THE VISION AND THE REALITY.
They had been looking for him for two days now. Aragorn, Arwen and some soldiers had traveled thru the gloomy forest, following the scarce tracks they could find, desperately trying to find out what had happened to him. The faded tracks went to the east, always to the east, and it bothered Aragorn that they seemed to be left by only one individual.
At first they thought that he had been kidnapped by some of his own southern soldiers; but the remaining rangers told them otherwise. And now, while following the tracks it was evident that whomever they were following traveled alone. It was preposterous for Aragorn to think that Legolas had left by himself; not by foot, not with all the blood he had lost. It was ridiculous to think he could have made it that far.
Arwen was uneasy and afraid. She sensed imminent danger coming their way; she sensed that something was very wrong with Legolas; worst of all she couldn't feel his presence in her mind, he had vanished completely.
The sun started its way down the horizon for the second time and they kept riding; they were all tired an Aragorn's sight grew dim; he couldn't follow the tracks for longer. At last they decided to rest for the night; they set up a camp in a clear and Aragorn went to the forest looking for something to eat.
Arwen seated on a log to wait for him; her body was sore from all the riding and she hadn't eaten a decent meal in weeks. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she leaned her head against her knees and closed her eyes, trying to rest; but then she heard a voice that whispered in her mind.
"Evenstar"She couldn't tell who's was the voice, but it sent chills down her spine just to hear it.
"Undomiel"Like possessed by some irresistible force she stood up and began walking, following the voice that called her. She wasn't following her will as she advanced. She walked slowly as in a dream, not knowing where she was going or why, just following the irresistible call.
The soldiers didn't notice when she left and so, she walked deep into the forest.
Aragorn came back to the camp with empty hands, cursing his luck.
"How is it possible that there is absolutely nothing good or at least decent to eat in this damn place."
He looked around searching for Arwen, but she was nowhere to be found. He began to worry.
"Soldier! Where is the Queen?"
The soldier didn't answer, he was a southern men and he couldn't understand the words. Grabbing him by the collar Aragorn demanded an answer.
"Tell me where she is, NOW!"
One of the rangers intervened, hurrying to avoid a confrontation."
"Easy Sir, he doesn't know and neither do I, she was sitting on that log last time I saw her." The soldier said while pointing to the now empty log.
Aragorn panicked. "Ask everyone, see if they know where she is."
"Yes sir"
But nobody knew; nobody had seen her leave.
Aragorn walked to the log and searched for a track; after frantically looking for it in the dark he finally found her footprints, light and small, heading for the forest. Running like a mad man he followed the track shouting her name.
"ARWEN!"
"ARWEN!"
A group of soldiers followed him in his mad race, not knowing what else to do.
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She kept walking slowly, oblivious to the voice shouting her name behind her. All she cared about was the voice in her head, the force that pulled her close. Then she heard a low sound, the sound of running waters and she felt drawn to it. She got closer to the sound, now she could see the water illuminated by the silver moonlight.
There was a waterfall; the white water came down from a tall, black cliff. Under the moonlight the landscape looked enchanting and magical. She got even closer, dipping her feet in the ice-cold water.
It was then that she saw him. He was backwards to her, under the white waterfall. He wore only a loincloth and a bandage on his arm. She couldn't move, enchanted by the vision it was to see him. Tiny drops of water ran down his broad, muscular back, shining like silver tears under the moonlight, towards his powerful legs before sinking in the pool of light.
"ARWEN!"
She felt a hand on her shoulder and a gentle shake bringing her back to reality.
"Arwen what are you doing?"
She turned her head around and her pupils dilated to focus on the figure in front of her. It was her husband.
"Aragorn", she shook her head and tried to remember what had just happened. "I don't know, I think I was dreaming."
But then noticed that Aragorn wasn't focusing on her, but on something that was behind her. She turned around to find the same vision. She wasn't dreaming; the waterfall was there, he was there; and now he was facing her, and walking towards them with a smirk in his lips.
"King and Queen of Gondor; such an honor to be so closely followed by you. But there was no need, you should have stayed in camp; I just needed some clean fresh water to wash my wounds and clean my filthy body."
Aragorn was shocked; the wounds were now almost completely mended, only pink scars were left on his right side and shoulder and the broken arm was not swollen anymore, it was back to normal and completely aligned, held to Legolas's side by just a light bandage.
But Legolas's unnaturally quick recovery wasn't what bothered Arwen. As he got closer to her she could see his eyes; they were dark and clouded, now more than ever. She could see evil shadows in the back of his eyes and as he got closer she stepped back frightened by what she saw.
Legolas seemed to be amused by this reaction, and he let it show by widening his cocky smirk. He stopped a few inches away from the royal couple and began to talk to them with a tone of mockery in hi voice.
"If you allow me your majesties, I would like to thank you for your aid to bring me back from certain death. If it wasn't for you two, I wouldn't be here; now I'm back and it's all thanks to you."
He stood in front of Aragorn and bowed exaggeratedly and ridiculously, and then he straightened up and surrounding Aragorn's waist with his good arm he lifted him up from the ground and pressed hard, to the point of suffocating him. While Aragorn struggled to breathe he laughed at his efforts and then he lowered him to his level while clenching him even harder and whispered in his ear.
"Thank you old and venerable king, you have brought me back from death, now I promise you will regret doing so for the rest of your life, or should I say for what is left of your miserable mortal life."
He threw Aragorn's body back a little so they could be face to face. He looked at Aragorn's horror grimace and smiled satisfied.
"It can all be over now old man, I can give you Eru's gift right now, I can set you free from this pathetic weak body."
