Chapter 10
Legolas ran ahead of the caravan using her elven senses to check for anything that could pose a threat to the people of Edoras. As she approached the top of a hill though she heard a man scream and ran forward drawing an arrow and notching it into her bow as she ran.
When she breached the top of the hill in time to see a warg kill one of two men and she immediately shot the warg as she ran towards the orc who had been riding it and slit its throat with one of her twin knives.
"A scout!" she called, to Aragorn who she saw on the top of the hill she had just descended. Aragorn disappeared from the hill and Gamling, the man who had been with the dead man when the warg attacked rode towards his king to give the news.
Legolas stayed where she was and shot at the warg riders that were now appearing in the distance. She continued to shoot at the wargs as the rohirrim rode past her and she only turned when she heard Gimli behind her, when she swung on to Arod without the horse pausing for even a moment.
Legolas drew one of her knives again as the Rohan men clashed with the orcs. Just before the two hit the battle Legolas felt Gimli's weight leave Arod's back and turned for a moment to see Gimli stand up ready to fight a riderless Warg which was coming towards him.
Quickly pulling out an arrow she shot the warg before riding away, listening to Gimli complain that it was his kill. Legolas moved from warg to warg knocking off the riders and killing their mounts, making it easier for the rohirrim to finish off the riders from their horses.
While Legolas was concentrating on one warg, who was managing to keep just out of reach of her blades, two black arms wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her body and lifting her off the ground, she struggled against the grip trying to free one of her arms while another orc come around in front of her with a smirk on its face.
"What's a pretty lass like you doin' on the battle field?" it asked, moving its hand up her leg. To her left she could see Gimli running towards her and Aragorn was moving towards her from the other direction, both having seen her problem.
"I'm more of a man then you'll ever be!" she said, kicking the orc in front of her and using her momentum to push the orc holding her, loosening its grip, allowing her to move her knife around to finish the orc off, just as Aragorn came up behind her, killing the other one.
They turned to each other for a moment, and Legolas saw something dawn in the man's eyes, but before they could say anything they were attacked again by more orcs.
"Aragorn?"
"Aragorn?"
Legolas moved over to the cliff edge near where she had last seen Aragorn.
"Tell me what happened and I will ease your passing." Gimli said behind him. She turned to see Gimli leaning over a half dead orc.
"He's... dead! He took a little tumble off the cliff."
She grabbed him by his armour pulling the orc up to her face, "You lie!" The orc collapsed onto the ground in death. It was then that she noticed the Evenstar pendant which had been clutched in the orcs hand. She stood and moved over the Théoden where he was looking over the edge for any sign of the missing Dunedain.
"Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead." Théoden said to one of his men.
Seeing the shocked look on Legolas's face and put a hand on her arm, "Come."
Legolas sat on the wall overlooking the refugees running around the fortress getting everyone settled for their stay.
"Larwen, are you well?" Gimli asked coming up beside her.
She turned and gave the dwarf a small smile before turning her gaze towards the horizon hoping that Aragorn would appear there.
"Death is such a foreign thing to me Gimli. First Gandalf then Boromir and now Aragorn. I don't think I can cope with it anymore. Maybe my father was right to lock me away from all the evil of the world."
"No, no one should be locked away." Eowyn said, coming out of the shadow of the wall.
Gimli looked slightly panicked but Larwen gave his hand a squeeze, letting him know that she knew.
"Maybe your right, maybe he is. But either way tomorrow morning I shall take a horse and I shall return to Mirkwood and my father."
"You are leaving?" another voice asked. They all turned to see Théoden and his personal guard walking up the stairs.
Legolas stood and walked over to the King, "Yes, my lord, I can stay no longer, I must return home to Mirkwood, I have my duties there and I can't abandon my people."
The king nodded in understanding, "Very well, I will provide you with food and a horse for you journey, along with the good wishes of my people."
"Thank you my lord, now if you'll excuse me I will…"
"Look! Lord Aragorn returns." Someone shouted from the wall above the gate.
The group turned towards the shout and then looked where everyone was pointing at the horizon, where Aragorn could be clearly seen, riding towards the keep.
