This is no different than the original, if you have already read it don't bother just go on to chapter 39.
More Macbeth, personality clashes and a slight abduction!
As well as another hint to Wait...THIS is Lord of The Rings. This one I did know about.
You readers are soooo lucky. Annwn was mad at me after I told her that I was going to continue to post her story on the internet so she stole the USB stick that it is on.
Don't lie to them Finance! You lost it for two days and we all know that you're not a Hufflepuff 'cause you can't FIND anything you lose. Don't frame me for something I didn't to...unless it's killing more orcs than Legolas, or burning Twilight one page at a time.
Annwn! We talked about this remember! You said you were going to play nice, like your friends in Rohan.
I thought that only concerned Aragorn and Boromir's bitch of a sister?
Now, now! Lest not reveal too much. Oh and readers, watch for how I portray/describe that sister. See if you can pick out what I've done. And only two reviews? You don't need to be logged on you know. I accept anonymous ones.
Chapter 38 What a Fool Believes and Bitch by The Doobie Brothers and Meredith Brooks
They were given rooms for their stay in the city. They were on the seventh level (most likely only because of Gandalf's Mithrandir status) and they had a wondrous view of the hell that would soon be unleashed unto them. Joy! The rooms themselves were a lot like suite in a hotel. There were two bedrooms, and a small space off to one side that was the bathroom. The rest was open with a few couches and places to sit. There was also a fire place that Annwn avoided unconscientiously even when it wasn't lit. She didn't want to succumb to DBB, death by badger.
That night Annwn had another nightmare, only this time she had no one to talk to about it. She turned over and tried to sleep again. It didn't come until too late, the sun was coming up.
That morning Gandalf went again to Denethor and urged him to light to signal. He refused. What help would Rohan provide, none. Or so his screwed up, delusional brain thought. Annwn couldn't stand his grief anymore and when Gandalf took Pippin off to the side telling him that he had to light the signal Annwn when off her own way.
The halls of the White City were easier to navigate than those of Rivendell as they were set up in a grid pattern rather than that of a complicated maze designed for the sole purpose of confusing newcomers. She easily found her way back to her room tore open her saddle bag and took out the half horn. It was now or never. Annwn took off her jacket but left on her vest that had been surprisingly well restored by the staff of the Golden Hall. She strapped her sword to her belt (just in case) and wrapped the horn in some of the fabric she had gotten from Elrond. On her way out of her room she caught her reflection in the full length mirror. She turned and looked at herself full on. Dressed as she was she could be one of Captain Jack Sparrow's crew, all she was missing was a hat, but the nose ring partially made up for lack of hat. She laughed at her reflection, maybe she was a pirate. Then she turned back to the door and her mission.
She stormed her way up to the door of the great hall. When she opened the door the three people who were talking stopped mid thought. One of the three was a woman, she was young and dark haired. She was pretty, strong cheek bones and a hart shaped face and this woman had been well endowed in the breast department. And if that wasn't enough she was tall, at least six feet.
"What are you doing here? This is a private council." Said the woman sounding peeved.
"So far I'm two for two then." Annwn said alluding to her interruption in Rivendell. "I am Annwn of Canada."
"She came with Mithrandir sister." Said Faramir. 'So...this was the sister? Interesting.' She saw it now. she was just the slimmer, feminine version of her brothers, and with dark hair and the same grey eyes. Though as Annwn walked closer she found that they unlike both of her brothers had no softness to them. They might as well have been made of cold, razor sharp slate. How clichéd, but it was the truth.
"Ah. Well then, she should have her head off for her interruption."
"Surely not sister!" Faramir thought this was much too harsh a penalty, so did Annwn. Denethor had yet to speak, it seems that he was too overtaken with grief.
"So you're the sister...what's your name?"
"Lady Breanna of Gondor." She said with her nose in the air, already looking down at Annwn like she was nothing.
"Breanna...interesting." and it was, for it to was one of Annwn's names.
