Learning Curve
By: Alilacia
Rating: PG-13
Feedback:
Spoilers: None that I can think of.
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Lord of the Rings, or anything to do with the film or books. That honour goes to Peter Jackson (et all) and J.R.R Tolkien. I have no permission what so ever to use these characters, will not receive any money for this, and am doing this for my own enjoyment. And to get away from doing my college assignments
Series:
Mortality
Lessons
Wandering
Learning Curve
Summary:
Aragorn's planned journey to Lothlórien lead the ranger to Mirkwood where he struck up a tentative friendship with Legolas, elven prince of Mirkwood.
Now Aragorn desires to return to his home, and Legolas decides to take the journey with him.
But the journey the two princes take is anything but a quiet one…..
Mae govannen!
This is the fourth instalment in The Lennath Series. (I've finally given it a name :does little dance:) According to the site I found on the internet 'Lennath' is apparently (according to all the sources that I checked) journey's in Sindarin. I apologise if it isn't, my elvish skills are not the best in the world.
So in English it is basically 'The Journey's Series'. I decided to call it The Journey's Series, because that is basically what all the stories are about: Legolas' and Aragorn's journey's though life, and the paths it takes them on.
I don't think that I will be changing the title any time soon (aside from the fact that this series was once called 'The Journey Series' but thanks to some more searching I found the meaning of 'journey's' in Sindarin :cheers: and The Lennath Series sounded much better) but if I do (and I'll try not to because it is annoying) I'll be sure to let you know.
This is the second chapter of Learning Curve, and I hope you all enjoy it, and if there are any mistakes in it I'd be very grateful if you'd let me know. :smiles:
First I am going to make it clear that this is a NON-SLASH, so you won't be finding any relationship between Legolas and Aragorn that is any closer than brothers. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but I'm not going to make it any different.
I have not read the Silmarillion, or any of the other history/information books published regarding the Lord of the Rings. So I apologise if there are any mistakes in these stories. Feel free to let me know if there are. I am learning new things each day, and I owe quite a few people major thanks for some of that information.
This story isn't actually beta'd (in fact none of them have been so far) so there are probably quite a few mistakes in them.
Namárië nin mellyn
Alilacia
Learning Curve
Chapter 2 - Head or heart?
Hungry eyes were fixed on the pair, and the predatory gleam made Aragorn shudder. The hair on the creatures back rippled as it growled. The rest of the pack moved forward, each one baring their teeth.
Aragorn felt the elf tense by his side. All hope that they would not be attacked had long left the young human, and he waited for the first attack. He knew that if Legolas fired the arrow that was fixed unwaveringly on the wolves heart, the other wolves would retaliate.
Just as it appeared that they would forever be locked in this standoff, one of the growling wolves to Aragorn's right jumped for the rangers throat. The attack caught Aragorn by surprise, and a long gash was gouged into his arm as he threw it up to protect his face. Legolas reacted seconds later, and the wolf was dead before it hit the ground.
An arrow went sailing past Aragorn's ear, straight into the heart of the wolf that was about to bite into the rangers head. Aragorn turned and stabbed the wolf behind it, before turning to nod his thanks.
"Legolas!" Aragorn's eyes widened as one of the last remaining wolves leaped for the elf's throat. Legolas reacted quicker than Aragorn would have thought possible, and Legolas was forced to the ground. His slender hands were gripping the head of the wolf tightly, and he was keeping the snarling teeth away from his face by centimetres only.
Aragorn was kept from helping his friend by three other wolves. Aragorn was beginning to hate the fact that this pack was bigger than any he had seen previously, and cursed his luck. He had to help his friend, and he had to help him now.
Taking a chance, the ranger ran towards the nearest wolf, and drove his sword into the creatures abdomen. The momentum he had created propelled him over the creature as he used his sword to help push him over. He pulled the sword out of the cooling body, and pulled out one of his elven daggers. Taking only the time to determine the wolves position, he threw the elven blade. With his attention now focussed on the wolves before him, he held out his sword in front of him.
