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Everlasting Road: Ch. #7
The sun rose and Legolas awoke. He was surprised to see a pair of light blue eyes staring straight into his own and he almost recoiled until he remembered. Liria was awake, and he knew she was feeling better due to the color of her eyes. Legolas gently pulled away from her and sat up so that he was looking down at her.
"So," he tried to ask casually, "how are you feeling this morning?"
Liria yawned and tried to answer just as casually, "Just fine. I might even go for a run in the woods today and then a swim in the great river." She looked at Legolas' serious face and added softly, "Or maybe tomorrow."
Legolas' expression broke in a sudden grin. The danger was truly past now, she would heal. Though he worried over her leg. They needed to get back to Mirkwood, and soon, if she wanted to have full usage of it again. "Can you stand?" he asked her.
"Of course I can stand," Liria protested and started to climb to her feet. When she was halfway up, her right leg crumpled beneath her and she swayed and almost fell, but Legolas rose up in a smooth motion and caught her. Liria's expression was confused and she pulled up her pant-leg to see her leg. All she could see was the wrapping of Legolas' bandaging, and he stopped her as she went to remove it.
"How bad is it?" she wanted to know.
Legolas trailed his hand from the top of her calf all the way to the ankle, "It is split from here to here, severing some of the tendons. I did the best I could, but you need the medicine of Mirkwood to fully heal."
Liria glanced around at their surroundings, "And how far are we from Mirkwood?"
Legolas considered, "In our present state, it is probably a ten day journey from here." Liria let the news sink in. Her leg was starting to concern her, she felt as if she could not rely upon it at all to bear her weight. She didn't know what she would do if this condition became permanent. No way was she going to sit around for the rest of her days, and certainly Legolas would not still want a partner who was an invalid.
Liria looked around and her glance fell on a tree next to them. She stumbled towards it and placed her hands on the trunk, then she spoke softly to it, "I am afraid I will have to relieve you of one of your branches. But have no fear, it will not hurt you and it will perform for me a great service." She then reached up and snapped a large branch off of the tree. It was slightly shorter than she, and she stood with her weight on it. Then she turned and smiled brazenly at Legolas who was watching on in wonderment. She walked back to him, her steps more sure with aid from the branch.
Liria stopped when she stood in front of Legolas, "Now I will not be such a burden," she informed him.
Legolas smiled, "I would never think you were," he replied softly. Then he turned to wake up Gimli. Liria watched him as he bent over his friend and gently woke him. He was caring by nature, yet he was the best of warriors. Liria's breath caught in her throat, and she realized that she loved him even more now. Such a find as he was rare. And it was obvious he cared some for her, did he not want her for a partner? Though she warned herself that he had never said anything about love, she had wanted to ask him in the caves, but had decided against it. Still, there was a hope in her that he felt as she did.
They spent an uneventful week traveling towards Mirkwood. Liria stopped disappearing each time camp was made, and she and Legolas began to spend even more time together. Gimli and Liria's relationship was less strained, and it seemed that they were growing to like, if not at the least tolerate, one another's presence. Gimli was no longer jealous towards her, and she no longer thought him useless. He had proved his skill in the caves with blocking the goblins, and she no longer blamed him for the caves, as Legolas assured her they had been wonderful.
Liria's leg became more stiff and she would not have been able to walk at all if not for her make-shift crutch. Yet she kept her worries to herself, not wanting to cause Legolas any. They were almost to Mirkwood, and then she would be cured, she reasoned to herself. There was no cause for immediate alarm, she could hold out a little longer.
On the morning of the eighth day, Liria awoke. They were almost to Mirkwood, they could reach it before tomorrow if they traveled into the night. Liria looked over to where Legolas lay next to her, and she frowned. This was the first time that the sun had failed to rouse him from his sleep. And his eyes were closed, a very unnatural thing for an elf as they slept with their eyes open, when all was well anyway. Liria reached over to him and shook his shoulder gently.
