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Old 11-28-2006, 05:46 AM   #288
Nogrod
Flame of the Ainulindalë
 
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves
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Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.
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The thundering of the hooves came back again. Hadith’s mind was suddenly seeing something as last night flashed back to him with vigour. He saw the rider suddenly appearing from the darkness, charging towards him. But unlike then, now Hadith was frozen to his place, unable to avoid the oncoming spear. He waited for a hit which never came as he fell deeper into the abyss of his faltering mind.

There was a vague figure of a man bending over him, quietly calling his name with a soothing tenderness in his voice. Father? Dad? … Don’t leave me alone! Take me with you! … it hurts so much… am I dying? There was concern, a sorrow even in the man’s eyes as he tried to ease the young boy’s anguish: “Fear no more my son, all is going to be well and you’ll have peace.” Then the face disappeared just to re-emerge with a totally different tone. Now the face smiled to him confidently, almost laughingly: “Hold your head up my little, it’s just a scratch! Tomorrow you won’t even remember it. Come now, we’ll go to see mom and fix it right away.”

Hadith felt a hand grasping his left shoulder. “Fath…”, he began, now half conscious. But the word never got uttered to the end as he realised that something was totally wrong. The grip tightened and someone turned him violently around to his back. Instead of a loving face of his father he met the grim expression of he slaver bending over him but looking sternly forwards. Hadith felt the blade on his throat. The slaver said something to someone, threateningly. Hadith couldn’t make out what was said but he felt the tone well enough. Then he passed out again.

Hadith laid on his mother’s lap, his head leaning comfortably to her belly. She held him firmly but tenderly in her arms and her fingers run gently over her neck. Hadith listened to the lullaby she sang in a low, hushed voice.

“Come, come, silent night,
show forth the starry height
of the heavens above.

Come, come, gentle dreams,
show the way to starry beams
that’ll carry you my dove.

Let go my love,
let go my dove,
fly high tonight
to home of the light.”


Suddenly Hadith was brought back to the reality as two men rolled violently over him. Someone’s knee thumped heavily on his wounded shoulder. The pain filled him, it overwhelmed everything. All went black.

Hadith felt himself being heaved on to the back of a horse. He tried to look around but saw only grey shadows. The pain on his shoulder had somewhat eased as he was getting numb. He tried to ask what was going on but couldn’t open his mouth. Finally, after being thrown on horseback he managed to open the curtain and to have some grip of the reality. There was that woman, Athwen on the saddle. He remembered her name. And there was a man, the Rohanian. What’s going on? They shouldn’t waste their time on me! … Hopefully they will get me to safety from here… Hadith was confused with his contradictory thoughts as the horse started carefully forwards. He gave up even trying to think any more and let it go just feeling the horse move under his numb body.

Last edited by Nogrod; 11-30-2006 at 06:25 AM.
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