With a sigh, Legolas added more firewood to the softly blazing fire.
Whether Aragorn was asleep or not he could not tell, his breaths seemed
even, though. He was lying on a soft rug with his back to Legolas, facing
into the woods.
So Legolas continued to look into the fire, while thinking back to the last few days. The day Sauron fell out of power again and Frodo tossed the ring into the fires of the mountain of doom, Sauron had cast a spell upon all the Orcs, that they go and search for Aragorn, and kill him under all costs. Legolas was now on a journey, taking Aragorn in secret to the prancing pony, where the other members of the original ring-bearers group awaits to discuss further actions.
Honest to say, Legolas was worried. He had planned to go and visit Fangorn forest with Gimli, and then to the sea. But nothing happened the way they should. Aragorn was forced to leave his throne and onto the run as Orcs stampeded into his palace. Terror did not spread this time, the Orcs were merely aiming for Aragorn, so civilians were safe. But the safety of Aragorn was the most important thing for every single member who participated in the journey to Mordor. There was just too many Orcs for the guards and soldiers to deal with. The truth was, there was no open war. The Orcs were in many hidden places, waiting to attack, body guards were not enough, and the Orcs were too separated to use an army against them. They hid in the gutters, in civilian closets, under bar tables.everywhere. But lately, the Orcs seemed to gain a mind of their own. They are once again gathering, but for an unknown purpose. The purpose became obvious when one of the Orcs was caught and confessed under torture. The Orcs were forming their own army, in another attempt to overtake other races. But this time, no simple ring would stop them. This would eventually lead to war.
At this point, Aragorn turned around to face Legolas, and Legolas could tell that he was definitely awake.
"Still worried about lady Arwen?" Legolas asked Aragorn, knowing that there had to be a reason why he was still awake.
Aragorn did not answer, but the look in his eyes confirmed this question. Without a word, he stared at the fire, watching it cackle on the wood, and his thoughts far off somewhere, where his true love lays.
"Don't worry." Legolas also looked back into the fire, as if able to see something there. "You've made the right choice. The Orcs were only aiming for you, Lady Arwen should be safe. Besides, you needed someone to look after the humans in middle-earth while you are gone."
Aragorn merely gave a grunt to signal that he was listening, but gave no more than that. A period of silence followed, when both of them stared into the fire, deep in thought.
"Tomorrow we meet up with Gimli?" Aragorn asked quietly. It was the first thing he had said all night.
"Yes. We have no choice but to circle around Helm's Deep into the woods, Helm's Deep provided far too many hiding places for Orcs."
"Remember our battle in Helm's Deep?" Aragorn recalled with a grim chuckle.
"It was a fierce one." Legolas replied, remembering back to that battle, where they almost stood against impossible odds. "It was a miracle, also a coincidence."
"Coincidence?"
"That we split up with the ringbearer and followed Mithrandir, a string of coincidences which led us to the battleground."
No one could argue with that. Suddenly, Legolas leapt up with a start. He grasped for his bow and notched an arrow and released it almost instantaneously. A howl came from behind the bush, and a body fell heavily, crushing the bushes. Aragorn jumped up from the rug and reached for his sword, then diving low so that Legolas' arrow would not hit him instead. It all happened so fast that thirty seconds later, nothing was moving. Aragorn stood in his attacking pose, holding his sword. Legolas, with his arrow notched ready on the taunt bow string, nothing stirred.
"No more." Legolas relaxed after a full minute frozen in action. "But we cannot stay anymore. We have to go. By morning, the Orcs would have noticed that their sentry which came this way did not return, and they will come for us."
These statements were quite unnecessary, for Aragorn was already packing up his rugs and accessories in silence. Legolas began stuffing their provisions into the backpack. There wasn't very much aside from lembas, and with disgust, he tossed out bits of meat which were left over from their hunt yesterday. The meats were spoiled; they will have to hunt for another prey tomorrow.
The moon was high in the sky as the two made their way across the woods. Several times, Legolas froze to listen to the rustle of the leaves to make sure that they weren't being followed. By the time the sun was seen on the horizon, they could spot Helm's Deep in the distance, backed by the glowing rising sun.
