Disclaimer: Based on 'The Lord of the Rings', by JRR Tolkien. This is a non-commercial work. No infringement of copyright is intended.
"Window of the Sunset" is the fourth in the Broken Fellowship Series. It is strongly recommended that you read the previous stories first.
Many, many thanks to those who reviewed or otherwise let me know you enjoyed this story (and the previous ones as well). Knowing there are people who are following the tale gives me inspiration to keep going and finish. (and yes, I know how it all ends).
Here we go, the last chapter of 'Window of the Sunset'.
The Broken Fellowship, Book IV:
Window of the Sunset
Chapter 12: Fallen into Shadow
by Lizardbeth Johnson
Sam followed Legolas back down the Winding Stair. Both were weary, but they knew they dared not stop.
At some point, Sam thought the sun must have risen. The darkness was slightly less oppressive, but he had no good idea of how long it had been since Legolas had worn the ring.
Remembering what had happened before with the Balrog, he was grateful that Legolas was not now suffering the same. Yet it also made cold fingers of uneasiness creep up his spine.
He had seen Legolas' face gashed by a spider claw, yet now the cut was gone leaving only a smear of dried blood. There seemed to be no ill-effects at all from wearing the ring, but Sam did not believe that could be true. There was a great deal which Legolas was not saying.
They paused at the same ledge, where shattered stone still littered the ground. Minas Morgul was there, gleaming balefully, but there was nothing stirring below.
"Why aren't they doing something?" Sam whispered, frowning in confusion. "Shouldn't they be all alert? Looking for us?"
Legolas smiled, sadly. But he did not answer. "We must keep going, Sam."
Legolas walked down the Straight Stair. He walked slowly, but this time kept his footing all the way down. Sam was not able to do it, instead crawling down backwards as though it was a ladder.
At the bottom he was exhausted. He had done those stairs twice now in one day - or perhaps two, it was hard to be sure - and had scarcely slept. The heady, sickly scent of the flowers touched his nose and made his head swim again.
For a long moment, Legolas stared up at the dire fortress, and Sam was afraid that it was calling Legolas again. But then the elf turned and led the way back to the group of tumbled boulders that had sheltered them before. "Rest," he urged Sam in a bare murmur. "It is still day, and the valley is quiet."
"We should keep going," Sam protested tiredly, but couldn't help slipping his pack from his aching shoulders.
"I will keep watch," Legolas offered, but even he knelt on the ground, no doubt as weary as Sam, just not showing it as much.
Sam barely had the strength to swallow a few nuts and he curled up in his cloak, Sting's hilt clasped in his hand.
Legolas sat with his bow across his lap, a solid, bright sentinel when all about was shadowed.
He caught Sam's gaze with his own, and he offered another faintly sad smile. "Rest, Samwise," he murmured. "The night will pass and the sun will rise."
Very softly he began to sing. The words were elvish, so Sam didn't understand though he knew it was full of grief. Yet as the song continued, he realized he did know what it was about. The knowledge stole over him gently, as he closed his eyes and let the sweet music push away the shadows.
It was the lament of the Noldor as they left Valinor behind, to sail toward the dark shores of Middle-Earth.
Yet despite the sorrow, the shimmering beauty of the song embraced him, and he felt protected and at peace as he sank into sleep.
Sam started awake, certain that someone had called his name. He stirred and looked around. All was quiet. Legolas was not there. At first, Sam was not too alarmed - he saw the elf's bow propped against one of the stones, pale grey in the gloom of the daylight.
But then he noticed, beneath the bow, was a tidy pile of Legolas' quiver and weapons harness. The daggers were still in their sheaths.
Having seen how reluctantly Legolas parted from his weapons, Sam had a sudden hollow pit in his stomach. Climbing to his feet, he muttered, "Should have known. Let's see where you've gone then, Master Legolas. You'll not do this without me."
Hoping Legolas hadn't had too much of a head start, he peered around the boulders to see whether Legolas was within sight.
The situation was much worse than he had imagined.
Legolas was standing on the middle of the bridge, framed by the greenish glow of Minas Morgul behind him and the black depths of its open gate. At the fortress end of the bridge, blocking the Morgul road, stood four tall, black-cloaked Ringwraiths.
Another, their great leader, the helmed and crowned Witch-King, was mounted on his horse blocking the other end of the bridge.
Legolas faced the Witch-King, and though Sam could not see his expression, his posture was straight and proud.
Sam hissed in dismay. Legolas had left his weapons here. What had he been thinking? What was he planning?
Then he frowned. Were they speaking? Sam thought he heard Legolas' voice, but the words were snatched by the wind.
Legolas then turned and walked toward the four waiting wraiths.
Sam's breath caught in his throat, expecting one of the wraiths to draw a weapon and slay the elf right there. But they did not. The four merely moved to surround Legolas. The Witch-King followed, and the five escorted their prisoner toward Minas Morgul.
