Author's Note: Hello all you wonderful readers! Yes, I know, this chapter
took a bit longer than usual, but I have been forced to face the reality
that school work should actually take some thought and effort. (God I hate
calculus.) Anyways, this chapter isn't too short so that should make up
for it. And for those of you dying to know what's going to happen and
knowing that I won't reveal it until the very last minute, you should take
the wise words of a Prophetic reviewer into advice, "Be patient, be the
Elf." I thought it was clever anyway. So yeah, I'm still not Tolkien and
I still receive no money for my pitiful writing (sob) so this story does
not really belong to me, nor the title which I already explained. But for
what's left, enjoy!
Chapter 5
Legolas walked swiftly, his long legs eating up the ground as rapidly as they could. He moved in an unerring course, his one objective clear, to get away from the main parts of Gondor. He needed time to himself, away from the questions and suspicious eyes.
And to think that Gimli, Gimli!, of all people, was beginning to suspect him as well.
'It is not the suspicion of your friends that bothers you so,' Legolas thought mutinously inside of his head. He paused briefly and shook his head violently. He did not need to be thinking like that right now, he needed a clear head and time to calm himself.
But his efforts were to no avail.
'Gimli's question was bothersome only because of the fact that you could not readily answer it without swaying the suspicion even more in your favor.'
Legolas stopped again. His breath was coming faster than he wished it to and he reached out a hand to steady himself on a tree trunk as he fought to bring it under control. He was not going to worry himself over something like this, he knew the truth, he knew he never would have done anything like that.
'It is all that you know how to do, born and raised for the sole purpose of being a killer. One cannot defy life-long training.'
Legolas closed his eyes. "No," he whispered softly aloud. He would not even begin to let himself believe it, for then there would be no reason to let anybody else not think that it was him.
Hardly aware of what he was doing, Legolas pushed off of the tree and continued on his way into the forests that bordered Gondor. He was nearing Ithilien but had no intention of fully going that way. All he needed was a walk to clear his senses.
Legolas stopped again.
He had unconsciously gone on the same path he had taken last night. The one after he had left his friend to himself in the inn. Last night he had intended on going straight to his room and perhaps earning some extra rest for himself, but his feet had turned another way, taking him into the darkness of the trees, the only comfort he found for himself these days. It was an ill thing indeed that he could only find comfort in the darkness and away from his friends.
But that was not the whole reason as to why Legolas stopped.
Before his feet, in the light that was filtering brokenly through the overhanging of the trees, was a small groove in the ground. As if a body had lain there for a period of time. And the grass that was once green surrounding the impression was stained with red.
Without a doubt, Legolas knew that this was where the body of the unfortunate mortal had been found that morning.
The same place he had been last night.
'That means nothing!' Legolas shouted inside of his head, 'I did not even hear anybody when I passed by.' But of course that was not entirely true either.
As if he was watching a mirror form of himself from the night before, Legolas lapsed back and clearly saw in his mind the events of last night.
He had left the inn only to wander underneath the trees. He remembered this spot when he had passed it the first time, for a small log lay next to it and he had paused briefly with one leg braced against it, noting that the area almost appeared as though it were a tiny groove. It was surrounded by trees on all sides and almost perfectly round, a nice temporary hideaway. Yet he had moved on after a moment or two and continued aimlessly on his way.
It was a few hours later before he passed the spot again on his way back into town. Again he had paused, thinking the same thing he had before of the peculiar positioning of the random site. And that was when he had heard something.
A man was clumsily making his way through the brush. Legolas easily heard him coming from more than a few feet and he could tell from the unstable sounds of his steps that he was drunk. Perhaps he had even had the "special" that Legolas himself had been privy to.
Not wishing to be disturbed, Legolas had turned with every intention of disappearing into the trees and taking a roundabout way back to the House of Kings. He had had enough interaction with men for one day, albeit he had only recently arrived in Minas Tirith that evening, and had absolutely no desire to become the speculation of a drunk mortal.
The sudden explosion of a bird from a tree overhead of Legolas snapped him out of his revelry. Due to the abruptness of his loss of focus and the fact that he was standing in the same spot as the night before, he was not entirely sure where he was. It was a slightly disconcerting feeling and for one second Legolas could not discern whether he truly was back in the present or was still recollecting his thoughts.
