Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. Tolkien does.
I STAND ALONE
She would have to wait until they got back to Mirkwood before she could do anything to hurt either of them. Perhaps she'd ambush them just before they would enter Mirkwood; threaten to drown them in the Anduin or maybe slam them against a wall and hold a knife up their throats. That would work. It had always worked for the last twenty people she took hostage. Of course, she eventually had to change into a dragon to get them to confess whatever information she needed. Some even refused. She killed them, but she didn't eat them. Hated eating humans. They were chewy and grimy and bony and full of unnecessary calories that were usually near impossible to burn off. She was a dragon that could take human form, but it was thanks to another family member that she could become the human everyone knew her as...
"Dammit! I did it again!" thought Naurglahad as she trailed behind the crowd of dwarves, now closing her eyes and shaking her head, "I always do that! Reciting my whole cursed family line mentally-Oomph!"
She had accidentally bumped into one of the dwarves, causing it to stumble a bit.
"Sorry, sir." she said apologetically. The dwarf stood straight, dusted himself and turned around.
"Sorry?" it retorted in a rather odd tone for a dwarf, or at least any dwarf Naurglahad had ever heard, "For knocking mey over, or fo' gettin' mey wrong?"
Naurglahad raised an eyebrow, but she immediately stepped back when she saw that the dwarf didn't have a long, tangled beard, nor a grizzly, equally tangled mustache. Naurglahad had just bumped into a female dwarf. She blinked and nearly stuttered, raising an almost trembling finger at her.
"Ye know when ya' point a finga' at mey' three fingas' point back?" the dwarf said. She extended a hand towards Naurglahad, "Malin Rubyplate's ma' nayme. Who're you?"
"Naurglahad Ryunarasu," Naurglahad replied, taking Malin's hand. Malin gave it a good hard shake before hurrying ahead to catch up with the herd.
"Ryunarasu?" said Malin as Naurglahad jogged after her, "That's a funny name. You ain't from around hea, are ya'? Thas okay! What're you here for?"
"I'm following Prince Legolas of Mirkwood on an expedition-"
"Oh! Naurglahad! Yes, now I remember! Gimli's been tellin' us about you. He says that you and Legolas are together with somethin'!"
"Really?" said Naurglahad, keeping a curious look on her face while her insides exploded with ridiculous laughter, and an urge to take an axe and toss it at Gimli's head, "What makes him think that?"
"We don't know!" exclaimed Malin, tossing her hands up, "We don't know! But he seems to be sure of himself. He sees great things comin' for ya' two!"
"Fascinating."
Naurglahad's mind began to drift once more as she floated off back into her thoughts of her family.
All the members of the Ryunarasu clan could transform into humans. According to the family's tradition, their blood must be kept pure, or consequences will be dire and perhaps apocalyptic or fatal. Thus, family marriage was the only route to take in order to avoid fate. The Ryunarasu blood remained the same for thousands and thousands of years, and each family member looked alike: tall, pale skinned, black hair that was at least shoulder length, and the evil glint in their dark jade eyes. A taste for sin and greed swirled on the tongue of any Ryunarasu, including Naurglahad. Because of this, not only had intermarriage become a tradition, but training in one the three departments of crime: Thievery, Terrorism, and Assassination, was required. The Elders said that it would help keep tradition strong, even if it meant hurting others to survive.
Naurglahad was the only Ryu that specialized in all three categories, the only. And then again, she was the only Ryu who was a half.
Onikunshu was the master of the deadliest crime, Assassination, so he became lord to all Ryunarasu. It gave him great power, and much more secrecy than anyone else. And it was a good thing too, as he had once defied the Ryunarasu tradition. When he was twenty-five, he had fallen in love, true love, with a human girl with auburn hair, bright green eyes, and soft skin that had just the exact right amount of darkness to it. Her name was Narcisuss. Unfortunately, tradition had gotten in the way of Onikunshu's and Narcisuss' life together. He had to abandon her, and took the child she bore him back into the realm of darkness that he was raised in.Of course, he had to rid everything of Narcisuss from his life, so Naurglahad was given extra training to stamp Narcisuss out of all existence. He would have destroyed Naurglahad, but it was too much. She looked too much like Narcisuss. He couldn't bear to do it. Naurglahad would have to just be condemned to never love anyone.
She would stand alone.
