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Authors' Note: Sorry it took like an entire week to update. I had to work on a take home midterm exam. If you think college is easy…you have no idea. Here is the next chapter! I made it extremely long to compensate for lost time and because one of you suggested it. Italics are usually a character's thoughts but occasionally flashbacks, dreams/nightmares, or memories.
Chapter 10
The sun peeked over the horizon and illuminated the tops of the trees. The shadows of the night shrank and gave way to the radiance of the sunlight as it continued its course into the clear blue sky.
Rebecca's eyes drooped but she refused to fall asleep. Falling asleep could mean her death. She and Tony were currently perched high in an oak tree with a pack of ravenous wolves waiting for them to come down. They still hadn't left. Why don't they go after something else? Surely we are not the only living things in this forest!
Rebecca held Tony while he dozed on her lap. She noticed in the wee hours of the morning that the young boy nearly fell out of the tree. It scared her half to death! After that frightening incident she resolved to hold him to prevent a repeat of the possible disaster.
Rebecca peered at the ground below them. The pack still waited at the base of the tree. Apparently the stupid beasts slept there the entire night waiting for one of the children to fall off a branch in their slumber. The wolves had licked the blood clean from the ground where she had tended her injury the previous day. Apparently they enjoyed what she tasted like because they were not making any signs that they were ready to leave. Damn them to Mordor!
Rebecca heard of the evil land of Mordor from her best friend Grettal.
In fact, that one particular story surfaced to her mind.
Grettal's eyes were narrowed and her voice barely above a whisper as she began her tale of the evil place that was rarely spoken of.
"Mordor is a dark land full of the worst creatures imaginable. The creatures are evil beings that are even worse than any nightmare you may have dreamt of before. They are the ugliest and foulest beings in existence! Some say that some of them were elves once. But no one really knows that tale. Few have heard of it and lived. The worst part is that the evil from Mordor is spreading…"
"How do you know all this?" Rebecca's eyes were wide in fascination as she eagerly hung on to Grettal's every word.
"I've heard some men talk about it near Bree. They have run into bands of those dark creatures. I believe they were called roarcs…or was it something like corks?" Grettal sat dumbfounded as she tried to recollect the name of the horrible creatures from her tale. She couldn't remember.
Rebecca snorted at the thought. A band of evil, scary looking creatures called corks? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in my life. An image of actual wine bottle corks came to mind. Oh no! Run for your lives…the corks are attacking! Rebecca had to stifle a laugh of glee so as not to draw attention from the unwelcome guests below.
She sighed in annoyance. Why won't these stupid animals LEAVE! It looked like it was going to be a long day too. Tony stirred and thus alerted Rebecca that he was awake. She whispered in his ear and softly reminded him where he was so he wouldn't try to stand up in a panic and fall out of the tree. There were many times when Tony would dream and completely forget where he was the next morning.
He sighed in disgust and mirrored Rebecca's feelings after noticing the wolves waiting patiently below them.
Many of them looked hungrily upwards and tried to catch a glimpse of their prey. Fortunately, some leaves obscured the wolves' vision from completely seeing the two helpless and utterly defenseless children. Somehow, in some sick, twisted way, they knew that the children were still somewhere above them.
Rebecca was once again beginning to despair. After all, it didn't appear that these monsters were willing to leave anytime soon. At least not until one or both of them either came down or fell out of the tree from starvation.
From the way that the two children's stomachs were rumbling, they had a major problem on their hands. They were stuck in a tree with no food, water, or weapons of any sort.
Rebecca made a mental note to find Thomias sometime in the future and ask him to train her with a sword. That was IF they made it out of the forest alive.
It was at least another hour of waiting in the tree when the sun was at its highest peak in the afternoon sky. That was when something happened.
She heard distinct growls and in her weary state panicked thinking that somehow the wolves managed to climb the tree but calmed when she looked down and saw a few of the larger wolves growling and snarling in the direction to their right.
Curiosity sparked within her and she resisted the urge to shout for help. She did not want to draw attention from the beasts if they picked up the scent of another animal nearby.
That precaution was forgotten when the children's rescuer came crashing through the bushes on a chestnut horse.
"THOMIAS! LOOK OUT!"
Thomias was already moving into action. He had his bow strung and cleanly shot and felled four of the beasts in swift, fluid motions. Despite Thomias' clear ability with combat he was still greatly outnumbered ten to one.
The hunger pangs in the wolves' bellies nearly made them rabid. They were dangerous and starving enough to risk death in a vain attempt to eat the horse and man that stood before them.