He raised his arm to parry the wolf that jumped, but the wolf was knocked out of the way by another. The two bodies continued flying through the air for several feet before they hit the ground with a thud. Aragorn glanced over his shoulder and saw Legolas rising from the ground. He was favouring his left leg slightly, but the fiery determination in his eyes was not quelled by the minor injury.
An elven arrow found the heart of the wolf as it tried to rise from the ground, and the broadsword finished the last.
Legolas limped slightly up to the ranger and laid his hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked, gesturing to the bleeding gash on the rangers arm.
Aragorn nodded, and moved the arm out of Legolas' sight. "I'm fine. I'll put a bandage on that as soon as we get out of here."
Aragorn looked back up at the elf and saw Legolas frown. He looked like he was going to argue with him about a minor injury. Aragorn was about to speak and tell the elf not to when something heavy hit him from the side. A gasp of pain followed shortly, and Aragorn blinked. Blond strands of hair were falling into his face, and Aragorn felt a pang of fear surge through him as Legolas did not rise from where he had pushed him down. A low snarling reached his ears, and he slowly turned his gaze to the side.
Another wolf had appeared out of nowhere, and this one was a lot bigger than the ones before.
Aragorn gently wrapped his hands around the elf's waist, and slowly lifted both of them into a sitting position. Blood dripped down onto his fingers, and it appeared as though the wolf had caught Legolas' head as it attacked. The elf's eyes were closed, and this worried Aragorn immensely.
The wolf charged again, and brought Aragorn to the ground. Legolas fell out of his grip, and rolled a little to the side. Steeling his jaw, Aragorn knew he had to kill this one before its attention was drawn to the unconscious elf. But that was easier said than done. The strength of this one was incredible, and Aragorn was only just able to keep the jaws away from his face. His sword had been knocked away from him when he was knocked to the ground, and Aragorn blindly reached for a weapon. The snarling jaws were kept back with one hand and relief rushed through the human when his fingers found the handle of Legolas' elven daggers.
A piercing cry of pain sounded from the wolf on top of him as the dagger slid firmly in between the ribs. The harsh breathing of the wolf eventually died away to nothing, and Aragorn pushed the wolf off of him and pulled the elven dagger out of the bleeding body.
The human lay for a minute and did not move. His breath came in gasps, and his heart rate slowly returned to normal. He pushed himself up sharply from the ground as he remembered Legolas. The elf still had not awoken, and the ground under his body was turning a deep shade of red. Aragorn crawled over to the elf's prone form, and turned the elf over onto his stomach.
The wolf's claws had dug in deep, and the cuts to Legolas' back were what caused the heavy amount of blood on the ground. Aragorn glanced around them one more time before he reached into his pack and pulled out some bandages. Taking care not to jostle the elf more than was necessary, the ranger wound the bandages tightly around the cuts. The gash to the elf's head did worry the ranger, but he knew that it would not be long before those wounds would start to heal on their own. All he had to do now was get them to some shelter.
And Aragorn couldn't see any caves within his eyeshot. The ranger sighed and gently pulled the elf into his arms. Aragorn stood and started walking south. There had to be a cave along here somewhere, and walking to find one was a lot better than just sitting still and waiting for another wolf pack to find them.
About 1/4 of a mile of cliff-face later, Aragorn found what he was looking for. A small cave had been hollowed out of the rock and Aragorn rushed inside. Worry for the elf in his arms sped up his steps, and he gently placed the elf on the ground. The wound he had quickly bound earlier was starting to bleed through the bandage, and Aragorn once again retreated to his bag.
His fingers found the healing herbs that the ranger carried where ever he went, and he sifted through the contents before picking some out. He gently undid the bandage, and placed the herbs in the healing wound. Already the bleeding was starting to slow, and Aragorn smiled in relief as he wound another bandage around the elf's back. Next on his list of concerns was the cut to the elf's head. More herbs were packed into the gash, and another bandage wrapped around the elf's head.
