatically and she cursed quietly to herself when she was unable to walk away.

Celia found herself being lifted off the ground and away from the mud, Rhale had put one arm under her legs and his other behind her back. He cradled her gently while he navigated his way away from the sticky soil, a stark contrast to his angry shouts from moments before. She angrily kept her arms crossed, pointedly looking away from Rhale with her lips pressed tightly together.

He put her down under a thick tree which thankfully did not have much mud under it.

Celia kept her head down, still refusing to look at him. She had rarely been angry in her life but she could feel all of the frustration, all of the sadness, all of the confusion and everything else that she had been feeling boiling up inside of her.

Celia wanted to scream and cry and possibly hit something. Instead she fisted her hands and let her nails dig into them, she focused on that and tried to calm herself down, what good would it do to be angry?

Rhale only wanted to help her, she knew that but her emotions weren't rational as she felt the injustice of the world.

Rhale came up close to her and forced her to look up with his hand under her chin, she tried to take a step back but his other hand came to her waist, holding her in place.

"Just because you can does not mean that you have to. I fight monsters, I have been fighting them my entire life with little thoughts as to why. But there are many more gods, full blooded gods with more strength than me who do not fight, none of them do. No one has to do anything simply because it is right. You are not alone in the world Celia, this fight shouldn't be just yours."

Celia could feel tears streaming down her face and she warily laid her head on Rhale’s chest as he pulled her to him. Slowly she let her hands relax, stopping her nails from digging into her own skin. Shebtook deep breaths as he stroked her back gently and she slowly raised her arms and let her hands rest on Rhale's back, taking comfort in the feeling of his chest expanding as he inhaled.

They did not say much more as they stood under the tree, waiting for the storm to pass. Celia jumped as loud thunder rolled across the sky and Rhale tightened his arms around her.

As quickly as the storm had come it disappeared, leaving the air smelling fresh and earthy and soon the sun came out and warmed them with its bright beams .

They set out to find dry branches to light a fire, they had not brought anything with them in their hasty departure so they had to light the fire in the old fashion way, with rocks. Rhale had apparently done it many times before and so big, warm flames soon sparkled before them.

Celia sat herself down as close to the fire as possible, hoping to dry herself. They did not have any change of clothes and her wet muddy dress felt more than awful. Rhale told her that he would be right back and she sat quietly as she waited. Taurus came trotting up to her, standing close as if he was protecting her while Rhale was gone.

Rhale came back after a little while, he had apparently caught dinner. Celia turned her eyes away, unable to watch the poor animal but still her mouth watered as she smelled the grilled meat

They ate in silence, more content now that they had started to dry a bit.

"We need to talk about what we are going to do and you can put going to the King aside, I will not let you." Rhale said, his eyes finding hers after they had finished their meal.

"Okay" Celia was not going to argue anymore, his words had touched something deep within her, she did not want this to just be her fight. If she did possess magic perhaps it should be her choice what she did with it. She was still a bit conflicted but chose to swallow it down and try to trust the man sitting before her.

"We only have two choices. We can keep running, I need you to know that I would gladly run with you Celia. I would run with you to the end of the world and back, do you understand?" Rhale's tone was firm "I would run forever if we had to."

Celia took in his words and mulled them over, she believed him, Rhale really would choose to be on the run with her if that was the decision she made. He was going to give her two options and he would let it be her choice. She nodded in understanding and agreement and then waited for him to continue.

"The other choice we have is going to the land of the gods." Rhale stopped talking and she frowned in confusion, he looked at her and guarded her reaction before continuing "The gods would not let you stay there unless you were joined to a god. I do not want you to make up your mind now, there is no hurry. We will continue running unless at any time you choose to go to the land of the gods. There you would have time and after the joining you would be above the King's law."

Celia’s belly was beginning to do strange things again as she listened to Rhale's words, the joining. The merging of two souls, forever. Her heart fell, she could not, would not ask that of him. How could she?

"I also need you to know" Rhale's voice was stern again, "that it would be my pleasure joining with you."

He sat at the other side of the fire, his blazing eyes holding hers captive. Celia's breath stuck in her throat and her pulse quickened, she struggled to find something to say, anything, but she came up short.

Did he really mean it? Would it be his pleasure? She forced her eyes away from his and looked down, there must be a thousand other women out there for him, she could not fathom why he would ever willingly tie himself to her in such a way when he could choose anyone.

Rhale came around and sat down beside her, locking his gaze with hers again and she felt her body move slightly towards him of its own accord.

"Do you understand me?"

"But surely there must be others that you would rather" the rest of her sentence was muffled by Rhale's lips on hers, his big hand came to her waist and he pulled her closer to him. His tongue stroked hers in the most delicious manner and when his other hand found its way to her chest she felt incredibly warm and tingly all over. Rhale abruptly pulled back and she moaned at the loss but he kept his lips close to hers.

"It would be my pleasure" he emphasized the words, almost growling them out one at a time.

"I also need you to understand that if you do choose the joining, afterwards there would be no going back, you would be stuck with me, always"

Celia wanted that, by the Fates did she want that, her body even screamed for it.

"Mabey I want to be stuck with you," she said breathlessly, shocking herself by her own confession.

"Don't toy with me Celia, do not say it if you do not mean it. I am ready to throw you over my shoulder and run to the land of the gods to join with you." His thumb was drawing lazy circles on her collarbone and she melted at his words, his touch, at him.

Celia had suppressed her feelings for him, thinking that he could not feel the same as she did. But his words were earnest and she knew that he never said anything he did not mean.

She swallowed loudly, perhaps it was time to confess, both to herself and to him what she was really feeling, all of it.

"I think I was yours the moment you first saved me."

Rhale's lips crashed down on hers again in an earth shattering kiss.

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