Crystal's eyes opened for her to find that she was lying on a bed in the sleeping quarters of the inn. Hama was in a chair next to her and was smoking a pipe. The rich smoke curled upwards from his mouth to the ceiling. "Where is the horse and the rider?" he said as he breathed out another mouthful of smoke, "Where is the horn that was blown? They have passed like rain on the mountains."he sighed. " The days have gone down in the West, into shadow"as he said the last words he looked up at the ceiling. He looked back at her and saw she was awake.
He smiled widely as he put a hand on her forehead. "Sleep, little one. I will be here" Hama unpinned his cloak pin and put it on the dresser, the then fastened his cloak to the two buckles on his armour. He reached out and attached the pin to her clothes at the neck.
" If it gives you half the luck it has given me, you will be safe for a terrible long time to come." He smiled again and then returned to his chair. He put the pipe back into his mouth and puffed on it again, letting the smoke curl slowly up about his face...
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