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Old 02-08-2008, 10:14 AM   #24
littlemanpoet
Itinerant Songster
 
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The Edge of Faerie
Posts: 7,072
littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.littlemanpoet is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Eodwine picked out one of his newer men at arms and told him to help the ostler set up things for the animals. That done, he walked around a bit, here and there, to get a sense of everything everyone was doing.

There were Stigend and Garstan busy with the baker. Garmund and Cnebba had gotten all the rope needed and were bringing it to Léof. Frodides was busy giving orders left and right to Kara, Ginna, Rowenna and Modtryth, all of whom were staying at least up with her orders if not running ahead of her. It was impressive to watch. There was Javan sitting where he'd been put, looking miserable.

Where was Thornden? Eodwine looked here and there. Maybe he had headed off scouting out the grounds. Eodwine walked around to the back side of the ruin, but Thornden could not be seen from there. Eodwine peered into the mess, wondering where the dead mother and child were in the midst of it all. He forced down an urge to go look.

He cast his eyes out over the distance, to the borders back out front, and saw a tall sapling quivering amid the dead calm of the other trees. What? He looked closer. Somebody was trying to chop it down! No! Eodwine didn't want any of those trees chopped down! Who was doing it? Eodwine ran; maybe he could stop him.

But no, the tree started to fall before he had gotten halfway there.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

"My lord?"

Eodwine stopped. It was Thornden, of all people. Eodwine started walking toward him.

"Thornden, please don't chop down any more of these trees. Look around you - there are so few here abouts. I want all the rest of these to stay where they are."
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