*** This starts right there where I ended the last chapter (This is exactly what you begged for, Riley! But I was planning to do it like this, anyway.) I don't want to leave you all hanging with this evil cliffhanger for much longer, so here comes chapter 13... Hope you enjoy! ***
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... He heard hooves coming closer with every second and the terrifying sounds of swords that were pulled out of their sheaths. The ground underneath his feet started to tremble when the heavy and strong horses were right behind him. They were so close that he could already sense the heat of the animal's huge bodies. Legolas closed his eyes, still running although he knew he would not make it, and waited for a blade to penetrate his sensitive skin, thrusting in the depth of his soft flesh.
He gasped in surprise and quickly opened his eyes again when two hands grabbed him roughly, held to him tight and lifted him up so his feet lost contact to the ground. Inunyen tried to pull him up on her horse that was dashing along the fields at the highest speed it possibly could. Suddenly he felt the grip of her left hand getting so firm that it hurt immensely and he thought her fingers would penetrate his skin every second, while her right hand let go of his body again and rapidly got hold of the dagger Inunyen had tried to kill Atalar with yesterday. With a strong and concentrated movement she threw the small weapon towards the nearest of their chasers. The sharp blade pierced the man's vulnerable throat, injuring him fatally and causing him to fall from his horse. Inunyen looked back down to Legolas who was struggling to not fall down again and offered him her now free hand.
"Here, Legolas! Take my hand!" she screamed and he grabbed it gratefully, trying to cling at the side of the quickly moving horse. Before Inunyen managed to get him up properly, Legolas saw desperation in her eyes when she raised her head towards the attackers again, moving her gaze behind the elf's back.
"No!" she yelled out of fright and urged her horse to change the direction abruptly. Legolas heard a sword flying past his head with startling force, missing his face only by inches, and then the loud groan of pain that escaped from Inunyen's throat. His eyes widened with horror when he saw the blade that originally had been aimed at his head now was penetrating the upper part of her body instead. It slid in her flesh without resistance as her armor was still lying at the river shore. The sword was withdrawn again as violently as it had been forced into the human body and Legolas almost fell back down to the ground as Inunyen's strength faded and her grip grew weak. He locked gazes with her and saw pure fear in her eyes. Fear of the chasers that were so close behind them, almost next to them, but also fear of letting Legolas fall. They both knew he would be killed, either by the swords of the attackers or by the hooves of their horses if they rode over his body.
Legolas put one arm around her waist, clasping the saddle with the other hand, and finally managed to pull himself up behind her without her help.
"Inunyen!" he shouted, rapidly closing his arms around her slackened body so she didn't fall off. "You must bring us near Aragorn! Please, do not give up!"
When he saw her getting hold of the reins again and felt her shifting herself in a steadier position he let go of her and pulled another arrow out of his quiver.
"Legolas, no! Hold tight, I beg you!" he heard her voice that was trembling with pain. He put the arrow back quickly and as soon as he closed his arms around her body again she forced her horse to run even faster. Legolas automatically pressed his hands onto her injury to keep back the blood once he felt the warm liquid moisten his palms. He knew that it was hopeless, that the wound was too big and spilling too much blood. He felt the warm gore welling through his fingers, but still he had to try to fight it. It was everything he could do to help at the moment. When a powerful gust made Inunyen's long hair lash into Legolas' face and also pulled on his own, tangling red and blonde strands, Legolas bowed his head and pressed his cheek against Inunyen's back, trying to get even closer to her so the strong wind wouldn't be able to get hold not only of his hair but his whole body and just blow him off the horse. He felt that he wouldn't be able to remain on the horse's back at this speed for a much longer time, no matter how tight he held to Inunyen. If he didn't let go of her soon, he only would pull her with him, bringing death to both of them.
When he looked behind he discovered with relief that Ghorid was approaching to help. He rapidly caught up coming from the left side and successfully distracted one of the chasers by involving him in a sword battle.
