A/N – I would like to thank everyone for reviewing. It means everything to me! Thank you once again and I do hope that you enjoy this chapter!
You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness, inside you
Can make you feel so small
-Phil Collins: True Colors
To Wander in Darkness
Part 3 – Dark thoughts
It was raining, hard. Sheets upon sheets of rain fell upon the earth. The rain was also cold, so cold that it soaked through anything and the cold seemed to collect in ones bones if one stayed out to long in the rain. As it was, Strider was so cold that he could hardly feel his fingers. He and Amaar hadn't gotten even half way to Bree before the storm had come upon them. Strider had given the boy his cloak, seeing as how the boy had no cloak to call his own.
Strider squinted his eyes and was glad to see Bree looming before them. They had been out in this storm linger than he had wanted and he would like to get warm. He would also like to not get sick from staying out in the wetness for once in his life. Though he gave up that thought as soon as he felt a tickle in his throat; he always got sick and it made him annoyed.
"Hey there! Gat Keeper, let us in!" Amaar yelled over the wind and cold rain.
"Amaar is that you?" the gate keeper asked. He opened the gate without waiting to get and answer and waved them inside.
"You two had better get inside and warmed up before you get yourselves a cold," the old man said.
"We will, don't worry," Amaar smiled and the two rode on.
Soon, they got to the Inn that Strider was staying at. Strider got off his horse and handed the reigns to Amaar. Amaar started to take off the borrowed cloak.
"Keep it, I will come by tomorrow to pick it up," Strider said, then he waved the boy on home before he entered the warmth of the Inn.
"Lad! There you are, I was just beginning to wonder what happened to you," Butterbur said hurriedly.
"Go upstairs and clean up, I'll have some dinner up to you in a while," Butterbur said and pushed Strider to the stairs. Strider thanked the Inn Keeper before he let himself go upstairs to his room. He was tired and wet and he really wanted to go to sleep. Eating something didn't sound too bad either.
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Once Strider got to his room, He saw that a bath had all ready been prepared for him. He stripped off his wet clothes and spread them out before the small fire that was started in the very small fireplace before the bed. He then slipped into the hot water.
Strider took up the soap and some flannel and tried to wash away his worries. He couldn't help but think about the ghost woman he had met. He felt bad that she had died in such away and then her body deprecated. But she wasn't at all bothered about it and she wanted to help Strider all she could. However, talking to a ghost was strange.
Strider shrugged it off and sank into the hot water. He was feeling better now, he hopes he wouldn't get sick, but maybe taking some herbs before bed wasn't such a bad idea. Strider got out of the bath and wrapped a towel about himself. He went to his pack and fished out a long night shirt. He changed into it and some leggings and then he began to dry his hair off. That was when a knock came to his door.
Strider opened the door and once he made sure that it was Butterbur, he let the man in. Butterbur held a heavily laden tray with food on it. Strider made sure that the man got some coins for his trouble.
"Now, you make sure to eat all of that," Butterbur said.
"I will," Strider smiled.
"Then go to bed, you may come down with something and we don't want that," Butterbur smiled.
"I'll do that,"
"Good night than," Butterbur said before he left Strider to his meal.
Strider shook his head as he shut the door. He then turned to his meal and started to eat. The food was good and it was exactly what had made the rest of his evening perfect. However, the note that he found underneath his plate, made Strider stop for a moment half way through a bit of biscuit.
Do not tarry long here.
Was the entire note; The words were loopy and smooth and delicate, it was almost as if a woman had wrote it. He wondered how anyone would be able to slip him a note, but then decided that whoever had written it had probably had much practice at this sort of thing. Strider tapped the tone on the table a few times.
Who would be warning him against staying? Did they know something? He wondered if he should seek them out; maybe he should, he decided. Maybe they knew something that they would be able to share with him.
Strider shrugged his shoulders and turned to bed. He was tired and there was no use in trying to get things explained to him now. Besides, he had to go see Taniith in the morning anyway and he would rather be wide awake and in a good mood when he went to see the man.
