My lovely reviewers! So we are united again! And Irulan's story continues.
And by the rate, it is not about to end yet. Lovely Egyptian Queen, I never
said I won't kill them, I only said I will torture the first (insert evil
laugh here). Scene Eleven, I almost died reading your mail. I was drinking
coffee and I swear it went the wrong way, and I almost laughed myself to
death. Ha ha..you SHOULD write! Mae Noelle, the immense support you are
showing is incredible. Tara, Kira, Kirjava, Silmarien Forever, Evenstar,
Shakiya, Iluvlegolas, Rina, Desdemona, Dove, Tasakapeotkauu, aga_xris,
spaceman, beloved Stella, Lucy, Christina, Elleth na Illivren, Donna,
mokona and ALL others....you don't tire complimenting me, thus I won't tire
thanking you! It's only fair!
TTT was an incredible movie but the action was mounted towards the very ending, for all three parties of the Fellowship (excluding the Warg scene). So if there is not sufficient blood and sweat in the upcoming chapters, it's really not my fault. Sigh...I'm afraid I will have to fill that gap with cruel romance now, won't I?
"Why Irulan, your hair looks astonishing!"
"Aragorn, I swear I will kill you if you make one more comment!"
"I'm sure it was worth all the time it took to braid this intricate piece of art," he said, still grinning.
Irulan threw him a killer look. "That's ENOUGH! I should never speak with you again! Ever since I have joined this quest, you have been nothing but vile to me!"
Aragorn looked baffled. "VILE?" he said in astonishment.
"Yes! You hid the truth of Legolas' feelings from me, you played me ruthlessly in that little braiding issue by the River Anduin, then you hid another, and this time LETHAL truth about Legolas from me, and you betrayed me countless times!!" Irulan was about to scream, but managed to keep her voice low till the end, knowing that Legolas might pop up any minute from behind a rock.
"Oh......that......" said Aragorn, still grinning! 'And that is the future king! Why if HE is the little boy he is, how can I blame the rest of his gender? Middle Earth is doomed anyway, I might give up this minute!' she thought bitterly. "But.......you can not deny that it helped to do some good in the end!" He continued a moment later, amused. "Legolas is obviously much better than I have seen him since Rivendell......and even better since I have seen him in many years. And........" he grinned again and Irulan felt the strong urge to cover her ears, ".......your hair looks indeed astonishing!"
She turned around, about to give him a real lesson, when he suddenly slowed down and then completely stopped. 'If this is a game, I'm not falling for it!' thought Irulan, but Aragorn's face had changed once more. He looked very serious now. He bent down and touched the rocks on the ground. Then he waited a moment longer before he slowly said "Riders.........coming this way," he swiftly stood up and grabbed her arm. Both Legolas and Gimli were close by, and he motioned them to follow quickly.
They all huddled behind some rocks and waited a few moments. Indeed, Irulan began to hear a faint noise of hooves.
"You will stay here Irulan," said Aragorn, he motioned to the others, "We will go out and talk to them."
"Why the heck am I staying?" she protested in a whisper.
"Because it might be dangerous and because you look quite........unique," he said looking her up and down for an instant.
Irulan gritted her teeth. Alright, so maybe a woman clad in her clothing was not a very common thing and might stir unfriendly or suspicious thoughts. But dangerous! Now that was truly ridiculous! However, she would not object Aragorn in decisions such as this. He was the leader, after all.
Soon a group of Rohirrim riders galloped by them, not noticing the hunters among the rocks. Irulan knew them by their armor and the flags they were carrying. Aragorn beckoned to the other men in the group and they moved out with them, walking down the small hill the riders had passed a moment ago.
"Riders of Rohan!" he shouted, holding out his hands, "What news from the Mark?"
Irulan remained perched in her hiding spot. The leader of the riders signaled the group to turn around and moments later her friends were encircled tightly, spears menacingly pointing at them. She swallowed hard. Rohirrim were not really very hospitable people. They were living in harsh lands, with constant threat of orcs this close to Mordor. They were only second to harshness and hostility to the men of Gondor.
