Disclaimer: *runs away from lawyers* Aaaagh! All right, all right! Not Mineeeeee!
Author notes: I have much more reviews that I could ever have dreamt of! Thank you everyone…and please don't stop making me happy? ^_^
English is my second language, so I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes that can be found in here. Elvish is very likely to be mistaken, for I put it on as I believed it to be. Any quotes are taken from the book, with lines of my own, of course…and…uh…R&R?
Master in Deceiving
By Yours Truly
"Cut no living wood!" Aragorn warned, looking around uneasily.
"There is no need," said Gimli, also looking around. "The Riders have left chip and bough enough, and there is dead wood lying in plenty." He went off to gather fuel, and busied himself with building and kindling a fire; but Aragorn sat silent with his back to the great tree, deep in thought; and Legolas stood alone in the open, looking towards the profound shadow of the wood, leaning forward, as one who listens to voices calling from a distance.
{Approaching…something approaches…}
{What do you feel?}
{Uneasiness…fear…and…excitement}
{Good or evil, do you think?}
{I know not…it confuses me…}
{What does not?}
{The fact that I am dying}
{Who says you are?}
{Grief speaks loudly}
{Grief always does. You are only listening to it…}
{But I can feel…}
{It is not grief, princeling. Do you honestly believe you are to die before all is fixed? Grief has not touched you…and probably never will}
{Nay, I feel this weight…}
{Grief is the murderer…guilt is what the murderer feels}
{What…}
{Have you so soon forgotten your victims?}
{Nay, victims they were not. Aragorn explained clearly…}
{You do remember your thoughts?}
{Estel…}
{Was telling lies to relieve the guilt. He needs your hearing and sight on this quest. He does not need you}
{Estel is my friend…}
{And is much more than you are…}
{He…aye, he is}
{King where you are prince, strong where you are weak, confident where you are insecure…}
{Something approaches…}
Gimli had lit fire, and Legolas sat close to it, amazed that he felt the need to touch it.
{Burning fire…}
Shaking his head, Legolas looked up, to try and view the stars, when he noticed the tree above their heads. With effort, he focused his thoughts on it, and sighed when again he could not smile.
"Look!" he said. "The tree is glad of the fire!"
His companions looked at it and smiled.
{If not grief, why I cannot smile?}
{Because you do not deserve it}
{…This tree is lonely in this land…}
{Mirkwood trees are never lonely…}
{Do not speak of home}
{Why must I not? afraid, are you? To go back and face your family?}
{Nay…I…}
{You are afraid of your own home…}
{Nay! I can face…}
{The why can you not speak of it?}
{I can…}
{I do not believe it…}
"Celeborn warned us not to go far into Fangorn," Legolas said, breaking the silence and interrupting his thoughts. "Do you know why, Aragorn? What are the fables of the forest that Boromir had heard?"
{Boromir…}
{Your second victim}
"I have heard many tales in Gondor and elsewhere," Aragorn answered,
{Why does he answer me? …I am not worthy…}
{For pity}
"But if it were not for the words of Celeborn I should deem them only fables that Men have made as true knowledge fades. I had thought of asking you what was the truth of the matter. And if an Elf of the Wood does not know, how shall a Man answer?"
{Stupid Wood elf…much better man}
"You have journeyed further than I," said Legolas softly, as if asking for forgiveness and Aragorn frowned a little at his tone. "I have heard nothing of this in my own land, save only songs that tell how the Onodrim, that Men call Ents, dwelt there long ago; for Fangorn is old, old even as the Elves would reckon it."
"Yes, it is old," Aragorn, said gently, thinking that maybe he had somehow accused the elf with his earlier tone "as old as the forest by the Barrow-downs, and it is far greater. Elrond says that the two are akin, the last strongholds of the mighty woods of the Elder Days, in which the Firstborn roamed while Men still slept. Yet Fangorn holds some secret of its own. What it is I do not know."
Remembering his foster father's stories, the ranger almost smiled, when the dwarf's voice interrupted his memories.
"And I do not wish to know," said Gimli. "Let nothing that dwells in Fangorn be troubled on my account!"
Legolas did not bother in listening to them anymore. When it was decided that Gimli was to take first watch, he lay down and made an enormous effort to sink into the dream world…hoping that he would not resurface, for exhaustion had somehow cached him.
Images of weakness and whispers of the past, made this night anything but restful.
When Gimli suddenly moved, Legolas' eyes cleared and he sat up, confused.