~*~
That night, the dwarves took out their golden harps and wooden fiddles and flutes, with drums and a couple clarinets. They were all in the mood for a melody*, and the exit out of the Mountains were only tomorrow's walk away. The dwarves had laid out a miniature feast, with numerous torch lights burning brightly. Eventually, Malin, who was having a feminine conversation with Naurglahad, was asked to dance by Gimli. Almost giggling, she stood up and accepted his arm. Elenwe also stood, walked across the site, and timidly offered his hand to Naurglahad. She stood and went off to dance with him. Legolas smiled at them under the rim of his tankard and watched his friends move to the dwarvish tune. Later, Malin was tired of dancing and sat down again. Gimli came and bent over to Legolas' ear.
"Ask her!" he whispered eagerly, almost bouncing with excitement.
"No." said Legolas, pushing away the dwarf's suggestion, "There will be more opportunities for that later." He continued drinking the contents of his tankard.
"Ask her!" Gimli whispered again, "Come on! Go!"
"Will it make you stop pestering me like that?"
"Er... yes!"
"Alright then."
Legolas put down his tankard, and strode to Elenwe and Naurglahad, who were slowing down in their waltz toward the end of the song. He waited for the dwarves to stop playing their music before shamelessly going up to her.
"Gimli wants to know if you'll dance with me." he explained. Naurglahad rolled her eyes and nodded toward Elenwe. He stepped back and gave them room. Gimli was beginning to look antsy. The dwarves began to play the next tune.
"Ya' don't need ter tremble like that!" Malin mumbled to Gimli. The rock they were both sitting on was shaking a little.
"I'm not trembling." said Gimli, watching Naurglahad and Legolas intently.
"Then why is everything jittering?"
Naurglahad and Legolas had just taken one step into their dance, when footsteps began thundering in the dark. The dwarves stopped strumming and playing as everyone turned. All was silent for a very long time. You could hear the drips of water puddling on the floor. One of the strings on the harp twnaged and snapped. No one said word. Then Naurglahad spoke loudly.
"We should run, shouldn't we?"
More silence.
"Good point." said Legolas. Everyone immediately packed up their things as quick as a flash and made a mad dash into the dark. A couple dwarves were screaming hysterically, while others were herding them on like cattle.
They could hear more and more padded paws racing on the dirt and stone floors behind them. Someone must have looked back because they also heard someone scream:
"RED EYES!"
~~~~~* "They were all in the mood for a melody".... [sway your arms in the air] "Sing us a song, you're the piano man! Sing us a song tonight!
And we're all in the mood for a melody, And you got us feelin' alright! la la la....
I STAND ALONE
She would have to wait until they got back to Mirkwood before she could do anything to hurt either of them. Perhaps she'd ambush them just before they would enter Mirkwood; threaten to drown them in the Anduin or maybe slam them against a wall and hold a knife up their throats. That would work. It had always worked for the last twenty people she took hostage. Of course, she eventually had to change into a dragon to get them to confess whatever information she needed. Some even refused. She killed them, but she didn't eat them. Hated eating humans. They were chewy and grimy and bony and full of unnecessary calories that were usually near impossible to burn off. She was a dragon that could take human form, but it was thanks to another family member that she could become the human everyone knew her as...
"Dammit! I did it again!" thought Naurglahad as she trailed behind the crowd of dwarves, now closing her eyes and shaking her head, "I always do that! Reciting my whole cursed family line mentally-Oomph!"
She had accidentally bumped into one of the dwarves, causing it to stumble a bit.
"Sorry, sir." she said apologetically. The dwarf stood straight, dusted himself and turned around.
"Sorry?" it retorted in a rather odd tone for a dwarf, or at least any dwarf Naurglahad had ever heard, "For knocking mey over, or fo' gettin' mey wrong?"
Naurglahad raised an eyebrow, but she immediately stepped back when she saw that the dwarf didn't have a long, tangled beard, nor a grizzly, equally tangled mustache. Naurglahad had just bumped into a female dwarf. She blinked and nearly stuttered, raising an almost trembling finger at her.
"Ye know when ya' point a finga' at mey' three fingas' point back?" the dwarf said. She extended a hand towards Naurglahad, "Malin Rubyplate's ma' nayme. Who're you?"
"Naurglahad Ryunarasu," Naurglahad replied, taking Malin's hand. Malin gave it a good hard shake before hurrying ahead to catch up with the herd.
"Ryunarasu?" said Malin as Naurglahad jogged after her, "That's a funny name. You ain't from around hea, are ya'? Thas okay! What're you here for?"
"I'm following Prince Legolas of Mirkwood on an expedition-"
"Oh! Naurglahad! Yes, now I remember! Gimli's been tellin' us about you. He says that you and Legolas are together with somethin'!"
"Really?" said Naurglahad, keeping a curious look on her face while her insides exploded with ridiculous laughter, and an urge to take an axe and toss it at Gimli's head, "What makes him think that?"
