Promise Me

Chapter Four

The plate hit the stone floor, where it exploded into what looked like a million shards.

Dory looked over. "Gab, are you all right?"

Gabriella shook her head as her stomach kinked sharply in a way she'd never felt before. Icy cold fear poured into her, her hands shook, her knees went to jelly, and a sour, brackish taste flooded her mouth. The sudden terror came from nowhere to crush her in its invisible fist and now she couldn't breathe. Her head spun. Her stomach roiled.

"No... I'm not all right at all," she whispered, staggering back from the bar. "I... I need fresh air... Excuse me."

She didn't wait for a reply, but bolted around the bar and into the kitchen to shove open the door. As she stumbled out into the darkness, she tripped over nothing and went face first into the rear yard.

Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. She didn't know what that something might be, but she knew it was wrong just the same. Tears stung her eyes. Her throat squeezed shut. She managed to sit up, only to bury her face in her hands as she fought to hold back the unexplained sob rising in her throat.

All she knew was that something was horribly, terribly, utterly wrong.

The door banged shut and Dory knelt beside her. "Gab, what is it?"

"I—I don't know. I just know something's happened. I feel it, Dor. Something terrible has happened."

"You don't know that."

"I feel it, Dory." She looked up at Dory, whose forehead was creased with the same worry Gabriella was certain showed on her own face these days. Dory's eyes filled with concern as Gabriella shook her head. "I cannot possibly explain it, but something has happened to him. And don't tell me I don't know or that I can't know because I do know."

Then they heard it—the hard blasting bleat of the Horn of Gondor.

The horn Boromir carried. The one he would only use if he needed aid.

Her stomach clenched again and this time, she vaulted forward and was sick in the weeds. She coughed and gagged as her stomach emptied itself and when she sat back, it was to find Dory staring at her with wide eyes. "Boromir?"

Gabriella nodded and turned to peer out over the distance. The beacon remained dark. They could just barely be seen in the gloom, but she could definitely see they were dark. "He's gone."

"You don't know that at all. That horn could be for any reason."

"Yes, but... it isn't. He wouldn't use it for just any reason. And I—I just feel it. In my heart, Dory. I just... it feels as if a flame has just been blown out and the room plunged into darkness. And I know what that is. His light... it's... he's..." she met Dory's gaze, "he's gone."

Her voice broke and she buried her face in her hands once more. Dory slid an arm about her shoulders and pulled her close. "I'm sorry, love," she whispered, rocking Gabriella as she stroked her hair. "I'm so very sorry."

Gabriella didn't know what to say. What to do. All she knew was that her heart had just shattered, just as the plate had when it hit the stone. She felt the shift in the world, so powerful she was amazed no one else had felt it.

Something terrible had befallen Boromir. She felt it in her bones. In the core of her being.

In her heart, as she said.

She let Dory comfort her a few minutes longer, then, as she calmed and the tears slow, she sat up to pull free of her embrace. Swiping at her face with both hands, she said, "That's that, then. Time to get back to work."