"A new day begins," she told him softly, "we will reach our home tonight." Still, he did not awaken, did not even stir. Liria shook him harder, starting to feel threads of panic inside of her. Her eyes turned black with frustration, then quickly turned ice blue from fear. "Gimli," she fairly screamed, struggling to maintain control.
Gimli woke up confused. Legolas was always the one to wake him, not Liria. He looked over and saw Liria crouched over Legolas, shaking him. She looked up at Gimli with icy, fearful eyes, "He will not awaken." The terror in her normally so complacent voice drove Gimli to his feet quickly. He crouched on the other side of Legolas, wanting to help his friend but not knowing how.
Liria's eyes swept Legolas' body, striving to find the reason for this unnatural sleep. Suddenly, a thought dawned on her. "Was he not injured in the caves?" she asked Gimli.
Gimli nodded, "He was, but I pulled the arrow out."
"Arrow?" Liria whispered. Her head swam with the possibilities, for she had heard stories of the kind of arrows goblins reserved for elves, their most hated enemy. "Where?" she demanded of Gimli. Her memory of the caves was vague with her own pain suffered there. She had known Legolas had been wounded, but not how or where.
"The arrow was in his back," Gimli told her.
Liria immediately moved Legolas onto his side. His form offered no resistance. She would have thought him dead if not for his shallow breathing. She took off his cloak and pulled his clothing up, revealing a large and poorly done bandage. She ripped it aside hastily and stilled at what she saw. The wound was still large and open, seemingly not having closed at all. The entire area around it was wringed with a livid purple and small purple traces led from the wound all throughout his back.
"Poison," she whispered to herself, but Gimli heard.
"How could that be?" he questioned her, "The injury is over a week old and he has shown no signs of it until now."
Liria shook her head impatiently, "That doesn't matter. Goblins poison their arrows for elves. Usually, it is treated right away and nothing happens, but here it has gone untreated allowing the poison to gain momentum. Why did nobody tell me of this? Surely you would not be expected to know, but he should have told me." She was now ranting to herself, but did not care, "Not a word did he say! Would he rather die than seek help? How foolish pride can make you seem." Unbeknownst to her, Legolas had used these very thoughts against her, their characters being that similar. She contained the same fault as he, but did not acknowledge it right now.
"What can we do?" inquired Gimli, bringing her out of her mad reverie.
Liria looked around, "Go get some water. We need herbs too, but I am not sure which to use." Liria looked to the forest along their path. It was a day's journey from Mirkwood, so not completely foreign to her. She had most likely ventured these woods before. Liria tried to remember what plants were housed inside of it, and which would prove to be useful. There was no kingsfoil, as that miraculous plant proved to cure almost anything. But there was some elendite, not to be confused with elanors, a tiny flower so named because it looked like a star. It too contained healing powers, though she was not sure if it had enough to help Legolas.
Liria got up and moved swiftly to the forest. Gimli had gone as well for the water, and she did not want to leave Legolas alone, but the sooner she found the plant the sooner he could start to heal. As soon as she hit the fringe of the forest, she started to run, injured leg or no. And not the light jog mostly used by elves when in the open and accompanied by other creatures so they could keep up, but the full-out flight of an elf, which is extremely fast. She covered a distance of a mile quickly to where she knew some elendite to grow. She found the patch of it and drew her blade. She cut some quickly and ran back to Legolas. When she neared the fringe, she slowed her speed, her leg was screaming at her for using it like this when it was still injured so, but she ignored it.
Gimli had gotten the water and was again kneeling beside Legolas, hoping he could succeed in waking him. He looked up at Liria's arrival and motioned to the water. She nodded and went to it. She built a fire quickly and set half the water to boil. She took out the elendite and carefully extracted some of the petals from the flower, for it was only the petals that were of any use. She then crushed them and put them into the remainder of the water, which abruptly turned to a rose color, though the plant was white. Liria then went to Legolas and sat beside him. She pulled his fair head into her lap and supported his neck with her hand. With the other hand she poured the rose-colored drink into his mouth.
