--NOTICE-- TO ALL THOSE WHO READ THIS CHAPTER BEFORE, I DID ADD MORE TO IT! It is basically the same other then that. So no, I haven't added a new chapter if you were hoping for that, but YES, I am working on that new chapter. Be patient!
--------------------
Chapter 4: Silver Trumpets
Legolas woke with a start. He let out a little yelp and sat upright, glancing nervously around him in the darkness. Beside him, Aragorn stirred. The man grabbed his wrist.
"What is it?" Aragorn mumbled. Legolas fell back down onto his pillows to calm his beating heart. Images flashed before his eyes, vivid images. He felt the dirt on his face again, hear the anguished cries of men, saw the destruction, the death, an elf's head speared upon a stick, still bleeding, pieces of tattered flesh swinging in the breeze...
"'Twas only a dream," Legolas whispered, more to himself. "It was only a dream, nothing more." Aragorn opened his storm-grey eyes and stared long and hard into his lover's face. He could see worry stamped across it, something the elf was skilled at hiding most times. Whatever was wrong was no simple matter.
"Tell me about it," Aragorn responded. "For I see it has shaken you deep in your core." He pulled Legolas closer. The elf buried his face in Aragorn's soft tunic, trembling in the man's embrace. Aragorn stroked his silky tresses. "Shhh, it is fine. Come, speak of this dream of yours."
"It was so real," Legolas mumbled. "It was so real I thought I was there, running along the broken paths, watching the rich land wither and die, the trees burning, the cities crumbling, whole towns massacred...the elves...and...and..."
"Calm down," Aragorn said quietly. "Start from the beginning and take this very slowly. Just work through it." Legolas took a deep, shaky, breath.
"I stood upon a hilltop when it began, and below me I could see plains stretching out far. They were green and fresh, spring just upon them. The sun shone high above, and birds swooped around me. It was the Pelennor, I am sure now. In the distance Minas Tirith shone, the bright towers glowing in the sunlight. Trumpets rang as they broke the clear air. Even these horns of men moved me. I took a step forward, then another, running down the hill in hopes to reach this mystical city in the distance.
"But darkness fell in about me. With every step, the land behind me withered, and clouds grew overhead. The carcasses of birds fell from the sky. The air became thick, hard to breathe; I slowed and crumpled to the ground. All around the springtime fields wilted, the grass shriveling, the sky black and heavy. Minas Tirith shone no more but stood silent and alone. It was alone. Behind it the mountains of Mordor towered, reaching for the endless sky above. I let out a long cry for the world around me. Oh, Aragorn, how can I begin to describe this to you, this feeling of desertion, that in all of the darkness I was powerless, alone. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. It would press on, no matter what I did.
"So I ran on. I ran towards Minas Tirith, weeping, calling out your name. Aragorn, you were in that city. What if you were dead? What if something happened to you, some harm befell you? I know now that is not so, but it was sickening. Minas Tirith grew before me steadily, until I passed through its broken gates, and into the city of stone. No, it was not a city. It was a graveyard." Legolas paused, catching his breath. His mind's eyes projected those visions far too clearly back at him, just as they had been in the dream. Aragorn waited patiently for him to continue.
"There were bodies strewn everywhere, all of them dead, mutilated humans. Blood ran below my feet as if it were a river from the highest tower of Ethelion. I slipped on the slick stones, scrambling to make it to you, locked away behind your walls in the highest level of the city. I dared not look left or right to avoid the sight of the mutilated corpses, the strewn pieces of humans, limbs, heads, anything that Mordor could get its hands on to cut. The smell of decay was strong. Aragorn, I felt weak, queasy. I am an elf and I felt that!
"But I pressed on. Hours passed, it felt, before I reached the garden. The dead tree stood in the middle of it, but by the tree's feet was a sword. It was broken, Aragorn. It was Andúril!" Legolas sobbed into the man's tunic, rocking back and forth. "It was Andúril, broken once more, lying at the base of the Dead Tree. I ran farther, through the maze of plants, until I reached the palace.
