YAY! New chapter! I'm sorry about the wait but I really wanted this chapter to be really well written. Also it's a lot longer. Your welcome *takes bow*haha you guys are awesome I would say the people who added me to alerts but there's too many (blushing)
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Always- Om nom nom I love cookies… hope you like this chapter!
Chapter 3
Aragorn and Legolas walked through the woods with Marth trailing close behind. It had been a few hours and the friends had some lunch, lembas of course, and were now walking back the way Legolas came to retrieve his belongings he stowed away in the tree earlier. The sun was setting and Legolas had just finished telling Aragorn his story of how he got here…
"That sounds very unlike your father, perhaps he is stressed?" said Aragorn
"We all are… The borders aren't as safe and the people don't sleep as soundly. These are dark times." Said Legolas
"Indeed they are." Aragorn agreed
They walked in silence until Legolas pointed out the tree his pack was stored in and after retrieving it, the trio walked the opposite direction towards the eastern borders of Mirkwood.
What brings you so close to the borders?" Inquired Legolas
"We have been getting reports of unwelcome guests in your forests; also the number of orc sightings has decreased." Replied Aragorn
"Is this not a good thing? What kind of guests?" said Legolas.
Aragorn waited a minute, thick in his thoughts, and then he said, "One would think it is, but I know they do not hide because of fear. I feel it is for a different purpose, One I do not know… The intruders, on the other hand, appear to be mortal. I've studied their tracks and it only seems to be a few men. I don't know what they want but every time I follow the tracks they get closer and closer to Mirkwoods walls."
"Do you know if these two happenings are related?" asked Legolas
"I do not know… But I would not be surprised" replied Aragorn
The two walked for awhile, talking casually from time to time, until finally Aragorn led Legolas through a series of paths and trees. Legolas could hear a stream in the distance and knew they were close until three rangers silently fell from the trees and ran towards them. They were all heavily cloaked and breathing hard. The leading one of the group removed his hood and walked to Aragorn.
"Strider, We spotted a small band of orcs running along the Great river. They continued north after they hit the edge of Mirkwoods borders…"
Before Aragorn could reply Legolas interrupted "Are they coming down the old forest road through the Misty Mountains?" Legolas interrupted.
The ranger just became aware of the prince and gave a slight bow as he said "Prince Legolas excuse me, I was not aware of your presence, yes their tracks follow that exact route. How did you know?"
"Its Mirkwoods old trade route to Rivendell. The council is determining a new route as we speak." Legolas replied. He really wished he had payed attention at the meeting…
"That is fortunate for them." The ranger replied. "We do not know their reason for this odd traveling but there have been several groups of them coming that way for the past few days."
"Why are you allowing them this passage?" Aragorn asked impatiently
"We don't have enough rangers together whenever we see them, the groups are about thirty orcs on average." The ranger replied keeping his eyes on the ground.
Aragorn rolled his eyes "The rangers I know have no fear for their life but only in saving the lives of the people we protect."
Ignoring the rangers' bow Aragorn looked over to Legolas, "We need to warn your guards." Then looking over to the rangers he said "Gather as many rangers as you can, tell them of these happenings, prepare for a raid, the next group won't make it past your eyes again."
The three rangers nodded their heads and disappeared into the trees. Aragorn looked over to Legolas "Warn your men without me. I must see where these groups of orcs are going."
"O.K. Aragorn, I will send some of my better men to meet your rangers one mile north of the old forest road"
Aragorn nodded; as he started to walk away he turned his head and said
"Legolas, my name is Strider."
Legolas chuckled as he started running through the trees. He knew there was a guard base within a few miles of their position and needed to make good time.
Thranduil paced the floor. The meeting was adjourned and he was still sulking in the conference room. Should he go find Legolas? Should he go apologize? Thranduil admitted to himself that he may have been rash, but Legolas did embarrass him. How was his son supposed to rule a kingdom if he couldn't sit still for an hour? After a few more minutes he got up and walked toward legolas' room. Knocking lightly on the door he said
"Legolas? It's me. Can we talk?"
