Young and the Senseless
Chapter 1: Night Stone
** = thoughts () = translations "" = speech
PLEASE NOTE! I have made some changes to make this a bit more real as I don't know the exact happens about Aragorn as he was when he was 15. This is basically just guessing what it would have been like. If you notice any inconsistencies please bring them to my attention. Cheers! (
Golden beams of light shone through the tops of the forest trees littering the ground with pools of orange sunlight. The sun was descending behind the horizon, making a beautiful rainbow of colors against the darkening sky, stretching the shadows as day turned into night. The fair-haired creature sat lazily on a thick bough high up in an old tree. His legs draped either side of the branch leaning his back against the strong trunk of the tree. His head was tilted slightly back with his eyes closed as he absorbed the smells and sounds that symbolized the ending of another peaceful day.
It was one of the few times that he could spend by himself. He wasn't old enough to actually join in the patrols that roamed the borders of Mirkwood protecting it from the dangers of the outside world, mainly Orcs. He was too old to join the younger children in their games as they ran through the forest close to their homes so there watchers could keep an eye on them. It wasn't fair, he was the best bowman that has been seen in Mirkwood for full millennia (1000 years), as he so often reminded his father King Thranduil, and also that as prince of Mirkwood, he had a responsibly to assist in protecting his people, but he still couldn't join in the patrols.
As an act of desperation for some action, he would sit in this tree whenever he could find the time and watch for any sign of a traveler on the path below, which just happens to be the main path to get to the palace, that he had a perfect view of from this tree. Rarely had he ever seen anyone traveling on the road, and when he did, it was the same group of rangers that came and went as it pleased them. There were 9 of them altogether. All of them with excellent hearing and sight, almost enough to rival that of an elf. Almost. On particularly boring days when he spotted the rangers, he would silently jump down to the lower part of the tree he usually sat in and he would follow the rangers. He was not surprised when 8 of the rangers didn't react or acknowledge his presence as he followed them for the rest of their journey to his home at the palace. It surprised him that on most occasions that he followed them, a small dark haired boy that rode with them would look around, straining his ears and eyes to look for something or someone that was following him. This boy was acutely aware of his surroundings in a way that both surprised and intrigued the light-footed elf prince, but what he did notice was that the boy was in his growth period, probably a just growing into a man. The elf prince himself was just rounding his 2 900th birthday. *the life of a man is so fragile, why do they continue when their lives are extinguished so quickly?* It was a question that had puzzled the elf since he had first learned of the humans.
The beings eyes flew open, revealing deep crystal blue eyes that could easily cause the on-looker to fatally underestimate the young elf. Having heard the distance sound of laughter carried up on the wind to his hiding place in the tree. It was the rangers again. His game of following the rangers through the trees was getting boring. Only the boy ever picked up on his presence, even though he didn't know the origin of the instinct that said they were being followed. The young prince decided that he'd follow the group on the ground, not through the trees. It was much more difficult, the forest floor was scattered with dry leaves and sticks that could easily make a noise if trod upon that would alert all the rangers to his presence. But in his current bored state, he didn't care; maybe they would hear him and give chase. It would give him excellent practice in fleeing without leaving a trail for someone to follow. A being followed by a ranger was almost as much as a challenge as being followed by his father after a simple prank on his friends backfired and hit his father instead. Laughing silently at the memory as he pushed it back from his mind he began to climb to the lower branches of the tree to await the rangers to pass before he began to track them.
After what seemed like an age, the rangers finally rode their horses past where the elven prince sat patiently. Waiting for a few moments until they were a relatively safe distance away, he climbed down the rest of the way to the ground. *Let the game begin* the elf thought smiling to himself as he trailed after the group.
