A/N-I am sorry for taking such a long time in getting this chapter out. I
want to thank all of the people who reviewed this story. That really made
my day when I read that people actually liked this story. Thank you so
much.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine except for maybe a few characters that I made up. But other than that the rest belongs to the great, wonderful, and awesome J.R.R. Tolkien.
Chapter 2-One Wounded Captain and Much Blackness
Pain. Oh the pain was horrible. But not so much as the darkness. That was unbearable. No light anywhere. Just black, totally black. And it was much too silent. Something wasn't right. 'Please don't let me be dead. Don't let this be outside the Halls of Mandos. I knew those arrows were close, but not that close, I was only following orders. Oh Eru, don't let her be hurt.' Celeborn thought as the unconsciousness began to lift away off of him.
All too soon he fully awakened. The pain was so much worse but at least he knew he was alive. His sight was beginning to work correctly again. He could see the faint light of the lanterns and a few elvish outlines. Sound was making its way to his ears too. The horses were growing impatient and were moving around on the ground and some were neighing. To his right was coming a soft feminine voice. It sounded like a healing charm in Quenya, but he was much too weak to try and figure out what was being said.
The rain blurred his sight but as he gazed upon the lady, he swore he saw one of the Valor themselves. With her wet traveling clothes (that clung tightly to her body) and the drenched locks that were barely covered by her hood, she looked more beautiful than Queen Melian. It seemed that her very essence glowed gold. Like a maiden crowned in radiance.
With all of his strength that he had left, he spoke to her. His voice was full of pain, but also laced with worry. "Milady, I must enquire," he gasped and took another breath before continuing, "whether or not you are uninjured." Celeborn's breathing was becoming more rapid and his eyes were starting to go hazy and unfocused again. He could feel the pain starting to overtake him and the blackness was coming back. But he knew that he must stay awake to at least hear her answer.
Artanis was surprised when he had spoken considering how much pain he must be in. She could feel him slipping again and knew she must answer him. With a smile on her face she spoke, "Thanks to you My Lord, I am unharmed." And with that he let the darkness take him away again.
"He's out again and loosing strength. We must get the arrows out now! Please somebody help me finish rolling him over and hold him down." She desperately begged the crowd of warriors.
"Allow me to help my caption, milady." Beleg said as he moved silently to the other side of Celeborn.
Together they gently rolled him from his side to his stomach without further disturbing or hurting him. Beleg then, called to Thalion to help in holding down Celeborn. Artanis stood over the arrow that was in his knee, while Thalion held down the legs and Beleg had the shoulders. She placed one foot on his calf and used both of her hands to pull the arrow out.
After a little tugging the arrow dislodged itself from the skin and muscle. It also caused Celeborn to give a groan.
Artanis then moved up to the arrow that was in the warriors' lower back. With her small knife, she carefully cut around the arrowhead so it wouldn't do as much damage when it was pulled out. This time she put her foot on Celeborn's upper butt to give her something to push up with. "Hold him tight," she ordered Beleg and Thalion.
With all of her strength, Artanis pulled at the arrow. Even after cutting the skin away from it, it was still hung up on something and didn't want to come out. It took several attempts before it finally came out.
But the arrow wasn't the only thing that came out. Celeborn came out of his unconscious state with the pain. Where he had thought the pain from before was bad, now it was five times worse. He couldn't help the need to curse so he did.
Lifting his head out of the dirt and grass he screamed and caused elves to jump. "Bloody mother of hell that hurts. And who ever is on my butt, get the hell off. And Beleg let me go." Once the extra weight was off of him, he then tried to push himself up.
That was before a hand stopped him and pushed him back down. "That is must unwise to do, milord. Your wounds have not been bound and moving will only make them worse. Plus you still have an arrow in your shoulder." The lady told him.
"Then hurry up and bind the wounds and pull the other damn arrow out." He ordered her.
"You'll need to remove your shirt and boot so I can do that then, sir."
"Thalion," he called to his good friend. "Do as she says, but remove the cloak first."
"Yes, captain."
Using his one good arm, Celeborn pushed himself up enough so that Thalion could undo his cloak and get that off. As soon as that was done, Celeborn fell back to the ground. Thalion went to remove the shirt, but found that quite impossible to do since Celeborn was lying on the part that you untie it and with the arrow in the shoulder, he couldn't roll him over to take it off.
Celeborn, I can't get your shirt off in."
