Chapter Thirty Eight
Despite the thick cloud the sunlight was almost blinding as the four of them finally exited the mountain after what seemed like an age. Gimli raised a gloved hand to shield his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness. Amy basked in it though.
It was like a massive weight had been removed from her shoulders. The darkness had been suffocating, the light was freeing.
She looked down at herself. Her tunic and leggings had certainly seen better days. Her left arm was bloodied and bruised from the elbow down and as she tried to straighten it a shooting pain struck her from her fingertips to her shoulder. There was no time though to do more than just take stock.
She looked to Legolas first and watched as he lay a comforting hand on the shoulder of Aragorn. She followed their eyeline and saw it then. Black sails on the horizon.
Aragorn turned to her. All valour and strength gone from his face, replaced by despair. His hands rose and she knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to use those signs that she had taught him at Edoras. Signs to use when he had lost hope.
He did not make it past the first few words when he stopped abruptly and clutched his sword nervously. She followed his gaze once more and hurriedly backed away from the mountain when the King of the Dead appeared, his deathly countenance unchanged under the light of the sun.
"We will fight."
…..
Amy hated boats. Her inner ear function being completely misshapen as it was meant her balance was not great at the best of times. On a boat, her balance was non-existent. She leant heavily against the wooden wall of the cabin and slumped heavily to the floor burying her face in her knees lest she become nauseous with the swaying. She had tucked her left arm in against her body still refusing to move it.
"We should get whatever rest we can. We are sailing straight into battle." Aragorn advised still slightly in shock that he had succeeded in his mission to secure the Army of the Dead. His hope was rekindled and his muscles although weary knew that they could withstand another battle.
Gimli did not need telling twice and flopped onto the wooden cot in the corner of the cabin.
"I guess he will have the bed." Remarked Legolas wryly.
Aragorn patted his friend on the arm and looked over to Amy taking in the sight of her. With Gimli already asleep and Amy in her own silence the man had his first opportunity to talk to the elf alone.
"She told me, about you two."
"What about us two?"
"That you were sleeping together."
"Oh."
"Oh? You do not just get to say oh! One minute you are terrified that she will never speak to you again, the next you are sleeping together, and then forgive me if I am wrong but something has changed in the way she looks at you."
Legolas bowed his head not sure what to say. "You said it yourself, we are heading straight into battle, do you really want to hear this now."
"I will get no rest, not when surrounded by ghosts. I am your friend, I would hear this."
Legolas smiled, a beautiful memory coming to the forefront of his mind. "She told me she loved me."
Aragorn could not help but smile widely in return. "Please tell me you finally told her how you feel then?!"
"Of course! I may be slow but I am not an idiot! I told her first not expecting her to feel as I did, but… she had the opportunity to go home, and she did not. She chose to stay, because of me. Because she loved me."
Aragorn looked over to Amy who was still lost in her reverie. He saw the blood that had dried into her sleeve, the tears on her clothes, wounds of the body and perhaps also of the mind. He had felt the fear radiating off of her when they had been plunged into darkness.
"I hope that she does not regret her decision."
Legolas' face changed in an instance and Aragorn carried on hurriedly trying to correct his clumsy words.
"I do not mean that she does not love you, I mean, look at her. Who would want to be in the middle of this?! Most people of our world will not see a quarter of the things she has seen, and she is not even from here. You have told me of her world, there are no Orcs, no ghouls, no dark magic. She must be terrified."
Legolas also looked at Amy and he noticed that her hands were trembling. He swiftly knelt before her and placed a gentle hand over hers.
She looked up and her eyes were wide and fearful and her skin was slightly grey. He could see she was working hard to keep herself together and silently he wished he had taken better care of her on their last path.
Aragorn also knelt before her and took note of her countenance. "Not a fan of sailing?"
Legolas signed the man's words and spoke her reply.
"Is it still called sea sickness when you are sailing on a river?"
Aragorn smiled in response and then looked at her arm with a concerned look.
She knew that look. That was a look that meant he wanted to prod and poke at her wounds. She knew it was futile to resist him and Legolas was already raising that eyebrow of his that brokered no arguments.