When he established that he was indeed back to the present, for the marks that lay before his feet in the grass could not be ignored, he tried to go back and remember the rest of what had happened the night before.
He recalled standing in the tiny glade, listening to a human stumble his way through the same thick brush that Legolas had passed through silently so recently. He remembered clearly thinking that he wanted to turn and be gone before the man ever noticed him or any trace of him.
But then there was nothing.
That was as far as Legolas could remember.
Knowing that this was indeed a strange occurrence, for the memory of the elves was normally flawless, especially since it had only taken place the night before, Legolas racked his brain to come up with the remainder of the night.
He had stopped and heard the man coming and wanted to get away from there.
And then what?
Legolas' mouth set in a grim line after a few moments as he came to a slight realization. He could not remember what had happened after that.
Now he knew why Gimli's question had disturbed him so greatly.
He could not answer it.
Legolas made his way back into town by late afternoon. He made a straight way for the House of Kings, wanting to confine himself in his room and be left to solitude for a while longer before he was obligated to attend the evening meal.
Yet it was no surprise when he was intercepted by an overzealous dwarf no more than a few feet from the very doors he was trying to disappear into. "Legolas, I am glad to see that you were able to find your way back. We were beginning to wonder where you had gone off to."
The statement was meant to be light, a joke most assuredly, adding to the continuous friendly war the two eternally had engaged between each other. Gimli was no doubt setting Legolas up for some sort of joke that would be a blow to his elven pride, but the words sent a prickle of irritation running through the elf. Why were his whereabouts suddenly so important? Would they care as much if there had not been a killing?
'It is smart to always know where a killer is. Perhaps they know that it is a fatal mistake to turn their backs on a trained assassin.'
Legolas shook his head minutely at the familiar voice, and the small action did not go unnoticed by Gimli, nor did the fact that his friend did not respond to his joking in kind. Obviously the walk had not done him much good.
"If you must have your dwarven curiosity settled master Gimli," Legolas heard himself speaking up before he could think it properly through, "I have been scouting the site of the killing trying to gather what information I can." Legolas let himself rest easy in the knowledge that it was not a complete lie, yet the intentions sounded more noble than they truly had been.
Gimli looked immediately interested and all previous signs of light- heartedness left his face. "Was there any signs left by the killer?"
Legolas froze his features to keep from frowning. He had not even thought of that when he had been there, he had not tried to investigate the area at all for any clues as to who might have done it, or even to be able to trigger and regain his blocked memory.
"Not that I could tell," Legolas answered carefully, "it would be wise to bring in someone more skilled in that area."
"I would wager that Aragorn would be able to tell right off. That ranger blood will never be quelled in him," was Gimli's faithful reply.
Legolas managed a small smile for his friend, "Let us hope it never will."
And as his friend turned to go find Aragorn so that Legolas may be able to report his happenings to him Legolas followed silently behind. As he walked, he found himself fighting down a small measure of panic. What if Aragorn were to go to the site and read tell-tale signs that it had been him?
Ah, but what if he saw that it was not him?
Legolas normally would take comfort in the latter thought, but an unnatural doubt was within him. He physically shrugged as he walked, as if he could shrug off his worries, but it did him no avail.
"Well met Bergel," the booming voice of the dwarf snapped Legolas out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a man coming towards them, his intention to merely pass them and be on his way.
The man looked up as well at the dwarf's overly loud greeting and squinted a few moments before a grin spread across his face, displaying crooked teeth.
"Gimli," he returned the greeting with broken speech and enthusiasm, "how fares you friend?" The man came to a stop before them and Legolas regarded him quietly, not bothering to voice anything to him. The man seemed to respond in kind to Legolas and all but ignored the elf, his focus on the shorter being in front of him.
Gimli nodded, "I am well, and you? I have not seen you since you lost our friendly competition in the inn."
The man grinned foolishly, "I's is still under the thinking that you and the bartender were's in on it together. You cheated you did."
Gimli looked astonished that the man would even suggest such a thing and replied back in the same loud tone of his greeting.
Legolas looked down at his friend briefly in mild irritation, wondering why he insisted on speaking so loudly. But the reason became clear as soon as Legolas glanced at the man again. He had obviously been in service of the king for a while and had seen his share of battles, both of his ears were badly mutilated, leaving little more than stumps and scar tissue. The rest of his face held faint burn scars, and Legolas pegged that he had been victim to fire, possibly from Saruman's own blasting powder in the War of the Ring.
