Disclaimer: For full disclaimer, please see chapter 1.
A/N:
*innocent look a various readers* No, just WHY do you guys think that Geran will cause trouble? Whatever gave you _that_ idea? But now that you mention it, I see what you mean... *ducks some heavy objects* Okay, okay, I admit it: The dear Geran has a very high villain potential, I'll give you that. But I can't tell you what he's going to do, that would ruin the whole thing, so you'll have to wait a bit, sorry...
*glares at Trish, Coreinha, Zam and several other people* Okay, now it has gone too far! Because you insist on stuffing poor Celylith into closets/pockets/whatever, people are beginning to think that this is normal procedure here! Now Legolas is being kidnapped as well! So, PLEASE, stop doing that. The poor elf will have enough trouble on his own soon without you guys stuffing him into closets, so no kidnapping my characters! Understood? *threatening look* Okay, I hope so...
Oh, and I agree, btw. The nightmares are really nasty, and it IS good that that stubborn human has finally talked about them. Took him long enough too... *shrugs* He is kind of stupid, isn't he?
Well, alright, here's chapter 15! Please don't ask me where the sloth scene came from, it must have been cooked up by the demented part of my brain, and yes, it's quite large... *g* Beside that, we see more of Adruran and his men, and they get to Dale! Yay them!
Have fun and review, please!
Chapter 15
Aragorn awoke to the chirping of birds outside, feeling more rested and relaxed than he had in months, more precisely not since his father and brothers had left Mirkwood. Somehow his adopted father's presence had served to keep the better part of the nightmares at bay, but since he had left more than four weeks ago, the dreams had been a permanent part of his nights.
The young ranger stretched slightly, but kept his eyes closed, trying to cling to the last remnants of sleep as long as possible. He would even have been able to return to sleep if it hadn't been for these incredibly annoying birds somewhere close by. Mentally cursing the animals profusely, he was just asking himself why Ilúvatar hadn't created those annoying chirping little things mute since their voices didn't serve any discernable purpose anyway, when the flap of his tent was thrown aside and bright daylight poured into the small space.
"Look, my lord," a far too amused elven voice said with an air of great surprise. "It is a human!"
"Are you sure about that, mellonamin?" Legolas' voice countered quizzically, and Aragorn could almost see how the prince cocked his head to the side. "I think it looks more like a sloth."
"Nay, my prince," Celylith said, "It is too large for that."
"True, true," the fair haired elf mumbled, and Aragorn could feel something poke him in the leg. The young man growled in annoyance and pulled his blanket over his head.
"Did you hear that?" Legolas added, grinning at his elven friend. "That was the sound of a bear, I am sure of it!"
"But, your Highness," Celylith retorted in mock seriousness, "For that is again too small."
"Hmm," Legolas made, frowning in thought. "It might be a little one."
The two elves grinned at the form of the ranger that was trying his best to ignore them.
"You mean, like a baby, my lord?" the silver haired elf asked, barely being able to contain his laughter.
"Aye," Legolas nodded, noting with great amusement how the body of the man stiffened in indignation. He poked the curled up form of his friend with the tip of his new bow again, and this time Aragorn's growl sounded even more authentic. "Indeed, it must be one."
"Look out, my prince!" Celylith cried out in mock alarm, grasping the other elf's arm and pulling him backwards a step or two. "It might attack! Perhaps it's hibernating in here!"
"Funny," an annoyed voice growled, "Very, very funny."
"Thank you," Legolas said loftily, raising an eyebrow when the blanket was slowly thrown back and a dark head appeared. "We are doing our best."
Grey eyes opened and blinked owlishly at them while the rest of the sleepy face scowled darkly.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Tent."
Celylith and Legolas looked at each other, both raising a questioning eyebrow. The elven prince turned back to his human friend.
"Get up, Estel. You have slept for more than twelve hours."
The ranger's eyes grew large.
"Twelve hours? I haven't!"
"Yes, you have," Celylith nodded, hiding a small smile of satisfaction. He had been very pleased to hear that that stubborn ranger had finally told Legolas about his dreams, which must have been truly horrifying, judging by Legolas' expression last night.
He had of course not asked his prince what they had been about, for he would never expect the other elf to betray Aragorn's trust, but he wasn't stupid either. In all likelihood the young man relived his captivity from a few months ago, and that was enough to provide anyone with enough material for several years' worth of nightmares.
"We thought you could use the rest," Legolas added, giving the ranger an openly concerned look. "Have you slept well?"
"Better than in months," Aragorn answered and smiled at his elven friend, meeting his eyes evenly. While he knew that the dreams wouldn't disappear just like that, it helped enormously to know that his best friend didn't think him weak and was willing to help him fight them. "Truly, I have."
The elven prince returned the smile and nodded at the man.
"Then I am glad, my friend." Silver-blue eyes twinkling, he added, "And now get up! It is nearly midday, and if we don't get a move on soon we won't even need to break camp but will be able to stay here for a second night."
The young human sat up and aimed a playful smack at his friend's bow, ignoring the dangerous flash that could shortly be seen in the elf's eyes at that impudence as he hastily pulled his weapon to safety.
"You could have woken me sooner!"
"And risk an attack?" Celylith asked grinning. "Hibernating bears can be highly unpredictable."
"Sloths," Legolas interjected, slowly edging backwards when Aragorn stood to his feet, a dangerous expression on his face. "I still think he looked more like a sloth."
"We have been through this already, Legolas," Celylith rolled his eyes, ignoring the man that was coming closer, "He is too large for one." He furrowed his brow. "Do sloths hibernate?"
Legolas didn't answer but turned and quickly moved out of his human friend's reach who had obviously just decided that he had endured more than his fair share of teasing this morning. Aragorn just looked after the swiftly departing elves, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to get them in his still sleepy state.
'A sloth?' he thought as he walked over to the horses that were standing close by, ignoring his elven friends' laughing voices that called to each other to beware of the "Terrible Sloth". 'A sloth?'
It wasn't his fault that humans needed sleep, he decided grumpily, taking out some dried fruit and meat (oddly enough, there was almost no cram left), feeling famished all of the sudden.
Settling down next to the fire, he took out his sword and placed it next to him, making sure that those two immature elves saw exactly what he was doing.
He would show them what this particular sloth could do, once they came back into his reach.
If sloths were one thing, they were patient.
Adruran looked around the little camp, noting with satisfaction that the beige tents seemed to blend into the snowy surroundings up to a certain degree. It wasn't enough to fool an elf or even a ranger even from some distance away, but for the Men of Dale it should be more than enough. Nobody really had a business being here, and since the lands that had not too long ago been known as the Desolation of Smaug were none too hospitable this time of year, he could feel reasonably safe.
Besides, he had posted guards in the trees all around them, so even if someone should find them – which he doubted, but one could never be too careful – he or she wouldn't be walking around telling people about them, since dead people tended not to talk too much. Unless their spirits returned to haunt the living, but that did not really count as dead then.
The brown haired man shook his head, disgusted at himself. Where had that thought come from? All this waiting was apparently not good for his ability to think reasonably, and the news Hanar had brought were far from comforting either.
Adruran sat down on a boulder next to one of the camp fires his men had kindled and watched Geran and another man who were involved in a friendly knife fight. The boy had definitely some skill with a blade, and he could have ended the unequal fight a long time ago, but in the older man's eyes he enjoyed playing with the other man.
Yet another problem: Geran. He wearily closed his eyes, but refrained from sighing just in time. There was no reason to let his men see that he was, in fact, very close to going insane with waiting.
Adruran forced his thoughts off this topic and back to his problems at hand, starting with Geran. The boy would have to be watched, and he already regretted having taken him on this mission. He, Adruran, was a professional, and while he might be brutal and ruthless when the times called for it, he did not relish other being's pain.
Geran did, most certainly. That alone would not have been so much of a problem, but there was his ambition as well, his ambition to hunt and kill every being in Middle-Earth, a goal which he was rather close to attaining, by the way. Even though he was hardly older than 25 years, he had already a rather impressive trophy collection, and Adruran had no doubt that one day the younger man would indeed manage to attain his goal.
Right now, however, this ambition was at the very least annoying, if not dangerous. Even though Geran may have thought that he had hidden it well, Adruran had seen the almost fanatic gleam in the younger man's dark eyes when Hanar had mentioned the elves. This was indeed not good, Adruran thought. Stopping the boy from going after a dwarf had been hard enough – even though he might allow it a little bit later, it would only serve to make everything appear more authentic – but now that he knew that there were probably elves coming here, it would be twice as hard.
'Wonderful,' he thought, 'Now all I need is yet another ranger and everything goes straight from bad to catastrophic.'
There he was at the second and third problem: The ranger and the elves. Hanar had left before the man had revealed anything of interest, and secretly Adruran doubted that he had at all. In his experience, which was formidable after all, it was more likely to convince a dwarf to cut off his beard than to be able to make a ranger talk.
Which, once again, brought him to the most pressing problem: Who were these elves? What did they know? Where was Lomar? Was the Elvenking involved in all this?
If he was, then he might as well send his men home and hang himself, he thought somewhat dryly. If what he had heard about the king was true, he was quite fond of silver and jewels himself and if he had found out whom the treasure belonged to…
Adruran shook his head. There were too many questions and far too few answers, so wondering about things he could neither influence nor understand right now would hardly prove to help his situation. He would simply have to wait and see, and there he was back to Square One: Waiting.
He really, really hated waiting.
"Sir!" a shout to his left made him turn around, and he saw two men come closer, one of them a guard posted to watch over the camp somewhere to the north and the other one of the men that were keeping an eye on the Lake-men's camp.
He did not get up from his boulder but looked at them calmly, waiting for them to come closer.
"Sir!" the guard said again, hoping inwardly that his captain was in a better mood today. Usually Adruran was a rather fair man, but lately he had been known to react rather unpredictably. "I brought him here since we changed campsites yesterday."
"Well done," the older man nodded at the guard. "Return to your post."
The guard nodded and walked away, quickly disappearing between the dark, leafless trees, the snow crunching softly under his boots.
Adruran looked at the other man, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"If you are not here to tell me that those incompetent sons of orcs have found something, anything, you will regret having ever come in the first place."
The man swallowed nervously, hoping that this was one of the times when his superior showed his questionable sense of humour.
"Uhm, well, sir, I…"
"Ah!" Adruran held up his hand, battling against the rage that was beginning to bubble inside his chest. "Just say 'They have found something, sir' and everybody will be happy."
Obediently, the other man said,
"They have found something, sir."
"Finally!"
That was Geran's voice, who had finally ceased to play with his opponent and ended the fight. He and Adruran's other two lieutenants had stepped closer while the rest of the men stayed back a little. They knew better than to disturb their commanders during important meetings.
Adruran turned and gave the younger man a dark glare. He didn't appreciate being interrupted by his own men. Noting with satisfaction that the boy was beginning to blush, he turned back to the man in front of him.
"They have found the treasure?"
"Well, sir, as I said…"
Tiddryr, one if Adruran's lieutenants, growled impatiently.
"Speak plainly, man!"
The other human swallowed again.
"They haven't found the treasure, sirs, but they have found a good lead, it appears. They have spotted a part of the mountain where they think it is hidden." He grimaced. "They still need to find a way in, though…"
Adruran bit down on his lower lip, frowning in thought.
"When was that?"
"Yesterday evening," the man replied quickly. "I stayed until morning and tried to overhear as much of the conversation as possible and set out in the morning hours. They said something about having to look for the entrance and about dwarves that seemed entirely too interested in their activities, even though they didn't think that they knew what they are here for, but that was about all I was able to hear."
"That's more than enough," Adruran nodded and dismissed the man with a quick wave of his hand. "Go and have something to eat; in the evening you will take a fresh horse and return."
The other man snapped to attention.
"Yes, sir!"
He turned and quickly disappeared in a nearby tent, looking for some food and a warm fire.
Adruran gave his lieutenants a sign and they stood up and walked a bit out of the camp to make sure none of the men would be able to overhear their conversation. It wasn't that Adruran didn't trust his men, for they all knew how terribly stupid it was to antagonise their captain, but there was no reason for them to know more than they absolutely had to.
They stopped under a large pine tree, and Adruran looked at all of them in turn.
"The dwarves must not find out just yet. It was to be expected that they would notice something, but they must not get close enough to confirm their suspicions."
The three men nodded, and Bleon asked,
"What do we do then? It appears that they still need some time to find the entrance, and the elves could be coming closer as well."