"We don't know!" exclaimed Malin, tossing her hands up, "We don't know! But he seems to be sure of himself. He sees great things comin' for ya' two!"
"Fascinating."
Naurglahad's mind began to drift once more as she floated off back into her thoughts of her family.
All the members of the Ryunarasu clan could transform into humans. According to the family's tradition, their blood must be kept pure, or consequences will be dire and perhaps apocalyptic or fatal. Thus, family marriage was the only route to take in order to avoid fate. The Ryunarasu blood remained the same for thousands and thousands of years, and each family member looked alike: tall, pale skinned, black hair that was at least shoulder length, and the evil glint in their dark jade eyes. A taste for sin and greed swirled on the tongue of any Ryunarasu, including Naurglahad. Because of this, not only had intermarriage become a tradition, but training in one the three departments of crime: Thievery, Terrorism, and Assassination, was required. The Elders said that it would help keep tradition strong, even if it meant hurting others to survive.
Naurglahad was the only Ryu that specialized in all three categories, the only. And then again, she was the only Ryu who was a half.
Onikunshu was the master of the deadliest crime, Assassination, so he became lord to all Ryunarasu. It gave him great power, and much more secrecy than anyone else. And it was a good thing too, as he had once defied the Ryunarasu tradition. When he was twenty-five, he had fallen in love, true love, with a human girl with auburn hair, bright green eyes, and soft skin that had just the exact right amount of darkness to it. Her name was Narcisuss. Unfortunately, tradition had gotten in the way of Onikunshu's and Narcisuss' life together. He had to abandon her, and took the child she bore him back into the realm of darkness that he was raised in.Of course, he had to rid everything of Narcisuss from his life, so Naurglahad was given extra training to stamp Narcisuss out of all existence. He would have destroyed Naurglahad, but it was too much. She looked too much like Narcisuss. He couldn't bear to do it. Naurglahad would have to just be condemned to never love anyone.
She would stand alone.
~*~
That night, the dwarves took out their golden harps and wooden fiddles and flutes, with drums and a couple clarinets. They were all in the mood for a melody*, and the exit out of the Mountains were only tomorrow's walk away. The dwarves had laid out a miniature feast, with numerous torch lights burning brightly. Eventually, Malin, who was having a feminine conversation with Naurglahad, was asked to dance by Gimli. Almost giggling, she stood up and accepted his arm. Elenwe also stood, walked across the site, and timidly offered his hand to Naurglahad. She stood and went off to dance with him. Legolas smiled at them under the rim of his tankard and watched his friends move to the dwarvish tune. Later, Malin was tired of dancing and sat down again. Gimli came and bent over to Legolas' ear.
"Ask her!" he whispered eagerly, almost bouncing with excitement.
"No." said Legolas, pushing away the dwarf's suggestion, "There will be more opportunities for that later." He continued drinking the contents of his tankard.
"Ask her!" Gimli whispered again, "Come on! Go!"
"Will it make you stop pestering me like that?"
"Er... yes!"
"Alright then."
Legolas put down his tankard, and strode to Elenwe and Naurglahad, who were slowing down in their waltz toward the end of the song. He waited for the dwarves to stop playing their music before shamelessly going up to her.
"Gimli wants to know if you'll dance with me." he explained. Naurglahad rolled her eyes and nodded toward Elenwe. He stepped back and gave them room. Gimli was beginning to look antsy. The dwarves began to play the next tune.
"Ya' don't need ter tremble like that!" Malin mumbled to Gimli. The rock they were both sitting on was shaking a little.
"I'm not trembling." said Gimli, watching Naurglahad and Legolas intently.
"Then why is everything jittering?"
Naurglahad and Legolas had just taken one step into their dance, when footsteps began thundering in the dark. The dwarves stopped strumming and playing as everyone turned. All was silent for a very long time. You could hear the drips of water puddling on the floor. One of the strings on the harp twnaged and snapped. No one said word. Then Naurglahad spoke loudly.
"We should run, shouldn't we?"
More silence.
"Good point." said Legolas. Everyone immediately packed up their things as quick as a flash and made a mad dash into the dark. A couple dwarves were screaming hysterically, while others were herding them on like cattle.
They could hear more and more padded paws racing on the dirt and stone floors behind them. Someone must have looked back because they also heard someone scream:
"RED EYES!"
~~~~~* "They were all in the mood for a melody".... [sway your arms in the air] "Sing us a song, you're the piano man! Sing us a song tonight!
And we're all in the mood for a melody, And you got us feelin' alright! la la la....