21. Blood!

[The Pilot]

“She’s awake! She’s awake!”

“Unh…”

“By the gods, she’s alive! Lauren, keep your head down. Don’t sit up.”

The girl opened her eyes rather groggily and just as Narthas had told her not to, she sat up. A groaning gurgling noise escaped her as reality came back. She looked around her and saw the same familiar four companions crowding near. The elf was kneeling in front of her, eyes wide and mouth agape in astonishment.

“I have no idea how you survived that,” he said.

“I’m dead remember?”

“Well I would think since you were given a mortal body, that it has mortal limitations. And getting disemboweled seems like pushing mortal limitations to me.”

Lauren lit up. “Oh, what? I was disemboweled?! Holy shit that’s frickin’ cool!” She immediately looked down at her stomach and began assessing the best means of removing the bandage that was wrapped around her midsection. But as soon as she touched the material, the elf slapped her hands away.

“You really don’t want to see it,” Gasket said. “There was like, blood. Everywhere.”

The girl huffed and folded her arms. “Fine.” She poked at the wound instead, and was greeted by a dull ache. “It doesn’t really hurt anymore though…”

Narthas shook his head warningly.

“Where did the Sith apprentice go? Did he escape?”

Narthas cleared his throat, but Hound answered. “After we shot him, he jumped right back up and put this force field up around him and ran off into the darkness. I swear, we couldn’t locate him at all. Before we knew it though, we saw his ship take off from a few hundred yards away and disappear.”

The girl chewed on her lip in a pensive manner. “Well, damn. I highly doubt that will be the last we see of him though. Sith are very much into the whole death-dealing and revenge thing.” With that she motioned to stand up, but Narthas would have nothing of it.

“You’re not going anywhere, got it?” he said. “You need to rest.”

“Calm down, you!” she said, waving at him dramatically. “It’s not like my legs are broken or anything.”

“You just lost a good portion of your large intestine and liver is all.” He looked at her from under his brows, folding his arms as he watched her stand up.

“There, see? I can stand up just fine. Quit your worrying.”

Gasket pointed at her and grinned. “Just don’t cough or sneeze or you’ll start bursting with blood again.”

Lauren laughed, but the others did not.

“You humans are so morbid,” Airlock sighed.

“Come on, Gasket, let’s talk about motherboard mods and spyware.” Lauren braced herself a little against the nearby tree and giggled like a mischievous child.

Hound closed his optics and shook his head. “Now that is just wrong.”

“I hate it when the screwdriver skips on the treads, and then you lose some of them… or if you can’t rip off the side of the CPU without much trouble. Or when you finally do, there’s a bunch of pieces of food and dust all up inside. But it’s when you start removing pieces of hardware and replacing them with new ones, or getting into the circuitry and soldering stuff onto the cards and motherboard--”

The girl and previously-human-robot laughed it up at the reactions of the two other Autobots. Narthas didn’t seem to understand what the big deal was at all, but he spoke up for them nonetheless. “Alright, alright. If you’re well enough to crack crass jokes, then you’re well enough to keep going.”

She was stopped in her proverbial tracks. “What, already?”

“Well, it’s almost sunrise anyways,” the elf said, pointing away east. Sure enough, the horizon was rimmed with a pinkish glow. “You were out for hours. Besides, what does it mean to you?” he chuckled. “You don’t need to sleep.”

“True,” Lauren mumbled. “But what about Hound and Airlock?”

“We agree with Narthas,” Hound said. “We really should get going. I think the closer we are to civilization, the less likely we will be attacked again. Besides, this Fen needs to know of the recent developments.”

“True again.”

“Well, come on!” Narthas said, beckoning her with dramatized gestures. “Minas Tirith is only about 150 miles away!”

“We’re that close?” she gawked.

“If we get going, and keep up the pace like we have been, we just might be able to get there by this next nightfall.”

“Well, hot damn! What are we waiting for? Lauren said.

Hound laughed. “You!”

[The Pilot]

The camp was disassembled rather quickly, and despite wanting to feel useful, Narthas would have nothing of the sort. She was forced to remain on Miril’s back -after having gotten there in the first place with a little help- while the elf cleaned up the area, with the robots helping where they could.

When the bags were finally packed up once again and bathroom breaks dealt with, the first tendrils of the day filled the land with a crisp, faint, golden light. Lauren looked upon the day differently. It would be her last serious day on the road, and she would have finally met her goal of getting to Minas Tirith. It’d been almost a month since she first stepped out into the Barns & Noble bookstore with Nicole, wide-eyed and ignorant to the trials that lay ahead for them, but the more she thought about it, the more it dawned on her that even though she was close to the White City, her journey was far from over.

There was a secret war that needed fighting.

“So what’s the plan once we get close?” The girl said, suddenly professional.

“Uhm…” Narthas stroked his chin and thought. “We keep away from the main road for as long as we can manage, these three stay away from the Rammas as far as you can.” He breathed out in a pensive manner, recalling maps and distances and landscapes from memory. “The Grey Wood comes pretty close to the wall, a mile or two. You should be safe there for a while, if you stick as close as possible to the mountains.” Narthas looked upon the three Autobots, who were now in their slightly less conspicuous alternate animal forms.

“You have to promise to tell us everything Fen tells you when you go into the city though,” Hound said. “I don’t know if you’re a military man, but this is most certainly a military matter now.”

“Oh, I do have a history in battle, believe me.”

“Alright, so where do I come in?” Lauren looked at them all, suddenly feeling left out of all the shenanigans.

“Your job will be intelligence too. Keep your eyes and ears open and focused on the fan underground. Make sure rumors of strange things are kept in check, and for the love of the Valar, make sure DERIF does not get wind of this at all. Cover all the tracks.”
She smiled. Her purpose seemed important once again. “Got it,” she nodded. “What happens if we have more encounters?”
Narthas sighed and ran his fingers through his hair (she began to recognize this as a nervous habit of his). “Er, if we see any more signs at all of any invasions, of any more spies, we call for backup on both fronts. Hound, that means you.”

“Roger that!”

“Lauren,” Narthas continued, gesturing at her. “We’re going to head directly into the city when we get there. I’m going to go speak with Fen, and you’re going to grab us a room at the Guesthouse. I’m going to wake up bright and early in the morning and head up to the Citadel, speak with a few friends I’ve got in high places just to get an idea of what Residents know. I haven’t been on this side of Rohan in months, so I need to catch up.”

That seemed like a reasonable plan. “Gotcha. That it?”

The elf smiled and shook his head. “That’s all I got for now.”

“You three heard all of that?”

“Sure did,” Gasket said.

“I think we’re ready to go then,” Narthas said, patting his massive horse. “Let’s go?”

Lauren grinned. “Let’s go! Autobots,” she called out dramatically. “Roll out! YEAH!” She always wanted to say that.

With a dig of her heels, her horse darted off away East, Narthas right beside her, and a posse of huge animals just behind them.