Aragorn tried to roll up her sleeve but when she winced he stopped. He supported her arm with one hand and cupped the elbow joint with the other. He tried to hold it steady as his fingers pressed and explored, but the swaying of the boat made it impossible. With every movement he could see the pain flash through her.
"The elbow joint is not aligned properly, but I can't treat it here. He placed her arm back in her lap then ripped a long strip from the bottom of his tunic. "I am going to need to secure it."
Before Legolas could even begin to translate Amy snatched her arm away doing her best to ignore the pain.
"Amy stop, you are hurt."
"I don't want a sling."
"You need to keep it still." Legolas tried to grab hold of her arms when he had finished signing but stopped when he realised why she was resisting.
"Aragorn, if you put that on her, she won't be able to sign."
The man stopped. Legolas was right. It would be like gagging her.
"It will get worse if I don't."
"Amy, I get it, it's okay. I'm giving you a choice. You let Aragorn secure your arm and we will figure out some one-handed signs together, or we leave your arm for now risking further injury."
She did not think much of the choice but it was comforting that he knew why she had struggled against them without having to tell him.
Finally, she offered the offending arm back to Aragorn and he quickly secured the arm to her chest.
"If… when…we defeat the forces at Gondor. You are going to come to the halls of healing with me and we are going to sort that arm out straight away. No arguments"
Amy wrinkled her nose as Legolas translated Aragorn's words to her.
Aragorn smiled slightly and wished he could give his friends some time alone before the battle ahead. Instead he followed Amy's earlier movement and slumped against the wood, resting his head against it and closing his eyes, hoping that perhaps a few moments of quiet would give bolster his fighting edge.
"Amy? Are you…" He knew it was a stupid question so stopped before he finished it. "Perhaps you should get some sleep. It has been a while since I saw you sleep properly."
It was true. In the days before they left Rohan she would sleep in restless patches between their other nocturnal activities.
She raised her right hand and tried to string some half signs together, "I can't."
"You do not seem to be sleeping anywhere."
He watched her as she roughly shoved her hair away from her face, only for it to fall back into her eyes. She wanted to reach for the hairband on her wrist and tie her hair back but knew that with one hand that would be a futile activity.
As if reading her mind Legolas reached out his hand and gently pulled the band for her wrist.
He pulled her to him, manipulating her body so that she sat between legs. Gently he begun to comb her hair through with his fingers.
It was calming and tender. Deftly he begun to work a thick but intricate braid from above her left ear diagonally down to the nape of her neck and then over her right shoulder.
When he was done, he placed a kiss on the top of her head and then pulled her round and lifted her so that she was tucked in his lap.
"Try and sleep." Legolas signed and stroked his hand down her face. She shut her eyes and rested her head against his chest. The soothing feel of his chest moving up and down and his hand that ran up and down her back lulled her into a relaxed state. She was exhausted but she did not want to sleep. Her dreams had been haunted ever since Helm's Deep, and despite the days gone past she found they were just getting worst.
She would see his face as the blood drained from his body. The boy that died in the Keep. She did not even know his name. And now the faces of the dead would no doubt follow her for a while.
…..
"It will not be long now." Aragorn remarked.
"Well my axe is ready Aragorn, you have no need to worry about that!" Gimli smiled grimly.
"I have no doubt of that."
Legolas looked at Amy. She had finally fallen asleep and he had placed her on the wooden cot as soon as Gimli had vacated it. He had been persuaded to get up after a none too gentle shove from Aragorn.
Aragorn followed the gaze of his friend and saw the worry on his face. Aragorn did not think he could bear the thought of Arwen in the middle of this fight, and she knew how to wield a sword better than most. Amy though, Amy could just about hold a sword, and that was when she had two hands.
"She cannot go out there." The man finally said and Legolas looked at him sharply.
"No she cannot." He agreed.
"Perhaps she could stay on board. Hide here until the battle is won or lost." Gimli added but knew that was not a winning idea as Legolas shot him a look.
"Yes because hiding worked so well for her in Helms Deep!" Legolas had now begun to pace. "And if we lose, then what? She waits to be discovered and then…" He could not finish his sentence.