*******************
There was that feeling again, he always had that feeling that he was being watched and followed whenever he came into the Mirkwood forest. Yet he never could understand the origin of it. He had never said anything to the other rangers in the group because he was afraid that they would laugh at him and tease him for being frightened of the elves. When it was in fact the complete opposite. The teenage human found elves a most fascinating race. Then again, as he was raised by the Lord Elrond of Rivendell for most of his life that was to be expected. At the age of 12, he had left the safety of Rivendell to accompany this group of rangers to the north for a bit of outside training by his own race. Although he had found the lessons easy and the combat practice interesting, he couldn't help but feel... Confined by the restrictions of his teachers human bodies as well as his own body. Back in Rivendell, his elven teachers seemed to have unlimited skill and energy which he was impressed immensely by, but among human kind, everything seemed to be slower and less accurate. He easily became the top of all his classes and lessons and even took some combat lessons with the adults and matched most of them with his skill and energy. That was how he came to join this group of rangers, after having lost their last boy companion to a group of Orcs, they came in search for another companion. Once seeing his talents and skills, they immediately asked Estel to join there group. It was the proudest moment of his life.
As a 15 year old boy now, Estel was in the middle of his growth period. He was strong and fairly tall for his age, the constant training since he could remember meant that he had perfectly proportioned muscles that he didn't hesitate to assist him in a battle. Yet, with all his training and experience, this one track made him uneasy. He could feel a pair of eyes on him, watching his group moving down the path. He could feel the figure silently moving through the forest, easily maintaining the pace they set and yet still managing to do it without making enough noise to attract the attention of his fellow rangers. This was a mystery indeed.
Once again, as he followed the rest of the rangers along this path he felt the eyes upon his group and the owner of those eyes following them. Yet, this time was different somehow, a bit more focusing and he concluded that the person that was following them was still behind them, but this time, they were on the ground. *Soon it would be time to act and to uncover this person that always follows us along this path* the young ranger thought. He leaned forward in his saddle and pretending to reposition his dagger in his boots and whispered to the horse to slow down just a fraction. With what can only translated as a yes from his fine black stallion the horse slowed just a fraction and allowed the other horses to draw away from it.
As the other horses drew away from him, he began to try to sense which side of the road his follower was on.
"Estel, what's the matter? Why are you drifting back?" came the dark husky voice of his old archery teacher.
"I think that Mor Sul (black wind) is just tired, he is carrying more than usually on this trip." Estel quickly lied, hoping that the keen ranger wouldn't sense anything amiss.
"Try to keep us in view then, I don't want to push Mor Sul too hard in case he resists but I don't want you to get lost. If you get too far behind we will stop and wait for you to catch up." Estel nodded his accent to this and the man turned to face forward in his saddle accepting that Estel would follow his instructions.
Getting lost was easy in the dense forest of Mirkwood, but Estel was confident that he would find his way to the palace even if he was lost. With a quick whisper to his horse to keep their distance from the other rangers but still in their view, he again through his senses to his surroundings to locate his tracker. The being was very light-footed and almost untraceable. When he was about to give up when he heard a twang from a branch that must have been caught on something, the persons clothes perhaps? *Gotcha!* the ranger thought. Suddenly jumping off his horse, he sprinted towards the invisible figure in the forest as fast as his growing legs would carry him. Once he reached the forest, he expected to find the being, it would smile impishly at him and beg for forgiveness, then Estel would take it to the rest of his group to prove that he knew someone was following them and then they would praise and congratulate him for his extraordinary skills. But as he reached the spot where the being should have been, it was empty.
*Whatever it is, it's fast, quiet and smart. Of course, it's an elf!! That's why I've only ever had this feeling in this area, it must live here!! And this must just be a game for it!! But is it male or female?*
The question stuck to Estel's mind as he followed the almost silent fleeing of his usual follower, which he had just identified as an elf and as a skilled tracker, skilled enough to avoid detection by 8 experienced rangers but not by a ranger boy. Odd. Every now and then he would spot his target that he was pursuing at an alarming speed. The swish of its cloak. The reflection of the sunlight on long golden hair. Had he not been pushing himself to his ultimate limits, he would have very much enjoyed this chase. Rarely did any of his training partners present him with this much challenge and rarely was he able to not catch up with his target by now. He was making progress, yet he still was a long way from catching the fleet footed elf that most probably knew this land inside out.
*oh well, it's an experience* thought the young ranger as he tore down through the trees after the elf.
