Title: Tomorrow Never Comes
Author: Lefty
E-Mail: ksasoccergrl@aol.com
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Attacked by a small group of orcs, Aragorn and Legolas defend themselves in what looks like an easy victory. But there will be no dawn for one person.
Disclaimer: Middle Earth and all it's recognizable characters and places belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. I make no profit off of this. I write this for the sole purpose of enjoyment.
How the small band of orcs managed to sneak up on them, Aragorn would never know. But the terrible mystery that left him alone and grief-stricken would haunt him forever.
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Aragorn, Ranger of the North and heir to the throne of Gondor, rode on his horse quietly beside Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood.
"It was nice to spend time in Mirkwood and visit your father," Aragorn said softly, not wanting to disturb the quiet stillness around them. The two friends were just returning from a week's long visit with Legolas' father, Thranduil, in Mirkwood.
"Yes, it was." Legolas agreed just as quietly. "It will also be nice to visit your family."
The sun was beginning to set and it cast beautiful colors across the sky. The soft purples blended in with the fading blues as the wind whispered softly throughout the trees. At the beginning of that particular day, Aragorn and Legolas had laughed out loud, recalling old adventures and humorous stories. They had joked around a lot, enjoying each other's company and the comforting woodland. But as the sun faded, and cast its last rays across the land, Aragorn and Legolas quieted down and rode quietly side by side. The peaceful setting had a calming affect and a soothing way to end their day's walk.
Aragorn began scanning the trees for a clearing where they could set up camp even though Rivendell was about half a day's distance from their location at the moment. He only had to look a minute before he found one neatly snuggled away into the trees. There was enough room for a fire and a place for Legolas and himself to bed down. Aragorn pulled of the reins on his horse and reached out to touch Legolas' arm lightly to get his friend to stop also.
"I think we should start to set up camp before it gets too dark. How about over there in that clearing?" He pointed about 30 yards to the left of him, and Legolas gave it a look, nodding his head in satisfaction. They broke off to the left of the path they were taking and headed for their new campsite.
Moments later, the two had begun to chat and laugh quietly again while Aragorn started a small fire and Legolas tended to the horses.
"Look's like for once we will both be walking into Rivendell on our own," Legolas joked good-naturedly.
Aragorn laughed. "Yes, and for that, I'm sure Father will be pleased." Both of the young men had a rather outstanding record for needing Lord Elrond's healing because more often then not Aragorn, arrived in Rivendell with an injured Legolas or vice versa.
Aragorn had managed to get a small fire going just as Legolas, who was finished with the horses, came to squat down in front of the fire across from him.
"I am hungry," Aragorn stated suddenly with a small whine evident on the edge of his voice. Legolas eyed his friend curiously, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Aragorn's actions reminded Legolas of a small boy.
"I have some lembas," Legolas said nonchalantly They had eaten lembas for the passed few days and although Legolas had not grown tired of it, he knew his friend longed for variety.
Aragorn scrunched up his nose, and looked at Legolas with eyes that said "do we have to." The elf had to cover up a laugh with small cough. He turned a more serious gaze towards Aragorn. "But I would much rather go hunting tonight," Legolas added, almost mischievously.
Aragorn jumped up immediately. "Good," he said, his face beaming with enthusiasm. "I'd thought you'd never mention it." Legolas laughed freely this time, and stood up to join his friend.
Since neither one of them had discarded their weapons yet, they glanced over the camp to make sure everything was okay before turning to head into the woods along the edge of the clearing. They never expected what would happen next.
An arrow sailed out of the nowhere in front of the friends and struck a tree along the edge of the clearing, missing Aragorn and Legolas by feet. Legolas quickly drew his bow and notched an arrow, spinning around to face the direction in which he thought the arrow had come from. Aragorn drew his bow also, and stood beside Legolas ready for what they were about to face. Legolas tensed momentarily, his Elven eyes spotting whatever hide on the far side of the camp, and let an arrow fly.
Aragorn heard the screech of an orc and watched horrorstruck as a large group of orcs emerged from the opposite side of the camp. It wasn't the orcs in themselves that had surprised Aragorn, for he had faced them before. It was the fact that they had managed to sneak up on the clearing without either Legolas or himself noticing.
