Day 33: Free to serve

gwynnyd also asked for the feelings of one of the freed rowers, who were asked to immediately row upriver.

as part of the The Oarsman series.

Day 33

Free to serve

They unshackled us and brought blacksmiths to break our manacles. No more did cold iron chafe my wrists and ankles. We bathed in fresh water, sluicing away the filth of captivity. Warm tunics kept out the chill, and there was food enough to fill our aching bellies.

In the morning, he stood before us – this lord who led an army of the Dead, and freed a navy of the nearly dead – and asked if we would man our oars again, in the service of Gondor.

I would have rowed across the Great Sea to the shores of Night for him.


(PS: apologies to telperion1: I liked your idea and will do it some time, but couldn't get it to work out this evening. :-()