An Orc's Tale Chapter 13: Archery, a lord of the rings fanfic

Just been lucky enough to see a preview of 'House of Flying Daggers'. Unfortunately had an unappreciative audience, so I think I lost a little of the atmosphere (damn them), but it was fantastic. There is so much material in there that I would love to use. Little scenes that I love the picture of. If I could only take a snapshot and write it down... Ah well. Also, I think the three lead characters would have made awesome elves (Takeshi Kaneshiro (Jin) would have made an excellent twin, Andy Lau (Leo) would have rocked as Elrond, and Zhang Ziyi (Mei) would have been excellent as Arwen. Not that I'm complaining about the actors as they were... just... if...)

"Aragorn." The King of Gondor looked over his shoulder from Roheryn's back. He found his foster brothers and Legolas trailing the main group of the company as they had been for the last day. Roheryn danced a little on the spot, feeling his master's impatience and irritated that he was being held back.

"What is it, Elladan?" He called back. Elladan glanced once across at Elrohir, riding with Legolas sat... slumped before him on Cúdîn and Arod trailing behind riderless, and rode onwards through the group to Aragorn's side.

"You have need to return to your city, and get medical aid to those of your company who need it." Elladan said as he came near enough to talk with the man. "We will follow on behind at a slower pace. We will not enter the city more than two days behind you." Aragorn glanced back at the other two.

"Are you well? Is one of you hurt?"

"No, only we tire of the pace. We would take in a little of our surroundings." Aragorn frowned in scepticism. There was something more behind this suggestion, and if he had to guess it had something to do with the dejection that had been clear on Legolas' face since they had come across the orcs and his old tormentor. The truth of the Uruk's identity had only been dragged from him through the hard-headed persistence of the twins.

"These lands are still busy with orcs who have slipped through our nets. I cannot assure your safety. I would feel better if you were to ride with us." Elladan sighed.
"Your return will be celebrated in Minas Tirith." Elladan continued, lowering his voice. "Legolas does not need such attentions, his confidence is weak at best, even more so now. Give us a little time to bolster his courage before he must meet with those who he fears the judgement of."

"None of us will judge him for his trials. Who does he fear?"

"You cannot swear this for all. Though I think he mostly fears Gimli, for their friendship was tenuous at best before they were parted. He still denies that he thinks anything of the dwarf, or holds any sway in what the dwarf thinks of him. But his eyes say otherwise."

"I cannot swear for Gimli, but the hobbits have seen trials enough of their own to judge, and are too kind of heart to turn him away."

"All the same..."

"Alright, take two of my guard with you. We will expect you two days after us, or else we will be sending out search parties." Aragorn could not help but smile in thought of who it was he was giving this lecture to, and a time not so long ago in elven years when it had been him receiving the lecture.

"We cannot take your men, a large number are injured and in need of care, you need as many able bodied as you can get to protect yourself and your lady."

"If you truly believed that then you would remain with us." Aragorn accused, joking.

"Say not that I said so, but I fear we are less than able ourselves right now. I fear we might drop everything to keep our charge safe these days."

"You came close to losing him, it is a terrifying prospect." Aragorn said, as one who knows the feeling, unconsciously glancing back at Arwen, seated comfortably on one of the horses that had been drawing the carriage. "Do not smother him, else he will never find his own feet to stand upon."

"Thank you, oh fount of wisdom." Elladan replied sarcastically, with one eyebrow raised in the mockery of his father. Aragorn simply rolled his eyes.

"How shall we part then, will you stop here while we ride on? Or will you wait until tonight's camp."

"We will stop here for a while, and follow on when we are rested. We will see you in a few days time." With a bow to his sister and a wave to Aragorn, Elladan returned to the rear of the column and the three stopped behind, moving off the path into the foliage to take a little rest.

In truth, neither of the twins was in need of rest, but Legolas had not responded to any stimulus since after the attack and they were beginning to worry. They lowered him off the horse carefully - Elrohir sliding him down to Elladan, who laid him down on the floor at the base of a spindly pine tree. The road seemed lined with the evergreen trees, and the air was scented with pine. Elladan took a seat, pondering how they could get Legolas out of this despondent mood. Elrohir tended the horses, taking a moment to brush them down as they munched on the grass at the roadside. It was his own way of taking a moment to think, for he was truly beginning to run out of ideas, and he knew it would do nobody any good to have Legolas enter the city in his current state. Sighing, Elrohir moved back towards the other two. Elladan had taken a seat behind Legolas with his knees drawn up and his chin resting on them, close enough to reach out and touch him, and yet not touching.

