Part 6

“What do you suppose she meant?” asked Eowyn, as they rode out of the farmyard. Her hand rose to her breast.

“I do not think we need take her words seriously, melmenya,” replied Legolas, though his frown suggested otherwise.

...

When they reached the burnt-out farmhouse, Sighard asked permission to bury his neighbour’s remains.

The elves helped him recover the body and—whilst Eowyn prepared it as best she could, wrapping it in a rug that had somehow survived the conflagration—the three dug a shallow grave, and Sighard laid his friend to rest, imploring the gods, with a few simple words, to give his spirit shelter.

Eowyn laid a supportive hand on Haldir’s arm.

...

With heavier hearts they pressed on, following the reivers’ trail of destruction.

The carnage took them through the village of Sad Lanthron, where—whilst their wailing women tended the dead—the grim-faced men struggled to shore up their inadequate defences; through Doro Lanthron, where the frantic townsfolk fought three separate fires; into the Forest of Tum, where—in another lonely farmyard—a young family lay butchered in the mud; to the northern bank of the River Poros where, at the Ford of Cîl, a shepherd had fallen, hacked to pieces with his little flock.

In every place, they did whatever they could, burying the family in their own orchard, and the shepherd with his beasts, beneath a cairn of stones gathered from the river’s edge.

“There is no purpose to any of this,” said Legolas, bitterly. “What Mistress Alfled said is true—these men kill for sport.”

...

Night fell early, and with it came frost, and Legolas decided to make camp in the shelter of a rocky outcrop protected from the worst of the weather by a thicket of êgvor.

There, they built a small fire, and shared a simple meal of bread and cheese.

“I shall keep watch,” said Haldir, climbing atop the rocks.

Legolas laid out Eowyn’s bed roll and settled down with her, wrapping her in his arms to keep her warm. He had noticed how often her hand strayed to her bosom, and asked her, smiling, “What have you got hidden in there, melmenya?”

“Nothing, Lassui,” she replied.