Part 1

“And then,” said Eowyn, dipping her head to avoid a frost-covered branch, “I shall take him down to the stables, and show him his present.”

Legolas looked at the coal-black mare his wife was leading on a long rein. “Are you sure you can bear to part with her, melmenya?” he asked, gently. The mare had been the first offspring of Eowyn’s beloved horse, Brightstar, and Eowyn had not only helped birth her but had also had a hand in her training.

“It will be hard,” she admitted, ducking under another branch, “but Faramir deserves a swift horse, and he will take good care of her, Lassui.”

Legolas smiled.

...

It was two days before Yuletide, and the couple were riding to Caras Arnen, the City on the Hills, to spend the festive season with the Prince of Ithilien.

It had been a long and taxing year—they had helped put down a rebellion in the North of Rohan; had investigated a series of particularly bloody murders in the Academy of Minas Tirith; had sailed the Bay of Carhilivren in search of Hentmirë’s long-lost cousin; and now they were more than ready to spend twelve blissful days doing nothing more than eating, drinking and having fun with their closest friends.

...

Approaching the foothills of Emyn Arnen, the trail—flanked either side by steep, snowy banks—suddenly narrowed, and Legolas gestured to Eowyn that she should go first.

She urged Brightstar forward, leading the mare behind her and, just as she entered the passage, she heard a strange sound—like the hollow crack that sometimes accompanies lightning—followed by a rush of foul-smelling air that shot past her, spooking both horses and almost unseating her, and then the ground began to shake beneath her and, amidst the mounting chaos, she thought she heard Legolas cry out in horror.

“Lassui?” she yelled, trying to turn Brightstar’s head into the wind, “LASSUI!”

But the narrow pass and the panicking mare defeated her.

Over her shoulder she could see fog—or smoke—and a strange flicker of light, which seemed to be getting closer, and—deciding to abandon the horses, and run back to Legolas—she was beginning to dismount when she heard him shout, “Get clear, melmenya! Ride! Ride!”