Chapter 19
I sat there for a long time, leant into Legolas’s body, feeling his temperature, his breath and his heart beat ensuring myself this was all real. I felt like everything was a dream and nothing felt real. The only thing that made it real was the injury to my leg which I was momentarily ignoring. My eyes were still closed but I quickly opened them before I fell asleep. I stretched out of Legolas’s grip and rubbed my eyes.
“I think I’m going to clean up and then I’ll join you again,” I said to him moving away from him and over to my bag. Legolas nodded to me and he got up from where we were sat and touched my shoulder before he went and sat with the others.
I looked down at my stuff and sighed a little. I was really tired and had little energy. I pulled my hair down from what was left of the plats and untangled it all. It was very long now but it was full of dirt and sweat. I got a cup from out of my bag and scooped some of the water from the stream, pouring it over my hair. It made me shudder a little as the water was very cold and I was already cold myself. I got the shampoo and the conditioner and put the conditioner to one side. I squeezed the tube and it squirted onto my hand, which then I rubbed into my hair and made sure it was covered. It felt so nice to feel such soft and moist liquid in my hair than dirt and blood. I smiled with pleasure and repeated it once more with the shampoo and then with the condition. Once I was finished I dried it as well as I could and then got the bar of soap out of my bag.
I rubbed it between my hand and my arms, rubbing the dirt and blood off of my arm and then rinsed then off with the water from the stream, I could finally see my clean skin and some of my old scars on the top of my arms, around of my bandages. I then cupped the water in my hands and washed my face clean. I had to really scrub some places of my face to get the dirt off and when I went to rub at my eyebrow, I winced a little as it hurt. I got a small shard of mirror out of my bag and used the light from the fire to look at my eyebrow. I had a small cut to it that was about three centimetres long and about a centimetre deep. I hadn’t really noticed this as my leg was what felt the worse. I rummaged through some of my bandages until I found some small ones. I dried my face off and then suck them on my eyebrow so they pulled them together and so the skin would heal.
I stepped around a tree and took off my ragged, damaged clothes and unfolded m new ones. The material was soft and gentle on my skin and it really made a difference to the way I felt. My mood increased to even more happy. I repacked my stuff into my bag and tied the bag so nothing would fall out. I stood up from the floor and hobbled over to where everyone else was sat. Gimli was drinking out of his flask, his helmet off his head and he was casually leant against a tree. I smiled at him and he smiled back.
“If you don’t mind me saying Lass, you’re one tough nut,” Gimli complimented me. I giggled at his comment and went and sat down between Gandalf and Aragorn. I leant on Legolas’s side and he smiled.
“Years of experience I put it down to, and from the family,” I replied back to Gimli and I looked over at Aragorn and winked at him. He smiled at me and shook his head. We laughed and it felt really calming just to be able to sit there. I took out a piece of lembas bread and began to nibble on it, it was good to eat something, since it had been a while since I ate a full meal.
“One question that I must ask you lot, how was it you found us?” I asked them all, looking around at Aragorn, Gimli and then looking up at Legolas. I looked up to Legolas and he looked over at Aragorn. He pulled out a small barouche in the shape of a leaf, one that I myself had got one.
“Pippin’s barouche,” I said. Aragorn nodded and threw it over to me. I caught it easily and turned it in my hands. The presence of Pippin was still attached to the barouche.
“We found it when we were coming across the plains. But it wasn’t the only thing that we found,” Aragorn said and then he looked over to Gimli. I looked over at Gimli and he half smiled.
“Remember that handkerchief that you borrowed off me when we left Lorien? Well we found it and I knew it was yours,” he informed me. I nodded my head and smiled at him caringly. He didn’t often show it, but he was a very caring dwarf. I felt Legolas shift and I looked up at him, he smiled and I knew that he was sat uncomfortably. I leant away and then he tried to get himself up and try to get himself in a comfortably position but instead he slipped on the ground and fell on top of me. I went to look up at him but we ended up head butting each other by accident.
