Chapter 4: Chess
"What you where holding, Legolas, was a pawn. It can move one space diagonally, only." Haldir explained. Legolas actually looked a bit enlightened by the learning of this game, and smiled.
"That looks like instructions, Haldir." Legolas pointed to an old tattered piece of parchment that laid in the box the game had been in.
"It does… It's hard to read though, since the paper is torn in many places and the writing is smudged." Haldir said. "But yes, I can make out what looks like explanations to the game." Haldir said.
"Well, explain then. I have never played this… chess… before, but I do believe I have seen my sister and her friend Sernaer play chess before." Legolas could tell Haldir had a bad feeling at Sernaer.
"Who is Sernaer? Is you sister already wed? I should have realized that… After all, you have a fine sister and she would easily be able to find a partner, or your father could quickly arrange a wedding for a princess." Haldir said with a gloomy voice.
"Haldir, my sister is not of age yet, remembering? In one year though, she will be… Besides, Sernaer was killed years ago, by two orc arrows deep in his chest." Legolas said. Haldir bit his lip, but he did look gladder to know that Illiendal was unwed.
"Was Sernaer your friend?" Haldir asked softly. Legolas shrugged.
"He was nice, we where not really friends but I liked him. Illiendal likes Elladan now, Elladan is my friend, so don't get any ideas on how to 'get rid of him' so you can have my sister." Legolas said, noticing the stunned face Haldir made.
"Legolas, why do you think I want to marry your sister, or kill Elladan? I am much, much elder than she is, she is still an adolescent and I have only known her from some hours." Haldir said. A sly grin appeared on Legolas' face once again.
"You are too obvious, Haldir. I saw that look you had on your face when she was caring for me. You want her to be your wife." Legolas said. Haldir longed to roll his eyes or stomp on the ground to try and get through to the prince that he is not going to marry his sister after just meeting her, but instead decided to change the subject.
"So, do you want to learn how to play, or not?" Haldir asked. Legolas had been planning on saying some more unruly words about Haldir and his sister but shut his mouth and nodded his head in a yes.
"So, for this game I will be white. White always goes first." Haldir said. Legolas did not seem to like that idea.
"I want to be white."
"I'm only saying that I will be white because you do not know how to play. If you did, I would gladly let you play as white." Haldir said, Legolas sticking out his tongue like an elfling.
"Okay, so this is how the board is set up. The pawns go on the second row of each side, and the other pieces go as follow: Rook, night, bishop, king, queen, bishop, night, rook. It always goes like that, for either side." Haldir said. Legolas took a pawn and switched its place with the king.
"I'd rather it go like that." Legolas stated. Haldir sighed and switched them back around.
"No, you would not. You king would not be very safe, being so open. The game is over if I attack your king and your king cannot get out of my attack… That's called checkmate." Haldir said. Legolas nodded, and then switched the king with the bishop.
"I prefer it like this." Legolas said. Haldir shook his head and put the king back on his square and the bishop in its proper place.
"The king and queen always go beside each other, right in between the two sets of rooks, knights and bishops." Haldir said.
"So? The king and queen need their alone time, too." Legolas said, putting the queen in the bishop's spot and the bishop on the queen's square.
"Legolas… The pieces are not living; they are not like your parents. Put them back in place." Haldir ordered. Legolas shook his head no so Haldir moved them for him. Then, Legolas took his white knight and switched its place with a black pawn.
"There." Legolas said.
"You would not want to do that, Legolas. Having nine pawns and one knight would not be very helpful, I advise you to keep that knight." Haldir watched as Legolas quickly switched the pieces back. Before Legolas could make another troublesome switch with the pieces, Haldir held the prince's hand.
"The pieces all move differently. The king can move one square, in any direction. Legolas, point to the king." Haldir ordered. Legolas pointed to the little white wooden king.
"Good. As for the rooks, they can move any number of squares in a straight line. But they cannot pass over other pieces. Which one is the rook?" Legolas pointed to the bishop, and Haldir shook his head. Legolas looked carefully at the pieces, and then pointed to the rook.
"The rooks look like castles, remember that. If you prefer, we can call them castles." Haldir suggested. Legolas nodded his head in agreement.
"As for your bishops, they move diagonally and just like the roo- castles, they cannot jump over other pieces, whether it be on their team or their opponents team. Which one is a bishop?" Haldir asked, and Legolas tapped the bishop. Haldir nodded.
