NOTE: Another chapter. Thanks to anyone who reviewed! Sorry the chapters
have been coming every day. I guess I just love to write. Hope you enjoy,
and Please Review!!!
SOMETHING ANEW: 14
"Milady, pardon me, I do not mean to disturb, but it is time for supper." Éowyn turned to see a servant- maiden bow before her.
"No, Rhiandra, you did not disturb me, it is all right. I am sorry to say, but I am not hungry. Please let Lady Arwen know I ask her to pardon my absence yet again.."
"But milady," she interrupted, fear noticed in her voice, though she persisted. "The Lady Arwen has not been down for supper since the day the Master has left. You have done the same, milady, since Lord Faramir left with him, but I haven't worried for I bring you your dinner every night and consistently you've accepted the meal, but the Lady Arwen hasn't eaten anything in days. She refuses my pleads with her, and doesn't touch a crumb of food. It has almost been a weak, milady." Éowyn gave the girl a look of surprise, and stood to go and meet with Arwen, hoping to talk some sense into her. She knocked gently upon the door, but there was no answer. Rhiandra was behind her, watching attentively for she was worried sick. Éowyn turned the knob and entered the room anyway, seeing the situation to be more important than manners. Éowyn found Arwen's back faced to her, sitting in a chair outside on the terrace. Éowyn approached Arwen, knowing her footsteps could be obviously heard, but Arwen didn't turn to see whom it could be.
"Arwen?" Éowyn said finally, standing to the side of Arwen who looked up at her. Arwen smiled faintly, trying to put up an exterior to hide her despair.
"Yes Éowyn?"
"I would most desire your presence at supper tonight. Please, would you join me?"
"It is very kind of you to ask my company, but I am not hungry at the moment."
"When will you be hungry, Arwen, when you are dead from starvation?"
" Éowyn, I cannot eat. I am too worried to eat; I am too worried to sleep. I feel my breath run short every second my children are missing. Food is the last thing on my mind." Arwen stood, as she made her way to her bed and sat down, arms crossed across her chest.
"I understand Arwen, for I worry just as much as you, but you must upkeep your well-being, you cannot ignore your health. It will not bring them back any faster."
"But what will? Not even my husband could bring them back soon enough. It has been a week, and no word. If I have to, I will go to look for them myself, to come to their aid. I can feel them, they are in danger but I can do nothing except wait. They need me."
"What good are you to them if you are starving? Weak? Dead? I beg you to remain here, I know it not to be the easiest task, to wait and hope, to do nothing, for my heart calls me to find them myself just as much as your heart calls you." At that moment Arwen realized that she was not alone. Éowyn felt was she was feeling; children gone, not knowing where they were, who took them, if their lives had been spared. Arwen sighed, heavily, recognizing her selfish behavior and followed Éowyn who made her way downstairs to sit and eat supper, Rhiandra smiling as the two passed by her.
The sun was beginning to lower, and the day was beginning to end. Maethoriel's feet felt like they were on fire, and her stomach felt a twinge of pain every few seconds or so, but she kept running. She felt she was dreaming, but when she reached the door to Ainik's fort, she sank to her knees, thanking the Valar she made it in time. She turned to see Anárion reach up to her, bending over resting on his knees, gasping for air. Maethoriel stood and was about to knock upon the door, but Anárion held back her hand.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed? Look, up there. This fort is swarming with orcs." Maethoriel nodded, and Anárion only gave a look of question. "Are you mad?" Maethoriel stomped her foot and placed her hands upon her hips.
'Aeronel is in there!' she mouthed, slowly so he would understand.
"Aeronel?" Maethoriel nodded. 'And, we need to save her before the sun sets!' she mouthed again, pointing to the direction of the sun. Anárion slowly began to understand, not knowing the full details, but recognizing that they needed to save Aeronel before the end of the day.
