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Harla's Tale: Heart of Fire	By : NiaraAfforegate Category: +G through L > Lord of the Rings Online, The Views: 2502 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is set in the universe created by Turbine, with permission from Tolkien Enterprises. I have no affiliation with either, and no such permissions. No money is made, and no ownership of LotRO, its universe, or related media is claimed.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
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A Guardian's Ward

The light was already fading and the burnished tint of the sunset made the unhealthy red of the swamps below seem even more sickly. Far across the sunken swampland, Harla could see the ruined remains of a fort all to similar to the one she stood at the edge of. The only real difference between the two was that here, in the ruins of Ost Guruth, there were people still... while the far ruins held only the horror of decaying corpses and bones, risen to movement by some dark force.
This was only the edge of it, they had said. Deeper into the red swamp the corruption got worse, the horrors greater. She turned back from her small outlook to face Frideric. For once she didn't have to crane her neck, standing on the broken masonry of the wall as she was, and could look him in the eye properly.
“I'm not a child. I've been helping you and yours out with all your fetch and carry, but I can be of more use to you than that if you'll just let me.” A part of her wondered if they just didn't trust her with the problems they clearly had, or if so many of them really thought that the armour she had arrived in was something she wore for the fun of it. Frideric, at least, didn't seem interested in listening. He sighed.
“So you say, little lady, so you say. You've been a fine hand to us since you arrived, but it can't really help this problem the old wizard tells us of. Elsa, you rash fool...” He trailed off, staring out over the swamp again, and Harla ground her teeth. It was something that she had told him of herself; that she had relayed for Radagast between helping him. At least the wizard was tasking her with proper work, even if the dread of it chilled her to the bone.
“Look, Elsa, Eriac and a whole lot of your folk have all gone off to where they shouldn't, trying to fight something none of us but the old man understand, and you've no-one to send to help them. I'm useless here, but there I can at least be the shield they need to get out alive. Ask Radagast if he thinks I can help, if you need to, but stop wasting time fretting!” She could feel herself growing angry and tried not to clench her fists, but Frideric only shook his head.
“I'm sorry, little lady, but there's just nothing we can do for them now. All we can do is wait and hope they make it back in one piece.” He shrugged and offered wan and tired attempt at a reassuring smile for her and Harla couldn't hold back the frustrated shout that followed.
“Urgh! Do I have to knock you on your back before you'll listen? Every second we waste here puts your people in more danger!” Her outburst didn't cause the desired effect as the man gave a quiet chuckle, then a further tired sigh.
“I'll not waste more lives throwing them against a danger that far outstrips them, girl, I'm no fool... you just stay here. But thank you, hah... you knocking me on my back. The humour is appreciated, little lady. I would be quite amused to see that.”
Her knee struck his chin a moment later, a short shout of irritation in her throat as she threw herself at him from her perch. He staggered back, trying to catch his balance as her weight landed on his chest. A pained cry was all the sound he made in his surprise but his arms jumped up in an effort to throw her off. She grabbed one forearm with both hands and dropped to the ground, pulling his arm back behind him and dragging him backwards with her. His free hand clutched wildly at the air in front of him as she turned and pulled the other one all the way to the ground behind him and he buckled backwards, grunting at the uncomfortable position. She relieved him of it a moment later, kicking one knee out from under him until he collapsed with one arm and one leg twisted awkwardly underneath. As he dropped she jumped at him again, scrambling over his prone form before he could recover. In an instant her knees were planted either side of his head as she sat back on her heels, pinning both his arms down just below the shoulders. Her left hand was raised high and she paused. Her fist was clenched ready to punch the man and she forced herself to relax. Even so. Her open-palmed slap struck him hard across the cheek. His features still showed little beyond stunned stupor, head turned to the side by her strike, and she jumped away from him again, straightening herself and taking a breath.
“You are a fool, Frideric. The worst kind of fool. I'll give my life wherever I choose to, in the defence of whoever needs it. I don't need your permission. I just thought you'd have people here who wanted to save their own. I'll go alone if I need to!” With a last small snarl she turned about, dashing to where her bedroll was set and quickly began pulling out her armour, muttering curses for the wasted time under her breath the whole while.
It didn't take long for her to pull on her armour and tighten the straps. As she recrossed the courtyard club and shield in hand, Frideric was nowhere to be seen but she wasn't waiting for him any more, heading instead for the tower. When she stepped through the doors, a small brown squirrel looked down at her from atop a stack of boxes, then went back to sleep as she hurried up the stairs. The old man was writing at his desk, surrounded on all sides by various books and scrolls, but looked up as she crested the landing.
“Ah, Harla. Are you and the others prepared to leave? Time is all but run out.” His tired but warm smile made her grimace all the more as she rolled her shoulders.
