Here is the next chapter, I hope it is progressing well!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have I done something wrong?" Alex asked Gandalf.
"No, of course not. He won't be long," he replied, handing her some elven bread.
Haldir was about 100 yards away from Gandalf and Alex, resting a hand against a tree as he massaged himself to completion. It had been far too long since he'd taken the liberty of giving himself pleasure. A sexual drive, he thought had long since been forgotten, had suddenly sprung to life since meeting Alex. He was unsure if it was she that was affecting him, or merely the fact that he had been in close proximity to a woman after so many years.
His ministrations were unrestrained, his free hand gripping the tree as he panted and groaned, feeling his release become imminent. He felt the telltale pull of his sac and the pooling in his abdomen, before his sweet seed shot out over the bottom of the tree trunk.
"Aiya, Valar!" he exclaimed as the last of his seed was spent.
He hastily cleaned himself up, and composed himself before returning to the others.
Alex noted that his face now looked completely impassive. It had none of the warmth and patience it had held previously; although it did not bear the stern appearance, she had expected after their little altercation in the bushes.
They all ate quickly and quickly walked on through the forest. There had been little talk of the Drow elf that had attacked that morning, and they had come across no more since. They made good progress through the forest, and Gandalf assured them that they would be clearing it by the following day.
It seemed a little strange to Alex, that they had taken her out of her life on the blind faith that she really did have powers. They had not asked for a demonstration and had not spent much time asking her about her family, or how she had come to have these powers in the first place. They seemed to simply know.
They managed to find a secluded spot to settle for the night. Alex didn't assume that she would be able to sleep in Haldir's arms again, and so tried desperately to get to sleep on her own. It was useless. She thought with being so physically, she would naturally fall asleep, but she had had no such luck. She simply resigned herself to lying quietly for the night, so as not to disturb Gandalf and Haldir.
It wasn't until an hour later when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder that she realised that she had been daydreaming. She couldn't even remember what it was she had been dreaming of. The hand pulled her shoulder so she was lying flat.
"Do you need assistance?" Haldir asked quietly.
"Um, I thought you would be asleep by now?" she replied.
"Elves can go for days without a full nights sleep. You, however, cannot. If my holding you will allow you to slumber, then I will oblige," he stated.
She slowly turned to face him and he placed an arm under her neck and pulled her close. It felt almost natural to do this; she seemed to fit in his arms. She was by no means like any elf he had ever been with. She was several inches shorter than he was, and was not lithe like elven women were. She had a curvaceous, womanly figure, though she did not look remotely unfit. Her hair was of a sun kissed golden colour and was mostly curly. She kept it pinned back in a ponytail, leaving her very human ears on display. They looked very delicate, and Haldir suddenly wondered if they served the same purpose as elven ears did.
For elves, their ears as well as being used for hearing, the tips of the ears were incredibly sensitive erogenous zones. He began to imagine what it would be like to have her caress his ears as she had caressed his nipple the previous night.
He shook the thoughts out of his mind, and noticed that she had once again fallen asleep quickly once in his arms. She looked peaceful as her fingers wound themselves round a silvery strand of his hair. He found himself drifting off to sleep as he was staring at her sleeping form.
Gandalf was awake for most of the night and watched as Haldir and Alex clung tightly to each other as they slept. He watched as Alex shuffled herself closer and flung and arm and leg over him, causing him to grip the leg flung over his hip. His hand ran up the length of her thigh and came to rest on her bottom. His thumb drew light circles over it as Alex ran her hand up and down his back. Gandalf smiled widely at the sight of them, knowing that neither had a clue what the other was doing.
The sounds of birds awoke Alex the next morning. As she became accustomed to the morning light, she became aware of the hand gripping her bottom, which made her even more aware of her leg thrown over his hip. She tried to move his hand from her, but he simply gripped her tighter. She looked up at him and could see he was still sleeping. She desperately needed to relieve herself, and so reached up to pinch the tip of his ear. He immediately opened his eyes at the sensation and looked down at her.
"Sorry, I tried to get up without waking you, but you had a hold of me a little too tight," she said quietly.
He immediately released her and she went off into some bushes. Haldir got up and looked to Gandalf. He was still grinning inanely.
"I was only endeavouring to keep her safe," Haldir told Gandalf.
"Of course you were. I wasn't about to insinuate otherwise," Gandalf replied, still smiling.
"Good. You can wipe that grin off your face."
