Disclaimer: Don't own Tolkien's characters or settings sigh. Mel is mine though..
(notes of thanks at the end of the chapter)
~ Chapter 15 – Breath of Life ~
The Misty Mountains belied their name. For three days now they had been sprinting through scorching sunlight and torrid heat, their faces sunburned and their eyes constantly assaulted by light and glistening gray rocks of the mountains. Scattered about were patches of bright green grass that only added to the exertion.
They traveled night and day, more grateful at night for the respite from heat and blinding light.
'What do your Elf eyes see, Legolas?' Aragorn asked the Elf who was stood on a high rock formation, squinting into the distance.
'I see Gollum still,' Legolas answered, whirling towards them so his words would not be lost in the wind, 'though it becomes harder each time. It is the color of these mountains that he resembles so closely now…'
'He must not be allowed to reach his cave' Gandalf said. 'Once he goes inside, we will never find him. He knows every corner of that place.'
'What do you say, Legolas, do we have enough time to catch up with him?' Aragorn asked.
Legolas slid down off the rocks to face his comrades.
'I believe so.'
They instantly became aware of the troubled look on his face.
'There is something else' he said quietly.
Gandalf and Aragorn stared, silently bracing themselves.
'A band of orcs is trailing Gollum. They are closer to him than we are.'
'How many?' Aragorn wanted to know.
'Twenty that I saw. Maybe more…'
Gandalf sighed.
'I never thought it would come to us rescuing Gollum. Yet the designs of the Valar are strange, and becoming more so every day.'
Out of reflex, Aragorn glanced at his arm, opening and closing his fist several times. The bite wound was healing slowly, but it had nearly cost him his life. And besides, it was all past now and the end of their mission was in sight. He looked up, resolve written all over his face.
'We must hurry. We cannot allow the Enemy to get their hands on the Ring.'
He had barely finished speaking when they heard it. The thud of powerful wings was distinctive as were the high-pitched cries and the travelers huddled under rocks and bush, taking cover from the piercing eyes of the three Nazgul atop their terrible mounts.
The wraiths circled for what seemed to be the longest time around the place where the comrades hid.
'The beasts have seen the horse,' Aragorn whispered to Legolas, who was shielding Mel's body with his own.
'Let's hope their more pressing business is finding Gollum', Gandalf said. He glanced at the cobalt skies, silently asking the Valar for help.
A few minutes later, they heard the abominable flutter moving away.
'Three of them' Legolas said as he peered from their hideout.
'No doubt about where they are going' Gandalf reflected, brushing the dirt off his long robes as he straightened.
'No doubt about where we are going as well.' Aragorn echoed, his eyes burning with grit borne of despair.
They were gone in a few moments, dashing to the aid of Gollum, risking life and limb in exchange for saving the precious item the wretch carried.
~~
Exhausted, crawling on all fours, muttering curses under his breath, Gollum makes his agonizingly slow way towards the cave…the only home he remembers. He lacks the strength to run any faster from the impending danger he feels with every fiber of his being, and he knows it. The heat is like nothing he has experienced in hundreds of years, assaulting his skin and his eyes, blinding him with its ruthless embrace, until he is convinced that he is no more than a walking torch.
'We hates it, yes…, we do preciouss, we hates the Yellow Face… it burns, it hurts us so…'
Yet he knows that stopping for even one moment would bring him one step closer to death, one step gained by an Enemy he cannot see, yet he can feel. They are converging on him from all directions, he is sure of it, bloodthirsty, eager to dig their claws into him, eager to rip his treasure away from him.
He is so close now, so close he can almost taste the healing water of the cave. The water that would keep him alive for many years to come, if only... Yet, a premonition creeps into the back of his mind: it's too late…too late…
His clammy hand slides on the rock he is climbing and for all his deftness and skill, he loses his balance and tumbles backward. He yelps as he hits the ground and sobs start to rack his emaciated frame.
'We're almost home now, we are, preciousss…but we are soo tired…it's too late…'
He clutches the Ring in his hand, the ends of the chain he ripped from Mel's throat hanging loose on both sides. Strangely he is loath to part with the fine mithril chain that holds the Ring and when he asks himself why that is, it occurs to him that it is because of Mel. No other had shared his visions or remotely shown him any kindness until her. Not that it mattered any longer. She was dead, yet another victim testimony to the Ring's nefarious magnetism.
The closer he gets to his cave, the more he realizes his fatal mistake.
He had taken the Ring, indeed, Its appeal much too powerful to resist, and was instantly overwhelmed by irrepressible tremors as he clutched It in his hand for the first time in over 60 years. Yet as he had danced away with it, smitten by the one thing he had hungered after for so long, he had known…He had known there and then, beyond a doubt, that this would be his undoing.