"The queen is like the king, it can move in any direction. But unlike the king, it can move as many squares as it likes. But, like the other pieces I have explained already, it cannot go over places that already have a piece on them. Point out the queen." Haldir ordered. Legolas pointed to the queen very quickly.
"The knight goes in an L shape, L like Legolas, but remember that the L can even be backwards, sideways or even upside down. Which is the knight?" Legolas held up the horse-shaped piece and then put it back on the board when Haldir nodded.
"As for the pawn, and you already know which is a pawn, it only moves one square ahead, and it can capture anything diagonally from it, as if it was fighting on its side with a short sword…" Haldir said. The instructions on how to play went on for another hour, since often Legolas liked to say how much he did not want to play with one of the rules. When they started to play, finally, Cield walked into the room, holding his son in his arms.
"Haldir, your shift is over. You may leave." Cield said. Little Nenmir in Cield's arms waved his hand vigorously at his uncle Legolas, who smiled at him.
"I can continue my watch, if you don't mind. I am his caretaker in your father's absence." Haldir was very concentrated on where to move, so did not even bother to look at Cield, he had not even noticed that the young elf had his child in his arms.
Nenmir grabbed Haldir's braid and began to feel it, liking the feel of hair. He tugged on Haldir's braid.
"Cield, leave my hair alone." Legolas giggled at that, but Haldir did not take his eyes off the board.
The elfling stuck Haldir's braid in his mouth and chewed, making Haldir's hair pull even more.
"Cield!" Haldir yanked the hair from Nenmir's mouth. Cield glared at him when Nenmir started to cry.
"It was Nenmir who had your hair, Haldir." Legolas said when Haldir realized his braid was now drenched in… drool.
"Ai, elfling, I am sorry." Haldir finally took his eyes off the chess board to look apologetically at the little sad elfling. Nenmir had his face buried in Cield's neck and did not want to look at Haldir, not at all.
"It's alright Nenmir, he's not all that scary, you'll see." Cield was still glaring at Haldir as he tried to soothe his little child.
"May I see the elfling, Cield?" Haldir asked softly. Cield sighed and pulled his son off of him and sat him on Haldir's lap. Nenmir nervously looked up at Haldir, who gave him a gentle smile.
"Elfling, I am very sorry to have scared you. I did not know it was you who was… erm… Eating my hair… I thought it was your father. I do not want you to be afraid of me; after all I will be watching you in two days, when your father leaves." Haldir said softly. The elfling gasped.
"Ada… You are going to be… Going away? Why ada?" Nenmir raised his arms and Cield lifted him.
"Elfling, you must understand. Naneth and I are bringing your sister to Rivendell. Lord Elrond wishes to meet your Naneth and see how Naneth and I get along, and your sister is going to go play with Arwen."
"Why don't I come?"
"Because you… Don't get along very well with anyone in Rivendell." Cield remembered apologizing to so many elves when he had brought Nenmir with him to Rivendell. Nenmir had shot his food at advisors (Erestor nearly had a fit at the red stains on his newest black tunic) and bit anyone who came near him. A lot of the bitten elves wanted Elrond to find out if Nenmir had rabies or not.
"Oh. But you'll come back soon, right?" Nenmir asked, cuddling up in his father's strong arms, enjoying the warmth.
"I will only be gone for eight days, I am leaving not tomorrow but the day after that. I trust Haldir will take good care of you, and if he does not he will pay." Cield kissed his son on his brow.
"So if you want Haldir, you can continue your shift. It looks like Legolas has enjoyed himself while you where not watching the game board." Cield grinned as he left the room. Haldir gasped when he looked at the board, clearly Legolas liked to rearrange things.
"Legolas! Now we have to start all over." Haldir started putting pieces back to their original spot.
The game took two hours, which Haldir said was a short game but Legolas thought it was quite long. Legolas, of course, lost. But Legolas was nothing against Haldir, Haldir took a long time to think about his moves and they always where wise decisions, where as the longest Legolas took was two minutes and most of his choices where folly.
"That was a good game, Legolas. I am surprised that you managed to keep it up for two hours, I thought you would loose before that." Haldir smiled when Legolas pouted.
"Prince Legolas, Lord Haldir? Lunch is ready. If you want Haldir, I can watch my uncle whilst you go eat with the family, I have already eaten. I have Legolas' food with me, I can get yours if you would rather eat here with uncle Legolas." Florien said, holding Legolas' food in one hand and holding the doorknob with the other.
"I will eat with the others, thank you for watching Legolas for me. I wish to talk with your father, it has been long since I saw him." Haldir said, watching as the young red-haired elf gave Legolas his food and took Haldir's seat.