Adruran ran a callous hand through his brown hair, appearing perfectly aware of this but inwardly cursing himself. The elves, Great Ones, he had really forgotten all about them for a second…
"We will break camp," he said after a moment. "We will relocate, closer to their camp. We need to be able to act should they manage to get through that mountain. We cannot allow them to run around telling anyone about their discovery, as they surely will once they have found something. They are too stupid not to."
He studied the slowly sinking sun before he added,
"About the dwarves … we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I don't want to have any trouble with them, not yet, but should they find out what the Lake-men are after, there will be a lot of that, believe me. We can try to keep them away, but that is all. Sooner or later they will find out, we can only try to delay the moment when they will."
He paused for a moment, creasing his brow in thought. Then he looked up and continued.
"That should work. We need to make sure that the Lake-men's camp stays isolated, and that neither the Men of Dale nor the dwarves find out anything just yet. As soon as they actually find something, we will strike." Adruran gave the three men a hard look. "Get the men ready, we will leave tomorrow morning. It is already too late now, since we wouldn't want them to hear us because we are stumbling around in the dark, now would we?"
Bleon and Tiddryr nodded and turned on the heel, heading towards the camp and calling the men together to let them know of the change in plans. Geran however remained behind, looking at the older man questioningly.
"What about the elves? Even if the Elvenking is not involved and all of this is a coincidence they will cause trouble, especially if they have learned anything from Lomar."
Adruran's face darkened as he admitted to himself that this was exactly what he had been thinking the whole time. It didn't really matter whether the ranger had survived his little encounter with Lomar or not, the fact that his man was not here could only mean one thing: He had been delayed, and assuming that the elves had nothing to do with that would be folly.
"Lomar wouldn't have told them anything," he said, in part trying to reassure himself with these words.
"No," Geran nodded calmly, "He wouldn't have. But these are elves, and there are ways to find out anyway, especially if they found them before Lomar killed the ranger. They will be coming to Dale then. What are you going to do about them, sir?"
Adruran looked at the younger man, noticing the bright sparkle of tension and anticipation in the brown eyes. Geran was already planning his next hunting session, that much was sure.
"They're not your problem," he said gruffly. "If they come indeed here, I will see that they are taken care of, and you won't go anywhere near them until I have given you permission to. Understood?"
Geran nodded.
"Yes, sir."
"You are dismissed. Get your men ready to travel."
Without another word the young man turned and walked back into the direction of the camp, leaving an annoyed and rather anxious Adruran behind. They both knew that Geran's last words had been a lie; there was no way the boy would be able to control himself should the elves really come to Dale.
Adruran slowly began to follow his lieutenants, watching the sun sink lower, now already beginning to disappear behind the trees. Damn those elves, he thought not for the first time, damn them and all of their kind!
He shook his head quickly, forcing himself to calm down. The elves wouldn't be a problem, for he had an advantage over them: He knew exactly where they would be going once they came here. Sooner or later, they would come to find him, and then he would be ready.
No, he thought again with a grim smile, the elves wouldn't be a problem. They would be taken care of, just as he had told the boy. He wouldn't let them ruin his plan, for that he had worked too hard and too long on this.
"I think he is still asleep."
"Be silent, elf."
"I have to agree, my lord. I thought after two good nights' sleep in a row he would be more alert, but perhaps sloths react that way when you disturb their hibernation period?"
"Quiet, Celylith, or I will have to relieve you of that silver head of yours."
Legolas grinned at the irate ranger that was riding between the two of them.
"Would that be a two-toed sloth or a three-toed one? The few people I have met who have actually seen one insisted that there was a difference. Besides, we have never really established whether or not sloths do hibernate at all, my friend."
Celylith returned the grin, eyeing the young man with an evil glint in his dark blue eyes.
"Well, apparently they do, or he is indeed a bear cub." He easily ducked a blow Aragorn had aimed at his head and added smugly, "But no, Legolas, now I see it: He is a sloth."
Aragorn ducked his head and closed his eyes: Here it came. Elbereth, these two were almost as bad as his brothers…
"'Once, in a dark tent, there was a stupid sloth…'" Celylith began, smiling evilly.
"'…masking itself, for it went garbed like a man in cloth…'" Legolas went on, with a wicked grin and in a particularly annoying sing-song voice. Aragorn felt very tempted to simply draw his sword and do something he would have trouble explaining to Lord Thranduil later, but experience collected over the past 36 hours stopped him just in time.
Legolas and Celylith were merely warming up; if he provoked them they might start singing that particular stupid and annoying poem once more instead of merely reciting it, as they had done yesterday evening. The entire evening, one might add, non-stop.
"I wouldn't be so quick with my words if I were you, Leafie," he simply retorted, starting to grin as well.
Legolas, who had been about to recite the next line of the poem he and Celylith had come up with yesterday morning while they had been waiting for the human to calm down after their initial discussion about this subject, closed his mouth with a snap and glared at his now snickering companions.
By the Valar, he had so hoped that they had already forgotten that accursed name…
"He got you there, Legolas," his elven friend snickered helplessly.
The fair haired elf sent Aragorn a fiery look that should rightly have set at least his hair ablaze and, for a fleeting moment, he was distracted by a rather attractive picture of Aragorn running around screaming with his head on fire until he reluctantly returned to the present.
"Do not use that name ever again, dúnadan," he said in a dangerous tone of voice that, while it would have impressed any other man, failed to have any effect on the young human next to him. "Or I will make sure that you will share that abominable spider's fate."
"Wilwarin isn't abominable, Legolas…" Celylith began to protest, but was cut off by Aragorn's laughing voice.
"What, you would put a hood over my head and drag me home to my family?" He laughed even harder, holding onto his horse's mane to stop himself from falling off the animal. "That should prove to be an interesting experience, so, by all means, you are welcome to try. Leafie."
Now it was Legolas' term to duck his head. He couldn't even begin to describe how much he hated that name, almost as much as that accursed spider itself. One of those days he would get that horrible thing, he decided, and then may Ilúvatar have mercy on it, because he would certainly have none…
"How are the burns doing, Estel?" he asked in a rather pathetic attempt to change the subject.
Aragorn glared darkly at the elven prince.
"Low, my friend, that was very, very low. Even for you."
"That didn't answer my question," the fair haired elf smiled at the ranger.
"No, it didn't," Aragorn agreed, obviously not too inclined to give his friend any information at all.
"Then how are they?"
"How is who?"
Legolas sighed.
"Not 'who', human, but 'what'. How are the burns, and you know that."
Aragorn looked up innocently at his friend, but in reality appearing about as innocent as a man with a bloody knife in his hand.
"Burns? What burns? I cannot remember any burns."
"Aragorn…" Legolas growled exasperatedly.
"Legolas…" the young man imitated his elven friend's tone of voice.
"Valar! Enough, please!" Celylith finally exclaimed, looking at them with wide, frightened eyes. He was very close to banging his head against a nearby tree, or, on second thought, banging their heads against a nearby tree.
The silver haired elf looked at his two friends.
"Can you not stop this behaviour for at least a minute! I swear to you that I will lose all the restraint I still have if you are not silent now! We will reach Dale in a few hours, but if you aren't quiet now, I will drown you in the Celduin, so help me Eru!"
The other two ducked their heads sheepishly and waited until Celylith's horse had moved a little ahead.
"What is wrong with him?" Aragorn whispered silently, knowing full well that the silver haired elf would be able to hear him.
Legolas shrugged, grinning slightly.
"I don't know, Strider. Perhaps he is ill?"
"Elves do not fall ill!"
The young ranger and the elven prince ignored Celylith's indignant shout.
"Perhaps it's the cram," Aragorn suggested earnestly, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Perhaps it has caused a severe allergic reaction in his body that manifests itself in bouts of unprovoked screaming, yelling, general impatience and bad temper? Since he hadn't had it as often as you have, he hasn't been able to build up immunity to its effects yet. In combination with his Lórien blood it could have developed this far. We all know the Galadhrim are naturally short-tempered. Just look at Haldir."
Legolas ignored his angrily spluttering elven companion and looked at the man, admiration in his blue eyes.
"Did you come up with that just now?"
The ranger nodded proudly, paying the seething elf that rode in front of them no heed.
Legolas inclined his head to his friend.
"You have my utmost respect. That sounded quite convincing. But," he paused, sending Celylith's back a wicked look, "I have another theory. Would you like to hear it?"
"Oh, yes!" Aragorn exclaimed, grinning at the fair haired elf. "So, what do you think has caused our dear friend Celylith's odd behaviour?"
Aforementioned elf was doing his best to ignore the two of them and trying with all his might to listen to his inner voice that sounded a note of caution.
'Do not strangle them, do not strangle them, do not strangle them…'
He sighed inaudibly, reminding himself time and again that his king would not be impressed with him if he killed the heir to the throne.
Ilúvatar, he could hardly wait to get to Dale, that might get them off this topic. Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not.
Two hours later, darkness was falling and the first stars could faintly be seen in the darkening skies. Usually this was a time of day Celylith liked almost as much as the sunrise, but today it was different.
Today he needed all his strength not to draw his sword and decapitate one of the still snickering beings behind him. No, he thought shortly afterwards, make that both of them. They were still on the same topic, after two hours, Elbereth help him! The elven prince and the ranger had been doing nothing else in those past two hours than converse loudly about the various things that could have caused Celylith's "odd" behaviour, and now he had reached the point where he was not really sure if he could restrain himself if they weren't quiet soon.
Very, very soon.
He ignored the voice of his prince who was just explaining to Aragorn why he thought that Celylith had ingested a poisonous mushroom that right now was only making him irritable but would soon turn his face purple and reined in his horse, breathing a sigh of relief at the scene that spread out in front of his eyes.
"Dale," he said quietly, thanking each and every Vala that they had reached their destination. He really wasn't sure for how much longer he would have been able to bear these two.
"…the mushroom has side-effects as well, of course. For example, it makes the hair stand on end … what?"
"We are here," Celylith said calmly, looking at his two companions that had been too absorbed in their jesting to have paid much attention to their surrounding. They probably wouldn't even have noticed if an orc horde had travelled with them for a while, the silver haired elf decided grumpily.
"Already?" Aragorn asked, an evil twinkle in his eyes. "That was a bit quicker than I had expected."
"Quicker?" Celylith asked, and the young man carefully manoeuvred his horse away from the elf's. He had always known that Celylith was a fierce warrior and had fought at his side more than once, but he had never seen him look this murderously.
Legolas seemed to have noticed that as well, for he suppressed the grin that was threatening to show on his face and looked down into the valley that spread out before their eyes, and he was amazed to see that it had indeed changed since his last visit, so much that he almost wouldn't have recognised it.
They had come from the South, following the River Running upstream, and were now standing at the point where the stream sloped to the East in a wide bow, describing a semicircle until it reached the Southern slopes of the Lonely Mountain where it had its source.
In this semicircle formed by the river there lay the town of Dale where Bard the Bowman had his residence. In the days of Smaug all there had been were ruins, rocks and scorched trees, the valley had been dead, cold and lifeless and only a shadow of the lush green place it had once been.
Now, twelve years after the death of the dragon, the valley was beginning to resemble the place Legolas could still remember, even though snow covered most of the lands right now. In the valley defined by the river and the mountain formed there was the re-built town of Dale with its walls, houses and towers, shining invitingly in the growing darkness. It was still a far way off from the splendour of the town of old, but it was getting there, slowly but surely.
Even the outer watch-posts were slowly being rebuilt, and the street that led up to the mountain (even thought Legolas could not really understand why one would want to build a road that made it even easier for dwarves to reach you) was newly paved, something that only his and Celylith's eyes could see, for it began on the northern side of the town and was too far away for Aragorn's mortal eyesight.
Legolas smiled slightly when he saw the trees the Men of Dale had planted on the slopes of the mountain in an attempt to recreate the large woods that had covered them and a substantial part of the valley itself once. It was good to see that there were men whose only aim in life was not to cut down and destroy living things.
"They did all this in twelve years?" Aragorn asked astonished, eyes wide as he surveyed the valley in front of them.
"Aye," Legolas nodded, laughing quietly. "They did all this in twelve years. It was their home, and rebuilding your home never takes much time."
"Apparently," The young ranger mumbled softly, beginning to spur on his horse again. "Are you coming or do you want to stand here until you freeze to death?"
Legolas laughed again and began to follow the man, reluctantly followed by Celylith, who wondered if death would be that bad. He would go to the Halls of Mandos, after all, and he very much doubted that the occupants of these Misty Halls were as annoying as his travelling companions. But then again, he wouldn't be able to protect these two anymore, which would surely result in their death, and then he would be swiftly followed by Legolas who would probably annoy him for all eternity for getting him and the ranger killed.
