CHAPTER TWO: Flight and Confrontation
It was hidden beneath the hobbit's shirt, but she could see it--the Eye, slit black like a cat's and wreathed in soul-searing flames. As surely as if she were standing before him in the black halls of Barad-Dur, Ellie could "see" the Dark Lord Sauron's Eye staring out at her from a gold ring that hung on a mithril chain around the hobbit's neck. Oh, gods, what's it doing here? she moaned to herself, as abject terror clawed at her insides, shredding her composure. And with the lightning speed born of the mindless panic that suddenly overwhelmed her, Ellie threw the long knife at Legolas, not really wanting to hurt him, but not caring if she did. Right now the only thing she cared about was getting Jamie and herself as far away from that Eye as quickly as possible.
The instant she let go of the knife, Ellie turned and grabbed Jamie's arm, spurring him on into the forest. Something of her panic communicated itself to the boy and, although he did not understand the reason for it, he did not question it. He ran faster than he had ever run before, as if his very life depended on it, which, in the back of his mind, he somehow suspected it did. He paused for a second only when he heard Ellie stumble and fall behind him, but she hissed, "Keep on running!" And so he did.
Legolas had been too caught up watching the girl's lovely face transform itself into a mask of profound horror, without understanding the cause of it. He had not anticipated the knife, or the children's lightning-quick flight into the forest. But he was an Elf and a warrior, with extraordinarily honed reflexes, and he managed to raise his forearm just in time as the long knife came flying at him. The blade hit his leather bracer—hard enough to bruise, but not cut—and then fell harmlessly to the ground. A cold fury filled him, one he was not accustomed to and did not particularly welcome.
For their part, Legolas' companions had also watched in consternation as the girl's terror grew. Standing behind the Elf, at the edge of the clearing, they knew she stared at Frodo and suspected that somehow she had sensed the presence of the One Ring. But Gandalf the Grey knew for sure, for in his mind he had seen the Eye stare back at the girl.
"Get them!" he commanded of the two younger men with him. "We must bring that girl back!" Aragorn and Boromir ran toward the trees, but the dwarf and hobbits stayed behind with Gandalf, for they would never be able to match the speed of the others.
Legolas, blue eyes glittering with anger, was already poised to pursue the girl. At Gandalf's prompting, he ran into the forest ahead of his other companions and easily picked up the children's trail—for in their rush to flee, they had made no attempts to hide it. Nor were they making any attempt to muffle their footsteps. This time, the Elf's keen hearing did not fail him, and he could hear the two up ahead. He was rapidly catching up to them. Moments later, he heard the girl fall down and urge the boy to keep on running. It's only a matter of time now, he thought and the Elf allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.
Ellie stared at her shattered ankle and groaned, as much from the pain as from the dismay of knowing that she would have to waste precious time mending it. Gingerly she lifted her leg up onto her lap and embraced the ankle with her two hands. As she closed her eyes in concentration, an intense, yet not unpleasant, heat flowed from her small hands into her broken ankle. And as the seconds passed, cell by cell her fragile bones, tendons and tissues healed themselves. For Ellie had many gifts, and one of them was the gift of touch-healing.
Legolas saw her through a break in the trees as she stood up and resumed her headlong flight. Without slowing his pace, he called back to Aragorn and Boromir, "I've got the girl! Look for the boy!" and continued to give chase. Fast as she was, the girl could not compete with the Elf's greater speed and longer gait. Until she had heard him call to his companions, she had had no idea that he was that close behind. In the next instant, he was upon her.
Grabbing a handful of her braids, Legolas roughly pulled the girl backwards. As the back of her head slammed into his chest he wrapped a powerful arm around her waist, imprisoning both her arms at her sides and pulling her flush against his hard body. The collision winded her, driving the air from her lungs in a loud whoosh, and leaving her momentarily light-headed and weak. Legolas was pleased. She was just a little mite, he told himself, and no match for his strength and prowess.
But Ellie was determined not to give up without a fight, not as long as there was a chance that Jamie might get away. I will show you, Elf, she silently vowed. I am no quitter. Imprisoned as they were, her arms and hands and upper body were useless to her. However, her legs and feet were not. So she began to brutishly kick Legolas--ignoring the jarring pain to her own toes--and to stomp on his feet with the hard heels of her boots. One well-placed kick drew a small grunt from him and caused him to loosen his grip on her hair long enough for her to move her face close to the arm holding her captive. She bit him viciously. In fact, her teeth clamped down on his arm and would not let go. He finally relaxed his hold ever so slightly—her sharp little teeth were starting to take their toll—and Ellie was able to free one arm. She reached back and up toward his face and savagely clawed him across one cheek. Legolas cursed—at least it sounded like a curse—in a language Ellie did not understand. Letting go of her hair, he trapped her free hand in a cruel vise, but not before she had grabbed a fistful of pale blonde hair and pulled with all her might. And all the while she kept on kicking him.
