[Eladain Moruviel]

After killing the spider Gilbereth remembered nothing. Darkness filled his mind, and he wandered paths best untold. When he finally awakened it was because of the searing pain in his left hand No he told himself Where his let hand used to be, it was all coming back to him now. After a few moments he passed out again, and remained that way for several more hours. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Arie standing over him “You’ve been unconscious for some time” she said to him in a quiet voice “How are you feeling now?” He winced as the pain coursed through his arm, but he set his jaw, put on a calm face and replied “ Much better now, thank-you. I hope I haven’t been too much trouble”

Just then Taurëwen ran up “Ah, you’re finally awake!” she said as she kneeled next to him “hear, drink this, it will dull the pain” Whatever she had given him tasted horrible, but as she promised, it did dull the pain considerably. “Thank-you for all you’ve done for me” he managed to say after choking down the liquid. Then Taurëwen ’s face light up as she said, “Here, I’ve got something else for you.” and she handed him his rapier “ah, thank-you!” he said with delight “I didn’t think I would ever see this again”. Then he noticed the broken bow shoved into her belt and his face grew dark “looks like you weren’t so lucky with your weapons. But here, take mine, I won’t be able to use it anymore”. He looked sadly at the stump that once was his hand “ There are a lot of things I won’t be able to do anymore” but then he broke into a smile “ I guess I won’t be as handy as I used to be, or as handsome”. At this Taurëwen couldn’t help but smile “Well, now that I’m sure you’re alright, I think I’ll go check on Ihwesta” she took the bow from Gil, and then left him to himself.

After a little while he fell asleep again, waking only briefly to eat something before lapsing again into darkness. On the morning of the second day He felt much rested, and even walked around “ you shouldn’t be doing that” admonished the others “ you’re still not well” “Oh bloody hell!’ he laughed “it bit off my hand, not my legs. I think I’ll be fine”

After eating, he decided to go for a walk in the woods around the camp. While he was walking, he noticed the buckler at his side Well, this won’t do me much good anymore he thought, and was about to throw it away, when he thought better of at Perhaps it will serve some good yet he decided. Then he noticed a strange sensation in his arm, it started at his wrist, and slowly worked its way up. Come think of it, he had noticed it earlier Oh well, it’s nothing he told himself, and put the matter aside.

When he returned to camp, it was getting dark “we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning” Ceros told the group “ so we’d all better get some rest” This sounded like a good idea to Gil, so he retired early, and slept soundly until the morn. That night he dreamed about Celesta, a girl he had known at court. They had spent many hours together, walking in the woods, or sitting by the fireside talking. It was commonly said that some day the two of them would be married, but then the shadow had come and hers was one of the all-to-many families that had moved to a safer place. They would probably never see each other again.

They started out early the next morning, the fog still stuck close to the ground, and everywhere you could smell the damp leaves. It was still hard for Gil to get used to having only one hand, and he had some difficulty packing that morning. When he had finally finished, which had taken a very long time, he had even more trouble getting the pack on his back. Finally they were finished making their preparations, nd they set out into the dawn.

[ August 29, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]