"This is the meeting spot?" Aragorn pointed to a large, gnarly tree which stood amidst a clearing, with a small strip of red ribbon tied to a high branch.
Legolas nodded, and together, the two of them sat down heavily at the root of the tree, completely exhausted. The night's travel wasn't exactly physically tiring, but it was the psychological tension which caused their nerves to be high-strung until now, and a wave of exhaustion washed upon them, as both of them let out a small sigh of relief.
"Lembas?" Legolas took out some bread and offered some to Aragorn, who shook his head grimly at the offered food.
"I am sick of lembas." Aragorn told him with a bitter smile. "I wonder now how did Frodo and Sam survive all the way to Mordor with these? I sure hope Gimli brings some good food with him on his way here."
Legolas didn't know how long they sat under the tree, waiting for Gimli's arrival, but it seemed like eternity. He knew that they had arrived earlier than the appointed time but he didn't know how early. It was after Aragorn had fallen asleep leaning on his left shoulder before Gimli arrived, looking worried and overjoyed at the same time.
Carefully leaning Aragorn against the tree so he could move, Legolas stood up, stretched, and waited until Gimli stopped right next to him, and then ruffled Gimli's messy hair affectionately. "Where've you been, dwarf? We waited practically forever."
"I thought you and the human might prefer some.good meat, after all that traveling on just lembas." Gimli said gruffly before he took out some large parcels wrapped in giant tea leaves out of his backpack.
Delighted, Legolas sorted through the parcels. "Beef, chicken, bread, cheese, rolls and pastry.wow, impressive. Still warm!"
"The lady at the inn gave me a hard time, I hope these makes up for my late arrival." Gimli went over to Aragorn and examined him closely, then, "He hadn't aged at all! Why, he looked no different from when we last saw him, at the end of the journey of the ring!"
"You hadn't exactly aged yourself." Legolas pointed out.
An arrow flew so close to Gimli's head it cuffed off bits of his beard before landing with a thud on the tree. With a shout, Gimli pulled out his axe and with that shout, several Orcs stood up, encircling the surrounding. They were trapped.
Aragorn had woken up by now, but he was in no position to move. His sword was close by, but as the situation was, one single movement could cause arrows zooming in on them from all sides. It was as if time froze, the Orcs, with their rapiers ready and arrows aimed; Legolas, with his arrow notched, ready to let it fly; Gimli, holding his axe, looking around grimly, and Aragorn, in a sitting posture, leaning against a tree, looking very alarmed. Then, as if on signal, the Orcs all started moving in together, making a tighter circle around the three. They moved in slowly, but making a tighter circle.
Legolas turn and saw Aragorn gave Gimli a look, which Gimli turned to pass into onto him. He understood immediately. That was one good thing he had learnt on his journey. He, Gimli and Aragorn had grown so accustomed to each other that sometimes all it took was a single signal for them to understand the meaning. It was a mutual understanding which could only be obtained after being together for so long.
With a split second of indecision, Legolas suddenly leapt up, releasing his arrow at the same time. The Orcs released their arrows at him, but he knew that their arrows were aimed at his chest, so the arrows passed from underneath him harmlessly as he flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet. While he did his stunt, Aragorn had flipped over and retrieved his sword so by the time Legolas landed onto the ground with a soft thump, he had already killed an Orc and was fending off arrows which another two were firing at him. Gimli was quick with the axe, so Legolas did not worry about him. Dimly, in the background, he could hear Gimli's shout as the axe made a swishing sound and cut deeply into an Orc's right side. He pulled out his short sword and launched at the closest one to him, who was just trying to notch another arrow. The Orc dodged, completely abandoning his bow and arrow, but it was not fast enough. With amazing speed which only an elf could manage, Legolas bent his right arm towards him and then slashing out horizontally at the Orc. The edge of the sword cut right through the left side of the Orc, cut through his chest, and came out the right side. It was as if he was almost cut in half, a top half and a bottom half, separated by the horizontal slash on his chest. There was not scream, there was not enough energy left in the Orc to scream. With a faint gurgle, he fell down to his knees silently. What happened to him was no longer important, for Legolas was already in deep combat with another. This one was smart, it had not abandoned its bow and arrow. As Legolas turned around to deal with him, he released an arrow instantly. Legolas did not react fast enough to block the arrow with his sword, but it did not hit him on his heart, where it was aimed. He had lifted his arm in an instinctive motion and it pierced through his sleeves and embedded itself deeply within is arm.