Legolas felt as if he were caught in the middle of a maelstrom. By now, he was so furious with the girl that he was sorely tempted to snap her neck in two just to end his misery. Instead he hit her in the jaw—hard enough to knock her out, but not hard enough to seriously injure her. Ellie slumped, and the Elf breathed a small sigh of relief. Now that she was barely conscious, he gently turned her over in his arms to examine her. Her jaw would have an ugly bruise, no doubt about that, and he felt a small pang of regret. But it was only a small pang. He was not feeling kindly disposed toward the girl, for she had caused him a great deal of aggravation from the moment she had sneaked up behind him with his long knife in her hand.
Boromir and Aragorn still had not returned with the boy, although he could hear all three of them somewhere up ahead in the forest. Legolas lifted the girl and dumped her unceremoniously over his shoulder, and started back to camp.
Ellie awoke to a throbbing jaw and a world turned curiously upside down. When her mind finally cleared, she was both alarmed and outraged to realize that she was being carried over the Elf's shoulder. Like a sack of grain! she silently fumed. She knew it was the Elf, of course, because his silky blonde hair lay beneath her cheek. And she decided to fight back once again.
Legolas felt Ellie stir and braced himself. He spoke soothing words to her, but she did not hear them or chose to ignore them. For just as he was about to set her down on her feet, she grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and yanked his head back, while kicking her legs back and forth. Legolas cursed in Elvish once again and tightened his hold on her thighs and buttocks. This only enraged the girl further, for in the next instant, she latched on to his left ear and seemed determined to rip it off of his head.
"ENOUGH!" he hissed between clenched teeth. He lunged forward, meaning to drop the girl at his feet. But at the same time he lunged, Ellie threw herself back in an apparent attempt to free herself, and Legolas could not keep his balance. The girl fell down hard, flat on her back, her dress bunched up above her waist. The Elf fell down on top of her, his face pressed against the hot flesh of her belly. And as he slowly raised his head and stared at Ellie's middle, he discovered several things. The girl wore no undergarments and, while she was undeniably small, she was NO child. Then he noticed that his hands, where they cradled her slender hips, burned as if he had just touched smoldering embers. (Indeed, he now recalled that every time he had touched her bare skin, he had felt the same burning sensation.) The feeling was not unpleasant—in fact it was decidedly pleasant—and the Elf found himself unexpectedly aroused. Finally, and perhaps the most shocking of all, Legolas discovered that the girl's navel was pierced—and nestled within it was a small ring sparkling with gems. Almost reluctantly, Legolas let go of Ellie's hips and gently lowered her dress to cover her nudity. Then he raised his eyes to her face and flinched when he saw the delicate jaw now swollen and discolored. The girl lay perfectly still with her eyes tightly shut, but he could see the tears wetting her lashes.
Despite the soreness in her back, Ellie had quickly recovered from the fall and had become aware of the heavy weight on the lower half of her body. Opening her eyes, she had been shocked to see her dress pulled up almost to her chest and the Elf's fair head face down near her private parts. She had screwed her eyes shut to hide her tears of mortification.
After what seemed like an eternity but could only have been a few minutes, she opened her eyes again, only to find the Elf's bright blue gaze fixed upon her face. His expression was unreadable, but to Ellie, he seemed strangely subdued. Curiously, she too felt that way--almost languid, no longer able or willing to put up a fight. And as he continued to stare into her dark eyes without moving or saying a word, a bright pink blush crept up Ellie's neck and spread across her face. Legolas, fascinated by her heightened color, couldn't resist reaching out to caress her cheek with his fingertips.
"I know your jaw is injured, but are you hurt anywhere else?" he finally asked. Ellie shook her head, as the sound of someone fast approaching brought the Elf to his feet. His eyes never left hers. Ellie sat up and folded her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms tightly around them. She finally lowered her gaze. The confrontation with the Elf had left her feeling oddly vulnerable.
Oh, gods, what have I gotten myself into?
