Disclaimer: Nothing LOTR related is mine; not a single bit of it. Also
this IS NOT A MARY SUE!!!! I began writing this before I changed my
penname b/c I like the Elvish translation of it. Aislin is Gaelic and it
means "dream", plus it was really pretty so I used it. So plz don't
mistaken it for a Mary Sue b/c it's not. Thank you : - )
~*~*~*~*~Chapter One~*~*~*~*~
Aislin sat curled in her favourite chair, reading a cherished book for the millionth time. It was strategically placed facing both the fireplace, which had a roaring fire in it, and the large bay windows. Through them she could see the small stable that housed her three horses and a barn owl, the fenced pasture and the wood that lay just beyond it. The only sound that flowed through her house was the cackling of the burning wood, and birds singing near some of her open windows. She stopped playing the radio years ago, because it only made her feel worse about herself. Aislin was born without vocal chords, and was never able to speak a word in her life. Music and t.v. only reminded her of what she didn't have, and so when she moved out of her old house after her parents died she sold the t.v. and radio. She took everything else with her that she liked, leaving the rest of the family to deal with what she didn't take. The chair she was sitting in was an antique, and was the chair her father always used to read to her in at night. She always fell asleep before the story ended; the chair was more comforting than her own bed. She fell asleep in it a lot these days, and sometimes if she was lucky, she could feel her father there with her. She was closer with her dad than her mom; he was home more often on their farm, teaching her about raising horses while her mom dealt with clients of her business in other countries. But she was always home for the important days; Aislin's birthday, her father's birthday, Christmas and the like. Family and love came first, and Aislin was taught as much.
A bang ripped her attention from her book. Her head shot up, her vision straight out the window to the barn. Putting the book aside she stood up and walked to the window to observe, hoping it was nothing. Unfortunately, it was something. One of the barn doors was open, swinging in the after- storm wind. She exhaled through her nose; that door was getting old. It was always breaking and had been fixed in too many different places to be worth keeping, but right now she didn't have the money to get a new one. So she found ways to make it hold out until she could get a new one, but it didn't look like it would hold on much longer. She walked away from the window and downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing her jacket before going outside.
The wind grabbed her hair, whipping it up in all directions. Ignoring it, she walked to the stable to see what fell off of it now.
To her surprise, the door had been kicked open; from the inside. Damnit, she thought. One of the horses got out again. Every now and again she would forget to properly lock one of the stall doors, and a horse would get out. They never went farther than the pasture, but it was a pain to get them back in. She peeked inside to see who the culprit was.
Her mustang was still there; Delwyn was wild outside in the pasture, but in her stall she was unconcerned with anything she could not eat or investigate with her nose. Even the fiercest of storms seemed not to bother her, though they had none of late. But both of her Andulasians were gone; Ulric, the dapple gray who was usually peaceful and content in his stall and Nikita, the pure white one slightly restless and curious to no end. She walked into the barn, the newborn owls chirping away above her head as she checked the doors of the two empty stalls; Nikita's had been kicked out from the inside, and so had Ulric's. Her brow furrowed, and she became slightly scared. What could possibly have spooked them enough to break out?
Following some sort of instinct, she went to Delwyn's stall and unlocked it, and taking her by the bridle she led the horse outside to the pasture. Something told her that it was necessary. Once that had been taken care of, she warily walked into the woods to search out the two Andulasians.
The wind had calmed down to a gentle breeze a few hours later, and Aislin was still out searching. She had heard no sound aside from the typical forest noises, and she began to worry. There were a million and one places they could have fallen into without realizing until the last second, or get lost in, and she had not the time or resources to help them. She felt like crying; they were her parents' horses, and had grown so much like her parents that it was almost like they had never gone, or were living through their companions. She had not noticed how dark it was getting until the gold began fading from the sky, allowing the midnight blue to set in like a blanket over the azure. She shivered, the jacket bringing little if no warmth. Owls began their hunt, squirrels settled in their tree homes, and birds slept in giant unseen flocks above, their presence only known by the odd birdsong every now and again. Eventually she had come to a point where she could barely make out the path underneath her feet, so she began searching out a safe place to sleep for the night.
