Hands of Healing.
I have had the first bit of restful sleep since that funny little Hobbit took me to the Prancing Pony nigh on three weeks ago.
I have had foul dreams and haunts, some dark power stirs in the Old Forest, and while it's a mystery what causes it, we have gathered that whoever this 'Sharku' fellow Kurbor spoke of before he was slain must be behind these recent attacks... Far too many of my kin have been slain thus far, I wish to put a stop to it soon and uncover what is really going on in the Old Forest. I fear also that our business there is not yet concluded and we may very well be heading there shortly. Though I trust in my companions and hold a great respect and admiration for Ulfey... She is a stout woman with powers that even I had not imagined.
Truth be told, it irked me that Kurbor had almost bested four of us single-handedly, the strength that Half-Orc possessed was immense and plainly unnatural. What also offended me greatly was how he wore the attire of one of our fallen kin and mocked us so. While my leg is now rather fine, albeit a bit sore still, I have acquired new wounds from the fight atop the cliff, and while Kurbor was slain, we all suffered rather nasty injuries and must rest somewhat before we can strike, though many of us grow tired of waiting and long to go on the offensive, what's more, Thorontir, our leader here at our base, is telling me that we could have learned more from the vile Half Orc... Bah! Let dead be dead and done with it. That fiend was a danger to us all! In fact, I was not even aware that we were keeping a prisoner here...
My anger and rage almost equaled that of the Half Orc during the ordeal, the heavy cold rain battered down upon us like an never ending waterfall and my bad leg didn't help either. The fact that I have had no proper sleep for weeks has irked me the greatest.
Though this day has been a great turning point... Ulfey has 'cured' me!
While I had no illness nor fatal injury (Though Ulfey has tended to my wounds and my leg, that alone I am grateful for), I have been cured from perhaps the most troubling worry, my own dreams...
I shall recount the last dream I could remember while haunted by the Old Forest's foul whispers, I know it was not natural and it was grim indeed, though without Ulfey's skill, I would possibly have been driven mad.
The last haunting dream I could remember was somewhat different. More obscure but just as vivid as the others, after Ulfey told me I should try to decipher these dreams it has only raised my concern about it more... Foul voices were whispering a strange and dark language, I knew not what it spoke of nor can I recall the words to writing or speech... But I know it spoke of darkness and death.
In the dream, there were many large bottomless black pits beneath a ring of scorched Earth, nothing grew there and darkness covered the land, a great tower was in the middle of this ring of darkness, and atop of it a great flame burst out like an explosion, smoke had filled the air and the fierce sound of hammers on anvils pounded in my head unforgivably, I woke up with a massive headache and gasping for breath.
I wish never to go through that again... It would be enough to drive even a Wizard mad with fear.
Speaking of wizardry and other forms of magic, I am under the impression that those tales the Bree Folk tell of the 'Witch in the Woods' could very well be true...
Myself, Ulfey and Thorontir, our Captain, were sitting around a fire, the shadow of defeat looming about us like an oppressive looking cloud, blocking out the light...
I stared into the crackling fire, seeing shapes of eagles or some great bird in the fire, the embers were great feathers that rose above us into the night air. I was truly mesmerized by this, though though I am sure was but a trick of my weary head...
Ulfey had kneeled behind me, with one arm still in a sling, she rose the other to my head, whispering to me to close my eyes, which I did almost instinctively. What happened next very few could make sense of. Even I could not understand what had just happened to me... Other than it must have been some ancient magic lost to time.
Ulfey had slowly but surely began to put me in a strange trance, I felt a slight pressure on my head, though her hands were warm and warmth radiated from her, I fell into a waking dream, my entire body felt as if it was floating in the void, and that the Valar themselves were whispering to me words of light.
Then all around me was a bright light, it was beautiful, I felt the darkness leave me and the spell of the Forest was lifted from my heart and banished...
For a while I stayed in this meditative state. When I did come back down to Earth however, I was met with Ulfey's warm face smiling down at me.
Why does it seem that even in the darkest of times, the light can prevail with enough faith in your friends? Perhaps it's best not to try to answer that and just be grateful that we all have each other.
