View Single Post
Old 08-10-2006, 04:30 PM   #139
Nogrod
Flame of the Ainulindalë
 
Nogrod's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves
Posts: 9,330
Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.
Send a message via MSN to Nogrod
Hadith

The sun started showing itself from behind the distant hills and the mood among the refugees was confused to state the least. Khamir had called that they would stay for awhile because of the wounded but otherwise no one seemed to have any idea of what were they going to do. Most of the people seemed to have laid down or stick on their personal affairs so that they would not need to take any stance on anything that concerned their common future. Even Khamir had backed down by himself, leaning to the rock he had leaned before the incident with Fewerth and his fellows. But how could anyone think of sleeping after all that had happened to them? Hadith was sure that no one couldn’t, and as he had passed a number of slaves on his wandering around he had noticed it too. To his eyes they were all awake! Why are you hiding your heads now? He wanted to cry out aloud. You wanted to change the command here, so why isn’t anyone standing straight and taking the lead? What are you waiting for?

Hadith was frustrated. We all are waiting for nothing! People who are nothing, not yet ready to grasp their freedom and who end up with nothing, just being slaves again... or getting killed. How stupid! What a waste!

He was about to start yelling to all people around him when he suddenly noticed Beloan walking from beside him some yards away. “Beloan! Beloan!” he called to him and half run to the older man. Beloan had stopped when hearing the familiar voice and waited for Hadith to come to him.

“What is it, Hadith?” he asked both gently and calmly, making a faint smile to encourage the youth to speak his mind.

“Well, I was just thinking...”, Hadith began, feeling quite nervous and trying to settle his breath. After all, he realised, he was still just a boy and it didn’t actually seem to be his bussiness to get involved in the larger matters. But he had already opened his mouth and Beloan was waiting for an answer. “Well, I mean... why are we not doing anything?” He got more agitated as he managed to let out the first words. “Why is everyone just faking to be asleep or to mind their own things? It doesn’t make sense!” He was already shouting the last words.

Hadith was about to continue but Beloan silenced him with a gesture of his hand and addressed him quietly. “Not everyone is faking a sleep. Some people do actually sleep and we should give them the chance”. Beloan took a look at the boy as the first rays of the sun were reaching his hair. “But you are right. Many of them do not sleep. But you should not blame them for that. We are all afraid and confused. Maybe a little time, all of us on our own, will clear our heads? Don’t you think it possible?” Beloan had studied Hadith’s expressions intensly all the time he had spoken to the lad. Hadith nodded slowly and returned his gaze to Beloan.

“We have several badly wounded here, Hadith. If we would leave them, we could start off immediately. But are you the one ready to make that kind of decision on behalf of them and those who care for them? And if we wait for them to be well enough to move, we face other difficult questions, like how to deal with the next night and a possible raid of even more slavers? Would you like to make those decisions in a haste just to make things moving? Oftentimes hasty decisions make things move to a bad direction, Hadith. So let us wait for a while and think with clearer heads then.” Beloan shook his head slowly as in anguish himself and then looked at Hadith again. To Hadith he looked both old and tired, much older than he had looked before. Hadith was astonished about the change in Beloan and remained silent, trying to avoid his gaze.

“Hadith. Look at me.” He said with a commanding but still low voice. Hadith raised his head to meet his eyes. “Do you still feel like not getting a sleep if you tried?” Hadith was so surprised of the question that he only managed to mumble his positive answer, only intelligible accompanied by the soft nod that followed it. “Have you eaten anything lately?” Beloan continued and started untying the knots from his beltpouch. As Hadith shook his head, Beloan handed him a small piece of smoked deer from his pouch and looked at him firmly but confidently.

“Get to that larger hill over there” he said, pointing to a bit higher hill a good mile from them to the East. “We need keen eyes in a head we all can trust to give us a warning if something threatens us. From there you will spot all movement miles around from us. We’ll send someone to replace you after a couple of hours.” Hadith nodded but didn’t make a move to leave Beloan.

“Take it as an order of your old supervisor who just tries to think for us all in a situation where no one else seems to be doing it very actively”, with that he winked an eye to Hadith and turned around, starting slowly to walk towards Khamir and a few others of the original escapees.

Hadith beat the mile running lightly. The climb made him lose his breath for a while, but he recovered soon enough. Hadith really had quite a magnificient view of the surroundings from the top of the hill. Surely some lesser hills deprived him from seeing all that could have moved at the landscape, but anyone approaching them would probably get caught in his eyes sooner or later.

Hadith checked all the directions carefully before setting himself down to a smallish boulder and taking the piece of meat Beloan had given to him. He was hungry indeed.

Beloan baffled him. Partly he thought that Beloan had really trusted him with an important mission and that his watch here on the top of this hill was of the highest importance to all. But partly he thought that as he had acted somewhat childishly, Beloan had treated him accordingly and just gotten rid of him.

After he had eaten, tiredness crept along and started dizzying his head even more. The sun had risen and its warmth surrounded him from everywhere. I will not sleep, I will not sleep on duty..., Hadith kept telling himself and started counting the time he looked at each direction, drawing a line on the ground with every change as he got to the hundred.
Nogrod is offline