Endless Shadows

Chapter 6

Ramben's POV

Ramben sat quietly with his hands folded on his lap, waiting patiently for Amarth to return. The older Elf has told him to wait in this spot until he returned, he'd been gone for awhile now but Ramben had no doubt in his mind that Amarth would be back soon. They'd come to a place that Amarth called "Rohan" to borrow some horses. However who he was going to borrow horses from was a mystery to Ramben.

To pass the time he concentrated on trying to get through the fog that kept his memories hidden from him. He closed his eyes and found himself standing before the grey fog that blanketed his mind, he struggled to push his way through it, but it was easier said than done. It felt as if he was trying to walk through a wall at times, and the more Ramben concentrated the more exhausting it became for him.

He had tried after the first night of his travels and had ended up with a tremendous amount of head pain afterwards. Now he was pushing himself beyond what he knew were his limits. His palms started to sweat and his head was beginning to pound. 

I should stop, Ramben was about to pull out when something flashed in the corner of his eye. He saw something! There was something in the fog! Concentrating on that spot Ramben forced himself onward. He'd never seen anything in the fog before! This was his chance to get a memory back! The closer Ramben came to the spot the more painful it became, but he couldn't give up, not when he was so close.

His body was shaking from the effort, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, pounding like that of a drum resounded in his head. 

Almost there...

Peering through the fog an image appeared, Ramben's spirit soared. This was it! He was finally going to remember something about his past! Suddenly his eyes shot open, gasping he grabbed his head between his hands, trembling. A tree! All he had gotten was a tree! What good would that do him?

Ramben lifted his head up and quickly wiped a tear from his eye. He wasn't mad or frustrated, only upset that after all that searching, all he had found was a tree. There had been no people, no familiar place, just a tree covered in green leaves.

Sighing, Ramben lowered his head into his hands again.

I'll try again another day, maybe it will be different next time...

/\\//\\/

Amarth's POV

I hate horses!

Do you hear me?!

I hate, HATE horses!

I've nearly been trampled five times trying to get at least one horse, but the stubborn beasts refuse to cooperate! I'd left Ramben in a place where he shouldn't get into trouble, planning on returning shortly with a couple of horses for us, but for some reason animals seem to loathe me. This horse that I've been trying to "tame" has murder in its eyes. I would have gone to some village or farm where there were already tame horses, perfect for borrowing, but that would involve going near men.

So when I found a herd of wild horses I'd figured that it would be easier to take one from there; wrong. The grey horse stamps its hoof on the ground, ears laid flat against its skull, it threatens me to come closer. You know what? This isn't worth the trouble. I turn away from the horse and storm over to where I laid my weapons, gathering them in my hands I head back to where I left Ramben.

It's been strange having him around, he's mostly quiet which I'm grateful for, but when he does open his mouth it's nothing but questions.

Questions after questions after questions about the silliest things. The poor elfling hardly remembers anything about, well, anything. I've had to explain to him what an Elf is, what my weapons are called, I even had to tell him that the world we are in is called Middle Earth. At least; that's what it used to be called.