Chapter – 17

The horns of victory sounded through the Keep as the Orcs were driven back into the forest that had suddenly sprouted overnight. Legolas and Aragorn watched the foul beasts flee along with the White Wizard, the King of Rohan, and Éomer: Third Marshall of the Mark. Aragorn could not help but wonder about the dark woman lost in the explosion of the wall. Legolas's mind also drifted to the thief, and then to the woman she had stolen from him.

Aluhin, he sighed inwardly

Aragorn felt a twang of remorse for the many that had been lost, and for the mysterious fire-woman. Though she had been bitter and somewhat of a cruel-nature, she was strong, and powerful, and ever an enigma.

The wearied defenders soon retreated back to the Keep, some in quiet conversation, others in silent contemplation. Aragorn and Legolas came trough the doors, stepping around scattered debris and laying aside their weapons.

"Well you sure took your sweet time."

The two companions whirled around to stare into the dark recess of the room. In the dim, unlit corner an inky figure stood among the shadows. Aragorn strained to penetrate the darkness; Legolas knew immediately.

"How…" Aragorn whispered once he realized who the figure was. "The wall…"

"Yeah," the woman's voice rasped, "that was a real pain in the $$."

"It's not possible…" Aragorn breathed. "The wall…"

"Yes, the wall exploded, we've been through that," the woman chided. The man continued to stare at her intently. "Look; yes, I survived the blast. My clothes, on the other hand, did not. I found my cloak, but unfortunately I was not able to access any cache of clothing. I was going to borrow that one guy's clothes, but he turned out to be a bloody Fairy, a very bloody Fairy, actually, so I had to trash that idea."

"Haldir?" Aragorn wondered.

The woman shrugged. "How the hell should I know? They all look the same."

There was a moment of silence.

"Clothes?" Black repeated. "I mean, personally I don't have a problem with going around naked, but I'm sure you'd be more comfortable with me fully clothed." Aragorn blinked once before the woman's words sank in and he turned away.

Black soon tired of waiting in the darkened corner for the Man to bring her a set of clothes, so when an unsuspecting man of Rohan came near, she pounced on him. Unfortunately, it was the wrong Man of Rohan.

She sprang out of the shadows and grabbed his neck. The man spun in the nick of time and plunged his sword into her gut. Black lurched as the harsh metal sank into her body. She gurgled slightly as blood began to pool in her mouth. She looked up angrily at the horse-lord as he withdrew his blade.

The man was tall and light-haired, broad and somewhat scruffy. "Damn you pretty boys," she cursed.

The man stared down at her in bewilderment. He had no knowledge of the woman, and the fact that only scarred skin peeked out from the small openings in her cloak slightly worried him.

Black spit out the cold, metallic blood in her mouth and began to right herself. "All I wanted was a pair of britches," she said, "and perhaps a shirt or vest." She felt the skin over her abdomen begin to stitch itself back up. The pain was subsiding, slowly. "Wretched equi-man," she grumbled as she walked bent over, gingerly making her way out of the keep. "Seriously," she muttered, "I've been stabbed and shot and blown up more times in the past five days than I have the past five decades."

Red flew through the warm, sunny sky, happy and content, with absolutely nothing on her mind. It wasn't until she realized she was hungry, which made her look down, that she noticed she was flying out over open water.

"Bwaaaccckk!" she squawked.

"They've been gone for days!" Blue protested. "What could they possibly be doing? And why did they leave? How is it, that she can leave, any bloody time she wants, and I am not even allowed off the boat!"

Green did her best to ignore the whining woman in blue. "That's just the way it is," she answered in her typical, ambiguous way. "I don't ask questions, I don't need to. Frankly, I really don't care. Now drop the anchor we're stopping here."

"Bwaack! Aaackk! Eeek!" Red the raven cried as she flew around in frantic, spiraling circles. She tended to get a little unfocused around open water with nothing solid to put her feet on.

She flapped her wings incessantly, the battle against panic already lost. And then she suddenly smacked head on into another bird; a seagull. The seagull suddenly went limp, then fell out of the sky and landed in the water with a faint 'splish.' Red shook her head, a bit dazed. When her vision cleared again she spotted something down below.

Land!