The Promise of Love
AN: Well here we are… Part two… Ready or not… here it comes.
The Second part in the trilogy of love; Araviniel embarks on the most challenging journey she has faced yet. The Loss of her first love places doubts in her mind. Regret forms a barrier between her and the Prince Legolas. But it's all to change when they both discover that they are soon to be wed… and not of their own will. Will Love be able to break the barrier? Or will it take another lost love to bring Araviniel around. But their marriage isn't the only surprise. Araviniel suddenly is aware of a new responsibility…. The last gift that Tatharion had granted her. And it just may be the one thing that reminds her of the Promise of Love.
Chapter One: The Power of Love
Araviniel rose from the ground, bringing with her Tatharion's blade; a ghostly glow surrounding her. Her worn clothing and faded cloak took on the form of a black corset and black leggings, a crimson cloak falling over her shoulders to cape around her fallen lover's face. Her booted feet stood in the bloody mud. Lightning crashed around the blackened forest.
One step…One breath… and she was upon him. The leader turned briefly before she whipped the blade around to sever his head from his shoulders. A sharp whistle was heard. Suddenly the archers were aware of her rising. Arrows flew out from around her… all missing their targets…for their objective was no longer among them.
Araviniel let her hands guide her as she climbed rapidly into the trees. She followed her instincts and elvish senses. Counting softly to herself she dropped behind the archer's backs silently. Grasping the reins of the horse Tatharion had supplied she mounted him quickly, keeping her sword outstretched. She kicked the horse sharply and rode up behind the elves. One by one she slaughtered…and they all fell suddenly to her blade in the darkness…taken unaware by her location and their lack of sight.
Her strong black horse snorted and pawed the ground, rearing in the pelting rain. He seemed to mock the elves as they futilely tried to fight their unseen opponent. He seemed to laugh at them as she came down stroke after stroke, slicing into their flesh. She would call him Lasta O Lalaithen, for it meant Listen to my laughter. And indeed that was what he seemed to say… mocking them in their disadvantage.
When she had finished she spurred her horse into a gallop. The rain poured around her as she rode in the darkness. She let him lead her in the obscurity of an artificial night. The sky rumbled with thunder and salty tears ran down her cheeks. Her body was here… her strength and her anger, hatred, was here, but her heart and mind were with Tatharion. And there they would stay… for an eternity as his body laid in the darkened caverns of death.
Her mother whispered to her softly,
"Fear not your opponent for he shall be given onto you. long has he poisoned the blood of innocent beings… and so by an innocent being he shall fall."
"I am no innocent mother!"
"Indeed not my dear, for by the will of a beast of the earth he shall fall."
And then Araviniel suddenly found herself alone once again.
When she came up to the palace she gave a swift,
"Si!" (Now!)
She kicked her horse and gave him rein. She stood up slightly and arched over his neck as he jumped over a short rock wall. As soon as she found herself inside the ruins she found that she was surrounded by elves. She galloped through them, hacking and slicing her way to the main gate. She hewed and chopped and cut her way through the many elves that dared try and stop her.
When she reached the gate she left behind her a trail of blood and severed pieces of once whole beings. This was her way now. She jumped off of Lasta O Lalaithen, sword held high despite its weight, and strode to the gate where she called out to the unyielding fortified wall at the top of her lungs,
"Nae Cothen, Telithon! Telil sí Pen-vorn, Lhŷgion, Mernen pedi. Iston vellas lín ned dagor; Avobreston. You will die this night by my sword… and you will release to me Legolas…Prince of Mirkwood. Fight me coward! For what you do not suffer here by my sword you will forever endure in Hell!"
(Alas my enemy, I will come! Come here Dark one, Son of snakes, I wish to speak. I know your strength in battle; I don't care)
The Silence was overwhelming. Araviniel strode back and forth in front of the gate calling out to an unseen, unheard, unresponsive threat to the world as she knew it, and was met with the silence of a mausoleum. A low growl left her throat.
"Coward! Have you not the stomach to face a she-elf! Ha! I mock your strength oh great one… Oh Wizard of unknown power. You kill your victims from the inside out! Breaking their strength by taking away the only things they live for! You have taken my life… I have nothing left to live for. So face me now that I might be rid of this sad existence they call Araviniel Daughter of the New Dawn. I have no dawn left… only a never ending night. And you haunt ever crevice of it… so show yourself that we may end this here! For once Ríndhraug… Finish what you start!"
Araviniel stopped… breathless… an eerie hush fell over the forest like a cloak. The rain had stopped.
Suddenly an odd moaning sound erupted from in front of her…the gates were opening. On a horse of the blackest night, with glowing red eyes, rode a figure cloaked likewise. His face was calm and smooth yet a deep evil lay in the yellow of his eyes. The horse snorted and trotted forward. Araviniel spun her sword and stood steadily. As He approached she suddenly felt dwarfed in front of his massive horse. A noise behind her drew her attention briefly. She turned slightly to see Lasta O Lalaithen standing tall beside her.
She turned back to the wizard. He dismounted slowly, drawing with him a long curved blade with menacing inscriptions winding up its dark metal. The hilt curved into a sharp design with a fire red swirling around it, burnt into the sword with rage.
Araviniel glanced briefly at her silver blade, shining slightly in the dark. She felt the echoes of her lover's presence within the cold steel. Or was it Mithril? She no longer knew. All she saw was the approaching wizard. This was it. It was more then just a personal duel. It was good against evil, Honor against treachery, serenity against rage… Love against hate… winner takes all.