He saw Aragorn offering something to someone he no longer saw.
The other thing that no longer saw made him cry out. "The horses! The horses!"
While they stared around in silence, Legolas caught Aragorn's gaze. He seemed angered…
{At you}
{Why?}
{You should have heard…}
{I…I slept}
{And you failed him again…}
When Aragorn gave him a concerned look, he realized his face was probably showing his emotions, for he had not shielded himself from them. Estel was saying something else, but the elf could see he was about to say something to him, when Gimli spoke.
"Feet!" said Gimli. "But we cannot eat them as well as walk on them " He threw some fuel on the fire and slumped down beside it.
Forcing his mask on, and taking the chance presented, Legolas laughed.
Fake smile, hollow laugh.
And Aragorn noticed.
"Only a few hours ago you were unwilling to sit on a horse of Rohan," laughed Legolas. "You will make a rider yet."
More conversation passed; Legolas barely heard. Worried that Aragorn had caught his trick. But the ranger said nothing, and he relaxed once more, listening to the new set of watches they were to have.
The night passed slowly. Legolas followed Aragorn, and Gimli followed Legolas, and their watches wore away. But nothing happened. The old man did not appear again, and the horses did not return.
****
He had some meaningless conversation with Gimli, and was surprised when the dwarf did not notice he barely knew what he was saying, so focused was him in trying not to disappoint anyone again.
{I should have heard…}
{Yes, you should have}
{I heard only the horses}
{Estel is talking to you, little prince, and better focus on his words}
"Legolas? Did they sound to you like beasts in terror?"
"No," said Legolas, thrilled to have an answer. "I heard them clearly. But for the darkness and our own fear I should have guessed that they were beasts wild with some sudden gladness. They spoke as horses will when they meet a friend that they have long missed."
"So I thought," said Aragorn; "but I cannot read the riddle, unless they return. Come! The light is growing fast. Let us look first and guess later! We should begin here…" the rest was muffled by his mind as Legolas almost managed a real smile.
{I did not disappoint Estel…}
{For once, you did not}
They started looking around the ground, and Legolas did the same, not very sure of what they looked for. He reacted only when Aragorn called them closer, and he observed what he held in his hand.
"Here at last we find news!" said Aragorn. He lifted up a broken the leaf for them to see "Here is a mallorn-leaf of Lórien, and there are small crumbs on it, and a few more crumbs in the grass. And see! There are some pieces of cut cord lying nearby!"
{What is this?}
{What does this mean?}
{Orcs?}
"And here is the knife that cut them!" said Gimli. He stooped and drew out of a tussock, into which some heavy foot had trampled it, a short jagged blade. The haft from which it had been snapped was beside it. "It was an orc-weapon," he said, holding it gingerly, and looking with disgust at the carved handle.
{So horrible…what is it?}
{Orcs, princeling, you know that…}
{Hobbits…i periannath!} (The hobbits!}
{Are you certain?}
{They…they have to be, they have to be alive…of course they are, they left a clue! See? I knew they were hiding Estel! How did they get so far, do you know?}
{Nay, little prince, why the cord then?}
{I…think…}
Frustration and confusion building up for days, finally exploding beyond any mask he could have built.
"Well, here is the strangest riddle that we have yet found!" exclaimed Legolas. "A bound prisoner escapes both from the Orcs and from the surrounding horsemen. He then stops, while still in the open, and cuts his bonds with an orc-knife. But how and why? For if his legs were tied, how did he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. After that, I suppose, he turned his arms into wings and flew away singing into the trees. It should be easy to find him: we only need wings ourselves!"
The sarcastic tone in his voice, surprised even him, and Aragorn looked at him with concern. Legolas looked away and stared at the mallorn-leaf instead.
"What have you to say, Aragorn, to the reading of Legolas. Can you better it?" Gimli said and the ranger looked his way.
"Maybe, I could," said Aragorn, smiling, trying to make it light. Worried, beyond his words, for he had seen his mask being replaced just after the elf spoke. "There are some other signs near at hand that you have not considered…"
Aragorn spoke, and Legolas did not listen.
{Why I cannot hear well anymore? Why must I struggle to even see straight, now? Not grief, I am told…then what?}
{Guilt}
{I will have only more guilt if I fail them once more, and these limitations shall make me fail}
{You were failing well before this, little Prince}
Aragorn and Gimli moved closer to Fangorn and Legolas followed, silently. He heard the song of the words and found it not to be evil as the tales went.