*******************
The sudden movements of the human boy surprised the elven prince. When the boy leaned forward and whispered to his horse, it wasn't what had surprised him. What had surprised him, was that the boy spoke elvish!! Strange that he spoke common to the older ranger and elvish to his horse. Most unusual for a boy of his age. But Legolas continued to follow the group, but with his senses on total alert. As the boy slowed his horse down, Legolas had a strange feeling he was going to try something. Positioning himself so that he could still follow group but could flee the instant anything unusual happened. When he saw the boy leap from his horse on to the ground, he leapt through the gap that he saw between two large trees away from the road. He ran as fast as he could while still managing to leave as little proof of his presence as he possibly could. He could hear the clumsy boy following him.
*He's quick and agile but not very quiet, it's a wonder that he has survived with that group of rangers knowing all the trouble that they would get themselves into* chuckled Legolas to himself.
If this boy wants to blindly run into the forest after him, so be it, he will learn a valuable lesson that he won't soon forget. Reaching up, he took hold of a branch and launched himself into the trees. Taking a few microseconds to regain his balance on the change of terrain, the elf took off running across the low branches the trees.
*This is going to be fun!* the elf thought to himself allowing a smile to slowly spread across his face.
*******************
Estel ran through the forest after his ex-tracker. When he reached a break in the trees he searched for evidence which direction the elf went in, but he was unable to find any evidence that the elf came this way.
*Blast!! I was positive that he came this way!!* Estel thought angrily. Then, Estel remembered that he was tracking an elf that had always followed them in the trees, so he must have taken to the trees in a bid to escape capture. With a quick look around, he spotted the place where the elf would have taken to the trees. He quickly followed the elf into the trees and began his pursuit again.
*******************
Legolas stopped at his favorite place amongst the trees. They were particularly thick here and the best thing about them was that if you went up high enough, even the keenest of elf eyes couldn't see through the branches to the hiding figure above. This was where he planned to ambush the impatient, brash young ranger. He quickly scaled the hiding passage up through the branches to his hiding place and his collection of dull arrows and a weak bow as well as several pouches with different sized stones in them.
*We'll see if he is so rash in the future.* Legolas thought to himself and allowed himself a small chuckle before he took a few arrows and a pouch of small stones and the weak bow and moved to the nature-made seat in the tree branches to be in position for when the foolish boy emerged from the trees..
*******************
Estel thought he was catching up, he could swear that he could hear the elf being coming closer with every hurried step he ran. In fact, it seemed that the elf had stopped moving altogether.
*how odd, maybe he thinks it's safe to stop as he thought he lost me in that clearing* Estel thought smugly.
He cautiously made his way into yet another clearing. A look on the ground proved that the elf being hadn't gone to the ground which meant he was still in the trees. Looking up, he could barely see the sky above, although he knew it was almost pitch dark and he would need to get back to the group. The net of branches seemed to be impassible. That meant the elf was around his height up in the trees. Scanning the trees around him, he could find no proof which way the elf had gone. It was scary. No proof, nothing, nowhere, he couldn't have disappeared into thin air. Could he? He'd heard the stories from drunken rangers about the mysteries of the elves, but he didn't believe them, until now. As he turned to leave, an arrow thudded into the tree between his index and middle fingers.
*Oh my God! That was close, either it's an excellent shot and meant to scare the living wits out of me or it was aiming a fatal blow at me but missed and I was just lucky not to be hit by the arrow. Either way, it's still getting dark, and Thirden would kill me if I don't take care of Mor Sul before it was completely dark.*
He turned around and left the clearing heading back towards the direction of the camp. Then, a stone came from somewhere and struck the ranger on the back of the neck before landing in the hood of his cloak. Estel reached back into the hood and grabbed the stone and pulled it in front of him to look at. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It was as big as his thumb-nail and just as wide. The stone was pure flawless black color was cut through with streaks of lime green. It was by far, the most beautiful stone he had ever seen. Taking a quick look around the clearing once more, he turned and headed back to the road.
*******************
Watching the ranger boy leave with his favorite rock and not even flinching when his perfectly aimed arrow landed in the between his fingers, Legolas couldn't help but be disappointed.
