Hello dear readers!
I have a bit more time on my hands now and see what it does to me...
New chapter!! Hope you´ll like it - and sorry for any confusion the last chapter may have caused...Well, Aragorn was confused, too :)
As always, PLEASE review!!
Review responses:
Alariel: Thanks!! Please do follow the story and let me know what you think!!
Red Tigress: Hope some things become clearer now... Thanks so much for your steady reviews, they are so encouraging! Looks like you are a bit addicted to things LOTR related, too (other than ff stories). Nice to find a like mind...Please keep up your comments!!
OK, now on to the story - enjoy!!
Alinah
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: Sadly, sadly not min
A price to pay
Aragorn strained his soul as he struggled closer to himself, yearning to bond spirit and body once more. He saw his body shrouded in grey, useless, motionless, and he hated his weakness. His family needed him. His friend needed him. Yet he did nothing.
"Estel, lasto amin!" //Estel, listen to me!// Legolas´ voice was closer to panic than Aragorn ever remembered hearing it, and the sound spurred him to try even harder. Yet something was amiss...something did not make sense...
"Mellon-nin, alcebero nin." //My friend, do not leave me.//
What was he talking about? Did he not see that Aragorn was fighting to get to him? But then, he could not see - his eyes were closed...His face so pale...
"Men cin rhoeg! Aphado bith-nin." //Your path [is] wrong. Follow my words.//
Aragorn was close now, so close, and reached out with his soul in an effort to touch his body as it sat on the ground. The nagging doubt would not be silenced, however, and halted him one more time. What was amiss? What was the elf talking about? Why would he warn Aragorn of a wrong path when the path lead straight to him?
"Chwin firen thortho le! Le alchwind, Estel." // Human weakness leads you! You are not weak, Estel.// "Lasto anim, lasto anim, adan dorn!" //Listen to me, listen to me, stubborn human.//
Whatever was wrong with this elf! Aragorn felt his blood boil in anger. His friend was clearly in need of help, yet he denied him, told him he was wrong, told him...
Legolas´ eyes were closed. His lips motionless. That was wrong. He was not talking at all. He could not.
Aragorn felt himself adrift suddenly, cut lose in a bottomless void. The forms of his body, Legolas, his family in battle were pulled away from him at a sickening speed, leaving only swirling nothing around him. There was no telling were was top and were bottom, his world melting away and devoid of any order. His stomach turned and he closed his eyes, hoping against hope that his other senses would be able to lead him.
"Estel, im nev, im na cen. Aphado bith-nin. Lasto amin." //Estel, I am here, I am with you. Follow my words. Listen to me//
There it was again, Legolas´ voice. Still drenched in worry but there nonetheless. Aragorn forced himself to calm and listen. Finally he listened.
Legolas words went on and on, pulling him closer. He could feel a sense of safety returning, an arm around his chest. A soft surface beneath him. The smell of a fire. And the reassuring words, now delivered in a calm, gentle tone that was so much more like the elf he knew.
Slowly, very slowly the ranger began to trust what he felt. The drifting sensation faded away and was gone, nothing more than a disturbing memory...
"I remember!" Aragorn´s eyes shot open and he struggled to get to his feet, only to be held down by a strong arm still wrapped around his chest. The sudden sense of danger that had overwhelmed him for a heartbeat fell away when he took in his surroundings. Telanna´s cellar. And Legolas´ soft chuckle behind him.
"Alnim, Estel." //Not [so] fast, Estel.// There was relief in his tone as well as exhaustion. "And I do hope you remember, this ordeal must have done us some good, at least." Recalling the elf´s weakened state, Aragorn was immediately worried. More carefully than before he sat up, and this time he was released and free to turn to his friend. Legolas remained leaning against the head of the bed, more pale than usual but with a small smile on his lips when he met Aragorn´s concerned gaze.
"I see you have returned your old self, never passing a chance to shower me with brotherly protectiveness." Aragorn´s frown only deepened at that, and the elf sighed. "Please, my friend, I am truly fine. It was you that had me worried. You refused to return, and I feared that I could not call you back. It was far you ventured."
Sure at last that the weakness he saw in the elf was nothing else than tiredness, Aragorn finally allowed himself to relax. He winced when his muscles unexpectedly protested as if he had travelled far and slept badly for at least a week. But travelled far he had. He forced himself to settle down his mind as well as his body when the memories made their presence known.