Finally the leader of the group dismounted and approached the trio. "What business does an elf, a man, and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" he said with a commanding voice. A silence followed.
"Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give you mine!" said Gimli in his usual arrogant tone. Irulan closed her eyes and barely kept herself from wincing. That stupid dwarf! Even in his current position he was arrogant and rude!
Everybody seemed to be as baffled as she was and the leader hesitated a moment before he dismounted his horse and approached Gimli on foot. I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground," he said with a menacing tone.
Legolas in a lightning fast move pointed an arrow at the leader instantly and said "You would die before your stroke fell!" with even a more threatening voice. Irulan seriously considered Shifting and running out of her hiding place. 'I certainly can not stay here and watch!' she thought and felt her pulse quickening with her body's anticipation of the coming fight. 'These stupid men are going to kill each other any minute now!'
She saw Aragorn pushing down Legolas' arm and making introductions in a cool voice. Thank the Heavens for that man! If not for Aragorn, the company never would have made it this far! They would have never made it past Haldir in the first place, she was absolutely sure of it. He introduced them and added: "We are friends of Rohan and Theoden, its King."
The leader hesitated a moment longer, but then said "Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe," with a bitter tone. He took of his helmet........and Irulan could not help herself from softly whispering "Eomer".
"Not even his own kin," the man added with a low voice. Her heart missed a beat! Eomer! It seemed like ages she had seen him. Eomer and Eowyn were some of her best friends and some of her best childhood memories concerned the duo. Eowyn was of course closer to her, being the crazy girl that she was. Eomer had always been the mature one. The just and wise one. Even at that age, he had been constantly running after the two girls, trying to prevent them from getting into trouble. Trying to save them when they did. He had been dismissive and cold towards Irulan in the beginning but then, when she was around 12, he had written her a poem and even to Irulan it had been obvious that Eomer had a childish crush on her. Eowyn had almost laughed herself to death and Irulan literally had to kick her a couple of times before she gave in and promised never to tell.
Irulan and Eomer remained friends, of course. And best friends they were. Why, now that she thought of it, Eomer had been her best friend amongst the boys. He was annoyingly royal and gentlemanly at times, but his heart was pure gold and he would do anything to protect her. Eomer never understood why the girls were as crazy as they were, but that did not stop him from following them around, making sure that they did not die. The last time she had seen him was......when she was......18......or was it 19? In any case, he was the most welcome sight at the moment. And.....he had grown into the most handsome young man! 'Irulan stop it! Unbelievable what you can think about under the current circumstances!' she scolded herself. Eomer had always been good looking. But now.......he looked nothing like the older brother Eowyn and Irulan would play ruthless tricks on. She tried to shake off her thoughts and concentrate on the present. Something not so nice was going on down there again.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claim lordship over this land," Eomer said to the trio with a bitter voice. "My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished. The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked. And everywhere his spies slip past our nets." He threw a very unwelcome look at Legolas who had drawn a bow on him a moment ago. And Legolas looked back as if he meant to draw that bow again. A grave tenseness settled in and even though Aragorn was trying his best, things were going downhill too fast. Irulan stepped out of her hiding place.
"Don't be ridiculous Eomer! They are with me," she said, and began a leisure walk towards them. She could see her friends stiffening and hastily looking at each other.
The rest of the company too was startled and swiftly a dozen spears were pointed at her. She pretended not to see though, and kept walking until the reached a comfortable distance. She made eye contact with none but smiled deftly at Eomer who was looking at her with angry and suspicious eyes. His eyes swiftly scanned the rocks she had left, searching for others, and then settled on her again.
"Who are you?" he boomed, pushing aside some spears and moving towards her with menacing strides. Aragorn and Legolas tried to follow but found themselves encircled again.
"Eomer," she said, her smile widening, "don't you recognize me?"