He did not respond at first and Liria had to massage his neck to get the liquid down. As soon as it hit his stomach, his body shuddered and his eyelids fluttered. Gimli gasped and wondered whether the drink was helping him or hurting him. Liria poured some more into his mouth and this time he swallowed reflexively. His body was beginning to respond, and Liria breathed inwardly with relief. The poison was not that powerful. She accounted this to the fact that the arrow had not remained in him long and his own personal stamina was beyond that of even a normal elf.
By the time Liria had gotten all of the rose-colored water down his throat, the rest of the water was boiling. Liria went to it and put the rest of the petals into it. This time, the water turned a deep red, almost like blood. Liria grabbed the pan holding the water and brought it carefully to Legolas. She instructed Gimli to turn Legolas over and pull up his clothing so that she could pour the water over his wound.
Gimli eyed the steaming liquid distrustfully, "Will it not scald his skin?"
Liria nodded, "It will, but the heat will help the elendite overcome the poison. Trust me, I mean him no harm, I only want to help him."
Gimli still made no move to let her pour the liquid, "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"
"Yes," Liria exclaimed with urgency, "we have to kill off the poison in his system. Please trust me dwarf, even if it is only for this one time." Gimli slowly backed off and pulled up Legolas' clothing, but turned his head when Liria poured the blood-like liquid over him. Legolas' skin instantly turned a red to match the liquid and the purple was overtaken. Yet it was quite painful, and Legolas cried out even in his unconscious state. Gimli shook with futile rage and wanted to stop Liria, she obviously did not know what she was doing. But he only kept his head turned, not wanting to see his friend in pain.
Liria continued to pour even through Legolas' cry and concentrated on getting some of it into the wound. She did, and she hoped that the red swimming free from it was the liquid and not blood that came from scorched vessels. Finally, she was done and she sat back to watch. The red liquid seemed to roll on his back and pinpoint the wound. It was battling the poison, she could see this. Slowly, all of the liquid vanished, either because it had rolled off of his back or into the wound. Liria then focused on the wound. The purple ring was gone, and the purple trails were starting to fade, indeed it looked as though they were being eaten, and in effect they were. Eventually, the wound started to close, and Liria sighed with relief, it had worked. The poison was being destroyed.
Gimli turned when he heard Liria sighed and saw the wound was closed and the purple gone. He smiled in joy and reached over to try to wake Legolas again when Liria drew her blade. Gimli saw the movement and went to block Legolas and take the blade at the same time, but he was not quick enough and Liria slammed the blade into the freshly closed wound.
"Are you mad?" Gimli screamed at her, leaping up and reaching for his axe, "What are you doing?"
Liria only looked up calmly at the dwarf who readied an axe to kill her, "I have to get the liquid out again. It does a great job in destroying the poison, but it will destroy other things as well if left in." With that, she twisted the blade still imbedded in Legolas and red gushed forth.
"You are killing him," Gimli cried, hefting the axe and testing its weight, but unwilling to strike. If he killed Liria, he might kill Legolas as well, for he knew nothing of the plant she was using and of the poison of goblins. He would have to trust her until she was finished, then he could decide what to do.
Liria shook her head, intent on her work, "This is not blood, it is the liquid."
"How can you be sure?" Gimli asked, still not relenting and trusting her completley.
"I have only cut the pouch the liquid formed, I have not touched any arteries. As soon as it is done draining, the wound will close again and he will be in no more danger." Liria glanced up at Gimli slightly as she spoke, and her gaze was still ice, she was not wholly confident herself, she was afraid.
Gimli still did not know what to think, and only muttered, "Pray that he does not die, or I will have your neck." Liria looked at him impassively, but her eyes went black, tinged with red. She decided to ignore him and went back to her work.
