Disclaimer: All characters from LOTR belong to Tolkien. The eventual other ones are from me ;)

DARK IS THE NIGHT FOR HEARTS
CHAPTER 1 - A SCREAM IN THE DARK

The night had turned even colder than the night before - even if Spring was getting closer - and the need to remain unseen to the eyes of the enemy was forbidding any fire. Aragorn and Gimli were curved up in their respective blankets, but their sleep was rather light as their hearts were torned with worries about Merry and Pippin's fate.

Each time they woke up, they could see Legolas standing before them, or pacing at the perimeter of their meager camp, watching restlessly the surrondings, sometimes singing softly in his own tongue, but always alert of the various noises and sounds the wind was bringing to his keen ears, from far distances; he couldn't see a lot in the darkness of the Wild in front of them.

Legolas was quite against those breaks, as each of them was putting more distance between them and the orcs that had kidnapped Merry and Pippin. Of course, he knew that his two companions were not as resistant as he has, and that their mortal bodies were imposing them some rest, even meager, from times to times. Legolas, as for him, almost 3000 years old but still with the appearance of a teenager, could find his subsistance in the waybread the elves of Lothlorien gave them before their departure from the golden wood; and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by humans; he was resting his mind in strange paths of elvish dreams, even as he walked, open-eyed, in the daylight.

But tonight Legolas couldn't find any rest for his mind, for he could feel something wrong was about to happen. He was unaware of what was really happening around the Orcs, or even if the two hobbits were still alive. But he was feeling uneasing darkness grow inside him.

He turned to stare at Aragorn and Gimli, still asleep, then faced again the direction where their ennemies had flown to. He wasn't long to decide. He knew his speed and could read the trails as well - if not better - as the ranger Aragorn. As every elf, his hatred for Orcs was deep and he would be able to locate them two leagues away only by their stench.

He softly grabbed the bow of Lothlórien as well as the arrows Lady Galadrielle had given him. Noone could be too cautious. He slipped also in his belt his two thin blades carved with elvish runes. His plan was not to fight, but to try to get closer to their enemies and to learn as much as he could about their trail or their actions, before coming back to Aragorn and Gimli as they would awke up in the morning. And without a noise, his feet barely touching the grass, leaving no trail behind him, he disappeard into the night.

--ARAGORN!!!--

The ranger woke up straight, grabbing instinctively his sword, laying on his side. He was feeling out of place. Above him, the stars were fading in a sky that wasn't dark anymore, yet wasn't dawn. It took a moment to Aragorn to realize that the scream he had heard was only from his dream. It was that scream, that familiar voice, that has pulled him from his light sleep, and not anymore the cold or the uncomfort of the place, as for the previous times. A scream so real that he scanned the area around him, still on his guards. A dark premonition grew inside him, similar to what he had felt when Frodo had used the ring to disappear and to leave the Fellowship. But this time, it was not about Frodo. And the absence of the elf confirmed what was becoming in his mind a worrying certainty.

Something had happened to Legolas... Something bad...

[to be continued ;) ]

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Okie, my first LOTR fic, started the 15th January in french ;)

I started reading LOTR in 1997, but I abandonned at the Counsil of Elrond (not enough time and not evident ^^; ); as we are preparing the shooting of the parody, I had to read again the book to become more familiar with Tolkien's universe.
-- if there are mistakes, please, do not throws kitchen knives or any other sharp objects, rotten tomatoes will suffice :p

Also, english is not my mother-language, so if there are stuffs you didn't understand or that didn't make any sense (gramatically, heh? not the plot :p ), please, tell me *puppy eyes* *__*

Thanx :)))))