'I'm surrounded by idiots.' Celeborn thought to himself before he interrupter Thalion. "Then cut the damn thing off."
"Yes, Captain." Taking out one of his daggers, Thalion started to cut the gray material that was turning red. Once the tunic was removed, Artanis had come back with several bandages.
His skin was warm compared to her cold hands. She noticed that he shivered as she began to clean the blood off of his back. As she moved closer to the wound's opening, she could feel his back tense up. The muscles underneath the cloth grew hard and made his back feel like a rock.
While she was applying pressure to the wound, she took a good look at the elf. She had watched him fight and saw the fury that he fought with. His eyes were like steel, one couldn't look in them while he fought, but when he spoke to her, his eyes were soft like velvet almost. His hair was silver in color and went to his upper back. Part of it was braided in the manner of elf lords. His only clothing now was the gray riding breeches that had blood on one knee. They clung to him tight enough to show off the nicely toned calf muscles.
His back was hairless and had a perfect skin tone. His arms looked strong even without being flexed. Pale hairs covered them, but one had to look very close to notice them. She could only see part of his head, but that was enough to study. His eyes were barely open, but Artanis could still tell that they were a green. A rare color of eyes and hair for an elf. Not even the Teleri had that color of hair and most of them were silver-haired. His was the same color silver as Telperion. His nose was perfectly straight like all elves' noses. And his mouth was a pale pink color and even though it was chapped, it still looked soft.
After she had finished her inspection of the elf, she began to start on the bandages. But there was the problem of him lying on the ground again. So she called to one of the ones who had helped hold him down. "Your name is Thalion is it not?" He nodded meaning yes. "Well Thalion I need you to stand him up and then support him so I can wrap up the wound. Can you do that without hurting his knee?" He nodded again. "Good now stand him up please."
Using Celeborn's uninjured arm, Thalion pulled him carefully to his feet. He then moved so that he was supporting his weight on the side that had the injured knee. Artanis began to wrap his back and stomach with the bandages. Her hands were traveling slowly across his stomach feeling the warmth and hard muscles that were there. Each time she went around she barely grazed the skin, but on the last time she had her whole hand resting on his skin. That caused Celeborn to shiver once more.
After securing the bandage, Thalion lowered him into a sitting position. With his boot off and his riding pants rolled up, Artanis started cleaning around the knee. His knee was resting straight on a fallen log and when it first began to bend, he screamed out a few more elvish curses. "I know that it has to hurt, but I have nothing to give you to numb the pain. And I have already tried healing charms on it." She whispered to him.
"What's wrong with it?"
"The arrow had enough force that it shattered your kneecap. You will not be walking without help or a brace for some time."
"No, I'm already the Slow, don't make me be the Lame too."
"Don't forget the Unwise for forgetting your armor, Captain." A voice cried out from the crowd. It also caused quite a few laughs from the men.
"Too bad for you Oropher that I am not the Deaf. I think that one deserves a little bit of extra stable duty. And you know what that means."
Some grumbles and more curses were heard and this time it made Celeborn laugh. But the pain that not even good-natured jests could help came back. His whole leg tensed before he realized that that hurt his knee even more. When he did look back at his knee he could see that it was fully wrapped up in the same type of material that his stomach was. It was weird though, even with the rain falling on it, it didn't seem to be getting wet. So absorbed in his study he didn't hear Artanis when she tried speaking to him.
Shrugging her shoulders, she moved behind him and gripped the arrow that was still embedded. This one was deeper than the other two because it was the one the hit the ground when they fell and was pushed further down and at a weird angle into the shoulder blade. At the same time she pushed her foot into his back and pulled the arrow. He fell forward as she went back with the arrow.
Not sure what had happened, Celeborn had grabbed the dagger from his boot and turned as much as he could without bothering the bandages. What he saw made him forget about the pain for a moment and laugh. The Noldorian lady was sitting very ungracefully on the ground in the mud.
But then the coughing started up. Celeborn was gasping for breath. Blood was being forced out of with the coughs. His eyes were clouding up again and everything was becoming spotted. His hands were clinched so tight that the skin broke. The bandage on his back was starting to get red. Celeborn was bleeding in the inside.
"Damn this pain. Get me to Melian." His head was rolled back and the muscles were tense. "Now." The last word was desperate. And again, the world went black for him.
I am so sorry that it took me forever to get this out. I haven't had that much time to write and have spent most of my time being lazy or watching movies. I just saw X-Men 2. That is an awesome movie. But anyways here is the next chapter and I hope you like it. Don't forget to review.