"There is only one man left," Legolas informed the female messenger, but she didn't reply. He said her name out loud and softly shook her, but there was no reaction. When he looked over her shoulder down to her hands he discovered that she wasn't holding to the reins anymore, so he took one of his bloodstained hands from her body and grabbed them himself. With the other arm he held the female body that had gone limp and threatened to lose balance. Legolas forced Inunyen's horse into the direction where Aragorn was who had already battled down two of his three attackers.
"Aragorn! Help!" Legolas yelled when they had almost reached him. Right after bringing death to the third man, Aragorn got his bow and shot Legolas' and Inunyen's chaser from his horse with the first try. While he hurried to support Ghorid and Atalar afterwards, Legolas entered the safer woods where he carefully lifted Inunyen from the horse once they were hidden behind trees and bushes. He softly lay her down on the ground and got down on his knees right next to her. She moaned in pain when he gently shoved her clothes aside to reveal the wound. Legolas furrowed his brows and couldn't help making a very low noise of anguish himself when he examined the injury more closely. He could almost feel some of the physical pain she was going through this very moment. The spilled blood covered her muscled belly and slowly ran and dripped down her sides, creating a pool of red liquid underneath her. Legolas wished he could do more than only holding his hands to the wound in a desperate attempt to stop the blood flow. When she opened her green, watery eyes and looked at him with an expression that made his heart break he said:
"Be strong, I will get Aragorn once the enemy is overpowered. His healing skills will perhaps be a rescue to you."
"No," Inunyen replied weakly and swallowed hard. "It is too late to save my life, the sword was thrust too deep. But it is not too late to rescue Boromir..."
"What do you say?" Legolas asked in confusion and narrowed his eyes.
"Come closer, my voice loses its strength," she whispered and weakly lifted her forearm, begging for a soothing touch. Legolas took one hand from her wound, softly grabbed her cold one and bent deeper down, closer to her terrifyingly pale face.
"What do you know, Inunyen?" he asked, holding her hand tightly to give her at least some comfort.
"Forgive me, Legolas... I am not who I seem to be. I have done evil."
"You have saved my life," Legolas replied.
"Not enough to repay my debts," Inunyen said and shook her head weakly to emphasize her words. "Listen, Legolas. I wasn't orphaned when I was a child. That was a lie. My whole life is a lie. The truth is that I am the daughter of the steward of An'Dorias."
"I did not know he had a daughter," Legolas said surprised.
"Nobody knows. I was not raised as a daughter but as a weapon. A weapon to force Katalla to bond with An'Dorias. Or at least prevent it from bonding with another empire."
"I do not understand," Legolas said desperately, frightened that she could pass away before he comprehended what she was talking about.
"My father always wished Katalla to bond with his empire. When Ribensis refused, it was my assignment to provide my father with every possible piece of information about Ribensis' future plans."
"You are a spy?" Legolas asked, slowly being able to see through it.
"Yes. It all was planned. It was planned that the scouts found me in the woods and thought I was a lost child they had to rescue. But in fact I had secret contact to my father all the time, all those years. And now listen to my words well, for I will be able to speak them out loud only once. Everything was a horrible intrigue that was planned wisely in order to destroy the bond between Katalla and Gondor. I shadowed Lord Boromir and Lady Aerilyn, I knew about everything. The arranged wedding, their dislike regarding the marriage, and then... the secret meetings during the nights, the love that grew between them... I knew he wanted to take her with him on a ride, all on their own. It was... It was me who planned the murder attempt. My father's people, people from An'Dorias, assassinated Aerilyn and took Boromir with them, like I had ordered them in the name of my father. My task on this journey was to murder Atalar and afterwards report to Steward Ribensis that it had been Ghorid who killed him. With both his children murdered by very close relatives of Denethor, Ribensis surely would have called to arms and then, perhaps, bond with An'Dorias as our soldiers would have helped to defeat Gondor. I also lied to you when I brought the news about Aerilyn's wellbeing. She lives. I told you that she was dead because I thought it would help stir up the hate and mistrust Atalar feels for Ghorid and Boromir."