Voices caught her ears, and she stopped dead in her tracks. She stood sentinel as a wolf does when he hears the call of his pack far off, and realized they were close. She ran right, away from the left of the path where the voices were coming from, and heard the voices follow though no feet seemed to make noise. It was too dark for anyone to see her, but it was clearly obvious by all the noise she made falling down hills and tearing her clothes on bushes and trees where she was. Upon one steep hill, there were a number of giant oaks about surrounded by smooth ground, and her noise ceased. Without any warning even to herself she turned sharply to her left and hid behind an oak, hoping that the lack of noise she had made and the dark would hide her well from whoever had given chase. Huddled, shivering and bleeding, she pressed up against the trunk partly to keep from tumbling down the rest of the hill in front of her, and partly in belief that it would keep her even more well-hidden. The adrenalin pumped through her blood as she watched her pursuers run right past her. They seemed to not even know she was there. They moved faster than she ever could in daylight; they must have been quite far off when she heard them. The way she had moved and with their speed they would easily had overtaken her if they had been close. She wondered who they were; it was rare that anyone came into these woods, and even rarer was it that anyone came in the night. Slowly her racing pulse began to regulate itself and she tried to relax. She heard no voices for a while and, figuring them to be gone, she let sleep overtake her.
It was still dark out when voices woke Aislin again. She turned her head as little as possible, afraid of making noise and giving her away. They were searching near the area where she was nestled, obviously bent on finding her. For the most part their conversation was undecipherable, as if they were speaking a foreign language, but one began speaking English as he clearly grew annoyed at something. Only one answered him, and in the same tongue.
"My lord, I am sure whoever ran from us is gone from this place." a male voice said.
"She came this way Silinde," another answered, frustrated. "And judging from the lack of noise we heard she went no farther than this place."
"But it is dark my lord; surely we will have more luck if we wait until dawn," Silinde suggested.
"No," the other answered sternly. Aislin could tell by his voice that he was moving about. "We stay until we find her."
Silinde sighed. "Beyest lin."
Aislin let out a quiet breath she had no idea she was holding; they were getting closer. Her hand groped about the ground for something, anything that could help her out of this situation. She didn't want to be found, especially since these people did not sound like anyone she knew from the area; who knows what they would do to her if they found her. Her hand brushed a rock about the size of her palm, and an idea brewed in her mind. She curled her fingers around it as she kept alert to what these two people were doing exactly, and at the right moment she hurled the rock down the hill. It bounced off the ancient trees, tumbling at great speed down the hill. Thinking it to be her, Silinde and his companion raced down towards the noise as Aislin turned and ran as quietly as she could up the hill, away from them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas surveyed the area; there was no sign of the person they were following. Darkness was swiftly falling, and soon it would be hard to pick up the trail again. Still, he was determined to find whoever it was regardless of the obstacles. The night was not a time to be out in the forest, especially when one is unarmed.
His company suggested splitting up, saying they could cover twice as much in quicker time; he waved it, saying that no one was going anywhere. They also suggested retiring back to his father's halls, which he also waved. His determination was too strong to let up until what he had set out to do was completed. One of his companions continued to try and get him to let up, wait until dawn to continue, but no luck. Legolas' decision was final; not until they found who they were looking for.
A noise sparked their attention, something similar to a figure running away from a secret hiding place. They followed, hoping it would mean that this chase would end, and they could figure out who this person was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aislin ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her. She heard nothing behind her, and she prayed that it was a good thing. She was more cautious this time around, taking care to mind her steps so as not to run into any more bushes or trip over any more roots. After a great distance(or what seemed like a great distance) she collapsed from exhaustion; she couldn't go another step. The area seemed safe enough, so she curled up near another tree and fell into another sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas stopped at the base of the hill they had run down; something wasn't right about the noise. Someone in flight doesn't suddenly stop when being pursued. He looked up and caught the fleeting image of another running up over the hill in the opposite direction of where he stood. Signaling silently to his company, he led them back up the hill and after the image, quickly gaining. Not long after the person had begun to run had they slowed down, and he slowed his company accordingly. They ended up coming to a complete stop as the person dropped and sat themselves against a tree. Legolas instructed quietly to his company to stay back as he approached the person, eager to get a closer look.
The person did not stir as he walked right up beside them, and crouched down to get a closer look. To his astonishment, the person was female. She was also asleep and cut up pretty badly. He felt a surge of regret, knowing he and his company had been the cause of her injuries; they still bled slightly from what he could tell and were quite fresh. He turned to the others and instructed them to go back, and to tell his father that he was on his way; he had to tend to someone first. Puzzled but in no position to argue, the company left him. He was not far from his father's halls, so there was no worry among them anyway.