Eomer looked her up and down and resumed his rather unnerving approach. 'Have I changed that much?' she thought with surprise. But just when he was only a couple of steps away he abruptly halted and his handsome features twisted slightly. Then his eyes widened and he slowly took another step towards her. He looked her up and down again......then again......and his mouth dropped open. "Irulan?" he whispered with disbelief.
Irulan smiled (with relief, she had to admit) and pushing her chin up, clasped her hands behind her back. She remained still other than that and let him take another step towards her, now completely oblivious to anything else.
"It IS you," he whispered and swallowed soflty. His eyes locked with hers. "You are alive!"
Irulan's smile widened into a grin, but she still refused to break the spell and would not utter a word. She was enjoying this too much. Eomer! After all these years, it was like a glass of cold water offered in a desert. He looked her up and down again. She must be looking incredibly different and shocking to him right now and Irulan was enjoying this too much to disturb the process. Everyone else had fallen silent as well. For once she thanked the threat of spears that were probably holding back a very anxious company now. She had no doubt that Aragorn, Gimli and especially Legolas were squirming with the wish to run to her and 'save' her.
"Irulan!" exclaimed Eomer finally with a louder tone and a spark ignited his eyes when he decided that he was not dreaming and that this was no spell.
"Your one and only," said Irulan but kept barely herself from screeching in delight when Eomer embraced her so tightly that she thought she would surely suffocate.
"Irulan! By the Heavens!" he was laughing, "I can't believe it!"
"Eomer, you are killing me!" she protested and he hastily moved back, still holding her by shoulders. Then he looked into her eyes again with childish enthusiasm and once more hugged her till her bones protested. "Irulan!" he yelled in delight.
"Enough already!" she said, mocking anger, and pushed him away. He laughed louder and stepped back a little.
"You can not know what this means to me!" he said and his eyes seemed to shine with pleasure, "Especially in these dark days, to see the face of someone so dear!"
"Eomer, I never thought I would say this, but.......I feel EXACTLY the same way!" she yelled and this time she jumped up to hug him. Eomer heartily returned her embrace and they both laughed a moment too long until they both remembered their situation and reluctantly stepped back once more. Eomer cast a glance at his men, but then turned back at her with a wide grin.
"You crazy girl! What happened?"
"It's a long story," said Irulan, waving her hand, "and we don't have time for that right now."
He was still looking at her with bright astonishment in his eyes. "I heard about that cursed Endor," he said finally and slowly shook his head, still looking at her. "Eowyn cried for weeks. Everyone was devastated, Irulan."
"Not everyone, I bet," he said, raising her brows and looking him up and down. "You were probably glad to have one crazy girl less to worry about!"
"Well......." said Eomer, trying hard but failing to hide a wide smile.
Irulan drove her elbow into his ribs softly and he mocked pain. "My lady has lost nothing of her temper!" he said with open amusement.
"I even gained some more," she said, giggling now. Then she saw that the Rohirrim had moved away from her friends and a surprised Aragorn, an oddly proud Gimli and a very, very sour Legolas were walking towards them with wide strides. "You have met my friends," she said.
Eomer turned to look at the trio. "Yes. I must admit, they are a very curious company, even for you, Irulan."
"Eomer, we have been chasing a band of Uruk-hai," she said, her voice serious again. At that moment the three men arrived and joined them. Legolas of course stood by her side and looked like he meant to kill Eomer no matter what. Irulan looked up at him, but he was too concentrated looking at Eomer and did not even see her. She knew he was not as hasty as men and had good control over his emotions and temper. At least, usually. 'Let's just hope that this is one of those moments,' she thought and swallowed softly.
"They have taken two of our friends captive," added Aragorn.
"The Uruks are destroyed," said Eomer, "we slaughtered them during the night."
'Well at least we won't have to worry about running all the way to Isengard now,' Irulan thought with relief. The whole running thing was a real battle on her body. And then another and much darker thought occurred to her, but it was Gimli who said it out loud: "But there were two Hobbits! Did you see two hobbits with them?"
