Chapter Seven: Departure and Death
The silence stretched.
Legolas and Arwen stood motionless eyes locked in a silent battle. Who would break first? Who would look away and admit defeat? Finally Legolas sighed and dropped his gaze, Arwen's icy steel stare was enough to make any High Kings and Queens look away. He licked his lips, returned his eyes to hers and said: "If I did, would you believe me?"
A stupid thing to say, given the circumstances; almost a straight out admission of guilt. Legolas mentally kicked himself. Hard. But Arwen didn't seem to hear the insinuation, or at least just ignored it. "That would depend, my friend on how convincing you were… I have no doubt I could be persuaded." She said with a sly grin.
Even now, where every sign pointed to discovery, detection and death, Legolas was struck by Arwen's blatant suggestiveness… was the woman just obsessed with copulation?
"I admit to nothing."
"But do you deny nothing?" said Arwen with a grin, she was enjoying this
Oh Legolas thought he had her measure all right. The conniving little bitch. If she wanted to toy around. Fine. "If that is how you want it: I deny everything."
"Oh come now, bein tithing*, you've got to try harder than that"
That did it. Now he was peeved. Bein tithin indeed! "Arwen! Now is not the time for games! I demand you let me go at once!"
She laughed, mocking him. "You are not in a position to 'demand' anything, methinks ernil neth**"
"You do not scare me."
Arwen shook her head still laughing. "You are such a terrible liar Legolas, I do not know how you've gotten away with it all these years."
Legolas narrowed his eyes. "Gotten away with what exactly?"
Arwen prodded him with the dagger, hard enough to make him flinch slightly. "I grow tired of your pretence, Legolas," she said "either admit it or I will kill you"
Then I lose either way he thought. "That will not look well in the morning. How would you explain my death to your father?"
The other Elf's shrug was eloquent. "I will think of something"
"Then kill me. I admit to nothing"
To Legolas' immense surprise, Arwen didn't try to attack him as he had anticipated; instead she laughed, pressing the black dagger into his hand. "Well done Legolas, you passed the test!"
Legolas was dumbfounded. "What?"
"The test my dear boy, the test! We wanted to be sure of your loyalty to the cause. The "I'll die before I betray my people" kind of thing.. anyway. Well done you passed, aren't you pleased?"
Legolas was still very confused, but some things were beginning to dawn on him. "You're… one of us?" he said slowly.
Arwen clapped her hands together rather mockingly. "So you've finally caught on? I was wondering how long it would take you… in fact I was beginning to think that you'd never click. I know I'm good, but I didn't think you were that dense, Legolas"
Legolas bristled. "Why was I not informed of your persuasion?"
"My.. persuasion, oh Legolas, you do make it sound sordid, which I suppose it is—"
"Arwen!"
She raised her hands defensively. "Tis not my fault you were unaware of the situation, I was under the impression that Masker Crickhen was to inform you before you arrived so we could rendezvous… when it became obvious he hadn't I took matters into my own hands, invited you here tonight, and decided to test your loyalty- oh, and also to reprimand you for that brainless murder you attempted earlier this evening--"
"Peace! I've heard all this from Crickhen—the bastard—" he muttered. "Now, what did you wish to talk about?"
"You're mission of course… now, I have been keeping and ear to the ground and it seems that yourself and our Wizard friend-" Arwen pulled the crystal off from Legolas; neck, "-don't want him listening do we?—are not getting along too well. As it so happens, Legolas, neither are he and I—I suppose he does not like Elves—"
"Get to the point!"
"Patience, dear Elf! I have formulated a plan to bring down that troublesome Wizard and his supporters… now all I need is your help…"
******
**Two Months later**
Legolas, newly returned from his voyage back to Mirkwood, was desperately in search of Arwen- he needed to confirm some details of the plan, and also see that she had in her possession a means of communicating with him; namely her own Latsync Trysanc- but it seemed she was no where to be found.
However…
"Hey!" Legolas turned at the sound of eager, high pitched voices. He was greeted with the site of two little Hobbits, beaming up at him. "Are you the Elf who's joining the Fellowship?"
