And So We Meet Again: Chapter One
This is the sequel to The Meeting. You don't have to read it to understand this one, but I recommend it. Its ID number is 3750105. This takes place about thirty years later.
I own everything you don't recognize and nothing else. The Elvish, including the names, comes from www.
And So We Meet Again: Chapter One
The men rode horses. Strong horses, horses that cantered for hundreds of miles without stopping. The men needed that kind of horse. They were hunting orcs.
They all rode their horses with ease, following the trail. But it was growing late and soon they would have to rest. Finally, their leader raised his hand and said in a low voice, "This is a good place to stop."
The rest grunted agreement and they swung down from their horses and began setting up tents. Only the leader did not begin setting up his tent. He gazed into the distance anxiously, his dark wavy hair disheveled from the day's long ride. With a sigh, he slid off his horse and began to help pitching tents.
Soon all the tents were up. A few men started gathering wood for a fire.
There were about fifteen of them, all on the tall side. They were mostly quiet men but they could all read the language of the woods. A small footprint was like a note for them.
They talked quietly as the fire started. One, shorter than the rest, though by normal standards quite tall, walked off a little, looking around the place they had chosen to rest. He returned a moment later with something in his hand.
"Aragorn," he called, and the dark-haired leader looked up. "I found athelas." At this, Aragorn stood up and hurried over to the man. Without a word, the man handed a leaf to his leader, who smelled it and smiled.
"Thank you so much, Halbarad," Aragorn said warmly. "This will be useful. Where did you find it?"
Halbarad smiled and showed Aragorn where he had found it. Together, they gathered almost all of it, leaving enough so that the crop could reproduce the next spring. They walked back to the camp, where the rest of the group was crowded around the fire.
"Hey, Aragorn, Halbarad, come join us!" one of them called. "We're discussing races."
"Who is racing whom?" Aragorn asked. "I lay my money on myself."
Everyone laughed. "Not that kind of race," someone called, "Races like humans, and elves, and dwarves."
"And hobbits," someone added.
"And what have you concluded?" Aragorn asked, seating himself on a log.
"Humans are the best," said the first speaker. He was greeted with a general roar of agreement. Aragorn smiled but did not say any word of agreement.
"What of the elves?"
Everyone looked at him. "I don't know," said one.
"They're too serious," replied another.
"Tell me, Damrod, how many elves have you met?"
"Um…two," answered Damrod.
"I assure you, Damrod, I have met a couple elves who would not quite qualify as 'serious'," Aragorn replied with a low chuckle.
"You forget, gentlemen, that our fine leader grew up with elves," said Halbarad quietly.
"Oh, yeah," someone said.
"What are elves really like, Aragorn?" a fair-haired man asked, fingering his silver star-shaped brooch.
Aragorn stared into the distance. "It's hard to say," he said finally, "anymore than I could sum up all men in a few statements. Elves are graceful, beautiful, wise. Some more so than others. Elves just are."
The men were silent, staring into the fire, imagining these fascinating beings.
The sun was rising. Elves were waking up, gathering up their gear and generally destroying any evidence that they had been there.
A blond elf, after crawling out from under his blanket and grabbing a bite of a crumbly cracker, walked over to the horses. The horses were not tied up, nor did they have any saddles. No-one would dare put a saddle on these beautiful and independent beings. They were elvish horses, naturally, strong and fast.
Within an hour, the group was already on horseback, following the trail of a party of orcs.
They did not have much success. The sky was growing dark when suddenly an elf at the back raised his head.
"I hear something," he said quietly.
Legolas hurried towards him. "What is it, Brethil?" he asked.
The dark-haired elf put a finger to his lips. Following his instructions and closing their mouths, all of the party heard horses behind them.
"Those aren't elvish horses," Brethil said quietly. "Humans, probably."
"Bandits," whispered a young elf with venom.
"Eruanna's probably right," another elf commented.
The happiness of the gathered elves visibly and rapidly decreased. They all remembered the incident a few years ago, Eruanna most of all…
"I know how you feel about bandits, Eru," Legolas began.
"With reason!" she exclaimed. "You know as well as I do what they did to gwador nin!" (my brother)
"I know." Legolas paused for a moment, glancing around. "He was my friend, too, Eru."
The sound of hoof beats was much louder.
"Let us prepare an ambush for these dear fellows." Legolas' announcement was met with grim smiles. "This is a good spot, with hills all around. All right, usual splits, half on that hill, half over here on this hill with me. Wait for my signal before attacking. Vulture's cry as usual. You half attack them left back, we get them right front. Hurry!"
With the quick efficiency born of years of practice, the warriors split up and followed orders precisely. They were ready when the humans rode into the valley.
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