in which the witch of the wilds has spent her whole life avoiding the prophecised true king of gondor until he shows up on her doorstep with four hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, a warrior and an old wizard with a sparkle in his eyes and asks her to join t...
THE HARD STONE OF RAGE THAT ALL LONELY GIRLS POSSESS
- leigh bardugo, the language of thorns
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THE WIND stings bitter against their cheeks.
Mountains blur past them, barely noticed as they urge the horses faster. They must reach Edoras in the South. They must reach King Théoden before Saruman sinks his claws into the land and spreads the darkness of evil.
Eventually, they see it in the distance. A tiny speck of a settlement on the edge of a hanging cliff. They ride closer, spurring the horses on faster. Eventually, it towers ahead of them. The home of a King – and yet, it is quiet, and dull, and entirely unlike the place Yseult saw once before in passing.
"Edoras," Gandalf tells them, slowing to a stop. "And the Golden Hall of Meduseld. There dwells Théoden, King of Rohan whose mind is overthrown. Saruman's hold over King Théoden is now very strong. Be careful what you say. Do not look for welcome here."
Although there is a settlement, houses, places to eat, Yseult is sure they will find none of it being offered to them. They will be shunned from this town while their King rots, festers, into the shell of a man he once was.
As they reach the hold, a ripped flag of Rohan flutters to the grass beneath the horses. Yseult watches it, watches it get trampled beneath the hooves of Shadowfax. Overhead, a crow squawks from its perch on the stone walls. An omen, she fears. Intelligence. Transformation. Death. She follows the others through the wooden doors cutting the settlement off from the rest of Rohan.
Townspeople glower at them as they trot by. Yseult edges Tindómë closer to Aragorn, eyes flickering from one villager to the next. They are all wearing black and she feels oddly out of place dressed in her mulberry-coloured dress. Her eyes immediately fix on the hall at the very edge of the settlement, high above the rest, where a woman stands in a shockingly white dress. Her blonde hair flows freely in the wind and she seems almost guilt-stricken at the arrival of newcomers.
"You'll find more cheer in a graveyard."
Yseult turns to Gimli. "I'm afraid it already is."
When she turns back to the hall, the woman in white has vanished.
Gandalf leads them closer to the hall. At the bottom of the staircase leading up to it, they leave the horses, tying them to posts and asking the closest villager to keep an eye on them. Yseult fishes around in her bag for her coin purse and hands over a handful of silvers. Gandalf asks the man for a grey cloak and, with the silvers clinking away in his pocket, he hands it over. The wizard throws it on over his shoulders, dousing his pure whiteness in the shadow that had once befallen him.