Haldir walked down the halls, remembering quite well the way to the dinning hall from the healing wing, much to Haldir's surprise. He took a seat beside Tonus, who smiled.
"Florien is watching Legolas, I presume?" Tonus asked. Haldir nodded as he was served the lunch, which was meat and bread in a delicious sauce.
"I cannot imagine you had a son, even when I was here five years ago." Haldir said, cutting his meat.
"I'm glad it was not obvious. But Florien had such a hard life; I wish I had told my father... I was such an idiot not to have, I regret it now deeply."
"How old is your son, Tonus?"
"Florien is almost sixteen, he will be in four months. We've only had him back for eight months; it's hard to believe. He's not as traumatized, but he still needs help." Tonus said, noticing the surprised look on Haldir's face.
"What happened to him?"
"He was abducted. If I could be face to face with the man who abducted and tortured my son, I would kill him and I would make sure his death was a long, painfully slow one. Two years Haldir, some man took Florien… Florien says he was an elf… and hurt him for two years I would have changed places with my son at any time, if only I could, I would have paid any ransom that was sent to me, but none where. He was gone with no trace and there was nothing I could do to get Florien back, or end his pain." Tonus said. Haldir looked sadly at Tonus.
"I'm sorry, I did not know."
"That's all fine Haldir. Florien's been… Depressed… Since it happened." Tonus said, not looking at anyone as he spoke.
"It's true. Florien, before his abduction, was a very handsome, but scrawny, elf. He has beautiful hair, but his face and body used to look so much better, I hate to say, but it's changed now." Cield said, knowing Tonus would not want to say what happened.
"The torture left marks on my son that will never go away. Florien knows that, and Florien cannot stand to look at anything that reminds himself of what he used to look like and what he looks like now. I don't want to go into details of what kind of things have happened…" Tonus said. "His hair was not braided, was it?" Tonus asked quietly.
"No." Haldir said.
"Whoever abducted him, when they where torturing him I suppose… They…" Tonus shut his eyes. "Part of his right ear is gone, the top. It's very noticeable; so he keeps his hair down to keep it hidden. He refuses to talk to any available she-elf, only because he always says 'they deserve better than me. They don't want a scarred up elf as their partner, I'm sure'. I feel so bad for him. Every time I try to convince him that there is an elf for him somewhere in Arda he says 'Yes, my torturer is probably waiting for me'... It hurts so much to hear him put himself down." Tonus said. Haldir knew the subject must be very upsetting for the young crowned prince, so he thought talking about Cield would be better.
"How are you doing, Cield, taking care of two babies?" Haldir asked.
"It's a challenge, I will tell you that. But they are both so lovable and sweet." Cield smiled at the two twins that say beside each other, eating quietly and babbling to each other.
"They are adorable." Haldir said.
"Nenmir takes after his father very much, and Malfinniel after her mother, I say." Galion said. Galion was the brother of Cield's wife Firelien and butler of Cield and the rest of the royal family so knew very well his nephew and niece.
"Uncle Galion!" Nenmir got out of his seat and ran to his uncle for an embrace.
"Nenmir, come back and finish your meal." Cield ordered. Nenmir grumbled as he pulled out of the embrace to finish eating.
"Cield is doing better than I thought he would as a father. My first nephew and niece are being well cared for, and my son now has two cousins who he loves dearly." Galion said, patting Nenmir on his head as he passed by.
When Haldir finished, Galion took his plates.
"I will return to watching Legolas, unless someone else would rather." Haldir said.
"If you don't want to, you need not. I can go." Illiendal said. Haldir smiled.
"That is not necessary, I told your father I would watch him and I will." Haldir said. "Did you get my weapons, by any chance?" Haldir asked. Illiendal nodded.
"I put them in your guest chambers, with the rest of your stuff. And Haldir, a servant asked me to let you know that your horse has been given a spot in the stables and is being well cared for." Illiendal smiled, picking up the family's dog and following Haldir to Legolas' room.
"I just want to see him, you can watch him all you want." Illiendal said.
"Does he like the dog?"
"Yes. This dog's name is Ernil; Legolas found him." Illiendal saw the smile that appeared on Haldir's face.
"The prince named his dog prince?" Haldir said, opening the door to Legolas' room.
"Ernil!" Legolas smiled when he saw his sister carried his dog. He had just finished eating and Florien held his tray.
"I will leave now." Florien said, kissing his uncle on his cheek and giving his aunt Illiendal a hug.
