Savina stared at the arrow.
This was it.
She was going to die.
No time to move, no time to react.
No one was close enough to pull her out of the way.
She could hear Legolas cry out, but his voice sounded muted and far away.
Now the arrow was inches away.
It struck her in the chest.
She stumbled backward, staring down in horror at the arrow sticking out of her chest.
But there was no pain…no blood…how could that be?
Strong arms caught her as she wavered unsteadily on her feet and pulled her behind a tree.
No blood…no pain…all she could feel was the furious beating of her heart.
Savina raised her hand and wrapped her fingers around the shaft of the arrow, trying to pull it out of where it was buried in her vest, but it was stuck.
Someone pushed her hands away and jerked the arrow out.
But no blood came.
Suddenly, Savina realized what had happened.
She reached into her vest pocket, the one the arrow had been sticking out of, and pulled out the small, stone comb Gimli had given to her. It had saved her life. She looked up at Aragorn and held up the comb, speechless.
Aragorn took the comb from her and examined it, there was a small chip between two of the prongs, obviously the place where the arrow had struck and gotten stuck. He tucked it back into her vest pocket and pulled her to her feet.
Gimli was staring at her, his face white beneath his beard.
Savina wiped blood off of her cheek that was coming from one of the scratches she'd gotten running through the forest. She smiled weakly at Gimli, "I did remember to thank you for the comb, didn't I?"
Gimli nodded, color seeping back into his face.
Tas picked up the arrow from the ground and slipped it into one of his pouches, staring up at her with awe, "you almost died! Tell me, did you see your life flash before your eyes? I've heard that's what happens, but I've never-"
"Hush, Kender," Aragorn put his hand on the Kender's skinny shoulder, then turned to the rest of the group, "we have to get going before they find another bridge."
Legolas, who had been staring at Savina, his mouth hanging open, oblivious to the fact that blood was pouring from a cut on the right side of his forehead, just below the hairline.
Savina, who had moved to follow Aragorn into the forest, stopped and looked up Legolas. Her eyes flickered over his face and stopped on the cut, "Tas," she said to the Kender, who was walking beside her, "give me a handkerchief."
Tas glanced at Legolas' cut, mumbled, "wow! Everyone's pretty close to death today," then fumbled in one of his pouches and handed Savina a deep red handkerchief with the initials PR on it.
Savina gently wiped the blood off of Legolas' face, "are you ok?"
Legolas seized her by her wrist, his blue eyes looking into her dark ones, looking as though he were about to kiss her, then he glanced down at the hole in her vest and a stern look replaced the tender one, "you should have been behind the trees." With that, he dropped her wrist and pushed her in front of him, following Aragorn and Gimli.
Savina, her eyes stinging with tears, jerked away from him and jogged after Aragorn, Tas trotting by her side. She understood why Legolas was pushing her away, but it hurt her worse than any arrow ever could. Reminding herself that she had more important things to worry about, like finding her father, she followed Aragorn.
They jogged for almost an hour, then slowed to a fast walk for the next three hours, walking through endless forest, sometimes passing an occasion house.
Around noon, they stopped for lunch, sitting on the ground and eating dried meat and fruit.
It was good to sit down for a while.
Savina sat between Tas, who was chattering incessantly, and Gimli, but her eyes were on Legolas. He hadn't spoken to her since they fled from the bridge; he had barely even looked at her!
But, that wasn't completely true, unbeknownst to Savina, he had been watching her carefully. It hurt him that he loved her. It hurt him that for a moment when their lips had touched, all his pain and uncertainty had disappeared, and now they were back and stronger than ever. It hurt him that his head knew he shouldn't feel the way he did for her, but that his heart refused to cooperate. He knew it was wrong, he knew he couldn't let his desperate love ruin the chance of rescuing Merry and Pippin. Legolas' heart was heavy with misery and gloom, but his mind was firm with the decision that he was going to be strong, whatever it took. Legolas' eyes flickered to Savina, she was a stranger he's met only a few days before, nothing more…
Aragorn ate silently, thinking of everything and trying to piece it all together in his mind, but so many pieces of the puzzle were still missing.
Savina ate silently, listening to Tas talk about a great quest he had gone on to save the whole world from evil dragons.
"We had to go to an ancient abandoned city called Pax Tharkis and find this thing called a Dragon Orb, which was the only thing that could defeat the evil dragons," Tas paused in his story and looked into the woods, he heard something.
It was rustling. Something was coming toward them through the forest.
"And then I broke it and evil took over the land," Tas finished quickly, then stood up and walked over to Aragorn, who raised his eyebrows wearily. Tas sat down and spoke very quietly, "I hear something in the woods, thought you should know." Then, in a louder voice, "did I ever tell you about my quest to save the world from evil dragons?"
Aragorn stood up and stretched, his eyes searching the forest, "no, you haven't."
Gimli, sensing something was going on, stood up and spoke to Legolas, "Legolas, fancy practicing with the sword?"
Legolas, having heard the same rustling as Tas, stood and drew his sword, "yes, my friend." He absentmindedly drew his Elven sword and moved toward Gimli and Aragorn.
The rustling in the forest grew louder.
Savina scrambled to her feet and turned around, staring into the forest. She drew Raliayatau from her belt and moved toward Aragorn, "I could use some practice as well."
Suddenly a familiar figure staggered into the clearing, covered in blood, and collapsed onto the ground.