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Old 05-22-2007, 02:51 AM   #5
piosenniel
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Dimturiel's post

The Town Hall had never been so crowded, thought Erling. Nor had the faces of the people there shown so much concern. Anxiety was not something those of Bree usually felt. The lands had been quiet ever since Erling could remember, and they were becoming even quieter with every year that passed. Fewer were now the tales of troubled times, and only the old ones remembered such days. the world seemed to have become peaceful and sleepy.

Yet now something was happening, something hard to explain, and harder still to accept. The malice-whatever that consisted of, for they had no idea-had descened upon them without so much as the most insignificant sign to herald its presence. It had managed to elude all vigillance, to pass all that they have considered unpassable by such evils, and it crept in their midst to strike with a suddeness that had nearly made them helpless. Who had been prepared for something like this? Who could have foretold its coming?

Who could tell now who had been the first farmer that, going one morning to inspect his flock, had discovered one or two sheep missing or had found their body lying in a pool of blood? And even then, who had paid much attention to such incident that, however unusual and gruesome foretold nothing at the time? And yet, as the days went by, these happenings became more and more frequent, and it was clear that the danger was greater than they had first thought it to be. None could ignore it now.

Erling was among those who had suffered from the terror, although their animals had been attacked more recently than those of other villagers. He remembered that he had just gone with his father to look at the sheep when they saw that two of them were missing. That was how it all started. Yet no, he thought. It had not begun with the sheep. There had been a stray dog near Erling's farm. The boy would sometimes cast food at it. It was by no means a friendly creature-it could actually be quite ferocious when provoked,-but it tolerated Erling and seemed even to be quite fond of him. Late into the night, Erling could hear its barking, and it seemed in a way comforting, as if it were a proof that the world and everything familiar in it were still there. One night, however, Erling woke up and realised he could hear nothing. There was no barking. And then he knew something had happened. He had not seen the dog since.

True, things had become quite serious, and that meeting from the Town Hall was proof of that. Erling had gone there at the bidding of his father.He would not have gone otherwise, unable to see how his presence might improve the situation.

But as he was listening to the Mayor's talk of a group that would try and put a stop to what was happening he suddenly felt excited. There would be intresting stories to be told after all that was over, he thought. But it was not only that. There was also something else, something he could not quite understand.

Till the end of his days, Erling was unable to understand what had possessed him then. He had often wonderer what had really happened there, but he could never get a satisfactory answer. All he knew was that he suddenly found himself getting up and heading towards where the mayor stood.

"I wish to go, too." he anounced, loud enough so that everyone heard him. "I...I wish to be of some use."

He paused looking around him. The others seemed to have accepted his expressed intention of being one of the "Defenders", as the Mayor called them. He, however, began to feel a little puzzled. He leaned against the wall, a baffled expression in his eyes.

"What have I done now?" he muttered to himself.
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