He put his hand up to my head and stroked the spot our heads hit. His touch was so gentle and I couldn’t help but laugh. He lifted my chin up with his hand and I looked into his eyes. I didn’t say anything; I just looked into his eyes, happily dreaming away in our own little worlds. I giggled, removing myself from our little world and he sat down against a log, I leaning on his chest, somehow attracted to his warmth. I looked at the others and saw that Gandalf and Gimli were smiling behind their pipes.
“What is it?” I asked them girlishly and rather more high pitched than normal. Legolas placed his hand around my waist and I cuddled comfortably into him. Gandalf pulled his pipe away from his mouth, his smile as big as his heart.
“We had been debating when you two would finally give in to each other, my dear,” Gandalf answered happily. I looked at him with question and then lifter my head up to Legolas, questioning him. He shrugged his shoulders and then chuckled. He leant down to my face and kissed it gently, his soft lips against my skin felt like beautiful silk material. I laugh and moved my head on to his chest and then brought my knees up to my stomach.
I looked at Aragorn and saw that there was something in his eye. He wasn’t properly looking at me, more like trying to avoid me. I studied his eyes for another few seconds, reaching in deep into his mind to see what it was and saw happiness and sadness. And with the sadness I could see, an unpleasant thought came to mind. One I had not thought of since I arrived. A question, I knew I had to ask and already knew the answer to but wished it wouldn’t be the case. Aragorn’s eyes drew away from the fire and into my eyes, I’m guessing as he felt me watching him.
“He’s dead isn’t he?” I breathed. Even though the words were nothing but a whisper, everyone in the camp heard. Gandalf and Gimli both looked at me first then at Aragorn and it seemed that Legolas had turned into a stature. But my eyes were not looking at Gandalf, Gimli or Legolas’s; they were deep in Aragorn’s.
“Yes, Vina. He died over a week ago,” Aragorn answered me back, struggling himself to get the words out. I nodded my head and blinked.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure whether it was directed to Aragorn or to me. But he had just verified my hunch. Boromir was dead, and had been dead for quite some time. I looked away from Aragorn and to the fire. All this time, Boromir was dead and it was only until now that I even thought about him. This created a lump in my throat and it was a lot of effort to swallow.
Legolas seemed to sense my feelings and he pulled me even closer in to him. I didn’t resist, but just let him pick me up and cuddle me. I felt very tired and sad in some sense. I cradled my elbows with my hands and put my head into his chest, taking in his well-known scent and feeling his warmth. In honesty, if I was not cuddled into him, I know I would be quite cold but with Legolas I felt warm and safe.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath out through my nose. Legolas kissed down on my forehead and I smiled gratefully. My body was completely exhausted and it had been stretched to its limits over the past few days. But my main thought was that I was safe, warm and in the presence of my family.
*
“Wake her up Legolas, we need to be heading out now if we want to get to Rohan by midday,” I heard Gandalf ask Legolas. I felt Legolas shift a little but I sleepily put my hand up in the air and lifted myself up off of what seemed to be a makeshift bed.
“No need, I am awake,” I yawned, slowly opening my eyes and seeing that it was not long after sunrise. I blinked a few times, regaining my eyesight and then brushed my hair back behind me. I stood up from where I was and stretched out my arms into the air. I felt a pair of warm hands around my waist and they turned me around so I was face to face with Legolas. I smiled sleepily and he placed one hand on my cheek. His touch was soft and warm and made the hairs on my arms stand up.
“Hello beautiful,” He whispered to me. I giggled and reached up to him, he bent his head down a little and we kissed each other gently. It was only morning and I didn’t want to let him catch my morning breath. I pulled away and smiled at him.
“I’m just going to swill off my face,” I told him. He nodded and then I dropped his hands and went over to the stream. I kneelt down on the bank, with my bag and got the soap, swilling off my face with the fresh, clean water from the stream.
I dried my face off and then got out my brush and started to brush through it carefully. It was quite knotty as I had not brushed it through the night before. Once I de-knotted it, I platted it and twisted it around into a large bun, tying it tightly so it would hold. I put my things away and buttoned up my jacket. I held the heart on my necklace in my hand, wishing for some sort of sign from my father.
