Chapter 3

We left for Helm's Deep that same day. I took my own horse, avoiding a long, awkward ride with Legolas. I rode next to Aragorn. In front of us, Éowyn and Gimli chatted happily.

"It's true you don't see many Dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men," Gimli said.

Éowyn turned to Aragorn smiling, "It's the beards." He stroked an imaginary beard on his chin.

"This, in turn, has given rise to the belief that there are no Dwarf women and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!" He and Éowyn laughed loudly. "Which is, of course, ridiculous." Gimli threw his hands up and the horse took off underneath him and threw him to the ground.

I stifled a loud laugh, Éowyn ran to his side.

"It's all right. Nobody panic. That was deliberate. It was deliberate."

I fell back as King Theoden spoke to Aragorn. Legolas rode around the perimeter of the group on watch duty. I found no company from the men. I was an outcast of the Fellowship. The only thing that kept me from seeing it before was Legolas. Now that we were no longer speaking, I felt the disparity. Perhaps Legolas had a darkness inside of him as well.

I sat on the ground with my feet up on a rock. I was flipping my dagger in the air and catching it repeatedly. The men were still asleep. I awoke a few hours ago and this was the best I could do to entertain myself. The sun was rising. The sky had begun turning a light blue; pinks and oranges streaked the clouds along the horizon. I flipped the knife up higher, trying to get it to flip three times. A hand nimbly caught it by the hilt before it could fall back down to me.

Legolas was looking down at me, "You should not be so reckless."

I grinned at him. "I wouldn't be here right now if I weren't reckless."

"Are we going to pretend nothing ever happened between us?" he whispered. His fair face turned into worry, and a little sadness. He still held the blade where he caught it.

We had not spoken to each other since Edoras. My chest tightened. "We are not going to talk about this here."

Before I could react, he dropped to the ground. His hands fell on either side of my head and his face close to mine. He stared into my eyes.

"I think we need to speak," his breathy voice warmed my skin. I studied his face, his dark eyebrows knit together slightly. His blue eyes prodded mine in a desperate attempt to understand my emotions. I lifted my hand and lightly traced the contours of his high cheekbones. The corners of his lips twitched upwards. His blue eyes glimmered sweetly. I should not be doing this.

"Legolas, we can't," I whispered. I could not convince myself that I meant it.

"Why?" he whispered, his hot breath fell across my lips.

I tilted my chin up in response. I could not keep myself away from him any longer. I closed the gap between us; the urge to be closer to him only increased. He deepened the kiss. His lips pressed hard against mine. His arms slid underneath me, one behind my head and the other on my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck. His tongue pushed past my lips and explored my mouth. I moaned slightly as our tongues danced on each other's lips, our heat and desire increased by the second.

"Oh!"

Legolas basically flew off of me. I turned my head; Éowyn was standing near us with a deep blush on her face. "I'm so sorry!" She turned and scurried away.

Legolas was laying on his back next to me, staring up at the sky with a frustrated expression as he whispered a variety of Elvish curses. He had a slight bulge in his pants.

"I'm sorry, we just can't," I whispered, I grabbed the knife that he had dropped and rushed away.

I rode my horse with the men the next day; thankfully, Legolas was on lookout again. He stood on top of a hill in the distance, overlooking the plains. I kept notice of his whereabouts throughout the last of our journey. I rode in silence, enveloped in my own thoughts.

Screams and howls came from the distance. I froze and looked in the direction I had last seen Legolas. Aragorn ran over the hill. Legolas was nowhere to be seen – neither was Aragorn.

Aragorn sprinted over a hill. "Warg! We're under attack! Get them out of here!"

"All riders to the head of the column!" Théoden commanded.

I rode forward. Perhaps battle was what I needed to distract myself from my compulsion to be close to Legolas.

"Rhava, you're wounded!" Aragorn yelled at me.

I rode on without responding. I healed long ago. And I needed to make sure he was okay.

