Disclaimer: See chapter one, part one.
Chapter twenty-three: Hobbits and Riders of the Mark.
Feavair woke with a start, pain gripping her chest. She gasped for air, the gasp drew Legolas from his watch post and he quickly dashed to her side and grabbed her hand.
"A'mael, what is wrong?" he asked concerned.
She closed her eyes briefly, took some deep steady inhalations and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"What is wrong?" he repeated and wiped some sweat away from her forehead, as he touched her skin he felt that it was, slightly flushed, and he immediately stoked the fire hoping to steal more heat.
"So…. something is wrong" she stuttered and brought back the image that had haunted her mind, death rising from the earth and fire swooping over the land. She felt cold hands grasp her in her sleep and she clutched the safety of his arms.
"What A'mael?" he murmured feeling her arms wrap around him and her breath getting slower and steadier.
"I…I do not know, I just felt…. something dead" she muttered. He started to slowly stroke her hair, he had only little knowledge of her power, and had only witnessed one of her premonition one time before, the day they were attacked by orcs and he thought he had lost her. However, this seemed so much worse, she was terrified, and he had no idea of what.
"Are you sure it is not only the cave that frightens you?" he asked and cast a quick glance in the direction of the darkness. They had stopped briefly outside, only because it seemed like she would collapse if they walked anymore. It must have drained her more then he thoughts, or, perhaps it was still draining her.
"I…I do not know" she repeated quietly.
"Worry not, let us go quickly through the tunnel, once we are out of these corrupt lands you will be better again" he said, hoping to convince both of them.
The last time he had walked through the dark tunnel he had followed the white wolf and let it guide him. Feavair had had the light from the Lady Galadriel's star. Now they only thing they had were their torches. They had gathered several large wooden objects so they could light new torches before others died.
The stench was still wrenching through the corridors, they breathed with their mouth to escape the disgusting odour. They walked in the darkness, their hands grouping the murky and slick walks. The flames from her torch sent ghastly shadows on Feavair's pasty skin, and the flames reflected in her dark green eyes.
"How…how far do you think it is to the other side?" she asked after they had walked for a couple of hours. Legolas furrowed his eyebrows and tried to remember how long they had walked, but in the darkness of the cave, time seemed to stand still, and the surroundings were alike.
"Not far" he said, hoping his voice sounded more reassuring, then he felt. He wondered for a moment if they should turn around and head for the Black Gates. The road would most defiantly be longer, but surly safer. He would never forgive him self if anything happened to her, now that they were finally together.
" I missed you"
He did not know that he had spoken the words aloud, and as they echoed through the cave, he felt a tug at his hand as she stopped walking. Legolas filled his lungs, closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts before he turned around.
"When you were gone…. I missed you, and when I found you again and it did not seem like you remembered me, I missed you even more" she cast her eyes briefly to the ground before she looked at him.
"I missed you to. I wanted to tell you, but….it would only make things harder" she could not believe how weak her voice sounded, this was not the time nor place to wrench her heart out.
"I did not make things easier for you, I am sorry" this time he looked to the ground and for the first time an indomitable silence settled over the couple and they both realized they had some unresolved issues that neither wanted to touch.
"We shall…talk" she said slowly and started to walk " later…. we shall talk later". He closed his eyes again and took another steady breath before he followed her.
He gently grabbed her hand and said those three precious words in the darkness. She repeated them quickly, and once more, the two lovers continued to stride in the shadows.
In the darkness something started to scratch and claw the earth, then a pair of glistening eyes opened and nose started to viciously sniff the air. There was something else in the air now, something else then the stench of death. The creature nudged the creature beside him and another pair of eyes opened. It to started to sniff and scratch the ground, before waking a third creature.
Soon fifty pair of glistening eyes was glowing in the darkness, and noses eagerly sniffed the air, trying to identify the smell. Claws clawed the sand and the stony. Cave walls, and rusty swords were withdrawn from old hilts. One of them started to growl low and threatening in the back of his throat and it let out a small yelp before it started to quickly walk down the corridor, the others soon followed and one of them muttered.
"Elf"
The goblins had fled from the battle and had spent days running around in fear, searching for a place to hide. They feared the humans would hunt them down and had taken shelter in the abandoned cave, the smell did not bother them and for the first couple of days they had feasted on the remains of a huge spider.
They walked in a single file down the small and narrow corridor, they had soon learned the outlay of the spider's cave and could easily find their way in the darkness. As they reached the Pit, the largest part of the cave they started to growl and howl loudly, their grunts booming through the cave. As they walked down the passage, more eyes opened and the rank of goblins grew.
