Chapter 94
We camped on farmland near the river that night, and it would have been a pleasant place to spend a night under the stars in any other circumstances. Our ragged squad made themselves comfortable in the orchard and we listened with resignation as the farmer pleaded in vain as all his livestock were slaughtered, no doubt for the consumption of the Captains and men of rank, for I did not expect that we would get any. At least, I thought sourly to myself, they did not slaughter the farmer too this time. Eventually, after what seemed an interminable wait one of the quartermaster's carts made an appearance and we formed the usual queue to receive our evening rations. I was minded to give poor Tithen most of mine for the poor thing already appeared already to be at the end of his strength. I had carried his cloak and some of his gear for him during that day's march, but Brandor had seen him undoing his sword belt in order to pass that over too and forbidden him to remove it. He said little now but his eyes were full of pathetic gratitude.
We received our miserable fare, a small piece of hard bread, some dried meat and a cup of watery ale, and tried to slink off to a quiet corner under the trees where we would consume them in peace. Unfortunately some of our brothers had others ideas, and the biggest oaf among them, a man of great strength but little intellect, of the sort who had served Fodric, stepped forward and demanded that we hand over our rations to him and his companions. I pleaded weakly for mercy, that they must be able to see that Tithen was almost spent and to take mine but not his if they must, but they would not hear of it. Once again I could see the sergeant watching with sly amusement and I immediately turned to him for help, appealing to him to prevent this breach of discipline. However he merely smiled and replied "sort it out amongst yourselves pretty boy" and turned away to carry on eating his own rather larger portion. Hearing this the oaf snatched my rations out of my hand and his fellows roared with laughter. My patience, worn thin by my own acute hunger finally ran out and in a flash the tip of my blunt but still effective blade was pressing into his neck and his eyes widened in sudden fear, and I ordered him sternly to return my rations before I did him some harm. He complied, backing off with eyes full of hatred while the onlookers laughed and jeered. I sheathed my sword, picked up my meal and turned to walk away, but a sudden collective intake of breath from the audience told me he was not done with me yet. With a yell he came at me with his sword overhead and swung a blow that might have cut me in two had I not been expecting it, and the blade bit into the soil as I side stepped it.
There was a roar of approval from the growing audience, for this was good sport indeed to amuse them. I drew my own blade now and waited for him to come again, and once again he was all fury and no skill and I was easily able to avoid his wild slashing. This only increased his rage and made him more careless and I could easily have got through his guard and killed him if I had chosen to, but knew this would by necessity be a last resort on my part. Instead I continued to dodge his blows to the great amusement of those watching, and things might have run their course eventually if one of them had not decided to enliven proceedings further by pushing me in the back and knocking me off balance just as I was avoiding another wild swing. Fortune was with me however, for it was only the the tip of his blade that caught me across the forehead, cutting me. I stumbled and my vision was temporarily impaired by blood running from the cut and he almost had me again. I wiped my brow, recovered my balance and decided I would have to finish him after all, for I could feel blood running down my forehead, I was growing tired, and I could be sure than someone else would repeat the attempt to discomfit me. The crowd were baying like dogs at the sight of my wound, and I could see more men approaching through the trees, drawn by the noise. The oaf came again, leering now, clearly thinking that I was beaten, and I got ready to strike a mortal wound in the ribs when he dropped his cover for his next attack. But the blow never came, suddenly there was a commotion amongst the onlookers who parted to let the Company's furious rat faced lieutenant into the ring, who roared for silence and a halt to proceedings, and was granted it. My adversary and I stood facing each other, panting and drenched in sweat. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, and I saw my chance and took it, resuming my act as the somewhat piteous Nindir. "Forgive me, but this man took my ration and my friend's and wouldn't give it us back, and Sergeant Brandor said I had to sort it out not him, so I drew my sword on him and made him give it me back and he did and that would have been the end of it. But then he attacked me and he would have killed me if you hadn't come just now". I sank to my knees for good effect, and the blood oozing from my wound added colour to the picture. He looked at me with utter disdain on his face, but did appear to have decided to take my part in the matter, for he promptly ordered the oaf to be flogged and demanded that Brandor accompany him at once to the captain to answer for his actions. A stern lecture to us all about discipline and morale followed, along with an assurance that if we wanted fighting and blood we would get plenty enough of them in the morning. Then he was gone, and those around and about me suddenly lost interest in the proceedings and quickly found other things to occupy their attention.
