Footnotes:
*Sador - means Faithful in Sindarin.
*TA = Third Age
*Rhûnaer - Sindarin for Sea of Rhun
Dagorlad - TA 1944
Sador takes a deep breath...
He still feels pretty worn out and tired after the battle...
His eyes wanders the field camp before him.
His fellow Wainriders are all occupied with celebrating. The war-drums are hammering a beat of rejoice, getting harder and harder, and getting more and more intense the more people that join into the dance.
All around the mighty fires - spread out in the camp, brothers of Easterlings of Rhûn and Variags of Khand are joined shoulder to shoulder, chanting and cheering each other.
And drinking... Mead and Wine... Dorwinion wine... Only the best for this day...
He lifts his leather water carrier and drinks heavily from it before pouring some water down his right arm.
The water runs down and finds its target... A wound, semi deep from a blade striking him on the field...
He cleanses the wound and ties it up with some cloth torn from a clean shirt he had in his saddle task.
He pauses and looks at the leather water carrier again... and inspects it.
A smile shows on his face... He remembers how he got it.
While out hunting on the plains near the south western shores of the Rhûnaer, Sador and his father had come across a great wild ox, so large that Sador would barely reach its shoulders if standing beside it.
These wild beasts were feared by hunters. They were strong and agile - and had horns that could pierce the most hardened armour.
He had laid his eyes on one of the great Kine of Araw. Supposedly left behind in Rhûn by Orome himself in ancient times, before the Great Journey - before leading the elves away from the lands of the East.
These great oxen were seldom seen these days. They had been plentiful once, but the years and the wars that had raged the lands of Rhûn and the nearby lands of Rhovanion had made them few - almost gone completely...
Both father and son strung their bows of strong yew wood with arrows poisoned with a mixture of local herbs. The herbs would not make the meat uneatable, but make the beast more easy to take on, weakening it and slowing its reflexes - and not to say the least.. weakening its strength...
Simultaneously both men let their arrows fly, and they hit the unsuspecting beast hard - penetrating deep into the hard leathery skin... Sadors arrow hit the side of its neck, and his father hit it on the right shoulder.
The ferocious beast let out a growling cry in pain, and started kicking and jumping around - as if fighting off invisible enemies... It was not far from the truth Sador thought to himself as they were covered behind a few big rocks that probably once had been attached to the mountain ridge just right south west of them.
The great beast suddenly seemed to breath more heavily and apparently looked tired, so they strung their bows with new arrows - this time with no poison added - aimed adeptly and let the arrows fly. Again they hit hard on the front right side of the beast, and it cried out again - this time in anger...
As it saw the two heads popping up from behind the rocks, it reacted immediately with charging straight towards them. Sador could see the rage, anger and the fury flow through the very body of the beast - completely ignoring the pain and the arrows sticking out of its neck and shoulders.
Reacting on pure instinct, both men reached for new arrows from their quivers made of bamboo, stringing the bow and aiming carefully... awaiting the perfect moment...
A moment that could never come... The ferocious oxen's massive skull also functioned as a very effective armour while charging forward. It shielded most of the access to the shoulders and its throat...
With the blink of a moment Sador let one fly as he saw a small opening... and the arrow flew with determination towards its destined resting place...
But by a twist of fate the oxen - almost understanding what was about to happen - shifted its stance, slightly correcting its direction towards them - and the arrow hit the skull at its hardest point and disintegrated into what seemed like a million splinters... leaving only a superficial wound...
The effect showing on the now even more determined oxen... ready to spear its attackers with its horns, and kill them by a fierce stampede...
Sador reached for another arrow, and strung his bow again... knowing this would be his last chance - and ran out from the rock to flank the wild beast... but the beast shifted its direction straight towards him, and Sador had to keep running - still keeping the arrow ready...
Suddenly Sador's feet disappeared from beneath him, and he fell to the ground... tumbling a few feet before coming to a halt... only to see the great ox storming towards him...
He lifted his bow and aimed... knowing this would probably be the last of him... Desperately seeking an opening for his arrow to do what needed to come out of this alive...
Just as the oxen had merely a few feet left, it cried out and lifted its head a little - Sador's father had gotten a hit... this left the throat open to Sador, and he did not hesitate...
The arrow flew towards the part of the neck where the tongue muscle of the beast had its root... And the arrow imbedded it deeply - causing the animal to gasp for air at the very instant...
It fell to the ground with such force that the earth seemed to shake - almost as if to let our a cry for the loss of a friend and companion - held close for a long time
The sudden war cry from his fellow Wainriders - still dancing around the fires - shakes him out of his daydream.
He drinks from the water carrier again, and looks at it.
Made from the stomach of the great Kine of Araw... And what easily could have been his bane... He had it with him always. He had drunk water from it the whole six years of his partition of this campaign against Gondor..
He puts the water bag down and flexes his arm carefully, and tightens his fist then releases his arm again. the pain is almost unbearable...
He lets his arm fall straight down... It does not matter anymore... It will have the time to heal well... No more battles... no more Gondor soon...
((To be continued very soon))
***
