Roaring thunders in my ears as the wind threatens to blow me off the large rock I'm clinging desperately to. The waves lash out at my body, trying to pull me into the dark water. I can't let go, if I do I'll die. My hands become bloody as they are scraped over the rough surface. The water tastes bitter on my tongue, it's so dark I can barely see.
But I can hear something, a cry that makes my blood run cold.
Anna!
She's in the water! Drowning!
I force myself to stand, battling against the wind and waves. I search the raging sea for any sign of Anna, and a flash of red hair catches my eye.
Without thinking I dive into the water, except it doesn't feel like water at all. It's thick and clings to me as I fight to reach my sister, I can still hear her screaming for me. But the water keeps dragging me down. Soon my head is under, and the world goes black.
I twist and claw at the darkness, I can't breathe, everything is dark.
My eyes sting, my lungs are burning, I'm being pulled even further down.
Air.
I need air.
Which way is up?
Eyes, burning.
I can't hear anything.
Air.
I'm still falling.
I have to breathe.
Don't.
I'll die, I can't die.
Breathe!
I open my mouth and the darkness enters. I can feel it going down my throat, and spreading to the rest of me. I try to close my mouth but I can't even move.
I'm trapped.
I want to scream.
The silence deafens me.
Then I hear a voice, so soft and still, but the words are haunting.
Endless shadows, endless night
You cannot escape the eternal night
I know someone is there, I can feel their presence as the move through the darkness, coming closer to me.
Dark by night, dark by day
I can see your soul fading away
I search the darkness and see a shape coming towards me, I try to move but the shadows keep me still.
The figure is right in front of me, I feel a hand brushing gently against my face, I shudder at the touch.
You cannot escape the eternal dark
For into it you once embarked
Two hands grab my head and pull me forward, I can do nothing.
My forehead is pressed against something cold, fire floods into my body, but I still can't scream.
Fingers twist into my hair, any attempt I make to pull away is met with pain.
You...
Belong...
To me.
Fire floods my vision, and when it feels as if I'm being torn apart, is when I can finally scream. I kick and thrash as something forces itself into me. I feel it coming through my skin, my mouth, eyes, ears, and I am powerless to stop the darkness from entering me.
Do not fight me...
The voice whispers.
Give yourself to me, and there will be no more pain.
"No!"
I don't know whether the voice is mine, or someone else's.
A brilliant, white light engulfs me, I can hear the darkness shriek as it withdraws itself from my body. I feel myself falling, then someone catches me.
"Wake up! Amarth please wake up!"
Someone is holding me, but I can't open my eyes.
That voice...
Why does it sound so familiar?
"Amarth!"
Wait, that voice is different.
"You have to be strong Amarth, you can fight this."
Who is talking to me?
"Amarth you have to get up! Now!"
But I'm so tired, I can't move.
The arms that hold me, I feel safe in them. As if nothing can harm me as long as I stay here.
I feel something press gently against my forehead, only instead of being cold, I feel warmth and light.
"You will be alright, the darkness will not have you. I won't let it."
I feel myself drifting, falling away.
"I will not let your soul be lost."
That's the last thing I hear.
/\\//\\/
"Amarth wake up!"
My eyes shoot open and everything from my dream comes flooding back to me.
The waves, Anna, the darkness...
A shudder runs through my body as I remember cold hands against my skin, touching me, trying to take me...
Someone saved me, who was it?
"Amarth!" Pallando's shout sends me scrambling to sit upright. I look around and see that I somehow fell asleep on the floor, the other thing I see is Pallando standing over me, panic and fear evident in his eyes.
"Pallando what's wrong?" I sway slightly as I get to my feet. Seeing Pallando afraid usually makes me fearful as well.
"There's no time to explain, we have to leave right now!" He grabs me by the wrist and immediately I jerk it from him, backing away cautiously. Pallando looks hurt for a moment and I feel a wave of guilt wash over me. Should I tell him what happened? Or...
"Hold on a second Pallando, I just woke up. Give me a minute to grab my weapons would you?" Quickly I cross the room to where my swords and bow are waiting for me. I strap everything onto my back before turning to face Pallando. I furiously hope that he isn't able to figure out I why pulled away from him, I've never recoiled that way before. Perhaps acting as if nothing is wrong will keep him from asking questions.
Nope.
One look at Pallando says it all: he knows that something is wrong.
He opens his mouth to say something when a roar echoes throughout the empty halls. My hands immediately go to my swords, but before I can draw them Pallando's voice stops me.
"You cannot fight this enemy Amarth."
I lower my arms and look at him skeptically.
"Then what do we do?"
Another roar shakes the halls, and Pallando gives me my answer.
"Run."
/\\//\\/
The roaring grows louder, more enraged as Pallando and I race through the door we came through yesterday. When we get outside I see that the sun still has yet to rise, the sky is a milky grey and there are still a few stars left in the sky.
"What's in there Pallando?!" I shout as we run towards the trees. "I thought you said we would be safe here!"
"I was wrong! Now do me a favor and quit talking and focus on running!"
Immediately I clamp my mouth shut and focus exactly on what Pallando suggested I do. I have to mentally remind myself to keep my pace even with Pallando's. When I said that he wasn't very fast I wasn't joking, I could have outrun him by now, but I refuse to leave him behind.
I hear another roar but refuse to look back. After crashing into nearly every tree in Mirkwood yesterday I'm not so keen on doing it again. However, I desperately want to ask Pallando what it is that's chasing us. What could possibly cause Pallando to be so afraid?