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The figure from the window watched as the man got into bed; the room was dark, the only light coming from the small fireplace that was slowly starting to burn low. She had seen the man get the message, but she wondered if he would take it seriously. Probably not, she decided.
She jumped from the ledge and landed quietly on the ground. The hard pounding of rain concealed her in the darkness. She made her way down the street, she would probably have to do something drastic to get the man to leave. He was too important to the well being of Middle-Earth to die in a fight such as this.
The darkness closed in about her, and in a few moments she could not be seen. She was as the wind, there one minute but next was gone.
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"I didn't do anything, Ada!" Estel cried. He didn't know where he was, all he knew was that it was dark. Voices about him were merciless and mocking.
"That isn't what she said,"
"You are a liar,"
"I am so disappointed in you,"
"Never should have taken you in,"
"NO! NO! I DID NOTHING WRONG!" Estel cried. He curled up in a fetal position. All he wanted in this world was to be loved, why didn't they believe him? Why didn't they love him?
"They don't love you, they never have," it was her, it was that accursed she-elf that had made his life miserable from the first time they had met.
"Go away!" Estel yelled, now he was on his feet, but there was nothing before him. He could see nothing and in turn nothing laughed at him.
"Oh my little play-thing has run away, wherever are you?" the mocking voice came back.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Estel yelled.
"Oh? Isn't that a lie? Didn't your Adar teach you to never lie? Especially to yourself?"
"This does not concern him you evil hag!" Estel yelled.
"There you are wrong, you are all that embodies good and I am all that embodies evil, which of us will be believed over the other?" the voice sounded gentle.
"You are evil, and everyone will see that once you make a mistake," Estel said.
Suddenly the world about him went white and Estel cried out in pain. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so…alone…and in so much despair.
"You will learn to fear me yet, human," the voice mocked…
It was then that Strider sat up, breathing hard and looking about his room. He listened intently to see if anyone had heard him while he had his nightmare. But no one had and for that, that man was glad for. The last thing he needed was someone to come and see if he was all right after waking the whole Inn with his foolish dream.
Had it been a dream? Or had he talking to the devil-elf that had driven him from his once loving home only six months prior? The feeling of despair was still upon his heart and with a heavy sigh he got up to stir the fire up a bit more before he went back to bed, and hopefully too sleep.
Strider did not want to think of those he had lived with and loved (still loved in fact) before she had come to them. At first she had been nice, but then she began to say the strangest things, and no one noticed how bad those comments had gotten. They had gotten to the point of cutting into his heart and bleeding him dry afresh each time she said anything.
Strider frowned at his weakness and forcefully pushed those thoughts away.
"Remembering has always been hard," someone said. The voice was unnatural and was not part of the living world. Strider turned to see Jaeda sitting on his bed. She wore a blue gown now and her hair was done up in a bun with wisps hanging about her face.
"I for one never liked to remember those bad times that happened to me, but all in all, I can't say that I wasn't glad for the witch rumor," she said.
"Life is never easy on those who take the path of righteousness," Strider said.
"Yes, that is truth," Jaeda agreed.
"Tell me, who sent this note?" Strider asked, picking up the small peace of parchment.
"It was a woman, she fears for you, she knows your secret," Jaeda said.
"What…but how?"
"I do not know, maybe someone told her," Jaeda shrugged her shoulders.
"Damn," Strider cursed.
"Indeed, you should precede with caution now, my Lord, or you shall also end up dead,"
"I will,"
"Good, now don't forget, you need to go talk to Taniith tomorrow, I will stay here to make sure you sleep," Jaeda said, she patted the bed and beckoned Strider to it. Strider felt unusually sleepy and happily got back into bed. The cover smoothed over him and he could feel the slight weight of the ghost. How ghosts could have any weight was beyond him but he was too sleepy to think about it now.
In a few moments, Strider was once again asleep. Jaeda sat by him for the rest of the night, chasing away any nightmares that would have preyed on the young man. Just before dawn broke over the land, Jaeda stood, she bent down to the man, her mouth close to his. She gently traced her finger across the mans cheek bone. She then kissed him on the forehead before bidding him farewell.