Haldir mentally slapped himself for gripping hold of her in such a way. He'd have to stop falling asleep when he held her, or stop holding her altogether. However, he knew she would never sleep if left alone. It did seem a little strange to him for a grown woman not to be comfortable with her own company. He had to admit, he did not know why, and assumed that whatever Gandalf knew, must have had some sort of affect on her. What disturbed him the most was that he didn't mind comforting her. It felt good to have someone warm to sleep next to.
Alex came back and they ate in silence. They made tracks out of the forest and crossed the expanse between the forest and the Golden Woods of Lothlorien. Haldir told them that none of his people guarded the outer most regions of the forest, since their numbers were now so few, with most going over the sea. It would be several days before they reached the city. It was starting to get dark.
Things seemed a lot quieter in the Golden Woods that they had been in Fangorn Forest. It was almost eerie. The trees were indeed large and very beautiful. Alex could feel a strange sort of connection to them. It was not something she had ever experienced before. The trees felt alive, and not in the basic sense.
They had walked through the forest for less than a mile when Haldir and Gandalf both stopped. They looked worried and rather anxious.
"We are being followed," Gandalf said quietly but surely.
"The Drow must know we entered," Haldir replied.
"Where are they? I can't see or hear anything," Alex whispered.
"Behind us, to the left," Gandalf said.
"What do we do?" Alex whispered nervously.
"Run!" Gandalf replied.
Haldir and Gandalf set off in a run with Alex trying desperately to keep up. Her legs weren't as long as theirs and so found it difficult. She used all the energy she could muster and was only a few yards behind when she looked back and saw one of those dark elves chasing after them. In her haste, she stumbled on a large branch, falling flat onto her face. Haldir heard the thud of her falling and ran back to help her.
"Quickly!" he exclaimed, trying to pull her up.
"I'm stuck!" she winced as he tried pulling her.
He quickly grabbed her foot and yanked it from the branches. She cried out as she felt it twist free. He pulled her to her feet, and pulled her arm around his shoulders.
"We won't outrun it like this!" she said to him, watching as the dark elf drew closer.
Haldir made a split second decision. He pulled her free from him and turned his back.
"Climb on my back!" he ordered.
"You can't run with both of us to carry!" she tried to argue.
"Do it, quickly!" he yelled.
She threw an arm around his neck, placed the other under his arm and hung on tight, trying to clamp her knees to his hips. He bolted quickly for a nearby tree and climbed it effortlessly, putting at least 60 feet between them and the ground before stopping. Haldir seemed to have hand and foot holes that were not visible to the eye, and yet he seemed quite comfortable in his stance up the tree.
Alex was holding on as tightly as possible, and watched as the elf came into the clearing, searching for signs of them. Alex was watching as he looked around sniffing at the branch she had tripped over. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was breathing heavily in Haldir's ear.
"What do we do?" she asked in barely more than a whisper.
"Wait for him to move on," Haldir replied.
"What if he doesn't? Can he climb trees?" she asked worriedly.
"No, they live mainly underground. They have no woodland experience. Can you not utilise your abilities to move him away?"
"No, I need both hands free, and we are too far away for it to do him any kind of damage."
Alex thought for a moment, and then she noticed his bow hanging from his right shoulder. She pulled it off and moved it down towards his hand.
"You do not know how to use that," he said.
"No, but you do," she replied.
"My hands are rather busy at this moment in time," he said in a rather sarcastic tone.
"You can aim, and I'll shoot."
He lifted his hand quickly from the tree to free the bow. She then brought it over his to his left hand. He shifted his position in order to free his hand and took the bow. Alex quickly reached into his quiver, and took out an arrow and placed it in the bow. She found it difficult in her position, and had to clamp her feet around his waist, pressing uncomfortably into his groin. This allowed her a better position to lean over his shoulder to pull the arrow taut against the bow.
Haldir shifted the bow to align it with the elf. He focused for several moments, making sure that Alex was not going to slip.
"Tell me when," she whispered.
He waited a few seconds.
"Now!" he ordered.
Alex let go of the arrow, and it landed straight in the neck of the elf. Gandalf then appeared and swiftly cut off the head of the elf. He looked up, saw Haldir and Alex up a tree, and motioned for them to come down.
Haldir made light work of climbing down and Alex gingerly got off his back, trying to put weight on her twisted ankle. Haldir then picked her up and followed Gandalf to a secluded area with lots of trees. Gandalf then set about placing some strange crystals around them, which Alex could only assume was to keep them protected and invisible from attackers.
Haldir quickly took off her boot and pulled out some strange leaves from his cloak. He bound them around her ankle. She could feel a warm tingling sensation spreading through her leg.
"It should be healed by morning," Haldir told her.
"Thank you," she said, grabbing his arm as he turned away, "for saving me," she added.
"It is my duty," he replied.