By: Shadow Chaser
Disclaimer:
Based off of the movie (Haldir does not die, but participated in the Battle of Helm's Deep) and the various history books by J.R.R. Tolkien. I do not own the characters, situations, or languages of the Elves, these belong to Tolkien and I am not making a profit from this fic.
Chapter 2 – Parting MirkwoodTimeframe: 2,000 Years and more before Fellowship of the Ring
Within the few hours that they had in their stay at Woodland, Haldir suddenly found himself wishing that there were more time before they were to start out on their second leg of the journey to Rivendell. Though the rest of his companions didn't feel the same and out of the three of them, only Yulin looked content to stay. Davandil looked just about to bolt away from here and was grumbling about something, while Petrio was silent and seemed to just stare at the dark woods that lined the outer edges of Woodland.
As said, the three other companions to travel with their company arrived, Rien and Valiya wearing their helmets of green gold that hid mostly their face except for the eyes, each carrying their belts and weapons. They stopped in front of Haldir and acknowledged him with curt nods of professionalism.
"Ah, you are all here, good," Thranduil's booming voice made all of them turn around and Haldir bowed slightly to acknowledge the king. Behind him he noticed the very tall Elf, even taller than he was, towering over all of them by at least a good head. That had to be Artalion, Thranduil's Guardsman. "Haldir and company of Lothlorien, I would like to introduce Artalion, my loyal Guardsman."
Haldir nodded to the huge Elf and noticed that he was carrying a broadsword and a crossbow on him, along with an assortment of daggers. Probably being a Guardsman meant proficiency in all areas of weapons and combat…which meant that if they met up with any resisting force or Orcs, the enemy would be for one hell of a battle.
"I see that Rien and Valiya have arrived, then I wish you the best of speed and haste on your quest," Thranduil said, clasping his hands together.
"Thank you, milord," Haldir replied then took a quick glance at the barracks to see if Legolas had appeared. Though he probably didn't really count on his friend to appear when his father was present, he knew that there was no way to say a goodbye to his best friend if Thranduil looked to be staying, which he was. Farewell until next time, Legolas, he silently called to his friend then turned and started walking.
As the others followed him out into the dark woods of the borders of Woodland, he silently hoped that everything will be all right, but something within him said that things were just only getting started.
* * *
The start of their journey to Rivendell was uneventful, though they all kept a sharp watch for giant spiders and other assortment of dark creatures that lurked around the Woodland Forest. Making their way along side the Enchanted River, Artalion was the one to lead them through the various twists and turns of the path following the River, being an expert scout that he was. Haldir knew that they were getting close to the middle of the distance between the Enchanted River and the Forest River because of the looming Mountains of Mirkwood's base that they were fast approaching.
"We'll hold camp for tonight and climb over the mountains tomorrow. Watches will be set up by doubles. A Woodland and Lothlorien Elf during each two-hour watch. I will take first watch and last watch. Rien will take first watch with me, Davandil, you are to take second watch with Artalion, Yulin and Valiya will take third watch. Artalion, Petrio, and I will take the last watch. Is that clear?" he asked. Pairing Yulin and Valiya up was probably the smartest thing to do, as he would know that if either pairing up Valiya with Davandil or Petrio would ultimately cause disaster. Besides, he wanted to talk to Rien a bit more since he didn't get the chance to talk to the third member of the Woodland Elves after speaking with Legolas.
"Yes sir," was the unison reply from all.
A few hours later, after the sun had set and the camp was set up, Haldir leaned back against a tree stump that had fallen near their fire that they had set up. He watched as Yulin entertained the rest of his company with the exception of Artalion, with some kind of horror story as he kept drawing figures into the dirt ground with his small dagger. Rien and Valiya hadn't taken their helmets off yet, and Haldir wondered if Woodland Elves just rested with all their gear on. Surely no one was foolhardy enough to rest with a bulky uncomfortable helmet on.
Artalion had taken his helmet off, but was sitting away from the others, his gaze lingering in the fire. Through their journey from Thranduil's Cave the Guardsman was curt and polite, but didn't say much and Haldir found it frustrating that none of his questions were answered by the Guardsman. Subtle questions didn't work on the Guardsman either, as he obviously recognized them and deflected them with ease.