Legolas quickly drew another arrow and notched it, pulling the string back before releasing and killing another of the black creatures. Aragorn followed suit, and the two friends managed to slay about ten of the orcs before they were right upon them. This forced Aragorn to draw his sword and Legolas to resort to his Elven knives. Aragorn would have guessed that were about thirty orcs, including the ones already taken out by arrows. The group of orcs split up roughly in half as Legolas and Aragorn were forced to separate and fight alone.
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Aragorn ducked a killing swing aimed at his head before straitening up and slaying the orc with a single swipe of his sword. He turned around quickly, bringing up his sword to block the assault of a smaller orc running up behind him. Their swords clashed and Aragorn managed to force the small orc a few feet backwards before plunging his sword into the orc's midsection. There were so many upon him that all he could do was parry the oncoming blows and fight them off as best he could.
Across the camp, Legolas was fairing slightly better. He could dance around the orc easier with his grace and their clumsy swipes were easy to block. He struck out with one knife before using the other to cause an orc to stumble before he killed it. Seeing two orc charging at him, one running towards the front of him and the other coming up behind, he held up his knives in a defensive stance, waiting for the right time. Orcs were not the brightest creatures, which gave Legolas the advantage in this particular situation. As soon as they were almost upon him, he ducked and rolled gracefully out of the way, springing to his feet instantly. When the elf had ducked, the two orcs, unable to stop their motion before they realized what was going on, slammed into and impaled each other with their weapons. They faces twisted into a grim mask of surprise before falling to the forest floor.
The victory for the two friends looked good. Aragorn had four orcs left to kill and by risking a glance across the camp towards his friend, he could see that Legolas had three. Feeling the exhilaration of defeating their opponents, Aragorn began to finish them off easily. He kicked the feet out of the one orc standing around him before delivering the killing blow. He chanced another glance at Legolas across the camp.
Legolas killed one of the three remaining orcs, and brought his knives up to defend himself against the second. Then kicking out with his leg, he hit the orc in the stomach, causing it to stagger a bit before he slashed out with his knives and ended its life. When the orc fell, Legolas lifted his head towards Aragorn to make sure he was all right.
"Aragorn!" Legolas yelled suddenly for his friend's attention. "Look out behind you!"
Aragorn turned at the last possible moment to block the orc who was swinging he sword wildly. The orc's brash movements proved to be his undoing. They were easy for Aragorn to compete with and within a matter of moments, it was dead. But it was then, and the events to come, that would shatter Aragorn's life.
He turned towards Legolas again and watched, horrified, as Legolas whipped around to meet an orc. This one, obviously somewhat smarter then the others, thrust out his left elbow, catching Legolas underneath his chin and throwing the prince's head back. Realizing that he had caught the elf off guard, the orc then shot out his right hand that held a dagger and drove it into Legolas. The dagger sunk into the left side of the elf's chest. Blinded by the sudden burst of pain, Legolas dropped his Elven knives to the forest floor.
The world sped up now and Aragorn was no longer watching the final fight in slow motion. He saw the orc laugh cruelly as it held onto the hilt of the dagger, watching pain overcome the typically calm and smooth features of the elf.
Aragorn screamed a loud "NOOO" that echoed throughout the nearby trees before quickly spotting, and picking up, his discarded bow from the ground and notching an arrow. The orc either did not notice Aragorn or did not care. Aragorn aimed for the creature before releasing the string and catching the orc in the side of the head, killing it instantly. The orc's large hand dropped from the hilt of the dagger as he crumbled into a heap on the ground.
Legolas was still stunned and heard Aragorn's cry, but to him it sounded as if it were far off. He stared straight on, and his fingers slowly wrapped around the hilt of the orc's dagger. The wound caused extreme pain and he crashed to his knees. He chest heaved painfully, and taking as deep a breath as he could muster, he pulled the blade out. Aragorn had dropped his bow and was already running in a dead sprint to his friend's side. He could hear Legolas let out a small cry as he pulled the dagger out before letting it fall from his bloody hands. Aragorn slid on his knees to the ground and caught Legolas in his arms just as his friend swayed on his knees and pitched to the side.
Cloudy and pain filled blue-silver eyes looked up at Aragorn. Legolas' breath was coming in short, raspy, gasps and his tunic was soaked all on the left side. Using one hand to rip Legolas' tunic open and his other arm to cradle his friend's head and shoulders, Aragorn blanched at the site of Legolas' upper body. A deep wound punched the left side of his friend's chest.
But something was wrong. Legolas struggled vainly in Aragorn's arms, his back arching against the pain. Aragorn held on tight as Legolas' breathing become more labored with each passing second.