Talking quietly with Gimli, he looked at the sad trees with longing.
"It is old, very old," said the Elf. "So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children." Legolas saw Aragorn smile at that, and he wanted to join him…but could not. "It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace."
{Had I come when I was still sane…}
"I dare say you could," snorted Gimli. "You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go…"
{Not a good model to follow, dear friend}
They came at length to the steep abrupt end of Treebeard's Hill and looked up at the rock-wall with its rough steps leading to the high shelf. Gleams of sun were striking through the hurrying clouds, and the forest now looked less grey and drear.
{Suffocating forest…beautiful forest that will kill me}
{Not yet, princeling}
"Let us go up and look about us!" said Legolas, angry inside when he knew he had not thought those words, but were still being spoken by him. "I will feel my breath short. I should like to taste a freer air for a while."
They climbed and Legolas looked around, answering when spoken to, and unknowingly voicing his thoughts.
"Yet here we are-and nicely caught in the net," said Legolas. "Look!"
{I feel dread…anticipation… who is it that draws closer?}
"Look at what?" said Gimli.
"There in the trees."
"Where? I have not elf-eyes."
"Hush! Speak more softly! Look!" said Legolas pointing. "Down in the wood, back in the Way that we have just come. It is he. Cannot you see him, passing from tree to tree?"
"I see, I see now!" hissed Gimli. "Look, Aragorn! Did I not warn you? There is the old man. All in dirty grey rags: that is why I could not see him at first."
{My heart is speeding, what is this?}
{You shall see}
{Nay! Not again!}
{Just wait little prince}
{Nay…who is it?}
{Just wait}
At that moment the old man quickened his pace and came with surprising speed to the foot of the rock-wall. Then suddenly he looked up, while they stood motionless looking down. There was no sound.
{Who…who…please…I need answers…}
They could not see his face: he was hooded, and above the hood he wore a wide-brimmed hat, so that all his features were over-shadowed, except for the end of his nose and his grey beard. Yet it seemed to Aragorn that he caught the gleam of eyes keen and bright from within the shadow of the hooded brows.
At last the old man broke the silence. "Well met indeed, my friends," he said in a soft voice.
And Legolas froze.
To be continued.
Author notes: I have much more reviews that I could ever have dreamt of! Thank you everyone…and please don't stop making me happy? ^_^
English is my second language, so I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes that can be found in here. Elvish is very likely to be mistaken, for I put it on as I believed it to be. Any quotes are taken from the book, with lines of my own, of course…and…uh…R&R?
Master in Deceiving
By Yours Truly
"Cut no living wood!" Aragorn warned, looking around uneasily.
"There is no need," said Gimli, also looking around. "The Riders have left chip and bough enough, and there is dead wood lying in plenty." He went off to gather fuel, and busied himself with building and kindling a fire; but Aragorn sat silent with his back to the great tree, deep in thought; and Legolas stood alone in the open, looking towards the profound shadow of the wood, leaning forward, as one who listens to voices calling from a distance.
{Approaching…something approaches…}
{What do you feel?}
{Uneasiness…fear…and…excitement}
{Good or evil, do you think?}
{I know not…it confuses me…}
{What does not?}
{The fact that I am dying}
{Who says you are?}
{Grief speaks loudly}
{Grief always does. You are only listening to it…}
{But I can feel…}
{It is not grief, princeling. Do you honestly believe you are to die before all is fixed? Grief has not touched you…and probably never will}
{Nay, I feel this weight…}
{Grief is the murderer…guilt is what the murderer feels}
{What…}
{Have you so soon forgotten your victims?}
{Nay, victims they were not. Aragorn explained clearly…}
{You do remember your thoughts?}
{Estel…}
{Was telling lies to relieve the guilt. He needs your hearing and sight on this quest. He does not need you}
{Estel is my friend…}
{And is much more than you are…}
{He…aye, he is}
{King where you are prince, strong where you are weak, confident where you are insecure…}
{Something approaches…}
Gimli had lit fire, and Legolas sat close to it, amazed that he felt the need to touch it.
{Burning fire…}
Shaking his head, Legolas looked up, to try and view the stars, when he noticed the tree above their heads. With effort, he focused his thoughts on it, and sighed when again he could not smile.
"Look!" he said. "The tree is glad of the fire!"
His companions looked at it and smiled.
