"Dried meat again?" Eithwyn complained, her litle face scrunching up with disappointment and distaste.
"I'm afaid so," Silver replied as cheerfuly as she could, rummaging through one of Steel's saddlebags. "When one travels far, one must pack such boring things as dried meat and hard biscuits or else run the risk of starving."
"But why?" the girl asked, the cutest expression of feigned sadness upon her face.
"Because otherwise we'd have to hunt and forage," Silver explained. "Which takes far too long and isn't always successful. Tell you what, though; this seems a good enough place. Why don't you see what types of tubers you can scare up and I'll make a stew?"
"Alright!" Eithwyn squeaked excitedly, clapping her hands together in delight as she jumped up to her feet. "I'll be the best forager you ever did see!"
"I'm sure you will," Silver responded with a smile, amused by the little ones' simple joy. "But don't stray too far! And don't be too long! It looks like it's going to rain!"
But the girl was already gone, poking about in the tall grass in search of things that might be good to eat. Silver chuckled to herself as she moved over to Salwen the packhorse to retrieve a small cauldron from her back. Had she ever been that innocent, she wondered. Had she ever smiled so widely or laughed so brightly at such small things? She doubted it, but to see Eithwyn so easily cheered after all that she had been through these past weeks was truly a blessing. Even if her long journey bore no fruint, even if what she had left behind was not there when she returned to Eriador, she would not regret having come here if only because in doing so she had spared this little light from a terrible fate.
She set about cutting up some of the dried meat with the small blade she habitually wore on her gauntlet, humming an uplifting little ditty. Silver loved to sing and Eithwyn loved to hear her.
"Ahhhh! Silver!"
The scream sounded from some distance away, high and panicked. Silver rose immediately, the cauldron and its contents fallen to the floor unheeded. She turned to look, uncertain where the sound had come from.
"Silver help!"
Now she knew. Spinning on her heel, she had just enough time to see the struggling girl set upon a mans saddle, her small frame held tightly against his chest with one arm, before the horse was kicked into motion.
"Shit!"
Silver wasted no time in jumping up onto Steel's back. He was unsaddled, unbridled, but that didn't matter to her. She trusted her mount as he trusted her and, bareback or not, she would not fall. She didn't even need to nudge him to make him run, hooves thudding into the ground hard.
"Silveeerrrrr!"
Body pressed down to the wide grey back of her steed, eyes squinting against the rush of the oncoming wind, Silver rode harder than she had ever ridden in her life. Nothing mattered to her but the safety of the girl. Nothing registered to her but her small form, screaming and crying, in the clutches of this stranger. All manner of terrible scenarios ran through her mind. All manner of awful fates. No. She couldn't think that way. She had to get to Eithwyn. She had to!
Cliving passed by in a blur, too far away now for the guards there to be of any use. The land sloped sharply upwards, but Steel didn't falter. Slowly, inexorably, they were gaining ground. The rain began to fall around them, cold droplets of unwelcome wet that turned the rocky floor slippery but still they galloped onward at breakneck speed. Up the winding path, over scree and rock, up and up until the air turned frigid, the rain becoming sleet.
The horse bearing the man and the girl slid to a sudden stop, collapsing to the ground from exhaustion. Steel carried on, wide flanks slick with sweat and rain. The man rose first, grabbing the child by the arm and dragging him along behind her, yelling obscentites as she pulled and strained desperately to get away. Steel came to a stop by his fallen bretheren, Silver jumping from the saddle, wasting no time in running under her own power.
"Get back, Mutt!"
Was that...?
The man turned, a hate filled sneer on his face, ice blue eyes glaring madly. Oh no. It was! She wasn't ready for this! She wasn't ready to face him! Of all her siblings, he had been the worst, taking more delight in her suffering than any other and doing far more to cause it! Silver's step faltered, her heart leaping into her throat from fears both old and new. Why was he here? Why now?
"Let her go, Thaelan," Silver demanded, wrapping herself in a bravery that she most certainly did not feel.
"Not a chance!" Thaelan spat back, features etched with mailce. "Yanna told me what happned. She's my blood, Mutt. I'll be taking her now!"
"Blood or not," Silver replied fiercly. "Do you honestly believe I'd let her stay with you?"
"Oh, but I love kiddies," his sneer turned to a smirk as his gaze briefly turned down to the terrified girl.
"I remember," Silver grit her teeth against her revulsion, determined to rescue the girl but unsure of how to do it. He held the advantage here. Any move she made could so easily result in unintended harm to Eithwyn, something which she so dearly wanted to avoid. The child had faced enough heart ache, enough sorrow, enough pain. Silver wouldn't see her left to the depravities of this base and unnatural reprobate.
