Nelnardis didn’t go back to sleep. She couldn’t. Not while Thendryt was still out there on his own. She stared across the empty fields around the farm where Bovad and rider had disappeared into the distance. He must have known they wouldn’t go after him until dawn. He knew he would have the entire night for his personal errands.
She clenched her fists. How could one man get under her skin so? At first she had thought she was being too harsh in her letter to Elrohir detailing how Thendryt was so secretive there may not be a place for him in Maethelyn. But now she was certain she had been completely reasonable. Elrohir would be sure to understand that.
Unwilling to wait any longer for Thendryt’s return, Eirallyn and Nelnardis followed Bovad’s tracks towards Forlaw. The closer they approached the Rohirric settlement, however, the more horse tracks they found.
“We could just try the town,” Eirallyn suggested, brining Yaisaelwen to a halt on the road. “Or I could go in while you look outside.”
Nelnardis shook her head. She couldn’t deny she wanted to catch Thendryt being in the wrong. She wanted to question him, demand to know why he had snuck off in the middle of the night like a thief. “I would like to accompany you to find him,” she told Eirallyn.
She glanced up at the watchtower nearby. A Rohirrim was standing up there, looking down on them, suspiciously. She pulled her hood forwards a bit more and they rode on.
At the gate Eirallyn spoke to the guard in Rohirrim. Nelnardis wasn’t sure what she said to him, but he smiled and let them pass.
Once inside, Eirallyn turned to Nelnardis, keeping her voice down, “I wonder if I should ask where the jail is. Might save some time.”
She couldn’t help but smile. It would be a difficult situation to deal with, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he had landed himself behind some iron bars.
Instead of a jail, however, the two found him sitting by a large stone at the edge of Forlaw.
Nelnardis dismounted Legrinaur and pulled her hood forwards once more as it slipped. Eirallyn also dismounted her horse. Thendryt did not even seem to notice them. He simply sat there with his knees in the snow, staring at the stone.
Slowly the two of them approached him.
“Thendryt?” Nelnardis asked.
He didn’t reply.
“We’ve been looking for you. We were worried,” Eirallyn said.
“You left in the middle of the night,” Nelnardis continued, glancing at Eirallyn.
The woman had stepped closer to the stone and was studying it. Nelnardis could see there was a name engraved on it, but the name wasn’t Morson. “Whose grave is this, Thendryt?” Eirallyn spoke softly.
He reached out a hand, but only to brush some snow off the top of the stone. “Could you give me a minute?”
“Of course,” Eirallyn replied, “Longer than that, if you like. We can wait for you back at the farm.”
Nelnardis shook her head. That definitely wasn’t going to happen. “We will wait here.”
The two of them stepped away from Thendryt and the stone, walking over to the pine trees where they had left their horses. Bovad was also nearby. Eirallyn began to stroke Yaisaelwen’s neck. Nelnardis glanced over at Thendryt who hadn’t moved. Whose grave was it? Maybe a friend or distant relative. Had he just found out they had died? Was he planning on telling them anything?
She sighed, beginning to check Legrinaur’s armour, but something caught her eye.
Some Rohirric guards over the hill had spotted something and were pointing near them. To Thendryt?
Eirallyn had seem them too and looked at Nelnardis, “For us or them, do you think?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
The guards began to walk towards them, but they were still about a hundred paces away.
“If he is from this lands…” Nelnardis trailed off. They didn’t have a reason to arrest Eirallyn or herself, but they may well have a cause for Thendryt.
Nelnardis turned towards Thendryt and marched over to him. His time for mourning was over if they were going to get to safety. “Thendryt, there are guards coming,” she spoke, trying to be as calm as possible.
“We need to leave,” Eirallyn exclaimed. “Now.” She held out a hand to Bovad to bring him closer to them.
He didn’t speak, glancing at them and then back at the stone. Nelnardis wanted to hit him, to make him wake up from whatever had caught him.
“Now, Thendryt!” Eirallyn hissed.
It was too late.
“It’s him!” One of the guards cried out, pointing at Thendryt, “The one she told us about.”
The one next to him, with a decorative horse helm, narrowed his eyes, looking between Eirallyn and Nelnardis, “Who are the other two? Identify yourselves.”
Still, Thendryt would not move as the other four guards began to circle around them.