Legolas looked a little bemused. "I am."
"Legolas, right?"
"That's correct."
"I'm Merry" Said on of the indistinguishable Hobbits
"And I'm Pippin!"
"Indeed?" said Legolas vaguely. Where could Arwen be?
"They say you're the best archer of your realm" piped up one of the cousins, Legolas was unsure which.
"They say a lot of things master Merry."
"Pippin"
"Sorry."
Legolas wandered off, still in search of the ever-elusive Arwen with the Hobbits trailing along behind him, asking inane questions and chattering incessantly in a most irritating manner. Legolas ignored them mostly, and the indistinct replies he did give seemed to satisfy them, so they distracted him little, and he eventually found Arwen. All was confirmed, and now only time would tell.
******
The Fellowship was formed, and Legolas could not help but wonder at the Lord of Rivendell's choices. A more bedraggled bunch of no-hopers you could not expect to find anywhere. Except of course for his brilliant self. Actually… now he came to think about it, he was really not an especially good choice to defend the ring, considering who he was; but then again, Lord Elrond didn't know that, and therefore it could not be held against him.
However… the rest of them: it was almost laughable. Aragorn, well, it had to be said that the man did have his merits; he was good with a sword, had some healing skill and knew his way in the wild. But he was, notwithstanding, still merely a man. The same went for Boromir, a proud man, but likely weak… actually Legolas was quite pleased that Boromir was included; he still thought he could make use of the man somehow.
As for the rest, Legolas was particularly annoyed that the incredibly hairy dwarf he'd had the misfortune of sitting beside in the council was Gimli, Glóin's son, the dwarvish representative. Besides smelling, and being two feet smaller than Legolas was, Gimli carried a doubled headed, two handed battle axe, in Legolas' opinion, ranking with the Orcish scimitar as one of the most unsightly weapons of war, and to top it all off: Gimli had a beard. Granted it covered most of his face, and that could be nothing but a good thing, but a beard was a beard, and beards were dirty. How did one keep one's face clean?
Gandalf the Wizard was more than a mere annoyance, that old man knew things… Legolas would have to be especially careful around him. Who knew what Wizards could do, if Crickhen was anything to go by.
And then there were the Hobbits. The inclusion of Frodo was logical, even if it was stupid logic; but the addition of Sam, and the two miscellaneous other halflings was nonsensical. Elrond had said some drivel about friendship being the strongest thing to combat evil with-- ha! Lets see how friendship withstands a knife through the ribs!-- But in Legolas' opinion Lord Elrond might've well have given three extra ponies, those would at least have been some use!
For his part, Legolas had brought Thalion along, the packs on his trusty stallion held some important things; and Sam had brought that travesty of a pony, Bill, but all their over supplies would have to be carried on their backs.
And so that was the Fellowship. Pathetic in Legolas' eyes, the last hope of the world in everyone else's. The fate of the world rested on their shoulders, and Legolas was going to do everything he could to bring it crashing down around their feet.
******
40 days and 40 nights they travelled South, and Legolas was growing bored and frustrated. He had used his crystal a few times, reporting their movements to Crickhen. Each time he asked for instructions, and each time he got told to wait for new orders. The last time he had spoken to the Wizard he had got so annoyed that he actually threw his crystal as hard as he could into the tangled undergrowth, and had a frantic 10 minute search trying to find it again, in which he got severely scratched and stung by all manner of nasty looking plants. Legolas had no doubt that was Crickhen's doing, plants just weren't malicious unless you used magic on them.
Aragorn and Sam had seen the crebain of Dunland flying overhead one night, spies of Saruman no doubt, and that was a welcome relief. He could not believe how tedious it was being nice to people all the time, especially those facetious little Hobbits! It was actually wearing him down, having no time to unwind by killing something, and he began to think that if some orders did not come soon he would end up killing one of the Halflings just to shut them up!
However, seeing the spies gave him new heart, the Higher were watching and that was good, instructions would come soon he was sure of it.
