~*~Chapter 5~*~
Aragorn burst out laughing, "Not intentionally, when I was younger and hiding from the twins, I went into his room and found a book he had written out with different pranks he had learned."
Legolas blinked, "Wait, let me get this straight, Glorfindel has a book of pranks!?"
"There is much about that elf you do not know," Aragorn shook his head, "of course, from what I've heard from the twins, they made him that way," the man shrugged, "it's almost a rule, you have to know how to get the twins under control… the only way to do that is to out-prank them."
The man patted the elf on the back as he moved past him. Legolas shook his head and took a step forward… only to have a bucket of the colored goop land on his head. Legolas froze, eyes wide as the stuff dripped down his face… even Halbarad looked more annoyed than before because since he was standing right next to the Prince, he ended up with a bunch in his own hair.
Aragorn snickered as Halbarad groaned, "Oh no… not *this* again."
"What do you mean 'again'?" Legolas asked as his eyes narrowed, "how long did it last before?"
"Two weeks."
"You are going to pay for this human," Legolas said in a strangely flat voice.
Aragorn grinned, "Ah, this again, wont you ever admit I'm a better prankster than you?"
"Never," flatly again.
Aragorn shook his head and muttered, loud enough for Legolas and Halbarad to hear on purpose, "Elvish pride."
Legolas glared. Halbarad couldn't help but grin.
Aragorn grinned at Halbarad, "Hello. I had a feeling you would follow us."
Halbarad shook his head and pulled his foot out of the hole.
Aragorn sat down next to the fire.
Legolas lifted up an extra pot of water and moved around behind the man. Then, just as he threw the water at him, he ducked, then turned around grinning.
"There's another rule for you mellonamin, never attack back right after the other… they'll be expecting it." // my friend //
Legolas glared and slumped down across from him. Halbarad sat next to him.
"We might be able to beat him if we work together."
Legolas barely caught the whisper and glanced at the Ranger out of the corner of his eye, "I'm not sure, he did beat me pretty badly last time."
"Ah!" Halbarad exclaimed under his breath, "so the Elvish pride fails!"
Legolas glared slightly, "Fine, we work together, we have to get him good, it's pay-back time for what he did to me ten years ago."
Halbarad grinned, - This is going to be interesting. –
Aragorn had watched this out of the corner of his eye and though he could not hear them, he could read what they were saying. He grinned; he could use this against them to his own good.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aragorn moved down the elves forest trail swiftly. He wanted to make good time through the forest and they should only be there for a day or two. It had been two days so far and they had all made a truce until they made it out of the forest. Aragorn grinned; at least it gave him time to think of some good pranks.
Legolas was still annoyed with his bright pink hair, though Halbarad seemed almost un-fazed by it. Aragorn frowned, them working together could cause problems, Legolas and Halbarad were easy to annoy, but they were the opposite of easy to beat. Pride was quite annoying sometimes.
- Oh well, - the Ranger thought, - I'll just have to use the ones I'd normally save for the twins. -
He glanced back as if to size them up. This was going to be the hardest prank-war he'd been in since he was last in Rivendell.
Legolas caught the glance and narrowed his eyes; this was not going to be easy. The elf could almost see him thinking of all the evil things he could do to the other beings.
Aragorn continued his quick pace, he knew Halbarad could keep up without to trouble and Legolas could go faster if need be, and easily too. The man continued his fairly quick run and sighed. The next few days were going to be long and boring.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aragorn snapped awake. He wasn't sure exactly what it was that woke him but decided that whatever it was; was gone now. He stood slowly and picked up his water flask, then moved towards the river that they had camped near.
He froze as he stood. He felt then what had awoken him. A strange feeling, 'twas not evil, but… it was different. In a few moments he heard a far off roar and knew Legolas was probably getting up. The sound got louder quickly and he suddenly found himself surrounded by flames. They spread quickly and he knew the only way to escape would be to get into the river. He heard a slight shout coming from the direction of their camp but immediately knew that they would not be able to get to him. He moved into the river and glanced up.
He nearly jumped a foot in his surprise, not knowing whether the roar of the flames blocked the sound of the creature's arrival or it was just really quiet. He immediately knew it was the later since he had heard sounds from the camp, or maybe a combination of both. He was about to draw his sword when he heard the sound of splintering wood and then saw a flash of brown, green and red as a large branch came down on top of him and pushed him under water. That was the last thing he saw.
Legolas's eyes grew as he raced through the trees. He saw the flames growing by the second and knew not if he would be able to get there in time to help his friend.
Halbarad ran right behind him with a speed even he did not know he could reach as he kept up with the elf… albeit not easily.
The dragon glanced down at the human and hesitated. It was not evil and the only reason it was burning the forests was as a type of payback. The elves were always moving past or through her home and she was tired of it. Though she was angry she did not want to kill anything so she quickly nudged the branch off of the man and closed her mouth around him carefully, then, with a powerful leap, jumped back above the tree-tops and flew off towards her home.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Legolas looked up in awe as the great celeb'loki leapt into the sky and flew off towards the Misty Mountains. He glanced at Halbarad and with no spoken words the two picked up speed and sprinted towards the fire. // Silver dragon //
When they reached the fire, Legolas climbed a near-by tree without pause and jumped over the flames to land in the river, luckily in the deep part. He was submerged for a while before bursting through the surface and glancing around himself.
Halbarad looked around on the other side of the fire. That morning had not been a nice one but right now that was a good thing as the clouds burst apart and the rain came down, quickening by the second. In a minute, it was pouring and the flames were slowing down slightly.
The two continued searching, even after the flames had died down to ash.
