Chapter 10
Rumil had luckily managed to catch Naurrîn before she hit the ground and was holding her in his arms as he waited for instructions.
"Do you really mean that Zefron may die?" Orophin asked, walking up behind them. Templa gave him the evil eye and nudged her master's right shoulder to try and revive him, but no such luck.
"Yes, I am afraid that may be one of the consequences of changing colours." Gandalf replied, picking the young wizard up in his arms. Templa bent down and carefully grabbed Zefron's staff in her mouth before following the white wizard.
"We should get Naurrîn into a room before she wakes up and beats us to nothing but dust." Orophin stated. Rumil nodded and followed his older brother. They left her in her room with only taking off her weapons and armor before they left to check on Haldir.
Naurrîn's Dream/Vision:
Naurrîn was running through a thick forest, looking back every so often to see is if anyone was following her.
"And just what do you think you are doing?" a voice demanded playfully. Naurrîn looked back in front of her just in time to run headlong into whoever was there, both of them falling to the grassy floor of the forest. Naurrîn lifted her head off the person's chest and looked into Zefron's deep blue eyes. He smiled and sat up against a nearby tree, bringing her into his lap.
"It is so beautiful here Zef." Naurrîn whispered, leaning back against Zefron and looking up at him.
"It is nearly exactly how I remember it from when I was a very young child, I would always come out into the trees and read or sometimes play tag with Zefra and her best friend in the trees." Zefron said, looking down at Naurrîn and giving her a soft kiss on the lips.
"Oh get a room you two." Zefra said as she jumped down from a nearby tree, looking at her twin and best friend with a twinkle in her violet coloured eyes, they both blushed and pulled away a bit, glaring at her. Elrohir jumped out of the tree too and landed beside Zefra, putting an arm around her shoulders. The happy scenes were short lived as the dream changed settings and there was another elf in front of Naurrîn. One with piercing, deep green eyes and dark, nearly black hair.
"You should have never chosen Zefron, Naurrîn." The elf said, circling the small elleth as she sat on the ground, looking quite terrified.
"The Lady of the Enchanted Sword chooses whom she wishes." Naurrîn replied coldly. The elf picked her up by the throat and held her above the ground quickly.
"Then the Lady will die for that choice." He said, smiling evilly as he slowly took the life from Naurrîn.
End Dream/Vision
Naurrîn woke up with a gasp and sat up very abruptly in her bed, breathing hard with tears streaming down her face. Rumil, who had been sleeping beforehand, quickly woke up and rushed over to his little sister's side.
"What happened Naurrîn?" Rumil asked, hugging Naurrîn's sobbing form close to him.
"Just a bad dream, a horrible dream." Naurrîn replied, catching her breath. Rumil kissed the top of her head and set her back into the covers of the bed.
"Get some more sleep, you were only out for an hour." Rumil said, walking back to his spot in a comfy chair by the fire. Naurrîn nodded and lay down, closing her eyes when she suddenly sat up.
"What about Zef? What has happened with Zef? Who is taking care of –"
"Calm down Naurrîn, Zefron is in a room down the hall all to himself with Gandalf trying to heal him…" Rumil never got a chance to finish as Naurrîn threw back her covers and bolted out of the room and down the hall.
"Naurrîn, what are you doing out of bed already?" Haldir asked as the elleth nearly crashed into him.
"W-where is Zef? I want to see Zef." Naurrîn had to catch her breath and nearly fell over she was so weak. Haldir held her up as best he could with his injured left side. Orophin quickly came over and picked her up, bridal style.
"You should be in bed, Naurrîn." Orophin scolded.
"But I want to see Zef." Naurrîn said stubbornly, her eyes threatening to close and fall asleep after last night. "I need to ask about my dream. And what are you doing out of bed already Haldir?"
"He is disobeying orders, just to let you know." Orophin sighed and looked over to Haldir, who reluctantly nodded. Naurrîn smiled in triumph as she was carried by Orophin to the room that only Gandalf was aloud in for the time being.
Haldir knocked on the door and the three waited until the white wizard opened it up.
