Authors Note: Hey guys I'm really excited about this story it is my second story and is turning out really well! I am writing then posting so it might be a little slow (Sorry!). This has not been read by anyone but me so I would LOVE some comments! This will be romance and I hope Haldir holds true to character. Let me know what you think!
All belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien
The steady sound of hooves against dirt filled the air. This was not an uncommon occurrence in these woods but today was different.
To the girl in the saddle it was just another trail ride. When she had pulled into the dirt parking lot and unloaded her chestnut gelding it was just the same as any other.
At the moment she sucked in the forest air and sighed. The stress had been getting to her and this is just what she needed to rid herself of the weight on her shoulders.
The cool spring breeze blew through her dirty blond hair. Blowing the long curls around her face. She smiled then gathered up the reins of her horse, Ritter. He gave an excited stomp as she pulled him to a stop. Her feet settled down into the stirrups and she pulled in a breath.
The only sound was Ritter's deep breaths and the creak of leather. It's in that moment that time slows down before all hell breaks loose the horse and rider connected. Her hand grabbed a bit of his mane. Then the moment both are waiting for, "yah!" she shouted with a light kick to the horse's sides.
Ritter lept forward, hooves biting into the ground. Trees fly buy as Ellery's hair whips around her neck. She shouts in happiness as they round a corner. The bend brings them along her favorite root along the valley.
There is a straight drop down full of trees to their right and if you were to gaze out you would see the lake. Ritter stretches out even more going as fast as his long legs will let him. Ellery stands in the stirrups, putting the reins around the horn and puts her arms out like a bird. She gives another hoot of joy.
The next moment though she hears a crack like lighting and her excitement disappears. She drops back into the saddle and grabs the reigns. Her eyes travel to the movement ahead. A large pine tree is falling to the ground in their path. Ritter's gait falters as he tries to come to a halt. Ellery pulls the reigns in an attempt to stop.
There's a deafening thump as the tree hits the ground. It starts to slide down the hill as Ritter's hooves struggle to stop before they tumble into the mess of branches. He skids to a stop. But before a breath can be taken in time slows as beast and girl look up to see a second tree taken down by the first coming toward them. She thinks, no this can't be it. Ritter rears up as the trunk barrels toward them. It makes impact and pushes horse and rider over the edge. Ellery can barely hear the screams of the horse over the noise of the trees rolling and cracking. They carine down the incline.
Neither see the tree before the horse flips over once and slams his side into the tree immediately silencing his neighing. Ellery's body follows like a rag doll and gets pinned between the horse and the trunk. The world goes black.
Deaths not that bad, it's warm and bright. Ellery thinks before she feels movement between her legs.
Now that she is awhere, she feels that one leg has lots of pressure on it. She cracks open an eye to see trees above her. She squints at the light shining through the trees.
I don't feel hurt. Ellery thinks.
Once her eyes adjust they glance down at the pressure. She gasps when she sees Ritter's body.
No! Panic runs through her.
But as she looks closer she sees his sides moving. This kicks the girl into motion. She glances around and sees a root to pull on. She gives a grunt as she pulls hard enough to free her leg. She rolls up onto her knees and and crawls to Ritter.
She stares at him for a moment but sees nothing visibly wrong with him. She climbers up to his head and examines him. Being a veterinarian she puts her head to his chest and listens for normal vitals. She finds nothing abnormal and lets out a sigh. The horse seems as though he's sleeping. She picks his head up and puts it on her lap before looking around.
This does not look like where we were, no way we are still in New York. How though! The shock kicks in as she recalls what happened. We should be dead. Maybe we are.
Her eyes travel around the forest. The trees are big and their roots travel in and out of the ground. The area looks untouched. The ground is bare besides some moss because the tree tops are so thick the sun does not reach the floor enough. The birds chirp and flit from tree to tree.
She sits baffled and strokes Ritter's head and neck. Soon she looks up at the sky wondering what time it is. It looks to be late afternoon by her judgment. Ellery decides to wait for Ritter to wake up.
But waiting becomes a problem when the sky starts to turn orange as night approaches.
I'm not leaving him. She thinks.
The woods slowly darken around them and the birds go quiet. The wind does not even move. Ellery starts to get nervous as she can barely see around her anymore. She tries to shake Ritter to awaken him but it is to no use.
"Please get up Ritter! Please! I don't want to be here." She pleads. A crunch from the forest makes her go silent. She looks around scared. A feeling of utter fear creeps into the forest.