By the time Legolas had assessed all of this, Gimli and Bergel had finished their short conversation.
"I's will look for you later friend, but now I have an important message to run for the king." The man looked proud that he was appointed such a responsibility.
Gimli nodded again, "I will look for you later in the inn. It seems we have important matters to settle." The man nodded and bowed awkwardly before flashing one more crooked smile, then he was making his way past them.
Legolas arched an eyebrow at his friend once the man was gone and Gimli looked up. "He is a survivor from the War of the Ring," Gimli confirmed Legolas' suspicions, "Aragorn and I like to look after him. He can be a tad slow at times, but he has a good heart." Legolas only nodded and the two continued on into the conference room in silence.
Aragorn looked up as soon as they entered, a pile of parchments placed before him on the long table. He pushed it all aside however and smiled at their approach.
Gimli did not even wait for Aragorn to ask why they had come to him again. "We have important news for you," he stated.
Something inside of Legolas balked. He hardly thought it was all that important, and Gimli had made it sound as if they had both gone out together.
Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
He looked at Gimli but when Gimli said nothing he turned his eyes to Legolas. "I went to the murder site," Legolas said quietly.
Aragorn looked more interested. "And what did you discover?"
Legolas glanced at Gimli, suddenly wishing that the dwarf had not thought it be so important that they come to speak with Aragorn. He truly had nothing of import to say to him and he would not lie to his friend.
"I was unable to find any signs of the killer," Legolas replied, noting how empty and useless it sounded.
"He was that clever in covering his tracks?" Aragorn asked immediately.
"No, that is not what I meant," Legolas answered quickly, "I only feel that I lack the necessary skills to read everything that is there. Perhaps someone with more knowledge should search through it."
Aragorn nodded, though his brows furrowed in slight confusion. He looked once more from Gimli back to Legolas and, seeing that they had no more to say, cleared his throat. "I thank you for your advice," he told them slowly, "I shall have someone sent out at once if I do not find the time to go out myself."
Legolas and Gimli both nodded, and Legolas found himself fighting the same panic he had felt before at the mention that Aragorn be the one to investigate the site.
"I will let you know how everything fares at the evening meal tonight," Aragorn continued, giving them a subtle invitation to take their leave.
Gimli and Legolas took the leave and turned to exit the room to leave Aragorn to the rest of his matters.
Chapter 5
Legolas walked swiftly, his long legs eating up the ground as rapidly as they could. He moved in an unerring course, his one objective clear, to get away from the main parts of Gondor. He needed time to himself, away from the questions and suspicious eyes.
And to think that Gimli, Gimli!, of all people, was beginning to suspect him as well.
'It is not the suspicion of your friends that bothers you so,' Legolas thought mutinously inside of his head. He paused briefly and shook his head violently. He did not need to be thinking like that right now, he needed a clear head and time to calm himself.
But his efforts were to no avail.
'Gimli's question was bothersome only because of the fact that you could not readily answer it without swaying the suspicion even more in your favor.'
Legolas stopped again. His breath was coming faster than he wished it to and he reached out a hand to steady himself on a tree trunk as he fought to bring it under control. He was not going to worry himself over something like this, he knew the truth, he knew he never would have done anything like that.
'It is all that you know how to do, born and raised for the sole purpose of being a killer. One cannot defy life-long training.'
Legolas closed his eyes. "No," he whispered softly aloud. He would not even begin to let himself believe it, for then there would be no reason to let anybody else not think that it was him.
Hardly aware of what he was doing, Legolas pushed off of the tree and continued on his way into the forests that bordered Gondor. He was nearing Ithilien but had no intention of fully going that way. All he needed was a walk to clear his senses.
Legolas stopped again.
He had unconsciously gone on the same path he had taken last night. The one after he had left his friend to himself in the inn. Last night he had intended on going straight to his room and perhaps earning some extra rest for himself, but his feet had turned another way, taking him into the darkness of the trees, the only comfort he found for himself these days. It was an ill thing indeed that he could only find comfort in the darkness and away from his friends.
But that was not the whole reason as to why Legolas stopped.
