Chapter 14
Eomer walked with them and pondered the shock of finding out that the Waerrith were real.
The Waerrith...legendary and deadly. No one that he knew had ever seen one. According to legend they were women that were trained to fight alongside the men in war, but had progressed in their training through the age to become an elite force that was said to be able to appear from the mist that surrounded the mountains and disappear into it again without a hint of where they came from or where they went, leaving death, destruction and broken hearts in their wake. Legend said they were the tallest and strongest of the woman in Fastredden.
If Fastreddenian woman were hard to woo the Waerrith were impossible. According to the whispers, they considered themselves better than men, and often looked at childbearing and care for a husband and home as completely beneath them. No one knew if they ever got married. The popular thought was they always died in battle. Never once of old age.
The Waerrith had been protecting the Lord of Fastredden for an age.
Or so it was said.
"Are the Waerrith here?" Theodred wondered, looking at Guthred expectantly.
Guthred half shrugged and continued to walk through the training grounds in the direction a second half wall that soared toward the darkness overhead. "I'm not sure honestly Sire." he walked toward the gate that was just in front of them. "I'm afraid that they don't announce their movement with me."
Theodred looked disappointed and frowned a little.
Fengel chuckled softly to himself and walked through the heavy stone gates with them.
As they walked, Eomer looked over the hallway that they were walking through. Pillars carved with the heads of horses stretched overhead. Fires burned in braziers and lit the keep with a warm cheery light.
The sound of marching boots echoed toward them. The step was purposeful and short.
Theodred glanced at Fengel, looking for an explanation.
Fengel half shrugged a shoulder and looked down along the hall to see if he could determine who was walking toward them so fast.
And there they were.
It was only a handful of them. Maybe ten at the most. All walking like they were late.
When they got closer, it became apparent that they had just returned from a skirmish. All of them were splattered with Orc blood. One had her right arm tied up to her ribs. Another girl looked like she might have been limping if her pride and honor didn't dictate that she keep in lockstep with her sisters.
Eomer's breath caught the second that Theodred's did.
They were both used to the girls that they saw in the rest of Rohan, not that there was anything wrong with them. Average height and thin as wisps.
But these women.
Eomer was sure most of them were as tall as he was. Before the low heel on their mid-shin height boots.
Their arms were bare except for a few leather bands. Some wrapped around the middle of their forearms, most just under the major muscle of their upper arm. Muscle rippled as they moved, every bit like a large predatory cat. Their wrists were hidden by leather bracers that came down the middle of the back of their hands, ending over their knuckles with small, wicked looking metal spikes between the protective leather bolstering. They wore dark-colored trousers that snuggly hugged their legs. Short skirts hung from their hips, only to the middle of their thighs. Two slits went nearly to the top of the skirts over the middle of each thigh. A short sword hung from each hip, the tip of the scabbard tied to their thigh. Their torsos were covered with dark leather. Over the leather was dark metal to protect them further. Even smeared with the black blood, it was easy to see the carvings of horses on the metal of their breastplates. Most of their chests were exposed, only a wide leather strap running shoulder to shoulder near their collarbones to break up the run of skin. Their hair, though all different colors, was plaited and twisted around itself to keep it out of their face. Some had a narrow leather strap around their foreheads just above their eyes. Every last one of them had a large silver round in the lobe of their left ear. Silver wound its way up the outside edge of their right ear, from bottom to crest. Along the edge of their eyelids was what appeared to be black paint, thinly applied to make their eyes veiled and slightly more mysterious.