~Memories~
By Ola
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A/N~ As promised in the previous chapter, here is the mid-week post. =) can you guess where is the little commemoration to Lord of the rings? A cookie to anyone who finds it =) and another cookie to anyone who reviews!!
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Part 10~
She got used to the walking and the hauling. It wasn't that bad really. At least when the weather was good. But it had been raining for the past week, alternating between downpours and wet mists, never quite stopping. Everything was wet, and nothing could dry. Lanea was near the front of the group, walking slowly through the dense underbrush of the forest, which caught at her clothes and pressed its cold spindly twigs to her legs. The dark clouds overhead perfectly matched her dark mood. She had a headache ever since it had started raining; usually not very painful, but always there, in the back of her mind, making her ears ring. She was just fortunate this was not an exercise in silent movement, like the one they had before the weather changed, or she, and everyone else for that matter, would have failed miserably. The forest floor was littered with last autumn's fallen leaves, and no one bothered to pick their feet up.
If this backpack wasn't so damn heavy, then maybe I wouldn't be so grumpy! It's like all the damn water is collecting there. I'm carrying a lake! She growled to herself, as the wet straps of her bag dug into her shoulders, chaffing the wet skin and overbalancing her at every step she took. Her muscles were sore from trying to make up for the load added by the rain that permeated everything. Lan longed for a hot bath, both to wash her grubby clothes and to relax her poor body.
The group's present goal was to reach a checkpoint where they could rest for a little while, eat something else beside what they had brought with them, and dry everything off. It was four days of constant but not hurried walking away from the point they had left three days ago, and they weren't even half way to their destination.
Lanea occupied herself by cursing the weather for a while, not forgetting to throw one or two well placed swears to the Gods too, for letting it rain for such a long time, on her! And then she cursed herself, just as hard.
While her mind had been on the rain, her feet had kept moving straight, unaware of the bend in the road. At the last moment, she realized what she was doing and she wobbled at the edge, trying to keep her body from toppling over. But what would have been simple enough turned out impossible, as the weight of her bag dragged her over the cliff.
She didn't scream. She didn't even feel fear. It all happened too fast. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the leaf covered floor, eleven feet below the path.
"Lan! You're alright?" someone yelled from above. Sindarin skidded on the wet leaves, but took a safer route down.
"Lan! You scared the hell out of me! What were you thinking?!"
"Well, that's the problem. I wasn't." Her voice sounded too calm to her own ears. "Look, I'm fine. Nothing happened."
"Nothing happened. Nothing happened! I thought you had broken your neck!"
"Ah, wouldn't you like that? Then you wouldn't have to share anything anymore." She regretted what she said as soon as it left her mouth, but she was tired, and as stated previously, not thinking coherently.
"Shut up you little ass hole! You're my partner whether you like it or not, and it's my responsibility to look after you" he growled, pulling her up. "You sure you're okay?" he was still frowning.
"Yep. This damn thing is my guardian angel," she patted her bag. Its top reached just above her head and had acted like a large pillow, cushioning her fall and preventing Sindarin's worried from coming true.
"What are you two doing down there, picking mushrooms? Get going!" the captain had just come up, bringing the rear. Sindarin narrowed his eyes, but Lan only shrugged and began the slow ascent back onto the road. To say the least, it was a lot slower than the other way around.
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Lan's ears had not stopped ringing by evening; her headache became rather worse, and she wondered whether she had hurt her head after all. Her vision wasn't damaged, but she felt cold. Of course, the rain didn't help, but she was almost sure that her shivers weren't caused by the weather alone. She felt sick, but not enough to ask for medications, and have a mark against her. That was another thing in the guard. If the recruits needed help (and medications were counted as help) or if they did not follow discipline, they had a mark against them. Ten marks and you were out. At the end, the marks were written on the license, so of course, the less you had, the better guard you were.
I'll wait 'till tomorrow. If I don't get better then maybe I'll ask for something.
She did not wait until morning.
She woke up in the night, feeling cold and very weak. Her head turned and she couldn't quite focus her mind on any one thing. She got up shakily and walked out into the rain, stumbling on the first tree root that laid on her path. She made the rest of the way on all four, but she didn't get very far before retching her guts out. She lay down on the muddy ground and turned her face to the sky. It had stopped raining. No. she could still feel the cold prickles on her hands, but not on her face. She opened her eyes and looked into someone's dark face. The someone held an oiled cloth above her.
"Lan?"
Sindarin. Who else could it have been? Said a semi lucid voice in her mind. She rolled her head over; her too pale face staring at his.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" she didn't respond and Sindarin frowned. "Come on. Staying in the rain won't help." He half carried half dragged her to the tent they shared, thinking all the while that the young boy was much too light.
"Lan, I don't think you should go to bed all wet. You'll only make things worse."
"You're not my father."
"No, but I could be your older brother. Change your shirt."
She didn't move, so he was about to do it for her, thinking she was too weak.
"No!" she said with far more strength that he thought her capable of at that moment.
He looked at her shivering dark form for a while before sighing with resignation. "If you feel even worse in the morning, don't blame me." And after another moment of silence: "Good night little brother. Sleep well."
She waited until his breath became calm and regular before quickly changing into something dry with numb fingers that didn't want to cooperate, then snuggling under her blanket. She was cold and still very weak, but already felt better after purging the contents of her stomach. Outside, it rained on, as Lan thought about her own older brother Sam, wondering how he would have acted in this situation. Most likely, he wouldn't have woken up in the first place, but she still missed his quiet smiles and funny expressions. She missed Buggle, her heart brother, and the two unruly youngsters. She even missed her prissy little sister.
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A/N~ so? There's actually quite a bit that happened to me (the backpacking and falling off cliff. No cute guy went to rescue me though =( *sniff and pout*) and I didn't get sick. *yay* review please! And thanks to all of you who did! It makes me want to write faster =)