Elrohir lay down alongside Legolas - who was still where he had been placed earlier, on the ground on his side - feeling the give of the soft pine needles beneath him. Resting his head on one arm, he reached out with the other to pull a strand of long blond hair away from the face in front of him. Blue eyes shifted away, not meeting his gaze. Stung, Elrohir stifled a wince at his reaction. He glanced up to find Elladan watching his actions with soft eyes.

"We could go home now. Ride back to Rivendell. It would take only a moment to find a traveller to take a message to Minas Tirith."

"Perhaps it was too quick." Elladan conceded, sighing. Elrohir looked back down at Legolas and was baffled to find silent tears streaming down his face.

"Hush, melethron." He soothed, moving closer to cup his face in his hand and wipe away the tears with his thumb. "This is no problem, we will return again later, when we are better prepared." Elladan moved a little closer, resting one hand on the shoulder nearest him. He squeezed softly as the shoulder under his hand shook with suppressed tears.

"Let it out, Love. It does you no good trapped inside." His breathing hitched a little at this and a sob escaped him. Gently lifting him from the ground so that he sat propped between their shoulders, the twins held Legolas as he sobbed his woe to the woodlands. Finally emptied, feeling wrung out and tired, Legolas simply absorbed the warmth of the double embrace as his breathing calmed.

"I'm sorry." He managed eventually.

"Why do you apologise when you have done no wrong?" Elladan demanded, voice soft and tone joking. "I grow tired of it, we shall begin taking a forfeit I think, to curb you of the habit."

"What forfeit would you suggest, brother?" Elrohir asked, glad that the tone had been lightened a little, and Legolas' grief and apathy along with it.

"I think a kiss." Elladan replied, after a little thought.

"That sounds a grand idea. But which of us would receive it? I might grow jealous, brother, if you were to take them all."

"Ah, you are right. Two then, one each... And one shared." Leaning around Legolas, Elladan brushed Elrohir's lips lightly with a kiss.

"If you demand it of me." Legolas said with a comical sigh, only slightly spoiled by the hitching breath caused by the passing of his tears. A kiss landed first on one cheekbone, then the matching one on the other side. Elrohir started laughing, and found himself unable to stop as the other two joined him. There had been enough tears for the day.

Gimli sat in a high backed chair in the halls of the King Elessar, watching Aragorn thank his advisors thank him for allowing him a week's rest and for monitoring the situation with the city's reconstruction. The dwarf stood as he heard his name mentioned, and topics turned to praise for his kin who had come south with the soul purpose of aiding the city of Gondor. Some comments were also made regarding the dwarves' consumption of the cellars and the evening noise, but these were brushed over by the King with a wink in Gimli's direction.

Standing, Aragorn advanced and welcomed the dwarf with a wide smile. Not for the first time that day, Gimli wondered at the spark of joy that he had seen in the King's grey eyes every time he looked his way.

After all the formalities had been exchanged and a great deal of current affairs had been discussed, Gimli sought out the King in the courtyards of the newly restored outer walls, examining the fine detail on the expansive gates.

He dismissed the foreman who had been giving Aragorn the tour with a nod and turned to his friend.

"What are you hiding from us, King of men? From your words when you left, you half expected to find your elven brother on his deathbed, or already departed this world for the next. Can we assume from your good cheer that this was not the case?"

"Elrohir has been returned to full health despite his trials." Aragorn had to smile, for he had been greatly worried for Elrohir when Arwen brought news of his grief. How different the situation had been from what he had been expecting. Not that he could ever have expected the true events.

"And still that does not warrant the humour in your eyes when you drift into thought." Gimli grumbled.
"We shall soon be receiving a visitor, Gimli, that I think you will be most happy to see." Aragorn answered, still smiling widely at the dwarf's mystification.

"Do not talk in riddles, man."

"Patience, Gimli. Patience."

They had been on the road back to Rivendell for three days, and it was proving more difficult than they had thought to find a messenger to take news to Aragorn. All of the people from the outer areas of the southern kingdom had travelled into the City for the coronation and were only now beginning to make their way back to their homes. Everyone was going in the wrong direction.

They set up a simple camp for the night, allowing the horses to graze and taking cover in the wide arms of an oak tree. The three settled quickly, the twins hanging their quivers and sword-belts from short branches so that they might relax more easily into the boughs.

Letting the dusk wash over them, the three listened to the soothing noises of a world settling down for the night. Birds landed smoothly in the nests around them, some in their own tree. Here and there, an eruption of noise signalled a nest of chicks greeting their parents home. A badger snuffled noisily in the undergrowth and a fox barked once in warning as the other nocturnal animal got a little close. A flutter of wings was a bat, its squeak loud in the relative silence.