"Yes I am named after the last great queen of Gondor." The Steward's daughter said nose still in the air still.
"Yeah, yeah, I know who she is." Annwn said flippantly causing Breanna to reel back a bit. It only took her a moment to collect herself before she asked
"Why are you dressed like a man? And there is a ring through your nose! Are you a pirate?" Annwn actually laughed out loud, being called a pirate never got old. Denethor looked up when he heard laughter.
"No I'm not a pirate; pants are simply more practical than dresses."
"Why have you come?" the Steward demanded
"Because I have word of your son." Annwn was thoroughly sober when she said it hoping that it would help them all see that she was sincere.
"I know my sons fate! I do not need to hear it again! Least of all from you!" he spat the words at her
"Boromir and the horn of Gondor do not share the same fate!" Annwn said trying her best to be formal and to the point, bbut she forgot that in a formal setting she would say Lord Boromir, woops. Oh well, too late now.
"Who are you to tell me this?" Denethor shrieked while Faramir looked stricken and Breanna just looked pissed off.
"I bring good news; but the Raven herself may be hoarse for crying after this talk is through..." She just dropped an anvil sized hint of who she was thought to be, but not even Faramir heard it crash onto the marble floor. She held out the unwrapped half horn that Boromir had given her. "Your eldest son gave me this and a message to bring to you. That he is well and fine and very much alive despite what the evidence might present." There, that was her best 'talking to important people voice'.
"NO!" Breanna screamed then she hissed at her father "look at her father, look, a woman in breeches, surely she is not honourable. She killed our Boromir and is just bringing this news to pain us more. She even has a sword Father!"
"You killed him, you killed my son! And you defiled the horn of Gondor with your woman hands, he would never have given the horn to a woman! You killed him." Denethor was advancing on her, there was a wild look in his eyes when he grabbed the half horn out of her still extended hand. Annwn stood her ground stiffly, though she very much wanted to get him out of her bubble.
"Off with her head! Screamed Breanna, while Annwn suppressed the giggle that threatened to escape.
"You should be careful, you start screaming that a few more times and people will be calling you the Red Queen. Well, more like Red Lady, cause you're not a queen. And I don't think any beheading is necessary. I'm telling you good news here, the truth!" In her head Annwn was thinking 'I told you Boromir, they won't believe me. But nooo, you had to get me to do this.'
"Faramir..." Denethor said in a very low, scary voice, it was full of anger and hatred. 'Shit" thought Annwn "this can't be good.'
"Yes father?" he asked tentatively
"Kill her." his lips turned up at he said this. 'Yup, not good at all!'
"Father?" the younger brother sounded horrified while Breanna had the face of the cat that ate the canary.
"Kill her!" he screamed it this time. Faramir had no choice but to do his father's biding. He slowly drew his sword and walked up to her. He had a pained expression on his face. He clearly didn't want to kill her...that or he had an ulcer all of a sudden. Annwn hoped it wasn't an ulcer.
She looked him in the eye, fairly sure in her ability not to be hacked into two and said,
"'What man may dare I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, the arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger. Take any shape but that and my firm nerves shall never tremble or be alive again. Dare me to the desert with thy sword, if trembling I inhabit'...then go ahead and kill me!" Annwn challenged. He brought up his sword and was about to bring it down on her. But when it was just reaching its climax she ducked out of the way and drew her own to block his next blow. His eyes widened in shock.
"As much as l like your brother, I have no intention of being a martyr for him. I've been there, it wasn't a pleasant experience." She broke the hold they were in and let him attack first. She was a match for him (she knew this was only because he didn't really want to kill her, yay! He didn't have an ulcer.) and she soon had him backed into a pillar. There was fear in his grey eyes.
"Are you afraid?" she asked accusation making her voice hard like Aragorn's in the film when he said the same line. "Do you think now that I did kill your brother?"
"Yes." At least he was honest. When she spoke next her voice was softer but only a whispered hiss so that only he could hear.
