View Single Post
Old 09-20-2004, 10:19 AM   #299
Hilde Bracegirdle
Relic of Wandering Days
 
Hilde Bracegirdle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: You'll See Perpetual Change.
Posts: 1,488
Hilde Bracegirdle has just left Hobbiton.
Gilly

He was at peace.

Gilly stepped forward in her shock, feebly trying to take in the scene before her. Not even the carnage of the battle had prepared her for the sight of the powerful form of Kaldir, laying lifeless, crimsoned on the forest floor beneath ancient trees, Dúlrain’s bloodied sword resting beside him. Recognizing the weapon, she looked up in disbelief, to see the man who had captured Miss Benia’s heart, as he now bent over Rauthain, shrouding him in a clean cloak before carefully hefting the limp body onto the horse Toby held ready. He seemed to hesitate, gritting his teeth as raised the old ranger’s bulk in his arms. Toby letting lose the bridle, hastened to assist him. Dúlrain was in pain... but he said Kaldir had died honorably…Gilly’s brow furrowed. Surely Naiore had done this, or had she? It could not be as it looked to the hobbit, and yet…. And yet Dúlrain had said that Naiore was not aware of Kaldir’s condition. What was he keeping to himself? Was it Naiore, or had Miss Benia inadvertently brought this bloodshed about?

Though she felt she had come along way in putting aside her prejudice against ranger folk, this was far beyond her realm of reference. Afraid to think any further, fearful of what she might conclude, she told herself that Dúlrain was a good man. Indeed, behind his hopeful words of assurance regarding Kaldir, he looked quite somber, and his grief was no doubt real. But the urgency of her friend’s peril that he expressed, struck the hobbit hard now that their captor turned guardian had perished, and Benia was at the mercy of the Ravennor. She could not afford to doubt him, though she felt had lost all her moorings.

“Oh Mr. Kaldir!” Gilly said, kneeing down to look at his face for the last time, in the few minutes she had before they departed. She saw that though the scars of his face were now hidden and his countenance peaceful, his life’s blood shined, speckling the earth and tracking also from mouth and nose. A fresh flood of tears rose spilling over their confinement. “What ever has happened to you?” the hobbit wept, picking up his clenched hand, a thing she never would have done while he lived. And rocking back and forth, she held it to her chest, giving in to her own hurt. She remembered the gentle look he had as he spoke to her, declaring that he would rather die than let anything happen to Miss Benia and herself, and here it had already come to pass, as if he had wished it upon himself. But his life was spent and Benia was still missing.

“I should never have spoken to you so, as if you had no heart yourself! And it looks as though you were meant to break mine one way or another. True you had let Miss Benia live and love, but you have gone and gotten yourself killed along the way. We did not bargain for that. And now, who have you to mourn you but Mr. Dúlrain, Miss Benia and myself?” she said her voice cracking. “And we all must leave you here in Rivendell among the elves!” Reaching in her pocket for the handkerchief Toby had lent her, the tattling shuttle fell as she pulled it out. Picking it up in her hand, she looked at the little wooden thing, and quickly placing Kaldir’s hand back gently on his side, she tucked this symbol of domesticity in his pocket as a token of her friendship. “I could see you did not fear death, and it was a blessing too,” she whispered earnestly. “But you know, I’m afraid now for Miss Benia. We will take good care of her, Sir, Mr. Dúlrain and me. You know that we will! We will find her for you!”

Seeing that Dúlrain and Toby were leading the ranger’s horse over to where Kaldir’s corpse lay, she took the edge of her sleeve and wiped the blood from his face. Her heart sunk as Dúlrain covered him in the dark cloak. And together they all worked to place him beside Rauthain on the horse. Turning away, as Dúlrain secured the bodies, Gilly drew Toby aside. “I hope that you might accept my apologies, Mr. Longholes,” she said. “I had no right to treat you the way I did you earlier. You only had my best interest at heart I can see that. I just am a bit overwrought, you see.”

“You needn’t apologize, Mrs. Banks, you have had ample reason.”

“You are too kind. And you shouldn’t feel that you must see to my safety, for I do not know if I will lead you to your death. I can’t think why you should say you feel so indebted as to brave that. But you are welcome to stay with my family, if we return, until you can find a place to call your own.” She looked at the ground, “And if I do not make it back, please let my husband Carl and the children know what has become of me.”

“I do not doubt that you will return, and I have seen that you know how to use a sword,” Toby smiled. “You have everything to live for Mrs. Banks, do not give up!”

Just then, they heard Dúlrain command his horse in strange words, gently slapping the animal’s flank. Bearing his sad cargo to that fair house, Dir began to steadily walk back the way they had come. Once he made sure the horse had set off, Dúlrain turned quickly to pick up his pack, and he frowned. Toby rushed forward and slung the bag over his shoulder, without a word. And Gilly went to fetch his sword wiping the dark blood off on the moss, “Your sword, Mr. Dúlrain!” Gilly called to him.

“I have another that is of more worth to me, Mrs. Banks,” he said as he began walking. “Come, we must be off.”

Gilly ran to Toby and carefully slid the sword firmly under the flap of the pack, and the two hobbits fell in soberly behind the ranger. Gilly kept silent as she realized that he was following back a set of tracks very well known to her, the tracks of Kaldir.

Last edited by Hilde Bracegirdle; 09-24-2004 at 07:31 PM.
Hilde Bracegirdle is offline