"Yes?" Gandalf asked, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
"Can I see Zef?" Naurrîn asked from her spot in Orophin's arms, she was nearly falling asleep.
"Very well, but only Naurrîn." Gandalf looked at the two brothers sternly. Orophin sighed and set the elleth on the ground and lead Haldir away to go find Rumil and to take him back to the healing wing.
"Will Zef live?" was the first thing that came out of Naurrîn's mouth as soon as Gandalf opened the door that lead to the injured wizard.
"If he wakes up before tomorrow morning, he has a good chance of living." Gandalf said with a slight smile. "If you will excuse me, I must go and tend to the other injured solders. Do not let anyone else in the room."
Naurrîn nodded as Gandalf walked out of the room and she flopped into an armchair by Zefron's bed as she began to cry as she saw the figure before her. Zefron had his now gray coloured robe off and thrown over a chair with his weapons near the fireplace, the left arm of his black tunic was torn off at the shoulder revealing a bloody bandage.
Naurrîn managed to fall asleep through her tears and woke up a few hours later because a sound had caught her attention, the rustling of covers.
"Zef? Are you alright?" Naurrîn leaned onto Zefron's bed and listened to his shallow breathing. After a few minutes of no more moving, she leaned back into the chair and looked out the window at the brightening light of the sun as it grew later into the afternoon.
"Naurrîn?" a small whisper cut through her train of thought and she whipped her head around to see Zefron moving onto his right side.
"Oh thank the Valar!" Naurrîn cried, throwing her arms around Zefron's neck and giving him a hug as best she could without hurting his left arm. "I thought you were going to die!" she was sobbing now.
"Yes, yes, yes, I am fine now and I am also going to help with the injured solders now." Zefron said, trying to get up.
"Oh you are most certainly not!" Naurrîn put her hand on Zefron's left shoulder and pushed him back down into the bed as he winced and bit his bottom lip to keep from crying out.
"But I must –"
"Do nothing, do you see how badly you are actually hurt? And here you are trying not to cry from the pain too, I am going to get Gandalf and if I see you out of bed when I come back. May Eru protect you once I am done with you." With that final threat and evil eye from Naurrîn, she walked silently out of the room.
"She should know by now that I do not take orders very easily." Zefron said out loud, getting out of bed carefully and walking over to the chair. He quickly put his gray robe on and did his belt up before grabbing his staff and walking out of the room, but not before taking an old sheet and making it into a makeshift sling.
Naurrîn ran down the hallway with her long hair swinging behind as she turned sharply around a corner and ran head on into Rumil.
"In a small hurry Naurrîn?" he asked, smiling as he helped Naurrîn up. Naurrîn, for once, did not reply with one of her whitty comebacks, she only let out a small squeak and hugged her older brother.
"Zef is alright! I must go find Gandalf, good bye!" and before Rumil could even blink, Naurrîn ran off down the hallway to find the white wizard.
"It is good to see her happy again." Orophin stated, walking up behind his younger brother. Rumil nodded and watched as Naurrîn nearly ran into another soldier while on her search for Gandalf.
"Good to see who happy again?" a strained voice asked, causing both brothers to turn around quickly.
"Zefron, why are you not in bed resting?" Rumil demanded. Zefron stopped in front of them, leaning heavily on his staff that he held in his right hand.
"I am needed in the healing rooms." Zefron replied stubbornly. "I have more power now that I am a gray."
"Do you have any idea how mad Naurrîn is going to be when she discovers that you are not in your bed?" Orophin questioned. Zefron looked sheepish.
"I know, she threatened to kill me if I left the room just moments after my waking up." Zefron stated.
"Do not worry, she had done the same to Orophin and myself." Rumil said, chuckling a bit in remembrance.
"Zefron of Foresthem!" Naurrîn's voice cut through their conversation as a crash could be heard. She must have gone back to Zefron's room and found that he was not there
"You are going to be in great peril soon my friend." Aragorn said, walking over to the elven wizard and placing a hand on his right shoulder. "Thank you for your contribution to the battle last night, many of the elves and Rohirrim would have perished if it had not been for you."