How simple it would have been to just feign obedience to Gandalf and Aragorn and lead them to his cave. Once they reached it, he would have lured Mel away from her companions and find a way to take the Ring. A simple plan, a little patience… yet the call of the Ring was stronger, eroding his mind with Its beguiling song. It took away his last vestiges of sense.
He could no longer resist Its call, driven to the brink of madness and back again hundreds of times by so many weeks of close proximity to It… He could not resist touching it again, caressing it like a long-lost lover, even if that meant that he now had to contend with the orcs, the Nazgul and his former wardens close on his trail. Even if that meant that he would never reach his cave on time.
Possessing It and letting It possess him in turn one last time, was worth giving up his life. What life? The life that had been sheer torment since the day It had left him, seeking another master?
This is life, he ponders and opens his palm, staring in rapt devotion at the loved/hated thing that kept him alive, feeding slowly on his mind…until he had his opportunity to take It back.
He had lit his explosive device exactly the way he'd been taught by Gandalf and in the panic, he had crawled towards the spot where Mel and the Ringwraith had been thrown by the blast. The terrifying song of the Ring drowned out all other sound. The wraith had disappeared, leaving Mel buried in his black cloak. For an instant, Gollum was glad that Mel was lying face down as he crouched next to her, pushing her hair aside and groping for the chain. To look upon her face, as she lay deathly still, would have caused Gollum to waste precious time. He broke the chain off in a single swift move and suppressed his shakes with great difficulty as he slipped the Ring on his wiry finger and disappeared. Yet as an afterthought, he spun around and covered Mel's body with the wraith's cloak, one last gesture of veneration towards her. Then, in a relaxed stride, he made for the edge of the camp... and home!
'You are Mine now, precioussss!!!' Gollum cries out loud at the unforgiving rock faces surrounding him, in defiance of the brazen sun scorching his skin, his loneliness and fear forgotten, and he is ready for yet another onslaught of the mountains, fresh energy swells his gaunt chest and he is ready to go home.
But he does not get to take another step. He hears the rush of air torn by an arrow and the force of it striking his leg sends him reeling backwards.
'Nooooo!…Preciousss….' he wails as he scrambles pathetically behind a rock and away from the hail of arrows that lodge in the ground where he was merely a few seconds ago.
He looks down at his thigh and his huge eyes widen in shock as he sees the arrow has sliced clean through, protruding from the back of his leg. He wants to crawl, but he cannot. More arrows strike all around him and he is cornered with his back against the rock. Too late….
He is trapped…. !~~
'Legolas, cover me!' Aragorn bellowed as he launched himself at the group of orcs. The elf shot arrow after arrow at an amazing speed while Gandalf launched a white light from his staff, scaring the orcs out of their wits.
Screams of anger and terror tore the air as Aragorn brandished his sword in one hand and a mace in the other, sending orcs and several of their body parts flying in all directions.
None who got close survived. Any who tried to shoot arrows at him fell dead by Gandalf's sword or Legolas' arrows.
In a peculiar stroke of fortune, Legolas came face to face with Bursuk. The sheer terror in the orc's face contrasted the disgusted, savage look that Legolas bore.
The orc tried to scramble away, but life was slowly draining out of him from a wound the elf had inflicted only seconds before. Legolas pursued him and stood over the body of the dying orc.
'How many of you are following behind?' Legolas questioned. When the orc croaked something, the elf crouched and whispered in a menacing tone 'Tell me, and you die easy. Keep quiet, and you will suffer!'
'Fifty… about fifty…' the orcs rasped, his black blood seeping into the ground.
'Perish, scum of the earth! This is for my comrades' Legolas spat, keeping his word, and delivered the deathblow. One clean swipe and the orc's severed head rolled into the dirt. Legolas bent over the corpse for an instant, searching for something.
'I believe you won't be needing this anymore!' he said as he tore his own knife away from the orc's grasp. The knife Bursuk had taken from Mel.
'There's Gollum!' Gandalf shouted pointing his staff at the lone figure lying at the base of a rock. The wizard's gesture sent the remaining orcs into a flat panic and most of them dropped to the ground, expecting another jolt of white light.
A few minutes later, the three warriors glanced around. They had managed to defeat the twenty orcs who now lay dead or dying, soaking the earth with their cursed blood. Already the stench was beginning to riddle the air and with the heat, the place would be reeking of decaying flesh before long.
Gandalf rushed towards Gollum's figure.
