1 CHAPTER 12
THE AFTERMATH
He dropped the heavy axe, unable to hold on to it for longer. All he could see was blurs moving all around him, growling at him. He was almost blind, weak and in pain, he couldn't breathe; but he kept on fighting, he grabbed one orc by the neck with his one good arm, pressed hard and twisted to one side, killing the beast instantaneously. Then, an iron mace was crushed against his head, sending the mithril helmet flying to the ground. His entire world went black and he fell on his knees, the mortal blow left him disoriented and confused and now his head was uncovered making him even more vulnerable to the attacks. The orcs kept coming, he could feel them all around him; but he remained still, down on his knees, his arms hanging on his sides.
He smiled. It was all over, no more fighting, no more suffering, no more pain. The sounds of the battle began to fade away until everything around him was silent and quiet. He felt peace, peace like none he had felt before. Until he heard a voice, loud and clear, calling him. It was the only sound he could hear.
"Legolas!"
He was tempted not to listen to it, to remain in his newly found peace, but the voice was insistent.
"Legolas!"
He decided to listen to it, to follow the voice; and so he did, he slowly opened his eyes and woke up to a world of pain and confusion. He felt something coming at him; it was a sword, directed to his neck. By reflex or by instinct he dodged to a side and fell to the ground, landing painfully on his bad arm. Then he heard the voice again, mixed with other familiar voices.
"Legolas!"
"General!"
"Hang on we are almost there!"
Aragorn and the riders were very close to where he was. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were close. The desperation and determination on Aragorn's voice made him want to live, to survive, just to see him again, just to honor his brother, his king. He rolled to a side and picked up a shield with his good arm, blocking the blows sent his way. Lying on the ground he was an easy kill, but he couldn't get up, all he could do was protect himself with the shield and hope his rescuers would hurry.
Finally they reached him, he felt hoofs all around him and cries of agony from the massacred orcs. The riders came swift and deathly, killing every orc around him. When the field was clear Aragorn jumped off the horse and came to Legolas's side. He was still covering himself with the shield, and he didn't let go of it until Aragorn spoke to him.
"It's alright my friend, they are gone. Now let go of that shield, let me see you."
Legolas dropped the shield and Aragorn couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his condition. He was completely covered with mud and blood, mostly his own blood. His face was contorted with pain. He kneeled beside him and gently cleared his face with a soft cloth, wiping away the mud and throwing back the strands of wet hair that covered it.
"You are going to be fine my friend"
"Aragorn…"
"Take it easy my friend, don't waste your energy"
Aragorn began evaluating his condition. He had a large portion of the splintered wooden lance incrusted between his chest and his right shoulder; the part of the armor that covered his torso was broken, the pieces bended to the inside, crushing the ribs on his right side, probably pressing his lungs, if not puncturing them. That explained his uneasy and noisy panting. That was all he could see, he had to wait until the armor was removed to be able to see his real condition.
"Come on Legolas, we have to take you back to camp, I can heal you"
He hoped he could heal him, his condition was delicate. Praying silently he tried to lift him up from the ground. Legolas left out a loud cry of pain as Aragorn struggled to lift him up; the armor was too heavy for Aragorn, he couldn't lift him up, much less carry him. Two of the rangers came over to help him. They finally managed to lay him on the horse, as gently as they could. Aragorn got in the horse behind him and began advancing towards the top of the hill, where Arwen still was.
Arwen saw Aragorn carrying a body in front of him and thought it was Legolas's dead body; she got up from the ground and with tears running down her cheeks, got ready to pay tribute to her beloved friend, in the way the elves pay tribute to their death. But as Aragorn got closer it became evident that the body he carried wasn't death. A mixture of confusion and joy overwhelmed her heart as she saw him moving.
As Aragorn reached the top of the hill he realized that he couldn't carry Legolas on the horse for much longer; the movement was causing his wounds to bleed even more profusely. He stopped the horse and as gently as he could he laid his friend on the ground.
"Aragorn..."
