Faramir Fiction Archive

Tales Only Whispered (NC-17)

04 April 2004 | 6339 words | Work in Progress

Part VI: Fever

There were voices all around me. Screaming. Whispering. Crying. I tried to open my eyes. Blackness. Darkness. Why can’t I see? I tried to move. Again, I couldn ‘t. What was going on? Am I dead. Unfathomable blackness. Why didn’t I have a voice? The others had voices. I heard them. I tried to concentrate on them. Tried to listen to what thy said. They grew fainter and fainter. Slowly they died away…

I woke with a start. Something has stabbed me! There was a horrible pain in my shoulder. I heard screeching and cruel laughter. Nazgûl! We were under attack! My shoulder was hit. Where are my men? Quick! We have to retreat! We can’t fight them back! Retreat! The cold cruel laughter again. Now you die! Was that the voice of the Nazgûl? My men… Where are they? …Dead…I know they are all dead….

Darkness I was lying in bed with my father. He was touching me. Taking my mother’s coat from my shoulders. Father. Please don’t. I’m your son. Why are you doing this to me? I begged in vain… it hurt…it hurt as it always hurt when he entered me. Father, please! The pain grew worse. It hurts so much…

Blackness. Voices. The crackling of fire. Shouting. Father! Please don’t. But once more I had no voice. My Lord, no, he’s alive! Whose voice was that? I remember. There was that small fellow who came with Mithrandir. ….Mithrandir. Berengod. Father. There voices mixed in my head…. Became one single roar… the roar of a large fire… The pyre! Father! Dead. Suddenly I know that he is dead. Dead like all my men … dead like me?

Darkness. Muffled voices. I was still lying on a bed. Someone was bent over me… was touching me… I felt fingers trailing over my body. Gently brushing over my cheeks and forehead. Father? No, it couldn’t be him. He was not gentle. His touches weren’t soft. …Cold cruel hands…Father? No, Father was dead. I knew it.

The hands were now on my shoulder. Pain. Pain soared through my body. I cried out. Hush, my beautiful one. It will only hurt a few more moments. He had heard me. I had a voice again! Maybe I wasn’t dead after all? The pain in my shoulder subsided. It was only a dull stinging now. I barely felt it…I was tired…

My eyes snapped open. I looked into the face above me. A gentle smiling face with serene eyes. Where… Hush, don’t fear my beautiful one. You are save, here, in the Houses of Healing. The wound on my shoulder was freshly dressed and he was cooling my hot forehead with a wet rag. I didn‘t feel pain any longer. You look very much like your brother, the stranger said to me. I felt save with this man sitting by my side. I felt as save as I felt with my brother. Slowly I drifted into darkness again, but this time without fear…

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