Chapter 2 - Captured
Anórien
(Ariedel's POV)
On the eighth day I led Blade toward another rocky hill. There had been plenty of them around. But this one had black smoke rising on the other side of it. Smoke…maybe it was another village where I could get some supplies. As I approached some strange sounds reached my ears…like cries of pain and metal striking metal.
Blade and I reached the top of the hill just as the sun was starting to go down. What I saw from that summit made my eyes widen. Blood and dismemberments. I was witnessing a battle between two groups of people: those in black and silver armor and those in rusty armor.
Fires burned in a dozen or more places as they tried to kill each other. The men in black and silver were mainly archers, shooting arrows into their enemy. And the battle was definitely in their favor.
Among them I spotted a shorter man, with a thick red beard. He used an axe against the rusty armored men. This was unbelievable. What world still fought with swords and bows in such a blood bath?
A rider on a white horse caught my eye. He wore no armor, just a green tunic. With no effort, he jumped off the horse and ran forward, pulling two long knives from his back. As a rusty armor lunged at him, he sliced the man's neck crossing both knives in an X. The rusty armor's head came off.
I gagged, feeling bile rising to my throat. As gruesome as it was, I couldn't take my eyes off the one in the green tunic. He had long blonde hair, part of it tied back in a tail. His clothing appeared spotless. He looked like an angel, but given his fighting style, he was more like an angel of death…slicing and dicing everyone in his path. His movements were like a dance, deadly accurate and unforgiving.
In a single fluid and swift motion, he slid his knives into a sheath on his back and retrieved his bow. He was just as deadly with it, shot after shot finding its target. Not one arrow missed.
"Legolas!" yelled the small red-bearded man. Whatever it was he had shouted, it drew the attention of the blonde one. "Legolas! Up there!"
Legolas. Was that his name? He turned to where Short Red Beard was pointing. It took a few seconds for it all to register. He was pointing right at me. Oh shit.
As I watched him retrieve an arrow and take aim, Blade moved before I even had a chance to react, as if he sensed the trouble I was in. He took me back down the hill. I glanced back but didn't see any arrows come sailing after me.
I heard the hoofbeats behind me when we reached the bottom of the hill. A quick glance over my shoulder and I saw the archer galloping after me on his white horse. Blade was stretched out in a full gallop, but the lighter horse behind me was eating up the ground rapidly.
Up ahead was the forest. I had attempted it a few days ago and found it to be too thick to go on horseback. But now there was nowhere else to go. I needed to lose this archer or I was dead meat.
Seconds later we hit the trees and I felt the branches scraping at my arms and legs. Luckily armor protected them or I wouldn't have any skin left. Blade leapt over obstacles on the ground and tore through the trees.
A movement to my right drew my attention. There he was…a few feet away, aiming his bow.
And then it happened. Something solid hit me in the chest and I fell backward off Blade's back.
When I hit the ground I grabbed at my chest but found no arrow. An arrow hadn't knocked me off my horse, a goddamned branch did. But there was no time to argue with myself about it because the archer turned his horse and came right at me. I did the only thing I could do…I drew my sword and held the incredibly heavy thing up…barely.
The archer still had his bow up, an arrow aimed right at me. His horse circled around me and I followed him to keep him in my sights.
"Lower your sword. My arrow will pierce your heart before you can make a move." He had an accent, just like everybody else in this freaking world.
"Not through this armor, it won't," I said through clenched teeth. But my bravado didn't last long as my helmet slipped forward over my eyes, blinding me momentarily. I quickly pushed it back up, pretending it never happened.
Without missing a beat, the archer threw his leg over his horse's neck and slid off its bare back, bow still aimed right at me. "Do you care to wager your life, warrior?" He moved forward toward me.
I took a couple steps back, the weight of the sword starting to force my arms down. If I was going to die, then it was going to be on my feet fighting…one more step and before I realized what happened, I was on the ground…on my back with my legs bent over a fallen tree. So much for the thought of dying while fighting. Had this been any other time, I would have laughed at my clumsiness.
He lowered his bow and exchanged it for one of his knives before coming at me. With one knee pressing me down at the chest, he touched the blade to my throat. "Who are you?" he asked menacingly through clenched teeth.
"I'm no one," I replied.
"You are not an Orc and you are not a barbarian, judging by your armor. What are you then?"
My helmet suddenly slipped backward off my head and my long sandy blonde hair came tumbling out.
"A woman," he said in shock as he stared down at me with electric blue eyes so pale, they almost looked clear.
I had never seen eyes that color on any man. But this was no ordinary man. With his long blonde hair, his ethereal eyes and his pointed ears…pointed ears? I was about to die by his hands and the only thought that crossed my mind was how beautiful he was. Beautiful and quite dangerous. But was he more dangerous than an alien?
He removed the knife and grabbed me by the top of my chest plate, drawing me nose to nose with him. "You are a spy then," he spat out angrily as he continued to stare with those smoldering eyes.
Why was he so pissed off at me? What had I done to him?
