44. Another Night

Hungers, he, more and more, and his is the religion of the flesh, the iniquity, the carnal, the egoism. – Bloodsongs.

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Aurora went to her home, later, and they slept in their own bed, but their heart and mind were with each other and the other one, who was lurking in the dark, just behind those shadows.

They wondered awake, what and where Théoden would be doing tonight. Was he going to plague their dreams, push them off the cliff, strangle them with the vines? Or was he going to stay silent and gather power for more than just nightmares?

They wondered what it would come to, how it would end. What if they failed like so many before them? It was a miserable thought to have at the brink of the night, when shadows danced and dived and threatened with its obscurity.

They looked behind the shadows and wondered, feared, if Théoden was there, stalking in the woods, relishing the power, pain in the darkness. There was howl of a dog and they wondered if it was the wolf they had seen – the on