I decided to go down to the river to wash my wound, and made my way through the camp to the water's edge where I stripped to my waist and found a relatively safe place to enter the water. As ever for a river that rose in the mountains it was bitterly cold despite the season and I winced as I entered it. But it felt good to wash away the dirt and blood again as I had often done before many leagues further upstream in what now felt like what had been another life. Here though the flood was not youthful and broken into a hundred mild courses by the stony shoals of the ford, but wide, fast paced and powerful, and even in the sheltered eddy where I stood I felt the mighty pull of the main stream that could easily take the strongest of swimmers away to their death. The river ran on, grey and sinuous and I knew that the waters that I bathed in now would soon be passing under the ancient stone arches of the old bridge at Lastbridge. I sighed when I thought that Idhrethil might soon be standing upon it and waiting for me, and the thought broke my heart. The sun was almost set now, and a waxing moon already stood mocking my misfortune in the sky to the south. In two days time it would be full, and I could see no way of being able to fulfil my part of the bargain even if I did survive the battle that would undoubtedly follow the next day. I grew cold and climbed out of the water, shivering, and after drying myself as best I could let the mild night air finish the job while I hungrily consumed what little of my ration I had been able to rescue from the fray. There were more men camped here down near the water but they paid me little heed, so I laid myself out on the grass and lay for a while looking up at the fiery glow of the countless stars that were emerging overhead. The sight of them brought me no comfort at that moment however, and I soon dressed and returned to the orchard, concerned that it might be thought that I had deserted if I remained absent for too long.
Sergeant Brandor was not there when I returned, and I did not see him again, for the following morning another man from the company was given a promotion and put in charge of our squad. The other absentee was Tithen, but I did not remark on it, and when I was asked where he was I was able to answer truthfully that the last time I had seen him had been before I was attacked. I could only think that he had taken advantage of the disturbance to make his own escape, for the pickets nearby had no doubt left their stations to watch the melee and allowed him to slip away easily into the wild. No doubt with several men's ration's in his scrip if I knew his sort, I thought smiling, and wished him good fortune wherever he might be. Others of the same mind were not so lucky and about a dozen wretches were apprehended trying to clear the camp and head southward during the night, including one of the men who had come out of the dungeons with us. We were ordered to form up and watch while they were executed one by one as an example and warning to the rest of us. Belegon was there to pronounce sentence on them, and to my dismay Daeron was at his side, looking splendid on horseback, though I was too far away to read his expression or to risk being recognised by him. I wondered if Cenric was there too, but could not see him, and thought that it would be a bitter thing to have brought him north to do battle with his own kin. When all was done the bodies were left lying where they had fallen at the roadside, first of the many who would perish that day, and we moved off northward again, .
It had been an eve of battle unlike any I had known before, for now I was alone and friendless with none to comfort or command and it brought home to me how important the bonds of love and friendship are to us when we find ourselve in desperate straights. I had not slept well and was now marching to battle hungry, weary and full of fear at the thought of what lay ahead. I had no desire for battle nor any belief in what we fought for, and I worse still now felt the absence of my fine plate keenly, for it would turn a glancing blow from a blade or slow a falling arrowhead in a way that the leather breastplate I was wearing could never do. Those around me mostly kept their own counsel and many of them were visibly frightened, expecting the worst every time the column halted. It was a perfect summer's day, but none of us took any pleasure from it, and after a while the sun climbed further into the sky and added heat and thirst to our woes.
An hour or so before noon we heard the sound of many horns blowing ahead of us. I could not tell whether they were ours or those of our foe, but they precipitated a flurry of activity as Lord Belegon began to marshall his forces in readiness to face those who awaited us just ahead. There was a good deal of jostling and confusion as orders were barked out but eventually we found ourselves at the front and in the centre of the host, just as I had feared where the press would be fiercest and most deadly.