She disappeared in a mist of fog, and Strider woke with a start. Whoever had touched him was gone now, but he felt chilly and the room was cold. He stretched and looked out the window. The sooner he got to Taniith's the sooner he would have more answers. Hopefully.
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Taniith was not a man to be trifled with; he was a man in power, and even though his dark hair showed a bit of grey, and he loved silk to excess, he knew the ways of manipulation. However, sometimes one had to change their plans because said plans would not work. In this case, Taniith knew that he could not manipulate the Ranger that blocked his door of the study.
Taniith had entered the room, he wasn't expecting anyone this soon in the game, but then again, he probably should have. He tried to straighten his back, but this man radiated power that Taniith knew he would never have.
"W-what do you want?" Taniith asked.
"Why did you desecrate Jaeda's body?"
"I don't know what your talking about,"
"You do, your men chopped her body up and then burned everything, it will take years for those trees to grow back," Strider said. That last part was an after thought, he rolled his eyes and decided that talking like and Elf wasn't the smartest thing to do.
"You're a Ranger, you're supposed to say that. However, I did not want her dead; my men found her that way,"
"In deed,"
"Yes, in deed. She was dead when they found her,"
"And then they cut her body up into bits and burned her property," Strider stressed.
"Well---they didn't tell me that!" Taniith glared.
"What good is a man in power if he does not know what crimes his men are committing?" Strider asked.
"How would you know, Ranger?"
Oh, I would, Strider thought but instead he said; "A man in power always knows what is going to happen, or at least, what might happen. You don't,"
"I do so! I know that if you don't get out of here…I'll call my men and they will run you through," Taniith threatened.
Strider took one look at the man, and then burst out laughing.
"I can take care of your men; they're all drunk down stairs any road," Strider grinned. He found this man entertaining, and that was saying a lot since Strider hadn't had such entertainment since his Elven brothers dyed the Prince of Mirkwood's hair bright pink!
"Than I'll—fight you myself!"
"Oh? And prey tell, how? I am a Ranger, you should know that you can't beat me,"
"In deed?"
"In deed, now, did you're men find anything of interest, I might be persuaded to let you off of the hook for these murder's if you cooperate with me and tell me all you know," Strider tried to bargain.
What did a man in power fear the most? Blackmail, of course…
"I don't know anything," Taniith said. He was now jumpy and as scared as a rabbit. If Strider had just yelled boo! The man would have ran for cover. Of course, showing that he was scared was his first mistake.
"Well, if you do know something, I will find out," Strider said. He then opened the door that he had been leaning on all this time and without another word, he left the study and made his way to the common room of the March Warden's head quarters.
Taniith gave a sigh, he was shaking terribly, he sat down and poured himself some wine. It was much too early for drinking but he didn't care. That Ranger wasn't only a nuisance, but he was he was scary at the same time. Taniith knew now, that he had to do something about Strider, Ranger of the North.
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A/N – I am so glad you all like this fic. I like it too! I also like the formatting. I hate it when the whole story is in one long paragraph. Actually, the whole one-long-paragraph things is rather taboo. Besides, I learned to write in this format so I like to keep it. I realize that I probably should have used she-elf in the first chapter, the prologue, but it totally slipped my mind! Sorry about that.
Just so you all know, you may not see a lot of the other characters for a while. For now it's only going to be Strider and my OC's here in Bree! Oh, would you all tell me if Jaeda is too Mary-sue. I don't want her to be a Mary-sue and I am trying hard to not make her that way. All in all, Jaeda is just there to point Strider in the right way. Besides that, she may not have any other roll in this fic. I hope you all like the ghost aspect too. I thought it was interesting since it was so dang close to Halloween!
Well, I'll let you go now. Please review! I would like to have more reviews on my writing style and the character's. Oh, and am I making Strider…er---well, Strider enough for you all?
ACK! One other thing, I will give you back story in the flash-backs/nightmares. The back story really doesn't have much to do with my main plot so…well…yeah. However, I would also like to know your theories on my back story. I bet most of you are right on target!
Ta,
Poppy