What the hell happened to Simplicity?
Bold Italics is Elvish. Italics are thoughts.
I'm going to change Caelik slightly; she's still the same except instead she's 40 and will be an adult when she's 50, to make the time Seth has to wait less.
The Bond.
I rode to the archer's field, I saw Prince Legolas trying to show the vampires the basics of it – they were fine with a sword but we wanted to teach them roughly how to use a bow as well, just in case – I had to admit he was even better than me, and he looked hot doing it too.
I jumped off my horse and made my way to my spot on the archer's field. As I walked over to them Prince Legolas's eyes connected with mine and he gave me a small smile, but so did Edward as he lowered his bow.
I gave them all a small wave, before taking off my quiver and putting an arrow on my bow. I quickly aimed at the target about 60 odd meters away, and I twisted my head slightly as I saw all of them watching me. I took a deep breathe to stop from complaining, and then fired, my arrow hit the target dead in the centre. I could feel their eyes boar into the back of my head in awe.
I grabbed another arrow and mumbled, "The next one's aimed at your head if you don't fire." before aiming again at the same target, I drew back and was about to let go when a stray thought entered my mind.
'You're good at that.' It said, the third person was odd enough, but it hadn't even been the usual voice in my head, it was soft and sweet but deep and masculine, like a song.
I looked over to the others to see if they had heard it, and they all seemed usual, preparing there next shot, Prince Legolas wasn't however, he stood behind Edward and stared straight into my eyes, after he recognized my shock, he winked at me.
Normally this would have deserved him a mind blowing slap! But somehow I felt that instead I was going to have to talk to him about it.
I was in the courtyard teaching Sam how to do basic sword work, of course I was trying to take it easy on him, but I still managed to accidently snatch his sword away from him, I gave it back to him and decided he needed a rest.
"Take a breather Sam, no wonder you've lost your edge." I joked sitting on one of the benches next to him. He smiled up at me, before leaning back to stare at the sky.
"Care for a challenge?" I heard Aragorn ask from behind me, he walked silently in front of me, smirking to himself.
"Idiot." I heard my brother whisper as he walked passed and stopped to watch.
"Challenge accepted." I agreed nodding my head before drawing my swords, I quickly took three steps towards him and we started duelling, mostly light hearted after all. I unconsciously noticed that most of the Fellowship was now surrounding us.
This was starting to take time, I mean how long had it been; 3 minutes, I was getting pretty bored.
I slashed at him once, fast, he dodged out of the way, and obviously realised my limit was up, he started fighting back properly. We fought heavily for another minute then out of sheer luck he managed to knock my sword from my hand, he went to make surrender, but I quickly grabbed my dagger from its pouch on my thigh and was quickly able to take it to his neck, causing him to lower his broad sword.
He quickly surrendered with a light hearted laugh and sheathed his sword in its scabbard. The hobbits started laughing and applauding me as I replaced my rescued blades on my back. I ruffled Pippins hair as I walked passed and went to sit down.
"I'll challenge you." Someone said loudly after a second, their voice brave but hollow. I scanned the crowd looking for which guy they were looking at. Then I saw, it was Jacob, standing next to Seth and my sister, he was once again bare chest and standing taller than all the others here.
Many of the men there were glaring at him; still cautious of what they were. He walked forward, two large strides, then repeated; "I'll challenge you." in a bolder voice.
Seth took three quick steps forward to stand next to him and whispered in his ear, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, it wouldn't be good to kill our allies on the first day!" he joked. I raised my eyebrow at that comment, loving a challenge when I could get one.
"I accept." I said firmly, sticking my chin in the air "But I hope you know," I added softly levitating myself towards him slowly, seeing every ones eyes widen, and jaws drop, "I won't fight fair if you don't." I said with a smirk, slowly levitating myself back down.
Once I was back on the ground he smirked at me and whispered, "Deal!" and turned sideways to morph into his wolf form, I stepped back quickly taking out my blades again. He turned towards me slowly, raising his upper lip to bare his teeth and growl at me, he snapped at the air and manoeuvred to try and come at me from the side; I easily adjusted my position in response.
