7-23-03
Alright this is late… again. Please forgive me. Yeah I don't even have a good excuse this time… it's mostly just that I was too lazy to type it up. But here it is, even if it is pretty short. But it's the chapter you've all been looking forward to…
13. An End and a Beginning
When they remembered that they were in the middle of city in broad daylight, Eleriel and Legolas pulled back from each other and turned to stare at the Sea again. Legolas did not mention marriage or bonds, and for that Eleriel was grateful. She didn't quite feel ready for that, not yet. Legolas broke the companionable silence that had fallen between them.
"There was a great battle in Mirkwood yesterday," he said softly. "Perhaps that's what... compelled you to use the battle cry."
Eleriel smiled. "Maybe that was it. I don't know, but whatever the reason, I'm not sorry about it." He smiled beside her and they lapsed back into silence.
She remembered the day he had taught it to her. They had only been married for a little while, but they had been called from Lothlorien to help Thranduil in a particularly fierce campaign against orcs in Mirkwood. Just before the battle, Legolas had pulled her aside and told her the battle cry because, as he had put it, she was now "one of them."
"What... what was the outcome of the battle?" she asked after a moment. He shrugged.
"The elves won, of course. But... it just worries me that we were attacked in the first place. The orcs rarely attack the actual Halls. It's usually just sporadic skirmishes and scuffles." He paused. "But my father led our warriors to a victory. Of that I'm sure. It's just... I could feel the battle taking place, because I am, before anything else, a Mirkwood elf, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't tell what became of my father. I think he lives, but I can't be positive."
Eleriel took his hand in hers. "I am sure that your father survived, Legolas. He's an excellent warrior and an extraordinary leader in battle. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he managed to get through it without so much as a bruise." Legolas smiled at her gratefully, and Eleriel moved a little closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the gulls fly to the Sea. Neither was aware of the fact that a dwarf watched them from afar.
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A few days later a great host departed from the White City, heading east to Mordor. Every day heralds announced the coming of the Lords of Gondor and the King Elessar, but no one answered their call, and for several days the company traveled unchallenged and undisturbed.
Legolas and Eleriel rode apart from the others for some time every day. They took these few moments of relative privacy to get to know each other a little better. For most of the time, however, the elves rode with the others.
After three days of travelling, the army turned northwards, heading toward the Black Gate of Mordor. Along the way, they met their first ambush.
It was a sizeable group that attacked, not something to be taken lightly. However, under the command of Aragorn, the enemy was easily driven back. Afterward Aragorn pointed out that the attack had been nothing more than a ruse, meant to distract and alarm them. "The real problems for us are yet to come," he grimly confided in Eleriel, who agreed with him on this matter.
As the journey continued their numbers dwindles. Younger men who had never seen battle before the battle of the Pelennor Fields lost courage as time progressed, and dropped out of the march. Aragorn gave them different tasks so that they might retain some semblance of honor and courage, but by the time they reached the Black Gates of Mordor, their numbers had become less than six thousand.
When the finally came to the great doors guarding the entrance to Sauron's land, they were once again worried by the calm that greeted them. Aragorn, fearing the worst, arranged the men as best he could in case of a battle. Then he chose a group that would accompany him as ambassadors up to the very gates of Mordor.
Eleriel was a little disgruntled that she was not chosen, but she shrugged it off as best she could and watched them approach the gates. The men around her were totally silent, and the silence remained when the Gate slowly opened to allow a tall man to walk forward. Eleriel listened in horror as the man introduced himself as the Mouth of Sauron. Her blood boiled when the Mouth of Sauron taunted Aragorn and she nearly cried out in fear when the man revealed a number of objects: a mithiril vest, a short sword, and an elven cloak. She listened in sadness as Gandalf refused to barter for the life of the hobbit until something clicked in her head. He only spoke of one hobbit... that's Frodo's vest, but that's Sam's sword! And he never mentioned the Ring. But her thoughts got no further than that, for it was then that Sauron attacked.
The armies of Sauron flooded out from Mordor and crashed into the forces gathered there in opposition to the Dark Lord. All thoughts of the hobbits were pushed from her mind as Eleriel turned her attention to the fight before her.
No one knew how long the battle lasted. Time was not noted by either side, and the fight simply raged on, regardless of anything else.
As she had done at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Eleriel searched for Legolas after the fighting had continued for awhile. He was fighting at Aragorn's side, but as she watched they were pushed apart and Legolas was soon fighting by himself. Legolas! she called out to him with her mind. Legolas!
He looked up and found Eleriel. She fought her way to him, and he fought to get to her. All throughout the fierce battles all Eleriel could think of was getting to Legolas.
