A.N. Warriormaid needs reviews…or she will stop posting! No, seriously. Review, you freaks! Or else…Oh, and I don't really like Brego (whatever happened to Hasufel anyways? He's awesome!) so Aragorn's horse is named Hasufel.
Disclaimer: I own * glances at list * Kestrel, Peren, Angel, and a unicorn Pillow Pet.
Chapter 8Lorthan charged out of the stall as soon as Kestrel opened the door, almost knocking her over. She tried to grab his mane, but he slipped out of her grasp. "Lorthan! Come back, will you?"
Strangely enough, the black horse stopped and turned his head as if he could actually understand her. After what seemed like a moment's thought, he whinnied and trotted back to her. She pulled his tack from a hook on the wall and proceeded to put it on.
Lorthan turned one of his big brown eyes on her as if to ask WhydoyouneedtoputTHATonmyback?Youcouldridemeeasilyenoughwithoutit.
Kestrel shook her head and patted his mane. "No, Lorthan. I can't ride you without a saddle and reins. I'm not Legolas."
He shook his mane as if he was saying Hecouldteachyouhowtoridemewithoutanything.TheFairFolkhaveawaywithushorses.
"Yeah. Mmhmm. That'll work completely. Lorthan, I can't ride you without your tack! Get over it." Kestrel said, closing her eyes in frustration.
You'renohorsewoman.
"I KNOW, Lorthan. I know. Isn't it kinda obvious?" she said, leading him out of the stables. She chose to ignore everything he did after that, reasoning that she couldn't ever win an argument with a horse about horseman – or woman in her case – ship.
As she was bringing him to the gate of Helm's Deep, she found Éomer and asked, "Uh, Éomer, is it normal to think that the horses are talking to you?"
"The horses of Rohan are smarter than most. But only some choose to communicate to Men, though they all can." Éomer answered. "Why, my lady?"
Kestrel sighed. "I feel like Lorthan is trying to tell me that he doesn't need to be ridden with a saddle and stuff. But I can't ride him without that."
"Oh? Is that so? Well, he'll just have to deal with it, unless you are willing to learn bareback riding from the Elves." Éomer suggested.
Kestrel sighed (again) and said, "That's what HE suggested." She nodded her thanks to Éomer and led Lorthan towards the gate. She felt a tap on her shoulder.
"I heard you were carrying on a converstation with your horse."
Kestrel knew that voice well. "Legolas, HE was the one who initiated it. Not me!" she protested.
"Yeah. Right. Sure. Mmhmm. Of course." he answered sarcastically. "What do you think, Lorthan?" The blasted horse lifted his head several times at Kestrel, as if pointing at her.
She facepalmed. "You're all against me. I'm telling you, Lorthan started talking to me first!"
0oO0oO0oO0oO0
They actually had to wait a pretty long time while Kestrel and Éowyn worked to detach Angel from Aragorn. She winced when she saw Aragorn's pink-glitter covered clothes. Then she winced again when she saw her own and Éowyn's. HowtheheckdidshegetawayfromÉowyn?Nevermind,Idon'twanttoknow.ProbablysomethingtodowithbeingaMary-Sue.Andthosedetails…I'llpass.
"Sorry, Kestrel. I was holding onto her arm when a big pink flash of light exploded. When it faded, she was gone, but I heard footsteps." Éowyn explained. Didn'tIJUSTsaythatIdidn'twantdetails?Well?
Kestrel shrugged. "How are you planning to keep her with you, then?"
"Remember? The villagers simply adore her! I'll just leave her with them. They'll grab her to try to pull her back if she tries to leave!" Éowyn said.
Kestrel nodded thoughtfully. "Good idea. So, are you taking her now or not?"
"I'll try…but I can't guarantee success." Éowyn replied.
After thinking for about a minute, Kestrel went over to Aragorn. "Can you do me a favor and ride as far as you can to the west? We need to deal with Angel, and it won't work with you around because…"
"I understand." Aragorn nodded and set Hasufel off at a gallop. They disappeared behind a hill quickly, and she turned back to Angel, who was struggling to release herself from Éowyn's iron grip.
"let me go!1i need 2 find my twoo luv!"
Kestrel sighed. "Angel, you're going back and you're going back RIGHT NOW. I don't want to hear any more whining, pleading, or threatening from you." she said, feeling the hilt of Lemrocalir.
And of course, Angel didn't listen. "but eragon!1were ment 2 b 2gether1" Any further protests faded as Éowyn, finally losing patience, dragged her back inside, still kicking and screaming.
"Nice job, Éowyn!" Kestrel called after her. Poorgirl.AndI'mtalking 'boutÉowyn,notAngel.Seriously.WhocouldpityAngel.Butthen…Frodo'slike"Maybehedoesdeservetodie.ButnowthatIseehim,Idopityhim." aboutGollum/Smeagol. Angel'sbasicallythesamething…Wait…howdoIknowwhatFrodosaidaboutGollum/Smeagol?Maybeitreallydoesn'tmatterwhatIknowofthem…becauseitdoesn'taffectanythingI'mdoingrightnow?