"They would be only children to your eyes," said Aragorn with an urgent, but soft voice.
She held her breath and a darkness gripped her heart when Eomer looked down and then up, into her eyes. He looked away then. "We left none alive," he said slowly and pointed to the distance. "We piled the carcasses and burned them." She followed his arm and saw an idle smoke rising in the distance. 'This can't be happening!' she thought and her mind went blank for a moment. A moment of shock and silence engulfed them all.
"Dead?" whispered Gimli finally with disbelief.
Eomer sadly shook his head and looked up at her again. "I am sorry."
Irulan gripped his shoulder, "Eomer.........none survived? None at all?" He shook his head again and looked back with concern. "Don't you look where your sword strikes?!" she hissed suddenly, low enough to prevent his men from hearing, but unable to keep her emotions at bay any longer.
He looked up again with sorrow and then away once more. "Forgive me Irulan, I had no way of knowing."
She closed her eyes. Merry and Pippin! Oh no! Her hand went up to cover her mouth again, her eyes pools of sorrow. 'Please......not them too! So many......so many dear to me.........dying........falling one by one!' Her other three friends seemed devastated, too. They exchanged tired and embarrassed glances, no doubt, thinking that they could have run faster and prevented it. It was a stupid thought - but the mind would do anything in moments like this to torture the soul.
'Oh no!' she thought again and not aware of what she was doing, unconsciously turned to lean on Legolas. He gently embraced her with one arm and held her to himself. Eomer glanced up at Irulan and his features expressed utter surprise and disbelief. He slowly looked up and locked eyes with Legolas, who was staring back at him with plain elven coldness. Eomer pushed his chin up and looked back. While the rest were mourning silently, crumbling inside and trying to keep a solid facade from the outside, the eyes of the two men locked and green human fire met blue elven flame. It was only the beginning of a battle of a different kind that lay yet a long time ahead of them.
A tense silence set in for a moment. Then Eomer whistled and throwing one last but very intense look at Legolas, called out: "Hasufel! Arod!" Irulan looked up to see two riderless horses coming forward. The horses of Rohan were infamous of course and these were very beautiful indeed. "May these horses bear you better fortune than their former masters," he said. Irulan walked up to the white one, patting her neck and looking into Eomer's eyes with obvious pain.
"Irulan, you should come with me," he said softly, leaning towards her.
She threw him a disbelieving look and then shook her head. "Don't be foolish, Eomer. I am bound to these men."
Eomer threw a black look at Legolas and a suspicious glare at the others. "It is safer. I will protect you," he said with a low voice, trying to persuade her. A moment later he added: "Those you look for are dead." Irulan looked up to him and he reached out to touch her cheek. "Come with me," he said again, softly.
"Do not worry yourself," said Legolas from behind her suddenly, "she will find better protection with us."
Eomer looked up at him with flashing but controlled temper and opened his mouth to reply, but Irulan quickly interrupted him: "Eomer, no. These are my true friends. I will stay with them until the end of the road. Legolas is right, I am safe with them." He looked down at her and then back up and then his gaze held her for a moment during which he debated with himself. Finally he nodded reluctantly.
"As you wish. I know better than to argue with you, my little thorn," he said, a smile touching his lips. Irulan could not help but smile at the hint. It was a code and joke between them ever since Eomer had called her his "little thorn" in his poem for her. He had said that all roses were meaningless without her and therefore, being the thorn, she was more precious then all roses in the world. Irulan had believed that to be the greatest compliment she ever received. And even though it was a silly poem and she was only 12 and Eomer not too much older himself, she could not remember a greater compliment ever since.
"Baron!" he called out and another gorgeous chestnut colored horse came out. "Then ride him at least. He is a fine horse," he said. "We shall meet again, Irulan," he said and with one last smile, walked up to mount his own horse. Replacing his helmet once more, he said "We ride north!" to his men and they took off as swiftly as they had arrived.