His family. The surge of fear that ran through him must have been mirrored on his face, for Legolas tensed and looked at him expectantly, but he remained silent. He knew better than to force his friend´s pace. Aragorn collected himself for few more moments. When he raised his eyes, they were steady. His voice never wavered when he told Legolas what he had learned.
Silence settled over them after he had finished, and it was the elf who broke it. "Do not fear too much, Aragorn. Your father and brothers are strong. They have lasted many a fight, and it would greatly amaze me should this one have taken them down." Seeing the painful doubt that shattered the human´s calm, he continued with great conviction. "You would know their deaths, Estel. Your bond is strong. And do not forget that if what you ...nay, what we guessed is true, it was the pouch that called forth these creatures. You took the pouch and delivered it here. What sense would it have made to kill those left behind?"
Aragorn nodded at his friend´s conclusion. He did indeed still sense the bond with his elven family, and could only hope that it was held together by truth and not longing. There was no denying that in taking the pouch with him, he would have also drawn the danger. A danger that had never been sent to kill him, of course. Only to chase him. Scare him. Lead him. And he had allowed himself to be lead.
He rose abruptly and began to pace, his eyes flashing. "I delivered it! Legolas, I was spared for one reason alone, and that is because I was the one to be manipulated. No elf would have allowed a strange force to dictate his moves. Father was right, he should have left me at home and none of this would have come to pass."
Legolas brow furrowed. "What makes you doubt Lord Elrond´s wisdom so much? He said himself that his concern was for your safety, not the outcome of this mission!" His voice had carried fire in it, but seeing his friend´s torment his tone softened. "Oh Estel, do not overrate elven powers like that. You should know better. Have you forgotten that my memory was erased just as yours?"
"Well, you pointed at my human weakness not too long ago." Aragorn shook his head. As much as he wanted this guilt to be lifted from his shoulders, he could not do so easily. "Your memory might have been hampered, too, but that does not mean you would have acted as I did."
There was sadness in the elf´s eyes when he regarded the human. "You know full well that I have never considered you weak for what you are, my friend. What I said to you in your state of delirium was merely an arrow aimed at your pride. It was shot in despair, and never meant to hurt you, only to make you turn from the path you were on. Who knows what I would have done in your stead ? And what good it would have done us? Do not torture yourself like that. Your coming to this place might well have been a blessing for the people here."
Aragorn sighed. He knew Legolas spoke truly, but it was hard to shake the feeling of inferiority that sometimes stole over him. Lord Elrond had never tired of pointing out his strengths when he had despaired at the comparison with his elven family. A comparison that had always been of his own making. And now, a grown man who knew his worth, this childhood weakness would come back to haunt him now and again when the shadow of his heritage loomed over him.
He could not help but smile at the irony that his fear of weakness may be the only one that might bring him down one day. But not if he could help it. And certainly not this day. "You are right, mellon-nin, there is no turning back the time. We are here and we should make the best of what my memories teach us. We should ask Telanna to join us. She knows Daramus much better and may give us some insight."
"I fear that there might be a problem." Legolas shifted uncomfortably. "Telanna has gone out a while ago, very hurriedly, and not returned since. It was the boy who called her out to come, and he was terrified."
"And you could not hear what this was all about?" Aragorn silently cursed this place. One problem at a time never seemed enough. When the elf shook his head, Aragorn picked up his knife, secured it at his belt and made for the stairs. Legolas rose at once to follow him, never wavering under his glare.
"You do not expect me to sit here and wait? I have been underground for far too long as it is. Some fresh air and open sky may speed my recovery." He picked up one of Telanna´s working knives as he spoke, weighting it almost absent-mindedly before slipping it into his belt.
Aragorn snorted at the elf, but there was a ghost of a smile on his face. "And I am sure you will cut Telanna some flowers with that knife while you are enjoying a peaceful day in the sun. You were right, elven abilities are often exaggerated. Your lies are pathetic."
He turned and carefully climbed the steps, the elf´s presence behind him only betrayed by his soft breathing, for his step was soundless. They halted, Legolas head held slightly to the side as he listened. He nodded for Aragorn to proceed, and the ranger carefully lifted the trapdoor. Warm evening light flooded the deserted kitchen. On the table were vegetables, some of them already cleaned and cut. Telanna had clearly been disturbed in the task.
