Chapter 12
Amongst the Ashes
A/N:: Ooohhh… another chapter! Usual disclaimers apply and enjoy!
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The sun began to set in the western horizon when the two finally left the wood. In front of them stood the Fehn mountains, tall, distant, and menacing. Laera was not looking forward to the cold they would have to face there, but then again, she was astonished to find she could actually stand more than she originally thought. The mud and dirt no longer troubled her as it once did. She was also starting to grow a liking to the tasteless, cold food they ate every now and then. She was changing, and she knew it… in more ways than one.
After their moment at the cave, things had suddenly become comfortable about the two. There was no longer the tension felt in days gone by and the Laera no longer dreaded the silences. The quiet spells between their conversations were relaxed and at ease. Laera was glad they were finally becoming friends.
Legolas was very pleased at Laera's change. She is so agreeable when she wants to be, he reflected fondly. Their little adventure had suddenly taken a cheerful manner. Both had light hearts inside and smiles on their faces; the doom of Middle-Earth was forgotten for the time being.
"Look at the mists covering the tops of the mountains!" cried Laera, pointing a finger towards the Fehn peaks. "Do you think they reach to the heavens?"
"I rather doubt that. The Fehn mountains, although great in their stature, are not the highest in Middle-Earth."
"Have you seen the highest?" she asked enviously. A scene flashed before her eyes… of an Elf standing atop the highest mountain in Middle-Earth, alpine winds whipping at his golden hair and azure eyes looking at all that lay beneath him.
"No, unfortunately not. I have traveled… but I still have so much more to see."
"At least you have traveled," Laera sighed wistfully. They came to an edge of a cliff looking down upon the terrain still left to be passed through. "What is this? Why do the mountains seem so far away?"
"We have to make our way a long distance more."
"But Aragorn did not say anything… at least I did not hear…" she began before thinking.
"So that is how you found out exactly where to go. You were listening in that night!" he accused, a bemused look on his face. He thought he heard the sounds of an unwelcome listener that night.
Blushing, Laera turned away. "Just how far is it?" she said, attempting to get his mind off of her spying that night seemingly long ago.
"Far. We have to cross a village of men first."
"Men? Will they not be curious as to the business of two Elves?" Laera had not encountered many men before besides Aragorn. But she hardly thought of him as a man. He had grown up in Rivendell with Elves. Suddenly the thought of facing the different race frightened her.
"Since the coming of the Shadow, Elves, Hobbits, and Dwarves have been spotted in territory not of their kind. They are trying to escape it." Legolas did not tell her of how many villages and lives that have already been lost to the Shadow. It was moving at an alarming rate.
"Is that it? Over there?" she questioned, waving a hand at what looked like miniature houses below them. "Wait, what is that smoke? Something does not look right…"
Legolas fixed his eyes on the village beneath them, his brow furrowing with increasing worry. "You are right, there is something amiss. Come, Laera," he said, beginning to make his way down the cliff. Laera did not like the look on Legolas's face. Repressing feelings of trepidation, she followed.
Upon approaching the village, Laera gasped. The village was in utter ruins. Almost all the houses were charred and burnt. Some with only the frame standing. Smoke rose from the ashes… smelling of death and decay. It was not the actual village that shocked Laera beyond words, but the bodies that littered the roads. With eyes blurred with tears of grief, Laera saw bodies of women and children amongst the men. Their blank, cold eyes stared glassily above… unseeing to the chaos in which they were a part of.
She suddenly realized it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Gasping for air, Laera shut her eyes to the ghastly sight, wanting nothing more than to run away. She was surrounded by death; it filled her nostrils, her sight, and she could even taste it's tainted flavor in her mouth. "What happened?" she managed to whisper in a voice she did not recognize.
Legolas himself was attempting to recover from his own shock. "It is the Shadow. See how their bodies are unmarked? This was not the work of some vile army of orcs. It is as if their very life force had been taken from them." He shook his head sadly, surveying their surroundings.
Blinking furiously at the tears which streamed down her cheeks, Laera's feelings of anguish suddenly turned into anger. "Is this what we are all fated to?" she exclaimed. "To be eliminated by an invisible foe? We cannot fight something that we cannot even see!"
"The Shadow can be defeated! Gandalf will fight it!" he cried loyally.
She tossed her head, unbelieving. "And what of these people? Legolas… there are children here! What is this evil that threatens the existence of all of Middle-Earth? What is this magic?" she cried, her strength giving way. She crumpled to the floor, Legolas barely able to catch her.
"Do you not see that I too am trying to understand?" he said quietly, holding the shaken, broken girl who wept in his arms.
"What is the point of fighting?" she sobbed into his chest. "These people are gone… never to be able to live their lives through. "
"Yes, and there will be more. There will be countless . There are already innumerable villages just like this. Soon Rivendell and Mirkwood will be like this too if we give up."
"It is lost…all is lost…" she sighed.
He bent his head over hers and lifted a discouraged chin with the crook of his finger. A stab of pain tore at his heart as he stared into eyes that have witnessed what should never be seen. "Not yet. For these people, yes, but there is still hope left in Middle-Earth. Laera, we must continue so that Middle-Earth will not only survive, but prosper. It can be done. There is still a chance."
"And what if we fail?"
"Then all will be lost. But we must try."
Laera brushed away her tears and stood up. She must indeed try. "This is so close to Rivendell," she stated. "Surely the Shadow will reach it soon." Panic caught at her chest as thoughts of Arwen and her family flashed through her eyes.
Legolas shook his head. "No, I do not think that is how it works. This shadow, seems to be selective on its targets of destruction. I have not heard of the obliteration of the critical cities of Middle-Earth. Perhaps it is choosing to rid of the smaller villages first."
"How horrible. It has a mind of its own," Laera said, picking a doll up from the ground. It had surprisingly survived the devastation. Glassy eyes stared blindly into nothingness… much like it's previous owner now did.
He came up behind her, wanting to pull her close, to tell her that her grief was his own. Instead, he placed a comforting hand amiably on her shoulder. It was all he dared to do. "We must move on."
"And what of these people?" she asked, gazing distraughtly at the lifeless villagers who lay about them.
"Nothing can be done. We cannot bury them all, Laera, especially when Gandalf needs us." Laera looked about her, agreeing. Suddenly, she shuddered. Entities of the people who once lived there seemed to hang thickly in the air. She could almost hear the faint laughter of a child and the music plucked from a musician's lithe fingers. From behind the ruins peeked the faces of the maids who used to live there and their sweethearts coming up the lane, hands filled with flowers for them. At her feet rested a woman… a mother, a wife, a person who had dreams of their children growing and having children of their own.
"We will return," she said resolutely. She bent over and tucked the doll into the arm of a little girl. She had died with her eyes closed… long, pretty lashes swept cold pallid cheeks.
It took them an hour to pass through the village but to both of them it seemed an eternity. Both were crestfallen and devastated, but seeing the village gave them a sort of wakeup call. They have been so rapt up in themselves, they have allowed their feelings and thoughts to distract them of their true mission. Feeling guilty and distraught, both silently vowed to give all their strength to find the stone and to heal the wizard. Even if it meant their own demise.
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A/N:: Sorry… morbid chapter. They did need a bit of a wake-up call.