'No,' he thought as they drew closer to the town gates, 'The Halls of Mandos are not an option.'
After ten more minutes they had reached the gates, and were immediately stopped by several large gatekeepers, men that didn't exactly look as if they had received this particular duty because of their intelligence and gentle nature.
"Halt!" one of them called, apparently the leader. That fitted, Legolas thought dryly, he was the biggest and stupidest looking of the whole lot. "What are you doing here?"
Celylith raised an ironic eyebrow, not in the mood to deal with arrogant humans right now.
"Riding?"
Before his elven companions had the chance to antagonise the gatekeepers any further, Aragorn quickly dismounted, mumbling under his breath about stupid, stubborn elves.
"We are travellers," he explained with a light nod at the other man. "We are coming from Lake-town and are hoping to find a place to spend the night here."
"You are not from the mountain, then?" the leader asked.
"Mountain?" Legolas asked perplexed. "What mountain? You mean Erebor?"
The man narrowed his eyes at the elf.
"No need to get cocky! 'Course I mean Erebor, do you see another one around here?"
Aragorn could feel how the elves' temper was rising, and he hurriedly said,
"No, we are not. These are the Lords Legolas and Celylith from Mirkwood, elves from King Thranduil's Halls, and my name is Strider."
The leader scratched his head, managing to look even stupider, which was an accomplishment in itself. He had never been very good with directions, the man thought.
"So you have no business with them dwarves, have you?"
Celylith and Legolas looked at the man as if he had just turned into a slimy, thoroughly disgusting insect.
"Of course not!" Legolas said, his very tone of voice conveying the absurdity of that question.
"Hmm," the man said, obviously thinking long and hard. "You can pass then, I think."
"Thank you very much," Celylith said with a smile, his voice positively dripping with sarcasm, a fact that was lost on the men at the gate though. As mentioned before, they were a little slow on the uptake.
He called to the men on the walls to open the gates, which they did, the large stone gates – which held a certain resemblance to those that guarded the palace of Mirkwood – moving inwards, creaking softly as they did so. The two elves spurred on their horses to a walking gait, and Aragorn remounted his horse, but stopped again before following his companions.
"Why are you so worried about dwarves coming here?"
"Oh," the leader said, a little startled. "Them are causing trouble, they are."
Aragorn resisted the urge to roll his eyes, wondering inwardly how it was possible that he had met quite a few orcs that had appeared more intelligent than this man.
"What kind of trouble? I thought that Dale and Erebor hadn't had any quarrel for several years now?"
"Well, we don't want any quarrel either!" the man exclaimed heatedly, banging a fist against his leather cuirass. "But they do, coming to town telling lies about us!"
"What kind of lies?" the younger man asked, deciding that this one had about the attention span and intelligence of a five-year-old child.
"They say we have been abducting their people, disturbing their miners and trying to rob them, things like that!" the man said indignantly, and his men nodded in agreement. "The nerve of them! This is our valley! The king's ancestors have been here for centuries!"
"As have the dwarves," Aragorn reminded softly.
"Eh?" the other man asked in confusion, his face beginning to darken.
"It is well," the young ranger assured him quickly and began to follow his friends. "Thank you for letting us pass."
"Nothing to thank us for, sir!" the gatekeeper grinned, looking even stupider this way. "We are merely protecting the city as best as we can!"
Aragorn nodded as he spurred on his horse to catch up with his elven friends, being not too sure of that. The sun had already sunk below the horizon and darkness was falling; the gates had probably just been closed.
"'Protect the city'?" Celylith asked incredulously. "If they are the only ones standing between the people of this town and destruction, Dale will fall swiftly indeed."
"To whom?" Legolas asked, mild scorn in his voice. "The dwarves? I don't think so!"
"You shouldn't jest about things like that," Aragorn said solemnly, carefully manoeuvring his horse through the still populated alleys, "What the gatekeepers said sounded none too pleasant indeed. There is trouble brewing here, my friends, and it could get out of hand rather quickly."
"You don't think it could really come to hostilities, do you?" the elven prince asked, having of course heard what the man at the gate had told his human friend.
"I don't know," Aragorn shrugged, wincing softly when the left side of his chest protested against that movement. He was tired from the long journey, and the prospect of having his bandages changed by Celylith did nothing to cheer him up either. "I don't know, but there is much tension in the air here. Things go ill between Erebor and Dale."
The two elves nodded reluctantly. They too could feel the tension and anger that hung thickly in the air, almost tangible in its intensity.
"I know what you mean," Legolas nodded thoughtfully as they made their way over to a large stone building that looked like a rather decent inn. "There is unrest in this town, and much suspicion and hostility."
Next to him, Celylith groaned audibly.
"I told you so, my lord, didn't I? Didn't I? I told you not to come here, and now look! These men here are insane! They thought we had business with dwarves, for Elbereth's sake!"
His two companions laughed lightly, the dark mood lifting again.
"No, Celylith," Aragorn shook his head grinning, "They are not insane. I admit that the gatekeepers were a rare displays of stupidity, but they are not insane. We should ask a few questions tomorrow and see what we can find out."
"Yes," Legolas agreed, eyes dark and serious again. "If it is true and there is unrest stirring in Dale, my father needs to know. This is too close to our borders to be ignored."
"Well, there's one good thing though," his human friend told the blonde elf with an amused sparkle in his eyes. "There is no lake here."
Legolas didn't look amused at all as he lightly jumped off Rashwe's back, patting his horse's neck and preparing to unload it.
"Very funny, Strider. It was an accident, I don't usually fall into lakes, you know."
Celylith listened to the playful banter as they relieved their horses of their burdens and guided the animals to the stables behind the inn. While his two companions were already going ahead, still joking with each other, the silver haired elf stopped for a second, surveying his surroundings.
He slowly turned to the North, keen eyes fixing on the towering mountain, staring at it like he would stare at an enemy. It rose dark and imposing, from his point of view appearing like a single, huge chunk of stone that grew out of the earth and strained to reach the heavens.
Erebor, he thought, suppressing a sudden, inexplicable shudder, the Lonely Mountain. He could not have thought of a better name himself, Celylith decided after a second, turning away from the looming mountain and beginning to follow his friends.
The elf reached the door that led into the interior of the inn, songs and laughter already plain to hear from the large sitting room that occupied the entire ground floor, and turned back for one last look at Erebor.
The sun's last rays were fading now in the West, colouring the slopes of the mountain a dark red.
'Red,' Celylith thought, a strong feeling of dread sweeping through his body. 'Red like blood. Red like ... death.'
After a moment he shook his head and followed his travelling companions inside, deciding that he had a really, really bad feeling about all this.
TBC...
mellonamin - my friend
dúnadan - 'Man of the West', ranger
Yes. *nods* Even more foreshadowing, I know. I love it, sorry about that... *g* Well, so, the much anticipated chapter 18 draws ever nearer! *Nili's alter ego rubs her hands gleefully* Uhm, just ignore her, will you? She IS mad, after all... Okay, in the next chapter we see the revenge Aragorn exacts on Legolas for drugging him, they meet King Bard and much more! Reviews might encourage me to write more despite the wonderful weather we're having right now, so it's in your best interests! Review? Pretty please??
Additional A/N:
TrinityTheSheDevil - Ha, I knew it was that movie! My sister will be delighted since she loves horses _and_ Viggo Mortensen, perfect... As I said, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Geran is such a nice littel boy... *pats his head* Oh, a Viggo-Estel pic? Will you send it to me? I would very much like to see how you picture Estel...
Mouse - Well, let's just say that that idiot WILL probably be able to hunt elves - if he gets them is another matter though... *nods* 'The Hulk' was stupid, wasn't it? I mean, really, they call THAT a movie? *shakes head* Hollywood... And PoTC is going out here in September as well, on the 4th I think. BUT I will be able to see it in England, yay, 'cause there it starts on the 8th of August... *g*
Arwen-Evenstar - *hands on hips* That was not a cliffy! Really, you people and your ideas of cliffies... *mumbles under her breath* I'll show you what a REAL cliffy's like... Whatever. Great you liked the Estel dream bit, he's a poor boy, isn't he? *huggles Estel* Poor baby...
CrazyLOTRfan - Well, I don't know if Elrond will find out. Perhaps. After story number 3, that would be... I'll think of something. LOL, you have Eru living under your bed, and the rest of the Valar in your closet? Well, that's definitely something new... *hangs head* I am really, really sorry about the cliffies, and I don't knw how to say it, but ... but ... there won't be _real_ cliffies until ... until ... *whispers* chapter 18. So sorry! *runs off* Well, perhaps there's one in chapter 17, but I don't really think so. I am really sorry, I just needed some time to get everything ready for more action. Sorry ... will you forgive me? Please?
Shadow Warrior - *nods* I am glad too! I would have gone insane because of those horrible dreams a long time before now! Well, let's say that he will have ... other ... problems than his nightmares in the near future, shall we? *evil giggle* Oh yesss, preciousss, he will... Thanks for all your reviews!
Strider's Girl - Great! *blushing* Great you like it so much! *huggles her* And I like you because you like it! *clears throat* Did I really just write that? Ah well, just ignore that, will you? I have spent most of the day getting sunburnt, my brain must have been damaged... *g*
Leggylover03 - Oh, well ... what can I say? Thanks! Great you like it so much! As I said, I don't know yet when the sequel to this will come out, but I very much doubt it will be before October! *huggles her* Thanks for the reviews!
Halo - Uhm, yes ... *pats her back* I haven't decided yet, okay? He has a rather good chance of survival... *innocent look at screaming Halo* I did never say that Geran would hunt and Celylith and kill him, did I? *tries to dislodge Halo* As I said, he might live after all...
Alilacia - Yeah, I like 'Bring me to life' too, although I usually don't listen to Evanescence much... *g* Yeah, I just reread the passages of the Hobbit that were relevant for this fic, and then I came across cram. It was too good not to include... *g* Yeah, I don't think that dwarves make very good prey either. But then again, neither do elves... *evil grin* But he's welcome to try... LOL, Celylith, the named-yet-expendible-character? Well, I never said that he _would_ die, did I? I mean, yes, he might, but if he's lucky he might get away with a bit of torture or a bad injury. I have just downloaded the trailer for PotC, and it really looks nice! Johnny Depp is SO COOL! I will watch it when I'm in England, I guess...
Alex Mistress Squirrel - Yes, okay, I DO admit that, but that's not really hard either, is it? And you just might be right about the action in future chapters.... Poor, poor elfsies and ranger... *evil grin* Hope this was soon enough? *g*
Cestari - Yes, you could say that, evil, evil men... But Donyc and friends are dead now, so that's it. And Adruran doesn't really hate elves, he just knows that they will most likely cause trouble. He's not a racist, though - he's too professional for that. I don't know yet what to do with him at all. *shrugs* We'll see. Is Celylith insane? Why, yes of course! What kinf of question is _that_?
Imbefaniel - Well, Adruran doesn't really hate elves. He just knows that they always cause trouble, and he really doesn't want to return to his lord in disgrace, whihc I can really understand, btw. *blinks* I am sorry, but I don't get the connection between the rubber castle and elves. Is there one? Your mother likes Rammstein? I abnsolutely despise them! Really, they're just... *shudders*
Firniswin - *g* Oh, that sounded kinda wrong, did you know that? 'Aragorn and Legolas have little moments' ... *giggles* No, don't worry, I know what you mean... Lots of people want to hug them, actually - they are sweet and adorable too, that might be it... *g*
Aratfeniel - *nods* Mine too. I've had several until now (Star Wars, Stargate, The Pretender, Highlander...), but I get obsessed rather quickly. It's just horrible. *blushes* Great you like it so much! Being in your Top 5, that's great! Yeah, rub in it, I know that I can't go and watch PotC anytime soon. I think I will watch in when I'm in England, since it will be coming out in September here! Horrible, evil people! And there won't be that uch action, I'm afraid, not in the next two or so chapters. Sorry, I need to prepare everything for round two, and that takes some time...
Critternut - *g* Yeah, I guess they will need the rest a little later on. It's just a coincidence really, it has nothing to do with my evil nature or something... *g* And Geran, well ... I'm not telling! You will have to wait, I'm afraid... Well, I am looking forward to PotC too, but more because of Johnny Depp - he is so cool! And he is a really great actor... *sighs*
Tapetum Lucidum - *huggles* You're back! Yay! I missed you! *g* You might be right though, Celylith will probably rather soon wish that he had obeyed Legolas' command and had returned to Mirkwood - poor elfsies... Oh, if you like several sets of adversaries, you're right here. I lost count at six... And it's more like Geran who has the obsession with elves. Adruran just doesn't like anyone who could disturb his plans, and elves in Dale would do just that. *huggles again* Thanks for the review!