The panic starts to take hold and her breaths grow uneven. "Please get up!" She cracks as her voice catches. Soon the feeling of being watched fades over her. Tears gather in her eyes. Her hands wander around the ground trying to find some sort of weapon.
As she scrabbles for anything hard, Ritter moves. She pauses and looks down at him to see his eyes looking up at her.
Yes get up! You're alive! She thinks.
Ellery pushes on his neck and he sits up. She crawls onto her knees and pushes on him more. "Get up." She says. He starts to stand but as he does this another crack of a stick breaking in the forest startled him and he jumps up panicked. She tries to reach for his reigns but he yanks back and takes off. "No! Come back!" She yells. Her feet carry her after him but she only gets so far before she loses where he went.
The feeling of being watched increases as Ellery falls to her knees. A sob catches in her throat. "No don't leave me!" She sobs. Another noise brings her attention back. And she looks to her left to see a large man shaped creature coming toward her. At first she is relieved and goes to speak before she hears it growl.
It gets close enough to see and she shrieks. It's not a man but an evil looking beast with teeth going every which way and orange eyes.
It hisses before it opens its mouth. "Ohh what have we here a scared lost plump elf." He grins. "What should I do with you? Eat you or enjoy your flesh another way." He growls.
Panic fills her as she scrambles backward. Her hand finds a rock and she chucks it at him. It hits him in the head but does not seem to faze him as he jumps at her with a demonic growl. Ellery screams waiting for him to land on her. But instead she hears a gurgle and feels warm liquid hit her face. Ellery opens her eyes to see a arrow through the beast's head. He drops onto her legs.
A yelp comes from her as she jumps away from the beast. She looks around for where the arrow came from. She sees nothing in the dark.
She has her back to a tree, shaking. A moment passes before she sees a blur come from the ski. It lands in front of her with a feather light thump.
Before she can process what happens she has an arrow to her throat. She gasps as she looks up at a tall blond hair man. He almost glows. He looks at her accusingly.
"Who are you and what are you doing in the woods of Lothlórien?" He snaps.
"Where?!" She asks shocked.
He ignores her and presses the arrow into her neck harder. Ellery can feel the blood bead on her neck.
"I'm Ellery Nunds. From New York. I don't know where I am." She says shaking.
He takes a long sceptical look at her. She's got really long hair and to his surprise it's curly. Said hair frames a rounder face with bright green eyes. She is also wearing odd clothes that look nothing like he has ever seen. The cloths are on a body that's a bit big but not to much. He also notices to his own shame her breasts larger than any elf he's ever seen.
"Tul." (Come.) He says.
Ellery looks at the strange man with a confused look thinking. Ohh great I've been found by a crazy man. Thank you Jesus! Maybe I just misheard him.
She opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by multiple men falling from the trees. They land on the forest floor with cat like reflexes.
Nope I've gone crazy. She thinks.
The other men have blond hair like the one in front of her. They all look at the tall blond that spoke to Ellery.
The man that spoke looks at her with disdain. "How do you not know where you are? Elves don't just stumble into Lothlórien."
Ellery looks confused. "Elves! What are you talking about?"
He looks at her like she's crazy.
"You're an elf what else would anyone call you?"
She looks really irritated as she says "I'm not crazy I'm a human so are you! You're just insane…."
He tilts his head the reaches for her. She shies away from his hand. "Look!" He shouts as he reaches for her again and this time grabs her ear. Then pulls his hair back with his other hand to reveal a pointed ear.
"You're an elf what the hell else would you be?" He shouts as he pulls away from her.
This time Ellery reaches up and feels her ear where he was tugging on it. Her eyes grow wide and both hands fly to her ear.
"What!" She screeches. Ellery starts to breath faster.
She also notices that her hair is a lot longer than she remembers it.
"I don't understand! How did I get here and why are my ears pointed! I'm human." She starts to struggle to stand and the elf pulls his arrow away from her neck.
She stumbles as she gains her footing. Then her eyes travel to the beast that was attacking her.
"What is that?" She asks in a panic.
"That is an Orc." He says annoyed.
"A what?" She asks in disbelief her eyes glued to the beast.
He looks at her and growls. "An Orc you dim witted creature!"
At this point she looks back at him and pinches herself. "I'm just dreaming! Wake up!"
She starts to panic. "Wake up! Wake up!" She punches her arm. Her eyes wildly pass by each of the men and land on him.
Ellery's breaths come fast and she falls to the ground with a sob. She starts to struggle to breath.
