Disclaimer: I barely own myself…actually I *don't* own myself…no chance in owning Lord of the Rings.
Author Notes: *faints* So many reviews I could never have dreamed of! Thank you each and every one of you!!! I am coming out of a horrible writer's block; so don't expect much from me.
English is my second language so I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes made on this story. Elvish is the way I believe it to be, most likely mistaken. Quotes were taken from the book written by Master Tolkien with my own lines in between. Please R&R and help to bring a smile for the desperate (ME!!)
Here we go into The Return of the King…(WHAT?!?!?!)
And now, Chapter 25, written with love to everyone who has read & reviewed, with a special dedication to Kaeva and to Bill the Pony (My nice reviewer, not the actual pony *Grin*).
Master in Deceiving
By Yours Truly
{I'm lost}
{You see it now?}
{Aye}
{Can you feel the void now, little one?}
{Aye}
{Will you let me help you?}
{Nay…}
Gandalf was gone, and the thudding hoofs of Shadowfax were lost in the night, when Merry came back to Aragorn. Legolas noticed that he carried no pack but only a light bundle, and a memory of Parth Galen came to mind. The little one had probably lost it there. Hasufel was already saddled as Aragorn waited for Merry. Legolas and Gimli with their horse stood close by, as the elf's thoughts raced in numbing fear. He disconnected himself from his thoughts, feeling the dread on his heart but ignoring it, looking through indifferent eyes as the night kept on advancing.
{You cannot run from the truth, little elf}
{Nay, I cannot, now will I try to…}
{Then what do you do? play hide and seek inside your mind? face the truth …face it all…}
{I do not wish to! I cannot right now it is too much!}
{Ooh, is it now, you weakling? Face it! It cannot overwhelm you unless you are truly the disgrace you know you are. You wish to prove yourself? Then stop running like a child…just stop and face everything}
{Why do you help me?}
{Face it all}
{It feels like too much, I feel dread when I think of fighting against this darkness…against whatever I really saw in the Palantir… I feel so tired, so thin inside…}
{Face it…}
"So four of the Company still remain," said Aragorn; breaking into the trance that Legolas had slipped into. "We will ride on together. But we shall not go alone, as I thought. The king is now determined to set out at once. Since the coming of the winged shadow, he desires to return to the hills under cover of night."
When Aragorn said the word 'shadow', Legolas shuddered and visualized a battlefield in his mind's eye. Thousand of armies of the dark creatures of Mordor stood on one side, with the other side desolate, only filled with the scattered corpses of familiar faces and with a lone standing figure…him. Bloodied and barely alive, he stood there among so many dead…
"And then whither?" said Legolas, an urgent tone creeping into his voice as he tried to distract himself from the images playing in his mind.
"I cannot say yet," Aragorn answered softly, eyeing his friend carefully. "As for the king, he will go to the muster that he commanded at Edoras, four nights from now. And there, I think, he will hear tidings of war, and the Riders of Rohan will go down to Minas Tirith. But for myself, and any that will go with me… "
{Do not leave me alone!}
Panic made his voice work, and he interrupted Aragorn in mid sentence "I for one!" cried the elf, who was hardly surprised when he heard his friend's voice speak then.
"And Gimli with him!" said the Dwarf.
"Well, for myself," said Aragorn with a small half smile, "it is dark before me. I must go down also to Minas Tirith, but I do not yet see the road. An hour long prepared approaches."
{Indeed it does, does it not little Prince? The hour approaches…take your weapons, take your armor, and walk into the battlefield…c'mon little elf, you do not want your friends to be butchered without you, do you, now?}
Trembling, the whisper of his own voice and the image of blood on his friends and family, were enough to make Legolas wish to step back, to almost crave for the darkness he so rightly feared earlier.
{I am losing without even fighting…}
{Face it now it is time!}
{Nay it is not! It cannot be, you hear me? It cannot be time yet I am not ready…}
{Since when does war await one warrior?}
{Since the warrior started the war in question!}
{Now, little one…who says you started it?}
{What?}
Silence
{What? Who did then? What did you say?}
Silence, dimmed by Aragorn and Merry's conversation in the background…in the real world…
Then true silence, and it frightened Legolas enough to look for the voices and breathing of his friends on the outside, shaking his head to clear it he turned back to the people around him. He saw the riders mounting their horses, and following the example, he then helped Gimli to settle behind him.