Cotume
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine except for maybe a few characters that I made up. But other than that the rest belongs to the great, wonderful, and awesome J.R.R. Tolkien.
Chapter 2-One Wounded Captain and Much Blackness
Pain. Oh the pain was horrible. But not so much as the darkness. That was unbearable. No light anywhere. Just black, totally black. And it was much too silent. Something wasn't right. 'Please don't let me be dead. Don't let this be outside the Halls of Mandos. I knew those arrows were close, but not that close, I was only following orders. Oh Eru, don't let her be hurt.' Celeborn thought as the unconsciousness began to lift away off of him.
All too soon he fully awakened. The pain was so much worse but at least he knew he was alive. His sight was beginning to work correctly again. He could see the faint light of the lanterns and a few elvish outlines. Sound was making its way to his ears too. The horses were growing impatient and were moving around on the ground and some were neighing. To his right was coming a soft feminine voice. It sounded like a healing charm in Quenya, but he was much too weak to try and figure out what was being said.
The rain blurred his sight but as he gazed upon the lady, he swore he saw one of the Valor themselves. With her wet traveling clothes (that clung tightly to her body) and the drenched locks that were barely covered by her hood, she looked more beautiful than Queen Melian. It seemed that her very essence glowed gold. Like a maiden crowned in radiance.
With all of his strength that he had left, he spoke to her. His voice was full of pain, but also laced with worry. "Milady, I must enquire," he gasped and took another breath before continuing, "whether or not you are uninjured." Celeborn's breathing was becoming more rapid and his eyes were starting to go hazy and unfocused again. He could feel the pain starting to overtake him and the blackness was coming back. But he knew that he must stay awake to at least hear her answer.
Artanis was surprised when he had spoken considering how much pain he must be in. She could feel him slipping again and knew she must answer him. With a smile on her face she spoke, "Thanks to you My Lord, I am unharmed." And with that he let the darkness take him away again.
"He's out again and loosing strength. We must get the arrows out now! Please somebody help me finish rolling him over and hold him down." She desperately begged the crowd of warriors.
"Allow me to help my caption, milady." Beleg said as he moved silently to the other side of Celeborn.
Together they gently rolled him from his side to his stomach without further disturbing or hurting him. Beleg then, called to Thalion to help in holding down Celeborn. Artanis stood over the arrow that was in his knee, while Thalion held down the legs and Beleg had the shoulders. She placed one foot on his calf and used both of her hands to pull the arrow out.
After a little tugging the arrow dislodged itself from the skin and muscle. It also caused Celeborn to give a groan.
Artanis then moved up to the arrow that was in the warriors' lower back. With her small knife, she carefully cut around the arrowhead so it wouldn't do as much damage when it was pulled out. This time she put her foot on Celeborn's upper butt to give her something to push up with. "Hold him tight," she ordered Beleg and Thalion.
With all of her strength, Artanis pulled at the arrow. Even after cutting the skin away from it, it was still hung up on something and didn't want to come out. It took several attempts before it finally came out.
But the arrow wasn't the only thing that came out. Celeborn came out of his unconscious state with the pain. Where he had thought the pain from before was bad, now it was five times worse. He couldn't help the need to curse so he did.
Lifting his head out of the dirt and grass he screamed and caused elves to jump. "Bloody mother of hell that hurts. And who ever is on my butt, get the hell off. And Beleg let me go." Once the extra weight was off of him, he then tried to push himself up.
That was before a hand stopped him and pushed him back down. "That is must unwise to do, milord. Your wounds have not been bound and moving will only make them worse. Plus you still have an arrow in your shoulder." The lady told him.
"Then hurry up and bind the wounds and pull the other damn arrow out." He ordered her.
"You'll need to remove your shirt and boot so I can do that then, sir."
"Thalion," he called to his good friend. "Do as she says, but remove the cloak first."
"Yes, captain."
Using his one good arm, Celeborn pushed himself up enough so that Thalion could undo his cloak and get that off. As soon as that was done, Celeborn fell back to the ground. Thalion went to remove the shirt, but found that quite impossible to do since Celeborn was lying on the part that you untie it and with the arrow in the shoulder, he couldn't roll him over to take it off.
Celeborn, I can't get your shirt off in."
'I'm surrounded by idiots.' Celeborn thought to himself before he interrupter Thalion. "Then cut the damn thing off."
