View Single Post
Old 05-07-2006, 06:16 PM   #299
Folwren
Messenger of Hope
 
Folwren's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: In a tiny, insignificant little town in one of the many States.
Posts: 5,228
Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
It was nearly and hour after nightfall when Thornden rode slowly up the streets towards the mead hall. He had completed the day’s work, but, it having taken more time than he expected, he had not stopped by his sister’s home. Inwardly, he scolded himself for it, but it couldn’t he helped. He had wanted to reach Edoras as early as possible after dark, hoping to have less trouble getting through the gates. There had not been much delay there, but he knew had he come much later, they would have been less likely to let him in so easily. He’d make the visit soon, he promised himself. Very soon. But, even telling himself that, he could just hear his sister’s teasing rebuke at not coming sooner.

But now his mind turned towards home. He hoped for a warm meal, and some merry company. The boy he had found, too, would be there. Not waiting for him, he realized in a moment, for he wouldn’t know him, but he’d be there, bandaged up and cared for.

“Hopefully he’ll be asleep,” he said to himself. “He should be sleeping, anyway. He’ll need all the sleep he can get in the next couple weeks until he’s mended.”

He entered the yard and after dismounting, he led his horse into the stables. Leof met him, for he had been expecting Flithaf’s return since nightfall. With a few quiet words and a goodnight bidden, Thornden left the horse in his care and hurried inside.

It was with surprise that he noticed that the hall was empty. He paused in the doorway and looked about. In a moment, Kara exited one room and walked across the floor, an empty plate in her hands. She looked at him as she passed on the opposite side of the room, but said nothing before disappearing into another doorway. She was the only living thing to be seen, though.

Thornden didn’t know how to explain the strange silence to himself. He shrugged and went in, shutting the door behind him. He would find some water and then report to Eodwine with the money he had gathered and the different messages from his freeholders for requests and whatever else they had thought to write or send by word. But the next moment he changed his mind. It would take some time speaking with Eodwine, and he would like to talk to the boy if he possibly could, but the longer he waited, and the later the time got, the less likely it would be that he would find him awake. So, having made up his mind, he washed his hands in his room, put his pouch down on the bed, took off the dusty vest he wore, and then went to the room where the injured boy lay.

The door slowly and silently swung back on its hinges as Thornden pressed against it gently. He put his head in first to see in what state the boy lay before he went in. Slowly and carefully so as to make no noise, he approached the bed.

The boy lay on his back. He wore a clean shirt, and the covers of the bed were pulled up over his stomach. One arm was folded over the blankets, and the other, splinted and wrapped in clean white bandages, lay by his side. His head was bandaged also and his face was turned away from the door and Thornden could not tell if he slept or was awake. But then he suddenly moved and turned his head and looked at him.

Thornden stopped abruptly and stood completely still. There was a complete silence as they looked and studied each other for a moment. Then Thornden let out the breath he had caught and walked forward freely to the bedside.

“Well, lad, how do you feel?”
Folwren is offline