Chapter 49:
Aragorn prepared Brego for the ride to the encampment at Dunharrow where the Rohirrim were assembling for the final ride to Minas Tirith. Next to him Éowyn was preparing her horse as well. "Do you ride with us?" he asked.
"Just to the encampment. Its tradition for the women of the court to farewell the men," she said continuing to tend to the needs of her horse.
Sensing that there was more to this, Aragorn lifted the blanket of her horse to reveal her sword. She quickly snatched it back from her before turning to look at him. "The men have found their captain. They will follow you into battle. Even to death. You have given us hope," she said smiling at him.
He sighed as he turned away from her with a feeling of uneasiness settling over him. He had a feeling that this might happen and it was not what he wanted. Too much was already at stake.
He worried about Frodo and Sam during their trek into Mordor.
He worried about Aria and the twins that she carried.
He worried about Arwen and whether or not she actually sailed.
He just hoped that in the end everything would turn out for the best.
He turned his attention towards his friends who were preparing for the journey as well. He watched from a distance as Merry offered his service to Théoden as an esquire of Rohan, who gladly accepted it. Then he turned to look at Gimli and Legolas who were engaged in a small conversation nearby, as they sat on the back of Arod waiting to leave. He worried about them as well.
"Horse men! I wish I could muster an army of dwarves, fully armed and filthy," Gimli said.
"Your kinsmen may have no need to ride to war." Legolas answered. "I fear war already marches on their own lands."
Aragorn sighed again. Had Sauron's reached spread that far north into Mirkwood already? And even as far as Erebor? Could Legolas sense it? Surely not.
Yet who was he to know the inner workings of the elves? Perhaps Legolas could. If that was the case, then what could Aria feel?
Aria screamed out in pain and arched her back from her sleep. Once again, nightmares about what Sauron was doing had taken over Aria's sleep. Tauriel and Haldir were helpless in what they could do for their friend.
"Is there nothing you can do for her?" Haldir asked with a look for concern on his face.
"No." Tauriel sighed as she gently ran a damp cloth along Aria's sweat-matted forehead. "Mithrandir said that there is nothing we can really do for her. The only thing that can help her is to defeat Sauron."
Aria moaned again and slowly opened her eyes as she looked up at her two friends. "Osgiliath has fallen. Darkness now spreads into Mirkwood and near Erebor. I fear that Minas Tirith is next…"
"Shh," Tauriel said. "You know that Mithrandir will not let that happen. Nor will your brother. He will get here in time."
"I hope so…" Aria wearily said as she closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep.
Haldir stood up and walked to the nearby window. "She is right. Osgiliath has fallen," he said peering out of it towards the west. In the distance he could see, men on horseback fleeing from the garrison back towards the white city.
"She is rarely wrong when it comes to visions. Sometimes about their meaning she is, but not what she sees. It had always been this way." Tauriel sadly said as she looked at her husband. Haldir sighed as well and hoped that for once, Aria's visions were mistaken.
"Boromir was loyal to me! Not some wizard's pupil!" Denethor shouted at his youngest son as he stumbled back against his chair during his confrontation with Faramir over loosing city of Osgiliath and letting the ring into the Mordor.
"Father?" Faramir asked worriedly.
Denethor looked up at his son and instead of seeing Faramir, he saw an image of Boromir smiling behind him. "My son!"
As the image of Boromir moved towards Denethor, it faded away. In his misery, Denethor turned and looked at Faramir with his face full of grief for Boromir yet hate for Faramir. "Leave me," he snarled.
Faramir did just that. As he walked out of the hall and into the courtyard, he was not paying attention and walked right into a young woman who was walking across the courtyard. She stumbled slightly, but quickly caught herself.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said looking at him. "But I can tell that you are not."
"How can you tell?"
"You were not paying attention to where you were walking," she said. She looked up at the young man who had walked into her and noticed that this was a new face to the court of the Steward of Gondor. "Oh we have not met. I am Lady Aria."
"The Princess of Mirkwood?" Faramir asked.
"One of them. There are three of us."
"But you are not an elf."
"That is correct. I am a human." Aria said with a smile. "Yet, how does a man of the west know about the Mirkwood elves?"
"Father made myself and my brother know information about all the royal families around Middle Earth. Oh excuse me, I am Faramir. Son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor," he said bowing his head slightly to her. She smiled at him softly.
"Now are you going to make me guess at what is bothering you? Or are you going to tell me since you just about knocked me over?"
Faramir sighed. "It is nothing really. Just my father. You would understand if you have met him. But I have to be going. It was nice to meet you."
He turned and began to walk away from her. "Wait Faramir!" she called out.
He stopped and turned around.
She walked towards him. "Whatever your father says to you about your brother being better than you or lambasting you for not bringing him the ring is wrong. And what you said about your brother is true – he would have kept it for himself."
And with that she turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Faramir behind.
"Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor in peace or war, in living or dying, from…from this hour henceforth until my lord release me or death take me." Pippin said as he recited his allegiance to Denethor and to Gondor.
"And I shall not forget it! Nor fail to reward that which is given," he said offering his ring to Pippin to kiss – which the hobbit hesitantly does. "Fealty with love. Valor with honor. Disloyalty with vengeance. I do not think we should so lightly abandon the outer defenses. Defenses that your brother long held intact."
"What would you have me do?" Faramir asked. He had been standing by, watching the entire ceremony.
"I will not yield the River and Pellenor unfought. Osgiliath must be retaken."
"My lord, Osgiliath is over run."
"Much must be risked in war. Is there a Captain here who still has the courage to do his lord's will?"
"You wish now that our places had been exchanged. That I had died and Boromir had lived."
"Yes, I wish that." Denethor said as he drank from a goblet.
"Since you are robbed of Boromir I will do what I can in his stead," he said bowing as he turned to leave the hall. "If I should return, think better of me father."
"That will depend on the manner of your return."
"Faramir! Faramir! Your father's will has turned to madness! Do not throw away your life so rashly!" Gandalf said as he and Aria pushed their way through the crowds as Faramir and his troops rode through the streets of Minas Tirith back towards Osgiliath to retake the city as Denethor had commanded.
"Where does my allegiance lie if not here? This is the city of men of Numenor. I will gladly give my life to defend her beauty, her memory, her wisdom." Faramir said.
Gandalf and Aria stood by and watched as they soldiers rode out.
"Your father loves you Faramir. He will remember it in the end." Gandalf softly said.
As Aria stood there watching with Gandalf, she felt her chest tighten. Something was wrong. In haste, she reached for the wizard as her knees buckled and darkness surrounded her. One of the last coherent thoughts that she had was of her husband…
AN: Sorry for the delay…but the knee surgery was successful and now I can walk normally! Woo hoo!
Anyways, for those of you who are looking for something new and different to read, then why not check out my Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler story 'Heaven and Hell' or my BRAND NEW Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan story, "Reluctant Memories' – I would very much appreciate it. They are not getting any love at all, while Reflections Remixed does…
And on that note, here's another plug: check out SleepyHollow5's fic, 'A Road Less Traveled' – it's totally awesome!
As always, let me know what ya'll thought about this chapter!