He could feel life leaving Aragorn's body; he could feel his struggle ending, his limbs weakening and he enjoyed it. Then he heard Arwen's voice.
"Legolas! Let go of him right now!"
She won his attention; he released Aragorn, who almost fell on the ground while painfully trying to catch up his breath. Then he turned around and faced her.
"My Queen, I apologize to you, of course I am also going to personally thank you for your aid."
Again, he bowed ridiculously in front of her. Arwen was enraged.
"What has gotten into you Legolas? I demand…"
Before she could say another word he held her by the neck and crushed his lips against hers, kissing her roughly and wildly. Startled she tried to pull back but he held her even tighter. Finally he released her and she sent an open hand to slap him, but he caught her hand in mid air and smirked to her. She could see a flame of unholy lust in his eyes.
"You are in no position to demand anything Queen of Gondor. Now, thank you… your majesty."
He released her hand, turned around and talked to the soldiers who had witnessed everything without saying a word.
"I want you to join this two back to the camp and arrange their trip back to Gondor, those of you who wish to go with them are free to leave, you can also say that to the rest of the army. Those who wish to stay with me shall immediately pick up the camp and get ready to march to the south and meet me at the crossing in Tirol."
Aragorn finally composed himself and with hurt all over his face he began speaking.
"I don't know what is going on with you Legolas, I don't know why you are acting like this; but I do know something, I am not going back to Gondor without you, you are going to have to kill me if you want me to leave. Cause I came here to help you and help me Eru, I WILL!"
Legolas turned to him with a deep frown.
"How dare you to interrupt me while I am speaking to MY soldiers pathetic mortal. Do you think my hand will hesitate before snapping your royal neck? Think again King of the Dunedain, cause if you don't go back to your land right now then I WILL kill you; without hesitation and without regrets."
Aragorn opened his mouth to speak again but was immediately cut off.
"I won't tolerate another word from you Aragorn. Now leave, LEAVE! Your very presence annoys me."
Arwen could see he wasn't playing games, every word he said was true. Grabbing Aragorn by the arm she pulled him back.
"Let us leave Aragorn, there is nothing we can do now."
"But…"
"Aragorn, I do not wish to see you death right now, let us go back to Gondor, he is beyond our hands."
Legolas laughed. "It seems like your Queen has more common sense than you. You better listen to her for she has seen beyond what you've seen in me."
I was at that moment that a voice slipped into Arwen's mind. This voice was cold and cruel, but also powerful and terrifying. She noticed that it wasn't Legolas's voice, but what she didn't notice was that it came from a cloaked figure that stood, mounted on an enormous wolf, in the darkness among the trees behind the waterfall.
"You know now. Don't you lady Arwen? You know what your friend talked about when he begged you to let him die. Soon you'll wish you had killed him yourself. But now it is too late, he belongs to me completely and through him I will conquer middle earth."
Arwen panicked, whatever was talking to her made her feel as if her blood was freezing. She felt sickened and weak, and while holding Aragorn by his arm she started backing up, hurried by an uncontrollable need to get away from the place. The voice talked to her again.
"Flee from here Queen of Gondor! Or you will surely meet your doom."
Now Aragorn could also feel the evil presence haunting him, he could not hear the voice, but he could definitely feel an irresistible urge to get away. Both Arwen and Aragorn began running madly towards where the horses were. The voice kept haunting Arwen.
"That's it Arwen run! Run for your pathetic life, prolong your suffering yet more."
The cloaked figure smiled pleased and without being seen or heard he motioned the wolf to start running towards the north, just one more step separated him from achieving his plan; only one more step and he would have victory over all that was good and pure on middle earth; he would win, and at last he would get revenge.
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They ran until they reached the horses and immediately got on them and spurred them to run towards the east. Then they noticed that some soldiers followed them; Aragorn unsheathed Narsil and prepared to fight, but the soldiers weren't after them, they were too running away from the evil presence in the waterfall. The group rode at full speed for the rest of the night and for half of the next day until they reached the camp in Friaza. They didn't linger there for long; some more soldiers decided to join them on their trip back to Gondor, eager to leave the horrors of those damned lands. But the majority of the soldiers packed their things and prepared to journey south, to follow their general.
Those who journeyed to Gondor left Friaza at mid afternoon, a cold, heavy rain began falling as soon as they left the camp, causing thick mud to cover the ground all over, hindering the horse's pace. Some of them were wounded, all of them were hungry; but the intense desire to leave those lands encouraged them to continue; and so they did, until darkness covered the land.
They decided not to stop, to continue riding throughout the night. For the next hours they advanced towards the north in complete darkness, for the firmament was covered with clouds and the moon refused to show her face. As they entered a particularly bushy part of the forest Aragorn, who rode at the front, halted his horse, making the whole group stop. He'd heard something.
"Shhh. Silence."
Nothing. Only the breathing of the few soldiers around him and the sound of his heart. Then he turned around and looked at Arwen; her face was pale and her ayes big as plates; she was looking up to the sky.
The clouds had disappeared right over where they were, letting show the white light of the full moon. There were no stars, only the moon shining upon them.
Aragorn heard a growl, low and menacing and immediately located where it came from. Scanning the bushes he saw a pair of shining red eyes looking straight at him; he recognized the eyes to belong to Dunlan's wolves; then he looked to a side and saw another pair of eyes, and then another one. Soon he realized they were surrounded.
"Soldiers get closer! We are under attack!"
The wolves came out of the bushes to the pale light of the moon; Now Aragorn realized that those weren't regular wolves. They were big as bears and were ridden by Uruk Hai soldiers.
"Oh help us Eru!"
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