First Meeting
Chapter 9: Motives
Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien. I'm writing this for fun, not money.
Legolas managed to slip past the defences of the orc he was currently fighting, and slashed its then turned to the last remaining orc. Unarmed, it fell quickly.
Legolas paused, listening intently. The only sounds he heard were the rustling of the trees' branches and the scurrying of woodland creatures. Finally, he allowed himself to relax, and sheath his knives. He realised that at some point during the battle, he had received a long, shallow cut along his arm. He was not bleeding too severely and the orc's weapons did not appear to have been poisoned so, ignoring the pain, he turned towards the human, Strider.
The man was still breathing, that much was obvious at a glance. Kneeling down beside him, Legolas felt the man's wrist with two fingers. He did not have a lot of experience in healing, but all warriors of the Greenwood learned some basic healing skills as part of their training. After searching for a moment, he was able to detect a pulse, strong and steady. A quick look revealed that the blow to his head was the only major injury the man obtained during the battle.
Very carefully, Legolas gently felt the area around the wound. The large amount of blood coming from the wound was discouraging, but he discovered no indentions or soft spots that would indicate an internal injury. He left the man for a moment to hurry towards the pack that the human had left in some bushes before the battle started. Inside the pack he found what he had been searching for, a small bag of healing supplies. Inside was cloth for wrapping wounds and some healing herbs. His hand hovered uncertainly over the herbs. He knew that some herbs were used by healers to help slow bleeding or dull pain, but he was not confidant in his ability to determine which herbs would help and which would not. Eventually, he decided to simply bandage the wound.
Using some of the cloth, he attempted to wipe away most of the blood from the wound. After cleaning it as best as he could, he carefully wrapped another cloth around Strider's head.
When that was finished Legolas turned to the next most pressing matter, his own wounded arm. Using the last of the cloth, he cleaned and wrapped the cut.
Afterwards he hesitated over what to do next. He knew that there had been elves following since leaving the stronghold, but the fact that they had not revealed themselves during the fight meant that they were no longer nearby. Whether they had gone for reinforcements or to fight against the orcs themselves, he was not sure. Either way it meant he was on his own for now.
Being a warrior himself, as well as an advisor to the King, Legolas knew the location all of the patrols' bases and rounds. The nearest patrol was not far from here, but Legolas doubted his ability to carry the human the entire way. Leaving the man as easy prey for spiders or more orcs seemed equally impossible to Legolas.
The human was a mystery to him. The fact that he had chosen to fight the orcs rather than flee had been surprising, but explainable. Humans hated the orcs almost as much as elves did, and Legolas reasoned that perhaps Strider had a personal grudge against them. Yet that did not explain why Strider had saved his life not just once, but twice during the fighting. The first time may not have been entirely selfless. The man could have saved him because he knew he could not defeat the orcs alone. This could not have been the case for the second instance, however. Legolas had seen enough of his fighting to know that the human would have been able to finish the remaining two orcs himself. Moreover, Legolas had assumed that the man intended to kill once they came close to the edge of the forest. If that was true, why would he not just allow the orcs to do it themselves? With Legolas and the elves tailing them gone, Strider might have managed to reach the forest's boarder unchallenged, assuming he managed to avoid the patrols which Legolas knew were stretched thin this far away from the stronghold. Instead, the man protected the elf he held hostage, even getting himself injured in the process.
The man's motives were puzzling. Maybe he did believe that Legolas was more valuable alive then dead, despite still being unaware of his identity. Still, Legolas knew from experience that, in battle, one tended to act on instinct rather than reasoning. Yet, clearly it could not be caused by any sort of affection or respect for his hostage. After all, he had had no qualms about kidnapping Legolas. Why would he care if he was killed?
Despite, his conflicting thoughts there was one thing Legolas was certain of. Although Strider was the one responsible for putting Legolas' life in danger, he had still saved his life in that battle. Legolas would see to it that that debt would not go unpaid.
Author's Note: I think I've given up on promises of a quick update, but I WILL update. Thanks so much to everyone who has favourited/followed/reviewed. Please continue to review and let me know what you think.