Turning his attention back to the sleeping woman, he unclasped his cloak and draped it over her, hoping it would bring her warmth. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, then deciding she would be more comfortable lying down he picked her up in his arms and placed her at the foot of the tree where a bed of leaves made for a comfortable spot. He sat on a tree root beside her, keeping watch through the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aislin woke up as the sun's first rays broke through the high branches of the trees around her. She smiled to herself, until she realized that a number of things weren't right. Some sort of cloak or blanket had been draped over her, and she was lying down. She had neither cloak nor had been lying down last she had remembered. Bewildered she looked about and saw no one in her immediate line of vision, so quietly and carefully she looked around the trunk of the tree she was under. Wandering some ways off was a blond man wearing bizarre clothing she had never seen before. Fear shot through her as the adrenalin coarsed through again, and her head whipped away from the man around to her right side; she could see a path there. Slowly she got up, using the trunk as balance, letting the cloak slide noiselessly to the ground as she did so. She walked around the trunk so that the path was directly in front of her and, taking one last look at the man behind her, she bolted from the tree towards the path. The noise her feet made didn't concern her at this precise moment; all that mattered was to get away from the person who was behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas was wandering about when dawn began to rise, hoping to find something edible for the girl when she awoke. He had no idea how long she had been in the wood, but regardless she most likely would be hungry. He heard the rustle of clothing falling against the leaves, and he paused; she must have woken up. He turned just in time to see her run from the tree away from him. Not wanting her to injure herself any farther he ran after her, reaching the path ahead before she had. She stopped abruptly when she saw him in front of her, and he saw her clearly for the first time since he had found her. Golden-red hair framed her face and hung just past her shoulders with eyes as blue as his. She was lithe yet strong, standing near to his own height. She spoke not a word, but rather turned around and ran in the opposite direction. He went after her, easily catching up and grabbing her by her left arm. Her right arm swung at him, which he ducked and let go at the same time. She continued running as he looked down at the hand that had grabbed her; it was soaked with blood. His worry slightly escalating, he ran after her again, hoping to get her off the path so he could stop her against a tree and show her he wasn't going to hurt her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The chase is on! Plz r&r and tell me what you think!
~*~*~*~*~Chapter One~*~*~*~*~
Aislin sat curled in her favourite chair, reading a cherished book for the millionth time. It was strategically placed facing both the fireplace, which had a roaring fire in it, and the large bay windows. Through them she could see the small stable that housed her three horses and a barn owl, the fenced pasture and the wood that lay just beyond it. The only sound that flowed through her house was the cackling of the burning wood, and birds singing near some of her open windows. She stopped playing the radio years ago, because it only made her feel worse about herself. Aislin was born without vocal chords, and was never able to speak a word in her life. Music and t.v. only reminded her of what she didn't have, and so when she moved out of her old house after her parents died she sold the t.v. and radio. She took everything else with her that she liked, leaving the rest of the family to deal with what she didn't take. The chair she was sitting in was an antique, and was the chair her father always used to read to her in at night. She always fell asleep before the story ended; the chair was more comforting than her own bed. She fell asleep in it a lot these days, and sometimes if she was lucky, she could feel her father there with her. She was closer with her dad than her mom; he was home more often on their farm, teaching her about raising horses while her mom dealt with clients of her business in other countries. But she was always home for the important days; Aislin's birthday, her father's birthday, Christmas and the like. Family and love came first, and Aislin was taught as much.
A bang ripped her attention from her book. Her head shot up, her vision straight out the window to the barn. Putting the book aside she stood up and walked to the window to observe, hoping it was nothing. Unfortunately, it was something. One of the barn doors was open, swinging in the after- storm wind. She exhaled through her nose; that door was getting old. It was always breaking and had been fixed in too many different places to be worth keeping, but right now she didn't have the money to get a new one. So she found ways to make it hold out until she could get a new one, but it didn't look like it would hold on much longer. She walked away from the window and downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing her jacket before going outside.
The wind grabbed her hair, whipping it up in all directions. Ignoring it, she walked to the stable to see what fell off of it now.
