* Six *

"You were lucky princess!" Legolas uttered, trying to keep up with Ryanna's hurried steps. She walked fast, even for an Elf. They were returning to the Halls of Rivendell after a long afternoon of horse riding and bow contests over the near lands of Rivendell and they didn't seem to reach an agreement about who was better then whom.

"Lucky?" She stopped abruptly facing Legolas. "I outran you nine times out of ten and you call that being lucky?" She inquired, both eyebrows raised. "I didn't take you for a sore looser your Highness. I was obviously wrong." Ryanna declared slyly, resuming her fast walk.

"Nine out of ten times you rode Morwinyon and everyone knows that it is the fastest horse in Rivendell. You only lost one race to me because I insisted we changed horses!" Legolas spat firmly.

"Well you did let me choose the horse first, so don't blame me for your gallantry." Ryanna teased with a grin.

"I will keep that in mind the next time." Legolas hissed and Ryanna chuckled slightly. "At least we agree that I am a better archer than you are." His cheeky grin almost made Ryanna laugh, but she controlled herself.

"You were lucky." She mumbled, knowing he would hear it. Ryanna wasn't able to stop the chuckle from escaping her lips though, when she saw his look of surprise.

"I was not lucky!" Legolas stated sharply, stopping on his tracks. "I've beat you fair and square. Who's being the sore looser now princess?" He said, inclining his head to level their eyes.

"Alright then." Ryanna kept her stare, folding her arms over her chest. "I will concede that you are a better archer if you agree that I'm a better rider."

"Far better archer." Legolas corrected. "I can shoot and ride a horse at the same time. You couldn't." He pointed out.

"Very well, far better archer. And I'm not used to use the bow and ride at the same time. My training was based on hand to hand battle and using a sword. The bow was never my weapon of choice." Ryanna offered with a cold smile.

"We haven't tried the swords" Legolas said looking thoughtful "…Yet." He added with a devilish grin and sparkling eyes. Ryanna wanted to reap him to shreds for making her heart do crazy loops in her chest. Instead, she pulled her Elvish knife from the saddle-case on her back. She was committed to vent all her fury at once.

"Do you have a knife?" She questioned with an eyebrow raised. Legolas stared at her for a moment, deciding what he should do. Ryanna saw him reach behind his back for his weapon.

"I have two." He said complacent, making them twitch in front of her. Ryanna hadn't count with that, but wasn't worried either. She was used to fight against opponents with two knifes. "This will not be a fair fight, princess." He warned, not wanting to sound too self-assured, but failing miserably.

"For whom?" She inquired with a half smile. Before Legolas had time to say anything else Ryanna stroke forward and he had no choice but to block her strong blow, crossing his two knifes in front of his head.

"There's no need to kill each other." Legolas cautioned a little serious, pushing her away.

"I'll be the judge of that." Ryanna stated with an amused face, making another attack. This time though, Legolas was ready for her and blocked her blow with only his right knife, while with his left knife he tried to disarm her. But Ryanna was an expert and avoided the other knife.

"I can see you have done this before." Legolas noted when Ryanna blocked another of his assaults. The shrilling sound of metal against metal echoed through the surrounding area. At one point of the fight Ryanna was able to disarm Legolas of one of his knifes, sanding it flying through the air until it hit the ground hard at some distance. Legolas watched surprised as it travelled through the air. Then he was a little angry and he stroke fast against her knife, making her back a few steps away.

"Oh, now this definitely will not be a fair fight!" She teased, trying to infuriate him even more. "The smug prince is angry." Legolas made another assault, obviously irked with her remarks. Ryanna would have laughed if she weren't concentrated in blocking his every movement. One of his blows was too much for the young princess and she found herself seating on the cold ground looking up at him, her knife had fallen beside her, but still at arm reach.

"You had enough, princess?" Legolas questioned pointing his knife at her throat, stopping her before she could reach her sword. They were both out of breath due to the intense exercise.

"It is the second time in one day you've pointed your filthy knife at my face." Her eyes glowed dangerously.

"Hush for you will hurt its feelings." Legolas faked apprehension would have made Ryanna laugh if she wasn't so damn furious.

In a spark of cleverness and anger she did what she had trained all those years for: with a swift move of her leg, Legolas ended up stretched on the floor, his back against the ground, his mind still processing what exactly he had done wrong. Ryanna wasted no time and climbed on top of him, taking the knife away from the hands of the dazed Elf. Legolas was an experienced warrior thought and before Ryanna had a chance to feel victorious, he rolled them both and pinned her hand holding the knife to the ground.

"Get off of me!" She commanded angrily, pushing him away with her free hand.

"Let go of the knife." He shot back firmly looking down at her. But Ryanna ignored him and tried to turn the situation around. Legolas wanted none of that so after a brief struggle he was able to pin her other wrist down. And he had to admit that the situation wasn't at all unpleasant. Something in Ryanna's eyes told him she was thinking the same and couldn't avoid the small smile that spread over his face.

"Let me go." She said furious at his pleased expression. She tried to release her wrists, but he was stronger then her and that made their bodies rub against each other in all the right…wrong places.

"I told you, let go of the knife first." He replied softly, grinning slightly. He felt as if someone had knocked all the air out of his lungs when their eyes met. He was well aware of Ryanna's fine figure under him and smiled when she didn't complied with his demand.

