Rider of the Mark

Rider of the Mark Chapter 33

Where oh wherefore art thou, Éomer.

***


Eadignes was beyond distraught. In all his years, Gamling had never seen the former prostitute in such a state.

“Oh please, oh please, he’ll kill him, you have to stop him, oh please-”

Gamling had her gently by the wrists, Aefre at his side. “Eadignes-”

“Willan’s going to kill him-”

The girl was in hysterics, totally inconsolable. Gamling turned her wrists over gently, trying to get a better grip before realizing they were freshly scratched and bruised. Looking up, he-

“Who slapped you?”

“Where are they?” Aefre’s voice was gentle, but cut through the calamity that was rising in the hall. “What happened?”

“Outside, in the garden... I... I... I... was pulling weeds in the herb garden and he... he... he tried to... I kept telling him no, I don’t... oh ma’am...” She was now pleading with Aefre. “Willan will kill him! I don’t want Willan in trouble. You have to stop him. I don’t want-”

Gamling gently shoved the girl towards his mother and Helgarda and stalked off towards the kitchens.

“Take her to her room, get her into a bath and give her some willow bark tea. I’ll be up later.” Aefre picked up her skirts and rushed out after Gamling.

She tore into the kitchen; the cook was putting stock on to simmer overnight. “He went that way, into the gardens,” the cook pointed, never looking up.

She ran into the garden to see a young man pinned to the wall by Willan’s hand, his feet dangling about a foot off the ground. Gamling stood nearby, with his legs spread and his arms crossed nonchalantly over his chest.

“Willan,” his voice was dangerously soft, “he can’t answer my questions, if you strangle the air from his lungs. If you could lower him just enough so he isn’t blue and can touch the ground, I would be appreciative.” Gamling leaned forward and spoke in a loud whisper. “I promise, if he did what I think he did, you get to hit him first.”

The young man paled at that. His feet were still kicking the air.

Willan lowered him, the young man’s back painfully scraping down the wall, and never relinquished the hold from his neck. Gamling’s arms remained crossed over his chest, his rather bemused smirk remaining in place. “You are Fyren’s eldest.”

“So?”

Gamling bit his lip, deep in thought. “You are past the age to earn your first Rider’s cloak, yet you have not. I see why.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Gamling nodded. “So Willan has you penned to the wall for no reason?”

The young man’s eyes darted back and forth. “I didn’t do anything!”

Gamling seemed to contemplate the young man’s words. “So you have no idea as to why Eadignes was distraught because Willan had you penned to the wall?”

Fugol was still gasping for air. “She’s just a whore.”

Gamling caught Willan’s eye and the Rider gestured, holding his thumb and forefinger together. With an understanding nod, Willan penned him a little tighter to the wall.

“Do you have any idea who slapped her?”

No answer.

Again, Gamling gestured.

And again, Willan pushed, Fugol now on the tips of his toes. He was openly gasping for breath.

“Are you going to make me repeat myself?”

The young man was insolent, glaring. Gamling went to gesture again when Fugol finally mumbled, “It was only fun. Why should she yell?”

“Why should I yell?” Eadignes had managed to chase after Aefre, leaving Gamling’s mother and sisters in her wake. “I don’t do that anymore!”

Thinking he could sway the now gathering crowd, Fugol continued. “I would have paid you! What’s a little fun on the side?”

At that, Gamling nodded, as if to agree. Much to Willan’s horror, he nodded for the servant to turn the young man loose and to step back. Fugol breathed a sigh of relief, his hand going to his throat. “Thank yo-”

!CRACK!

Gamling’s fist came from nowhere, connecting with Fugol’s jaw in a vicious hook. Spittle and a tooth went flying, as he sagged and slid down the wall.

“Because she doesn’t do that anymore.” Gamling shook his hand, inspecting the-

***Owowowowowowowow***

-bruised skin on his knuckles. “We respect the women of Rohan, of any country, youngling. Of any station, of any profession. No means no.” He looked up at Willan, still shaking his hand. “Sorry. I lied.” Gamling realized they now had quite a crowd, murmuring back and forth amongst themselves. He sidled next to the giant and whispered, “Your turn. Hit him once, but make it count. Don’t kill him.”

