The horses head bobbed up and down as she took long strides in a hasty walk. She didn't dare go any faster in fear of hurting her rider further. The mare couldn't quite place what it was about the tune she had heard, but it made her trust in the human almost entirely. She felt the human had a strong, loyal connection with another animal like her. The mare could tell the boy was not familiar with the landscape and she was thankful that he let her lead the way, holding her mane with one hand the other hugging his stomach. She felt his weight move on her back, slightly startled her, since she's never been ridden before. The mare stumbles a bit before picking her feet back up and continuing her quick pace.
The boy looked left and right, checking the terrain, remembering it. The mare guessed he was trying to see if any of it was familiar, but she felt and heard the boy give a disappointed sigh. The boy turned around, although she couldn't see him the mare could feel him shift his weight. Again, she stumbled and nickered apologetically, he patted her neck in a reassuring fashion.
The mare continued walking and the boy stayed still, barely moving, only looking to either side every now and then. The only thing that kept the world from dissolving into silence was the occasional bird noises and the beat of her hooves on the ground. A sudden tug on her mane caused the horse to stop, though she almost barely felt it. The boy slid down from her bare back, he slowly walked up, patting her soft, smooth neck as he passed her. Reaching into his pouch, the mare watched with interest as he pulled out a smooth, round, red apple and gave it to her. The horse took it gladly, getting every piece with her lips. It took her awhile to notice he was slightly leaning against the right side of her neck, his left draped across her crest, the other still over his stomach, almost covered with blood. He was looking towards the horizon, where the sun hovered just above, he seemed uncomfortable, apparently he didn't like being out in the open very much; he quickly mounted the right side. The mare soon set off again, knowing the boy needed help she yet again headed to Helms Deep; she had seen lots of wounded soldiers retreat there not that long ago.
She was bound determined to get this boy help, she didn't know him but something told her she was supposed to help him, even if she was just a horse. Yet, something unnerved her when she saw his eyes. Bright as the sky they were, as if glowing even in the light, but there was something else, almost feral. The mare could relate, she herself was a feral horse after all.
She lived with a young girl, with short, curly, blonde hair. Although the mare was a bit salty towards her, the girl insisted on caring for her. The mare had known her for a while, until there was a devastating attack on her small village. The teenage girl protected her horse until the end, when she was brutally slaughtered by angry men as she was helping the mare escape her burning pasture.
The horse had wandered, feeling guilty for her ignorance of the girl. Even though she was a bit mean to her, she still protected her and died in doing so. The horse believed the expression was called sadness. Now she had to help this injured boy.
...
Link was contemplating if he should use his red potion, but this was a strange land and he had no idea what could happen. Probably something a lot worse than a few cuts, though he was losing blood.
He could tell by the horses reactions that she had not been ridden in a while or at all. Every time he would make a small move she stumbles a bit. Link had no idea where he was or where he was going, but the mare seemed to have a pretty good idea where she was headed and was dead set on getting there. He didn't dare try and change her mind.
For what the hero could see, there wasn't much change in the scenery. When he had made it out of the woods all he could see was a rolling yellow-tinted grass meadow. Not much changed as he rode by, except for the mountains on his left, but they seemed very far away. About two days ride, triple that if he was on foot…quadruple that with the state he was in. However it did seem obvious how the plant life had gained a little more colour as the hero put more and more distance between him and that weird fortress.
A loud noise snapped Links attention to his right, he was sure the horse hadn't heard it. His delicate Hylian ears could hear something an animal couldn't, not to mention the wolf, which came with benefits of its own. Some good, some…strange…
Soon after the mare was alert, ears pointed forward, head looking this way and that. It was coming from behind them, but was pretty far behind. It sounded thunderous, like a herd of thousands of horses, but clearly not. Definitely more like an army. Despite his need to find shelter, Link forced the horse to turn around so he could get a better view at what was coming. The horse was obviously annoyed by this, reluctantly she turned her body, but only to a 90o angle.
The hero sat and waited as the horse whinnied and constantly kept fidgeting. Soon on the horizon, he could clearly see something was coming, though the setting sun half blocked his vision and glared into his eyes. Link forced himself to look away so he wouldn't blind himself from straining his eyes to see whatever it was that was coming. The mare nodded her head in annoyance trying to get away, apparently she knew exactly what was coming and she wanted out.
