Hi everyone! Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that read and reviewed last chapter. Sorry it took so long, but here it finally is, chapter 15! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings and all associated characters are not mine. Don't sue.
o/o/o/o/
Gimli stood frozen in disbelief. No matter how hard he tried, he could not seem to make his mind comprehend the unbelievable scene his eyes beheld. Just like everyone else there watching from the sideline of the immense field, he had been startled when Glorfindel first suddenly burst from the surrounding stand of trees and raced towards the group of Imladris and Mirkwood delegates, all the while frantically shouting something Gimli could not quite discern; and then even more surprised when the female warrior in Thranduil's company was suddenly struck down by an arrow.
But even more startling than Glorfindel's appearance or the sudden attack was the sight of the one who had fired the deadly projectile.
At first, Gimli thought he was hallucinating, that grief had finally robbed him of his last remaining bit of sanity. But no. No! He wasn't the only one staring in disbelief at the golden haired apparition sitting astride a great white war horse on the other side of the field, staring down the length of another notched arrow. No! There was no denying the identity of the one he saw, or the name hovering just on the tip of his tongue, threatening to spill from his mouth in an exclamation of pure, unbridled disbelief and shock.
It was Legolas. His dearest friend and companion. His fellow warrior and comrade in arms. His confidant. His trusted ally. His blood brother...
For a moment Gimli thought he would faint from shock at the sudden appearance of the long thought dead elf. But then Legolas began to speak, his voice carrying loud and strong across the field over the growing headwind of the violent storm sweeping in overhead, and Gimli was finally brought out of his trance. Still feeling rather dazed as if he were caught in some sort of dream, the dwarf forced his still disbelieving eyes to look in the direction his friend still sat expertly aiming an arrow down into the small group of delegates huddled together in the middle of the field.
At first Gimli could not understand what was going on as the scene before him finally began to register in his frozen mind. Legolas had just shot down one of Thranduil's guards! And he now sat staring down the length of another arrow aimed at his father, friends, and kin! What had gotten into the elf?!
But then a voice rose up over the wind to answer the resurrected prince. A voice low and poisonous that Gimli instantly recognized and sent a cold chill running down the length of his spine.
Gimli stared in silent horror as he watched Thranduil's warrioress slowly pick herself up off the ground and turn to face Legolas, the feathered end of the prince's arrow still protruding from her back. A small exchange of shouted words took place between the two, but Gimli was unable to understand what was being said as a great gust of wind suddenly swept in through the field from the violent storm now breaking loose overhead. And then, with no other warning to those watching from the side of the field, a great flash of light suddenly exploded from around the female elf, her form momentarily disappearing from view behind the blinding burst of white.
As the light slowly faded away, leaving bright patches of white still glowing in the retinas of those watching, gasps of horror instantly went up around the field at the sight of the horrid looking being now standing over the body of Thranduil's commander laying motionless at her feet. Gimli felt his blood pressure quicken and his stomach clench with a violent surge of hatred unlike anything he had ever felt before at the sight of the one he saw.
Eronel...
The name echoed like a foul curse through the dwarf's head. He could feel his fists involuntarily clutch the handle of his mighty war axe tighter.
That witch... he mentally cursed, his hands now almost painfully gripping his weapon. She is the one behind all this. She is why we have all suffered so much this last long, horrible week, and why Legolas is now dead... But as soon as the thought crossed the dwarf's emotion-clouded mind he was instantly reminded of the golden haired elf standing no more than a hundred yards from where he stood.
Again Gimli was forced to try and comprehend the presence of the resurrected prince standing – living and breathing! – before his very eyes. The shock of such an inconceivable miracle seemed to want to try and crush him into the ground in its assault on his still confused and grief-wearied mind. No matter how hard he tried, he could not seem to make his mind truly comprehend the unbelievable sight he saw.
Legolas and Eronel were once again shouting at one another across the field. And once again Gimli was unable to hear them over the loud rolls of thunder crashing overhead. Everyone around the two seemed frozen, staring in wonder and shock at the resurrected prince and the emaciated elven sorceress. Even those standing in the middle of the field – elvenlords, princes, wizards, and warriors – all seemed turned to stone by the appearance of their long thought of dead friend, cousin, and son. None seemed able to move or think, let alone jump up to join the blonde archer in his stand against the evil elven sorceress.
It was then that Gimli suddenly truly saw the golden haired being before him, and felt a cold surge of dread wash over him like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head. With his initial shock over the elf's appearance finally beginning to pass, he was finally able to take inventory of several things he had been too startled to notice before.
For one thing, it was becoming increasingly clear that Legolas was not as well as Gimli (and he was sure everyone else there) had originally thought. Over the years he had become highly adept at reading the elf's subtle body language and being able to tell what condition his friend was in. And what he saw displayed before him filled him with a sense of undeniable dread.
As he stood watching Legolas stare down the length of another arrow aimed at the sorceress' chest, he was able to discern even from a distance the shaking of the elven prince's arms. Though he was obviously fighting to keep his bow straight and still, Gimli could see Legolas' entire upper body shaking with the effort it took him to keep his bow aloft and his arrow pulled back at the wretched looking witch. His legs clutched the sides of the horse he rode almost desperately, struggling to stay balanced atop the animal's back. Gimli could see Legolas' eyebrows knitted together in the center of his ashy-pale face and tiny wrinkles creasing the elven prince's forehead – all things which practically screamed at him of the immense pain and exhaustion the elf must be in to have it actually showing on his face.