"Aa!" Legolas gave a short scream. The pain tore through him like wild fire, sending waves through his body. For a second he was blinded by the pain, his legs wavered and he couldn't tell up from down. Then, dazed, he forced himself to concentrate at the upcoming threat. Knowing that the arrow in his arm could be a very dangerous weapon, he gathered up all his strength and resolution, gritted his teeth and with a loud roar, pulled off the arrow. The Orc was momentarily stunned at his action, which gave him time to recover. As he pulled off the arrow, the pain was unbearable. He fell forwards, unable to control his balance. The Orc thought he was attacking randomly and madly, and fell back, accidentally crashing onto one of his companion, and Gimli cut them both through, taking the element of surprise.
Then everything went black.
Eventually, consciousness returned to him, and Legolas slowly came to his senses. His wound did not hurt as much now, but was a dim throb in the background. Consciousness did not return easily. It took all his will for Legolas to force himself to open his eyes, despite of his extreme weariness due to blood loss. He could feel the warmth, which usually meant a fire nearby.
What had happened? Were we captured? He questioned himself silently. Then, trying not to move his facial muscles too much, he opened his eyes open just barely enough to see the situation. Even though his vision was still blurry, he could be sure that they weren't captured. After making sure of that, Legolas opened his eyes fully to look at his new surroundings. It was a while before his brain started functioning, and his vision cleared, he saw only Aragorn, sitting beside a central fire which he also was also laid beside, looking very grimly into the fire. He didn't seem to notice that Legolas was awake, but continued to look with a dazed expression into the cackling flames, deep in thought.
"Aragorn." Legolas called softly to Aragorn, as Aragorn turned to look at him with such a somber expression Legolas thought for an instant he had taken him for dead.
"First piece of good news I've had in days." Aragorn said with a bitter chuckle, looking at Legolas and tossing a piece of wood into the fire. "I thought you were not going to make it, but your spirits prevailed, you came to."
"Of course." Legolas smiled back. "I cannot go before I finish my mission and deliver you to the rest of the company, can I?"
"Well someone obviously thought they can." Aragorn said without much expression, as if angry at someone but unable to bring himself to face it.
Legolas propped himself up on his arms and was on the verge of arguing when he remembered that they had met up with Gimli. Then, the sudden truth hit him. At first, the truth was so cruel that he had refused to acknowledge it, but it swam in the back of his head making sounds like a bee. Now it was a doubt no longer, but it had made it no less painful.
"Gimli." He said stupidly. His brain wasn't functioning properly, and an image went through his brain again and again, a dwarf, a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf.
Aragorn did not reply, but rather looked away into the woods.
"Tell me how it happened." Legolas demanded in a murmur, then laid back down. The pain in his arm had returned, causing a jolt through him, forcing him to lie back down, grimacing. Strangely, the mental pain did not make him numb, but worsened the throbbing in his arm, which felt like fire, burning at his arm, all the way up to his shoulders. Something blocked at his throat, but he did not want to cry. Men don't cry. He bit his lips not only to choke back a scream of pain, but also tears which threatened to spill over. Forcing the emotion down, he took a deep gulp and focused his attention on Aragorn.
It seemed like for a while, Aragorn was doing the same thing. For a few minutes of silence, none of them spoke. Legolas could not tell what Aragorn was feeling since his back was to him, but that slight shake of his shoulders made Legolas think that he was crying. Suddenly, Aragorn burst into laughter. It was as if everything was back to normal again. Shaking with uncontrollable mirth, he turned to Legolas and laughed so hard that he almost doubled over. Legolas watched in confusion, frowning. What had gotten into Aragorn?! Gimli just died and yet he's.
Another string of deep laughter came from within the bush.
"Gimli!" Legolas shouted in surprise and relief. Then. "You tricked me! Gimli did not die, he is still alive!"
