A Second Chance

A Second Chance Part 11

"Finley, fin please... oh vanima er you must wake," the voice is so familiar that it is like warm chocolate spreading through me as it seeps into my consciousness. God I miss chocolate, I struggle for a long while to open my eyes but eventually I do and as I do so I see Aragorn's face above mine where it is quickly joined by Legolas'.

"What happened... oh Valar, tarien what has happened?" Legolas exclaims falling to his knees on the other side of me.

"I saved Boromir," I mutter hoarsely, "I could not save Gandalf but I thought I might be able to stop Boromir dying without it altering too much," I break off coughing and then screaming as the coughing pulls on the deep arrow wounds in my shoulder, "Please... get them out," I cry and I can't bear to look at the anguish on their faces.

"What are we to do?" Boromir asks from slightly behind Aragorn, where he is standing with Gimli.

"We dress her wounds and then we go in search of the others," Aragorn says and as I listen it suddenly occurs to me that they are talking of splitting up to go off after the hobbits separately.

"No," I rasp and they all stop and turn to me as I try in vain to sit up only to cry out in pain again and sink back to the floor. "Frodo and Sam must continue on their own, we are to go after Merry and Pippin but I think you must leave me, I cannot run and you must if you are to catch them," I say and they stare in open shock for a minute or two before all moving in on me again.

"Don't be ridiculous girlie," Gimli almost laughs as Boromir says something similar.

"You have proved your worth there is no need to be a martyr," Aragorn says gently and a sudden anger rushes through me making me temporarily forget my pain,

"I am not being a bloody martyr," I shout in indignation, "I am just stating facts, Boromir should have died, I don't know why I haven't yet but I do know that I cannot run and you have to if you are to catch up with the beasts who took Merry and Pippin," I am wheezing by now and the pain is back in full force, so strong that it is making black spots dance before my eyes but even so the lasting humiliation and hurt is still there and I pull away from both Aragorn and Legolas.

"Tarien..." Legolas starts picking my hand up in his but I snatch it away quickly despite the stabbing sensation this causes in my shoulder.

"Don't, either of you, how dare you... men... you're all the same, you cannot now start being kind again just because I am wounded, you hated me an hour ago... I cannot... I am not well enough to deal with you..." I break off refusing to meet their gazes as I think finally coming up with a plan, and a small smile appears on my lips as I realise I can use my knowledge to my advantage at least a tiny amount. "Gimli," I say looking up at him and deliberately not addressing the other two sitting beside me, "you and Aragorn and Legolas must track the Uruk Hai and look for Merry and Pippin, Boromir will help me and we shall meet you, trust me I know the path you shall take I can use my knowledge to our advantage for the first time," I smile and eventually they concede, leaving bandages and paste and herbs for Boromir and instructing him to guard my life which makes him quite angry too which makes me want to laugh again but I am tired now, too tired and in too much pain and when he turns to me again once they are gone he looks concerned as his hand finds my forehead and then both hands rush to pull out the arrows and stem the bleeding. I am just thankful that the darkness takes me before the second arrow is removed.

The world seems to ebb and flow, a series of colours and images and sounds. I have no idea how much time has passed or how far we have travelled, I know only that I can't seem to stop shivering and yet feeling far too hot at the same time and I know that it's not good. I know that I need some antibiotics and I could do with a series dose of morphine too and for the first time I both miss the world I was from and genuinely fear for my life. It's funny really, ever since I got here I have been terrified of dying, of going home, of pretty much everything and yet at the same time I had believed that they would save me, a little bit of me had believed that the stories were true and that the men here were super human in their ability to save the world and helpless little me. How disillusioned I had been. Yet at the same time I was scared at how easily my heart would still probably forgive them if they asked it of me, Oh I could really do with some real medicine and sleep before I was driven insane.