***
Five days after Aragorn released the Army of the Dead, Gamling found …omer standing at the top of Minas Tirith, over the battlement where Denethor had taken his last, fiery plunge. The new King stared over the devastation that was Pelennor Fields.
"…omer."
"What?" the new king asked dully.
Gamling breathed in heavily. "How fares your sister?"
…omer didn't turn back, didn't look at the newly raised Marshal. "She will live." He blew out of his mouth. "Thank Béma, she will live." He shook his head, continuing to watch the living scavenge through the corpses, identifying, finding life still clinging among the dead. "I don't know if I should beat her or hug the very life from her scrawny body!"
Gamling remembered back... was it a week?... before, when he had wanted to do the one, but had done the other instead to Aefre. "As much as you desire to throttle her, best to hold her close. You almost lost her."
"Aye." Although he had his back to the Horse Lord, Gamling could hear the smile in …omer's voice. "Uncle said to listen to you first and heed your counsel. You give good advice." …omer's voice hitched and he coughed in an attempt to cover and stifle his show of grief.
Considering his outpouring of anguish on the field upon finding …owyn’s body barely clinging to life, Gamling was surprised the young King had anything left. "I... uh... found Firefoot wandering. I stabled him with Dréogan and tended to his injuries."
"Thank you. Bad?"
Gamling shrugged. "Mostly surface cuts. He was armored well." He saw no need to tell …omer of the partial Orc skull imbedded in his mount's rear hoof. Dréogan had Orc hair and blood splatterings as well. He had carefully bathed both, washing the gore from their horses' bodies and armor. "I have seen to Théoden's body."
"Please tell me you did not burn-"
"NO!" Gamling spat. "He has been interred with their Kings until we can return him to Rohan." It was quiet for a few moments. "I buried Snowmane as well."
"I am glad. I could not bear it had they burned him." …omer sighed and relaxed slightly. "I hate it that they are burning our dead." They watched as yet another pile of bodies were set afire. "Would that we could carry them home and bury them to singing and toasting as they deserve." …omer wrinkled his nose at the smell wafting from the field; the stench of burning flesh would linger on the air for weeks. "But there is no other choice. Have you-"
"We have removed all identifying Marks from the dead." Gamling pressed his hand to his chest, feeling his own stone, with his name, house, and city etched on it. "I have told the survivors to wash them, clean them as best as possible."
"Good idea. Their widows and children do not need to see-"
"No." Gamling interrupted the young king, his mind equally abhorred at the thought of families seeing hard evidence of the gore and brutality of their loved ones' death. "I will be sending several messengers back to Edoras as soon as possible with the identifying stones and a list of the known injured."
Save one. In the hand with Aefre's ribband still wound around it, he clutched Ceneden's stone. Gamling had searched long and hard to find the ruins of man and horse, for he felt he owed it to the brave Rider. Although he was no Rohirrim Holy Man, Gamling had blessed the body - what was left of it - and sworn to care for Aefre. Gamling had decided to take this mark back to her personally and get to the bottom of Gifre and his perfidy. It had been obvious that Ceneden had been devoted to the memory of his Lord and his Lord's wife and knowing Aefre, she would be upset. Gamling was determined that she would not grieve alone; would have someone - him - to comfort her.
" 'Tis not over." …omer interrupted the Marshal's thoughts. He gestured across to Mordor, to the tower where the Eye was barely visible, an evil glow against a blackened sky. "Aragorn says Sauron is emptying Mordor, all his minions march on Gondor. Frodo still lives and walks within sight of the Great Eye. We are to create a diversion at the Black Gate.
***Wonderful. More deaths, more killing, more empty stones to send to Rohan.***
It was time. Gamling placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, to draw it out.
"Sire-"
"Don't call me that!"
Gamling exhaled. He had hoped this would be easier, but …omer was not going to cooperate. "My Lord-"
"Nor that!" …omer turned on him, fury and grief evident in his face. "I'm not ready! It is too soon! Do no-"
"My Liege!" Gamling drew himself up to his full height, standing nose to nose with the Rohirrim King, "Your men need you. Rohan needs you. You sister needs you! There will be a time to grieve, a time to mourn our losses, your uncle, but even by your own admission, now is not the time!" He stepped back and unsheathed his sword.