He released me, roughly pushing me back down to the ground before he got up. "Do not move!"
I didn't move, except for my head, which I lifted to see what he was going to do.
Just then out of the darkness, my faithful steed crashed through the branches and reared up in front of him. The archer ducked and scrambled out of the way right as Blade's powerful hooves crashed down on the spot where he had just been standing.
I awkwardly got up on my feet, which I found to be extremely difficult wearing armor.
Blade reared again in front of the archer and just when I thought it was the killing blow, the archer raised his hand and closed his eyes. Blade stopped rearing as the archer spoke some strange language to him. The horse snorted furiously several more times before he slowly went down first on his knees and then the rest of him. Blade calmly shook his head, his long mane and forelock flying every which way. My horse was a traitor. He just turned to the dark side on me.
The archer turned his attention back to me. Man, he looked really pissed off, like I was the cause of all his problems. What the heck did I ever do to him? He approached me again and at first I thought he would stick me with his knife, but he only cut the straps holding my armor in place.
In fact he cut off every piece of it until I stood only in leggings and tunic. But that didn't seem to satisfy him. As defenseless as I was, he found it necessary to tie my wrists together in front of me.
"Let us see you try anything now, woman," he finally said in satisfaction.
"My name is not woman. I'm Ariedel."
He frowned at the mention of the name, but then looked at me like I was some slug in the mud. "Aye, of course you are."
It was obvious he didn't believe me.
"Legolas!" came a cry from the woods. "Where are you, you damned Elf?"
Elf? I turned to look at him. An Elf? Well, that explained the pointed ears. I shook my head. What the hell was I thinking? There were no such thing as Elves. Elves were in fairytales parents told their kids. Then a thought nagged at me. No one ever thought there'd be aliens either. Yet they lived. Why couldn't Elves live?
"Legolas!" The branches ahead moved as the short red-bearded man and several other men and horses approached, some carrying torches.
The Elf turned to them. "I am here."
"Legolas," I repeated. "Is that your name?"
He glanced back at me. "Hold your tongue or I will cut it off."
Enough was enough and I had had enough. I yanked my bound wrists out of his grip and backed away from him. "Go ahead and cut off my tongue! Just do it because I'm not gonna shut up. Yeah, that's right, I'm gonna just keep talking until somebody tells me where the fuck I am and where I can find my transmutation device because I need it to get the fuck back to where I came from. As for you…" I waved my bound wrists at him and laughed. "I mean…come on, an Elf?"
The short red-bearded man came into view and looked up at me in surprise.
"Oh, and let me guess, you must be a dwarf, right? So where're the dragons and the goblins and Merlin the magician! Is King Arthur and Sir Lancelot going to ride up and join this little party any second now? Or better yet, can somebody please wave their magic wand and wake me up from this goddamned nightmare?"
Legolas stared at me like I just came down from the clouds. In fact they were all staring at me strangely.
A dark-haired man moved to stand behind Legolas. Correction, he was an Elf, too, judging by his pointed ears. "She is a witch. She speaks with strange words meant to confuse. We must kill her before her spell takes over our minds."
So now I was a witch. That was just so original I wanted to puke.
Legolas took a few steps toward me until he was only a foot away. He stared directly into my eyes and all I could do was look right back up at him. Then my mind played tricks on me as his eyes mysteriously went from pale blue to a dark blue and then back again. "Nay, Elladan, she is no witch," he finally said. "She is a spy."
Blade snorted as one of the other Elves walked around his reclined body. Surprisingly, this other Elf looked exactly like the one near Legolas. Twin Elves? "This horse's saddle bears the shield of Draconir," said the twin.
Legolas walked toward Blade. When he stood in front of him, he pushed the stallion's mane aside, revealing a brand on its neck. It was the same design I had seen on the flags flying outside the castle. It was the shield that belonged to the man who kept insisting he was my father. "And so does the horse," stated Legolas.
"Aye, she has stolen a horse from Alexor," said the dwarf.
"I only borrowed him!" I yelled out in my defense.
Legolas moved toward me again. "Then we shall see to it that you return him."
I quickly shook my head. "No…I can't go back there. Those people are crazy." My argument was pointless. These men, including my friend the archer, were just as crazy.
He grabbed me by my bound wrists and dragged me over to Blade, forcing me into the saddle. "Eria," he told the horse and Blade obediently lifted himself up on his feet. Then Legolas turned toward the dwarf. "Gimli, what of Moriden?" (Rise)
"The vile minion is dead, along with his retched men, except for that one."
One of the other Elves dragged forward a man with rusty armor.
"And my father's bow?" asked Legolas.
Another Elf approached and handed Legolas a black bow with some intricate carvings. The man in the rusty armor was brought forward and pushed down on his knees before Legolas.
"Let this be a lesson to anyone who steals from the woodland Elves, especially from my father. I release you to spread this word to your barbarian friends, if any still live." Legolas motioned to the Elf who cut the man's binds.
The rusty armor got up and ran for his life, disappearing in the darkness of the woods.
