Son of Gondor ~In the Beginning...One~

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:20 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- An Unusual Encounter"Who ar' ya?"Those were the only words his numbed wit could find. Kart couldn't figure out what the stranger had done to him, but his head ached and his body felt almost as if it were in slow motion...his mind would want his hand to move...and ten seconds later the action would be performed.The stranger turned with an apparent aged smile, although the man appeared to be young enough, and looked upon his new companion with emerald eyes that were filled with a hope and care Kart thought unimaginable. A lit pipe also jut out of the of the traveler's mouth."A Ranger of sorts. Are ye familiar with such, then?"Kart slowly, and carefully, nodded his aching head...however, he noticied that the ache had already subsided some."Thou' tha' ya all wer' no mor'."That sparked a deep laughter from the man...and mirth lit those emerald eyes like an old fire that had suddenly been sparked to life by a poker soaked in fuel."Nay..not as o yet. Methinks, although, I donna wander continuously as o late."The pain had subsided almost completely...and Kart found that his dexterity, that only a minute ago seemed to be on hiatus, was completely restored. The man extended a hand in which resided a half loaf of bread."Aragorn, as ye may call."Kart took the bread and nodded his thanks. At first, he was hesitant...fearing that his portion of the loaf was poisoned with some dread herb. "Lembas, friend. Methinks the bread accustomed to ye."Then again, if the man wanted him dead...he would already be so...and it had been so long since he had tasted the elven loaf. Kart did not try to hide his hunger and tore into the bread, devouring it almost before he had time to taste the meal.And once again, laughter from the man...Aragorn...damn, was that familiar...wait..."Yer th' King?...I mean...o Gondor?"The man smiled again...a wise and friendly smile...something Kart had never seen but found suprisingly welcome."Aye...but be not concerned with titles, friend. I dinna have your own, tho..."The kid nearly bursted out...his mouth still full of the bread..."Karteran Mithorel of Lothl-..."Aragorn nodded knowingly at the pause in his companion's sentence. He had seen a dark elf before, and although he felt warmly towards all elven kind...he felt a loss of respect towards a race which could not embrace difference."Feel not need to explain, friend. I understand."Kart nodded and took the cup filled with water which now was offered to him. The night continued with talk...Karteran doing most of the talking...telling stories of his past and what brought him here. Before sleep took them Aragorn offered to take him back to Gondor. The King said that he'd have to pull his own weight around, but he'd have a home, food, and companions.Needless to say, Kart took the offer...after all...what did he have to lose?

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:22 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- Swords an' Stones"Com' on, Eld...yer sword is becomin' as slo' as yer wit!"It had been three months since that unusual encounter in the woods with his King, and already Kart seemed at home. He had almost immediately befriended Eldarion, Aragorn's son, and considered him as close as a brother. All that the King had promised and more was provided to him...and Kart was keeping up his side of the bargan as well. He was already enrolled in the training of the high guard...and he worked for the armorer as an errand boy."Mayhaps, tis slow...but tis sharp enough ta cut ya through!"The two were in the center of the courtyard outside of the Great Hall...sparring away with wooden swords. Aragorn sat next to the silver tree with Asteroth at his side...discussing what to do about the sudden appearance of Orcs. Eld parried and then thrust forward...the blunt end of his weapon finding its way into his opponent's belly."Hah! See...me slow wit still cuts deeply!"The two laughed and walked across the courtyard towards Aragorn and his advisor...and although they could not hear the muttered discussion, they knew the importance of it and did not interrupt until the two were finished."Ready for the hunt, my son?""Indeed father...but can Kart accompany us?"Aragorn smiled...glad he was that his son had found someone to relate to. The castle walls can be so suffocating sometimes."Nay...remember he begins training tomarrow...now let's go."Eldarion and his father made towards the stables...both turned and waved to both Karteran and Asteroth...the two mimicing the gesture.It was the last Karteran saw of the man who changed his life...

