Ch. 12 - By the Valar

 
It should be pain
It is shock
It should be fear
It is not.

The arrow strikes
I hardly notice
My sword still sings
Battle bliss.

Another thump
What is that noise?
My knees unkindly
Hit the ground

The Hobbits stare
Stone-filled hands held in despair.
I would they had not
Walked these lands.

A last and telling
Jarring punch
That forces body
To the ground.

Our eyes they lock
There is no sound
We know that life
Has changed.

By the Valar
I had not thought
That it would come to this
The cost!