Disclaimer: (hammers a "Not Mine" sign into the ground and sighs)
Author's notes: I was going to be mean. I was going to stretch this out for another chapter, but I couldn't do it. I got homesick and started writing, and here's chapter 20. :) This chapter is - surprise! - not in Lady's POV. We will return to that in the next chapter. It was a little hard to write for this character, but I hope I did all right. Hope you enjoy...because I have no idea when in this semester I will have time to write again...
Thanks for your continued support!
More notes (31/12/2010): Added a poem to the end of the chapter. :)
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Chapter 20
Legolas
In the years to come, all I would ever remember of the battle before the Black Gates was the blur of the fighting, the worry for my friends, the fear that I might not survive to make my journey across the Sea… and the Light, the glorious Light, as it returned to the darkened land and swept over us in a tidal wave, one that strengthened and encouraged and gave us that little something 'extra' that we had needed to keep fighting on.
I had felt this before at Helm's Deep, but now I felt it again. And this time, the Light seemed purer, stronger, filled with love and hope and faith, friendship and trust and courage, and more besides. In this hour of darkness, it was a sweet breeze that stirred our hearts and reenergized our aching bodies, reviving flagging spirits that had quickly been descending into despair. And it touched everyone, all of us who weren't fighting on the side of the Shadow - even the Eagles who had come and were now doing battle with the Nazgul and their fell beasts in the sky.
For a moment, I closed my eyes, allowing myself but a moment of respite. The Light had given me peace, and for a moment I believed that this battle, hopeless as it seemed, might actually be won. But then the Light wrapped itself around me, pulling gently at me until I opened my eyes again, before beckoning urgently to me as it slid over the ground.
Come, quickly!
Following the silent call, I turned and looked up – and froze.
Aragorn!
My friend was caught beneath the foot of a massive hill troll, struggling to free himself as the creature stepped down on his chest, bellowing triumphantly and blinking with large, bleary eyes. My eyes went wide with fear, and before I knew what I was doing I began to fight my way through the crowd, pushing my way past friend and foe alike, my mind focused on the task of reaching my friend. The Light ran beside me, leading me on, and I reached grimly for an arrow, eyes locked on the enormous troll. Maybe I couldn't pierce its hide, but I'd settle for distracting it right now, turning its attention away from Aragorn, maybe even get it to step off him…
Well, a distraction came all right. But perhaps not the kind I'd been expecting. Suddenly, the creature turned, and Aragorn found himself unexpectedly free as it lifted itself off him, and began to move away, its movements jerky, confused. In fact, all of Sauron's minions paused, and around us, I saw fear and doubt begin in our enemies' eyes, and their limbs trembled and their weapons fell. Above us, the Nazgul whirled, breaking away from the Eagles and turning their foul steeds towards the Towers of Teeth, and the Great Eye.
A terrible shriek pierced the air, the ground trembled, and the men began to falter. But then Gandalf's voice called clearly, "Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom!"
And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath our feet. Then, rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast, soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. And the Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.
I will never forget that sight either, the most glorious in all my years on Arda. The Tower fell, the Eye shimmered and shook and dissipated into nothingness. And all around us, a great burden seemed lifted right off our hearts, and we were free. Reaching up, I wiped the tears from my eyes, not even knowing exactly why I was weeping, nor what for, but only knowing that it felt perfectly natural and right for this moment in time. Within me, joy was beginning, a surge of rising emotion, and I did not need Gandalf's announcement to tell me that the reign of Sauron was finally - finally - over.
"The Ring-bearer has fulfilled his Quest," Gandalf said, wiping his own tears away. And as we stood there gazing south, hardly heeding the panicked rush of Sauron's former forces as they registered the loss of the power behind them and ran for their lives from the place, it seemed that there rose a huge black shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above us, stretching forth a vast threatening hand, terrible but impotent. And even as it loomed above us, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed, and a great silence fell.
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"Throughout time, there has always been tyrants and murderers that seemed invincible. But they always fall. Always."