Experienced eyes scanned the elf's body, and could see no other major injuries. Bruises marred the elven body (the biggest being a collection around Legolas' left ankle), but Aragorn had faith that Legolas would be able to deal with them on his own. With one last look over his friend, Aragorn settled down near the opening to the cave.
If anything happened upon them, Aragorn wanted to be the first to know.
The ranger felt his eyes fall shut and he slipped into a weary sleep.
The sensation of something being draped across his shoulders was dimly registered by the weary ranger, and he shifted in his resting spot on the cave wall. He felt hands gently tucking the blanket around the edges of his prone form, and Aragorn frowned as he tried to press his mind into waking.
Strands of blond hair fell onto his shoulders, and Aragorn reached out with his hands to grasp one of the hands that were resting just next to his head, disturbing the blanket draped over him.
"I'm sorry." It was Legolas, "I did not want to wake you."
Aragorn shook his head, and pushed the elf back gently. "Are you alright?"
"I am fine Aragorn. Do not worry about me." Legolas stepped back, and sat down on the cave floor.
"You were badly wounded by that wolf, a lot of your wounds concerned me for a while." Aragorn admitted, "and you would not be injured if I had only paid attention." Aragorn raised his eyes at the gentle touch on his arm. Legolas was looking at him, his blue eyes shining softly in the moonlight.
"Do not blame yourself for this Aragorn. I only noticed the wolf at the last minute. So if I did not know 'till just before it struck, how could you?"
Aragorn's lips curled in a small smile at the gentle reminder that elves had better senses than humans, and allowed himself to trust Legolas' words. He was right after all, and Aragorn had not known anything was amiss until he had been pushed out of the way.
"Besides," Legolas added and turned to look at the moonlight outside the cave. "You were trained by Lord Elrond were you not." without getting an answer, Legolas turned back to Aragorn and stared evenly into the silver eyes. "You were trained by one of the best elven healers in this age. Do not put yourself down so easily my friend. Rest, and let sleep come to you my friend." Legolas reached over and let his hand rest over Aragorn's eyes. "There is not long left of the night, and it would be better that we spent it resting. We should leave at first light. I would not wish to spend any longer in here than I have to."
The last sentence was muttered, but Aragorn still picked it up and opened a sleep-leadened eye to glance at the elf. "What do you mean by that?"
Legolas started slightly, and a chagrined expression crossed his face. Clearly the elf hadn't meant for the human to hear that. "It was nothing Aragorn. Sleep."
Aragorn ignored the words, and the signals his body was sending him and straightened. "It wasn't 'nothing' or you wouldn't have said it. What did you mean?"
"Exactly that... nothing."
"Legolas..." Aragorn rested his head back on the wall, and fixed the elf with a small glare. If Legolas wanted him to sleep then he was going to have to tell him what he meant.
Legolas rolled his eyes and turned to look back at the mouth of the cave, his eyes seeking out the stars in the cloudless sky. "You are a stubborn human you know that." Legolas sighed as he turned back to the human and saw the expression on Aragorn's face. "Fine... I simply am not too fond of caves... that's all."
"See, was that so hard?" Aragorn chuckled, and let sleep over take him.
Legolas' glare was his answer, and a smile stayed on the rangers lips as he drifted off to sleep.
Something else intruded on his sleep, and Aragorn shifted against the gentle shaking of his shoulders. An annoyed sigh was breathed near to his head, and the shaking increased slightly. And was accompanied by a voice.
"Aragorn... Aragorn..."
The ranger shifted again under the touch and willed his brain not to resist the voice.
"Estel..."
His body finally obeyed his commands to open his eyes, and they opened enough to see Legolas kneeling next to him, a rather annoyed look on his face.
"Are you awake?"