After waiting he started to turn the handle and entered the room. "Legolas?" Thranduil looked around the whole room puzzled. But as realization hit him he noticed three important things. Legolas' circlet was on the dresser, all of his weapons were gone, and the curtains were pushed open, waving softly in the breeze…
The ranger known as strider followed the tracks on the old forest road. His ranger was right; many orcs had traveled on the path and were headed toward the elvenking halls. As Strider kept following the paths he noticed that several clusters of orcs ran in different directions at this point in the path. This didn't look good. If Strider was correct, the orcs were surrounding the Mirkwood borders.
Legolas made it to one of the guard posts and found the captain of the guard, Tharion, whom he told the whole ordeal too. They walked to the top of the post to gather more archers.
"My lord we can give you all of our archers for the eastern borders if necessary" Said Tharion.
"No, we need our guards at every post, at all hours. I would advise for you to even stay here." Said Legolas
"Yes my lord, But at least take my son, Darion, he is very skilled and could be a very valuable member."
The rest of the evening the two picked eight warriors, including Darion, to travel back with Legolas to the old forest road. They were about a mile away from the road when all the elves turned their heads to the hills beyond the borders. Not only was the putrid scent of orcs filling the air, but the screams of a whole raid could be heard with clarity.
Strider ran through the forest with six rangers traveling behind, he recognized the forest and knew they were close to the forest road. The rangers had seen the incoming orcs a mile back on some hills where they met him. He hoped Legolas would be close. That's when strider saw the elves gathered at the base of a large pine. They all were fully ready for battle and Legolas ran towards him.
"Arago- uhh I mean, Strider, there's orcs headed this way" Legolas sputtered
Holding back a chuckle Strider replied "I know, we have seen them, I don't think this is another group traveling through Mirkwood. They must be forming an attack."
"Do you think this is what they have been waiting for?" asked Legolas.
"Maybe, we will see their intentions" Aragorn unsheathed his sword and went over to his rangers.
"We will..." Legolas mumbled to himself. He went over to his guards and started forming a plan.
"Strider! Your men will stay on the ground to attack any orcs that make it past my archers. We will be in the trees" Legolas yelled over his shoulder.
"Oh they won't make it past us" Darion said with a sneer on his face.
The group ran to the edge of the trees. The rangers hid at the base of the trees with their swords at the ready. Legolas and the elves gracefully jumped high into the trees. Everyone was at full attention and Legolas could see the first line of orcs running over the hill towards them.
Thranduil paced the halls up and down checking each room for the hundredth time. A guard walked over nervously to a frustrated king.
"My lord, The guards say they did not see Legolas in the garden or archery hut. Also the stable hands still have Legolas' horse."
Thranduil whipped his head over to the guard, "Well if he doesn't have his horse then he couldn't have gone far, or he didn't leave at all. Find him. I want him at the dinner table tonight."
The guard bowed his head and hastily walked out of the room leaving Thranduil to his thoughts. The king sat on the bed next to him, letting out a sigh. He stared at his right hand. He hated his hand so much right now. Burying his face in his palms he sat there. Where is Legolas? If he went somewhere without his horse would he be safe? Before his thoughts could get deeper he heard the alarm horn. Jumping up from his seat he looked out the balcony and saw guards going frantic up on the gate. He heard the horn again and was startled when another breathless guard barged into the room.
"My lord, orcs have surrounded most of our borders; we are under attack!"
There were 4 lines of the foul creatures, had to be at least 40. They stood side by side and marched towards the forest... this was odd... why would there be a whole raid of them coming down the main paths to Mirkwood? Didn't they know that as soon as they were 250 yards away that all the guards, including Legolas, would just shoot them down? They were perfect targets!
Legolas was pulled from his thoughts when he saw the first line all reveal bows and arrows with cloth at the tips. Cloths? He had heard of poisoned arrows but …cloth arrows? Suddenly an orc at the end of the second line unveiled a torch and ran down the front line letting out a battle cry that made Legolas' hair raise on the back of his neck. Before another wave of questions could go through his mind the orc ran down the line and used his torch to ignite the cloth at the end of the arrows.
Then it clicked.
