Stillness in the ruins
As they walked farther Arden's pace quickened and his blood
raced, a sea of emotions engulfing him, his desire, the injured men
around, the princess of Enara, the isles, his thoughts miles away from
where he stood,
'Sire…. sire!'
Arden was startled by the distant calls, it was as if he just woke
up forcibly from a dream. He turned around,
'Under this shield,' a man was calling out in a shaken voice.
Arden rushed to the spot through the maze of injured soldiers
and his heart skipped a beat as he approached.
'Prince Theoden!' he kneeled to the ground, 'You're alive?... I
mean, you should have called out for help when you're alive. We have
been looking everywhere for you. How did you end up here?”
'How is he alive?'
'Help the prince out!' Arden grinded his teeth frustrated while he
ordered his men.
'He wasn't supposed to be.'
The men pulled Theo out as he grunted in pain but did not say a
word.
'Say something prince Theoden!' Arden waited for him to
answer, but Theo seemed lost and did not even look at him.
'Sire, the prince's leg, it doesn't seem right, we should tend to it
swiftly.'
Arden nodded and stared as the men carried him towards the
camp and followed them restlessly.
'Everything is in vain, I do not see any of my generals, Dena is gone….
for nothing!'
He noticed all the bodies and felt the pain of the injured men. He
felt helpless, he could not bear the thought that all this might have
been his fault.
'No.....ooo!' he screamed at the top of his voice hitting the sand
with his foot and a man rushed to him,
'Are you hurt sire?'
'All this destruction, we have lost more than half of our men and
the rest are injured, we lost our generals,' he looked away holding his
temper.
The men sat Theo on a rock and tended to his wounds, he did
not make a sound. It felt like he was not feeling the pain.
‘Sire, your leg is bruised badly, muscles are strained, might be
broken near the ankle, it is quite swollen too. We can bandage it
tightly for now and once we get to Menore, the royal physician will
tend to it. If you could rest with your leg up, you might feel some
relief.'
He did not seem to respond. The men looked at each other and
got to bandaging it in silence,
'It is done sire, and the tents are up now. Would you like to rest
inside?'
They looked at each other again, picked him up and walked
towards the tent. They laid him down on the bed, made sure his leg
was secure, bowed to him and left.
As Arden approached, he heard men whispering about prince
Theoden not responding and the probability of injuries and trauma
costing him his senses. It was not what he expected, but a consolation
that could get him the throne.
'How is the prince's leg?' Arden enquired one of the men.
'It is not looking good sire.'
He walked in and sat on the bedside.
'How are you feeling now and what happened out there?'
Theo did not answer.
'I am talking to you prince Theoden!' Arden raised his voice but
to no avail.
'The men might be right, can you not hear me?' Arden clapped
his hands closer to Theo's ears.
'I can hear you,' Theo replied faintly, 'I have nothing to say,' he
looked away.
'It will not do, we spent the night looking for you, why didn't you
call out for help when you were trapped? Typical of you, I should
have known.
I have lost the generals and more than half of my troops.
We have injured men to tend to and bodies to take back. It is chaos
out there, and I do not have time for your tantrums. I am this close to
giving up so, do not test me now!' Arden snapped at him, but Theo
didn't seem to care.
'Fine... I have other things to tend to,' Arden got up and turned
away but stopped.
'I am at loss of words but Dena….' he couldn't continue.
'The fyredari…took him,' Theo spoke his eyes closed.
'You knew?' Arden turned back.
'I was… there,' he stopped as tears rolled down his eyes and he
choked, 'it….'
'Where were you?'
'Under…. the shield.'
'I assumed you were unconscious, if not, why didn't you get out
of there?' Arden thundered at Theo but did not get anything back.
'If you were so scared, then why come all the way down here? You
should have stayed back in Menore, at the least Dena would
be…...How could you just stay there watching people die doing
nothing? What kind of a prince are you?'
Theo just laid there still as a rock hearing Arden insult him.
Infuriated, Arden decided to leave,
'Once the injured are tended to and the men gather their
strength, we leave to Menore.'
He stormed out of the tent.
'Why that Theo, that coward, he ruined everything! How I wish he was
dead….Everything's ruined.'
'Aaahhhhhhh;....,' he restlessly stepped into the other tent and
took off his armour to wash up his face and wounds.
He could not get over the fact that Theo was not dead after all his
efforts. A sense of guilt overwhelmed him as he washed the blood out
of his hands, the blood of innocent men who followed him. He
knocked down the water bowl in a fit,
'How I loathe him, I cannot believe I risked everything for that wimp!'
A man entered to check as he heard the smashing of the bowl.
'Tell the men to get ready to leave, we need to get the injured back
to Menore to be treated,' Arden ordered wiping himself.
The man bowed and left. Arden was in an indecisive state of
mind, he didn't know what was next, what needed to be done, and
when he tried reiterating things he was reminded of the voice.
He heard it when the fyredari held him, it was the same that had
informed him that the fyredari would attack Gini the next full moon
and they did. Why did the fyredari spare him? What does it mean and
whose voice was in his head?
He felt giddy as he tried to recollect, it
was a strange feeling that he couldn't figure out, he sat down for a
moment when he heard the men rounding the horses. It was
imperative that they get to Menore first.
As they started back, Arden looked at Theo with contempt in his
eyes as the men assisted him get on his horse, but Theo did not care
for it. Throughout the ride he remained quiet and by the time they
reached the city, he was nowhere to be seen, he was at the end amidst
the group of horses with bodies and looked as still as one.
The gates opened and the news of their arrival was sent to king Aiden. People
ran out to greet their loved ones but were distraught at the sight of the
injured and the corpses. It meant that they had returned defeated
once more and there might not be anyone returning the next time.
The convoy made their way to the castle amongst the wails of the
families who lost their loved ones. They got to the gateway where
king Aiden awaited them eagerly, Arden got there ahead,
'When I heard you returned, I didn't believe it, why return this
soon?' Aiden enquired as he came forward to embrace his son, but
Arden stopped him.
'What do you think?' he turned around and pointed to the
injured men slowly riding towards them.
'Where is prince Theoden?'
'You're worried about him? We lost more than half of our men
father!'
'Where is prince Theoden?' Aiden repeated, his voice more
impatient.
Arden scoffed and looked back to Theo slowly approaching on
his horse at the back with his head down.
'Is the prince hurt? Where is Dena?'
'Dena has passed on…,' Arden looked away.
'Tell me it isn't true!' king Aiden grasped Arden's hand trying
to look him in the eye, but Arden's silence struck him. 'Not
Dena……. bless his soul, how will I ever be able to face Kaleo?'
'The same way we face the families of many men we have lost.
Our generals, our brave soldiers, we lose people at war, father!'
Arden yelled at his father and swiftly walked away.
Comments (0)
See all