“Rohan might not be what you remember it, Vina,” Gandalf said from behind me. I lowered my head a little and let go of my necklace. I stood up from the floor and pulled my bag pack onto my back. “I would be prepared,” He finished. I looked at him and nodded it simply. He sighed and he put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, a sensitive smile on his face. He moved away and over to his horse, preparing him for his journey.
I picked up my bows and rubbed the dirt off of it. I held it in my hand and starred at it, I wouldn’t know what I would do without my weapons. I replaced my swords back in my holster and made sure I had everything and not forgot something. I went back over to Legolas and the others to see that they were ready and waiting for me. I smiled at Legolas as I went over to Hasefel and stroked his head. I smiled into his eyes and he rubbed his nose on my shoulder.
I moved around him and saw Aragorn waiting for me, a gentle smile on his face. I returned the smile and put my hand on the edge of his saddle on the other side and then I lifted my legs up over to back of the horse and so I was sat on the saddle with Aragorn.
“Ready?” Aragorn asked me, turning his head so he could look at me. I nodded and he lowered his head, and then turned back around and with a look from Gandalf we all headed off again. Hasefel was a very good runner and I could feel it in his body that he could run some distance and at a high speed.
I held Aragorn tightly around the waist as we rode on until we got closer to Rohan. The temperature seemed to drop the closer we got there, and the atmosphere seemed closer here. I looked over to see Gimli felt the same.
“Edoras and the Golden Hall of Meduseld. There dwells Theoden, King of Rohan...... whose mind is overthrown. Saruman's hold over King Theoden is now very strong,” Gandalf said to us all. We all looked out into the distance to see a partially protected village, chimneys smoking, but somehow it looked dark and dull.
Aragorn gently kicked the horse in the side to get her moving and we trotted down the hill and across the plain so we were across and heading for the entrance of the village. We got to the doorways, Gandalf led, then Legolas and Gimli and then me and Aragorn behind. As we were going through the doors, we noticed something that had caught our attention.
“I’ satulwe en’ Rohan,” I whispered to Aragorn in his ear. He looked down at the flag and then bag up to the castle. Something really did not seem right here. I felt uncomfortable and I could feel something bad was going to happen. We carried on up through the village which was pretty quiet and seemed very depressing. I looked at the children whose mothers kept close to them. They were sad, they weren’t smiling and there seemed to be not an ascent of play in their eyes. {The flag of Rohan}
“You’ll find more cheer in a graveyard,” Gimli says out load to us. I didn’t look at him but I nodded my head, for my eyes were drawn to the eyes of a little girl, holding her mother’s hand tightly but looking around her mother’s side to look at us, her eyes too were looking into mine. Her mother seemed to notice and she nudged her further behind her so she was hidden. I looked away and soon we reached the main hall.
We all dismounted our horses and then tied them up to a stand. I rubbed Hasefel before we began to climb up the stairs and we were stopped outside of the golden hall. There was a man with a ginger beard and a look of importance to him.
“I cannot allow you before Theoden king so armed, Gandalf Greyhame. By order of Grima Wormtongue,” the man said to Gandalf and then his men looked at the rest of us. Gandalf nodded to us and then I looked at Legolas. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas handed their weapons in, Gimli found it hard to give up his axe, and then I pulled out my swords and handed of my bow and quiver. One of the men looked down at my leg and I looked at him suspiciously, making him feel uncomfortable. I felt a hand on my back and felt Legolas try to tell me to spot playing up and give them my knife. I handed the guard my knife and he took another look at me before he turned away to talk to another man before him.
“Your staff,” he said to Gandalf. Gandalf looked at his staff and murmured like an old man.
“You would not part an old man from his walking stick,” Gandalf grumbled to him. Hama, the man with the ginger beard, looked a little worried but then wavered his head, letting us follow him. I looked at Legolas and pushed him over to Gandalf where Gandalf took his arm and leant on him a little. I walked next to Gimli and he smiled at me. Hama stayed by the doors, letting us past first and then he closed the doors behind. We carried on walking through the hall and I kept my eyes on the soldiers who were walking either side of us. The people in the hall were looking at me funnily but I kept on walking in time with Gimli and standing tall. We stopped a little and I kept my eyes closely on the guards who were stalking us.