Elrohir, chosen for first watch, struggled to remain awake as the other two slipped into reverie. He was drawn into sudden awareness, though, when all around him the world went silent. Placing a hand on Elladan's shoulder, and knowing that it would be enough to wake his brother, Elrohir slipped down a way onto the ground, searching for the cause of the disturbance amongst the creatures of the night.

Stilling, he listened. He could hear Elladan stirring Legolas above him, their breathing sounding loud and near in the quiet. A breath of wind shifted the trees around him and they sighed in reply. Then a foreign sound caught his attention. A pounding of feet on the ground, the rattle of metal armour. He leapt up to where the others waited.

"Orcs." He whispered. "Maybe ten. The trees and the wind have shielded their approach." Elladan handed Elrohir his sword, his own already strapped to his side.

"Hide or fight?"

"They are too close, we are too exposed here. We would be revealed." They looked as one at Legolas.

"You must stay here. We will draw them from the path before they are in sight." Legolas found himself holding his breath as the two disappeared from the branches around him. They headed first away from the path, and the orcs upon it, so that they could arc around and attack the troupe from the side.

It seemed a lifetime before sounds of the battle reached him, and he found his hands shaking in memory of a scene not so long ago. He fought against voicing the cries of his soul as it remembered.

But this time... this time he was not so weak. Not so defenceless. His eyes alighted upon the two bows, abandoned by the twins in favour of a closer fight with swords. There was a moment's indecision, but even as he grasped the bow centuries of training took over and his thoughts and panic faded to a distant buzz. He threw a quiver and bow over his shoulder and scrambled to the ground, knowing the movements held none of his old grace, so handicapped.

He dropped lightly the last short distance to the ground, taking the bow from its resting place and drawing the string from a pocket in the quiver, where it was kept for safety in an oiled rag. Stringing the bow took a couple of attempts, but single-mindedness won through and the bow was readied. Taking a handful of arrows from the quiver he stuck them in the ground beside him, going down on one knee to lessen the shaking he could feel through his whole body. He took a moment to practice picking them with the wrong three fingers and guiding them to the string. He was forced to adjust his bow hand to keep the bow from tipping out of balance, bringing his little finger around the back of the bow to keep it upright.
He knew his position would be made as soon as he started firing and so he took his time, pushing the panicked buzz further back as it started to get louder. Her tried to pull the string back and cursed as he found the fingers tremendously lacking in strength - but he didn't have time to adjust the strength of the bow, he would just have to cope with being overbowed and make compensations for it. Picking up his arrows in a clumsy hand he moved to the edge of the trees that were concealing him, kneeling again at the edge of the trees to reduce the movement through the bow. Fitting an arrow uncomfortably to the string and adjusting his bow hand to allow for the changed angle of his hand to the grip, he looked out into the clearing, slowly breathing out as he examined the situation. Elladan and Elrohir were back to back with swords out, two orcs each. A fifth was creeping up from the side and with very little thought, Legolas drew as strongly as he could and let fly. The arrow fell short of the orc, but the second arrow was already in flight with the needed adjustment and hit the orc before he had discovered the origin of the first. Remembering the adjustment, three more arrows flew and two hit their mark as Elladan and Elrohir finished off the other two orcs. There was a moment's bafflement from the twins as the remaining orcs fell seemingly without cause. Elladan bent to pull an arrow from an orc, a frown of confusion clear on his face.
"Brother, is this one of your arrows?" Elrohir was already headed to where Legolas was now sitting, the buzz of panic along with the adrenaline washing over him now that the danger had passed.

"Legolas?" Elladan laughed, rushing over to help Elrohir help him up. "Of course we would have known it was you straight away, only you missed with that first shot." He teased, sharing a slightly shocked glance with his brother.

"My apologies, I will try better in future." He winced as he stretched out his new string fingers, rubbing at his palm with his thumb as he tried to ease the tension of the unusual exertion. "Sweet Eru, that hurts. I need to get in a little more practice before I try that again." Elrohir slumped down behind him, his own adrenaline draining, and wrapped his arms around Legolas' shoulders, holding him tight.

"Welcome back." Elladan laughed.

Lady Janelly : Thanks hugely for all your help and ideas. Hope this was a good enough use of them all. ;)

Kitty : thanks very much for your review, your English is fabulous as its your second language.

Jedi-Bant : Ta

Sylive : hope this made it a bit better!