'Don't move, Gollum!' the wizard warned and promptly sheathed his sword. The creature watched him approach with undisguised hatred in his eyes, drawing breath in heavy wheezes.
As Gandalf came up close, he was dismayed to see more than the hatred in Gollum's eyes and to discover the reason for his stillness.
The creature lay hapless and broken, his back against the rock. An arrow was stuck in his thigh, rendering him unable to run or even crawl away. Orcs would have used him for target practice had they not been waylaid.
But the main source of damage was inflicted by another arrow that had lodged between his upper left ribs. Dark red blood leaked slowly out of the wound and the creature's body was inert from the shock of the impact.
'Smeagol...' Gandalf sighed at the pitiful sight.
Aragorn and Legolas approached running but soon stopped as soon as they laid eyes on Gollum.
'His lung's been punctured, most likely' Aragorn remarked after briefly examining the wound.
He looked up at Gandalf and shook his head meaningfully.
Gollum pulled his lips back in a hateful sneer, saying nothing. He knew he was dying yet he still clutched the Ring, too weak to even move his arm. None of them made a move to take it away.
Aragorn turned his attention back to Gollum.
'How far is the cave?' he asked in the gentlest way he could muster.
'Smeagol will not tell…' the gasps were coming with every word. 'What good…is it now…? The gateway…there is no one to open it for you now…is there?' The creature gloated, even on the brink of death.
'You're wrong, Smeagol' Gandalf said, looking closely at Gollum. 'Mel lives. She is gravely hurt, but there is hope yet that she may survive..'
Gollum's eyes grew wider still, the madness dancing there briefly forgotten.
'Yes, Gollum,' Aragorn added 'Mel is not dead like you no doubt believed when you stole the Ring from her.'
'We… did not… steal…the precious' Gollum breathed, 'you…YOU are the thievessss….'.
Gandalf leaned over, his face level with Gollum's, his eyes intent and almost pleading.
'You can help us save her, Smeagol. We need to reach the cave soon, otherwise she will die.'
Both Legolas and Aragorn gave the wizard a strange look. Did he think that appealing to the creature's sense would work?
'Now, Smeagol,' Gandalf continued 'tell us where the cave is. And you get to keep the Ring for a little while longer.'
Until I die, Gollum's question went unasked. Yet it appeared that Gandalf's offer was a generous one indeed since his hatred filled expression subsided long enough for him to emit a muffled groan and indicate the direction to the cave with a nod of his head.
'Well done Smeagol!' Gandalf said, almost like praising a rebellious child who had for once obeyed the rules.
A sudden fit of deadly coughing racked the creature's skeletal frame and soft pink foam appeared in the corners of his mouth. Mercifully, he lost consciousness before he choked on the blood rising from his lungs. Through all this, his fist had remained obstinately closed around the Ring.
'We cannot leave him here to die,' Aragorn said, 'and moving him will only hasten his death.'
'Aragorn, there are still orcs pursuing us' Legolas interjected. 'The one called Bursuk told me before I killed him. He says about fifty of them.'
'And the Nazgul are due to arrive back any moment.' Gandalf said quietly.
'To the cave then' Aragorn said and without further ado, he lifted Gollum's body up like a child and started off in the direction the creature had indicated.
By dusk the same day, they reached their destination.
In the protected space of Gollum's cave, Aragorn, who had carried the creature the entire way, set him down gently and immediately ran to Mel's side.
Gandalf lit one of the torches they had plundered from the orc-camp.
Legolas was seated himself next to her, bathing her face, singing softly an elvish song and trying to warm her icy hands by holding it between his palms.
'I will try to reach her again.'
'Now?' Legolas was slightly taken aback. 'I thought we were going to find the waterfall and try to heal her there.'
'I have an idea' Aragorn said. 'You must know that even if I do succeed in bringing Mel back, it will be on borrowed time.'
'I feared that.' Legolas said dolefully, not taking his eyes off Mel's peaceful face.
Aragorn continued.
'But if she is free of the shadow as she walks into the waterfall, the water might actually help her heal in her own world. It is a chance worth taking. I would do anything to ensure that I have not sent her into oblivion. And if I have to give my up my own vigor to bring her back, so be it!'
Both Gandalf and Legolas searched Aragorn's face intensely, but said nothing. Eventually, the both nodded in agreement.
'Do it then!' Gandalf said. 'We owe her that much.'
'I will need all the help I can get.' The Ranger gave Legolas an eloquent look. He then sat cross-legged next to Mel's body and grasped both her hands into his.
'Come back to us this time, Mel' he murmured.
Behind him, Legolas was softly chanting a hymn.
~~
The sea was calm, calmer than she had ever seen it, a flat expanse of gray glittering with tinges of russet and gold pouring from the rising sun.
