Chapter 9
ENCOUNTER
The royal company traveled for 16 days, they crossed the deserted lands and arrived to Friaza's woods on a cloudy afternoon. The few trees left in the forest looked weak and leafless, and the ground was still covered with dirty snow. No birds could be found, not even a lizard; the woods were empty and dead. A strange silence reigned in the air, and a sensation of being watched. The whole company felt restless and menaced, a sensation of imminent danger hovered over them as they walked.
Arwen had endured the trip bravely; she resisted the exhausting ride and the piercing cold like a disciplined soldier, despite her ill state. But now they were all tired, cold and hungry; all they wanted was to find the camp and get some rest before nigh fell again.
Suddenly a loud yell broke the silence in the forest, shortly after it was followed by more yells and shouts, proffered in a strange language, that seemed to be composed by animal-like growls and guttural sounds. The company stopped, the soldiers surrounded the King and Queen and prepared for the imminent attack.
In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded by very strange creatures, big as a man but definitely not human. They were covered by thick fur and were also armored. The armors were like nothing seen before by Gondor's soldiers, made with thick iron, the helmets shaped like beast's heads, covered with spikes and sharp saws. All the vulnerable parts of the body were protected by this armor, head, torso, arms, legs, even the feet were covered; and the metal was so thick and heavy, it would have taken at least two Gondor's soldiers just to carry one of this armors. All this made the creatures unassailable and invulnerable to the arrows shot by the royal guard, not even their swords could penetrate such shields. The creatures brandished javelins and heavy sawed scimitars, they attacked with an unnatural strength, and in matter of minutes, half of the royal guard was dead.
Aragorn lost all hope, "Well, I guess this is it", and got closer to Arwen.
"You know I'll always love you"
"Yes my love, be with me now, at least we will leave this world together."
They held hands and closed their eyes resigning to their fate, when they heard a shout, it spoke the same language of the creatures, but the voice wasn't guttural like theirs, it was clear and resounding like a trumpet; the creatures immediately froze at the sound of the voice and retreated, lowering their weapons and bowing down their heads.
"ICHT TARATH TAUR HA"
A horse emerged from the trees, carrying the source of the voice, the King and Queen couldn't believe their eyes.
It was the same horse Eldarion bought in Rohan, a white, powerful steed; Horse and rider broke thru the creature group, knocking some of them to the ground. The rider seemed to be very mad at them, he yelled at them and hit them with the back of a very big axe, knocking helmets of their heads and deeply denting the armors with every powerful blow, and the creatures didn't even bother to fight back; so powerful was this warrior that they just cowered back.
He finally stopped, dismounted in front of the remaining royal company and froze. The King and Queen looked at him in disbelief. It was him, yes; and yet he was not, for the changes they found in him were too radical. This warrior standing in front of them was very different from the Legolas they remembered.
He was dressed in unhardened leather; his leggings were substituted with tight leather pants, he wore a sleeveless vest, tightened to his torso with many leather straps and metal clasps. Metal bracelets covered his forearms and his palms were gloved, leaving the fingers exposed. He had tall, heavy boots on, with metallic tips and heels; his calves were shielded with metallic greaves.
His body had changed; he had always being tall, lithe and slender. Now his shoulders were broad and strong; the muscles on his exposed arms looked rock hard and well defined; his legs were strong and powerful, and so was his neck, corded and strong. His hair was unbraided and rested wild upon his shoulders His face remained almost the same, except for his eyes; his eyes were lightless, cold, expressionless. He stared at the royal couple for endless moments, and they looked back at him in silence.
He regarded the King, he looked so old and tired; his hair was almost completely gray now, his face looked weary, and his body was diminishing. Then he looked at the Queen, she looked different too, time had finally reached her, and her illness was evident. Her hair had a few silver strands here and there, her face was haggard and her skin was pale and ashen. Deep inside his heart he felt great sorrow and pain for them, but he did not let it show; his face remained expressionless and his eyes remained cold and empty.
