Chapter 26
We had just passed the realm of Rohan and were only about an hour away from Mordor. Mordor was one placed I hadn’t seen before, before the war and after. Me, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Eomer and Gandalf were all travelling quietly as there wasn’t an area of interest to talk about. I looked over at Eomer and thought of something that I wanted to ask him. I trotted up next to him and he looked over at me.
“Eomer, can I ask you something?” I whispered to him. He looked around quickly and then nodded his head. I sighed a little and moved Hasufel closer to his own horse. “When you were travelling up north, did you come across a man of the name Aodeth?” I asked him quietly. He rolled the name over in his tongue and thought for a while. But he shook his head after a few seconds; I could feel my heart shrink in size, the hope of finding my father wearing very thin. I tried to keep my head up and a smile on my face, no matter how rubbish I felt. Eomer leant his head down, looking up at my face.
“Is it someone close to you?” he asked me thoughtfully. I looked down for a second, the face of my father pop up in my head. I nodded my head and looked at him in the eye. I felt that he was reading me and I felt a little uncomfortable but thankfully Hasufel trotted forward a little faster for some reason, making me trot ahead of Aragorn and Legolas. I pulled down on his reins and he slowed down a little. I leant forward to stroke his head and to see what was wrong with him. Legolas came up next to me and asked me what was wrong which was shortly answered by two young Hobbits sat on the walls of Isenguard.
We came around the corner to see Merry stood up and Pippin sat on the wall both with a gallon in their hands and pipes in their mouths. Hasufel must have sensed the two hobbits and that’s why he trotted ahead.
“Welcome, my Lords to Isenguard!” Merry cheerfully said with his mouth full, stretching his arms wide. I giggled and looked at Legolas to see if what I was seeing was real.
“You young rascals. A merry hunt you’ve led us on and now we find you feasting and…and smoking!” Gimli scoffed from behind Legolas. Pippin raised his gallon in the air with a broad smile on his face.
“We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well-earned comforts,” slurred eating on a surprisingly lovely looking sandwich. We trotted a little closer to them both and saw not a single scratch on their faces. “The salted pork is practically good,” Pippin teased to Gimli and it definitely caught his attention.
“Salted pork…” Gimli murmured, his eyes fixed on the food next to Pippin. I couldn’t help but smile; I really had missed these pair.
“We’re under order from Treebeard who’s taken over management of Isenguard,” Merry stated looking out over the water. We all looked over to see the tall trees moving around and water surrounding their feet, well trunks.
Gandalf told us that we needed to talk to Saruman and so Pippin climbed onto the back on Aragorn’s horse and I helped Merry onto the back of mine. He was so happy to see me and wanted to talk to me about his adventure with Treebeard but I told him he could tell me after.
We rode across the logged field, I behind everyone else next to Eomer, until we were met with Treebeard who greeted us all and Gandalf who I guess was knew from when Merry and Pippin went with him. We rode up to the tower and waiting for any sign of Saruman.
“Show yourself,” Aragorn whispered to himself. I looked over to him and so did Gandalf a little surprised and I myself a little worried.
“Be careful. Even in defeat, Saruman is dangerous,” Gandalf replied back to him. I looked back away from him an up at the tower. But I had to disagree with Aragorn; I did not want to see Saruman at all.
“Well then let’s just have his head and be done with it,” Gimli snorted from behind Legolas.
“No, we need him to talk. We need him to talk,” Gandalf snapped back at me. I took a deep breathe in as the nerves sunk in more. I could sense something in the air and it made the hair on my back stand up. And then the voice I was least looking forward to sounded in my ears.
“You have fought many wars and slain many men Theoden King and made peace afterwards. Can we not take counsel together as we once did, my old friend? Can we not have peace you and I?” He said down aiming at Theoden.