All in all, it was like talking to a wall.
There was a sudden rumble of laughter coming from the group surrounding Yulin and Haldir knew that the story was finished. As it was also time for the watches to start. He got up, his eyes taking a quick scan of the darkness that seemed to creep towards them and approached the group that was splitting up. "Rien," he called to the Elf who was adjusting his bow and he looked up then nodded.
Rien walked over to him, testing the strength of his bowstring all the while, and stopped. The quiver was on his back and had a fresh compliment of arrows. Originally they were half-covered as they had walked from Thranduil's Cave and only now did Haldir see the arrows.
"We'll circle around opposite ends of the camp. If you spot anything amiss, signal with your hand," he explained to Rien and the Elf nodded.
"Understood, sir."
"It's advisable for you to take your helmet off, at the night, Rien. Valiya and Artalion have done so," he gestured to both Elves, Valiya who was pointedly glaring at Davandil and Petrio who had looks of disgust mixed with shock. Shock possibly from Valiya's beauty, disgust that she was a female Elf who knew how to fight…he didn't really know, but that was his hazard guess.
"I decline the advisory, sir, for my own personal reasons," Rien replied, surprising Haldir. He looked at the Elf closely and narrowed his eyes. Why would an Elf not take off his helmet unless there was something to hide? A deformity? Or maybe it wasn't Rien he was talking to, but a doppelganger or perhaps something that was impersonating Rien.
"Is there something you wish to tell me, Rien?" he asked in a quiet voice as not to startle the others, but noticed Artalion walking up towards them, his face full of suspicion.
"Nothing, sir, but that I wish to keep my helmet on for personal reasons, reasons you would not understand. I can assure you that I am no dark creature of Woodland or of anything else and am not an doppelganger of sorts," Rien's voice betrayed no nervousness, but Haldir wasn't convinced.
"Is something the matter?" Artalion's voice rumbled next to them and Haldir frowned. If Rien was telling the truth then it would be okay for him, but Haldir knew too much deception to let something like this slip past by him.
"Nothing, Master Guardsman," Rien replied.
"I wasn't talking to you, soldier," Artalion replied with disdain. "And in what Iluvatar's name do you have your helmet on? Take it off immediately soldier!"
"I rather not," was the stubborn reply.
"You will do as ordered soldier or you will be executed on this spot for insubordination," Artalion's voice rose and Haldir grimaced as the angry tone alerted the others who were now approaching, curious.
There was a grumble of something coming from Rien that Haldir didn't catch, but suddenly Artalion was just a blur of hair and armor as he tackled Rien to the ground. He ran forward and tried to get the big Elf off of Rien, but was thrown back slightly by the battering of arms from both Rien and Artalion. Haldir made another move to separate the two, not noticing that the rest of their group had crowded around, when Artalion suddenly leapt off of Rien, helmet in his hand…
Except it wasn't Rien who laid on the ground…
Slightly battered, but otherwise all right and wearing an angry frown, Haldir's eyes widened as he saw that the person who was supposed to be Rien, was none other than Legolas.
* * *
Legolas frowned angrily at Artalion who was clutching the helmet that he had worn over his head, hiding his distinctive blonde hairstyle and most of his features. Apparently, Artalion, who had thought of him as an enemy looked triumphant at first, but as he kept his gaze locked on the Guardsman, he noticed the triumphant expression wavering into one of fear and apologetic. His hand holding the helmet dropped it with a thunk to the ground.
"My…Prince…" came the strangled whisper from the tall and burly Guardsman as he fell to his knees.
Besides the stricken look on Artalion's face, there were gasps of recognition coming from the other members of the group and a swift gasp of surprise from Valiya who dropped to her knees out of the corner of his eye.
"I…guess that's why you didn't want to take off your helmet," Haldir's voice was a bit wooden and Legolas turned to face his friend who was approaching them, brushing a few uprooted grasses from his cloak. His friend held out his hand to help him up and he took it, brushing himself from the grass that had gotten stuck to his cloak.
