Jarring and erratic were the only two words I could conjure up to describe our horses� fleeing from the Great Gate of Minas Tirith. Mallor had set them both in straight-out run from the gate and now we were racing across the Pelennor. I don�t know for how long we rode, but I knew we were heading north. What was north of us and along our path I couldn�t really say, for my knowledge of Middle-earth at this time was very sparse. Had it been nine hundred and fifty years later I�d have said we were heading for Rohan, but I could not even say for sure if that great nation had been formed yet.
It was nearly dark when we finally stopped riding. The horses were tired and my backside hurt from the incessant bouncing up and down in the saddle. Mallor slid off the horse and helped me down.
�Where are we?� I asked, seeing nothing but the outline of a forest and what appeared to be a hill with a small cabin on top of it.
�We are outside of Dr�adan Forest. That hill over yonder is Amon D�n, the easternmost beacon hill,� he explained, pointing at the big hill. �Well camp here, I deem it is safe. We can leave early in the morning, before the sun rises. I want to be far off from here; before the steward can change his mind about letting you leave.�
I then felt a cold tingling in my spine at Mallor�s final words. �Do you think he will change his mind?� I queried as I pulled our things off the other horse.
�You can never tell with these politicians and nobles what they might do. If you mean are you in danger, well, you are perfectly safe so long as you stay near me,� he said.
We settled down on blankets near the fire and ate. I expected awkward silence, but Mallor initiated a conversation that would alter both our lives forever. In the middle of eating his bread and cheese he suddenly looked up at me with curiosity sparkling in his dark grey eyes.
�How did you come to be in Minas Morgul, truthfully?� he asked.
I stared at him for a moment, temporarily surprised that we were really going to talk tonight. �Truthfully, it happened just as I told you the day you found me. I was back in my home wishing for a perfect day to break the series of bad ones I had been having and suddenly I had been swallowed up by darkness and spit back out in that land of evil. I do not know anything else,� I told him. He was looking me in the eye and he appeared satisfied that I wasn�t lying to him. Suddenly it occurred to me to ask him some questions that had been bothering me. �Mallor, are you angry with me?�
�Angry with you? Of course I am not angry with you! Why do you ask?�
�Well, I thought you might be mad that Aratan stuck you with seeing me out of the city and taking care of me. Maybe because you�re so far from home,� I said.
�No, no. I was surprised when I found Aratan waiting for me outside the barracks, but I volunteered, he did not force me to do this. As for home? I am a soldier and home for me is whatever tent, cot, barrack, or patch of ground my commanding officers order me to live in or on. I am to care for you, and so long as I am doing my duty this camp is like home, though it will only be so for a single night. Does that make sense?� he asked. I remember that Aratan said he didn�t have any family, so I guessed that his line of thinking was slightly logical. He had probably never had a real home, and in his line of work he couldn�t afford to be attached to any one place or thing for too long.
�Aratan said you have no family.�
�I had one a good while ago. My mother died from illness when I was very young, so I have no memory of her. My father was a soldier; my memories of him are few. He was killed by a mutineer from a company under his command, or so I have been told. After he died I ended up in a home for orphaned lads. I grew up there and not having been trained in any other trade, I became a soldier as soon as I was old enough,� he recollected. �What of you, Amanda?�
�Call me Manda,� I told him as I picked at the remnant of old blue nail polish on my thumbnail. �I suppose I never had it that bad. I just complain too much and have always been overly pessimistic about my life. I tend to have this problem where I am not very happy with what I have and what I am and I get worked up and upset over it. I never have really made much sense; I guess I am just confused about who and what I am. Then I found myself sitting in the Morgul Vale with no idea of where I was or what had happened.�
Mallor remained contemplative and just nodded when I had finished speaking, staring at the fire all the while. Then, he turned to me, smiling slightly with his right arm extended out to me. I reached out with mine and instead of a handshake, which I wasn�t entirely sure if they had one in Middle-earth, he grasped my forearm firmly, and I his.
�Welcome to Middle-earth, Manda. May it be all your previous home was not,� he said.
Not being able to think of anything else to say I chuckled slightly and replied, �Thank you for having me.�
Shortly thereafter, Mallor told me to get rest, that we would be up and heading north before the sun rose to greet us. I curled up in my blankets near the fire and he walked off near the forest, most likely to take watch or check our perimeter or something. I stared at the crackling flames as my eyes began to close with sleep.
