Late again, I know... By three weeks and a day? Life is eating up my time. I might have to reduce updates to once or twice a month. We'll see how it goes. Enjoy the next chapter!


Day after day, we spend trekking to our location. Nothing happened at Weathertop, thankfully. We make camp at the trollshaws. Three quarters of the journey done. Looking around for firewood, I spot some athelas. I retrieve my herb pouch from my hip. Pulling out my knife, I gather some of the herb. The pouch returns to my hip, slightly heavier than before.

I gather firewood and return, sitting next to Lhindor. From the corner of my eye, I can see her about to ask a question.

"You would do well not to ask questions you do not want answers to, Lhindor."

She draws away, hurt. I had not called her Lhindor so harshly in many years.

"Goheno nin, Eccaia. No questions will come from me."

I look away, my hands curling into balls. Of course I had to go and ruin our budding friendship. Pride stops me from apologising. I stand again, making an excuse to go get more wood. I need to be alone for a while longer. I walk straight away from camp for a whole minute before I hear the hoofbeats. That's not good. I can sprint back in less than 20 seconds, but I can also distract them.

I call out twice like a barn owl and once like a barn owl before deliberately making a lot of noise and going towards the hoofbeats. At the clearing ahead, I meet the Nazgûl on his high horse. His presence feels like it is crushing me. I nock an arrow to my bow.

"Fool. You have never beaten me in battle before. What makes you think you can do so now?" The Witch King snarls.

"I have grown stronger, and faster with practice. Fight me, oh Lord of Nazgûl, and we shall see who is the true winner."

I replace my arrow and slowly remove my bow and quiver. I draw my knives, twirling them menacingly. He dismounts his horse and draws his single long sword. A regular steel sword, as long as my arm. He's saving his morgul blade for the ringbearer. The least I can do is stall for time.

Taking a step forward, I bow mockingly before charging at him. I could fight with shadow, but there's no point if I don't keep him distracted. Slice once, twice, dodge. If he doesn't use any sort of black magic, I may yet defeat him… I hope that the others are running. If they heard my call, they should be. Leaves rustle behind the Nazgul. Or maybe not…

I keep his attention on me for the whole time. He doesn't notice or suspect anything until his robes are lit on fire. A shriek pierces the relative silence. My hands clamp over my ears instinctively. When I look up, all I see is the Nazgul retreating on his horse, fire consuming his robes. It's a stark contrast to the dark night.

Estel smiles sheepishly. "Thought you might need some help."

I smile back, spots blurring my vision. "Hannon le, Estel." [Thank you.]

Apparently, I had fallen over. I stand, suddenly disoriented. He must have hit me with his steel sword. I frown at the stabbing sensation in my shoulder. I reach up to feel a small sticky wound where he must have stabbed me.

"We must move on. Where is Lhindor? And the hobbits?" I ask.

"Already on their way. We can catch up with them quickly." He eyes me. "You're unstable. Did he hurt you?"

I hesitate. Both of us know how bad it could get if I lied at this point. "Yes. Stabbed in the shoulder. We must hurry."

The spots are filling my vision quickly. I drop to one knee, pressing a fist into the floor to keep me stable. "Rhaich." [Curses.]

I feel my mind trying to leave my body. In my limited senses, I see Estel draw nearer. "Lean on me." He murmurs as he pulls me to my feet.

We stumble through the forest, Estel half carrying, half dragging me. I do my best to keep my feet under me and walk, but I keep tripping.

After what feels like hours, but in reality is about 10 minutes, we catch up to the others. I detach myself from Estel and use a tree as support. It offers confidence and strength which I accept gratefully. I feel my eyes starting to close. If I gave up now, I wouldn't be able to avenge either of my role models. I force myself to take my own weight and start walking towards Imladris. It's at least 2 more days away, maybe 3 at this pace.

I trip and sink back to my knees, holding back a cry of frustration. After all these years, a stab wound from him is what's going to take me down? A shudder runs through my body. Cold. I feel the cold more intensely than ever, and I've been dumped in a pile of snow in my night clothes.

"-off his guard?"

A sword touches the skin on my neck. I look up blankly. My eyes won't focus anymore. Gasping, the figure cries out. I can't keep hold of my consciousness anymore. I slip out into an old memory.


Floating. I was floating. Or maybe being carried. I couldn't tell. I was dreaming. Or so I thought, until I was unceremoniously dumped into the cold snow. I jolted up, shivering. Laughter filled my ears. What was this? Some sort of prank? Did they find this funny? I picked up some snow, compacted it into a ball and threw it at the nearest laughing figure. It muffled him, maybe because I managed to hit him in the face with the ball.

My vision cleared. Elladan and Estel. Where did Elro- oh… He was the one I hit. I raised an eyebrow at the others. This is their idea of fun? I could play that game too. Cold snow impacts the back of my neck. I arched my back, shaking the snow away. Lhindor smirked at me. I narrowed my eyes, quickly making and throwing a ball at her as well.

If those four would be against me, I would need some backup. I ran to the ground outside Legolas's room. No footprints were left on the snow. It's good to be an elf.

"Legolas!" I called. "Backup!"

Minutes later, Legolas poked his head outside. He jumped down from his balcony, leaving a very light dent in the snow.

"Snowball fight."

That was all I needed to say, as he nodded solemnly and began making snowballs. Deciding to make a snow fort, I gathered up some snow to make our walls.

Soon, snowballs filled the air. None of us made it back inside dry. Half-way through, I sneezed. Legolas gave me a look of concern but let it slide. I brushed it aside as well. It was normal for me when it got too cold. This, however, was different. I was blue with cold and constantly shivering. After throwing his last snowball, Estel insisted we go inside. I gladly agreed and followed him in.

"Eccaia." Estel started, grabbing my shoulders. "Eccaia. Eccaia! Wake up!"


"October the 23th, 8am. The House of Healing. Congratulations, Eccaia, it has been 3 days since you passed out."

"Wha?" I blink my eyes open then immediately regret it. "Ugh." I groan.

"Three days recovering. You're perfectly fine now, I assume."

"Indeed." Suppressing a wince, I sit up. "I'm sure there was one that was two dozen weeks… no?"

Stretching, I swing my legs off the bed. I wince again when I stand. The skin at my shoulder feels too tight.

"That's it then? You pass out for three days, wake up and you're going to go?"

"Indeed. Come with me, if you will, Lhindor." I glance over my shoulder at her. "To make sure I stay on my feet, as you always insist."

She shrugs and takes the couple steps towards me. Lhindor offers me her arm, looking very much like a little bird.

"As you will, Fileg." I walk out the door, stopping when her familiar footsteps don't follow me.

"Lhindor?"

"Fileg?" Lhindor asks, faintly. "Where did you get that from?"

"You looked like a little bird with your arm stuck out like that." I mimic her earlier movement.

As she nods, I see a memory pass through her eyes. She shakes it away and plasters on a fake smile. "As you will, Eccaia."

I watch her go with a frown on my face. What did Fileg mean to her? I make a mental note to ask her later. The list of questions has grown long now. Perhaps today I will ask her all my questions. Or perhaps I would put it off for another year. Who knows what could happen.