“Been scouting Sparrow?” The calm question came from amongst the cluster of trees a little downhill. The woman was still very little inclined to speak long, her brief summary being: “So I was, before anyone else wakes. It wouldn’t be safe to tread the continuing path uninformed. I didn’t like how the village has been practically abandoned. ….I am aware of how you have been watching around the camp, we both know there is worse out there than wolves.” Her voice sounded a little like that was a welcome prospect. She sat down at the dying fire huddled in her cloak for the air was brisk. “All dangers as expected then.” It wasn’t a question the man posed, because he already knew the answer. Tuilin shrugged, cleaning her spear with a cloth and attending to it with a sharpening device. “I am just astonished that riding man had sense enough to take his own watch over their camp and the road on. I met him uphill. Very silent, brúte fellow. If it wasn’t for him I would marvel at the group’s carelessness…. Nethdir what are we doing here? What sense…?” The Ranger simply looked at her thoughtfully.
The next morning brought their departure towards the Brandywine River and the Barandalf, an area both barren and full of unknown difficulties where they would have to pass through yet another night. The Halflings of the land were suspicious and terrified whenever they encountered them – not without reason as soon became clear they were followed by someone through the wilderness. When Nethdir inquired within the group there was much laughter and banter again, they knew the culprit. What an interest a Firstborn could have in keeping up with this strange mix of humans Tuilin could only guess but this curious connection and the ill timed humour of many within the group proved too much for her troubled state of mind thus she kept staying ahead or behind the adventurers, on lonesome lookout for any serious trouble.
She had a very discomforting gut feeling since entering the sandy wide beaches of the riverbank. Something was astir. Evening was falling and the most outspoken of the adventurers called for a gathering. There where lights flickering on and off in the distance always just outside her field of view as she proceeded towards him. Nethdir’s voice could be heard warning the group adamantly about the area. They were not supposed to cross here at night. There was something dangerous if only she could make herself remember what. But Tuilin’s mind refused to be used, the harder she tried the more the lights grew prominent until they filled her whole vision, blocked every sensible thought. Was that people screaming in the direction where they had been gathering? She had to find out and broke into a run, determined to catch the lights appearing and vanishing intend on making her think she would come ever closer.
Someone called after her as she sprinted off into the distance.
Yorva was back home, flames leaping hungrily towards a smoke filled sky. One could hear the burning wood break under the fires, a screeching deathly sound that would stay with her forever. The fountain in front of her that once marked the center market place of the city was besmirched with blood and ash. Her heart racing she looked around for the voices echoing louder and louder inside her head but no one could be seen except - he was there at the center of the chaos, a silent figure embracing the violent heat with closed eyes. She approached him with outstretched hands when she noticed the blood on his clothes and sword. He opened his eyes and smiled beckoning her towards him. Was this dream or reality? Yorva stopped in her tracks as it hit her. It was neither.
“It cannot be…No. no.“ She screamed out the last few words unaware of her own force. “It wasn’t you. Tell me it wasn’t you…Please. You can’t…” Her voice faded in the same stride that his laughed, taunted inside her head, ever more forceful both evilly and as fair as it had sounded so many times before. Tuilin fell to her knees into the sand crying. Images and sounds of the past, the well known features filling everything around her, his gaze latching onto her utter being grew and intensified. It was hell to relive it over and over again. “Yes, it is your fault, too, for bringing me here, into your safety. They died because of you! But worry not, I will always welcome you back at my side. You know where to find me.”Such where the whispered words inside her heart.The long wanderings now took their toll: the woman had not enough strength left so when the pain would not subside unconsciousness took her into a relieving darkness.
When Tuilin awoke she found herself face down in the sands, a faint morning sun shining on her back.She felt bruised inside and out, upset and confused.
One gaze was enough to tell her what had befallen them, she was angry with herself for having been too careless. Alone she may have avoided the lights, but the more memories they found to thrive on the harder it was to flee them so the books told. Nethdir and the woman named Kay were nowhere to be seen, the girl on her horse also was missing. In the short distance two men lay in the sand still reliving their own nightmares. She approached one of them and stirred him from his stupor. The ever jolly grin had finally left his face he looked as shaken as she felt. They took some minutes in joint effort to calm before turning to the fallen rider. They had less success in waking him he seemed beyond help, even when Nethdir and the woman returned with news of the girl’s safety. They hoisted the lifeless figure onto his horse and for once agreed to leave the Barandalf behind as fast as possible; no one dared face another such night. Tuilin soon re-entered her role as scout and went ahead to alert the men at the river crossing post of their coming. She took the route through the wooded hills, seeking to reach the highest point for a keen view of the horizon (that would help somewhat calming her unabashedly horrified state from last nights events) when a voice with a strange accent ordered her to stop and drop her weapons. What now, she thought, frowned, in no way diverging from her path to face the invisible call. the voice called out once more, a threat to a woman who had nothing to lose.
What in the name of all gods could another firstborn seek within these sad forgotten lands?
To be continued...