Gimli felt his heart gripped by urgency and dread. Legolas would not be able to fight in this condition. He had no idea what miracle had transpired to have allowed the elven prince to be standing in front of him alive and breathing after almost a week of being believed dead, but whatever it was Gimli knew it was not going to be enough for Legolas to win this fight. He was going to need help.
A loud explosion suddenly sounded from the other side of the field, spurring Gimli into action. With no second thought to himself or anything else around him, the dwarf took off at a sprint, running full tilt with all the reputed speed of his race for the huddled group of figures in the middle of the field, and his resurrected friend. He was not going to let Eronel take his friend away from him again...
o/o/o/o/o
Legolas stared down the length of his arrow, struggling to keep his arms from shaking. His whole body felt sick with exhaustion and pain. What once had only been a dull, throbbing pain in his arm when he first woke had since morphed back into the hot, searing pain he remembered before Eronel's dark, death-like sleep first swept over him and claimed him as its own. His whole left arm felt like it had been dipped into a vat of burning acid. Pain like liquid fire raced up and down every inch of his arm, leeching away his strength and zapping his energy.
But he refused to let his weakness passively show or the pain dampen his resolve. Not here. Not now. Not when the one who had caused him, his family, and friends so much pain and suffering stood right before him. He was going to make Eronel pay. He was not going to let anyone else be hurt because of her. She had caused enough pain already. No matter what it took, he was going to stop her...
Eronel, however, did not seem at all intimidated by the sharp elven arrow aimed directly at her heart, or by the intense fire she saw burning in the elven prince's eyes. No, in fact, she looked rather cocky and self-assured, though a dark, contemptuous scowl still darkened her face from the prince's untimely and unexpected arrival there at the battlefield. For though Legolas tried to put on a strong act for her and everyone else there, the elven sorceress was able to easily see through his ruse to the truth of the matter.
"I see even against all odds you are still too stubborn – or perhaps too foolish – to just admit defeat," Eronel called out to Legolas over the long rolls of thunder crashing overhead. A great gale of wind whipped across the field, sending the witch's long dirty tresses flying up into the air around her. For a moment they seemed to take on a life of their own, as if they had suddenly been transformed into a batch of hissing, spitting vipers swaying to the rhythm of some silent, deadly tune. "You should have died days ago," she yelled at him with unbridled fury smoldering in her eyes, "Why couldn't you have just died like you were suppose to? What fool's hope of a chance do you hope to achieve by trying to stop me now?"
"I've often been accused of being obnoxiously stubborn..." Legolas called back to her over the growing headwind, his eyes never wavering from his target point on the elven sorceress' chest, "But when it comes to someone trying to intentionally harm my family or friends I tend to become downright determined in seeing that person meet a very unpleasant end..."
Eronel narrowed her eyes dangerously at the elven prince. Though his barely veiled threat left little doubt in the minds of those that heard it as to what he planned to do to the evil elven sorceress, Eronel still seemed strangely unperturbed. She cooly held Legolas' gaze, her eyes never leaving those of the archer's squinting down the length of another arrow.
"Even if you have managed to thwart my attempts at initiating war between Elves and Dwarves as my ultimate act of revenge, little prince, you still have no hope of defeating me and living to see another day yourself," she said, her voice low and venomous. She stared long and hard into the prince's crystal blue eyes, as if trying to look down into the elf's very soul.
"Yes... you know of what I speak," she said, reading the deep pain and exhaustion she knew the warrior desperately fought to hide behind a cold mask of vengeance, "You can feel it... Your life still steadily seeps from your body even as we speak..." The dark witch gave a low, mirthless chuckle at the slight narrowing of the prince's eyes that let her know he did in fact know what she was talking about.
"That healer Elrond may have used the enchanted water to break you out from under my spell, but he has not cured you of my poison," she chuckled darkly, "I can feel its toxin still flowing through your veins just as I know you can too. The water may have given you a temporary burst of strength to actually come here and face me with, but you can feel its magic already beginning to leave your. I can feel your strength slowly fading from your body, your soul crying out for release from this suffering you still chose to endure. Your friends may think they have cured you, but you know it is not true. You know you are still going to die..."
Thunder crashed loudly overhead as if in emphasis of the inevitable doom proclaimed by the evil elven sorceress. Wind whipped across the grassy field as lightening streaked across the darkened sky in great, multi-pronged forks of white. Rain began to fall in driving sheets.
But still the elven prince's bow did not waver from its target of the witch's black, beating heart.
"It doesn't matter what happens to me anymore, Eronel," Legolas called out to her across the rain-pelted field, "No matter what, your evil ends here today. I will not let you harm anyone else because of your own wickedness and hatred. I will defeat you. Even if it the last thing I do..."
Eronel's horrid face twisted up into a sneering, contemptuous snarl. "Oh, believe me, little prince, it will be... Make no mistake about that..." Then throwing her arms out to either side of her as if in invitation for Legolas to strike, she cried, "Well come then, little prince! Come and try to stop me! Just know that before the end, you will wish you had died from my poison after all..."
Righteous anger burning in his sapphire blue eyes, Legolas finally released the arrow he had been holding pulled back on his bow now for the last several minutes with a loud, resounding twang. Like a blurry streak, the arrow shot through the air with deadly accuracy directly for the elven sorceress' heart. But before it could come within the last several feet of her, Eronel batted the offending weapon aside with a powerful blast of magic from her hand. Snapped in two, the arrow fell uselessly to the ground beside her.
