-Those eyes... Those eyes. No! Run, run! Run Pekki, run, they are coming! His shouts made Aggy turn in her sleep and eventually wake up, only to see Ern laying on the bed, pale and sweaty, as if wanting to run but not being able to do it.
-They are here, run, please, I beg you Pekki.
-Ern, Ern, what is it my dear? Wake up, please, what do you see?
Aggy put her right hand on his chest in an attempt to calm him down and talked to him calmly, but nothing could calm Ern down, but he wouldn't. He was breathing fast, turning his head left and right, he was breathing faster and faster until he inhaled and remained motionless, Aggy'sblood ran cold, afraid that something happened to him. She moved her hand to his face to feel his temperature and as soon as she touched him he opened his eyes and jumped up, he looked around and brought his rght hand to her face and that calmed him down.
-My love, you are here, and our baby.
His hand then went to her swolen belly and smiled.
-She is here too.
-Maybe it's a he!
Aggy couldn't help but joke, despite the situation and they hugged each other and fell asleep again. The next morning none of them spoke about what happened and Ern prepared some things for work.
-Are you going to the barn again?
-No, no. I will continue it soon, but not now.
-How soon? It's been two weeks now.
Ern looked at her but said nothing, he stroked her cheek and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving. What he saw that night scared him to death, even more when he thought that through him it could get to Aggy and their child. Every night he was seeing the same dream, he was on the horse and those eyes were coming right at them and the horse wouldn't move, the eyes were coming and he was there, on their way... They would come to him and he would feel their foul breath and he'd wake up. Every night, each and every night for two weeks now and he couldn't tell anyone. They'd think he was crazy. They already started thinking what's wrong, he stopped being out at night completely, he would go out only when the sun was up, no later, no sooner. Now he was working with a carpenter in Bree, at the Crafting Hall, being young he learned the work quickly, so he had no troubles with it. He was working hard all day and went back at the end of it and was happy, until he fell asleep.
This day it wasn't much different, he woke up early and made his way to the Crafting Hall, he had his tools sharpened and he was happy, he could afford to do that and that would make him work faster, therefore more. The Hall was quiet this early, it was only him and one or two others, one was old and was always there, the other fellow was the old man's apprentice and they were smithing. Ern stood there and looked as the apprentice started forming a blade and the teacher explained him why the iron had to be that hot and how many times precisely he had to hit it to make it endurable. He smiled to himself and went to his spot, the day to finish a chair had come, he had only to carve out the flowers on the arms, roses that went all the way up to the back of it. Roses, like his own rose he thought and brought Aggy's face in his mind and started to carve.
The time passed so fast that he didn;t realise it was break, he did a good job, he stood for a moment to marvel the carvings before taking his bag and going outside. He sat next to two Hobbits and started eating his meal, bread and cheese, he was trying to keep those eyes out of his mind and for that he let himself hear what the Hobbits were saying, one of them seemed concerned, the other amused.
-Did you hear what happened to poor Gromac?
-The Thunderlights? Yes! All of the Shire knows and by now even further. What was he thinking when he told that story, or even better, what had he smoked! Ha ha ha!
-What if he did see something? He was too startled they say.
-I'd be started too if I had smoked what he smoked. Thunderlights! How did he even make up that word?
-They say he was returning from Brockenborings when he saw two lights coming fast right at him, he hid and saw them pass by thundering. I would surely be scared with such a sight!
-Thunders and lights... He's a scaredy cat, he must have seen an owl and got scared by her big eyes in the dark.
-And what about the thundering?
-The path is in the middle of the land, on the other side there is a waterfall, imagine how loud it can be heard when there are no sounds around in the night.
The second Hobbit nodded, accepting that interpretation of the incident and kept on smoking, shaking his head. Ern on the other side kept his gaze at them and gathering his courage he spoke.
-Who is that Gromac fellow if I may ask?
-A stupid one from Stock! Makes fool of our race, being afraid of everything that moves in the night!
-Well, he may have seen something indeed, he can't be a fool.
-Oh he is, you don't know him, and who would pass through the forest in the middle of the night? In the Shire?
-But they say that one or two Hobbits in Oatbarton have gone missing...
The uneasy voice of the second Hobbit sounded again, now making Ern even more uneasy.
-What do you mean gone missing?
-They are no longer around, no one has seen them for more than a week now, around when Gromac saw those Thunderlights.
-They must have gone drunk and fell somewhere, they'll be back soon, I heard the forest of Oatbarton is full of spiders, they may have been caught in their webs.
The first Hobbit shook his head and stood up and ready to go back inside.
-Silly stories to make people afraid, they are afraid anyway and these scare them even more.
The second Hobbit followed and Ern was left alone, now shaking...