It was odd to try and fight a gigantic wolf, but I decided if I imagined it as Seth it wouldn't be so hard. I started trying to be just defensive as I could tell his teeth were razor sharp, but after a bit I quickly started trying to get stabs at him. At one point he almost folded in on himself, trying to bite at me, but as I jumped out of the way I managed to land a slice to his back leg, making him whiny and whine in pain.
"Ouch!" Seth hissed for his brother, "Elvish blades sting pretty bad." He explained to my sister.
He sniffed at the wound and licked it once making him hiss at me, he quickly darted forward and took a leap at my head; I just about ducked out of the way, but now he was really pushing his luck.
I forced the wind to whirl around us again, making his hair stick up on end; causing him to snarl at me again, my hair was blown out behind me and I took two strong steps forward. I drew my blade in front of me and as he dived forward teeth bared, claws outstretched; I ducked and sliced again at his stomach.
I heard a hiss from the side and saw Elizabeth snarl at me again. Then as I looked back at him, he was shaking again, but instead of going back into his human form to surrender his body shifted and changed shape and colour, then he stood before us, a tall black stallion, head held high, mane blowing in the now calmed wind and as everyone glared at him questioningly, Elizabeth ran forward and jumped on his back; as soon as she was safely seated he cantered forward bolting straight through our city gates and over the hills surrounding our city.
"Argh!" Seth moaned as he walked forward and quickly changed into a dun stallion as well. Caelik laughed and bounded forward, and gracefully launched herself up onto his haunches grabbing onto his mane for support as he cantered off after his leader.
"CAELIK!" I shouted as they left sight, I ran to my horse, seated in my mare's saddle I kicked her on to follow the others. I saw them all on top of the first hill, Caelik laughing with Elizabeth as Seth and Jacob seemed to be in a race next to them.
I felt a twinge of regret as the smile left her face as I came up next to them, and Seth stopped behind her, he nudged her towards me with his nose, before going back to nip Jacob in the stomach.
She slowly climbed onto my horse behind me and I quickly took her back home.
When I got back to the courtyard, only Edward and Prince Legolas where still there, but Edward quickly darted off as he saw me, leaving only Prince Legolas there to hold my horse as we both got off simultaneously. He easily walked the mare to the paddock and took off her bridle and saddle before letting her trot off to the other horses.
I walked with Caelik to a bench and sat down with her. I took a deep breath before we started and turned to her.
"I'm not trying to be mean, I just want to protect you, he's dangerous, and we still don't know if you'll find your mate in an elf yet, I just don't want you to break your heart … or his." I explained breathlessly.
"I know, you're just trying to protect me but I don't need protecting, I'm a big girl, no matter how old I am, I'm not a child anymore and I know what love is … and I love him, even if you think he isn't my mate, I know he is; he's sweet and cute and funny, and I always feel comfortable and warm to be around him." She explained to me calmly, her voice dreamy "I love him, not matter what he is, and I know I've only known him for two days, but it's incredible, we spend every waking hour with each other, and even if we don't know everything about each other yet, well, we'll just love each other more when we find out." She finished breathless.
"But what if you find out … he was in love once before?" I asked quickly, desperately.
"Then he would either be with her or he would be dead, he's already told me." She explained calmly.
"What if you found out, he was one of our enemies?" I asked boldly.
"Then I'd be heartbroken, but if I couldn't convince him to join our fight, then I'd have to follow him." She said wearily.
"Even if it meant killing your own family?" I half spat.
But she went silent, she looked down at her hands for a second, but just at the right time Seth came running towards her, concern written all other his face. He scooped her up in his huge arms and kissed her forehead, he mumbled something in her ear which caused her to giggle before he towed her away from me.
I collapsed back onto the bench with a 'Huff' and felt like crying as I heard what I had said in my head.
Suddenly I felt two warm hands holding mine in my lap; I opened my eyes, to see two twinkling blue orbs in front of me, looking intently up at me.
"She's gonna hate me." I mumbled as he sat beside me, our fingers just about touching, sending electricity up my arm and into my gut and making my heart flutter a little bit.
"No, she's just a little scared, she doesn't have all the answers; nobody does, you just do what your heart tells you is right." He said soothingly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
"You think he's her mate?" I asked in a whisper.
"It's not my place to say." He said quickly, leaning back into the corner of the bench.
