A/N this is my first fan fic I've ever published so any feedback about gramma, structure, pacing or anything is greatly appreciated.
Eowyn stood gazing out across the sky towards the horizon, feeling the warmth of the sun on her cold face and skin. She had made up her mind; there was nothing for her here anymore. Aragorn had abandoned them all in their hour of need and the men's morale was at rock bottom. Yet none faulted in carrying out their various duties around the camp. Eowyn felt the same; she felt nothing inside but duty. It was in this moment that she dwelled on her life and what could have been different. She was brought back to reality by the horns of Rohan waking the entire camp. It's now or never she thought to herself.
She had already gathered everything she needed the night before while most men were resting. Nearly all of it she had brought with her from Edoras and had managed to sneak a pair of brown breeches and an olive green tunic back to her tent that fitted better than she imagined they would.
Turning quickly she strode swiftly back to her tent, having one last look around at the men slowly waking up. She hadn't slept much the night before and even now, she still wasn't tired. Disappearing inside her tent to get changed, she figured no one would bother her now.
Dragging out the armour from under her stretcher bed, Eowyn began to undress. First she undid the corset loosening the straps around her waist before sliding the vest off over her feet. Next she undid the cord around her arms holding her sleeves back and stepping out of the dress she felt for the first time today the cold morning air hit her exposed skin. Taking a deep breath she quickly pulled up the brown breeches she had laid out.
Fastening the pants drawstring in as tight as possible she slipped the green tunic on over her head making sure the ties down the front were taut and adjusting the tunic so it sat as best it could on her small frame without clearly advertising her chest. Sitting down on the bed she could hear the growing commotion outside as both man and beast hurriedly awoke to get themselves prepared for the long ride to Minas Trith.
Getting back to business she slide out a pair of well-worn dark brown riding boots that she had used when riding Windfolla back at Edoras, she was glad to actually put on something that fit her for a change. Pulling the boots tight around her shins she looped the excess off in a bow before tucking that into the back of her boots. She repeated the same process again for the other foot. Standing upright again, she lifted the suit of chain mail up into the air. Working her way into the chainmail was more difficult than she imagined, the weight was also more than she had anticipated and thought to herself that it won't matter, she won't have to fight long, they would all die upon the fields of plennor.
The chainmail hung off her quite loosely but Eowyn didn't mind it gave her an added sense of movement that she otherwise didn't think she would have. The leather hauberk took both arms to lift up onto her shoulders where she could feel the weight bearing down on her shoulders, every effort now required more strength than usual, she was glad to get riding soon where she could rest.
Buckling the straps up on the side she inspected herself and tying the front up she was reassured that her armour had kept the dirt from the trip from Edoras the colour was now faded from bright red, brown and yellow to duller tone. This was perfect she thought to herself what better way to attract attention than to be the only one with perfectly clean armour. Taking a moment to rest she sat back down on the bed and grabbing a pair of braces laid next to her she did them up on her fore arms tucking her tunic underneath the braces to ensure it would not get in her way.
Doing a mental check now in her head, she was almost ready. Reaching underneath her bed again she pulled out her helm. In it sat her pair of brown leather riding gloves. Eomer had given her these for her birthday after he had seen how much her older pair had worn away. Eowyn had taken great time and care to select her helmet, she would have needed something that would have covered as much of her face as possible. She knew that if anyone recognised her now she would be in big trouble. Folding her dress back in its chest she was just about to leave when she remembered that her hair was still flowing down her back.
While she was adjusting and tying her hair up in a knot, she heard a voice from outside. It was Gambling.
"I was wondering if I could have a word milady" he said
Eowyn froze in her place. She was already almost fully dressed and there would not be enough time to change back into her other dress.
"One moment" she called out. Time to get out of here she thought and made for the back of the tent.
She had already loosened the pegs on a particular point of the tent which allowed her to pull the flap up just enough so she could slip outside unnoticed. She stuck her head under the fabric and peered outside there was only one man in sight and he was busily adjusting his saddle. It was at this point that Eowyn realised she had left her helmet with her gloves in it on her bed. She would be spotted instantly if she was walking around the encampment in full view without a helm on.
It was at this time did she hear Gambling call out again.
"There is little time and I must speak with you."
Eowyn quickly raced over to her bed grabbing her helm and gloves. Turning around there was Gambling staring at her dumbfounded. The nearby sound of a horse stomping the ground brought him back to his senses.
"What are you doing?" he asked in disbelief.
"There is nothing for me here anymore" Eowyn began. "Aragorn has deserted us in our greatest hour of need and." She was cut off by Gambling.
"So sneaking off to fight dressed as one of us is your answer" he said looking at the helmet and gloves she still held in her hands.
"I don't need to explain my reasons to you…" Eowyn began tears starting to well up in her eyes; she turned around as to not show she was crying.
It was at this time that Gambling came up behind her and pulled her down to the ground. Caught totally off guard and with the added weight of the armour on her shoulders Eowyn fell to the ground heavily.
"I won't let you" Gambling said his voice quivering as he set about pulling both her arms behind her back.
Let me go!" Eowyn demanded "you can't stop me."
"I'm trying to save you" he pleaded
Pinning Eowyn to the ground with his legs he grabbed a length of cord that was hanging nearby and Pulling Eowyn's arms behind the centre tent post, he tied them together in a tight knot.
"Just what do you think you're doing" Eowyn began struggling to free herself.
Holding her back down onto the ground, Gambling grabbed another coil of rope from the corner of the tent and began tying her ankles together the same way. He cut off the excess with a dagger he had brought with him. He was incredibly strong for a man of his size and Eowyn could do little to resist him.