"I can go no further," he said. Aragorn held him. He whispered quiet words into the distressed elf's ear. Legolas had many vivid dreams, as most elves did, but it had never brought him to tears, not at this level. Not even when Legolas foresaw future events did he weep for it, no matter how grievous.
"That is enough if you only want to confide that much," Aragorn assured him. "You can tell the rest later, when you are not so deeply shaken. Now, rest, sweet. You should rest for now. We still have time to sleep before departing from Edoras." Legolas shook his head.
"Are you alive?" he asked. "Aragorn, answer me this: are you alive?" Aragorn smiled and kissed Legolas upon the head.
"If I was not, would I speak to you as I am now? Yes, I am alive. Take heart in that." Aragorn lowered Legolas to the bed, settling himself beside the elf. Legolas stared ahead of him, over Aragorn's shoulder. "Now please Legolas, get some sleep. I doubt that dream would come back to you again." Legolas shook his head.
"I will rest but I will not sleep. I will not dare close my eyes to see those images again. Aragorn...I will not dare to see you dead again!" He clutched Aragorn, hysterical sobs shaking his body. "I won't see you die. I won't see you die. I won't, I won't." Aragorn shifted to hold Legolas again.
"Repeat that?" Aragorn asked. His senses prickled. Legolas moaned, punctuating it with a short sob. "No, Legolas, you don't have to repeat it. I am sorry now. Come, rest your head."
And so morning came, the sun rising above the clouds to bathe Edoras in golden light. The world though was quiet now, with Edoras almost empty. Théoden and his men had ridden forth, the mustering of Rohan already begun. Legolas rose with the sunrise, busying himself with packing his provisions to keep the images of his dream from springing unbidden into his head. Aragorn woke soon after, but he said nothing to his lover, instead staring at Legolas with saddened eyes. The elf's face was colorless, no light coming from his fair features, his hair limp around him.
When the pair had finished, they went as one from their room to the main hall of Edoras. Gimli waited for them there, lounging against a pillar, but he was alone in the hall. There was a table set beside him with three plates.
"I see you finally stir," Gimli said. Legolas nodded and collapsed on the bench, Aragorn sitting beside him. Gimli plopped down and picked up a spoon. Soon, the three were busy eating their meals, all in silence. Gimli glanced up once and a while, only to see Legolas and Aragorn engrossed in their own food. Legolas sometimes cast a worried stare at Aragorn, and Aragorn would reach over and squeeze the elf's hand, but nothing was said between them.
They finished their meal, and made their way outside. Horses were waiting for them, pawing the chill morning air. And around them stood the Grey Company, mounted already, their cloaks billowing in the wind. Elrohir smiled at the three, inclining his head towards the waiting mounts. Aragorn nodded solemnly; in front of him waited the Paths of the Dead, and it he could not turn away from that fact now. He clasped Legolas' hand before mounting his horse.
"Wait, wait!" a small voice cried. Legolas looked down to see Merry running towards him with all of his speed. He came to a halt in front of the horses, panting. Aragorn dismounted to speak with him.
"Please," Merry begged, "Let me go with you. I could not go to battle with the men, for none would bear me, thinking I could not fight, and the pony I was given could not keep up with their steeds. So I am alone here at Edoras, without my friends and companions. I must come with you!" Aragorn knelt and put a hand on Merry's shoulder.
"I am sorry, but our road is more perilous that that of King Théoden and his men. So here you must stay, Merry. If I could, I would bear you myself, but there is not time. I know that you would be a welcome addition to our company. Still, you must remain here." Merry shook his head.
"Please, Strider...Aragorn, please let me come." But Aragorn was mounting his horse. He looked upon Merry with sad eyes, but with one command, the Grey Company turned their mounts and trotted away.
"Strider, wait, Legolas, Gimli, wait! Don't go!" But they disappeared over the rise, and Merry found himself standing alone on the wind-blown hill, his last companions fading into the shadows of the east.
