Disclaimer: I STILL don't own anything of Tolkien's. Which sucks.
Thanks to all my great reviewers!!
CHAPTER 12
Aragorn, Legolas, Enellewyn, and Gimli. This was the order the four hunters were sprinting as fast as possible in.
From her position behind Legolas, Enellewyn could hear Gimli grumbling to himself ("Need--puff—food—puff--rest. Stupid pointy elves,") irritably. She rolled her eyes.
"Aragorn, the cargo is getting tired!" Enellewyn yelled to him. Legolas laughed and Enellewyn hurried to catch up with him.
"We cannot rest until nightfall," Aragorn said unwaveringly, not even earning a small chuckle out of him. Gimli gave an audible cry of outrage.
"Sometimes he does not know when to quit." Enellewyn shook her head, staring at the determined weather-beaten ranger.
"One of these days he will get himself killed," Legolas said mock somberly (A/N: Does that phrase make sense? I wasn't sure) before running ahead to speak with Aragorn about something they had found.
Enellewyn admired him from afar, drinking in his handsome features. In fact, she was so engrossed in staring at Legolas that she didn't notice a certain dwarf scrutinizing her with a smug smirk on his face.
'I knew she fancied the elf!' Gimli thought with apparent satisfaction. Enellewyn froze, feeling a presence staring at her. Gimli immediately turned away, looking up at the cloudless blue sky innocently. Looking around, her eyes passing over her surroundings, she forced her limbs back into a more comfortable position, not staring at Legolas for any long periods of time again until evening fell.
When the sky turned dark, only a few pale stars twinkling feebly, Aragorn finally relented to Enellewyn and Gimli's griping and stopped to make camp. Enellewyn sat next to a small crackling fire, nibbling on a wafer of Lembas. Leaning on a boulder, she stared into the embers of the flame, her eyes oddly blank, a million thoughts coursing through her head like a rushing river.
Enellewyn, of course, had been quick enough to spot Gimli spying on her as she stared at Legolas. It had taken a lot to try and not blush a fiery crimson. So she had taken to not staring at the handsome elf for several hours.
'What if Gimli suspects that I like (or is it love?) Legolas? Of course he wouldn't. But what if he did? It was in plain sight that she was staring at Legolas, her best friend for three ages.'
Enellewyn desperately tried to shrug off the irritating thoughts bouncing around in her head like a bunch of annoying elflings that had had a few too many stolen, sugary pastries from the kitchens.
She was jerked out of her inner thoughts when Legolas plopped down next to her. He broke off a large piece of the elven wafer, breaking small portions off of it and popping them into his mouth.
Gimli sat across from the pair, looking as if his face would erupt in a mad grin any second. Enellewyn felt her cheeks subconsciously heat up. Legolas looked from Gimli to Enellewyn, giving them quizzical looks.
"Did I miss something?" he asked, swallowing the last of his wafer half. Enellewyn wrapped the Lembas in its emerald leaf wrapper mutely. Twisting her grandmother's ring in continuous circles, she tried to act as natural as possible.
Gimli partially opened his mouth as if to say something, but a strange look passed over his face. It was gone just as quickly as it came, and instead of uttering anything, he hastily stuffed the last of his wafer into his mouth. The crumbs scattered on his beard, becoming entangled in the coarse red strands of dwarf hair.
"Nothing," Gimli said, waving it off, even more lembas crumbs flying out of his mouth. Enellewyn let out a gusty breath she didn't even know she had been holding. Legolas glanced at her strangely, but he steered his attention towards his Dwarven friend, who was making a futile attempt to brush the crumbs off of his beard.
"When will you learn proper manners, my friend? You are as bad as Enellewyn!" Legolas exclaimed, chuckling to himself. Gimli glared, and Enellewyn let out an uneasy, but relieved, laugh. And so, just like that, the subject was changed.
That night, Legolas took the first watch. Enellewyn smothered the flame with a pail of water before drifting off to a fitful sleep.