"Sorry for the deception," Legolas whispered to Haldir then turned to face the two Woodland Elves who were bowed to the ground. "Get up," he mustered as much of a monotonous voice as possible, "you need not to apologize. The deception was for your own protection."
"I humbly apologize for my actions, Prince," Artalion stayed where he was, but Valiya rose to her feet gracefully.
"I accept your apology, Guardsman," he replied, a bit frustrated at how the Guardsman was acting; "now rise and dispense with the formalities. I am here as a common soldier, not as your Prince."
"Certainly, milord," Artalion replied formally and Legolas resisted the urge to wring the Guardsman's neck, but at least the tall Elf got up from his kneeling position.
"What are the rest of you staring at? Get some rest, before the first watch time is up," Haldir took the opportunity of the awkward silence to step in and Legolas smiled slightly. Trust his best friend to break up an awkward situation.
As the rest headed back to the fire circle, whispering to each other, he noticed both Valiya and Artalion giving him glances of worry on their way back and was talking with each other. He wondered if they were worried if he was going to report this to his father, well, he could assure them that they were in no such danger, but then it would be telling them that something was wrong in the royal household.
"Hey, Legolas," Haldir placed a hand on his shoulder, turning him, "remember that patrol we still have to do for two hours?"
"Yes."
"Well, just because you're not Rien, that doesn't exempt you from our patrol," Haldir gave a wry grin and Legolas returned it.
"Then, I guess I should probably tell you why the deception," he picked up his discarded bow and gripped it as they started their circle around the camp.
* * *
Two hours later, Legolas found himself resting against a fallen log, his head bowed, eyes closed, but not sleeping or in the meditative state of rest that Elves usually took at least once every two days. His patrol with Haldir had been uneventful, except for just watching the shadows creep in. Woodland was by far too dangerous to spend so much time outside of it that he knew that they needed to get out of it by this time tomorrow. He could feel some sort of danger lurking in the back of his mind, no more than an annoyance at the moment, but he could sense that the predators of Woodland were getting restless.
Lifting his head slightly, he saw Davandil and Artalion making their rounds, both Elves ready with weapons. He focused his gaze on Davandil, who was one of the most outspoken of all the Lothlorien Elves. Haldir had told him that Davandil was very old fashioned and sometimes ill tempered, but by far was a good fighter. In turn, he had told his friend about Artalion, sensing unease in Haldir's posture and mannerisms.
"Milord," Valiya's voice on his left turned his head slightly to acknowledge her.
"Just Legolas, no more than a soldier for now," he corrected her a bit absently, wondering what she was doing up.
"Legolas," she said his name hesitantly, still not really convinced, "you're still awake, like Haldir. Yulin and I are bidding you two to get some rest, as Davandil and Artalion are the best spotters, so you needn't worry."
"Do not worry about me," Legolas reassured her, "I'm just thinking."
"Then I shall leave you with your thoughts," Valiya's voice betrayed no emotion, but Legolas could tell that the Swordmaiden was a bit hurt by his abrupt comment and he turned his head to apologize to her when he found her walking away, towards the other end of the encircled camp.
He shook his head slightly, reminding himself to apologize later when they were traveling again. Right now, he wanted to be with his thoughts. Staring out into the distance, he let his mind retreat deep within himself and finally, did not stir as in the limbo of sleep and wakefulness, was where Elves rested.
In it, Legolas dreamed.
He was immersed in a myriad of colors, all of them dazzling to his eyes. Though not so bright as it would blind his sharp eyes, it was still very beautiful to look at and it was tranquil. He saw himself dressed in white robes, no weapons whatsoever were on him, and voices were whispering to him. They beckoned to him to follow the colors, and follow he did.
He listened to their melodic voices, some singing, others just whispering. The language he could not understand, but he realized as it was of the olden days, the Elven languages that had been forgotten. It sounded beautiful to him, and he welcomed it. He walked tentative steps forward, unsure, but they were firm enough that he didn't feel as if he was going to fall. The colors changed from light lavender to darker hues then to brightness again…
The words spoken by the beings he could not see were of a rich language, beautiful and musical. They seemed to have some kind of rhythm within it, a soft rolling one that carried Legolas along the bands of colors that surrounded him.