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:24 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- ...A Friend IndeedElessar and Asteroth stood together in the middle of the court, facing a young man who's face was unreadable...a mixture of confusion, hate, and pain resided within those emerald eyes.It was a sight Karteran would never forget."Ye were a fool to leave the throne so open for me, my son. Indeed, ye have too much o yer father's blood in ye."Leave Eld...go...get out while ya still can...Kart wanted to move...he wanted so badly to strike down that bitch which had murdered the only man he ever cared about...wanted to cause the same pain he felt...the same loss he felt..."NO! Ya wer' foolish fer murderin' me fath'r...fer causin' yer own son years o pain...fer no' havin' 'nogh wit ta think befo' actin'...ya 'ave fail'd! I 'av return'd an' accept'd th' pas'...ya 'av fail'd *again*, moth'r."Eld...watch out! Asteroth is pulling his blade!"My failure...will die...with ye, my son."At that, Asteroth suddenly dashed at the prodigal son, his sword already drawn and directed straight at his target's heart. Eld had no time to react...and he closed his eyes ready to embrace the darkness beyond...any existance would be better than the one he was currently involved in...but that embrace didn't come..."NOOOOO!!!!!"Kart screamed out, his sword flying into his hands in a dash of light...all of his training and senses coming alive in one burst of flame...the look in his eyes was horrible...and when Elessar saw those bombadier's eyes, even her heart found fear.Just inches before Asteroth's sword found it's intended resting place, Kart rang forward.. his sword coming down and shattering Asteroth's blade to dust. The King fell back aghast...fear striking to his very core...And there Kart and Eld stood...side by side...Mayhaps this guard was not so simple after all.

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:27 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- Treason"Seize them!!!"Elessar called out enraged, and the rest of the mindless, controlled guards surrounded the two reunited youths immediately. Kart was striped of his sword and both were shackled and thrown to their knees before the Queen...that smile of insanity found its way back to her lips."Striking the King's sword is the same as striking the King himself...and the punishment for a traitor is death..."Elessar's words slid out of her mouth as if she were some sadistic snake...but still that smile did not falter. The guards yanked the chained victoms to their feet and they were about to take them out to the courtyard when Elessar raised her hand."However...this court is nay without pity..."Eld and Kart stopped for only a second...thinking a heart was here afterall. But realization soon hit home...Elessar did not know the meaning of the word "mercy"."Instead, the prisoners shall be humiliated then banished from this world never to set foot on Middle-Earth soil again!!! Take them to the public square!!!"Each of those words fell like the blow of a sledgehammer to both the ears and the head. Numbness found its way to their limbs and wits...senses realing. Both thought that this had to be some surreal nightmare...and any moment now they would wake up screaming. But no such comfort found its way to their conscious...and they soon realized that they were being drug into the middle of town for all to see. Oh..Can you not talk?The entire city of Gondor was gathered in the large opening...looking on with eyes and hearts filled with terror and sorrow...but none spoke...none dared move their tounge in defiance against the Queen.Eld and Kart were stripped of their clothing in front of their people...and despite their half-witted struggles they were beaten into submission. Each of their arms and legs were bound with course rope and they were yanked into the air. They became suspended by the grinding ropes which were attached to poles on either side of them. Their wrists soon became warm from the flow of blood...the tight rope squeezing their skin so tight that it caused aburn beyond belief. Elessar looked up at her naked, bleeding, physically beaten and stretched son and his friend, that smile always gracing her mouth."Now behold the price which follows treason!"Have you no pity?Two masked men took their stance ten yards behind Eldarion and Karteran. The rough, dry sound of leather met the ground as both of the punishers let free the end of their whips. Despite the soreness after ten lashes, the first hit came as the most painful. At almost exactly the same time two loud *cracks* sliced through the air. Immediate fire and pain like never could be imagined flew up their backs. Even their brains and toes tingled with pain from the leather tail. An gaping crimson gash flashed across their backs...causing blood to course immediately. Their own hands trickled with blood from fingernails which bit intothe skin from tightly clenched fists...anything to ease the pain, but it didn't help. It would turn out to be the longest twenty seconds of their lives...yet all they could do was scream.Won't you speak?With each crack of whip and cry of man, the croud flenched. The two young men's faces and eyes were filled with a pain that cannot truly be described with words...not only from the physical beating...but from the fact that not a soul in the crowd lifted a voice of mercy. Not a single person cared enough to try and stop the insanity which now unfolded before them. Please?Sure...some of them cried...some hung their heads...some prayed for it to end. But no one spoke...To Eldarion and Karteran...that was the worst silence of all.

