Chapter Ten:
The Summoning
Well isn't this FANTASTIC? I thought angrily. Nuindacilion and Legolas have disappeared, the King is stoned, and there's a bunch of Orcs trying to destroy the place! Ugh. Just my luck. I watched helplessly as the orcs plundered and destroyed. It pained me to see the magnificence of the halls utterly ruined by their sinuous black- clawed hands and poisoned blades. Surprisingly enough, though, they didn't seem particularly intent on doing anyone any harm. They just seemed to want to destroy the place. One orc suddenly stopped and looked at me. I shuddered, feeling its cold, hateful gaze.
It began to move in my direction.
I wanted to run, but I couldn't move. I just stood frozen to the marble floor. The terror I was feeling made me want to retch. The Orc was now standing not half a metre away from me. I could smell the stench of its breath. It bared its horribly pointed yellow and black teeth and snarled before turning around and yelling some horrible words to the others. They all stopped what they were doing, and a chorus of snarls and Orkish words went up.
Then they left. I had no idea why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"They've GONE!!!!" Nuindacilion uttered in absolute astonishment when he and Legolas returned ten minutes later with about fifty or so Elven archers. "They certainly made a mess of the place," Grimaced Legolas, beckoning a whimpering King Thranduil out from under the table and getting two of the Archers to take him back to his quarters. "I wonder why they did not kill anyone. This is indeed a strange event!" I was still shaking slightly from the gaze of the Orc. "They were looking for something." I said quietly. "And I have a feeling it was me." I told Nuindacilion and Legolas what had happened. Legolas nodded "If it is you they wanted, Glirèn" He said "The path they will most likely back south to Mordor to report your return to the Dark Lord. If this is the case, then we must send troops immediately to find them and waylay them, so news of your return cannot be known to the Dark Powers. With Legolas's remarks, the Archers that had come to kill the orcs dispersed and disappeared into the woods, leaving Legolas, Nuindacilion and I standing in the ruined hall.
We were conversing loudly about the state of things, so we didn't hear Culmìre enter through the back door. "What in the name of the Valar Has happened here?" She exclaimed as she looked around with amazement in her eyes. "Orc attack," Said Legolas quietly, being careful not to look at her in the face. "They appeared out of nowhere. We are still wondering at their motives, and how they came to be here. They have gone, though, and we sent archers after them, so hopefully they will not return." Culmìre nodded and looked in every direction except Legolas's. I wondered what secret they held together. Nuindacilion seemed to know the reason behind their awkward behaviour and he looked rather amused by it. I gave a tiny sigh of resignation. "Was anyone hurt?" Asked Culmìre worriedly. "No. No one was injured, thank Elbereth," I replied. "Not this time, anyway." She breathed a sigh of relief. Legolas finally got up the courage to look her in the eyes. "But just in case they return, I think you had better return to your quarters where it is safe." He said.
Culmìre opened her mouth to object, but a look from Legolas quietened her. A grin spread across her pretty face. With a small curtsey and a "Yes, Your Highness." She disappeared as quietly as she had entered.
With Legolas's words fresh in our heads, we decided it was best if we found safe cover away from the Orcs if they decided to make a return attack or to do more reconnaissance work for the Dark Lord. We sat down in silence in a small alcove just off the hall. Legolas was the first to speak. He sounded edgy and somewhat nervous. "I think, uh, I'd better go back to my, uh, quarters to check that the Orcs haven't stolen anything.." And with that, Legolas ran off towards the completely wrong end of the Halls, (towards Culmìre's quarters, I noticed) leaving Nuindacilion and me completely by ourselves in an empty room with the entire Halls in a shambles from the attack.
An awkward silence.
I'm not sure how long we sat there, thinking about nothing, and seeing nothing but each other, but the peace was suddenly broken by a thud and then the sound of something rolling from the direction that Legolas had run off towards. We both whipped around to see Legolas and Culmìre, hand in hand, in the middle of sneaking off behind where Nuindacilion and I were sitting. It was evident from the embarrassment on Legolas' face that he had dropped his half-empty quiver as he and Culmìre had tried to escape from the Halls without us noticing.
I lazily picked up his quiver that had rolled to my feet, stood, and calmly picked up the few stray arrows strewn across the floor. I then walked over to Legolas and handed it back to him. I could hear stifled laughter from Nuindacilion behind me. I also tried to keep a straight face.
"Next time, you might want to put a cap on it? It might save you from further embarrassment." "Yes, I'll do that" "And, also, if you wanted to be alone with Culmìre, all you had to do was ask! There's nothing to be ashamed of!"