Laughing so hard that tears were dripping down, the dwarf walked out from behind the bush, rubbing the back of his hands on his cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Ho ho ho, my elf friend, you are one of the.the most.most gullible creature I've ever.met." His sentence was frequently interrupted by snorts which was the result of him laughing so hard.
Looking from one to the other, Legolas felt relief flood through him, then laughter came easily. "You two miscreants, you tricked me! I'll get you two for this!" He said, while chuckling lightly himself.
"With what?" Aragorn teased. "With your pierced arm? Whoa, I am truly scared."
Gimli fell to his knees laughing, with occasional snorts and coughs in between. Legolas laughed along, feeling considerably better than before. Even the pain in his arm seemed to have lessened to an acceptable amount.
"So what really did happen?" Legolas asked after Aragorn and Gimli has had their share of amusement. Aragorn was completely calm now, but Gimli still chortled now and then, thinking of the incidence.
"Well, you were brave. After Gimli cut through the two that had crashed together, there were only three Orcs left and it wasn't very hard to deal with them." Aragorn said easily. Then, he looked a bit more serious. "I'm very worried about your arm, though, it seemed that pulling out the arrow was not a very good idea. The arrow had hit a major artery, the bleeding would not stop until I applied redmoss to stop the blood from flowing so freely. Now the wound seemed better, but you would need serious healing."
"Yes, and that was why we had switched course to go to Lothlorien." Gimli told him, then, as if having an after thought, he added, "To where lady Galadriel lives."
"Would the ringbearer and Mithrandir worry if we are late in arriving?"
"Then we might just have to die and then come back to life, right Gimli?"Aragorn winked at Gimli and the both of them laughed again, Legolas just looked at them and smiled.
"Not funny." He said, after a considerable pause. "I truly believed that.Gimli had.had."
"You do know what this meant, don't you?" Aragorn asked, suddenly surly.
"It means that I shouldn't trust you and Gimli ever again?"
"No!" Aragorn gave a half amused, half exasperated groan, while Gimli had burst into a new round of laughter. "I mean the attack."
"It means.the Orcs probably has a good grasp of where we are now." Legolas sighed.
"And that means?" Gimli asked, recovering from his mirth.
"That means we have got a long way to go, my friend." Legolas said truthfully, and looked into the distance.
So Legolas continued to look into the fire, while thinking back to the last few days. The day Sauron fell out of power again and Frodo tossed the ring into the fires of the mountain of doom, Sauron had cast a spell upon all the Orcs, that they go and search for Aragorn, and kill him under all costs. Legolas was now on a journey, taking Aragorn in secret to the prancing pony, where the other members of the original ring-bearers group awaits to discuss further actions.
Honest to say, Legolas was worried. He had planned to go and visit Fangorn forest with Gimli, and then to the sea. But nothing happened the way they should. Aragorn was forced to leave his throne and onto the run as Orcs stampeded into his palace. Terror did not spread this time, the Orcs were merely aiming for Aragorn, so civilians were safe. But the safety of Aragorn was the most important thing for every single member who participated in the journey to Mordor. There was just too many Orcs for the guards and soldiers to deal with. The truth was, there was no open war. The Orcs were in many hidden places, waiting to attack, body guards were not enough, and the Orcs were too separated to use an army against them. They hid in the gutters, in civilian closets, under bar tables.everywhere. But lately, the Orcs seemed to gain a mind of their own. They are once again gathering, but for an unknown purpose. The purpose became obvious when one of the Orcs was caught and confessed under torture. The Orcs were forming their own army, in another attempt to overtake other races. But this time, no simple ring would stop them. This would eventually lead to war.
At this point, Aragorn turned around to face Legolas, and Legolas could tell that he was definitely awake.
"Still worried about lady Arwen?" Legolas asked Aragorn, knowing that there had to be a reason why he was still awake.
Aragorn did not answer, but the look in his eyes confirmed this question. Without a word, he stared at the fire, watching it cackle on the wood, and his thoughts far off somewhere, where his true love lays.
"Don't worry." Legolas also looked back into the fire, as if able to see something there. "You've made the right choice. The Orcs were only aiming for you, Lady Arwen should be safe. Besides, you needed someone to look after the humans in middle-earth while you are gone."