Dragon? Balrog?
We reach the trees and we keep running. It's only after the roars cease that Pallando allows us to stop.
I wait for him to catch my breath (and for my heart to stop pretending that it's a drum) before once again demanding an answer from Pallando.
"What was that?" I go to stand beside him, but stop to where I'm out of arm's reach. What is wrong with me? Why am I suddenly so cautious, especially around Pallando?
"I-I'm not sure." Pallando gasps turning to look behind us.
"You're not sure? We were just chased out of an underground fortress and into this Elf forsaken forest by some, thing that clearly wants to kill us, but you are not even sure what it is?" I narrow my eyes to the point where if I don't open stop soon, I'm going to be stuck with a permanent scowl forever.
Pallando faces me again and I remove the scowl. I can tell when he's under a lot of stress, best not to make things harder for him. How can you blame someone who's done so much for you?
"Here's what I do know Amarth," Pallando continues, "I was right about someone hunting the amulet. The moment I took it out its power could be felt by anyone sensitive to that sort of thing. Whoever is seeking it must have been searching for awhile, it's the only way they could have sent someone after us so quickly."
I take a moment to process everything.
"Is that all?" I manage to not sound sarcastic when I ask, that in itself is a triumph.
Pallando hesitates a moment, fidgeting with his staff and refuses to meet my gaze.
"Pallando?" I'm starting to get annoyed.
"This, thing that is after us..." Pallando closes his eyes. "It cannot be killed."
Any word or remark I may have said was lost as an all too familiar roar split the air. I take one look at Pallando and for once we're thinking the same thing.
Run.
/\\//\\/
Pallando's plan is simple: outrun the beast that is chasing us, lose it for good, then quickly make our way south to Harad where this mystery being lives who apparently has the answers to all of our questions.
As I said, simple.
Pallando has the amulet which is fine by me. I have my hood pulled up and despite what Pallando said about not being able to kill the beast, I keep myself ready to draw my bow at a moment's notice.
Shoot first, die later.
I'm keeping my ears open for any sound to alert us of the creature's presence, but lately, I have heard nothing so we have taken this moment to rest. I'm standing with my back against a tree, black bow in hand and an arrow held loosely in the other. Pallando is kneeling beside a small brook, cupping water in his hands and drinking his fill.
We left most of what we brought behind, shouldn't be a problem. I can hunt, and I know where to find water without going anywhere near people. My hope is that our journey won't bring us to any human villages or cities, ever since Aragorn's reign ended, so did much of the world as I once knew it.
Wicked men came to power, wars started, kingdoms were torn apart.
Rohan?
Gone, torn apart by civil war and power hungry tyrants.
Gondor?
A shadow of what it once was, poor and slowly falling to pieces.
I don't blame Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits for leaving. What place is there for us in this new world of men? We're becoming the stuff of myth and legend, fairy tales told to children before bed.
What angers me the most is that there is nothing I can do about it.
"Are you alright Amarth?"
I shake my head without meeting Pallando's gaze.
"I'd be better if you'd quit asking." I make it sound like a suggestion, hoping to keep Pallando in the dark about my inner turmoil. What I want to know is why it's so difficult for me to open up to him, he'd help me if I let him.
I glance in his direction but his back is to me, his sight fixed on the surrounding trees. I haven't really thought about it until now, but Pallando is the closest thing I have to a father. My own father died after I'd barely came of age, so did my mother. I've never really known what it was like to have parents, I wonder what my mother and father would think of me now...
I shake myself when I realize that I'm letting my mind wander again. Every time I let my mind wander something bad immediately follows. The thought barely leaves my mind when the dreaded roar suddenly returns.
Why do I always have to be right?
I raise my bow but am instantly frozen as another roar joins in with the other, then another, and another.
I look towards Pallando but he's already a step ahead of me.
"Put away your bow Amarth now is not the time for you to fight." Swiftly Pallando appears at my side and I have no time to recoil before he grabs my hand and places something in it. The amulet.
"Pallando what are you doing?" I have a feeling that I know exactly what he's going to say next.
"You have to get out of here Amarth, go south to the Forests of Harad you'll be safe there."
"And what about you? I guess you just want me to leave you behind?" I can barely contain my anger, doesn't he realize that we've done this before?! He can't leave me again!
"We have no choice!" Pallando argues, the roars are getting closer, and with each passing second, he grows more desperate. "I'll lead those creatures away until I know you're far from their reach. Go Amarth and please, whatever you do don't come back for me. We will see each other again."
How do you know?
I want to ask him that, but the words die on my tongue. He's leaving me, the one friend I have left on this stupid earth is leaving me.
Pallando backs away and from me and raises his staff, the familiar white light begins to shine from it.
"Go now Amarth, please. I need you to run."
I still hesitate. A crash sounds in the distance, a tree has fallen and more follow.
"Run!" Pallando thunders and I jump, startled like an elfling. I take a few steps backward, Pallando goes in the opposite direction.
Promise me you'll come back.
I pull my hood over my head and slip into the trees, grasping the amulet tightly in my hand, I turn around and run.
Behind me, I hear more crashes, followed by the loudest roar yet.
Don't look back, don't go back.
A sound like thunder splits the air, the ground shakes and I'm nearly thrown from my feet.
Silence.
Please, don't leave me.
Like the coward I am, I keep running, leaving the last person who I ever cared about behind to his death.
/\\//\\/
The rhyme in Amarth's dream was written by the wonderful Mossfire946 when helping me come up with a title for this book. Thanks again mellon!