Five Days Before...
It was five days of neverending journey, day and night. Nergelt slept while Ostergo was dragging his horse during the night. That was for all that time, always looking up, always looking for Rosiebell, the girl that Ostergo wanted so much. Even if his body finally surrendered by the tiresome travel, he remained conscious, always vigilant for anyone that could stop him. His will was unbroken, usually murmuring the poem given by his master to him, and Nergelt was surprised, looking how he was suffering such thing without a word, without a grunt, only silence. After these five days of unstoppable traveling, he finally stopped near the river crossing Emin Naer, saying to Nergelt that he was tired and he wanted to sleep for a while. Nergelt nods and looked how Ostergo was going to the shore of the river, taking off his cape and using it as a blanket and arranging his bag on his head as a pillow. He remained there, with his eyes closed, and soon after he started to snore.
Shadows that moves through all the vale shadows that moves chaotically through people kneeling crying dying he ran to his tent but he watched how it was burning at the scary night two shadows that crawls along two people swinging his blades and the sound of the steel remained on his ears two shadows that spread blood on the ground and then both looked at him he wanted to cry of anger and sadness and he charged them with a knife but one of them just punched him on his face and everything went blurry and he heard the voices of the ones that he known fading one by one and tainting all the grass in red.
He opened his eyes, breathing heavily, grabbing his head looking around, scared, his eyeballs shaking of confusion and shock, trying to get himself again. When he finally started to calm down, another thing wasn't right: His horse wasn't there, and the man that was going with him disappeared. He lifted up and start to run where he saw him for the last time, and footprints showed up from there to the east. Without seeing anyone else in the night, his first thought was to stay there, but then he realized that maybe dunlendings could appear, taking him to a painful death. He blinked twice before seeing the hilt of his blade, and then he decided to follow the footprints on the ground, one of a horse, another of a man.
It passed minutes, hours and he ran without stop, breathing heavily, with his legs hurting but he remained unstoppable. The woods crossing along him, the cry of the wolves in the night, the shadow taking all the place into darkness, only leaving a weak spot of light. The minutes turned days for him, always wanting to follow the only one that knew where his beloved one was; then, he saw a spot of fire, gasping and slowing down, walking slowly to approach where it supposed to see Nergelt again.
When he approached the place, his eyes widen, looking from a cliff all the forest that he crossed, far from there the plains of Nan Sirannon, even the ruins of Mirobel, but the thing that catched his attention was a bonfire with its fire spreading to the air. Then he look behind and a punch catched him by surprise. Dizzy, he grabbed the hilt and he swung it to the air, hitting something made of metal, stepping back and finally seeing the man who did that to him. A mischievous smile came from the face of Nergelt, saying with a cold but playful voice:
- You should to stay near the river sleeping, isn't?
- This is not fun! – Replied Ostergo with anger -You took my horse and I want it back!
- Let me say... no, because you can't do anything with a horse without legs...
Nergelt unsheathes the sword on his back and he charged against him; Ostergo replied every hit of his sword with his, and after a series of blows and parries he stopped and shouted at him:
- Why have you do this?
- Why?! – Nergelt frowned and charged at him while he shouted – Who the hell are you to ask forgiveness, being the bastard that almost beat me up to death!
Gasped as he blocked the incoming blades against him, parrying the sword on his left and quickly giving a punch directly to his stomach. Nergelt didn't stopped and instead he swung his sword to his chest. Ostergo stepped back but not fast enough to avoid the entire blade, leaving a superficial cut across the chest. Nergelt stopped and started to shout, while Ostergo was touching the recent injury with his face rugged by the pain.
- You don’t know nothing about respect, about love, about shit like that, but instead of accepting the truth, you still fight to remain such lie. You are wrong! You don’t know mercy, so why are you acting like a pussy now, come on and fight!
- I won't fight until I have a reason... I-I really sorry about-
- Sorry?! That what you say in the face of the man that almost you killed?! COME ON YOU FUCKING QUEER, SHOW ME WHAT YOU HAVE!
- I repeat… I don’t want to…
His phrase was interrupted for another cut on his arm. He crawls again as he stopped another swing from his blade coming to his neck. Ostergo started to step back until he felt something on his back, a long and strong piece of wood incrusted on the ground. He turned and saw with his eyes widen the shield buried there, with the sword incrusted on the ground near there. He remained speechless for one second, before the cold of a blade crossed his back, interrupting his silence. He screams as he looked at him kneeled, trying to breath. Nergelt replied at him:
- Two weeks ago I met a woman right here, telling me about a man that was supposed to be the one who did that to me. - then he starts to say with a grim tone, looking at him with eyes of bloodlust - Like here, she wanted to defend him even costing her life... so she did. Her beautiful green eyes faded as my blade crossed her chest... It was a tragedy to take off such life in my hands...
Ostergo remained speechless, with his eyes widen. His eyes shaking, his head hurting, and the incoming blade on his neck that he replied in a flash, falling to the ground near the edge of the cliff, seeing how his blade was flying in the air broken, the emerald destroyed by the fall from there to the ground. He looked up and saw Nergelt looking at him, grabbing him from his throat and with a knife on his other hand. Ostergo saw him for the last time, before feeling a sense of emptiness on his back, looking how quickly he started to see him going away, in a vertiginous speed. He saw the face of a woman with her face pale, her eyeballs grey by the kiss of the grim death, her lips grey and looking at nowhere, left in the place that he was... but now he's only seeing shadows, shadows that quickly grab his whole body and consume his mind into darkness, following of a knock that sounded in the forest.
