I cannot believe now that I thought those few days were difficult! They were nothing compared to what was to come. Although at the time, I felt more subdued than I had been in a while. Idril refused to talk to me on the morning's journey and was not getting any more receptive by the time we got to the castle doors.
Gandalf took charge of the situation and talked to the guards in to letting us in to the castle to see the king. Idril looked nervous and I knew that she probably would want to ask her request from the king and have it be over with. We gave up our weapons except fortunately for Gandalf's staff.
We did not have the warmest of welcomes when we entered the throne room and almost immediately Wormtongue ordered the guards to seize us. It was pointless however, most of the guards were slow and no match for us even when we were weaponless, Idril who I doubt had fought before managed to knock a guard to the floor with a sweeping kick that Gimli had shown her a few days earlier.
Gandalf strode forward and threw off his grey robe to reveal the white tunic that was so similar to Saruman's. "I am Gandalf the grey no longer, I am now Gandalf the white. Saruman I will draw you out of the kings mind and free him from your evil trap!"
He raised his staff above his head and slammed it down to the floor with such force that Wormtongue cowered in fear. Theoden's body shook and convulsed with such an alarming force I thought that he would meet his end, his eyes went a glistening white and his body thrashed around in his throne as if he was being pulled inside out. (I found out later that he practically was!) Gandalf let out a loud cry and slammed his staff down once more, the room shook violently, and King Theoden let out a roar. Colour seemed to snake its way up his body, his skin smoothed and became young again and his eyes regained their kind warmth. Saruman was banished from the king's mind.
About an hour later we had witnessed King Theoden banishing Wormtongue from the kingdom of Rohan and the arrival of two small children. They had escaped from one of the small villages of Rohan that were being pillaged every day by the orcs and Urak-hai. Eowyn was cuddling the small girl in a tender motherly way. "When will I see my mother again?" the child kept repeating over and over again. The question was not quite answered but was followed by a chorus of 'soon' and 'it won't be too long now'. Neither of these answers satisfied the child and seemed to terrify her more that we couldn't answer her.
Idril was standing opposite me behind Gimli who it seemed was trying to fit as much food in his mouth as he possibly could! She was staring at the floor, her skin was deathly pale and she seemed to have tears in her eyes. As Theoden and Aragorn argued about the best course of action to take, she seemed to get more and more distressed and with that more and more pale. I was barely paying attention to the dispute between Aragorn and Theoden until Theoden announced "We will make for Helms deep, our people have always been safe there and it will not fall. Guards alert the people. Tell them only to bring what is essential and nothing more. We shall leave as soon as possible!" With that the guards and servants in the hall left. Idril let out a sob and rushed out of the room after them. I followed her outside and chased her down out of the castle and on to the hillside, where she collapsed and let herself cry openly.
"Idril, please don't cry. Your tears cannot help you."
"Go away Legolas. Please just go away. Maybe my tears are all I have left now! There is no possibility that King Theoden could spare even one man, let alone enough to protect my people."
"I can not deny that but you can't give up hope that they will survive this."
"Did you not listen to the king? There is barely any hope that his kingdom will survive let alone mine. They are as good as dead now."
We stayed silent for a while. The reality of her words sunk in. It occurred to me that even my own life, my own immortality which I had taken for granted for so long was in jeopardy.
Idril wiped away her tears and said in a shaky voice "well if my own people can not be saved then I shall do my best to help King Theoden in his battle. I shall go to Helms deep and fight for him."
"You can't! Idril you have barely ever fought another human how do you think you would survive the battle?"
"I probably won't but at least then I will be satisfied knowing I tried to help. Anyway why do you even care what I do when you've made it so perfectly clear that you don't!"
I sat down beside her and sighed. I knew that it was likely that both of our lives would be coming to an end. The only thought in my head was 'what have I got to lose now by telling her the truth.'
"Don't speak until I'm finished. My father was insistent that I should be married and give him a successor to the throne. I could not find anyone that I truly loved within the elf realms so he took charge for me and betrothed me to an elvish noble woman. I find her vapid and do not have any affection for her but I thought I was safer that way. I would never get my heart broken. I vowed never to let myself fall in love for fear of it. That is why I pulled away from you. I met you and felt emotions that I did not think I could or would ever have. You intrigue me, I think you understand me. Most of all I think that you could be falling in love with me the same way I am falling in love with you. If we don't have much time left then I'd rather know that I spent it happy than miserable and alone."
She stayed perfectly still and silent, her eyes wide with shock. I stared back at her with fear grabbing at my insides. I saw the corners of her mouth turn up in to a smile.
"Well I'm glad you've come to your senses!" she said.
She lent over and kissed me. I clung to her tightly and covered her face and neck with kisses.
"Ahem. We..ummm......sorry to inturupt but ummmm...we have to leave for Helms deep shortly and you need to collect your belongings." We turned to see a guard racing back up the hill towards the castle where preparations for the journey to Helms deep were being made. We laughed and walked hand in hand up the hill after the guard both knowing that these could be our last days together.