She hears a voice say, "Se na lendë ana van-eth!" ( She's going to pass out.)
The main elf sighs and squats down next to the panicking girl.
"You need to breath, we will figure out why you are here. I believe you. Just breath." His deep voice is nice but he says this with some irritation.
Ellery starts to breath more evenly. "I really… don't know how I got here. I was riding my horse then… we had a accident. I thought I was dead and now I'm here, where ever here is. Is this heaven?"
The blond actually smirks when she says this, not that she notices.
"No this is not heaven by any means." He stands and brushes his knees off. He looks around at the other men around him, "Násë quet-anwa." (She speaks the truth.)
"You are still going to have to come with us." He says to the girl.
She looks around thinking. "My horse, he ran. I can't leave without him."
The elf nods, "You horse actually ran to us and then we heard your screams, that's how we found you." He lets out a bird like call and another elf comes into the small area with Ritter.
Ellery scrambled up in an elegant free way and runs to her horse. Ritter greets her with a quiet nicker and a nose to the cheek. Ellery hugs his neck gratefully.
"Thank you for finding him." She says looking at the elf that spoke to her.
He nods his head. "We must go with haste, that's not the only Orc in the area." He says pointing to the dead body.
"You're not going to be able to ride him, it's too thick. You'll have to walk with us." He nods toward the horse.
She looked at him cautiously. I have no choice I have to trust them. I don't want another one of those things trying to attack me. Ritter trusts them. They did save me… She thinks.
"Okay." She says.
Immediately the elf looks at her with doubt. "What?"
"Okay." Ellery repeats.
He looks at her with a scowl. "What does that mean?"
"Ohh it means like ya I agree, or I'll do it." She stutters not sure why he asked.
He nods. "Emme linne." (We go)
Ellery looks at him with confusion but as everyone starts to walk she figures he said something to the amount of we are leaving. Some of the elves jog off out of sight and some just seem to disappear. That leaves three standing with Ellery. The one that seems to be the leader is the same one that spoke to her. He motions for her to follow.
Two elves walk behind her and the leader. He leads and she follows with Ritter's reins in hand. There is no path but the lead elf seems to know where he is going.
It's at this moment as Ellery starts to follow that she notices something unusual, it's pitch dark but she can see. There is no moon light shining through the trees but it's as if it was a bright full moon and they were walking through a clearing.
What? Why can I see? She looks up at the leader in front of her, as he easily steps over a root. He must be able to see too. I'll figure it out later I've got more important things to worry about. She thinks.
Now that the panic has worn off she observes the main elf, he has long blond hair with a few braids, a strong nose and chin, flawless skin and beautiful armor on. The armor is silver with green tree like details winding there way around his torso. He also has a silver almost glowing cape of sorts wrapped around his shoulders that flows gracefully down to his long silver boots. On its edges it has green leaf designs that are lace. He also has two swords a large intricately carved bow on his back with a silver sheath filled with well crafted arrows the same as the one still implanted in the Orc's skull .
Why would he need all those weapons? She gulps.
Soon the leader falls back next to her.
He looks at her and says gruffly. "My apologies I never introduced myself, I'm Haldir Marchwarden of Lothlórien." He then does a small bough.
He makes eye contact with her and she sees the most awe inspiring orbs that appear as if they are made of starlight, looking into her soul.
She looks at him calculating his action and trying to not look shocked. "Pleasure." She says sarcastically.
He frowns and marches ahead again.
Damn probably should not piss him off. She thinks.
After an two hours of walking at a brisk pace Ellery starts to become tired. Her steps become heavier and less graceful.
It's the middle of the night why can't we just stop? The voice in her head says.
Soon she zones out before Ritter gives her a nudge on the back. "I know I'm going." She whispers.
Farther still down the trail her feet start to drag and she eventually trips over a root.
Ellery lands with a "umph" on the hard ground. Her hands take the brunt of the fall. "Stupid roots! Goddamn it!" She curses as she starts to pick herself up. She hears laughing behind her and glares at the two elfs bringing up the rear. They quiet.
Once standing she brushes off her knees and looks at the small lines of blood that cover her hands. Ellery grumble and wipes her palms on her pants before grabbing Ritter's reigns.
"Come on, hurry up." Haldir says barely looking back. She stares at him accusingly then sticks her tongue out at his back, but then begrudgingly she starts to walk again.
She misses his semi concerned glance back over his shoulder as she steps over a rock.