Seveawen - Uhm, me? *innocent, wide-eyed look* I will do nothing to them, absolutely nothing ... you know me, I am the most harmless person in the world... *g* Well, yes, right now I am writing chapter 19 actually, but I always try to be a few chapters ahead, especially because I don't know how much time I'll have to write in the near future. Great I'm invited! Yay me! Thanks! Adruran and Co. are staying near Dale - is that confusing? Why? And Erebor is right next to Dale, of course there are dwarves... *g*
Nilmandra - Oh! Thanks! I'm very glad you liked the nightmares bit, Estel's life really is NOT easy, huh? Well, and me and doing something 'drastic' to Celylith... Would you like to define 'drastic'? I mean, there are several ways to interpret that term... *evil grin* Thanks for reviewing!
XsilicaX - Well , I guess Estel will be fine now, mostly. Perhaps a few more dreams now and then, but I guess talking about it really helped. *shrugs* I'm no psychiatrist, so I'm guessing here... *g* *imagines Cathy in full mother hen mode* Uh-oh, SCARY mental image, very scary... 'I would have to touch him to unwrap them and examine his wounds...' LOL, you're insane! That's just evil, taking advantage of his helpless state... *g* And yes, I will write the Glor bit, in about four to five months, I guess. *shrugs* Sorry, but it would be at the end of the next story, so... *g*
NaughtyNat - LOL, Aragorn 'slamming the tent door'? I can really picture that, that's scary... *g* ROTFL, Aragorn as a rebellious teenager? Oh, that is just soooo good... *g* You're right, it WOULD be very cute - and hilarious, of course... *g*
Coreinha - *nods slowly* Oh, suuuuuure, Cor, he _likes_ it in your pocket, yeah, I see what you mean... And you really think he is safe there? Ha, I don't think so, mister! I can get you anywhere! Mhahahahaha! Oh, and I'm really not sure if Zam's only got a clone, you know, she grabbed him at the end of the last story before anyone else decided that he was funny and cute and whatnot... *g* So she just MIGHT have the original. Glad you like the bold letters! *huggles back* And I _did_ review, Jeez, you guys are persistent! *g*
Amelie - Uhm, Celylith and I are having ... a ... a ... a tea party in chapter 18. That's it, right. A tea party. Nothing serious... *evil grin* Then again, maybe not? And as I said: No kidnapping my characters! *grabs Legolas and stuffs him back into the story* I NEED them! How am I supposed to write if you guys insist on kidnapping my characters? Write more into my story? What do you mean? More of what? Or did you mean more _of _ my story? *looks confused* Well, great you like it! Thanks for the review!
Firnsarnien - Yeah, you may have Mithrandir, but _I_ have his staff! Without his staff he can't do anything! *brandishes staff* Even better ... *inject dramatical pause here* ... I have his pointy hat as well! Mhahahahaha! *runs off giggling madly* Uhm, well ... *looks down at feet* I am not wearing any shoes since it's 30 degrees Celsius here - but okay, if you want to kiss them, fine... And I'll think about not killing him, that's all I can promise... *evil grin*
Nikara - *shakes head* No, I wouldn't describe them as 'fun' either.... But you're right, it was about time he finally talked about them, stubborn human that he is! *shakes head again* Really....
Alisha - LOL, yes, that would be most likely the outcome if he ever talked about the little voices in his head, you're right! And I am _trying_ to get Celylith's DNA, but that elf is bloody fast! And he keeps climbing trees, and just when I get to the top branches as well, he giggles madly and jumps onto the next one! It's really annoying! I think I will be able to hand out clones at the end of the fic, no sooner, sorry... *g* Well, yes, Legolas _is_ rather old and wise, isn't he? I mean, he doesn't ACT that way often, but technically, he is wise. Technically... *g* Wow, you'd fight them for 2 or 3 seconds? I wouldn't at all, I'm not mad, after all...
TrustingFriendship - You! *huggles* I missed you! *huggles harder* I had thought you didn't like it and and and... *takes deep breath* Sorry about that. Glad you're back though. You're lucky though, because I think that there won't be any 'bad' or 'evil' cliffies for a few more chapters. Well, I have to disappoint you, I'm afraid. Elrond and the twins won't make an appearance in this story, and even if they'd find out about what's going on, they would have problems getting there at all, since it's winter now and the passes are closed. *shrugs* Sorry. And yes, I am indeed planning another story after this one!
ManuKu - *nickt* In der Tat, ihr beiden seit immer zu spaet dran. Schaemt euch! *g* Und ich gebe dir Recht, anatomisch hat Aragorn im Vergleich zu uns Frauen einige Defizite - nicht dass wir und beschweren wuerden... *g* Tja, um ehrlich zu sein, glaube ich auch nicht, dass Thranduil sehr begeistert von den Nachrichten sein wird, armer Anardir. Aber manchmal ist es eben gut, Prinz zu sein! *fieses Grinsen* Und du hast recht: Mit Legolas' Hilfe kann bei Seobryn eigentlich nichts mehr schiefgehen! Es sei denn, er wird wieder mal rot und stottert... Schoen, dass dir dir Traumszene gefallen hat! Und es stimmt: Legolas ist manchmal zum Knuddeln!!
Fliewatuet - *blushes* Awww, thanks! Great you liked that scene! And you are right: Adruran is definitely _not amused_. But then again, he is right, elves cause nothing but trouble, after all... I don't know about the trophies yet, you know, I _really_ want to kill Celylith, after all - but I fear that I wouldn't live long if I really did, so I'm not entirely sure what to do. *shrugs* We'll see.
Elenora - Geran/elf hunt? *innocent expression* Nooooooooooo.... Whatever gave you that idea? You know me, I would _never_ do such a thing... *g* Oh, thank you! *huggles her* Somebody who understands that you sometimes need a little bit of time to prepare! I mean, I need to make you understand why everything is happening, right? *nods vigorously* Of course I'm right. *g* Thanks again!
Sirithiliel - Well, thank you! Glad you like it! Thanks a lot for the review!
Marbienl - Oh, Sunday was your birthday! *shakes her hand* Happy belated Birthday! I hope you had a lot of fun! *pats Misien* Yes, I like her too. She is cool, and funny. To be honest I really don't think that she will ever come to Mirkwood, but still. *shakes fist* I did never sign that! That must have been my alter ego! I didn't know about it, that makes it null and void! I refuse to acknowledge that contract, no matter if you have horns or not! LOL, well, I would not say that it's all the elves' fault, but... Well, I guess the elves are far wiser and older, but I wouldn't view them as surrogate parents. Perhaps older brothers, but I'd stop right there, if you ask me... *g* And yes, Estel kinda became thinner, but I never really mentioned it. You do get that when you don't sleep enough, and with his injuries it would have been more prominent anyway. LOL at Donyc's clone! I'm sure Legolas would LOVE that... Keep that spider away from my villains, please! I can't have it scare them! And my alter ego needs a little break too, so please... And the sunburn: It's winter right now? Perhaps later... Thanks a lot for the huge review!
TigerLily713 - *grimaces* I didn't like the steam bit either - but then again, I was never very good at writing torture... And you're right, of course. Celylith would never have eaten someone as disgusting as 'the Fox'... *g* Wow! You have caught up! That was kinda like a marathon, wasn't it? Congratulations! And thanks once again for all the reviews!
Eva - Uhm, well, Donyc's dead. Thankfully, he was a rather nasty person too, and I had lots of fun killing him, too. You have wargs too? I have Fred sr., The Insane One gave him to me... He's not very ferocious, but a warg nonetheless. Well, and you're right, I really don't think that a guard contingent is going to save them. You know, that kinda happened last story, and I couldn't use it twice. *shakes head* No way.
Cyd - I just divided you, hope that's okay? Or are you the same person, you know, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde? *g* No, probably not... And Eva _printed_ it for you? She did? The whole story? Wow, your printer is more resilient than mine, then... *g* It's great you like it too though! LOL, don't harm Estel unless I reall, really have to? Well, I think I REALLY have to. My alter ego demands it, and who am I to argue with myself?
LadySandrilene - Oh, I read Tamora Pierce too when I was a child ... but only the Alanna-stories, sorry, I really don't know what they're called in English. I liked them quite a lot! Yeah, see, I didn't choose a LOTR name at all! Nili is a very old nickname my brother gave me when I was about 14 or something. You're right. *huggles Aragorn too* My poor baby ranger! Uhm, okay, is this soon enough! I was writing, see?
Lina - *huggles Lina* Don't worry! I'm not mad or anything, I just missed your usual craziness, that's all... So your computer broke? I don't know if it really was Zam's fault, computers do that all the time without apparent reason... *g* LOL, so YOU sent Rashwe to Arda? Well, that _does_ indeed explain a lot! *g* Cram as surrogate clay pigeons? That's something new, that's for sure... *g* Uhm, the dreams? Premonitions? No, not really, just your usual nightmares, no premonitions this time... I KNEW it! I really KNEW you would say that! In fact, I giggles when I wrote it _because_ I knew that! You two are quite predictable sometimes... Well, thank you for reviewing again, I really missed you! *huggles again*
Stacee Phelps - *sighs tiredly* That was no cliffy. This one isn't a cliffy either. Nor is chapter 16. Well, okay, chapter 17 might be a little one, and even _I_ admit that chapter 18 IS a cliffy... Okay? *g* LOL, so you're a bit impatient? And you have 'ways of making me post'? Well, I DO want to see that! So? What are you going to do? Huh?
Maranwe - LOL, 'they walk heedlessly into the net of danger which closes ever closer around them'? You know, that is a very good description! That's exactly what they're doing - stupid humans! Well, I guess Legolas' voice is either Aragorn or his father, or a combination of both, which is a _really_ scary thought... *g* I know what you mean, I read HP I-IV in record time too. They're addictive! *grins broadly* Glad you like the bold! It looks much nicer too! *g* Well, I am trying to get the chapters to about 13 pages each but fail miserably. They just don't shut up! *shakes fist* Horrible! *huggles again* Thanks for the review!
Salara - Na ja, das 'Tempo' ist alle vier Tage! Das ist doch nun weiss Gott nich SO schnell, oder? Eine Doppelreview! Yay! *reibt Haende* LOL, vielleicht baue ich wirklich so eine Szene ein! Koennte auf jeden Fall interessant werden, wenn Elrond und Celylith sich ueber Estel-Betaeubungsmethoden austauschen... *g* Oh, und der Plot bunny war ueber den 'Fox', nicht ueber Vampire. Ich koennte ihn ja in #4 wieder auftauchen lassen... *grosse Augen* Tja, das mit dem LSL Potential hast du mir ja gerade vor Augen gefuehrt! Ich gebe zu, ich hazze nicht mal an 50 % dieser Sachen gedacht, aber Danke fuer die Ideen! *knuddelt Salara* Schoen, dass dir die Traumszene gefallen hat! Unser armer Lieblingsranger hat ja nun wirklich kein leichtes Leben! Danke fuer die lange, liebe Review!
Nilbrethiliel - Oh Gott, sie ist wieder da! Rette sich, wer kann! Ahhhhh!! *rennt weg* Uhm, schoen, dich auch mal wieder zu sehen, wirklich! *g* Und, tja, mein Referat zeichnet sich durch weitgehende Nicht-Existenz aus. Leider. Aber das wird noch, hoffe ich! Und wie ich sagte ... *schnappt sich Celylith* ... nix hier! Hier werden keine Charaktere geklaut! Nu-uh! Zurueck! *g* Uhm, schoenes Gedicht. Ehrlich! Toll. Und so ... kunstvoll! Wirklich nett! Und ich gebe zu, Geran ist nicht unbedingt ein sehr netter Zeitgenosse - aber nuetzlich ist er allemal! *knuddelt Trish* Danke fuer's reviewen!
Aron - *g* I agree. Aragorn is VERY lucky that Elrond isn't there. Or unlucky, we'll see... *evil grin* Geran will provide 'an awful lot of problems'? I guess you could say that, yes... And I'm not telling! Sorry, but if I told you what would happen to Celylith (or 'who' would happen to him *g*) I would ruin the whole thing! So you'll have to wait a bit, sorry.... You're going away again? I hope you have a lot of fun! Thanks a lot for your reviews!