When morning dawned bright and it seemed, earlier than usual, Enellewyn was hesitant to get out of bed.
"Enellewyn! Wake up!" Legolas prodded her with his foot. Enellewyn rose from her bedroll, stretching. She began packing her things and they were jogging across the landscape shortly.
"Rohan!" Aragorn said, overlooking large open fields. "Home of the horse lords." He called out to Legolas.
"Legolas! What do your elf eyes see?" Legolas leapt deftly from rock to rock until he had a good view.
"The Uruks turn northeast. They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" He yelled, eyes widening.
"Saruman!" Aragorn murmured. Enellewyn, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli ran well into the night, until the sun rose above the hills.
"A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night," Enellewyn whispered with a sense of foreboding. Suddenly, the sound of pounding hooves filled her sensitive ears. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli dived behind a rock. Enellewyn quickly followed before the strangers spotted her.
A fairly large sea of horses and riders came galloping out and Aragorn quickly jumped out from behind the boulder before they passed without notice. Enellewyn, Legolas, and Gimli followed.
"Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?" Aragorn bellowed over the thundering of hooves. The riders veered to the right, directing their horses towards them. The men surrounded them, pointing lethal spears at their throats.
"What business do two elves, a man, and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" a stern looking man with grimy blond hair said from his perch atop his horse.
"Give me your name, horse master, and I shall give you mine," Gimli said, trying to be friendly.
"I would cut off your head...dwarf," he spat the word out like it was the filthiest thing in Middle Earth. "If it stood but a little higher from the ground." Enellewyn's eyes darkened with hatred for this disrespectful mortal. In a flash, Legolas had his bowstring bent and was pointing one of his deadly arrows at the man.
"You would die before your stroke fell!" Legolas snarled menacingly.
Aragorn rested a hand on Legolas's arm and Legolas reluctantly put his arrow back in his quiver. His frosty glare still set on the man.
"Amin n'rangwa edanea (I don't understand these humans)," Enellewyn said, rolling her emerald eyes skywards.
"Amin weera yassen lle (I agree with you)," Legolas said. Eomer's (A/N: I was looking at the script and Eomer never tells Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli his name. Let's just pretend he did though! :o) attention was brought to Enellewyn.
"And what is a woman doing with you? Surely she cannot protect herself!" Eomer said arrogantly. Enellewyn thought she was going to get into a fistfight with him, but she contained herself. What she wasn't expecting was Legolas to remove another arrow and fit it into his bow as quick as lightning.
"Now you are testing my temper," Legolas said, pulling the bowstring so that it was completely taut. He nearly released the arrow, but Aragorn held him back.
"Antolle ulua sulrim (Much wind pours from you mouth)," Legolas mumbled under his breath, returning the arrow to his quiver.
Aragorn gave Legolas a murderous glare before returning to the matter at hand. He introduced himself and the rest of them, before explaining their dilemma.
Only one of Eomer's statements truly reached Enellewyn's delicate and sensitive ears.
"And everywhere his spies slip past our nets." He glanced meaningfully at Legolas and Enellewyn. They both clenched their fists simultaneously.
"Auta miqula orqu (go kiss an orc)," Enellewyn murmured. Luckily, Aragorn or Eomer hadn't heard her or she probably would have been in for a severe punishment.
Enellewyn zoned out on the rest of Eomer's speech, but was partly aware of Eomer riding away with his soldiers, leaving them with two sturdy horses ("Arod, Hasufel!")
Aragorn climbed atop one while Enellewyn leapt onto the back of the gray. She patted the spot behind her and Legolas helped Gimli before hoisting himself up easily. Enellewyn spurred the horse into a canter, by whispering softly in its ear. Gimli nearly fell off, but kept a vice-like grip around Legolas's waist.
"Did I miss anything important that that filthy human said?" Enellewyn asked casually.
"He told us of a battle that occurred with the Uruk-Hai. We are heading to the area where they left the carcasses to see if Merry and Pippin are still alive," Legolas said, summarizing it bluntly.
