New content in this chapter!
Thanks for the reviews. Luckily, the Edhelroch can do this thing (think Its explained in the Imladris parts earlier, if not it will be again) where they can imprint onto their clothing and weapons so those natural materials also shift too. Aerlaer completely forgot to imprint the new dress from whoever is accommodating their needs in Rohan. Just think of all the awkwardness in the beginning when the Edhelroch came into being! Ha ha! XD
Éowyn tried rousing the unconscious boy, just as there was a light clatter of hoofs in the hall. She looked up, surprised to see the Elfhorse, streak past without pause, dashing through the side chamber. Hopefully more dresses had been left for her. The young girl clung to her brother's side, crying and shaking and Éowyn didn't know quite what to do with them. The King was not present and she had sent a maid to fetch a healer but none yet had showed.
"Any change?" Éowyn looked up at the sound of the quiet yet melodious voice. It was the Princess Aerlaer, now returned to her Elf form and, thankfully, donning a dark blue dress.
"No, my Lady." She answered, feeling still uncertain of the two Elves who now resided in her King's halls.
"Please, it is only Aerlaer. My Lady, is my grandmother." The she-Elf's insistence was friendly as she placed a hand over the boy's heart, closing her eyes, seeming to focus. "Completely at the end of his tether." She murmured more to herself before carefully peeling back his tunic to reveal a deep cut which wept with infection, the skin around it angry and red.
"C... can you help him?" The little girl asked timidly and the Elf turned to her.
"Yes, he will be alright, I just need to heal him." As if it were a habit, Éowyn watched as the Elf pulled her hair back out of her way and the little girl gasped.
"Y…you are an Elf!" She stuttered and Éowyn moved to the girl's side as the Elf laid her hands over the boy's injury.
"Athelas?" Another voice murmured and Éowyn saw it was Aragorn, the Ranger. His grey eyes were filled with worry, his brow furrowed.
"Yes, for the infection. I cannot do much but he does have three cracked ribs so if you have a pain draft or can make one?"
"You needed me, my Lady?" She glanced over now to where Aithos, one of the King's healers stood uncertainly.
"Yes, please get Lord Aragorn or Lady Aerlaer anything they ask for." The Ranger strode towards Aithos and Éowyn went back to watching the Elf. She had never seen, much less talked to an Elf before and knew nothing of their ways or skills. When pale gold light shone from beneath the Elfhorse's hands, she was both bewildered and intrigued.
"Aerlaer, here." Aragorn had returned and Éowyn caught the scent of strong herbs in a hot bowl. The Elf did not answer, instead she took wads of cloth which soaked in the water and ringing them slightly, applied them as a poultice over the wound.
"This will draw out infection and make your brother better." The Elf smiled gently at the small girl who had not moved from her brother's side, watching Aerlaer work intently. The Ranger then carefully shifted to ease the still unconscious boy up and the Elf deftly took a bandage from him and secured the wound.
"When will he wake up?" The girl asked warily.
"Very soon." Aragorn replied this time. "Aerlaer will watch over him until he does." She nodded silently, tears streaming down her dirty face.
"What is your brother's name?" The Elf asked.
"He, he is Éothain." She mumbled. "I am Freda." She glanced around, lip trembling. Where is mamma?" Surely, she was no more than five, Éowyn felt her heart ache for the scared girl and pulled her into her arms.
"Hush, it will be alright." She murmured, hoping she sounded soothing. You must be hungry, we have bread and some cheese and fruit and some fowl. Are you hungry? The girl nodded against her and awkwardly, Éowyn stood, attempting to pick her up to carry to the table where food and water had been set out. She glanced back to where the boy still lay to see Aragorn speaking quietly with the she-Elf.
Nearby stood the other Elf who she had learnt was also royalty from a far off Elven realm. His gaze flickered momentarily to her before shifting back to his companion who knelt next to the unconscious boy. The Dwarf, Gimli, who had kindly walked her back to the great hall, came to sit awkwardly across from them at the table.