*nods* Bold ist better, and it looks a lot nicer too. A huge Thank You to all my wonderful reviewers! Come on, group hug! *huggles them*
A/N:
*innocent look a various readers* No, just WHY do you guys think that Geran will cause trouble? Whatever gave you _that_ idea? But now that you mention it, I see what you mean... *ducks some heavy objects* Okay, okay, I admit it: The dear Geran has a very high villain potential, I'll give you that. But I can't tell you what he's going to do, that would ruin the whole thing, so you'll have to wait a bit, sorry...
*glares at Trish, Coreinha, Zam and several other people* Okay, now it has gone too far! Because you insist on stuffing poor Celylith into closets/pockets/whatever, people are beginning to think that this is normal procedure here! Now Legolas is being kidnapped as well! So, PLEASE, stop doing that. The poor elf will have enough trouble on his own soon without you guys stuffing him into closets, so no kidnapping my characters! Understood? *threatening look* Okay, I hope so...
Oh, and I agree, btw. The nightmares are really nasty, and it IS good that that stubborn human has finally talked about them. Took him long enough too... *shrugs* He is kind of stupid, isn't he?
Well, alright, here's chapter 15! Please don't ask me where the sloth scene came from, it must have been cooked up by the demented part of my brain, and yes, it's quite large... *g* Beside that, we see more of Adruran and his men, and they get to Dale! Yay them!
Have fun and review, please!
Chapter 15
Aragorn awoke to the chirping of birds outside, feeling more rested and relaxed than he had in months, more precisely not since his father and brothers had left Mirkwood. Somehow his adopted father's presence had served to keep the better part of the nightmares at bay, but since he had left more than four weeks ago, the dreams had been a permanent part of his nights.
The young ranger stretched slightly, but kept his eyes closed, trying to cling to the last remnants of sleep as long as possible. He would even have been able to return to sleep if it hadn't been for these incredibly annoying birds somewhere close by. Mentally cursing the animals profusely, he was just asking himself why Ilúvatar hadn't created those annoying chirping little things mute since their voices didn't serve any discernable purpose anyway, when the flap of his tent was thrown aside and bright daylight poured into the small space.
"Look, my lord," a far too amused elven voice said with an air of great surprise. "It is a human!"
"Are you sure about that, mellonamin?" Legolas' voice countered quizzically, and Aragorn could almost see how the prince cocked his head to the side. "I think it looks more like a sloth."
"Nay, my prince," Celylith said, "It is too large for that."
"True, true," the fair haired elf mumbled, and Aragorn could feel something poke him in the leg. The young man growled in annoyance and pulled his blanket over his head.
"Did you hear that?" Legolas added, grinning at his elven friend. "That was the sound of a bear, I am sure of it!"
"But, your Highness," Celylith retorted in mock seriousness, "For that is again too small."
"Hmm," Legolas made, frowning in thought. "It might be a little one."
The two elves grinned at the form of the ranger that was trying his best to ignore them.
"You mean, like a baby, my lord?" the silver haired elf asked, barely being able to contain his laughter.
"Aye," Legolas nodded, noting with great amusement how the body of the man stiffened in indignation. He poked the curled up form of his friend with the tip of his new bow again, and this time Aragorn's growl sounded even more authentic. "Indeed, it must be one."
"Look out, my prince!" Celylith cried out in mock alarm, grasping the other elf's arm and pulling him backwards a step or two. "It might attack! Perhaps it's hibernating in here!"
"Funny," an annoyed voice growled, "Very, very funny."
"Thank you," Legolas said loftily, raising an eyebrow when the blanket was slowly thrown back and a dark head appeared. "We are doing our best."
Grey eyes opened and blinked owlishly at them while the rest of the sleepy face scowled darkly.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Tent."
Celylith and Legolas looked at each other, both raising a questioning eyebrow. The elven prince turned back to his human friend.
"Get up, Estel. You have slept for more than twelve hours."
The ranger's eyes grew large.
"Twelve hours? I haven't!"
"Yes, you have," Celylith nodded, hiding a small smile of satisfaction. He had been very pleased to hear that that stubborn ranger had finally told Legolas about his dreams, which must have been truly horrifying, judging by Legolas' expression last night.
He had of course not asked his prince what they had been about, for he would never expect the other elf to betray Aragorn's trust, but he wasn't stupid either. In all likelihood the young man relived his captivity from a few months ago, and that was enough to provide anyone with enough material for several years' worth of nightmares.
"We thought you could use the rest," Legolas added, giving the ranger an openly concerned look. "Have you slept well?"
"Better than in months," Aragorn answered and smiled at his elven friend, meeting his eyes evenly. While he knew that the dreams wouldn't disappear just like that, it helped enormously to know that his best friend didn't think him weak and was willing to help him fight them. "Truly, I have."
The elven prince returned the smile and nodded at the man.
"Then I am glad, my friend." Silver-blue eyes twinkling, he added, "And now get up! It is nearly midday, and if we don't get a move on soon we won't even need to break camp but will be able to stay here for a second night."
The young human sat up and aimed a playful smack at his friend's bow, ignoring the dangerous flash that could shortly be seen in the elf's eyes at that impudence as he hastily pulled his weapon to safety.
"You could have woken me sooner!"
"And risk an attack?" Celylith asked grinning. "Hibernating bears can be highly unpredictable."
"Sloths," Legolas interjected, slowly edging backwards when Aragorn stood to his feet, a dangerous expression on his face. "I still think he looked more like a sloth."
"We have been through this already, Legolas," Celylith rolled his eyes, ignoring the man that was coming closer, "He is too large for one." He furrowed his brow. "Do sloths hibernate?"
Legolas didn't answer but turned and quickly moved out of his human friend's reach who had obviously just decided that he had endured more than his fair share of teasing this morning. Aragorn just looked after the swiftly departing elves, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to get them in his still sleepy state.
'A sloth?' he thought as he walked over to the horses that were standing close by, ignoring his elven friends' laughing voices that called to each other to beware of the "Terrible Sloth". 'A sloth?'
It wasn't his fault that humans needed sleep, he decided grumpily, taking out some dried fruit and meat (oddly enough, there was almost no cram left), feeling famished all of the sudden.
Settling down next to the fire, he took out his sword and placed it next to him, making sure that those two immature elves saw exactly what he was doing.
He would show them what this particular sloth could do, once they came back into his reach.
If sloths were one thing, they were patient.
Adruran looked around the little camp, noting with satisfaction that the beige tents seemed to blend into the snowy surroundings up to a certain degree. It wasn't enough to fool an elf or even a ranger even from some distance away, but for the Men of Dale it should be more than enough. Nobody really had a business being here, and since the lands that had not too long ago been known as the Desolation of Smaug were none too hospitable this time of year, he could feel reasonably safe.
Besides, he had posted guards in the trees all around them, so even if someone should find them – which he doubted, but one could never be too careful – he or she wouldn't be walking around telling people about them, since dead people tended not to talk too much. Unless their spirits returned to haunt the living, but that did not really count as dead then.
The brown haired man shook his head, disgusted at himself. Where had that thought come from? All this waiting was apparently not good for his ability to think reasonably, and the news Hanar had brought were far from comforting either.
Adruran sat down on a boulder next to one of the camp fires his men had kindled and watched Geran and another man who were involved in a friendly knife fight. The boy had definitely some skill with a blade, and he could have ended the unequal fight a long time ago, but in the older man's eyes he enjoyed playing with the other man.
Yet another problem: Geran. He wearily closed his eyes, but refrained from sighing just in time. There was no reason to let his men see that he was, in fact, very close to going insane with waiting.
Adruran forced his thoughts off this topic and back to his problems at hand, starting with Geran. The boy would have to be watched, and he already regretted having taken him on this mission. He, Adruran, was a professional, and while he might be brutal and ruthless when the times called for it, he did not relish other being's pain.
Geran did, most certainly. That alone would not have been so much of a problem, but there was his ambition as well, his ambition to hunt and kill every being in Middle-Earth, a goal which he was rather close to attaining, by the way. Even though he was hardly older than 25 years, he had already a rather impressive trophy collection, and Adruran had no doubt that one day the younger man would indeed manage to attain his goal.
Right now, however, this ambition was at the very least annoying, if not dangerous. Even though Geran may have thought that he had hidden it well, Adruran had seen the almost fanatic gleam in the younger man's dark eyes when Hanar had mentioned the elves. This was indeed not good, Adruran thought. Stopping the boy from going after a dwarf had been hard enough – even though he might allow it a little bit later, it would only serve to make everything appear more authentic – but now that he knew that there were probably elves coming here, it would be twice as hard.
'Wonderful,' he thought, 'Now all I need is yet another ranger and everything goes straight from bad to catastrophic.'
There he was at the second and third problem: The ranger and the elves. Hanar had left before the man had revealed anything of interest, and secretly Adruran doubted that he had at all. In his experience, which was formidable after all, it was more likely to convince a dwarf to cut off his beard than to be able to make a ranger talk.
Which, once again, brought him to the most pressing problem: Who were these elves? What did they know? Where was Lomar? Was the Elvenking involved in all this?
If he was, then he might as well send his men home and hang himself, he thought somewhat dryly. If what he had heard about the king was true, he was quite fond of silver and jewels himself and if he had found out whom the treasure belonged to…
Adruran shook his head. There were too many questions and far too few answers, so wondering about things he could neither influence nor understand right now would hardly prove to help his situation. He would simply have to wait and see, and there he was back to Square One: Waiting.
He really, really hated waiting.
"Sir!" a shout to his left made him turn around, and he saw two men come closer, one of them a guard posted to watch over the camp somewhere to the north and the other one of the men that were keeping an eye on the Lake-men's camp.
He did not get up from his boulder but looked at them calmly, waiting for them to come closer.
"Sir!" the guard said again, hoping inwardly that his captain was in a better mood today. Usually Adruran was a rather fair man, but lately he had been known to react rather unpredictably. "I brought him here since we changed campsites yesterday."
"Well done," the older man nodded at the guard. "Return to your post."
The guard nodded and walked away, quickly disappearing between the dark, leafless trees, the snow crunching softly under his boots.
Adruran looked at the other man, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"If you are not here to tell me that those incompetent sons of orcs have found something, anything, you will regret having ever come in the first place."
The man swallowed nervously, hoping that this was one of the times when his superior showed his questionable sense of humour.
"Uhm, well, sir, I…"
"Ah!" Adruran held up his hand, battling against the rage that was beginning to bubble inside his chest. "Just say 'They have found something, sir' and everybody will be happy."
Obediently, the other man said,
"They have found something, sir."
"Finally!"
That was Geran's voice, who had finally ceased to play with his opponent and ended the fight. He and Adruran's other two lieutenants had stepped closer while the rest of the men stayed back a little. They knew better than to disturb their commanders during important meetings.
Adruran turned and gave the younger man a dark glare. He didn't appreciate being interrupted by his own men. Noting with satisfaction that the boy was beginning to blush, he turned back to the man in front of him.
"They have found the treasure?"
"Well, sir, as I said…"
Tiddryr, one if Adruran's lieutenants, growled impatiently.
"Speak plainly, man!"
The other human swallowed again.
"They haven't found the treasure, sirs, but they have found a good lead, it appears. They have spotted a part of the mountain where they think it is hidden." He grimaced. "They still need to find a way in, though…"
Adruran bit down on his lower lip, frowning in thought.
"When was that?"
"Yesterday evening," the man replied quickly. "I stayed until morning and tried to overhear as much of the conversation as possible and set out in the morning hours. They said something about having to look for the entrance and about dwarves that seemed entirely too interested in their activities, even though they didn't think that they knew what they are here for, but that was about all I was able to hear."
"That's more than enough," Adruran nodded and dismissed the man with a quick wave of his hand. "Go and have something to eat; in the evening you will take a fresh horse and return."
The other man snapped to attention.
"Yes, sir!"
He turned and quickly disappeared in a nearby tent, looking for some food and a warm fire.
Adruran gave his lieutenants a sign and they stood up and walked a bit out of the camp to make sure none of the men would be able to overhear their conversation. It wasn't that Adruran didn't trust his men, for they all knew how terribly stupid it was to antagonise their captain, but there was no reason for them to know more than they absolutely had to.
They stopped under a large pine tree, and Adruran looked at all of them in turn.
"The dwarves must not find out just yet. It was to be expected that they would notice something, but they must not get close enough to confirm their suspicions."
The three men nodded, and Bleon asked,
"What do we do then? It appears that they still need some time to find the entrance, and the elves could be coming closer as well."
