Hello everyone! My name is Meredith
This my first story here, but I have been reading LOTR stories here since 2005. The only thing I ask of you is to please please please comment. I will most definitely respond. And just to let you all know, since the summaries have to be short I had to leave out a crucial component of the AU I have created. I have given Legolas a certain supernatural gift, per say. I hope you don't find this too obnoxious. Let me know! Thanks!
This is going to be a long story, hopefully, so I really want you all to enjoy it and please let me know of any suggestions you might have. Constructive criticism is always welcome! If I don't receive any comments I might just continue to write for my own pleasure and stop posting, so please let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: All the usual stuff, Tolkien owns my soul, I own nothing. Give some credit to Jackson and his team as well for forming the physical appearances of the characters.
ENJOY! Bonds of Fate
"The bravest heart must often pause, and gaze, --
The firm resolve to seek the chosen end
Of manhood's judgment, cautious and mature, --
Each of these viewless bonds bind friend to friend
With strength no selfish purpose can secure…
The friendship... which shall endure"
--Aubrey de Vere
Frodo looked across the flowing river to the shore on the far bank. Fear and sorrow shone in his wide eyes, mirroring the deep river blue flowing in front of him. Behind him, unnoticed, watched Legolas, perched high above in the tree's boughs.
Perturbed at the still stance of the ring-bearer, the fair-haired elf held his position, unsure of his or Frodo's next move. His sharp ears discerned a menace approaching from behind them as well as residing on the far shore, yet he was uncertain of which danger would prove greater. Anxiety marred his fair features as he considered his options. He gathered from the young hobbit's prior countenance that he felt his quest needed to be accomplished alone, and that he was set on continuing without the fellowship, but everything that was surging in Legolas screamed against letting the poor hobbit traverse the dangers ahead unprotected and vulnerable. Nay, he was not meant to go it completely alone, Legolas determined.
But was he meant to accompany the ring-bearer? A nagging sense of doubt rose in his mind. He hadn't even been certain that he was the right elf to join the fellowship, to have the honor and trust placed on him. Yet if there was no other option, he would need to be Frodo's companion, despite the intentions of fate. Or maybe, this was fate? An elf left motherless and titled prince of the largest remaining Elven kingdom on Middle Earth assuming the guardianship of the ring bearer, an unassuming orphan hobbit, pursuing the most crucial quest of the third age—two non-humans working to preserve the Middle Earth for further generations of men.
The elf's mind turned to Sam; he had passed the stumbling hobbit about a league back, hidden behind Aragorn and Gimli. The gardener had been doing his best to bring down any stray Uruk kai. Where Sam now, this appointed partner and guardian of the ring-bearer? Without a doubt he was looking for his beloved master. His senses reached out to the hobbit.
Suddenly Legolas felt as if a dagger was ripping through his heart and white-hot heat exploded within his chest. The blistering pain brought Legolas to his knees, clutching at his chest and moaning despite himself. The elf tumbled roughly to the ground.
The statuesque hobbit on the bank swiveled around in alarm, seeking out the intruder. Instead, he spied a golden head and a lithe body cloaked in the garb of Lothlorien lying sprawled out on the ground.
"Legolas!" the hobbit shouted as he ran back to his friend.
Legolas grunted as he attempted to rise to his knees. The pain did not falter.
"I am sorry Frodo, I did not intend to alarm you. Please, do not tarry, leave me..." Legolas continued through gritted teeth, "you must go!" he demanded sternly.
The hobbit's mouth hung open, taken aback by the elf's command. "Legolas, I don't understand, why are you telling me to leave you? Are you hurt, do you need care?"
"Nay, Frodo I am fine, but the agents of the enemy are quick on our heels, you must fly now!"
"Legolas I will not leave you here alone. Just because I am the ring-bearer does not mean I can abandon my friends to death or worse. No, my friend, you are coming with me!" The hobbit's eyes gleamed with determination.
The elf opened his mouth to protest when once again a searing pain assailed him, this time originating in his abdomen. The elf unconsciously coiled in on himself and ground his teeth in pain.
The small hobbit, now more determined than ever, grabbed the elf's arm tightly and begun to pull the elf up and forward. The elf, weak and thoughtless, assented and worked his way to his feet, leaning heavily on the hobbit's small frame.
Slowly the pair reached the shore and the small waiting paddleboat, half floating on the bank of the Anduin River. Legolas still gripped his midsection as Frodo labored to help his friend into the boat's front. With Legolas settled, though impaired, Frodo knew he had a tough pass ahead of him as he judged the distance to the far shore. Grabbing the oars, the hobbit threw his small weight into the front of the boat and pushed off the sand.
Surprisingly, the pain-ridden elf grabbed an oar out of Frodo's hand and started to slowly disentangle his limbs, plunging the paddle through the icy water. The elf may have been overwhelmed by agony in his torso, but his mind still was obstinately determined to serve and protect the ring-bearer, and this determination had only strengthened during his time spent with the courageous and gentle hobbit.