*Oh well, they usually stay for several days, maybe even a week. There'll be plenty of time to have fun. Besides, if they reach the palace before me, I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Better go and revert into the perfect little prince my father expects to greet our guests. Farewell, until the next time we meet my loud tracker, farewell to you, young ranger.*
Legolas jumped down from the trees and ran to the palace to change and bathe before his quests arrived. ********************************************************************
Reviews are always welcome!! Please REVIEW (
Chapter 1: Night Stone
** = thoughts () = translations "" = speech
PLEASE NOTE! I have made some changes to make this a bit more real as I don't know the exact happens about Aragorn as he was when he was 15. This is basically just guessing what it would have been like. If you notice any inconsistencies please bring them to my attention. Cheers! (
Golden beams of light shone through the tops of the forest trees littering the ground with pools of orange sunlight. The sun was descending behind the horizon, making a beautiful rainbow of colors against the darkening sky, stretching the shadows as day turned into night. The fair-haired creature sat lazily on a thick bough high up in an old tree. His legs draped either side of the branch leaning his back against the strong trunk of the tree. His head was tilted slightly back with his eyes closed as he absorbed the smells and sounds that symbolized the ending of another peaceful day.
It was one of the few times that he could spend by himself. He wasn't old enough to actually join in the patrols that roamed the borders of Mirkwood protecting it from the dangers of the outside world, mainly Orcs. He was too old to join the younger children in their games as they ran through the forest close to their homes so there watchers could keep an eye on them. It wasn't fair, he was the best bowman that has been seen in Mirkwood for full millennia (1000 years), as he so often reminded his father King Thranduil, and also that as prince of Mirkwood, he had a responsibly to assist in protecting his people, but he still couldn't join in the patrols.
As an act of desperation for some action, he would sit in this tree whenever he could find the time and watch for any sign of a traveler on the path below, which just happens to be the main path to get to the palace, that he had a perfect view of from this tree. Rarely had he ever seen anyone traveling on the road, and when he did, it was the same group of rangers that came and went as it pleased them. There were 9 of them altogether. All of them with excellent hearing and sight, almost enough to rival that of an elf. Almost. On particularly boring days when he spotted the rangers, he would silently jump down to the lower part of the tree he usually sat in and he would follow the rangers. He was not surprised when 8 of the rangers didn't react or acknowledge his presence as he followed them for the rest of their journey to his home at the palace. It surprised him that on most occasions that he followed them, a small dark haired boy that rode with them would look around, straining his ears and eyes to look for something or someone that was following him. This boy was acutely aware of his surroundings in a way that both surprised and intrigued the light-footed elf prince, but what he did notice was that the boy was in his growth period, probably a just growing into a man. The elf prince himself was just rounding his 2 900th birthday. *the life of a man is so fragile, why do they continue when their lives are extinguished so quickly?* It was a question that had puzzled the elf since he had first learned of the humans.
The beings eyes flew open, revealing deep crystal blue eyes that could easily cause the on-looker to fatally underestimate the young elf. Having heard the distance sound of laughter carried up on the wind to his hiding place in the tree. It was the rangers again. His game of following the rangers through the trees was getting boring. Only the boy ever picked up on his presence, even though he didn't know the origin of the instinct that said they were being followed. The young prince decided that he'd follow the group on the ground, not through the trees. It was much more difficult, the forest floor was scattered with dry leaves and sticks that could easily make a noise if trod upon that would alert all the rangers to his presence. But in his current bored state, he didn't care; maybe they would hear him and give chase. It would give him excellent practice in fleeing without leaving a trail for someone to follow. A being followed by a ranger was almost as much as a challenge as being followed by his father after a simple prank on his friends backfired and hit his father instead. Laughing silently at the memory as he pushed it back from his mind he began to climb to the lower branches of the tree to await the rangers to pass before he began to track them.
After what seemed like an age, the rangers finally rode their horses past where the elven prince sat patiently. Waiting for a few moments until they were a relatively safe distance away, he climbed down the rest of the way to the ground. *Let the game begin* the elf thought smiling to himself as he trailed after the group.
*******************
There was that feeling again, he always had that feeling that he was being watched and followed whenever he came into the Mirkwood forest. Yet he never could understand the origin of it. He had never said anything to the other rangers in the group because he was afraid that they would laugh at him and tease him for being frightened of the elves. When it was in fact the complete opposite. The teenage human found elves a most fascinating race. Then again, as he was raised by the Lord Elrond of Rivendell for most of his life that was to be expected. At the age of 12, he had left the safety of Rivendell to accompany this group of rangers to the north for a bit of outside training by his own race. Although he had found the lessons easy and the combat practice interesting, he couldn't help but feel... Confined by the restrictions of his teachers human bodies as well as his own body. Back in Rivendell, his elven teachers seemed to have unlimited skill and energy which he was impressed immensely by, but among human kind, everything seemed to be slower and less accurate. He easily became the top of all his classes and lessons and even took some combat lessons with the adults and matched most of them with his skill and energy. That was how he came to join this group of rangers, after having lost their last boy companion to a group of Orcs, they came in search for another companion. Once seeing his talents and skills, they immediately asked Estel to join there group. It was the proudest moment of his life.