"Lady Aerilyn is alive?" Legolas asked with a tone that indicated he didn't believe in Inunyen's words.
"Yes, she is. You have to trust me, this time I tell the truth. But I fear that Aerilyn is in great danger, because she is the only one, apart from Boromir, who could identify the assassins and with that ruin my father's plans. I am sure he already hired new people to put an end to her life."
She paused for a moment to gather some energy before she added: "Those men who are attacking us... They are men from An'Dorias. My father must have sent them in order to kill me and Atalar, or even all of us. I assume he grew suspicious as I did not fulfil his latest order yet. Please Legolas, I want you to take my horse. Ride to the north, to the mountains, and you will find what you seek. You are almost there, it is not far from here where they keep Boromir. You did very well tracking them down."
Her voice faded and she looked the elf deep in the eyes, a begging expression in them. Just when Legolas wanted to reply something, she parted her pale lips again and took a faint, shivering breath.
"Please, do tell Atalar...," she began, but then abruptly stopped speaking, trying to fight back the tears that gathered in her eyes. Only one escaped as she continued with a whisper so low that even Legolas found it hard to get her words.
"Tell Atalar that I loved him with all my heart and soul, and that I will always do so. I detest myself for trying to kill him. I tried more than once, but I just couldn't do it because he is the only one who brightened up my gruesome, dark life. He made my life worth living." Inunyen smiled faintly at some memories Legolas could only guess and lost a few more tears. "Tell Atalar that his words were the loveliest that ever were addressed to me and that I would have gone with him. He will understand."
"Yes, I will tell him," Legolas promised and gently squeezed her hand.
"Tell everybody I owe you my deepest apologies. I did not deserve to travel amidst upright and loyal people like you."
Legolas shook his head slowly, proving her statement wrong.
"Your heart is brave and good. You are forgiven, Inunyen. You shall rest in peace," he said softly, knowing that her end was near. She nodded gratefully and shed a few more tears while her breath turned slower and weaker with every second. Her last words came out in a very low and rasping pant.
"Thank you, Legolas of Mirkwood," she whispered, her pale lips hardly moving. Her breathing ceased, her hand lost its weak grip and the wild sparkle in her eyes was lost for good when she ultimately entered the eternal sleep. After so many years of betrayal, submission and self-deception, Inunyen was finally free.
With a tiny sigh Legolas lifted his hands to her pale face, gently closed her eyes and then folded her hands over her chest.
"Rest in peace," he repeated in a low voice and ran his fingertips over her cheek, leaving red traces of blood on her white skin. He rose on his feet again when he heard the sounds of battling from the fields. He couldn't do anything for her anymore, but his comrades needed help. He turned around, climbed Inunyen's horse and hurried back to the others, pulling a few arrows and his bow on his way.
The enemies were beaten soon and the four comrades gathered to see whether anybody was wounded and needed aid. They all were fine, apart from exhaustion and a few bruises. No serious harm was done. At least not concerning the male members of the company.
"Where is Inunyen?" Atalar asked when he noticed that she was missing.
"Legolas?" he added in a fearful tone, his gaze ranging over Inunyen's horse the elf straddled. When Legolas didn't reply he shifted his gaze up to the elf's face again, but not without noticing the blood on Legolas' hands and forearms.
"No...," Atalar said in a cracking voice and slowly shook his head, refusing to accept that something terrible had happened to her, although it was more than obvious. He didn't need a spoken answer, he could read it in Legolas' sorrowful eyes.
"Where is she?" Atalar asked. "Please, I want to see her."
Legolas only nodded and led the others closer to the woods silently. When Inunyen's lifeless body was in sight Legolas, Aragorn and Ghorid stopped their horses while Atalar dismounted so quickly that he almost fell.