The war did take the best of Legolas, every battle, every conquest, every kill, every horror he had to witness in these years darkened his heart and little by little the light in him died. The enemy came harder each time, and more brutal; the only way to fight their brutality was by being brutal himself. The hordes started using heavy armor after a while, so the arrows and daggers became useless. He had to adapt, and so he learnt to fight with heavy swords and axes, he was forced to wear heavy armors as the rest of the rangers did. Unknown, horrendous beasts accompanied the orcs, more every time; the battles became bloodier and merciless, and so did every man of his company. As they allied to the savages, the rangers started to adopt their ways, soon enough they were savages too, and Legolas could not do anything to stop it, for all this was necessary if they wanted to succeed and survive. All this strengthened his body beyond his own nature, he became more powerful than he ever imagined he could be; but he also became merciless and cruel. He thought it was due to the brutality of the war, and the fact that he never again had anything good or beautiful close to him, only death and destruction. But what he didn't now is that something else worked its way into his heart, a presence that was draining the light out of him.
Arwen and Aragorn looked at him in disbelief, amazed by his appearance. He looked so strong, so powerful, so dangerous and yet, and still, he was the most beautiful creature they had ever laid ayes on. Despite the fact that he was messy, that he had strange pagan symbols tattooed in his arms, and war paint on his face; he was still the most stunning creature they ever met; only that now in a feral, wild and dangerous kind of way. He reminded them of the stories they heard from Lord Elrond, stories about the ancient elven warriors that fought in the first age battles. Great heroes like Fingolfin, who went to the very gates of Angband and fought Morgoth by himself; such glory and strength was never achieved by a modern elf, for later ages elves became weaker; but now as they contemplated this particular elf, they couldn't help but wonder if the old days of glory were back.
Their thoughts were interrupted by Legolas's voice, who finally decided to put and end to the silence. With a voice filled of defiance and disrespect he started reprehending Aragorn.
"What do you think you are doing here? I specifically told you not to come"
Aragorn could not respond, surprised as he was.
"Answer me! You could have died today Don't you see? This stupid creatures know nothing about Kings or Queens or Royal flags"
"Legolas we had to come, you need help"
"Help? Ha! From you? Don't be ridiculous, no one can help me now. Least of all you"
"Legolas please don't say those things, we can help you"
"Nonsense. By coming here all you did was risk your lives, get a bunch of your soldiers death and delay the preparations for the battle. Ah, but you don't now about the battle right?. And the worst part is that if you try to go back to Gondor without supplies and with half of the company death, and the other half injured, you would surely die. So I suppose you have to stay here and take the chance of being massacred by orcs tomorrow."
He then jumped back on his horse and shouted some orders to the creatures who lined up and headed south into the woods. Legolas motioned to follow them but stopped and turned.
"What are you waiting for?"
"We can't leave the death soldiers here!"
"Don't worry about them, the hyenas will take care of them. They are death after all; unless you want to stay here and waste your time and energy carrying them or burying them. I most certainly won't. Come on follow me quickly, you don't want to be here when the hyenas come"
The royal company didn't move, it was inhuman for them to leave their companions lying death in the snow.
"Are you deft or just plain dumb? Move it! Have you ever seen a pack of starving hyenas in the winter? No? I didn't think you had. Now get going."
Tired and confused as they were they finally followed him, just wishing that the camp was not too far away.
Legolas slowed down his horse and waited for the King and Queen, riding beside them, but carefully avoiding to look at them. They didn't speak, a shadow of confusion and pain on their hearts, and they rode like that for a long time. Finally, he spoke to them again.
"I told you not to come, I told you that all you were going to find here is pain. Why didn't you listen to me? Now I have to take care of you. I don't even have a proper place for you to spend the night; I don't have anything good enough to feed you. You couldn't choose a worst time to come."
Aragorn and Arwen just kept riding, numb from the events they just witnessed, blankly staring to the front without a word. It was then that they noted that some of the creatures had taken off their helmets, revealing their true faces. They were men, southern men; their bodies were covered with animal skins to protect them from the cold, but they were all men. They couldn't believe that men could achieve such strength and ferocity and yet these men proved it.
"You said there will be a battle tomorrow" Aragorn finally asked coming out of his numbness.
"Yes, a surprisingly large group of orcs, goblings and other things gathered somehow and are now heading this direction. They will arrive tomorrow and we are going to be waiting for them."