Kicking his horse into a full gallop, Legolas charged down into the field, firing off several more arrows at Eronel as he bore down her. Eronel effortlessly battled these aside also as if she were doing nothing more than swatting away a swarm of pesky flies. Deflecting another one of Legolas' arrows, the witch then pulled her hand back and hurled a ball of brilliant white energy at the elven prince.
Taken by surprise by the speed of the unexpected attack, Legolas quickly swerved his horse to the side, just narrowly managing to escape the witch's attack as it hit the ground and exploded only several feet away from him. But he did not stop or slow his charge in the slightest, and pushed his horse even faster.
Snarling at the prince's determined efforts, Eronel threw several more attacks of energy at him as he continued to advance on her across the open field. The elf expertly dodged and maneuvered his horse through the witch's continuous onslaught of exploding attacks most of the way into the field, but as he neared the last hundred feet or so, Eronel finally managed to land an attack almost directly in front of Legolas' horse.
Rearing back in fright, the stallion Legolas rode let out a loud squeal of terror and abruptly wheeled away from the impacted area of scorched earth left in the wake of Eronel's attack. Too weak to hold on or react fast enough, Legolas was thrown off the moving animal's back and hit the ground hard in a tumbling roll several dozen yards from the elven sorceress.
"Legolas!" Thranduil cried out in horror as he watched his youngest son tumble through the air like a limp rag doll in seemingly slow motion before colliding with the hard earthen ground. Answering gasps of horror went up from those standing in the middle of the field beside him. Frantically looking over at his remaining commander Thranduil screamed, "Eredil! Get Celion to safety and healer! Now!"
Wasting no time, the Mirkwood elf quickly followed his lord's command and leapt down from his horse's back to collect the bleeding female warrior off the ground. Cradling Celion's limp form in his arms, he leapt back up onto his horse and without even a cursory glance back at his liege or the others there beside him, took off at a galloping run for the Mirkwood lines.
His injured commander now taken care of and removed from the heat of battle, Thranduil once more turned his attention to his fallen son. In one fluid motion he retched his sword from its sheath. "Legolas!" he called out loudly over the sound of thundering rain, "Hold on, my son! I am coming!" Kicking his horse into motion, the Elvenking made a charge for Eronel standing only several dozen feet away.
As if finally startled awake out of a deep trance by Thranduil's frantic charge and the sight of Legolas' fall, the others there – Aragorn, Glorfindel, Elladan and Elrohir, the king's nephew Toreingal, and Gandalf – all spurred their horses into a full gallop after the Elvenking with swords raised and ready, desperate to reach their fallen friend and protect him from the evil elven sorceress slowly advancing on his still body.
Looking over her shoulder with a annoyed scowl of disdain, Eronel, paused in her advance on the fallen prince and turned to face the charging company of riders. "Stay away! He is mine!!" she shrieked, raising her hand back in a sweeping gesture and summoning a large wall of powerful, swirling wind at the approaching group of warriors.
Before those charging her could react in time, they were sent flying backwards by the blow, their horses neighing loudly in fright and rearing back on their hind legs as several of their riders were sent crashing to the ground much like Legolas had. Thranduil was one of them. Scrambling to his feet, the Elvenking desperately looked in the direction of his downed son still laying face down on the ground.
"Legolas!" he cried, reaching down and collecting his sword where it had been knocked from his hand sometime during his fall from the witch's attack. He once more tried to advance on the elven sorceress, but Eronel would have none of it.
"I am warning you, king, stay away! This battle is between me and the elfling!" Reaching back, the witch sent another ball of glowing magical energy hurling at the desperate father. The attack hit Thranduil square in the chest and sent him flying backwards off his feet onto his back.
"Uncle!" Toreingal cried, immediately rushing to Thranduil's side. He was followed close by Gandalf, Aragorn, Glorfindel, and the twins. Together with the help of the white wizard, the younger elf helped ease his dazed uncle up off the ground into a sitting position against his chest. "Uncle? Uncle, can you hear me?" he called, desperately shaking Thranduil's shoulder. The front of Thranduil's chest armor was now nothing more than a blackened mass of scorched mental.
A pained groan issued from the Elvenking as he dazedly blinked his eyes open and into focus. "Legolas..." he weakly whispered, ignoring his nephew's calls and staring off in his son's direction.
"We can't get to him. Eronel won't let us I'm afraid," Gandalf said, reading the desperate look shining in the Elvenking's eyes.
"No... I have to get to him... I have to protect my son," Thranduil said, stubbornly trying to pull himself up onto his feet. But before he could even roll to his side and drag himself up onto his knees, the Elvenking fell back against his nephew's chest, still too dazed and weak from the elven sorceress' attack.
"No. You must not move. You're hurt," Aragorn said, quickly kneeling down beside the elf and placing a restraining hand on the Elvenking's shoulder. Thranduil at first tried to fight against the man's attempts to hold him down but soon had to relinquish his fight, too weak to continue.
"No... my son..." Thranduil once more tried to plead, desperately looking off in Legolas' direction. But even as he struggled one last time to rise and go to his son's aide, he collapsed back down into his nephew's arms, even then knowing he was unable to do anything for his youngest child.