Before long Thomias' and his steed were completely encircled. The wolves slowly closed the circle and made a tight ring around them. Thomias pulled his sword out and charged his spooked horse towards a small opening and cut the throat of a wolf on his passage out.
A few of the wolves whirled on their dead companion as the coppery smell of fresh blood assaulted their senses and began to devour one of their own.
Rebecca resisted the urge to vomit. She had covered Tony's eyes long ago to spare him the horror of what she knew was to be a bloody massacre.
Thomais POV
Before long, Thomias had successfully managed to destroy the entire pack. He and his horse panted heavily and he led his horse a distance away from the beasts to calm him. After his horse was calm once more, he went around prodding each animal with the tip of his sword to be sure that they were truly dead.
He had seen many foul tricks by these creatures in the past. One had once played dead on him and as he passed by, the creature managed to clamp its horrid jaws around his leg. At least Halbarad was with me that time. He remembered that day well. If it wasn't for Halbarad shooting that single arrow into the wolf's head, he would surely have been lost.
Satisfied that they were all truly dead he glanced up into the oak tree and heard sobbing. He remembered hearing someone screaming his name before he came across the wolf pack.
Who on Arda was up that tree?
Rebecca's POV
Rebecca sobbed with relief. They were finally saved! She had believed only moments before Thomias had arrived that she and her baby brother were doomed to die.
She called down in a shaky voice, "Thomias! It is I, Rebecca and my young brother Anthony!"
She heard an audible gasp from below and before long saw his friendly face peering up through a few branches. He began climbing up after them. About a minute later he was sitting on a branch next to them, his bow and arrows slung over his back and his sword cleaned and sheathed at his waist.
"How long have you two been up here!" Thomias worriedly and incredulously asked.
"We have been stuck up here all night and all day until you came of course." Relief filled her voice.
Thomais looked amazed and in a joking manner asked her if she would like to come down and join him for another horseback ride.
"No. We WANT to stay stuck up in this tree forever." Rebecca sarcastically rolled her eyes.
This received a highly amused laugh from Thomias and he had to cling to the branch he was sitting on to keep from falling.
"Very well, my lady, if you wish it I will leave you to your bird watching here amidst the branches of this fine tree," Thomias replied jokingly only to receive a playful punch to his shoulder.
The playful bantering ceased when a pain filled moan came from Tony. Rebecca and Thomias asked him worriedly what was troubling him.
"My tummy hurts!" He whimpered as he hugged his belly.
"We have tarried here long enough. I will take the two of you back to my camp. Perhaps some food will relieve his pain. When was the last time you two ate?" Thomias questioned as an afterthought.
"I believe at least two days ago." Rebecca frowned. Her memory was rather foggy. She truly could not remember the actual date. Maybe it was three days ago?
Thomias nodded his head thoughtfully before gently picking Tony up and securing him to his hip before carefully climbing back down the tree. It took at least three times longer climbing down than it did climbing up, for now Thomias had only one hand in which to grasp branches.
After a good ten minutes, all three of them were safely on the ground below. Thomias did not need to cover Tony's eyes for the child's eyes were tightly shut as he clenched his teeth in pain. His stomach still pained him. The child did not even seem to notice the smell of death around him.
Rebecca on the other hand did. Seeing the gore from the top of the tree had been bad enough but walking amidst the death and seeing huge pools of blood was enough to send her over the edge. The smell was what really set it off though. She ran to a hedge on the other side of the clearing and attempted to throw up. But painfully, she could not; she could not for there was nothing in her stomach to discharge.
She shakily stood upright and turned to go back to where Thomias stood waiting for her by his horse. He helped her to mount and then placed Tony in front of her before leading his horse by the reigns through the forest.
An hour later…Thomias POV
They reached his campsite just as night had fallen and Thomias placed Anthony upon his bedroll and attempted to feed him some bread but Anthony could not. He felt too sick. Thomias in desperation to make the boy well tried to help him drink a cup of water. But Tony merely threw it up a few moments later.
Thomias was growing extremely worried. It was not a matter of hunger pangs the boy was suffering. He was ill. Thomias creased his brow in thought. Apparently this is an illness. Perhaps it is the flu. If that is the case we will see improvement within the next few days.
Thomias had a few herbs within his pack and went to retrieve a sleeping herb to settle the boy. He boiled some water and mixed it in. He prayed that the boy was well enough to drink warm water instead of cold. For if it is the flu he should be able to drink and hold a few sips in his empty tummy.