"How large is the horde?"
"I wouldn't call it a horde it is more like an army, around 4000 I've been told"
"Four thousand!! And how many soldiers do you have?"
"1500, but don't you worry, we will crush them and trample them like the insects they are. You just have to concentrate in staying away from the battlefield"
Arwen just rode and listened to all this in perfect silence. It was like she was living a nightmare. This warrior Aragorn was talking with was not Legolas, he couldn't be. This heartless creature was nothing like the sweet, caring friend she once had.
After about an hour, they reached the camp. It wasn't a camp, just a large group of men sharpening swords, crafting armors and some of them sparring. The place was crowded and it smelly, the ground was muddy and the few tents were small and ragged. Legolas guided the royal couple to a place that seemed to be a little bit cleaner and called a few soldiers to their side."
"They will provide you with a place to spend the night, at least you wont freeze to death. I will try to fix you something decent to eat; your soldiers will have to bear with what we eat everyday."
He then left, and the soldiers started lifting up a tent with animal skins and ropes. When they were done it was actually amazing what they could craft out of such rudimentary materials. Aragorn and Arwen entered the tent; at least it was dry and warm. They seated on the furry skins and looked at each other, trying to find some comfort. It was then that Aragorn noted that Arwen, even though she was very tired, didn't seem to be ill anymore.
"Are you feeling all right my love?"
Arwen then realized that the pain that oppressed her chest constantly for the past months wasn't there anymore.
"I actually feel very good"
"Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come after all. Don't you think?"
Arwen remained silent, she did feel better physically; but her heart was restless. She now could feel the shadow that covered this territories, she could sense an evil presence that bothered her and made her uneasy. She also feared for Legolas.
"What is wrong with him?"
"Well my love, imagine what is like to live here. Imagine how you'd be if you were living among savages that seem to be more like animals than anything else. Imagine how is like to be in eternal war like he has."
"I know all this Aragorn, but there is something else. A heart so kind and pure cannot be changed, not even by such a terrible experience. I feel something very wrong about Legolas, there is something haunting him and we need to find out what it is if we want to help him."
"Don't worry beloved, we will find a way to save him, no matter what has come upon him, we will save him with our love."
Legolas entered the tent with a bowl of food in his hand, and a tone of mockery n his voice.
"Am I interrupting something? I apologize if I did. Now eat, I went thru much trouble to get this"
He handed them the bowl, filled with some kind of stew. Arwen didn't even want to imagine what it was made of. Legolas laughed at her disgusted grimace and remarked.
"You think this is bad? You should see what I'll be eating"
And without saying another word, he was gone.
The night came quickly, and with it the temperature dropped even more, soon enough Aragorn was sleeping, wrapped on a bearskin. Arwen couldn't sleep, she couldn't stop thinking about Legolas, she stayed up for while, staring at the dim light of the torches outside. She then decided she needed to talk to him and wrapping herself on a furry skin she left the tent and entered the cold night.
She didn't know were he was but she could sense him near; she didn't dear to try to communicate with him mentally so she just followed her instincts to where he was, not knowing what to expect from him.
She walked thru the camp, carefully avoiding to be seen or heard by the sleeping men, and was amazed to see how they slept on the ground, barely protecting themselves from the freezing cold.
She walked until she found him, he was sitting near a fire alone, sharpening an axe with a rock, apparently oblivious to her presence. She got closer and tried to think of the proper words to say to him, but was startled by his low, menacing voice.
"What do you seek here your majesty? There is nothing I can do for you, you are wasting your time."
"I need to talk to you"
"There is nothing to talk about, now leave. Don't you see that I am busy?"
"Why do you refuse to look at me Legolas?"
In a split second he was up and holding her by the neck with one hand, and by the waist with the other, pressing her against his body, his face inches away from hers. She was terrified to see all the hatred and pain all over his face, but she couldn't move, she couldn't cry.
…………………………………………………….
Huy! What is going to happen now? I don't even know.
Again, thank you for your wonderful reviews, you guys give the strength to continue with this.
Next chapter will be up soon, I'm having some extra time so I'm going to hurry up and post it soon.
