The Wild Westfold

By: Lauthica Green Clinkenbeard

Chapter Four: The Strange Soul and Home

I knew now that the horse on the flag in the infirmary was mocking me. He glanced down upon me and I swore that he had a devilish grin on his face. I had returned to the infirmary. Da sat behind me gently washing away the fresh blood from my wound. I was silent holding a cold compress up to my face. Two stitches had been torn apart on my back. Da patted my back dry after the blood was gone and began to thread her needle. She gently pulled the torn stitches out and tried to re-stitch them quickly. She was trying to keep the pain as lessened as she could but it mattered not. I was numb down to my very core. I felt nothing. One moment I was content. For one moment I was happy and everything seemed to look as if it would fall into place. Fate pulled the rug out from under my feet and laughed as I fell to the shattering world around me. I watched my father's integrity splinter. I watched my father succumb to his personal demons and take his own life. He died a broken and wrongly humbled man. What was lingering even more of a shadow in my mind was the effect my father's death would have on my family. The King had declared that I was now a ward of Meduseld. He passed judgment on my family to be banished and stripped of their title. I feared now the circumstances of my mother. She was already a weak willed woman. News of this would beat and hack her soul more cruel than the bluntest axe.

My lethargic daze was broken when I heard the door to the infirmary open. I looked up to see Eomer enter. He had changed out of his clothes that had been splattered and ruined by my father's blood and now wore simple brown breeches and a long green undershirt with no tunic or jerkin. He had a grief stricken expression. Every move and gesture he made looked as if he had a great weight on his shoulders. Da looked up and noticed him as well and quickly held up a blanket to hide my bare back. I didn't understand her fuss. My chest was still covered by the bandages from my shoulder.

"Lord Eomer, while your visit is noble and chivalrous, Deya is in no condition to receive visitors at present." She said sternly.

"I just want to speak with her briefly." He said.

"Not now, Lord Eomer." Da said firmly. She hurried and secured fresh bandages on my back. Eomer did not leave the infirmary but after a glare from Da he did turn around and face his back to us. Da cleaned off her needle and held it over the flame of a nearby candle. "Now, let's get that nasty gash all fixed up."

"I could do it." Eomer said turning back around.

Da gave him a disapproving look, but I think she knew she was fighting a losing battle. She put her needle back in her little basket and stood from the bed and left the infirmary. Eomer came and sat down on the bed beside me. I looked up at him.

"Do you really think I will let you stitch my face back together?" I said coldly.

"I have had to stitch myself, and numerous others on the battlefield. A little cut on the face is nothing compared to an axe injury or a protruding bone." He said as he opened up Da's little basket. He took out a smaller needle than Da originally had and he ran it through the flame of the candle. I didn't feel like arguing with him. I just watched him as he carefully threaded the needle. He pulled a small vial from the basket and then grabbed a bit of cloth. He soaked the cloth at the end of the vial for a few seconds and then replaced the cork and set it back in the basket.

He reached up and gently took hold of my chin to turn my face to his. I did not protest. His other hand took the compress away from my face and set it down on the bed. He cradled my face gently as he inserted the needle at the top of the gash for the first stitch. I did not wince. I stared at him studying him. His gaze was so focused on his task. Each of his moments were so gently that it was hard to believe that a mere hour ago he was a raging beast beating my father to a pulp. There was no spark in his animated eyes now. I could read the guilt he was trying to suppress.

"It wasn't your fault and I hold no blame." I said. He stopped in mid stitch for a moment and looked at me, staring into my soul. There was the spark that was missing. He said nothing and then continued on with the second and third stitch. I waited until he was done with the fourth stitch until I spoke again. "My father was always unstable with his emotions, and he was addicted to his power. He fell to his own demons."

"He would not have felt the impressions of his demons if I hadn't lost control of the situation." He said staring at me again.

"The situation was lost the moment he walked in the door." I said.

"Don't try to lessen my repentance." He said sternly continuing with his task.

"Why did you react so?" I asked. "Da told me once that you were very reserved."

Eomer stared at me again and that familiar shade of pink returned to his cheeks. He looked away quickly somewhere passed me. "King Théoden has told me before that I try too hard to pass myself off as older than I really am. He says that I have become a fine young man, but I can't keep the child in my heart repressed for too long or he will burst free." He said.