"Don't speak my friend, save it"
"No my King, I just wanted to see you once more, to tell you that I still love you and respect you. I am sorry for all the pain I have given you on this last years. Now I need you to leave me here"
"What are you talking about, you had just given me joy. I am going to heal you. We will go back to Gondor and everything will be just fine; like in old times my friend."
Aragorn kneeled next to him and held him in his arms. Gently he caressed his face and kissed his forehead. Legolas eyes began filling up with tears.
"Oh Aragorn. You have to let me die today… Please I beg you to leave me here; go back to Gondor my work is done. Please don't mourn for me, for when I die I'll be free at last,"
"No legolas, please don't ask this from me, you brake my heart. If you die today it will be my fault and I will die of sorrow."
Arwen was now very close, listening to their words from behind Aragorn.
"Aragorn, please understand that if I continue to live I will only cause you pain. I am cursed, something has taken over my soul; darkness that I cannot fight. Now that the life is leaving my bones I feel at peace with my soul, but it will haunt me again if I survive. Please free me from it, I can't live with it eating my heart any longer."
Arwen got closer and kneeled beside them. She looked at Aragorn and he moved back giving her some space. She reached out to Legolas's face with her hands and gently held him by the cheeks. He opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers. Now the world was clear again for him. She gazed back into his eyes. His eyes were now clear, the shadow that once mastered them was no more and she could feel his light flowing into the deepest of her soul. He smiled at her tenderly, sweetly, lovingly. She could feel the immensity of his love in that smile and for a moment she got lost in her own feelings. She saw his face, it was no longer dirty nor bloody, it was now fair and radiant, just as she remembered, just like when they were together and happy.
She saw deeper into his eyes and the light flowed through her. She felt young again, back in the forests of Rivendel, joyous and beaming with life. He was her source; he had always been her source.
Then, she came back to reality. Again she saw his face covered with blood and contorted with pain.
"Legolas, I am so sorry"
Only she and him knew what they she meant. She was talking about his feelings, about his non-reciprocated love for her. She was sorry for not knowing, she was sorry for all the years he had to hide his feelings from the whole world.
But again he comforted her, as he always did.
"My Evenstar, know that I have no regrets about the decisions I have made "
He coughed; it was getting harder for him to breathe.
"Aragorn, please help him"
With great effort Legolas spoke again.
"No. Please let me go. I must not stay here, I won't be able to resist the darkness."
"We will help you Legolas, we will hold you through it. You are not alone." Aragorn said.
With that Aragorn stood up and started to shout orders to the soldiers nearby. Soon enough they brought a stretcher and carried him back to the camp. Once there, Aragorn chose the cleanest spot and arranged a proper place to lay him down and heal him.
The process was slow and painful. As Aragorn removed the armor the seriousness of Legolas's wounds was evident. He found out that his right arm was broken too, in three places, and terribly swollen. But that worried him the least, his biggest worry was the metal incrusted in his ribs; after cleaning the wound a little bit he realized that the lung was indeed punctured, and probably flooding with his own blood. Concerned by this he immediately started to pull out the metal pieces, even before than extracting the lance embedded on his shoulder / chest. This caused Legolas to cry out in agony.
Arwen tried to comfort him by wiping out the blood and sweat of his face, but that did little good for him. He became more and more uneasy; he trembled and shook uncontrollably. Aragorn thought of it as a resultant of the pain but Arwen knew better; she could feel the struggle inside Legolas's soul. She held his face in her hands and tried to still him.
"Fight Legolas, don't let it master you again. Resist the darkness my love; be strong, only you can resist it and I am here with you"
She could see his eyes going from clear to dark again, he moaned and greeted his teeth, trying desperately to fight it back. His eyes cleared out again and he breathed hard and heavily. Then darkness engulfed him again; his body stiffened and his eyes went blank while he hauled like a wounded animal. He fainted, Aragorn was relieved, now he could tend the wounds without having to struggle so much; but Arwen was concerned, the look in his eyes before fainting was obscure, she feared he had fallen into darkness yet again.
