Disclaimer: I'm thirsty, not making money off of Legolas's name… wish I was… would be wealthy…
Chapter Five: A Crappy Song
The familiar, trouncing gait of the carriage was back. Elorelei gazed longingly out the window and kept tightening the hold of the hair tie on her brown-black locks. She never let it down, never. No one saw when it was like that, unhindered and long. It almost frightened her the first time she noticed it had grown so untamed, so unruly. Since then she kept it tied back so that it looked straight and sleek. Most people thought it grew that way. She didn't know why she was so uncomfortable with her hair being seen the way it really was, but hair was not on her mind at the moment. Celidia was looking down her nose at her, as she so often did, but this time Legolas did not add his personalized smirk.
As always, Celidia sparked conversation with him. Elorelei, desperate to make that annoying, high, grating voice stop clawing at her ear drums, picked up her pipe and began to play. Legolas didn't recognize it at first, but slowly it came to him, and he began to sing.
"A place that is cold, and dark in the light,
a home in the wilderness, calling for night.
No hearth or home can yet explain,
that place in the dark, where Norsadil met his bane."
Elorelei kept playing, Legolas's voice ringing with her pipe. Very few knew this song, as it was a rather untold story.
"Friend of the giants, foe to the dwarves,
Norsadil journeyed far, to where Nauko now carves.
Dwarf by his father, great Musiorn
Norsadil left his own people for more.
Befriending the giants, he lived in their caves,
He raised their children, and tended their graves
when the dwarf lords raised their voices in hate
They asked him at once to consider his fate.
Giants, unloyal, would betray him they said
Norsadil cursed them, and stayed at his stead.
But the giants trusted him yet no more
they accused him of bringing them into a war.
Cast out and alone, Norsadil left the caves
No longer accepted by the giants home that he craved.
Into the woods, he discovered a home
Near the waters of Imlad, where dwarves doth not roam.
Many years he stayed, far from the world.
His heart ruthlessly broken, his life unfurled.
There, a great evil had at once found him
and offered to give him his every wish and whim.
That was his downfall, many had said.
And now few others walk in his stead.
The evil consumed him, and ruined his life
Never once bringing him anything not of strife.
And so there he died, his heart blackened by pain
Few talk of him now, or how he was slain.
Pernauko, his nephew, his only living kin
Vows to live in the dark, fight the evil and win.
Pernauko, a dwarf, lives deep in the place
Few see him at all, or pity his case
The evil that lurked may still be there now
but Pernauko is watchful, and lives by his vow."
Legolas closed the song, as he didn't remember if there was anymore of it, and stared at Elorelei. She was smiling widely at him.
"How did you know of Norsadil?" he asked, looking confused but a little pleased.
"My grandfather." was the murmured response. Then quiet. Celedia decided after that (to the delight of Elorelei) to sit silently in her corner.
Outside the carriage compartment, Jayik smirked to himself. "They had to find some way to get along." And the unsteady, bouncing gait went on.
*~*~*~*
The Glimmering Mountains. Opal mines of great extent. They practically blinded travellers when the light hit them in that perfect way. The three mountains, named Yaaran, Vanyan, Rilya, (Yaaran being the tallest and most ancient) stood proudly, throwing their faces to the sun and allowing their sheer cliffs and sides to shine brightly.
At the first sign of a reflected beam of blue, purplish, green light, Elorelei threw open her window and gazed up. Immediately, she looked back down and pulled her head in, clutching her eyes.
"I'm blind! BLIND! OW!" After she'd settled down, the carriage came to a stop again. The three heard the sounds of approaching feet, taking soft but strong footsteps. "Jay." Elorelei thought.
"I believe one of his majesties wishes to ride?" A second later, Jayik's fair face appeared in the doorway. "Let me guess, it's Elorelei, warrior princess?"
She rolled her eyes. "Your intuition astounds me." She said, hopping out and found several elves gathered around, trying to saddle Iledian. Carelessly, she strolled over.
Iledian neighed, backed up, and flailed her legs at the horse caretakers. When it was said that no one could ride her but Elorelei, it also applied to bridling and saddling. As soon as the mare saw men coming toward her with the bridle and saddle, she got agitated. Now she was nearing irate with Elorelei barely able to calm her.
"Perhaps I should've told you," said Elorelei, easily slipping the saddle on her horse's back. The horseman elves (because that's what I'm going to call them) gave her a sour look. "She'll most likely kick you from here to the Far North if you come within ten feet of her bearing a bridle."
Moments later, Elorelei was riding comfortably on Iledian, letting the afternoon breeze caress her face but making sure her hair was tied back well. Legolas had taken her seat and called to her from the window.
"How the weather out there?"
"A lot more pleasant than it was shut up in that stuffy place." came her response. Legolas mimicked her rolling of the eyes, despite himself.
Suddenly, Iledian began to walk faster, and somehow, more quietly. Elorelei seemed to understand this reaction and a fear came into her eyes. Legolas felt a lump well up in his throat and began to look out the window more. She mouthed to him to shut the window, then Iledian backed out of view.
"Jay." Elorelei's voice was a whisper as Iledian cantered next to the front of the carriage. "Irugus. Iledian can sense them. They're near."
Jayik responded by sighing and nearly laughing. "There are no irugus this close the Glimmering Mountains." He said in a surefire voice, then his keen eyes fell upon what was in her hand. "Where did you get that bow? Put it back, the archers will have a fit." He was surprised. It was all but forbidden for women to learn archery. They were trained in all aspects of fighting in the North and sometimes in the East, but when it came to archery, the closest they got was a crossbow.
Elorelei frowned. "It's my bow, and we are not PAST the Glimmering Mountains yet. There may very well be- DUCK!" She barely had time to pull his head down as an arrow appeared where Jayik's head was.
"Okay, there may be a few irugus." He cursed under his breath then fitted his bow. And another battle began. Unfortunately, Elorelei found herself right in the middle of it.
Everything went by so fast, Elorelei simply couldn't understand why everyone was staring at her when it was all over. Several dead irugus lay at her feet, she hadn't slain nearly as many as the other archers, but all the same... Silently, she salvaged her arrows, marked by the silver feathers on the tip. Her palms were shaking, battle scenes still flying by through her head. Teeth, arrows, her knife. It was covered in black-blue blood of the irugu. Iledian neighed uncomfortably and nudged for Elorelei to get on her back, but the archers insisted (in quiet voices) that she get back in the chariot. Elorelei had no choice but to agree (not that she wanted to stay outside after that) and go back inside the carriage. It felt strangely safe in there, but seconds later she found herself longing to be outside again. Her first battle, and though it would be hard, it would not be her last. The song of battle was enchanting to her and she wanted to learn it, at all costs.