Everlasting Road: Ch. #7
The sun rose and Legolas awoke. He was surprised to see a pair of light blue eyes staring straight into his own and he almost recoiled until he remembered. Liria was awake, and he knew she was feeling better due to the color of her eyes. Legolas gently pulled away from her and sat up so that he was looking down at her.
"So," he tried to ask casually, "how are you feeling this morning?"
Liria yawned and tried to answer just as casually, "Just fine. I might even go for a run in the woods today and then a swim in the great river." She looked at Legolas' serious face and added softly, "Or maybe tomorrow."
Legolas' expression broke in a sudden grin. The danger was truly past now, she would heal. Though he worried over her leg. They needed to get back to Mirkwood, and soon, if she wanted to have full usage of it again. "Can you stand?" he asked her.
"Of course I can stand," Liria protested and started to climb to her feet. When she was halfway up, her right leg crumpled beneath her and she swayed and almost fell, but Legolas rose up in a smooth motion and caught her. Liria's expression was confused and she pulled up her pant-leg to see her leg. All she could see was the wrapping of Legolas' bandaging, and he stopped her as she went to remove it.
"How bad is it?" she wanted to know.
Legolas trailed his hand from the top of her calf all the way to the ankle, "It is split from here to here, severing some of the tendons. I did the best I could, but you need the medicine of Mirkwood to fully heal."
Liria glanced around at their surroundings, "And how far are we from Mirkwood?"
Legolas considered, "In our present state, it is probably a ten day journey from here." Liria let the news sink in. Her leg was starting to concern her, she felt as if she could not rely upon it at all to bear her weight. She didn't know what she would do if this condition became permanent. No way was she going to sit around for the rest of her days, and certainly Legolas would not still want a partner who was an invalid.
Liria looked around and her glance fell on a tree next to them. She stumbled towards it and placed her hands on the trunk, then she spoke softly to it, "I am afraid I will have to relieve you of one of your branches. But have no fear, it will not hurt you and it will perform for me a great service." She then reached up and snapped a large branch off of the tree. It was slightly shorter than she, and she stood with her weight on it. Then she turned and smiled brazenly at Legolas who was watching on in wonderment. She walked back to him, her steps more sure with aid from the branch.
Liria stopped when she stood in front of Legolas, "Now I will not be such a burden," she informed him.
Legolas smiled, "I would never think you were," he replied softly. Then he turned to wake up Gimli. Liria watched him as he bent over his friend and gently woke him. He was caring by nature, yet he was the best of warriors. Liria's breath caught in her throat, and she realized that she loved him even more now. Such a find as he was rare. And it was obvious he cared some for her, did he not want her for a partner? Though she warned herself that he had never said anything about love, she had wanted to ask him in the caves, but had decided against it. Still, there was a hope in her that he felt as she did.
They spent an uneventful week traveling towards Mirkwood. Liria stopped disappearing each time camp was made, and she and Legolas began to spend even more time together. Gimli and Liria's relationship was less strained, and it seemed that they were growing to like, if not at the least tolerate, one another's presence. Gimli was no longer jealous towards her, and she no longer thought him useless. He had proved his skill in the caves with blocking the goblins, and she no longer blamed him for the caves, as Legolas assured her they had been wonderful.
Liria's leg became more stiff and she would not have been able to walk at all if not for her make-shift crutch. Yet she kept her worries to herself, not wanting to cause Legolas any. They were almost to Mirkwood, and then she would be cured, she reasoned to herself. There was no cause for immediate alarm, she could hold out a little longer.
On the morning of the eighth day, Liria awoke. They were almost to Mirkwood, they could reach it before tomorrow if they traveled into the night. Liria looked over to where Legolas lay next to her, and she frowned. This was the first time that the sun had failed to rouse him from his sleep. And his eyes were closed, a very unnatural thing for an elf as they slept with their eyes open, when all was well anyway. Liria reached over to him and shook his shoulder gently.