Hours went by and Aragorn was finally done, he exited the tent and without a word went to wash the blood off of his hands at the small and dirty well. Arwen came out afterwards, her face was pale and her hands shaking from what she just witnessed. She had never seen so much blood, now her garments, hands and face were damp with it.
She too went to the well, but her major concern wasn't to get rid of the blood. She stood next to Aragorn and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What do you think?"
"I cannot tell yet, his wounds are deep and he bled a lot. If he were a man he would be already death. But he heals fast, even for an elf; his breathing is better now and the bleeding almost stopped. I did my best to help him, now it us up to him to recover or not. If he wishes to survive then he will, if not then I just don't know what will happen."
Arwen came closer to him and embraced him tenderly, trying to comfort him and herself in his arms.
"Oh Estel, I wish all this is over"
"Have faith my love, he is a strong one."
"Yes, I know of his strength, but I wonder if he'll want to go back to Gondor with us. What if he doesn't, what if this darkness takes over him again?"
"All we can do is pray for him my Undomiel, just pray and have faith."
They cleaned up as well as they could and returned to the tent, where they seated side by side and watched on Legolas for the rest of the day. They didn't moved from his side, not even when the night came. Legolas didn't wake up in all that time; but they were weary and tired from last day's events and eventually both of them fell asleep.
Dawn found them leaning against each other, sleeping soundly. The light filtered through the entrance of the tent finally waking up Aragorn. He slowly opened his eyes and panicked. Jumping up of the ground he called for Arwen, shaking her out of her slumber.
"Arwen! Wake up!"
Startled, she opened her eyes and realized what had happened.
Legolas wasn't there, he was gone.
…………………………………………………………………..
Well, here it is. It was very hard to finish this one, I've been quite busy lately. Sorry for the delay, I really like to update often but I learned this week that sometimes is just not possible.
Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you'll read the rest of the story, much is still to come. Actually I think that the most dramatic parts are still to come. I promise lots more of action scenes and romantic fluff.
See ya' soon (I hope).
Elwe.
THE AFTERMATH
He dropped the heavy axe, unable to hold on to it for longer. All he could see was blurs moving all around him, growling at him. He was almost blind, weak and in pain, he couldn't breathe; but he kept on fighting, he grabbed one orc by the neck with his one good arm, pressed hard and twisted to one side, killing the beast instantaneously. Then, an iron mace was crushed against his head, sending the mithril helmet flying to the ground. His entire world went black and he fell on his knees, the mortal blow left him disoriented and confused and now his head was uncovered making him even more vulnerable to the attacks. The orcs kept coming, he could feel them all around him; but he remained still, down on his knees, his arms hanging on his sides.
He smiled. It was all over, no more fighting, no more suffering, no more pain. The sounds of the battle began to fade away until everything around him was silent and quiet. He felt peace, peace like none he had felt before. Until he heard a voice, loud and clear, calling him. It was the only sound he could hear.
"Legolas!"
He was tempted not to listen to it, to remain in his newly found peace, but the voice was insistent.
"Legolas!"
He decided to listen to it, to follow the voice; and so he did, he slowly opened his eyes and woke up to a world of pain and confusion. He felt something coming at him; it was a sword, directed to his neck. By reflex or by instinct he dodged to a side and fell to the ground, landing painfully on his bad arm. Then he heard the voice again, mixed with other familiar voices.
"Legolas!"
"General!"
"Hang on we are almost there!"
Aragorn and the riders were very close to where he was. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were close. The desperation and determination on Aragorn's voice made him want to live, to survive, just to see him again, just to honor his brother, his king. He rolled to a side and picked up a shield with his good arm, blocking the blows sent his way. Lying on the ground he was an easy kill, but he couldn't get up, all he could do was protect himself with the shield and hope his rescuers would hurry.
Finally they reached him, he felt hoofs all around him and cries of agony from the massacred orcs. The riders came swift and deathly, killing every orc around him. When the field was clear Aragorn jumped off the horse and came to Legolas's side. He was still covering himself with the shield, and he didn't let go of it until Aragorn spoke to him.