"Are, are you a Dwarf?" The girl asked shyly and he gave her a white toothed grin.
"Yes, I am, little lady. Pleased to meet you." He bowed from where he sat which incited a small giggle from the girl. Éowyn noticed the small smile playing on the male Elf's lips although his gaze had not shifted to them that Éowyn was aware of. She had heard tale Elves had acute hearing and sight, many times better than any other race in Middle Earth.
"You are an Elf!" A strange voice suddenly exclaimed and Éowyn turned to see the boy had awoken. "Where is my sister?" He glanced around, sitting up and then wincing. "Where is Freda?" Éowyn was not surprised when the girl flew from the table and back to her brother's side.
"Éothain?" The girl asked uncertainly.
"I am alright, sister." He replied looking to the Elf for confirmation.
Aerlaer nodded and smiled. "You are, but let us return your strength with some food." She added, carefully helping him to his feet. Slowly, he moved to the table, sitting heavily and Éowyn pushed food before him and his sister as she scampered up to sit by his side. Aragorn handed him a cup of water which he took gratefully, just as the doors opened, admitting the King and Gandalf.
Éowyn stood as her King strode down the hall towards them. Hama walked behind him with Gandalf and she realized he would have informed her uncle of the condition the children were brought in.
"What is your name?" King Théoden asked and the boy hurried to stand and bow but Éowyn, grasped his arm.
"You need not bow, you are weak." His pale face flushed as he swallowed his mouthful of bread.
"Éothain, my Lord." He bowed his head instead. "My sister is Freda, our mother sent us to raise alarm. The Westfold burns." Éowyn felt if her blood had turned to ice.
"How?" The King uttered and Éowyn cursed the Wizard and Wormtongue. For too long had they poisoned his mind and poisoned the lands. Her brother, she thought he and the Mark had gone to protect those Western villages and farmland. Had they failed?
Through mouthfuls of food, Éothain retold what had happened that led them to be seeking refuge in Edoras.
"Wild men and Orcs came to our village. We were unprepared. Mother set us on our father's horse and told us to come here and warn you." He swallowed another mouthful of bread and continued. "As we fled, the wild men and Orcs cried out and chanted, I could not understand the Orcs but the wild men were crying 'For Saruman!'
They set fire to our village and killed anyone in their path. I don't know if mama made it, she slapped our horse on the rump and told him to run hard." he finished raggedly.
"Where's mama?" Freda asked again, having heard her brother mention their mother.
"Hush now, finish your food." Éowyn soothed the worrying child, feeling a deep sense of foreboding.
"When we were away from the danger, I stopped our horse on a knoll and turned back. I could see every village before ours had been burned. We had seen the smoke rising dark in the distance from our own village days earlier, but had not wanted to believe we were in danger." The boy concluded and fell silent. Aerlaer placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Do not despair, for if your townsfolk are as brave as you then all may not be lost." He gave her a small smile of hope and Éowyn was glad in that moment the Elf was there.
"Éowyn, if the children have finished eating, please take them to Rodwen to clean themselves up and rest." Her uncle instructed wearily. This news was hard for all of them to bear.
"Come now, we shall find you a place to rest." Éowyn spoke to the boy and girl and nodding, they followed her from the hall.
"Why are there strange folk in Edoras?" The boy hedged as Éowyn led them to the kitchens where she would undoubtedly find the head maid of the Meduseld.
"I do not know." She admitted for she did not know why the Ranger, Elves and Dwarf travelled with Gandalf. "These are strange times."
…
The King was deeply troubled, back and forth he paced. Back and forth before his carved throne as both Gandalf and Hama consoled with him and Aragorn stood nearby watching and listening. Legolas had remained with Gimli, some paces away. Aerlaer lingered near the Dwarf too, listening.
