Stories > Authors > Varda's stories > Honor is Life
To the hobbit, the warning had a simple
answer. To Beregond, the choice meant his own death for treason
or the death of Faramir. No Guard of Gondor could leave his post for
any cause without permission of the Ruling Steward, Denethor.
Defying the Steward required violence against Beregond's own people in
the place of burial of their rulers.
Set against that was the life of one man learned in
scrolls and song, who could have escaped the Fell Riders of the air but
rode back to his men. Burned alive?
Beregond raced down the road to save his captain.