Wow you guys! I cannot apologize profusely enough for a 10 month absence. I am ashamed of myself. A lot has happened in that time though! I got a puppy (he takes a lot of time and energy), I got engaged (not as time consuming), and there's been lots of family drama. I should've been writing the whole time though. It would've helped with the drama.
Anyways, I hope you can forgive me and read and review and this update. I don't deserve your feedback, but if leave a review it would make me really happy!
Enjoy!
Chapter Forty-Six (Aragorn)
After the seizure, Arathorn went into a deep state of unconsciousness and his fever spiked once more. Never before had the stakes of healing been higher for me and I was afraid that I might fail my own son.
I had summoned many other healers to help me with the mixing of salves and other medicines to treat his fever, but I stayed focused on trying to figure out what could have caused such an illness.
Mareke had never put her heavy overdress on and she paced around the stifling rooms in her shift, giving no regard to the others present.
Deep into the second night of Arathorn not waking, she knelt next to me where I was kneeling beside the bed, studying our son, hoping for any sign of what ailed him.
"Mareke, I cannot take care of you too," I said lowly. "You have not slept or eaten in days."
"How do you expect me to do any of those things when he is…" her voice caught in her throat.
I hazarded a glance at her. The tears had not stopped since the seizure. Her face was pale and gaunt. She held Arathorn's tiny hand in her own.
One of the servants handed me a bowl of a thick salve that we had not yet tried. "Send for Lady Ioreth to remove the Queen to her chambers for a few hours," I instructed the young woman.
"Aragorn!" Mareke exclaimed.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The woman hurried from the room.
"Please, do not send me away." Mareke grasped my forearm in her desperation.
"I must, Mareke. You are not helping him in this state. You are only going to harm yourself and that does no one any good at all."
By the time Lady Ioreth entered the room, Marake was sobbing and begging me to reconsider, but I went stony.
"You will drink this and you will rest before you come back in here," I said sternly, though my heart broke to see her in such a state, knowing I may not be able to save my son, that there might not be an easy and happy ending when she woke.
Lady Ioreth gathered my wife into her arms. "See that she drinks the entire vial and sleeps and eats before she is permitted back into the nursery."
"Aragorn!"
She could not put up much of a fight as she was exhausted in every sense of the word.
"You will do as I say."
The look she shot me would have been enough to wilt another man in another situation. "Go."
"Come, Your Majesty," Lady Ioreth soothed her. "You will not be gone very long. We shall have a quick rest and meal and you will be back at the Prince's side in no time."
Mareke's sobbing faded away. I hated having to act in such a stoic manner with her at such a time, but I could not work on Arathorn and comfort her at the same time. When it was all over, she would understand the choices I had to make.
I worked through the night, but Arathorn showed no more improvement. The fires were stoked and he was bundled in heavy blankets. Alternately, he was wrapped in the coldest rags we could find. Snow melted in buckets in the hallway so that we might use the frigid water.
I was becoming frantic. I knew that if he remained unconscious for too long, he would starve or perish from lack of water, though I tried to drip some down his throat to little avail.
What I had given Mareke would make her sleep for half a day. I knew she needed it, but I knew she would fight Lady Ioreth. I knew I could trust the older woman's fortitude to see to it that she slept and ate.
"Arathorn, please hear me," I begged my son when no medicines had worked and the sun was rising once more. I had tried everything I knew to try and many more remedies I had scoured our library for. "You cannot leave your mother and I. We need you. And our people may not understand it yet, but you are their hope."
I bent over and pressed a kiss to his scorching forehead. There was nothing left but the words I murmured to him as the sun came up, mopping his face and chest the whole time.
"Estel," I heard the voice, but shook it away. It had been days since I had slept as well, but I could go longer than Mareke. I could not be hearing voices.
"Brother." There was a hand on my shoulder and I looked up into the twin faces of my brothers.
"This is not real. You are not here," I said quietly. "You cannot be."
"We are." They were smiling gently down at me.
"How?" I breathed.
"We saw him," Elrohir said. "Let us help."
