"Legolas? Legolas? Legolas!"
Legolas snapped his eyes open. The first thing he saw were two green eyes glaring to his own. He jerked.
"When I said that maybe you'd die in your sleep," said Naurglahad, "I wasn't seriously considering it!"
"You weren't seriously considering to kill me," yawned Legolas, "How strange…"
"Shut yo' face," snapped Naurglahad, "we have to get a move on! Its noon right now and, you've been asleep for the ever since noon yesterday!"
"Yesterday? Has it been that long?"
"It has, now get up!"
She went up in front of him and pulled him up by his hands. Grabbing a torch from the wall, she went into the far corner of the cave where Cerulean lay, sleeping. Naurglahad examined the wound on her stomach for a few minutes before sighing in satisfaction.
"She looks all right," she confirmed, "But that's not the point at the moment. Your father will get really angry if you donut show up soon. He'll think I've had lost you in the mountains or something." She held the torch up in the air with her right arm, revealing that half of her sleeve was missing.
"What happened to you?" asked Legolas, "You finally got bitten by your Dragons?"
"Look on your arm, bud," grunted Naurglahad without turning around. Legolas looked at his bandaged arm. He suddenly recognized the material was the same as Naurglahad's tunic. He also noticed that the sling on his arm was her cloak. For once he realized, that Naurglahad had actually sacrificed something of hers for him.
~*~
"Where are Legolas and Naurglahad?" thought Thranduil, "They've been gone overnight…I hope they're all right"
"You need to learn how to shut up."
"You and your foul other-world language! Ill never understand you"
"Ill never understand you!"
"Its not my fault that you are non-comprehendible and that I am superior beyond your knowledge!"
"Shut your mouth Elf"
"Antolle uluma sulrim"
"HA! Little did YOU know that I am beyond your time, and that I have been studying Quenya behind your back, and HOW DARE you tell me that wind pours from my mouth! Auta minqula yrchA's!"
"Nasty! Orcs probably donut even brush their teeth! Besides, donut say I should kiss one!"
"You're an idiot"
"Right, change the subject…"
Naurglahad burst through the door, closely followed by Legolas. He pushed her through the doorway, and Naurglahad punched him lightly in the stomach. He retorted by kicking her foot. She tripped him. He yanked her foot down. She got up and shoved him. He shoved her back. They kept beating each other, laughing and shouting insults at one another.
"I've been swearing for the last three years," shouted Naurglahad. "And I make it a promise! You will die!"
"Not if my arrow finds your face first," replied Legolas coolly.
Thranduil shook his head as he walked away, muttering about the absurdity of how Legolas had suddenly devolved to mere childhood. But he grinned at the thought that he was at least somewhat getting along with his 'enemy'. Even as he turned round the corner, he could still hear them laughing and shouting. Naurglahad punched him lightly in the stomach. Legolas kept walking. She shoved him again, but this time, slammed into the wall on his right arm. He seethed at the blow. Though his arm was better, it was still healing.
"Uh-oh" muttered Naurglahad. She went to Legolas' side and examined his arm closely.
What she didn't know was that Legolas was plotting. He grabbed her hand with his left, and pushed her over on the floor. He quickly turned and raced down the hall, taunting Naurglahad in a singy-songy voice.
"You!" screamed Naurglahad, "You fool of an Elf! Ill get you!" She scrambled to her feet and sprinted after Legolas, both their footsteps and, their laughter ringing throughout Mirkwood.
From high above in another tree, Wethrinaer, Thranduil's closest advisor stood, drumming his fingers on one of the branches. He had just witnessed the banter between the Mortal and the Elf, and how Thranduil had just walked away from it. He would have to talk to Thranduil, before anything too dangerous happened.
~*~
"How many uses for Dragon blood have you discovered?" asked Legolas the next morning. This time, C-chan, Megan, and Jackie were with them.