Moving with caution, they approached a window and peered outside. The mill loomed over the village, seemingly peaceful. No human could be seen on the meadows, and the only sound Aragorn could make out was that of the brook. Legolas, however, seemed to sense more, frozen in a light stance. Finally he turned to his friend, his eyes dark.
"I can hear him speaking, not far off." There was no question to whom he referred. "His voice is cruel, and it is mingled with sobs and sighs around him. His evil even reaches out its tendrils through the mere echo of his words." The elf shook his head lightly, a look of disgust on his face, as if he needed to erase the last remnants of the sound from his mind.
Indicating his friend to lead them forward, the ranger followed through the house´s simple living-room towards another door that obviously lead into the village centre. By now Aragorn could hear Daramus´ voice, too. It was not booming but rather silky, streaming among the houses like a foul wind. Careful to stay out of sight himself, Aragorn risked a look out of a window.
There, some distance away, the villagers stood gathered around an all to familiar form. Daramus looked impressive in the white robe he wore, and Aragorn flinched at the pretence of purity and wisdom. There was a box in his hands and he glanced into it now and again. The eyes of the humans followed his every move. For all the ranger could tell, a ritual was being held that all present had experienced before. The dread was so thick in the air that it seemed to dim the weakening light of the sun.
Aragorn briefly considered sneaking closer, but quickly abandoned the idea. He could tell from the way Legolas carried himself that the elf could now understand what he heard, so he contended himself with watching.
Daramus raised a hand almost lazily over the box, then reached in with false dignity and pulled out a small piece of paper, neatly folded. The villagers shrunk back from him, many hugging spouses or children to them. Legolas drew in a breath, tense as if ready to burst into battle. The old man unfolded the paper, looked at it and then spoke so loud and clear that even for Aagorn there was not mistaking the name.
"Telias."
A wail broke over the small square, so filled with pain and despair that Telanna´s voice was only barely recognisable. Legolas gasped in shock. "A sacrifice." His voice was numb. "Daramus demands a sacrifice."
TBC
I have a bit more time on my hands now and see what it does to me...
New chapter!! Hope you´ll like it - and sorry for any confusion the last chapter may have caused...Well, Aragorn was confused, too :)
As always, PLEASE review!!
Review responses:
Alariel: Thanks!! Please do follow the story and let me know what you think!!
Red Tigress: Hope some things become clearer now... Thanks so much for your steady reviews, they are so encouraging! Looks like you are a bit addicted to things LOTR related, too (other than ff stories). Nice to find a like mind...Please keep up your comments!!
OK, now on to the story - enjoy!!
Alinah
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: Sadly, sadly not min
A price to pay
Aragorn strained his soul as he struggled closer to himself, yearning to bond spirit and body once more. He saw his body shrouded in grey, useless, motionless, and he hated his weakness. His family needed him. His friend needed him. Yet he did nothing.
"Estel, lasto amin!" //Estel, listen to me!// Legolas´ voice was closer to panic than Aragorn ever remembered hearing it, and the sound spurred him to try even harder. Yet something was amiss...something did not make sense...
"Mellon-nin, alcebero nin." //My friend, do not leave me.//
What was he talking about? Did he not see that Aragorn was fighting to get to him? But then, he could not see - his eyes were closed...His face so pale...
"Men cin rhoeg! Aphado bith-nin." //Your path [is] wrong. Follow my words.//
Aragorn was close now, so close, and reached out with his soul in an effort to touch his body as it sat on the ground. The nagging doubt would not be silenced, however, and halted him one more time. What was amiss? What was the elf talking about? Why would he warn Aragorn of a wrong path when the path lead straight to him?
"Chwin firen thortho le! Le alchwind, Estel." // Human weakness leads you! You are not weak, Estel.// "Lasto anim, lasto anim, adan dorn!" //Listen to me, listen to me, stubborn human.//
Whatever was wrong with this elf! Aragorn felt his blood boil in anger. His friend was clearly in need of help, yet he denied him, told him he was wrong, told him...
Legolas´ eyes were closed. His lips motionless. That was wrong. He was not talking at all. He could not.