Adruran ran a callous hand through his brown hair, appearing perfectly aware of this but inwardly cursing himself. The elves, Great Ones, he had really forgotten all about them for a second…
"We will break camp," he said after a moment. "We will relocate, closer to their camp. We need to be able to act should they manage to get through that mountain. We cannot allow them to run around telling anyone about their discovery, as they surely will once they have found something. They are too stupid not to."
He studied the slowly sinking sun before he added,
"About the dwarves … we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I don't want to have any trouble with them, not yet, but should they find out what the Lake-men are after, there will be a lot of that, believe me. We can try to keep them away, but that is all. Sooner or later they will find out, we can only try to delay the moment when they will."
He paused for a moment, creasing his brow in thought. Then he looked up and continued.
"That should work. We need to make sure that the Lake-men's camp stays isolated, and that neither the Men of Dale nor the dwarves find out anything just yet. As soon as they actually find something, we will strike." Adruran gave the three men a hard look. "Get the men ready, we will leave tomorrow morning. It is already too late now, since we wouldn't want them to hear us because we are stumbling around in the dark, now would we?"
Bleon and Tiddryr nodded and turned on the heel, heading towards the camp and calling the men together to let them know of the change in plans. Geran however remained behind, looking at the older man questioningly.
"What about the elves? Even if the Elvenking is not involved and all of this is a coincidence they will cause trouble, especially if they have learned anything from Lomar."
Adruran's face darkened as he admitted to himself that this was exactly what he had been thinking the whole time. It didn't really matter whether the ranger had survived his little encounter with Lomar or not, the fact that his man was not here could only mean one thing: He had been delayed, and assuming that the elves had nothing to do with that would be folly.
"Lomar wouldn't have told them anything," he said, in part trying to reassure himself with these words.
"No," Geran nodded calmly, "He wouldn't have. But these are elves, and there are ways to find out anyway, especially if they found them before Lomar killed the ranger. They will be coming to Dale then. What are you going to do about them, sir?"
Adruran looked at the younger man, noticing the bright sparkle of tension and anticipation in the brown eyes. Geran was already planning his next hunting session, that much was sure.
"They're not your problem," he said gruffly. "If they come indeed here, I will see that they are taken care of, and you won't go anywhere near them until I have given you permission to. Understood?"
Geran nodded.
"Yes, sir."
"You are dismissed. Get your men ready to travel."
Without another word the young man turned and walked back into the direction of the camp, leaving an annoyed and rather anxious Adruran behind. They both knew that Geran's last words had been a lie; there was no way the boy would be able to control himself should the elves really come to Dale.
Adruran slowly began to follow his lieutenants, watching the sun sink lower, now already beginning to disappear behind the trees. Damn those elves, he thought not for the first time, damn them and all of their kind!
He shook his head quickly, forcing himself to calm down. The elves wouldn't be a problem, for he had an advantage over them: He knew exactly where they would be going once they came here. Sooner or later, they would come to find him, and then he would be ready.
No, he thought again with a grim smile, the elves wouldn't be a problem. They would be taken care of, just as he had told the boy. He wouldn't let them ruin his plan, for that he had worked too hard and too long on this.
"I think he is still asleep."
"Be silent, elf."
"I have to agree, my lord. I thought after two good nights' sleep in a row he would be more alert, but perhaps sloths react that way when you disturb their hibernation period?"
"Quiet, Celylith, or I will have to relieve you of that silver head of yours."
Legolas grinned at the irate ranger that was riding between the two of them.
"Would that be a two-toed sloth or a three-toed one? The few people I have met who have actually seen one insisted that there was a difference. Besides, we have never really established whether or not sloths do hibernate at all, my friend."
Celylith returned the grin, eyeing the young man with an evil glint in his dark blue eyes.
"Well, apparently they do, or he is indeed a bear cub." He easily ducked a blow Aragorn had aimed at his head and added smugly, "But no, Legolas, now I see it: He is a sloth."
Aragorn ducked his head and closed his eyes: Here it came. Elbereth, these two were almost as bad as his brothers…
"'Once, in a dark tent, there was a stupid sloth…'" Celylith began, smiling evilly.
"'…masking itself, for it went garbed like a man in cloth…'" Legolas went on, with a wicked grin and in a particularly annoying sing-song voice. Aragorn felt very tempted to simply draw his sword and do something he would have trouble explaining to Lord Thranduil later, but experience collected over the past 36 hours stopped him just in time.
Legolas and Celylith were merely warming up; if he provoked them they might start singing that particular stupid and annoying poem once more instead of merely reciting it, as they had done yesterday evening. The entire evening, one might add, non-stop.
"I wouldn't be so quick with my words if I were you, Leafie," he simply retorted, starting to grin as well.
Legolas, who had been about to recite the next line of the poem he and Celylith had come up with yesterday morning while they had been waiting for the human to calm down after their initial discussion about this subject, closed his mouth with a snap and glared at his now snickering companions.
By the Valar, he had so hoped that they had already forgotten that accursed name…
"He got you there, Legolas," his elven friend snickered helplessly.
The fair haired elf sent Aragorn a fiery look that should rightly have set at least his hair ablaze and, for a fleeting moment, he was distracted by a rather attractive picture of Aragorn running around screaming with his head on fire until he reluctantly returned to the present.
"Do not use that name ever again, dúnadan," he said in a dangerous tone of voice that, while it would have impressed any other man, failed to have any effect on the young human next to him. "Or I will make sure that you will share that abominable spider's fate."
"Wilwarin isn't abominable, Legolas…" Celylith began to protest, but was cut off by Aragorn's laughing voice.
"What, you would put a hood over my head and drag me home to my family?" He laughed even harder, holding onto his horse's mane to stop himself from falling off the animal. "That should prove to be an interesting experience, so, by all means, you are welcome to try. Leafie."
Now it was Legolas' term to duck his head. He couldn't even begin to describe how much he hated that name, almost as much as that accursed spider itself. One of those days he would get that horrible thing, he decided, and then may Ilúvatar have mercy on it, because he would certainly have none…
"How are the burns doing, Estel?" he asked in a rather pathetic attempt to change the subject.
Aragorn glared darkly at the elven prince.
"Low, my friend, that was very, very low. Even for you."
"That didn't answer my question," the fair haired elf smiled at the ranger.
"No, it didn't," Aragorn agreed, obviously not too inclined to give his friend any information at all.
"Then how are they?"
"How is who?"
Legolas sighed.
"Not 'who', human, but 'what'. How are the burns, and you know that."
Aragorn looked up innocently at his friend, but in reality appearing about as innocent as a man with a bloody knife in his hand.
"Burns? What burns? I cannot remember any burns."
"Aragorn…" Legolas growled exasperatedly.
"Legolas…" the young man imitated his elven friend's tone of voice.
"Valar! Enough, please!" Celylith finally exclaimed, looking at them with wide, frightened eyes. He was very close to banging his head against a nearby tree, or, on second thought, banging their heads against a nearby tree.
The silver haired elf looked at his two friends.
"Can you not stop this behaviour for at least a minute! I swear to you that I will lose all the restraint I still have if you are not silent now! We will reach Dale in a few hours, but if you aren't quiet now, I will drown you in the Celduin, so help me Eru!"
The other two ducked their heads sheepishly and waited until Celylith's horse had moved a little ahead.
"What is wrong with him?" Aragorn whispered silently, knowing full well that the silver haired elf would be able to hear him.
Legolas shrugged, grinning slightly.
"I don't know, Strider. Perhaps he is ill?"
"Elves do not fall ill!"
The young ranger and the elven prince ignored Celylith's indignant shout.
"Perhaps it's the cram," Aragorn suggested earnestly, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Perhaps it has caused a severe allergic reaction in his body that manifests itself in bouts of unprovoked screaming, yelling, general impatience and bad temper? Since he hadn't had it as often as you have, he hasn't been able to build up immunity to its effects yet. In combination with his Lórien blood it could have developed this far. We all know the Galadhrim are naturally short-tempered. Just look at Haldir."
Legolas ignored his angrily spluttering elven companion and looked at the man, admiration in his blue eyes.
"Did you come up with that just now?"
The ranger nodded proudly, paying the seething elf that rode in front of them no heed.
Legolas inclined his head to his friend.
"You have my utmost respect. That sounded quite convincing. But," he paused, sending Celylith's back a wicked look, "I have another theory. Would you like to hear it?"
"Oh, yes!" Aragorn exclaimed, grinning at the fair haired elf. "So, what do you think has caused our dear friend Celylith's odd behaviour?"
Aforementioned elf was doing his best to ignore the two of them and trying with all his might to listen to his inner voice that sounded a note of caution.
'Do not strangle them, do not strangle them, do not strangle them…'
He sighed inaudibly, reminding himself time and again that his king would not be impressed with him if he killed the heir to the throne.
Ilúvatar, he could hardly wait to get to Dale, that might get them off this topic. Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not.
Two hours later, darkness was falling and the first stars could faintly be seen in the darkening skies. Usually this was a time of day Celylith liked almost as much as the sunrise, but today it was different.
Today he needed all his strength not to draw his sword and decapitate one of the still snickering beings behind him. No, he thought shortly afterwards, make that both of them. They were still on the same topic, after two hours, Elbereth help him! The elven prince and the ranger had been doing nothing else in those past two hours than converse loudly about the various things that could have caused Celylith's "odd" behaviour, and now he had reached the point where he was not really sure if he could restrain himself if they weren't quiet soon.
Very, very soon.
He ignored the voice of his prince who was just explaining to Aragorn why he thought that Celylith had ingested a poisonous mushroom that right now was only making him irritable but would soon turn his face purple and reined in his horse, breathing a sigh of relief at the scene that spread out in front of his eyes.
"Dale," he said quietly, thanking each and every Vala that they had reached their destination. He really wasn't sure for how much longer he would have been able to bear these two.
"…the mushroom has side-effects as well, of course. For example, it makes the hair stand on end … what?"
"We are here," Celylith said calmly, looking at his two companions that had been too absorbed in their jesting to have paid much attention to their surrounding. They probably wouldn't even have noticed if an orc horde had travelled with them for a while, the silver haired elf decided grumpily.
"Already?" Aragorn asked, an evil twinkle in his eyes. "That was a bit quicker than I had expected."
"Quicker?" Celylith asked, and the young man carefully manoeuvred his horse away from the elf's. He had always known that Celylith was a fierce warrior and had fought at his side more than once, but he had never seen him look this murderously.
Legolas seemed to have noticed that as well, for he suppressed the grin that was threatening to show on his face and looked down into the valley that spread out before their eyes, and he was amazed to see that it had indeed changed since his last visit, so much that he almost wouldn't have recognised it.
They had come from the South, following the River Running upstream, and were now standing at the point where the stream sloped to the East in a wide bow, describing a semicircle until it reached the Southern slopes of the Lonely Mountain where it had its source.
In this semicircle formed by the river there lay the town of Dale where Bard the Bowman had his residence. In the days of Smaug all there had been were ruins, rocks and scorched trees, the valley had been dead, cold and lifeless and only a shadow of the lush green place it had once been.
Now, twelve years after the death of the dragon, the valley was beginning to resemble the place Legolas could still remember, even though snow covered most of the lands right now. In the valley defined by the river and the mountain formed there was the re-built town of Dale with its walls, houses and towers, shining invitingly in the growing darkness. It was still a far way off from the splendour of the town of old, but it was getting there, slowly but surely.
Even the outer watch-posts were slowly being rebuilt, and the street that led up to the mountain (even thought Legolas could not really understand why one would want to build a road that made it even easier for dwarves to reach you) was newly paved, something that only his and Celylith's eyes could see, for it began on the northern side of the town and was too far away for Aragorn's mortal eyesight.
Legolas smiled slightly when he saw the trees the Men of Dale had planted on the slopes of the mountain in an attempt to recreate the large woods that had covered them and a substantial part of the valley itself once. It was good to see that there were men whose only aim in life was not to cut down and destroy living things.
"They did all this in twelve years?" Aragorn asked astonished, eyes wide as he surveyed the valley in front of them.
"Aye," Legolas nodded, laughing quietly. "They did all this in twelve years. It was their home, and rebuilding your home never takes much time."
"Apparently," The young ranger mumbled softly, beginning to spur on his horse again. "Are you coming or do you want to stand here until you freeze to death?"
Legolas laughed again and began to follow the man, reluctantly followed by Celylith, who wondered if death would be that bad. He would go to the Halls of Mandos, after all, and he very much doubted that the occupants of these Misty Halls were as annoying as his travelling companions. But then again, he wouldn't be able to protect these two anymore, which would surely result in their death, and then he would be swiftly followed by Legolas who would probably annoy him for all eternity for getting him and the ranger killed.
