WARNING: CRINGE ALERT.
I cringed so hard writing some bits of this. I CAN IMAGINE THE PAIN OOOH *Dead*
(Uploading this chapter early for MistyCoil on the Twitters :3)
I woke up on the ground, in the forest. I had no idea where I was; the last thing I remembered was Lylith's cruel, shrill laughter.
The trees had no leaves, and were instead covered in snow.
"Estel!" I shouted, standing and brushing the snow from my armour.
I felt lost, alone.
I decided to walk. If I was lost now, being a little more lost couldn't hurt. Plus I had the snow to trace my own footprints if anything went wrong.
I eventually came to another set of footprints. An animal's, but nonetheless, footprints. They were small and not very far apart. A fox perhaps?
I followed the prints until they came to a clearing. I looked up, to find the body of a fox, with three arrows protruding from its ribs.
The world is cruel.
I looked around for any sign of where the arrows could have come from, and came across yet another set of footprints. The trees loomed over me, their arms grabbing out, trying to trip and scratch me. The sunlight was fading, and I had no hope of getting back to Minas Tirith- If there still was a Minas Tirith- before the day was over.
The snow twinkled in the fading sunlight, and still I followed the footprints.
The scream of a man came from the distance.
"Estel!" I shouted, running as fast as I could to where the sound came from.
The scream again.
I slowed down as I came closer, peering through between the dense amassment of trees.
I saw the glow of a fire, in a small clearing. I picked up a sharp rock from the ground, turning it in my hand.
I edged closer to the clearing, as quietly as I could manage.
"I love you, Estel. I always have. This could stop you know, all you have to do is promise yourself to me. It's that easy…" Lylith knelt beside Aragorn, who had been stripped of his armour and wore only a thin shirt and trousers.
"Never," He hissed, "I'd rather die than be taken from my love by a manipulative creature like you,"
I looked at the rock in my hand, then at the clearing.
"If you insist," Lylith carved a line in his wrist with her knife. She continued to carve into his skin, and all I could see was the blood dripping onto the snow. Aragorn growled and writhed, but she had another knife pressed into his ribs to stop him from moving.
I threw the rock. I didn't aim it anywhere in particular, there just needed to be a distraction.
Lylith's head whipped around, and I slipped behind a tree.
"Who's there?" She hissed, "Show yourself, dinaer,"
I picked up a sturdy-looking branch and another sharp rock from the ground. Pulling some vines from the tree I hid behind to serve as rope, I tied them together.
I looked around the tree, to see her surveying the clearing. While she had her back turned, I picked up another rock, stepped out into the clearing, and cleared my throat.
She whipped around and I threw the rock. It grazed her leg, and she advanced towards me.
"Estel," I whispered, earning his attention. "Go!" He stood, clasping his arm, and walked into the trees.
"He'd just confessed his love for me, you know," She smiled.
"Liar. I heard everything,"
She still had both of her daggers. She swung both at me, so I ducked underneath and stepped right. I swung my makeshift axe, cutting her thigh. She hissed and swung at me once more.
"How dare you ruin our city for your own cruel purposes," We walked in circles.
I swung my axe again, this time cutting her left wrist, causing her to drop the dagger. I stepped on it, burying it in the snow.
She snarled at me, coming towards me with her good arm drawn back, ready to strike. As she did so, I dodged underneath her arm, and cut the back of her knee. She collapsed to the floor with a scream, and I walked away.
"You can't do this to me!" she screamed, throwing her dagger as far as she could. It fell a few metres shy; I could tell from the soft thud it made.
"There is no hope," I whispered, "Not for you, anyway,"
Elven Translations:
"dinaer," Silent one
"Estel," Hope