"We will sneak in, there is no other way." Maethoriel didn't argue with this, for she knew there was a likely chance Ainik was ready to kill her if she had returned. The only problem the two had was how to get in, for the walls were thick with stone, and orcs patrolled everywhere, it seemed. "We will find a way somehow" Maethoriel said to herself, her mind determined.
LOTHLÓRIEN
Ewan and Eldarion helped to carry Amdiriel to the safety of a burrow under a large tree in what was once the Golden Wood; a presence felt somehow, lingering. The boys immediately lifted Amdiriel's skirt to reveal her knee. An amount of the blood had dried, but the wound was still bleeding.
"The cut is severe. We cannot simply swathe it," Ewan said to Eldarion, Amdiriel quietly moaning in pain.
"What will we do then? I do not have anything to heal with, and if I did I do not know much of the craft. If only Nestor were here.."
"But she isn't. There must be someone here, an elf someplace. Your great grandfather, he is here, is he not?"
"What? My great- grandfather?"
"Yes, Celeborn, Lord of Lórien. You know nothing of him?"
"I, I do not know much. I have heard stories..."
"Stories? Ah, it doesn't matter; we must find him. He hasn't sailed west yet, that I know for sure. Maybe he is still here, we have to try." Eldarion nodded and picked up his sister waiting to follow Ewan's lead. Ewan stood before him, looking left and right deciding where to go first, and Eldarion noticed the deep red stain across Ewan's back. The blood looked fresh, and his shirt seemed to become drenched with crimson red. Ewan turned to speak to him, and Eldarion decided not to question Ewan. "We will head for Caras Galadhon. It is the city where the Lord and Lady of Lórien dwelt before; maybe Celeborn remains there now. Come." Eldarion and Ewan each placed one arm of Amdiriel's atop their shoulders, and carried her making their way to the City of Trees.
When they reached Caras Galadhon, it felt deserted. They searched for elves, but none were seen. They placed Amdiriel at the base of a tree; she was sweating and turning white from pain and shock, and her head shook slowly from left to right, for she was trying to keep herself awake. "I will go search, stay here and watch her," Ewan said, beginning to jolt up the platforms to climb the tops of the trees, searching for anyone who could help them. Eldarion watched as he was becoming smaller and smaller each step Ewan took to rise higher. Eldarion turned back to his sister and knelt to her, ripping a piece of cloth from his remaining sleeve to wipe the sweat from her face. Amdiriel looked to him with faint eyes, trying to produce a smile on her face.
"Eldarion, if I do not return to Minas Tirith, to Gondor even, I want you to tell Naneth and Adar that I love them," she whispered to her brother. Eldarion awkwardly laughed, trying to brush off his sister's statement.
"Amdiriel, you're not going to die. It is only a cut in your knee. It is not fatal."
"Yes, but it bleeds copiously. I already feel like half my blood was wasted."
"You exaggerate, little sister, it is surely not that serious. You mustn't worry yourself."
"Tell Maethoriel that I believe in her; that she can be whatever her heart wishes, even if it is to be a warrior. And tell her I much desired to hear her speak again, if only just one word."
"Amdiriel..." Eldarion's voice began to strain; a tear had run down his cheek. He did not know why he cried, for he knew his sister would get through this, and her overly dramatic scene was almost amusing to him, but when she began to speak of their family, to show him just how much she loved them, his heart sank.
"And tell Nestor that I am proud of her, of who she's become. She is so young, but she paves her path so confidently; I admire her so. For Laurelas, I wish to give him this." Amdiriel lifted her sleeve to reveal a band around her arm. She slipped off this thin band made from woven thread, though old and grubby in appearance, the thread still held strong. She handed it to Eldarion. "Arodiel made it for me, when we were children. If you ask her, she would show you the similar one I made her, only different in color. We promised to take care of each other forever; my best friend. I cannot keep the promise; I do not think I will return. Laurelas must now. And when you give it to him, tell him that the blood that flows through our veins is nothing like his, but it doesn't matter. He is my brother, and I've loved him just as much as you."