Fortunately, Tony managed to keep a few swallows down the second time around. It wasn't till a few minutes had passed that the young boy passed out from exhaustion, illness, and the newly administered sleeping herb.
Thomias fatherly and maybe even lovingly tucked the boy securely in his bedroll and started a fire to keep him warm. Although the young one was deep in sleep his body shook from chills and his brow broke out into a sweat. A fever raged within him. Thomias vowed to his worried sister that he would keep his eyes on him through the night.
He set up a blanket for Rebecca to sleep upon while Thomias himself leant against a tree with his cloak wrapped securely around his shoulders.
He proceeded to ask Rebecca a few questions that had plagued his already troubled mind.
"What were the two of you doing so far out here? Why aren't the two of you still in Hobbiton?"
Rebecca sighed in defeat and proceeded to tell him of their troubles that led them to their present predicament.
"So you see we were heading to Rivendell to seek safety. That mercenary could be back at any time! He will not stop hunting us. I just know it. The man was evil…" Rebecca's voice trailed off as she shivered at the memory.
"I promise you, that as long as I still draw breath, I will let no harm come upon you or your brother. As for Rivendell, you have strayed away from it. You were close, but not close enough I'm afraid. We are but a day's ride to the Ranger's camp. And Rivendell is at least three days from here. It is a good thing you ran into me when you did. For if you had continued on your present course towards the north, you would have found yourself in an unpleasant territory."
"So I've noticed…" Rebecca growled angrily beneath her breath.
Thomias raised an eyebrow at her angry expression.
"I'm not mad at you, I could never be. I am mostly mad at myself. If only I had a weapon I could have protected the two of us. And I was going the wrong way and would have gotten both of us killed. I could never live with myself if harm befell Tony."
"It wasn't your fault. You should not even worry about weapons at such a young age."
"I'm old enough!" An old flame in her eyes rekindled and brought a smile to the Ranger's face.
"Perhaps…but you would not have been able to single handedly defeat those wolves by yourself."
"I know…" Rebecca muttered.
There was an uncomfortable silence and the audible sound of crickets chirping could be heard in the woods around them.
"Do you have a family?" Rebecca changed the subject.
Thomias looked away and answered in a soft voice, "A long time ago."
"What happened?"
Pain filled his eyes and his heart lurched at the memory. He swallowed a lump forming in his throat and nearly choked on the words.
"They died."
"I'm sorry."
Thomias was not finished with his tale yet and so continued.
"I had a wife and a daughter. They were dear to my heart."
"What was her name?"
"My daughter's name was Selah."
Rebecca started slightly. For some unknown reason, the name sounded strangely familiar to her. Maybe she had known a girl named 'Selah' once before? Rebecca averted her full attention back on Thomias as he fell back into his story mode.
"I was called away many times to go on missions for the Rangers'. It pained me whenever I had to leave. I would miss out on their lives as they grew over the months that I was gone. But there was one mission that changed my life forever. I was called away to battle; I'm not getting into detail…" Amusement entered his pain filled eyes when he saw Rebecca about to plead for him to tell about it.
"When I came back home, my home had been devastated. I heard from nearby neighbors that my wife had died in the fire along with my child. Heartbroken, I searched amidst the rubble anyway looking for a sign that would prove that they were gone. Nothing remained but ash. So I returned to the Rangers and tried desperately to fight the grief that threatened to overwhelm me. I was drawn to the two of you when I first laid my eyes upon you. I guess in some way, you remind me of my baby." Thomias shamefully turned his head and willed the tears that threatened to spill, away. He feltgreatly embarrassed that he, a ranger of the north was crying in front of an eleven year old girl!
But before he knew it she was sitting next to him and was holding his hand.
"Mother used to say that not all tears are bad. Even grown men are allowed to cry. It makes the hurt go away. Believe me, I know."
Thomias weakly smiled before allowing the tears to silently spill down his face as he embraced the young girl before him. He cried the sorrow and grief out that he had pent up over the last six years and allowed the young girl sitting before him to comfort him.
After Rebecca had gone to sleep he kept his promise to the girl and began his long vigil on Tony's condition. After all, he was worried for the boy too.
His last thought before resting later that night was, if my daughter had lived, I'd imagine that she would be much like young Rebecca is now.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Hannon Le to my reviewers: Dreamer51963, darklady919, werecanigeteyeslikethose, Telboriel, Elwing-Evenstar, Catalainya, and Nelarun! Thanks for your reviews!