A/N: sorry it's been so long, but it was Easter vacation! (lol, I slept, like, the WHOLE time…)
LEGOLAS
"Ugh," I grunted as another one of them smashed into my shoulder. I knew that once I could get to the side I'd be safe, but they were doing a good job of keeping me away from it.
Another one barreled into me from behind and I stumbled forward and hit the one in front of me. My cheek hit his bare back and gave me a large scratch on the side of my face. I quickly regained my balance.
Then I felt a hand on my arm. Not a rough, sandstone hand, but a soft hand. An elf or Man hand. I turned and saw Radona.
"I know a way out," she said, panting. "Follow me."
We were closest to the left side, but she led me towards the middle. I hesitated, knowing things were worse there, but then followed her, and we eventually got outside of the stampede on the right. Once we were out, I collapsed almost instantly.
"Thank you," I said in between breaths. Even though we'd been running hard and sweating and being shoved around, she looked perfect. Beautiful, even.
"You are welcome. I wasn't about to leave you behind."
"But… Ohtar. I told him-"
"He is safe. I brought him out."
"Good."
"Where are the others?" she asked as she reached down to help me up.
I ignored her outstretched hand. I wasn't ready to stand on my aching feet just yet. "In there," I said, nodding towards the crowd. "Somewhere. What was that?"
She grabbed my reluctant wrist and yanked me to my feet. "The Kerlil. I suspect they are behind this."
"I have never heard of them before."
"I'm not surprised. No one has, that's what they feed on. If people knew of them, no one would travel at night alone, and they would eventually starve. They captured me, but I was able to break out. But, of course, they followed me."
She began to head back and I followed her lead. "How do you know of them, then?"
"I was able to get a little bit of information."
We stopped walking and she turned to look at me. There was a bit of silence, when I said, "I missed you. I was worried… they wanted to move on, but-"
"But you kept them for me. My thanks."
There was more silence, and then she said, "I, too, feared I would never see you again, Legolas."
I stared into her once-hard eyes, now soft with passion. Before I knew what I was doing, I had her wrapped in my arms and we were kissing each other. That was when I knew at once- I was madly in love with her.