Aragorn sighed and opened his eyes fully. The light was almost blinding to his eyes, and Aragorn knew that there was no way he would be going back to sleep now. "Would you believe me if I said I wasn't and had tried sleeping with my eyes open?"
A small chuckle spilled past Legolas' lips, and he gently shoved Aragorn's shoulder against the wall. Legolas pressed himself up from the human's side, and moved to the edge of the cave. He turned back to the human with a smirk and said, "the day you sleep with your eyes open is the day wargs learn to fly."
Aragorn rolled his eyes, and gathered his belongings from the floor. Elven senses of humour sometimes took a little getting used to.
With a final check that nothing had been forgotten, Aragorn followed his elven companion out of the cave. A smirk tugging at the corner of his lips at the relief on Legolas' face. Aragorn had not forgotten that Legolas had admitted that even an elven prince had dislikes. And Aragorn was not going to let him forget it. At least now there was something that Aragorn could bring up if Legolas had the compulsion to tease him rotten about something that the ranger had said or done.
Both man and elf stopped to properly check their surroundings this time. After being caught almost by surprise by the wolves the day before neither elf nor man had any desire to see the same happen again.
A sudden jarring of his arm brought Aragorn's attention to his injury that he had sustained the day before, and he looked down to his arm. The cuts had been cleaned and bandaged, sometime during the night as Aragorn had no recollection of being tended to.
"Thank you Legolas."
Legolas turned back to look at Aragorn, and raised his eyebrow. Aragorn lifted his arm slightly and smiled. The eyebrow fell and Legolas returned the smile with a nod.
A slender finger pointed at the nearing path, and Aragorn felt his trepidation growing as it came into sight. Luck it appeared was on their side, and the two companions started walking up the mountain path with no sign of any wolves.
The air was cool against his skin and face, and the light was warming. The sun shone brightly down on the peaks, and Aragorn once again felt himself be swept away by the majestic sight in front of him. A large smile was tugging at Legolas' lips as his keen eyes swept over the vast woods of Mirkwood, and Aragorn's gaze strayed from the golden woods of Lórien, to the green sea that was Mirkwood. Looking at the forests from this height, Aragorn could certainly see how they earned the name Greenwood the Great.
With a small smile, and a slight inclination of his head, Legolas motioned to the path ahead of them. A path that the two travellers soon found themselves walking down as they lost themselves in the serenity of Caradhras.
Aragorn heard the elf sigh, and moved next to him. It swiftly became apparent what had caused the elf to sigh, and Aragorn shook his head. There was no way they were going to get past this.
The human turned his back on the landslide that blocked their path, and scanned for another path. His silver eyes found a path just to the left of the one that they would have walked, and this one also seemed to travel down the slopes of Caradhras. Aragorn tugged on the elf's sleeves and re-directed his attention to the new path. Legolas nodded in agreement, and turned away from the landslide with a small sigh. With their new path set, the elf and the ranger once again made their way down the mountain.
Hours later the pair felt the ground evening out, and the grassy plains at the bottom of Caradhras appeared in front of them. Lone towns could be seen on the horizon, and Aragorn found himself wishing that he did not have to make that journey again for a while.
Sporadic arrangements of rocks littered the lands, and occasionally Legolas would jump up onto one and walk along its weathered edge. Each time the elf did this it brought a smile to Aragorn's face, and he shook his head.
"Do you hear running water Legolas?"
Legolas paused for a moment, and tilted his head to the side. After a little while the elf turned to the human and nodded, unsure as to why the question was asked. Aragorn nodded back and turned to face the Trollshaws. "Then we are nearing the Bruinen. Come Legolas, it will not be long now before we reach Imladris."
The elf followed the ranger as he started heading towards the river. The ranger could not see the river yet, nor could he hear it, but he walked with a confidence that spoke of a certain degree of familiarity with the land. As they walked the sounds of the rushing river became apparent to the human's ears, and the air was filled with the refreshing spray of water as is only found around rivers.
