The queen of the forgotten kingdom

Chapter 24

TW: War Chapter + Death

I am so not ready for this, was the first thing Faya thought when she looked over the sea of masses and masses of orcs, that were making up the army of Mordor. She was standing slightly above the fighting field with the soldiers of Rohan passing her in military order. Èomer had left her shortly before to give commands to his captains. A white horse stopped next to Faya's, making her look up. "Merry?", the queen said surprised and then, even more so: "Lady Éowyn!"
Both riders respectfully bowed their head, and the Hobbit gave her a half friendly, half frightened smile. The white lady of Rohan didn't look scared, rather sad, and wordlessly offered Faya her gloved hand. The dark haired thankfully took it and gave it an encouraging squeeze, with the other returned. The two women smiled and nodded at each other before they followed the soldiers down the hill into the battle.

There was a high-pitched noise. Constant and monotonous, it rang through her ears. It wasn't loud but strong enough to drown out all the noises around her. A tinnitus, Lord Elrond had called it, when she still had been little and had them often, those moments in absolute silence with only this terrible, terrible noise as company. It started to make her head hurt, her vision turned blurry. Everything hurt, her legs and arms felt so incredibly heavy, and all she wanted to do was sleep. Just a short moment of rest, a bit of quiet, a bit of peace.
Where was her horse? Faya didn't know. Her bow? Useless without any arrows and brocken from hitting someone with it, but where? She couldn't say. Her sword? She wasn't sure, maybe it was the one in her hand, maybe it belonged to someone else, not that she would really care anyway. In fact, she didn't care for anything anymore. Well, that wasn't entirely correct. She turned to looked down to the body that laid behind her. It was Lady Éowyn's. Faya wasn't entirely sure, whether the Rohirrim was still alive, but she would shield her until this battle was over. She had seen what the white lady had done, and was deeply impressed, for the other had done the impossible: she had slain the witch king. Faya had seen her stabbing him, just before the blonde had collapsed. Faya had rushed to her side to make sure she was still breathing. She had back then but it felt like an eternity since that. Faya turned her head, only a bit for it felt like it had been crushed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. She took a step back, foolishly and without looking where she was going, and stumbled over a corpse (whether it was a friend or an enemy she wasn't sure. Maybe it was horse, who knows?). She fell and struck to the hard, rough ground. Her head spun, she could feel blood running down her scraped palms, and just stayed there. Just to lay here for a moment, just to have a bit of rest, that was all she wanted. Her eyelids grew heavy, her vision began to darken, and she was ready to embrace the darkness like a friend, when she heard her name.
Weakly she opened her eyes, she saw someone, but couldn't make out who it was. Their voice was drowned out by the tinnitus. Then she felt hand on her face. Warm, soft, gentle hands held her, cradled her like a small child. The voice turned clearer, the figure unblurred and finally Faya found herself in the arms of a beautiful darkhaired woman. Everything was so very bright that she had to close her eyes, the pain was gone, and she felt safe.
"My little girl.", the voice said. "My little pup, my starling."
Faya opened her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Mother?"
"Yes, my darling, my love, my little princess.", said Anouk smiling at her daughter.
Faya turned closer into her mothers embrace and started crying properly. The beautiful woman held her close and caressed her girls hair.
"Am I dead?", Faya asked after a while, muffled by her mother's robes.
Anouk sighed and planted a kiss on her head. "No, my dear. Not yet. And as much as I would like you to stay, you have to go back. They still need you."
Faya freed herself from her mother and looked her with her deep, silver eyes. "Why would they? There is no use of me, mother. I have no actual power. I am queen without a kingdom, without a people, without anyone."
"We watched you, little starling, your father and I, and we saw what you did and how you live. Faya, you are a strong woman. You managed to forgive the elves and befriend them. You helped people, when the were in need. You were willing to give your life for the human lady, there on the battlefield. You are a brave warrior, little pup."
"A brave warrior?", Faya asked unbelieving. "All I wanted to do was to die. I didn't care for the fight anymore, mother. Where is that brave?"
"You chose to protect the little Hobbit with the Ring, didn't you?"
"I did. So what?"
"You swore to give your life for its' safety and that is what you did. But darling, it's too soon, it's not your time yet. They are waiting for you, down there. Be brave little star, be brave and do not give up hope."

Faya woke up with a start. She could still feel the tracks of tears on her face but couldn't remember to have cried. She was laying on the cold hard ground, surrounded by dead, bloody bodies. She must have hit her head or something. Faya got up, her sword firmly in her hand, and, ignoring the pains and aches all over her body, joined back into the battle, returning to her previous spot, shielding the passed out Éowyn. The battle seemed to have caught new fire, for it was as fierce as ever. She managed to disarm an enemy, before she was hit by another, leaving a deep gash in her side, just above the scar she had gotten from the Nazgul. She swung around and decapitated her attacker before she stabbed the unarmed one. Turning again she was about to end another enemy when her victim suddenly swayed and fell to her feet. Surprised she looked up to see Aragorn, who stood there, a bloody sword in his hands but almost unharmed. Faya blinked, lowered her sword, and blinked again. Then to hide her gladness and surprised over the man's dramatic entrance, she rolled her eyes. "Hey that was mine. I had everything under-" She didn't continue, but, with her mouth wide agape, stared as the battlefield was swamped by transparent, ghostly figures. "Aragorn?", she asked unsure. "Did I die again or am I turning insane?"
"Don't worry dearest sister." Aragorn answered with a cheeky smile, and without commenting on the dying part. "I took the freedom to redeem a little favour."
"Oh, thank the Valar.", Faya sighed. "It was getting quite sticky. Oh, while we are talking about it, have you seen Lord Éomer?"
"I'm not sure, I think I saw him a bit east from here a while ago. Why do you ask?"
Faya stepped aside, revealing the sight of the body of King Théoden and his unconscious niece. "The King is dead, but Lady Éowyn is still alive. At least I think so..."

The sun, that shone on Faya's face, was warm and friendly. She sat, leaned against the cool wall, in the garden behind the houses of healing, enjoying being allowed outside again. She was grateful for a little quiet and peace, even though she wasn't entirely calm, knowing very well, that Aragorn and the others had set off again to distract Sauron from Frodo and Sam. It wasn't said that they would return, Aragorn had told her so, when they had started off. She had been still to weak and too hurt to join them. She had wanted to, but they had forbidden her. Not only Aragorn, but Gandalf, and Legolas and Gimli; even Éomer had told her to stay behind and recover first. So, she had stayed, praying, and hoping for their safe return, just as for Lady Éowyn to wake up.
Faya closed her eyes and held her face into the sun. She could smell the flowers and blossoms of the garden, she could hear the birds and the busy street behind the tall, white wall. All seemed so peaceful despite the war that was going on, and if she would look out of the eastern window, she could see the dark clouds hanging over Mordor.
There were steps nearing, and Faya could smell the strong scent of antibiotics and medicine that marked the nearing person as one of the healers. The nurse stopped by the bench, the half-wolf was sitting on, without casting a shadow on her. "Your majesty.", the nurse said soft-spoken, making Faya open her eyes. "She is awake."
The sitting got up faster than she should have, for sharp pains all over her body had her freeze and fall back onto the bench and making her dizzy. The healer offered her an arm, which Faya gladly took, and helped the injured woman to, more or less gracefully, stumble through the garden and back inside. There she assisted Faya into a cushioned chair next to a white sheeted bed.
"Lady Éowyn.", the dark-haired said. "I'm glad that you are awake."