Bound together in their helplessness of doing anything for the resurrected elf, the small group of united enemies stared in Legolas' direction, all silently praying for some kind of miracle...
o/o/o/
The first thing Legolas became aware of as the initial numbness and shock of his fall began to subside was the fiery pain and exhaustion racking his weak and battered body. He felt like he had just survived being passed through a meat grinder and tossed to a pack of rabid wargs. Every inch of his body hurt. At that moment nothing sounded so tempting or sweet than to just let darkness steal over him and drift away into peaceful black oblivion. He felt like he could sleep for a thousand years, then nap for a thousand more and still not be rid of the incessant, all consuming exhaustion that plagued his poor, debilitated body. Pain raced up and down every fiber and sinew of his poisoned blue arm, slowly leeching away his strength and will to press on and fight.
But such defeat was not something the elven prince could just so easily stomach or accept. Forcing himself to ignore his exhaustion and pain, Legolas slowly pulled himself to his knees, then shakingly to his feet. He swayed for a moment, his knees almost buckling beneath him, but he had not come so far as to give up now. Turning to face the elven sorceress standing no more than half a dozen paces away from him, the warrior prince slowly reached into his tunic and withdrew the long, silvery-blue mass of a sheathed dagger from its folds.
Pulling the knife from its jeweled sheath, Legolas held the iridescent blade up for the witch to see. "You remember what this is, don't you, Eronel?" he called out over the pounding rain, "This is the dagger a dwarf once used to defeat you and seal you away in a dark stinking cave with. It is the blade that stopped your evil before, and what I will use once again to defeat you with."
Eronel's eyes flashed dangerously at the sight of the poisoned dagger in Legolas' hands, but she quickly schooled her anger and leveled a cool, condescending gaze at the elven prince. "You forget, elfling, that that is also the same dagger you managed to cut yourself on and doom yourself to a slow painful death with. Your friends may have bought you some extra time with that magic water, but that dagger's poison still flows through your veins, slowly draining you of life. You have no hope of winning."
"Like I said before, witch, it doesn't matter what happens to me anymore," Legolas said in a low, even voice, "Even if I die defeating you, I will at least die with the knowledge your evil can no longer hurt those left behind."
Eronel's lips curled up the sides of her face in an ugly, contemptuous snarl. "You are presumptuous for one whose life seeps from him as quickly as water through a sieve."
"No. I am dangerous," Legolas corrected, "For warriors such as I are those who have nothing to lose and everything to fight for." And giving no time for the witch to reply, he attacked.
The prince's attack at first startled the elven sorceress, his determination and rage lending his weary body unexpected speed and strength. But despite Legolas' abruptness and the burning emotions fueling his attack, Eronel was quick to recover and met the prince's attack with a shield of magic to thwart his attempts. For several minutes the two adversaries fought and circled – the power of magic set against the strength of steel. Ducking, then dodging, then moving in to strike, Legolas bore down on the witch with as much intensity as if fighting the very Dark Lord of Mordor himself. But soon, despite Legolas' determination and righteous anger, Eronel overcame him with a sudden attack and brutally batted the elven prince away from her with a powerful blast of magic from her hand.
Legolas was sent flying backwards onto the ground, his head hitting the hard, muddy ground with a dull, painful thwack. White flashed in his eyes as pain as intense as molten fire exploded through his beaten body. He tried to move and get back up, but he promptly collapsed back down onto his side where he lay, too weak to try and defend himself anymore. He lay there motionless on the rain drenched ground, unable to move. His entire body felt like one huge throbbing wound. The fiery pain of his poisoned arm now felt like acid coursing through his veins. He could barely even feel the dagger still clutched in his right hand anymore let alone muster the energy needed to once again rise and face the witch. Almost paralyzed by pain and exhaustion, the elven prince was only vaguely aware of the sorceress' dark presence slowly coming to stand over him.
"That was pathetically pathetic," he heard Eronel drawl, her mocking voice rising up over the sound of driving rain like poison on the wind, "For all that whole heroic talk you just gave about defeating me and ending my reign of evil, I would have thought you would have given me at least a little bit better of a fight than that." Legolas said nothing and only weakly glared up at her through the haze of anger and pain still clouding his fiery blue eyes.
Eronel let out a low, evil chuckle at the sight. "Ah, my little prince, it is so sad to have to end this all after all the fun we've had together, but I'm afraid this last little stunt of yours showing up here on the battlefield and ruining my plans has made me mad. I was going to let you just peacefully fade away into Mando's Halls under my spell, but now that you've gone and insisted on making yourself a nuisance, I'm going to make sure you die nice and slow..."
Raising her hand up over her head, Eronel summoned a great ball of magical energy. Despite Legolas' attempts to hide it, his eyes widened in fear as he stared up at his own looming death. The elven sorceress laughed with sadistic glee at the prince's obvious fear.
"Goodbye, little prince..." Eronel grinned down at the helpless warrior at her feet, "Give my regards to Mandos..." Then raising the glowing ball of energy up over her head, she prepared to deliver the final blow. Legolas closed his eyes and turned his face away, ready to receive the final strike. He was not going to let the witch have the satisfaction of seeing in his last few moments of life the repentant shine of tears in his eyes for his failure to once and for all put an end to Eronel and her evil ways.
But as he lay there waiting for the final stroke to fall, he suddenly heard a scream of pain ring out above him.
His eyes flying open at the sound, Legolas looked up to see Eronel staggering away from him with her left arm tightly cradled against her chest. He saw blood appear between her fingers clutching at the bleeding wound and blossom out across her rain soaked sleeve. She stared down at her bleeding arm for several long moments before looking back up at the elven prince with fiery rage and hatred in her eyes.
Legolas lay stunned, unable to understand what just happened. But then he suddenly realized that the witch was not actually staring at him. No, instead, Eronel's eyes seemed fixated on some point just above and behind him. Looking back over his shoulder, Legolas let out a small gasp at the sight of the one he saw.