Smoke rising into the sky caused concern to spike through the pair, as they exchanged a puzzled look and increased their pace. As the pair got closer, they saw that the smoke was in fact only faintly lingering in the air, and the smell of burning wood was only just apparent in the air.
Aragorn moved amongst the burning buildings, and shook his head. There was nothing left of this village, no bodies, no buildings. Whoever had attacked had been very thorough. That was assuming that the city had been attacked in the first place.
Legolas was kneeling down by the entrance to the ruined village and his hands were moving gently over the dirt. A frown marred the elven face, and his words carried easily to Aragorn across the wind.
"This village was attacked."
Aragorn looked up from where he had been glancing into one of the burning buildings. "Are you sure?"
Legolas nodded and rose to his feet. He pointed to the ground as Aragorn neared his side. "There are many tracks leading both in and out of the village, so many that it makes it hard to distinguish even one. But," Legolas knelt back down and motioned for Aragorn to do the same, "these tracks here were not made by humans. They are much bigger, and the depth at which they were forced into the ground says that whoever it was that made these footprints were very heavy." Legolas raised his eyes, and met Aragorn with a steady stare. Both knew what he wasn't saying with words. Orcs. Legolas dropped his eyes back to the ground and pointed to barely visible tracks that lead to one of the buildings. "They came in and stayed here for some time. The tracks leading into the village are much fainter than the ones that left it, so it must have taken some time to do all this damage."
Aragorn stood from Legolas' side, a grim expression on his face. "The men fought back." His own eyes had caught the heavy footprints in the ground mingled with that of the small footprints of men. The dirt lay in odd patterns, showing that many bodies had fallen. Trails lead to the buildings, and it was clear that once all the killing had been done, the bodies had been thrown into the burning buildings, and left to die. The scuffling increased the nearer you got to the buildings, and that meant some of the inhabitants of this village had been alive when they had been thrown in.
Even smaller footprints were faintly clear in the debris, and a shadow descended over Aragorn's heart when he realised that women and children had been pulled into the fight as well.
A slender hand rested on his shoulder, and Aragorn glanced back to see Legolas' concerned blue eyes looking into his own. A wordless question was in his eyes and Aragorn nodded. With one last look at the ruined buildings, Aragorn walked out of the village, Legolas on his heels.
Not a word was exchanged between the two as the journey to Rivendell was once again recommenced. Legolas didn't know what to say, didn't know what he could say. From what he had been able to gather about Aragorn, Legolas knew that the last thing Aragorn wanted was to step onto the path that destiny had set out for him, but Aragorn had a kind heart. And to see people hurt, it went against everything the ranger had ever been taught.
Something on the very distant horizon caught Legolas' attention, and his worry for Aragorn was halted in its tracks for a brief moment. Aragorn stopped as he saw that Legolas was no longer walking beside him. The elf's eyes were fixed on something far away, and Aragorn turned to look. The human could see nothing, but the grim expression on Legolas' face told Aragorn that whatever it was, it wasn't good.
"What do you see Legolas?"
Legolas eyes were haunted as he turned to look Aragorn in the eyes. "Another village is burning."
Aragorn closed his eyes before opening them again, and turning to look in the direction Legolas' eyes had once looked.
"The buildings are all made of wood and the fire is spreading." Legolas had turned to look at the far-off village again. "People are running, and if the things that did this are still there, I cannot see them."
Aragorn's mind was running a mile a minute, and he didn't notice when Legolas turned to look at him. The village that Legolas had described was all to familiar to him, even though the ranger had never set foot inside its gates. During one of the history lessons Elrond held for his youngest son, he began to tell Aragorn about the village of Bree. One of the villages closest to Rivendell with the largest population of men. There were others, but Bree was the largest.
Aragorn had also been told that many rangers frequented Bree from time to time. And it was they who had given Aragorn's elven family most of the information they knew about Bree. At least Aragorn would be able to walk in there, and hopefully get some information from the people there. They should answer him since he was a ranger. Although, a small smile quirked at the corner of his lips, he would have to think up a better name for himself in the wilds. Nether, ranger of the North hardly struck fear into peoples hearts.
