CHAPTER FIVE

Anyone who might of been passing by Strays campfire that night would probably have had a reason to laugh. For there sat Stray on one side of the fire with axe in one hand and his pack in the other. A constant stream of muttering spewed from his mouth as he kept his good eye focused on the shadow. He had tried everything possible to get rid of the creature. His threats of physical violence and actually pelting the shadow with stones seemed to have no impact; as the shadow would retreat into the woods only to make its way back to the campsite to sit by the fire-as if nothing had happened.
After an hour of this, Stray finally became resigned to the fact that he would not be rid of this pest, and succumbed to the standoff.

"Fine Little-Bit! Make yerself at home. But I warn ya, not one false move or I'll do the same to you as yer pals in that dungeon!" he sneered; but the shadow made no response.

Fatigue began to take over Strays body, and he felt that if he did not keep active that sleep would soon come upon him. He dared not succumb to it however; thinking that this was just what the shadow was waiting for-a chance to throttle him in his sleep. So he brought out some bread, his cup, some coffee and his flask of water. As he prepared his meal, he wondered if shadows ate food and threw a crust of the bread over the fire where it landed in the dirt next to his unwelcome guest. The shadow looked at the ort and then turned back to Stray and cocked its head. "Yeah, I didn't think
so." Said Stray, realizing that it wasn't one of his brightest notions. Pouring some coffee grounds into his cup and filling it with water, he placed it neatly into the coals of the fire and waited for it to steep.

As the night went on and the moon made its way across the inky black sky, Stray found himself almost wishing the shadow would talk to him. Give him an idea of why it was following him. Maybe even help him make sense of what had happened in that awful room he had been in; but as much as he talked, the shadow remained silent. Sometimes it would turn its head, or even do a nodding of sorts, but it never let on that it understood anything Stray said.

Finally Stray stopped talking and just stared at the fire. This is truly a bad thing to do for someone who wants to stay awake and alert. Anyone who has ever done this can tell you that a crackling fire in the middle of the night can hypnotize-even causing one to fall asleep. Which is exactly what Stray did. And while he slept, he dreamt. His dream was a peaceful one, but strange. He was with the little girl he had seen in his vision. They were both in a meadow laying on their backs next to each other. A gentle wind blew across them carrying fluffy dandelion seeds that paraded before them
like soldiers searching for a place of rest; and from a distance he heard a song. It was the same song he heard sung by the woman in the dungeon. Turning his head, he looked at the girl from whence the song came. The girl looked back at him with a smile and continued her verse.

"No evil can ever befall thee child.."

Immediately the scene changed. He was no longer with the little girl in the field. He was a young child himself now, sitting in his mothers lap. Her warm face nuzzled up against the back of his head and she sang him the lullaby he had forgotten for so many years.

"No clouds shall come to darken the sky..."

Once again he was back in the meadow with the little girl, still smiling at him and still singing.

"For my arms, my eyes, my fingers, my heart.."

Now he was at the campsite. Shards of daylight pierced through the leaves and the sounds of birds singing hailed a new day. Along with the birdsong, a little girls voice came through as if joining the birds in their aria.

"Shall 'ere be with thee, 'til all ends draw nigh."

Stray jumped with a start and came to full wakefulness. Frantically, he looked around him for his pack and his axe and saw them both sitting upright against a nearby stump. Breathing a sigh of relief, he also noticed that the fire had gone out; or more precisely-had been put out. Besides this, the coffee cup and his water flask had gone missing. He shook his head as if to remove any remaining cobwebs that might hinder his perception and looked at the shadow, still sitting in the same position as it had been from the beginning.

"Were you just singing? What time is it? Where is my cup and water flask?", he asked it, not really expecting an answer. And his expectation proved to be valid as the shadow continued to sit and stare at him as if Strays' questions were unworthy of answers. He told himself the song he heard was only the remnant of his dream. As for the time, the suns position told him it was but an hour into the day. And looking closer at his pack, he was surprised to see that his cup had been washed, his flask refilled and both had been neatly placed within.

He didn't even bother to ask whether the shadow had been the one to put the fire out and to tidy things up. For he might as well of asked the tree behind him. And who else could have done it? Stray thought for a minute and shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps having a shadow around is not such a bad thing after all.", he mused.

"Time to go Little-Bit. I figure if you came this far, you ain't gonna stop now. Just don't get in my way.", he said in the nicest tone he had used with the shadow up until now.

Picking up his stuff, he gauged the direction he should head and started off while glancing behind him to see if the shadow followed. And sure enough he saw a little ebony form trotting down the path behind him some thirty feet back.

And as the old man and the shadow headed to Strays home, one thought kept crossing Strays mind. "How in Asherons name am I gonna explain this to the people at Cragstone?", he thought, and could only imagine how he would be talked about.

"Old Man Stray has a pet shadow! Let's burn down his house and run him out of town!"

"That's fine." He grumbled, "That's just what I need."