"Let me go Legolas!" She repeated demandingly, starting to feel desperate. Ryanna wasn't at all comfortable with their position. She was finding it hard to think straight and to breathe normally with him so close to her senses.

"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" The prince wondered out loud and chuckled when Ryanna looked up at him confused. "It took you the better part of a day to call me by my name." Ryanna wanted to kick and reap at his throat and yell at him for making her look like a fool, but it was practically impossible to do that when he had her pinned from the waste down and her hands could only grasp the dirt.

"I slipped your Highness, forgive me. Now release me at once!" She shouted. Did he have any idea, any idea of what he was doing to her and to her mind? She tried to get up, but Legolas pushed her to ground again.

"Your stubbornness will get you nowhere princess." He warned serious, but his eyes were definitely amused. Ryanna stared up at him out of breath. He was beautiful she had to give him that. Even with his hair all messed up from the heavy fight and his skin glowing due to the fine layer sweat, he was the most handsome Elf she had ever seen. But she was far from admitting it to him or anyone. She was still deeply wounded. 1500 years was a long time…

"Your childish behaviour stuns me." Ryanna hissed with venom.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we have spent the last hours being childish together." He smiled back, trying to sound polite as opposed to her.

"Why can't you just get off of me?" She yelled at him. She was no longer thinking straight. "I promise I'll let go of your knife."

"And you expect me to believe you?" Legolas snickered.

"I believed you." She bit back accusingly and regretted the words immediately. That was not an argument she was hoping to have stretched on the floor with Legolas pinning her down and feeling his body pressed against her. His amused expression changed immediately into a more serious and depressed face.

"I know." He closed his eyes, searching for the right words. After a moment he sighed and opened them again. "I wanted to go back to Valinor, but things got complicated here, over Middle-Earth." Legolas stated calmly. Knowing she had no way to escape him now he continued. "I didn't forget about you Anna." He said looking deep into her eyes. "I never forgot, not even for a day, the little girl that stayed behind on the shores of Aman, crying because she couldn't come with me." That somehow made Ryanna angrier.

"I'm not a little girl anymore!" She shout, trying desperatly to get loose. Legolas pinned her even harder with his whole body now.

"I'm well aware of that." He whispered in her ear, sending shivers all over Ryanna's body. He stared back at her with those incredible blue eyes. She was so close; so enticingly close. Close enough to... A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Let go of the knife." He whispered tenderly against her lips. Ryanna gasped surprised with his boldness.

"Make me." She challenged, knowing exactly what his reaction would be. And Legolas didn't disappoint her. He bent forward and kissed her softly, but he wanted more, much more. She broke the kiss abruptly, gasping for air, but the prince didn't give her much time for he pressed his lips against hers again for a more lingering kiss. Legolas swore she tasted like the sweetest honey and he just couldn't seem to get enough of it. He noticed, in the mist of his mind, that she was equally eagerly returning his kiss.

The sound of someone walking in their direction made them part again and look at each other surprised. Then they faced whoever had interrupted them. There at a small distance stood a young woman, barely standing and barely alive. Her pale face was marked by the long journey and her eyes were slightly closed. She was tired and looked unbelievably lost. Legolas rose to his feet, bringing Ryanna along with him. They watched apprehensively as the woman stepped closer with unsteady legs.

"Help…us." She whispered before her eyes closed and her body fell numbly on the ground. Legolas and Ryanna rushed to her side and were relieved to see that she was still breathing.

"Do you know who this is?" Ryanna inquired observing the woman with clinical eyes.

"No, I've never seen her before."

"She looks like she has fought the battle of her life." Ryanna commented looking at Legolas. They were both a little flushed with what had transpired between the two moments ago, but that was not the time to be reliving those moments. "I wonder what has happen to her."

"We must take her to Lord Elrond. He'll know what to do." Legolas put an arm around the woman's back and the other around the back of her knees and lifted her off the ground. The woman mumbled something, but neither could understand her.

"What did you say?" Ryanna whispered at her hear.

"The children." The woman barely said and fainted against Legolas chest. He looked at Ryanna confused. The princess took a look around and gasped in surprise as she spotted something behind Legolas, her eyes widening with horror. The Elf turned to see what had caused such shock in Ryanna.

Dozens of children marched slowly through the field, heading towards them, looking extremely tired, dragging their feet and with an expression of utter desolation on their faces. Some, the older ones, carried the smaller ones, making it even harder to walk and the picture even more terrifying. Legolas and Ryanna took a moment to react, for they were too bewildered with what their eyes saw.

"What evil is this?" Ryanna murmured trying to think straight. Seeing one of the children fall to his feet completely exhausted, made her wake up from the daydream and rush to the small boy's side. She lifted him up and looked around to the others. They were so many! And their silence seemed to speak volumes. Ryanna looked at Legolas lost and he too seemed to be in the same state, with the woman firmly gripped against his chest.

"Let's take them to Rivendell." He finally said and Ryanna nodded. The small boy in her arms nuzzled against her shoulder and something inside of her broke. Ryanna felt tears beginning to form in her eyes and she squeezed the boy even tighter against her, trying to shield him against the Evil she was sure all of them had gone through. She motioned for the other children to follow them and the group seemed to understand for they followed the two Elves back to Rivendell.

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