"He's alive!" the villagers called to each other and soon the whole fortress was alive with people trying to get a glimpse of the returned hero.
"Where is he? Where is he? Get out of the way! I'm gonna kill him!" Gimli shouted, pushing his way through the crowd, "You are the luckiest, the canniest and the most reckless man I ever knew. Bless you, laddie." He grabbed the man around the waist in a strong embrace.
"Where is the King?" Aragorn asked, and Gimli nodded in the direction the king had gone.
Aragorn started in the direction of the king but Legolas stopped him, "Le ab-dollen. You're late. You look terrible." She said teasingly.
She was relieved when Aragorn smiled at him and so she took the mans hand and placed the Evenstar pendant in it, watching as the ranger opened his hand and looked at the lost jewel.
"Hannon le." Thank you.
"So you aren't planning on leaving then?" Gimli asked as they moved towards the armoury.
"No I…"
"No she isn't." Aragorn said coming up behind them, "she is going to go into the caves with the rest of the women. I don't fancy having to explain to Thranduil why I let you come this far, without having to explain why I let you fight in a battle of over whelming odds."
"Please do not tell my father, he will banish Vanya, please he need never know I was gone, I will leave as soon as it is safe and we will never speak of it again. Please." She begged, not caring that the men in the armoury were listening to them.
"And what will you do when news of the Fellowship of the Ring arrives in Mirkwood and your father is told that his son, who hasn't left the forest in years, has been running around with a group of mortals?"
"Then I will tell him that you did not know and I will tell him that I left, but I need to be able to send my handmaiden to the Undying Lands where she will be safe from my Father, Please."
"I haven't got time for this we will discuss it later," he said, grabbing her arm and dragging he towards the cave entrance. He took her into the cave and then addressed the women in there.
"This woman is not to leave these caves without my permission." Without waiting for a reply he turned and left the caves.
Larwen moved over to the side of the cave and sat down. The other women stared at her and whispered amongst themselves, all sure that she had been a male.
While the cave wasn't as dark as Moria they still made her uncomfortable and she could help thinking that she would be spending the rest of her life in the caves that made up the Mirkwood Palace, where she was born.
"How is this possible?" Théoden asked in disbelief
Haldir stepped forward"I bring word from Elrond of Rivendell. An alliance once existed between Elves and Men. Long ago we fought and died together. We come to honor that allegiance."
"Mae govannen, Haldir." Well met, Haldir. Aragorn greeted, embracing the elf from Lórien.
"You are most welcome."
"We are proud to fight alongside men once more."
Théoden thanked the elves for their help and asked them to stand along the wall with the Rohan archers.
When the king had left Haldir gave Gimli a small nod in greeting before turning to Aragorn, "Where is Legolas?"
Aragorn frowned at the elf before replying, "You know as well as I that LARWEN is not her brother. I have sent her to the caves, where she belongs."
"Yes well if I had had it my way she would not have made it past the boarders of Lóthlórien. However I would like to speak to her."
Haldir had one last word with his second in command then followed Aragorn through the crowd towards the caves.
In the hour since Aragorn had left her there the Elven Princess had taken charge and was helping Eowyn to comfort the women and she was now help to hand out blankets to all the women and she was also singing an elvish lullaby which had put most of the children to sleep.
"Princess Larwen" Haldir called from the entrance. Larwen turned towards the voice, shock written on her face when she saw who it was.
"Haldir, what are you doing here?"
"Myself and a group of elves were sent here by Lord Elrond to reaffirm the old alliances."
"Well then why are you down here shouldn't you be up with your men?"
"And I will return to them in a moment however the Lady asked me to give you this." He said passing a package wrapped in cloth to her.
Pulling back the cloth, inside she found a bundle of arrows and one of the dresses she kept in Lórien for her visits.
Talk about strange combinations, she thought.
She picked up the arrows and underneath she found a note.
Truth is your greatest ally.
Folding the message again, she thanked Haldir and moved back into the cave to continue helping.
A nice long chapter to make up for my not update in a long time (Not including the last chapter)
