Disclaimer: see chapter one. The elven language does not belong to me, and my quotations belong to the "TheGrey Company" and I do not take any credit for it. All spelling/gramma erros….just overlook them.
Chapter III: Amon Sûl
"There you are, you dirty little rotten snake"
She turned around by the sound of the harsh voice ringing through the crowd, she looked at the others wondering if they had heard it, but they continued to walk. She shrugged, thinking that the man was probably not yelling at her, made sure T`quel was still by her side and started to run, trying to catch up with the others.
"Hey you, we've got some unfinished business, you owe me for the bread!"
She continued to walk ignoring the voice until a strong arm reached out and grabbed her by her hair. She yelped in surprise and pain and felt her eyes fill with tears. "Thought you would get away, ay?" she recognized the voice now and she slowly turned around and saw the shopkeeper from yesterday. He did not look happy.
"Now either you cough up the money or I'll…"
"…You'll what?"
The shopkeeper relaxed the grip around her hair, for a moment, and she breathed a deep sigh in relief, before the pain returned. "She owns me money, she stole from me, she and that…dog," the shopkeeper pointed at T`quel who was barking angrily. Strider looked at the girl and then to the dirty shopkeeper, sighed and started to roam around in his pocket, there was no need to make a fight out of this.
"Here…that should be enough"
The shopkeeper grasped the money and counted it three times before he let her go. She looked at Strider and opened her mouth to say something, but he lifted his hand, telling her to be quiet.
"Now…If I ever see that little street whore here again I'll…" Strider withdrew his sword and pressed the edge against the shopkeeper's throat. The buzzing in the crowd stopped and people drew away from them.
"If you ever touch her again…" he threatened and pressed the sword against his skin. Sweat prickled down the shopkeeper's forehead and he swallowed and nodded eagerly. Strider removed his sword and pushed the man away before he grabbed her hand and led her away.
The merchant watched them go, the crowd started to mutter slowly, and people slowly returned to their chores. The merchant let his hand rub the spot where the sword had rested, and he shuddered and then hurryingly dashed towards his shop, thinking it was best to get out of here before the man made truth of his promise.
She followed Strider, her eyes glued to the ground, as he dragged her through the mass of people and towards the stable.
"Diola lle" she whispered. Strider just sighed deeply and sadly, and then he asked.
"Mani nae lle umien?" (What have you been doing?)
Her green eyes turned dark as she turned her head away, unable to meet his gaze. How could she tell him? The mere thought of what haunted her dreams made her feel filthy.
He saw that she was fighting something and regretted asking. He was used to see the elves full of joy, always singing and glowing, not like this, looking like they were apologizing for the air they used.
He hated seeing her like this, and wanted to change it. He placed a hand on her shoulder and noticed again, how her body stiffed how she forced her self not to flinch.
"Amin hiraetha, amin merna lle eska, uma dela" (I am sorry. I will take you home, do not worry)She raised her head and looked at him shocked, he had apologized to her, for what? She opened her mouth to say something, but he shook his head and then disappeared into the stable. A few minutes later, he appeared with a chestnut brown pony with blond mane.
"We must leave quickly" he told the hobbits, and then they started walking towards.
T`quel had taken a liking to Sam, unfortunately for the dog the feeling was not mutual. Each time Sam heard something breath behind him he turned quickly around, expecting a Black Rider, each time the scabby, gray dog sat down, tilted his head and looked at him with his brown puppy-dog eyes.
"Seems like you have a new friend there, Sam" Pippin called merrily as Sam shooed the dog away. "Well…I don`t like him" Sam muttered and watched as T`quel scurried off this owner and then stared at Sam as if he had kicked him.
"Master Frodo, wait up" Sam called and hurried up to Frodo and Strider.
Pippin sighed deeply and heard his stomach growl of hunger, he looked at the sky and saw that it was about time they had their second breakfast. They had left the Prancing Pony in a hurry; he hadn't even had time to digest his food, before Strider dragged them around in the town, buying equipments.