The Dark Lord Ríndhraug spoke… and all traces of security fled the dark forest like birds at first sign of danger.
"You bring with you a light I have chased for over a millennia… a light I have vowed to smother in eternal darkness. Princess Araviniel… you should never have returned to the Forest of Mirkwood. You will die dear princess… prepare yourself." His gravelly guttural voice was saturated with evil.
Araviniel only smiled.
"I have been preparing for death all of my life Ríndhraug. For this day… this moment… for this climax in the story woven throughout the lives of thousands. And I tell you now. I shall not die by your sword. You will be the one to perish. And you know it is so. It has been written since the beginning of time. Your demise, down to the last second, has already been recorded. You will not even be granted an honorable death for you shall die by the will of a beast!
All there is to find out… is how I will come out. And I assure you I will come out the stronger. Speak no more of your poisoned words and dance with me this day. Let us end this!"
The Wizard lunged at her and she ran, sword high, and met his blade with a resounding clang. He was much stronger than her, but she was not alone. She could feel Tatharion's strength empower her. He gave his life to be able to aid her in this last battle. And she would win it for him.
She twisted around the Wizard and slashed out at his back. He whirled around just in time to block the fatal blow. A low growl left his throat and he stepped back, whirling his blade in a backspin. Then he charged her. Araviniel was not entirely prepared for the intensity of his attack and she found herself being pushed back. Step by step in the mud brought her closer and closer to the wall.
She ducked under his next stroke and slashed out at his feet. The wizard leapt above her blade and brought his down upon her. Araviniel fell back in the mud and raised her blade horizontally to block his down-stroke. The wizard pressed his weight down upon her and she found herself sinking slightly in the cold wet mud. Her arms were giving out. Slowly, an inch at a time, her sword was pressed closer to her neck until finally a streamline of bright red could be seen.
Araviniel cried out and with a burst of strength kicked the wizard in the stomach, providing enough time to slip out from under him. The wizard growled once again and picked himself up to a stand. Araviniel faced him and was about to strike when she suddenly felt her energy leaving her. The wizards hand was stretched out into a claw like form and he had a wicked smile on his face.
"How do you believe I survived this long after facing all the elves that have come for me? Its simple really, I draw their strength from their bodies untill they can barely move. And then I take their simple insignificant lives from them with my bare hands. It is a dark secret I have learned after years of research in the dark arts. You will die this day… not i. you're foolish prophecies mean nothing to me!"
Araviniel fell to her knees and her swords dropped into the mud. The wizard approached her and her vision slowly failed. He stabbed his sword into the earth and then placed his large cold hands around her fragile neck.
But just as she was giving up hope, Tatharion once again pulled through, even after his death. Araviniel heard the wizard's breath get knocked from his lungs and he was thrown away from Araviniel. Araviniel searched with her eyes into the darkness and saw the form of Lasta O Lalaithen standing between her and the fallen wizard. Ríndhraug picked himself up and stared at the horse.
Araviniel found her strength leaving her. She barely had the energy to watch on as fear alighted in the wizard's eyes. Her horse reared and in that instant he seemed more powerful then Araviniel had imagined any animal being. His eyes lit blue and he pawed the earth, snorting, his hot breath forming a cloud in the damp cold air. The wizard struggled to his feet and saw his sword at Araviniel's side… too far out of reach.
Then Lasta O Lalaithen charged. The wizard scrambled to try and run but in an instant the horse was upon him. His razor hooves shoved the wizard face down into the mud and the horse reared again, coming down to slam into the wizard's dark flesh. Lasta O Lalaithen whinnied fiercely and continued to pound Ríndhraug's limp body into the now bloody mud.
"I am no innocent mother!"
"Indeed not my dear, for by the will of a beast of the earth he shall fall."
When he was satisfied the horse threw his head up to the sky and reared, kicking out with his hooves. Lightning flashed and Araviniel got a clear look at the horrific scene before her. She recoiled inside at the twisted body of the wizard, drowning in his own blood, his face formed into that of fear and ultimate hate…aimed directly at her.
But she was too weak to watch on further. Her eyes fluttered… and just as she was about to fall she saw Tatharion standing before her. He smiled and picked her up slowly.
"I love you. Always and forever." He said.
She clutched to the fabric of his tunic and blinked. But as soon as her eyes opened she found she was holding onto Lasta O Lalaithen's mane tightly as the horse rose from the ground and she balanced on top of him. Tatharion was gone. Only herself and the horse remained.
Suddenly Araviniel remembered why she had come.
"Legolas!"
Lasta O Lalaithen reared and plunged in through the gate. He cantered to the fortress steps and Araviniel slid off of his back, in the center of the courtyard stood a large wooden stake. Bound and bloody, and on his knees, was Legolas, tied to the stake. His eyes were closed and his chest moved up and down with raged breathing. Araviniel stumbled in the rain to the stake, becoming aware of cuts and wounds on her body she hadn't even felt in her rage.
She managed to make it to Legolas and then collapsed to her knees, bringing forth her dagger and cutting his bonds. He fell forward and into her unsteady arms, but she had not the strength to hold him. She fell back against the wooden platform that held the stake and let him lay down with is head in her lap. The rain poured down and she knew if anyone came now they were both defenseless. Her strength gave way and the last thing she saw was Lasta O Lalaithen prancing back in forth guarding the door.
"Just like… J…Just…Tatharion…."
AN/ okay it's the first chapter so I've allowed it to be short just Cuz I wanted to get it out there real bad. Hope you guys are still with me. Hope to hear from you soon.
-PJ