"I'm asking you." I pleaded again.
"Yes; I've seen the way they look at each other, I do believe it is true love, whether it will last I cannot say." He said after awhile, I could feel his eyes on my face, and I blushed a light pink. I felt the electricity spark again as our hands got closer, knuckles bumping.
"What happened this morning, on the field?" I finally asked, I had been trying to get him alone all day and I wasn't about to give up my chance.
I saw him look at our hands again, and it almost looked like he was blushing a bit.
"Yes, that was me." He said plainly. "It was the first time though." He said finally looking in my eyes again.
I lost myself in his eyes again, I felt myself lean in slightly, but dodged away again as I heard Jacob's hooves clicking towards us. I looked up at him again shyly, and was alarmed when he wearily took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together.
"I would like you to know; on our journey I will keep you from harms way, your father has asked me to watch over you." He told me soothingly, as Jacob and Elizabeth hurried through the courtyard hand in hand.
"Thank you Prince Legolas." I said politely standing up to leave, but he quickly stopped me, reaching for my hand again.
"Legolas is fine." He said looking past me in indignation.
"Legolas, Bella." I introduced informally, reaching out my hand for his.
He quickly stood, took my hand and kissed it in a bow. After we smiled at each other for another second I walked off to apologize to my sister for my uncouth actions.
I walked firmly into the ring, ignoring the stallion in the corner. I firmly strode into the centre and swung the rope around in my hand, the horse started and started cantering around the ring, his strides widened and his head was held high. I stepped out in front of him, and he quickly turned and started going round the other way. I waited a bit and did the same thing again.
I could see it had been a couple minutes and he was starting to wear down a bit, his neck was bowed and his head was lowering slowly. The next time I turned him around, he turned into trot, slowing down even more, he lowered his head to the floor and snorted into the dirt.
I shouted at him for a second and pushed him on again. He bucked out and went back into a slow canter again, slowing down even more each time. I swung the rope toward him, being careful to only hit behind him.
He reared up and changed direction, this time staying in a fast canter; he kept going for awhile, holding his head in the air again.
After a couple more minutes, I heard a twig snap behind me, and turned to see Legolas and Arwen coming over to me, in the arena, I smiled at them, and they stopped at the arena gate.
The stallion turned again, and started to slow down a bit, he started lowering his head slowly, and after a while he started chewing on the air, and soon his ears turned towards me and he slowed his pace down to a trot again. His paces were even, and I turned away from him, I heard his footsteps stop as he turned towards my back. I lowered my head, to show that I wasn't a threat, and heard three footsteps and then I felt his breathe on my hand as he nosed my arm.
I felt the smug grin on my face as I walked towards the outer ring and the stallion followed attached to my arm, I went round the circle before coming up the centre again and went to the gate. He stopped next to me, and I stroked his cheek and down his neck, before slowly tying the halter on loosely around his head.
"Is that the stallion?" my sister asked from next to me as I played with his forelock. I smirked at her and silently clicked the lead rope onto the loop under his chin, his ears pricked up, as I gave him a gentle tug before taking a step out of the ring, he was once again next to my hand so I gave him a pat.
"What did you do to him?" Legolas asked me, watching us very closely. I stopped him next to a bench and put my lucky rug gently over his back, as he let it lay there, I gently put some weight on him with my arms, and when he didn't move I moved to the other side and repeated the process. When he stood perfectly still I gave him a pat, and put the rug back on him.
"She calls it …" My sister started letting me finish.
"The eternal bond." I whispered, as I gently stroked all over his neck and face, before slowly, jumping onto his back as softly as I could, he was 16.5 hands though (About 5 foot 6) , I gently took the lead rope and Arwen quickly hooked the other side onto the loop, so it was a sort of gentle reins. "The connections people normally have with horses isn't enough for them to save our lives, if you have a real bond, they'll never leave you and can be trusted on; for as long as they take breathe." I told him, I started talking English as some of the others passed by and stopped to watch. I used my legs and pushed him on a little; he took a couple steps but stopped again.
"So you've trained a wild horse in ten minutes?" Jasper asked me, but just as he finished talking the stallion kicked out his back foot and started backing up towards a tree. I relaxed my hands and leaned towards his ears to whisper to him.
