Chapter 15: The wrath of mother nature's servants

"What do you think they are doing, Aragorn?" Gimli asked with a strange mixture of jealousy, preoccupation and curiosity ringing in his voice. "Gimli, it has been the hundredth time you've asked me. Give it a rest!! If you are so curious, go and seek them out yourself, but if you run into an embarrassing situation don't blame me. I told you!" the king of Gondor said, gesturing exasperatedly.

Gandalf was not following their little quarrel, his eyes were focused on the horses. They had been agitated all night long, their hoofs stomping nervously, their heads moving from side to side. Shadowfax was not among them, because the wizard released it from his service every night, so it could run free on the plains whenever it wanted. The foreboding of something bad was lying in the air and the old Istari frowned his forehead in concern. He rose from his place near the fire, squinting his eyes together in concentration, trying to make out anything in the dark. "What is it Gandalf?" Aragorn asked, who had noticed the wizard's preoccupied face. "I don't know yet, but we have to be careful." the Istari answered with a gloomy look in his eyes.

"Look who's back!" they heard the dwarf exclaim suddenly and turned their heads in the direction indicated by Gimli and saw Selina and Legolas approach the camp, holding hands as the walked up to their friends. That was not the only thing that had changed about them, as an aura of happiness and light-heartedness was radiating from them, shining brightly as the stars in the midst of the night. "Have you waited for us, little bear?" Selina smiled at the dwarf, with kindness in her eyes. "One tends to worry when his friend are gone without a word for hours." the dwarf mumbled in his beard. The Selvadage'tok woman let out a warm laugh. "Now, now, Gimli! If I didn't know any better, I'd say this she-demon here has grown on you." She petted him on the head affectionately and the dwarf let out an annoyed huff, trying to hide the laughter and friendliness that sparkled in his eyes, clearly visible to anyone.

Suddenly Selina tensed, as a strange feeling overcame her, making all her senses ring in alarm at once. "What is it, my love?" the elf asked her with a preoccupied look on his face. The woman frowned and suddenly realisation hit her with the force of a ton of brigs. "Prepare yourselves for a fight, the enemy is about to attack!" Selina said between clenched teeth and drew her twin daggers. "But there is nobody. How....?" Gimli asked her in astonishment. "Trust me on this, my friend! My brother has sent some of his creatures to get rid of us." the Selvadage'tok hissed, looking tensely from side to side.

The men drew their weapons and formed a circle around the campfire, searching the dark for attackers. They didn't have to wait long until they were greeted by the sight of at least twenty five pairs of eyes, gleaming viciously in the dark, slowly coming closer and closer. "Wargs!" Selina growled deep in her throat, spitting out the word as if it was stale wine. "They are going to kill the horses!" Aragorn exclaimed, his eyes searching the dark nervously. "We will not be able to save them. There are too many of those hideous beast." Legolas answered, his bow drawn, waiting for a suitable aim to fire his arrow at.

Moments of silence passed, then the first Warg sprang out of the dark with a blood chilling roar and attacked the group of warriors. Before it could cause any damage it was hit in the throat by two arrows, killing it within the blink of an eye, as its the life force quickly drained out of it with its last shuddering gasp for air. Then all hell broke loose. The warriors were occupied with the gruesome task of cutting, slicing, killing, in order to fight for their lives. Selina was just finishing off one particularly nasty beast, when suddenly she heard the loud trampling of heavy feet approaching her with the force of an earthquake. She turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. A Warg was galloping up to her at full speed, ready to ram her and trample her to death. She just stood there calmly until it came into closer range, hurtling towards her with the velocity of a meteor. Seconds before the creature hit her, she jumped up in the air and landed on its back, never faltering a step. She forcefully grabbed a strand of its dirty fur to keep balance and then drove her twin daggers with all her might into its big and ugly skull. She retreated them quickly and the Warg collapsed with one last strangled, high-pitched squeal. The force of its sudden stop sent Selina flying off its back. She landed with such an immense impact on the floor, that it blew the air out of her lungs.

She rose to her feet and swayed dizzily from side to side, while the world seemed to spin in a blur of colours around her. Selina tried to calm her uneven breathing, trying to regain control over her body again. When her gaze became focused again, she turned her head to see how the others were doing. Legolas was shooting arrows at the beasts ceaselessly, his face frozen in a concentrated expression, while his hands quickly drew the bow for the next shot. He accomplished his task with a merciless accuracy, killing many of their attackers in the process.

From behind her she could hear the booming voice of the dwarf. He seemed to be well, too, because he still managed to complain even in battle. From the corner of her eye she could see him fighting off one of this vicious beasts with his sharp axe, shouting unspeakable insults at the creature, while he drove it back into darkness. As she had expected Aragorn was also doing well. He was just finishing off one Warg with a deadly blow of Isildur's blade. "Their numbers don't seem to diminish! How many are there of them?" he shouted over the noise of the battle. "For every creature we kill, two more seem to appear." Gandalf called out, defending himself skilfully with his sword Glamdring and his ever present long staff.

Selina tried to estimate the number of their enemies, but she lost count at thirty. This brief moment of carelessness would have almost cost her her life, because she didn't notice one of the attackers sneaking up on her from behind. Legolas who had kept an eye on her all the way through the battle, let out a terrified scream, when he saw what was about to happen. "Selina, watch out!" his voice rang out over the battlefield filled with horror. He saw her eyes slowly widen in realisation, then she turned around, the moment seemed to stretch out a painful eternity, facing the deadly creature. All he could do was watch helplessly, because other attackers were blocking him from firing at the beast. He prayed to the Valar for a wonder to save her from death and his prayers didn't go by unheard, as Selina was suddenly pushed out of the way of the hideous Warg by a black, furry shadow, he could only make out as a blur, as it quickly approached her.

