On the Wings of the Storm

Chapter 21

The only thing that kept me sane during the next few days was working myself into a stupor. I would rise in the late afternoon, and after a hasty meal head down to the caverns to tend the wounded. Aethelstan had conferred the supervision of the night shift to me, and as I only had a couple of women helping me, that kept me busy until the morning. Then I would take Nimphelos to the practice ring behind the keep for a ride, finishing by giving her a good grooming. The physical exertion of that helped me to fall asleep quickly, into the deep, dreamless sleep of exhaustion.

One morning, about four days after the King had left, I emerged from the caves into a dark world. An all-enveloping blanket of cloud covered the heavens, hanging low above our heads. Only in the far west did a little clear sky still show. People stared up anxiously, but instead of getting brighter the morning seemed to darken with every moment.

I climbed the stairs leading up to the Deeping Wall for a better look and found Ceolwen conferring with Gamling there. The old warrior had been left in charge of the Hornburg in Erkenbrand's absence.

"My guards report that it moved in from the east during the night," I heard him say.

Ceolwen cradled her belly protectively. "It's the day the King set for the weapontake, do you think there is some kind of connection?"

He shrugged uneasily. "Who can say? I have never seen its like before."

No breath of wind stirred as I stared up at the gloom covering us. I had often witnessed Mount Doom belch forth clouds of smoke, but never so thick.

"Some devilry out of Mordor," I told them.

I did not have to add that the darkness would embolden the creatures fighting for the Enemy and weaken the resolve of our own forces. Would we ever see the sun again, or was this the shape of things to come: a world shrouded in shadow? How could you fight a foe that swallowed up the very heavens!

But we had to put on a brave face to reassure the people looking to us. Gamling passed amongst his warriors, telling them they had weathered Saruman's attack, they would weather this as well. And so everybody went on with their tasks, trying to ignore the stifling blanket of cloud above us. The Rohirrim were a valiant people. Or perhaps just very stubborn.

***

The darkness made it difficult to keep track of the days, yet as no news reached us, each one seemed to stretch on longer than the one before. Fears hovered at the edge of my mind like crows over a battlefield. Only by filling every single waking moment could I hope to keep them at bay. But of course it did not work. Inevitably there were quiet moments at night, when all the men were asleep for a short while, or when I was brewing up a fresh kettle of tea, that I had idle time. And inevitably my thoughts would wing their way east. Where were they? Had there been more fighting? And always: was he thinking of me?

Or rather, what did he think of me! I could still not quite believe that I had kissed him the way I had. Surely no properly brought up lady should have responded to his advances with such abandon. Worse, I had instigated it by kissing him first. But propriety had seemed pretty irrelevant at that moment and in my heart I knew that I would act the same again if given the slightest chance. That thought made me blush - as did the memory of Éomer running his hands over my body. As for his lips...

And would I even get another chance? What if he came to the conclusion that it had all been an attempt to try and trap him into a compromising situation in my bid to become Queen of Rohan! His words had left no doubt as to his low opinion of me, yet there had been something in his eyes as he touched my lips that last time that made me cling on to hope. And I'd had my kiss from him. A proper one.