Hers

The Thunder of Rohan made excellent time, heading into the Eastenmet. My éored was itching for battle, too long had they gone without bloodshed. Within two days, we came across scattered, confused cattle and horses. There were nomads trying to round them up, unsure of where they had come from. Hours later, we could smell smoke, burning flesh.

We came across orcs that night, scattered, battle-weary. We slaughtered them with little hardship, but my heart was in my throat. As the sun rose, we found the town, the surrounding countryside smoking, men burning orc bodies. More than once I had made mental note to place a fully stocked éored in a garrison in the Eastenmet, but it was put off, peaceful times here were thought to be a guarantee. I rode up on the men, who did not know me, did not recognize the king’s standard.

“Are there more orcs?”

He pointed in several directions. “Some ran to the river; others to the north.”

I split my men up quickly. “Éothain, go north. Rout them and leave none alive to tell the tale.” I turned to my other side. “Cynegels, take your men to the river. Find where they crossed and ensure it is never used again. Rægenhere!” He was the youngest captain in my éored, green and eager. “Take the surrounding countryside. Make sure none are hiding. Round up the stray livestock.” I returned my attention to the man speaking. He was staring at me with great interest. “Where is Captain Gamling?”

With this his face fell and I immediately feared the worst. “He took an arrow, sir.”

“Bad?”

“Grievous, my lord.” He yelled to open the gate.

“Who enters?”

I did not wait for him to ask me. “Éomer King.”



I was ushered with great ceremony until I told them to stop. Children attempted to follow me, pepper me with questions; however the womenfolk, hushed them and pulled them back. I made another mental note to be sure to sit with them and cant tales of their mighty ancestors before I returned to Edoras. Personally, I adore children and have more patience with them than my men at times. The headman – Tondhere – met me inside the gate. Several of the buildings close to the walls bore scorch marks and he was seeing to them. He was scarred, from the war I guessed, missing an ear and eye, and I knew him immediately as the village blacksmith, the man my son was apprenticing under. He was tall and sturdily built, with arms and fists like hammers. “My king-”

“Where is Captain Gamling? Is he injured badly? Do you have a healer?”

He nodded for me to follow and he kept up with me step for step. “He took an arrow in the midst of the battle and refused to step down until the bloody monsters were on the run. He would have gone after them had his wife not yelled him down.” I smiled at that. I could imagine Wudurose laying anyone out who angered her. “The arrowhead has been removed, but he is running a fever and she is worried.” He led me to a large building, the tavern, I surmised, with rooms for rent for travelers. There was a hitch in front and I tied Firestorm to it.

Sure enough, I found Gamling convalescing in a comfortable room on the main floor. He was stripped, a light quilt tucked about his hips and a bloody bandage high on his right shoulder. A child – a young girl I surmised to be six summers was curled up by his left side, asleep. She had her father’s vibrant hair and her mother’s sweet expression, one that I remember searching and memorizing while she lay in sleep in my arms, so many times, so many years ago.

A woman sat on his other side, her back to me, using a wet cloth to wipe his face. Her hips had spread – bearing children does that, and I found it a pleasing look – but she still had a regal, slender bearing about her, her backbone stiff and proud. Her braid of the honey blond hair I had taken down and played in so many times was coming loose.

“Wudurose.”

She jumped at that, turning, startled and facing me. There were few lines on her face; she had aged well.

She was still beautiful.

“My lord-”

“Do not,” I started hoarsely, “dare call me that after everything we have had. You know my name.” I took one step forward and spread my arms. “How is he?”

Nineteen years fell away and she melted into my embrace. I fought the urge to sink with her on the floor, claim her mouth with mine, but I recognized that there was a difference in our hold.

She was sobbing.

“He took an arrow and fought with it in his shoulder. I had to threaten him to let me look. It was festering… stank… and he has run a fever…”

I pulled her closer, kissed her brow, regained my senses. “Is the arrowhead out?” She nodded affirmatively against my chest. “Is there any rancor, dirt? Poison?”

She shook her head no. “I have cleaned it and cleaned it and he yelled at me, wretched man! I am watching for infection, when he lets me.”

I set my nose to her hair; it smelled of smoke and war, not the usual scents I associated with her. “I have my healer with me. If necessary we will tie him to the bed and check him if it will ease your mind.”

