Chapter 3: Where Is Edoras, Again?
Hammolath, Beinion, and I had been walking for at least three hours, and still we were no closer to finding our way out of the forest. Beinion had started out eagerly, but after the first hour he had lagged behind and cried for a little while, saying he was too tired to go on. I took pity on him and carried him until he fell asleep.
"Hey, Hallath?" I asked, sighing from the weight of Beinion, "Are you okay?" He had been silent for a while, looking at the ground and I had begun to worry about him.
"Yes, I'm okay," He answered solemnly, not looking up from the ground, "Just tired."
"No, something's up, er wrong, I can feel it." I commented, raising an eyebrow at him.
He smiled at me and answered slowly, "I just-I was just thinking, maybe-maybe if we hadn't left to go for a walk-maybe we could have saved them." He finished with difficulty and a single tear slid down his cheek. I stopped and set Beinion on the ground and hugged Hallath.
"No," I said soothingly, "There was nothing you could have done. If you had gone back, the orcs would have killed you too. I didn't know that you had been walking when it happened. It must have been horrible to come home and, you know, find them." I stopped and released him. He wiped his face with his sleeve and sniffled.
"How did, I mean, are your parents dead?" He asked with difficulty.
"I-I-I'm not sure anymore," I answered and sat down, pulling my pack into my lap. "When I, you know, appeared here, they were just fine, and they probably still are. I'm not too worried."
"Are you going to leave us, Maddy?" Asked a small voice and I turned to see Beinion looking at me with sad eyes.
"Of course not! I'm gonna stay with you until all the forces of Hell come out and have to drag me away screaming like a Banshee to take me from you! We can be like the Three Musketeers! Right, all for one and one for all!" I shouted, raising my fist in the air and shaking it wildly. They burst into laughter and, realizing what I had just done, I laughed with them.
"Right," agreed Hallath, smiling, "We'll stick together all the way!" I smiled, noting to myself that I had just made two inseparable friends and I told myself that from this day on I would guard them from any dangers that may come.
We had finally made our way out of Fangorn and now stared out into vast open plains of grass. The wind was blowing and I had to smooth my hair out of my eyes in order to see it all. Hallath and Beinion became excited and stared happily out into the grass covered land. Hallath quickly started down the hill at a running pace and Beinion followed. I made to run after them, but tripped and rolled helplessly down the hill. They ran to my side at the bottom of the hill and just looked at me as I sat up, laughing.
"Well, at least I beat you down," I gasped between giggles, "You should have seen your faces!"
"Yeah, you looked really funny." Concluded Beinion, giggling.
"We're almost at Edoras now," Said Hallath, helping me up, "We need to head in that direction," he continued, pointing to what looked like far off mountains, maybe. "We best get there by sunset."
"Yes," I agreed, "We wouldn't want to run into any more orcs." Beinion giggled and Hallath just smiled, looking distant. He walked about three feet off and stopped. Beinion tugged my sleeve and I looked down at him.
"Hallath is sad," he whispered, "The last we came, we came with our parents."
"I know," I said, watching Hallath, "But we should get going, it can't be later than noon, and if we hurry we might be able to get there before dark." Hallath turned to me proudly and smiled pointing down another hill.
"I see horses," He said and a little ray of hope lit up in me. We were going to be there faster than I thought!
Authors Note: Sorry, it's kind of sad, but I hope you liked it. Please R&R! Oh, and thank you for your reviews, I really appreciate them and I really need them too.