Between Two Worlds

11

Slowly my senses return to me... as if I am awakening from a sleep that was too deep. I'm alive?

My eyes slowly fade into day, with heavy lids and straining fatigue. I struggle to turn my head on the feather pillow and look about the room I am in. I see wood, not the beautifully decorated kind like in Mirkwood, but chopped and layered. Though I can hardly see because of how dark the area is. I cannot tell if it is nightfall or daylight because there are no windows. My eyes flash to one of the pillars, wooden, with a band of gorgeous—but not "elf" flawless—carvings around it.

My fingers touch fabric; smooth enough but nothing like the sheets in the Woodland Realm or Lórien. I look down. it is a dark green wool blanket. I shift my body a bit and realize I am lying on a mattress that contains straw and feathers. I look down at the worn white sheets, a small blood stain on the edge.

I frown and try to lift my head, but the pain comes back when I do. My fingers go to my forehead and I feel a bandage wrapped around it tightly. I look to a side table on my left and pick up a bowl of bloody water, in it I can see my reflection. I tear at the cloth and peel the stained bandage off, revealing a scab or scar of a cut on the side of my temple.

I breathe and lie my head back down.

Where am I? What happened? I don't remember anything. It's almost like my arrival all over again.

Just then I hear a woman's voice, "You have awoken."

I look to my right and see a girl roughly my age with long, golden hair and pale complexion, wearing a white and brown gown of cotton. She looks surprised.

"Where am I?" I ask as she approaches me.

She kneels beside my bed and takes a wet cloth to my head. "You removed your bandages."

I want to stop her but the cool water feels nice on my weary head. She almost looks like an elf, but doesn't move as gracefully, and then I catch that she does not have those pointy ears. "Please answer I have to know where I am."

"You are in Edoras, my lady."

I frown. "Edoras...?"

"My brother found you floating down Entwash and bleeding. You were near death. In fact he said you looked dead... It was like some kind of magic kept you alive... I am not sure what would have happened if he had not brought you here." I notice then that she has green eyes, not as vibrant as Nin's though. And light eyebrows to match her beautiful hair as long as an elf's that lies in waves like my hair only less frizzy.

I'm more off course than I thought. How did I get from the MistyMountains to the river that runs through Fangorn? How far was her brother out from the city? And how did I survive the fall onto the snow covered mountains where I should be buried into the cold fluff and dead? Did Morier save me? Where is Morier?

I want to ask her but if I had been floating down the river then I would be far from the beast. I wonder if he's alright. He wouldn't know where I am now...

"How long have I been out?" I ask as she places the rag in the bowl of water.

"A couple of days," she responds.

I sigh. "This is bad. I need to get to Isengard and back to Mirkwood. Nin will be worried sick." It's a good thing I told her that I might be coming back soon.

"Isengard? Why would you go there by choice? Surely you are not allied with Sauron."

"Of course not do I look like an orc? I need something; a book. He has it—wait why would I be allied with Sauron to go there? Isn't Saruman a wizard? I thought wizards were good." I frown and slowly sit up, trying not to let my head throb.