Hunter of Thunder
Chapter 5 – Will You Come Back
Éorinaë stood there for a moment, consentrating on the face before him. It was his father. He had found his father! No, he hadn't found his father; his father had found him. Rolinaë stood, his hands on the boy's shoulders, and nodded to Halin.
"Come," Rolinaë said, "I will lead you to a safe place for tonight."
He stridered over to his big, dark bay stallion and mounted swiftly. The Hunter looked over at his son, who had not moved since, and nodded to him.
Éorinaë walked hesitently to his father's horse and jumped up. Rolinaë's large arms caught the boy and placed him in front. The bay stallion stamped his feet impatiently.
Rolinaë and his son rode into the dark forest, but the stallion was moving slower than normal so that Halin on Crysto could keep up. The stallion had no saddle nor bridle, much like a mearas, the lords of horses, but this horse was much different. Rolinae called him Thunder, and a very fitting name for him too. For when the dark horse would run, his hooves sounded as thunder. So it was the Hunter and Thunder.
As they rode along, Rolinaë felt Éorinaë lean back against him. The boy had fallen asleep finally. It had been sometime since he had slept and there had been two fights that night. Frankly, all of the wearyness was just catching up to young Éorinaë now.
The Hunter brought the two other Rohirrim to another cave, but much different than the one Halin had been held captive in. It was smaller and more enclosed. Rolinaë jumped down off of Thunder's back and lifted his sleeping son into his arms. Halin quietly dismounted Crysto and followed them inside.
The cave was suprisingly light. Rolinaë gentilly layed Éorinaë on the stone floor and then frowned. He took off his dark cloak and placed it over the young Rider. Rolinaë looked up at Halin and montioned him over. As he got closer, Halin was able to see what the Hunter really looked like. His clothes where ripped, patched and worn. He almost looked like one of the wild men, but there was still an air of Rohan about him, and it would never be taken away.
Rolinaë started a fire in the corner and Halin sat down next to him. "Let me take a look at your wounds, my friend," Rolinaë said, "Tell me now, what would you be doing this dar into the woods?"
"The orc and Dunlending attacks are becoming more frequent in the outer villages," Halin stated.
Rolinaë nodded, "Aye, they are advancing destructively indeed. So? Continue."
"So I had seen these attacks. They're worse than destructive! And out people are being murdured, slaughtered!"
"I know they are. Is this what brought you here or where you captured?" Rolinaë asked without looking up. He was bandaging a gash on Halin's arm.
"I came because there are rumours of an orc hunter in the woods…" Halin paused. Rolinaë looked up.
The younger Rohirrim continued, "So I went to find thise Hunter, since he is Rohirric, and maybe he could help us!"
"I can't do that," Rolinaë said, looking away, "I could never go back."
"We need your help! Rohan needs your help!" Halin exclaimed.
Rolinaë looked back at the young knight, "I cannot go back. And you couldn't possibly understand."
Halin sighed, but he wasn't giving up yet. "Then if not for your kingdom and home; then for your son," Halin pointed to the sleeping form of the boy.
The older man seemed torn in decision. He gently brushed a lock of blonde hair away from the boy's face. "You should get some sleep, we'll be moving again in the morning," Rolinaë said, still watching his son.
Halin sighed and lay down next to the fire and finally drifted off to sleep.
It was still dark when Éorinaë woke up. He had heard movement in the cave. But since when did they get to a cave? I must have fallen asleep, he thought. He watched his father talking to the horses. Thunder bowed his head at his master's chest and snorted. Rolinaë turned around and smiled to see his son awake.
"Good morning, my son. We shall get moving in a few minutes," Rolinaë said.
And a few minutes it was. Halin had awaken in that time aswell and jumped up on Crysto, once everything was ready to leave. Éorinaë rode his own horse too, since Rolinaë was riding Thunder.
They saw no creatures in the dark, damp morning through the forest. Nothing dared to get in their path, not even the foul creatures in the woods. Thunder knew the best paths to pick and Crysto followed smartly. Once they reached the plains, Thunder's gain opened up and his muscles seemed to ripple like water as he ran. Crysto kept up easly to the barebacked horse and rider.
Suddenly, Thunder stopped. Éorinaë slowed his horse next to his fathers and looked up at the man.
"Go ahead my son," Rolinaë said.
"Father, will you not come with me? Will you come back?" the boy asked.
Rolinaë said nothing, but patted Crysto's neck and the chestnut horse ran on ahead. The village was already in sight. Some of the villagers had heard the horse's hooves on the rain covered grass and had come out to see what was coming. Crysto slowed down to a stop and the villagers surrounded the knight and the stable hand.
"It's Halin!" they were shouting, "Halin's returned!"
Halin and Éorinaë dissmounted and heard what the gathered crowd had to say. The orcs where coming, but then they had pulled back, they said. Halin did not understand, but Éorinaë did. He nodded to the knight and looked up at the sky. There where still clouds looming over head.
In his heart, Éorinaë knew that Rolinaë could never come back, that his wife and the boy's mother's death would loom over him just like those clouds. The boy accepted that, though most didn't. He also knew of his father's way and that he was the reason the orcs did not attack the villages. That they feared the Hunter. The forest was Rolinaë's place, and Éorinaë knew now at least that his father was closer than he ever would be at home. It was in that moment that the warrior's spirt in the boy flared up, just like his father, never to be extingushed.
Éorinaë and Halin turned around just in time to see the sun coming up over the hill in the break in the clouds of the east. Rolinaë atop Thunder stood on top of the hill looking out to them. The bright sun made a sillohette of the Hunter. Thunder reared up on his hind legs and Rolinaë raised his fist in the air. Éorinaë returned the motion, then saw his father dissapear into the distance, back to the forest; where he would remain to keep the orcs at bay from harming his beloved Rohan…
The End