"Gimli"
There, standing almost right over the downed prince stood Legolas' best friend, his mighty battle axe held up in front of his chest like the image of some fell and ancient god of retribution. A small line of red ran along the edge of the dwarf's mighty axe, attesting to his last minute intervention of saving the elven prince's life. Vengeful fire burned in his dark little eyes as he stared in Eronel's direction, as if wanting nothing more than to charge and part the witch's head from her body in one fell chop.
"Gimli..." Legolas once again whispered as he stared up at his friend with untold emotions shining in his depthless blue eyes.
The dwarf finally broke his gaze away from the elven sorceress at the soft calling of his name and looked back down at his wounded friend laying prone and helpless at his feet. For several long moments of eternity, the two just stared at each other, unable to find any words to say in the wake of the terrible ordeal they had both suffered to try and reach each other once again. Everything else around them seemed to melt away and disappear as they both stared into each other's eyes, lost in the fact they were once again reunited.
Gimli was the first to speak. "Legolas..." he choked, staring at the elf with watery brown eyes as he knelt down beside his friend and shakingly reached out to grasp one of the archer's hands in his own as if unable to believe the sight he saw without first touching the resurrected elf to confirm he truly existed. "Is it really you?"
Legolas' face broke into a wide, quivering smile at the dwarf's question, his own eyes suspiciously moist. "Yes. It's me."
"But... how?" Gimli whispered, his eyes still scanning the prince's body in disbelief, "You were dead. I saw you..."
"No. It was a trick by Eronel," Legolas said, shaking his head, "She wanted everyone to believe I was dead to instigate this war between our races."
"I still can't believe it's really you..." Gimli stammered, almost convulsively gripping Legolas' in his hand as if he was afraid Legolas would somehow disappear if he let the elf go, "All this time I thought you dead... and now–"
"Gimli, please, we do not have time. I came here to warn you," Legolas interrupted, desperately cutting their reunion short, "We have to stop Eronel. We cannot let her win. She will not stop until she is either defeated or all of Middle-earth lays under her control. We have to stop her."
Gimli's tearful face almost instantly grew serious again at his friend's words. For a moment, in his chaotic whirlwind of emotions at seeing Legolas alive again, he had almost totally forgotten about the one who had put his friend into such an unnatural, death-like sleep and now stood ready to kill everyone in her path to achieve her ultimate goal of world domination. "Don't worry, elf," he said, looking back into his friend's bright blue eyes, "I'm not going to let that witch get away with what she's done. She will taste the edge of my axe again before this day is done. We will stop her and put an end to her evil once and for all. You have my word on that..."
"That is what you think, dwarf," a low, poisonous voice suddenly spoke up half a dozen paces from the two friends, making them both quickly look back up at her, "Just because you managed to somehow sneak up on me and save your little friend does not mean you have any chance of winning. You and that elf have continually managed to somehow ruin my plans. I will not let you interfere again and stop me from taking what is rightfully mine. I will rule Middle-earth! And I am not going to let some pathetic little elfling and his pet dwarf stop me from doing so!"
Gimli literally seemed to bristle around the edges at the witch's words, and quickly leapt to his feet to once more face the elven sorceress. Carefully stepping over Legolas, he came to stand between his friend and the wretched looking witch, his axe once more held in front of his chest in an undeniably threatening way. "I swear, witch, if you try to come even one step closer to Legolas, I am going to cleave you in half from head to toe..."
The dwarf's words carried power and no small bit of warning in them as to the punishment he intended to deal out if Eronel did so chose to try and test his claim. But Eronel was too arrogant and self-confident to be intimidated, and laughed jeeringly at the stout little warrior's threat.
"Do you really think you can stop me?" she laughed, taking several steps closer to the downed elf and the dwarven warrior protectively standing over him, "Do you really think some little dwarf and half dead elf are going to stop me?" she crowed, "Really... you are more stupid than you look, dwarf, if you truly think so..."
"Believe me, witch, I intend to try my best..." Gimli growled. And much like Legolas had done before his unexpected arrival there on the field, Gimli leapt at the elven sorceress, his axe raised up over his shoulder to deliver a devastating blow.
Eronel quickly leapt out of the path of the dwarf's axe and turned to face him, a ball of glowing magical energy already hovering in her upturned palm. Throwing it at him, the elven sorceress stepped back several feet to gain more distance between herself and the enraged dwarf attacking her. Gimli managed to dodge the fiery attack and continued his press on the elven sorceress, roaring an ancient dwarven battle cry as he did so.
As Eronel and Gimli met head on in an almost titanic crash of power, Legolas looked out in horror. "Gimli, no!" he shouted. Pulling his weak and trembling limbs underneath him, the elven prince desperately struggled to push himself up and stand. He had to help Gimli! He did not know what he was getting himself into fighting the witch alone. Eronel was more powerful than her wretched, emaciated form gave her credit for. He had to help him.
Willing his exhausted, hurting body to obey, Legolas shakingly forced himself up onto his feet. Clutching the cursed poisoned dagger he still held tighter in his hand, the elven prince hurried for his friend and the evil elven sorceress. Explosions of Eronel's magic rocked the air almost as loud as the deafening thunder and lightening breaking loose overhead in the stormy purple-black sky. Rain lashed Legolas' face as he ran for Gimli and Eronel, pushing his weary body to hurry.