“The courtesy of you hall is somewhat lessened of late…Theoden King,” Gandalf voice boomed around the hall. I blinked at one of the men and he looked away worriedly. I chuckled to myself and looked at the king where a scabby old man was knelt next to the throne where a withered old man sat.
“Why should I welcome you…Gandalf Stormcrow?” The king managed to say through his teeth. It did not sound like him and I knew it sounded like an evil man behind him. The scabby man next to him looked familiar, his greasy black hair and his large pointy nose. Theoden looked at him for agreement and then the man with black hair stood up and went over to us.
“A just question, my liege,” He said looking at the king and then towards us. “Late is the hour…in which this conjurer choses to appear,” I looked away from him and at the men who were now beginning to move closer in. “Lathspell I name him. Ill news is an ill guest,” He said to Gandalf. How dare he speak to him like that?
“Be silent. Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death…to bandy crooked words with a witless worm,” Gandalf spat at him. I looked at Gandalf and saw him raise his staff. Worm, I had nicknamed him, looked really scared and I felt the tension increase massively.
“His staff. I told you to take the Wizard’s staff,” He wined, moving further and further away from Gandalf. All of a sudden, the men who had been stalking us changed at the us and headed for Gandalf. I stood in front of Gandalf as a man went for him. The man lowered his fists a little bit instead of letting him react; I need him in the stomach and punched him in the face making him fall to the ground. We all were fighting and another man came towards me, taking a swing for my head but I ducked and he missed, I shouldered his back and he fell to his knees and then I kicked him in the side and he too fell to the ground. I looked over at Hama who had just stopped Gamling from going to fight.
“Theoden…son of Thengel… too long have you sat in the shadows,” Gandalf said walking away from the fighting. I saw Worm trying to get away but Gimli knocked him down and stood on his chest.
“I would stay still if I were you,” Gimli grumbled to him. I looked away from the worm and to Gandalf.
“Hearken to me. I release you…from the spell,” Gandalf said holding up his hand to Theoden and closed his eyes but a mocking cackle came from the lips of Theoden.
“You have no power here…Gandalf the grey,” He cackled. I could see by Gandalf’s body language that he was angry. He threw off his cloak and threw it to the ground. Theoden jumped back from the brightness of the white light. Many of the men around us too covered their eyes at the light but I only had to squint a little as I had already got used to the light.
“I will draw you Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound,” Gandalf then moved his staff forward which pushed Theoden back into his chair. A door opened from the side of the hall and a good maiden walked in, saw the king and ran for him. Aragorn grabbed her and told her to wait. She looked questioningly at him but then Aragorn told her to wait.
“If I go, Theoden dies,” Saruman’s voice said from Theoden’s body. Gandalf held his staff forward and walked towards Theoden or Saruman.
“You did not kill me…you will not kill him,” Gandalf answered back to the voice. My senses were shaking like crazy and something in the room seemed to want me to move away.
“Rohan is mine,” Saruman spat through his teeth.
“Be gone,” Gandalf ordered to him. Theoden took a jump from his thrown and lunged at Gandalf but Gandalf thrusts him back on his thrown seat. Theoden lets out a moan and slowly slumps forward almost falling off the seat. The maiden ran out of Aragorn’s grip and caught Theoden in her arms. All of a sudden, as the spell lifted off of him, his facial features began to change and made him look a good twenty years younger.
“I know your face. Eowyn. Eowyn,” he breathed to her. She was crying with tears in her eyes but they were happy tears. The real Theoden looked around the hall and saw Gandalf. “Gandalf?” He asked him.
“Breath the free air, my friend,” Gandalf said to him. Theoden struggled to stand up but with the help of the Eowyn, shakily stood up.