Irulan stood looking after him. 'I hope so,' she thought.
"My little Thorn?" hissed Legolas from beside her and she came back to the present. Curse his sensitive elven ears! Thankfully he made no further comment and mounted Arod, pulling Gimli up to sit behind him. Irulan rolled her eyes and mounted Baron, riding with a sinking heart towards the smoke behind the hills.
TTT was an incredible movie but the action was mounted towards the very ending, for all three parties of the Fellowship (excluding the Warg scene). So if there is not sufficient blood and sweat in the upcoming chapters, it's really not my fault. Sigh...I'm afraid I will have to fill that gap with cruel romance now, won't I?
"Why Irulan, your hair looks astonishing!"
"Aragorn, I swear I will kill you if you make one more comment!"
"I'm sure it was worth all the time it took to braid this intricate piece of art," he said, still grinning.
Irulan threw him a killer look. "That's ENOUGH! I should never speak with you again! Ever since I have joined this quest, you have been nothing but vile to me!"
Aragorn looked baffled. "VILE?" he said in astonishment.
"Yes! You hid the truth of Legolas' feelings from me, you played me ruthlessly in that little braiding issue by the River Anduin, then you hid another, and this time LETHAL truth about Legolas from me, and you betrayed me countless times!!" Irulan was about to scream, but managed to keep her voice low till the end, knowing that Legolas might pop up any minute from behind a rock.
"Oh......that......" said Aragorn, still grinning! 'And that is the future king! Why if HE is the little boy he is, how can I blame the rest of his gender? Middle Earth is doomed anyway, I might give up this minute!' she thought bitterly. "But.......you can not deny that it helped to do some good in the end!" He continued a moment later, amused. "Legolas is obviously much better than I have seen him since Rivendell......and even better since I have seen him in many years. And........" he grinned again and Irulan felt the strong urge to cover her ears, ".......your hair looks indeed astonishing!"
She turned around, about to give him a real lesson, when he suddenly slowed down and then completely stopped. 'If this is a game, I'm not falling for it!' thought Irulan, but Aragorn's face had changed once more. He looked very serious now. He bent down and touched the rocks on the ground. Then he waited a moment longer before he slowly said "Riders.........coming this way," he swiftly stood up and grabbed her arm. Both Legolas and Gimli were close by, and he motioned them to follow quickly.
They all huddled behind some rocks and waited a few moments. Indeed, Irulan began to hear a faint noise of hooves.
"You will stay here Irulan," said Aragorn, he motioned to the others, "We will go out and talk to them."
"Why the heck am I staying?" she protested in a whisper.
"Because it might be dangerous and because you look quite........unique," he said looking her up and down for an instant.
Irulan gritted her teeth. Alright, so maybe a woman clad in her clothing was not a very common thing and might stir unfriendly or suspicious thoughts. But dangerous! Now that was truly ridiculous! However, she would not object Aragorn in decisions such as this. He was the leader, after all.
Soon a group of Rohirrim riders galloped by them, not noticing the hunters among the rocks. Irulan knew them by their armor and the flags they were carrying. Aragorn beckoned to the other men in the group and they moved out with them, walking down the small hill the riders had passed a moment ago.
"Riders of Rohan!" he shouted, holding out his hands, "What news from the Mark?"
Irulan remained perched in her hiding spot. The leader of the riders signaled the group to turn around and moments later her friends were encircled tightly, spears menacingly pointing at them. She swallowed hard. Rohirrim were not really very hospitable people. They were living in harsh lands, with constant threat of orcs this close to Mordor. They were only second to harshness and hostility to the men of Gondor.
Finally the leader of the group dismounted and approached the trio. "What business does an elf, a man, and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" he said with a commanding voice. A silence followed.
"Give me your name, horsemaster, and I shall give you mine!" said Gimli in his usual arrogant tone. Irulan closed her eyes and barely kept herself from wincing. That stupid dwarf! Even in his current position he was arrogant and rude!
