Disclaimer crap: I don't own Éomer or any of the characters from Tolkien's books. I do own Jem and this story that I am writing. For fans of Karl Urban who played Éomer in the movie; I think he's a hottie and that's who I'm pretty much basing the character in looks. As always, not fluent in Elvish, so lets not freak out cause I don't know correct Elvish okay? And as always any lines from Peter Jackson's films are all his rights. I'm not making money off of this story cause lets face it…I'm not that great! ;
Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who continues to read this story. I've been having such a ball writing it! Feel free to keep commenting and letting me know how you think things are going. This is a bit of a short Chapter but I think it's an important one. We see the developing feelings between Éomer and Jem. Jetta
P.S. My apologies if any wording or spelling might be off. It's about 1 o'clock in the morning right now, so my brain might be a little off.
Chapter 4: Nights and Mornings on the Riddermark!
It had been hours since Éomer, Son of Éomund, Third Lord Marshal of the Riddermark, had been banished from Edoras; his home. Behind him on his saddle sat Jem, a female Ranger from the north who was raised by Lord Elrond, the leader of Elves of Rivendale. Thirty loyal men rode behind him with great strength and speed heading north of the Riddermark, for they were also banished because of their loyalty to Éomer.
Éomer, looked behind him to see that Jem had laid the side of her head on his back against his armor. "My Lady?" he asked her softly. She lifted her head up from against his back and wiped away any remaining tears from her cheeks.
"My Lord?"
"I want to ask you something." He said to her in a strong confident voice. "When we were in the Golden Hall, you said something in Elvish to Wormtongue. May I inquire what you said to him?"
Jem rested her hand back on his shoulder and remembered what she smugly said to Wormtongue. "Noonsa repugnancia dos." She laughed at what she remembered and said softly in Éomer's ear, "You disgust me."
Éomer felt his lips tug into an amused smile. How she captivated him with her boldness amazed him sometimes. He knew no other woman on Middle Earth that would ever say that to a man of high power like Grima.
They continued to ride on late into the night, Éomer insisted to check the plains of the Mark for Orcs. He would not have any of his people harmed just because he was banished. Éomer told his men to keep an eye out for any movements and ears open to any strange sounds.
As he was about to dismount Firefoot, for a few moments to rest when one of his men spoke,
"My Lord, Look! In the west, there is a fire!"
Jem felt her chest tighten, "Éomer," She whispered in his ear. "Fangorn is west from here!" she felt panic overwhelm her senses and she could not tell if anyone was near the children's graves or not. But she would not allow any beast or man defile those graves.
"My Lady," Éomer said taking her hands off of his shoulders and wrapped him around his waist firmly. Jem felt more then her chest tighten up, her whole body seemed to clench at how intimately she seemed to be holding on to him. "Hold on to me tightly." He said looking back at her to see she was blushing almost crimson red. He then looked forward and commanded his men to charge.
Jem held on to him tightly and felt the wind go threw her hair. She was impressed with Firefoots speed and could understand why Éomer, would have one of the best horses in Rohan. As they rode closer towards the fire Jem could tell it was Orcs. She reached her right hand down to her boot and pulled out one of her daggers.
Éomer drew out his sword and could hear the others do the same as they charged. He let out a battle cry and swung his sword, chopping off an Orcs head.
Jem could feel blood land on her arms and legs; it didn't bother her in the least. The more Orcs killed, the better, was her motto. Just then and Orc grabbed her and pulled her off of Firefoot. She screamed as she fell to the ground, and rolled out of the way of an Orc axe that was coming down near her. Leaping to her feet she smiled at the Orc, "Nice try, but you will have to do better then that." She lunged forward and shoved her dagger into his eye and placed her boot on his chest and slid it out.
"JEM!" Éomer cried out turning Firefoot around. He had never seen a woman so ruthless in battle. In fact he never seen a woman fight like she did. She slid her dagger back in its holder on the side of her boot and drew out her sword and grinned. The Orcs assumed that this would be an easy picking for them. A woman could be no match for an Orc, or so they thought.
Jem turned around to see an Orc was charging after her. She gave a sly smile and kicked it in the stomach. As soon as he dropped to his knees she spun around and kicked in the back of his head letting him fall flat on his face. Not even thinking twice, Jem lifted her sword and shoved it threw his back. "Ugh, you guys disgust me more then Wormtongue!" she yelled pulling out her sword and chopping of another Orcs head off.
"And I just had a bath!" She yelled as blood splattered on her. She wiped off the Orc blood that landed on her face and looked around to see the Rohirrim had killed all the Orcs. Éomer trotted up to her on Firefoot.
"Lady Jem, are you alright?" he asked dismounting Firefoot. He looked at her, she was covered in Orc blood, her hair was wild from battle and there was a fire that blazed in her eyes that nearly frightened him. She had proved to him that she was a skilled warrior and that she seemed to almost enjoy the kill of the Orc more then he did.
"I am fine, in fact I feel great!" she said laughing then suddenly stopped. She turned around to face Fangorn Forest. Her smile fell away from her face and closed her eyes for a moment to concentrate. Éomer walked up next to her and took a hard look at her; he then looked at Fangorn Forest and had a feeling himself that he had never felt before.
