The Last Othellan

Darkness falls

Okay, so this chapter gets pretty upsetting. There's a lot of violence and quite a lot of blood too. I just thought I'd give a warning, in case any of my readers are sensitive about cutting and stuff like that. I cried writing this, so good luck reading it! I hope you enjoy regardless!

We walked out of the forest into a warmer day and I blinked in the sunlight. Gandalf stopped at the borders of Fangorn and gave a long, unearthly whistle. He gave a second in a slightly lower pitch and the whinny of a horse echoed over the fields.

The horse cantered towards us, pure white, graceful, and hauntingly beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off the creature as it moved perfectly forwards.

"That is one of the mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell" Legolas breathed.

"Shadowfax. He is the Lord of all horses, and he has been my friend through many dangers" answered Gandalf, reaching forward and gently stroking Shadowfax's mane. Out of the corner of my eye, from where I stood in between Legolas and Aragorn, I saw Gimli bow solemnly.

"Will you ride with me again?" Aragorn asked, mounting Hasufel and holding out a hand as Gimli was pulled up onto Arod with Legolas.

"I rather thought I might walk" I said sarcastically, taking his hand and dragging myself up behind him.

"If you cheek me like that, you will be walking", Aragorn muttered under his breath. I chuckled as we galloped off after the others.

After a while riding, the steady motions of the horse below me sent me into a tired stupor. It wasn't like I hadn't slept for days, but all the running must have tired me more than was usual.

There could be another reason, though, I realised lazily. Saerwen wanted to hurt me, and that was most effective when I was asleep. What if...

I jerked upright with a start, gripping Aragorn as I almost slipped. He slowed down a little and I righted myself awkwardly.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine" I muttered "I'm just tired"

"Then you are not your usual self" Aragorn stated. He loosened his reins and we gained on the others slowly.

"It could be her" I murmured. Aragorn sighed a little sadly.

"I wish you would have told me sooner, but I understand why you did not"

"Thanks." I said, and I meant it. I had thought that perhaps Aragorn would be annoyed at me for not telling him about Saerwen, especially since he was our leader in the absence of Gandalf. However, knowing he understood was comforting – it showed he knew me better than I had thought.

I jerked my head upwards again, realising that I had been dozing off. What was wrong with me?

It must be Saerwen, I thought. There was no other explanation for my behaviour. I was weary, yes, but I had gone longer by far without sleep or rest before. I took a quiet, deep breath and attempted to steady my hands and relax my joints.

If I could not fight sleep she was sure to do something to me, but how could I stave it off? I had to accept that, eventually, she would do what she planned. But was I ready to face her again?

I sighed slightly, thinking inexplicably of my mother. She would have known what I should do. Mother had an uncanny ability to turn Saerwen away with a single look. I had never fully appreciated mother, her rare smile, her determination, her protection. If only she could know now how much I regretted not paying more attention to her.

Again, the rocky landscape swam in front of my eyes, the jet black dagger gleaming on the ground.

I mentally shook myself out of my half- asleep state and looked around. The sky had darkened considerably and we seemed to be headed to a more sheltered area between two piles of high rocks. We climbed a hill and reached the top of the cliff just as the sun sunk below the horizon.