@feanen : Am I ill? Ha! Ha! Ha! I like that one! Don't worry about the lack of cliffies! They will come right up!
@Alkvingiel : Sorry to disappoint you, but Gandalf is still the one that approaches.
@Kayo : Love that talking to the tree idea! LOL!!!
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From between the trees, a stooped old man emerged, leaning on a staff. He was hooded so they couldn't see his face. The old man suddenly spoke, "Well met, my friends."
Aragorn frowned, already drawing his sword. "Friends? Who are you to call us so?"
The old man smiled under the cover of his hood. "How easily it is for you to forget me." Then he drew apart his gray cloak, and they saw that he was clothed beneath all in white. At the same time, an unknown light shone brightly over the old man's head.
"Saruman the white wizard!" Aragorn managed to gasp in alarm. He could see from between the light that the old man's hair was as white as snow, as was his beard. Still, his face was not clearly revealed.
The ranger and the dwarf tried to move forward to attack the evil wizard but they just couldn't. Some kind of power was holding them still like a statue. Unknown to them, Legolas had stumbled backward, cowering in immense fear and disbelief.
His keen senses had already recognized who the hooded old man was.
"I am the white wizard, yes. But Saruman is definitely someone else," the old man spoke again. The light dimmed, and they finally saw a familiar face and discerned that voice.
"Gandalf!!!" Aragorn and Gimli cried out in astonishment.
The ranger was wide eyed. "But…but you fell! We saw you!"
The wizard nodded. "Indeed I've fallen, through fire into water."
"Gandalf, but you are all in white!" Gimli exclaimed, his eyes roving the wizard's attire in amazement.
"I was called back to this earth in a new form, dear Gimli. I'm Gandalf the Gray no longer," said Gandalf. "I am Gandalf the White."
"The highest of all wizard," Aragorn said softly, jubilant. "So glad to see you, Gandalf. So glad."
Gandalf smiled. He looked warmly at the ranger and the grinning dwarf, then his eyes rested on the crouching elf. "Legolas? Any greeting for me?"
When Legolas looked up, Gandalf was not surprise to see tears running down the elf's face.
"I killed you," Legolas said brokenly. "I let you fall."
The wizard reached down and put his palm on top of Legolas' golden head. "That's not true."
"I've failed you, Gandalf. How can you ever forgive me? I'm so sorry for letting you fall. So sorry…" Tears of shame kept coming from Legolas' anguish looking eyes.
Sighing softly, Gandalf gently clasped Legolas' chin. "You were doing exactly what I told you to do. You had saved the rest of the fellowship. That's the most important thing. The fellowship survived that Balrog because of you."
The elf stubbornly shook his head. "You are my good friend, yet I had abandoned you. I should have done better than cutting the Balrog's tail and let you fall with it!"
"Legolas, you are not invincible," Gandalf said firmly. "No one is invincible, so stop condemning yourself for things that is out of your control. You're just an elf, not god."
Aragorn, who had been watching this whole exchange in silent, walked closer to grip Legolas' trembling shoulder. "That is exactly what we have been trying to tell him since Moria."
Gimli also added, "Aye! He's as stubborn as the hardest mithril! I can knock some sense into his head with this axe if you want me to!" The dwarf had already raised his beloved weapon.
Legolas wiped his tears and sent the dwarf a dirty look. "You do that and I'll tie you to the first horse I come across!"
And that broke the tense mood. Aragorn chuckled as Gandalf smiled widely. "You still have that fast tongue, I see!"
The elf shrugged sheepishly as he collected his bow from the ground and stood up. "Well, we have never change since our last parting, except for you, Gandalf. You have turned from gray to white! And nice color, by the way."
The wizard was glad that Legolas still managed to come out with a small joke. The first time he caught sight of the elf prince just now, Gandalf was greatly worried that the wild and cheerful child he used to know had long since died. There is still hope then for his lost soul to return, he thought.
"Come, tell me of your progress, for there are some things that I'm not fully clear of."
Aragorn went on to tell Gandalf that they were searching for the two hobbits.
"Merry and Pippin, you say? Don't fret anymore then. I have seen them myself and put them under the care of the ents."
"The ents?" Legolas was in awe. "They still exist?"
"Of course, dear Legolas. They are still roaming this forest even though they are a lot older than you."
"I want to meet one! Remember I told you that once, Gandalf? I have always wanted to meet an ent!"
"Yes. How can I forget? You were around 500 years old at that time, recuperating from broken legs after jumping off the palace roof. You've told me that not only you wanted to meet an ent, you also wanted to keep one!"
Legolas blushed as Gimli and Aragorn broke into laughter. That sounded so like Legolas they knew!
Then Gimli suddenly stopped laughing. "Err…what is an ent?"
"Imagine a tree that talks and walks. That's an ent," Gandalf answered.
The dwarf gave the elf a strange look. "And you wanted to keep one?" Then he burst into laughter all over again.
Legolas frowned. "I was a child and stupid at that time! How could I know it's just not done?"