Everybody seemed to be as baffled as she was and the leader hesitated a moment before he dismounted his horse and approached Gimli on foot. I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground," he said with a menacing tone.
Legolas in a lightning fast move pointed an arrow at the leader instantly and said "You would die before your stroke fell!" with even a more threatening voice. Irulan seriously considered Shifting and running out of her hiding place. 'I certainly can not stay here and watch!' she thought and felt her pulse quickening with her body's anticipation of the coming fight. 'These stupid men are going to kill each other any minute now!'
She saw Aragorn pushing down Legolas' arm and making introductions in a cool voice. Thank the Heavens for that man! If not for Aragorn, the company never would have made it this far! They would have never made it past Haldir in the first place, she was absolutely sure of it. He introduced them and added: "We are friends of Rohan and Theoden, its King."
The leader hesitated a moment longer, but then said "Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe," with a bitter tone. He took of his helmet........and Irulan could not help herself from softly whispering "Eomer".
"Not even his own kin," the man added with a low voice. Her heart missed a beat! Eomer! It seemed like ages she had seen him. Eomer and Eowyn were some of her best friends and some of her best childhood memories concerned the duo. Eowyn was of course closer to her, being the crazy girl that she was. Eomer had always been the mature one. The just and wise one. Even at that age, he had been constantly running after the two girls, trying to prevent them from getting into trouble. Trying to save them when they did. He had been dismissive and cold towards Irulan in the beginning but then, when she was around 12, he had written her a poem and even to Irulan it had been obvious that Eomer had a childish crush on her. Eowyn had almost laughed herself to death and Irulan literally had to kick her a couple of times before she gave in and promised never to tell.
Irulan and Eomer remained friends, of course. And best friends they were. Why, now that she thought of it, Eomer had been her best friend amongst the boys. He was annoyingly royal and gentlemanly at times, but his heart was pure gold and he would do anything to protect her. Eomer never understood why the girls were as crazy as they were, but that did not stop him from following them around, making sure that they did not die. The last time she had seen him was......when she was......18......or was it 19? In any case, he was the most welcome sight at the moment. And.....he had grown into the most handsome young man! 'Irulan stop it! Unbelievable what you can think about under the current circumstances!' she scolded herself. Eomer had always been good looking. But now.......he looked nothing like the older brother Eowyn and Irulan would play ruthless tricks on. She tried to shake off her thoughts and concentrate on the present. Something not so nice was going on down there again.
"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claim lordship over this land," Eomer said to the trio with a bitter voice. "My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished. The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked. And everywhere his spies slip past our nets." He threw a very unwelcome look at Legolas who had drawn a bow on him a moment ago. And Legolas looked back as if he meant to draw that bow again. A grave tenseness settled in and even though Aragorn was trying his best, things were going downhill too fast. Irulan stepped out of her hiding place.
"Don't be ridiculous Eomer! They are with me," she said, and began a leisure walk towards them. She could see her friends stiffening and hastily looking at each other.
The rest of the company too was startled and swiftly a dozen spears were pointed at her. She pretended not to see though, and kept walking until the reached a comfortable distance. She made eye contact with none but smiled deftly at Eomer who was looking at her with angry and suspicious eyes. His eyes swiftly scanned the rocks she had left, searching for others, and then settled on her again.
"Who are you?" he boomed, pushing aside some spears and moving towards her with menacing strides. Aragorn and Legolas tried to follow but found themselves encircled again.
"Eomer," she said, her smile widening, "don't you recognize me?"
Eomer looked her up and down and resumed his rather unnerving approach. 'Have I changed that much?' she thought with surprise. But just when he was only a couple of steps away he abruptly halted and his handsome features twisted slightly. Then his eyes widened and he slowly took another step towards her. He looked her up and down again......then again......and his mouth dropped open. "Irulan?" he whispered with disbelief.