These arrows weren't meat for battle, they were meant for destruction.
Legolas had a panicked look on his face and turned to the men all around him. Their eyes were focused and their arrows were fully prepared and pulled back so tight he thought their strings might break. Aside from feeling an ultimate pride in his dedicated warriors Legolas looked to Aragorn and got his attention.
"Aragorn! Their arrows" he motioned to the flaming arrowheads
"Yes I see them. Don't worry your men will have them dead before they can retract their bows" Aragorn replied with a smirk.
"No Aragorn this is a suicide mission on their part. I think they mean to ignite our forest not fight a pointless battle!"
Aragorn eyebrows furrowed as he realized this. The rangers down below looked up at Legolas, and the other elves perched in the trees looked down at Legolas, relaxing their bows, for now they understood the severity of the situation. Every eye was on Legolas and he knew he needed to take immediate action.
"Prepare to shoot them now archers. Rangers ready your selves to get to them on the ground. They cannot release those arrows in our forests!"
The men did as they were told and Legolas looked back at the approaching raid. The orcs were now running and the front line drew back their bows...
"Attack!" yelled Legolas
The elves in the trees released their bows and immediately seven orcs fell to the ground dead. The rangers on the ground, including Aragorn, ran out into the open field knives at the ready and killed all orcs that dare came near.
Even as this took place there were still three orcs that managed to release their bows and Legolas cringed as he watched the arrows fall into the forest immediately igniting the ancient trees. He closed his eyes as the screams of the trees reached his ears. What should he do? His first thought was to help the men below but he could see there were only a few orcs left standing... although not for long…
His next thought was about his men. Were they all ok? Searching the forest and the ground he saw there were 14 men successfully finishing the battle. But wait no that was incorrect there was 15 men and elves, not including himself or Aragorn. Where was this missing warrior? Legolas jumped to the ground and realized it was Darion, Tharions son. He looked to where his post was and to his dismay saw it was where one of the arrows had struck and a fire was quickly expanding.
Without a second thought, Legolas jumped from his post in the tree and looked into the flames to find his companion. Thankfully he was not there. Jumping down from branch to branch Legolas searched the trees for Darion. The flames were hot and the smoke made his throat burn and eyes water but he pressed on. After he looked through the whole tree and the ones surrounding it he went to the ground which was totally engrossed in flames. Running through the open areas Legolas finally laid eyes upon Darion. He was lying in an awkward position with an obviously broken leg on the ground directly under his position in the tree.
"Darion? Darion!" Legolas screamed over the flames
He fell to his knees next to the fallen warrior and rolled him onto his back. Darion eyes opened into slits and started couching when he tried to speak
"Don't speak. I will get us out of here" Legolas encouraged
"The arrow... Headed for me... Had to jump... only way too…too..." That was all Darion could say before coughing overtook him.
"Don't worry you're going to be ok"
Legolas carefully picked up Darion and started weaving through the flames.
After about five minutes Legolas' eyes were crying profusely because he couldn't see through the smoke. The fumes were taking a toll on his lungs and he couldn't stop couching. He looked down at Darion and saw the elf unconscious with his eyes closed... Legolas couldn't tell if he was alive. All he knew was he had to keep running.
But he was lost. All sense of direction was lost because all Legolas could see was flames. Trees were falling all around him, their screams were disorientating him, and he was having trouble dodging the falling limbs. His legs were giving out and no matter how much Legolas gasped he just couldn't breathe.
"Keep running. Just keep running!" he repeated to himself in-between gasps
After about five more minutes it was just too much and Legolas fell to his knees. He tried to get up but just fell down even harder. Ai! This was not looking good! Legolas looked up and the sky was spinning and he felt sick. At this point all he could do now was crawl to a nearby sturdy tree and protect Darion. He took his cloak and used it as a smoke screen over Darions face and he willed the young one to be ok. In a final attempt he tried to get up but fell to the ground gasping for air.
And that's the last thing he remembered before unconsciousness over took him.
AAHH Cliffhanger! Haha review please! If you have any ideas, criticism, or praise… Anything! Ill update soon promise :)
