Chapter 4
We had not been riding very long when a voice echoed across the plains.
"RIDERS OF ROHAN! WHAT NEWS FROM THE MARK!"
Eomer motioned for the company to follow him as he rode toward the voice. Ahead of on a hill stood a dark man who was quickly joined by a short and stocky man and a tall blonde man carrying a bow. As we approached the company surrounded them, spears out. I wrapped my arms tightly around Eomer's waist as he charged through his men to the trio in the center.
"What business does a man, an elf, and a dwarf have in The Riddermark? Speak quickly." Eomer said as he turned his horse to shield me from view. I glanced over his shoulder; I had never seen an elf or a dwarf before.
"Tell me your name Horse Master, then I shall tell you mine," the dwarf said. He had a long red beard and carried a very large axe. His face held a look of blatant disrespect for the nephew of the king of Rohan.
Two men came up alongside Eomer's horse and helped me down before hiding me between a wall of horses and riders. Eomer swung off his steed and approached the trio.
"I would cut off your head, Dwarf. If it stood but a little higher off the ground." The elf next to him moved faster than I had ever seen a man move. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and pointed his bow at Eomer.
"You would die before you stroke fell," I could not hold back a gasp. I pushed through the soldiers as they lowered their spears and nudged them closer to the group. I put my hand on Eomer's shoulder, ready to pull him back in case the elf made good on his threat. I may have just met the man, but as of right now, he was the only person I had.
The dark man pushed in front of the elf and dwarf and addressed Eomer, "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn. This is Gimli son of Gloin. And Legolas of The Woodland Realm. We are friends of Rohan and of Theodin, your king."
Shock over took me as I processed what the dark man said. Aragorn son of Arathorn; this was Issildur's heir, the king of Gondor. My head spun and I held tighter to Eomer to keep from fainting and risking hurt to the babe. I only caught pieces of the conversation, something about spies and a wizard.
"We are not spies. We track a party of Uruk-hi westward across the plains. They hold two of our friends captive,"
"You speak of the children?" I asked suddenly as I pushed in front of Eomer and looked at the man called Aragorn. I bowed low before him, well as low as my pregnant stomach would allow. He looked at me confused, sparing a glance toward Eomer before answering my question.
"You have seen Pip and Merry, My lady?" He asked. Hope shone in his eyes and he put his hands on my shoulders. Eomer cut between us, his hand on the hilt of his sword. I was not sure if it was rage or pride I felt building up inside me at his sudden urge to protect me from the man in front of me.
"Annabel," I said quickly, "Annabel of Gondor. And yes, I was with them through the night," A strange looked passed through Aragorn's eyes as I said my name, but it passed quickly.
"You were!" The one called Gimli's face broke into a toothy grin, "Where are they?"
"We slaughtered the uruk's in the night," Eomer spoke up and led his horse forward to help me on to it. "We left none alive."
"Dead?" I heard the sorrow in the dwarf's voice as I pulled myself up on to the horse. It mirrored my own. I had not known the children, but no one should suffer that fate, especially children.
Eomer called forth two rider less horses and gave them to the trio before moving to get on the horse behind me. Aragorn thanked him and took the reins to his.
"I thank you," he said as he touched his chest, "and I thank your wife for staying with my friends."
"I am not his wife!" I said indigently. How could he think I was his wife?! I looked down at my pregnant belly and the intimate way his hand was across it and how he was nestled up behind me. Oh yeah…that's how.
Aragorn muttered something of an apology as his face flushed and he turned back to his friends. The elf and the dwarf exchanged a strange look before getting on one of the horses.
"Look for your friends," Eomer said as he turned the horse back around to face the trio, "But don't trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands."
"WE RIDE NORTH!"
And that is just what we did. We left the trio behind us without even pausing to look back. We rode over the hills and across the plains. We passed villages that had been burned and sacked by Wildman and Uruks. The longer we rode, the more my heart broke. It broke for the families who had lived in these homes, for the ones that had been lost and for the children who had lost their lives back in the camp with me.
We stopped ridding as the sun set. Eomer helped me off the horse and led me over to where a few men had started building a fire and setting up tents. I sat down on a crate one of the men had set down for me and watched them work.
Eomer had moved back towards the horses and was brushing them down before carrying their saddles to a tent located on the edge of the camp site. After he was done he sat down on the ground next to me with a contented sigh.
"If it is not to forward of me lady, How did you end up in Rohan?" He asked as he pushed his hair out of his face and took a swig from the water skin.
I knew the question was valid. But for some reason I was afraid to answer. The only thing I knew about Rohan was what Boromir had told me. He said the people of Rohan were a strange and wild bunch; nothing like the civilized society in Gondor. He had told her that women, even married women, bedded soldiers without thought and the men were relentless. He said they did not seduce women; they hunted them. And not just women; in Rohan, men would lie with other men. I was suddenly afraid of the man next to me.
Fear gripped me and silenced my voice and froze my muscles. I could not move and I could not speak; all I could do was stare at the fire that had started to glow in front of me.
"My lady?" I knew I was being rude, but I could not find my voice.
He held out the water skin to me and nodded for me to take it. With focus was able to move my hand and take the bottle from him. As I wrapped my fingers around it his fingers brushed mine. The feel of his warm fingers caused me to jerk back and the water skin hit the ground, its contents spilling out.
"Do you have some injury I have over looked," Eomer picked the water skin up off the ground. His brown eyes seemed to dance with anger as he closed it and then threw it near the fire before he stomped off toward one of the tents, "Or are you just.."
"Am I just what?!" I pulled myself from the crate as fast as my body would allow and followed him.
"I am starting to understand why we found you out here and your Boromir is nowhere to be found."
Rage and sorrow filled me up at once till I thought I was going to explode. My knees buckled and met the ground. I choked on a sob as I stared at the grass beneath me. My mind swam with images of Boromir and of Gondor. All at once the strength I had carried during the ride disappeared. I heard voices around me but I could not understand what they were saying. I could not do this. A warm hand on my back brought me back to reality.
"I am sorry," his voice was soft. I almost believed him, "I should not have said such things. I am sure Boromir is an honorable man and is worried about you."
"I don't belong out here," I said after I was able to control my breathing. It felt as though a hand had wrapped its way around my throat and was cutting off all life from me. Eomer pulled me off my knees and led me into the tent. I felt like a statue as he sat me down on the cot and kneeled in front of me.
"We will get this figured out in the morning," he said as he gently put his hand on my face. It was hot against my cold skin, "but for now you are pale and look as though you will faint if you continue on. You will sleep here."
"Where is here, my lord?" I looked up at him and saw myself mirrored in his dark eyes. I was pale and my hair was stringy and at wild angles. I looked around the tent and saw a wash bin and another cot.
"You will be staying in my tent tonight," The fear inside me renewed itself as he left the tent. Everything my Boromir had said flooded back to me with renewed vigor.
I was spending the night in the tent of a soldier of Rohan.