Looking around, he ached for the strong presence of the wizard that had rode on earlier, with the young unfortunate hobbit on his horse. The void was growing inside of him, and the thought that soon all his friends might leave him on the real world as well, made his heart shudder inside his breast.
{Onto war we all go…but whose war?!}
Soon all were ready to depart: twenty-four horses, with Gimli behind Legolas, and Merry in front of Aragorn. They rode now, in the night without conversations between the men. It suited Legolas mood just fine that there would be no talk. His mind was not set upon the weather, and he needed no reminding of the horrors yet to come. They had not long passed the mounds at the Fords of Isen, when a Rider galloped up from the rear of their line.
"My lord," the man said to the king, "there are horsemen behind us. As we crossed the fords I thought that I heard them. Now we are sure. They are overtaking us, riding hard."
Fear gripped at his heart, and for a delusional second, Legolas thought the riders came for him. It was then that the elf feared to loose the grasp on his mind once more, knowing well that in battle he could not afford such lunacies.
{In no battle can you afford that, little one…}
{Leave me be! Leave me be at once, I can listen to your riddles no longer}
{Who are you to command me, little one?}
{The owner of the mind you are tormenting}
{You mean 'helping'…}
Théoden at once called a halt. The Riders turned about and seized their spears. Aragorn dismounted and set Merry on the ground, and drawing his sword he stood by the king's stirrup. Éomer and his esquire rode back to the rear as the elf felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to see the dwarf's eyes, Legolas gave him a questioning look.
"Help me down, elf, I have no desire to try and wield my axe while on this beast. I might still kill whatever comes, yet I might also kill the elf in front of me"
Legolas nodded and helped his friend to dismount, grinning down at him when he was upon the ground. "And you do *not* want to kill the elf in front of you?"
"Well, if you have a death wish, I suppose it would be my duty to comply…" Gimli teased with mock seriousness, missing the lightening quick flash of longing that appeared on the elf's features at his words.
"I will be sure to let you know, when that happens Master dwarf" Legolas answered softly with a half-hearted wink. Gimli just shook his head and turned to face the approaching shadows of the riders, just visible on the path from the fords. The moonlight glinted here and there on the points of spears. The number of the pursuers could not be told, but they seemed no fewer than the king's escort, at the least.
Each sound of the hoofs from the oncoming horses made Legolas' heart beat a little faster, until he was certain that it would explode from his chest in a bloody scene. Trying to calm himself down, he tried visualizing that scene, and the surprise on his friend's faces if his heart were actually to blow out of him…with a shake of his head at the stupid image, Legolas focused back on the shadows.
When they were some fifty paces off, Éomer cried in a loud voice: "Halt! Halt! Who rides in Rohan?"
The pursuers brought their steeds to a sudden stand. A silence followed, and Legolas wished he could shout, just to break it. He could see what mortal eyes could not. These were men, who were eyeing them with the same distrust that the King's men were eyeing them.
A man could be seen dismounting and walking slowly forward. His hand showed white as he held it up, palm outward, in token of peace; but the king's men gripped their weapons. So did Legolas, taking aim with his bow towards the man's heart. At ten paces away the man stopped. And his clear voice broke the long silence.
"Rohan? Rohan did you say? That is a glad word. We seek that land in haste from long afar." Legolas relaxed his arm and strapped his bow on his back once more, ignoring Gimli's bewildered look. He knew what he was doing, for he had recognized the voice.
"You have found it," said Éomer, still unaware if these were foes they faced. "When you crossed the fords yonder you entered it. But it is the realm of Théoden the King. None ride here save by his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?"
"Halbarad Dúnadan, Ranger of the North I am," cried the man, confirming what Legolas already knew, the man had gone to Mirkwood on a few occasions, and Legolas had known well that it had been him. "We seek one Aragorn son of Arathorn, and we heard that he was in Rohan."
"And you have found him also!" cried Aragorn. Giving his reins to Merry, the man ran forward and embraced the newcomer. "Halbarad!" he said. "Of all joys this is the least expected!"
Legolas searched the crowd of new arrivals, for he believed he had seen two faces…or perhaps only one, if you gave it thought, that had seemed pleasantly familiar.
"All is well," said Aragorn, turning back towards them and making Legolas' eyes focus on his friend once more. "Here are some of my own kin from the far land where I dwelt. But why they come, and how many they be, Halbarad shall tell us."