"Lost count around fifty," replied Naurglahad, "There's things for cuts, bruises, oil, polishing wax, paint, sometimes it looks good in margarita, it makes a great water balloon if you burn it-"
"So that's why it was so hard the last time you dropped something on my head," grumbled C-chan. Megan snickered.
"Did you tell him how well Dragon spit goes on waffles?" suggested Jackie. Legolas turned away this time. She laughed as she whispered to Naurglahad "I made that up."
"I heard that," said Legolas.
"Shit," cursed Jackie, "Stupid Elves and their stupid sharp hearing. Cant tell you guys private secrets anymore!"
Naurglahad sighed and shook her head as C-chan and Megan laughed. The five of them continued their walk through the woods without a clue of the discussion that was taking place inside the palace.
"You know Thranduil," said Wethrinaer as he paced around the room, "Legolas seems lonely at times. I know he is over the usual age for romance, but he is a fine person to make a link with another Elf realm."
"I have overlooked that," said Thranduil, "But I haven't found a single maiden that has truly passed his approval!"
"Then we should let him search for himself," stated Wethrinaer, "You will have no luck in this type of situation."
"I understand your point," replied Thranduil, "But what intrigues me the most, is that how you've suddenly become interested in my sons affairs," he looked suspiciously at Wethrinaer.
He sighed. "I see Dark times my Lord," he confirmed, "Legolas should find an Elf for support, or the course of the Elven race will take another ill turn."
He peered out the window where Legolas had leaped up a tall tree and called at Naurglahad. She shouted back, shaking her fist at him. He merely laughed and pointed at her, until he fell out of the tree branches. Looking up, he saw that Megan and Jackie had forced him out. Before he could react, Naurglahad had attacked him, and now both of them were running in and out between the trees.
"What do you suggest I do then?" asked Thranduil, breaking the silence.
"Send Legolas out," said Wethrinaer quickly, "We can send him out with two companions, one male, and the other female. Let him decide whom to take with him. Well give him a couple months to search and well keep in contact"
Thranduil closed his eyes and put his hands together. "This is your wisest choice?" Wethrinaer nodded. "Then so be it."
~*~
"Hey Naurglahad?"
Naurglahad put down the pestle she was using to crush a few Mallorn leaves into powder. She tipped it into a tin container and set it down on a shelf near the Dragon inccubary. She examined the progress of the eggs before turning around.
"What do you want?"
"My father," said Legolas, "has asked that one male and one female depart Mirkwood with me in search of my wife."
Naurglahad raised an eyebrow. "And your point is?"
"C-chan didn't want to, Megan wasn't up to it, and Jackie just laughed in my face. I donut want to take any of the Elf-maids because one, they are not experienced in completing long journeys, and two; they talk too much for me. That only leaves you"
Naurglahad paused for a while, crossing her arms and bowing her head, thinking. "If you find a wife," she said finally, "does that mean that there is the possibility of you going far away?"
Legolas sighed. "Yes. It does,"
"Far, far, far away?"
"Yup."
"I'm in."
"Good...I hope."
He turned and began to walk away when Naurglahad called, "Who's the male going with you?"
"Father suggested Wethrinaer's son, Elenwe," said Legolas.
"Great," Naurglahad sat down on a nearby stool in front of Vedi's stall, "Now there's two spoiled palace brats,"
"Ha ha. Very funny." he grumbled, "I should have asked one of the elf maids."
~*~
"Elenwe. Son," said Wethrinaer quietly that night as he sat on a chair outside, behind the kitchens, "I need to talk to you"
"About what father?" asked Elenwe, "If it concerns the journey, then you needn't be worried. I can take care of myself"
"I know that already," snapped Wethrinaer, "Its not you I am anxious about. Its the female that is going with you"
"Naurglahad? You needn't worry there either. She has confirmed that she won't do anything severely harmful to Master Lego-"
"Not that way," interrupted Wethrinaer, "In another route she could do damage, not just to Legolas, but to our whole race!"
