Nelnardis tried not to look at the two boys rattling the door of her cell. They kept speaking in Rohirric, seemingly trying to get her attention.
“Maybe she only understands Westron,” one finally said in the common tongue.
Nelnardis glanced at them. They weren’t wearing any armour, so they couldn’t be guards.
“She does speak Westron!” he continued, grinning, “She just looked at me.”
“I thought elves could only speak elvish,” the older one said, eyeing her.
The younger one shrugged, “Well, I’m right. You speak Westron, don’t you?”
Nelnardis looked away.
“Hey!” he rattled the door again, making her flinch.
“Get out of here!” She heard one of the guards shouting. The two boys ran off.
She peeked over at the door again to see one of the guards from before had approached. He was holding the keys.
“So those children are right. You understand Westron?” he asked, looking down at her.
Nelnardis held her tongue, her hands folded in her lap as she sat on the stool. She tried to peel her eyes away from the guard, but couldn’t.
“Answer me, elf,” he glared at her, and she was suddenly reminded of Thendryt calling her by her race.
Where was he now, she wondered.
“I will not ask you again. Do you understand Westron?”
She didn’t speak.
Huffing, the guard shoved the key into the lock, forcefully and wrenched it open. Another guard appeared in the doorway and took the key to lock it once more.
Inside the cell the Rohirrim stepped forwards towards Nelnardis and punched her in the face. The force of his fist knocked her towards the wall, causing her to hit her head against the wood. She bought her hands up to her face, instinctively, to try and protect herself but he grabbed the shackles and pulled her forwards, throwing her to the floor.
She landed on her front but rolled over in the hay. The guard stood over her, fists clenched. “Do you understand, now?” he asked.
Slowly Nelnardis nodded.
The guard bent down a bit towards her, “He was my friend. The one you killed.”
Nelnardis whispered, “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, exasperated, “You’re ‘sorry’?”
“I- I didn’t mean-,”
“You didn’t mean to kill him? It was an accident, eh?”
The other one by the door glared at her. “You don’t accidentally kill someone, elf. Or maybe your kind don’t understand that.”
The one in the cell spat in her face. She tried to move up her hands to wipe it away, but he grabbed the shackles again.
“We’ve been ordered to question you, to find out where the man Thendryt has gone, and the other woman helping him. Eirallyn.” He grabbed two of her fingers on her right hand.
“I don’t know,” Nelnardis whispered, “They could be anywhere.”
“Then you’d best come up with something,” He pulled until the bones began to snap.
~
She was sitting on the stool again, her head leaning against the wall as she stared at some ants on the bricks, crawling over an untouched bit of stale bread. Hearing the door, she closed her eyes, hoping whatever Rohirrim had come to see her would leave soon. When they didn’t come straight to the bars, she opened her eyes.
Finally, a figure appeared, but they weren’t wearing the guard’s armour.
“Thendryt?” she got to her feet.
Without hesitation he opened the door and walked over to her. He reached for the shackles, key ready. She pulled her hands away from him keeping them close to her, cradling her right hand with her left. “You should leave.”
He stared at her, “We’re getting you out. Let’s go.”
“No,” she insisted, “Get out of here. You must go to Lorien with Eirallyn… without me.” Her heart was beating in her mouth. She couldn’t just leave after what she did to that Rohirrim, “Tell Elrohir… Tell Elrohir I…” Nelnardis trailed off, lost for what she wanted him to tell the son of Elrond. What was there to say? That she killed an innocent? That she put elven kind to shame?
“Nelnardis,” Thendryt took a step closer to her. She couldn’t look at him. Not after everything she wrote Elrohir about him and now she was even worse than he. “You shot a man trying to attack me. You shot a man, you did not kill him.”
Slowly she bought her eyes to look at him.
“I did,” he told her. “Now let me have a look at your hands.”
At last she moved her hands a few inches towards him. “You did not loose the arrow,” she mumbled.
“He would’ve been fine, but my sword finished it,” said Thendryt, examining her hands.
There was no way he would have survived an arrow to the eye, but she didn’t have the strength at that moment to correct him.
“These will need time to heal properly. We can bandage them later. You’ll have to steer with your left hand.” He looked back up at her.
“I cannot come with you,” Nelnardis spoke. “I killed an innocent man. I have to face what I’ve done.” Her eyes began to water, “I am a disgrace to my peoples.”
“You didn’t kill anyone. I told you, I did.”
She didn’t reply, looking away at the ants again.
Thendryt picked up her cloak from the corner and draped it around her shoulders. Maybe he was right that she should go with him, but she was still guilty. Even so, she didn’t protest, and didn’t trust herself to speak as tears started falling down her cheeks.
“Innocent people will always die,” Thendryt said as he fastened her cloak, “But right now Eira is out there trying to buy us time. Now let me unlock these shackles and let’s get out of here.”
She couldn’t stand the possibility of Eirallyn getting hurt because of her. He was right, they had to move. Nelnardis nodded once and held up her hands so he could unlock the shackles.
“Good,” he said. The lock clicked. “Let’s go.”
In a crate by the door Nelnardis retrieved her things. Her head throbbed as she held her bow in her left hand, looking down at it. It made her feel ill as she slung it over her shoulder.
They ran through Forlaw in the darkness. Thendryt leading and Nelnardis following. Sounds of battle could be heard nearby and soon Eirallyn came into view. She was fighting three Rohirrim guards by the gate and there was smoke in the air. “I’ll follow you!” she cried out, swords clashing.
With difficulty, Nelnardis mounted her steed and Thendryt did the same. Soon enough, they were galloping across the plains of Rohan, Nelnardis’ tears icy cold on her face.