She walked in the fine blue sand that gently massaged the soles of her bare feet, inviting her to feel at ease in this eerie place that she had never seen before. Yet it felt like home, a home she did not remember….
To her left, the sea lapped tranquilly at the beach, to her right the blue sands, flat as a bed, stretched as far as her eyes could see.
The sun was rising exactly at the midpoint between the sea and the beach and she felt possessed by a strange need to reach for the light spreading so generously, so close to her. She hoped to get there before the sun was up in the sky and out of her reach. Her pace quickened. She ached to feel the warmth of it on her skin….now.
A warm wind swept over her face and it felt like a caress. It seemed to whisper something to her as it rushed past. She pricked her ears.
What did it say, she wondered?
'Do not be afraid…'
She wasn't afraid. In fact, she had never been more comfortable in her whole life.
'Mel…'
This time it was not the ethereal voice of the wind. This was a human voice, drifting across from somewhere far behind her.
But she did not want to listen to it or turn around to see whom it belonged to.
'Mel….Mel…'
She longed to forget that name. The mere association with it made her feel uncomfortable, her joints sore, her whole body heavy and sluggish. And the weight of her own body was too much of a burden to bear as she strove towards the sunlight.
'Mel, Mel, turn around!'
It was a familiar voice yet above all she reveled in the closeness to the rising sun. Already the warmth of it suffused her face and arms. It was like coming home after years of wandering. She remembered being so cold, only moments before.
'MEL!'
A stab of pain as she spun on her heels, longing to tell whomever it was to go away and leave her be. As if from a fog, she saw the two figures walking purposefully towards her. One was a tall man with a craggy unshaven face, the other a woman with sad blue eyes and a worried look on her face.
'I know you…' Mel mused while every muscle in her body throbbed with the need to turn around and continue towards the heat, towards the light.
The man and woman stopped in front of her and Mel instantly remembered.
'Tamara…'
'Yes, it's me' Tamara said, her eyes brimming with tears. She grasped Mel's hands in hers. 'Do you remember me?'
'I think so…' Mel answered warily. 'Have you come to say good-bye, Tamara?'
'No, Mel, I've come to take you back!'
'Back? Back where?' Mel shook her head mournfully. 'You and me, Tamara, we don't belong in the same world anymore.'
Tamara searched Mel's face, her look turning desperate.
'Come with us, Mel.'
'No!' Mel's body went rigid. 'Please, I don't want to leave this place. I'm warm here. Please,' she said, prying her hands loose from Tamara's grip, 'let me go…'
'Do you remember me?' the man asked gently, drawing Mel's attention from Tamara.
Mel hesitated.
'Aragorn?'
He nodded and smiled.
'Trust me, Mel. Come back to us. This place is not for you….not yet.'
'I don't want to go back!' she protested. 'I'm so tired…'
'We need you!' Tamara pleaded.
Mel eyed them obliquely.
'No, I don't think you do!' she said sharply, a sarcastic smile creeping on her face, 'I don't think you need ME. I rather think you need me to DO something!'
'Mel…!'
'You need me to open your precious gateway!' Mel hissed and backed away a few steps. 'Why don't you open it, Tamara? You are just as 'qualfied' as I am? Why not let me rest here, I don't ever want to go back…I'm tired, I want to rest.'
Mel made a move to turn around but already the beach was changing, the sand had taken a dark brown tinge and big gray waves, swelled the surface of the sea before breaking with a deafening roar on the shore. The sun was gone, consumed by rapidly gathering clouds. The wind had turned viciously cold.
'No!!' Mel shouted in anguish. 'No….!!.'
Aragorn gathered her in his arms protectively as freezing, bitter rain started pouring out of the angry skies.
'Do not worry, Mel, I will not let go!' he whispered into her hair, holding her tight, before they were swallowed by the bellowing storm.
~~
To Be Continued
A/N: Many thanks to:
Christie: Thanks so much for your kind words and for your 'vote'. Hope you enjoy what happens next.
Chickie D: Welcome aboard and I am so pleased that you've been following my story (and that you sent me a review too lol). Hang around, it will not disappoint you!
Danceingfae: You have a wicked sense of humor, which you wonderfully display in your own fics! Lucky you, I haven't had a single Legolas dream in my whole life, can you believe it? feels jealous I was going to comment on the 'tied-up and gagged' part but I will refrain since this is a PG-13 lol.
Dy: Your argument was very strong and I am definitely not going to suggest that you get sun-glasses as protection for your eyes lol! Thanks for your opinion and yes, Mel still has heavy going ahead of her! Wicked grin