-Ghandi
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We could hardly believe it was all over. It took a while, but eventually some of us roused ourselves and began to search through our ranks for the injured, beginning to administer help to those who needed it. The dead were gathered, to be brought back in honor and buried as heroes. I shook myself and went to Aragorn's side, just as Gandalf climbed onto the back of one of the Eagles and waved to us, before taking off into the sky in the direction of the Mountain of Fire.
"He goes to fetch our friends," Aragorn informed me tiredly, one hand gripping his chest, but a look of lightness and relief on his face as he stood there, Andúril still within his grip in his other hand. Meeting my gaze, he smiled. "It's over."
I nodded, feeling the same lightness of spirit and heart as he obviously did. "It is."
And for a moment we stood there, just two friends rejoicing in the end of the Shadow, and the beginning of hope.
And around me, I could still see the Light, bright against the sky. The men seemed unable to see it, but it was clear to me, radiant and victorious, sharing our joy, freed from the Shadow once again.
It was only then that a thought occurred to me, and I turned and began to scan our surroundings, looking everywhere for a glimpse of dark brown fur with salt and pepper markings, or amber eyes that were set in the face of a wolf and yet were all-too-human…
It was around this time that Aragorn paused as well, turning to me and asking slowly, "Legolas? Where is Lady?"
It was with renewed heaviness in my heart that I responded, "I do not know."
Those who did not know my friend as well as I did would have missed it – the widening of his eyes, the sudden clenching of his fingers around Andúril's hilt.
"Where did you last see her?" he asked carefully, looking around as well. "I lost sight of her early in the battle's beginning, she disappeared among the men."
Turning, I pointed out the far distant spot in the sky where Lady had hung, suspended in mid-air, carried and surrounded by the light of her Stones – right before the Light had taken her into itself and she had disappeared. In the heat of battle, with everything going on around me, I hadn't given a thought to where Lady might have gone, to what had happened to her… and it grieved me. How could I have forgotten her?
Briefly describing what I had seen, I let Aragorn push forward through the men ahead of me, recognizing the worry in his haste-filled motions. He stopped just below the area I had pointed out, eyes on the ground, and before I could speak he had knelt, and was digging through the rocks and dirt. When he stood, he was silent, turning to me without a word and showing me what he held in his hands, his gray eyes troubled.
The sun flashed, reflecting off the silver chain, now empty, which had once carried seven Stones of the Light. Lady's chain.
But where was her body?
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The ride homewards to the White City was rather solemn, at least for those of us who had known Lady. The men were joyful, and well they should be – the Shadow had departed, and the King had returned, and a new Age would soon be upon us, hopefully one of peacetime and prosperity. But there were those of us who keenly felt the absence of a certain wolf's presence, loping faithfully and determinedly alongside Aragorn's horse with ears pricked and tail held high.
Aragorn had refused to leave Lady's chain behind. When we were ready to leave, he slipped the newly-cleaned chain into one of his saddlebags and met my gaze. I understood.
It would have been like leaving her behind.
It felt so… strange. Like reading a book and reaching the end, but feeling as though you had skipped a chapter or something along the way. It didn't feel… complete, somehow. We had no closure, because usually when deaths happened we would have a funeral, a last goodbye. But no one could have a funeral without a body. Was Lady even dead?
I remembered the Light swallowing her up, surrounding her…
What had really happened?
Casting a look back over my shoulder, I briefly entertained the thought of riding back and doing a search of my own. Something wasn't right. I might have missed something, something important…
"Fool of an Elf."
The words took me by surprise, and I glared at the Dwarf who had uttered them from his seat behind me on Arod, but to my surprise, he merely chuckled.
"You're thinking of going back, aren't you," he stated – not asked - a knowing expression in his eyes as he looked up at me. "So go back. We'll let Aragorn know, and we'll meet him in Ithilien when Gandalf returns with the hobbits. That lass was real important to all of us, not just you, Legolas. I won't say no to helping you look around for her one last time."
For a long moment, I simply stared at the Dwarf, reining Arod to a halt. Gimli. My friend. An Elf and a Dwarf, friends, after such a long time of hostility between our races…. Who would have thought? And yet I did not regret our friendship – I could not imagine my life now without my friend in it. I did not regret joining the Fellowship and its quest.