"I have tried everything our father taught us and more."
They both nodded. "Remove yourself from this. You are too close."
Tears came to my eyes as I realized that by some magic I did not understand there might be salvation at the hands of two of the people I loved most in Arda.
In that instant I was faced with what I had done to Mareke in removing her from her son, but I trusted no one more than my twin brothers.
"Alright, but send for me immediately if there is any change at all."
"Of course," Elladan squeezed my shoulder before turning to my son.
I looked one last time at the small, immobile body of Arathorn before disappearing into the common area of our rooms.
It was considerably cooler and I shivered. I looked around helplessly before moving into our bedchamber.
Lady Ioreth rose from her chair by the bed when I entered. I was glad to see that Mareke seemed to be sleeping hard.
"The Prince?" the older woman asked.
"Is receiving care I cannot provide."
She raised a curious eyebrow. "Leave us for a while, please."
She gave a practiced curtsey and left. I stood for a moment, unsure what to do with myself.
Finally, I laid next to Mareke in bed. She did not move. I tried to fight sleep for a few minutes, but it came over me stealthily.
After years in the wild, I was able to fall asleep for short periods of time and wake myself. It was a long unused skill, but after a few hours I managed to rouse myself. I pulled my boots back on and stepped onto our private terrace, letting the chill air rush over me.
Every part of me wanted to go to my son. Nothing was more difficult than knowing that I could not wake him, could not help him at all. Nothing I had done had changed his state. My spirits had lifted knowing that Elladan and Elrohir were with him. In addition, to the gift of foresight they inherited from their father, I knew they were skilled healers beyond the means of mortal men.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. There had been so much heartbreak for my family in the past few years. In my heart, I knew Mareke would not make it if something happened to Arathorn, especially with the impending departure of Adnan in little more than a year.
I took the spot by the bed that Lady Ioreth had occupied before my entrance. I could have sent for documents from my study to be brought in so that I might have utilized that time, but I knew before I even saw the work that I would not be able to focus.
Instead, I sat running my hands through my hair that needed washed and staring at my wife, deep in sleep.
Thoughts came, unbidden, into my head and I wondered if Mareke's father and I had made a grave mistake in having her come to Gondor to be my wife. In that moment, I could not think of much good that had come from our union besides our son, who may not have survived another day.
I tried to shake the thoughts away, but I couldn't. There was the awful first year of our marriage, the terrible delivery of Arathorn, the loss of our second child, Adnan being summoned back to Harad shortly. The list was long.
I reached out and brushed her unruly hair from her face. My heart ached for the woman I had come to love so much, who had endured terrible times to give me the life I had been living just days before. Mareke had taken on every challenge as a simple fact of life and not some horrible event that needed to be harped on and fretted over. I had done little to deserve her in those early years, had come to realize I loved her only when she was nearly taken from me.
A few more hours passed with me walking around our room and onto the terrace and sitting by the bed all to do it over and over again.
I heard the door creak open and I leapt to my feet, facing Elrohir who was smiling gently at me.
"Your son is awake and asking for his parents."
I thought I would collapse from the sheer relief of those words, but I wrapped my arms around my brother instead. "I cannot thank you enough for this."
"You do not have to." He hugged me back tightly. "Now wake your wife and see to your son."
I nodded and released him, going to Mareke. I sat on the edge of the bed and shook her gently. The sleeping draught would have kept her asleep for a while longer, but I knew when she heard the news it would not matter.
She blinked up at me slowly, unsure of where she was.
"Shuk is awake," I said to her. It took a moment, but when the words made their impact, her eyes went wide and she sat straight up, scrambling out of bed.
I fetched her heavy, velvet lined robe and helped her into it before we were both hustling into the nursery.
"Mama," I heard the weak voice and stepped back so she could go to him.
Arathorn reached up for his mother and she wrapped him tightly in her arms. "Oh my love," she murmured into his hair, tears falling rapidly into his hair.
She held him at arm's length, looking him over and pressing kisses to every inch of his face. His color was slowly coming back and he giggled, not understanding what he had just been through. He probably felt as though he were waking from a long nap.
