Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings is property of Tolkien and there are many references throughout to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I only own what you do not recognize. The character Chinky is not meant to cause offence and is named after a real horse whose name has been shortened from a Fiat Cinquecento (Chinky – Chento).
Chapter 21: Acquaintances in the Golden Hall
The ride to Edoras was long, yet the fast pace was necessary. Gandalf kept them at a fast gallop they only stopped briefly at night and early morning so that they could get a drink.
Standing next to Arod Amy raised her hand and placed it just between his ears. The horse whickered nervously as Amy pulled of the weariness out of him. Doing the same for Hasufel she wobbled slightly but all the same she carried on and relieved the two Mearas. They were not half as tired, yet she knew that they would benefit from her help.
Once she had finished she pulled herself up straight and walked as steadily as she could over to the others. She sat down willingly, as Gimli offered her a drink of water. Before the dwarf could say anything she had raised her hands to his head removing all fatigue from him.
"What did you do?" Gimli asked.
"I took away you fatigue, we have a long ride and we will never get there if you and the others keep falling off your horses in sleep." Amy said managing a week smile.
Forcing herself upright she walked over to Gandalf and Aragorn and relieved them. Aragorn was very weary she could feel it; it had taken a lot of strength to relive him. Reliving people of fatigue was the hardest thing to do. As it worked by drawing out their tiredness and into herself, thus exhausting her, yet she knew it was necessary and so did the others. Finally she made her way over to Legolas.
"Amy, you are tired do not worry about me. I have been worse than this, on this journey so far. Please do not exhaust yourself even more." He said pleadingly taking her hand.
"Come I will be fine." She managed a reassuring a smile before placing a hand on his head.
Reluctantly Legolas let her place her hand on his head. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he was as tired as the others. Yet being an elf he didn't show it. He sighed in relief as he felt a cooling sensation go through his body and all fatigue just washed out of him.
He looked up at Amy and noticed she was standing tall, refusing to show any signs of weariness, yet Legolas could see it in her eyes, she was exhausted.
"Come, we must get going." Aragorn said standing up and walking over to the horses. "Gimli you will ride behind me to give Arod a break for a while."
Gimli agreed and hauled himself up so that he was sitting comfortably behind the man.
Chinky seeing her master's tiredness bent down onto her knees so that she could climb on easier.
'Thank you Chinky.' Amy said climbing on.
'You are weary. I can feel it. But come, I will go at a smooth pace.' Chinky said, standing up.
'Thank you my friend.'
Legolas took a side ways glance over at Amy. He had seen Chinky lower herself so that she could mount her easily. He frowned, there was no way she would be able to stay on the horse for long; she looked at the point of falling asleep. Though he could not help but think how much better he felt after she had seen to him. Pushing the thought aside he urged Arod into a gallop after Chinky.
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Struggling to remain upright Amy sighed. She was exhausted yet she could not let her companions see that, though she knew that Legolas knew how tired she was. As soon as he had caught her eye he had frowned, he was worried about her but he had tried to hide it.
Gritting her teeth she noticed she had started to slouch on the mares back again. Once again she forcefully pushed herself upright and kept looking forward. Keeping at this pace they would reach Edoras by nightfall.
With her head up she tried to keep her mind focused. The land around her was very beautiful. Mountains stretched away to the south and every where she looked she could see heather, lovely soft heather . . .
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"Stop!" Legolas yelled.
Vaulting off Arod he landed with a light thud. He sprinted over to where Amy had just fallen off Chinky. He had seen her start to slip and had yelled just before she hit the floor. Concern etched his beautiful features as he leaned over her. Chinky was nuzzling her master trying to get her to wake.
'I'm sorry elf boy I should have noticed her starting to slip.' Chinky said.
'It was not your fault.' Legolas said.
He sighed as he placed a hand over her chest, she was breathing. In fact she was fine. He almost laughed in relief as it dawned on him she was asleep.
"Is she ok?" Aragorn asked stepping up beside Legolas holding Arod and Hasufel's reins.
"She is fine, but asleep." Legolas said picking up the small body.
"She just needs to rest; she sacrificed her own well being for us. Legolas do you think you could hold her and ride Arod?" Gandalf said.
"Sure." He said handing Amy to the wizard so he could mount Arod.
Once he was up, he tied Arod's reins together and whispered in elvish for him to keep following Chinky. In truth he need not have bothered, the horse would have followed the mare whether his elven rider had wanted him to or not.
He took the small form of Amy in his arms and sat her in front of him. She whimpered in her sleep and twisted herself round so that she laid her head on his chest. Grinning slightly he placed his arms round her and smoothed her hair as he urged Arod back into a gallop.
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Legolas looked down to see Amy stirring; he smiled and ran a finger along her cheek.
