A very late entry

I do apologize for not keeping up with the writing, I shall endeavor to be much better. For your further pleasure, here I continue the story:

The Tales of Ahrdin

Second Entry:

“This is all he’s said since you found him? Nothing more?” a woman asked as she leaned over the soldier, trying to look into his eyes.

“Aye, Matron, naught but how ‘e killed ‘is men, and how ‘is path was to be clear of them Tal folk. Lost to terror, I think he is.”

The woman pursed her lips in thought, then said to the men without turning, “Well, you’ve done well. I expect you’ve got business that needs tending. I’ll send word if I need you.”

As the two men left her tent, she listened carefully to the mumbling of the soldier. When he had been quiet for several moments, she decided to try to talk to him, “What is your name, soldier? I know your colors, you’re with Denel’s men, but I know none by name. You were attacked?”

The man remained silent, and didn’t seem to respond, except that his eyes widened very slightly, along with a sorrowful downturn of his mouth.

“I killed them. All dead,” he whispered. “Why were they there?” he keened.

“They? You mean the Tal? You didn’t know they were in the valley?”

He said nothing more, only seeming to sink further into despair.

“Well, you can answer me later, let me see what I can do,” the Matron said, reaching a hand to his temple. She lowered her head closer to his and whispered a chant he wouldn’t have understood if he’d been aware. The young man’s eyes slowly closed as the tension lifted from his body. Even after he seemed to have passed into sleep, the Matron continued her silent chant.

***

The Matron pulled back the flap of her tent and stepped outside. She called a young boy over, “Go and bring Pitt and his son here.” She watched him scramble off for a moment, sighed, nodded her head, slipped back inside her tent.

She had been sitting next to the resting soldier for a short while before she heard Pitt ask for entry. “Come,” she said. “I’ve done what I could for him. He seems to be resting easily now, but I don’t know if his fugue will return when he wakes up. I want you two to take him to Rample. His army’s gone too far south for you to return to us quickly enough, but they have dealings with Denel, someone there will likely be able to take him to his people.”

“Beggin’ yer pardon, Matron, but the Tal’d likely find us on the way.”

“Then he is destined to be a prisoner. We can do nothing more for him. Go in the morning and you’ll be back before evening. I’ll tend to him tonight.”