"Did….did you hear that?" Feavair asked. The sound was followed by another howl deep in the cave. Legolas gritted his teeth, tightened his grip around her hand and started to run down the corridor.
"Goblins" he said, now the sound grew stronger and they could hear footsteps moving their way, quickly.
"Me must hurry, do not let go of my hand" he said and she nodded, even though he could not see her.
They started to run, they stumbled over rocks and water splashed around their feet as they ran over small puddles. Feavair's shoes were soon ripped to shreds on the sharp rocks and her toes banged against razor-sharp rocks as he dragged her through the grotto.
They could hear the grunting in the background and the metallic sound of knives hitting the mountain wall. The air turned to glass in her throat and she gasped heavily as they continued ro race for the exit. She felt the taste of blood in her mouth and her heart beat viciously against her chest.
He could hear her desperate gasps for air, and was about to suggest that they stop for just a second, when an arrow soared through the air, sizzling above their heads. He turned his head, stared past her panic struck eyes, and saw the gloomy eyes of goblins in the background.
He had to slow down their run, or else she would never be able to make it, her breathing had become, ragged and sobbed, and her palm was slick from sweat and her already fevered flushed body. Just as it seemed like there was no way they would be able to escape, he saw the other end of the tunnel.
He praised the gods as he saw the rays of sun penetrate the darkness, and he prayed that the goblins would not follow them once they were out in the sun.
"I can see the sun," he told her, as another arrow shot through the dark and flew past his ear. She nodded and was about to answer, when suddenly her foot was caught in a root and she stumbled to the ground.
He fell the loss from his hands, and immediately turned around and rushed to her side. The straps of lazes from her boots were ,twinned around her foot and around the root. Her eyes were blank with tears as tried to free her self from the grasp and more arrows soared around them, hitting the earth only inches from them.
She waved her hand, ordering him to continue, but he ignored her, withdrew his sword and was about to cut her loose, when the first goblin attacked. The goblin was desperate, brutally clawing and grasping, ripping his tunic and drawing blood from his skin.
He was weary after the run, but still found he had strength and he trusted his sword upwards, and felt the blade penetrate the goblin armour and enter its stomach. He tossed the dead goblin at the next one who tried to attack him, and then charged at the one grasping at Feavair's struggling form. He cut the head of the beast, dark blood covering both of them.
Another arrow whistled through the sky and landed an inch from her foot. He lifted his sword and quickly cut the leather straps pinning her to the ground and lifted her up in his arms. He started to carry her towards the exit, seeing the lights only feet away from them.
Then he felt a burning sensation rip through his shoulder and to his arms and he cursed some unknown god before losing his precious cargo. The goblins were howling with joy, and they stood at a distance watching the female elf crawl her way towards the fallen elf.
One of the goblins grunted deeply and pointed to him self and the struggling elves before he rushed towards them, swords drawn. Just as he was about to attack the male elf from behind, something hit him in the stomach, he looked amazed a the little sword, and the small man withdrawing it from his body.
The goblin howled in pain, and his comrades quickly rushed forwards. The first one received the same greeting; the ones in the back grew more cautious and started to fire their bows again.
"Quickly, me must get out" a voice shouted. The goblins clawed against the walls, not sure what to do, their leader had already fallen and the elves seemed to have meet some friends.
They swayed in the dark, watching their pray slowly make their way towards the burning sun with gleaming eyes.
Legolas slowly rose again, Feavair stood on shaky legs beside him, trying her best to tend to his wound, blind to her own. An arrow was, pierced through his shoulders and bloodstains had already formed on the back of his tunic. He cast one glance at her legs and saw the stained of blood on her dress, then he lifted her up in his arms, gritting in pain.
Then one of the goblins howled, and they rushed forwards again. They saw them escaped into the dreaded light, but followed desperate for food. For weeks, they had starved and had even started fighting each other for provisions. They stormed out of the cave screaming against the sun, shedding their eyes from the bright light and howling in pain.
"I do not think they can follow us," Frodo cried as the goblins fell over each other and turned into a pile of screaming and grasping creatures.
"They are not allergic to the light, they just don't like it" Legolas muttered and stumbled among the rocks. As if fate was being especially cruel this day, the sun started to sneak away as night slowly fell over them.
The goblins started to crawl their way towards the fledging group, as soon as the sky darkened; they stumbled to their feet, and blinked their large yellow eyes. The goblins seemed to pour out from the cave and the hobbits and two elves stared in horror at the army yelling, hissing and pointing at them.
"The stairs" Frodo said, pointing to the Winding Stairs in front of them.
"There is no way we can escape them down those stairs" Sam said.
"We have to hurry, it will be dark soon"
"But it is impossible to go….."