To her surprise, the door had been kicked open; from the inside. Damnit, she thought. One of the horses got out again. Every now and again she would forget to properly lock one of the stall doors, and a horse would get out. They never went farther than the pasture, but it was a pain to get them back in. She peeked inside to see who the culprit was.
Her mustang was still there; Delwyn was wild outside in the pasture, but in her stall she was unconcerned with anything she could not eat or investigate with her nose. Even the fiercest of storms seemed not to bother her, though they had none of late. But both of her Andulasians were gone; Ulric, the dapple gray who was usually peaceful and content in his stall and Nikita, the pure white one slightly restless and curious to no end. She walked into the barn, the newborn owls chirping away above her head as she checked the doors of the two empty stalls; Nikita's had been kicked out from the inside, and so had Ulric's. Her brow furrowed, and she became slightly scared. What could possibly have spooked them enough to break out?
Following some sort of instinct, she went to Delwyn's stall and unlocked it, and taking her by the bridle she led the horse outside to the pasture. Something told her that it was necessary. Once that had been taken care of, she warily walked into the woods to search out the two Andulasians.
The wind had calmed down to a gentle breeze a few hours later, and Aislin was still out searching. She had heard no sound aside from the typical forest noises, and she began to worry. There were a million and one places they could have fallen into without realizing until the last second, or get lost in, and she had not the time or resources to help them. She felt like crying; they were her parents' horses, and had grown so much like her parents that it was almost like they had never gone, or were living through their companions. She had not noticed how dark it was getting until the gold began fading from the sky, allowing the midnight blue to set in like a blanket over the azure. She shivered, the jacket bringing little if no warmth. Owls began their hunt, squirrels settled in their tree homes, and birds slept in giant unseen flocks above, their presence only known by the odd birdsong every now and again. Eventually she had come to a point where she could barely make out the path underneath her feet, so she began searching out a safe place to sleep for the night.
Voices caught her ears, and she stopped dead in her tracks. She stood sentinel as a wolf does when he hears the call of his pack far off, and realized they were close. She ran right, away from the left of the path where the voices were coming from, and heard the voices follow though no feet seemed to make noise. It was too dark for anyone to see her, but it was clearly obvious by all the noise she made falling down hills and tearing her clothes on bushes and trees where she was. Upon one steep hill, there were a number of giant oaks about surrounded by smooth ground, and her noise ceased. Without any warning even to herself she turned sharply to her left and hid behind an oak, hoping that the lack of noise she had made and the dark would hide her well from whoever had given chase. Huddled, shivering and bleeding, she pressed up against the trunk partly to keep from tumbling down the rest of the hill in front of her, and partly in belief that it would keep her even more well-hidden. The adrenalin pumped through her blood as she watched her pursuers run right past her. They seemed to not even know she was there. They moved faster than she ever could in daylight; they must have been quite far off when she heard them. The way she had moved and with their speed they would easily had overtaken her if they had been close. She wondered who they were; it was rare that anyone came into these woods, and even rarer was it that anyone came in the night. Slowly her racing pulse began to regulate itself and she tried to relax. She heard no voices for a while and, figuring them to be gone, she let sleep overtake her.
It was still dark out when voices woke Aislin again. She turned her head as little as possible, afraid of making noise and giving her away. They were searching near the area where she was nestled, obviously bent on finding her. For the most part their conversation was undecipherable, as if they were speaking a foreign language, but one began speaking English as he clearly grew annoyed at something. Only one answered him, and in the same tongue.
"My lord, I am sure whoever ran from us is gone from this place." a male voice said.
"She came this way Silinde," another answered, frustrated. "And judging from the lack of noise we heard she went no farther than this place."
"But it is dark my lord; surely we will have more luck if we wait until dawn," Silinde suggested.
"No," the other answered sternly. Aislin could tell by his voice that he was moving about. "We stay until we find her."
Silinde sighed. "Beyest lin."
Aislin let out a quiet breath she had no idea she was holding; they were getting closer. Her hand groped about the ground for something, anything that could help her out of this situation. She didn't want to be found, especially since these people did not sound like anyone she knew from the area; who knows what they would do to her if they found her. Her hand brushed a rock about the size of her palm, and an idea brewed in her mind. She curled her fingers around it as she kept alert to what these two people were doing exactly, and at the right moment she hurled the rock down the hill. It bounced off the ancient trees, tumbling at great speed down the hill. Thinking it to be her, Silinde and his companion raced down towards the noise as Aislin turned and ran as quietly as she could up the hill, away from them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas surveyed the area; there was no sign of the person they were following. Darkness was swiftly falling, and soon it would be hard to pick up the trail again. Still, he was determined to find whoever it was regardless of the obstacles. The night was not a time to be out in the forest, especially when one is unarmed.
