getting my nose broken by a simpleton [éomer]
"Are you still sulking cousin?" A yell from a few meters in front of me drew my attention.
I rolled my eyes, ignoring him. I often forget how Théodred has grown over these last seventeen years I have lived with him. I forget that he is not still the five year old boy chasing Ḗowyn around the golden halls as children in the months after moving to Edoras.
Though Grimbold and I had taught him how to be a Marshal, a warrior, I had to constantly remind myself that we were his men. One day we would serve him, if we lived that long in these dark days...
Théodred stepped out in front of me bringing my thoughts back to the present
"Fine ignore me then" he smiled broadly before turning back and walking ahead again.
"Your head is too big to ignore little prince." I called back smiling.
Several laughs filled the air, his being the loudest. I knew Théodred too well to think he was seriously scolding me for disagreeing with him before we'd arrived at the woods.
We'd been riding for days, Théodred, Grimbold and I all took fifteen men each to scout for orcs causing havoc around Rohan's borders. We rode together for three days, separated for four after agreeing to meet back on after riding to return home together.
Years ago we would have no need in deceiving the king, though with Grima Wormtongue muttering poison into his ears he would not have allowed three groups of riders scouting...we'd be far more likely to kill orcs that way. My group of men had only found footprints and a few dead orcs on our travels.
Théodred and I had met midday on the seventh day after out departure as planned and set up a temporary camp ready to wait for Grimbold's party of men to arrive.
We had waited only a few hours before Grimbold and two of his men rode out to meet us with news of a small group of orcs. Grimbold had taken Théodred and I aside for a moment to announce that the small band of orcs were not all his men had discovered. He spoke of a young gypsy girl wandering scantily clad along the river a few miles ahead of the orcs talking to herself. The men were wary of approaching her, fearing she was a servant of the enemy with her strange clothes and unusual behaviourism.
When asked Grimbold had claimed he thought the girl harmless, and merely wandering aimlessly, she was however heading north-west in the direction of Isengard.
Had I been in charge I merely would have ordered the slaying of the orcs and left the gypsy to her wanderings, I was eager to return home for many reasons and if we investigated further it would take us three days more at least to reach Edoras.
My curious and wary cousin had ordered ten of our men alongside ourselves to investigate along with the thirteen Grimbold had kept watching the girl and the orcs. The other twenty remained resting with their horses to await our return. Théodred had asked if I thought his orders reasonable and I had merely nodded in response, not wishing to undermine him in front of any men.
We did not ride for long before reaching the forest that ran through to the river where the orcs tracks had been spotted. After dismounting and leaving the horses to graze we set into the thick woods, twenty minutes in three if Grimbold's men met us to lead us towards the girl.
We kept our distance, several meters deep into the forest spreading us far apart whilst still making sure we missed nothing. Théodred and I peered through a gap in the trees, my interest suddenly peaking.
Though Grimbold had told us of the child's inappropriate attire, I thought perhaps he had exaggerated some, after having children and grandchildren of his own he had become overly protective and fatherly of sorts in unconventional situations. What shocked me most, was her apparent ease with her blatant display of flesh. In spite of covering her arms with a blanket she was wearing far too little, one of her socks was covering her right leg as high as her knee, the other had fallen down into her ankle exposing her leg in its entirety. I turned away my cheeks reddening slightly at the sight.
Théodred voiced my thoughts after a few moments of analysing the strange girl, an obvious tinge of red staining his cheeks also.
"Ḗomer...she is dressed very...strangely." He murmured into my ear low enough for none of the other men to hear, "It does not feel right, watching her so. It feels as though we are violating her somehow by not announcing our presence, perhaps we should lessen our numbers. Out of respect."
I kept my face blank of all emotion not wanting to influence Théodred's decision.
"Théodred, you have time. You need not make hasty decisions, I share your discomforts regarding the girl, but remember that they are men of Rohan and would see no harm come to an innocent, they are most likely no more at ease than we ourselves are...the decision is yours alone." I thumped his shoulder gently in reassurance.
This was a very strange sight indeed, never before had I heard of someone wandering so far from civilization alone, Rangers wandered of course but at their own peril, rangers could defend and cloak themselves far more successfully than others. All knew the dangerous times we were living in, only fools or the desperate would wander alone in these parts.
Théodred frowned and clenched his fists tightly as he often did when making difficult decisions. Just then Grimbold came hurrying towards us lips pursed.
"Lord Théodred, Lord Ḗomer, I fear there are more orcs than we initially thought, Gamling reported thirty seven my Lords, they seem to be tracking the child, they can't be less than half a mile away."
Théodred sighed heavily scratching the back of his neck glancing back at the girl who was beginning to stroll slowly out of sight. I looked back at the young princes' uncertain face and felt for him. We had near thirty men, more than enough to slay the orcs, it was the girl and her welfare that troubled him.
"Could we not just grab the girl?" I offered on a whim, "It might well be for her own safety".
"But what if she is an enemy Ḗomer?" Théodred countered "What if they are seeking each other? Gamling claims the orcs are seeking the girl out specifically? Does this not seem odd?" He turned seeking out Grimbolds opinion. I was relieved he had asked Grimbold for council and not I.
He met his eyes as he spoke, something that I had always admired about Grimbold.
"If the child is an enemy, what would you do then sire? Would you take her back to Edoras? Or would she be treated mercilessly as any other enemy would be treated My Lord?" Grimbold met his questions with his own, "We do not know if she even carries a weapon under her blanket, there is currently no way of telling without approaching her."
I did not even need to look at Théodred to know that he would order no man to kill a woman or a child, no matter what the circumstances, his heart was too pure to make such a request.