"The stairs, we have little other choice, come on"
They started to run down the stairs, Legolas still clutching Feavair in his arms, his shoulder screaming in pain. They could hear the goblins howl in anger and a few optimistic arrows spit over them.
After a couple of minutes of running down the stairs, Sam began to gasp in agony and he clutched his side were and goblin had drawn blood.
"We must….rest….a little, or else I will die of exhaustion before the goblins comes". They stopped and each of them fell down on a step, breathing heavily and gulping water.
Legolas sat her down, and flinched as pain shot through his arm. Feavair laid a concerned hand on his shoulder, the wound arrow reminding her of those that had wounded and killed Boromir.
"L…Let me" she ordered softly. He gritted his teeth in agony and then handed her his knife. She quickly cut a hole in his shirt so she could see his swollen and throbbing skin.
"I…I can heal this" she said and was about to place her hand on his shoulder when he stopped her.
"You are to weak already, you should heal your self"
" I can not heal my self" she said, and then placed her hand on his wound, feeling the blood pump between her fingers. He felt strange warmth spread through his shoulder and he briefly closed his eyes, while his eyes were closed, she pulled out the arrow, and quickly covered the wound with her own hand.
She gasped as the pain left his shoulder and started to drift up her arm, it fluttered through her body before it found the throbbing ache in her legs and settled there. She felt her body flinch as arrows of pain shot up her legs, cross her pelvic and to her spine.
He grasped her as she lost consciousness and slung like a doll in his arms.
"We must hurry," he said and the hobbits nodded, and then they continued to run down the stairs again. The sun was slowly setting on the sky casting its last rays of sun down on the earth as soon as it was dark the stony hills would be swarming with goblins.
The Stair was, protected on each side by sheer walls of growing height. The Winding Stair coiled along the face of the reclining cliff, and at some point, they could see the Morgul-road in a ravine far below. They ran, carefully so not to loose their, footing, for miles and miles.
At last, they reached the Straight Star, and they stopped once more to catch their breaths. The sun had disappeared behind a cloud and the last paint strokes of yellow, gold, red and orange lingered in the sky before they fainted into the dark and dull sky. Far away in the distance, Legolas could hear the goblins roar.
"We need to move again, they have left the cave"
They were near the foot of the bridge west of Minas Morgul. Night was over them and the stars squinted on the dark velvet sky. They were still moving quickly down the stony road towards the crossroads. Their bodies were screaming in pain and their knees threatened to buckle under them, but they continued to run. Now they hobbits could also hear the faint screams of the goblins.
"The ponies" Sam gasped as they saw four brown heads appear behind some bushes. Merry and Pippin rushed towards them and grabbed their reins before they had time to escape. Merry and Pippin climbed on two of he ponies, Frodo jumped on another and Sam slung his body up behind him.
Legolas ripped the saddle of a chestnut brown horse, then hoisted Feavair on the pony's back, and then mounted. They were larger then normal ponies and heavy build for trudging on the open plains of Gondor.
As they started to ride, the first arrow sizzled through the air, followed quickly by several more. The horses whined in fear and danced sideways, shaking their heads and stomping their hooves.
They made it past the Gap and far away in the distance, between the crocked trees, Legolas could see the Crossroads. He turned his head and saw the goblins still following them. They were moving swifter then normal goblins, their strength running on bloodlust and hunger.
"I think we will make it!" Pippin called excitedly as slowly the distance between them self and the goblins grew. A couple of optimistic arrows still followed them and the goblins wailed in the darkness.
"We are soon to the Crossroads" Merry shouted over the horse cries, when suddenly he felt his pony stiffen under him, and then it flinched forcefully before it wailed in pain before staggering to the ground. Merry flew over the horse's neck and he was, flung against the trunk of a tree.
"Merry!" Pippin cried, pulling his horse into a halt and turning it around. The others also stopped, got of the ponies and rushed to Merry's side. He opened his eyes groggily and moaned in pain.
"No. No brave speaks, lad," Frodo said, pulling Merry to his legs before he had time to tell them to move without him. The goblins were meters away from them now, their numbers had lessened, but still Legolas counted eighty pair of eyes glimmering in the dark. They were outnumbered almost twenty to one.
As the first goblin charged at him, he withdrew both his swords, and with a swift movement staked the creature, before spinning around, knocking two other goblins down. Pippin had dragged Merry to a safe spot behind some rocks, were Feavair was, and then he walked out to join the others in the fight.
Merry grinned in pain and shifted position, then his gaze fell on the battered and bloody form of the elf. He swallowed deeply and reached out a hand to tenderly touch her hand, he felt sticky dried blood smeared to his fingers.