"Maybe it's not too late," Aragorn said and changed a concerned look with Legolas who shook his head sadly.
"There is nothing you could do, Aragorn. She is dead."
Aragorn nodded slowly and shifted his gaze to the ground, wondering whether Inunyen would still live if they hadn't split up the group when they had been at the river. A heartrending sound made him forget about his reflections and focus on the time at present again. He turned his head to the source of the low noise and witnessed how Atalar, who had fallen down on his knees next to Inunyen's dead body, drew her tightly against his chest in a loving embrace.
"That poor boy," Aragorn murmured and looked back to Legolas again. "He's so young and yet he has to go through so much pain."
Without thinking about it, Aragorn wanted to dismount in order to go towards Atalar, but Legolas grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
"I will go," the elf said.
"I will come with you," Aragorn replied, but Legolas softly shook his head.
"I have something to tell him that is only for his ears to hear."
Aragorn nodded understandingly and shifted his gaze back to the mourning young man again.
"I don't want to sound heartless, but you need to keep in mind that we have to continue with our journey soon," he told the elf.
"I fear his heart will not be an easy and quick one to soothe, Aragorn."
"He needs to pull himself together."
"He is not as experienced as we are, he can not cope with intense emotions like these all on his own yet. He's only about twenty-five, you are demanding too much from him."
"I wouldn't be so demanding if it wasn't necessary," Aragorn responded.
"I know, I'm sorry," Legolas replied and sighed inaudibly. "Let me see what I can do."
"Let me know if I can help somehow. We will keep within hearing," Aragorn said and then followed Ghorid who had moved further away to give Atalar some privacy.
Legolas dismounted gracefully and slowly approached Atalar who still clutched to the corpse of his secret beloved, wetting her cold and lifeless skin with silent and restrained tears. Legolas wasn't sure what to say or what to do when he looked down to Atalar who looked so miserable that he felt a sting going through his own heart, just from watching. While he still was trying to come up with something appropriate to say, Atalar suddenly spoke without taking his gaze from Inunyen's face.
"Why, Legolas?" Atalar asked with a shaky voice full of pain and sorrow. "Why was she taken from me?"
"I do not have an answer to that, Atalar," Legolas said softly and squatted down slowly, his brown eyes mirroring the pain he saw in the young man's face, "but I have something important to tell you."
When Atalar raised his head and looked at Legolas desperately, his dark eyes filled with yet unshed tears that made them look like two deep and sad oceans, the elf continued to speak.
"Inunyen's last words were addressed to you."
"What did she say?" Atalar whispered and sniffed slightly.
"She asked me to tell you that she loved you with all her heart and soul, and always will do so. She said she would have gone with you," Legolas said with the softest tone he could possibly create, and he saw that Atalar indeed understood what Inunyen had meant. He carefully lowered her back to the ground and ran his fingertips over her face ever so softly while his lower lip began to tremble. He shut his eyes tight, concentrating on suppressing a heavy sob that build up in the depths of his body and threatened to explode from his throat.
Legolas couldn't help getting closer to the young man to offer him support. He expected Atalar to push him away or ignore him, too often Legolas had learned that he was a stubborn and introverted man who wasn't fond of people he didn't know well. But to his surprise Atalar let himself sink against the elf's body and buried his face against Legolas' shoulder. Now as he found comfort he couldn't fight it back anymore and massive grief broke out of him like an avalanche, getting more powerful with every single sob. Legolas carefully closed his arms around the younger man and softly held his heavily shivering body, his hands resting on the crying human lightly as a feather. He noticed that Atalar was much more delicate than he actually seemed. His body was muscular but very slender, similar in character of his sister's. Legolas found him almost fragile as he was breaking down in his arms, crying his heart out. The sounds that came from deep within him sounded almost inhuman, so thick with desperation and sorrow. The heartrending atmosphere took control over Legolas quickly and soon he found himself crying too. Not nearly as heavily and loudly as the younger man, but he could not prevent a few tears from falling down his smooth cheeks silently. Hot wetness crept over his shoulder when Atalar's tears slowly seeped through to Legolas' skin and he felt strong fingers digging in his flesh when Atalar clutched to the elf's body in violent desperation, but he did not move a tiny bit. Legolas sat still, willing to give comfort as long as it would be needed.