Finally, she looked at me. “Would you? Would you do that? For me?”

Ah. She does love him. Gamling, you lucky, lucky man.


Before I could answer, there was a croak from the bed. “If you attempt to kiss her or, Béma forbid, put your tongue in her mouth, I will rise from this bed and remove your head from your shoulders.”

I turned her loose and took Wudurose’s place on the bed. “Your wife tells me you are a most wretched patient.” I turned to my former lover. “Go outside and find Andhun.” Gamling began to shake his head and make much noise. “You be quiet. Your wife, she might be, but I will not allow you to upset her. If for anything else, this is to ease her mind.” I turned back to her. “Andhun is the healer for my éored. Find out if anyone else is in need of his services, but have him come here first.” As she turned, I stopped her. “If anyone asks, Edric and I have a common ancestor; his great-grandfather and my grandfather. You and he are family through Edric’s father. It is the truth.”

“Edric-”

“Knows the truth. Almost all of it. He has a lot to work through and when he arrives with Elfhelm’s éored tomorrow, I would like to spend some time alone with him. If you will get Andhun, we will talk more later.”

“Wudurose,” Gamling spoke up; his voice was parched, “Take Ánmédla,” he nodded to the little one cuddled up next to him, “with you. She needs to be out and not cooped up with me.”

The child was quite unhappy to be separated from her father; she insisted her presence was necessary for his recovery, but soon, she left with her mother, closing the door behind them and leaving me alone with my captain. I pulled the bandage from his shoulder. The wound was angry, hot to the touch; I had seen worse, had had worse myself, but I could understand Wudurose’s concern. Truthfully, I had seen men die of less and Gamling was no longer young. There was a pitcher of water next to the bed and I poured him a mug before sitting back. “That thing is ugly, old man. You will allow Andhun to tend it and then I order you to let Wudurose hover incessantly.”

Gamling snarled and struggled to sit up. “Nothing more than a nuisance.”

“Aye. You are.”

Gamling looked over my shoulder, making sure we were alone. “Edric knows the truth?”

“Aye. There was no hiding it. Impossible and I did not try to.” I took a deep breath. “He told me you said I would tell him the truth. I took that to mean it was time he needed to know.” My captain nodded. “We were alone in my chambers.” I recounted what I told him. “I did not have time to tell him everything he needs to hear. I was needed here.” I told him of the few Orcs we found and slaughtered, how I sent Éothain and Cynegels to scour the nearby countryside and Rægenhere to round up the loose cattle. “He is amazing, Gamling. A wonderful, young man. I know I had no hand in raising him, but I am grateful for his mother and you for molding him and I am proud of him.”

“Thank Tondhere as well while you are at it.” My captain grimaced, obviously favoring that shoulder.

“Should I?” I rubbed my jaw thoughtfully. “My wife has asked me to make sure I am sending enough food to your homestead. Apparently, he inhaled the entire kitchen in a sitting!”

He continued drinking from the mug, his voice echoing in the bowels of it. “How did the Queen take the news?”

“Better than I expected. At first, she thought the boy a product of an affair, but…” I collected my thoughts, “I was honest with her. Truly, I have always been terrified that she would hate Wudurose and Edric; you know how women are. I could not bear that.” I smirked at him. “She feared I had ordered you to marry Wudurose in order to provide a father for Edric. Threatened to unshoe my horse if that was the case.”

Gamling snorted in laughter at that, only to groan with the strain to his shoulder. He handed me the mug and leaned back. “Damn, this hurts! When did I become such a weakling?”

“’Tis an ugly wound, Gamling. You will be favoring it for some time.” He snarled at that. “Am I sending enough to feed the boy?”

“Ate a lot, did he?”

I began to pull the bandage from the wound. I knew Andhun would want a better look and the bloody cloth was disgusting. Too many times, I recall my healer insisting on keeping bandages fresh and dirt free, keeping the wound cleaned and disinfected with nasty smelling shite that burned like Mordor. “The kitchen sent up a trencher for three. He inhaled it.” I pulled the last of the bandage from Gamling’s shoulder. The wound was ugly, indeed. I began to panic my captain would not regain his sword arm. “Lothiriel feared he would clean out the kitchens post haste.” I attempted to keep my tone light. “He was as mannerless as you are, old sot. He would do well in a garrison.”