Eithwyn solved the problem. Turning her head, she sank her sharp little teeth into Thaelan's hand, simultaneously putting her small boot to his shin hard enough to make him yelp. His grip loosened enough that she was able to wrest herself from his clutches. Thank goodness for hobnails! Freed, the child ran headlong toward Silver, arms outstretched. Silver darted forward, placing herself firmly between the girl and the man even as he recovered enough to follow.
Irate, Thaelan barreled onwards, his body driving into hers, but Silver had been ready for it. Feet planted firmly, she gave no ground. He pushed and strained, trying to knock her to her back, but she would not give an inch, a lifetime of running, walking, jumping, climbing and swinging a pickaxe had made her rather more strong than her clothed frame might appear. She pushed right back, determined to keep him away from his prize with every ouce of her being.
Lightning cracked through the air above, distracting Thaelan just enough for her to push him away. He snarled, coming back for her with fist raised high. Silver ducked, sidestepping the blow. Lunging forward, he colided with her again. Again, she held her ground, or tried to. Sleet and rain, old snow and partially thawed mud, made her footing far less certain here. Despite her best efforts, she could feel herself sliding backwards inch by inch. Her ankle bumped up against a large rock, buried deep in the earth. Sensing his moment, Thaelan shoved with all his might, throwing Silver down onto the floor. She barely had enough time to take a breath before he was upon her, legs straddling her hips and hands catching at her wrists, pressing her down into the mud. He leered down at her, older and meaner than he once had been, but more than enough to instil the panic of times past within her. How many times had she seen this before? How many times had he held her in positions similar, all too eager to inflict his own brand of punishment upon her for her percieved crimes? How many times had she felt this fear, this helplessness, this vulnerability at his hands?
No! She wouldn't give in. Not this time! She wasn't a little girl anymore and she wasn't alone! Eithwyn! Eithwyn could not be allowed the same suffering, the same pain, the same horrors. Silver turned her head, eyes catching sight of the terrified child, staring wide eyed with a tear soaked face, from behind the comforting form of Steel. Her resolve bolstered, Silver planted her feet into the mud as best she could and bucked with all her might. Thaelan sailed straight over her head.
She rolled over, scrambling to her feet, expecting him to come right back at her, but he wasn't there. It took her a moment to register the way the land abruptly stopped, giving way to empty air. A cliff! So close? She hadn't noticed it before.
She stepped over to the edge and peered down. There, just a few feet below, Thaelan hung, one hand gripping tightly to a rocky outspur. For a moment, Silver thought to leave him there. For a moment, she thought to abandon him to his fate. Didn't he deserve it? Didn't he deserve the terror he felt at knowing there was naught below him but death? After all he had done to her, and probably to others, didn't he deserve to have to claw his own way back up if he even could? But the stifled sobs of Eithwyn drifted to her ears between the peals of thunder and the rushing of the rain. What sort of example would she be setting for the child if she were to walk away? What sort of monster would she be making of herself?
Hating what she was about to do, but believing it to be the right decision, Silver lay herself flat, body perpendicular to the edge. She wrapped one arm around a conveniently placed rock and stretched the other down toward her despised half-brother.
"Take my hand," she shouted.
"Hah!"
"If you don't, you'll die!"
Thaelan scrabbled and swung, barely managing to get his other hand up enough to reach. Silver clamped her fingers around his mitt as tightly as she could, wanting nothing more than to drop him but determined not to do so. He planted his feet against the rock face, preparing to use her to pull himself up.
"Why?" he yelled.
"Because I am not like you!"
He laughed then, a short bark of triumph that she elected to ignore lest her good sense, tainted by derision, won out. He took one small step and then another, his other hand desperately seeking cracks within the cliff face to use as holds. He managed one foot, two and then...
Suddenly his booted feet slipped. Silver felt her arm jerk, pulled beyond its limit by his unsupported weight. She cried out in pain at the tearing sensation, the wrench, the way her body was pulled closer to the yawning chasm, and tensed her other arm all the more. Just as suddenly, the weight was gone. Blinking against the moisture in her eyes, she peered down into the abyss. Thaelan was gone.
"Silver! Silver!"
Small hands wrapped about her ankles, tugging her away from the drop. Though the child was too small to really pull the grown woman back to saftey, Silver couldn't help but smile at her attempts.
She crawled backwards, stood and turned around. Eithwyn, pigtails sodden and dress plastered to her skin, stared back up at her, still scared but happy. Her little lip quivered with the effort of holding back further tears. Silver dropped to her knees. Her right arm hung useless by her side, the shoulder dislocated, but the left one she wrapped about the girl.
"It's alright," she murmured, lips pressed to Eithwyn's wet hair. "You're safe now. I promise. He's gone. You're safe."
