The Hanging Tree Games Tasks

Task Five: Marja's Mutts

This is the task I just got through writing several days ago, so it's not scored yet. It was so much fun to write, because it was so different, especially for Sartan's character. Enjoy :)

When Sartan woke, the sound of the prattling rain was gone. Carefully sticking his hand out from underneath his umbrella, he grinned when no pain came. The glass-shard rain had stopped.

He stood, folded the umbrella, and stretched out his sore muscles. As he began walking, he chomped on another apple. The juice had helped satisfy his thirst temporarily, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he needed water.

Pausing, he noticed that the sounds of the forest were gone. What have they done now? he wondered. He slipped the dual-bladed sword out of the sheath on his back and spun it around to whack it against a tree trunk.

Only the sound that returned wasn't the dull scraping sound of the blade hitting bark—it was a rustling sound, like leaves. Leaves? He was certain all the leaves were higher up in the trees, and thought that his blade should have scraped bark. Confusion grappled with Sartan's rational thoughts as he twirled the blade around, trying to better understand his surroundings.

Finally giving in, he slammed the back blade down into the ground. The sound wasn't muffled, as if it touched grass, but as if it touched stone. Cursing to himself about his blindness, he held the sword out in front of him and used it like a walking stick, hitting either side of him.

The sounds bounced off the sides, continuing downward, as if he was in a narrow-hallway, and then was absorbed altogether. Absorbed? Leaves? Am I back in the maze?

Sartan had no idea where he was.

Being blind is making you weak, a voice whispered in the back of Sartan's thoughts. He tried conjuring his father's chanting voice in his mind, but the chants evaded him for once. Growling out loud, he thought, I suppose I'll just wonder around aimlessly until I come across someone. Trouble with that is I'm going to need water soon. He hated not being in control of a situation, and this was definitely way out of his control.

"Be still, little one.

Let me wipe away all your tears.

Your sorrow will one day end.

For I am here, and never will I leave you."

Sartan was sure he was imagining it, but he heard a beautiful, chiming voice singing an old lullaby his mother used to sing to him at night to help him sleep. The woman's voice trilled, rising and falling with the notes. A sudden overwhelming feeling of peace overcame him, so much so that he didn't realize he had stopped walking.

"Be still, little one.

I will hold you and protect you.

Let me wrap my arms around you...

And hold you until the end of time."

The notes continued, each one bringing a different emotion to his heart and soul: peace, calmness, happiness, joy...

Love.

It was an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. Something he had almost forgotten.

"Forever will I love you.

Little one."

When the voice stopped, Sartan clenched his hands more tightly around his blade, snapping out of his revere. "Who's there?" he demanded harshly. His throat was hoarse, as if he'd been asleep for a long time.