Chapter 10
Eleanor opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the bright sunlight. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was falling off her horse. Glancing around the room Eleanor noticed someone sitting in a chair by the window. He looked vaguely familiar, but who was he? "Father?" she croaked.
The man's head jerked at the unexpected noise, and he quickly looked over at her. It was Boromir. He smiled at her. "I am not your father, but he is here." Boromir quickly stood up and left the room to fetch Lord Cadogan.
Cadogan was overjoyed to see that his daughter was recovering. Boromir also was happy that Eleanor began to regain her strength. He turned to go, but as he did something caught the corner of his eye. Looking over his shoulder Boromir saw that Eleanor was smiling at him.
~o~o~
Boromir waited until he was in his room before falling across the bed and laughing in relief. Eleanor was going to be alright! At first he wasn't sure how he felt toward her, but now he knew for certain. Boromir knew he loved Eleanor.
~o~o~
"Honourable Sama Nedal, I regret to inform you of the loss of Baraz. On the last raid, he was unable to get out of the path of a horse that was in a blind rush to get away from the chaos. He was so badly trampled that there was nothing any of our men could do."
A pained gasp came from behind the man who delivered the message to Nedal. A young woman with dark hair and a tanned complexion put her hand over her heart.
"My deepest condolences, Latifah," said Nedal in a flat voice, now looking over at the woman.
Before he could say anything else, Latifah ran back to her own tent. She broke down in tears. Her husband Baraz had been Nedal's best captain. It was obvious he preferred him over any of his other men. He had been married to Latifah for only a year, and now he was gone! She couldn't make her mind accept it. She buried her face in her pillow, which was soon wet with tears. "Baraz," she whispered over and over.