[dragoneyes]

Gaddy watched the hobbits come into the makeshift shelter one by one, some of them fell asleep, some of them sat, looking tired and worried. Gaddy couldn't bring himself to look at Emerald, only her face was showing but it was deathly pale, Gaddy couldn't do with that now.

Gaddy's own legs were covered in blood, he seeming to be the least injured, the cut were many but they were shallow and only on his legs, unlike Daffodyl who had a nasty scratch on her face and Robin who's arm seemed to have her hand bandaged up.

Dinodas came over to see Gaddy now,
"Hello Gaddy, I'll be seeing to your cuts while we stop here." Gaddy just smiled back and nodded, too tired to do anything else.
"Why don't you lie down?" said Hal who was sitting next to Gaddy. Gaddy nodded and allowed Hal to help him lie down, Hal's strong grip was reassuring and he folded up his jacket and placed it under Gaddy's head.

Dinodas began cleaning Gaddy's various scratches, cuts and bruises, carefully bandaging each one. Gaddy relaxed and looked around for something to take his mind off the dull throbbing in his legs.

Laying next to him was Daffodyl and next to her was Robin, Dinodas was busy out of Gaddy's sight. Hal was sitting next to Gaddy and beyond him Branda was tending to Emerald. Away in the corner was Lotho and curled up asleep next to the fire was Celandine with Daisy sitting next to her. Gaddy looked around again, someone was missing, who was it? Gaddy tried hard to get his sleepy brain to work. He sat up quickly and looked around again, he counted everyone frantically, there were only ten of them there Hal was looking at Gaddy confused, then it suddenly clicked,
"Where's Bullroarer?" he blurted out.

"Don't worry Gaddy, he's just gone outside to check on the ponies, don't get yourself so worked up about nothing." said Hal soothingly, pushing Gaddy back down.
"You're sure about that?"
"Yes, now get some rest, you're in no condition to be worrying about other hobbits, leave that to me." Gaddy had meant to protest more but sleep took over his body so soon he had no time to think about anything more.

Hal looked on his young friend, he hated lying to him like that, but he didn't have a choice, Gaddy needed his rest. Hal shook his head, there was more pressing bussiness to attend to, he stood up,
"Everyone." he said. Looking around he could see how tired all the other hobbits were, "Bullroarer has not returned, I am going out to look for him." with that, and with no heed to any of the others' protests
he grabbed his cloak and walked out from under the shelter into the biting wind.

"Bullroarer! Brandobras! Where are you?" he yelled into the wind. He searched on stumbling back towards the place where the dogs had first attacked. He was sure in his direstion and he saw a dead dog, lying next to it, on his back was Bullroarer, Gazing into the sky.

"Bullroarer!" cried Hal joyously, he ran up to Bullroarer and knelt down next to him, "I've found you at last!" Hal looked at Bullroarer lying in the snow, "Are you alright to walk?"
"Should be." he said with a vague smile.
"Come on then." said Hal, slowly Helping Bullroarer up.

They started walking slowly together, a little too slowly.
"You should've brought someone else along with you, we could be moving a lot quicker."
"I know, but they were all so tired." Bullroarer strove on but Hal could see that it was hurting him. He stumbled and would've fallen had Hal not been there so Hal decided to get him to the camp quicker because he was shivering and cold to the touch.

They started moving faster, but Bullroarer couldn't keep up. Hal ended up half dragging, half lifting Bullroarer back to the shelter.

They finally made it back, they were met by Branda who had a blanket, he threw it over Bullroarer and together, Branda and Hal carried him inside and lay him on the ground.

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: dragoneyes ]

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: dragoneyes ]

[ December 21, 2002: Message edited by: dragoneyes ]