Disclaimer: Nope, Lord of the Rings and everything related to it in this story is Tolkien's.
Author's Note: I shamelessly stuck another Orlando movie quote in this chapter! See if you recognize it.
Alerae's horse, Astalder, was getting agitated, as she sensed the presence of evil approaching. However, Alerae was too caught up in her task to pay attention to her mare's nervous whinnying.
Her master dismounted as silently as he could and picked up his sword, slowly stalking up behind her. When she finally heard him approach, she assumed it to be Legolas.
"I thought you were not going to follow me here, Legolas."
There was silence.
"Legolas?" She spun around and stood up to meet the one man who had made her life a living hell.
"How did you..." Her voice was little more than a whisper, "Why?"
"That's right, my little darling, your precious little elf isn't going to save you now." The man was glaring at her, his eyes full of vengeance and, if she guessed correctly, lust.
Before she could turn to run, he grabbed her arm and placed one hand over her mouth, muffling a scream.
He roughly threw her to the ground and looked down at her, disgusted.
"All I ever did was love you, you ungrateful little whore. That elf better not have touched you, or I will kill him too. I have fifty men waiting in the forest and if you scream, they will attack him."
She was shaking and calculating what she should do. She was pinned underneath one of his feet, but her mouth was free and she could yell and scream if she chose, but Legolas, he would be unprepared. If her master was telling the truth, Legolas would die.
No, I can't let him have both of us…
When her master was satisfied that she was not going to scream, he unsheathed his sword, and unbuttoned his pants as he got down on top of her. He held the blade to her throat as he pulled her dress up her legs.
"No, please, don't do this…" She was letting silent tears fall down her cheeks.
She suddenly realized that no one was going to help her. Legolas was nowhere in sight, and she would be raped and taken back to the inn if she did not act now.
She reached her hand up to her bodice, where Arwen had taught her to keep a dagger. She began to untie it, all the while staring into the dark eyes of the man above her.
"Very good, Alerae, it is no use to struggle. You must have missed this."
She said nothing but reached her hand into her dress. Her master's eyes were closed and it was obvious that he was unaware of what she was truly doing. She took a deep breath and then grabbed the dagger and thrust it up into his chest.
When he felt the dagger pierce through his chest, he opened his eyes, gasping for breath. He made eye contact with her, his eyes wide with shock, "No, Alerae, I love you… I love you like I loved your mother. No…" His voice got weaker and weaker as he fell down on top of her, collapsing as he slowly bled to death.
Astalder had had enough. Alerae's horse raced back to Legolas and Arod, agitated and neighing incessantly. Legolas saw her and was immediately alarmed. If Alerae's horse was here, where was Alerae? He picked up his white knives and took off down the path.
He came onto the scene and rushed over to a very bloody Alerae, worry etched into every perfect inch of his face. He could not see her face, as the body of a man was on top of her. He pushed the body off of her and looked down at her. Her dress was up around her thighs and her bodice was untied. Her hair was a mess and there was blood all over her.
"Alerae, I'm here, I am so sorry… please say that you are unharmed."
She brought herself to sit up, not caring that a fair amount of her cleavage was showing. She was visibly shaking.
"I killed him…" She held her blood-stained hands out in front of her and stared at them, as her shaking increased.
"I've done… murder." She looked down at the ground.
Legolas kneeled down and lifted her head, "He deserved to die for what he did to you and countless other women, and you killed him only in self defense."
"I ended someone's life… I…" She leaned forward into Legolas' arms. She was not crying, but still was shaking from the incident. He rubbed her back soothingly and spoke in Elvish softly to further calm her. Her heartbeat was racing.
He picked her up and carried her from the clearing, towards the camp that he had made for them. She clung to him the entire way. When they arrived, he placed her down on his bedroll.
"Alerae, you should get out of that dress. It is covered in blood. I will be back in a few minutes, change while I am gone."
She nodded and watched him turn and leave, down the pathway that they had come from. When she was sure he was out of sight, she stood up and began to peel off the blood-soaked dress. As she thought about how lucky it was not her own blood staining the dress, she remembered her master's warning. There were fifty men, surrounding this very clearing. She inhaled sharply and pulled her dress back up.
She ran down the pathway, hoping he had not gotten too far, "Legolas! Legolas! Come back!"
He turned and caught her in his arms, "Alerae, are you okay? What is going on?"
"My master said that there are fifty armed men surrounding us, waiting to kill us. That is why I couldn't scream for you when he attacked me… he told me that they would kill you."
Legolas looked around. If there were fifty large, clumsy men in the forest, he would definitely know about it.
"Alerae, that was a lie. He was saying that to intimidate you because he knew that if you alerted me, he would not have been able to defeat me. I promise there is no one else in these woods."
She nodded silently and turned, but was stopped by Legolas' gentle embrace. "All is well, Alerae, he deserved that death. I am proud of you."
She rested her head on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead before letting go of her.
"I am going to go clean up… you should return to the camp and get changed."
"Alright, thank you Legolas."
He smiled at her before turning and continuing down the path. She returned to the clearing cautiously and proceeded to get changed.
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