Link finally gave in, letting the horse lead the way once again. She was clearly annoyed by the hero's choices, was he trying to let himself bleed to death? Nothing seemed to be stopping the bleeding.
If they had stayed there for too long he would've learned the hard way not to be too curious. He clearly was not from around here. The mare picked up the pace, going a little faster than before, halfway to a trot. She could feel him slouch a little, probably getting drowsy because of his arrogance. He seemed to be the type of person that puts others before themselves, they can be quite contumacious when it comes to treating themselves.
…
Aragorn stood on the wall that guarded most of Helms Deep. He looked out at the open landscape, willing for something to appear. Something that wasn't an army of ten thousand uruk-hai, maybe the reinforcements Théodin wouldn't let him call for. Aragorn half expected anything or anyone to appear. Legolas had been right, as much as he refused to believe it, they were drastically outnumbered.
Fingering the Evenstar, Aragorn narrowed his eyes as someone walked up and stood next to him. He didn't bother looking, he knew who it was.
Before Aragorn could say anything a small silhouette appeared, like a dot. Stifling a gasp, Aragorn stepped closer to the edge. "Can you see what it is, Legolas?"
There was a pause, the man looked over at the elf. His blue eyes vibrant with colour, "It's a person...riding a horse."
Aragorn placed a weary hand on the wall leaning, as if it would help him see whoever it was better.
"No uruk-hai." He simply stated.
Soon the man could make out the horse as it made its way closer, though he could not make out the features of whatever was riding it. He could make out a shiny deep brown horse, making its way in a quick pace. Her ears perked forward as soon as she saw Aragorn standing on the wall, looking out.
"Their wounded," Legolas blurted.
Aragorn had almost forgotten he was next to him, "What?" The horse and rider had gotten closer however, he still couldn't tell who or what it was. Growing impatient Aragorn made an attempt to descend the steps and make his way to the gate, but was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder.
His friend's eyes seemed to bore into his, "I wanted to apologize," his eyes flickered with regret. "It was wrong of me to make such an outburst…" His gaze flashed outward towards the wayward traveler. Legolas' soft expression changed to slight confusion.
Aragorn followed his gaze to see the duo was much closer now. The horse only stood as a young wounded boy slipped off and fell to the ground with a thud.
They hesitated until they realized that he wasn't moving.
Aragorn dashed down the steps, two at a time. Legolas close behind. He ran across the path and up a few more steps, around a corner, up some more steps, down a narrow alley, up some more steps. Until he and the elf reached the gate, demanding it to be opened. Reluctantly the guards obeyed and they both sprinted out, though Legolas was a bit faster, reaching the traveler first.
He knelt down on one knee as Aragorn observed the bare horse. She seemed quite content, all though a little feral. Aragorn reached up to pat her face, but the mare moved her head avoiding it and turned to canter away. The man grunted in annoyance, but he turned his attention toward Legolas. The elf was examining the boys wounds, applying pressure to his abdomen where an angry gash oozes blood.
Aragorn couldn't avoid the fact that he had strange features, similar to an elf, yet completely different. His ears were pointed, but longer and not quite at an angle. His sword seemed to emit a presence of its own, which was very strange to say the least. The boy's cloak was tattered and ripped in several places looking quite dirty. Despite the blood his facial features seemed to be quite lax, no grimace thankfully.
The sound of someone running up behind him tore Aragorn's gaze away from the boy. Eowyn ran down the path that exited Helms Deep, her beautiful wavy golden hair flowing behind her as she approached them, a look of worry and concern perched upon her fine features.
She skipped past Aragorn and knelt on the other side of the boy. She said nothing, the man could tell she was trying to occupy her mind. "We should get him inside," she said.
"Um," Legolas looked up at Aragorn, "we don't know if he's with the enemy…"
"Shouldn't you be able to tell?" She snapped, not bothering to look up, "You think someone working with the enemy would come like this?" She paused somewhat confused by her own words. What was she thinking? Of course they would, so they could get inside and get information or give them a sickness or- she shook her head.