He remembered her glow in Rivendell, and he remembered the first time they had seen her, at the inn in Bree, taunted by the men for defending her dog. Then again, in the corridor when they had asked for direction to Strider's room. She seemed to always be defending others, never her self.
He could hear her voice in his ears as he remembered her soft voice singing to them in the night, how he could ever questioned the value of risking their lives to rescue hers were beyond him. He had heard what she was a Spirit Weaver, they had been more respected then the kings in the old days, and even Gandalf seemed to look up to her. Now she looked like a sleeping doll, unknown to the danger that was over them. Unable to protect her self.
Suddenly he heard something snarl and he spun his head and saw a goblin glare over them, without thinking he withdrew his sword and staggered to the goblin. He turned his back to her still form, ready to defend her self. The goblin seemed to surveyed the situation, before it flung it self madly towards Merry.
He jumped out of the way, spun around and trusted his weapon in the goblin's arm. It growled low in its throat then it turned around, grabbed hold of Merry's arm and tossed him to the side. Merry bit his lower lip and ignored the pain shooting up his back, the goblin jumped him again, he rolled away just in time and the goblin went flying, head first into the rock, smashing its skull. Dark red blood splattered across his face and he grimaced.
He heard another snarl; he swallowed deeply before he turned slowly around, only to face two more goblins, each of them clutching a sword. Merry gripped his sword in his hands until he felt blood from his palm skim through his fingers. He was about to charge them, when suddenly, their eyes widened in surprise and they fell to their knees before falling head first into the ground, three arrows each in their backs.
One goblin jumped on his back and he felt its claws rip through his skin. Twirling the swords between his fingers, he spun around and beheaded the first charging goblin, before turning around again feeling the goblin let go of his back, as another goblin trusted his rapier towards him.
Two goblins jumped on his feet, dragging him to the ground. For a brief second the air was knocked out of him and when he opened his eyes again, one of the goblins stood above him, sword inches from his chest. He rolled over and heard the metallic clang as the sword hit the ground.
Legolas quickly leaped back up on his legs, grabbed the goblin rushing towards him, by its collar, and used it as a shield for the arrows soaring towards him. He felt the body go limp in his arms and then tossed it towards a third, rushing, goblin, then he picked up his swords and hurried towards Pippin.
Pippin's back was up against a tree as he blocked the blows from the goblin fiercely waving his sword trying to hit them. They fought nothing like the orcs in the Battle of the Morannon. The blows form the goblins were without control and goal, they just waved their swords trying to hit something. The echo of metal hitting metal seemed to zone him out and did nothing else then concentrate on his next breath and to dodge the next blow.
Suddenly the goblin froze and opened his mouth, gasping for air. Instead, dark blood poured out of his moth as he gagged. The body did not fall and the dead goblin just stood frozen and stared at Pippin while blood oozed out from his mouth
He saw Legolas twist his swords in the creatures back and flinched a little at the disgusting sound it was making. Legolas withdrew his sword and the dead goblin fell to the earth, he then wiped his elf swords on the dead creatures back.
"Thanks" Pippin muttered and wiped sweat of his hands.
"You are welcome" the elf prince mumbled and was about to dash towards a new fight, when suddenly a horn rang through the howls of the goblins.
Everybody froze as the song of the horn ventured between the mountains once again. They almost expected to see Boromir rush towards them, instead came a horde of metal clad men with spears glistening in the sun. The hooves of the horses stomped the ground angrily as they sped towards them.
Arrows rained down on the huddle of goblins and wails of terror escaped the dreaded creatures, some started to flew towards the mountains at once, other hesitated wondering what to do, those who waited to long felt arrows pierce their armour and they fell to the ground lifeless.
"Knights of the City and the Mark" Pippin called out happily as the soldiers drew to a halt before them. Sam tossed the dead goblin body off him and stumbled to his feet, still in a blurry haze of what had happened. Frodo wiped some goblin blood of him self and gave one of the corpses a kick as he walked past them.
"Hello, my lords" the leader of the group called, jumped down from his horse and walked to Pippin.
" I never thought you would be seeking battles so soon" he said and chuckled. Pippin grinned and wiped more dirt of his clothes.
"We were not seeking it as much as it was forced upon us." He answered.
"What is going on here, when you did not return they were certain something terrible had happened to you" the knight paused. "And behold we were right"
"I am sorry to cause you worries" Pippin said "but we had one more quest"
"What matter of great importance is worth risking the wrath of the king and the white wizard?"
"W…wrath?" Pippin asked and swallowed " We needed to rescue somebody" the knight furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully and crossed his arms.
"Who, my lord?"
Pippin pointed a finger to Legolas, who was helping Feavair back on her legs.
Thank you for reading and for your review.