"Yes, Captain." Taking out one of his daggers, Thalion started to cut the gray material that was turning red. Once the tunic was removed, Artanis had come back with several bandages.
His skin was warm compared to her cold hands. She noticed that he shivered as she began to clean the blood off of his back. As she moved closer to the wound's opening, she could feel his back tense up. The muscles underneath the cloth grew hard and made his back feel like a rock.
While she was applying pressure to the wound, she took a good look at the elf. She had watched him fight and saw the fury that he fought with. His eyes were like steel, one couldn't look in them while he fought, but when he spoke to her, his eyes were soft like velvet almost. His hair was silver in color and went to his upper back. Part of it was braided in the manner of elf lords. His only clothing now was the gray riding breeches that had blood on one knee. They clung to him tight enough to show off the nicely toned calf muscles.
His back was hairless and had a perfect skin tone. His arms looked strong even without being flexed. Pale hairs covered them, but one had to look very close to notice them. She could only see part of his head, but that was enough to study. His eyes were barely open, but Artanis could still tell that they were a green. A rare color of eyes and hair for an elf. Not even the Teleri had that color of hair and most of them were silver-haired. His was the same color silver as Telperion. His nose was perfectly straight like all elves' noses. And his mouth was a pale pink color and even though it was chapped, it still looked soft.
After she had finished her inspection of the elf, she began to start on the bandages. But there was the problem of him lying on the ground again. So she called to one of the ones who had helped hold him down. "Your name is Thalion is it not?" He nodded meaning yes. "Well Thalion I need you to stand him up and then support him so I can wrap up the wound. Can you do that without hurting his knee?" He nodded again. "Good now stand him up please."
Using Celeborn's uninjured arm, Thalion pulled him carefully to his feet. He then moved so that he was supporting his weight on the side that had the injured knee. Artanis began to wrap his back and stomach with the bandages. Her hands were traveling slowly across his stomach feeling the warmth and hard muscles that were there. Each time she went around she barely grazed the skin, but on the last time she had her whole hand resting on his skin. That caused Celeborn to shiver once more.
After securing the bandage, Thalion lowered him into a sitting position. With his boot off and his riding pants rolled up, Artanis started cleaning around the knee. His knee was resting straight on a fallen log and when it first began to bend, he screamed out a few more elvish curses. "I know that it has to hurt, but I have nothing to give you to numb the pain. And I have already tried healing charms on it." She whispered to him.
"What's wrong with it?"
"The arrow had enough force that it shattered your kneecap. You will not be walking without help or a brace for some time."
"No, I'm already the Slow, don't make me be the Lame too."
"Don't forget the Unwise for forgetting your armor, Captain." A voice cried out from the crowd. It also caused quite a few laughs from the men.
"Too bad for you Oropher that I am not the Deaf. I think that one deserves a little bit of extra stable duty. And you know what that means."
Some grumbles and more curses were heard and this time it made Celeborn laugh. But the pain that not even good-natured jests could help came back. His whole leg tensed before he realized that that hurt his knee even more. When he did look back at his knee he could see that it was fully wrapped up in the same type of material that his stomach was. It was weird though, even with the rain falling on it, it didn't seem to be getting wet. So absorbed in his study he didn't hear Artanis when she tried speaking to him.
Shrugging her shoulders, she moved behind him and gripped the arrow that was still embedded. This one was deeper than the other two because it was the one the hit the ground when they fell and was pushed further down and at a weird angle into the shoulder blade. At the same time she pushed her foot into his back and pulled the arrow. He fell forward as she went back with the arrow.
Not sure what had happened, Celeborn had grabbed the dagger from his boot and turned as much as he could without bothering the bandages. What he saw made him forget about the pain for a moment and laugh. The Noldorian lady was sitting very ungracefully on the ground in the mud.
But then the coughing started up. Celeborn was gasping for breath. Blood was being forced out of with the coughs. His eyes were clouding up again and everything was becoming spotted. His hands were clinched so tight that the skin broke. The bandage on his back was starting to get red. Celeborn was bleeding in the inside.
"Damn this pain. Get me to Melian." His head was rolled back and the muscles were tense. "Now." The last word was desperate. And again, the world went black for him.
I am so sorry that it took me forever to get this out. I haven't had that much time to write and have spent most of my time being lazy or watching movies. I just saw X-Men 2. That is an awesome movie. But anyways here is the next chapter and I hope you like it. Don't forget to review.
Cotume