{If not grief, why I cannot smile?}
{Because you do not deserve it}
{…This tree is lonely in this land…}
{Mirkwood trees are never lonely…}
{Do not speak of home}
{Why must I not? afraid, are you? To go back and face your family?}
{Nay…I…}
{You are afraid of your own home…}
{Nay! I can face…}
{The why can you not speak of it?}
{I can…}
{I do not believe it…}
"Celeborn warned us not to go far into Fangorn," Legolas said, breaking the silence and interrupting his thoughts. "Do you know why, Aragorn? What are the fables of the forest that Boromir had heard?"
{Boromir…}
{Your second victim}
"I have heard many tales in Gondor and elsewhere," Aragorn answered,
{Why does he answer me? …I am not worthy…}
{For pity}
"But if it were not for the words of Celeborn I should deem them only fables that Men have made as true knowledge fades. I had thought of asking you what was the truth of the matter. And if an Elf of the Wood does not know, how shall a Man answer?"
{Stupid Wood elf…much better man}
"You have journeyed further than I," said Legolas softly, as if asking for forgiveness and Aragorn frowned a little at his tone. "I have heard nothing of this in my own land, save only songs that tell how the Onodrim, that Men call Ents, dwelt there long ago; for Fangorn is old, old even as the Elves would reckon it."
"Yes, it is old," Aragorn, said gently, thinking that maybe he had somehow accused the elf with his earlier tone "as old as the forest by the Barrow-downs, and it is far greater. Elrond says that the two are akin, the last strongholds of the mighty woods of the Elder Days, in which the Firstborn roamed while Men still slept. Yet Fangorn holds some secret of its own. What it is I do not know."
Remembering his foster father's stories, the ranger almost smiled, when the dwarf's voice interrupted his memories.
"And I do not wish to know," said Gimli. "Let nothing that dwells in Fangorn be troubled on my account!"
Legolas did not bother in listening to them anymore. When it was decided that Gimli was to take first watch, he lay down and made an enormous effort to sink into the dream world…hoping that he would not resurface, for exhaustion had somehow cached him.
Images of weakness and whispers of the past, made this night anything but restful.
When Gimli suddenly moved, Legolas' eyes cleared and he sat up, confused.
He saw Aragorn offering something to someone he no longer saw.
The other thing that no longer saw made him cry out. "The horses! The horses!"
While they stared around in silence, Legolas caught Aragorn's gaze. He seemed angered…
{At you}
{Why?}
{You should have heard…}
{I…I slept}
{And you failed him again…}
When Aragorn gave him a concerned look, he realized his face was probably showing his emotions, for he had not shielded himself from them. Estel was saying something else, but the elf could see he was about to say something to him, when Gimli spoke.
"Feet!" said Gimli. "But we cannot eat them as well as walk on them " He threw some fuel on the fire and slumped down beside it.
Forcing his mask on, and taking the chance presented, Legolas laughed.
Fake smile, hollow laugh.
And Aragorn noticed.
"Only a few hours ago you were unwilling to sit on a horse of Rohan," laughed Legolas. "You will make a rider yet."
More conversation passed; Legolas barely heard. Worried that Aragorn had caught his trick. But the ranger said nothing, and he relaxed once more, listening to the new set of watches they were to have.
The night passed slowly. Legolas followed Aragorn, and Gimli followed Legolas, and their watches wore away. But nothing happened. The old man did not appear again, and the horses did not return.
****
He had some meaningless conversation with Gimli, and was surprised when the dwarf did not notice he barely knew what he was saying, so focused was him in trying not to disappoint anyone again.
{I should have heard…}
{Yes, you should have}
{I heard only the horses}
{Estel is talking to you, little prince, and better focus on his words}
"Legolas? Did they sound to you like beasts in terror?"
"No," said Legolas, thrilled to have an answer. "I heard them clearly. But for the darkness and our own fear I should have guessed that they were beasts wild with some sudden gladness. They spoke as horses will when they meet a friend that they have long missed."
"So I thought," said Aragorn; "but I cannot read the riddle, unless they return. Come! The light is growing fast. Let us look first and guess later! We should begin here…" the rest was muffled by his mind as Legolas almost managed a real smile.
{I did not disappoint Estel…}
{For once, you did not}
They started looking around the ground, and Legolas did the same, not very sure of what they looked for. He reacted only when Aragorn called them closer, and he observed what he held in his hand.
