𝕰𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖆

Chapter Fifteen: The Eye of Flame

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The morning light pulsed against my eyelids, warming my entire face. The sounds of a bustling town just opening its eyes and beginning its day reached my ears from behind the window. Carriages clattering down the cobblestone streets, children laughing, birds chirping, the water of the Greyflood spilling over itself in a gentle and calm rhythm. I rolled onto my side, swiveling my head around to face Legolas, who laid on his back, eyes still closed lightly.

I watched him sleep, memories from the previous night slowly pouring back into my awakening mind. Of how close to me he'd been. Of how his hands felt on my waist, how his lips felt on my own. How his voice made my heart race. Heat consumed my face but I didn't look away.

"You've all morning to stare at my face, but may we at least prepare ourselves to leave?" his voice startled me, and I quickly realized he hadn't been sleeping at all.

I turned back onto my side in a flurry, refusing to answer him. I had to tell him what I thought, about last night. How I regretted it, how it couldn't happen again, ever. But I couldn't find the words, only managing a slow;

"About last night..."

"Nothing happened last night," he said, as though having read my thoughts.

"We're in agreement, then," I answered, standing up from the bed, and making for my bag that was slung over a coat rack in the corner.

Digging through it's contents, I removed my corset-top, worn at the seams, and my leather boots. I slipped the top over my undershirt tying up the front and wincing as it closed around my aching rib cage, before reaching back to fasten the clips. I bit back a gasp at the pain that flooded from my broken ribs and into my chest when I reached my hand back.

"Here," Legolas gently pushed my hand away, pulling back my hair and fastening the clips behind me.

"Thanks," I said meekly, tying on my boots and looping my hair into a braid that hung back between my shoulders and out of my way, "Do you suppose the inn rents out horses?"

"Worth an ask," Legolas said in response, fastening his vambraces and joining me where I stood by the door.

When we were ready, we left our room at the inn, making for the front desk where we discovered that they did, in fact, rent out horses, but that they did not, in fact, have any to rent out at the moment. The woman from last night directed us to the business of a man who raised horses on the outskirts of west Tharbad, a small farm distanced from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the town. Legolas and I bid the woman thanks and farewell, and she gave us a look that said she was glad to be rid of us.

Hurrying through the town, our pace quickened by a full meal and a good night's sleep, we crossed the Greyflood and entered the western most part of Tharbad, where small and rickety houses slowly faded into less numerous farms. We came to one that fit the woman's description, a crumbling old cabin with a thatched roof of yellow-green water reed, surrounded by a makeshift wooden fence. We entered the enclosure, and exited moments later, a few coins poorer and a single grey steed in tow.

We led it through Tharbad and at last onto the North-South road, where we paused looking back on the town as though not wishing to leave it. But we had to. I looked down the road which disappeared with the horizon. Follow it, and we'd come to the Fords of Isen, where it was a straight shot to Mirrormere. To the Fellowship. I offered Legolas a gentle smile, and he smiled back, helping me onto the horse and trying not to put too much pressure on my ribs. He swung his leg over the horse, sitting behind me.