Aragorn merely gave a grunt to signal that he was listening, but gave no more than that. A period of silence followed, when both of them stared into the fire, deep in thought.
"Tomorrow we meet up with Gimli?" Aragorn asked quietly. It was the first thing he had said all night.
"Yes. We have no choice but to circle around Helm's Deep into the woods, Helm's Deep provided far too many hiding places for Orcs."
"Remember our battle in Helm's Deep?" Aragorn recalled with a grim chuckle.
"It was a fierce one." Legolas replied, remembering back to that battle, where they almost stood against impossible odds. "It was a miracle, also a coincidence."
"Coincidence?"
"That we split up with the ringbearer and followed Mithrandir, a string of coincidences which led us to the battleground."
No one could argue with that. Suddenly, Legolas leapt up with a start. He grasped for his bow and notched an arrow and released it almost instantaneously. A howl came from behind the bush, and a body fell heavily, crushing the bushes. Aragorn jumped up from the rug and reached for his sword, then diving low so that Legolas' arrow would not hit him instead. It all happened so fast that thirty seconds later, nothing was moving. Aragorn stood in his attacking pose, holding his sword. Legolas, with his arrow notched ready on the taunt bow string, nothing stirred.
"No more." Legolas relaxed after a full minute frozen in action. "But we cannot stay anymore. We have to go. By morning, the Orcs would have noticed that their sentry which came this way did not return, and they will come for us."
These statements were quite unnecessary, for Aragorn was already packing up his rugs and accessories in silence. Legolas began stuffing their provisions into the backpack. There wasn't very much aside from lembas, and with disgust, he tossed out bits of meat which were left over from their hunt yesterday. The meats were spoiled; they will have to hunt for another prey tomorrow.
The moon was high in the sky as the two made their way across the woods. Several times, Legolas froze to listen to the rustle of the leaves to make sure that they weren't being followed. By the time the sun was seen on the horizon, they could spot Helm's Deep in the distance, backed by the glowing rising sun.
"This is the meeting spot?" Aragorn pointed to a large, gnarly tree which stood amidst a clearing, with a small strip of red ribbon tied to a high branch.
Legolas nodded, and together, the two of them sat down heavily at the root of the tree, completely exhausted. The night's travel wasn't exactly physically tiring, but it was the psychological tension which caused their nerves to be high-strung until now, and a wave of exhaustion washed upon them, as both of them let out a small sigh of relief.
"Lembas?" Legolas took out some bread and offered some to Aragorn, who shook his head grimly at the offered food.
"I am sick of lembas." Aragorn told him with a bitter smile. "I wonder now how did Frodo and Sam survive all the way to Mordor with these? I sure hope Gimli brings some good food with him on his way here."
Legolas didn't know how long they sat under the tree, waiting for Gimli's arrival, but it seemed like eternity. He knew that they had arrived earlier than the appointed time but he didn't know how early. It was after Aragorn had fallen asleep leaning on his left shoulder before Gimli arrived, looking worried and overjoyed at the same time.
Carefully leaning Aragorn against the tree so he could move, Legolas stood up, stretched, and waited until Gimli stopped right next to him, and then ruffled Gimli's messy hair affectionately. "Where've you been, dwarf? We waited practically forever."
"I thought you and the human might prefer some.good meat, after all that traveling on just lembas." Gimli said gruffly before he took out some large parcels wrapped in giant tea leaves out of his backpack.
Delighted, Legolas sorted through the parcels. "Beef, chicken, bread, cheese, rolls and pastry.wow, impressive. Still warm!"
"The lady at the inn gave me a hard time, I hope these makes up for my late arrival." Gimli went over to Aragorn and examined him closely, then, "He hadn't aged at all! Why, he looked no different from when we last saw him, at the end of the journey of the ring!"
"You hadn't exactly aged yourself." Legolas pointed out.
An arrow flew so close to Gimli's head it cuffed off bits of his beard before landing with a thud on the tree. With a shout, Gimli pulled out his axe and with that shout, several Orcs stood up, encircling the surrounding. They were trapped.