Suddenly Legolas felt one of his elven daggers being drawn quickly and it was only thanks to his rapid reactions that he captured Atalar's wrist before he had a chance to plunge the sharp blade deep into his chest, right into his aching heart. The tip of the dagger came to a halt only inches from Atalar's body and Legolas had to summon up quite some strength to bar Atalar from carrying out what he had in mind.
"Let it go," Legolas said, his eyes fixed on the man's wet face that was so full of desperation but also determination.
"No," Atalar whispered, his fist closed tightly around the weapon. Legolas was surprised, almost shocked about the physical power Atalar managed to develop under these circumstances.
"Let it go," the elf repeated, his words coming out as a harsh order this time, "Suicide is no solution. Ever."
"Let me do it! Please, I want to die!"
"Atalar! Come back to your senses and let go of the dagger! Now!" Legolas yelled back, his voice bearing a dangerous undertone.
"But I can't take this any longer," Atalar sobbed and let the dagger fall to the ground, much to the relief of Legolas. "My life crumbles to pieces and I can't do anything about it. My life has lost its purpose, everybody who was dear to my heart was taken from me."
"No, Atalar, listen to me," Legolas said while he rapidly threw the dagger out of Atalar's reach and then gently wrapped his hands around the younger man's upper arms. Atalar looked at the elf with big, bloodshot eyes, thick liquid drops hanging in his long and dark eyelashes, waiting only for a blink to fall down on his flushed face.
"Your sister is alive," Legolas said softly.
"What?" Atalar asked almost inaudibly.
"Aerilyn lives, she is not dead. She is in Minas Tirith and waits for your return."
"But how... I mean... I do not understand, Legolas," Atalar whispered desperately.
"Trust me, Atalar, it is the truth. I will tell you about everything later. You need to bid Inunyen farewell now, we must continue with our journey."
"We cannot leave her lying here like that," Atalar said, his voice still shaky but not as low as before. "Would you help me? Please?"
"I'd be honored to give you a hand on this matter," Legolas replied.
"Thank you, Legolas."
And so they arranged a base of stones on the wide fields on which Inunyen's body could be burnt without the risk of the flames affecting the surrounding nature. They carefully wrapped Inunyen in her huge cloak, softly lay her down on the stony bed and set the thick fabric of the cape on fire. Legolas sang a short but beautiful lament since Atalar was choked with sorrow and couldn't bring one word out of his mouth when he observed how hungry flames licked around his lover's body. Aragorn and Ghorid watched from discreet distance, both taking part at the prayers silently. When Legolas was finished he gently put a hand on Atalar's shoulder and squeezed soothingly.
"The wind will carry her ashes to all the beautiful places I would have gone to together with her," Atalar said, caught up in his memories.
"I am sure she would have liked that," Legolas said and then dragged Atalar softly with him. "We need to go on," he explained while they turned their backs to the fire that claimed Inunyen's lifeless body. "Or would you rather go back to Gondor to meet your sister? We would understand."
"No. We have gone such a long way already, I don't want the strains and losses of this journey to be in vain," Atalar said and his voice sounded more steady again. "Too much innocent blood was shed already. We have to find Boromir before his life is taken too. Let's go."
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Everybody relieved I let Legolas live?? I guess I never could kill him, honestly! But my poor Inunyen... SNIFF, SOB ... I grew so attached to her while writing her character... But that's the way the story goes, right? (Or to say it in another way: Shit happens, even in Middle-Earth!) Cheers, and don't forget to leave a review! ;o)