Mareke pulled him back against her chest until he struggled to be away from her. She released him back to his pillows and that is when she noticed the Elrondian twins.
"What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, rising up to greet them and hug them and thank them.
I took her spot on the edge of the bed and pushed Shuk's curls away from his forehead as I had done his mother's earlier. "How do you feel?" I asked quietly.
He looked up at me with his dark eyes and shrugged.
"Tired?" I asked. "Hungry?"
He nodded to both and I sent a servant after a very light meal. It would take a while before he could eat what he had before.
"We are very happy to see you, little one," I said.
My son looked at me funnily as though we had just seen one another before he went to bed.
Mareke came back over, wanting to take my place once more. She was still crying and I heard Arathorn asking her if everything was alright.
"I am just very happy today," she said.
"Estel," Elladan said, gesturing me away from my family. "There is something we must discuss with you."
"Of course. What is it?"
The twins looked between each other and I began to grow nervous.
"Come now, neither of you have ever minced words with me."
Elrohir finally spoke. "Arathorn was poisoned."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "You are certain?"
"We drew it out of him. It was not pleasant."
I did not ask how they did such a thing. That was not important.
"Is there someone you know who would have wanted to harm your son?" Elladan asked sadly.
"There are several." I swiped a hand over my face and sighed. I then told my brothers how I had practically overhauled the entirety of my council that I had inherited after the War.
How was I going to tell Mareke that another decision I had made had nearly led to tragedy for our family? I looked over at the pair of them and my heart nearly broke. She was spooning the broth and vegetables that had been brought for him into his mouth and he was smiling contentedly up at her.
"Will it never end?" I asked them.
They only looked down at me, squeezing my shoulders before they left.
"Papa," Arathorn called out to me.
I took a deep breath with my back still to them before going to join them.
"Surely this is a happy day," Mareke said quietly, when she saw my face.
"Surely," I replied, turning my attention to our son.
ooooOoooo
Mareke insisted that we hold off on sitting before the council for another three days. She fiercely refused to be separated from Shuk. In that time, I tried to muster my courage to tell her what had brought our son so low, but it would mean admitting my guilt in the whole situation.
The evening before we were to attend the council meeting, I approached my wife in the nursery. She was entertaining both boys. Adnan had been thrilled to reunite with his brother after his illness. It warmed my heart to see them so close after the rocky beginning they had had.
The three of them were building block towers and I was taken back to a long ago day when I had approached Mareke in the same position to apologize for inappropriate behavior the previous night, my birthday celebration just after they arrived from Harad.
That day it struck me how young she had looked next to her three year-old son. As I stood watching the three of them, I was struck with how much Minas Tirith, and probably our marriage, had aged her.
"Strider!" Adnan exclaimed. "Legolas told me he thinks we shall have an early spring. Will we resume riding and swordplay if that is so?"
I forced a smile. "Of course we will. As soon as it is warm enough."
"Is everything alright?" Mareke asked, concern laced through her voice. After Arathorn's illness, she seemed to be on high alert.
"I was wondering if we might have dinner just you and I tonight."
Her brow furrowed, but she nodded. "If you would like."
"Mama," Adnan groaned.
Mareke laughed lightly. "I had breakfast and lunch with you two. And we will all have dinner together tomorrow." She looked back up at me.
I nodded at Adnan once more, but I could feel my smile slipping and so I retreated.
Focus would not come to me as I sat in my study the remainder of the afternoon. My palms were slick from the dread I could not escape at the prospect of telling Mareke that it had been my folly that had almost cost us our son and heir.
I was waiting in our dining room, the table laid before me, when Mareke came out of her own study.
The food was not appetizing to me and so I sat back from the table.
"Aragorn, what is the matter? You worried me this afternoon and you are worrying me now." Instead of taking her own seat, she sat gently in my lap and stared intently down at me.
"You will not want to be so close to me when you hear what I have to say."
Her brow furrowed once more. "That is ridiculous. When has not standing together ever served us?" She took my rough hand in hers and kissed the palm before holding it in her lap.