******
Winter was coming on, and the snow was falling, it had become obvious that Gandalf meant to try and scale the passes of Caradhras, even though Aragorn counselled the way of the Red Horn Gate. Either way was bad, but up the mountain was worse, if anything had evil in it's soul it was Caradhras.
Legolas had no wish to climb Caradhras, but if they must they must. Yet it was growing late, and they would not try until morning… and still no word had come from the Higher. Legolas was truly peeved now, and decide he just had to have a little fun, nothing important…. Just fun.
******
The snow was coming down quite thick now, and Legolas went to check his horse. Standing by Thalion's head, he stroked the white stallion's nose and began whispering to him. His horse flicked its eyes, and shifted it's weight, the look in it's liquid eyes suggested it was listening.
Nearby, Sam also stood with Bill, talking happily to the shaggy pony while feeding him carrots. With a final pat, Legolas left his horse, and went and sat by the fire, whetting his knife on a stone, humming softly.
Presently, Sam came back and joined them, talking happily as he cooked. Sam enjoyed doing the cooking for the group. He was quite the little housewife. Merry and Pippin joined in the conversation, Frodo was silent as usual, looking inward and hardly listening to the conversation. Gimli, Gandalf and the two Men set to lighting their pipes and were soon puffing away contentedly on their disgusting leaf.
Suddenly in the silence of the night air there was a scream; the high-pitched squeal of an animal in pain. As one, the group to their feet and sprinted into the glade where they had hobbled their horses.
The sight that greeted them was thus: Thalion, his ears lying flat on his skull, eyes rolling madly, was aiming vicious kicks at Bill. The smaller pony was dancing out of the way other horse's hooves, but already there was a long bleeding gash on one of is flanks. Thalion's kicks were hard, and his hooves iron shod.
"BILL!" cried Sam, aghast, as Thalion lashed out again and again. "MAKE HIM STOP!" he screamed. "LEGOLAS! MAKE HIM STOP!!"
"Thalion!" said Legolas sharply. "Stop!" But it was to no avail, no one could get near the horses without fear of getting kicked themselves, and so they stood and watched in hopeless silence. All except Legolas, who was enjoying the show, and mentally urgng his horse on.
And they watched, Sam sobbing, the others staring, as finally, the white stallion landed a fearful blow to the tiring Bill's right front leg. There was a crack a scream of pain, and the pony crumpled to the ground. Then there was silence, as everyone froze in disbelief.
"NOOOOOO!!!" Sam screeched flinging himself towards his fallen pony. "NOOOOOO!! BILL!!" And then Aragorn was beside him, lifting him bodily, thrusting him into Boromir's arms.
"Take him away," he said harshly, "I will see to this. GO!" he shouted as they hesitated, and go they did, a sad and disbelieving group back to the campfire that no longer seemed so warm.
******
They sat in silence, except for one of Sam's occasional sniffles. Boromir had a comforting arm around him, and the other Hobbits were patting his shoulders, unsure what else to do.
"I think you had better go see to your horse, Legolas," said Gandalf quietly. Legolas hesitated, but rose. He really didn't want to miss the fun here.
Just then, Aragorn came striding back into the camp, wiping his sword blade with a cloth. Sam, who was sitting morosely by the campfire, sprang up angrily, fire burning in his normally cheery blue eyes. "YOU KILLED BILL!! YOU KILLED MY HORSE!!" he cried hysterically, flinging himself at the Ranger in a frenzied rage. Aragorn gently fended off the Hobbit's grief stricken attack with a sad grimace.
"Sam… Sam, listen to me!" he said strongly, gripping Sam's wrists in his strong hands to stop him failing about. "Bill was in dreadful pain, he'd broken his leg, Sam… he was in pain I had to put him out of his misery. You understand that don't you? Don't you?"
"If you ask me, the nag's well out of it" said Legolas blandly, biting into his apple. Aragorn just looked at him, still gripping a sobbing Sam.
"That is not a helpful comment, Legolas."
The Elf raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "I do not understand why he is so upset." He stated. Seven pairs of disbelieving eyes swivelled towards him.
"His horse just died." Said Pippin incredulously.
"'Tis only a horse" Legolas shrugged.