"You are not a child anymore, but you are still stupid to me!" Gimli said loudly, flushing red in the face for laughing so hard. Wordlessly, Legolas reached down and smack the back of the dwarf's head.
Aragorn rolled his eyes at the two's antics. "As I was saying, we have been pursuing the orcs for days." Then he went on to tell the wizard the rest of their adventure from the very beginning since Lothlorien. When the ranger came to the part where Boromir died near Amon Hen, Gandalf sighed but said nothing.
"Frodo still has the ring. He resolved to go on to Mordor to destroy it. We believe Sam is with him," Aragorn concluded.
Then they all waited for the wizard to speak. Gandalf looked at every one of them thoughtfully before voicing out, "Soon, we must go. We still have unfinished business."
"Are you going to take us to see Merry and Pippin?" Gimli asked excitedly.
"Missing them already, aren't you?" The wizard smiled at the dwarf. "But no, Gimli. We are not going to see the hobbits. They are in safe hands now. We, by the way, have other purpose. The war is upon us, much closer than we had thought."
"The war? It's getting that bad, Gandalf?" asked Legolas.
"The Dark Lord has finally come out with his army, and so has Saruman," Gandalf told them. "We must go to Edoras, the home of the Rohirrims, and seek King Theoden in his hall." The wizard stared deeply into Aragorn's eyes. "You are needed there."
The ranger frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, Gandalf?"
Gandalf glanced down at the beautiful sword in Aragorn's hand. "Now it is time for the light of Anduril to be uncovered after it has so long waited, and the heir of Gondor must now be revealed." He looked up into the man's eyes once more. "It's time you claim your lost kingdom, Aragorn. It's your birthright, your legacy. And for that, you need to be with your fellow human kind. "
The other three exchanged looks. They didn't expect Gandalf to say this.
Gandalf continued, "The war is already in Rohan. Theoden needs all the help he can get. Our help."
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The elf, the dwarf and the ranger followed the wizard as they made their way back through the forest. No one spoke a word until they stood again upon the grass beyond the eaves of Fangorn.
"Are we going to Edoras on foot?" Gimli wondered out loud.
"No, it will take too much time. We do not have the luxury to delay." Gandalf suddenly gave a long whistle, clear and piercing.
As the others looked on, startled, they finally heard the whinny of a horse coming up from the wide-open plains. Then came the faint sound of hoofs, growing steadily louder and clearer. They also realized that there was more than one horse coming towards them.
"There's Arod and Hasufel!" Legolas exclaimed when the animals then came into view, sliding up the slope towards them.
"And there's also another steed with them!" Aragorn stared in awe. "And what a splendid steed this one is!"
Gimli harrumphed loudly. "Not those blasted horses again!!!"
Legolas and Aragorn ignored the dwarf's loud complains. When the horses came to a stop at last, they both reached up to pat the new stallion. It truly was one magnificent animal, the best of all horses. Its coat was glistening almost silver in color and its mane flowed softly in the wind. There was an aura around it that told them the beautiful steed was no ordinary horse.
"He is called Shadowfax," Gandalf said. "He's one of the mearas, lord of all horses."
Legolas' eyes widened. "So, he was the reason our mounts fled just now! He called them!"
Gimli still couldn't stop complaining. "Why must they return?! I hate riding!"
"But I love to ride!" Legolas grinned, taking Arod's reins. "Come, Gimli. Stop lying. You do not hate riding. You're just simply scared to do so!"
The dwarf sent a murderous glare at Legolas. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly but no words came out. At last, he swirled and stood beside Arod's flank patiently. Taking that as a signal, Aragorn came closer and lifted the dwarf onto the stallion's back. The ranger was trying hard to hold his laughter.
"Ooo…someone is very angry," Legolas said, grinning.
"No more word from you, elf!" Gimli growled. "Get your ass up here and pilot this ugly beast!"
Arod suddenly neighed and reared up on his hind legs, as if disagreeing with the dwarf calling him ugly. Gimli yelped and wrapped his arms around the stallion's neck. "BLAST IT, LEGOLAS! Get up here, NOW!!!!"
Chuckling, Legolas clucked his tongue and Arod's front feet fell back to earth. With all his elven grace, Legolas mounted in front of the dwarf. "Your pilot at your service, master dwarf! Hold on tight. We're about to have a wild ride!"
By the kick of his heels, Arod jumped forward and sped swiftly away. The sound of its hoof beats merged with Gimli's cry of surprise and outrage, "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU STUPID CRAZY ELF!!!"
Legolas only laughed.
Smiling, Gandalf turned to Aragorn as they both mounted their steeds. "It's good to hear the elf's laughter again. But I fear it's just the surface. I feel a turbulent storm underneath it all."
Aragorn returned the smile sadly. "That's what I fear too. His dark past never left him. His soul is still lost. I'm afraid for him, Gandalf. The incident in Amon Hen nearly undone him."
"Then always be there for him, Aragorn. This quest is going to change him, for the better I hope." Gandalf stared at the other riders who were just small dots in the horizon. "Let's catch up with them. To Edoras!"
TBC….