She wasn't really focusing on what he had just said because she felt his hands lightly wrap around her waist. Her cheeks turned a fresh scarlet. And even over the din of the howling winds, she could hear Gimli chuckling in the back.
Spurring the horse lightly with her boots and pulling back on the reins, Arod stood back on his hind hooves. Gimli shouted a curse in Khuzdul and Enellewyn and Legolas just laughed.
When they arrived, the putrid smell of burning flesh reached Enellewyn's nose. Aragorn quickly dismounted and began digging through the pile of Uruk- Hai bodies. Gimli tried to dismount the correct way but just ended up toppling over. He stood up, trying to keep his dignity. Legolas and Enellewyn descended from the horse's back gracefully.
Enellewyn noticed a spear with a head perched at the top, its face still frozen in a terrible scowl. Gimli was digging through the carcasses with his axe. He emitted a small gasp.
"It's one of their wee belts," the dwarf said remorsefully. Enellewyn's chest tightened. They couldn't be dead. Not now. Merry and Pippin were two of her best friends. She refused to believe that they were dead. They were smarter than that.
Aragorn kicked a discarded helmet, sending it flying through the air. He let out a strangled cry and fell to his feet. Suddenly, he looked up.
"A hobbit lay here. And another."
Good? Bad? Am I making it too much like a Mary-Sue? I've been afraid of that. Please give me feedback; I love it when my readers review. I'm dying to just end this story and get to my last one! (Although I do love writing this story.)
Response To Reviews:
Alassea2-I can't have Enellewyn tell Legolas that she likes him during the Two Towers or the Return of the King because then it will ruin the plotline for my next story. But it will happen, just not so soon. I think Enellewyn is still kind of in that denial-about-liking-your-best- friend stage. But it shall happen.
Candeebarz-I agree with you, but I'm not really in touch with my mushy, emotional, when somebody dies writing style. I will try to fit in her thoughts somewhere throughout the story.
Thanks to all my great reviewers!!
CHAPTER 12
Aragorn, Legolas, Enellewyn, and Gimli. This was the order the four hunters were sprinting as fast as possible in.
From her position behind Legolas, Enellewyn could hear Gimli grumbling to himself ("Need--puff—food—puff--rest. Stupid pointy elves,") irritably. She rolled her eyes.
"Aragorn, the cargo is getting tired!" Enellewyn yelled to him. Legolas laughed and Enellewyn hurried to catch up with him.
"We cannot rest until nightfall," Aragorn said unwaveringly, not even earning a small chuckle out of him. Gimli gave an audible cry of outrage.
"Sometimes he does not know when to quit." Enellewyn shook her head, staring at the determined weather-beaten ranger.
"One of these days he will get himself killed," Legolas said mock somberly (A/N: Does that phrase make sense? I wasn't sure) before running ahead to speak with Aragorn about something they had found.
Enellewyn admired him from afar, drinking in his handsome features. In fact, she was so engrossed in staring at Legolas that she didn't notice a certain dwarf scrutinizing her with a smug smirk on his face.
'I knew she fancied the elf!' Gimli thought with apparent satisfaction. Enellewyn froze, feeling a presence staring at her. Gimli immediately turned away, looking up at the cloudless blue sky innocently. Looking around, her eyes passing over her surroundings, she forced her limbs back into a more comfortable position, not staring at Legolas for any long periods of time again until evening fell.
When the sky turned dark, only a few pale stars twinkling feebly, Aragorn finally relented to Enellewyn and Gimli's griping and stopped to make camp. Enellewyn sat next to a small crackling fire, nibbling on a wafer of Lembas. Leaning on a boulder, she stared into the embers of the flame, her eyes oddly blank, a million thoughts coursing through her head like a rushing river.
Enellewyn, of course, had been quick enough to spot Gimli spying on her as she stared at Legolas. It had taken a lot to try and not blush a fiery crimson. So she had taken to not staring at the handsome elf for several hours.