Before his feet, in the light that was filtering brokenly through the overhanging of the trees, was a small groove in the ground. As if a body had lain there for a period of time. And the grass that was once green surrounding the impression was stained with red.
Without a doubt, Legolas knew that this was where the body of the unfortunate mortal had been found that morning.
The same place he had been last night.
'That means nothing!' Legolas shouted inside of his head, 'I did not even hear anybody when I passed by.' But of course that was not entirely true either.
As if he was watching a mirror form of himself from the night before, Legolas lapsed back and clearly saw in his mind the events of last night.
He had left the inn only to wander underneath the trees. He remembered this spot when he had passed it the first time, for a small log lay next to it and he had paused briefly with one leg braced against it, noting that the area almost appeared as though it were a tiny groove. It was surrounded by trees on all sides and almost perfectly round, a nice temporary hideaway. Yet he had moved on after a moment or two and continued aimlessly on his way.
It was a few hours later before he passed the spot again on his way back into town. Again he had paused, thinking the same thing he had before of the peculiar positioning of the random site. And that was when he had heard something.
A man was clumsily making his way through the brush. Legolas easily heard him coming from more than a few feet and he could tell from the unstable sounds of his steps that he was drunk. Perhaps he had even had the "special" that Legolas himself had been privy to.
Not wishing to be disturbed, Legolas had turned with every intention of disappearing into the trees and taking a roundabout way back to the House of Kings. He had had enough interaction with men for one day, albeit he had only recently arrived in Minas Tirith that evening, and had absolutely no desire to become the speculation of a drunk mortal.
The sudden explosion of a bird from a tree overhead of Legolas snapped him out of his revelry. Due to the abruptness of his loss of focus and the fact that he was standing in the same spot as the night before, he was not entirely sure where he was. It was a slightly disconcerting feeling and for one second Legolas could not discern whether he truly was back in the present or was still recollecting his thoughts.
When he established that he was indeed back to the present, for the marks that lay before his feet in the grass could not be ignored, he tried to go back and remember the rest of what had happened the night before.
He recalled standing in the tiny glade, listening to a human stumble his way through the same thick brush that Legolas had passed through silently so recently. He remembered clearly thinking that he wanted to turn and be gone before the man ever noticed him or any trace of him.
But then there was nothing.
That was as far as Legolas could remember.
Knowing that this was indeed a strange occurrence, for the memory of the elves was normally flawless, especially since it had only taken place the night before, Legolas racked his brain to come up with the remainder of the night.
He had stopped and heard the man coming and wanted to get away from there.
And then what?
Legolas' mouth set in a grim line after a few moments as he came to a slight realization. He could not remember what had happened after that.
Now he knew why Gimli's question had disturbed him so greatly.
He could not answer it.
Legolas made his way back into town by late afternoon. He made a straight way for the House of Kings, wanting to confine himself in his room and be left to solitude for a while longer before he was obligated to attend the evening meal.
Yet it was no surprise when he was intercepted by an overzealous dwarf no more than a few feet from the very doors he was trying to disappear into. "Legolas, I am glad to see that you were able to find your way back. We were beginning to wonder where you had gone off to."
The statement was meant to be light, a joke most assuredly, adding to the continuous friendly war the two eternally had engaged between each other. Gimli was no doubt setting Legolas up for some sort of joke that would be a blow to his elven pride, but the words sent a prickle of irritation running through the elf. Why were his whereabouts suddenly so important? Would they care as much if there had not been a killing?
'It is smart to always know where a killer is. Perhaps they know that it is a fatal mistake to turn their backs on a trained assassin.'
Legolas shook his head minutely at the familiar voice, and the small action did not go unnoticed by Gimli, nor did the fact that his friend did not respond to his joking in kind. Obviously the walk had not done him much good.
"If you must have your dwarven curiosity settled master Gimli," Legolas heard himself speaking up before he could think it properly through, "I have been scouting the site of the killing trying to gather what information I can." Legolas let himself rest easy in the knowledge that it was not a complete lie, yet the intentions sounded more noble than they truly had been.
Gimli looked immediately interested and all previous signs of light- heartedness left his face. "Was there any signs left by the killer?"
Legolas froze his features to keep from frowning. He had not even thought of that when he had been there, he had not tried to investigate the area at all for any clues as to who might have done it, or even to be able to trigger and regain his blocked memory.