I rode at the front with the men. As we came over the hill, I could see Legolas firing arrows at the oncoming wargs. Relief washed over my body. He turned and glared at me before grabbing a hold of his horse's saddle and swinging himself in front of Gimli. I was not sure if he was angry for our fight earlier that morning, or my being in battle.

I fired arrows at the wargs and orcs coming over the hills. I had to keep control. I fired more arrows. Control. There is an orc thrown off his beast – I fired an arrow into its throat. Warg coming at me from my left – I swiveled around his assault and sliced through his throat easily using the force of his own attack. I was so concentrated on keeping control that I did not notice the other orc coming towards me from the right. My horse bucked and took off, throwing me to the ground. Sharp pain shot through my right shoulder as I collided with the ground.

The warg pinned me down with one of its paws as my pain distracted me. I struggled for my knives as the warg's hot, reeking breath neared. When I looked up, all I could see was giant, sharp teeth. I pulled one of my legs up and pressed my foot at the base of its neck. It lunged at me and my hand enclosed over the hilt of my knife. The jaws snapped near my face. I could feel the air rushing past my cheek. I pushed it back with my foot and flipped the knife in my hand. I plunged my knife upwards into its bottom jaw. It groaned deeply and dropped on top of me. I threw it off me. My clothes soaked with blood.

I sat up. I heard something in the chaos. Through all the fighting and yelling, I heard a distinct sound. It was a scream. Legolas. I looked around, my heart slammed against my chest. He was there. I saw him between the sprinting horses. A huge Uruk had him pinned against a dead Warg with his foot. His bow laid just out of reach and he could not draw his knives. No other riders could help him. At least three orcs stood between me and him. I drew my bow. Fire filled my left shoulder. I ignored it. I had to ignore it. I fired my first arrow, taking out an orc that had attempted to stab me. I fired the second, killing an orc that was fighting with a struggling rider. The third was on him. I threw my bow back onto my back and drew both my knives with my left arm. I was sprinting. Legolas was struggling against the Uruk's foot; a blade was at his throat. He turned his head away from the blade and saw me.

"Oy, Ugly!" I shot an arrow towards his head, purposely missing so his hand would not jump and cut Legolas's throat.

The orc slowly turned to me, lifting his foot off Legolas, who gasped for breath. He grinned evilly and swiped a blade at me. I blocked his blade with my knives. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Legolas loading his bow. I smiled at the orc. He grunted and attempted to strike again before an arrow went through his temple. He fell to the ground next to me.

I ran to Legolas's side, "Are you okay?"

"You should not have come out here." He glared at me.

"If I didn't you would be dead." I placed my hand left on his cheek.

He slapped my hand away and forcefully pushed himself off the ground.

"Legolas!" I yelled after him.

He marched back to me, his face filled with rage, "You can't just decide you want me one moment and then change your mind the next!"

"Amin hiraetha," (I'm sorry) I whispered, my heart ached at his words, but no tears came to my eyes.

His eyes softened for a moment, but nonetheless, he turned and walked away. I followed after him a few moments later, after I had regained my composure.

Legolas, Gimli and Théoden were looking over the cliff when I came over the hill. I looked through the bodies in the field before I spotted him. I walked to the body of my horse and unloaded the packs on the saddle.

A hand gently touched my shoulder. Gimli stood over me. I cringed away from his touch. "Lass, it's time to go." Tears formed in his big eyes. "Aragorn is missing," he explained.

"Oh," I whispered. I faked what I believed to be an appropriate amount of sadness. No matter how hard I tried, I could not care about him or the others – nor could I get over my disgust towards Dwarves. Only one member of the Fellowship struck a chord of sympathy within me. "I have no horse."

"You can ride with me." Théoden trotted over. "I saw you in battle. I would be honored to have you fight alongside my men."

I assumed I would have to battle with men for them to allow me to fight. Not that I would have listened to Théoden if he told me I could not. "It would be an honor, my lord."