Patrolling Still by Harp_of_Gold  

I knew I had wandered too far. I'd been up the mountains after the last of the pine nuts; they only grew high on the slopes. I shouldn't've been alone, but my sister was sick and Mam busy with drying the late harvest, and the menfolks called off to muster. Morning was coming fast, and I wasn't dressed for day in the Mordor desert. I shifted the packbasket on my shoulders. I recognized this part of the mountains; my grandfather had died up here years ago when the Men of new-built Gondor came through the vale and his whole patrol stood against them until our Lord sent aid.

I did not, however, know the trails. I walked downhill for a time, looking for a trickle of water to follow to the stream that flowed near our house, but it was the wrong season for that trick. If I went too far, I would come upon the wraith-lords' tower, and they did not look kindly on uninvited visitors. A snake rattled its tail at me, and I jumped, whispering a prayer to the Elder King that I moved away from it in time. I never saw it, but I didn't hear it again or feel its sting. There were worse things to stumble upon in the mountains, I knew. Snakebite was no pleasant death, but others were longer and more painful.

I carefully steadied my breathing. Losing my head about it wouldn't help.

"Say your first prayer to the Elder King, else he'll be angry," Mam always said. "Then pray to your ancestors if you want something done."

I wasn't halfway through my first litany of names when I saw a light. An Orc was walking up ahead with a lantern, and when I shouted, he stopped and waited for me. He was an older man, dressed in a worn uniform blazoned with the Eye and with our clan's armband on his sleeve. I'd never been so relieved. He said nothing as I babbled my problem to him, just gave me a nod and started down the hill, beckoning me to follow.

The moon had been a thin crescent at the edge of the sky, and it hung there still as we walked. The encroaching dawn seemed to hold its breath for us. At last I saw the village on the plain below and dashed forward to point out my house. The old Orc smiled and waved me on, lifting the lantern to light my path. When I turned to thank him, he was gone as if he'd never been.

I considered for a moment sneaking in the back, but it wouldn't save me a scolding. Mam was waiting up for me; I could see her by the window.

"What possessed you to stay out so late?!" she began the moment I opened the door. I had at least gotten a good store of pine nuts, so I had something to show for it. They didn't seem to make her any happier as I explained.

"I've told you a hundred times that stretch of mountains is too dangerous to be in alone. You know your grandfather died up there?"

"I know," I said. "He's up there patrolling still."

Leave a Comment