How did it come to this?
Loyal to her family, her lands and her people, Théadain, the illegitimate daughter of Théoden, King of Rohan, has little concern for the world that lies beyond her familiar grasslands. When all that she loves is threatened...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 21
At the sight of the still forms of both Aragorn and Frodo, Théadain felt herself gripped by a choking despair, her hands tightening on Merry as she remembered the threat of the troll, seeing it setting upon the remaining members of the Fellowship.
"No!" She cried, releasing Merry to force herself to her feet as Gimli ran at the troll, getting knocked back with a grunt as she raised her sword to charge. She managed to lodge her sword in the side of its grey belly before a massive hand swiped her off her feet, knocking her onto her back.
She lay winded, the world spinning around her head as the shock of hitting the stone floor reverberated through her body. Above her she heard the troll roar and braced herself to feel another impact, before it groaned, a low, confused sound. She made her eyes focus as she pushed herself up shakily, her eyes widening in alarm as she realised the troll was staggering towards her. With a gasp of effort she rolled to the side, narrowly missing being crushed by the creature as it fell.
All was quiet as the dust settled around the body of the troll. As Théadain pushed herself onto her knees with a weary groan, she saw the arrows protruding from its mouth, indicating that Legolas had brought it down. As her racing mind began to realise that the danger had passed she slowly became aware of the aches that littered her body. She could take stock of her injuries later though, she thought as she forced herself to look to where Frodo and Aragorn lay.
With a trembling sigh of relief, she saw that Aragorn was up, crawling to roll Frodo over. For a sickening moment, he seemed completely limp, before a pained groan left his lips and he stirred in Aragorn's arms.
"He's alive." Sam breathed as she moved to help his friend sit up, trembling with relief.
"I'm alright, I'm not hurt." The Ringbearer panted, looking down at himself in amazement.
"You should be dead!" Aragorn marvelled, "That spear would have skewered a wild boar!"
"I think there is more to this Hobbit than meets the eye." Gandalf murmured, looking at Frodo knowingly as Théa forced herself to her feet, staggering a little as she watched Frodo tug his shirt open at the collar, revealing fine, glistening mail beneath.
"Mithril!" Gimli gasped at the sight, "You are full of surprises, Master Baggins!"
"Let's hope that's the end of today's surprises." Théadain groaned, twisting her arm to admire the shallow gash that oozed a healthy amount of scarlet blood. It was already congealing in the fabric of her torn shirt and the damaged leather of her vambrace, the injury could wait to be tended to.
She looked up in alarm at the sound of more footsteps and the calls of orcs, bending to jerk her sword from where it was still lodged in the belly of the fallen troll. Looking around at the exhausted, battered Fellowship, she didn't think they'd survive another fight.