Elenwe paused. "In what way father?"
Wethrinaer looked up at the stars. "Legolas needs to keep away from the Mortals, or he may become like Mithrandir and the halflings, to sink so low as to build stronger relationships with other breeds. And if Legolas gets close to any mortal, it better not be this one."
He thrust a metal plate at Elenwe's feet. It was a 'WANTED' poster with a hologram image of Naurglahad on it. Judging by the craftsmanship, it must have come from the Dragon-Realm.
"Where did you get this?" asked Elenwe, somewhat horrified.
"I found it," muttered Wethrinaer, "in that colossal machine that Naurglahad calls Inugami. Read what is listed." Elenwe read the information programmed on the hologram.
WANTED
Naurglahad Ryunarasu
Age: 16- 20 years old
Height 5'6 –5'9
Description: Brown hair, green eyes, tall
Wanted for: Thievery, assassination, terrorism, and domestication of illegal foreign creatures. Bounty Hunter.
Reward: 12 [a very strange symbol for money was written here]
Sentence: Death.
"Are you sure this is the right Naurglahad?" asked Elenwe cautiously. Wethrinaer nodded confidently.
"There are no other Nahekas. And that picture is just like her!"
Elenwe looked down at the hologram image. Naurglahad was wearing black leather and an even more complicated arsenal with different, dangerous looking weapons. Instead of a sword, she had a forearm's length gun, and the crossbow she would carry on her back was a great black missile launcher. Capsules and cartridges lined her hips, and only a single knife was strapped to her thigh. She was winking through the green target locater clipped over her right eye, and at the bottom of the image there was a tiny inscription reading:
In memory of Photographer Agent #6837251
"Well," said Elenwe, "it does look like her a lot. But what do you want me to do?"
Wethrinaer grinned evilly. "I'm glad you asked me that question Elenwe"
He reached behind his back and somehow he mysteriously pulled out a long black case with gold engravings. He unhooked the latch and lifted the lid.
"In another language," said Wethrinaer "Ryunarasu means 'Dragon Tamer'," He reached inside the case a pulled out a polished lengthy black arrow "They say the tip of this arrow has part of the arrow that slew Smaug the Golden" He handed the arrow delicately to Elenwe "If anything happens between Legolas and Naurglahad, I want you to use this arrow, and slay the Dragon. Do you understand?"
Elenwe examined the arrow. He felt a wave of energy move along its slim figure. This was definitely no ordinary arrow.
"You mean," whispered Elenwe "kill her?"
"Aim for her neck" finished Wethrinaer "She will die much quicker that way."
He got up and left Elenwe to think about his task. Elenwe stood alone under the stars for a long time. He didn't notice someone approach from behind.
"Hi, Elenwe!"
Elenwe whipped around. Naurglahad was standing there with a bundle in her arms. Fall wind blew her hair across her face, and the moonlight shone pale on her skin, illuminating her green eyes, which shone brightly against the darkness of the night. Elenwe gulped.
"Look!" Naurglahad exclaimed. She unwrapped the bundle in her arms. A tiny baby Dragon was nestled in her arms, looking around wildly and snapping at the air. It was an iridescent shade of copper with a slim body. Two producing gleaming white teeth were lodged in its gum.
"I reckon it's a male Peruvian Vipertooth," said Naurglahad, "Just hatched a few hours ago" She tickled his chin. He snorted a few sparks from his nostrils and snapped at Elenwe "Aww," sighed Naurglahad "He's just like his daddy, Firestorm! We should give you a name now, shouldn't we?"
Elenwe just stood there and stared at Naurglahad as she started pacing around, trying to think of a good name. It seemed odd to him, that how a wanted bounty hunter and assassin could be so…tender and loving. She cared for this poisonous beast as if it were a human child, yet her records showed that she could murder someone and walk away from it. He didn't know whether he felt scared, confused, or, heaven forbid, affection.