A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Only a few more chapters and the end shall be upon you! Yeah! I am so excited to see how you all like the ending. It's really intense... so I am trying to have a few calm chapters in between. Hope to see more reviews and I hope you all love the story!
Eomer walked aimlessly in the halls, trying to avoid the words that the King, his Uncle, had spoken to him. They would be leaving soon. Eomer was so absorbed in his thoughts, he was startled to hear footsteps rushing up to him. Without delay, he twisted his body to see the oncoming figure. His eyes caught the slight color of black before he was thrown to the ground. The air was forced from his lungs as Eomer stared stunned at what just happened, whatever that might be. Aragorn stood above him, grasping on to something tightly in his hand. Aragorn threw the object at Eomer and backed away. Eomer felt the shoe hit his chest and smiled as he through it back.
"This is not mine. That is Lady Tinioniel's! Do not throw her shoe at me." Eomer spoke loudly with a smile. Aragorn's teeth were still clenched as he propped his body against the wall. Eomer climbed to his feet, dusting himself off with his calloused hands. Voices of women and children playing were heard from down below, music blending into their frantic dances. They were happy. They were happy because they thought they were safe. "Aragorn." Eomer paused as he leaned on a window sill. "We are leaving soon."
"I know. We should not have lingered this long. We are sitting targets, easy for others to attack. The fortress can not withstand another assault. Do you hear something?" Eomer knew that no matter how hard he tried, he could not hear like Aragorn. Aragorn was raised by elves and had acquired delicate hearing, though it was not as finely tuned as the Elves, it was still better then most humans.
"I hear nothing." Eomer spoke looking around. A few moments passed when Aragorn finally spoke.
"Someone is coming." Eomer listened as carefully as he could and heard the slightest sound of footsteps.
"Do you know who?" Aragorn looked at Eomer, his face filled with sarcastic disappointment.
"I can hear them, Eomer, I can not see them." Eomer returned his sardonic look with an acerbic glare. Eomer fixed his eyes once again on the corner and waited for any glimpse of a body. Then he saw her, speeding around the corner with out halting.
"Tinioniel! What are you doing!" Tinioniel paid to heed to his words and continued her mad sprint towards the two men. "Tinioniel! Stop! The light will come back! Stop!" Eomer tried to end her dash, but was unsuccessful. Eomer turned to run in the opposite direction, thinking that she had lost her mind. Aragorn stopped him by thrusting out his hands and forcing him forwards. Eomer clumsily stumbled into Tinioniel's outstretched arms. A thought crossed her mind, and she decided to put her acting skills into use.
"AHHH!" She screamed out, pretending to be in pain. Aragorn was himself frightened. Eomer panicked and tried to free himself as gently as he could from her grasps, but it was futile. Her mad yelling melded into an insane laugh. Eomer looked at her, baffled at her actions. "It's gone. The spell is gone! Fooled you!" Tinioniel pushed Eomer away and walked back down the halls laughing hysterically.
"Women. I just… don't understand them. I don't," Eomer didn't continue as he walked down the opposite direction with a confused face, leaving Aragorn by himself.
- ~ * ~ -
Tinioniel looked one last time at Helm's Deep, the comfortable haven that shielded her from the mists of evil that lurked outside its walls. She very well knew that the stone walls could only provide her with very little comfort in its current stage, but she favored the walls against the vastness of the dying plains that stretched its long arms as far as her eyes could tell. Tinioniel loved that she had no clothes or any belongings to carry, but happily tried to facilitate the elder people with their heavier loads. Tinioniel was almost at peace with the world, and starting to actually let the fact of staying in this other realm for some other time, but that dream; the dream had haunted her for some time. She had tried to push the nightmare to the dark corners of her mind, but they were revived. The thoughts paced through her head with feral abandonment, unleashing her all but unforgotten dream.
"My lady?" Aragorn's dark figure loomed a few inches above her, for she herself was tall. His profound voice shook her from her trance as she took in a deep breath. "Is everything all right?"