“Forget that.” Pain was now openly etched on my captain’s face. “He has loved the bellows and the heat of the smithy since I can remember.” He inhaled sharply with the throbbing he was obviously feeling in his shoulder. “Besides, Tondhere would come after you.” He opened one dark blue eye. “He has declared Edric his heir if he does not remarry or have any children.”

I sat up at that. Between the property I gifted his mother for him, plus this new information, Edric would become a very wealthy man, quite possibly among the wealthiest in Rohan, not that Rohan had a great deal of wealth. If he were educated, he would be a much sought-after bachelor. “Does he read or write?”

Gamling tilted his head, as if deep in thought, eyes closed. “More than his mother. Less than me, not that my ciphering skills were ever much.” Using his good arm, he pushed himself up in the bed. “He has not shown much interest in it and before you say anything more, I know where you are leading.” Again, he opened his eye, fixating on me with no fear. “There is a girl here he loves and we suspect he will ask her father next Yule to be allowed to wrap her in his cloak. It will be a good match and, yes, he has earned his first cloak.” Again, there was no alarm in my captain’s voice; he was simply straightforward.

This was the one thing about Gamling I truly appreciated. Where others would crawl, beg, and plead in my presence, terrified of my wrath, tell me anything they thought I wanted to hear, no matter how absurd, Gamling did not. He never did. Even when he told me I had a son in the Eastenmet and I was determined to come, see him, see his mother, he stood his ground. At the time, I thought to damn near kill the man when he referred to Edric as a bastard!

I never saw him as such. He has always been my son, just like Elfwine or any of my children, was my child, my son. One I loved sight unseen and desired always to know.

“That serious?” I was not sure I was ready to become a grandfather any time soon.

“Aye. That serious.” He grimaced in pain and my wandering thoughts were refocused on my stoic and trustworthy captain. It dawned on me that this injury could possibly take him, render him less a soldier. What would happen to Wudurose if he passed suddenly? To Edric? She had already been through so much; to lose two husbands to death and a lover to politics and royal duties. She was not yet forty-four summers… so young for Béma to put her through so much. It occurred to me that I must do everything in my power to ensure Gamling lived a long life, if for no other reason, to make sure Wudurose had all the time possible she could have of love.

My healer, Andhun, walked in at that time and the two greeted each other like long-lost enemies. Andhun’s bedside manner was not the gentlest and Gamling had a reputation of being a difficult patient at best. Cursing rose good-naturedly between the two and Andhun informed me after inspecting the wound, he was going to be a while with this curmudgeon of a rider. The wound was bad, but thank Béma, someone had the good sense to clean it out. It needed stitching and healing salves packed into it.

“Éomer.” I looked up expectantly at my good friend – he was that, before he was anything else. “If it is safe, take Wudurose to our homestead. We have two homes, two barns. The cattle have been loosed-“

“Aye. We saw. I have men rounding them up.”

“She’ll know whose are whose. Ours is the furthest outying. If there is damage, it will be there first.”

“Do you trust me with her?” It was out of my mouth before I remembered we were not the only ones in the room. Andhun’s hands stopped for a moment, his eyes shifting back and forth between Gamling and myself, before raising his eyebrows and continuing without a word.

“Do I trust you?” It was a ragged whisper and Gamling was staring at me through one narrowed eye. “Give me a reason to come up from this bed and I will. King or no King.”

“Gamling.” Andhun’s voice, while feigning lightness, was in truth, rather terse. “Sire. Please do not put me in the middle of an old war wound when I have a new one to tend to.” His mouth was a grim, white line and he was seemingly concentrating on nasty smelling mash he was mixing in a small bowl he kept in his satchel. “You have an ugly injury, Gamling. One that could cause you problems down the road if you do not heed my advice.” He pressed on the edge of Gamling’s shoulder, forcing him back on the bed. “My advice is to trust your wife and relax. This is going to sting.”

“You can trust me, old man.” I watched as Gamling nodded. “Believe me, if not that, you can trust your wife.” With that, I slipped from the room, closing the door softly behind me.