"I do not even know how to begin," I said, taking a deep breath and looking away from her dark eyes.
"You know you can say anything to me, Aragorn. Anything at all. Blurt it out if you must. I have never seen you so reticent to speak and it is frightening me."
And so blurt it out I did. "Arathorn was poisoned."
Mareke stared down at me, all emotion leaving her face. "What? By who?"
"I would assume by a disgruntled former council member, though that hasn't been determined yet."
Mareke stood from my lap and I missed the feel of her immediately. She began pacing and I knew what I had feared had come to pass; that in addition to my own guilt, I would face her anger.
"He is just a child," she said quietly. "How could someone have such malice towards him? He has nothing to do with any of our decisions."
When she said 'our,' I stood and went to her, wrapping my arms around her from behind. "No, but we have walked this path before."
"I am tired of it. They could have poisoned you or I. We have guided this Realm into what they do not like, not our three year-old."
"Security measures will be increased for all four of us," I promised.
Mareke turned in my arms. "You will find who did this. I do not care if it takes a week or a decade. And this time I will not advocate for leniency."
ooooOoooo
The following morning came too swiftly for my liking. I did not want to go before my new council and lay such a grievous task before them, but Kings did not have the luxury of setting such things aside.
I had been in my study for a few hours before the meeting and I found Mareke in hers when it was time to go. She was regal in a heavy crimson gown and her gold crown.
The new members rose when we entered, all bowing to Mareke and I before we were all seated once more.
"We are glad to see Your Majesties back among us and were overjoyed to hear the news of the Crown Prince's recovery," one of the new men, Dervorin, said. He had been one of the most eager to join the council and had an impressive record behind him as far as his service in the War was concerned. So far he had the most to say.
"Thank you for those kind words." Mareke nodded in his direction.
Beinion cleared his throat and I knew that did not mean good news. "While we are of course overjoyed that the Crown Prince made a full recovery, it has brought, if not exactly new, concerns to the Realm's attention."
Immediately, I knew where he was going and I tried to signal him to stop, but it was too late.
"If the Crown Prince had not recovered or if some ill is to befall him in the future, there is no one of Your Majesty's blood to take his place as the heir of Gondor and Arnor."
I did not even have to look at Mareke to know she took it like a physical blow. Even in Annuminas, where she usually found comfort, she had been haunted by the fact that we had not yet conceived again.
"The Queen and I are quite obviously aware of that fact, Beinion, thank you."
I would not have spoken to one of the new members so sternly, but as our friend Beinion should have known better.
"That does move us to what I wanted to discuss with you all," I said, turning from Beinion. "The Crown Prince was saved by the Elrondian twins of Rivendell and their superior healing skills. What they found was that," I took Mareke's hand. "Our son was poisoned."
Immediately, there were roars of outrage from the new council members. While it was awful news to share with them, I was pleased at their reaction. The old members would not have cared a bit if my half Haradrim son had perished.
I raised a hand to settle them. "The Queen and I are just as distraught as you all are."
"More so as his parents!" Dervorin said indignantly and once more Mareke nodded at him.
"Security measures have been increased for my family and those around us," I said. "But I would like very much to have the culprit in my custody."
"Poison is a coward's work. We shall have to go through the entirety of your old council. The whole yellow bellied lot of them," Dervorin growled.
"I am afraid you are correct. It may take some time and I would request that all of you help me in this, that we bring them all in, hunt them down if we must, to be questioned and figure out who is to blame. The punishment will be death."
ooooOoooo
Once more I wanted to have a private dinner with my wife, but I knew she would not break her promise to the boys from the day before.
"Have Lady Belethiel see them to bed," I said when everyone had finished eating. Mareke had hardly touched hers, but had had three goblets of wine if my counting did not fail me. I knew she was distraught by the comment during the council meeting.
I was proved correct when Lady Belethiel ushered the boys from the room and tears immediately began to roll down her dark cheeks.
"None of this," I urged her, going to kneel before her chair. "What Beinion said was uncalled for and unnecessary in front of the council."
