All Shall Fade (LOTR-Wattys 2014)

All Shall Fade - Chapter 28 - Longest Day

All Shall Fade

Chapter 28

Longest Day

For the majority of our second day of riding, I rode alongside Eowdrin. I’d ended up telling her about how I wasn’t actually from Middle Earth, and to my surprise she took it rather well. I went on to tell her all about what had happened since I’d arrived here, and how there was a risk that I could be pulled away.

“Do you ever miss your home?” She asked, and I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair.

“Almost all the time.” I admitted, “But I don’t feel like it’s time for me to go back yet. There are things I have to do here first.”

“But didn’t you say you have to find something to hold yourself here?” She frowned a little, and I nodded in response.

“Yeah, I’ve still got to work that one out.” I murmured, “I have a feeling that it’s something that staring me in the face, but I just can’t see it. Not yet anyway.” I shrugged and loosened Aduial’s reins as I looked ahead to the front of the long parade of refugees. Legolas was standing on a grassy hilltop, peering ahead. Apparently, if we moved quickly, we would reach Helm’s Deep before the end of the day. I glanced to the side and smiled as I spotted Aragorn walking alongside Hasufel as he talked to Eówyn.

“Where is she? The woman who gave you that jewel?” I noticed her staring at Aragorn and knew she was talking about the necklace Arwen had given him. Subconsciously I reached to my own neck to touch the jewel Arwen had given me, but when I couldn’t feel it, I panicked. My hand groped around my neck, searching for the chain; before I remembered that I had given it to Aragorn to look after. I sighed with relief as I turned back to them, and spotted the tiny teardrop crystal hanging around his neck, the chain entwined with the chain of Arwen’s more elaborate pendant. I smiled a little, but my smile soon faded as I caught sight of Aragorn’s pained expression. Of course the subject of Arwen would cause him pain. He loved her, and she’d left him. I couldn’t fully understand why she had, as she’d loved him too… There must have been an important reason.

‘Does he still love her?’

I was alarmed by the question that flashed in my own mind. Of course he would. That kind of emotion doesn’t go away overnight.

“My Lord?” Eówyn spoke again, and I realised Aragorn hadn’t said a word since she’d first asked the question. His faraway gaze returned to the situation at hand and he glanced up.

“She is sailing to the Undying Lands with all that is left of her kin.” He murmured, reaching up to his neck to lightly touch the pendant. As his fingers brushed across my necklace, he glanced up at me, and I blushed a little as I realised that I had been staring at him. I looked away, and out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Legolas drawing his bow, and I could hear shouts up ahead. I exchanged a worried glance with Eowdrin as I quickly urged Aduial into a canter. I wove between the carts and people until I reached the top of the hill. My jaw dropped as I saw Legolas pulling an arrow out of an Orc’s corpse, and nearby lay a massive, wolf-like creature, and then I felt bile rise in my throat as I caught sight of Gamling, one of the king’s men, standing beside what was left of Hama, another guard.

“A scout!” Legolas cried as I heard Aragorn run up behind me. I turned to see him running back down the hill towards the King’s company.

“What is it? What do you see?” Théoden called.

“Wargs! We're under attack!” Aragorn yelled, grabbing Hasufel’s reins and swinging himself onto the horse’s back. “Get them out of here!” He gestured to the unarmed citizens as I turned back to Legolas in alarm, just in time to see a cavalry of the Warg-creatures and their Orc-riders come charging over a distant hill towards us. I turned Aduial and galloped back towards Eowdrin.