Suddenly the language was cut off by a harsh sound, and another one filled it. The myriad of colors he had been walking into turned into a deep blood red color and the language vibrated against his ears. He clapped his hands to his ears, wincing as they rolled around his head, hurting the very soul that was his. It hurt to hear the language and made him feel as if he was spinning so much that it was torture.
He saw a shape take form, what looked to be an Elf about the quarter size of him. The Elf-like creature was running, something gold flashed on a silver chain around its neck. It looked to be a ring of sorts, but even with his sharp eyes he could not tell, but he could tell that shadows crept towards it, evil shadows. The language still vibrated in his head and he tried to build a barrier around him.
He shouted for the words to stop…
Legolas suddenly found himself awake, still sitting against the log, his eyes wide open with the remnants of the dream that he had dreamt when he noticed shouts and screams coming from the rest of camp. Instinctively, he grabbed his bow and pulled an arrow from the quiver still resting on his back. His hands moved of their own accord and he targeted something big moving and let his arrow go. It flew with perfect aim and shot through the big thing. Only when it squealed and roared in a dying pain that he realized that Wargs, wild rampaging ones, were upon them. The evil that had been gnawing at the back of his mind was now blown full force.
He rolled over the log as another Warg came barreling after him, seeing it's companion dead, and Legolas leaped backwards, notching an arrow and letting it loose. The arrow buried itself in the Warg's eye and it let out a roar of pain.
The roar was suddenly cut off as Artalion came out of nowhere, long-sword drawn and decapitated its head from the body. "Prince!" he called and Legolas gave the Guardsman a quick nod then shot an arrow past him to hit a Warg that was charging them.
A suddenly flicker of movement behind him brought his knees up in a roll and just where he was a Warg ran by, startled by his sudden movement out of the path of its feet. Artalion viciously hacked at the creature and it turned upon the Guardsman instead, forgetting about Legolas.
He notched another arrow and let it loose, just as it opened its mouth and the arrow lodged itself in the back of its jaw. Turning, he let loose four more arrows, each one hitting a Warg that was getting too close to the others who were spread out, defending against Wargs.
"Head for the mountains!" Haldir's voice rang out among the roaring and growling of the Wargs and Legolas turned and ran, only turning behind him to shoot off an oncoming Warg.
His feet touched the rocky base of the mountains and he scrambled up, leaping from boulder to boulder…he saw Valiya and Petrio get knocked off their feet by a couple of Wargs that managed to get through their defenses, but just as fast the creatures were thrown a few feet away, dead.
Suddenly a movement in the corner of his eyes alerted Legolas of a Warg attempting to converge downwards towards them, making a pincher attack and he drew an arrow and shot it in the heart. The Warg tumbled down the hill, dead and he leapt out of the way to avoid the rolling body.
"Le-"
It was the only warning he had before something heavy slammed into him, knocking him clear off his feet and into the rocky ground where painful stabs of stone and dirt jammed their imprint onto his right side. He felt his breath knocked out of him, but kept a firm grip on his bow.
Shaking his head slightly, he blinked and the firm grip on his bow was shattered when a dark blur landed on top of him, jaws wide open. Only instinct saved him as he drew one of his two milky white daggers and jammed it upwards, against the fangs of a Warg as it reached down to bite his head off. Legolas struggled against the force of the Warg, compounded by the fact that it was leaning most of its heavy weight on him.
His other hand reached for his second dagger and he drew it then stabbed into one of its paws. The Warg gave a howl of pain and released its heavy weight on him for only a few seconds, but it was all that he needed to scramble out of the way. He rolled onto his feet just as Yulin fired an arrow from his crossbow at it, killing it.
"Come on!" the Lothlorien Elf grabbed him by his sleeve and started to run. Quickly replacing the two daggers in its sheaths, he picked up his discarded bow and continued to run up towards the snow-capped mountains of Mirkwood.
But running now was a pointless effort as Legolas looked behind him to see most of the Wargs, or what was left of the rampaging party, were retreating back into deep woods, some roaring cries of pain from injuries sustained, but the good thing was, was the fact that they had chased them away.