“We shall have peace…. We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the Westfold and the children that lie dead there! We shall have peace when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead against the gates of the Hornburg… are avenged! When you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows… we shall have peace!” Theoden spat back to him. I smiled as I looked back up at Saruman. I caught his eye as he looked from each of us and then had a very weird sensation trickling through me. I didn’t feel completely myself for some odd reason. And then the voice of Saruman whispered inside of my head.
“The men may think you brave for battling at the Hornburg, but are you really that brave?” The voice sounded in my head. I gasped as my mind did not feel its own. I felt Legolas lean over and place his hand on my leg, seeing if I was alright but I was looking at the thin air in front of me and nothing else. “It was not braveness that made you leave your brother Leonan in Lorien, but weakness. You did not want the responsibility of him in case anything happened to him. You could only just about protect him the last time,” he slyly speculated. I could feel my heart pounding harder in my chest as I heard everything inside of me, my breath, heartbeat and only the faintest sound of his voice talking to the others. How was he getting in my head so easily? Galadriel was able to but I had never new Saruman to.
Suddenly I felt my body strengthen and that weird feeling leave me. I felt slightly weak to start with but when I heard him shout and I looked up, I saw a powerful ball of light and magic shoot down from his staff and aimed at Gandalf. I pulled on the ropes of Hasufel and he reared backwards away from Gandalf. I hid the light with my hand but looked at Gandalf, only to see him swipe away the magic and look fiercely at Saruman.
“Saruman, your staff is broken,” he said powerfully. When I looked back up I saw Saruman’s staff explode into nothing in his hands. It made me smile but I felt bad, he had once been such a great wizard. But what I saw next made me reach for my bow. Grima appeared around Saruman, looking worried and guilty. The sight of him made my blood boil and I swung my bow around and reached for an arrow when I felt a firm hand grip my arm, forbidding me to move. It was Aragorn and just looking at him stopping me made me feel very angry at him, but he gave me a look wishing me not to. And then Theoden spoke.
“Grima! You need not follow him! You were not always as you are now. You were once a man of Rohan. Come down,” he spoke up to the tower. I found it so hard not to say anything at all and not do anything, but Aragorn’s grip stayed tightly around my arm. I gave him a look telling him I wouldn’t do anything and he loosened his grip. Grima looked like he was about to come down when Saruman chuckled pitifully.
“A man of Rohan? What is the house of Rohan but a thatched bar where brigands drink in the reek and their brats roll on the floor with the dogs? The victory at Helms Deep does not belong to you Theoden Horse Master. You are a lesser son of greater sires!” Saruman spat at Theoden. I knew this touched a sensitive spot for Theoden and I saw that it affected him but he took a deep breathe in.
“Grima…Come down, be free of him,” Theoden tried convincing him but Saruman spat another wicked laugh.
“Free? He will never be free,” He snidely said. I didn’t know how much more I could take of this talk with Saruman. The more we tried the further away we got from help. Grima seemed to have plucked up some courage and I just about made out that he said ‘no’. Saruman spat back something and slapped Grima to the floor.
“Saruman, you were deep in the enemies cancel. Tell us what you know,” Gandalf tried to bring him back to himself but I think it made him even angrier.
“You withdraw your guard and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here!” Saruman ordered harshly. But not long after he said this, Grima rose up from behind him, a long knife in his hand. And very quickly, he stabbed Saruman in the back two times. I took a bow out of quiver and in unison, I and Legolas shot our arrows. I followed mine and it hit him first in the shoulder and then Legolas’s hit him in the heart. He fell to the floor instantly. Saruman, having been stabbed twice in the back, fell from his tower. He fell all the way down and landed on a sharp spike of the water wheel, dead instantly. I felt Merry gasp in shock and horror but my eyes were still looking up at the tower.
“Send word to all our allies and to every corner of Middle Earth that still stands free. The enemy stands against us. We need to know where he will strike,” Gandalf said from not that far from me. The water wheel began to turn and slowly Saruman’s body began to engulf under the water, but something fell out of his robe and landed close to one of the horses. Pippin dismounted off of Brago, Aragorn’s horse and went over to it.