"Po...poison," Legolas struggled to say. "The...the dag...dagger." His long fingers, stained crimson with blood, reached up to the front of Aragorn's tunic and twisted into a strong grasp.
Aragorn's heart clenched. The dagger was probably poisoned. Orcs were known for poisoning their weapons to make death unavoidable and agonizing. And judging by Legolas' labored breathing, Aragorn would guess that the dagger had also punctured a lung. The toxin was going straight to Legolas' bloodstream, shutting everything down and making the already terrible situation worse.
"Lie still. Everything will be all right, my friend. We will get to you my father. He will take care of you," Aragorn said reassuringly, pushing the long strands of golden hair out of Legolas' eyes. "You saved my life, did you know that? I didn't even see the orc coming up behind me. You...you saved me...and....and...now looked what happened." Tears began to form in his eyes.
"Wasn't...your...fault," Legolas managed. Although the words were spoken with good intentions, they offered no comfort to Aragorn. He watched painfully as Legolas' began to tremble and tightened his grip on Aragorn's tunic. The poison was already doing its work and Aragorn realized despairingly that he had never seen anything work so quickly.
The dagger wound throbbed unmercifully and Legolas couldn't help but twist and turn in futile attempts to ride himself of the pain. Aragorn's figure over him began to become fuzzy before his eyes and he blinked rapidly to try and keep the vision of his friend in view.
Aragorn saw Legolas' eyes haze over even more and become unfocused as the elf's head lolled to the side. He cupped Legolas' cheek in his hand and turned the prince's face back towards him.
"Stay with me, Legolas," he pleaded, his voice cracking with sorrow. Legolas's focused, albeit slowly, on his friend again. Aragorn managed a weak smiled for a brief moment, but his face furrowed in anguish as the tears spilled down his cheeks.
"Looks like...I...I...won't...be walking into...Rivendell...on my own...this time," Legolas whispered valiantly. Aragorn couldn't stop the sob that came after the comment, remembering the conversation they had shared not to long ago. The irony of the situation was cruel. His shoulders shook as reality flooded once more through him. Legolas wasn't going to make it to Rivendell. The poison was too strong and was working far to quickly. Aragorn didn't know what to do.
"Do not leave me, Legolas. Not...not now. You will be okay. Elrond will help. You...you just have to hang on a little longer." He tried to be strong, but Aragorn only sobbed wretchedly instead, gently holding his quivering friend down in his arms and letting his tears splash onto the prince's pale cheeks.
"Hurts...to...to...breathe," Legolas choked out, his head tilting slightly backwards and his back arching against the assault of pain as he gasped for the air he felt leaving him swiftly.
"I do not want to lose you, Legolas. I...I cannot lose you." Aragorn continued, whispering softly yet despairingly at the same time.
The comment stilled Legolas for only a moment. "I will...always...be...with you," he rasped, bringing his head back down and looking into Aragorn's eyes. Aragorn realized that even in Legolas' last moments, Legolas was trying to comfort him.
Reaching up a with trembling hand and the last strength he could gather, Legolas laid his palm on Aragorn's cheek, smiling up at his friend for the last time. Aragorn clutched Legolas tighter and whispered his friend's name as a way of begging him to stay. He knew this was the end but didn't want to believe it. Legolas' silvery-blue eyes clouded over forever before they unfocused and his hand fell from Aragorn's face.
Legolas stopped moving and lay limp in Aragorn's arms. His slender fingers, which had once been twisted in the fabric of Aragorn's tunic, relaxed and fell onto his stomach. The prince's harsh breath no longer filled his ears.
Shutting the sightless eyes and wrapping his arms tightly around Legolas' body, he pulled the elf into his chest. He cried brokenly, rocking back and forth. Aragorn shook his head slowly, not wanting to believe that Legolas was dead. Legolas was an elf. Elves were immortal. They weren't supposed to die. Yet truth of the matter was, Aragorn always knew that it was possible for elves to die, but he had never imagined that Legolas would. But he did die. Legolas's was gone. "Wasn't you fault," he remembered Legolas saying. But even though deep-down in his heart Aragorn knew that it wasn't his fault, the only person he could find to blame, was himself.
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It was well into the morning before Aragorn could bring himself to lay Legolas, his best friend, flat on the ground. But his cries of grief and misery echoed throughout the forest for the rest of the day.