He sat down and opened his backpack and started to slowly take out what he needed, soon Sam could detect the aroma of food and quickly hurried over to Pippin to help him with the preparations. The nameless elfmaiden, stopped and watched them as they prepared the meal. T`quel started eagerly wag his tail and ran over to Sam to beg for some scraps.
Strider had been talking to Frodo when All of a sudden, he noticed that the other hobbits were not following him, and he turned around and saw them seated down on the ground, passing around a lump of bread.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?"
They all looked at him like it was the stupidest question they had ever heard, but Merry quickly understood, and started to pack his things down.
"It`s time for out second breakfast…. we barley had time for our first" Pippin explain and Strider sighed deeply and shook his head.
"We don`t have time to stop for any meals" he said and continued to walk. Pippin looked at him perplexed and quickly Marry hurried over to him and whispered. " I don`t think knows about second breakfasts, Pipp!"
Pippin gaped and quickly gathered his stuff and hurried after Merry. "What about third breakfast" Merry shook his head and started to walk, Pippin followed him quickly and stuttered
" What about: lunch, brunch, dinner, tea, afternoon snack, supper, he knows about them right?" he asked worryingly. Merry furrowed his eyebrows and patted Pippin on the shoulder.
"I don`t think he has heard about them either!"
It seemed like they walked for ages, they only stopped two times, once to fill their bottles and another time because Sam insisted he couldn't go another step without a rest and some food. Frodo felt his body tire with each new step and he stared up at the sky that the sunset was painting in all its colors. Surely, Strider would set up camp soon.
All the time the elfmaiden from Bree walked far behind them, not saying a word, never complaining, and never asking for anything. A couple of times she stopped, when she got near them, and when she did, she stared down in the ground trying to be as invisible as possible.
"Have you ever met any elves before, Strider?" Frodo asked when he noticed the way the ranger was staring at her. "Yes…" he answered flatly. Frodo nodded thoughtfully. "Are they all as shy as she? I remember old Bilbo telling me that they were cheerful and merry folks." Strider did not answer; he only gave one of his deep sighs.
"Let us hope that taking her to Rivendell will help" he mumbled.
"Help?"
"The scars she bears goes further down then the bruises we can see on her skin, Frodo. It takes much to break an elf spirit, it takes much darkness" he paused and looked at the darkening sky.
When night hung over them, they stopped and stared up at a great hill where the remains of a tower roared above them. Strider stopped and took a deep breath, then turned around to see if everybody was still following. Pippin and Merry soon waited behind him, Frodo had been walking straight in his heels all day, then came Sam and Bill the pony breathing hard, muttering something about that Hobbits were not build to do long distance walking. Then finally she came stopping a few meters from them, so not to disturb.
"This was once the great watchtower of Amon Sûl"
" Amon Sûl, the Hill of Wind. This tower was build in the early days of Arnor, the tower and the hills north had been further fortified after the fall of Rhudaour to Angmar, the tower was burned in 1409" Frodo said thoughtfully.
Everybody stared at him and Strider shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.
"You know history very well, Mr. Frodo for one who has lived his entire life in the Shire, I am impressed" Frodo shrugged "Bilbo used to tell me all sorts of things, I must have learned a thing or two during the years"
"We rest there," Strider announced and everybody started the long climb up the hill.
Only the elfmaiden hesitated before she stopped, her eyes were fixed on the road they had just walked on. She could feel the wind play along with her hair, its harsh teeth nipping at her skin and she shuddered slightly, not only because of the cold. There was an unexplainable presence lurking in the breeze, a presences of evil.
When Strider noticed that she wasn`t following, he ordered the others to wait where they were and hurried down to her. Her eyes were filled with worry and her skin had grown pale, she turned and looked at him, and he could see that her body was shaking even T`quel whimpered slightly.
"Tula" (come)
" Amin dele" (I am worried)
"Mankoi?" (Why?)
"Aminn'sinta" (I don`t know)She couldn't explain what it was; she just felt that going up there was very, very wrong. Strider smiled warmly and put a hand comforting on her shoulder and said that there was nothing to be worried about.
He was wrong.
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