"I didn't, you don't kill the man who has saved your life more times he knows, you don't kill the man who comforts you when you're dying and you certainly don't kill the man who professes that he loves you, even if you don't want to hear it." She took her blade off his throat where it had pressed against his Adams apple and stepped back.
"Look at him father! He can't even kill a woman! Are you sure he is your son?"
"No, I'm not." 'Holy Fucking Shit!' (Mind her language) 'This woman was a bitch, I mean really!' Annwn had friends who didn't like their siblings but she was in a league of her own. Then Denethor started again.
"However I shall once again call you my son when you reclaim Osgiliath. Your brother long defended the city and I will not let it go undefended now."
"My Lord the city is over run." Faramir said trying to be reasonable
"Is there still a captain here with the courage to do his Lords will?"
"You wish that our places had been exchanged? That I had died and Boromir had lived?"
"Yes...I do wish that." Annwn watched with her eyes slightly popping out of their sockets and her jaw slack.
"Then since you were robbed of Boromir I shall do what I can in his stead." Faramir's composed exterior was only about a millimetre thick. Annwn could see a man who was trying so hard to please his father, but deep down he knew it would never happen. In that moment Annwn felt her faith in men finally splutter and die. Damn you Denethor. The one ember that had still glowed the day before was dead. She didn't think it could ever be rekindled.
"If I should return father think better of me."
"That will depend on the manner of your return." The Steward said coldly to his son who left by a side door. "As for you, you are free to go. Let it be known that you only live because Faramir is weak. Had Boromir been here in his stead, you would have been in pieces on the floor."
"It should also be known that Boromir wouldn't heartlessly kill an innocent person as you are so willing to do...and just think of the mess I saved you from having when he comes home." Boromir would have been madder than she had ever seen him if when he came home he found that she had been killed...by his father's order and his brother's hand. She quickly walked to the main doors and before she pulled them open and left she called down (more than a little sarcastically) to the other end
"By your leave Lord Denathor!" and walked out. She tried to slam the door but it was too thick to cooperate. There was a certain thickness of door that was just right for slamming and three inch thick oak wasn't it. As consequence her exit lost most of its flair.
As she walked back to her room it was all she could do not to cry. She was walking in a daze hoping her feet would get her there. Annwn was thinking about what Boromir had said to her so long ago. On the mountain, it felt like forever ago now. How he could ever compare her to that bitch was a wonder. Though he had also said that his father was ashamed of her. He didn't seem so ashamed of her now. She was the one that was feeding him lies.
"Maybe she's changed. Oh, she's such a bitch!" She said emphatically while muttering to herself. Then out of nowhere she was grabbed around the waist and a hand was over mouth to stop her scream, she did scream and she struggled against someone who was much bigger and stronger than her. She had been pulled into an alcove off the hall. Her assailant whispered in her ear.
"Please stop struggling, I will release you." It was Faramir. He was lucky; she was just about to bite his hand, hard. He released her around the waist and let her turn to face him but kept his hand over her mouth.
"I mean no harm; I only wish to ask questions." Annwn nodded he removed his hands. When he did this Annwn took a great breath and made like she was going to yell for help. She saw Faramir panic.
"I'm kidding" she whispered giggling a bit "your brother would laugh at that." He didn't look convinced. Though Annwn knew that Boromir would only have laughed because he knew her and that she would do stupid things just to get a laugh.
"Now why did you pull me in here like you were going to rape me? You could have just stopped me in the hall?" Annwn asked
"I thought after our last encounter that you would avoid me and thought of no other alternative. Do you not hate me now?"
"Hate you? Why would I hate you? You didn't want to kill me. What happened back there wasn't your fault." Faramir let out an audible sigh.
"You are very forgiving. And I am sorry for what part I played in that scene."
"I'm still here and in one piece so think nothing of it." She assured him "Why did you want to talk to me?" Annwn got to the other 'why'.