"Then are we ready?" Gandalf asked, already mounted on Shadowfax. "Let us move out! We have business to attend to at Isengard."
Kestrel mounted Lorthan and spurred him on towards the place where Aragorn disappeared. "It's safe now, Aragorn! She's gone! Thanks! You can come out now!" she called.
She began to get worried when Aragorn still wouldn't appear. "Aragorn? Aragorn?"
"I'm here!" Aragorn called. She looked in the direction of his voice (which, by the way, was in the middle of a wide plain) and she still couldn't say anything. Suddenly, he appeared near a clump of rocks.
Intrigued, Kestrel urged Lorthan towards the middle of the plain. She trotted around and couldn't see or feel anything strange about it, until she realized that the others were calling for her. Théoden seemed to be looking straight towards her, and yet he did not say anything. Whattheheckisgoingon?
She (or rather, Lorthan) cantered back towards the clump of rocks. As soon as she reached them, Gimli shouted, "There she is!"
Legolas jumped off of Arod and ran towards her. "What happened? Where did you go?"
"I've got NO idea whatsoever." she replied, slightly pissed at his seeming overprotectiveness. "But I'm here, and I'm all right, see? No need to get all worked up over it."
He sighed. "No, seriously. What happened?" Kestrel responded by trotting back into the "invisibility zone". She watched Legolas gasp when she first "disappeared", and then frantically start looking for her.
"I'm HERE, Legolas." she shouted. He looked up, seemingly drawn to her voice, but apparently he couldn't see her.
"What? I hear you, but you've…disappeared!" he exclaimed.
Kestrel sighed. "Come on in towards my voice." she suggested. He hesitated for a second before slowly walking towards the center of the plain, where Lorthan was standing. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and Kestrel realized that he had entered the "invisibility zone."
"I see you now, but where did you go before?" he asked.
Kestrel trotted over to him. "I've BEEN here the whole time. This part of the plain…doesn't seem to exist, somehow. They can hear us talking, but they just can't see us."
Legolas paled. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
He closed his eyes and muttered a prayer in Elvish. The only things she could catch (and understand) were "Eru…Ilúvatar." Then he said, "We're in the void. I can feel it."
"What do you mean, you can feel it? And how are we in the void? I can see everybody there, I can see Helm's Deep, I can hear them talking, I can feel the grassy plain…" she trailed off, not understanding.
He sighed. "Can't you feel that? Like you're not really substantial, like your mind is not exactly in sync with your body?"
"Uh…" She had to think about this before answering. The thing that finally clicked for her was when she tried to knee Lorthan but he didn't respond. Then she realized that she hadn't done anything, only her mind told herself to knee him. "Yeah."
"This isn't supposed to be here. The others will just walk right through it, and nothing will happen to them." he said.
She nodded, then asked, "But what happened to Aragorn? He isn't a Guardian."
"But he was trained as a Guardian. Although he does not have our blood, he knows all that there is to know about being a Guardian. And therefore, the void treats his mind as a Guardian's mind." Legolas answered.
She was about to respond when she suddenly saw something. "What's that?" It was the image of a kneeling teenaged girl with red-blonde hair and brown eyes. But it wasn't all that substantial. It looked like a hologram of sorts, a projected image. She doubled over, groaning silently as if in pain.
"Alindra." he said, walking closer to take a look.
The word made something click in her mind. "Alindra? As in…the Fox of the Clan of Fire?"
"You remember." Legolas responded, bending down to look at the image. His hand passed right through it. "Either it's an image, or she's fading."
"But what is she doing here?" Kestrel asked.
Legolas stood up. "She's the one who you have to save in Middle-earth. You could say she's trapped in this world, I guess."
"Alindra…oh, no." She dismounted and ran over to the image. Alindra…Iremembersomethingsnow…shewaslikeanoldersistertome…huh,shewastenyearsolder.Now…wait,aren'twethesameagenow?Becauseshedoesn'tlooklikeshechangedatall.Doyouageinthevoid?IhopeIneverhavetofindout.ButAlindra…tothinkitwouldcometothis…thatit'smesavingher…it'stoomuchtothink. She bent over, studying the image.
It seemed like Alindra saw her, because her mouth opened in a silent O of astonishment, and then she mouthed the words "Is that you, Allemro?"
"Yes, Alindra. I'm doing everything I can." Kestrel responded, trying to make her mouth move exaggeratingly so that Alindra could read her lips. She then broke down in tears. Shewassovibrant,wonderful,andjustsofullofthejoyoflife.Howcouldshebereducedtothis?
Legolas helped her up and put an arm around her, holding her close. "It's the Destroyers." he said, as if reading her thoughts. "They did all this."