Eadignes had a look akin to adoration in her eyes as she watched Willan round on the slumped Rohirrim. “Please,” she stepped around Gamling and touched Willan on the elbow. “If you hurt him too bad, I’ll have to heal him.”

Her elbow was grabbed in return and Gamling spun her, to lead her gently back towards Aefre. “No, you won’t. He will live with his injuries this time. Tell me,” he admonished her, “was he the one you ran from?”

Eadignes bowed up, her spine, ramrod straight. “I left on my own.”

“Yes or no. We will not leave-” he gestured to the crowd, “this auspicious company until you answer the question. Was he the one?”

Eadignes turned beet red in the face before hissing. “Yes!”

“Very well.” Gamling turned back to Willan. “Hit him twice. I owe you a bottle of Wulfric’s finest.” Willan had Fugol by the collar and was slowly pulling him to his feet. “Oh, when you’re done, put him in the grain cellar beneath the barn and secure a guard.” Gamling made to leave, cutting a swath in the crowd that had gathered. The last thing Aefre saw before turning to follow him, was Willan, doubling up his fist.

“Gamling!” Aefre rushed to keep up with him. There was the sound of fist meeting jaw and the crowd cheered. “The grain is over-powerfully sweet. The smell alone will make him sick!”

There was another solid thud of fist meeting jaw and the crowd cheered again.

“That’s his problem.” Gamling was not to be deterred and he continued back into the Golden Hall. “He’ll stay there until Éomer arrives and the king will decide what more punishment he needs.” He ducked into the doorway and made his way into the dark passageway that led back to the kitchens. As he walked back into the dining area, he saw Beornia still sitting in front of her plate. He noticed that her food wasn’t touched; that she stared at it, in a daze. Her face was drawn, pallid, and she looked as if she hadn’t slept well in weeks.

“I am worried for your sister.”

Gamling nodded. “I agree.”

“Tell you what,” Aefre perused the room, before motioning for one of the serving girls to join her. “I’ll have food sent to our chambers and I’ll bring a soothing tea to Beornia’s rooms. You go talk to her and I’ll be around shortly.”

“You know what ails her.” Gamling’s voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Aye. I know what ails her. It ailed me once.” Aefre nodded. “But she has something I didn’t have.”

“Oh?”

“She has a big brother who loves her.” Aefre turned him loose and went to move off with the servant girl. “I’ll bring you something for your knuckles, as well.”

Beornia wasn’t paying attention to the bustle. Her sons were reasonably well-behaved, had pestered her brother for attention and he had showered it on them. Absent-mindedly, her hand stroked the mark hanging around her neck.

“A scoop of grain for your thoughts.”

Beornia jerked to reality, her eyes snapping nervously upwards. “Gamling, I-”

“Have you finished eating?”

Beornia looked down at her trencher, seeing it for the first time. The meat had congealed and while she needed to eat, the sight of it turned her stomach. She pushed it away and took her brother’s hand to rise. “I have no appetite these days.”

“It is understandable.” He helped her over the bench and tucked her hand in his elbow. “I’ll walk you to your chamber. We can talk.” His smile was a sad one.

She uttered not a word until they had reached the hallway, and the noise and the chatter from the Great Hall had faded. “Sometimes... I’m sorry, sometimes, I think I shouldn’t have come, but it’s not every day your brother marries.”

“I’m glad you came.”

Beornia tried to smile, she did. “She is good to you, this Aefre? She’s not a harpy, or someone trying to marry up?” She poked him good-naturedly in the ribs, barely missing his injury. “You’re a Marshal, very proper. You were in Théoden King’s council, will be in Éomer King’s council. Is she good enough for you?”

“She is,” Gamling removed her finger from his rib cage, “too good to me, makes sure I eat my vegetables, tends to my needs before I know I have them. She is a lady and I’m very happy.” He wagged his finger. “If anyone is marrying up, it is I.”

Beornia searched his face for any subterfuge and deciding she found none, turned loose of her only brother. “Then I am glad for you.”

Despite his earlier cringing, deep down, Gamling was glad his family was there and he told her so. “I’m glad you made the journey. I’ve been remiss in my family duties. Your sons have grown into fine young men. Aglaeca reaches my shoulder already and he sits his horse very well. He should start his Rider train-”

“NO!” Beornia grabbed her brother, fear very evident on her face.

