Scarburg Meadhall

[Nogrod]

The three; Stigend, Garstan and Léof walked towards the burnt hall.

”I see... but I think they will stay calm for a while after the journey as you said”, said Garstan as they approached the ruins.

The grass underneath their feet grew suddenly darker. First only the tops of the grass were charred but soon it was all black and wasted under their feet.

”But we need the lines before the sun sets... Who will go after the horses tomorrow if they’re left free to roam themselves overnight?” Léof insisted.

Garstan nodded fully knowing he had no answer to Léof’s concerns.

They walked over the charred grass. Stigend’s pace was resolute like he had his mind set only to the goal they had.

”This will just take a moment...” said Stigend who had now reached the stone structure and jumped over it landing on a pile of burnt debris. There was a burst of ash that spread over them all forming a kind of a cloud that denied them any view around for a while.

”Okay, c’mon! It’s just a ashes!”, Stigend yelled to his companions in the middle of the cloud of dust. After it started to settle down at the edges he called them once more. ”Do yo see anything. I can’t?”

”There, to your left! It looks like a pole that goes under the rabble!” Garstan called to Stigend.

“Good!” Stigend yelled. “Garstan! Go and check it! And throw away any stuff on top of it! Knock it then and listen if it’s firm or hollow!” He then turned to face Léof. “Follow me Léof, we’ll check the middle... that’s the most vulnerable part...”

A cloud of ashes bursted upwards as the three made their way towards the ridgepole. Many eyes turned to stare the phenomenon even if their own duties called them otherwise.

Finally Stigend and Léof reached the center of the earlier hall and started to pull away the debris. Even more ash was dusting around as they pulled charred planks and burnt grass fallen from the roof to clear the way.

“Here it is! It looks good!” Léof shouted as he had pulled the trash from on top of the ridgepole. “It must be this! It goes from there from where Garstan is standing to the other end.”

“Go to the other end of the building and find the other end. I’ll check if this is good enough” Stigend told Léof and turned towards the part of the ridgepole they had just uncovered.

He fell down to his knees and placed his ear towards the ridgepole knocking it with her wrist first. Then he took his hatchet and knocked the log with the backside of it listening intensly for the sound.

“Okay guys! It’s good! It has not burnt into the core! We can use it!” He looked at Garstan who was at the other end of the pole. “Just bring the debris around you down... we’ll lift it in a minute”

Stigend turned the other way seeing Léof struggling over the debris every now and then through the cloud of ashes his advence created.

Just waiting for Léof to make it to his end and to call for a lift-off Stigend looked around him.



There was a skull there just a few feet from his feet. He fell to his arms and started shoving away the burnt mixture of earth, grass and wood. It was a burnt skeleton of a child. And there was another one right beside the first one, an adult figure clinging to the child. Even if he hadn’t revealed all there was to it he had seen enough.

“Ready?” called Garstan when Léof had actually reached the other end of the hall and waved for him.

Stigend came to his senses soon enough and waved both ways. “With my call... one... two... three...”

The ridgepole emerged from under the debris and was hoisted above it. A cloud of ash bursted from the debris dropping down on the charred ground.

“Can you make it?” Stigend yelled hearing only groans and puffs of the others at first while wielding all the strenght he had himself to hoist the ridgepole up.

The ridgepole moved upwards but it was encircled by a cloud of ashes around where the pieces of charred debris tumbled off from it. Stigend felt his friends were up to the task as the weight of the pole lessened even if he couldn't actually see them.

“Let’s bring it out from here... Slowly... Slowly” he called.

The ridgepole started to move forwards. Slowly but steadily it moved... everyone bringing it on feeling the way the others carried it.

“Feel the pressure and act likewise!” shouted Garstan as they came towards the stony structure.

“I’m at the corner! Wait!” called Léof as he reached the actual corner of the house. “The corner is still intact here as it has not being burnt down! I need help! I can’t hoist this over it myself”

“Thornden!” Stigend yelled out aloud wishing to hear a reply.

"I'm here!" came the answer from near enough and from the direction Léof was in. "I'll help him..." Stigend couldn’t see Thornden from behind the cloud of ashes their advance had produced but he realised he was near Léof.

Hoisting the ridgepole over the higher corner required some effort from the four but eventually it came over.

Still panting Stigend turned to Léof and Thronden “Would either one of you take the middle? You three will easily bring this one to where we will build the baker..."

“What?” shouted Garstan.