"A boy would not have confronted a full grown man with a sword." I said.

"Regardless," he said turning pink again, "I now owe you a debt that all the gold in Rohan could not pay."

I wanted to say something back but, like Da, I knew when I was losing a battle. It took nine stitches to close the cut. My eyes never left his face. Then, quite suddenly, I realized that he was leaning in closer to me. My heart felt as if it would burst from my chest. My eyes drifted from his gaze to his lips and back to his eyes. His mouth drew closer to my own by the second and yet it felt like time could not pass more slowly. He was so close I could catch whiffs of soap from his hair….and then he moved away to bite off the excess thread from my stitches. He leaned back away from and returned the supplies to Da's basket. He said nothing, but he didn't stand to leave. He turned away from me and rested his hands in his lap staring into space. I reached out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If you feel you truly owe me I do have a favor to ask." I said. His eyes met mine and he took my hand and encompassed it within his own.

"Anything," he said.

"I want you to go to the king and tell him I wish to return to my father's house in the East Emnet to be with my mother and brother. Please tell him to forsake his punishment of banishment on them." I said.

"You wish to go back? After all that passion about leaving and never returning?" he asked.

"Everything is changed." I said.

"Indeed." He said. I realized that there was a new spark in his eyes. It was something warm and welcoming. His eyes were so large and deep that I could see the reflection of my face. I was too naive to realize it at the time, but there was also another reflection growing his heart. Now, however, these feelings were terrifying me and my wild soul. I looked away from him and took back my hand from his.

"I wish to return home first thing tomorrow morning." I said. "I want the news of my father to reach my mother's ear from my own mouth." Eomer stood up quickly.

"No! You are not well enough to…" he began.

"Hush!" I exclaimed. "I am perfectly fine and more than capable. We both know that no matter what you say to protest I will find a way to do as I please anyway."

Eomer didn't say anything, but his expression changed drastically. He looked like he wanted to say volumes but doubt was twisting up in his mind. He finally bowed his head toward me.

"I shall inform the king at once." He said and he left. His tone appeared polite but his eyes lied to him and his steps fell strong against the wood in anger. He was not happy with me and I felt bad. I had a secret plan all along and I would not see him again for many years.

I was never really one to follow order or protocol. Normally when one requests something of the king one must wait for a day or two for the king's final decision on the matter. Also, if the king promised one a horse, one would normally wait for said horse to be brought to them. I, however, was quite impatient and I had a way of thinking on my feet to get what I wanted.

It was already nearing dark. As soon as Eomer left I quickly wrapped up a bit of food that was left in the room and I found an old, baggy tunic to wear over my bandages in a trunk in the corner. I tied back my hair and hid most of it with a bit of spare cloth I found in the trunk as well. I found my satchel in the other room and made sure my brother's dagger was safely wrapped inside of it. At least one thing would be returned. I put the food in the satchel and tied it to a belt loop on the breeches Da gave me.

I opened the door to the infirmary and peeked down both the right and left of the hall. It was clear. I knew better than to try and go out the front door through the mead hall. They were probably still cleaning it up and Théoden probably still sat in his throne or possibly at the table with his son or servants.

I followed one hall and then opened a door into the kitchen of Meduseld. There was one servant in the kitchen. She was stoking a fire on one side of the room. I was glad she didn't hear the door open. I saw another door, a door to the outside in the far back corner of the kictchen. I ran as fast as I could to the door, pulled it open, and fled into the fleeting light of the night.

The servant had surely spotted me. I had a very small window of opportunity. I avoided the main road that twisted down through Edoras and dodged behind houses and barns. I peeked in one barn and found an older horse. I made sure the coast was clear as I snuck into the barn. I approached the old horse cautiously. He was lying down in a bit of straw.

"If you let me ride you home I will release you to return to your master." I whispered. The horse looked at me and then he stood up slowly. He walked over to me. I held out my hand and he nuzzled his nose in it. I smiled and pet him all the way up to his ears. I found a saddle hanging on the wall. I tied it on quickly and mounted the old horse.