"This is but a taste of the terror that Saruman will unleash. All the more potent, for he is driven mad by the fear of Sauron." Gandalf explained to the harried King.
"You have two thousand good men riding north as we speak. Éomer is loyal to you. His men will return and fight for their King." Aragorn said from where he leant against a table, toying with his pipe. Legolas could tell the Ranger was trying not to step on the King's toes.
The King paused in his pacing, facing his throne. "They will be nine hundred miles from here by now! Éomer cannot help us." Théoden said and then turned to the others in the hall wearily. "I know what it is that you want of me, but I would not bring further death to my people. I will not risk open war." Legolas had heard those words before. Spoken by another king in another time. It almost seemed another world.
"Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not." Aragorn stated firmly and received a disgruntled look from the King.
"When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was King of Rohan. He retorted and then turned back toward his throne.
"He knows Aragorn is right." Aerlaer murmured very quietly and he nodded. The King had no choice. It was fight or surrender and die.
"Helms Deep." Théoden spoke, turning to them once again. "It is a safer refuge than Edoras, my people will be better protected behind its stone walls and if we must fight, we will have a better chance." A keep and a refuge, surely that was a good plan? By Gandalf's frown, he wondered if it were not.
"Hama, alert the city and the guard, we are evacuating to the Helm and will leave at first light in in the morn, any feast tonight is cancelled." Legolas watched as Hama bowed and hurried from the hall. Théoden then turned to sweep his weary gaze over them all, resting lastly on Aragorn. "Will you ride with us?"
"It would be an honor my Lord." Aragorn replied and bent his head in respect.
"Looks like we are to journey again." Gimli rumbled but Legolas wondered now if that was such a good thing.
"There is much to be done." Théoden said decidedly. "I must alert my niece." With that, he strode from the hall leaving them.
"Come, let us speak in private." He gestured the others to follow him from the hall.
It was the privacy of Gandalf's own chamber they gathered, standing about as the Wizard sat upon a chair.
"Retreating to this keep, is it not the better option, Gandalf?" Legolas hedged. Aragorn sighed, finding parchment and a quill and ink. Quickly he scratched something out before holding it beneath a candelabra. The sun had set an hour earlier and it was dark outside.
"This is Helms Deep. It is set into the rock of the mountain but, there is only one way in and one way out. Depending on how many enemy there are, it is, in essence, a trap." Legolas felt uneasy as he studied the rough sketch.
"Ah, so he flees and hides then instead of fights." Gimli scoffed.
"Helms Deep has saved them in the past, but I fear the army we will be up against will quake even the might that is the Deeping Wall." Gandalf sighed.
"But surely its walls are less penetrable than these ones? Edoras is not exactly a fortress." Aerlaer pointed out.
"Indeed, it is not." Gandalf agreed. "He thinks he is leading them to safety but what he will get is a massacre. "Théoden has a strong hold but I fear for him." He turned to Aragorn. "I fear for Rohan. He will need you before the end Aragorn. The people of Rohan will need you. The defenses have to hold." He finished grimly.
"They will hold." Aragorn replied with a fierce determination but Legolas wondered if they would. How many soldiers did Rohan have? How many did Saruman have?
Gandalf sighed before taking up the staff by his side to stand again. "I must away now for I have pressing business now elsewhere." He gathered his belongings in haste.
"Where are you going?" Aerlaer asked what Legolas wondered too.
"I do not quite know, young Aerlaer. At Helm's Deep, at first light, look to my coming." He turned to Aragorn. "At dawn look to the east." He instructed and wordlessly they all nodded as the Wizard left the chamber.
"What does he mean? Look to the east?" Gimli muttered.
"We will know when we need to." Aragorn murmured, looking out the window as he ran a hand wearily through his hair. "We journey far tomorrow and who knows what danger we may encounter." He turned to stride towards the door. "Rest my friends, we will be beneath stars again tomorrow night and the comfort of a real bed will be many miles away."