"We'll move farther up the mountains where such an attack cannot be sustained," Haldir ordered and Legolas gripped his bow even tighter and started walking up, his eyes alert and wary for any further attacks by different creatures. Surely the attack by the Wargs would had attracted more attention, but it seemed that most of the creatures in this area of Woodland were quiet…perhaps scared of what a group of Elves did to a pack of Wargs. He could also feel that the evil that had been upon them fading away, fading back into the far corners of his mind. There was to be no more attacks at the moment…
When they reached the elevation where snow was just starting to sprinkle the ground, Haldir ordered them to start another camp, this time with a smaller fire and to continue the watches.
When the fire started and the watches had been set, Legolas watched as both Petrio and Haldir sat down near the fire. There was something odd about them…something that made their movements more pronounced and a bit sluggish, especially in his best friend Haldir.
Walking over, he sat down next to Haldir and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder, shaking it slightly, "Are you all right?"
Haldir nodded, his face impassive, but Legolas was not fooled as he read pain in them. He lifted his hand up as he felt something sticky coating them and his eyes widened as his palm was completely covered in blood…not Warg blood, but Elf blood. Staring at where his hand used to rest, he saw a wound about the size of his fist, fresh blood still seeping from it.
"You're bleeding," he stated, wiping his hand on the back of his cloak and unshouldered his quiver, which was also a small pack. "Artalion!" he called to the Guardsman who quickly came over and knelt down next to him just as he drew out some strips of cloth, "you know how to dress wounds, right?"
"Yes milord," Artalion replied and took the strips out of his hands. Legolas nodded absently as he watched the Guardsman quickly bandage up the wound to stop the bleeding. Though he himself didn't really know what to do, since with all his current life time he hadn't had a chance to participate in any heavy battles and when he got the chance at times, the injuries were left to the medics, but he at least had some training to identify who was wounded or not.
Turning, he walked quickly over to Petrio who looked a bit dazed. A huge slash was ripped across his back, probably courtesy of the Warg that had jumped him, and Legolas knelt down and grabbed the Lothlorien Elf by his shoulders. "Petrio," he said, mustering all the command he could to get the Elf to pay attention, "listen…you must stay awake until we can dress your wound. Stay awake…"
"Awake…" was the haggard whisper from the Elf who looked to be going into shock.
Legolas gave the Elf's shoulders a quick shake to help him stay awake, "Come on…" he gave the shoulders another shake and Petrio blinked slightly.
"Prince…" the Elf stopped lolling his head and instead focused his attention on him.
"Just a common soldier, remember Petrio," he gave the wounded Elf a small grin and glanced up just as Artalion came over, more strips of cloth in his hand.
"Go rest for now Prince Legolas…I will tend to his wounds," Artalion gently took Petrio by his shoulders and let the Elf lean against him while applying some pressure to the back wound.
Legolas backed off; wiping his hands on the fold of his cloak then glanced over to where Haldir was leaning against a pile of small logs the others had set up, still. For a second, he thought that his friend had died from the blood loss, but on a closer look, Haldir was just resting as Elves did, eyes open but unseeing. The only telltale sign of life was the rise and fall of his chest, slowly but in a rhythmic pattern.
His best friend's wound was dressed underneath the shoulder armor, with only hints of cloth sticking out from where the shoulder armor met the arm length brace. It was professionally done and he made a mental note to ask Artalion to teach him one of these days how to dress wounds received in battle…with attacks like these and not even outside of Woodland, he knew that he needed some extra field training.
Settling by one side of the small fire, Legolas stared into it, and soon, rested as the Elves rested.
* * *
Author's Notes:
Finally done with this chapter. Sorry for the confusion of the chapter before. This entire fic except for the prologue and epilogue is supposed to take place WAAAY before Fellowship of the Ring. And yes, there are book references…and Haldir in the movie version of The Two Towers isn't supposed to be going to Helm's Deep, but possibly rather with the other Lothlorien Elves to Dol Guldur with Celeborn. Hmmm…. Shadow Chaser signing off…12/26/02.