The ground was thick with snow, but it wasn’t cold. Brord was laid out in front of her, just as when Gaeded had sat by him after he’d died. She stoked his mane as she did then too, running her gloved fingers through the strands. She felt the ache of sadness in her, knowing that she’d never see him again. She stood up, the snow crunching under her pointed leather shoes. She stepped back, looking around the where the corpse of the giant that killed her steed. But it wasn’t there. There was no sign of anything. The snow was untouched as if nothing has passed in days, weeks or months even. Gaeded turned her head back to Brord and for a moment the entire world span round and round and round, like she was rolling down a hill. She was – she was carrying Brord’s body to his burial site and she’d fallen down the hill she’d been dragging him down. She’d hurt herself carrying him, more than the giant had. But, she didn’t really feel hurt. She felt unsettled and sad. She moved to stand, sitting up on her knees. Then, she was not trying to stand up anymore, but looking over Brord’s grave, just as she’d finished covering him over with the dirt of the ground around her. She looked down at her hands, her gloves muddy from the work. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, only for a moment, turning her head as she opened her eyes to look at the rising sun. It was blood red, dyeing the surroundings crimson.
She moved to look back at the mound – it was not Brord’s mound, it was a smaller one with a simple stone marker at its head. There was an image carved onto it in the stone, it looked like the figure of a man with a horse and bull and at his feet a sheaf of wheat at his feet. The stone looked to be freshly carved and so to the earth of the mound it stood at. It was the grave of Gaeded’s father, just after they’d buried him. Gaeded knew that her mother and brother were with her, though she could not see them. She bowed her head and spoke out the funeral rites, though she could not hear herself properly, as if she had her hands over her ears to muffle the noise. As she spoke out the last words, she moved back and bowed her head in respect. After a moment, which felt like hours and milliseconds at the same time, she looked up again.
Now she wasn’t in Rohan anymore, but a place she feared. The pale trees of the Gravenwood towered above her, seeming larger than she remembered. Gaeded felt dread seep through her and she shivered, even though it wasn’t cold. She walked forward, even though she didn’t want to move, but she did not want to be there either. She followed the path, shoes crunching on small twigs and loose stone. The forest was dark, the sun setting and it was hard to see. The shadows made from the trees warped the path in front of her. She walked for what seemed like hours, each step dragging slowly as if weights were tied to her feet. At some point she began to feel as if there were eyes following her as she walked and the further she walked, the eyes not only followed her from behind, but from all sides. She wanted to run, to sprint away from it, but she could not move her heavy feet any faster and any thought to run would not make her legs move. She wanted to escape, for she felt as if she were imprisoned. She look around, in the shadows now she saw the figures of men and women with weapons. Their faces were dark and their teeth bared and they made Gaeded’s heart freeze with fear. Gaeded couldn’t move. She was stuck. Slowly the wildmen crept from the shadows surrounding her in the dark forest. Gaeded felt panic shoot through her as their dark eyes bore into her. She felt alone, helpless and scared.
Then, she was lying on the floor of the forest, the wildmen looking down at her with dog-like smiles. She looked down at her body – there were two arrows sticking out of her leg, one in her thigh and one in her calf. She tried to call out for help, but no words came from her mouth. She heard one word from the mouths of the wildmen: “Forgoil.”
And then she was awoken.
