[Nogrod]

Bregoware

Sythric was brought back to the here and now by the oncoming steps. How long has passed, what’s happened? The bright voice addressing him got him totally awake from his thoughts. “Is the soup ready? Raedwald would surely use some in a moment – and so would I”. It was Meghan. She sat beside him with a cup in her hand.

Sythric looked back at Meghan, pretty unsure about anything just now. Then he took a look to the shore. Fionn and Eostre were bringing the rope to the pulley, and someone seemed to be tying the raft at the other side of the river. “What on earth!” Sythric almost shouted, turning back to Meghan. “It was Raedwald, now wasn’t it?”. As Meghan nodded, he smiled her back broadly.

“Help yourself with the soup, and give it a stir if you leave the pot. It would of course have been better if it could have simmered another couple of hours...” With that he winked an eye to Meghan and rose up, addressing her still: “Then again. I’ll prefer bad soup to the option of spending any more time in this hounted place that just throws grim ideas over you.” He grinned amiably and turned towards the shore where others were approaching the pulley. “I’ll see if I could be of any use down there. I’ve sat down enough for this day.” By that he went to the shore.

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The ferry approached slowly but steadily. It was hard work. The rope was totally soaked and the ferry had some weight too, not to mention the current that tried to push the ferry downstream – a force which they had to fight against too. As the ferry was about the midway over the stream, he remembered! Long time ago, he had been on the ferry, when it had been laid full with the autumn’s harvest. The ferry had been quite loaded indeed! Then the ferrymen had used a kind of reel that was attached to the pulley – so that the round movement of the pulley could be changed into a straight pulling movement behind the pulley. And they had used horses to pull it! And that cage-like thing surely was here somewhere! He remembered vaguely, how it looked like. Someone must have run across it while searching the sheds... It would be tough oaring, getting ourselves to the other side anyhow, notwithstanding us being already quite feeble after this one. Well, it is late anyhow. You should remember things in time my friend! Sythric addressed himself, and bit his lip to make another pull.

Of course Raedwald! The thought came to him while pulling the raft. That’s so like him! When others say, that we should think about a problem faced, Raedwald would solve it meanwhile – and not only solve it, but accomplish it also. He just kind of saw the solutions and then acted on them, not making a fuzz about it. That was one of the reasons, why Sythric thought so highly about Raedwald, and why he was so happy about their friendship. He himself might have been the more battle-hardened warrior of the two – having served mostly in parties that had frequent borderline skirmishes - and probably in a bit better physical condition, due to his continuos riding, shooting etc. while teaching the youngsters. But no-one could outwit Raedwald, or actually do the things he did. He is just a marvellous man! Even if, after the soldiering years he had abandoned all the military excercises, he clearly is the man to cross the river by himself! Of course there were other things, more important ones: all the shared memories, the hardships taken together, facing death side by side. Those things do bind people to each other. And anyhow. Sythric just loved the man: his personality, his humour. What an example of the Rohanian spirit he is!

“You never give others a chance to work things out, now do you?” That’s what he would say to him as he would come to the shore. And he would embrace him, embrace him hard. And I’m being the melancholic cooking-boy today as others have done the work? I’m tired, yes. Because of these days of riding with barely no sleep at all, yes. But still. Pull yourself together man!