For Nessime

***

I will not fail my people: we will hold the Fords, though it seems I am more important to Saruman. His orcs would have killed me if Grimbold was not here. He thinks me dead but I cannot be, I am needed.

I can no longer move, yet I can still think, worry about my cousin's life and whether they will slay him next.

When I feel hands on me, I speak to those I can barely see, "Let me lie here - to keep the Fords till Éomer comes!" I need to say more but I haven't the time.

***

Note: Théodred's last lines from The Battles of the Fords of Isen, Unfinished Tales