“Just bring this ridgepole to where we will build our baker. I need to see lord Eodwine... there's something he needs to know. Let’s discuss this later” Stigend answered.

After Léof came to take his position Stigend rushed away from the burnt hall to meet his lord.

“Lord Eodwine!“ Stigend yelled as he ran out from the ruins and finally reached his master.

Eodwine turned to his carpenter and looked at him with a curious expression but he had already caught the tone of his retainer’s voice.

Stigend came close to Eodwine and then whispered. “There’s a child and an adult there... They’ve been burned inside.”

[littlemanpoet]

Stigend could not know how his news would affect Eodwine. When they had first arrived only to see the place and a fired ruin, Eodwine had been of a sudden brought back to fourteen years ago when he had returned from the War to the Gap of Rohan and his farm, only to find his own lands laid waste by the Dunlendings, and his wife and children burned inside the wreckage. The emotions were hardly less raw these many years later, and Eodwine had had to hold himself in check as he sat bestride his horse as the others gazed on the wreckage.

Now Stigend brought him news that a woman and child; no, an adult and child, had been found in the burnt ruin. Eodwine knew absolutely that it was a woman; he was simply sure of it. It was as if he was suddenly back in the Gap of Rohan confronted by all the horror of it once more.

Stigend saw his lord's face turn suddenly ashen, his shoulders slump. Perhaps he thought that his Eorl was unusually compassionate toward those who had died.

"How - how many?" Eodwine's mouth was dry and his tongue seemed unwilling to work. "Two children, did - did you-" Eodwine swallowed and shook his head absently. "No, you - you said one child, did - did you not?"

[Folwren]

Thornden lifted the ridgepole above the corner. Léof helped until it went above his head, and then he ducked beneath it and was ready to help lower it again as it came down the other side. Once it came down and rested again in Léof’s hands, Thornden scrambled down through the ruin to where Stigend had left the center of the pole. Once there, with a shout to signal each other, they lifted it again and at a stumbling gait, carried it out of the burnt ruins.

In two lifts - for the burden was very heavy, and Thornden was concerned for Léof’s slight build - they brought it to the place where the baker was to be built. There they set it down and the three of them panted for breath and dusted themselves off.

“Garstan,” Thornden said, walking towards him. “You will need more beams than just this…a couple posts, right?” Garstan took things into stock and nodded. “Then I think I shall go hunting for some trees to chop,” Thornden continued. “I’ll be back when I’ve got some to be hauled.”

He nodded and passed Garstan, intent on finding an axe. He crossed the lawn towards the wagons. His eyes wandered over the group, saw Rowenna helping Frodides, and Ginna and Kara wandering off on an errand of finding firewood, and then Eodwine and Stigend. Stigend’s back was to Thornden, but he could see Eodwine’s profile, and he stopped in his tracks. Something was obviously wrong. Even from ten yards away, Thornden could see from his very posture that Eodwine was badly affected by something.

Thornden momentarily forgot his quest to find an axe and his course changed. He hurried towards Stigend and Eodwine. “My lord?” he said, concerned. Eodwine looked pale and slightly disoriented. “My lord Eodwine,” Thornden said again, stopping opposite Stigend. Eodwine did not look at him, he was staring at the carpenter.

[Nogrod]

"How - how many?" lord Eodwine looked agitated. "Two children, did - did you-" Eodwine swallowed and shook his head absently. "No, you - you said one child, did - did you not?"

Stigend was not sure how he should react to the way his master took the news. Surely he hadn't said anything about two children anyway. There was something here he couldn't quite grasp.

"Yes my lord", Stigend managed to answer. "There was one child and one adult clinging to the child... like trying to protect the child. I saw no others." Stigend felt uneasy facing lord Eodwine's empty stare. He tried to wipe his face clean with the sleeve of his coat only to realise his coat was also covered with ash and thence only spread the dirt in his face.

Eodwine blinked hard once and cleared his throat. "I am sorry, Stigend. Your news has brought back nightmares from the War, if you understand me."

"I hadn't time to look further... I don't know if there were others there... Should I go and take another look there? They were quite in the middle of the hall near the hearth and the duct."

"My lord!" It was Thornden approaching them fast. "My lord Eodwine!"

Thornden looked at them both slightly disturbed. It looked like lord Eodwine had just came back from some dark inside journey somewhere far away from the here and now. He still looked frightfully concerned about something.

"What is it?" Thornden asked his uneasiness coming openly through his voice.

"There were charred bodies inside the house... an adult and a child...", Stigend answered cautiously glancing at his lord as he spoke.