Aragorn tried to call Pippin back but he carried on and picked up what I thought I recognised as a palantir. He held it up and gazed intently at it. I could sense that there was a darkness to this object and I personally would be staying far away from it if I could.
“Peregrin Took. I’ll take that my lad, quickly now,” Gandalf said to him. Pippin looked from Gandalf and back at the palantir, weighing out what may happen I he didn’t give it him. But Pippin did as he was told and gave it back to Gandalf, but quiet slowly. Gandalf wrapped it in a piece of white cloth and turned away from him. I looked at Pippin for a second and saw him look quite sheepish.
We arrived back at Helms Deep rather quickly for the night seemed to come quicker than usual. I de-saddled Hasufel and left him in his stable with plenty of hay and pellets, a kiss on the cheek to say good night. All the man who fought in the battle had been brought together in the main hall where Theoden was to say some words. I originally didn’t want to go but everyone insisted I did as I fought as one of them.
The hall was full of men and few women were dotted around the room. I was told they would be joining us in a celebration after. I stood in the back of the hall, in one of the darker corners, trying not to be seen. I watched as Eowyn knelt down to her uncle and then she held a goblet of wine out to him, which he takes. She moves behind him and then Theoden held out his goblet to everyone.
“Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country,” he spoke clearly. He really was a great man. He raised the goblet up and with a slight tilt of the held he spoke proudly, “Hail the victorious dead.”
“Hail!” We all said in unison. We raised our own goblets in the air and then drank from it. I looked at the wine in the goblet and I drank from it, seeing my own reflection for the first time in ages. What was I doing here?
Soon the death of the many soldiers was continued by further celebrating, this including everyone; the women, children and visitors. Everyone seemed so happy and it was good to see so many smiling faces in one place. Legolas and Gimli I saw were playing a drinking game that was being led by Eomer, by no surprised of mine. But I didn’t feel comfortable her, not at the moment. I hadn’t really moved from the back of the room and no one was really paying attention to me, so I slyly slid through one of the side doors where it led onto the wall surrounding the city.
I sat on part of the wall were it had already been broken and leant against it, looking out onto the field. It was pretty much cleared now and it looked a lot more peaceful now that the battle was over. But thoughts of the battle, of my past and everything Saruman had said to me were all spinning in my head. I spent a good ten minutes on my own in the quiet before I heard the door I came through open. I didn’t turn straight away as I thought it might just be someone passing by but I slowly turned and saw Aragorn, his hand crossed out in front of him and a soft expression settled on his face.
“You are not celebrating V?” He asked me kindly. I slowly shook my head and looked away from him, back over the field. He hesitated for a second and then he came and placed himself on my right hand side. He too scanned the area in front of us and sighed after a while.
“If anything was wrong you know I’d want you to tell me don’t you, after all, I am your uncle,” he said to me kindly. I nodded my head. Yes, I did know he was always there for me, but I felt quite down.
“You and Legolas obviously think something’s wrong with me. I heard you talking about it the last night,” I stated, not looking at him. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and then he sighed again.
“We’re concerned about you Vina. Legolas especially. You’re sad about losing Haldir aren’t you?” he asked me. I lowered my head and took a deep sigh out.
“It’s not only him. Aragorn all my life, people have died out on me. I’m not afraid of my own death, but so many people who I know are either dead, missing or I’ve left them behind,” I slurred. Aragorn listened to me but then lifted my chin up to meet his eyes.
“Vina, that’s just the way life is. People die to protect certain people or kingdoms where as others are by accident. All the choices you have made have been the right ones. You leaving your brother in Lorien was the best outcome for him. What if our forces hadn’t held and they managed to get into the caves in Helms Deep, Leonan would have been in danger,” he told me. I smiled as he did make some sense. If I had brought him here and our lines fell then Leonan might not still be with me. But my smile faded as the memory of a voice came into my head again.
