Lord Of The Rings Fan Fiction ❯ Days of the King ❯ Revelation ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 22

* from the previous chapter; sorry I forgot to give written acknowledgement to Lord Byron's poem

'She Walks in Beauty'.

 

Aragorn raised his hand to knock on Lady Eowyn's door. He clenched his fist, and lowered it to his side. He turned to leave, got two steps away, and stopped again. With a deep breath, he strode purposefully to her door again, straightened his tunic, and rapped smartly on her door.

 

One of Eowyn's ladies in waiting opened the hall door, and gave a deep bow to the King.

"I will tell the Lady of your arrival, Lord Aragorn."

The door closed again. Within seconds, two of Eowyn's handmaids left her chambers each with a curtsey and murmured greeting to the King. A third ushered him to a chair next to her bed, and with a bow, turned and left, closing the hall door after her.

Eowyn was arrayed in a sea-foam green gown embroidered with pearls. She smiled hesitantly and dropped her eyes to her hands that suddenly seemed the focus of her attention.

"My Lord Aragorn...I wish to thank you again for all of your consideration during this difficult time..."

"You are feeling better, I hope, my Lady. Madam Augra says you are healing well, and should be up and about in little more than a week."

Aragorn sat at the edge of the chair and eyed her intently. Her eyes darted to his and then were averted quickly. Her body was tense, her lips pale.

"I need to ask you about your strange visitor, my Lady."

Eowyn's eyes flew to his in alarm. "A...a visitor, my Lord? I'm not sure I know to what you're referring..."

 

Aragorn lay his hand gently upon hers where it rested on the bedcovers. "Please, my Lady. These are circumstances most peculiar and sinister; truth and faith in ourselves and each other is the strongest weapon we have against dark forces. They are adept at using mistrust and half-truths to divide us. It is alesson we have all learned at some great cost."

Here, Aragorn took a deep breath. He pressed Eowyn's hand more firmly. "Look at me, my Lady." His tone was gentle but commanding; he would brook no dissembling. "There are two matters of great importance that I must ask you, First -for he that has done you harm, here, in my stronghold- describe him to me."

 

Her pale blue eyes fixed upon his of iron grey. There was so much fear and misery in her countenance, that Aragorn felt a brute for demanding difficult answers from a woman weakened by childbirth, but these issues were pressing upon them all. He could not allow his perhaps overdeveloped sense of chivalry to delay him further.

Eowyn cleared her throat.

"He was a dark man, swarthy but attractive, I would have to say. He had a courtly manner, a nobleman by birth or in close association to royalty. His hair was quite long, to his waist, and braided fine. He was dressed in foreign robes of deep blue and black."

Here, she swallowed, and took a long shaky breath.

"But it was his eyes, my lord, his eyes that I shall never forget. They were black. There was no white to his eyes; they were black like...like nothing I've ever seen! No other man nor beast I've ever seen or heard tell of has the like..."

Her voice fell to a whisper. "And when he touched me, his hand was cold, but a cold that burned. Not immediately, but later, after I began to bleed I could feel it...as if my life was to leave my body through the mark he left upon me. I watched as he left - by a magic I can scarcely describe. He...shrank until he disappeared. It was so strange a thing that I feared my reason had left me."

Aragorn searched her face for what was hidden. Augra had told him, but he needed to hear Eowyn say it.

"What did he want of you, my Lady?"

Eowyn suddenly seized Aragorn's hand.

"My lord and King, I beg you to keep this matter, as much as possible, between ourselves. My husband must not know of the details of this visitation. Faramir will press you if he knows we have spoken. Please! It would hurt him deeply to know that I confided this matter to you and would not to him..."

She held his hand in silence for some moments.

"Madam Augra had told you, has she not? I knew she saw and felt much as she tended to me. Palace gossip said she has uncanny gifts..."

Gently, Aragorn gathered both her hands in his, and spoke softly, almost in a whisper.