"I have thirty with me," answered Halbarad. "That is all of our kindred that could be gathered in haste; but the brethren Elladan and Elrohir have ridden with us, desiring to go to the war. We rode as swiftly as we might when your summons came."
Legolas smiled and turned his gaze back towards the group, where he now could see the twins among the men. Both half-elves had seen him and nodded in his direction. He nodded back and saw the quick grins on their now so serious faces.
{More elves…}
{…What about it?}
{Nothing, little one, it is nothing more than another distraction for you to hide from your battle}
"But I did not summon you," said Aragorn, his voice surprised "save only in wish. My thoughts have often turned to you, and seldom more than tonight; yet I have sent no word. But come! All such matters must wait. You find us riding in haste and danger. Ride with us now, if the king will give his leave."
Théoden seemed indeed glad of the news. "It is well!" he said. "If these kinsmen be in any way like to yourself, my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads."
Aragorn had never been good with praise; Legolas thought absentmindedly when he saw the man bow his head away from sight, and turn towards the Dúnedain again. The elf helped the dwarf to mount behind him again, and then the Riders set out again, Aragorn for a while rode with the Dúnedain, speaking of things Legolas had no desire to overhear. The night was old when they rode up at last from Deeping-coomb and came back to the Hornburg. There they were to lie and rest for a brief while and take counsel.
Legolas looked around and shook his head. Only three days had passed since he had been here, battling against seemingly endless hordes of orcs. Now all was silent, and more things troubled this mind than the last time he had stood on this ground. With a sigh he turned away from these thoughts and walked towards where a group of people stood.
Two pair of familiar eyes stared at him, and although he felt a great desire to be with friends of old, he also feared whatever conversation he and the twins he could see a few meters away might have. Keen were the eyes pf the elves, and he had not been faced to them up until now…
Would they see?
{Will they see the battle I fear…the inner turmoil I attempt to hide?}
{Will you be capable of handling this lie once more, Princeling?}
{I know not…}
{Little one, you must} The voice hissed suddenly, and fear gripped Legolas' heart. {You must…you better…}
To be continued.
How was it? Please let me know, I just came out of a very annoying writer's block not to mention I wrote this between loads of work…Please R&R!
Author Notes: *faints* So many reviews I could never have dreamed of! Thank you each and every one of you!!! I am coming out of a horrible writer's block; so don't expect much from me.
English is my second language so I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes made on this story. Elvish is the way I believe it to be, most likely mistaken. Quotes were taken from the book written by Master Tolkien with my own lines in between. Please R&R and help to bring a smile for the desperate (ME!!)
Here we go into The Return of the King…(WHAT?!?!?!)
And now, Chapter 25, written with love to everyone who has read & reviewed, with a special dedication to Kaeva and to Bill the Pony (My nice reviewer, not the actual pony *Grin*).
Master in Deceiving
By Yours Truly
{I'm lost}
{You see it now?}
{Aye}
{Can you feel the void now, little one?}
{Aye}
{Will you let me help you?}
{Nay…}
Gandalf was gone, and the thudding hoofs of Shadowfax were lost in the night, when Merry came back to Aragorn. Legolas noticed that he carried no pack but only a light bundle, and a memory of Parth Galen came to mind. The little one had probably lost it there. Hasufel was already saddled as Aragorn waited for Merry. Legolas and Gimli with their horse stood close by, as the elf's thoughts raced in numbing fear. He disconnected himself from his thoughts, feeling the dread on his heart but ignoring it, looking through indifferent eyes as the night kept on advancing.
{You cannot run from the truth, little elf}
{Nay, I cannot, now will I try to…}
{Then what do you do? play hide and seek inside your mind? face the truth …face it all…}
{I do not wish to! I cannot right now it is too much!}
{Ooh, is it now, you weakling? Face it! It cannot overwhelm you unless you are truly the disgrace you know you are. You wish to prove yourself? Then stop running like a child…just stop and face everything}
{Why do you help me?}
{Face it all}
{It feels like too much, I feel dread when I think of fighting against this darkness…against whatever I really saw in the Palantir… I feel so tired, so thin inside…}
{Face it…}
"So four of the Company still remain," said Aragorn; breaking into the trance that Legolas had slipped into. "We will ride on together. But we shall not go alone, as I thought. The king is now determined to set out at once. Since the coming of the winged shadow, he desires to return to the hills under cover of night."