As a 15 year old boy now, Estel was in the middle of his growth period. He was strong and fairly tall for his age, the constant training since he could remember meant that he had perfectly proportioned muscles that he didn't hesitate to assist him in a battle. Yet, with all his training and experience, this one track made him uneasy. He could feel a pair of eyes on him, watching his group moving down the path. He could feel the figure silently moving through the forest, easily maintaining the pace they set and yet still managing to do it without making enough noise to attract the attention of his fellow rangers. This was a mystery indeed.
Once again, as he followed the rest of the rangers along this path he felt the eyes upon his group and the owner of those eyes following them. Yet, this time was different somehow, a bit more focusing and he concluded that the person that was following them was still behind them, but this time, they were on the ground. *Soon it would be time to act and to uncover this person that always follows us along this path* the young ranger thought. He leaned forward in his saddle and pretending to reposition his dagger in his boots and whispered to the horse to slow down just a fraction. With what can only translated as a yes from his fine black stallion the horse slowed just a fraction and allowed the other horses to draw away from it.
As the other horses drew away from him, he began to try to sense which side of the road his follower was on.
"Estel, what's the matter? Why are you drifting back?" came the dark husky voice of his old archery teacher.
"I think that Mor Sul (black wind) is just tired, he is carrying more than usually on this trip." Estel quickly lied, hoping that the keen ranger wouldn't sense anything amiss.
"Try to keep us in view then, I don't want to push Mor Sul too hard in case he resists but I don't want you to get lost. If you get too far behind we will stop and wait for you to catch up." Estel nodded his accent to this and the man turned to face forward in his saddle accepting that Estel would follow his instructions.
Getting lost was easy in the dense forest of Mirkwood, but Estel was confident that he would find his way to the palace even if he was lost. With a quick whisper to his horse to keep their distance from the other rangers but still in their view, he again through his senses to his surroundings to locate his tracker. The being was very light-footed and almost untraceable. When he was about to give up when he heard a twang from a branch that must have been caught on something, the persons clothes perhaps? *Gotcha!* the ranger thought. Suddenly jumping off his horse, he sprinted towards the invisible figure in the forest as fast as his growing legs would carry him. Once he reached the forest, he expected to find the being, it would smile impishly at him and beg for forgiveness, then Estel would take it to the rest of his group to prove that he knew someone was following them and then they would praise and congratulate him for his extraordinary skills. But as he reached the spot where the being should have been, it was empty.
*Whatever it is, it's fast, quiet and smart. Of course, it's an elf!! That's why I've only ever had this feeling in this area, it must live here!! And this must just be a game for it!! But is it male or female?*
The question stuck to Estel's mind as he followed the almost silent fleeing of his usual follower, which he had just identified as an elf and as a skilled tracker, skilled enough to avoid detection by 8 experienced rangers but not by a ranger boy. Odd. Every now and then he would spot his target that he was pursuing at an alarming speed. The swish of its cloak. The reflection of the sunlight on long golden hair. Had he not been pushing himself to his ultimate limits, he would have very much enjoyed this chase. Rarely did any of his training partners present him with this much challenge and rarely was he able to not catch up with his target by now. He was making progress, yet he still was a long way from catching the fleet footed elf that most probably knew this land inside out.
*oh well, it's an experience* thought the young ranger as he tore down through the trees after the elf.