"You say my brother told you that he loved you?" 'Ah, so that was the why.' Thought Annwn.
"Sounds like a fantastic lie doesn't it? I wish he hadn't." The woman in front of him didn't look pleased about it, and Faramir thought this was rather odd.
"My brother wasn't-"
"Isn't" Annwn corrected.
"Wasn't the kind of man who ever professed his love of anything other than family and even that was never so...explicit."
"What are you saying?" Annwn eyed him trying to guess where he was going with this point.
"That either you lie or he changed before he died."
"God! You're still on about that are you? He is not dead. Last I saw him he was safe and sound in Edoras! Waiting for the beacon of Gondor to be lit and to ride with the Rohan army to Gondor's aid. Last I checked dead guys don't do that!" 'Unless they were cursed by Isildur' she added in her head.
"How can I trust you?" Now it was Faramir who was eyeing her suspiciously.
"I don't know what to say to convince you?" Annwn huffed
"Yes, only a Court Raven would know that." He said under his breath sounding frustrated. Annwn would have missed it had she not been so close to him in that little alcove.
"The Raven!" she almost shouted. Faramir made a motion with his hand showing her that he wanted her to be quieter while looking slightly panicked and checking if there was anyone in the hall. There wasn't.
"What about it?" he asked.
"It was your favourite legend as a child. You used to ask Boromir if he thought the Raven would come in your life time." She said proudly poking him in the chest with her finger to make her point.
"And what was his response, always?" he asked testing her, one eyebrow raised.
"You better hope little brother, that she doesn't." Faramir's eyes widened
"Well this proves that you knew him."
"Finally! Now you have to believe me. Your brother is not dead. He is not." She said trying to impress upon the man the truth. However in a small secret place in her heart she was telling herself the same thing.
"But the horn?"
"That was an accident. We were attacked by orcs. It was broken in the fight. When your brother pushed off one of our boats to hide the fact we had been there it caught on the prow and broke off, falling into the boat. There was no way to get it back. I had to ask him how it happened." she admitted "That was the boat and horn that you found floating in the Anduin."
"Did you not see it happen?"
"Um, no, I was unconscious at the time."
"Unconscious? Were you injured?"
"Yeah, two arrows in the side and...and a bad cut." She couldn't bear to explain that and looked at her feet while she said it.
"Two? How are you alive? You're so small." Faramir said sounding both intrigued and horrified.
"Yeah, your brother didn't seem to get that." Annwn said looking at her feet. This was the first time she had told anyone what had happened other than Éowyn. And that had been different, sort of a woman-to-woman-I-saved-that-mans-ass-thing. This was sad and it hurt. Partially because it wasn't happening while there was drinking and free flowing laughter from the table next to them. No, this admittance came after a father had sentenced his son to die and it hurt, more that Annwn expected it to.
"Um, I should take my leave Lord Faramir." She said trying to be formal, and trying again not to cry.
"Yes, I suppose." She wasn't fully out of the alcove when he spoke again. "Who is Robin Hood?" with a sad smile on her face and heaviness in her heart she said
"Not as good a man as you." Then she left, leaving the younger brother standing behind her.
Faramir stared after her, she was so familiar. He knew her face from somewhere but he could not place it. It was a strange feeling, like he had known her as a child. This could not be because she was much too young for that.
Dun Dun Dun!
Story Alert Thanks to Undapper Thoughts, Geriana, cheer1589.
Review thanks to
Butterflyninja935( I don't think he looks like the Russel crow Robin Hood but with the reddish hair and the bow when he meets Sam and Frodo. I saw Robin Hood. I'm just saying, I'm not saying that you have to agree with me.)
Aandm20 (Thanks! I love positive comments though I am open to constructive criticism as well.)
Only two reviews? Here's a challenge. I would like all of you who alerted this story or favourited it to send one review. Just tell me one thing you liked in the story so far or something you didn't like in the story, I really don't care. It only takes a minute and you don't have to be logged on. Thank you.