“It's just me. I'm ready, and I'll do what I can, but Frideric wouldn't send any others.” She didn't mention that he hadn't even wanted to let her go, but she thought Radagast would probably guess as much. He looked at her for a moment, his shoulders drooping slightly at her news.
“Were there no others at all? Alas, I feared you would find none, but dared to hope I was wrong.” He sighed and shook his head. “Well, you had best be at your staunchest, my friend, for our task has grown harder. Come, there is no more time.” With a spryness unexpected of his appearance, the old wizard stood from his desk and collected the twisted wood staff that rested nearby before quickly leading the way past her and back down the stairs. At the door, the resident squirrel leapt onto Radagast's robe and scrambled up to his shoulder, but the old man only chuckled and placed him back on his boxes. “Not today, my friend. Tend to your nest; this outing is not for you.” Harla pulled the large doors open again as he spoke and the wizard nodded, following her out into the fading light. They were just passing the wall guards at the edge of the ruin, the last of the evening light slipping away into distant gloom, when a voice called out to them.
“Wizard! you can't be taking the young lady out into that terrible place, armour or no. It's too fearful a place now for the faint of heart or the unready!” Frideric was behind them wearing a stern expression and Harla couldn't help but see the rising welt on his cheek as she glanced back. Her look lasted only a moment before she turned forward again, ignoring him, but Radagast took a moment longer, a rare flash of mild irritation breaking through his normally genial demeanour.
“And yet it is Harla who follows now, and you who remain behind. If you are worried for her safety, Frideric, you are free to join us. I would welcome your spear. If you will not, then delay us no further; the lives of your own people are at stake!” Their eyes locked for a moment before Frideric looked away, scowling.
“You're both fools, the pair of you.” He didn't move, however, and Radagast shook his head, pressing on.
The evening gloom settled heavily on Harla as she followed the wizard across the circle of blood. She wondered why they insisted on making dark places even creepier with such foreboding names. It was a sunken depression in the land; a swamp between the ruins, stained a sickly red, and in the middle, the Red Pass: a cleft in the high hills that led deeper into the corrupted lands beyond. She had crossed it before but the stories told by the Eglain folk had her on edge. Now she moved through the pass swiftly, taking three quick steps for every one of the wizard's long, energetic strides.
The land that opened before them was all she had feared, the swampy ground sinking further and fraught with broad pools of murky waters all a darker, fouler red than before. The broken remains of ruined stone obscured much of her sight, but Harla was certain she could see pale figures lurking between the pools in the darkness, and sometimes the tainted water itself rising and shifting in eerie ways.
“This way, Harla, come!” Radagast was moving forward into the red-hazed darkness without fear and Harla tried to keep pace with him, shield at the ready and club in hand. Without warning, the wizard's attention was pulled to the side and he diverted. The sound reached her ears a moment later; a pained yelp. A part of her wondered at the old man's priorities, but she followed him. Sure enough, she caught sight of a small native fox, whining and thrashing as it struggled against a long, woody root that had coiled around its back leg. Harla's brow drew down, puzzled for a moment, until she saw the root visibly strengthen its hold and try to drag the poor creature back and down. As she watched, another root snaked up from the ground and whipped around, striking the fox across the muzzle, stunning it to stop its resistance. A moment later, Radagast had stepped forward, staff extended, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument. The root slackened but it was only then that Harla noticed the tree itself; still until now, while her attention was on the fox, it had begun to twitch and shake violently.
Guttural shrieks echoed around them, the swamp land itself rising up in the form of several tall, mossy creatures, long-limbed and bedraggled. One swung a thin, wooden limb at her and she raised her shield. The force of the seemingly casual slap caught her off guard, her back foot sliding against the awkward ground as she staggered then replanted her feet. Her back was to Radagast now as the wizard put out a hand to place it against the trunk of the angry huorn. When he spoke, Harla felt his words resonate through her, heavy with command.
“Calm, my friend, Calm! Am I not known to you, as you are to me? Be calm, and find peace!” When that had no effect he tried again, speaking in a tongue that she couldn't understand. The area quieted for a moment, but no longer. As the ancient tree's rage returned, Harla heard her companion sigh.
“Harla, I have need of your help. I must free our small friend, but these poor creatures are lost to us. I cannot call them back from the corruption that has consumed them. Please assist me in releasing them from their madness, while I rescue this little one from them.” His words had a weight of sadness but even they seemed to be spoken to her within a stolen moment, everything around them slowing until he finished. When she nodded the effect shattered, the shrieks of the swamp creatures rising again. Harla grit her teeth, eyes darting as she tried to count how many lurkers the huorn had riled up. Radagast was speaking behind her again, but she could tell it was no longer directed at her; he still had one hand on the trunk of the tree while his other arm, staff spinning, fended of the swipes and slaps from its great limbs. The force the huorn was directing against the old man seemed staggering, in light of the seemingly effortless motions Radagast was meeting and pushing them aside with; she wasn't sure she could withstand such blows. She had no more attention to pay him, however, as the angered swamp creatures moved in.
