It may only be wishful thinking on my part, but I do not believe lord Anglachelm will suddenly drop dead if we are careful of his broken ribs and the perforation wounds he suffers from.
I think so because he woke up a few times today, had the strength to eat and drink on his own and showed a stubbornness which, I am beginning to believe, is to be found only in this House. Seriously !
But I am getting ahead of myself on this account of the day... or at least of that part of the day between the break of dawn when everyone else woke up and now. Well, I know that the now when I wrote the first letter of this little summary of the day is not the same as the now of when I am writing this so now is a very tricky word...
Anyway... Where was I... oh, yes.
So... We passed the night in the camp we arrived in yesterday after rescuing lord Anglachelm. We lingered while cleaning him up and treating his wounds and after that I passed the night making sure he was not going to die in his sleep. I know of at least one dozens of elves, currently here, who would be quite mad if something like this was to happen... Without even counting those who stayed in Rivendell and all those I don't know...
Back to the subject at hand... I was, and still am to be honest, against the idea to move lord Anglachelm over long distances. An accident can happen way too quickly and an attack even faster in this land. There are too many goblins, orcs and spiders (to name but a few) around for my piece of mind.
However, I agreed this morning that we needed to move under the condition that someone made or found a stretcher. To do so they could even use my cloak, for all I cared, but we will not transport him again on his shield, which is highly unstable and so potentially dangerous for his health, nor by just carrying him in our arms. That was acceptable when we had no other options, and is possibly the worst we could do now.
Well... I have no cloak anymore !
As I was making his bandages again so he could be moved without too much danger to his health, lord Anglachelm seemed to be experiencing a nightmare, or maybe a hallucination, and pushed me out of his way... to go and faint a few steps away.
Good side of things, we know he has not been tortured to the point he would follow his own enemies orders. Also he did not seem to have worsen his state which is nothing less than a miracle, considering his numerous injuries;
I mean, four broken ribs, too many perforation wounds, burns with melted metal imbedded in his flesh, a dislocated elbow, a broken leg, and severe traces of beating, lash marks, scorched back...
Hours and hours of work to stabilize him and not have him die after we just got him back. Sadly alone and in a camp of doubtful cleanliness, I could do naught to get the metal off of his flesh. We will need the help of healers in the nearest city of elves. I believe the safest way to the nearest city will take us back to Caras Galadhon which is way too far in my opinion to transport lord Anglachelm so soon.
Well, as I made sure he was still stable after his nightmare and subsequent fall, we installed him on the stretcher and secured him on it with the help of a blanket.
During the way out of that small elven camp to a larger place a little farther away from Dol Guldur, I think the only noticeable thing which happened was that lord Anglachelm reacted well to lord Tindir whistling the hymn of the House of the Hammer.
And then we arrived in Ost Galad. We settled inside the ruins, near the little pool. Lord Veryacano found us there a little later. We had barely arrived when Lord Anglachelm woke up. I just had time to free him from the blanket securing him to the stretcher and to notice the fresh blood on the bandage, which made me think a stitch or more has been pulled during our journey here. Considering lord Anglachelm just awakened, I was unwilling to cause him more pain, so I took note to redo the stitch as soon as possible. But a little later, when he would be back asleep, which would not be all that long.
I think we were all glad to see lord Anglachelm as aware as he was of his surroundings. Of course, he had to be stubborn as a dead mule ! He began by saying we needed to leave and could not wait a day even for him to gather some strength back, continued to talk even though it was visibly paining him and I asked him not to... And he fainted only when he had delivered the message he wanted to pass... And I thought lord Veryacano stubborn ? Seriously I think they both had the same teacher on stubbornness somehow !
Well, to be fair, lord Anglachelm has just been freed from tortures and possibly have reasons not to want to stay here, so I will not, should not, judge...
This time, lord Veryacano asked for my opinion on the matter and actually listened. And he decided to go.
Oh, I do not want to move lord Anglachelm too much however. Tarrying here would stress him possibly to the point he would not heal, or too slowly, and he needed the pieces of metal out of his flesh sooner rather than later. For that, we needed to get him back to Lothlorien. So... Two reasons in favor for our departure, and one against it... majority won. On the condition that we could provide a relatively safe travel and most of all, a journey on a cart for it would always be more stable and safer than a journey so long on a stretcher. Using a cart was not my idea, but it is a wonderful idea.
At least when he lost consciousness again I could replace the stitches...
Some of us went to find or make a cart...
And finally, now, in order to avoid an ambush on the road, lord Veryacano, lord Tindir and lady Sargiel went to find and destroy a goblin camp. I sincerely hope none of them would come back injured. I would have to ask Parnard to heal them otherwise, as I am already busy enough.
Well, as lord Tindir suggested earlier, if lord Anglachelm wake up before we leave, I will have to ask him if he agrees to be kept asleep by drugs for our march. It would spare him an eventual disorientation, stress, and pain during the journey if he was to awaken. Somehow I doubt he will agree to it but it costs nothing to try to convince him at any rate.