And so the Grey Company departed from Edoras. The women of Rohan watched them leave, lining the streets. A lone bird cried, tumbling through the winds to follow behind the riders. And so once again, Edoras was left emptied except for a few women and wounded men that could not ride out with the rest. And some women wept, for elves though they were, Lord Aragorn rode at their front, and there was little doubt in most minds that they Grey Company would no longer set foot upon the hill of Edoras.
The bird cried again before diving below the horizon and out of sight.
----------
By evening, the company had come to Dunharrow. Aragorn dismounted and spoke briefly with some of the men there before motioning for the rest of the company to follow.
"They have lodgings for us, and food also," he said to the elves. Aragorn sprang on his horse and rode beside Legolas. "Lodgings for rest, might I point out." Legolas shook his head.
"I am sorry, Aragorn," he whispered. Aragorn reached out between them and placed a hand on Legolas's arm. "But...something is wrong, still, something in the air." Aragorn pressed him, but Legolas would say no more, instead bowing his head with closed eyes. He felt so weary. The bleakness of the world weighed heavy on him, in his soul, trapping him in a cage of perpetual darkness. He looked around. The men at Dunharrow gave him strange looks, along with the other elves, though their eyes came to rest on Lord Aragorn and it was only with pity. They whispered amongst themselves of the cunning of the elves, and their sly ways, yet how Lord Aragorn would not let them mislead the men. Had you heard of the battle at Helm's Deep, they said? Did you not hear of the elf that rides here now, how he betrayed the men and fled from them, too cowardly to fight when they needed him most? Elves could not be trusted, no.
Legolas dismounted, tethering his horse outside a tent for him and Aragorn. Aragorn was conversing with one of the men who watched over the encampment. Legolas placed his pack on the ground and collapsed onto the bed. His head spun and he was unsteady on his feet.
Suddenly, he heard the crackle of feet on grass. Legolas sat up, all his senses alert. There was a shadow on the outside of the tent, creeping closer towards the door. Legolas looked to his other side to see one mirroring the first. He made no move to alert them, casually rising and sauntering to his pack. Their footsteps continued, and he caught the quickness of their breath. He smirked; they feared him, greatly.
But another set of footsteps came. Legolas saw the shadows straighten, moving normally now. Some said a few words to Aragorn, but the man scowled at them and pushed open the tent flap.
"I fear that if there is any danger, it will not come from the outside but from within. These men hate elves, and there is no way to get around that." Aragorn pulled Legolas into his lap, running his hands through the elf's silky hair. He gazed over the top of Legolas's head, into the distance far away.
"What troubles you?" Legolas asked. He placed a hand on Aragorn's cheek.
"Then I expect that you are feeling better?" Legolas nodded. "No, I have no troubles, Legolas, only those that await me, but those I must face. And you?"
"I am fine, as you assumed before," Legolas said. "Maybe it was only a dream, no matter how real it felt to me at the time." He scanned the outside of the tent. "But...those men...Aragorn, they cannot go on like this. What is it about us that they do not trust? What have we ever done to make the assume that we are evil?"
"I do not know," Aragorn said. "I have pondered this, but nothing comes to mind. But I doubt that the few men here pose a threat. With the warriors all gone to follow Théoden, these men are those that cannot fight, so they could not harm us." But Aragorn closed his eyes. "I hope," he whispered. "If they come in enough numbers, there is a chance that they could do us damage, but otherwise, there should be no harm..." Legolas put his finger to Aragorn's lips.
"Don't say anything. Just sit." Legolas rested his head on Aragorn's shoulder. He heard Aragorn's breathing calm. And Legolas began to softly sing. It was a song from his childhood, one that he had heard the elves sing to each other often. Aragorn sighed and closed his eyes, humming to himself as the elf sang the words.
From darkness I stepped
Into your arms
From a dream I awoke
Into your warmth
So why now when all the world
Crumbles, do you desert me?
"Legolas," Aragorn whispered. "There was once a day when I could sit like this with you without having my mind working constantly at the problems around me. You were relief."
"What troubles you? Will you not tell me?"
