One Last Touch
No secondhand emotion for me today: for tomorrow I shall die. I have dreamed it, I have seen it, in water and fire and blood.
I grip him harder, my hold like a vice. The rain pours down on us, turning the dust of Dagorlad into a quagmire.
At first he stares at me uncomprehending, my young herald, weary and lonely on the great battlefield of our age.
But then he leans against me. His eyes are dark and full of tears. He kisses me and I wonder if he has seen what I have –
that tomorrow I shall die.