Irulan smiled (with relief, she had to admit) and pushing her chin up, clasped her hands behind her back. She remained still other than that and let him take another step towards her, now completely oblivious to anything else.
"It IS you," he whispered and swallowed soflty. His eyes locked with hers. "You are alive!"
Irulan's smile widened into a grin, but she still refused to break the spell and would not utter a word. She was enjoying this too much. Eomer! After all these years, it was like a glass of cold water offered in a desert. He looked her up and down again. She must be looking incredibly different and shocking to him right now and Irulan was enjoying this too much to disturb the process. Everyone else had fallen silent as well. For once she thanked the threat of spears that were probably holding back a very anxious company now. She had no doubt that Aragorn, Gimli and especially Legolas were squirming with the wish to run to her and 'save' her.
"Irulan!" exclaimed Eomer finally with a louder tone and a spark ignited his eyes when he decided that he was not dreaming and that this was no spell.
"Your one and only," said Irulan but kept barely herself from screeching in delight when Eomer embraced her so tightly that she thought she would surely suffocate.
"Irulan! By the Heavens!" he was laughing, "I can't believe it!"
"Eomer, you are killing me!" she protested and he hastily moved back, still holding her by shoulders. Then he looked into her eyes again with childish enthusiasm and once more hugged her till her bones protested. "Irulan!" he yelled in delight.
"Enough already!" she said, mocking anger, and pushed him away. He laughed louder and stepped back a little.
"You can not know what this means to me!" he said and his eyes seemed to shine with pleasure, "Especially in these dark days, to see the face of someone so dear!"
"Eomer, I never thought I would say this, but.......I feel EXACTLY the same way!" she yelled and this time she jumped up to hug him. Eomer heartily returned her embrace and they both laughed a moment too long until they both remembered their situation and reluctantly stepped back once more. Eomer cast a glance at his men, but then turned back at her with a wide grin.
"You crazy girl! What happened?"
"It's a long story," said Irulan, waving her hand, "and we don't have time for that right now."
He was still looking at her with bright astonishment in his eyes. "I heard about that cursed Endor," he said finally and slowly shook his head, still looking at her. "Eowyn cried for weeks. Everyone was devastated, Irulan."
"Not everyone, I bet," he said, raising her brows and looking him up and down. "You were probably glad to have one crazy girl less to worry about!"
"Well......." said Eomer, trying hard but failing to hide a wide smile.
Irulan drove her elbow into his ribs softly and he mocked pain. "My lady has lost nothing of her temper!" he said with open amusement.
"I even gained some more," she said, giggling now. Then she saw that the Rohirrim had moved away from her friends and a surprised Aragorn, an oddly proud Gimli and a very, very sour Legolas were walking towards them with wide strides. "You have met my friends," she said.
Eomer turned to look at the trio. "Yes. I must admit, they are a very curious company, even for you, Irulan."
"Eomer, we have been chasing a band of Uruk-hai," she said, her voice serious again. At that moment the three men arrived and joined them. Legolas of course stood by her side and looked like he meant to kill Eomer no matter what. Irulan looked up at him, but he was too concentrated looking at Eomer and did not even see her. She knew he was not as hasty as men and had good control over his emotions and temper. At least, usually. 'Let's just hope that this is one of those moments,' she thought and swallowed softly.
"They have taken two of our friends captive," added Aragorn.
"The Uruks are destroyed," said Eomer, "we slaughtered them during the night."
'Well at least we won't have to worry about running all the way to Isengard now,' Irulan thought with relief. The whole running thing was a real battle on her body. And then another and much darker thought occurred to her, but it was Gimli who said it out loud: "But there were two Hobbits! Did you see two hobbits with them?"
"They would be only children to your eyes," said Aragorn with an urgent, but soft voice.
She held her breath and a darkness gripped her heart when Eomer looked down and then up, into her eyes. He looked away then. "We left none alive," he said slowly and pointed to the distance. "We piled the carcasses and burned them." She followed his arm and saw an idle smoke rising in the distance. 'This can't be happening!' she thought and her mind went blank for a moment. A moment of shock and silence engulfed them all.