"Legolas stop, you are hurt! Let me!"
"No, Frodo, this is my duty, and I am not hurt."
"Yes, you are! You are practically doubled over in pain!" Frodo yelled in disbelief at the elf's dense remark. He knew Legolas had a perchance for ignoring his own wounds, but he didn't think the elf was so oblivious to dismiss his pain now.
"Frodo, you do not understand..." the elf's words were barely escaping between gasps and grimaces of agony. "This pain...is not...my own!"
This threw the poor hobbit. "What in Middle Earth are you going on about? You are clearly in agony! Did you hit you head on one of the those beloved tree branches of yours when you fell down?
This evoked a strained smile from the elven prince.
"Nay, Frodo. There is something I haven't told you...about me." The elf lifted his eyes from the river's surface to gaze into the wide eyes of his companion.
The hobbit simply stared perplexed, the wrinkles about his eyes and nose accented.
"Frodo, I am an empath, it is a gift that naturally developed over time and that I inherited from my grandmother. My mother was able to pick up on others thoughts at times; I am able to feel what others feel. Especially if the feeling is particularly intense."
The hobbit leaned back as he heard this sudden revelation, unsure whether to be shocked or understanding.
"Well," Frodo said heavily, "that explains a lot."
The elf's head snapped up to once to again meet his companion's eyes.
"Mani?" (What?)
"Well I was just saying that this gift of yours certainly explains alot." The hobbit placed extra emphasis on the last word and then paused to glance ahead to the far shore of the Nen Hithoel.
"You see, whenever I felt especially scared, upset, or even pained, I would feel eyes upon my back, and when I turned I would spy you staring at me. At first this was quite unnerving, but then as I grew to know you, your concern and acknowledgment, as I viewed in these stares, was actually a great source of comfort. Whenever I felt lonely, and then saw your sympathetic eyes upon me, my spirit was greatly lifted. You don't know how much you've helped me in these past months. I always thought that you were just more perceptive than the others, being an immortal elf and all, but now it is all clear."
The elf was shocked by his friend's confession. He didn't know the hobbit had been aware of his watchful gaze on him. Prior, he had always seen his gift as a curse; it was a burden that plagued him, and made others uncomfortable around him. To hear that his ability had helped ease the pain of this overburdened creature moved him.
Tears flooded the prince's eyes as he saw the gratitude in the Hobbit's wide eyes.
"AAAH! Ai, Elbereth!" The fair-haired elf's face contorted to the extreme and the agony that laced throughout the prince's body almost loosed his tight grip on the oar. Frodo, reacting immediately, grabbed the oar, and then gripped tight the shoulders of his friend.
"Legolas! Talk to me! What is it?" He paused a few seconds before questioning, "Who?" he asked pointedly.
Tears rolled down Legolas' porcelain skin as he lifted his head to look at the insistent hobbit.
"Frodo, its...Sam!" The melodic voice had lost all its sweetness as the words were painfully whispered between gasps.
The small figure fell back from his ailing friend and landed hard on his behind, precariously rocking the small boat.
"Sam?!" Fear was etched painfully in the ring-bearer's face. Legolas gasped once more.
"Frodo, please, relax! I can not take both of you right now." The crystal blue-grey eyes of the elf darkened in torment.
"Oh, Valar, I'm so sorry, mellon nin. Please though, tell me, I must know. What is wrong with Sam?"
"Do not be so alarmed Frodo, as an empath I can feel what others feel, but I am also an elf. As a race, the elves are extremely sensitive to emotion and I know from all my experience with Est..Aragorn, that I feel a heightened sense of a mortal's feelings."
The hobbit's expression eased, but alarm was still clear in his screwed features. "Are you sure? I mean, Sam is injured though, right? How bad is it?" Is there anyone with him? Is he still in danger?
"Please, Frodo, I would appreciate it if you stopped overwhelming me here..."
"I'm sorry... Legolas, but I need to know!"
The elf dropped his gaze. His features seemed to tense further and his shoulders hunched. This was the most venerable and expressive the elf had ever appeared in front of the hobbit. The hobbit, always perceptive, prepared him self.
"Frodo...Sam was shot with two arrows. I felt two more slightly less intense jolts just now. I can only assume that was someone, hopefully Aragorn, removing the arrows. If I am right, that is good news, Frodo, Aragorn is a gifted healer, taught and tutored by the greatest healer in Middle Earth, Lord Elrond. I can not even count how many times those two have brought me back from the brink of death."
The hobbits shoulders released their tension slightly.
"But there is one more thing...Frodo, the pain...it is quite strange...like burning." Legolas took a deep breathe before locking gazes with Frodo. The severe tint of the elf's eyes frightened the hobbit more than he thought possible with one glance.
"Legolas, what is it?" Frodo asked with a sinking sense of dread.
"I am afraid, Frodo, that Sam has been poisoned."
THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE COMMENT! I WILL RESPOND!