See ya'
ENCOUNTER
The royal company traveled for 16 days, they crossed the deserted lands and arrived to Friaza's woods on a cloudy afternoon. The few trees left in the forest looked weak and leafless, and the ground was still covered with dirty snow. No birds could be found, not even a lizard; the woods were empty and dead. A strange silence reigned in the air, and a sensation of being watched. The whole company felt restless and menaced, a sensation of imminent danger hovered over them as they walked.
Arwen had endured the trip bravely; she resisted the exhausting ride and the piercing cold like a disciplined soldier, despite her ill state. But now they were all tired, cold and hungry; all they wanted was to find the camp and get some rest before nigh fell again.
Suddenly a loud yell broke the silence in the forest, shortly after it was followed by more yells and shouts, proffered in a strange language, that seemed to be composed by animal-like growls and guttural sounds. The company stopped, the soldiers surrounded the King and Queen and prepared for the imminent attack.
In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded by very strange creatures, big as a man but definitely not human. They were covered by thick fur and were also armored. The armors were like nothing seen before by Gondor's soldiers, made with thick iron, the helmets shaped like beast's heads, covered with spikes and sharp saws. All the vulnerable parts of the body were protected by this armor, head, torso, arms, legs, even the feet were covered; and the metal was so thick and heavy, it would have taken at least two Gondor's soldiers just to carry one of this armors. All this made the creatures unassailable and invulnerable to the arrows shot by the royal guard, not even their swords could penetrate such shields. The creatures brandished javelins and heavy sawed scimitars, they attacked with an unnatural strength, and in matter of minutes, half of the royal guard was dead.
Aragorn lost all hope, "Well, I guess this is it", and got closer to Arwen.
"You know I'll always love you"
"Yes my love, be with me now, at least we will leave this world together."
They held hands and closed their eyes resigning to their fate, when they heard a shout, it spoke the same language of the creatures, but the voice wasn't guttural like theirs, it was clear and resounding like a trumpet; the creatures immediately froze at the sound of the voice and retreated, lowering their weapons and bowing down their heads.
"ICHT TARATH TAUR HA"
A horse emerged from the trees, carrying the source of the voice, the King and Queen couldn't believe their eyes.
It was the same horse Eldarion bought in Rohan, a white, powerful steed; Horse and rider broke thru the creature group, knocking some of them to the ground. The rider seemed to be very mad at them, he yelled at them and hit them with the back of a very big axe, knocking helmets of their heads and deeply denting the armors with every powerful blow, and the creatures didn't even bother to fight back; so powerful was this warrior that they just cowered back.
He finally stopped, dismounted in front of the remaining royal company and froze. The King and Queen looked at him in disbelief. It was him, yes; and yet he was not, for the changes they found in him were too radical. This warrior standing in front of them was very different from the Legolas they remembered.
He was dressed in unhardened leather; his leggings were substituted with tight leather pants, he wore a sleeveless vest, tightened to his torso with many leather straps and metal clasps. Metal bracelets covered his forearms and his palms were gloved, leaving the fingers exposed. He had tall, heavy boots on, with metallic tips and heels; his calves were shielded with metallic greaves.
His body had changed; he had always being tall, lithe and slender. Now his shoulders were broad and strong; the muscles on his exposed arms looked rock hard and well defined; his legs were strong and powerful, and so was his neck, corded and strong. His hair was unbraided and rested wild upon his shoulders His face remained almost the same, except for his eyes; his eyes were lightless, cold, expressionless. He stared at the royal couple for endless moments, and they looked back at him in silence.
He regarded the King, he looked so old and tired; his hair was almost completely gray now, his face looked weary, and his body was diminishing. Then he looked at the Queen, she looked different too, time had finally reached her, and her illness was evident. Her hair had a few silver strands here and there, her face was haggard and her skin was pale and ashen. Deep inside his heart he felt great sorrow and pain for them, but he did not let it show; his face remained expressionless and his eyes remained cold and empty.