“I’m weak,” I stated quietly. Aragorn tilted his head at me, a confused expression on his face.
“You are not weak. Who on this earth told you that?” he asked me. I looked away from him and leant my head against the side of the higher wall.
“When we went to Isenguard, I heard Saruman’s voice in my head,” I whispered as the voice of Saruman sounded very clear still. Aragorn took his hand in his and brought them up to his mouth where he kissed them comfortingly.
“I promise you Vina, you are not weak,” he encouraged me. The smile he gave me brought me back to when I was young again, when he seemed so big to me and yet here we are after many years. “I have something to give you,” he thought. He lowered my hands and opened them up and reached into his pockets, pulling out something wooden. He placed it in my hands and when I looked down my insides tickled and my heart stumbled. It was the wooden cutting that had been carved by Boromir. I thought I had lost this when I was captured by the orcs. I starred at it for quite some time, remembering Boromir giving it to me when we left Lorien.
“I miss him,” I said without even thinking. Aragorn cupped the bottom of my hands and pushed them towards my chest.
“So do I. He won’t be forgotten Vina,” he reassured me. I smiled and twisted the wooden figure in my hands. And then I placed it in my chest pocket for safe keeping and as I knew Boromir was close to my heart. “Come join the celebrations, have a drink,” he cheered to me. I laughed and swayed as he knocked me playfully.
“You know I haven’t drank since my adventure with the dwarfs and Gandalf those years ago,” I joked back at him. He smiled and got up from the wall, offering me his hand. I took it and brushed myself off. “What’s wrong with a couple of drinks anyway,” I said.
I and Aragorn headed back to the main hall, and when we opened the door a load cheer announced throughout the huge walls. Everyone was very happy and there was a lot of singing going on. I smiled at Aragorn before he went through the crowd of men and then I went to find myself a drink. I walked around for a while and found Eomer near a beer barrel. I moved closer and saw Gimli passed out on the floor; I stepped over him and on the way, kissed Legolas on the cheek.
“I’ll take a large mead please Eomer,” I said to him with a smile on my face. He looked a little surprised at the start and then began to pour a big mug from the barrel. Legolas looked a little surprised too; I guess he didn’t think I’d drink. He gave it me and I took it from him, instantly drinking from it and not stopping until I finished the whole flagon. I slammed the flagon on the table and saw that everyone watching me had a shocking facial expression.
“Gosh I love mead! Another Eomer,” I cheered. I could feel the alcohol wash around in my stomach and felt its affect already beginning to take effect. He poured another mead for me and I drank half way down the flagon.
“You drink faster than the men do,” Eomer said to me. I laughed and finished the rest of the drink. I turned to Legolas, my head spinning slightly.
“Are you ok Vina?” he asked me. I giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm. He raised an eyebrow but it looked like he was feeling funny as well, after all, there were quite a few empty flagons in front of him. I heard a song of Hobbits and spun on my heal to see Merry and Pippin dancing on the table with a flagon of ale in their hands. I hooked arms with Legolas and another flagon of mead in my other hand. We stood by the table and I and Legolas clapped our hands in with the music.
“Oh you can search far and wide, You can drink the whole town dry, But you’ll never find a beer so brown, But you’ll never find a beer so brown, As the one we drink in our hometown, As the one we drink in our hometown.” They sang cheerfully as they trotted up and down the table, swinging their legs around at the men and singing an old song from around their lands. I clapped and stamped my feet as I listened to their voices. “You can drink your fancy ales, You can drink them by the flagon
But the only brew for the brave and true…” and then Pippin stopped suddenly and then starred at Gandalf. Everyone else stopped, confused.
“Pippin!” Merry shouted him back. Pippin looked back and then they began to sing again and the clapping and humming sounded around the room again. But I saw hesitation in his eye and wrongness.
