WARNING : ANGST AHEAD!!!!!!
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She screamed as her fists pummeled the leering face above her. "Get off me!! I demand you, Grima! Get off me and get out of my chamber!!!"
Grima growled deeply in his throat as he kept her pin under him and ripped the bodice of her dress. His eyes widened in appreciation at the sight presented to his lustful eyes. "Just one last time before I took my leave, my lady. Too long I've been watching you from afar. Too long I've kept my desire for you. You are such a glorious beauty that I will sorely miss you. Give me something to remind me of your sweetness."
Eowyn, sister of Eomer and niece to Theoden, screamed again at the top of her lungs when the man's rude hands gripped upon her soft flesh.
Then the wooden door slammed open. Startled, they both turned to see as a tall golden-haired elf came striding in. His face looked fit to kill and his eyes glinted furiously like the darkest thunderstorm.
Legolas reached forward to clench Grima around his neck and flung the man across the chamber with all his might. Grima went flying and landed hard on the floor with a sickening thud.
Never leaving his eyes off the man, Legolas snatched the coverlet of the nearby bed and draped it over the young lady who hastily gathered her tattered dress together. Then Legolas grabbed the cowering man by his throat and slammed him against the wall repeatedly in all his burning fury.
Eowyn stared wide-eyed at the elven warrior who was clearly very angry that his veins visibly throbbed in the white column of his neck. She didn't know who he was. Still, she was immensely relieved that the unknown elf arrived just in time. And how such a being looked oddly beautiful in a violent throes of fury, she also wondered.
When many footsteps appeared at the door, she involuntarily flinched and hugged the coverlet closer to her body. She was puzzled to see Gandalf the wizard, a dwarf and a scruffy looking man in the doorway. Then her eyes lit up when Theoden came into view. "Uncle?"
The king was livid when he realized what had been going on. He immediately rushed to his niece and gathered her in his arms. "It's all right, fair child. You are safe now."
Legolas was still hitting at Grima, snarling like a wild animal as he did so. Aragorn and Gimli looked at each other in great disbelief. They had never seen their gentle and kindhearted friend so fierce like this.
When Legolas began to squeeze the throat of the barely conscious man, Gandalf spoke, "Legolas, the lady's chamber is not the appropriate place to kill him."
The elf went still. He turned and the rest of them were startled to see the absolute wrath in his glinting silver eyes. His face was glowing brighter than ever and his arms were slightly shaking as he tried to control his rage.
Without a word, Legolas released Grima and strode out of the chamber.
There was a long deafening silence after the elf left, broken only by Grima's loud groan and Eowyn's soft intake of breath.
Gandalf finally took over. "Hama, take this filthy servant of evil and throw him out of Edoras. Make sure he never step within a hundred leagues of Rohan."
Hama complied. Aragorn and Gimli helped him by grasping each of Grima's arms and quickly dragged him out. Gandalf turned to Theoden and his niece, "Will you be all right, my lady?"
Eowyn looked up and nodded. She was a strong woman and she will never show her fear and distress over this horrific episode of her life. "I'm fine, Gandalf."
Assured by her words, the wizard left.
Theoden kissed her forehead. "Are you sure you're all right, child?"
"Yes, I'll be fine," she smiled a little and stared at him in awe. "Uncle, you've changed! You recognized me!"
"I had been consumed by shadow these past many days, Eowyn. But, worry no more. Everything is going to be fine. Tonight, we will have a grand dinner with our four guests. I've given orders to release your brother from the jail and he will be joining us too. Knowing my son's big appetite, Theodred will not want to miss the feast also!" he said, smiling happily.
Eowyn was not so elated though. There's still one thing that the king obviously didn't know about. "Errr…uncle, about Theodred."
"What about him? He is not out hunting for orcs, is he?"
"Uncle, Theodred is dead."
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Gandalf know exactly where he could find Legolas in the closed territory of men; the Edoras grand stable.
The wizard entered the airy and warm building. He walked forward passed the many boxes until he reached the one that housed the white stallion, Arod.
"Legolas, may I enter?"
There was no answer from within but Gandalf knew the elf prince had heard him. Sighing, he pushed open the wooden gate of the box and stepped inside.
Legolas was sitting on the straw-filled ground, with his forehead leaning against his crossed arms over his upraised knees. Arod was gently nuzzling the elf's golden head, neighing softly. The two had only known each other for mere days, but they had already forged a deep bond between them. The stallion obviously knew that its new master was feeling highly depressed.
"Legolas? How fare you?"