"Not that I could tell," Legolas answered carefully, "it would be wise to bring in someone more skilled in that area."
"I would wager that Aragorn would be able to tell right off. That ranger blood will never be quelled in him," was Gimli's faithful reply.
Legolas managed a small smile for his friend, "Let us hope it never will."
And as his friend turned to go find Aragorn so that Legolas may be able to report his happenings to him Legolas followed silently behind. As he walked, he found himself fighting down a small measure of panic. What if Aragorn were to go to the site and read tell-tale signs that it had been him?
Ah, but what if he saw that it was not him?
Legolas normally would take comfort in the latter thought, but an unnatural doubt was within him. He physically shrugged as he walked, as if he could shrug off his worries, but it did him no avail.
"Well met Bergel," the booming voice of the dwarf snapped Legolas out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a man coming towards them, his intention to merely pass them and be on his way.
The man looked up as well at the dwarf's overly loud greeting and squinted a few moments before a grin spread across his face, displaying crooked teeth.
"Gimli," he returned the greeting with broken speech and enthusiasm, "how fares you friend?" The man came to a stop before them and Legolas regarded him quietly, not bothering to voice anything to him. The man seemed to respond in kind to Legolas and all but ignored the elf, his focus on the shorter being in front of him.
Gimli nodded, "I am well, and you? I have not seen you since you lost our friendly competition in the inn."
The man grinned foolishly, "I's is still under the thinking that you and the bartender were's in on it together. You cheated you did."
Gimli looked astonished that the man would even suggest such a thing and replied back in the same loud tone of his greeting.
Legolas looked down at his friend briefly in mild irritation, wondering why he insisted on speaking so loudly. But the reason became clear as soon as Legolas glanced at the man again. He had obviously been in service of the king for a while and had seen his share of battles, both of his ears were badly mutilated, leaving little more than stumps and scar tissue. The rest of his face held faint burn scars, and Legolas pegged that he had been victim to fire, possibly from Saruman's own blasting powder in the War of the Ring.
By the time Legolas had assessed all of this, Gimli and Bergel had finished their short conversation.
"I's will look for you later friend, but now I have an important message to run for the king." The man looked proud that he was appointed such a responsibility.
Gimli nodded again, "I will look for you later in the inn. It seems we have important matters to settle." The man nodded and bowed awkwardly before flashing one more crooked smile, then he was making his way past them.
Legolas arched an eyebrow at his friend once the man was gone and Gimli looked up. "He is a survivor from the War of the Ring," Gimli confirmed Legolas' suspicions, "Aragorn and I like to look after him. He can be a tad slow at times, but he has a good heart." Legolas only nodded and the two continued on into the conference room in silence.
Aragorn looked up as soon as they entered, a pile of parchments placed before him on the long table. He pushed it all aside however and smiled at their approach.
Gimli did not even wait for Aragorn to ask why they had come to him again. "We have important news for you," he stated.
Something inside of Legolas balked. He hardly thought it was all that important, and Gimli had made it sound as if they had both gone out together.
Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
He looked at Gimli but when Gimli said nothing he turned his eyes to Legolas. "I went to the murder site," Legolas said quietly.
Aragorn looked more interested. "And what did you discover?"
Legolas glanced at Gimli, suddenly wishing that the dwarf had not thought it be so important that they come to speak with Aragorn. He truly had nothing of import to say to him and he would not lie to his friend.
"I was unable to find any signs of the killer," Legolas replied, noting how empty and useless it sounded.
"He was that clever in covering his tracks?" Aragorn asked immediately.
"No, that is not what I meant," Legolas answered quickly, "I only feel that I lack the necessary skills to read everything that is there. Perhaps someone with more knowledge should search through it."
Aragorn nodded, though his brows furrowed in slight confusion. He looked once more from Gimli back to Legolas and, seeing that they had no more to say, cleared his throat. "I thank you for your advice," he told them slowly, "I shall have someone sent out at once if I do not find the time to go out myself."
Legolas and Gimli both nodded, and Legolas found himself fighting the same panic he had felt before at the mention that Aragorn be the one to investigate the site.
"I will let you know how everything fares at the evening meal tonight," Aragorn continued, giving them a subtle invitation to take their leave.
Gimli and Legolas took the leave and turned to exit the room to leave Aragorn to the rest of his matters.