"How could this happen? Alindra was like an older sister to me. She was my role model, and I tried to make her happy in everything I did. She was the leader of the Four." Kestrel said, still crying.
He hugged her tightly. "I'll do everything I can to help you rescue them. They were close to you, weren't they?"
"I don't remember much, but what I do remember is that they mean a lot to me. The Four…Alindra, Forian, Willow, and Borenlan. And there was one more…I can't remember his name." she said, desperately grasping Lemrocalir's pommel. "I can't stand this. Heck, I just want to go, find the Destroyers, and pick them off one by one!"
Legolas smiled grimly. "Your aim isn't that good. You're not an Elf."
"Whatever! I just want to do SOMETHING!" she cried. Soothingly, Legolas smoothed her hair, kissing her on the brow.
He smiled. "You'll save her. Everybody else too. I'm sure of it."
"Why do you trust me so much? I don't trust myself! My training stopped when I was six!" Kestrel was despairing by now. Ican'tdothis.I'mgoingtofaileverybody.
With another kiss, he replied, "And yet you already have proven yourself in battle. I have faith in you. And I'll be by your side every step of the way." He wiped her tears dry.
"Legolas! Kestrel! Where are you?" They quickly pulled apart, looking around guiltily until they remembered that they were in an "invisibility zone". "Where are you?" It was Aragorn.
Kestrel smiled, though tears were still shining in her eyes. "I guess we'd best go, before they start really wondering where we are." She swung up onto Lorthan and trotted towards the clump of rocks. She glanced back a few times, whispering almost to herself, "I'll save you, Alindra. I promise."
0oO0oO0oO0oO0
"What happened?" Aragorn asked when they were a while down the road. "I was watching you, and you suddenly disappeared!"
Kestrel smirked. "That happened to you too. In case you didn't realize. You went into that plain too. I saw you disappear."
"Maybe that happened. That plain had a dangerous aura about it. I don't know exactly what it was, but all I know is, it's not anything good." he replied, staring straight ahead.
She shrugged. "You don't know the least of it. Alindra…"
"She's the first one, isn't she?" Aragorn asked gently.
Kestrel closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes. She was like an older sister to me. It's…horrifying to see her like that. I just can't equate that role model that I always looked up to to what she's become in the void now. I just can't."
"It's your destiny, Kestrel. It's your fate. So much depends on you." he replied.
She turned around in the saddle, almost causing Lorthan to turn around with her. "But what if I don't WANT it to be my fate? What if I just want to be a normal person? What if I just want to be a wandering warrior with no obligations? Why couldn't this lot have fallen to somebody else? Like Alindra, for instance? Or Borenlan?"
"That might have happened had Eru not declared this for you. He's all powerful and all knowing. I trust in him, as should you, Kestrel. He wouldn't have let YOU be the one who had the responsibility of essentially saving the whole universe had he not known that you would do it. Eru loves Arda. He loves Eä. If he chose you to do this, that means that you are the one who will do this." Aragorn said.
Kestrel sighed. "But I don't really want to do this. I hate how everything depends on ME! I swear, I was the youngest in the village! And yet I was the one to live, not Alindra, nor Willow, nor Borenlan, nor Forian." She paused, looking out over the plains of Rohan before continuing. "I can't do this, Aragorn. I can't."
"What's all this doubting coming from, Kestrel? We've talked about this already!" Legolas called from in front of her. "Come on, focus at the task at hand! All we need to do right now is get to Isengard. Nothing else."
She shook her head, trying to clear it. "Whatever." And she spurred Lorthan on, drawing level with Arod. "Stupid angst." Ohnoes!I'vecaughtMovie!FrodoAngstSyndrome!EventhoughIhaven'tbeenaroundhimforlikemorethanaweek!*scream*! A.N. Again, I hate interrupting in the middle of the story, but yeah. That scream was in her thoughts, as in she thought the word "scream" along with the asterisks. Just clearing that up. * poofs *
"Come ON, Kestrel! Stop worrying about the future and the past! Just live for today! None of us are sure we won't die tomorrow. We're warriors, after all!" Legolas said, waving at her.
She muttered, "Yeah, except for you. Stupid freaking elf." She urged Lorthan on again, and soon caught up and passed Gandalf in the lead.
"Kestrel!" he yelled after her, but she ignored him and stared forward. The murky green forest was standing right in front of them. Fangorn.WhydoesGandalfwanttocomehere?
She posed that question to the Istari, who totally ignored her and spurred Shadowfax on into the forest. "Come on, everybody! There's nothing to fear in Fangorn Forest!"
Kestrel thought she caught Gimli muttering, "That's what you say." She smirked.
* is listening to Courageous by Casting Crowns * Review! Last chapter! Sorry that it's so short…only excuse that I have is that I wanted 8 chapters in each segment, so…yeah. And we're on to Return of the King! Yayness! * produces lembas out of nowhere and noms it *