Aragorn had woken up by now, but he was in no position to move. His sword was close by, but as the situation was, one single movement could cause arrows zooming in on them from all sides. It was as if time froze, the Orcs, with their rapiers ready and arrows aimed; Legolas, with his arrow notched, ready to let it fly; Gimli, holding his axe, looking around grimly, and Aragorn, in a sitting posture, leaning against a tree, looking very alarmed. Then, as if on signal, the Orcs all started moving in together, making a tighter circle around the three. They moved in slowly, but making a tighter circle.
Legolas turn and saw Aragorn gave Gimli a look, which Gimli turned to pass into onto him. He understood immediately. That was one good thing he had learnt on his journey. He, Gimli and Aragorn had grown so accustomed to each other that sometimes all it took was a single signal for them to understand the meaning. It was a mutual understanding which could only be obtained after being together for so long.
With a split second of indecision, Legolas suddenly leapt up, releasing his arrow at the same time. The Orcs released their arrows at him, but he knew that their arrows were aimed at his chest, so the arrows passed from underneath him harmlessly as he flipped backwards in the air and landed on his feet. While he did his stunt, Aragorn had flipped over and retrieved his sword so by the time Legolas landed onto the ground with a soft thump, he had already killed an Orc and was fending off arrows which another two were firing at him. Gimli was quick with the axe, so Legolas did not worry about him. Dimly, in the background, he could hear Gimli's shout as the axe made a swishing sound and cut deeply into an Orc's right side. He pulled out his short sword and launched at the closest one to him, who was just trying to notch another arrow. The Orc dodged, completely abandoning his bow and arrow, but it was not fast enough. With amazing speed which only an elf could manage, Legolas bent his right arm towards him and then slashing out horizontally at the Orc. The edge of the sword cut right through the left side of the Orc, cut through his chest, and came out the right side. It was as if he was almost cut in half, a top half and a bottom half, separated by the horizontal slash on his chest. There was not scream, there was not enough energy left in the Orc to scream. With a faint gurgle, he fell down to his knees silently. What happened to him was no longer important, for Legolas was already in deep combat with another. This one was smart, it had not abandoned its bow and arrow. As Legolas turned around to deal with him, he released an arrow instantly. Legolas did not react fast enough to block the arrow with his sword, but it did not hit him on his heart, where it was aimed. He had lifted his arm in an instinctive motion and it pierced through his sleeves and embedded itself deeply within is arm.
"Aa!" Legolas gave a short scream. The pain tore through him like wild fire, sending waves through his body. For a second he was blinded by the pain, his legs wavered and he couldn't tell up from down. Then, dazed, he forced himself to concentrate at the upcoming threat. Knowing that the arrow in his arm could be a very dangerous weapon, he gathered up all his strength and resolution, gritted his teeth and with a loud roar, pulled off the arrow. The Orc was momentarily stunned at his action, which gave him time to recover. As he pulled off the arrow, the pain was unbearable. He fell forwards, unable to control his balance. The Orc thought he was attacking randomly and madly, and fell back, accidentally crashing onto one of his companion, and Gimli cut them both through, taking the element of surprise.
Then everything went black.
Eventually, consciousness returned to him, and Legolas slowly came to his senses. His wound did not hurt as much now, but was a dim throb in the background. Consciousness did not return easily. It took all his will for Legolas to force himself to open his eyes, despite of his extreme weariness due to blood loss. He could feel the warmth, which usually meant a fire nearby.
What had happened? Were we captured? He questioned himself silently. Then, trying not to move his facial muscles too much, he opened his eyes open just barely enough to see the situation. Even though his vision was still blurry, he could be sure that they weren't captured. After making sure of that, Legolas opened his eyes fully to look at his new surroundings. It was a while before his brain started functioning, and his vision cleared, he saw only Aragorn, sitting beside a central fire which he also was also laid beside, looking very grimly into the fire. He didn't seem to notice that Legolas was awake, but continued to look with a dazed expression into the cackling flames, deep in thought.
"Aragorn." Legolas called softly to Aragorn, as Aragorn turned to look at him with such a somber expression Legolas thought for an instant he had taken him for dead.
"First piece of good news I've had in days." Aragorn said with a bitter chuckle, looking at Legolas and tossing a piece of wood into the fire. "I thought you were not going to make it, but your spirits prevailed, you came to."