When she was less then ten paces from him she was surrounded by more orcs than she could fight. Knowing she was outnumbered, she screamed, "Legolas! I--" She meant to tell him that she loved him, but the orcs were upon her. As she turned to bury her knives in one, she lost her footing and fell to the ground. Eleriel heard Legolas roar in fury. "Eleriel!" he shouted, and the call echoed in her mind: Eleriel!
It was at that moment when Eleriel felt a familiar warmth filling her. A new sense of strength flowed into her limbs and she forced herself up from the ground and stared at Legolas. Amidst the cries of The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!, Eleriel and Legolas simply looked at each other.
They had done it. In a time of need, they had done what was almost unheard of in the elven world. Their broken bond from centuries before had forced itself to the surface and had healed itself. Legolas and Eleriel were married again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eleriel glanced down at the sleeping hobbits. Sam's color was returning a little, and by now he looked as if he was merely asleep. Frodo, however, remained pale. His injured hand was wrapped in gauze and his other wounds had been healed, but even in sleep the Ringbearer's face still showed signs of the agony that he had endured. Sighing, Eleriel shook her head and asked, "Do you think he'll ever really be alive again after this?"
"I don't know," Legolas replied, entering the tent. "It's been almost two weeks..."
Eleriel nodded absently and watched Aragorn whisper words of healing. He felt her eyes upon him and looked up at her. Smiling wanly, he said softly, "they will be fine, Eleriel. Frodo will never be the person he once was, but then, none of us will be. But I fear that the Ring was far too great a burden for him to ever return to his old life."
"I know," Eleriel said softly. "He knew it too, in Caras Galadhon. He hinted at it."
"Did he?" Aragorn mused, walking with Eleriel and Legolas from the tent. "Frodo has always seemed wise beyond his years. You are probably right. He probably knew that if he did suceed, he would never really feel any large measure of peace." Aragorn sighed and glanced up at the bright sun. "If you'll excuse me," he said to the two elves. "I must go." He hurried off and Eleriel watched the people bow respectfully to him as he passed.
"Do you think we should have told him?" Legolas asked quietly behind her.
She shook her head. "It is only right that our parents know of this first." The two of them had decided to keep their renewed marriage a secret until Elrond could be informed at least. They knew it was already fairly obvious to the others that the two of them would someday renew their marriage, but at the moment no one but the two of them knew what had occured during the last battle.
Taking Legolas' hand, Eleriel pulled him with her as she moved to see what help she could offer. The entire camp was preparing for Aragorn's coronation ceremony.
Smiling to herself, Eleriel prayed that the hobbits would wake soon, for when they did wake the crowning of the King would take place and she would see her family again when they came to Gondor for the wedding of Arwen Undomiel and King Elessar. Eleriel couldn't help but smile. The war had ended and she had another chance at a new life with the one she loved.
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Miles away the Lady Galadriel gazed into her Mirror and watched her granddaughter walk hand-in-hand with the young Prince of the newly-named Eryn Lasgalen. She was unable to stop the tear from falling from her eye.
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Thanks for being patient, everyone. I really am sorry that I was so late updating. If I am ever this late updating again, then you must all read the good stories and authors I have marked as favorites. Namarie2legolas' story is an excellent read for people who like the modern-person-in-ME stories, but hers actually has an interesting twist, unlike lots of others. Kimberleigh's stories are also superb, particularly "It's not easy being me," a story about Elrond. Also for one of the most creative ideas I've ever read, you should read Iluvien's work.
Dunthonwen- I'm glad you like the parts of the books I work in. I wasn't sure how some people would feel about it, but it makes me feel better that some people at least aren't too angry about it!
J-sqeegy-Tikiman- Hmmm… I'm not sure that I meant for Arwen to come across as "ditzy" per se, but I was trying to go off the books as much as possible and not the movies, and in the books she kind of strikes me as definitely someone who is proper and lady like, and since she probably sees things like "Galdor and Eleriel as a couple" as being very proper, I tried to show that she'd focus on that sort of thing… if that makes any sense… Also, I tried to cut back on the narration in this chapter a little but I don't think I was that successful. Whenever I write dialogue it feels like it's very unnatural… or at least that's how it feels to me! I'll try harder in the next chapter…
Namarie2legolas- lol, you know we're all suckers for romance at heart! I hope you don't mind that I recommended your story here…
If you are bored then you should all read my other story, The Secrets of a Family. It's not a Legomance, or a romance of any sort. It's about a girl from Gondor who is suddenly orphaned and while she is working to get her life back on track she discovers some unsettling secrets of her family. There's only one chapter up at the moment, and yes, I have been slow for updates on that as well, but there should be an update within the next day or two on it.
ALSO--- what does everyone think of this? I am kinda ready to move away from the sort of fanfic I have been doing, so what does everyone think of The Lord of the Rings from Smeagol's perspective? Smeagol, not Gollum. I think it might be interesting, but if no one else thinks so then I might not do it. But I wouldn't mind someone's opinion.
You want to review, you know you do!