The elf was still quiet for another long moment. But when Gandalf decided to step closer to touch Legolas' shoulder, the elf suddenly spoke, "How is the lady?"
"She is fine. She has not been gravely harmed, thanks to you."
Another long silence.
Gandalf know the prince would speak no more if he put his mind to it, so he said next, "The lady you saved just now is Lady Eowyn, Theoden's niece."
Legolas looked up then. There was no more fury in those silver-gray eyes, only pure misery. "Where is Grima?"
"He has been banished from Rohan. He won't bother her anymore."
Legolas nodded. "Do I have your word on that?"
Gandalf smiled. "I will change him into a toad if that's what you want me to do."
There was a ghost of a smile on Legolas' lips when he heard that. "How about you change him into a pony and let Gimli ride him? That will be much more fun." Arod neighed in protest and Legolas grinned. "Sorry, Arod. Didn't mean to insult you."
The wizard chuckled. "Oh, how I love to do that! But I was just joking, Legolas. My power do not include the ability to change life forms to something else!"
"I'd rather have him killed by my own bare hands," Legolas said softly, turning serious again.
Gandalf slowly settled himself beside the elf on the ground. "You nearly did, Legolas. I've never seen you so furious before."
Legolas shook his head as he picked at the straws beside him. "I never had the reason to be so furious before."
"Not even when the men took your innocence all those years ago?"
Legolas' head snapped towards the wizard. His eyes bulged. "You knew?"
"I am a wizard, Legolas, not merely an ancient man with magic tricks and such. When I see you, I look through you to your deepest core, and I know everything. I've known you enough to tell you that you are strong inside out and nothing will break you, except for that despicable thing that the men had done to you. I also know a part of you is still missing."
The elf gulped as he tried hard to stop the tears that got him all choked up all of a sudden. "It's not missing. It's dead."
"No, it's not. It's still around you, only you didn't know it."
"I can't feel it."
"It's not for you to feel. It is there for you to love."
Legolas looked up at the wizard in confusion. "What are you talking about? What is there to love?"
"Somehow, Legolas, you are still blaming yourself for all those things that had happened. You think lowly of yourself because of it. You look yourself in the mirror and you see a sullied and tainted person. You thought of yourself as someone unworthy and without honor. Worst of all, you think you deserved to be violated that way as a punishment for something bad you think you had done. Am I right?"
Legolas could not speak as he had broken into sobs listening to Gandalf's words.
"You think you were punished…for your mother's death," Gandalf finished sadly. He was there on the night when Queen Marwana died giving birth to the youngest and last child of Thranduil. It was so devastating to see such a beautiful she-elf fought bravely for her life in a birth gone wrong…and lost. Only the tiny premature baby survived. The elf prince had been incredibly stubborn since he was a mere fetus in his mother's womb.
But even the most stubborn elf prince in Middle Earth would break under massive pressure.
Legolas gasped out loud. "No! It's not true! It's not…it's…" His voice trailed off. The truth was, he didn't know what was true anymore. Gandalf's words had hit too close to home.
He had been blaming himself for being violated by those men. Over and over, during the recent years after that horrific day, he kept telling himself that he should have fought more to protect himself. He should have been able to escape their cruel clutches and strike back. He should have been able to stop that vile thing from happening.
Then he had let it happen the second time when the orcs captured him a year ago.
From then on, he had repeatedly cursed himself for being too weak and pathetic, too easily defeated…and for being completely useless except as a subject of twisted pleasure.
Then he had begun to search for the reason that the Valar had let all these happen to him. He had sought within himself to find his many faults and errors that qualified him enough to receive such torments. Aside from his hardheadedness and his many infamous escapades that had given his father some white hair, only one matter stood out glaringly; his mother had died bringing him into the world.
Shaking his head now, Legolas softly repeated, "It's not true." But deep in his heart, he still didn't know what
was true exactly. He only knew that this talking was slowly killing him, pulling him deeper into a black chilly void that he wasn't sure he could escape.
Legolas hastily got to his feet. "Please, Gandalf. Say no more. I…I can't bear it. This is too much."
Gandalf gazed at the elf steadily. "Very well, Legolas." The wizard also stood. "Only remember one thing. In order for you to feel whole again, you not only need the love from your family and your friends, which is abundantly clear that you are love by all. But you also need to stop hating yourself, Legolas. Spare yourself a piece of that big heart of yours. The greatest love comes from within you. Remember this."
Legolas watched silently as Gandalf walked out of the box. Then he hugged Arod's velvety white neck and let the tears fall again.
TBC…