"See you at dawn." Legolas murmured as they all left the Wizards now deserted chamber to go to their own quarters. He turned towards Aerlaer. "Sleep well." He wished the elleth softly and she smiled but it seemed sad.
"You also." She murmured but, before he could ask if she were alright, she had slipped into her chamber and closed the door. Clearly, he had imagined it, perhaps she was sad Gandalf left?
He let himself into his own chamber, finding more garments had been laid out upon his bed for six days of wear and, a suitable leather pack to tie to a horse's saddle. Whoever oversaw their accommodations was doing an excellent job. Smiling, he pulled off his boots and began unbraiding his hair when there was a quiet knock at his door. Cautiously he moved to the door and opened it.
"Sorry, I know you probably wish to sleep and such but, do you know where our weapons are?" Aerlaer spoke in a rush, gazing up at him seeming embarrassed at disturbing him.
"Oh, yes." He uttered, surprised yet gladdened to see her so soon. "They are here with mine." He stepped aside to let her in and hesitantly she entered. "Just on the table, there." He gestured, noting how her shoulders relaxed as she sighted her weapons.
Quickly she gathered them in her arms as he stood, feeling awkward by the door. Ellons and elleths who were not family or lifemates were not exactly meant to be in one another's bedchambers. Well, certainly not royalty at any rate.
He didn't know why he suddenly felt so odd about it, he'd been travelling and sleeping but feet from the elleth for weeks now. Besides, he no longer considered himself as royalty. She still was, although he could almost forget that too.
"Thanks, um, have a good sleep." She whispered, quickly leaving his chamber. He waited until he heard her own door close before closing his own, shaking his head in slight amusement at her embarrassed hurry. Aerlaer did not really seem like the embarrassed type. Legolas walked back into his chamber to finish readying himself to rest.
Rest would not come. With a sigh, Legolas tilted his head back to gaze out the open window. The sky was dark but he knew the moon was out, somewhere overhead. It would surely be after midnight by now. He'd spent the past four hours trying to sleep, tossing and turning this way and that to no avail.
There was nothing wrong with the bed he tried to sleep in, it was large and soft. He knew he was safe. He knew his companions were safe, sleeping either side of him in their own chambers. He knew they were not exactly the reasons he could not find rest. With a frustrated sigh, he sat up, dragging his fingers back through his hair. There was no point trying to lie there, convincing himself he could rest when his mind would not let him.
Swinging out of the bed, he noted the eve had grown cooler for the cold stone his bare feet connected with. He found a tunic and his Lórien cloak and, securing the leaf broach at his throat, quietly slipped from his chambers.
The corridor was dimly lit and he moved unseen, although there was no one to see him, through to the first hall. From there, he slipped outside, passing through the great pillars he had played with Aerlaer around, before the Prince's funeral.
He should not have risen to her challenge to catch her, but he could not turn her down. He'd wanted to play a little with her, see her happier but it had escalated to more. Much more for him and it had been his own fault. He should have just let her win. Curse his competitiveness. Hunting her down had been alluring and once he had caught her, his feelings had grown dangerously close to surfacing. He'd nearly done something reckless and if it had not been for Aragorn's interruption, he would have. He would have kissed her. He'd wanted to and if he had, it would have ruined everything.
He needed to be more careful. He needed to rid his thoughts of her, but how could he? He had been trying to do just that and with each passing day, it became harder. He wanted her near, he wanted to be the one she looked to like he constantly found himself looking to her. She did not though. He had to be much more careful, if she found out the utter turmoil she left him in just by the mere sight of her, it would surely destroy the strong friendship they had built since leaving Imladris.
To seek anything deeper was too higher risk and, he did not think he could take her rejection. He knew full well already how it felt to take such a risk and be left all the more foolish, all the more broken for it. He did not plan on making such a mistake again.
