In the blood of Kings

A lone stranger and a gem

I couldn't remember anything. It was all just a hazy blur, memories seemed to smear together not making any sense in the world. There was one thing I knew though. My name is Melcondomien.

........

I gazed up at the clear blue sky above me wondering just how I got there. Laying on the ground as I was. But where was here?

Was I home? I couldn't tell. I couldn't even remember where home was. Did I have a family? Brothers, sisters?

Who knew, I sure didn't. I slept a lot. I was constantly in and out of a daze, almost like I was drunk. But how would I know I've never drank anything before. At least not that I can remember.

Stranger's POV

I gazed at the boy laying beside the river. He didn't look to be that old just a young man.

At first I would have guessed he was a woman his hair was long and cascading around his face like ink on paper. The clothes he wore were ragged, torn and shredded. But he was still decently covered.

At first glance I would have thought he was an elf but his size betrayed him.

He looked about 5 feet 5 inches. I would not be able to tell much more unless I examined him physically.

Later that night after I'd carried his cold shivering form back to camp with me it was then that I noticed his ears.

The boy as I guess I would call him wasn't human but an elf. I would say I was shocked, but honesty I wasn't since the notion had come to me before earlier that day.

But from what I knew elves did not leave their kin just lying by the river dead or not. The closest elf settlement from here was Mirkwood.

But I did not dare travel through those woods. Not unless I wanted to end up in an Elven prison or dead.

But this boy almost makes me rethink that decision, maybe they would let me through if I brought him to his own kind.

But there was still the reason of why he was there in the first place. What if he had betrayed them and me bringing him back would only anger them.

Both my heart and my mind we're trying to speak to me, but it was hard to listen to either of them. I wanted to help this boy but was it really worth the danger.

I have a wife and children at home. I have to think of them as well. I would have to sleep on it.

The next morning I look the boy over. He had still not woken and I highly doubted he moved the whole night.

The boy had a fever which was strange Elves are not the type to easily get sick. The boy had tender and soft features. His cheek bones stuck out but not too much.

He had not opened his eyes yet so I did not know the color but I knew that they would be striking. The boy was also very thin not bony thin but slender.

I draped a wet rag over his brow hoping to bring down the fever. It was hard but I was able to get medicine into him as well.

After two days the boy's fever eventually started to subside. I draped his light body over my horse and made my way into Mirkwood.