"You speak as only the wise could Grimbold, I appreciate your blunt honesty as always. We shall follow the girl a little further and ensure that no harm shall come to her...by the hands of orcs at least".
We followed her downstream for a few hundred yards silently, night was starting to fall. She did not look like a servant of the enemy, looking very lost and quite out of place.
Though I knew full well that looks could be deceiving and no one could be trusted. We followed her a few minutes longer, and her pace seemed to slow until she stopped slowly looking around. She turned her head facing upwards as thunder rumbled the sky, stood very still for a minute, hearing no doubt what the rest of us had been listening to for a while; orcs.
She hesitated for a moment before looking straight into the woods where I and Théodred had stopped watching and sprinting towards us.
I was sure she had seen us and come running for our help or protection, but she kept her head down as she entered the cover of trees, turning and crouching in front of a particularly large boulder to watch the orcs enter the clearing, dropping her blanket from around her shoulders and letting it fall to the ground.
Anger flared in me as it always does when I catch any sort of sign of orcs, they were born from pure evil and deserved nothing more than the painful deaths they were about to endure by our hands. They huddled together, passing round what seemed to be a bloody item of clothing deeply inhaling one by one. I glanced at Théodred waiting for orders.
Théodred nodded his head in the little girl's direction motioning for me to grab her. I pursed my lips and inhaled deeply. Despite grabbing the child being my idea I was not sure if it was a good move any longer, I wish Théodred had asked another to subdue her. He nodded once again towards her hurrying me along.
I stepped quietly towards her slowly lowering myself enough to grab her. She looked like nothing more than a dark figure in the shade of the trees.
She started to mumble something so I hurriedly wrapped my hand around her mouth and arm around her waist dragging her backwards towards the tree next to Théodred away from the group of orcs. She struggled for a while but she was nowhere near strong enough to wrestle away from me, much more quickly than I had anticipated she went limp in my arms giving in. I loosened my grip slightly afraid that I'd hurt her, the second my arm had relaxed she took advantage of my guard being down. I felt her face move upwards and her bite down hard on my hand and elbow me hard in my stomach where our armour was weakest.
A frustrated "UGH" was all I managed as I reached out to her, intent on holding her still away from the orcs, until a heavy blunt object collided with the side of my face. She brought her weapon back again this time smashing it against my nose, breaking it. I heard the cracking and could feel the blood running down into my mouth, it hurt a little but not enough even to moan. I had been stabbed and slashed at so many times that it took something more than a broken nose to make me acknowledge pain.
I watched her fleeing into the path of the orcs, perhaps she was an enemy running back to her friends for help. This theory in my head was dashed as soon as it was formed. She just stood there, like a simpleton as if she had never seen an orc before.
A strange word escaped her lips before she turned and ran in the opposite direction. I was momentarily stunned by the events that had just unfolded before me.
Luckily Théodred had yelled orders as soon as the girl had turned her back on the orcs and fled, and was charging out to meet the unsuspecting gaggle along with the rest of our men. We made fairly quick work of the orc slaying, the girl almost slipped my mind until an ear-piercing scream met my ears, not too far away. I caught sight of two or three stalking towards her motionless body.
I dealt with the two furthest from her as Grimbold leapt to impale the orc leaning over her body with his spear another cry slipped from her mouth and for a wild second I thought perhaps Grimbold had missed his target. I hurried over to meet them pulling the dead orc from where it had fallen on top of her to examine the damage.
I couldn't see her face all that clearly in the dark night, but she seemed to be concentrating very hard on something and lying absolutely still, dry blood plastered one side of her face along with a deep gash that looked a day or so old. I glanced towards Grimbold, his brow mirrored my confusion and uncertainty as to how to proceed.
He let out a pained sigh before standing up straight.
"She's been stabbed in the arm Ḗomer, I can't see any other injury can you?"
I shook my head slowly, she had grazed knees and aside from the far from fresh cut on her forehead I could see no other sign of physical damage.
I blushed deeply noticing blood lining the bottom of white her dress which fell just above her knee, looking away quickly. I knew from past experience with Ḗowyn it was not a subject that was appropriate to acknowledge or address...under any circumstances.
Grimbold also seemed to be avoiding eye contact and suddenly found a rock very interesting.
The girl opened her eyes slowly at the sound of our voices but pursed her lips tightly whether in pain or defiance I did not know.
I stood swiftly reaching a hand out to her good arm.
"Come, I will take you to our Prince".
The girl raised her eyebrows looking dumbstruck up at me.
"Come" I repeated one more time before huffing in frustration at being ignored.
"Perhaps she is simple Ḗomer, it would explain many things. Pick her up and carry her will you m'lad. I'm getting too old for all this." He sighed sadly, before turning and walking away towards the others, just finishing piling the dead orcs ready to burn them before we leave.
I offered her my hand one last time, which she ignored, eyes glued on my nose, reminding me of the injury she had inflicted not that long ago. My face hardened at the memory before I lent down awkwardly avoiding hurting the wound on her arm and slung her none too gently over my shoulder turning and carrying her after Grimbold.
She grunted in protest trying to kick and punch me off her growling and moaning every so often, constantly fighting to be free of me. The feeling was mutual.
I passed Théodred, who took one look at my face and thought it best to say nothing, he followed me back through the forest towards the horses, the girl never ceasing to groan, huff and attempt to push herself away from me.
thanks for followers and favourites and most especially reviews!
Saren-Dipety -sorry about the swearing, I shall censor from now on, that's why I marked it as a 'T' just in case. Not quite on the Aragorn/Legolas front, as you probably guessed from this chapter! I'm sort of a Rohan nut case, I literally love Théodred, it makes me sad that he died with so little known about him in the books and then I watched the film and I was like NOOOOO.