"Here at last we find news!" said Aragorn. He lifted up a broken the leaf for them to see "Here is a mallorn-leaf of Lórien, and there are small crumbs on it, and a few more crumbs in the grass. And see! There are some pieces of cut cord lying nearby!"
{What is this?}
{What does this mean?}
{Orcs?}
"And here is the knife that cut them!" said Gimli. He stooped and drew out of a tussock, into which some heavy foot had trampled it, a short jagged blade. The haft from which it had been snapped was beside it. "It was an orc-weapon," he said, holding it gingerly, and looking with disgust at the carved handle.
{So horrible…what is it?}
{Orcs, princeling, you know that…}
{Hobbits…i periannath!} (The hobbits!}
{Are you certain?}
{They…they have to be, they have to be alive…of course they are, they left a clue! See? I knew they were hiding Estel! How did they get so far, do you know?}
{Nay, little prince, why the cord then?}
{I…think…}
Frustration and confusion building up for days, finally exploding beyond any mask he could have built.
"Well, here is the strangest riddle that we have yet found!" exclaimed Legolas. "A bound prisoner escapes both from the Orcs and from the surrounding horsemen. He then stops, while still in the open, and cuts his bonds with an orc-knife. But how and why? For if his legs were tied, how did he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. After that, I suppose, he turned his arms into wings and flew away singing into the trees. It should be easy to find him: we only need wings ourselves!"
The sarcastic tone in his voice, surprised even him, and Aragorn looked at him with concern. Legolas looked away and stared at the mallorn-leaf instead.
"What have you to say, Aragorn, to the reading of Legolas. Can you better it?" Gimli said and the ranger looked his way.
"Maybe, I could," said Aragorn, smiling, trying to make it light. Worried, beyond his words, for he had seen his mask being replaced just after the elf spoke. "There are some other signs near at hand that you have not considered…"
Aragorn spoke, and Legolas did not listen.
{Why I cannot hear well anymore? Why must I struggle to even see straight, now? Not grief, I am told…then what?}
{Guilt}
{I will have only more guilt if I fail them once more, and these limitations shall make me fail}
{You were failing well before this, little Prince}
Aragorn and Gimli moved closer to Fangorn and Legolas followed, silently. He heard the song of the words and found it not to be evil as the tales went.
Talking quietly with Gimli, he looked at the sad trees with longing.
"It is old, very old," said the Elf. "So old that almost I feel young again, as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children." Legolas saw Aragorn smile at that, and he wanted to join him…but could not. "It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace."
{Had I come when I was still sane…}
"I dare say you could," snorted Gimli. "You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go…"
{Not a good model to follow, dear friend}
They came at length to the steep abrupt end of Treebeard's Hill and looked up at the rock-wall with its rough steps leading to the high shelf. Gleams of sun were striking through the hurrying clouds, and the forest now looked less grey and drear.
{Suffocating forest…beautiful forest that will kill me}
{Not yet, princeling}
"Let us go up and look about us!" said Legolas, angry inside when he knew he had not thought those words, but were still being spoken by him. "I will feel my breath short. I should like to taste a freer air for a while."
They climbed and Legolas looked around, answering when spoken to, and unknowingly voicing his thoughts.
"Yet here we are-and nicely caught in the net," said Legolas. "Look!"
{I feel dread…anticipation… who is it that draws closer?}
"Look at what?" said Gimli.
"There in the trees."
"Where? I have not elf-eyes."
"Hush! Speak more softly! Look!" said Legolas pointing. "Down in the wood, back in the Way that we have just come. It is he. Cannot you see him, passing from tree to tree?"
"I see, I see now!" hissed Gimli. "Look, Aragorn! Did I not warn you? There is the old man. All in dirty grey rags: that is why I could not see him at first."
{My heart is speeding, what is this?}
{You shall see}
{Nay! Not again!}
{Just wait little prince}
{Nay…who is it?}
{Just wait}
At that moment the old man quickened his pace and came with surprising speed to the foot of the rock-wall. Then suddenly he looked up, while they stood motionless looking down. There was no sound.
{Who…who…please…I need answers…}
They could not see his face: he was hooded, and above the hood he wore a wide-brimmed hat, so that all his features were over-shadowed, except for the end of his nose and his grey beard. Yet it seemed to Aragorn that he caught the gleam of eyes keen and bright from within the shadow of the hooded brows.
At last the old man broke the silence. "Well met indeed, my friends," he said in a soft voice.
And Legolas froze.
To be continued.