'What if Gimli suspects that I like (or is it love?) Legolas? Of course he wouldn't. But what if he did? It was in plain sight that she was staring at Legolas, her best friend for three ages.'
Enellewyn desperately tried to shrug off the irritating thoughts bouncing around in her head like a bunch of annoying elflings that had had a few too many stolen, sugary pastries from the kitchens.
She was jerked out of her inner thoughts when Legolas plopped down next to her. He broke off a large piece of the elven wafer, breaking small portions off of it and popping them into his mouth.
Gimli sat across from the pair, looking as if his face would erupt in a mad grin any second. Enellewyn felt her cheeks subconsciously heat up. Legolas looked from Gimli to Enellewyn, giving them quizzical looks.
"Did I miss something?" he asked, swallowing the last of his wafer half. Enellewyn wrapped the Lembas in its emerald leaf wrapper mutely. Twisting her grandmother's ring in continuous circles, she tried to act as natural as possible.
Gimli partially opened his mouth as if to say something, but a strange look passed over his face. It was gone just as quickly as it came, and instead of uttering anything, he hastily stuffed the last of his wafer into his mouth. The crumbs scattered on his beard, becoming entangled in the coarse red strands of dwarf hair.
"Nothing," Gimli said, waving it off, even more lembas crumbs flying out of his mouth. Enellewyn let out a gusty breath she didn't even know she had been holding. Legolas glanced at her strangely, but he steered his attention towards his Dwarven friend, who was making a futile attempt to brush the crumbs off of his beard.
"When will you learn proper manners, my friend? You are as bad as Enellewyn!" Legolas exclaimed, chuckling to himself. Gimli glared, and Enellewyn let out an uneasy, but relieved, laugh. And so, just like that, the subject was changed.
That night, Legolas took the first watch. Enellewyn smothered the flame with a pail of water before drifting off to a fitful sleep.
When morning dawned bright and it seemed, earlier than usual, Enellewyn was hesitant to get out of bed.
"Enellewyn! Wake up!" Legolas prodded her with his foot. Enellewyn rose from her bedroll, stretching. She began packing her things and they were jogging across the landscape shortly.
"Rohan!" Aragorn said, overlooking large open fields. "Home of the horse lords." He called out to Legolas.
"Legolas! What do your elf eyes see?" Legolas leapt deftly from rock to rock until he had a good view.
"The Uruks turn northeast. They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" He yelled, eyes widening.
"Saruman!" Aragorn murmured. Enellewyn, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli ran well into the night, until the sun rose above the hills.
"A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night," Enellewyn whispered with a sense of foreboding. Suddenly, the sound of pounding hooves filled her sensitive ears. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli dived behind a rock. Enellewyn quickly followed before the strangers spotted her.
A fairly large sea of horses and riders came galloping out and Aragorn quickly jumped out from behind the boulder before they passed without notice. Enellewyn, Legolas, and Gimli followed.
"Riders of Rohan! What news from the Mark?" Aragorn bellowed over the thundering of hooves. The riders veered to the right, directing their horses towards them. The men surrounded them, pointing lethal spears at their throats.
"What business do two elves, a man, and a dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!" a stern looking man with grimy blond hair said from his perch atop his horse.
"Give me your name, horse master, and I shall give you mine," Gimli said, trying to be friendly.
"I would cut off your head...dwarf," he spat the word out like it was the filthiest thing in Middle Earth. "If it stood but a little higher from the ground." Enellewyn's eyes darkened with hatred for this disrespectful mortal. In a flash, Legolas had his bowstring bent and was pointing one of his deadly arrows at the man.
"You would die before your stroke fell!" Legolas snarled menacingly.
Aragorn rested a hand on Legolas's arm and Legolas reluctantly put his arrow back in his quiver. His frosty glare still set on the man.
"Amin n'rangwa edanea (I don't understand these humans)," Enellewyn said, rolling her emerald eyes skywards.