"Amdiriel stop this, it is madness," said Eldarion, slipping the band back onto her arm. "You will return, you will see them all again."
"Eldarion, my brother. Though we do not agree all the time, my heart cherishes you more than words can say." Eldarion began to shed tears unstoppably, holding back his want to cry in front of his sister. Just then Ewan returned, interrupting the two. "We must bring her quickly, I think I found something." Ewan lead the two to a platform that held a table of elvish medicine. How it got there, or why it was left, he did not know. At the moment neither of the boys cared. They laid Amdiriel on the ground, and hovered above her knee, cleaning the wound before anything else.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Eldarion asked.
"No, but one of these remedies has to work, maybe to stop the bleeding somehow; stitches maybe, I do not know what we must do. Anything to stop the wound." Eldarion hurried to clean the cut, praying to the Valar that they would help his sister, and not put her in danger anymore than she was already in.
NORTHERN WASTE
"FIND THEM!!!!" Ainik yelled, screaming so loudly it echoed through the trees passed the fort. Aeronel had escaped, and Ainik knew immediately Maethoriel had returned, but with whom he did not know and how she managed to save her friend without him knowing was also a mystery. Maethoriel, who was running with Anárion and Aeronel towards the direction of Forodwaith, heard Ainik's cry, and smiled to herself. She was proud to show up the man, remembering his spiteful words to her some days before.
"Where will we go?" Aeronel asked Anárion, as the three were still running. They didn't see any orcs behind them at the moment, but Anárion didn't want to take the chance of slowing down and having orcs catch up with them. He was still carrying his sword, the blade dripping with blood.
"Eriador. There is nothing in Arnor to keep us safe. The city is being rebuilt, but it would be the first place to look. If we go to Eriador, anywhere there, we can hide amongst the free folk."
"We are not allowed in some parts there, so I've heard."
"It is a special circumstance. Someone must be kind enough to take us in." Maethoriel looked over her shoulder one last time, seeing in a great distance a black grouping of what she figured to be orcs. "They will not reach us in time" she thought to herself, as she ran faster with her two companions to Eriador.
TBC.. Please review!!
SOMETHING ANEW: 14
"Milady, pardon me, I do not mean to disturb, but it is time for supper." Éowyn turned to see a servant- maiden bow before her.
"No, Rhiandra, you did not disturb me, it is all right. I am sorry to say, but I am not hungry. Please let Lady Arwen know I ask her to pardon my absence yet again.."
"But milady," she interrupted, fear noticed in her voice, though she persisted. "The Lady Arwen has not been down for supper since the day the Master has left. You have done the same, milady, since Lord Faramir left with him, but I haven't worried for I bring you your dinner every night and consistently you've accepted the meal, but the Lady Arwen hasn't eaten anything in days. She refuses my pleads with her, and doesn't touch a crumb of food. It has almost been a weak, milady." Éowyn gave the girl a look of surprise, and stood to go and meet with Arwen, hoping to talk some sense into her. She knocked gently upon the door, but there was no answer. Rhiandra was behind her, watching attentively for she was worried sick. Éowyn turned the knob and entered the room anyway, seeing the situation to be more important than manners. Éowyn found Arwen's back faced to her, sitting in a chair outside on the terrace. Éowyn approached Arwen, knowing her footsteps could be obviously heard, but Arwen didn't turn to see whom it could be.
"Arwen?" Éowyn said finally, standing to the side of Arwen who looked up at her. Arwen smiled faintly, trying to put up an exterior to hide her despair.
"Yes Éowyn?"
"I would most desire your presence at supper tonight. Please, would you join me?"
"It is very kind of you to ask my company, but I am not hungry at the moment."
"When will you be hungry, Arwen, when you are dead from starvation?"
" Éowyn, I cannot eat. I am too worried to eat; I am too worried to sleep. I feel my breath run short every second my children are missing. Food is the last thing on my mind." Arwen stood, as she made her way to her bed and sat down, arms crossed across her chest.