"Have I proved my loyalty to you and what is left of the fellowship as of yet?" Zefron questioned, leaning more onto his gray staff.
"Of course you have Zefron, I should have never misjudged or doubted your intentions." Aragorn replied. Zefron smiled weakly, but his triumph was short-lived as a very enraged elleth ran down the hallway with Gandalf walking slowly behind her.
"Do you know how badly I want to kill you right now?" Naurrîn asked through clenched teeth, slowing her pace to a walk as she went before the gray wizard.
"I am afraid to ask, I was merely taking a short walk around the Keep. Is there any harm in that?" Zefron retorted, slowly backing away from the elleth. "Besides, need I remind you, I do not follow orders very well. What ever became of the uruk-hai that fled?"
"They were destroyed by the trees of Fangorn." Orophin said, putting a hand on Naurrîn's shoulder to stop her from killing the young wizard.
"A few of us are going to Isenguard, do you wish to accompany us?" Aragorn asked. Zefron looked at him carefully with a worried look in his eyes.
"I-Isenguard?" Zefron questioned with the distressed look in his eyes getting worse.
"Yes, is there a problem with that? Because we can leave without you." Rumil inquired, raising an eyebrow at the wizard.
"So much memory is in that place." Zefron whispered, turning away. "Merry and Pippin are alright, they helped defeat Saruman. That was my vision before I blacked out."
"Well then what are we waiting for? Fetch us some horses Aragorn, I am coming too." Naurrîn ordered, forgetting all about her little conflict with a certain elven wizard.
Zefron walked – well more like limped – back to his room where he grabbed his sword quickly and then over to the front door where Templa was patiently waiting, while leaning heavily on his staff.
"You really should not be coming with us Zefron, we will be back within a few hours. You can rest here while we are gone." Legolas stated, walking over to Zefron and his horse with Gimli muttering something behind him.
"I am well enough to go on this short journey, though I am sure Naurrîn would beg to differ. What are you muttering about Gimli?" Zefron retorted, looking down at the angry dwarf.
"This cursed elf thinks we tied!" the dwarf replied, gesturing to the blond elf beside him.
"We had a small contest to see who could kill the most uruk-hai and we had tied at 43 each." Legolas explained.
"The last one didn't count!" Gimli shouted.
"He was twitching," Legolas simply stated.
"He was twitching because he had my axe embedded in his nervous system!" Gimli yelled.
"Well you are both out of luck gentlemen because I myself have a total of 44." Naurrîn stated, smirking at the expressions upon Legolas and Gimli's faces as she walked over with a horse following her. "What about you Zef?"
"Would you rather have the total of the elves and men I saved or the uruk-hai I managed to kill with my armies?" Zefron inquired, looking at his three companions.
"Fine, the wizard wins." Gimli said, throwing his hands up in defeat.
"Are you four ready to leave?" Aragorn asked as the little group of himself, Eomer, Theoden, Gandalf, Rumil and Orophin began to walk their horses out of the gate and towards Isenguard.
The small group nodded and all got onto their horses, following the leaders of the group towards the evil tower.
"It will be alright Zef, Saruman cannot harm you this time." Naurrîn said, seeing the troubled look on his face. Zefron smiled weakly and pulled his hood down farther. For all the rest of the group, they were just going to a place of evil, most for the first time. But for Zefron and Templa, it had been their home for a number of years previous and their going back there may get them into more trouble than they were already in…
DarkAngelPearl: well I didn't kill of Zef, is that makes you happy. But this is the last chappie of this fic and Rumil and Orophin will get what's coming to them soon… (Evil laugh) review!
Legolas's Girl 9: No, no, no. Just this fic. There will be the third (but not particularly last) part in this series. This chapter ends this fic in particular, but look for another one soon! Review!
Jousting Elf with a Sabre: lol, you do that. Here's the final chapter! Review!
Okay peoples, this is not the end of the series. Stay tuned for: The Return of the Kings. Premiering as soon as I get the first chapter done, which should be within the week… possibly anyway.