“Beorn-”

“No! Please!” Her eyes welled up. “There are no men at home to train him! Only Banning, Mayda’s husband, and he can hardly sit a horse! For Aglaeca to train, he would have to go away. I just lost my husband to Mordor, I can’t hand over my son so soon.” They arrived at her doorway and with a twist and a push of his foot, Gamling opened the door and escorted his wilting sister inside. As he softly shut the door behind him, she fell forward, searching for a protective embrace she had not sought in years. “When does it stop, Gam?” The childhood nickname fell from her lips, like water from a spring. “I don’t know how he died. I don’t know when he died. No one knows. I have no body to grieve or to sing to the arms of Béma! Just an empty mark! When does it stop hurting? Is it really over or will I sacrifice my sons to this war as well?”

At a loss for words to comfort her, Gamling’s arms tightened around her instinctively, tucking her under his chin, as sobs raked the woman’s body. Silently, he cursed his mother. She had said they had lost many. She hadn’t specified who.

*** Caedman, I remember you well, always laughing, made her smile doting ball of mush da...***

“One never knows when they will lose the one they love, Beornia.” Neither had heard Aefre come in and both looked over to watch her set a tray down on a small table. “As for when it stops?” Aefre shrugged, definitely understanding the other woman’s pain. “It differs. You’re never aware when it stops; it becomes dull.” She picked up the teapot and poured a cup, watching the steam rise. “I can’t count the number of nights I cried myself to sleep when I lost my first husband. I had no children to lean on, no family. If I had, I would have clung to them as moss to a stone.” Gamling turned his sister loose as Aefre handed her the cup. “Drink this. I put soothing herbs in it, so perhaps you will sleep a little better tonight?” Aefre dipped her head, self-conscious of interrupting what had been a personal moment. “I’m sorry I intruded on you.” As Beornia took the cup and settled in a chair, Aefre tapped him on the elbow. “I’ve sent food to our chambers. I should check on Eadignes and then I’ll be there, waiting for you.” As quietly as she entered, she left, the door shutting with a whisper.

“Our chambers?” Beornia was smiling slightly behind reddened eyes.

Gamling shrugged.

“Have the two of you already been caught wrapped in your cloak?”

Gamling folded his hands together, intent on his spinning thumbs. “Eh... well... for all intents and purposes... she wants the ceremony and I was inclined to oblige her.”

A rusty sound struggled to spill from Beornia’s mouth. “By Béma...” the laugh poured forth, “you love her.”

Gamling was completely done in by her sudden merriment. “I wouldn’t marry her if I didn’t.”

Beornia was holding her stomach in laughter. “My brother, the stoic, hard-nosed Rider, who broke every female heart on our stead-”

“I wasn’t-”

“Who swore never to fall in love-”

“I never said-”

“Who very emphatically stated to every female in the vicinity that *he* was a soldier-”

“Well, I-”

“Was going to be an archer, a high-ranked Horse Lord-”

“Really, Beornia, this isn’t-”

“The finest Rider who ever lived wouldn’t have *time* for love or a family-”

Gamling was now standing staunchly, with his arms crossed on his chest. “Are you through?”

Beornia squealed once (a rather frightful, high-pitched sound that made Gamling wince) and clapped her hands together. “I hope she stands up to you on occasion and makes you sleep in the barn when you’re an arse!”

In one move, he went to one knee, his elbow propped on her thigh, his finger wagging, “She out-belches me, could probably keep up with me drink for drink. When I came home from Gondor, injured, she fought with me over the chamber-pot and left me trapped in her room without clothes for days. She sparred with Eowyn and taught her how to dodge a morningstar. She tried to follow me to Gondor, and would have, but her mare was in season and Dréogan was determined to service her. She keeps me on my toes, makes me think, and doesn’t interfere with my duties, sees to my needs. She hollers at me, calls me an oaf,” Beornia was now giggling, “a dullard, a brute, and a cretin!” She was now laughing out loud. “And before you say it, I am not tied up in her reins!”

It took a moment for the woman to catch her breath, she was laughing so hard. “Ah, Gam,” she grasped him on both sides of the head, her fingers buried in his hair, “she’s good for you! When is the baby due?”

Gamling’s jaw dropped, stunned. “Who told?”

