Chapter Eleven; Possession.

Atùvinel looked around the houses, talking to the few who were awake and lucid enough to know who she was. One man caught her dress as she walked almost silently past.

"Lady Narya!" His voice was hoarse and quiet. She kneeled down beside his bed so she could hear him better, "Narya."

"That is me. I am known here in the city as 'Narya'." She spoke gently, so as not to disturb the others' recovery sleep.

"I am known as Mirdain and I fought beside your brother and father in the battle on the plain."

"You served them valiantly, of that I am sure." She could not disguise her bitter tone.

"I would die for them." His voice was becoming thicker, and he coughed slightly. Blood began to pool at the corner of his mouth.

"Pelenth!" Atùvinel called, no longer worried about silence. "Get me a cloth and some water!" As the woman did as she was bidden, the girl blotted the corner of his mouth with one of the cloths lying nearby.

"I have a message for you, Lady Narya." His voice became more guttural. "A message from the black hearted one."

"Agaron?"

"Yes. He bade me tell you that Minas Tirith shall fall and your blood shall join your brother's at the seven gates as he rides into his new domain."

"He was there, at the battle?" Atùvinel leant over him, ignoring the shocked gasp of her old nurse at the man's words.

"Yes he was there. And he fought through me." For a second his eyes cleared, the pupils returning to their ordinary size. "Lady Narya!" He gasped, his voice had suddenly become mellower and softer. "I did that to the Prince. Help me. He has taken me over, I do not know how but I cannot live like this. Stop me now. Stop me."

Atùvinel's eyes glittered, it was clear what he had said was true, she now recognised the man as she wiped blood and dirt from his forehead, flaking dried blood away from a wound on his scalp.

"I will Mirdain. I will." She stood, and moved past him, in a stern voice ordering everyone who could to leave, then told the others to close their eyes and stop up their ears. His fingers caught at her dress, and he begged her once more. With a muffled sob she yanked it from his hand.

She strode out of the room to the entrance where she collected her dagger from the place she had left it when entering the houses of healing. She drew it from its sheath and checked it was sharp.

With a sharp nod to those who stood by the door, she re entered the room. His eyes were red with tears, but she saw that Mirdain was not himself once more. His face was flushed but as she watched from the doorway she saw it pale, then turn red again. As he thrashed on the bed, she moved in closer. He saw her and screamed out,

"You will die, Princess of the cursed lands! You will die in agony and alone!" In two quick strides she rapped him smartly on the head with the hilt of her dagger. When he subsided back onto his pallet, she smoothed his matted hair from his forehead, and whispering a prayer for his soul, she slid the dagger between his ribs. He didn't even cry out, just gasped slightly and then his breath and heartbeat stopped.

Atùvinel stood, wiping a tear with the back of her hand, and said, without even looking at those grouped in the doorway, said softly,

"Bury him outside in the gardens. Is the room made up?"

"Aye lady."

"I'm too tired to heal anymore tonight. Summon me if Elfwine needs help though. Have someone stand guard all night, he has already had one attempt on his life, we do not need any others. Send a messenger to my father with the letter I will write now. Send the fastest rider we have, this is urgent news."

"It shall be done Princess Atùvinel."

She allowed herself to be steered into a small room, where she sank onto the bed and wrote hastily, in the elvish script, her sad news. Giving the epistle to the young man who had knocked on her door some five minutes ago, she let Pelenth treat her as if she were a child once more, undressing her and washing her face and arms in a bowl of water. She collapsed into bed, and, reiterating her order to be woken if there was any change in Elfwine, then fell into a deep, thankfully dreamless slumber.