Harla kept her back to the wizard, trying to keep each of the creatures in her sight, until a sudden sensation around her ankle made her gasp. Another root, wrapping itself further and further up her leg. She barely got her shield around as another thin limb struck out at her, though it was impossible to tell which of the strange, tall creatures it had been as the forest of gangly, vine-like limbs pressed down on her. With an angry shout, she wrenched her held leg up and felt the root come with her a ways before finally snapping. One of the beasts let out a fresh shriek, its hind leg buckling as it was pulled back into the ground. Closer, Harla could see something of a face on the bulbous growth of the lurker's body, and a beady eye fixed on her. Without taking time to think, she brought her club down on it, swinging as hard as she could. The entire dome of its body... head? collapsed under the force of her blow and its limbs gave a final thrash before going still. Her advantage lasted only a moment as another root burst up from the ground to encircle her wrist. It fixed tight before she could pull away, and dragged her arm to the ground with unexpected force. A rough, bludgeoning strength struck her back a moment later, two hard points of impact that sent her sprawling forwards, stumbling over her bound arm to land on her back with a damp squelch that covered her small cry.
Another root slipped quickly over her left arm, beginning at her shoulder and spiralling at a frightening speed down to her wrist. Harla gasped and struggled, but the two remaining lurkers seemed driven by frenzy. A blow from one of their heavy feet pounded into her gut, pushing the breath from her, then another, slightly higher, that made her grit her teeth from the pain. The creatures cried and shrieked in a maddened fervour, hammering blow after blow against her chest and middle. A pair of impacts across her breast bone made her gasp and cry out. She couldn't see anything beyond the swarm of legs surrounding her as she struggled, helpless, but a deep shout cut through her awareness a moment later. There was a pause in the unrelenting beating of limbs against her, and she felt the roots holding her down slacken. It was enough, and Harla didn't hesitate in tearing herself free with a desperate fury and scrambling to her feet. The brief calm fled once more as several of the roots holding her tore and broke, drawing sounds of pain from both of her assailants; they couldn't be anything other than sounds of pain, but, winded and sore, Harla found she no longer cared.
One of them had recoiled badly as she broke free, its body hanging low to the ground, and she jumped at it, forcing the beast to the ground with her weight. It cried and gurgled beneath her but couldn't rise and she steadied herself, straddling it to keeping the thing pinned while she faced the one that remained. Even though her 'mount' continued to struggle and writhe, shaking her balance, it was still easier than facing both of them at once; it only took a swift block with her shield before she managed to find an opening to sweep her club around and connect with the other lurker's slender limbs. Despite the strength of its blows, the creature's legs gave to the sideways impact with whimsical ease and it collapsed, tangling around her club. With a grunt she extracted the weapon quickly enough to bring it down on top of the creature, crushing it, then once more until it stilled. The last one bucked and Harla jumped clear, turning to bring her club down one more time. As she struck, the creature tried to rise again, right into the blow that crashed down onto it, reducing it to stillness.
Harla looked around quickly, shield raised, but there seemed to be no more attackers coming now. The rustle and creak of the great huorn behind her grew louder for a moment, then stilled and Harla glanced back over her shoulder in time to see it arch up, great roots pulling from the ground, then topple to the side, a final crash sounding the return of an eerie silence around them. Panting, Harla turned about properly, trying to distract herself from the dull ache across her chest and middle. She came to stand beside Radagast, who still stood by the fallen husk of the ancient huorn, looking down at it sadly.
“A fair and beautiful tree once. Alas, at its end it could no longer recognise me, its heart so broken and twisted by corruption.” He shook his head. “Worse, twisted as it was, it spread the taint further, another instrument of the same evil. Perhaps it might have been redeemed, with enough time and clear water... but the spread needed to stop, now.” With a last sad sigh he looked up again. “I hope that we have accomplished more here than senseless destruction.” His gaze turned to Harla at last. “Thank you for assisting me in this, young lady. Are you unhurt?” His eyes searched her and under his piercing gaze Harla unconsciously straightened and drew herself up with a nod. “Good. I am glad of the assistance. Come now, we must hurry on.” He reached out one hand to gently pat her shoulder. Harla had been half expecting him to tousle her hair or some such, and was relieved that he didn't. Instead, she felt a comforting warmth from his hand, even through the metal scales of her armour, and found herself smiling up at him. An instant later the moment had passed and the old wizard was rushing onwards towards the ruin visible a short distance away through the gloom, with Harla running close behind.
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- 6
- 7
- 8
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Harla's Tale: Heart of Fire