Going down on one knee, he offered up the blade. "I pledge my fealty, my allegiance to you, …omer, King of Rohan. I ask that you use me as you see fit. My sword, my horse, my very life are yours." It was quiet for a minute, Gamling on one knee, head bowed, sword arm outstretched. Finally-
"Rise." There was a feather-light touch on his shoulder. "I accept your fealty, my friend." There was a gentle stress on the last two words. Gamling stood and resheathed his sword. "Tell me, will all give me that pledge?"
"No." Gamling looked up at the young King and shook his hair from his eyes. "They will pledge fealty to Rohan and her King. My pledge was as my father taught me."
For the first time in days, …omer truly smiled. "And you will teach it to your son."
"If Béma so blesses."
"So blesses? Old man, if you keep after Aefre the way you obviously did in Dunharrow, the way she was calling your name... Edoras will be crawling with Horse Lordlets and Shield Toddlers..."
"…omer!" Gamling was curt. "Aefre was-"
***babybabybabywithbrownbrowneyes and...***
"-married for a long time and bore no children. Not that it matters to me."
"Gamling!" …omer winked. "Perhaps it was her husband's fault!" He stepped around the Horse Lord. "I've known a stallion or two in my day who couldn't sire a single colt no matter the fertility of the mare! I'm going to check on Firefoot. Shall I stop by the kitchens and take Dréogan an apple?"
***babybabybabyspoilmyhorsewillyoudammitdammit***
"He will follow you everywhere."
"Ah, is that your secret? I'll have to remember that. Apples! He can be bribed with apples! So be it!" …omer started to leave, but thought twice. "Gamling?" The Marshal had taken …omer's post, overlooking the battlefield. "You took Aefre back to Dunharrow, didn't you? I thought that might be the reason - you would not have turned back for anyone other than her."
"Aye."
Like a whisper on the wind, the King was at his shoulder. "If I discover that Aefre aided …owyn in her folly in any way, if she knew …owyn and that Hobbit had joined the …orlings, I shall be most displeased."
Gamling's stony gaze never left the field. "…owyn and Aefre were not the only women to come disguised as Riders." The Marshal nodded towards the field. "I have lost count of the Shield Maidens among the dead and injured."
"I know." …omer's hand settled on Gamling's well-armored shoulder. "Still-"
"You would have to go through me."
…omer's smile was almost jovial. "That serious?"
Gamling's hand clenched around the ribband, "Aye."
…omer nodded satisfactorily. "Uncle would be pleased." He turned and strode away, the White Tree of Gondor struggling to blossom behind him.
***hmmmm... one dumpy, mouthy princess for you... now where oh where to find her...***
***
Black and rolling clouds, like plumes of smoke, were ominous in the south. Lurid lightning flashes fractured the sky.
They matched Aefre's mood.
She stood in the watchtower, a boy of eight summers and one of twelve standing next to her, keeping watch. She was in a tunic and leggings and was sweaty from her work out with several young women on the training field. She tore her attention from the southern sky and looked out into the fields. Signaling the bell ringer, she watched as the last shift began to make their way in from the field; the dirt was tilled, manure and shavings were now being turned into the soil, fertilizing, enriching the earth. Aefre decided to let no field lie fallow this season, if anything it would keep the Rohirrim left behind busy an extra few days. Nervous laughter floated up from the ground and Aefre looked down to see several women, clad similarly to herself, heading towards the baths. They were proud, tough, these women.
*If Gondor falls and evil comes our way, they will not raze a helpless community*
Mentally, Aefre rolled through the list of missing women - chambermaids, daughters of Horse Lords, Riders; …owyn had not ridden alone, she smirked. The King's niece was in good company of Shield Maidens. Aefre recalled with fondness her Gondorian grandmother and mother, sitting at their knees, learning gentle arts.
Trying to learn, at least.
Needle and thread escaped her, her stitches uneven and large, not the fine, dainty things of her maternal side.
"Wild things!" her grandmother would whisper, admonish Aefre's mother. "You had to fall in love with a Wild Thing."
"I fell in love with a man, mother."
"Aye." The elderly woman would smile, twinkle even. "You fell in love with a man with glorious hair, and an amazing horse! Aefre!" While her voice was sharp, it was filled with love. "You watch how he treats his horse. If a man is cruel to his horse, he is not worth snuggling or keeping warm at night!"
"Mother!"
"What?"