"Wow, easy boy, you're safe with me, be calm, be calm." He calmed down at my words and arched his neck in relaxation. I gave a gentle nudge, and this time he started walking forward, wearily at first but he quickly just walked around for me. "Well as you can see, he's not trained, but if I did train him it would be easy now, it also helps to talk Elvish; they understand it better." I told him, as I tried to make him walk in a rounded circle.
"Where did he come from?" Alice asked me from within Jasper's arms, I had grown to like Alice, she was quite quirky, but our powers made us understand each other easily.
"My brothers caught him outside our city walls; he must have lost his herd somewhere. I was just supposed to heal his wounds and now I'm going to release him back into the wild, he's been calling to someone the last two days, and I just couldn't keep him from his family." I told them as I quickly got off him, and took the rug off his back.
He stood perfectly entirely still, but as I went to put the rug back on the bench he followed willingly, so I decided to test this fully for the first time.
I walked in front of him, and he kept the perfect pace staying at my shoulder, excited to be next to me. I walked up to Arwen and took her hand, and we walked around together to see if he would accept her. He walked with me still and paid no attention to my sister so I calmly said.
"I'll stop walking, but keep going." I whispered and after five seconds I stopped walking and took a couple steps to the side, but as she carried on walking, the stallion turned and stopped right in front of me, and rubbed his face on my arm.
I let out a little giggle at his childish behaviour and stroked his face for him.
"Aran tel' talar'. Aran tel' menel. (King of the ground. King of the sky.)" I whispered to him soothingly.
I heard another giggle, and looked up to see Alice flittering slowly towards us, she stopped next to the horse and as he ignored her, she slowly, reached out and stroked his white cheek. He snorted at her cold touch, but wearily relaxed himself again.
"What colour is he?" she asked, staring at his spotted coat. I smiled, his coat was one of my favourite parts about him; it was quite a rare colour to see.
"He's an Appaloosa, white and black." I said soothingly, as I stroked his neck again. I took the reins over his head and slowly lead him back to the ring where the other horses were grazing, his ears pricked up as I slowly took the halter off, and as soon as the gate closed behind him, he cantered off next to a black mare and grazed next to her happily.
"So, you're good with horses." Edward said, leaning on the fence next to me.
"You don't eat them do you?" I asked jokingly, luckily he laughed and smiled at me.
"Not that I know of." He said, and turned towards me. I continued to watch the horses walking around and my favourite grey gelding falling asleep in the middle of the field.
"So what did you name him?" he asked, a huge smirk on his face. I just narrowed my eyes and stuck my chin in the air, ignoring him. "Oh, come on, if it wasn't for Jasper, I already would've known how you felt when he was following you around; you must've named him." He argued adamantly.
"Fine if you must know I was thinking of 'Aran' it means; King, and he's certainly a king amongst his people." I told him after a while, I was confirmed as he reared up in the ring and trotted into the opposite corner.
"So what happened to Elizabeth's mother?" I asked, not sure if it was okay to ask him, and when he sighed and looked down at his shoes, I was about to tell him not to worry, but when he looked up he looked different to me, his eyes were black and soulless, not like his usual gold, lively eyes.
"She died during labour, she told me to save Elizabeth before I changed her and then I couldn't save her. She sacrificed herself, for something I never wanted without her. That was about fifty years ago, but everybody has baggage I guess." He said, raking his hand through his dishevelled hair at the end.
"I'm sorry, but Elizabeth is incredible, and if it's what your wife wanted you shouldn't regret it, just enjoy it. I'm not sure if you believe in 'mates' like we do, but if you're still here, then maybe yours is still out there, somewhere." I told him, not sure if he would get mad at my advice.
He didn't say anything, he just smiled at me, and tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear, I got alarmed as his hand lingered there, and he slowly cupped my face. His thumb stroked my cheek, and I lost the ability to reject him; I saw the sorrow and loss in his eyes, but suddenly in the opposite end of the tunnel, there was hope.
Thanks to Rin030 your review really helped.
Hope you like this chapter; seems like each one is getting longer.
Please favourite and review.
Sorry about the cliff hanger.
01/02/2012 08:56:55 - 6 -