"Of course." Legolas smiled back. "I cannot go before I finish my mission and deliver you to the rest of the company, can I?"
"Well someone obviously thought they can." Aragorn said without much expression, as if angry at someone but unable to bring himself to face it.
Legolas propped himself up on his arms and was on the verge of arguing when he remembered that they had met up with Gimli. Then, the sudden truth hit him. At first, the truth was so cruel that he had refused to acknowledge it, but it swam in the back of his head making sounds like a bee. Now it was a doubt no longer, but it had made it no less painful.
"Gimli." He said stupidly. His brain wasn't functioning properly, and an image went through his brain again and again, a dwarf, a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf a dwarf.
Aragorn did not reply, but rather looked away into the woods.
"Tell me how it happened." Legolas demanded in a murmur, then laid back down. The pain in his arm had returned, causing a jolt through him, forcing him to lie back down, grimacing. Strangely, the mental pain did not make him numb, but worsened the throbbing in his arm, which felt like fire, burning at his arm, all the way up to his shoulders. Something blocked at his throat, but he did not want to cry. Men don't cry. He bit his lips not only to choke back a scream of pain, but also tears which threatened to spill over. Forcing the emotion down, he took a deep gulp and focused his attention on Aragorn.
It seemed like for a while, Aragorn was doing the same thing. For a few minutes of silence, none of them spoke. Legolas could not tell what Aragorn was feeling since his back was to him, but that slight shake of his shoulders made Legolas think that he was crying. Suddenly, Aragorn burst into laughter. It was as if everything was back to normal again. Shaking with uncontrollable mirth, he turned to Legolas and laughed so hard that he almost doubled over. Legolas watched in confusion, frowning. What had gotten into Aragorn?! Gimli just died and yet he's.
Another string of deep laughter came from within the bush.
"Gimli!" Legolas shouted in surprise and relief. Then. "You tricked me! Gimli did not die, he is still alive!"
Laughing so hard that tears were dripping down, the dwarf walked out from behind the bush, rubbing the back of his hands on his cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Ho ho ho, my elf friend, you are one of the.the most.most gullible creature I've ever.met." His sentence was frequently interrupted by snorts which was the result of him laughing so hard.
Looking from one to the other, Legolas felt relief flood through him, then laughter came easily. "You two miscreants, you tricked me! I'll get you two for this!" He said, while chuckling lightly himself.
"With what?" Aragorn teased. "With your pierced arm? Whoa, I am truly scared."
Gimli fell to his knees laughing, with occasional snorts and coughs in between. Legolas laughed along, feeling considerably better than before. Even the pain in his arm seemed to have lessened to an acceptable amount.
"So what really did happen?" Legolas asked after Aragorn and Gimli has had their share of amusement. Aragorn was completely calm now, but Gimli still chortled now and then, thinking of the incidence.
"Well, you were brave. After Gimli cut through the two that had crashed together, there were only three Orcs left and it wasn't very hard to deal with them." Aragorn said easily. Then, he looked a bit more serious. "I'm very worried about your arm, though, it seemed that pulling out the arrow was not a very good idea. The arrow had hit a major artery, the bleeding would not stop until I applied redmoss to stop the blood from flowing so freely. Now the wound seemed better, but you would need serious healing."
"Yes, and that was why we had switched course to go to Lothlorien." Gimli told him, then, as if having an after thought, he added, "To where lady Galadriel lives."
"Would the ringbearer and Mithrandir worry if we are late in arriving?"
"Then we might just have to die and then come back to life, right Gimli?"Aragorn winked at Gimli and the both of them laughed again, Legolas just looked at them and smiled.
"Not funny." He said, after a considerable pause. "I truly believed that.Gimli had.had."
"You do know what this meant, don't you?" Aragorn asked, suddenly surly.
"It means that I shouldn't trust you and Gimli ever again?"
"No!" Aragorn gave a half amused, half exasperated groan, while Gimli had burst into a new round of laughter. "I mean the attack."
"It means.the Orcs probably has a good grasp of where we are now." Legolas sighed.
"And that means?" Gimli asked, recovering from his mirth.
"That means we have got a long way to go, my friend." Legolas said truthfully, and looked into the distance.