It was fully dark now. If I tried to rush out on a full gallop they would realize it was me trying to escape. I led the horse out as calmly and casually as I could, but my fingers were shaking nervously. The front gate was still open. That was a good sign. If my absence had been noticed they did not think I was trying to flee. I was able to trot right out the front gate unnoticed. I followed the east fork in the road just outside of the defence walls of Edoras. It was here that I encountered a strange soul. I was not the only one traveling so late in the night.

Another rider, dressed all in black and on a thin, sickly looking black horse came my way heading in the direction of Edoras. The rider stopped. I wasn't sure if I should stop at first, but it was the Rohhiric courtesy for one rider to greet another on the road. I stopped. The rider lowered his hood.

"Good evening fellow traveler." He said.

Even in the diminished light I could tell that this man was less than what would be considered handsome. He was very pale and looked like he had a lingering illness. His eyes were cold, but his voice put even more of a chill in my bones. I said nothing. He probably thought I was a young man in the darkness and I didn't want him to alert anyone if he was bound toward Edoras. I nodded at him politely and urged the horse to continue on. I passed him, and I heard him continue on down the road toward Edoras.

The horse began a steady trot down the road. We came upon a small hill and I stopped him to turn around to look back on Edoras one last time. I would never forget the kindness of the king. I would never forget Da's perseverance and patience with me. I would never forget Eomer and his eyes. He was quite a unique boy, and would no doubt grow into a fine man. I regretted not saying goodbye and for deceiving him. I would never forget those eyes.

It took me three days to reach the gates of my town. People who were going about their daily lives stopped to gasp and point. I had guessed I would become the object of their gossip in my absence. I was certain that their whispers would travel faster than I on my tired, old horse. I rode him up to my family's stables. Our stable hand, Metathain, came to me quickly and took his bridle to stable him.

"You had us worried something fierce, Miss." He said holding the horse as I dismounted and untied my things. "Did you pass your father on your journey back?" he asked.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I could not turn to face him.

"After that horse rests turn him free. He needs to go home." I said and continued toward the house.

I was thankful there was no one in the main room when I opened the front door. I thought for a moment that I had been given a spot of luck and thought I would slip away to my room unnoticed. I managed to make it a few feet down the hall until I heard footsteps approach. My mother appeared in the archway of the main hall.

"Déorwyrdhnes!" she exclaimed picking up the hem of her fine blue, velvet gown and rushed to me. Like always she was wearing her best. She was never considered a fair woman, but she made up for it with her clothes and jewelry. She flung her arms around me and nearly knocked me to the ground. I wince when she squeezed my back and desperately tried to push her away.

"Please, Mama. Don't fuss." I said taking a few steps back.

Her happy demeanor changed quickly. I could tell that I had infuriated her. She smacked me across my stitched cheek not caring even to ask how I received the gash.

"Do you have any idea how worried your father and I have been? Not five days ago he hastened to Edoras to bring you back home. You know how he can get into his fits. What came over you?" she asked.

I felt grief take me over and fought back my strong urge to shed tears. I had to stay strong. My lip was quivering though, and made it difficult to speak.

"Mama….I did see father in Edoras." I said weakly. My mother's anger melted away quickly and a look of concern came over her face.

"Where is he? Did he not return with you?" she asked.

The words felt like stones in my heart. What was worse was that my brother soon came to see what the commotion was about.

"Deya?" he asked reading my expression.

"Father shall not return." I said and I felt my eyes water up. I saw all the color drain from my mother's face. I couldn't hold my emotions back any longer. The tears poured from my eyes. They stung my cheek.

"What do you mean?" My mother asked barely above a whisper.

"Did he make a scene? Was he arrested?" my brother asked quickly.

I shook my head back and forth and raised a hand to cover my reddening face. I did not need to say anything more. My mother cried out a terrible wail and my brother rushed to her to keep her from falling to her knees. It took every ounce of my strength not to fall to my own. This was entirely my fault. No good came from any of this. Well….almost no good. I met Eomer. I thought my world had come crashing down around me that day. Until the real world collapsed within itself on its own.

Note from the Author:

Hello! Lauthica here. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has added this story to their favourites list. It really means a lot to me that I have all these fans. I am but a humble story teller. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to review. Your feedback is appreciated. Don't hesitate to continue to review with your honest opinions. I value your thoughts. Also be sure to check me out on Facebook and "like" me. I love you all!