Gimli tutted and bent to tend the fire. "I bet he would be singing a different tune if it was his brute that had copped it… after all it was that vile creature's fault that Bill is dead anyway, twas he that kicked him."
Legolas snorted derisively. "Are you insinuating that Thalion had malicious intent, Dwarf?"
Gimli returned the snort with one of his own. "Harrumph. I would not be surprised."
Legolas looked daggers at him. "You should know, Dwarf" he said, in a low dangerous voice. "That anyone who speaks ill of my horse speaks ill of me. And if you are alluding to my horse being wicked, then you are saying that I too, am of impious mind. If you are indeed implying that, then let me tell you now that that would be very unwise, I am a proud Elf and do not take to insults of that nature kindly… I am not a nice person to have as your enemy, you would do well to remember that."
"Is that a threat?!" Gimli growled
"GENTLEMEN please!" snapped Aragorn, who had had quite enough of the Elf and Dwarf's quarrelling to last him ten lifetimes. " If you cannot speak civilly to each other, kindly keep your sentiments to yourselves. I have no time for your petty arguments right now, and if it is simply beyond you to act like mature adults, I suggest you both turn around right now, and ask Elrond to send us some of your kin who will not spend every waking our of the day exchanging snide comments with each other and who might actually be of some use!"
"Hear, hear" muttered Gandalf.
Aragorn glared at them both, Gimli looked suitably cowed but Legolas just gave him an icy stare and stood up. "Where are you going" he yelled, getting really quite angry with the seemingly insubordinate Elf.
"To fetch some water." Answered Legolas, brandishing his water skin. "If that is OK with your majesty." And with that, he stalked off. No one could stalk quite like Legolas, if he had a tail, it would have been lashing.
"There is something bothering our Elven friend, Aragorn, for he is not acting like himself" observed Gandalf from around his pipe. "What do you think it could be, do you suppose?"
"I don't know." Returned the Ranger, staring after Legolas. "But I intend to find out."
******
Aragorn found Legolas not far from the camp, he was leaning against a tree, arms folded and eyes closed, seemingly nonchalant. He looked to be resting, but the Ranger had no delusions of catching his Elven friend unawares, for no matter how softly he trod, those Elven senses would still pick up his presence--
"Pray tell what you want, Aragorn, for I am weary and wish to be left in peace." --And he was right
Aragorn sighed. "What is wrong with you lately, Legolas? You have not been yourself for sometime, and it worries me… and what you said to Sam earlier, it was completely uncalled for, and so unlike you."
Legolas opened his dark blue eyes and fixed the man with an unblinking stare. "I was being honest," he said simply.
"There is being honest, Legolas and there is being crass!" snapped Aragorn matching the Elf glare for glare.
Legolas shrugged and look away past Aragorn. "Call it what you like," he pushed off the tree, ready to leave, but Aragorn strong arms pushed him backwards, pinning him to the tree trunk.
"We are not leaving here until you tell me exactly what is going on." Stated the Man mildly. "and we will stand here all day if you wish."
"I could easily overpower you if I so desired Aragorn." Said Legolas haughtily. The Ranger was unperturbed.
"You can try if you wish, my Elven friend, but I think you will find me more of a match for you than you think." He laughed at Legolas' petulant pout. "We can do this the hard way if you want it, but it would be so much easier for us both if you would just tell me." Legolas backed down.
"'Tis nothing… a disquiet has settled over my soul and has shadowed my being. I do not know why, but it is disturbing" Legolas frowned "and it angers me… it angers me greatly!"
"I can understand that, Legolas… and I suppose you have a right to be angry. But even if you are angry, that does not give you the right to be cruel"
"I know," Legolas conceded with a heavy sigh. "I should not be taking my anger out on the group, it is not their fault, and for that I am sorry."
"'Tis not me you should be apologising to, my friend." Said Aragorn pointedly.
Legolas grimaced. "Yes, once again you are right, my old friend… I must apologise to Gimli, for I have caused him much grief, and it was not deservèd."
"He will appreciate it."
"Huh"
******
*Little pretty
**Young prince