Disclaimer: I think I won't surprise you by saying that I don't own what I don't own. :o)
Author's note: Welcome to the next chapter. :o) Thanks for reading it, even if you don't review. Though it would be extremely desirable. :op
Deana: Now, I give up. :o)) Just cannot make you wait for so long. ;o)))
Faerlas: Stay as enthusiastic as you are now. :o) It's really motivating. (bouncing up and down in my chair in anticipation of your reaction).
escape5: Who, me? (making innocent eyes) Never. It's just that we've stepped into a very complicated phase of the story. I try to be careful not to ruin the narration. :o)
Chapter thirteen.
Escape.
Breathe in, breathe out… That's the only thing she remembered doing for these two days. Breathe in, breathe out… Numb and lifeless. Laid-back. Breathe in, breathe out…
Today was the day of burning the bridges. She already stood on the other side of the river, ruefully looking back, but not going to return. She already had a torch in her hand and was carefully bringing it to a rope handrail.
The door opened noiselessly, mounting her up the scaffold.
Breathe in…
"Congratulations." said she after having hold a hand on his face for a second, "I suppose you have recovered.
"You mean…?"
"You can see now. We can take off the bandage."
Somehow Legolas expected that the news would be more joyous. He thought he would be happier to hear these words. But – it's odd – his heart was empty, as if she had told him that there was no hope to get back his sight. There was only one thing that excited him – the realization that in a moment he would look into his Rexia's eyes. And he didn't even know what colour they were…
"Will you help me with it?" asked he, bowing his head so that it was easy for her to reach the knot.
She didn't make a move.
"Rexia?"
"I'm so sorry," muttered she, "but you must wait for some more minutes. And I must go. I … I didn't expect that it would happen today and promised to make a visit to a patient of mine. I'm truly sorry…"
Her voice was calm and steady. Something inside him broke at her answer. He quickly caught her hands – they were very cold.
"Can't you stay?" entreated the elf in a disappointed tone.
"Unfortunately, not," replied the girl softly, "Take it off without me."
Her fingers slipped out of his grasp…She slowly moved away.
"Calad nin!" it was rather a cry from the heart, a plea to stop, than a call to say good-bye. For reasons unknown his sixth sense was screaming that the moment he would let her go everything would be over. She lingered in the doorway, and he regained his spirit, waiting for her to change her mind, to turn back…
"Good-bye," uttered she quietly.
The world was falling down, and he desperately reached out for her to help him out of the shambles… But all he met was emptiness. She had left him dying.
"You will return, won't you?" whispered he beggarly.
"Why shouldn't I?" she was so tranquil, that Legolas doubted himself, not to be forced to doubt her…
"See you, then," he attempted to assume a witty tone, but Rexia didn't laugh back. She didn't take the trouble to.
"Good-bye," repeated she serenely and closed the door between them.
Breathe out…
Legolas winced at the sound… He couldn't believe, she had left him so easily, without a kiss, without a tender word. She went away the moment he needed her most, the moment he expected to share with her…
Blank despair made him rush to the window and give a shout into the darkness, calling for her to look back and at least say something that would assuage his agitation. He would gladly agree to hear another "Good-bye", be it uttered not by that blade of a voice. Her name rang through the air and scattered in the crowns of trees, getting no response…
Legolas made an effort to calm down. She was always a little thorny, wasn't she?
"She was…" – hissed a small voice in his mind, - "And became even more thorny after you sent her home with Edwen"
If that parvenu was the reason of her coldness… If he only dared insult her with one of his hints, he had once tried to drop in her presence…
He would curse the day he crossed swords with her.
But even this angry outburst didn't reduce the alarm, ruthlessly racking Legolas's body and spirit. He measured the room with several long steps, then swung back and repeated the path, as a caged animal, tossing in its prison.
He quite forgot that in the middle of the room there was his chair, and his next step brought him against this obstacle, trifle in any other circumstances, except those, in which the elf had spent the previous five years.
Panting with sudden pain and annoyance at himself, enraged by this last drop added to the cup of his humiliation and angst, he brusquely raised his hand and tore off the hateful bandage.
Light stroke his unprotected eyes, and he screwed them up, trying to drive back the inceptive tears, which seemed pieces of shattered glass under his eye-lids.
At first everything was blurred, but then the contours of the world began to show through the liquid fog of his unsteady vision more and more clearly. Before he managed to gasp in astonishment, all the shapes and colours of life had appeared in his possession once more.
He was sighted again.
His glance raced around the room, pointing out each small detail, then dashed to the window – in the gorgeous blue skies above the emerald selvage of the forest he made out silhouettes of birds. In a second he was able to count all the feathers in their wings. Everything was like it had been for ages.
The elf tossed his head back and laughed – lightly, carelessly.
However, his elation wasn't long-lasting. It missed something to be perfect.
He missed something…
Eru, let her come back sooner. Let him feel her nearness again.
The elf tiredly ran his hand along his face and sat down, preparing to wait. It wasn't new for him. Several hours make nothing in comparison with all the time he spent here in expectation of her to open the door and brighten up his miserable existence.
His eyes fell on the table, where some days ago he put a bouquet and the ring for her, and he started in disbelief, growing suddenly cold and horrified at what he saw.
A ring.
His ring.
Her ring, mildly sparkling against the rough wooden surface of the table.
It took Legolas not too long to realize what it meant for him.
He sprang up and rushed outside, despairingly hoping that he still had a chance to run her down, and yet knowing that he had lost too much time to have such luck.
Rexia saw him appear in the window opening. He looked so lost and vulnerable, that she almost gave up. He cried out her name, grief and plea in his clear voice.
…To return, to soothe him, to kiss away the sorrow she knew she was causing…
But she stepped back, her heart writhing and screaming in pain.
"I'm sorry, Legolas," whispered she into nowhere, "I love you."
It seemed to her that the elf guessed about her intentions, because he suddenly darted away from the window. She couldn't let it happen.
Never in her life had she run so fast.
She reached her house in several minutes, ill, breathless…
Only inside the girl allowed herself to lean against the door, close her eyes and feel the tears, cruelly burning her cheeks…
When the drum-like noise in her ears abated, she understood that she was not alone in the room. There was someone else, someone she expected to see less…
"My greetings," rapped out a familiar voice, as Rexia unsuccessfully tried to move back, not thinking about the door behind her, "I think we have something to discuss."