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:29 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- In the darknessThe last image Kart and Eld saw before losing all sense of reality was that of their people watching helplessly on as their own kindred were tortured relentlessly...no one spoke but instead looked on with terror unparamount. For both, reality started to blur and become stagnant...a mixture of broken images that came in waves...of being cut down from their bonds, carried away from their silent people, down...spiraling down into the depts ofthe city where only the vagabonds and prisoners grace, then falling ... falling...falling in the darknessit was all void...no feelings, no emotion, no thought...just a black envelopment that seemed to consume everything. Even the pain had disappeared in this blackness, which appeared to be the only comfort. So, the two did the only thing they could...they wrapped themselves around the bleakness and began to drown in the darknesslight began to fade in. At first it wasn't bright, and pain came with it...although they were both muted like a voice being heard on the wind from a great distance. At first they swam towards the newcoming sensation, welcoming anything different from the numbness of the void...but as the light grew stronger the pain increased as well, reminding them of their last visions before falling away from consciousness. As much as they detested it, they turnedaway from the warmth of light and reached for that numbness...but the light, no it wasn't the light it was the pain, the pain was stronger. It grabbed them and yanked them from the now comforting void and strangled them into the light of conscious."Awakenin' they ar', m'queen." An unseen voice broke the silence that was their world. The two tried desperately once more to reach for that void, but the pain was their reality now. Now a voice which was more felt than heard spoke up...blasting through their minds like a hit to the head with a ballpean hammer. "Well, then...ye take care o it." The woman which caused their near-end rang out humorously. Then, the two could feel a figure approach...could feel the rush of air as the person heaved an object above their heads. But instead of trying to struggle or move away from the oncoming blow, they just stood still...anything, anything was better than this reality...so once again they were shoved in the darknessthe faces of their people swam about the two...mocking them. Their expressions ones of revulsion and disgust...they said nothing, but just their eyes held all the words needed to make the two welcome the pain and light...and when it came again, they dove franticly for it...trying to ignore the hurt and the thought of what they might find on the other side of this bottomless pit they were forced into...and as it reached out for them they embraced it with open arms, hoping to find something better then what they had left behind...but all they found was confusion...and pain...of course, there was pain...

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:30 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- Nature's OngoingsIt had been years since any form of human contact had invaded such an area of Rhydin. This part of forestland had become barren of almost any form of life above the occasional deer, and even that animal was rare. That's not to say that the land was without beauty...far from that actually. A silence that could only be created by the daily ongoings of nature made the land unique in a utopian view. A mirror-like lake graced this part of the forest, turning the world upside down...creating a duality of beauty. Fall was at its peak, and a world full of color began to unfurl around the silence. One of those rare deers found its way to this lakeside and began to drink, causing minute disturbances in the near perfect reflection.A second later, those years of silence were broken.A clap of thunder which couldn't be nature's own split through the scene...filling the world with noise beyond noise. Although the disturbance lasted but an instant, it was enough to disrupt nature's daily ongoings for miles around. The deer who's only thoughts, a second earlier, were of water became no more. It was there one moment, and in the next it simply ceased to exist.In its place, two naked forms were sprawled...unconscious and near-death. The only other intruder was a sword...sheath and all...which lay by Eldarion's side. The half-elf, in that void of blackness he was in (in the darkess)remembers a voice saying, "Take not the sword...let it be a reminder of his father... and of me." Only his mother could be so cruel. A few hours later, the two would finally come out of their world of numbness into a reality of pain and confusion; but for now, the silence returned to this remote area of Rhydin.And as if nothing ever happened, nature went about with its daily ongoings.