Sitting her upright he began to tie her knees up with the rest of the rope, by the time he was finished Eowyn could barely move her legs at all. Next he began to tie her body and upper arms against the pole. Beginning at the waist and again below the breasts, he was very skilled in knots and Eowyn doubted that she could undo any of the bonds he was tying around her.
After checking all the knots on Eowyn's body he finally sighed.
"you should be happy that you get left behind to survive. Every one of us who rides today will not return. There are far too few of us and so many of the enemy. Even Aragorn knew this. That is why he left." Eowyn could not argue with this, secretly she had thought this to be the same reason as well.
"Now you will stay here like this until someone comes looking for you and discovers you dressed like this and by that time we shall be long gone and there will be no chance of you catching us."
Satisfied at his work and that the bonds were tight enough he reached over behind where Eowyn was propped up against the pole. Grabbing a long piece of cloth from the bed he rolled it into a long thick strip before bringing it up to Eowyn's mouth. Squirming her head around she tried to resist but he managed to force it into her mouth and secured it around the back of her head tight enough that she could not spit it out.
"I'm sorry our last conversation together had to end like this" he said defeatedly
Leaning forward he met her gagged lips for a moment. He watched her eyes grow wide in shock but then soften in an understanding way as she pushed forward to meet his lips. No more words were needed to be said. A sharp blast of the horns in the distance alerted Gambling of the time.
"Goodbye my love" he murmured under his breath.
Standing back upright he noticed Eowyn's helmet laying discarded on the floor of the tent. Picking it up, he proceeded to carefully slide the helm down over her head and face. Eowyn could do little to resist. Looking up at him through her helm with sadness, she allowed Gambling to buckle up the chin strap meaning the helmet would not come off.
Gambling gazed at her helpless form for a few moments more before turning quickly away. He then left the tent leaving Eowyn alone to herself. Eowyn started to panic now. Here she was tied up in her own tent in a set of armour. She would be forced to divulge her plan when she was discovered like this and there would be no chance of her riding off to war anymore. Testing the bonds around her wrists she quickly found out that there would be little scope for movement and the rope was far too tight to slip her hands out from. Placing her palms on the ground she then attempted to pull the central stake out of the ground but it was hammered in too deep and as hard as she tried she could not budge it one bit. It was the same with her legs bound together she could kick her feet in the air all she wanted but she could not get free.
Letting out a long scream of desperation and anger, Eowyn struggled frantically trying to find a weak point somewhere. All her life every decision was already made for her and now she had finally made her own choice to ride to war, she was denied even this.
Giving up in a huff she started to calm down. It was at this point did she hear Merry outside her tent.
It's no good milady, nobody will let me ride with them to Minas Tirith" he sounded incredibly disappointed.
Eowyn tried to speak out but barely made much beyond a muffle. Hearing no reply from inside Merry stuck his head inside the tent to see if she was there. A look of shock came over his face as he saw the Rohan warrior bound and gagged inside her lady's tent. Rushing inside he quickly removed the helm from the soldier. Merry gasped as he realised it was in fact Eowyn who was tied up in front of him.
"What's all this?" he stammered as he looked her up and down while removing the gag from her mouth.
"I had planned on fighting too you know" Eowyn said relieved that she could talk properly again.
"King Theoden only saw me as a burden" Merry sighed depressingly as he began to untie Eowyn.
"I'm through letting others make decisions for us both" Eowyn spoke defiantly.
"We can still do this but only together" She said Hopefully. Eowyn knew that there was next to no time left now as most if not all of the riders would have assembled in the valley below.
Standing back up, she felt the weight of the armour on her shoulders again, thinking for only a heartbeat she said
"Meet me behind the tent and act as normal as you can. I'll get Windfola ready"
"Okay" Merry agreed excitedly as hope came back into his voice.
Before walking back out into the camp, Eowyn had one final glance around before readjusting her helmet and pulling on the pair of riding gloves that had been discarded on the ground. She propped up the flap at the back of the tent and stepped outside.
The camp was eerily quiet now as all but those too old to ride to war were picking over what was left of the equipment and supplies that had been hastily left behind. She noticed that Windfola was exactly where she had put her the night before, still tied to a post. Undoing the leash and checking the saddle bags to make sure they were still full.
It was at that moment that Merry returned and Eowyn quickly hoisted Merry up into the saddle. Making sure the saddle was properly secure she threw herself up onto Windfola as well. She took the reigns from Merry and with a little kick they were off.
Ignoring the stares of the few that noticed a hobbit riding as a passenger, they made their way down the winding path to where the riders were already spilt into companies. Thankfully there were still a group of riders milling about as they waited to be sorted into their groups.
A rider at the head of the cluster called out that they were part of F Company of Grimbold's battalion. The other riders murmured acknowledgment and together they began riding off. As they rode Eowyn caught a look at the rider who had grouped them together. It was Elfhelm and unlike most he had certainly see Merry sitting in front of her as passenger. Turning his attention to her he followed them as they rode past. A look of surprise passed ever so slightly over his face. A gut feeling of dread filled Eowyn that she had been discovered and that at any moment now she was going to be pulled to the side and told to go home. But all Elfhelm did was nod in agreement before putting his helmet on and galloping past the company to the head of the column.
Merry could barely contain his excitement as they speed up and he realised that they were away.
"Finally I get a chance to fight"
"Me too" Eowyn whispered quietly in his ear as they left Dunharrow far behind and the long ride to Minas Trith lay before them.