"That is not going to happen." Aragorn walked over to his friend and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, just as the elf had done for him earlier. "We will not lose and she will be safe."
"How can you know that?"
"Because I trust her. I trust that she has seen a better future for us. Plus, she is not going to be here alone."
Legolas looked at Aragorn quizzically.
"You are going to stay."
"What?"
"You are going to stay here and guard her."
"Aragorn. I…I swore an oath. I will not desert you now."
"You are not deserting me. When we break the battlefield, Orcs will flee. They will flee towards these ships and I do not want even one of them to make it out alive. You will stay with the ships and kill every last one of them."
Aragorn was firm whilst showing Legolas the greatest kindness.
"I can do that." The elf nodded.
Aragorn smiled and then sighed. "It is time for me to go up to the deck, Gimli, perhaps you will join me?"
The dwarf followed the man out of the cabin dutifully but not before giving the elf a cheeky wink.
Legolas sat beside her on the bed. He did not want to wake her but he could see her stirring in her sleep, her eyes moving rapidly behind her eyelids. Her right hand was bunched into a fist and every so often her head would toss back and forth.
He stroked her hair softly to try and soothe her but as soon as his fingers touched her, her eyes shot open and her stormy grey seas met his calm blue waters.
She tried to pull herself up, trying to shake the image of her dream away. She looked around glad that Aragorn and Gimli had not been there to witness her restlessness.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Legolas asked.
She shook her head.
"You do not need to get up yet. You can rest a bit more."
She shook her head again and he relented by helping her sit up. "I need to be ready." She spoke silently.
"You are as ready as you need to be, you will not be going out there."
Amy furrowed her brow. "I am not just waiting here, I cannot just wait here!" Her left hand few up out of the sling and the only sign of her pain was the paling of her skin.
"And you cannot go out there carrying a sword that you can barely lift."
"No, you do not understand. I cannot just sit here and wait. What if someone comes? I won't hear them and then what?"
The memory of the Uruk Hai's tongue running up her face made her feel bile rise in her throat.
"Amy. Stop." Legolas interrupted, grabbing her shoulders."I am not leaving you. Not this time."
"What?"
He spoke slower this time, "I am staying with you. You are right, you are no safer here on your own than out there amongst an army."
"But you can't stay here, you have to go out there, you have to fight. Aragorn needs you!"
Legolas' lip reading was nowhere near as good as hers and he struggled to decipher what she had said. This was ridiculous he thought, if only she would just speak to him.
He took hold of her face and stared deep into those grey eyes. He longed for a moment when they could just speak together.
What could he do? Lock her in this cabin to stop her doing something stupid? He doubted that she would ever forgive him. Try and reason with her? That could take an age.
She watched as his expressive eyes flitted around. She knew he was deep in thought. Amy did not want to fight, she did not want to sleep nor think.
She could not resist. She wanted comfort so she leaned forward and seized his lips with hers. It was an almost instant reaction when Legolas' hands dropped from her face and wrapped around her waist.
He could not deny how light his heart felt when he stopped worrying and just let himself feel her, and he could feel her desperate need for relief.
Amy pulled the collar of his tunic wanting him to join her on the wooden cot and he obliged willingly.
Despite the now heated blood that pulsed through his veins he remained aware of her injuries and he took care not put any of his weight on her even as their hips ground together.
They both knew that what they were doing was foolish. They were in the middle of a war, on a ship full of the Dead. But this was their way of healing wounds, of bridging the gap between them, and as Amy felt him enter her, the pain, the exhaustion and the fear melted away.
Her free hand gripped the cushion behind her head and her back arched as she felt that familiar knot of ecstasy tightening within her. She could see her name on his lips as he filled her and she found herself wondering what she would give to hear that, just once.
All Legolas could hear was the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears as he lost himself deeper and deeper in her.
As his head dipped allowing his mouth to find her neck Amy found her release her hand now burying roughly in his hair.
It did not take long for Legolas to follow her as every muscle of hers tightened around him.
"I love you." It was breathless but she understood what he had said.