She squealed again. “No one! I guessed. She has the look.” Her mood swung again, delving deeply. “She had a look, I guessed.” With a sigh, she reached over and picked up the tea, drinking in small sips. “You are very lucky, oh brother of mine, to have found someone this late in life.” She waved him off, dismissing him, as she had done so often when they were younger. Clearly, she felt she had unloaded and burdened him enough.

“Beornia, no one else knows, besides Mother and the midwife.”

Now, she looked up, a calculating gleam in her eyes. “Why keep it secret?”

Gamling shrugged. “We haven’t discussed announcing it yet. She... we’re not ready.”

“Too much going on?”

Gamling nodded reluctantly in agreement. “The baby was conceived at Dunharrow.”

Beornia nodded sagely. “She’s one of the blessed. That will cause commotion.” She nodded as if she had come to a decision. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

By now, he was by the door, his hand on the handle. “Yes, but at what cost? As I recall, you never kept secrets for free.” With that, he removed himself from the room, the click of his boots a fading reminder that men ruled the Halls of Edoras.

Beornia continued to sip her tea, her eyes deep in thought.

“You are correct, big brother. I always made you pay to keep a secret. But this one, I just might give you anyway.”

***

The days continued to fly. They pinned and fitted Gamling again, sticking and pricking, until his low growl became a loud roar. Many times, he would attempt to enter his and Aefre’s chambers, only to either find the door barred to him, with cackling women on the other side, or if he managed to get in, he was run out, glimpses of Aefre swathed from head to toe in the blue silk he had gifted her from Gondor.

“Dammit, Aefre! I’m going riding with those miscreants I call nephews! I need my gloves!”

There would be murmuring and the sounds of things being moved around, before the door would open a hair and his gloves shoved between the crack.

“Not those! The other ones! My riding gloves!”

The door was wrenched open, his mother blocking the way. “Take what you have, you whining arse! They will do!” And she slammed the door in his face.

***Women! Dammit!***

They listened to him stomp angrily down the hallway, before breaking out into incessant giggles.

The day before the planned nuptials dawned bright and warm. There were no clouds and the final preparations were under way. All of his sisters, his mother, and Aefre, herself, had told him he would have to find somewhere else to sleep that night. Despite their open cohabitating, things, rituals, were to be done that night and the next morning and it just would not do for them to spend the night together.

He gathered that he was supposed to go to the Blue Whale with ‘friends,’ get totally shite-faced and pass out somewhere until someone threw water on him on the morrow.

He gathered that was what was expected of him when Aefre went into labor that winter as well.

He and Aefre were enjoying the last moments of lunch, when the northwest tower bell began to clang.

“Oh Béma, not more bad news.” Aefre whispered as Gamling pulled himself from the bench and headed to the tower. For a change, she followed him, his sister’s younger children following along behind them like a row of red-headed ducklings.

“Where?” Gamling was already searching the horizon for the dust that signaled a Rider, only to see a legion of outriders. He started to call down to bar the gate, send the children in, when he snatched the seeing glass from the young Rider on watch. He put the tube up to his eye, staring into the distance.

The Swan Guard of Dol Amroth.

As he canvassed the party, he could clearly see the green of Rohan’s Riders side by side with the garish turquoise of the Swan Guard. He could make out Éomer, along with a group of Gondor’s Rangers. Somewhere in the mix, he knew Eowyn and Faramir would be riding, probably side by side, if they hadn’t gotten tired of each other. As the party rose over the hill, he could see bright banners, beings in rich robes and sumptuous gowns on extravagantly decked out palfreys and geldings.

Shaking his head in disgust, he handed the seeing glass to Aefre before turning and storming down the stairs, calling out to the gates to have them thrown open, to clear the path through the city proper. Aefre placed the seeing glass to her eye, did a double take, before telling the children to take a turn, quietly, please and not to fuss, and following behind, to inform the Hall their King had arrived.

She could hear Gamling muttering angrily under his breath.

“Dammit! Dammit! Who invited the ruddy Elves to my wedding?”

***
tbc
***

Minerva - Had no idea you were at JFA - I'll remember to post the updates there

Nicky - Thanks!

Nakhti - Not even a week this time! Don't get used to it!!!!

Juliette - as you can see, Eomer has done got his fine ass home - and I love carrots! Hand 'em here!!!!

Thanks again to everyone!