The young boy had never been so terrified before. Never felt such fear, or such panic. He felt like he had been running ever since it all began. He could still see the horrible pictures of the burning village and the screaming villagers in his head. He could see his father dead body lying on the ground, and his mother crying for him to run away.
Suddenly Eomer tripped on some roots from a gnarled tree and he splashed into a small pond. He slipped time and again as he was trying, frantically, to stand up again. But his hands were shaking, and his feet were too tired to be of any use now. He could not even feel them. Not that he cared about such things now.
Whimpering in sorrow and fear Eomer slowly crawled from the pond, water and wet mud dripping from him. He slumped against an old wooden trunk, and tried to gather his mind. He tried to clam his own breath. But still the horrifying pictures returned.
He could see the raiders storming down from the hillside, the young shepherds getting cut down as they tried to escape. He could hear their screams in his head. He could hear the voice of four-year old Lorna, only five years younger than him, asking him what was going on. He could see Lorna’s mother picking her up and running towards the barn, then getting hit by an arrow in the neck. He could remember himself just standing there, frozen to the ground.
Now his tears were flowing. His hearth had calmed down, but as he looked at his hands they were still shaking. He tried to steady them, but he could not.
He remember the man with the black beard grinning towards him as the man leaped over the fence. He could remember his own father picking up an axe and attacking the man. And how the man had smashed his father’s head with a huge mace, and how the skull had cracked open and blood had splattered everywhere.
Then Eomer had run away. His last look over his shoulder had given him the view of the black-bearded man grabbing his crying mother and swung his mace once again.
Eomer gave up trying to calm down, and sprawled on the ground. He screamed.
He remembered, and would never forget.
