[Nogrod]

Sythric seemed to be the first to notice the sound. As a rider he was used to picking that one from all the others. Even as the sound was faint, there was no chance of mistake. Horses, and they are coming straight towards us, and not only one or two... “Horses coming! Quick now everyone! Get to your horses, run away! Leave me and Brand here!” He turned a bit to face the direction where the rumble of the hooves was coming from. Now they were loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Fion! Throw my bow and arrows to me. I may have strength for one or two shots. That might slow them down a bit”. Sythric tried to get up, turning around and taking a grasp from the rock he had been leaning towards. He tried to pull himself on top of it. “C’mon Fion, no time to waste!”, he shouted and forcibly pulled himself up the side of the rock.

But then he heard a familiar voice from under the now thundering hooves. It was Dorran calling them! Good earth!, he gasped and let his grasp loose, just leaning to the rock with his face against it. “It’s Dorran, and Athwen! ... And, could they be? They must be elves!”, he heard Fion shouting enthusiastically. Sythric was too tired from his sudden effort to either properly rise up or to set down. But he heard an elf talking, introducing himself as Haekánoion and telling about them and their fortunes. There is an elven healer here! Brand might be saved! Then he suddenly felt the pain again. His eyes went black for a while and he lost his hearing too. He saw his dearest stream once again, but just for a second. He came back to awareness of the general hassle around. Osmod was talking something to the elves. There were sounds of footsteps and a hum of voices all around...