Aefre's mother was beet-red. "You'll fill her head with such nonsense!"
Aefre lost her mother to a lung ailment the next winter; her grandmother moved to her home away from Aefre's father, and Aefre had learned bedroom arts hiding in cupboards, behind draperies, listening to the chambermaids.
Listening to her husband.
***I cannot read your mind, Aefre. Tell me what you like and I'll teach you how to make me beg...***
For the first time since his death, she was not filled with longing or sadness at the thought of him. A dusting of yellow pollen wafted across the bell tower, the color of Lufian's hair. As it drifted away, it dissipated, turning invisible in the air.
Sighing in resignation, she sent the younger of the two boys to the Hall for his evening meal, thanking him for keeping such good watch on the tower. She then turned to the elder of the two.
"The sun is setting and I am going to take a turn lighting the bonfires at the edge of the horizon. If you ride, you may go with me."
"My father was a Horse Lord! One of Théoden King's personal knights!" the boy said stiffly. "Of course I can ride!"
"Ah." The two headed down the ladder. "Another one whose father has... wait. You said 'was'." Aefre stopped and waited for they youngster to join her on the ground.
"My father was killed during the exodus to Helm's Deep." The boy swallowed heavily and he looked off into the distance, obviously trying to regain control. Aefre touched him on the arm and nodded with her head for him to follow her into the stables. Quietly, they saddled their mounts, Adenydd stomping, wanting exercise. Before mounting, Aefre retrieved fire starters, kindling as well as a water skin and some deer strips. Dinner would be over when they returned, although they were likely to find some leftovers waiting for them in the kitchens. It would almost be dark by the time they reached the first bonfire site. Slowly, the two made their way out, riding south. The boy said nothing, although Aefre hoped he was who she thought he was. The sun was down and they had lit the third pyre before the boy finally asked, "Why are we doing this?"
Aefre stepped back and looked to the North, around the side of Edoras. Two others were lighting pyres and she watched one to up in flames. "Several reasons. It lights up the Riddermark, guiding Riders home as well as aiding those who keep watch at night to see further."
"Keeps the Orcs and the Mountain men away."
Smart one, this one. "No sneak attacks, Haleth. We'll see them coming."
They rode in silence to the next pyre. The following morning, groups would go into the wooded areas and bring more wood to pile up and prepare for burning that night. It would-
"I would think you did it to keep us busy."
VERY smart, this one. "Aye. That too, Haleth."
They finished their part of the circle, fully dark now and lit the last pyre before heading back.
"You know my name. How? I have not met you before."
Aefre stopped, the heat of the fire at her back. "I guessed." She smoothed the child's hair back. "Soon, you will be putting this back in a proper braid and will start your Rider training. Your father will look down upon you with pride."
Haleth looked up at her, a hopeful gleam in his eye. "You think so?"
"I know so." She released him and mounted Adenydd. Slowly they headed back towards the fires of Edoras. "Haleth? Where have you been? Gamling has been very worried."
"He has?" The child's voice hitched a bit. "He would be. He was Da's best friend." It was quiet for a moment before he continued. "I stayed at Helm's Deep. I couldn't bear the trip back to Edoras, knowing that... that... over a hill..."
"It's all right, Haleth. I understand." It was well whispered that when the Riders finally returned to gather the dead from the Warg attack after Helm's Deep, there had been precious little left to claim. The Riders had finally collected their identifying stones and left the remains in a nearby cave, piling stones to seal the entrance and leaving a marker.
"Anyway, I stayed, aiding in the clean up and restocking. When word came for all to gather at Dunharrow, I rode with the men to the encampment and then returned to Edoras by another path." He was quiet again for a moment for continuing. "I suppose that makes me a coward."
"No, Haleth. It does not."
"I wanted to go," he rushed on. "To Gondor, that is. But the men said I was too young. The Halfling got to go. I saw him." Haleth groused. "Lady …owyn did as well. She is not in Edoras. She had to have gone. I wanted to fight. I fought at Helm's Deep," his voice trailing away in a whisper. "I would have gone."
"I'm glad you didn't. Rohan will need good Riders still." They were nearing the front gate and Aefre called out to have them opened.
"Lady Aefre?"
"Yes?"
"If anything happens to Gamling, I'll have no one."
"Yes you will, Haleth," she stated boldly, as they entered the gates. "You'll have me."
***
tbc
***