Legolas glanced at Aragorn, they shared a silent conversation as Eowyn sat uncomfortably. Aragorn slipped his left arm under the boy's shoulders and his other under his knees. He carefully lifted the boy off the ground and the group made their way back into the fortress.
Eowyn had seated herself next to the bed where the boy in the green tunic lay. She couldn't leave. It's not that she was attracted to him. She felt a need to watch, the sword seated next to her, just in case. He didn't seem like much of a threat, he mostly laid still only shifting from time to time and occasionally muttering something undstinctable. They had his left wrist tied to the side of the bed frame; once again, just in case.
The boy laid shirtless on the bed with a bandage across his abdomen and another across his chest. His bangs lay messy because of the wrap around his forehead where an ungly gash on the right side of it had been bleeding pretty badly.
She sat on a small wooden chair with a cushion, her leg crossed over her knee, absorbed in a book of ancient writing and history. Her hair had been braided back - courtesy of herself - so she could help care for the mysterious, wounded traveler and so it wouldn't constantly be in her eyes. Eowyn couldn't fight the nagging feeling that there seemed to be another presence in the room, beside her and the traveler. It came from the corner where they had stashed the boy's sword, shield and packs.
A small hum rose from the far corner of the room, where the supplies had been hidden from view. A faint glow shimmered weakly, Eowyn almost yelped as she saw it.
But all too soon it fell silent once again, making Eowyn wonder if she had been imagining things. She slipped a small paper into the book to hold her place and decided to investigate.
Slowly the golden haired girl made her way to the corner, slipping off the black sheet and peering under it. The sword leaned against the corner of the wall, the shield propped up against it. Eowyn grabbed the shield and lifted it into the light of a candle. Several designs were displayed upon the blue surface.
Three golden triangles made one large triangle, what seemed to be the body of a bird was placed below it in a red colour, matching it were two feet on the bottom. A pair of wings pronounced themselves on either side of the large golden triangles. The surface however was not smoothe, despite it's proud designs. There were several gashes and scratches, however what unnerved her the most was the stain on the shield that looked like blood, but it only looked like not-quite-dried water.
Eowyn placed the shield down and grabbed the black sheet. She could've sworn, out of the corner of her eye she had seen the hilt of the sword flashed a brilliant blue as she lifted the sheet, but when she turned towards it, it was still a dark purple.
Returning to her seat, Eowyn reopened her book, but her reading was short lived.
Her eyes flickered up to look at the boy. He seemed to be having bad dreams, which the girl could relate to. More times than she cared to count, she had woken in a cold sweat from a dream she wished she could forget.
Before she could get back to her reading, the boy shot into a sitting position, his eyes snapping open.
His bright cerulean eyes flashed around the room until they met Eowyn's. They were such a startling blue that the girl had to look away. She could feel his eyes trained on her, and she finally found herself looking back at his. His eyes had a strange feral look to them, almost like a scared animal, ready to lash out at anything stupid enough to come close.
"Woah," his voice seemed a bit groggy but not too bad. His tone sounded strangely sarcastic. "Uh, where am I?"
Eowyn thought for a moment, a bit distracted by his eyes but managed an answer, "Helms Deep." She didn't know if it could hurt for him to know that little fact, could it? Even if he was with the enemy?
He looked completely bewildered, in a disbelieving voice he responded, "What?"
Eowyn was about to answer when his next question came, taking her totally off guard.
"Are you with that creepy wizard dude?"
Her lips trembled, "What do you mean?" Eowyn was totally aware of the White wizard that had left to find her brother about four days ago, but how would this boy come to know him? "You came from Isenguard?"
At first he didn't answer, looking at her with uncertainty in his eyes. "I don't know. Somehow I just ended up here?"
...
I was just too damn lazy to actually go through and edit this. So here's my crap, currently working on ch6 (i think idr)
Aight, thank you: Darkfire1202, FantasyFreaky, Shokage, IvenaDawn, Dao Ma, SentineI951 for following and/or liking the storey. And ty guest for reveiwing (It's actually what motivated me to redo this and post today.) ily guys.
R&R