"It is time to wake up little Warrior. I do not think you will get the dramatic entrance you need if I am carrying you." He whispered into her ear.
"No I think not, though I am quite comfortable here." She said groggily rubbing her eyes.
"Ah, you are awake. They cannot see us from Edoras here, I suggest you ride in on Chinky, make your banner fly." Gandalf said helping her down from Arod.
"I will don't worry. I feel so much better now after sleeping though I don't understand how I ended up on Arod." She said stroking Chinky's mane before mounting.
"You fell asleep on Chinky's back. You gave us quite a fright Little Warrior when you fell off. After that Legolas sat you in front of him so you could sleep." Aragorn said stroking her hair lightly.
"Sorry." She said. "Come, we ride to Edoras. I have plans for Théoden!" She said galloping off letting the banner fly high behind her held by the invisible ropes.
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Éowyn held her breath as she scanned the land before her. The wind tore round her face at unbelievable speeds, making her long blonde hair go haywire. All that could be seen around her was heather; heather everywhere in every direction.
A slight ripping noise caught her attention. Turning her head slightly she saw the banner of the white horse fly off into the distance. The wind slowed down slightly as she turned to walk back into the great hall. Though something made her look round. Turning back she held the hair out of her eyes and strained to see further into the distance.
Four horses were galloping flat out across the plain. Their ground eating strides bringing them ever closer. Her eyes focused on the horse in front of the other three. Soaring out behind it was a banner, though she couldn't see any ropes holding it, though that is not what made her eyes open. On the banner was a large golden dragon. She blinked and rubbed her eyes thinking they may be deceiving her. Yet it was still there. 'It cannot be, the child of the dragon? All of his blood line was destroyed.' She thought.
It had been long since this land had had any hope. She remembered sitting on her father's knee as a child wishing that something would help them. And now it looked like her prayers would be answered. Turning round she hurried inside.
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"Don't expect to find any welcome here." Gandalf warned as they left their horses tied to a post at the base of the stairs leading to the great hall.
Slowly they walked up the stairs, Gandalf and Amy in the lead followed by the other three. A man with shoulder length gingery hair who claimed his name was Háma stopped them when they reached the door. He glanced at Gandalf and frowned, his gaze went right over Gimli though it rested a little longer on Aragorn. It stopped completely on the two elves. A small flicker of shock passed over his face as Legolas stared back at him in anger. A small gasp escaped his lips as he looked at Amy and a small flicker of recognition landed in his eyes. Amy just cocked an eyebrow and stared hard at him.
"I cannot allow you in front of king Théoden so armed Gandalf Greyhame." He said swallowing.
"Oh," came the reply from Gandalf as he handed him his sword and gestured for them to do the same.
Gimli grunted harshly before handing over his axes'. Aragorn laid his bow and quiver by the wall followed by his small blade. Then finally he put the sword down. Looking longingly at it almost wishing it would jump back into his arms.
Legolas was just as reluctant though he did make a show of twirling his blades round in front of the guards' nose. Amy screwed up her nose before placing her bow, quiver and blade next to Aragorn's sword.
"Your staff."
"You would not part an old man from his walking stick?" Gandalf said trying to sound meek.
Háma grunted before starting to open the doors. As he turned round he saw Amy's sword, which still hung at her hip. He looked up at her questioningly. Amy allowed a small smile to escape her lips as she looked back at him.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked innocently, black eyes sparkling.
Háma's eyes flicked to the long two-handled sword at her belt. He shook his head slightly and raised his eyes to meet her own.
"Your sword." He said.
"Oh," Amy said with a huge smile. "You want to see it?" She placed her right hand over the handle and made a huge show of pulling it out and holding it in front of the door warden's nose. "Nice isn't it?"
Háma gulped as he looked upon the shiny silver blade; the dragons stared back at him with their merciless eyes. He was fighting an internal battle. Should he let her in with the sword? Or should he obey Wormtongue? Finally he came to a decision.
"I cannot let you in front of the king with that sword."
Amy smiled sweetly before cocking her head to one side. "Do you know what those dragons mean? Do you know what the elvish says? Do you know who Onlee is?"
Háma gulped and stepped back a pace as she let go of the sword, it hovered in mid air in front of him. Slowly it turned, pointing towards him. Gulping again he nodded his head vigorously.
"Thank you. Now that we understand one another I think we will get along fine. Now where is the king?" She said lightly placing her sword back at her waist.
Without waiting for the answer she flung the doors open and walked in followed by her companions.
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"Breath the free air at last my friend." Gandalf said to Théoden.
Shaking his head Théoden picked up the sword that was held out to him and gripped it tightly, flexing his fingers around the leather grip.