"It's alright my friend, they are gone. Now let go of that shield, let me see you."
Legolas dropped the shield and Aragorn couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his condition. He was completely covered with mud and blood, mostly his own blood. His face was contorted with pain. He kneeled beside him and gently cleared his face with a soft cloth, wiping away the mud and throwing back the strands of wet hair that covered it.
"You are going to be fine my friend"
"Aragorn…"
"Take it easy my friend, don't waste your energy"
Aragorn began evaluating his condition. He had a large portion of the splintered wooden lance incrusted between his chest and his right shoulder; the part of the armor that covered his torso was broken, the pieces bended to the inside, crushing the ribs on his right side, probably pressing his lungs, if not puncturing them. That explained his uneasy and noisy panting. That was all he could see, he had to wait until the armor was removed to be able to see his real condition.
"Come on Legolas, we have to take you back to camp, I can heal you"
He hoped he could heal him, his condition was delicate. Praying silently he tried to lift him up from the ground. Legolas left out a loud cry of pain as Aragorn struggled to lift him up; the armor was too heavy for Aragorn, he couldn't lift him up, much less carry him. Two of the rangers came over to help him. They finally managed to lay him on the horse, as gently as they could. Aragorn got in the horse behind him and began advancing towards the top of the hill, where Arwen still was.
Arwen saw Aragorn carrying a body in front of him and thought it was Legolas's dead body; she got up from the ground and with tears running down her cheeks, got ready to pay tribute to her beloved friend, in the way the elves pay tribute to their death. But as Aragorn got closer it became evident that the body he carried wasn't death. A mixture of confusion and joy overwhelmed her heart as she saw him moving.
As Aragorn reached the top of the hill he realized that he couldn't carry Legolas on the horse for much longer; the movement was causing his wounds to bleed even more profusely. He stopped the horse and as gently as he could he laid his friend on the ground.
"Aragorn..."
"Don't speak my friend, save it"
"No my King, I just wanted to see you once more, to tell you that I still love you and respect you. I am sorry for all the pain I have given you on this last years. Now I need you to leave me here"
"What are you talking about, you had just given me joy. I am going to heal you. We will go back to Gondor and everything will be just fine; like in old times my friend."
Aragorn kneeled next to him and held him in his arms. Gently he caressed his face and kissed his forehead. Legolas eyes began filling up with tears.
"Oh Aragorn. You have to let me die today… Please I beg you to leave me here; go back to Gondor my work is done. Please don't mourn for me, for when I die I'll be free at last,"
"No legolas, please don't ask this from me, you brake my heart. If you die today it will be my fault and I will die of sorrow."
Arwen was now very close, listening to their words from behind Aragorn.
"Aragorn, please understand that if I continue to live I will only cause you pain. I am cursed, something has taken over my soul; darkness that I cannot fight. Now that the life is leaving my bones I feel at peace with my soul, but it will haunt me again if I survive. Please free me from it, I can't live with it eating my heart any longer."
Arwen got closer and kneeled beside them. She looked at Aragorn and he moved back giving her some space. She reached out to Legolas's face with her hands and gently held him by the cheeks. He opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers. Now the world was clear again for him. She gazed back into his eyes. His eyes were now clear, the shadow that once mastered them was no more and she could feel his light flowing into the deepest of her soul. He smiled at her tenderly, sweetly, lovingly. She could feel the immensity of his love in that smile and for a moment she got lost in her own feelings. She saw his face, it was no longer dirty nor bloody, it was now fair and radiant, just as she remembered, just like when they were together and happy.
She saw deeper into his eyes and the light flowed through her. She felt young again, back in the forests of Rivendel, joyous and beaming with life. He was her source; he had always been her source.
Then, she came back to reality. Again she saw his face covered with blood and contorted with pain.
"Legolas, I am so sorry"
Only she and him knew what they she meant. She was talking about his feelings, about his non-reciprocated love for her. She was sorry for not knowing, she was sorry for all the years he had to hide his feelings from the whole world.