Culmìre was on the verge of tears when Legolas looked back at her. Legolas, who was nearly over his embarrassment, was beginning to see the funny side of his predicament. Quietly, and without much giggling, he took Culmìre and led her back towards her own quarters.
"Lets just hope that that never happens to US!" Nuindacilion said. I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" he exclaimed. "What?" I said, between giggles "I'll tell you what. That's never going to happen to US, because we will be quiet, won't we? And we won't have to sneak out if we feel like doing.anything."
Another awkward silence.
He slid his chair over and put it next to mine. He sat down and looked meaningfully into my eyes.
And I looked back.
(Author's Note: A Massive, hairy, stinking, gobsmacking THANK YOU to Clare for getting me out of the creative rut I was stuck in for some time with the Legolas and Culmìre thing. I owe you one Dude.)
Something connected us. It was like we were back in the dream, in that moonlit place in the woods. Once again I was on the verge of taking Nuindacilion's hand and going off with him.
It was that exact moment I realized I was in love with Nuindacilion, and that I always had been, even when he was just a glowing apparition in my dream. An overwhelming desire to tell him just that swelled up in me, but for some strange reason I stayed silent, completely absorbed in his gaze. I was so entranced that I didn't catch what Nuindacilion had said. I snapped back and asked him to repeat it.
"I ihain I es ned meleth ah le, Gilnathroniel. I believe I'm in love with you."
My mind blanked and I just stared at him, open mouthed and wide eyed. "Wait, wait, backtrack.did I hear right? Did you just say that you loved me?" I asked him, unable to believe the words that had just been spoken.
Nuindacilion said nothing. Instead he stood up, gently pulled me up from where I was sitting, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. That answered my question perfectly..
~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^.Quite a while later..~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^
.I was awoken by the sound of someone bursting in through the door. I sat up, half asleep, and realized with a start that I wasn't in my room. There was an awkward silence. I realized suddenly but all too late I was in Nuindacilion's chambers, and that the Elf messenger staring astonished at me thought he has just stumbled in on something. I looked down and saw Nuindacilion lying shirtless by my side, sleeping in the strange way that Elves do "Err.Excuse me, Lady, for interrupting." The Messenger stammered, "But His Highness must be awoken as soon as possible. A matter of importance has arisen. He must see the King immediately." "Thank you." I replied sweetly, unnerving the poor messenger even more. "I will wake His Highness immediately. Oh and.please do not tell anyone that I was in the prince's quarters." "Of course, Milady." He said as he exited the room.
I leaned down and gave Nuindacilion a kiss on his ear. "Wake up." I whispered softly. He stirred and groaned, but gave no other sign that he was awake. I flicked his nose. Still no response. Fine. I thought Time to do something drastic. I blew a massive raspberry right in his ear, falling down laughing as he sat bolt upright, looking around. "Scared you?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to hold in my laughter. He turned and looked at me. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "The Son of Thranduil is scared of nothing." He boasted with mock pride. "Not even frighteningly beautiful princesses who have the terrifying power of overwhelming defenceless princes and leading them to their doom." "Please, Nuindacilion, do not confuse me with Rainiel." "Rainiel will never be as beautiful as you, Melamin. She holds no power over THIS particular defenceless prince." Nuindacilion put his arms around me and kissed me. "See?" "Hmm. I do. Now, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I was going to tell you that a messenger came in here about ten minutes ago saying you had to go see your father. He said it was rather important." He rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Valar grant me a day's peace!" He growled as he got out of bed and made his way out the door. I stifled a giggle. "You do plan to put a shirt on, don't you?" I asked him Nuindacilion shot me a mischievous look, grabbed a shirt that was lying on the ground and hurried out of the room.
I must have lain there long hours before I finally came to wondering what was keeping Nuindacilion. I decided to go out and see what was happening. I got halfway down the corridor when I bowled straight into Nuindacilion himself. I picked up that he looked rather worried and upset. "What's the matter?" I asked. He sighed. "Legolas must travel at once to Imladris, and I'm to go with him." I wondered dubiously if that was the whole problem. "Well I will come to, if I may." I said lightly. "I would like to see the places I have often dreamed of." "My father will not allow you to go. I have already asked him."
I felt my heart sink to my feet.
"When must you leave?" "Early tomorrow, daybreak." A horrible lump rose in my throat and I felt tears prick my eyes. I choked back a sob and Nuindacilion drew me close. "Why must you go too?" I muttered into his shirt.
To this question Nuindacilion had no answer.
Author's Note: Hurraaaaah! I finally finished this chapter! -Dances- I got so STUCK in the middle of it!