"Dark have been my dreams of late. Tell me where is Théodred? Where is my son?"
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Gandalf rested a hand on Théoden's shoulder as he led the king away from his son's grave. Théoden gave Gandalf a watery smile before looking into the stables. At the back in the largest stable were two horses.
"Tell me Gandalf who does the horse belong to? The one that stands so nobly next to Shadowfax?"
"That my friend is Chinky, Shadowfax's daughter, Queen of all horses. She is the first in one hundred years able of communication. Her master very much wishes to meet you. I have yet to introduce my companions to you. Come they will be waiting." Gandalf said leading Théoden back up the stairs to his halls.
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Théoden sat at his throne and looked over at the four people standing before him. Confusion etched his face. One man, two elves and a dwarf, 'What an odd company' he thought to himself.
"Théoden. This is Gimli son of Glóin of the mountain Erebor." Gandalf said pointing to the dwarf.
Gimli inclined his head slightly at the king and went back to fixing his throwing axes to his back.
"Prince Legolas of Mirkwood. He was also part of the fellowship."
Legolas placed his hand on his chest and dropped a knee in a traditional elvish bow. Standing up out of his bow he looked over at Amy who was staring intently at the flagstone floor in front of her.
Théoden looked over at the elf and a slight smile spread over his lips. The elf looked to be a very good warrior and soon he would need all able to fight on his side. His glance quickly went from the young prince to the smaller, pretty elf at his side. She didn't look particularly thrilled at being announced formally though she also looked able to fight. Quickly he scolded himself. Girls didn't fight, then why did she have a bow and quiver strung to her back? He was brought out of his thoughts when Gandalf introduced Aragorn.
"This is Aragorn son of Arathorn, Isildur's heir, an heir to the throne of the combined realms of Gondor and Arnor." Gandalf said somewhat proudly.
Aragorn merely grimaced and nodded his head.
"So this is Isildur's heir?" Théoden said an essence of awe in his voice. "Your face is familiar sire. Tell me have we met before?"
"Thorongil, you knew me as Thorongil. I was here when you were but a babe." Aragorn said slowly.
All thoughts of Amy had gone right out the window. He got off his throne and looked at the man before him. Aragorn raised his chin and looked the king straight in the eye.
"I may be a king of men, yet I will still battle for your cause. With the aid of my friends I hope to unite Gondor and Rohan once again." He said with one hand firmly on the hilt of his sword.
Amy grunted and the king brought his attention away from the future king and looked at the elf.
"Gandalf who is this intriguing young elf? You have yet to introduce her too me." He said sitting back down on his throne.
"Ah, I was waiting to introduce her to you last. This, my friend, is Amy daughter of Onlee." He said.
Théoden choked on the wine he had just taken a sip of. He looked at the girl - where before, boredom had been present in her eyes - whose eyes were filled with a passion he could not explain.
"This is Onlee's remaining child? I thought all of his blood, were killed. This is the child of the dragon?" Théoden asked with a hint of disbelief in his steel grey eyes.
"Uh huh!" She said glaring back at him.
"Prove it. Didn't he have a sword of some sorts? I will not bow down to a fraud." He spat out with a hint of triumph. There was no way this child could be the daughter of Onlee. There was no way he was bowing to someone who did not even reach his shoulder.
His steely grey eyes met her black ones. Instantly he regretted what he had said. Her eyes seemed to darken even more drawing in every glimmer of light.
Amy smiled inwardly, she knew how he was going to react, she had practically foreseen it, but if he wanted proof he was going to get proof.
Throwing her cloak back she pulled out her sword and with all her strength flung it towards him. The blade shone with a silver light as it flew point first towards the king's throat. She laughed as she heard him scream, she laughed even harder as she heard her companions gasp, they apparently thought she intended on killing him.
Inches before it hit his throat it stopped in mid air and hovered in front of him, the dragons almost seeming to howl in rage at being stopped. It had been many a year since she used it for its real purpose, and they itched to taste blood again.
"This is the sword of Onlee. See the dragons? Now will you aid me or thwart me?" She said with such a passion that Legolas and Aragorn gasped.
Théoden gulped before nodding his head. Smiling, Amy turned the sword and placed it back in its scabbard without touching it.
"This is a strange time. Myths spring out of the ground. I am faced with two future kings, a lord and the child of the last saviour of the world." Shaking his head he stepped off his throne and reluctantly dropped to one knee bowing deeply to the people in front of him.
"Your people are in danger Théoden. Will you fight with us or against me?" Amy said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Do I have a choice?" He said standing up, bewilderment present in his eyes.
Amy smiled before standing in front of Legolas allowing him to put his arms round her. Shaking slightly at his touch she looked at the king.
"No!"