I did not regret meeting Lady, nor did I regret coming to care for her as a brother would a sister.
And in all honesty, if she were my sister, I would have turned back by now.
It was with that thought in mind that I clicked to Arod, urging him forward to where Aragorn was near the front of the lines. He paused and looked at me inquiringly as I fell in beside him.
"I'm going back," I said, not wasting words. "Gimli and I will meet you at Ithilien."
He frowned. "Legolas…"
"There's something… I don't know. But I have to go back." Bowing my head, refusing to give in to the grief that welled up at the thought, I added, "At least I hope to find her body, that I might bear her back to be given a proper farewell. Aragorn… please. I have to go back."
Aragorn sighed, hesitating slightly, but he seemed to understand. His hand came up to clasp mine in the Elven way. "Be careful, mellon nin. Sauron has been defeated but stay alert nonetheless. His evil might linger in some of the creatures of these lands. Do not assume that this place is safe."
"I'll keep an eye on him," promised the Dwarf, and I resisted the urge to shove his teasing Dwarven behind off my horse.
I had obviously been spending too much time among humans.
Rolling my eyes slightly, I turned Arod, and nodded to my friend. Aragorn would be needed back in Gondor, and when Gandalf returned. As for me, something was calling me back to the last place I had seen Lady, a feeling deep within my gut that I wasn't sure I understood.
Gimli hung on grimly as I urged Arod back, back towards the battlefield and the ruins of the Black Gate. As I rode, I began to see flashes of pure pink light, light that danced and flickered, before coming together into a steady ray that shone, and I slowed, watching it intently as it streaked ahead of me, as if to guide me.
Gimli's grumbled, "What're you looking at, Legolas?" made me realize that I was the only one who could see it.
"Don't you see it? The light."
Gimli squinted. "What light?"
"Never mind." Stopping Arod, I slowly got down. Lady had disappeared near this place…
The light curved and beckoned, gently summoning me forward.
I followed. The area had several cracks and fissures from the collapse of the Towers, and I was careful to avoid them as I moved. Forgetting Gimli, forgetting Arod, I focused on the light.
It stopped, behind some rocks, and I barely dared to hope. I wasn't sure what I expected to find…
There was a sudden surge of pink light, and then I heard it. A groan. Instantly, I leapt over the rocks and turned to where the sound had come from.
Shock and disappointment stopped me in my tracks.
It wasn't Lady.
It was a dark-haired, pale-skinned woman, clad in nothing but some rags, which barely covered her up. She hadn't been there before, and I had no idea where she had come from, really. I flinched and tried not to look at her nakedness, but just as I would have turned away, I saw it.
There was a scar on her left leg, just below her knee.
I stopped. Why had that caught my attention? A scar – wait!
Images flashed through my mind, of two wolves attacking Lady, one biting her ear, the other sinking fangs into her left hind leg….
Dropping to my knees beside the woman, I turned her slightly, mindful of her injuries. There was another scar, a smaller, more jagged one, around the area of her right shoulder.
In my mind, I saw an arrow, sticking out of Lady's shoulder in the very same spot.
There were more scars, more injuries, but by now I was almost certain. I knew this woman! I knew who she had been, and who she was again!
Removing my cloak, I wrapped it around her, covering her up as well as I could. My hands trembled slightly as I lifted her – she was as light as a feather in my arms. My mind conjured memories of myself carrying a wriggling wolf through Moria, and later into Lothlorien…
Hope filled my heart, along with an explosive sort of joy, and silently, I bore the woman with me to where Gimli and Arod were waiting for us.
"Lady, we're going to bring you home," I promised, gently brushing her hair back, tucking it behind her slightly pointed ears. "Hold on, you're safe…. And I'm bringing you home."
And I tried not to grin at the look on the Dwarf's face as he spotted me and the burden I was carrying like a precious treasure in my arms.
Behind me, the last vestiges of the pink light seemed to wink at me, just before disappearing into the darkening evening sky.
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Do not stand
At my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints of snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken
In the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there;
I did not die.
- Anonymous
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Ta-da!
Please let me know what you thought. :)
RK9.