The war did take the best of Legolas, every battle, every conquest, every kill, every horror he had to witness in these years darkened his heart and little by little the light in him died. The enemy came harder each time, and more brutal; the only way to fight their brutality was by being brutal himself. The hordes started using heavy armor after a while, so the arrows and daggers became useless. He had to adapt, and so he learnt to fight with heavy swords and axes, he was forced to wear heavy armors as the rest of the rangers did. Unknown, horrendous beasts accompanied the orcs, more every time; the battles became bloodier and merciless, and so did every man of his company. As they allied to the savages, the rangers started to adopt their ways, soon enough they were savages too, and Legolas could not do anything to stop it, for all this was necessary if they wanted to succeed and survive. All this strengthened his body beyond his own nature, he became more powerful than he ever imagined he could be; but he also became merciless and cruel. He thought it was due to the brutality of the war, and the fact that he never again had anything good or beautiful close to him, only death and destruction. But what he didn't now is that something else worked its way into his heart, a presence that was draining the light out of him.
Arwen and Aragorn looked at him in disbelief, amazed by his appearance. He looked so strong, so powerful, so dangerous and yet, and still, he was the most beautiful creature they had ever laid ayes on. Despite the fact that he was messy, that he had strange pagan symbols tattooed in his arms, and war paint on his face; he was still the most stunning creature they ever met; only that now in a feral, wild and dangerous kind of way. He reminded them of the stories they heard from Lord Elrond, stories about the ancient elven warriors that fought in the first age battles. Great heroes like Fingolfin, who went to the very gates of Angband and fought Morgoth by himself; such glory and strength was never achieved by a modern elf, for later ages elves became weaker; but now as they contemplated this particular elf, they couldn't help but wonder if the old days of glory were back.
Their thoughts were interrupted by Legolas's voice, who finally decided to put and end to the silence. With a voice filled of defiance and disrespect he started reprehending Aragorn.
"What do you think you are doing here? I specifically told you not to come"
Aragorn could not respond, surprised as he was.
"Answer me! You could have died today Don't you see? This stupid creatures know nothing about Kings or Queens or Royal flags"
"Legolas we had to come, you need help"
"Help? Ha! From you? Don't be ridiculous, no one can help me now. Least of all you"
"Legolas please don't say those things, we can help you"
"Nonsense. By coming here all you did was risk your lives, get a bunch of your soldiers death and delay the preparations for the battle. Ah, but you don't now about the battle right?. And the worst part is that if you try to go back to Gondor without supplies and with half of the company death, and the other half injured, you would surely die. So I suppose you have to stay here and take the chance of being massacred by orcs tomorrow."
He then jumped back on his horse and shouted some orders to the creatures who lined up and headed south into the woods. Legolas motioned to follow them but stopped and turned.
"What are you waiting for?"
"We can't leave the death soldiers here!"
"Don't worry about them, the hyenas will take care of them. They are death after all; unless you want to stay here and waste your time and energy carrying them or burying them. I most certainly won't. Come on follow me quickly, you don't want to be here when the hyenas come"
The royal company didn't move, it was inhuman for them to leave their companions lying death in the snow.
"Are you deft or just plain dumb? Move it! Have you ever seen a pack of starving hyenas in the winter? No? I didn't think you had. Now get going."
Tired and confused as they were they finally followed him, just wishing that the camp was not too far away.
Legolas slowed down his horse and waited for the King and Queen, riding beside them, but carefully avoiding to look at them. They didn't speak, a shadow of confusion and pain on their hearts, and they rode like that for a long time. Finally, he spoke to them again.
"I told you not to come, I told you that all you were going to find here is pain. Why didn't you listen to me? Now I have to take care of you. I don't even have a proper place for you to spend the night; I don't have anything good enough to feed you. You couldn't choose a worst time to come."
Aragorn and Arwen just kept riding, numb from the events they just witnessed, blankly staring to the front without a word. It was then that they noted that some of the creatures had taken off their helmets, revealing their true faces. They were men, southern men; their bodies were covered with animal skins to protect them from the cold, but they were all men. They couldn't believe that men could achieve such strength and ferocity and yet these men proved it.
"You said there will be a battle tomorrow" Aragorn finally asked coming out of his numbness.
"Yes, a surprisingly large group of orcs, goblings and other things gathered somehow and are now heading this direction. They will arrive tomorrow and we are going to be waiting for them."