Well isn't this FANTASTIC? I thought angrily. Nuindacilion and Legolas have disappeared, the King is stoned, and there's a bunch of Orcs trying to destroy the place! Ugh. Just my luck. I watched helplessly as the orcs plundered and destroyed. It pained me to see the magnificence of the halls utterly ruined by their sinuous black- clawed hands and poisoned blades. Surprisingly enough, though, they didn't seem particularly intent on doing anyone any harm. They just seemed to want to destroy the place. One orc suddenly stopped and looked at me. I shuddered, feeling its cold, hateful gaze.
It began to move in my direction.
I wanted to run, but I couldn't move. I just stood frozen to the marble floor. The terror I was feeling made me want to retch. The Orc was now standing not half a metre away from me. I could smell the stench of its breath. It bared its horribly pointed yellow and black teeth and snarled before turning around and yelling some horrible words to the others. They all stopped what they were doing, and a chorus of snarls and Orkish words went up.
Then they left. I had no idea why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"They've GONE!!!!" Nuindacilion uttered in absolute astonishment when he and Legolas returned ten minutes later with about fifty or so Elven archers. "They certainly made a mess of the place," Grimaced Legolas, beckoning a whimpering King Thranduil out from under the table and getting two of the Archers to take him back to his quarters. "I wonder why they did not kill anyone. This is indeed a strange event!" I was still shaking slightly from the gaze of the Orc. "They were looking for something." I said quietly. "And I have a feeling it was me." I told Nuindacilion and Legolas what had happened. Legolas nodded "If it is you they wanted, Glirèn" He said "The path they will most likely back south to Mordor to report your return to the Dark Lord. If this is the case, then we must send troops immediately to find them and waylay them, so news of your return cannot be known to the Dark Powers. With Legolas's remarks, the Archers that had come to kill the orcs dispersed and disappeared into the woods, leaving Legolas, Nuindacilion and I standing in the ruined hall.
We were conversing loudly about the state of things, so we didn't hear Culmìre enter through the back door. "What in the name of the Valar Has happened here?" She exclaimed as she looked around with amazement in her eyes. "Orc attack," Said Legolas quietly, being careful not to look at her in the face. "They appeared out of nowhere. We are still wondering at their motives, and how they came to be here. They have gone, though, and we sent archers after them, so hopefully they will not return." Culmìre nodded and looked in every direction except Legolas's. I wondered what secret they held together. Nuindacilion seemed to know the reason behind their awkward behaviour and he looked rather amused by it. I gave a tiny sigh of resignation. "Was anyone hurt?" Asked Culmìre worriedly. "No. No one was injured, thank Elbereth," I replied. "Not this time, anyway." She breathed a sigh of relief. Legolas finally got up the courage to look her in the eyes. "But just in case they return, I think you had better return to your quarters where it is safe." He said.
Culmìre opened her mouth to object, but a look from Legolas quietened her. A grin spread across her pretty face. With a small curtsey and a "Yes, Your Highness." She disappeared as quietly as she had entered.
With Legolas's words fresh in our heads, we decided it was best if we found safe cover away from the Orcs if they decided to make a return attack or to do more reconnaissance work for the Dark Lord. We sat down in silence in a small alcove just off the hall. Legolas was the first to speak. He sounded edgy and somewhat nervous. "I think, uh, I'd better go back to my, uh, quarters to check that the Orcs haven't stolen anything.." And with that, Legolas ran off towards the completely wrong end of the Halls, (towards Culmìre's quarters, I noticed) leaving Nuindacilion and me completely by ourselves in an empty room with the entire Halls in a shambles from the attack.
An awkward silence.
I'm not sure how long we sat there, thinking about nothing, and seeing nothing but each other, but the peace was suddenly broken by a thud and then the sound of something rolling from the direction that Legolas had run off towards. We both whipped around to see Legolas and Culmìre, hand in hand, in the middle of sneaking off behind where Nuindacilion and I were sitting. It was evident from the embarrassment on Legolas' face that he had dropped his half-empty quiver as he and Culmìre had tried to escape from the Halls without us noticing.
I lazily picked up his quiver that had rolled to my feet, stood, and calmly picked up the few stray arrows strewn across the floor. I then walked over to Legolas and handed it back to him. I could hear stifled laughter from Nuindacilion behind me. I also tried to keep a straight face.
"Next time, you might want to put a cap on it? It might save you from further embarrassment." "Yes, I'll do that" "And, also, if you wanted to be alone with Culmìre, all you had to do was ask! There's nothing to be ashamed of!"
