Chapter 22 – Salt in our wounds
Alexa slept, kept in a comatose state by Gandalf and the healers to make sure her mind was safe from Sauron. As she lay in the crammed healing houses of Osgiliath, the new council of Gondor was debating what to do.
Denethor was hunched over in his steward's seat. Out of respect to the aging steward Aragorn had not chosen his rightful place on the white throne on the steps above them, instead sitting beside Denethor in a plain wooden chair.
Gandalf and Eomer were beside Aragorn and Faramir, who was lying on a cot, still too weak to stand alone. Legolas and Gimli were beside Faramir, forming a semi-circle. Eowyn, the hobbits and some obscure officials of Osgiliath who hadn't died in the battle sat to the side- involved but not officially part of the council.
'Why have we not killed the wench?' Denethor demanded angrily.
'My lord if you call her that again I will throw you off the tower!' Eomer said icily. His arm was bound and in sling, but otherwise he was unharmed. Denethor laughed.
'She got you under her spell too? You're just like my son, thinking with his di-'
'That's enough!' Gandalf interrupted. Denethor went to finish his sentence, but everyone else in the circle glared at him.
'But she nearly killed us all! And could do it again!' Denethor protested.
'Father she saved my life!' Faramir insisted. 'And everyone else's'
'It was not her doing,' confirmed Gandalf. 'She was possessed by Sauron'
'All the more reason to kill her before he does it again!' Denethor insisted, giving his son a disgusted look- like he was disappointed that Faramir had lived through the night as well as daring to disagree with him.
'My lord killing Alexa is not an option!' Aragorn snapped. 'If you cannot accept this then I suggest you leave'
Denethor slumped further in his seat, but said nothing.
'We have come together to decide what is to be done, logically,' Aragorn said to Denethor. 'And that is why for now she will sleep in the houses of healing.'
Gandalf stood and addressed the group.
'Sauron won the battle, of that there is no doubt,' he began. 'However he has lost most of his soldiers, which gives us leverage. There is time yet to attack before he regains his forces'
'But we barely have an army,' said Faramir. 'And those that live are in no condition to fight. How can we attack Mordor?'
A cold shiver swept through the hall as the green ghost king appeared behind Aragorn.
'We have an army,' Aragorn smiled.
'We are bound to serve the king of Gondor,' the figure said eerily. Denethor looked murderously at Aragorn as the figure said this, he still refused to believe that the king had in fact returned.
Faramir looked up at the ghostly figure, then back at his father. 'This might just work'
'You're all mad,' spat Denethor. Everyone ignored him.
Once the discussion was over one of the lone Gondorian officials broke away from the group and made for the houses of healing. He bowed respectfully to the nurses, who let him pass without a backwards glance.
Who knew how long he had been in Osgiliath, slowly poisoning the stewards mind against the woman who was travelling with his son. Of course he had survived the battle- as soon as he had seen the hordes of orcs and uruk hai racing across the fields he escaped into the caverns dug into the rock deep beneath the city and waited. When he emerged two days later he happily walked straight into the discussion between the new leaders and Denethor and discovered everything he needed to know.
And that's why he now walked confidently into Alexa's room with a dagger in his hand. He paused and looked at her sleeping, so peaceful and so vulnerable. Edgar smiled.
He had waited for this day for months, waiting for Alexa to come straight to him. It was so perfect he couldn't believe how easy it had been.
Falling off the cliff after Alexa was finally worth the sacrifice, and he giggled softly at the moments that lead him to take the plunge. Rubbing his chest absentmindedly, he could feel where the bullet had ripped through his heart.
He prodded Alexa's shoulder, but there was no reaction. Whatever she was on, it had taken her far away. Rolling up her sleeve he drew the blade up her arm and lifted the wound to his mouth. Drinking from her wrist like a vampire, his eyes slowly began to shine with blue light as he drank in the power running through her veins.
Dropping her arm he looked at his hand, which had started to glow blue. The light erupted from his palm, ceasing as soon as he clamped his hand shut. Wiping the blood from his mouth he looked down at the dangerously pale Alexa.
He wasn't going to kill her. No point messing with the future. Then again... he turned and punched her in the face. Hard. She made no reaction, but he felt much better. Smirking at the bruises starting to form on her face. Stabbing the knife into her arm, he turned and slipped out of the room without as much as a backwards glance.
Eomer helped Faramir back to his room in the healing houses beside Alexa. Once Faramir was settled Eomer left him and walked back towards his quarters. As he was about to step out of Faramir's room he saw a figure creep out of Alexa's room and walk away with his head down. Torn between following the man and checking on her, he went into her room.
Taking in the dagger and the bruises on her face he raced back out of the room and after the figure but whoever it was had disappeared.
He quickly bound up her arm and examined the blade. It was Gondorian, the white tree emblem carved carefully into the hilt.
'Denethor,' he whispered angrily.