[Tevildo]

Except for a few bumps and bruises, Dorran had come out of the fighting in amazingly good shape. Throwing together a simple stew to feed the others, he had then offered to help Osmod and Fion care for the horses. He missed his familiar routine in the stables at Wulfham. In the midst of all this fighting and dying, the horses seemed to Dorran to be his most enduring connection to a normal life. In a real sense, the animals were the most important members of their band. Without their swift legs, the group would never reach Edoras on time, especially now that their journey had been delayed. Dorran spent some time rubbing the animals down, tending to their minor scrapes and cuts, and lugging up an ample supply of dried grass from the far side of the hill so there would be enough for all of them to eat.

"I'll stay on guard tonight," he had volunteered to the others. "Perhaps this band won't be back, but how do we know for sure? And there could be other things in these woods...."

What Dorran could not admit to himself is that he simply did not want to lay in bed and try to sleep. His anger in battle, the way he had tried to hack away at the Easterling's prone corpse, had left him feeling distinctly uneasy.

It was Leod who came over and spoke with Dorran, as if guessing the reason for the young man's offer. "I don't think there's going to be any armed attacked, but I do need someone to sit with Sythric, and try to get him to take a bit of this brew. In a few hours I am hoping that he'll start coming to. I'll take the first shift. Try and rest as soon as dinner is over. I'll wake you a few hours after that when the moon is high in the sky. Sometimes, after a battle, the best medicine a man can have is to sit with a wounded comrade and help him through the night. If you see Sythric's breathing flag, or if he falls into a deep unmoving sleep, you must wake me immediately. Other than that just sit with him. You might even want to talk a bit and cool his head with a wet rag. Whether he hears what you're saying or not, part of his mind will know you're there and that's a relief."

"Can you do that for me?" Leod prodded in a testy voice.

"Yes, only....."

Only what?" the healer snapped back.

"I'm not sure I trust myself. Not anymore. Not after what happened on that hill. You probably didn't see, but...."

"I saw. You did what you had to do to try and protect Meghan. That's what's important. The rest was done in the heat of the battle."

"But then I'm no better than them. I'm just a savage hacking away at a dead body. I hate them, Leod. I really do. I don't want to turn into them but that's what all this fighting seems to do."

"It's a problem, lad. I can't deny it. We have to fight because there's no choice. But the fighting can do strange things to people. Just look at what happened to Athwen. Anyways, you're not a monstor because anger got the better of you for a few seconds in battle. If you were a monstor, you wouldn't be sitting here now and agonizing over what you did. Go on. Get some sleep, and I promise to wake you later to take the watch....."