“Comes from the green dragon,” they finished merrily before burying themselves in their flagons. We cheered as they finished their song and it made me feel happy inside. The men began to toast to various different things and roared loudly with laughter. It looked like the men had their own songs to sing and I joined in to the ones I knew.
I had gotten through another four large flagons of mead and two glasses of wine before I was losing my self-control, but I was having fun. More fun than I had in quite some times. Legolas danced with me a little and I even got a pleasurable dance with king Theoden which was a laugh.
I grabbed myself another flagon on mead and was joined by the rest of the fellowship. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and the Hobbits had joined me in the corner of the room where I had placed myself. The hobbits seemed that they had drunk quite a bit as well, just as much as me. Our table was overcrowded with empty flagons but we kept refilling.
I went to drink from the flagon and totally missed my mouth and it washed all down my shirt. I jumped up in surprised and went to stand up but fell backwards towards the floor when I felt a pair of arms catch me. Aragorn had caught me in his arms and I turned to face him, giggling and mumbling childishly.
“Ra caela beika laure,” I heard Aragorn say to Legolas, I began to giggle a lot and Aragorn straightened me up. (She had too much mead)
“Amin yassen rath he,” he said to Aragorn. Aragorn passed me over to Legolas gently and he took me and put his arm around me. I looked up at him, smiling broadly at him. I turned to the rest of the fellowship and bowed my head at them all. They all laughed at me and Legolas tugged on me to come along. I joined him along to the room we were all staying in and he opened the door for me. I walked in and looked for my bed.
I went over to my bed and stood there. I heard Legolas close the door behind me and so I decided to just take my shirt off. I looked back over at Legolas to see he looked away a little shy. I giggled a little, the alcohol still taking effect on me.
“Past me that shirt Legolas babe,” I asked a little high pitched. Legolas looked at me, avoiding my body and then reached for a shirt I had set out to dry. He brought it over to me but I had hid my chest from him with my arms. I was drunk but not that drunk. He handed it to me and I turned my back on him and pulled the shirt on. I did the buttons up on it and turned back to him. I actually caught him off guard; he was looking down at my body and at my arm. I pulled the sleeve up to show an old burn scar from years ago. Even thought my body was different to others as I had aged more, I still had scars from before.
“Is that where…?” He began to ask me. I nodded my head before he finished his question and he nodded his head. I pulled the sleeve down with a ‘it’s alright’ kind of smile and he took me around the waist. I raised an eyebrow at him, deciding how much he had to drink. He laughed at my expression and pulled me into a gentle kiss. The drunkenness seemed to have subsided as I passionately kissed Legolas. His circled the middle of my back with his finger and sent sensations shooting through my body. I pulled away a little with a smile. I wish I could of kissed him for the rest of the night but I was feeling quite tired and I wanted some good sleep without worry. He seemed to understand what I felt and so he walked me backwards towards my bed, landing on top of me as I lay across my bed.
“Stay with me until I fall asleep,” I whispered to him as I shuffled back so that my head was on my pillow. My bed was not actually a bed; just a couple of blankets and a sleeping bag but it would do for me. Legolas thought about it for a tenth of a second and then nodded his head. He came and lay next to me, sharing my pillow with me. I looked him in the eye and saw not my reflection, but my love for him.
“Promise you won’t leave me Legolas,” I whispered to him. His eye twitched a little, about to say what I hoped he wouldn’t and I guess he saw it for he wiped the thought out of his mind.
“I won’t as long as you don’t,” he answered back to me. I smiled at the thought and nodded my head in agreement. I moved down so my head was on his chest and I took in the sent. He did smell a little of alcohol but his usual scent was still there. I closed my eyes and thought that Legolas would never leave me, or I him. I hoped.
(AN: I'm so sorry I uploaded so late but with school and everything its been hard to get time. But after everything and all my excuses you are always voting and fanning and everything.
I love you guys xxx}