Illiendal let the pup jump on Legolas' bed. As if it knew where Legolas had been injured, he avoided jumping on his master's side or chest, and nuzzled his master's neck.
"Thanks Illiendal." Legolas pat the young dog's head.
"Anytime Legolas. Are you in much pain?" Illiendal asked. Legolas shook his head.
"I feel weak though… Tired… But I just slept…" Legolas said.
"Have some minuvor then, it will help you regain your strength." Haldir helped the prince swallow a couple mouthfuls of the drink.
"Illiendal, will you be watching me now?" Legolas asked.
"No, Haldir will be. I wanted to bring you Ernil." Illiendal said, noticing the sad look on her little brother's face.
"Please?" He asked softly. Illiendal smiled and kissed Legolas on his cheek.
"I will stay for a while, but then I must go. Alright?" Illiendal said. Legolas agreed.
"Can't someone please move me? It is so dull, being in bed all day!" Legolas sighed.
"If we move you, your wound will be disturbed and you will be in pain. I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do." Haldir said. Legolas perked up when he saw a healer and his brother enter.
"Tonus, what are you doing?" Legolas asked as Tonus approached Tavel's bed.
"Taking Tavel. He is having his legs amputated now, green leaf, and we will not be doing that out in the open. He is going to another room." Tonus said as he and the healer lifted Tavel.
Legolas looked sadly and nervously as his friend was carried off. Illiendal saw the look Legolas had and tried to comfort her little brother.
"Don't worry, Tonus is amputating. You trust your brother?" Illiendal said. Legolas sighed and smiled.
"I do. But when Tavel wakes up after surgery to find out that he lived but he no longer has legs… Ai, I want to be there, to comfort him. He almost lost his life to save my own, I owe him." Legolas said. Illiendal gave him a hug.
"Don't feel too bad for him, now, or you will have trouble healing from your own wound. It was grave Legolas, and your lucky to have survived it. You never have felt pain like that, have you?" Illiendal asked. Legolas shook his head.
"It hurt so much, it came so fast and I was too scared to move. Suiadan had already broken his arm and could only watch from a distance when I was hit. I remember once I fell on the ground I heard two screams: the first was Tavel, running forwards to the cave-troll and jumping on it, the second was Tavel defeating the cave troll and finding out that even with the troll dead he was about to fall to his death. Tavel only groaned when he hit the ground." Legolas said sadly.
"Yes, Suiadan told us what he knew. Tavel did an honorable thing, he was going to give up his life for his friend, the prince." Illiendal said.
To be continued…
Everyone seems very sad about Tavel's amputation. But something good is going to come out of it, I promise!
ElenweMorewen: British literature? Well, I am in Canada. But I am 25 British. I like brits, I'd love to live with them and drink tea with them and say funny British sayings and have a neat accent and say funny words like 'normalcy'... As for Tavel, something very happy will happen for him because he is legless. Also, Tonus will discover something during his amputation.
Bberry06: I suck at chess... I beat the computer once, I did a happy dance, and never won again. Even daddy wouldn't let me win, and I had Frodo on my side...
Amarie (can I call you that?): Yea, I hate the whole 'where' and 'were' thing. But those little mistakes are like, nothing, when you compare my mistakes to my classmates' mistakes. It just pisses me off to read their work... HOW do you make a mistake spelling 'come'? And I'm in the academics plus class, Valar! During peer editing one kid took off two marks out of ten because I put "maybe once" probably because of the e and the o coming after each other! He was an idiot though... And he complained that 2 pages was too long... For a writing assignment!
Seriously Wrong: You did say some nice things, but when I read reviews (like the one you left me) I get kinda mad and yell and like I did before, call you idiot. So I will listen to my good friend Mistopurr and ignore you... But I don't get what you meant by 'silly path'... It was a nice long review though, that was nice of you to devote so much time in one review. It was a 3 k review as a matter of fact!
Mistopurr: British people are the best. They have a TIME for tea... Like hobbits! Yea, it is strange for Florien to call Legolas uncle, really, since Florien is about 4 years, at least, I have not really made a chart of age differences yet, older than Legolas.
Haldir's Heart And Soul: You know, I like your penname. I've never said it before, but I do, it has 'Haldir' in it... There is nothing I can do, but some good shall come out of it. Bad things have to be a limit in these fun filled fictions...
Caprice Ann: Or he'll wheel you on down to the mental institution and come visit you (with his clone and me) on weekends when they give out cookies to family members' children.
Legolas' girl 9: You put Travel... He's safe, but in need of an amputation. But safe is what matters.