"How large is the horde?"
"I wouldn't call it a horde it is more like an army, around 4000 I've been told"
"Four thousand!! And how many soldiers do you have?"
"1500, but don't you worry, we will crush them and trample them like the insects they are. You just have to concentrate in staying away from the battlefield"
Arwen just rode and listened to all this in perfect silence. It was like she was living a nightmare. This warrior Aragorn was talking with was not Legolas, he couldn't be. This heartless creature was nothing like the sweet, caring friend she once had.
After about an hour, they reached the camp. It wasn't a camp, just a large group of men sharpening swords, crafting armors and some of them sparring. The place was crowded and it smelly, the ground was muddy and the few tents were small and ragged. Legolas guided the royal couple to a place that seemed to be a little bit cleaner and called a few soldiers to their side."
"They will provide you with a place to spend the night, at least you wont freeze to death. I will try to fix you something decent to eat; your soldiers will have to bear with what we eat everyday."
He then left, and the soldiers started lifting up a tent with animal skins and ropes. When they were done it was actually amazing what they could craft out of such rudimentary materials. Aragorn and Arwen entered the tent; at least it was dry and warm. They seated on the furry skins and looked at each other, trying to find some comfort. It was then that Aragorn noted that Arwen, even though she was very tired, didn't seem to be ill anymore.
"Are you feeling all right my love?"
Arwen then realized that the pain that oppressed her chest constantly for the past months wasn't there anymore.
"I actually feel very good"
"Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come after all. Don't you think?"
Arwen remained silent, she did feel better physically; but her heart was restless. She now could feel the shadow that covered this territories, she could sense an evil presence that bothered her and made her uneasy. She also feared for Legolas.
"What is wrong with him?"
"Well my love, imagine what is like to live here. Imagine how you'd be if you were living among savages that seem to be more like animals than anything else. Imagine how is like to be in eternal war like he has."
"I know all this Aragorn, but there is something else. A heart so kind and pure cannot be changed, not even by such a terrible experience. I feel something very wrong about Legolas, there is something haunting him and we need to find out what it is if we want to help him."
"Don't worry beloved, we will find a way to save him, no matter what has come upon him, we will save him with our love."
Legolas entered the tent with a bowl of food in his hand, and a tone of mockery n his voice.
"Am I interrupting something? I apologize if I did. Now eat, I went thru much trouble to get this"
He handed them the bowl, filled with some kind of stew. Arwen didn't even want to imagine what it was made of. Legolas laughed at her disgusted grimace and remarked.
"You think this is bad? You should see what I'll be eating"
And without saying another word, he was gone.
The night came quickly, and with it the temperature dropped even more, soon enough Aragorn was sleeping, wrapped on a bearskin. Arwen couldn't sleep, she couldn't stop thinking about Legolas, she stayed up for while, staring at the dim light of the torches outside. She then decided she needed to talk to him and wrapping herself on a furry skin she left the tent and entered the cold night.
She didn't know were he was but she could sense him near; she didn't dear to try to communicate with him mentally so she just followed her instincts to where he was, not knowing what to expect from him.
She walked thru the camp, carefully avoiding to be seen or heard by the sleeping men, and was amazed to see how they slept on the ground, barely protecting themselves from the freezing cold.
She walked until she found him, he was sitting near a fire alone, sharpening an axe with a rock, apparently oblivious to her presence. She got closer and tried to think of the proper words to say to him, but was startled by his low, menacing voice.
"What do you seek here your majesty? There is nothing I can do for you, you are wasting your time."
"I need to talk to you"
"There is nothing to talk about, now leave. Don't you see that I am busy?"
"Why do you refuse to look at me Legolas?"
In a split second he was up and holding her by the neck with one hand, and by the waist with the other, pressing her against his body, his face inches away from hers. She was terrified to see all the hatred and pain all over his face, but she couldn't move, she couldn't cry.
…………………………………………………….
Huy! What is going to happen now? I don't even know.
Again, thank you for your wonderful reviews, you guys give the strength to continue with this.
Next chapter will be up soon, I'm having some extra time so I'm going to hurry up and post it soon.
See ya'