"The children…" she trailed off for a moment and looked up at him. "We have slain their killers."
"How do you know that?" He asked her skeptical. "Those Orcs could have just arrived in the Riddermark." He said to her.
"No…I-I feel it, they can be at peace now." She said as a tear came down her cheek. She wasn't upset that he had a hard time believing her. Jem was happy that the children's spirits can be free and be with those who would take care of them.
As Éomer was about to turn to mount Firefoot when Jem, grabbed his arm and pointed to the treetops of the forest. He saw what looked to be three small lights rise up and twinkle at the two of them. As if they were saying "Thank You" to the both of them, Jem smiled and bowed her head to the lights. Éomer suddenly found himself doing the same, out of respect for what he was witnessing. The three lights twinkled again and then rose up into the heavens where they would remain. They looked at one another for a moment and smiled at the sight they had just witnessed.
"I am so happy, they have found their peace in the heavens." Jem said softly. Éomer was about to reply when a rider had shouted,
"My Lord, should we set up camp for the night?"
"Yes, set up the tents! We will camp here tonight!" Éomer called back to him.
Jem took Firefoot, by the reigns looked at Éomer, "I will camp outside with the horses tonight, my lord."
After about 20 minutes of reasoning, Éomer was able to get Jem to stay in his tent for the night while he would sleep outside. "Honestly Lady Jem, you do not know the harsh cold nights the Mark bring. You will be warm inside my tent." He insisted as he led her to the tent that was set up.
"I believe you, Lord Éomer. I am not putting up a fight; I feel badly for taking your tent is all." Jem confessed.
"You needn't worry about me, my lady. I promise you, I shall be fine and comfortable under the stars and on the earth of the Mark." Éomer assured her with a soft smile.
Jem opened the flap to the tent and stepped in and took off her pack. She remembered she kept her bedroll inside and took it out. She opened up the flap again to see Éomer had his back to her talking with a rider. "Lord Éomer!" She called out to him.
He looked over his shoulder and then turned to face her. "Lady Jem is there something wrong?" he asked concerned.
She tossed her bedroll at him and it landed at his feet. "Sleep well, Lord Éomer" she said smiling and shut the flap of the tent to retire for the evening.
Éomer chuckled and picked up the bedroll then laid it on the ground not too far from Jem's tent. He couldn't figure out why but he had an overwhelming sense to protect her. He pondered this while lying down on the roll. Why did he feel such a need to protect a woman who could obviously take care of her self? Éomer didn't have much time to dwell on this as he found his eyelids closing and rest finding him for the evening.
The dawn began to creep up slowly on the Riddermark. Éomer had awakened to the sound of his men starting to take some of the tents down and prepare for the ride North.
He yawned and stretched out his arms while sitting up. He looked around to see some of the men were tending to their horses and he smiled inwardly. The Rohan people we known as the "Horse Lords"; because of the deep respect and care they gave to their horses. Éomer looked over to his tent to see Firefoot standing by his tent where Jem was. He rose to his feet and walked over to his friend.
"You keeping guard too boy?" He asked him scratching between Firefoot's eyes. Firefoot gave a quiet neigh and nuzzled his arm with this head. Éomer laughed, "I do not know what it is about this female Ranger from the North, but I feel this strong feeling that there is a reason why our paths have crossed. I wonder that it might be I am hiding more then I care to talk about."
Firefoot nudged Éomer in the direction of the tent trying to tell him to go wake her. He chuckled at his horses' actions." Alright old friend, I shall wake her." He walked over to the tent and pulled the flap up and walked in. Éomer did not find Jem asleep; instead he found her cleaning the blade of her sword.
Jem looked over and smiled at him, "Good morning, My Lord."
"Good morning, Lady Jem. Did you sleep well?" he asked, noticing that she cleaned her blade before she did her own face. She still had blood from last night's battle smeared on her face.
"I slept well, thank you. I am glad I took the tent. I did not realize how cold night in the Riddermark…can…" she trailed off softly as Éomer reached his right hand out and touched her cheek where the blood still remained. A warm feeling rushed threw her body and she found it comforting and slightly exciting. Jem pressed her cheek a little harder against the Rohirrim warriors' hand. She closed her eyes for a moment and blushed.
Éomer felt his stomach clench a little by nerves, he never intended her to lean into his touch so easily. "Do you have water left for your face or would you like me to have someone fetch you some more?" He asked her.
"Aye, I have water." She replied trying to find her ability to speak. Her eyes still closed she prayed that when she opened them that it would not just be a dream. Her eyes opened to see he was still there but his hand had left her face and held out a towel to her.
"Wash then Lady Jem, stained Orc blood does not suit your face." Éomer said softly looking down into her soft brown eyes. He realized that he was sounding ridiculous and that he should leave before anything else could happen.
"Aye." She said very softly, taking the towel from him and watched him make his way to the flap of the tent.
"We ride out soon." He said to her and exited the tent.
Jem sighed to her self and preceded to wash her face with the cloth he handed her. "I can not believe this. I fear I am starting to have feelings for Éomer, Third Marshal of the Riddermark. I wonder what Strider would have to say about this." She thought to herself as she finished washing her face and began to pack up her things.