"Please, Eowyn. Tell me. I cannot be angry; it is certainly not your fault. In fact, it is I who owe you much

if it is true."

 

She remained silent, but now tears ran down her cheeks. After all these years, the terror of discovery would not be put so easily aside.

"Faramir cannot know! Promise me!"

Aragorn kissed her hand. "It is not for me to tell, dear lady. I will respect your confidence."

"Theodred Castamir is your son, Aragorn. And the dark man knows it. He asked me if you knew."

Eowyn drew a shaky breath.

"What use he means to make of this information, I can only guess. Eomer is the only one I had confided in. I am sure he does not know this foreigner, and if he did, he would not divulge so intimate a thing. I do not know how he knows, Aragorn, but with his ability to come and go within Minas Tirith, within the palace itself as he wishes, no secret is safe. No one is safe."

Aragorn stood from his chair abruptly. He turned from Eowyn and ran his hand through his hair, and an utterance, a sort of nervous laugh, escaped him.

He had a child. A son. He had a son! The joy of this discovery (he was capable of fathering a child!- the fear of which he had never voiced, but had burrowed into his soul) was immediately muted by the possible complications. How or if he should acknowledgement of the boy as his heir; Faramir's honor and friendship; Arwen's reaction - all vied for supremacy. Joy, for the moment, prevailed.

When he turned to Eowyn again, his eyes were shining.

"I regret the circumstances that brought this stress upon you my lady, but I cannot pretend to be unhappy about this. No matter how...ill-advised our union was at Helm's Deep, you have given me a most cherished gift!"

He knelt by her bedside, kissed both her hands, and held them.

"There will be difficult decisions to be made in the weeks and months ahead, lady, but be assured - I will try my utmost to do nothing to dishonor or distress either of our spouses. These years of childlessness had left me unsure of...well, now I am at ease - at least about myself. No matter. I babble."

Aragorn grew sombre again. "The sorcerer's presence is another matter entirely. I am sure that he hoped this revelation to disturb me, and sunder the trust I have with my most valued vassals and good friends. You and I will see that does not happen".

Eowyn breathed deeply, and as she exhaled, a paroxysm of relief in the form of happy tears burst forth.

"I did not know how you would react to the news, Lord Aragorn..."

Aragorn smiled. "Perhaps it is a lesson from the fates not to despair. No matter how dark the night seems, the dawn always comes. We were both in the grip of desperation and too keen an awareness of our mortality, lady. Theodred Castamir was conceived in despair but was born and raised in love and prosperity. And I needed to know of him now. With so much concern over an heir, it is a great comfort to know that, no matter what we do to conceal his true heritage, the line of my fathers is not lost. For that, although veryfew will ever know it, all of Gondor owes you a great debt."

Aragorn stood near the foot of her bed and formally bowed to Eowyn.

"My greatest thanks, Eowyn." He turned towards the outer chamber door. "Rest now, and do not worry."

Eowyn regarded him with eyes full of affection and gratitude.

"He has your eyes, Aragorn. And your chin. Theodred Castamir is a good boy, affectionate and scholarly, although he does love all things of the horse, as a true child of Rohan should. You will be proud of him."

Aragorn paused. "With you as his mother, I am sure that I will."

Aragorn passed into the hallway and closed the door behind him. Enervated but elated, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

'I have a son..."

As he proceeded to the stairs, one of the palace guards ascended. He saluted the King.

"My Lord Aragorn...you have guests. An Elvish gentleman and a hobbit, one Master Took. They are with Lord Gimli in his rooms.

"Thank you. Tell them I will see them presently."

 

Aragorn broke into a grin. This was now four members of the Fellowship under one roof. That had not happened in a decade. Aragorn already felt his feet leaving the palace, the city and traveling into the wild with his old comrades. But first, he would give Arwen a chance to visit with her kinsman. Perhaps some time spent with Legolas would cheer her.