"I understand Arwen, for I worry just as much as you, but you must upkeep your well-being, you cannot ignore your health. It will not bring them back any faster."
"But what will? Not even my husband could bring them back soon enough. It has been a week, and no word. If I have to, I will go to look for them myself, to come to their aid. I can feel them, they are in danger but I can do nothing except wait. They need me."
"What good are you to them if you are starving? Weak? Dead? I beg you to remain here, I know it not to be the easiest task, to wait and hope, to do nothing, for my heart calls me to find them myself just as much as your heart calls you." At that moment Arwen realized that she was not alone. Éowyn felt was she was feeling; children gone, not knowing where they were, who took them, if their lives had been spared. Arwen sighed, heavily, recognizing her selfish behavior and followed Éowyn who made her way downstairs to sit and eat supper, Rhiandra smiling as the two passed by her.
The sun was beginning to lower, and the day was beginning to end. Maethoriel's feet felt like they were on fire, and her stomach felt a twinge of pain every few seconds or so, but she kept running. She felt she was dreaming, but when she reached the door to Ainik's fort, she sank to her knees, thanking the Valar she made it in time. She turned to see Anárion reach up to her, bending over resting on his knees, gasping for air. Maethoriel stood and was about to knock upon the door, but Anárion held back her hand.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed? Look, up there. This fort is swarming with orcs." Maethoriel nodded, and Anárion only gave a look of question. "Are you mad?" Maethoriel stomped her foot and placed her hands upon her hips.
'Aeronel is in there!' she mouthed, slowly so he would understand.
"Aeronel?" Maethoriel nodded. 'And, we need to save her before the sun sets!' she mouthed again, pointing to the direction of the sun. Anárion slowly began to understand, not knowing the full details, but recognizing that they needed to save Aeronel before the end of the day.
"We will sneak in, there is no other way." Maethoriel didn't argue with this, for she knew there was a likely chance Ainik was ready to kill her if she had returned. The only problem the two had was how to get in, for the walls were thick with stone, and orcs patrolled everywhere, it seemed. "We will find a way somehow" Maethoriel said to herself, her mind determined.
LOTHLÓRIEN
Ewan and Eldarion helped to carry Amdiriel to the safety of a burrow under a large tree in what was once the Golden Wood; a presence felt somehow, lingering. The boys immediately lifted Amdiriel's skirt to reveal her knee. An amount of the blood had dried, but the wound was still bleeding.
"The cut is severe. We cannot simply swathe it," Ewan said to Eldarion, Amdiriel quietly moaning in pain.
"What will we do then? I do not have anything to heal with, and if I did I do not know much of the craft. If only Nestor were here.."
"But she isn't. There must be someone here, an elf someplace. Your great grandfather, he is here, is he not?"
"What? My great- grandfather?"
"Yes, Celeborn, Lord of Lórien. You know nothing of him?"
"I, I do not know much. I have heard stories..."
"Stories? Ah, it doesn't matter; we must find him. He hasn't sailed west yet, that I know for sure. Maybe he is still here, we have to try." Eldarion nodded and picked up his sister waiting to follow Ewan's lead. Ewan stood before him, looking left and right deciding where to go first, and Eldarion noticed the deep red stain across Ewan's back. The blood looked fresh, and his shirt seemed to become drenched with crimson red. Ewan turned to speak to him, and Eldarion decided not to question Ewan. "We will head for Caras Galadhon. It is the city where the Lord and Lady of Lórien dwelt before; maybe Celeborn remains there now. Come." Eldarion and Ewan each placed one arm of Amdiriel's atop their shoulders, and carried her making their way to the City of Trees.
When they reached Caras Galadhon, it felt deserted. They searched for elves, but none were seen. They placed Amdiriel at the base of a tree; she was sweating and turning white from pain and shock, and her head shook slowly from left to right, for she was trying to keep herself awake. "I will go search, stay here and watch her," Ewan said, beginning to jolt up the platforms to climb the tops of the trees, searching for anyone who could help them. Eldarion watched as he was becoming smaller and smaller each step Ewan took to rise higher. Eldarion turned back to his sister and knelt to her, ripping a piece of cloth from his remaining sleeve to wipe the sweat from her face. Amdiriel looked to him with faint eyes, trying to produce a smile on her face.