When Aragorn said the word 'shadow', Legolas shuddered and visualized a battlefield in his mind's eye. Thousand of armies of the dark creatures of Mordor stood on one side, with the other side desolate, only filled with the scattered corpses of familiar faces and with a lone standing figure…him. Bloodied and barely alive, he stood there among so many dead…
"And then whither?" said Legolas, an urgent tone creeping into his voice as he tried to distract himself from the images playing in his mind.
"I cannot say yet," Aragorn answered softly, eyeing his friend carefully. "As for the king, he will go to the muster that he commanded at Edoras, four nights from now. And there, I think, he will hear tidings of war, and the Riders of Rohan will go down to Minas Tirith. But for myself, and any that will go with me… "
{Do not leave me alone!}
Panic made his voice work, and he interrupted Aragorn in mid sentence "I for one!" cried the elf, who was hardly surprised when he heard his friend's voice speak then.
"And Gimli with him!" said the Dwarf.
"Well, for myself," said Aragorn with a small half smile, "it is dark before me. I must go down also to Minas Tirith, but I do not yet see the road. An hour long prepared approaches."
{Indeed it does, does it not little Prince? The hour approaches…take your weapons, take your armor, and walk into the battlefield…c'mon little elf, you do not want your friends to be butchered without you, do you, now?}
Trembling, the whisper of his own voice and the image of blood on his friends and family, were enough to make Legolas wish to step back, to almost crave for the darkness he so rightly feared earlier.
{I am losing without even fighting…}
{Face it now it is time!}
{Nay it is not! It cannot be, you hear me? It cannot be time yet I am not ready…}
{Since when does war await one warrior?}
{Since the warrior started the war in question!}
{Now, little one…who says you started it?}
{What?}
Silence
{What? Who did then? What did you say?}
Silence, dimmed by Aragorn and Merry's conversation in the background…in the real world…
Then true silence, and it frightened Legolas enough to look for the voices and breathing of his friends on the outside, shaking his head to clear it he turned back to the people around him. He saw the riders mounting their horses, and following the example, he then helped Gimli to settle behind him.
Looking around, he ached for the strong presence of the wizard that had rode on earlier, with the young unfortunate hobbit on his horse. The void was growing inside of him, and the thought that soon all his friends might leave him on the real world as well, made his heart shudder inside his breast.
{Onto war we all go…but whose war?!}
Soon all were ready to depart: twenty-four horses, with Gimli behind Legolas, and Merry in front of Aragorn. They rode now, in the night without conversations between the men. It suited Legolas mood just fine that there would be no talk. His mind was not set upon the weather, and he needed no reminding of the horrors yet to come. They had not long passed the mounds at the Fords of Isen, when a Rider galloped up from the rear of their line.
"My lord," the man said to the king, "there are horsemen behind us. As we crossed the fords I thought that I heard them. Now we are sure. They are overtaking us, riding hard."
Fear gripped at his heart, and for a delusional second, Legolas thought the riders came for him. It was then that the elf feared to loose the grasp on his mind once more, knowing well that in battle he could not afford such lunacies.
{In no battle can you afford that, little one…}
{Leave me be! Leave me be at once, I can listen to your riddles no longer}
{Who are you to command me, little one?}
{The owner of the mind you are tormenting}
{You mean 'helping'…}
Théoden at once called a halt. The Riders turned about and seized their spears. Aragorn dismounted and set Merry on the ground, and drawing his sword he stood by the king's stirrup. Éomer and his esquire rode back to the rear as the elf felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to see the dwarf's eyes, Legolas gave him a questioning look.
"Help me down, elf, I have no desire to try and wield my axe while on this beast. I might still kill whatever comes, yet I might also kill the elf in front of me"
Legolas nodded and helped his friend to dismount, grinning down at him when he was upon the ground. "And you do *not* want to kill the elf in front of you?"
"Well, if you have a death wish, I suppose it would be my duty to comply…" Gimli teased with mock seriousness, missing the lightening quick flash of longing that appeared on the elf's features at his words.
"I will be sure to let you know, when that happens Master dwarf" Legolas answered softly with a half-hearted wink. Gimli just shook his head and turned to face the approaching shadows of the riders, just visible on the path from the fords. The moonlight glinted here and there on the points of spears. The number of the pursuers could not be told, but they seemed no fewer than the king's escort, at the least.