I came to your life
Only to find you slipping
"I...I have many troubles, but they are my burdens, Legolas. I would not wish the weight of them on your shoulders also." Aragorn's grey eyes shimmered in the light from the candle. He seemed so distant, far from Legolas's grasp though he had his arms wrapped around the Ranger...no, Aragorn had no longer the look of that freer ranger of his past. Here were the troubles of a king.
"Aragorn, you're fading from me." Aragorn chuckled, nuzzling Legolas's neck.
"How could I ever slip from you, meleth nin? You are my golden prince, the elf that I have lived through these tiresome years for. The only way I could fade from you is if I died." Legolas hung his head.
"No, Aragorn, there is another way. Death...death might come, yes, but otherwise, you will become a king, one that even if, by chance, I stood beside him, I would not see his inner feelings ever again." Aragorn took Legolas's chin in his hand.
"I have not heard words like these from you for years. What brings this skepticism now? For as well as you hide it, I know what troubles you." Aragorn's hand graced Legolas's cheek. "I would not dare leave your side, whether the people of Gondor would wish it or not. When this war comes to a close, they will need a king. I will lead them with you by my side."
In my hour of need
You deserted my cause
And left me for dead on this forsaken shore
"But look at the men of Rohan!" Legolas shouted. "Look at them! I assisted them in battle, saved their country, and what do they do you repay me? They attempt to kill me! Would men accept a king like that? Aragorn...I can not help but think that in the end we will be apart. Something is wrong, Aragorn, something that should not be wrong. I don't think that...my mind does not trust the path that men trod now."
"There is no other path."
"Exactly. There is an old elvish saying that 'when you walk the road of life, there are shortcuts, twists and turns to the sides, each branching to another, but there is only one path that is solitary through this: the path of death'."
I embraced death
And death shall take me
Now that you have gone
"I will not die."
"How can I trust you? How can I trust you when your voice trembles like it does. I...I saw you almost slip towards death. I saw you on what should have been your deathbed but for some miracle. I, I myself could have fallen on that day and should have. Aragorn, I am immortal. I've fought in battle before, but that one...that one was suicide, and I knew that. I knew that as the Uruk-hai pressed around me, as I was vulnerable, with Éowyn in my arms while she died. Yes, there's another. Éowyn died, one of the strongest warriors I saw amongst those men.
"And I did see you die, Aragorn. If only in a dream, I saw your tunic splattered in blood, the ground around you stained red, your glassy eyes gazing to a sky only you could see."
So sail away, sail
And leave me here alone
"I lied," Legolas said. "It was not only a dream, I am sure. The path we are on only leads to your downfall, the downfall of the world! I will not have that happen. I would die before that happened. I would die before I let you fade from me." Aragorn cradled Legolas to his chest.
I've listened before
And I've cried before and
Waited before for your tears
But they have not fallen from your skies
Aragorn opened his mouth to speak, but shut it. No, now was not the time. Instead, he held Legolas close to him, whispering in elvish to the distraught elf. Mortality made Legolas shudder. And it should. For most of his life he was in the company of elves; any battles fought were with other immortals, stronger, faster, more skillful then men. But this world was foreign to him. Men could fall with simply a knife through them. Trivial wounds could bring death.
And it was in these times that Legolas faced the truth of his own beloved's mortal lifespan.
"Lord Aragorn, Lord Aragorn, for the Valar's sake Estel, come here now!" Aragorn's head jerked up. Suddenly, he was very aware of the commotion outside of the tent. And the use of his childhood name pulled him from his thoughts.
Elrohir tore open the tent flap. He stopped in front of Legolas and Aragorn. Legolas looked very listless to the world, but he appeared to be coming to his senses, and Aragorn was already moving to dislodge himself from the elf.
"The men...even if they were wounded...and the women too," Elrohir panted. Aragorn turned his ears to the outside, where he could hear shouting and sometimes the screams of a dying man. He seized his sword from the beside and turned to help Legolas. But Legolas was already moving, snatching his two white knives from his pack. The three sprinted from the tent.