Nelnardis looked towards Eirallyn, swallowing. She couldn’t speak Rohirric and had no idea what they were saying.
“We are Eirallyn and Nelnardis, from the North,” she said in Rohirric, “We are just passing through.”
The guard eyed Nelnardis, but turned to Eirallyn when she spoke, “Move out of the way,” he demanded. “We have orders to arrest this man.”
“On what grounds?” Eirallyn replied quickly. “What has he done?”
The guard didn’t hesitate, “He has committed treason and needs to be brought to justice.” When he finished speaking, they all drew their weapons.
Nelnardis swallowed, turning her head to get a view of them all. Why had they drawn weapons so quickly? What had Thendryt done?
“Go!” Eirallyn cried, drawing her sword.
“No, Eira!” Nelnardis rose her voice. They couldn’t attack. They didn’t know how many more guards would come, and they were already outnumbered. She knew she would be all right, but Eirallyn was only human, and she had never seen her fight properly.
The guard with the decorative helm glared at Eirallyn, “You’d better put that sword away, right now.”
“But you showed me yours first,” she replied, raising an eyebrow.
“This is just to keep him from running…” He nodded his head towards Thendryt.
Another had begun to move around behind Eirallyn towards him, sword ready. Noticing, Eirallyn turned slightly, her sword still at her side. She backed towards Thendryt to keep herself between him and the guards.
“Thendryt, you have anything to say about this?” she asked, her eyes on the guard in front of her.
Nelnardis’ heart thumped in her chest as she tried to comprehend what was going on, trying to examine everyone’s movements. She could feel they were going to attack. Were they being asked to step away? Were they all under arrest?
The rough movement of leather straps behind her made her spin around. One of the guards had raised his club, ready to bring down on Thendryt. Somehow her bow was in her hands and an arrow flew through the short distance between them. The arrow found its mark. The Rohirrim had barely a few seconds as the sharp metal pierced his eye and he fell towards the snow.
Thendryt’s sword suddenly slashed across the neck of the dead Rohirrim before the body hit the ground, motionless and silent. A rush of angry noise from the guards met her ears. There was shouting of Rohirric and battle cries all around them.
Nelnardis’ grip on her bow loosened and a guard nearby snatched it from her as she fell forwards to her knees. Blood had spurted out all around the body and was now oozing out onto the snow, half his face in the snow and the arrow still stuck in his eye. The red liquid dripped down the already soaked wood. The large slit in his throat had completely drenched the front of his armour.
She stared at the body while in the corner of her eye she saw Thendryt lunging at the other guards, swinging his great sword at them.
“Go! Nel!” Eirallyn yelled, but Nelnardis couldn’t bring herself to move. Eirallyn reached out for her, but two hands on the elf’s shoulders kept her on the ground. There was the galloping of hooves.
The guard who had her bow tore her hood back, “Elf! She’s an elf!” he shouted, before Thendryt’s fist met with his jaw. He spat out blood into the snow.
She could hear more people coming towards them. Two hands on her shoulders kept her firmly in place. Two blades by her neck.
The dead Rohirrim turned paler and paler, the warmth leaving his body. Nelnardis couldn’t take her eyes away, even when Thendryt and Eirallyn had disappeared.
She was pulled to her feet and one of the two who had been holding her hissed some angry Rohirric in her ear. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t have the strength to tell them she couldn’t either. They pushed her forwards, holding her hands behind her back.
Walking through the town, some Rohirrim gathered to watch her being led down the path. A woman with long brown hair swirling in the wind sobbed into a handkerchief. As soon as she saw Nelnardis she screamed some Rohirric, pointing at her. Another woman threw a stone, but missed. The guards did not seem to care, pushing her onwards. Nelnardis kept her head down, staring at the path.
At last they reached a building and stopped outside. One of the guards hammered his fist on the door and another Rohirrim came out, some shackles in his hands. They forced her hands in front of her and secured the irons to her wrists, speaking some more Rohirric. They took her quiver, her weapons, anything she had left in her pockets.
And then they were pushing her into a cell. An old grey cloth on the stone bricks, some hay, and a stool in the corner. The jailor slammed the door, made of iron bars, shut and locked it behind him. He glared at her as he rattled the door, making sure it was secure, and left.
Nelnardis slowly sat down on the stool in the dark room, her eyes filling with tears.