'No,' he thought as they drew closer to the town gates, 'The Halls of Mandos are not an option.'
After ten more minutes they had reached the gates, and were immediately stopped by several large gatekeepers, men that didn't exactly look as if they had received this particular duty because of their intelligence and gentle nature.
"Halt!" one of them called, apparently the leader. That fitted, Legolas thought dryly, he was the biggest and stupidest looking of the whole lot. "What are you doing here?"
Celylith raised an ironic eyebrow, not in the mood to deal with arrogant humans right now.
"Riding?"
Before his elven companions had the chance to antagonise the gatekeepers any further, Aragorn quickly dismounted, mumbling under his breath about stupid, stubborn elves.
"We are travellers," he explained with a light nod at the other man. "We are coming from Lake-town and are hoping to find a place to spend the night here."
"You are not from the mountain, then?" the leader asked.
"Mountain?" Legolas asked perplexed. "What mountain? You mean Erebor?"
The man narrowed his eyes at the elf.
"No need to get cocky! 'Course I mean Erebor, do you see another one around here?"
Aragorn could feel how the elves' temper was rising, and he hurriedly said,
"No, we are not. These are the Lords Legolas and Celylith from Mirkwood, elves from King Thranduil's Halls, and my name is Strider."
The leader scratched his head, managing to look even stupider, which was an accomplishment in itself. He had never been very good with directions, the man thought.
"So you have no business with them dwarves, have you?"
Celylith and Legolas looked at the man as if he had just turned into a slimy, thoroughly disgusting insect.
"Of course not!" Legolas said, his very tone of voice conveying the absurdity of that question.
"Hmm," the man said, obviously thinking long and hard. "You can pass then, I think."
"Thank you very much," Celylith said with a smile, his voice positively dripping with sarcasm, a fact that was lost on the men at the gate though. As mentioned before, they were a little slow on the uptake.
He called to the men on the walls to open the gates, which they did, the large stone gates – which held a certain resemblance to those that guarded the palace of Mirkwood – moving inwards, creaking softly as they did so. The two elves spurred on their horses to a walking gait, and Aragorn remounted his horse, but stopped again before following his companions.
"Why are you so worried about dwarves coming here?"
"Oh," the leader said, a little startled. "Them are causing trouble, they are."
Aragorn resisted the urge to roll his eyes, wondering inwardly how it was possible that he had met quite a few orcs that had appeared more intelligent than this man.
"What kind of trouble? I thought that Dale and Erebor hadn't had any quarrel for several years now?"
"Well, we don't want any quarrel either!" the man exclaimed heatedly, banging a fist against his leather cuirass. "But they do, coming to town telling lies about us!"
"What kind of lies?" the younger man asked, deciding that this one had about the attention span and intelligence of a five-year-old child.
"They say we have been abducting their people, disturbing their miners and trying to rob them, things like that!" the man said indignantly, and his men nodded in agreement. "The nerve of them! This is our valley! The king's ancestors have been here for centuries!"
"As have the dwarves," Aragorn reminded softly.
"Eh?" the other man asked in confusion, his face beginning to darken.
"It is well," the young ranger assured him quickly and began to follow his friends. "Thank you for letting us pass."
"Nothing to thank us for, sir!" the gatekeeper grinned, looking even stupider this way. "We are merely protecting the city as best as we can!"
Aragorn nodded as he spurred on his horse to catch up with his elven friends, being not too sure of that. The sun had already sunk below the horizon and darkness was falling; the gates had probably just been closed.
"'Protect the city'?" Celylith asked incredulously. "If they are the only ones standing between the people of this town and destruction, Dale will fall swiftly indeed."
"To whom?" Legolas asked, mild scorn in his voice. "The dwarves? I don't think so!"
"You shouldn't jest about things like that," Aragorn said solemnly, carefully manoeuvring his horse through the still populated alleys, "What the gatekeepers said sounded none too pleasant indeed. There is trouble brewing here, my friends, and it could get out of hand rather quickly."
"You don't think it could really come to hostilities, do you?" the elven prince asked, having of course heard what the man at the gate had told his human friend.
"I don't know," Aragorn shrugged, wincing softly when the left side of his chest protested against that movement. He was tired from the long journey, and the prospect of having his bandages changed by Celylith did nothing to cheer him up either. "I don't know, but there is much tension in the air here. Things go ill between Erebor and Dale."
The two elves nodded reluctantly. They too could feel the tension and anger that hung thickly in the air, almost tangible in its intensity.
"I know what you mean," Legolas nodded thoughtfully as they made their way over to a large stone building that looked like a rather decent inn. "There is unrest in this town, and much suspicion and hostility."
Next to him, Celylith groaned audibly.
"I told you so, my lord, didn't I? Didn't I? I told you not to come here, and now look! These men here are insane! They thought we had business with dwarves, for Elbereth's sake!"
His two companions laughed lightly, the dark mood lifting again.
"No, Celylith," Aragorn shook his head grinning, "They are not insane. I admit that the gatekeepers were a rare displays of stupidity, but they are not insane. We should ask a few questions tomorrow and see what we can find out."
"Yes," Legolas agreed, eyes dark and serious again. "If it is true and there is unrest stirring in Dale, my father needs to know. This is too close to our borders to be ignored."
"Well, there's one good thing though," his human friend told the blonde elf with an amused sparkle in his eyes. "There is no lake here."
Legolas didn't look amused at all as he lightly jumped off Rashwe's back, patting his horse's neck and preparing to unload it.
"Very funny, Strider. It was an accident, I don't usually fall into lakes, you know."
Celylith listened to the playful banter as they relieved their horses of their burdens and guided the animals to the stables behind the inn. While his two companions were already going ahead, still joking with each other, the silver haired elf stopped for a second, surveying his surroundings.
He slowly turned to the North, keen eyes fixing on the towering mountain, staring at it like he would stare at an enemy. It rose dark and imposing, from his point of view appearing like a single, huge chunk of stone that grew out of the earth and strained to reach the heavens.
Erebor, he thought, suppressing a sudden, inexplicable shudder, the Lonely Mountain. He could not have thought of a better name himself, Celylith decided after a second, turning away from the looming mountain and beginning to follow his friends.
The elf reached the door that led into the interior of the inn, songs and laughter already plain to hear from the large sitting room that occupied the entire ground floor, and turned back for one last look at Erebor.
The sun's last rays were fading now in the West, colouring the slopes of the mountain a dark red.
'Red,' Celylith thought, a strong feeling of dread sweeping through his body. 'Red like blood. Red like ... death.'
After a moment he shook his head and followed his travelling companions inside, deciding that he had a really, really bad feeling about all this.
TBC...
mellonamin - my friend
dúnadan - 'Man of the West', ranger
Yes. *nods* Even more foreshadowing, I know. I love it, sorry about that... *g* Well, so, the much anticipated chapter 18 draws ever nearer! *Nili's alter ego rubs her hands gleefully* Uhm, just ignore her, will you? She IS mad, after all... Okay, in the next chapter we see the revenge Aragorn exacts on Legolas for drugging him, they meet King Bard and much more! Reviews might encourage me to write more despite the wonderful weather we're having right now, so it's in your best interests! Review? Pretty please??
Additional A/N:
TrinityTheSheDevil - Ha, I knew it was that movie! My sister will be delighted since she loves horses _and_ Viggo Mortensen, perfect... As I said, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Geran is such a nice littel boy... *pats his head* Oh, a Viggo-Estel pic? Will you send it to me? I would very much like to see how you picture Estel...
Mouse - Well, let's just say that that idiot WILL probably be able to hunt elves - if he gets them is another matter though... *nods* 'The Hulk' was stupid, wasn't it? I mean, really, they call THAT a movie? *shakes head* Hollywood... And PoTC is going out here in September as well, on the 4th I think. BUT I will be able to see it in England, yay, 'cause there it starts on the 8th of August... *g*
Arwen-Evenstar - *hands on hips* That was not a cliffy! Really, you people and your ideas of cliffies... *mumbles under her breath* I'll show you what a REAL cliffy's like... Whatever. Great you liked the Estel dream bit, he's a poor boy, isn't he? *huggles Estel* Poor baby...
CrazyLOTRfan - Well, I don't know if Elrond will find out. Perhaps. After story number 3, that would be... I'll think of something. LOL, you have Eru living under your bed, and the rest of the Valar in your closet? Well, that's definitely something new... *hangs head* I am really, really sorry about the cliffies, and I don't knw how to say it, but ... but ... there won't be _real_ cliffies until ... until ... *whispers* chapter 18. So sorry! *runs off* Well, perhaps there's one in chapter 17, but I don't really think so. I am really sorry, I just needed some time to get everything ready for more action. Sorry ... will you forgive me? Please?
Shadow Warrior - *nods* I am glad too! I would have gone insane because of those horrible dreams a long time before now! Well, let's say that he will have ... other ... problems than his nightmares in the near future, shall we? *evil giggle* Oh yesss, preciousss, he will... Thanks for all your reviews!
Strider's Girl - Great! *blushing* Great you like it so much! *huggles her* And I like you because you like it! *clears throat* Did I really just write that? Ah well, just ignore that, will you? I have spent most of the day getting sunburnt, my brain must have been damaged... *g*
Leggylover03 - Oh, well ... what can I say? Thanks! Great you like it so much! As I said, I don't know yet when the sequel to this will come out, but I very much doubt it will be before October! *huggles her* Thanks for the reviews!
Halo - Uhm, yes ... *pats her back* I haven't decided yet, okay? He has a rather good chance of survival... *innocent look at screaming Halo* I did never say that Geran would hunt and Celylith and kill him, did I? *tries to dislodge Halo* As I said, he might live after all...
Alilacia - Yeah, I like 'Bring me to life' too, although I usually don't listen to Evanescence much... *g* Yeah, I just reread the passages of the Hobbit that were relevant for this fic, and then I came across cram. It was too good not to include... *g* Yeah, I don't think that dwarves make very good prey either. But then again, neither do elves... *evil grin* But he's welcome to try... LOL, Celylith, the named-yet-expendible-character? Well, I never said that he _would_ die, did I? I mean, yes, he might, but if he's lucky he might get away with a bit of torture or a bad injury. I have just downloaded the trailer for PotC, and it really looks nice! Johnny Depp is SO COOL! I will watch it when I'm in England, I guess...
Alex Mistress Squirrel - Yes, okay, I DO admit that, but that's not really hard either, is it? And you just might be right about the action in future chapters.... Poor, poor elfsies and ranger... *evil grin* Hope this was soon enough? *g*
Cestari - Yes, you could say that, evil, evil men... But Donyc and friends are dead now, so that's it. And Adruran doesn't really hate elves, he just knows that they will most likely cause trouble. He's not a racist, though - he's too professional for that. I don't know yet what to do with him at all. *shrugs* We'll see. Is Celylith insane? Why, yes of course! What kinf of question is _that_?
Imbefaniel - Well, Adruran doesn't really hate elves. He just knows that they always cause trouble, and he really doesn't want to return to his lord in disgrace, whihc I can really understand, btw. *blinks* I am sorry, but I don't get the connection between the rubber castle and elves. Is there one? Your mother likes Rammstein? I abnsolutely despise them! Really, they're just... *shudders*
Firniswin - *g* Oh, that sounded kinda wrong, did you know that? 'Aragorn and Legolas have little moments' ... *giggles* No, don't worry, I know what you mean... Lots of people want to hug them, actually - they are sweet and adorable too, that might be it... *g*
Aratfeniel - *nods* Mine too. I've had several until now (Star Wars, Stargate, The Pretender, Highlander...), but I get obsessed rather quickly. It's just horrible. *blushes* Great you like it so much! Being in your Top 5, that's great! Yeah, rub in it, I know that I can't go and watch PotC anytime soon. I think I will watch in when I'm in England, since it will be coming out in September here! Horrible, evil people! And there won't be that uch action, I'm afraid, not in the next two or so chapters. Sorry, I need to prepare everything for round two, and that takes some time...
Critternut - *g* Yeah, I guess they will need the rest a little later on. It's just a coincidence really, it has nothing to do with my evil nature or something... *g* And Geran, well ... I'm not telling! You will have to wait, I'm afraid... Well, I am looking forward to PotC too, but more because of Johnny Depp - he is so cool! And he is a really great actor... *sighs*
Tapetum Lucidum - *huggles* You're back! Yay! I missed you! *g* You might be right though, Celylith will probably rather soon wish that he had obeyed Legolas' command and had returned to Mirkwood - poor elfsies... Oh, if you like several sets of adversaries, you're right here. I lost count at six... And it's more like Geran who has the obsession with elves. Adruran just doesn't like anyone who could disturb his plans, and elves in Dale would do just that. *huggles again* Thanks for the review!
