Ani Dao gasped in shock as Belfalod fell to the man’s knife. She ran to his side and pressed her delicate fingers to the pulse on his neck. Bali came and knelt on the other side of the man. Finding no pulse, Ani Dao shook her head sadly. Bali dropped his head and closed Belfalod’s eyelids.
“Namrie…Nai hiruvalye Valimar...Nai elye hiruva...Namarie...” Ani Dao and Astarielle spoke the lament softly, bidding the ranger’s soul farewell. Then they kissed their fingertips and touched them to the man’s forehead.
That night they buried him with honor, never acknowledging that he ‘had been’ a traitor. The other they left for carrion.
Words were whispered into the night of the nearness of Kaldon and his minions. The finality of the journey would have to be made quickly and as secretively as possible. They left that night.
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"They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, 'Sh*t, it's raining!'" -- Ruby, Cold Mountain
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