Sighing, he stepped out further to the edge of the viewing platform he now stood upon, looking to the stars. It was a bright night, the moon still full and not a wisp of cloud to obscure the world above. The breeze was light but cool and on it he caught the scent of the fields of grass below the city walls. It changed slightly and he inhaled something else, something now too familiar to him. He turned hopefully but there was no other on the platform or beneath the pillars.
"Aerlaer?" He called out softly, uncertainly but no one answered him. Legolas turned back to the stars, annoyed his mind was playing tricks on him. He wished she had been there though, more than anything he wished-
"You called?" Legolas physically jumped with fright, whirling around. There she was, in nothing but a midnight-blue sleep-shift and her Lórien cloak about her shoulders.
"Are you trying to be the death of me?" He managed to gasp out as she casually pulled her cloak further about herself, laughing at his expense.
"Why would you think I would do that?" She smirked, cocking her head to the side.
"Because of... You startled me." He said lamely covering up what he was going to say. She did not appear to notice and laughed again.
"That was the idea." She grinned impishly. "Although you knew I was here, how?"
"You smell like violets." He said simply and shrugged, feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, but I am sure the lotion I used earlier was of vanilla orchid?" He noted the way she frowned slightly, utterly baffled.
"It was." He agreed, remembering that scent too. "You smell like violets." He explained, wishing this was not where their conversation had turned. He looked back out to the stars.
"I do?" She asked after a moment, her tone one of surprise.
"Yes, I noticed the day I found you near Imladris." He murmured quietly, easily remembering how she had smelt, just how blood and dirt stained she had been. He smirked, looking sideways at her. "Although it was surprising, considering you were covered in so much dried blood and dirt it was a wonder you did not smell more like an Orc." He was rewarded with a quiet laugh.
"You smell like a moonlit forest." She said easily and he looked fully at her but she merely grinned. "I guess seeing as you are an Elf from a woodland and you do have a coolness about you, it is appropriate. The same as Gimli smells of rock and smoke, and Aragorn smells like..."
"A man in need of a bath." Legolas finished, grinning back at her as she burst into laughter.
"Shh you'll gain the attention of the guards and they will arrest you for disturbing the peace." Her whispered, teasingly and she bit her lip, falling silent but her eyes were bright and full of mischief. Just why was she out here?
"Do you want to go for a walk?" She asked suddenly, catching him off guard.
"Uh, yes?" He stumbled out.
"Oh, you don't have to just say yes, I just thought I would ask, I was thinking of going for a walk." She rushed out, almost appearing shy as she looked up at him.
"No, it is a beautiful night. A walk with you would be, nice, a walk would be nice I mean." He quickly reiterated but she beamed up at him, not seeming to have noticed.
"Then let's go, the city is quiet and I heard tell there is a garden orchard somewhere behind this building."
"Aerlaer, is that wise?" He gazed at her uncertainly. "We are both, for want of a better description, in our sleeping garments." Her grin was instant and impish.
"Then we best not get caught!" With that, she skipped lightly away and he followed, wondering just what sort of walk this would be.
…
It seemed Legolas was up for a little adventure and a midnight adventure was certainly what she needed for she certainly was not sleeping. She was glad for his company although, she wondered why he too had been out of his own bed. She would find out later, for now they needed to be quiet. There were three guards ahead to get around unseen.
"They are not standing idle but patrolling in two-hundred feet sections." Legolas whispered lowly near her ear as they peered around the corner of a building. "There is a sequence, we should be able to slip past as the middle guard is facing the far wall and the right guard to the left as he turns. The third walks slower so he will not be facing us." She nodded with a smirk.
"We can use that cart there for cover if need be." She added.
"What, do you not think you are fast enough to make it the whole way?" He jibbed.
"I am!" She bit back.
"Shh." She felt him shaking in laughter.
"Okay, are you ready, they'll be in position in a moment… now!" She hissed and they both shot out from behind the building and sprinted the twenty-foot distance to leap over a low gate, into the orchard garden.