Aragorn felt himself adrift suddenly, cut lose in a bottomless void. The forms of his body, Legolas, his family in battle were pulled away from him at a sickening speed, leaving only swirling nothing around him. There was no telling were was top and were bottom, his world melting away and devoid of any order. His stomach turned and he closed his eyes, hoping against hope that his other senses would be able to lead him.
"Estel, im nev, im na cen. Aphado bith-nin. Lasto amin." //Estel, I am here, I am with you. Follow my words. Listen to me//
There it was again, Legolas´ voice. Still drenched in worry but there nonetheless. Aragorn forced himself to calm and listen. Finally he listened.
Legolas words went on and on, pulling him closer. He could feel a sense of safety returning, an arm around his chest. A soft surface beneath him. The smell of a fire. And the reassuring words, now delivered in a calm, gentle tone that was so much more like the elf he knew.
Slowly, very slowly the ranger began to trust what he felt. The drifting sensation faded away and was gone, nothing more than a disturbing memory...
"I remember!" Aragorn´s eyes shot open and he struggled to get to his feet, only to be held down by a strong arm still wrapped around his chest. The sudden sense of danger that had overwhelmed him for a heartbeat fell away when he took in his surroundings. Telanna´s cellar. And Legolas´ soft chuckle behind him.
"Alnim, Estel." //Not [so] fast, Estel.// There was relief in his tone as well as exhaustion. "And I do hope you remember, this ordeal must have done us some good, at least." Recalling the elf´s weakened state, Aragorn was immediately worried. More carefully than before he sat up, and this time he was released and free to turn to his friend. Legolas remained leaning against the head of the bed, more pale than usual but with a small smile on his lips when he met Aragorn´s concerned gaze.
"I see you have returned your old self, never passing a chance to shower me with brotherly protectiveness." Aragorn´s frown only deepened at that, and the elf sighed. "Please, my friend, I am truly fine. It was you that had me worried. You refused to return, and I feared that I could not call you back. It was far you ventured."
Sure at last that the weakness he saw in the elf was nothing else than tiredness, Aragorn finally allowed himself to relax. He winced when his muscles unexpectedly protested as if he had travelled far and slept badly for at least a week. But travelled far he had. He forced himself to settle down his mind as well as his body when the memories made their presence known.
His family. The surge of fear that ran through him must have been mirrored on his face, for Legolas tensed and looked at him expectantly, but he remained silent. He knew better than to force his friend´s pace. Aragorn collected himself for few more moments. When he raised his eyes, they were steady. His voice never wavered when he told Legolas what he had learned.
Silence settled over them after he had finished, and it was the elf who broke it. "Do not fear too much, Aragorn. Your father and brothers are strong. They have lasted many a fight, and it would greatly amaze me should this one have taken them down." Seeing the painful doubt that shattered the human´s calm, he continued with great conviction. "You would know their deaths, Estel. Your bond is strong. And do not forget that if what you ...nay, what we guessed is true, it was the pouch that called forth these creatures. You took the pouch and delivered it here. What sense would it have made to kill those left behind?"
Aragorn nodded at his friend´s conclusion. He did indeed still sense the bond with his elven family, and could only hope that it was held together by truth and not longing. There was no denying that in taking the pouch with him, he would have also drawn the danger. A danger that had never been sent to kill him, of course. Only to chase him. Scare him. Lead him. And he had allowed himself to be lead.
He rose abruptly and began to pace, his eyes flashing. "I delivered it! Legolas, I was spared for one reason alone, and that is because I was the one to be manipulated. No elf would have allowed a strange force to dictate his moves. Father was right, he should have left me at home and none of this would have come to pass."
Legolas brow furrowed. "What makes you doubt Lord Elrond´s wisdom so much? He said himself that his concern was for your safety, not the outcome of this mission!" His voice had carried fire in it, but seeing his friend´s torment his tone softened. "Oh Estel, do not overrate elven powers like that. You should know better. Have you forgotten that my memory was erased just as yours?"
"Well, you pointed at my human weakness not too long ago." Aragorn shook his head. As much as he wanted this guilt to be lifted from his shoulders, he could not do so easily. "Your memory might have been hampered, too, but that does not mean you would have acted as I did."
