Return of Ikrah: Intimate Strangers, Old Flames

Up and above in the heavens, he searched for her trail. She had headed due north from the looks of how a dent riveted through the rolling sea of clouds in the distance. He knew now what she was planning all along upon returning to Olstare. And it hurt. His heart broke in two just thinking about what she was doing to the fate of his son with the half she held under her control for the time being. He had to stop her. Skimming the winds, he tracked her down in icy wrath. His rage powered him to overtake her in speed. He rammed into her on purpose. They collided in an explosion of sparks, icicles, whipping winds, blasting cloud force and power spinning the heavens into distortion. The magnetic storm burned in friction until they came apart floating up there facing each other, strides apart and within speaking distance to hear each other clearly. She suspended in the air as herself weightless, while he sat on his Chimera whose wings spanned and flapped evenly to maintain his place. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked with the undercurrent of brimstone burning. "Nowhere," she retorted looking at their surrounding and catching a glimpse of the landscape below through the breaks in the clouds to her own surprise. "What's the matter? Recognize where we are at if we land?" He noticed the wuthering heights and massive palaces of Falshire. She raised her eyelids looking back at him with that defiant yet sheepish countenance. "I don't know what you are talking." "Don't you?" His tone was raw and wry. "I think you know exactly what I am talking about, Ikrah." "That's not my name." "Oh, it isn't, hmm? It's written on your foot!" "The name is Harki!" "Harki is Ikrah spelled backwards," he snapped back. She was taken aback by that fact. Tongue-tied, she could only glare at him at this point. "Well?" he sneered. "What happened to that spine of yours?" "I have nothing to say to you." "Nothing to say to me?" he mocked sarcastically. "How about you start confessing what your intentions are in lying to me?" "You lied to me!" she accused back angrily. "How did I lie to you?" "You didn't tell me your true name." "You never spent time with me to know my nickname away from home. It had always been Nix." "Well, Captain Nix," she snided, "I don't know you." "Why not? Didn't Brem of your Second Guard ever tell you about me having fought to protect Obendell? I guess you were kept in the dark about that, too." "You what?... No, you wouldn't." "I did. And it was for your sake." "Obendell is no longer there." "I didn't cause that. It was intact when I last seen it after the Battle of River Tear." "I don't have to believe you." She turned to fly away. He pulled the stopper off the waterskin, holding it out with an extended arm. Commanding the water out of it at will, he set Water-Spheres into shape and launched them ahead of her path, blocking her from further movement. "HOW DARE YOU!" he declared. She teleported to the side. He matched her moves with continuous hits of Water-Spheres. Soon, she was drenched in the splatter of those blasts. That was her mistake to have the clouds and water join in the soaking of her clothes. Soon, she was bogged down. He came near closing the gap between them with just a pace away. "I dare you," he challenged with a low tenor. "I dare you, Ikrah of Falshire to defy me, Stone Phoenix of Zandria, The Crown Prince and Sole Heir of Tarenne!" She was trapped as he commanded the water shield on her figure to hold. She wiggled to teleport again only to find she couldn't go anywhere. But that didn't stop her spirit. She scowled back at him. "I am The Duchess of Niele," she retorted. "And I dare. I-HATE-YOU!" Her words and tone were strait-laced with vehemence. His wrath plumed exponentially within him. That was the last straw. And suddenly, he felt himself locked in a force field, preventing him from movement, too. He checked himself again and laughed out loud with pleasure. Anger melted away from him then and there. This was the life and spice he expected from this woman, and not an ounce less. That moment of stalemate lasted long enough for her to break free spinning in place letting off the wetness on her. He too broke free by absorbing the rain casted off from her. Just as swiftly, he swooped in behind her again and again to confuse her enough to kick her once just to throw her off balance. Next, he grappled her wrist, yanking her onto Chimera's back in front of him so he could subdue her by twisting her arm with his weight on her back. "I'm not done with you yet," he said, claiming his prize. "You're coming with me to Tare and be the fruitful wife you are supposed to be." "Let go of me!" she yelled, struggling uselessly under his vise-grip. He directed Chimera to head back southward over the tumbles of clouds like mountains of fog in the sky. No one could hear her cries, though at his rate of neck-breaking speed, air slapping into her mouth the whole time, her voice was stolen by the winds lapping through them as they flew. He entered a stage of determination with no room for compromise. She soon learned to close her mouth to save her strength. There was still the full confrontation before he proceeded with the arrangements before anyone could stand in his way at bringing this heir into the world. So, he flew back to Tare, past the walls, over the Sky Tower, beyond the Citadel and Royal Palace itself, all the way to the Sky Lake. Slowing his speed, he circled around it several times. Ikrah recognized that place immediately as her body tensed up. But he was not landing on the strip of the raised island made of rocks and lined with marble. He had Chimera nose-dive straight for the water. Within paces to the surface, he wrapped her in his arms as his Soul Spirit was folded into him. They plunged into the waters in a crash dipping to the bottom. Once under, he frog-kicked his way to beneath the man-made island going under it to the center then swam up the small tunnel in it to surface up in the secret cave inside. With a Fire-Globe he summoned, light brightened into the place. The impact had knocked her out. He climbed through the narrow enclosure dragging her up onto the ledge. Water came out of her mouth and nose. Naturally, he gave her mouth-to-mouth to revive her. Within moments, she coughed into waking. When she recovered enough to be fully conscious, she backed away from him, looking around frantically. He sat back letting out a sigh. "Now, we speak on the conditions of this nuptial," he said curtly.