As Eronel brutally knocked Gimli back several feet away from her with a powerful blast of magic, Legolas finally reached the dueling pair and came to stand beside his dwarven companion. Gimli paused for a moment in his battle with Eronel to look at the elven prince suddenly standing there beside him in surprise. Legolas offered no explanation as to his sudden arrival, and only gave a small smile of greeting to the startled dwarf before once more turning his attention on the evil elven sorceress standing in front of them, his eyes narrowing to two dangerous slits and his hand reflexively gripping the grip of his poisoned dagger tighter. Gimli at first stared at Legolas for a long moment of silence before a small devilish grin slowly spread across his bearded face. With his friend close beside him, Gimli confidently turned back to face Eronel again who stood watching the elf and dwarf with guarded wariness.
Aulë it's good to fight beside you once again... Gimli could not help but feel his heart rejoice at the return of the elf's strong, familiar presence to his side. In all of the days following Legolas' supposed death, that had been the one thing Gimli was sure he would never be able to feel again – that sense of wholeness and confidence in the knowledge that his best friend and blood brother was there beside him, offering him his own strength and support.
Together, without any need for communication or words, the two simultaneously attacked, their synchronization and timing honed from years of fighting together in battle. They moved in perfect rhythm. As one attacked and quickly moved back out of the path of Eronel's counterattack, the other would slip in from the other side to attack.
Eronel screamed in rage as she tried to fend off the attacking pair. They were so perfectly matched – one making up for the other and balancing his weaknesses with his own strengths – that she almost felt as if she were really fighting one. Never before had she ever fought a warrior – or warriors – that kept her on the defensive like this. It was a disconcerting shift of power, and she did not like it.
"Damn you!!" she screamed as she sent a fiery mass of energy flying at Gimli. The dwarf managed to dodge the attack, but received a nasty burn across his arm as he did. But the wound did not deter him in the least, and seemed to actually feed his drive to defeat the elven witch. Legolas suddenly came at her from the left with the cursed dagger shining dangerously in his hand. Eronel deflected the slash aimed for her stomach with a shield of magical energy and tried to lash out and bat the elven prince away from her, but he had already shied away back out of her reach to allow Gimli room to make an attack from the other side.
Fending off the dwarf's attack, Eronel felt rage boil up inside her like an erupting volcano. This had gone far enough... Summoning a great aura of energy around herself, the witch waited until the elf and dwarf came close enough to try and attack her again before suddenly expending the great concentration of energy so that it exploded out from her like the blast of an exploding star.
Legolas and Gimli were taken by surprise by the sudden blast and both sent flying backwards several dozen feet from the elven sorceress. As Legolas hit the ground with a sickening crunch and a choked off scream of pain – his right arm snapping like dry kindling beneath him as his body fell atop it at an odd angle – the poisoned dagger went flying from his hand and landed several yards away from him in the rain-drenched grass.
Writhing in agony, Legolas lay in total pain, cradling his broken arm to his chest with his other poisoned blue appendage. If he thought his misery could get no worse, he had been sorely wrong. Unbidden tears of agony blurred his vision and threatened to slip down his ashen cheeks. But he refused to give into temptation and only weakly curled in around himself, desperately trying to fight the undescribable waves of pain that threatened to tear his consciousness away from him like a storm tears a ship from its mooring ropes.
Eronel laughed wickedly at the sight of the prince's poor, battered body curled up on itself in a ball on the cold, wet ground. "Ah, my poor little prince...," she said as she slowly began walking towards the elven prince, "I told you you should have just let yourself slip away under my spell. But you had to decide to bring more misery onto yourself by trying to come here and stop me... and now look where that decision's gotten you – nowhere but defeated and broken on the ground." As Eronel drew closer, Legolas desperately tried to pull himself back up off the ground to face her, but his efforts were all in vain and he weakly slumped back down onto the ground, his body too weak and exhausted for him to protect himself anymore. He could do nothing more than glare up at her with helpless, rage filled eyes.
"You poor poor thing..." Eronel mockingly crooned as she came to stand over the helpless archer, "Look at how much pain you're in... You know, so many people have called me cold and heartless over the years – and perhaps many of them were right – but believe me, prince, when I say I still have some small shred of mercy in me," she said as she slowly raised her hand up over her head and summoned a great ball of fiery energy, "And to show you I still possess mercy, I think I'm going to be nice and put you out of your misery for you..." Cackling loudly over the pounding rain and crashing thunder, the elven sorceress slowly raised the glowing ball of energy high up over the helpless form laying at her feet.
Several dozen feet away where he had been thrown back by Eronel's attack, Gimli watched in horror as the elven witch prepared to deliver the final deadly blow to his best friend. Pulling himself to his feet, he made to rush to his friend's aide. But as he bent down to retrieve his fallen axe, he saw out of the corner of his eye a pale, silvery-blue mass laying in the grass off to his side. It was Legolas' dagger – the cursed blade Gimli had given him as an innocent gift almost one week ago and had almost doomed Middle-earth to an all out war between Elves and Dwarves when Legolas had been thought dead from its poison. Glancing down at it and then back up at Eronel standing over the elven prince's body, Gimli hurriedly reached down and snatched it from the ground. Then with a tremendous battle cry, he charged the elven sorceress' turned back.
Eronel was just about to drop the deadly ball of energy on the helpless prince when she heard the dwarf's battle cry ring out behind her. Almost too late, she whirled around to see the enraged warrior running towards her, the cursed, ancient dagger held high in his hands. With a startled gasp, the elven witch leapt back from the dwarf's blade, her ball of energy immediately dissipating at her sudden loss of concentration. Before she could react in time to protect herself, Gimli was already atop her, and delivered a long, stinging cut across her arm.