"A new day begins," she told him softly, "we will reach our home tonight." Still, he did not awaken, did not even stir. Liria shook him harder, starting to feel threads of panic inside of her. Her eyes turned black with frustration, then quickly turned ice blue from fear. "Gimli," she fairly screamed, struggling to maintain control.
Gimli woke up confused. Legolas was always the one to wake him, not Liria. He looked over and saw Liria crouched over Legolas, shaking him. She looked up at Gimli with icy, fearful eyes, "He will not awaken." The terror in her normally so complacent voice drove Gimli to his feet quickly. He crouched on the other side of Legolas, wanting to help his friend but not knowing how.
Liria's eyes swept Legolas' body, striving to find the reason for this unnatural sleep. Suddenly, a thought dawned on her. "Was he not injured in the caves?" she asked Gimli.
Gimli nodded, "He was, but I pulled the arrow out."
"Arrow?" Liria whispered. Her head swam with the possibilities, for she had heard stories of the kind of arrows goblins reserved for elves, their most hated enemy. "Where?" she demanded of Gimli. Her memory of the caves was vague with her own pain suffered there. She had known Legolas had been wounded, but not how or where.
"The arrow was in his back," Gimli told her.
Liria immediately moved Legolas onto his side. His form offered no resistance. She would have thought him dead if not for his shallow breathing. She took off his cloak and pulled his clothing up, revealing a large and poorly done bandage. She ripped it aside hastily and stilled at what she saw. The wound was still large and open, seemingly not having closed at all. The entire area around it was wringed with a livid purple and small purple traces led from the wound all throughout his back.
"Poison," she whispered to herself, but Gimli heard.
"How could that be?" he questioned her, "The injury is over a week old and he has shown no signs of it until now."
Liria shook her head impatiently, "That doesn't matter. Goblins poison their arrows for elves. Usually, it is treated right away and nothing happens, but here it has gone untreated allowing the poison to gain momentum. Why did nobody tell me of this? Surely you would not be expected to know, but he should have told me." She was now ranting to herself, but did not care, "Not a word did he say! Would he rather die than seek help? How foolish pride can make you seem." Unbeknownst to her, Legolas had used these very thoughts against her, their characters being that similar. She contained the same fault as he, but did not acknowledge it right now.
"What can we do?" inquired Gimli, bringing her out of her mad reverie.
Liria looked around, "Go get some water. We need herbs too, but I am not sure which to use." Liria looked to the forest along their path. It was a day's journey from Mirkwood, so not completely foreign to her. She had most likely ventured these woods before. Liria tried to remember what plants were housed inside of it, and which would prove to be useful. There was no kingsfoil, as that miraculous plant proved to cure almost anything. But there was some elendite, not to be confused with elanors, a tiny flower so named because it looked like a star. It too contained healing powers, though she was not sure if it had enough to help Legolas.
Liria got up and moved swiftly to the forest. Gimli had gone as well for the water, and she did not want to leave Legolas alone, but the sooner she found the plant the sooner he could start to heal. As soon as she hit the fringe of the forest, she started to run, injured leg or no. And not the light jog mostly used by elves when in the open and accompanied by other creatures so they could keep up, but the full-out flight of an elf, which is extremely fast. She covered a distance of a mile quickly to where she knew some elendite to grow. She found the patch of it and drew her blade. She cut some quickly and ran back to Legolas. When she neared the fringe, she slowed her speed, her leg was screaming at her for using it like this when it was still injured so, but she ignored it.
Gimli had gotten the water and was again kneeling beside Legolas, hoping he could succeed in waking him. He looked up at Liria's arrival and motioned to the water. She nodded and went to it. She built a fire quickly and set half the water to boil. She took out the elendite and carefully extracted some of the petals from the flower, for it was only the petals that were of any use. She then crushed them and put them into the remainder of the water, which abruptly turned to a rose color, though the plant was white. Liria then went to Legolas and sat beside him. She pulled his fair head into her lap and supported his neck with her hand. With the other hand she poured the rose-colored drink into his mouth.