Culmìre was on the verge of tears when Legolas looked back at her. Legolas, who was nearly over his embarrassment, was beginning to see the funny side of his predicament. Quietly, and without much giggling, he took Culmìre and led her back towards her own quarters.
"Lets just hope that that never happens to US!" Nuindacilion said. I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" he exclaimed. "What?" I said, between giggles "I'll tell you what. That's never going to happen to US, because we will be quiet, won't we? And we won't have to sneak out if we feel like doing.anything."
Another awkward silence.
He slid his chair over and put it next to mine. He sat down and looked meaningfully into my eyes.
And I looked back.
(Author's Note: A Massive, hairy, stinking, gobsmacking THANK YOU to Clare for getting me out of the creative rut I was stuck in for some time with the Legolas and Culmìre thing. I owe you one Dude.)
Something connected us. It was like we were back in the dream, in that moonlit place in the woods. Once again I was on the verge of taking Nuindacilion's hand and going off with him.
It was that exact moment I realized I was in love with Nuindacilion, and that I always had been, even when he was just a glowing apparition in my dream. An overwhelming desire to tell him just that swelled up in me, but for some strange reason I stayed silent, completely absorbed in his gaze. I was so entranced that I didn't catch what Nuindacilion had said. I snapped back and asked him to repeat it.
"I ihain I es ned meleth ah le, Gilnathroniel. I believe I'm in love with you."
My mind blanked and I just stared at him, open mouthed and wide eyed. "Wait, wait, backtrack.did I hear right? Did you just say that you loved me?" I asked him, unable to believe the words that had just been spoken.
Nuindacilion said nothing. Instead he stood up, gently pulled me up from where I was sitting, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. That answered my question perfectly..
~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^.Quite a while later..~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^
.I was awoken by the sound of someone bursting in through the door. I sat up, half asleep, and realized with a start that I wasn't in my room. There was an awkward silence. I realized suddenly but all too late I was in Nuindacilion's chambers, and that the Elf messenger staring astonished at me thought he has just stumbled in on something. I looked down and saw Nuindacilion lying shirtless by my side, sleeping in the strange way that Elves do "Err.Excuse me, Lady, for interrupting." The Messenger stammered, "But His Highness must be awoken as soon as possible. A matter of importance has arisen. He must see the King immediately." "Thank you." I replied sweetly, unnerving the poor messenger even more. "I will wake His Highness immediately. Oh and.please do not tell anyone that I was in the prince's quarters." "Of course, Milady." He said as he exited the room.
I leaned down and gave Nuindacilion a kiss on his ear. "Wake up." I whispered softly. He stirred and groaned, but gave no other sign that he was awake. I flicked his nose. Still no response. Fine. I thought Time to do something drastic. I blew a massive raspberry right in his ear, falling down laughing as he sat bolt upright, looking around. "Scared you?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to hold in my laughter. He turned and looked at me. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "The Son of Thranduil is scared of nothing." He boasted with mock pride. "Not even frighteningly beautiful princesses who have the terrifying power of overwhelming defenceless princes and leading them to their doom." "Please, Nuindacilion, do not confuse me with Rainiel." "Rainiel will never be as beautiful as you, Melamin. She holds no power over THIS particular defenceless prince." Nuindacilion put his arms around me and kissed me. "See?" "Hmm. I do. Now, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I was going to tell you that a messenger came in here about ten minutes ago saying you had to go see your father. He said it was rather important." He rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Valar grant me a day's peace!" He growled as he got out of bed and made his way out the door. I stifled a giggle. "You do plan to put a shirt on, don't you?" I asked him Nuindacilion shot me a mischievous look, grabbed a shirt that was lying on the ground and hurried out of the room.
I must have lain there long hours before I finally came to wondering what was keeping Nuindacilion. I decided to go out and see what was happening. I got halfway down the corridor when I bowled straight into Nuindacilion himself. I picked up that he looked rather worried and upset. "What's the matter?" I asked. He sighed. "Legolas must travel at once to Imladris, and I'm to go with him." I wondered dubiously if that was the whole problem. "Well I will come to, if I may." I said lightly. "I would like to see the places I have often dreamed of." "My father will not allow you to go. I have already asked him."
I felt my heart sink to my feet.
"When must you leave?" "Early tomorrow, daybreak." A horrible lump rose in my throat and I felt tears prick my eyes. I choked back a sob and Nuindacilion drew me close. "Why must you go too?" I muttered into his shirt.
To this question Nuindacilion had no answer.
Author's Note: Hurraaaaah! I finally finished this chapter! -Dances- I got so STUCK in the middle of it!