There was sadness in the elf´s eyes when he regarded the human. "You know full well that I have never considered you weak for what you are, my friend. What I said to you in your state of delirium was merely an arrow aimed at your pride. It was shot in despair, and never meant to hurt you, only to make you turn from the path you were on. Who knows what I would have done in your stead ? And what good it would have done us? Do not torture yourself like that. Your coming to this place might well have been a blessing for the people here."
Aragorn sighed. He knew Legolas spoke truly, but it was hard to shake the feeling of inferiority that sometimes stole over him. Lord Elrond had never tired of pointing out his strengths when he had despaired at the comparison with his elven family. A comparison that had always been of his own making. And now, a grown man who knew his worth, this childhood weakness would come back to haunt him now and again when the shadow of his heritage loomed over him.
He could not help but smile at the irony that his fear of weakness may be the only one that might bring him down one day. But not if he could help it. And certainly not this day. "You are right, mellon-nin, there is no turning back the time. We are here and we should make the best of what my memories teach us. We should ask Telanna to join us. She knows Daramus much better and may give us some insight."
"I fear that there might be a problem." Legolas shifted uncomfortably. "Telanna has gone out a while ago, very hurriedly, and not returned since. It was the boy who called her out to come, and he was terrified."
"And you could not hear what this was all about?" Aragorn silently cursed this place. One problem at a time never seemed enough. When the elf shook his head, Aragorn picked up his knife, secured it at his belt and made for the stairs. Legolas rose at once to follow him, never wavering under his glare.
"You do not expect me to sit here and wait? I have been underground for far too long as it is. Some fresh air and open sky may speed my recovery." He picked up one of Telanna´s working knives as he spoke, weighting it almost absent-mindedly before slipping it into his belt.
Aragorn snorted at the elf, but there was a ghost of a smile on his face. "And I am sure you will cut Telanna some flowers with that knife while you are enjoying a peaceful day in the sun. You were right, elven abilities are often exaggerated. Your lies are pathetic."
He turned and carefully climbed the steps, the elf´s presence behind him only betrayed by his soft breathing, for his step was soundless. They halted, Legolas head held slightly to the side as he listened. He nodded for Aragorn to proceed, and the ranger carefully lifted the trapdoor. Warm evening light flooded the deserted kitchen. On the table were vegetables, some of them already cleaned and cut. Telanna had clearly been disturbed in the task.
Moving with caution, they approached a window and peered outside. The mill loomed over the village, seemingly peaceful. No human could be seen on the meadows, and the only sound Aragorn could make out was that of the brook. Legolas, however, seemed to sense more, frozen in a light stance. Finally he turned to his friend, his eyes dark.
"I can hear him speaking, not far off." There was no question to whom he referred. "His voice is cruel, and it is mingled with sobs and sighs around him. His evil even reaches out its tendrils through the mere echo of his words." The elf shook his head lightly, a look of disgust on his face, as if he needed to erase the last remnants of the sound from his mind.
Indicating his friend to lead them forward, the ranger followed through the house´s simple living-room towards another door that obviously lead into the village centre. By now Aragorn could hear Daramus´ voice, too. It was not booming but rather silky, streaming among the houses like a foul wind. Careful to stay out of sight himself, Aragorn risked a look out of a window.
There, some distance away, the villagers stood gathered around an all to familiar form. Daramus looked impressive in the white robe he wore, and Aragorn flinched at the pretence of purity and wisdom. There was a box in his hands and he glanced into it now and again. The eyes of the humans followed his every move. For all the ranger could tell, a ritual was being held that all present had experienced before. The dread was so thick in the air that it seemed to dim the weakening light of the sun.
Aragorn briefly considered sneaking closer, but quickly abandoned the idea. He could tell from the way Legolas carried himself that the elf could now understand what he heard, so he contended himself with watching.
Daramus raised a hand almost lazily over the box, then reached in with false dignity and pulled out a small piece of paper, neatly folded. The villagers shrunk back from him, many hugging spouses or children to them. Legolas drew in a breath, tense as if ready to burst into battle. The old man unfolded the paper, looked at it and then spoke so loud and clear that even for Aagorn there was not mistaking the name.
"Telias."
A wail broke over the small square, so filled with pain and despair that Telanna´s voice was only barely recognisable. Legolas gasped in shock. "A sacrifice." His voice was numb. "Daramus demands a sacrifice."
TBC