The smile soon faded as indecision gripped him. Aragorn turned to Legolas. The question he dearly wanted the answer to was written in his eyes, and Legolas shook his head, an apologetic look in the blue eyes.
The rangers head turned to look at Rivendell, at his home, and he shook his head. Rivendell was not going to go anywhere, not for another day or so, and after much deliberation, Aragorn decided to head to Bree. As soon as Aragorn's body turned in the direction of the village and didn't turn back, Legolas knew that Aragorn had decided to go to Bree and fell in step next to the young human.
If Bree had been attacked, then any number of places could be next and Aragorn feared that Rivendell would be among them. Bree was close enough to Imladris for it to be in danger, and Aragorn was not going to see his home attacked. He would never forgive himself if he turned for home and it was attacked without warning simply because he didn't want to be away from his home for one more day.
DreamWeaver - Of course I'm going to write more :grins: I've gotten all this story planned out, and I'm currently thinking about the next one.
ThE iNsAnE oNe - :blinks: you read it already on the Mellon Chronicles mailing list? Wow. Either I've just not been paying attention, 'coz I never realised that you were actually on there.
:chuckles: I suppose it's a good thing no-one can really see them. People would really freak out if they could see the battalion of elves I sometimes carry around with me. Of course they don't compare to Legolas :huggles the elven prince:
'A Little Nudge Out the Door'. :jots down name: I'll make sure I get around to reading that. Or I will as soon as all my college work is actually done.
College. :sighs: I missed this morning's lecture because some guy turned up at 9:00 wanting to fix our garage roof and put in a new light. Of course with no-one other than me at home I had to stay at home and wait until he left. I missed physics because of that. Of course, since it was physics (and I cannot stand that lecture) I didn't mind too much. :snickers:
:blinks and re-reads paragraph::tries to pronounce word: Poly-nom-i-als::blinks again: okay………. I've been studying maths for :quickly counts: 13 years now, and I have no idea what the hell that is. It's not surprising really. I only found out what Logarithms were recently.
:sweatdrops:
I'll forgive you if the next instalment of "Inside The Beast" takes a while, but if it takes forever :smirks and glances back at pile of stalker weapons: I'll be forced to hunt you down until you post it. And it won't be just me :gestures to other authors and battalion of elves: the elves won't get totally why I'm stalking a fellow author, but I'll find some way to convince them.
:swoons: I totally agree. The 'rugged look' has had me drooling over my keyboard and remote control several times since the films came out, and I discovered the wonder of screen shots!
:blanches and starts to type fast: I almost forgot that I was scheduled to post the next chapter today :winces at the look of anger on ThE iNsAnE oNe's face::looks for place to hide until the storm passes: I did remember though. :mumbles: only when I looked at the calendar.
Three steps huh. What are they?
1. Take deep breaths
2. Search out nearest store of weaponry
3. Hunt down author and make them post
:chuckles:
Heaven forbid……..
:pictures people running in horror from irate authors and readers that haven't seen the next chapter posted:
Geez, you lot are a scary bunch. ;)
:grins:
Namárië nin mellon
crazy - go? Go what? I'm presuming you mean 'go write the next chapter'. :shrugs: oh well, whatever you meant. Here's the next chapter and I hope you like it.
Tithen Min - You'll die of suspense and haunt me? Oh please don't. Aside from the messy death, I've already got a ghost in this house (no joke I'm afraid) and I don't need any more. Go erm…. haunt the street outside if you really want to. :)
This is the next chapter. And I hope it came out quick enough for you.
Estelle Yavetil - Hannon le for the review :grins:
Earendilstar - Well, what is going to happen next will only be known by me and anyone who I happen to inadvertently tell. :grins and sweatdrops: This wasn't a major cliffie (in fact, I don't think there was one) and so I hope the chapter was okay.