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:32 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- Not in Kansas anymore..." Don' mov'. "Kart did as he was told. The way his head and body ached, he doubted if he could have actually disobeyed those orders. Although this wasn't as bad as the darkness, it ran a close second. It felt as if his head had become a cider press and his brains were the apples...in a few moments that press would close causing the sweet drink to flow out of all crevices. In fact...on the right side of his head it had felt like someone cracked an egg over thereand the yolk was sliming its way down that side of his face.And his back...damn was his back hurting. The pain there was throbbing so much that it coursed down his spine into his upper thighs. He felt movement around him...someone was crawling over to that side where the egg yolk was oozing. He felt a quick, sharp tingle for a moment as the unknown figure poured cool water over his face and head, but that pain soon subsided. When more of that water flowed into his mouth, he felt the swirling torrent that was his consciousness calm...the sandpaper which passed for a throat found wetness once again, and made swallowing easier. Eventually, Kart managed to squint an eye open...for some reason the eye on his right side was stuck shut." Welcom' back ta reality, Kart...tho I dunna think we ar' in Kansas anymo', " Eld said.Kart's good eye tried to focus on his friend, but found it almost impossible. " Unnnggg....K-Kansas?"" I dunna kno'...me mind som'times mak's me say strang' things...try no' ta talk. "Once again Kart did as he was told, and tried to slow his swirling consciousness. He noticed that Eld was naked and his left ankle had swelled. Of Gondor, or Kansas for that matter, he saw no sign. The trees, which his proped up head (by what he had no idea) was centered at, were completely foreign to him. A little more water flowed into his mouth, and soon he could feel his stomach churning. After a minute's battle, he leaned over to the side and emptied what he had left in his bowels. Despite the horrid taste, the loss actually cleared his mind and made him feel a little bit better. He soon realized how truely exhausted he was, and he could feel reality slipping once again.This time he had no problems with the darkness, for it was warm and promised rest and safety from the pain. He decided that this battle was one better not fought, and before he knew it reality sank beneath him.Thoughts of Kansas would have to wait.

[DoF Archive]

Date: 11/6/1998 6:34 PM Central Daylight Time
From: EldrionKoG

- A Place called Rhydin"So, were th' 'ell ar' we Eld?"Kart looked up to his friend who was sitting across the small, but warming campfire. Thoughts of this new land that, for the past few hours in his subconscious, had been dubbed Kansas, the land of promise, forced him to break the night time silence. Darkness had fallen on the two strangers in a strange land. "Rhydin, if'n me memory serv's me well."It wasn't the lack of eye-contact from his fireside partner that spiked a shiver through Kart's spine, but rather the way it was said. Callous, low, and dark. It sounded as if someone had poured tar down Eld's throat, lit it, then forced him to wash it down with rubbing alcohol. It was the voice of a defeated man....a hopeless man."Th' place yer fath'r spok' o?"Immediately Kart thoughtfully cursed himself for mentioning Strider. Rememberance of his father was the last thing Eld needed at this time."Ay'. Tis th' sam' place .... 'ow's yer 'ead?"Kart silently thanked Eld for both not becoming angered, and for changing the subject. He realized that neither of them wanted a reminder of their father right now."Bett'r. Th' swellin's down, an' th' throbbin' 'as subsid'd fer th' most par'."Upon awakening from his short, yet restful, period of unconsciousness, Kart realized that when he had 'spawned' (knowing the woman who sent them to this place, that word is the only way to describe it) his head made acquaintace with one of this world's cantelope-sized rocks. Eld rigged up some sort of stretcher, using the hide of the animal that so graceously provided dinner and two (assumingly Anduril cut) branches, and carried his friend to atree-covered shelter. While Kart tended to his wound, Eld went about clearing and preparing camp (if it can even be called that). Fire was an almost foreign (at least forgotten) concept to this part of 'the land of promise'. "The land o promis'? Heh. Looks mor' lik' shit's creek, and guess what...no paddle fer us," Kart muttered as Eld finally gave up on his search for a sparking stone two hours after its start. At least Kart got the faint smile he was searching for onhis naked friend's face. Eventually, after a good thirty minutes of rub-rub-rub, Eld got a flame going by rubbing two sticks together. Although the kindling was not completely dried (and offered a rather unusual odor the two weren't familiar with), the flame created was satisfactory enough to provide a meal, heat, and light. "So, wha' ar' we gonna do, Eld?"It was a sudden question, Kart knew that, but one that needed an answer...and in this case, the sooner the better. For a while, Eld just sat and continued to stare at the leaf-ridden, forest floor as if he had been stricken dumb. Kart opened his mouth to repeat the question, moreso out of worry rather than irritation, when Eld looked up and answered."We're gonna do th' only thing we can. Forget Gondor."What Kart saw was the most simple, and yet most hopeless and dreadful thing in his days as a mortal....Eld was weeping.