His company suggested splitting up, saying they could cover twice as much in quicker time; he waved it, saying that no one was going anywhere. They also suggested retiring back to his father's halls, which he also waved. His determination was too strong to let up until what he had set out to do was completed. One of his companions continued to try and get him to let up, wait until dawn to continue, but no luck. Legolas' decision was final; not until they found who they were looking for.
A noise sparked their attention, something similar to a figure running away from a secret hiding place. They followed, hoping it would mean that this chase would end, and they could figure out who this person was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aislin ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her. She heard nothing behind her, and she prayed that it was a good thing. She was more cautious this time around, taking care to mind her steps so as not to run into any more bushes or trip over any more roots. After a great distance(or what seemed like a great distance) she collapsed from exhaustion; she couldn't go another step. The area seemed safe enough, so she curled up near another tree and fell into another sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas stopped at the base of the hill they had run down; something wasn't right about the noise. Someone in flight doesn't suddenly stop when being pursued. He looked up and caught the fleeting image of another running up over the hill in the opposite direction of where he stood. Signaling silently to his company, he led them back up the hill and after the image, quickly gaining. Not long after the person had begun to run had they slowed down, and he slowed his company accordingly. They ended up coming to a complete stop as the person dropped and sat themselves against a tree. Legolas instructed quietly to his company to stay back as he approached the person, eager to get a closer look.
The person did not stir as he walked right up beside them, and crouched down to get a closer look. To his astonishment, the person was female. She was also asleep and cut up pretty badly. He felt a surge of regret, knowing he and his company had been the cause of her injuries; they still bled slightly from what he could tell and were quite fresh. He turned to the others and instructed them to go back, and to tell his father that he was on his way; he had to tend to someone first. Puzzled but in no position to argue, the company left him. He was not far from his father's halls, so there was no worry among them anyway.
Turning his attention back to the sleeping woman, he unclasped his cloak and draped it over her, hoping it would bring her warmth. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, then deciding she would be more comfortable lying down he picked her up in his arms and placed her at the foot of the tree where a bed of leaves made for a comfortable spot. He sat on a tree root beside her, keeping watch through the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aislin woke up as the sun's first rays broke through the high branches of the trees around her. She smiled to herself, until she realized that a number of things weren't right. Some sort of cloak or blanket had been draped over her, and she was lying down. She had neither cloak nor had been lying down last she had remembered. Bewildered she looked about and saw no one in her immediate line of vision, so quietly and carefully she looked around the trunk of the tree she was under. Wandering some ways off was a blond man wearing bizarre clothing she had never seen before. Fear shot through her as the adrenalin coarsed through again, and her head whipped away from the man around to her right side; she could see a path there. Slowly she got up, using the trunk as balance, letting the cloak slide noiselessly to the ground as she did so. She walked around the trunk so that the path was directly in front of her and, taking one last look at the man behind her, she bolted from the tree towards the path. The noise her feet made didn't concern her at this precise moment; all that mattered was to get away from the person who was behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas was wandering about when dawn began to rise, hoping to find something edible for the girl when she awoke. He had no idea how long she had been in the wood, but regardless she most likely would be hungry. He heard the rustle of clothing falling against the leaves, and he paused; she must have woken up. He turned just in time to see her run from the tree away from him. Not wanting her to injure herself any farther he ran after her, reaching the path ahead before she had. She stopped abruptly when she saw him in front of her, and he saw her clearly for the first time since he had found her. Golden-red hair framed her face and hung just past her shoulders with eyes as blue as his. She was lithe yet strong, standing near to his own height. She spoke not a word, but rather turned around and ran in the opposite direction. He went after her, easily catching up and grabbing her by her left arm. Her right arm swung at him, which he ducked and let go at the same time. She continued running as he looked down at the hand that had grabbed her; it was soaked with blood. His worry slightly escalating, he ran after her again, hoping to get her off the path so he could stop her against a tree and show her he wasn't going to hurt her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The chase is on! Plz r&r and tell me what you think!