Legolas looked at Halbarad, his gaze told the other Ranger all he needed to know, "You found no sign of him," it was not a question.
Legolas looked up at the sky and sighed, "I think the dragon has him."
Halbarad's glance shot over to the Prince, his eyes wide with terror.
Legolas slowly turned his own terrified eyes to the Ranger, "Though I know not what the uruloki did with him." // dragon //
"We go now."
Legolas simply nodded, and took off again, this time at an easier pace. One they could both hold for a good long time.
As they ran, Legolas allowed the human to set the pace, knowing that he would not be able to keep up very easily if he set it for he did not know how fast the man could be without over-doing it.
The two continued in silence, though it was not a good one and both wished the other would break it. Finally Halbarad had had enough.
"So what are we going to do once we get there?" He asked.
"I know not."
"Well, that seems promising," the Ranger muttered.
Legolas sighed, "We will think of something."
Halbarad was not reassured but he nodded.
"It should not be hard to get Aragorn out, it's getting past the dragon, and simply *finding* the cave that will be the hard part."
Legolas nodded slowly, "I suppose, but it is the dragon I'm worried most about, even finding the cave should not be hard, there will probably be smoke and the snow will most likely be melted around that area."
Halbarad nodded, "That makes sense, but we still have to figure out how to get past the dragon."
There was silence for a moment.
"Well, I suppose the best way to do it would be to wait until it leaves. Then, we can get in and out without much trouble."
Halbarad thought for a moment, "I have heard they have incredible senses, will it not know we are there?"
"We will have to take that chance."
Halbarad nodded, "We have a while though, we can still try to think of a back-up, just in case."
Legolas glanced at him, "Yes, that would be a good idea."
The two continued their swift pace and thought.
"I guess the only other way would be to find Mithrandir and hope he has a way of getting past it," Legolas said after a while.
Halbarad nodded quickly, "It would be a good idea, if anyone knows how to get past a dragon it would be him."
Legolas smiled slightly, "Or that Bilbo he keeps talking about. It seems he has been able to do it."
Halbarad blinked, "Bilbo? Oh, you mean that hobbit… right… almost forgot about him."
"I still do not understand how he was able to do it but that does not matter."
The man shook his head, "Nay, that doesn't matter… we will have to figure it out on our own for now."
Legolas nodded.
"We will just have to hope."
Legolas smiled softly, "Hope, yes, I hope we will have hope."
Halbarad smiled back, catching onto the double meaning, "Aye, we *do* have hope, for *it* will never truly leave us."
The two continued on in silence, not slowing until dusk.
The dragon snorted. She pushed at the man with her nose, rolling him onto his back. She was beginning to get worried; the man had not reacted to anything she had done. The three thousand-year-old dragon curled up and fell asleep. She had managed to gather some *twigs*, at least that's what they were in her mind, and started a warm fire to warm up the shivering man.
She lay there and watched the man, hoping for some kind of change. With a start she realized he had no pack. That of course meant that he had made camp and that there could have been more of them. She lifted her huge silver head and looked towards the cave door. There was nothing she could do about that now. She could not leave the man to make sure they were alright, neither could she simply bring the man back without them either trying to hurt her or run from her.
It was not always a good thing being a dragon.
She wrapped her long, whip-like tail around the man in another attempt to keep him warm and fell asleep.
Thought her dreams were haunted, images of her only brother, a great malta'loki being killed at a very young age of only 97 by men, elves and even dwarves who worked together to get rid of him. She shuddered unconsciously and sighed as the images stopped and she woke with a start. // gold dragon //
She glanced at the man with a slight disgust, but then, who wouldn't if one of your family members was killed by one of them? Luckily, she was a smart but forgiving dragon who knew that she could not hold all men against the actions of a few.
For some reason that she did not understand, she trusted this one and fell asleep again, this time, she slept peacefully.
Yet the two beings continued on their journey towards her home.
A/N
sdgfsfd- Ur… nice name… ^_^ Yes, Glorfindel, surprised even me! ^_^ Keep readin'!
Bill the Pony2- That's okay… computers can be evil when you need them to be nice the most. It's really annoying… Oh well, it gives me an endless supply of books so I'll forgive it! ^_^ Glad you liked those last two chapters! LOL, sorry, you gotta wait… not long tho hopefully… ^_^
leggylover03- Yay! New fic! MORE evil?! Is that possible! *is crying 4 Estel* You haven't posted for a while… We're still waitin' 4 it! But, anywho… there was a *bit* of pain in this one… I believe there is a *little bit* more to come. ^_^
mascara freak- I'd rather go to school… *shrugs* it gets me away from my sisters 4 a while anyway… so it does have an up side… ^_^ Too bad you have to postpone yur plans… ^_^ But at least u can still read my stories. So I'm happy. ^_^ Don't worry, I'll keep up-dating! I have no intentions of stopping!
Aut-of-Mandos- *bounces around happily* Yay! A new reviewer! Welcome to the place I live, all the white fluffy walls… You know… it's not easy to type with yur hands crossed behind yur back! LOL ^_^ Glad u like it! *grins* Glad u think it's hilarious! ^_^ I like making people laugh… I'm not very good at it tho… they normally ignore me, give me a weird look, or run… *sniffles* People run from me… ^_^ Oh well! I've got reviewers! Keep reading and reviewin'!
I'm sorry if this took too long, but, I've got school and at the time I'm working on another story… I'm not sure if it'll end up my first fictionpress book or what but meh *shrugs* my friends like it so I'll find out soon, not goin' very fast on it though… oh well, this is more important at the time. ^_^ Keep reading!
Pwease review??? It might just make me post faster! *hint, hint* ^_^