Most of the village was burning by now, and all the villagers were dead or had fled. Raken decided it was time for them to move on. They had to make it to the Misty Mountains to ambush the company returning from Fangorn. But, Raken was disappointed; the fun had barely lasted a quarter of an hour. "Dunlendings!" he cried, "Killing now comes to an end! Later it will begin again!" That was the cry Raken and his followers used to signal the end of a raid. It was like a ritual; every time it was the same, beginning and ending.
The dark haired, dark eyed, swarthy men, bloodstained and grimy, came running from all different places, including burning buildings to where Raken stood arrogantly in front of a burning building. Following them came Mara, walking gracefully and proudly across the bloody, body filled ground. The men gathered around Raken; Mara stood off to one side looking uninterested. "We move on. We've gotta reach the Misty Mountains soon if we're gonna get the Ainereg. It's a little less than a sixteen mile trip. And, of course, we have to climb at the end. We need to be high enough to see the little walking party come outa the forest."
Raken paused to look at Mara, the Dunlendings cheering for some reason. "You still up fer the job, missy?"
"More than you ever will be you son of a cow. You and your pig brained louts would never have been so succesful in this raid if I hadn't been here."
"Oh, is that true?" Raken said mockingly, grinning broadly. "But I heard that you were the one saving the little children. You certainly helped...nits breed lice missy! Learn it well!" His grin was gone, fury burned in his eyes.
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