Seveawen - Uhm, me? *innocent, wide-eyed look* I will do nothing to them, absolutely nothing ... you know me, I am the most harmless person in the world... *g* Well, yes, right now I am writing chapter 19 actually, but I always try to be a few chapters ahead, especially because I don't know how much time I'll have to write in the near future. Great I'm invited! Yay me! Thanks! Adruran and Co. are staying near Dale - is that confusing? Why? And Erebor is right next to Dale, of course there are dwarves... *g*
Nilmandra - Oh! Thanks! I'm very glad you liked the nightmares bit, Estel's life really is NOT easy, huh? Well, and me and doing something 'drastic' to Celylith... Would you like to define 'drastic'? I mean, there are several ways to interpret that term... *evil grin* Thanks for reviewing!
XsilicaX - Well , I guess Estel will be fine now, mostly. Perhaps a few more dreams now and then, but I guess talking about it really helped. *shrugs* I'm no psychiatrist, so I'm guessing here... *g* *imagines Cathy in full mother hen mode* Uh-oh, SCARY mental image, very scary... 'I would have to touch him to unwrap them and examine his wounds...' LOL, you're insane! That's just evil, taking advantage of his helpless state... *g* And yes, I will write the Glor bit, in about four to five months, I guess. *shrugs* Sorry, but it would be at the end of the next story, so... *g*
NaughtyNat - LOL, Aragorn 'slamming the tent door'? I can really picture that, that's scary... *g* ROTFL, Aragorn as a rebellious teenager? Oh, that is just soooo good... *g* You're right, it WOULD be very cute - and hilarious, of course... *g*
Coreinha - *nods slowly* Oh, suuuuuure, Cor, he _likes_ it in your pocket, yeah, I see what you mean... And you really think he is safe there? Ha, I don't think so, mister! I can get you anywhere! Mhahahahaha! Oh, and I'm really not sure if Zam's only got a clone, you know, she grabbed him at the end of the last story before anyone else decided that he was funny and cute and whatnot... *g* So she just MIGHT have the original. Glad you like the bold letters! *huggles back* And I _did_ review, Jeez, you guys are persistent! *g*
Amelie - Uhm, Celylith and I are having ... a ... a ... a tea party in chapter 18. That's it, right. A tea party. Nothing serious... *evil grin* Then again, maybe not? And as I said: No kidnapping my characters! *grabs Legolas and stuffs him back into the story* I NEED them! How am I supposed to write if you guys insist on kidnapping my characters? Write more into my story? What do you mean? More of what? Or did you mean more _of _ my story? *looks confused* Well, great you like it! Thanks for the review!
Firnsarnien - Yeah, you may have Mithrandir, but _I_ have his staff! Without his staff he can't do anything! *brandishes staff* Even better ... *inject dramatical pause here* ... I have his pointy hat as well! Mhahahahaha! *runs off giggling madly* Uhm, well ... *looks down at feet* I am not wearing any shoes since it's 30 degrees Celsius here - but okay, if you want to kiss them, fine... And I'll think about not killing him, that's all I can promise... *evil grin*
Nikara - *shakes head* No, I wouldn't describe them as 'fun' either.... But you're right, it was about time he finally talked about them, stubborn human that he is! *shakes head again* Really....
Alisha - LOL, yes, that would be most likely the outcome if he ever talked about the little voices in his head, you're right! And I am _trying_ to get Celylith's DNA, but that elf is bloody fast! And he keeps climbing trees, and just when I get to the top branches as well, he giggles madly and jumps onto the next one! It's really annoying! I think I will be able to hand out clones at the end of the fic, no sooner, sorry... *g* Well, yes, Legolas _is_ rather old and wise, isn't he? I mean, he doesn't ACT that way often, but technically, he is wise. Technically... *g* Wow, you'd fight them for 2 or 3 seconds? I wouldn't at all, I'm not mad, after all...
TrustingFriendship - You! *huggles* I missed you! *huggles harder* I had thought you didn't like it and and and... *takes deep breath* Sorry about that. Glad you're back though. You're lucky though, because I think that there won't be any 'bad' or 'evil' cliffies for a few more chapters. Well, I have to disappoint you, I'm afraid. Elrond and the twins won't make an appearance in this story, and even if they'd find out about what's going on, they would have problems getting there at all, since it's winter now and the passes are closed. *shrugs* Sorry. And yes, I am indeed planning another story after this one!
ManuKu - *nickt* In der Tat, ihr beiden seit immer zu spaet dran. Schaemt euch! *g* Und ich gebe dir Recht, anatomisch hat Aragorn im Vergleich zu uns Frauen einige Defizite - nicht dass wir und beschweren wuerden... *g* Tja, um ehrlich zu sein, glaube ich auch nicht, dass Thranduil sehr begeistert von den Nachrichten sein wird, armer Anardir. Aber manchmal ist es eben gut, Prinz zu sein! *fieses Grinsen* Und du hast recht: Mit Legolas' Hilfe kann bei Seobryn eigentlich nichts mehr schiefgehen! Es sei denn, er wird wieder mal rot und stottert... Schoen, dass dir dir Traumszene gefallen hat! Und es stimmt: Legolas ist manchmal zum Knuddeln!!
Fliewatuet - *blushes* Awww, thanks! Great you liked that scene! And you are right: Adruran is definitely _not amused_. But then again, he is right, elves cause nothing but trouble, after all... I don't know about the trophies yet, you know, I _really_ want to kill Celylith, after all - but I fear that I wouldn't live long if I really did, so I'm not entirely sure what to do. *shrugs* We'll see.
Elenora - Geran/elf hunt? *innocent expression* Nooooooooooo.... Whatever gave you that idea? You know me, I would _never_ do such a thing... *g* Oh, thank you! *huggles her* Somebody who understands that you sometimes need a little bit of time to prepare! I mean, I need to make you understand why everything is happening, right? *nods vigorously* Of course I'm right. *g* Thanks again!
Sirithiliel - Well, thank you! Glad you like it! Thanks a lot for the review!
Marbienl - Oh, Sunday was your birthday! *shakes her hand* Happy belated Birthday! I hope you had a lot of fun! *pats Misien* Yes, I like her too. She is cool, and funny. To be honest I really don't think that she will ever come to Mirkwood, but still. *shakes fist* I did never sign that! That must have been my alter ego! I didn't know about it, that makes it null and void! I refuse to acknowledge that contract, no matter if you have horns or not! LOL, well, I would not say that it's all the elves' fault, but... Well, I guess the elves are far wiser and older, but I wouldn't view them as surrogate parents. Perhaps older brothers, but I'd stop right there, if you ask me... *g* And yes, Estel kinda became thinner, but I never really mentioned it. You do get that when you don't sleep enough, and with his injuries it would have been more prominent anyway. LOL at Donyc's clone! I'm sure Legolas would LOVE that... Keep that spider away from my villains, please! I can't have it scare them! And my alter ego needs a little break too, so please... And the sunburn: It's winter right now? Perhaps later... Thanks a lot for the huge review!
TigerLily713 - *grimaces* I didn't like the steam bit either - but then again, I was never very good at writing torture... And you're right, of course. Celylith would never have eaten someone as disgusting as 'the Fox'... *g* Wow! You have caught up! That was kinda like a marathon, wasn't it? Congratulations! And thanks once again for all the reviews!
Eva - Uhm, well, Donyc's dead. Thankfully, he was a rather nasty person too, and I had lots of fun killing him, too. You have wargs too? I have Fred sr., The Insane One gave him to me... He's not very ferocious, but a warg nonetheless. Well, and you're right, I really don't think that a guard contingent is going to save them. You know, that kinda happened last story, and I couldn't use it twice. *shakes head* No way.
Cyd - I just divided you, hope that's okay? Or are you the same person, you know, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde? *g* No, probably not... And Eva _printed_ it for you? She did? The whole story? Wow, your printer is more resilient than mine, then... *g* It's great you like it too though! LOL, don't harm Estel unless I reall, really have to? Well, I think I REALLY have to. My alter ego demands it, and who am I to argue with myself?
LadySandrilene - Oh, I read Tamora Pierce too when I was a child ... but only the Alanna-stories, sorry, I really don't know what they're called in English. I liked them quite a lot! Yeah, see, I didn't choose a LOTR name at all! Nili is a very old nickname my brother gave me when I was about 14 or something. You're right. *huggles Aragorn too* My poor baby ranger! Uhm, okay, is this soon enough! I was writing, see?
Lina - *huggles Lina* Don't worry! I'm not mad or anything, I just missed your usual craziness, that's all... So your computer broke? I don't know if it really was Zam's fault, computers do that all the time without apparent reason... *g* LOL, so YOU sent Rashwe to Arda? Well, that _does_ indeed explain a lot! *g* Cram as surrogate clay pigeons? That's something new, that's for sure... *g* Uhm, the dreams? Premonitions? No, not really, just your usual nightmares, no premonitions this time... I KNEW it! I really KNEW you would say that! In fact, I giggles when I wrote it _because_ I knew that! You two are quite predictable sometimes... Well, thank you for reviewing again, I really missed you! *huggles again*
Stacee Phelps - *sighs tiredly* That was no cliffy. This one isn't a cliffy either. Nor is chapter 16. Well, okay, chapter 17 might be a little one, and even _I_ admit that chapter 18 IS a cliffy... Okay? *g* LOL, so you're a bit impatient? And you have 'ways of making me post'? Well, I DO want to see that! So? What are you going to do? Huh?
Maranwe - LOL, 'they walk heedlessly into the net of danger which closes ever closer around them'? You know, that is a very good description! That's exactly what they're doing - stupid humans! Well, I guess Legolas' voice is either Aragorn or his father, or a combination of both, which is a _really_ scary thought... *g* I know what you mean, I read HP I-IV in record time too. They're addictive! *grins broadly* Glad you like the bold! It looks much nicer too! *g* Well, I am trying to get the chapters to about 13 pages each but fail miserably. They just don't shut up! *shakes fist* Horrible! *huggles again* Thanks for the review!
Salara - Na ja, das 'Tempo' ist alle vier Tage! Das ist doch nun weiss Gott nich SO schnell, oder? Eine Doppelreview! Yay! *reibt Haende* LOL, vielleicht baue ich wirklich so eine Szene ein! Koennte auf jeden Fall interessant werden, wenn Elrond und Celylith sich ueber Estel-Betaeubungsmethoden austauschen... *g* Oh, und der Plot bunny war ueber den 'Fox', nicht ueber Vampire. Ich koennte ihn ja in #4 wieder auftauchen lassen... *grosse Augen* Tja, das mit dem LSL Potential hast du mir ja gerade vor Augen gefuehrt! Ich gebe zu, ich hazze nicht mal an 50 % dieser Sachen gedacht, aber Danke fuer die Ideen! *knuddelt Salara* Schoen, dass dir die Traumszene gefallen hat! Unser armer Lieblingsranger hat ja nun wirklich kein leichtes Leben! Danke fuer die lange, liebe Review!
Nilbrethiliel - Oh Gott, sie ist wieder da! Rette sich, wer kann! Ahhhhh!! *rennt weg* Uhm, schoen, dich auch mal wieder zu sehen, wirklich! *g* Und, tja, mein Referat zeichnet sich durch weitgehende Nicht-Existenz aus. Leider. Aber das wird noch, hoffe ich! Und wie ich sagte ... *schnappt sich Celylith* ... nix hier! Hier werden keine Charaktere geklaut! Nu-uh! Zurueck! *g* Uhm, schoenes Gedicht. Ehrlich! Toll. Und so ... kunstvoll! Wirklich nett! Und ich gebe zu, Geran ist nicht unbedingt ein sehr netter Zeitgenosse - aber nuetzlich ist er allemal! *knuddelt Trish* Danke fuer's reviewen!
Aron - *g* I agree. Aragorn is VERY lucky that Elrond isn't there. Or unlucky, we'll see... *evil grin* Geran will provide 'an awful lot of problems'? I guess you could say that, yes... And I'm not telling! Sorry, but if I told you what would happen to Celylith (or 'who' would happen to him *g*) I would ruin the whole thing! So you'll have to wait a bit, sorry.... You're going away again? I hope you have a lot of fun! Thanks a lot for your reviews!
*nods* Bold ist better, and it looks a lot nicer too. A huge Thank You to all my wonderful reviewers! Come on, group hug! *huggles them*