~Chapter 21~

Reyna somehow missed Erienne's approach to the Golden Hall but she didn't miss her making her way up the stairs to the royal bedchambers. Reyna wasted no time in putting her plans into motion.

In Eowyn's chamber Erienne gathered her meager belongs along with the one gown that Eowyn had given her. She held the dress up against herself, looking down; remembering the loving, approving look on Eomer's face when she had worn the gown, the night she was presented to King Théoden. And the sweet loving interlude they'd had afterward. They had spent almost the entire night in his bed, Eomer waking her and sending back off to this room before dawn, for the sake of appearances.

Erienne was almost ready to leave when the door to Eowyn's room was flung wide and Reyna entered accompanied by two of the palace guards.

"See I told you I saw someone sneaking up here. Look at this, stealing from our Lady Eowyn."

Erienne protested, "These things are mine, I was just retrieving them, where is Eowyn?" Eowyn would vouch for her.

"Eowyn is not here, she did not return from Dunharrow."

Erienne's heart froze. What had happened to Eowyn, she thought, the gravity of her current situation not sinking in yet. Her only concern at the moment for her friend, for her beloved's sister.

"Take her," Reyna demanded, "She has stolen from the royal house." The guards grabbed Erienne.

"Eomer will not like this Reyna." Erienne said, trying wrest herself from the grasp of the guards while trying to reason with a jealous, unreasonable woman. "Have you not already incurred enough of his wrath?"

"Listen to her disrespect, addressing members of the royal house so informally."

Reyna hoped the guard missed the fact the Erienne had called her by name. If they realized Erienne knew her the entire plot would fail. "How dare she think herself equal, How dare she infer that she knows what the Lord Marshall thinks and here she stands stealing from our Lady. You are a bold thief. To stroll into the palace in the light of day..."

"I am no thief," Erienne declared again, struggling against the strength of the guards as her hands were bound behind her. "just as you are no maiden."

"How dare you insult me?" Reyna slapped her, hard enough that she would have hit the floor if not for the guards already holding her. She continued to lay her plan, playing it to the hilt. Her haughty comments were for the benefit of the guards. "Take this wench away, we'll see what Lord Eomer thinks of thieving whores when he returns."

With Reyna at the head of the small procession Erienne was led her away. She was taken to a cell in the lower level of the palace. She was pushed inside and the door was closed and locked behind her. They hadn't even bothered to untie her hands.

When Eomer returns? Erienne thought, he could be gone for weeks. No one knew how long the war in Gondor would last. She took a good look at the cell she was in. Cold stone, no blanket, not even straw on the floor. It was cool and damp, the chill already slipping through her dress, and without a doubt it would be colder at night.

The room began to spin as a wave of dizziness washed through her, and she managed to lean her back against the cold stone, sliding her body downward to the floor of the cell before she fell. She knew if she fainted while standing with her hands still tied she risked a serious injury. She had not eaten this morning because she had not wanted to throw up again. She was regretting that choice now.

Why was Reyna doing this? What purpose would it serve?

Eomer was going to be furious when he returned--if he returned. She swallowed the lump in her throat, no ifs were allowed she could not think such things. He had to return. She needed him. Their baby would need him.

How long would it be before someone bothered to come back to untie her hands, to feed her?

How was she to relieve herself with her hands tied?

What affect would the damp cold and a lack of food have on her unborn child?

She did not dare try to appeal to Reyna on a maternal level. Reyna under no circumstances could know that she was pregnant. That was likely fuel Reyna's temper further. Likely to get her tossed down a flight of stairs to cause her to miscarry or even worse.

Erienne steeled herself to get through this, to do whatever necessary to protect Eomer's child from the whims of the madwoman who was holding her prisoner in this cell. Still, despite her determination, she was here in a cell, alone except for the child she carried. There was no shame in tears for there was no one to see or hear. Erienne sat on the cold stone floor and she cried.

***

They rode off to the Black Gate of Mordor to take on Sauron. Two kings, two hobbits, a wizard, a dwarf, an elf and what remained of the combined forces of Gondor and Rohan.

Despite the gravity of the situation Eomer had other things on his mind. Eowyn lived and was healing well, and the young steward Faramir seemed to have formed a promising affection for Eowyn if she would just reach out and take it. But more than anything his thoughts were of Erienne, what was she doing,? Was she well? And how desperately he longed to hold her in his arms. To sink into the warmth of her body. To hear her sweet cries as they found completion together.

The forward motion stopped, and Eomer King's thoughts returned to the present, as they all stared at the Black Gate. He wondered again at the foolhardiness of this action, yet he could not sit back and do nothing.

They had to fight for their world, if not, what world would there be left to share with Erienne and his sister?

As the gates opened to show how vastly they were outnumbered, he could only think of them, That he would do this and somehow he would return to them.

Erienne's sweet face was the last thought in his head as all hell broke loose…