*******************
The sudden movements of the human boy surprised the elven prince. When the boy leaned forward and whispered to his horse, it wasn't what had surprised him. What had surprised him, was that the boy spoke elvish!! Strange that he spoke common to the older ranger and elvish to his horse. Most unusual for a boy of his age. But Legolas continued to follow the group, but with his senses on total alert. As the boy slowed his horse down, Legolas had a strange feeling he was going to try something. Positioning himself so that he could still follow group but could flee the instant anything unusual happened. When he saw the boy leap from his horse on to the ground, he leapt through the gap that he saw between two large trees away from the road. He ran as fast as he could while still managing to leave as little proof of his presence as he possibly could. He could hear the clumsy boy following him.
*He's quick and agile but not very quiet, it's a wonder that he has survived with that group of rangers knowing all the trouble that they would get themselves into* chuckled Legolas to himself.
If this boy wants to blindly run into the forest after him, so be it, he will learn a valuable lesson that he won't soon forget. Reaching up, he took hold of a branch and launched himself into the trees. Taking a few microseconds to regain his balance on the change of terrain, the elf took off running across the low branches the trees.
*This is going to be fun!* the elf thought to himself allowing a smile to slowly spread across his face.
*******************
Estel ran through the forest after his ex-tracker. When he reached a break in the trees he searched for evidence which direction the elf went in, but he was unable to find any evidence that the elf came this way.
*Blast!! I was positive that he came this way!!* Estel thought angrily. Then, Estel remembered that he was tracking an elf that had always followed them in the trees, so he must have taken to the trees in a bid to escape capture. With a quick look around, he spotted the place where the elf would have taken to the trees. He quickly followed the elf into the trees and began his pursuit again.
*******************
Legolas stopped at his favorite place amongst the trees. They were particularly thick here and the best thing about them was that if you went up high enough, even the keenest of elf eyes couldn't see through the branches to the hiding figure above. This was where he planned to ambush the impatient, brash young ranger. He quickly scaled the hiding passage up through the branches to his hiding place and his collection of dull arrows and a weak bow as well as several pouches with different sized stones in them.
*We'll see if he is so rash in the future.* Legolas thought to himself and allowed himself a small chuckle before he took a few arrows and a pouch of small stones and the weak bow and moved to the nature-made seat in the tree branches to be in position for when the foolish boy emerged from the trees..
*******************
Estel thought he was catching up, he could swear that he could hear the elf being coming closer with every hurried step he ran. In fact, it seemed that the elf had stopped moving altogether.
*how odd, maybe he thinks it's safe to stop as he thought he lost me in that clearing* Estel thought smugly.
He cautiously made his way into yet another clearing. A look on the ground proved that the elf being hadn't gone to the ground which meant he was still in the trees. Looking up, he could barely see the sky above, although he knew it was almost pitch dark and he would need to get back to the group. The net of branches seemed to be impassible. That meant the elf was around his height up in the trees. Scanning the trees around him, he could find no proof which way the elf had gone. It was scary. No proof, nothing, nowhere, he couldn't have disappeared into thin air. Could he? He'd heard the stories from drunken rangers about the mysteries of the elves, but he didn't believe them, until now. As he turned to leave, an arrow thudded into the tree between his index and middle fingers.
*Oh my God! That was close, either it's an excellent shot and meant to scare the living wits out of me or it was aiming a fatal blow at me but missed and I was just lucky not to be hit by the arrow. Either way, it's still getting dark, and Thirden would kill me if I don't take care of Mor Sul before it was completely dark.*
He turned around and left the clearing heading back towards the direction of the camp. Then, a stone came from somewhere and struck the ranger on the back of the neck before landing in the hood of his cloak. Estel reached back into the hood and grabbed the stone and pulled it in front of him to look at. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It was as big as his thumb-nail and just as wide. The stone was pure flawless black color was cut through with streaks of lime green. It was by far, the most beautiful stone he had ever seen. Taking a quick look around the clearing once more, he turned and headed back to the road.
*******************
Watching the ranger boy leave with his favorite rock and not even flinching when his perfectly aimed arrow landed in the between his fingers, Legolas couldn't help but be disappointed.
*Oh well, they usually stay for several days, maybe even a week. There'll be plenty of time to have fun. Besides, if they reach the palace before me, I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Better go and revert into the perfect little prince my father expects to greet our guests. Farewell, until the next time we meet my loud tracker, farewell to you, young ranger.*
Legolas jumped down from the trees and ran to the palace to change and bathe before his quests arrived. ********************************************************************
Reviews are always welcome!! Please REVIEW (