Each sound of the hoofs from the oncoming horses made Legolas' heart beat a little faster, until he was certain that it would explode from his chest in a bloody scene. Trying to calm himself down, he tried visualizing that scene, and the surprise on his friend's faces if his heart were actually to blow out of him…with a shake of his head at the stupid image, Legolas focused back on the shadows.
When they were some fifty paces off, Éomer cried in a loud voice: "Halt! Halt! Who rides in Rohan?"
The pursuers brought their steeds to a sudden stand. A silence followed, and Legolas wished he could shout, just to break it. He could see what mortal eyes could not. These were men, who were eyeing them with the same distrust that the King's men were eyeing them.
A man could be seen dismounting and walking slowly forward. His hand showed white as he held it up, palm outward, in token of peace; but the king's men gripped their weapons. So did Legolas, taking aim with his bow towards the man's heart. At ten paces away the man stopped. And his clear voice broke the long silence.
"Rohan? Rohan did you say? That is a glad word. We seek that land in haste from long afar." Legolas relaxed his arm and strapped his bow on his back once more, ignoring Gimli's bewildered look. He knew what he was doing, for he had recognized the voice.
"You have found it," said Éomer, still unaware if these were foes they faced. "When you crossed the fords yonder you entered it. But it is the realm of Théoden the King. None ride here save by his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?"
"Halbarad Dúnadan, Ranger of the North I am," cried the man, confirming what Legolas already knew, the man had gone to Mirkwood on a few occasions, and Legolas had known well that it had been him. "We seek one Aragorn son of Arathorn, and we heard that he was in Rohan."
"And you have found him also!" cried Aragorn. Giving his reins to Merry, the man ran forward and embraced the newcomer. "Halbarad!" he said. "Of all joys this is the least expected!"
Legolas searched the crowd of new arrivals, for he believed he had seen two faces…or perhaps only one, if you gave it thought, that had seemed pleasantly familiar.
"All is well," said Aragorn, turning back towards them and making Legolas' eyes focus on his friend once more. "Here are some of my own kin from the far land where I dwelt. But why they come, and how many they be, Halbarad shall tell us."
"I have thirty with me," answered Halbarad. "That is all of our kindred that could be gathered in haste; but the brethren Elladan and Elrohir have ridden with us, desiring to go to the war. We rode as swiftly as we might when your summons came."
Legolas smiled and turned his gaze back towards the group, where he now could see the twins among the men. Both half-elves had seen him and nodded in his direction. He nodded back and saw the quick grins on their now so serious faces.
{More elves…}
{…What about it?}
{Nothing, little one, it is nothing more than another distraction for you to hide from your battle}
"But I did not summon you," said Aragorn, his voice surprised "save only in wish. My thoughts have often turned to you, and seldom more than tonight; yet I have sent no word. But come! All such matters must wait. You find us riding in haste and danger. Ride with us now, if the king will give his leave."
Théoden seemed indeed glad of the news. "It is well!" he said. "If these kinsmen be in any way like to yourself, my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads."
Aragorn had never been good with praise; Legolas thought absentmindedly when he saw the man bow his head away from sight, and turn towards the Dúnedain again. The elf helped the dwarf to mount behind him again, and then the Riders set out again, Aragorn for a while rode with the Dúnedain, speaking of things Legolas had no desire to overhear. The night was old when they rode up at last from Deeping-coomb and came back to the Hornburg. There they were to lie and rest for a brief while and take counsel.
Legolas looked around and shook his head. Only three days had passed since he had been here, battling against seemingly endless hordes of orcs. Now all was silent, and more things troubled this mind than the last time he had stood on this ground. With a sigh he turned away from these thoughts and walked towards where a group of people stood.
Two pair of familiar eyes stared at him, and although he felt a great desire to be with friends of old, he also feared whatever conversation he and the twins he could see a few meters away might have. Keen were the eyes pf the elves, and he had not been faced to them up until now…
Would they see?
{Will they see the battle I fear…the inner turmoil I attempt to hide?}
{Will you be capable of handling this lie once more, Princeling?}
{I know not…}
{Little one, you must} The voice hissed suddenly, and fear gripped Legolas' heart. {You must…you better…}
To be continued.
How was it? Please let me know, I just came out of a very annoying writer's block not to mention I wrote this between loads of work…Please R&R!