[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Gilly

“It no use Mr. Dúlrain, I can not swim and will surely drown if I try! Perhaps if I stay here I can hide until the orcs have passed, and then…and then…. Oh, I don’t know what then!” she said looking out over the Bruinen to see Kaldir help Benia’s stumbling horse out of the current. Benia’s hair was streaming as she coughed and looked back over to the far bank. Gilly shook her head and took a step backward, suppressing a strong urge to bolt fast and far away from the swiftly moving water.

She glanced back to see Toby, leaning against the rock that held the rope, watching the exchange.

Once he saw Benia was safely on the other side, Dúlrain turned to the hobbit. “Now Mrs. Banks,” he said calmly. “ I do not know what you may have heard of Orcs, but they are also skilled huntsman. If you were to remain here I should not like to have to face your family, who will have been worried over you. It would be far better for your children to learn that their brave mother crossed the swift river Bruinen, trying to help save Imladris, then that she was taken by orcs, and slain. For even if by chance, you were to drown you would have had died nobly. And though there is no shame in being captured by orcs, it is hard news, and it does something to the persons that have lived to hear such tidings.”

Looking again to Toby, he winked at her and walked away down the bank a bit, throwing a stick into the current and watching it float quickly down stream.

Gilly did not answer, but closed her eyes frowning. He was right of course, but she had this overwhelming fondness for breathing at the moment. She seemed to be able to think of nothing else as she tried desperately to picture the boy’s faces, and Carl.

Dúlrain gave the hobbit a few moments before folding Kaldir’s rope to cut off another section. Getting down on one knee, he tied it securely around the hobbit slim waist. “Kaldir and I are here Mrs. Banks, we will not let you drown. And do not forget I am indebted to you. If you remain here I will be obligated to remain also, to defend you against the orcs, regardless of their numbers.”

Gilly’s eyes opened. “Oh no Mr. Dúlrain, you can’t! Not with your side!” She pleaded shaking her head.

“I would have no choice.”

“Then I also have no choice,” she whispered, her brow still knit with concern. “Or face the possible that guilt. What must I do?”

“Ride your pony across,” the ranger said nodding toward the pack animal close by. “Soon after entering the river the pony will start swimming. It will be strange, and he will be deep in the cold water, but do not be alarmed, just do not let go of his neck.”

“I can do that, I think,” Gilly finally said.

“Can you hold your breath?” Dúlrain asked.

“Yes.”

“If the water starts to go over your head, hold your breath. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do,” she said in a far away voice.

“Come then,” he said bringing the pony to were the hobbit stood. Wincing he picked her up and set her on her perch. “Do not forget, Mrs. Banks, hold on!” he reminded, leading the animal down the bank just upstream of the safety line. Slapping the pony’s rump to start its descent into the river, the ranger quickly returned to the safety line, pulling it taut.

Gilly’s eyes went wide, as the water steadily and rapidly rose up the pony’s legs. She felt panic springing up from deep inside her as it began to rise up her own legs as well, lifting her skirts until they rested like a flower around her waist. Pushing them hurriedly under the water, she grabbed the horse’s neck, clinging to the poor creature as though it were life itself, and watching as her small wooden tatting shuttle bobbed to the surface and floated quickly away, dragging a small piece of her handiwork with it.

As the ranger had warned, the pony soon began to swim in the frigid water and the hobbit was pushed off by the swirling current, remaining like a green streamer hanging from the pony’s neck, the rope tethering her to the safety line tangled round her foot. As they reached the center of the river the current grew very strong, too much so for the pony to keep pace. And it slowly passed under the safety line and began to drift down stream. Still the hobbit tried to hold on, her sodden skirts now over her head and she was more or less stretched taut herself, between the poor pony and the safety line, her rosy cheeks puffed out like two balloons. For she couldn’t breathe, her head was face down in the water as the pony’s neck slipped from her grasp and she blindly found the reins, which slipped quickly through her fingers.

Cut loose from the horse, Gilly disappeared under the water, and opening her eyes saw only green dimness around her. She began frantically pushing her palms toward the surface, but found she was only dragged deeper in the freezing water. Suddenly, she felt a tug at her waist. Kaldir’s rope! Grabbing it, she pulled herself along its length until she surfaced, sputtering, quite close to where it looped over the elven rope. Holding on to it for dear life she coughed trying to regain her breath. Shaking the water from her eyes, she looked around, her feet remaining pointed downstream.

She could not see the pony, but Benia and the bank were getting closer. Dúlrain had unloosed the rope at his side and he and Kaldir were struggling in tandem against the current to pull Gilly in like some big green fish. Kaldir had once again entered the river, straining to maintain his balance while keeping the rope taut and pulling the hobbit nearer.

Seeing that Kaldir meant to deliver her from this ordeal Gilly began propel herself along the safety line toward him, quicker than a cat under similar circumstances. Soon she found the current less strong and she could just touch the bottom of the riverbed, the sturdy form of Kaldir just a few yards away. Stretching out his long arm, as she drew closer, he caught hold of the hobbit who was shaking uncontrollably. Settling her in the crook of one arm she buried her face in his chest repeating, “Thank you Mr. Kaldir. Oh, thank you,” grateful for the strong arms that kept her above the waters.

Bringing Gilly and the rope’s end back to the bank, Kaldir deposited the hobbit with Benia, and tying off the rope again, he moved down stream to where the pack pony had emerged sodden, upon the bank.

“Miss Benia, I surely thought I was dead,” Gilly said softly. “I thought I’d never see my family ever again.” Then remembering that Benia’s parents were no more and that she had always had to face such dangers, she cried silent tears as Benia embraced her, and tried to calm her trembling friend.