"Amin weera yassen lle (I agree with you)," Legolas said. Eomer's (A/N: I was looking at the script and Eomer never tells Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli his name. Let's just pretend he did though! :o) attention was brought to Enellewyn.
"And what is a woman doing with you? Surely she cannot protect herself!" Eomer said arrogantly. Enellewyn thought she was going to get into a fistfight with him, but she contained herself. What she wasn't expecting was Legolas to remove another arrow and fit it into his bow as quick as lightning.
"Now you are testing my temper," Legolas said, pulling the bowstring so that it was completely taut. He nearly released the arrow, but Aragorn held him back.
"Antolle ulua sulrim (Much wind pours from you mouth)," Legolas mumbled under his breath, returning the arrow to his quiver.
Aragorn gave Legolas a murderous glare before returning to the matter at hand. He introduced himself and the rest of them, before explaining their dilemma.
Only one of Eomer's statements truly reached Enellewyn's delicate and sensitive ears.
"And everywhere his spies slip past our nets." He glanced meaningfully at Legolas and Enellewyn. They both clenched their fists simultaneously.
"Auta miqula orqu (go kiss an orc)," Enellewyn murmured. Luckily, Aragorn or Eomer hadn't heard her or she probably would have been in for a severe punishment.
Enellewyn zoned out on the rest of Eomer's speech, but was partly aware of Eomer riding away with his soldiers, leaving them with two sturdy horses ("Arod, Hasufel!")
Aragorn climbed atop one while Enellewyn leapt onto the back of the gray. She patted the spot behind her and Legolas helped Gimli before hoisting himself up easily. Enellewyn spurred the horse into a canter, by whispering softly in its ear. Gimli nearly fell off, but kept a vice-like grip around Legolas's waist.
"Did I miss anything important that that filthy human said?" Enellewyn asked casually.
"He told us of a battle that occurred with the Uruk-Hai. We are heading to the area where they left the carcasses to see if Merry and Pippin are still alive," Legolas said, summarizing it bluntly.
She wasn't really focusing on what he had just said because she felt his hands lightly wrap around her waist. Her cheeks turned a fresh scarlet. And even over the din of the howling winds, she could hear Gimli chuckling in the back.
Spurring the horse lightly with her boots and pulling back on the reins, Arod stood back on his hind hooves. Gimli shouted a curse in Khuzdul and Enellewyn and Legolas just laughed.
When they arrived, the putrid smell of burning flesh reached Enellewyn's nose. Aragorn quickly dismounted and began digging through the pile of Uruk- Hai bodies. Gimli tried to dismount the correct way but just ended up toppling over. He stood up, trying to keep his dignity. Legolas and Enellewyn descended from the horse's back gracefully.
Enellewyn noticed a spear with a head perched at the top, its face still frozen in a terrible scowl. Gimli was digging through the carcasses with his axe. He emitted a small gasp.
"It's one of their wee belts," the dwarf said remorsefully. Enellewyn's chest tightened. They couldn't be dead. Not now. Merry and Pippin were two of her best friends. She refused to believe that they were dead. They were smarter than that.
Aragorn kicked a discarded helmet, sending it flying through the air. He let out a strangled cry and fell to his feet. Suddenly, he looked up.
"A hobbit lay here. And another."
Good? Bad? Am I making it too much like a Mary-Sue? I've been afraid of that. Please give me feedback; I love it when my readers review. I'm dying to just end this story and get to my last one! (Although I do love writing this story.)
Response To Reviews:
Alassea2-I can't have Enellewyn tell Legolas that she likes him during the Two Towers or the Return of the King because then it will ruin the plotline for my next story. But it will happen, just not so soon. I think Enellewyn is still kind of in that denial-about-liking-your-best- friend stage. But it shall happen.
Candeebarz-I agree with you, but I'm not really in touch with my mushy, emotional, when somebody dies writing style. I will try to fit in her thoughts somewhere throughout the story.