“Dark have been my dreams of late,” he said lifting his hand up to look at his fingers, feeling them for what probably seemed like the first time in ages.
“Your fingers would remember their old strength better…if they grasped your sword,” Gandalf said to him. I smiled and saw that Hama had gotten his sword. I looked away for just a second and looked down at the worm. His old, greasy skin matched that of his thick black hair.
Something in my mind clicked and I remembered him from somewhere. It was not a good memory, that I was sure of, but a bad one. Suddenly images of when I was around the age of ten flashed in my mind. Pictures of my mother putting me to bed came up but one thing I had forgotten was of whom I had seen starting the fire. A young man, a teenager, had piled dried wood by the front door, our door leading to the back and almost all the safe windows. A match box in his hand and a lit one in his other hand. Up went the flames around the house and I saw his smile through the window.
After seeing my mother pass, being pulled out of the house and being wrapped in blankets why other people began to through buckets of water on the house. In the corner of the village sat the teenager, who had set light of the house. I was in shock with having seen my mother die but now, the smile on his face was like burning iron being poured down my throat.
I snapped out of the flash back and blinked once before the anger of what I just remembered angered me. I reached for my knife in my boot, stormed over to Wormtongue, knocked Gimli aside and taking Wormtongue by his scruffs, I lifted him up and threw him against a pillar. I shouted a very foal word in Elvish ‘Utinu en lokirim’ meaning ‘Son of Snakes’. It went quiet in the hall but I walked over to him, picking him up by the neck and pulled my knife to his throat.
“WHY?!” I shouted at him. He seemed really scared and didn’t understand. I slammed him against the wall again, he hit his head off the stone again but I didn’t care, I was angry, vengeful and hot. “Why did you do it?” I shouted at him again, drawing my knife further to his neck so it was touching his skin. He looked around panicked and I suddenly felt a pair of hands on my arm. They tried to pull me away but I held my ground but when a second pair of hands and then a third and fourth pair of hands started to pull on me, I had no choice but to give in but my eyes did not leave his.
“Vina calm down!” Aragorn tried to order me. He grabbed the knife out of my hand and I got my hand free of his grip.
“I will not calm down! He killed my mother! Your sister!” I screamed at him, pointing at Wormtongue who was looking very frightened but a little reassured that I had been pulled away from him. Everyone’s grip stayed tight on me, all but Aragorn and Legolas’s. “Do you recognise me Grima?” I spat at him. He looked at me, really taking me in and then his eyes widened and he shook his head a little as if he couldn’t believe what he could see. He didn’t say anything but he mouthed the words of my name and I knew he remembered. I charged at him again but the men pulled me back again and Legolas put his around my chest making sure I couldn’t move. I felt my eyes burn with hot liquid but I didn’t let them show.
Hama, who was stood next to Gandalf and close to the king, looked up at Theoden who was already vengefully looking at him. Theoden gave him one look and two men who were holding me and Hama grabbed Wormtongue and dragged him out of the hall. Legolas loosened his grip on me a little and then we all followed the king who was going after Grima.
I couldn’t get any closer to Grima so I stopped at the top near the entrance of the hall for I knew if I was to ever get close enough to him, I would kill him. King Theoden had his words with Grima and he raised his sword to attack him but Aragorn stopped him.
Something inside of me, I wanted the sword to hit him but deep down in my heart and in the smart part of my brain, I knew I shouldn’t and that I should forgive him. I turned away from him when he spat at Aragorn as I felt like throwing something at him. I felt so bad and then I felt so bad that I had made such an anger of myself.
“Amin kuni aica,” I whispered to Legolas. He turned me into his chest so my head was easily resting on his head. He put his arms around my back and rested his hands on my waist. He felt so warm and just resting on him made me slightly better. I just hope Grima never saw me again. {I feel terrible}
{I'm sorry its been a while since I uploaded. its been hectic and just not had a lot of time to finish the chapter. Hope you like it, not much at the start but it gives you a bit more background info of what happened with Vina and her mother.
Thank you once again for votes, fanning and just adding my story to your library. love you guys!! Live Love Laugh xxx }