"It was not," she said quietly, not bothering to wipe at her eyes. "He is right. If Arathorn is in danger, the Realm is in danger."
I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. "Do you all forget that I yet live?"
Mareke gave a watery laugh. "You are so old though."
Happy she was jesting, I pretended to be offended. "Not as old as all that," I promised. "I have many years left in me before the Realm should be worried about the succession."
"We must have another," she said. "There is no way around that."
"I do not like this conversation for the Realm's sake," I replied. "The purpose of us having children is not for the Realm to concern itself with."
Mareke gave a bitter laugh. "Aragorn, we have gone over and over this. The only reason I am here is because Gondor is in desperate need of sons."
I tried not to wince at the tone of her voice.
"Think about it," she bid me. "Your traditional council chose me above all of their fair, virginal Gondoran daughters because I had a son already. And not only did I have a son, but I had a son by the enemy general and that son was the grandson of the enemy king. And those men were so willing to taint your bloodline rather than test their own daughter's fertility because it was imperative that the unstable Gondor, under their first King in centuries, have sons to ensure that stability."
"Mareke," I began.
"It is true, Aragorn. And you can prove no differently."
By then the tears were flowing down her cheeks rapidly.
"And I have failed the Realm and I have failed you too."
"No," I said firmly, taking her face between my hands. "You have not once failed me and you will not let me ever hear you say that again, do you understand?"
She merely looked at me with her devastated eyes.
"I am not jesting. Nothing has ever angered me more than to hear you say such a thing." My hands moved to her shoulders. "No, you have never failed me. You brought Adnan to me and you blessed me with Shuk and even if there are no others, think of all else you have done. You went above and beyond for the children in the orphanage and you continue to advocate for them. Are those not Gondor's sons and daughters just as much as Arathorn is? You have joined my council and sat in the audience chamber next to me, bearing half of that load at least. And you have brought joy and warmth to my life."
Mareke was biting her bottom lip.
"No, you have not failed me. It is this life that matters, not the life of the Realm after we are gone, after Arathorn is gone. What do we have if not each other and that happiness now? Gondor could crumble around us tomorrow whether we have one son or a dozen. I want to live this life with you, not regretting a moment of it."
Mareke collapsed against my chest and I wrapped her tightly in my arms, letting her cry into my neck.
"Come now," I said. "Dry those tears." I held her away from me and wiped her face with my undershirt sleeve. "They will not help anything."
Mareke took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded.
"Can we just go to bed?" she asked, defeated.
I stood, scooping her into my arms and carrying her into our room. "We can indeed," I said as I kicked the door closed behind us.
ooooOoooo
It took over two months for my new council and I to find all of the old members, several of which had vacated the court, and subject them to enough questioning to determine who was behind my son's poisoning. None of us were surprised when an older member admitted to the entire thing.
On an early spring morning, the citizenry had been notified of the hanging to take place and when I rose, Mareke was already up getting ready.
"You do not have to be a witness to this."
"Of course I do. Someone tried to take my son from me. I will watch the life drain from them."
I had never heard my wife speak in such a macabre manner, but I was not surprised. Herenya came from a bloodthirsty land with punishments so inventive in their cruelty I could not begin to fathom them. She would not shy away from a hanging.
When we were at the gallows, the council member and the servants who had abetted him, standing on the planks that would soon fall away, I stepped forward to speak.
"The first man who attempted to take the life of one of my family members was banished. Clearly, that was not enough to deter these men who would think to take the Crown Prince's life. There will be no more leniency in punishment. If your own death is not enough to deter a plot, let it be known that this man's widow and children have been stripped of all income and titles as well. Let this be a warning to those who would make any future attempt."
I nodded to the executioner and he pulled a lever, dropping the floor out from beneath the criminal's feet.
Mareke did not jump, nor look away as their necks snapped and their lives ended.
There you go! Once again, a million apologies for the delay (especially on a cliff hanger like that)! Please let me know what you thought and I promise I will be more regular with posting!
Happy reading,
Avonmora