With a howl of rage, Eronel stared down at her bleeding arm which now bore the marks of two separate cuts from the stout warrior's blade. Murderous fire burned in her eyes as she looked back up at Gimli with undeniable hatred. "You foul little creature..." she hissed, all thoughts of the injured elven prince now totally gone from her mind, "I will kill you for that!" Lunging at the dwarf, Eronel brutally sent him flying back through the air with a powerful blast of magic from her hand.
Gimli hit the ground hard and came to a stop only after rolling half a dozen feet from where he had initially landed. Groaning, he tried to pull himself to his feet, but Eronel was already on top of him. With a brutal kick to the ribs the witch sent him flying through the air again, her anger radiating off her in almost palpable waves of crackling energy as she followed after him each time he landed to deliver another blow.
"You know, I've always hated dwarves," she said as she once more batted Gimli to the ground with a powerful attack, "Foul, disgusting little creatures that do nothing but wallow in darkness and dirt..."
"Funny," Gimli mused as he struggled to his feet to face the elven witch again as she quickly strode forward to deliver him another blow, "That's the same description I would use for you..."
His joke, however, was not met with much enthusiasm, and Eronel brutally batted him aside like a rag doll for the comment. Gimli once more struggled to his feet, his notorious stubbornness for refusing to admit defeat once more earning its reputation. The poisoned dagger he had somehow managed to keep a hold of during his midair flights through the air came up to bear in front of his chest as the elven sorceress neared him again to bat his across the field. But Eronel was to have none of it and knocked the blade from Gimli's grasp before he could reach her to strike.
The blade went sailing through the air, leaving Gimli with nothing left to defend himself with as Eronel once more sent him crashing back to the ground with a well aimed attack. Neither the evil sorceress or dwarf saw the injured prince slowly drag himself up off the ground behind them and reach for fallen dagger that had landed only several feet away from where he lay...
Slowly coming to stand over the dwarf, Eronel said, "You know, it would seem almost fitting that I kill you here today, dwarf," she mused in a low, condescending way, "After all, it was your ancestor that trapped me in that dark, stinking cave over three thousand years ago."
"A fact I am very proud to say belongs to one of my bloodline..." Gimli replied, his eyes never leaving those of the elven sorceress.
Eronel's face contorted into a mask of contemptuous rage as she stared down at the belligerent dwarf. "Well, whatever the case, it really doesn't matter anymore. Because once I've said my goodbyes to you here, I intend to go back and finish the little prince off. It would be inhumane to leave such a pathetic little creature whimpering and crying in pain like that on the ground..."
"I swear, witch, if you go anywhere near him–"
"You'll do what?" Eronel laughed, cutting him off with an evil cackle. "You can't do anything to stop me," she crowed, slowly raising another ball of glowing white energy up over her head and the helpless dwarf at her feet, "I am invincible..."
But as Gimli watched the elven witch prepare to deliver the final killing blow, Eronel's face suddenly contorted in surprise and her body arched backwards away from him. A terrifying howl of pain flew from her lips as a soft, deadly voice spoke up behind her. "That's what you think you, Eronel..."
Sitting there in shock, Gimli looked up over the witch's shoulder to the see Legolas standing there behind the witch, the hilt of Eronel's cursed dagger protruding from her back where the blonde archer had savagely plunged it into her body with his unbroken, poisoned-blue arm.
"I will not let you hurt any more people I care about, Eronel..." he whispered over the witch's horrible screams, "This all ends now..." And with a brutal twist of his wrist, he retched the curse dagger back out of Eronel's back.
The witch gave a horrible gurgling scream, her whole body contorting in pain. An aura of blinding white light suddenly formed around her wretched body as she shrieked and howled in agony at her defeat. Like a glowing star, the light grew brighter until she was finally swallowed from sight by the blinding white curtain of light. Then with no other warning to those watching the fantastic display, the great ball of energy suddenly exploded.
In a great concussion wave, Eronel's dispersed magical energy rocketed out across the field in all directions, leveling everything in its path. Those warriors watching from the edges of the immense field were instantly thrown back by the huge blast as their horses reared and neighed in fright. Screams of terror rent the air as the entire world momentarily vanished from sight behind a wall of brilliant light.
A heavy stillness quickly descended upon the field as the blinding wave of light slowly faded from the air. A long, low roll of thunder sounded overhead in the dark grey sky as rain continued to softly fall down on the open field below. Nothing seemed to stir in the still aftermath of the intense explosion. Only the soft hiss of falling rain could be heard filling the empty void of silence.
Grunting softly under his breath, Gimli slowly pulled himself up to sit where he had been thrown back by the blast of the unexpected explosion. Several dwarven curses immediately followed as he gingerly shook his head and winced at the sharp, stabbing pain the movement sent shooting through his skull. His whole body hurt something awful and there was a soft buzzing in his ears that refused to go away. All in all, Gimli was sure he had had better days.
Ignoring the cold drops of water that continued to shower down on his aching body, Gimli dazedly looked around. From where he sat he could see those elves on the outskirts of the field also beginning to slowly pull themselves up off the ground and turn to stare in his direction near the center of the field. Slowly scanning the surrounding area, Gimli saw that Eronel was no longer anywhere to be seen. All that remained of the elven sorceress was a small patch of scorched ground several feet away from him where she had been standing when Legolas first suddenly attacked...
Legolas!