The Selvadage'tok tried to sit up, but she was pinned to the ground by Sulrathi's paws, who looked at her with a friendly expression in her eyes. "I thought you could need some help, little kitten!" the she-panther said and jumped off of her. "Thank you. Looks like you just arrived at the right moment." Selina answered with relief swinging in her voice. Within the blink of an eye Legolas was at her side and helped her up. "Thank heavens, you are alright!" he exclaimed and briefly caressed her cheek, as if to reassure himself that she was really standing there, unharmed and safe. Selina smiled back at him and nodded, seeing relief wash over his fair face. Sulrathi had, in the mean time, approached them soundlessly and nuzzled Legolas's palm with her nose. "He smells good, but I can tell he's already taken!" the panther purred teasingly. Selina let out a rich laugh and petted the Sulrathi on the head.

The elf eyed them with a slightly uncomfortable expression on his face, because he wasn't used to seeing a predator from this close and he had the slight suspicion that they were talking about him. Then he remember the dangerous situation in which they were, as the noise of the battle approached his ears again, which had been silenced by his relief over the rescue of his loved one. He whipped around to concentrate on the task at hand, fending of all approaching attackers so Selina and Sulrathi had a brief moment to talk.

"Do you have any advise as to how we could get out of this mess?" Selina asked Sulrathi with a frown on her beautiful face. The she-panther cocked her head and looked at her with its piercing golden eyes. "I thought you were a shaman. If I remember correctly they taught you how to deal with situations like that." Sulrathi explained to her. "What do you mean?" she was baffled. The panther let out a growl that sounded like a laugh. "Come here kitten and lie your hand on my head. I will help you remember."

Selina kneeled down next to Sulrathi and did as she was told. At first she felt nothing except the sensation of the soft fur of the panther under the palm of her hand, but then suddenly the dam broke and a flow of energy seemed to run into her. She had the feeling as if she soared above her body, seeing herself and the panther, sitting lost in peaceful meditation somewhere down there in the midst of a chaotic battle. Memories flashed before her eyes she had never lived through herself. She saw Sulrathi with others of her kind, running majestically under the blue sky, free from all cares and worries that human life held, enjoying every minute of the day without regrets. She suddenly remembered the days of her own youth when she had been equally happy, playing outside with her brother Tulrah or following the daily lessons, they had received from the old shaman. Everything became as clear as if it happened yesterday, every word their teacher had said resounded in her ears as if it had just been spoken, while the she-panther seemed to whisper additional information into her ear, adding some facts the old woman had forgotten to mention or simply hadn't known. And suddenly she knew what she had to do! It was as clear as daylight to her, as if the solution had been there all the time.

Selina reached inside of herself summoning all the power and strength she could muster. It grew quickly like a plant that was unfolding its first leaves in the rays of spring sun. She opened her eyes, which were now completely black like polished onyx stones and the air around her crackled with energy. The attack of the Wargs suddenly stopped, as they froze in tracks and stood there motionless like statues.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas stood their and watched the whole scene with baffled expressions on their faces. The Wargs looked like they had been captured in an ice crystal. Some were frozen in a grotesque position in the middle of an attack, their eyes terrified beyond expression by what was just happening to them. An eerie silence had settled on the battleground and the warriors looked at Gandalf questioningly, waiting for an explanation to this phenomenon. The wizard simply turned around and pointed at Selina who was sitting on the floor like a terrifying statue, her hand touching the panther's head. Both were radiating with sheer power as the raw as the force of a thunder storm that raged mercilessly over the trees of a forest.

Selina had the feeling as if she was seeing through a hundred eyes at once. She had sharp claws and deadly fangs, her huge body was filled with indescribable rage and anger directed towards every being that crossed her way. Her mind had taken control over the Wargs, bending their wills with the iron grip of her small, but powerful hand. She rose from her sitting position, her eyes sparkling dangerously with pure rage.

Her voice cut the air with the terrifying howl, when she spoke in a deep voice to their attackers. "Leave, immediately and never come back or I will show no more mercy, for I am mother nature's servant and I will punish you for your disobedience against her. Now run back to your foul master and tell him that I got his message and I'm not afraid to face him!" The Wargs were suddenly released from the mental grip in which she had held them forcefully and ran off giving away miserable high-pitched whimpers.

Selina exhaled in relief and then she suddenly felt exhaustion overwhelm her with the force of a mighty blow. She staggered and darkness seemed to engulf her immediately.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you very much for those incredible nice reviews! All of you! (Especially to Beguile who put up with this despite of his/her dislike for Legomance.)

And a special thanks to Godforsaken, who took the time to sit down and come up with some very helpful advice. (I'm really happy you did!!!) I will try my best to pay attention to the points you mentioned (I haven't even been aware of most, so you didn't drown me in criticism - it really helped me a lot)

I would absolutely love to get a beta reader, preferably somebody who also writes fanfiction. I got myself some spellchecker software, but as I am not a native speaker of the English language, I'm sometimes unsure when it comes to grammar or certain colloquial expressions.(But I must tell you that English sounds way better than my native language does. After all there has to be a reason, why most of our singers choose to make their text in it. *grins*)

To Black Jaguar: I really do like all sorts of cats! Ever since I was little we always had one. Nowadays when I come home from college, they (2) are usually lying around sleeping, but back in the old days, they were the sweetest little trouble makers :)