He did not respond at first and Liria had to massage his neck to get the liquid down. As soon as it hit his stomach, his body shuddered and his eyelids fluttered. Gimli gasped and wondered whether the drink was helping him or hurting him. Liria poured some more into his mouth and this time he swallowed reflexively. His body was beginning to respond, and Liria breathed inwardly with relief. The poison was not that powerful. She accounted this to the fact that the arrow had not remained in him long and his own personal stamina was beyond that of even a normal elf.
By the time Liria had gotten all of the rose-colored water down his throat, the rest of the water was boiling. Liria went to it and put the rest of the petals into it. This time, the water turned a deep red, almost like blood. Liria grabbed the pan holding the water and brought it carefully to Legolas. She instructed Gimli to turn Legolas over and pull up his clothing so that she could pour the water over his wound.
Gimli eyed the steaming liquid distrustfully, "Will it not scald his skin?"
Liria nodded, "It will, but the heat will help the elendite overcome the poison. Trust me, I mean him no harm, I only want to help him."
Gimli still made no move to let her pour the liquid, "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"
"Yes," Liria exclaimed with urgency, "we have to kill off the poison in his system. Please trust me dwarf, even if it is only for this one time." Gimli slowly backed off and pulled up Legolas' clothing, but turned his head when Liria poured the blood-like liquid over him. Legolas' skin instantly turned a red to match the liquid and the purple was overtaken. Yet it was quite painful, and Legolas cried out even in his unconscious state. Gimli shook with futile rage and wanted to stop Liria, she obviously did not know what she was doing. But he only kept his head turned, not wanting to see his friend in pain.
Liria continued to pour even through Legolas' cry and concentrated on getting some of it into the wound. She did, and she hoped that the red swimming free from it was the liquid and not blood that came from scorched vessels. Finally, she was done and she sat back to watch. The red liquid seemed to roll on his back and pinpoint the wound. It was battling the poison, she could see this. Slowly, all of the liquid vanished, either because it had rolled off of his back or into the wound. Liria then focused on the wound. The purple ring was gone, and the purple trails were starting to fade, indeed it looked as though they were being eaten, and in effect they were. Eventually, the wound started to close, and Liria sighed with relief, it had worked. The poison was being destroyed.
Gimli turned when he heard Liria sighed and saw the wound was closed and the purple gone. He smiled in joy and reached over to try to wake Legolas again when Liria drew her blade. Gimli saw the movement and went to block Legolas and take the blade at the same time, but he was not quick enough and Liria slammed the blade into the freshly closed wound.
"Are you mad?" Gimli screamed at her, leaping up and reaching for his axe, "What are you doing?"
Liria only looked up calmly at the dwarf who readied an axe to kill her, "I have to get the liquid out again. It does a great job in destroying the poison, but it will destroy other things as well if left in." With that, she twisted the blade still imbedded in Legolas and red gushed forth.
"You are killing him," Gimli cried, hefting the axe and testing its weight, but unwilling to strike. If he killed Liria, he might kill Legolas as well, for he knew nothing of the plant she was using and of the poison of goblins. He would have to trust her until she was finished, then he could decide what to do.
Liria shook her head, intent on her work, "This is not blood, it is the liquid."
"How can you be sure?" Gimli asked, still not relenting and trusting her completley.
"I have only cut the pouch the liquid formed, I have not touched any arteries. As soon as it is done draining, the wound will close again and he will be in no more danger." Liria glanced up at Gimli slightly as she spoke, and her gaze was still ice, she was not wholly confident herself, she was afraid.
Gimli still did not know what to think, and only muttered, "Pray that he does not die, or I will have your neck." Liria looked at him impassively, but her eyes went black, tinged with red. She decided to ignore him and went back to her work.