"Did you hear something?" A guard called out and Aerlaer made to laugh but a hand was suddenly clamped over her mouth.
"Don't move" Legolas breathed out, carefully adjusting his cloak to shield them both, where they lay upon grass, from the direction of the gate they had just cleared.
"Nothing, probably an owl, there is a family of them in a hollow in the gardens." Another guard replied confidently. Taking that to mean they were safe, she crawled low to the ground, further into the garden, before standing to dust herself off, behind a hedge.
"That was fun." Legolas chuckled, standing too and brushing at the loose shirt he wore. "Now what?"
"Now, we raid us some apples." Aerlaer declared, lifting her face to smell the breeze for their sweet scent. "This way I think." She grabbed his hand, dragging him in the direction she was sure she could smell fruit.
The garden was lovely and Aerlaer breathed in the cool, evening air, feeling a little invigorated. A lack of proper rest and then healing the King and then the boy, earlier, had left her feeling a little weary. Although they would be leaving the current safety of Edoras, at least she would be able to sleep once again, when she was among her companions again, camping under stars.
"Your sense of smell is quite accurate, look." Aerlaer looked to where Legolas pointed and grinned, sighting the tall trees ahead. She broke into a run, the other Elf following at her side, until the stood beneath the old, tall trees. There were not any apples, but she had smelt them, she was sure.
"There ae none." She murmured but Legolas chuckled.
"You are not looking high enough. Wait here." The wood-Elf leapt up to catch a branch and swing up into a tree, soon scaling to its topmost branches. Within moments, he dropped down to stand before her. "For you." He offered her a decent sized, pinkish apple.
"Thank you." She took a bite, enjoying the burst of sweet flavor as he took a bite from a second apple.
"There is a fountain over there, come and see." Legolas began walking and she followed him from the trees and past a tangled hedge of berries.
"Oh." Aerlaer breathed out as she caught sight of the fountain. It was beautiful. In the center a great, marble horse reared as two other horses, carved of the same marble, dashed around, one feigning to nip the one before it which had its heels kicked up in play. The water poured like a cascade to form their manes and tails. Aerlaer had never seen anything like it.
"I knew you would like it." Legolas murmured, just loud enough over the falling water as he sat upon the wide marble edge of the pool. She sat down beside him, feeling as if she were protected by the great horse statues behind her or perhaps it was the calming presence of Legolas. She was not entirely sure.
He did not speak again but it did not bother her. It was nice, simply sitting beside him, sharing in the beautiful garden which they had thwarted the Edoras guards to enter unseen. Legolas was such fun and he seemed to be only becoming more so, especially around her. Yet how he had suddenly acted while they had played about beneath the pillars, it confused her. The intensity of his gaze had made it feel as if her heart had momentarily stopped. It was strange yet intriguing. Why had that happened? She was not scared of him, she trusted him.
"I guess we should make our way back to Meduseld." Legolas sighed and she nodded but she did not want to return. "How shall we sneak past the guards this time?" He turned to her, grinning. "Or, should we simply stroll through the gate and surprise them, to leave them wondering just how we thwarted them in the first place?" His tone was once again mischievous and she grinned back.
"I think, the latter." He nodded, standing and she leapt up too, turning to gaze one more time at the wonderful horse statues. Together they walked back though the garden and, with each step, Aerlaer felt herself despairing. She didn't want to return to that chamber where she was locked away alone, unable to sleep, only to think of painful memories of her lost herd.
"My Lady?" She turned, pulled from thoughts as Legolas smirked down at her, offering her his arm. Taking it, she grinned. The guards would be so confused and, hidden by their cloaks, it was not obvious they only wore sleep garments beneath! This was the sort of mischief she would have usually partaken in with her brother or the twins or the Ranger, Taurorn, who she too held close to her heart.
Reviews are always welcome.