Outside, not far from Legolas and Aragorn's lodgings was a scuffle between the men of Rohan and the elves. It had not been going on long. The elves were having no trouble suppressing the men, but it was not without bloodshed. And to Legolas's horror he saw elvish bodies also, not many, but enough as it was.
"Stop, stop this madness!" Aragorn shouted. Some men paused, long enough to be held at bay by elves. "Drop your weapons now. I command you to cease this battle!" When there was still resistance from the men, Aragorn drew his sword. "If you do not stop yourself I will obliged to do so myself." The men dropped their weapons, and the elves let their hands fall to their sides, though they did not relinquish their grip on any weapons.
"Now," Aragorn said. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Lord Aragorn, we..." a man began, but Elrohir held up his hand.
"No, all they will say is rubbish. I already pulled one aside and asked the meaning of this but he gave me no decent reply. These men attacked us as we were in our tents. Elladan was smart enough to summon the elves to the center so there would be fewer men slain. There was nothing justified by this attack, simply their falsely rooted hatred of elves..."
"What is false about it?"
"Have you seen an elf before today? No? So why should you hate us? If you have never seen us how can you judge us?" And so the battle began anew, but with words instead of blades. The Rohirrim leapt for their weapons, shouting curses at the elves, but the elves met them with resistance, driving them away from the discarded implements.
"Enough, enough!" Aragorn bellowed. "Now, I do believe that the fighting should have ended before. There was no reason to this. Look, men of the Rohirrim, at your losses. Look around you. Then look to the elves. Did you obviously believe there was reason to risk the lives of all around you to bring down these elves? Are they that much of devils to you? Now, all of you, go, and I want no more trouble. You are all wounded, whether from now or from before, and you have endangered the women who sought refuge here. Go in shame and rethink your ideas before striking once more against the elves!" He turned away, a head on his forehead, and Legolas wrapped an arm around him.
"Assess the dead," he whispered. "And I guessed this was simply an outpost for those fleeing from Edoras. Legolas attempted to guide him away, but Aragorn shook him off. "No, I'll go assist them now." He and Legolas picked their way through the bodies. Mostly men, a scattering of elves. The elves were silent as they went about their work. Legolas knelt beside a body and turned it over. It was an elf, first kicked at by the men then stabbed through the middle. Legolas searched his memory for his face...but found he did not have to look far.
"No..."
----------
Legolas walked into his tent, weary, spent. His eyes were glittering with unshed tears. Aragorn looked up from where he sat on their bed.
"Both have passed," Legolas whispered. "Elrohir could not stand the pain, and..."
"So we have lost ten then?"
"Yes." Legolas fell upon the bed, resting his head on Aragorn's chest, letting the man's steady breathing calm his heart. "I...I still cannot grasp that they would be dead. They were such good friends..."
"I know," Aragorn whispered. "But Elladan fell in the battle. He fought bravely, from what I gathered from Elrohir, and Elrohir could not live without his twin, could not handle the world without his twin by his side. I can understand that. Sadness befell them." Aragorn closed his eyes.
The Grey Company had fallen, broken without the others. Helpless men of Rohan had died from their own follies. The Paths of the Dead lay before them, and yet Aragorn doubted he could bring himself to muster the dead army, have them follow him to the battle beyond. Elves had died on this day, broken in the dark times. His own foster brothers, Elrohir and Elladan, had perished, Elladan by a sword, and Elrohir by his grief.
Aragorn turned to the troubled elf beside him, Legolas's eyes shut but his breath shaky, and wondered what other causalities would befall them ere the end of these dark times.
--------------------
Well, two more characters off the list. –takes out clipboard and crosses off names- Let's see, who's left on here? Hmm, I might off that one next, but no, that's for later...or maybe him...OH, wouldn't that death be fun...Mwahahhahahahahahaha!
I hope now it's coming clear some of the reasons for me changing some things like I did. Now, I won't say anything in particular, but hopefully you are catching on to what this all is building too. Next chapter it should come very clear, much clearer, PAINFULLY CLEAR.
So if you don't see it now, you'll just have to wait until then!