"Eldarion, if I do not return to Minas Tirith, to Gondor even, I want you to tell Naneth and Adar that I love them," she whispered to her brother. Eldarion awkwardly laughed, trying to brush off his sister's statement.
"Amdiriel, you're not going to die. It is only a cut in your knee. It is not fatal."
"Yes, but it bleeds copiously. I already feel like half my blood was wasted."
"You exaggerate, little sister, it is surely not that serious. You mustn't worry yourself."
"Tell Maethoriel that I believe in her; that she can be whatever her heart wishes, even if it is to be a warrior. And tell her I much desired to hear her speak again, if only just one word."
"Amdiriel..." Eldarion's voice began to strain; a tear had run down his cheek. He did not know why he cried, for he knew his sister would get through this, and her overly dramatic scene was almost amusing to him, but when she began to speak of their family, to show him just how much she loved them, his heart sank.
"And tell Nestor that I am proud of her, of who she's become. She is so young, but she paves her path so confidently; I admire her so. For Laurelas, I wish to give him this." Amdiriel lifted her sleeve to reveal a band around her arm. She slipped off this thin band made from woven thread, though old and grubby in appearance, the thread still held strong. She handed it to Eldarion. "Arodiel made it for me, when we were children. If you ask her, she would show you the similar one I made her, only different in color. We promised to take care of each other forever; my best friend. I cannot keep the promise; I do not think I will return. Laurelas must now. And when you give it to him, tell him that the blood that flows through our veins is nothing like his, but it doesn't matter. He is my brother, and I've loved him just as much as you."
"Amdiriel stop this, it is madness," said Eldarion, slipping the band back onto her arm. "You will return, you will see them all again."
"Eldarion, my brother. Though we do not agree all the time, my heart cherishes you more than words can say." Eldarion began to shed tears unstoppably, holding back his want to cry in front of his sister. Just then Ewan returned, interrupting the two. "We must bring her quickly, I think I found something." Ewan lead the two to a platform that held a table of elvish medicine. How it got there, or why it was left, he did not know. At the moment neither of the boys cared. They laid Amdiriel on the ground, and hovered above her knee, cleaning the wound before anything else.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Eldarion asked.
"No, but one of these remedies has to work, maybe to stop the bleeding somehow; stitches maybe, I do not know what we must do. Anything to stop the wound." Eldarion hurried to clean the cut, praying to the Valar that they would help his sister, and not put her in danger anymore than she was already in.
NORTHERN WASTE
"FIND THEM!!!!" Ainik yelled, screaming so loudly it echoed through the trees passed the fort. Aeronel had escaped, and Ainik knew immediately Maethoriel had returned, but with whom he did not know and how she managed to save her friend without him knowing was also a mystery. Maethoriel, who was running with Anárion and Aeronel towards the direction of Forodwaith, heard Ainik's cry, and smiled to herself. She was proud to show up the man, remembering his spiteful words to her some days before.
"Where will we go?" Aeronel asked Anárion, as the three were still running. They didn't see any orcs behind them at the moment, but Anárion didn't want to take the chance of slowing down and having orcs catch up with them. He was still carrying his sword, the blade dripping with blood.
"Eriador. There is nothing in Arnor to keep us safe. The city is being rebuilt, but it would be the first place to look. If we go to Eriador, anywhere there, we can hide amongst the free folk."
"We are not allowed in some parts there, so I've heard."
"It is a special circumstance. Someone must be kind enough to take us in." Maethoriel looked over her shoulder one last time, seeing in a great distance a black grouping of what she figured to be orcs. "They will not reach us in time" she thought to herself, as she ran faster with her two companions to Eriador.
TBC.. Please review!!