But again he comforted her, as he always did.
"My Evenstar, know that I have no regrets about the decisions I have made "
He coughed; it was getting harder for him to breathe.
"Aragorn, please help him"
With great effort Legolas spoke again.
"No. Please let me go. I must not stay here, I won't be able to resist the darkness."
"We will help you Legolas, we will hold you through it. You are not alone." Aragorn said.
With that Aragorn stood up and started to shout orders to the soldiers nearby. Soon enough they brought a stretcher and carried him back to the camp. Once there, Aragorn chose the cleanest spot and arranged a proper place to lay him down and heal him.
The process was slow and painful. As Aragorn removed the armor the seriousness of Legolas's wounds was evident. He found out that his right arm was broken too, in three places, and terribly swollen. But that worried him the least, his biggest worry was the metal incrusted in his ribs; after cleaning the wound a little bit he realized that the lung was indeed punctured, and probably flooding with his own blood. Concerned by this he immediately started to pull out the metal pieces, even before than extracting the lance embedded on his shoulder / chest. This caused Legolas to cry out in agony.
Arwen tried to comfort him by wiping out the blood and sweat of his face, but that did little good for him. He became more and more uneasy; he trembled and shook uncontrollably. Aragorn thought of it as a resultant of the pain but Arwen knew better; she could feel the struggle inside Legolas's soul. She held his face in her hands and tried to still him.
"Fight Legolas, don't let it master you again. Resist the darkness my love; be strong, only you can resist it and I am here with you"
She could see his eyes going from clear to dark again, he moaned and greeted his teeth, trying desperately to fight it back. His eyes cleared out again and he breathed hard and heavily. Then darkness engulfed him again; his body stiffened and his eyes went blank while he hauled like a wounded animal. He fainted, Aragorn was relieved, now he could tend the wounds without having to struggle so much; but Arwen was concerned, the look in his eyes before fainting was obscure, she feared he had fallen into darkness yet again.
Hours went by and Aragorn was finally done, he exited the tent and without a word went to wash the blood off of his hands at the small and dirty well. Arwen came out afterwards, her face was pale and her hands shaking from what she just witnessed. She had never seen so much blood, now her garments, hands and face were damp with it.
She too went to the well, but her major concern wasn't to get rid of the blood. She stood next to Aragorn and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What do you think?"
"I cannot tell yet, his wounds are deep and he bled a lot. If he were a man he would be already death. But he heals fast, even for an elf; his breathing is better now and the bleeding almost stopped. I did my best to help him, now it us up to him to recover or not. If he wishes to survive then he will, if not then I just don't know what will happen."
Arwen came closer to him and embraced him tenderly, trying to comfort him and herself in his arms.
"Oh Estel, I wish all this is over"
"Have faith my love, he is a strong one."
"Yes, I know of his strength, but I wonder if he'll want to go back to Gondor with us. What if he doesn't, what if this darkness takes over him again?"
"All we can do is pray for him my Undomiel, just pray and have faith."
They cleaned up as well as they could and returned to the tent, where they seated side by side and watched on Legolas for the rest of the day. They didn't moved from his side, not even when the night came. Legolas didn't wake up in all that time; but they were weary and tired from last day's events and eventually both of them fell asleep.
Dawn found them leaning against each other, sleeping soundly. The light filtered through the entrance of the tent finally waking up Aragorn. He slowly opened his eyes and panicked. Jumping up of the ground he called for Arwen, shaking her out of her slumber.
"Arwen! Wake up!"
Startled, she opened her eyes and realized what had happened.
Legolas wasn't there, he was gone.
…………………………………………………………………..
Well, here it is. It was very hard to finish this one, I've been quite busy lately. Sorry for the delay, I really like to update often but I learned this week that sometimes is just not possible.
Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you'll read the rest of the story, much is still to come. Actually I think that the most dramatic parts are still to come. I promise lots more of action scenes and romantic fluff.
See ya' soon (I hope).
Elwe.