The Darker Side of Hope (a Lord of the Rings fanfiction)

Chapter 5- The Ride to Helm's Deep

Chapter 5- The Ride to Helm's Deep

We hadn't been riding for more than an hour before Aragorn cleared his throat. "So you and Legolas?"

A small smile played across my lips. "I believe I'm falling in love with him," I whispered.

"He was very worried about you, Rayel. When you were taken... he was not the same. He pressed forward with only one person on his mind: You. You have become a part of him and he has become part of you. I see it every day... You have bonded."

"All you have said is true... I cannot imagine or fathom what my life here in the Arda would be like without him... I would fade."

"Nay," my brother objected. "You will not fade. You will live for many years here and then sail to Valinor with your family."

"No," I objected. "You and Arwen will marry and I will not leave these Shores. My place is beside you, my brother. I will defend you to my dying breath as you have always defended me. Elrond will leave for Valinor-  I know this. He missed my dear aunt Celebrain far too much to leave her side indefinitely."

"I do not wish for Arwen to stay... She belongs with her people- your people... I do not wish to force you to stay."

"If I leave Middle Earth, I will never see you again," I whispered, tears springing into my eyes. "It is a cruel fate that the Eldar have bestowed upon us. Immortality seems like such a wonderful thing... or at least it did. Of late, I have been thinking about renouncing the Eldar and living a mortal life."

"Nay, Rayel," he turned to face me. "You must not. I will not allow you to leave everything behind. Your parents would not want you to stay here."

"But I do not have the longing to leave here... I would stay for many more years before leaving."

We were both quiet for a long while, my face buried in his back as I inhaled the scent of pipe tobacco. My eyes drifted over to Gimli who had taken it upon himself to get his own horse. He was being led by the Lady Éowyn who every now and then, would glance over her shoulder at Aragorn.

I did not know where Legolas had gone off to. In all honesty, I missed him.

"It's true you don't see many Dwarf women," Gimli illuminated. "And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men."

She shot a look over her shoulder at Aragorn and he rubbed his chin. "It's the beards," he explained, sending her into a fit of laughter.

"This of course," continued Gimli. "Has given rise to the belief that there are no Dwarf women and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground! Which of course is ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous," I emphasized.

Gimli's horse bolted down the hill, throwing the poor Dwarf. Éowyn rushed to his side, laughing all the while.

I did not find amusement in this. He could've been harmed.

"It's alright!" the Dwarf called. "Nobody panic! That was deliberate. It was deliberate!"

"Of course it was," I mumbled under my breath, watching as the Rohiriam woman came to the aid of my friend.

"Cheer up, Rayel. Your spirits have been dampened for far too long."

Our horse came up next to the King's and he turned to face my brother. "I have not seen my niece smile for a long time," his voice was wistful. "She was a girl when they brought her father back dead... Cut down by orcs."

My heart stung: I was but a girl when my parents had died at the hands of orcs too.

"She watched her mother succumb to grief... Then she was left alone, to tend to her King in growing fear," Théoden continued. "Doomed to wait upon an old man who should have loved her as a father." He kicked his horse and sped past us and to the head of the line.