Soon though she hears a clear and loud order from Haldir. "Emme lare-ar sér." (We rest)
He stops and looks at her. "Tie the horse." He commands.
"Where? Why?" She asks accusingly.
He looks at her and rolls his eyes. "We could keep walking but as it seems you are as clumsy as an ox I thought it best we stop and rest for the night. We have two more days of traveling before we get to the city."
He pauses and shoots her a glare. "And I don't want to have to drag you the rest of the way."
He then points to a small tree. "Tie your horse there."
Ellery looks at him skeptically but decides to listen because why not this is probably all a dream anyway and she is tired.
She ties his reins to the tree then uncinches the saddle. Haldir watches her as she pulls the saddle off and sets it on the ground away from Ritter with the blanket.
Ellery gives Ritter one more pat and a small hug around the neck before turning to the elf, who to her surprise is the only one left.
"Where is everyone?" She questions nervously.
He just points up before letting out a whistle. Seconds later a small rope ladder falls from the large tree in front of Ellery.
Fan-fricken-tastic. She thinks as Haldir boughs sarcastically and makes a grand motion for her to climb.
Well this can't be much harder than a tree stand….
She gives him a glare then stalks up to the rope ladder and starts to climb awkwardly. She looks back before she goes through the tree line and only sees Ritter with his leg rested and apparently asleep.
Where did that elf ass go? She mumbles.
The next moment she climbs higher and passes the leaves. Once through she's surprised to see a round platform surrounding the tree trunk. Her mouth drops open as she finishes climbing the ladder. She half drags herself onto the wooden boards and then stands up.
What she sees next shocks her, she can see the ground. How? I couldn't see it from the ground.
Her silent question is answered when Haldir appears next to her. "Its cloaked so that it looks like any other tree from the ground. This allows us to keep guard but stay hidden."
She nods still baffled.
"You should sleep, the others are making rounds then will be joining us. Do you have a bedroll?" He asks.
"Wait how did you get up here? And what's a bed roll? I doubt I have one." She says as her shock dissipates.
"I climbed. A bed roll is a mat to sleep on." He responds as if Ellery is a dunce.
"Ohh. I don't have one. I don't have much of anything…" She says as if it's a realization.
"We have a couple extras stored on this flet." He says a bit softer.
He silently walks over to a small chest against the tree.
How does he walk so quietly with all that armor, it looks heavy. Her brain wonders as he comes back with a small rolled up mat looking object.
Before he hands it to her the other elves start to climb onto the platform. He thrusts it into her hands as another elf comes up to him and does a small bough.
"Emme cen úqua eth-o sinome." (We see nothing out of place.)The elf says.
"Hanta tye, sér."(Thank you, rest) Haldir nods respectfully and the elf boughs again before walking off.
Haldir turns and strides to the tree as the rest of the elves chose their spot and start to unroll bed mats. He then jumps gracefully and grabs a branch above his head and pulls himself up with little effort. He then jumps to one higher than that before sitting comfortably on a branch. His feet hang underneath him casually and he leans back against the tree with his bow in his lap.
Haldir is obviously guarding the platform.
She looks up at him questioningly and he rolls his eyes then motions toward the platform. She's still standing so he puts his hands together and places them to the side of his tilted head in a sleeping motion.
She blushes in anger and frustration as she turns her back to him and finds a spot farthest away from the others and unrolls the thin mat. Ellery then lays down carefully and tries to get comfortable.
How am I going to sleep? She questions herself.
Soon the sound of deep breathing fills the platform. The elves sleep easily but Ellery lays awake her mind running rampant.
Why am I here? How did I get here? Should I trust them? Why am I not human? Am I dead? Can I go home? Soon tears well up in her eyes, then slip down her cheeks. Ellery sniffs and her chest contracts. Tears now flow freely.
Haldir hears a little sniff and his eyes lock on the strange girls form. Now that his attention is on her he sees her chest rising and falling rapidly. His eyebrows form a crease but he fails to move. He lets himself think over the day. When the horse ran under his tree he was confused. He had let out a whistle for one of the guard to fetch it when her heard the scream.
Luckily he had gotten to the odd girl in time. There was no telling what could have happened. He was shocked to see what she was wearing, the cloth was very strange and the fact she did not know the she was an elf even stranger still. When he swept back her very un-elven like curly hair and showed her her delicate pointed ear she almost fainted! She seemed scared even of him. Luckily she decided to trust him.
After he watches for a while her breathing evens out and she seems to be sleeping. His own lungs let out a small sigh of relief.