Prisoner? The cold thought came to Sam that Legolas might not be a prisoner of anything but the ring. He was not bound and he had not seemed to resist capture.
Perhaps the Nazgûl were escorting their lord to his fortress.
No, it had to be a plan. Legolas knew what he was doing. He had, Sam realized, been singing his farewell to Sam as Sam fell asleep, because he had intended this. He had not wanted Sam to be captured with him. That concern was not the action of someone swallowed by the ring.
Yet the question remained: What was Legolas planning?
The gates clashed shut, swallowing Legolas within terrible darkness.
Sam remained where he was for several hours as twilight gave way to darkness. Only the moon shone down fitfully through breaks in the clouds.
But the cloud cover thickened, until the shadows deepened around Minas Morgul. The fortress glimmered with an eerie, sickly glow. Lightning crashed, striking up from the spires and spreading across the sky in a triumphant display. Sam tried to avoid looking at the fortress as much as possible, knowing that his friend was within, in possibly unspeakable torment.
He ached to help, yet Sam knew there was nothing he could do. A small hobbit could never hope to penetrate the gloomy fastness of Minas Morgul on his own.
He couldn't move away. He knew he should, but he waited anyway. Something else was going to happen.
Perhaps an hour passed. The silence was broken by a groan of stone and metal and he peeked around. His heart started to pound with dismay and fear.
The gates were opening again. Six black steeds emerged - four bearing wraiths, a fifth carrying the Witch-King, and the sixth with Legolas upon his back.
The Witch-King bowed his head to Legolas, then wheeled his horse around and galloped across the bridge toward his waiting army at the river.
The other four wraiths surrounded Legolas. Sam squinted and couldn't tell if Legolas' hands were tied to the front of his saddle or if his hands were just resting there. But in any case, the elf's fair form still glimmered with the echoes of starlight, unquenched by Minas Morgul. The five horses galloped up the road, going east toward the Nameless pass and heading eventually to the Barad-dûr.
Sam pressed back against the stone, closing his eyes tightly and trying not to cry. Maybe this was part of the plan. Maybe Legolas intended to escape his four guards and ride for Mount Doom. They both had looked at Faramir's map, and Mount Doom was, sort of, on the way to the tower.
He hoped so, but in his heart he knew. The quest had failed. The ring was now in the hands of the Enemy.
He forced himself to take a deep breath and think. There was now only one choice. He had to do what Legolas had told him to do, if he were left behind. He had to get to Minas Tirith and tell them what had happened.
In the shadows of the great boulders he slid Legolas' dagger sheaths into the side pocket of his pack, leaving the quiver and harness. It was awkward to carry the long-bow but he refused to leave his friend's weapons for the enemy to find and despoil.
Keeping to the side of the road, Sam turned around and began the long march west in the footsteps of the dread Witch-King. He had no idea how - or if - he would be able to pass through the army of Mordor unseen and reach his friends. He only knew he must. He had to deliver a warning.
Gondor believed it faced a fearsome shadow of Mordor. But soon, Sam would tell them, soon worse would come. The Ring of Power would come into Sauron's hand, and what had seemed like darkness, would prove to be mere twilight.
The sun would set on Middle-Earth and the night would fall.
As bleak despair was about to take hold of his heart, he remembered Legolas' words to him, not long before: "The night will pass and the sun will rise."
Sam repeated the words to himself in a whisper. Elves had the gift of foresight, he knew, and he believed that what Legolas had told him was the truth.
The night would come, cloaking all the world in Shadow. And it would be terrible and dark. Yet in the end, the sun would rise, and light would come again.
A kernel of unquenchable hope sparkled in Sam's heart, and it gave him strength all through that long march into the west.
A long way behind him, Legolas rode deeper into the shadows of the east, rushing to meet his destiny.
"Where once was light, now darkness falls.
Where once was love, love is no more.
Don't say goodbye. Don't say I didn't try...
And we will weep to be so alone.
We are lost. We can never go home."
- "Gollum's Song" from LOTR: The Two Towers, lyrics by Fran Walsh.
To Be Continued in The Broken Fellowship, Book V: The Return of Annatar
The Ringbearer has failed. Darkness has fallen on Middle-Earth. Only one hope remains, hanging upon a slender thread: the King of the West must take up his rightful place and confront the ancient evil power who was once his friend...
(Much later eta: I'm sorry, but there is no more. There are only scattered bits of the next book and it's permanently abandoned. However, I will tell you that it ends with Aragorn confronting Annatar (Sauron possessing Legolas' body to recover a fair form), and because the body is now flesh, it could be killed and the joined spirit sent before the Valar, where Sauron is sent beyond the circles of the world, and Legolas is admitted into the Maiar (as he still contained some of that essence). He returns briefly to Middle-Earth to destroy the Barad-dur, and say farewell to Aragorn. Aragorn is crowned king)