"Oh yes!" Tinioniel exclaimed with a false enthusiasm known only to her. "It is nice to get out in the open and breath the gracious, clean air. Too long have we been kept in the stone holdings of the Deep. However it was a wonderful mother and protector from both rain and enemies." She again looked out across the plains as a smile crept across her face. Memories of a nearby park that he parents used to take her flashed in front of her eyes. Tinioniel heard the joyous laughter of her mother, followed by the barks of their now deceased dog, Libby. The sounds echoed in her ears, along with her father's voice. 'Jessica! Come here! I am going to get you!' Tinioniel recalled how her mother had trapped her and tickled her on the jaded grass. 'I've got you Jessica!' Her mother called, amidst her daughters screams of delight.
'I can't go back now can I?' Tinioniel thought. 'I am condemned in this beautiful hell. I will never see anyone ever again. My life is here now. I will never be able to go home.' The gleam in her eyes dimmed and vanished. It seemed that all hope for her was lost. 'How will I survive here?'
"Tinioniel!" Tinioniel glanced up at the mounted figure, whose faded gold hair fell in layers down his back. "Come with me." Eomer held out his hand, wishing for her to climb on the horse's back with him.
"Oh no. No no. Let's not forget the last time I went on horse back with you! You were mean and you tried to throw me from the horse. Don't think me stupid to fall for your tricks again Eomer." Just as her sentence was finished, Tinioniel felt strong, delicate hands grasp on to her small waist, and throw her into the air. A scream of surprise escaped her lips as she soared into Eomer's arms. "Legolas! You little traitor!" Tinioniel was seated in front of Eomer as he turned the horse away from the crowds of people. With a dejected, longing look, Eomer commanded the horse to gallop, and she saw the swarms of people fading.
"Where are we going? We are going to be left behind! Then were will we be? Lost and alone! Please, let's go back!"
"There is something that must be done first. I promise you that at the pace they are traveling, we shall pull alongside of them with time to spare. Trust me." Tinioniel sighed accepting her defeat and tried to relax in the uncomfortable saddle. Eomer smiled as she sighed, glad that he was making her ride a horse, which he knew made her uncomfortable. After an antagonizing ride for Tinioniel, she realized where he had taken her. A grin crossed her face as she looked on at the Deep from a familiar spot. "One last time?" Eomer asked, his voice deep and soothing. Tinioniel's grin broadened as she braced herself for the descent. The elating journey down the mount was as exhilarating as the first.
- ~ * ~ -
"Legolas, do you see them coming yet?" Aragorn questioned, hoping that Eomer and Tinioniel were well on their way back to join them.
"Not yet, though they must not be too distant from us. I am sure they are alright. Eomer is a skilled fighter; it would take many an orc to bring him down. Do not worry yourself so." Even as he spoke these words, he saw Eomer and Tinioniel riding on the horizon of his vision.
- ~ * ~ -
The wind tore at her hair, lacing the strands in between the whips of harmony. It was nice, not having to walk, and yet Tinioniel knew that walking would be inevitable. Eomer talked with Tinioniel for what seemed like hours, and turned out to be so. Tinioniel spoke of her home, where she grew up and the like.
"Now that my cousin has died, I am in the next in line for the throne. I am bound to my fate by blood." Eomer finished his tale with a soft voice. Tinioniel was saddened that his destiny was already chosen for him, but that was beyond either of their control.
"Eomer!" Aragorn voice rang through the air. His horse, Brego, raced towards their spot. "Is there something wrong? You two have been away for a long time. The sun is setting and we are going to rest for the night, for the children and the elder and weary. We take rest over that ridge." Tinioniel listened to Aragorn, but faintly, and his words melded into a silence. Her face broke out in a cold sweat and the blood in her cheeks vanished, as if it did not belong there.
"Yes Aragorn." Eomer replied. Aragorn smiled slightly before his face furrowed.
"Tinioniel?" Tinioniel's eyes were unfocused and aimed and the dying ground as Aragorn called out to her. Her eyes started to roll to the back of her head and her body wavered in the saddle. Eomer maneuvered himself to face her. Her body began to fall as her mind slipped from the world. Through the air she fell, for the two men were too slow to stop her descent. Eomer dismounted and knelt swiftly by her side. Tinioniel closed her eyes, and her chest refused to rise and fall. "It's happening again. I thought she was alright, seeing as it hadn't occurred in so long. I will get Gandalf." Brego's hooves beat against the ground like a pulse in the deadening dusk. Eomer sat in silence near her, trying to get her body to respond to anything, even a hit on her arm, which started to bleed from the harsh metal on his hand.
"Come on. Wake up!" Eomer commanded, but Tinioniel did not respond.