ALL IS LOST. YOU’VE FAILED. YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD AND EVEN YOUR FATHER HAS REJECTED YOU. WHY NOT JUST GO TO SLEEP…GO to ssslleeeppp…sssllleeeppp…

Faramir could feel the lulling blackness closing in on him…drawing him…ever more downward. He had to try and fight it! He was a Man of the West-he could not give in to despair and doom.

But what is there to hope for…you are a failure…at Osgiliath…with your father…you’ve lead your men to their deaths…the people hate you for this…they will never trust you again…you are a failure.

More and more the darkness encircled him.

Father, why can’t you love me for myself? Boromir…

Sssllleeeppp….rrrreeessstttt…sslleepp….

Boromir…my brother… you promised always to stand by me…even you are gone…

Ssssllleeeppp…just rest and all your worries will go away…maybe things will be better in the morning after a good night’s rrrrreeeesssttt….

FARAMIR!!!

Who is that! Father! Boromir…no…no…he is dead. Boromir…Boromir….

No one wants you….you are tired…sssleeeppp…

Faramir!!! Hearken to me… Fight the black breath! Fight!!!

‘Hearken to me’…Mithrandir?

There is no oneeee… reeeessssttt…

Faramir of Gondor! I am Elessar, Isildur’s heir. Hearken to me. Fight and live. Thy king has need of thee!

MY KING? MY KING! THE KING HAS RETURNED! MY LORD, WAIT FOR ME! I COME!

THERE IS NO ONE….SLEEEEP…REESSTT…Sleep…rest…

MY KING NEEDS ME. I AM WANTED!

Faramir opened his eyes and looked into the soft gray eyes of a man he had never seen before, but instantly recognized.

“My lord, you called me. I come. What does the king command?”

“Walk no more in the shadows, but awake! You are weary. Rest a while, and take food, and be ready when I return.”

“I will, lord, for who would lie idle when the king has returned?”

“Farwell then for a while, I must go to others who need me.”

The king took Faramir’s head in his hands and kissed his brow.

“Be at peace son of Gondor. All is well now.”

“My king”

Faramir clasped the king’s arms and nodded his head in homage.

Tears of joy were in the king’s eyes as he hurriedly left the room and remembered a day, not long ago, near the falls of Rauros…

‘For you, Boromir’…

The king sent his thoughts up as a silent prayer to the dead. Softly, as from far away, an ethereal voice came back on the wind…

‘Thank you…my brother…my captain…my king’

THE END