-What?- a flash of dark brown hair amongst the sea of snow. A whistling wind was blowing, making it hard to hear anything at all.
-I said- Legolas repeated as loud as he could with his scarf wrapped around his mouth - you need to watch that branch!-
Aragorn's horse danced, being stopped abruptly. He turned it around, now facing the elf. He was dressed in many layers of cloaks and furs, still, his complexion was pale out of cold. The light was beginning to turn gray, forecasting a long night. The last bits of sunshine got caught in the ice crystals formed from his breath on the scarf.
-It's getting colder- he said, looking into the elf's blue eyes.
-Aye. At least it's not snowing anymore.- the mumbled answer.
-It's still about two days until we get home-
-True- a short silence.
-But we can make it one if only you're convinced you're faster than me- Aragorn said, glancing over to his friend. Legolas smiled and his horse leaped forth. Aragorn let out a cry of joy and followed. Legolas laughed, at the ice cold air hitting his face, the ground, trees and snow melting into the sky, at the dizziness in his head.
-Victory is mine tonight!- Aragorn shouted and hurried his horse. They raced through the white fields, not noticing the fall of night.
They were returning from a patrol around Mirkwood. King Thranduil sent them off to check the rumors about a pack of bandits near the northern border. For a week they had been tracing the pack famous for its cruel and fearless leader, a man from Laketown called Gilian.
Tales of whole villages slaughtered and burnt, for nothing but his sick satisfaction were loud in Laketown and its surroundings. The elves did't fear him- he wasn't foolish enough to enter Mirkwood. Yet he could still be a threat to smaller groups patrolling the borders or to the people trading with the woodland elves.
Six days after leaving, they still had found nothing. After deciding to move out of the Great Forest and to look for the pack in the sparce woods surrounding it, they met a messenger from Mirkwood who told them that Gilian had been sighted on the southern border- over a one week ride away from them. Aragorn and Legolas decided to take the longer way around Mirkwood, on the other side of the Anduin and near the Misty Mountains. It was a great thing to be able to speak loudly again, after the whole week spent whispering.
-I thought you'd never catch up!- Aragorn had taken down the scarf and hood. His ears and cheeks were flushed from the sharp air. His breath turned into steam right after slipping into the cold night.
The wind had become weaker, it had started to snow lightly, and the delicate snowflakes were melting on his hair. He watched his friend stop his horse and take down the scarf as well. It was an exceptionally quiet night.
-You'd never have won if I hadn't let you!- Legolas laughed. His hood had fallen off as well and revealed a long braid of shiny, almost white hair. Some unruly strands fell on his face which was not at all different from its normal color.
-Oh, of course!- Aragorn laughed. -You've been saying this forever-
-Ha! Sure. Remember who won last time? It sure wasn't you!- Legolas smiled, squinting his eyes and Aragorn snorted as reply and started laughing.
Legolas joined in but suddenly his eyes widened and he put up a finger against his lips. Aragorn understood in a second and listened.
A sound, barely hearable disrupted the silence. Screams and laughter were coming from the direction of a forest far away, far enough for the ones causing it to be invisible to them. Aragorn's eyes darted in the opposite direction.
-Fuck!- he hissed trough his teeth. -We're completely exposed-
While racing, they had entered a completely flat and treeless terrain. Legolas' eyes quickly searched their surroundings for a way of escape, finding nothing. His gaze stopped on the prints they had left in the snow. He didn't say anything, but his eyes were still wide open and he had gone a bit paler.
-How foolish of us- he shook his head in disbelief
-They're a only about an hour away. If we keep going forwards, they will notice us immediately. If we turn west, we won't make it home before they see us.- It was obvious that Aragorn was secretly beating himself up for becoming so reckless. Legolas was calculating every chance of escape they had.
-I'm pretty sure they're making a fire. They won't be on their horses until the sun rises. And if we're lucky, the snow will have covered our traces before then-
Aragorn nodded, biting his lip. -It sounds like there's a lot of them. How could this happen? They were supposed to be on the other side of the woods!-
Legolas shrugged. -Maybe there's two packs and we only knew of one-
-How could we not notice them earlier? They must have been near for a long time-
-The wind turned recently. It was carrying their voices away from us-
-What do we do now?-
-We can't risk going home. It's not going to snow forever. They would notice us sooner or later.- they exchanged a look.
-You're saying we should go in their direction?- Aragorn asked with a calm voice.
-If we make it back to the forest before dawn we stand more chances of getting away than here in this flatland. We could skirt them and ride back the way we came here. Their fires will blind them. There's no moon tonight, we will be invisible. It's a small chance, but bigger than with any other options we have.-
-What if it stops snowing before we get there? They'll have an easy job killing us off.-
-Not as easy as here. I'd rather hide in the forest than be chased-
Aragorn fell silent for a moment before nodding. -Let's go.-
They started riding in the direction of danger.
-Oh, and cover your hair- Aragorn remembered. -You're an easy target-
Both chuckled lightly, partly to convince the other that there was nothing to worry about.
Thanks for reading, sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger... It's going to get down in the next chapter. I'm planning to make this a longer fanfiction, so their troubles are definitely not going to disappear soon.
Legolas was supposed to be dark-haired, since I like that version of him very much. In the end I decided to make him blonde, it just fit this story better.
See you in the next chapter!