The name instantly sent a bolt of dread coursing through dwarf's heart as he quickly looked around him for his elven friend. "Legolas! Legolas!" he began calling, desperately pushing himself up to stand on unsteady legs, "Elf, where are you?!"
Frantically looking around him, Gimli was finally able to make out the form of a slender blonde figure laying limp and motionless face down on the muddy ground several yards away from him. Rushing towards it, Gimli quickly knelt down beside his friend's still body.
"Legolas? Legolas?! Answer me, elf!" he cried, rolling limp body over in his arms to gently cradle him against his chest. No kind of response came from the prince as his head lifelessly rolled back into the crook of Gimli's elbow and remained there, still and motionless. "Legolas? Please, Legolas, answer me," the dwarf softly pleaded, searching his friend's pale, sickly features for any sign of life. He hugged the limp form closer, but could feel none of the elf's once powerful warmth and strength. Only cold emptiness.
"Please..." he whispered in growing despair, "Please don't leave me again..."
But there still came no answer from the quiet elven prince.
Gimli sat there for a long moment of silence just watching the raindrops softly fall against the elf's still and peaceful face. Somehow it seemed so wrong to him to watch those tiny teardrops from heaven slowly puddle on the elf's translucent skin before running off in tiny little streams along the delicate curve of his forehead and cheeks. It was just so wrong... After all that had just happened, and the elf's miraculous return, it was just so wrong...
A hollow sob rent the air and it took Gimli a moment to realize that it had come from him. Another one quickly followed that and before he knew what was happening, Gimli felt his heart rip open and all his grief and anguish which he thought he had finally begun to exhaust come rushing back to the surface. Salty tears streamed down his cheeks to mingle with the icy rain soaking his face and beard. After all this time he thought he had had no tears left to shed for his beloved friend, but it appeared as though he had been wrong again.
Crushing the elven prince's lifeless body to him, Gimli let out a strangled, sobbing wail of despair. Then throwing his head back to the crying grey heavens above, he screamed out his misery in a loud, echoing roar of anguish that reverberated through the wet, chilly air even unto the farthest reaches of the wide grassy field.
But as his cry slowly faded from the misty air, the only thing to answer the anguished dwarf was the soft, silvery hiss of falling rain...
To Be Continued...
Some Reviewer Responses:
Templa Otmena: Thank you for that wonderful review! I'm glad that you're enjoying this fic along with my other ones. I hope this last chapter was something along the lines you were expecting. Was there enough elf-angst in it for you or should I put more in next time? I'm only planning on one more chapter for this story so my next update should be for "Writings" again. And then after that, its going to be "They Came" all the way. Thanks for reading!
Arienwen: LOL thanks for the review. Yes, I've come to the conclusion almost all my stories are angst based, but I just can't help it! Exhausting to write, you ask? Well... I guess. I mean dreaming up the plot line is a cinch (I don't know... angst just seems to come natural to me :P) but the actually writing part of it can get kind of grueling at times. I have a tendency to agonize over almost every sentence because I want to get all the angsty goodness I can into each one! Thanks again for the review and hope you liked this last one!
White Wolf 1: She was abducted by aliens and is currently being held aboard a ship hovering somewhere over Antarctica... LOL just joking. No, it's me! I swear! LOL. I'm glad to see you liked the last chapter. I hope this update wasn't too long in coming for you. I do try to do my best writing while still dealing with school, work, and life in general, but sometimes it just doesn't work... I'm glad you saw my point with Thranduil last chapter. I can't help but see him as one of those fathers that are ubber protective of his children and when someone hurts one of his brood, its basically like declaring war on him himself. Hope you liked the new chapter and thanks for reading!
Snow-Glory: LOL I had to do the exact same thing when I came back from that long hiatus because it had been so long since I last worked on it. I hoped you liked Gimli's reactions. Somehow I think he stole this last chapter. No matter what I was writing I always wanted to gravitate back towards him.
Lady Lenna: Friends forever is right! lol I hoped you liked the last chapter and got enough Legolas/Gimli action to last you till next chapter.
Firnsarnien: What is it with no one remembering Eronel taking over Celion's body?!?! It was a pretty substantial part of chapter... erm... whatever it was. Oh well... I'm not mad at you or anything. It's just that I guess it was such a long time in between updates that people forgot... I know I myself had to go back at several different parts and reread them to get back into the feel of the story. Glad you seemed to like Thranduil. Like I explained to someone else, I just can't help but see him as the ubber protective father type.
Gissela: Um... I'm sorry. I try to update as fast as I can but sometimes real life gets in the way and foils my little plans. I know it takes me awhile in between updates but I'm trying to keep a steady balance between "They Came" and "Writings." No worries tho. I only plan on one more chapter for this, so will probably start working on that right away so I can officially turn all my fanfiction energy to "They Came" next. Hope you liked the last chapter!
Chels: Forget about it. I'm just glad you're still reading along and keeping up. Hope you liked this last chapter.
SofiaB: I hope this last chapter answered some of your questions. Legolas certainly was not fully recovered which was the assumed prognosis last chapter. Thanks for the review!
SageWriting: Thank you for that show of love for the story. Hope you liked this last chapter!
messenger of the Elvenking: I'm glad you like my Thranduil. After Legolas and Gimli, he's one of my favorite characters to write. I just love him when he's so cranky and stubborn but utterly devoted to his children... at least in the versions I write him and read.
Don't forget feedback and reviews are always appreciated no matter what you think or have to say (except for flames though...) and am always glad to see them filling my inbox. Thanks again for reading! Till next time!