"Dead?" whispered Gimli finally with disbelief.
Eomer sadly shook his head and looked up at her again. "I am sorry."
Irulan gripped his shoulder, "Eomer.........none survived? None at all?" He shook his head again and looked back with concern. "Don't you look where your sword strikes?!" she hissed suddenly, low enough to prevent his men from hearing, but unable to keep her emotions at bay any longer.
He looked up again with sorrow and then away once more. "Forgive me Irulan, I had no way of knowing."
She closed her eyes. Merry and Pippin! Oh no! Her hand went up to cover her mouth again, her eyes pools of sorrow. 'Please......not them too! So many......so many dear to me.........dying........falling one by one!' Her other three friends seemed devastated, too. They exchanged tired and embarrassed glances, no doubt, thinking that they could have run faster and prevented it. It was a stupid thought - but the mind would do anything in moments like this to torture the soul.
'Oh no!' she thought again and not aware of what she was doing, unconsciously turned to lean on Legolas. He gently embraced her with one arm and held her to himself. Eomer glanced up at Irulan and his features expressed utter surprise and disbelief. He slowly looked up and locked eyes with Legolas, who was staring back at him with plain elven coldness. Eomer pushed his chin up and looked back. While the rest were mourning silently, crumbling inside and trying to keep a solid facade from the outside, the eyes of the two men locked and green human fire met blue elven flame. It was only the beginning of a battle of a different kind that lay yet a long time ahead of them.
A tense silence set in for a moment. Then Eomer whistled and throwing one last but very intense look at Legolas, called out: "Hasufel! Arod!" Irulan looked up to see two riderless horses coming forward. The horses of Rohan were infamous of course and these were very beautiful indeed. "May these horses bear you better fortune than their former masters," he said. Irulan walked up to the white one, patting her neck and looking into Eomer's eyes with obvious pain.
"Irulan, you should come with me," he said softly, leaning towards her.
She threw him a disbelieving look and then shook her head. "Don't be foolish, Eomer. I am bound to these men."
Eomer threw a black look at Legolas and a suspicious glare at the others. "It is safer. I will protect you," he said with a low voice, trying to persuade her. A moment later he added: "Those you look for are dead." Irulan looked up to him and he reached out to touch her cheek. "Come with me," he said again, softly.
"Do not worry yourself," said Legolas from behind her suddenly, "she will find better protection with us."
Eomer looked up at him with flashing but controlled temper and opened his mouth to reply, but Irulan quickly interrupted him: "Eomer, no. These are my true friends. I will stay with them until the end of the road. Legolas is right, I am safe with them." He looked down at her and then back up and then his gaze held her for a moment during which he debated with himself. Finally he nodded reluctantly.
"As you wish. I know better than to argue with you, my little thorn," he said, a smile touching his lips. Irulan could not help but smile at the hint. It was a code and joke between them ever since Eomer had called her his "little thorn" in his poem for her. He had said that all roses were meaningless without her and therefore, being the thorn, she was more precious then all roses in the world. Irulan had believed that to be the greatest compliment she ever received. And even though it was a silly poem and she was only 12 and Eomer not too much older himself, she could not remember a greater compliment ever since.
"Baron!" he called out and another gorgeous chestnut colored horse came out. "Then ride him at least. He is a fine horse," he said. "We shall meet again, Irulan," he said and with one last smile, walked up to mount his own horse. Replacing his helmet once more, he said "We ride north!" to his men and they took off as swiftly as they had arrived.
Irulan stood looking after him. 'I hope so,' she thought.
"My little Thorn?" hissed Legolas from beside her and she came back to the present. Curse his sensitive elven ears! Thankfully he made no further comment and mounted Arod, pulling Gimli up to sit behind him. Irulan rolled her eyes and mounted Baron, riding with a sinking heart towards the smoke behind the hills.