"Arod!" Legolas called out. His white steed trotted over and after Legolas secured the bow behind his back, he mounted the horse's bare back.
As usual, I didn't have the good sense to know when to keep my mouth shut. "Let me get this straight. You wiped out an entire army because they stole a bow?"
"Be silent!"
"Or what? You'll cut out my tongue? Are you gonna start that again?"
Legolas took hold of Blade's reins and we made our way back through the woods. The dwarf mounted behind one of the other Elves on their horse. Apparently he didn't have a horse of his own.
We came out of the woods a few minutes later and headed across the plains and up over the hill where I first witnessed the battle. The scene on the other side of the hill was pure carnage. Nothing moved. They were all dead. Some were dismembered or sliced up badly, while others had multiple arrows sticking out of them.
This was the work of Elves? The Elves I read about in books were nothing like this. They were a magical, peaceful people that never resorted to violence. Killing hundreds to retrieve a stolen bow? They weren't Elves, they were savages. Worse than the barbarians they had killed.
Satisfied that all were dead, Legolas led the group back over the hill.
"Legolas," said the dwarf. "I must take my leave of you now and return to Gondor."
Legolas halted his horse and everyone else stopped behind him. The Elf carrying the dwarf nudged his horse beside Legolas. "Farewell then, Gimli. I thank you for helping me retrieve my father's bow at the risk of your own life."
"And I would do it again, my friend."
The two reached out to rest their hands on each other's shoulders. "Cirion, Aeglos, Gellam, go with Tirnen and Gimli. I shall see you back home. The rest ride with me to Anfalas."
While the four Elves went with the dwarf, the remaining six Elves, including Legolas turned in the other direction.
"Legolas," yelled out the dwarf. "I shall soon see you in the company of King Elessar."
"Until then, my friend!" replied Legolas.
The Ash Mountains
The Uruk-hai woke for the second time. The last he recalled was the crab creature launching itself at him. He found he still couldn't move. And then he felt a terrible pain in his chest…an excruciating stabbing pain.
The drone watched a short distance away…and waited.
The Uruk-hai roared in pain. Something was slamming at the inside of his ribcage. It moved around inside him and slammed again repeatedly. The pain was overwhelming and he continued to roar. The sound of his voice echoed loudly inside the large cavern and then was abruptly cut off as a loud crunching sound immediately followed.
The Uruk-hai's chest suddenly exploded outward, blood and gore flying through the air. The flesh-colored infant queen took its first breath of air and squealed.
The drone quickly bounded over and brought his face close to the infant, providing courage and support.
The infant squealed again, it's tiny spiked crown rising up in superiority.
The drone was proud and hissed in excitement, then nudged the infant.
The baby understood the telepathic thoughts projected by the drone. Feed…She sniffed at the body of the creature she had emerged from and then started to eat it.
Anórien
(Legolas's POV)
We rode at a jog for several hours before I glanced at the others in my company. They looked weary from days of travel and the battle with the barbarians. I raised my hand and halted Arod. Everyone halted behind me. "We will make camp here and continue on in the morning."
Lembas and red wine were unpacked, ready to be served and a fire was prepared. I turned to the woman on the black horse. Ariedel, she had called herself. She was a spy who had stolen the horse from Draconir and then pretended to be Draconir's daughter. Ariedel wouldn't be out here alone, days away from her home. He had known Ariedel when she was a child and she had been shy and aloof. Word had also spread that Draconir's daughter, later raised in a convent, was a recluse that avoided contact with anyone but her father and handmaidens. This spirited woman was definitely not Princess Ariedel Draconir.
I walked up and grabbed the woman by her wrists, pulling her off the saddle. She fought to free herself from my grip while I dragged her near the fire. When I released her wrists, she fell backward and glared up at me with fire in her pale grey eyes.
"Bastard," she called me as I walked away.
Elrohir handed me a square of Lembas and a goblet of wine. Then he moved on to give the woman some. I sat on the other side of the fire where I could keep my eyes on her.
She ungratefully yanked the Lembas out of Elrohir's hands. After taking a bite she spit it out and stared up at Elrohir with venom. "Are you kidding me? This is it? No beef stew or chili? What kind of camping trip is this?" She tossed the Lembas on the ground in disgust.
For the life of me I could not figure out why this woman amused me so. She spoke strange words with expressions that led me to believe they were foul curses.
She watched me from across the fire, then reached down to pick up the Lembas she had tossed away. After several more bites, she decided it was not so bad. "Hey, how about some of that wine?" she asked after several minutes.
Wine. She wanted wine. Being a thief, she had the nerve to even request it. I just stared at her for a moment as she stared back at me. Her eyes gave her away. She feared me and that was fine.
After some time I stood up and walked over to her, offering her the goblet I drank from. She looked down at it in revulsion. Perhaps she did not want any afterall. I shrugged and as I started to walk away, she quickly reached out and grabbed the goblet from my hand. I watched with amusement as she gulped the contents as if it were water. The wine was strong and made her sputter and cough. When she saw the amusement on my face, she made a point of finishing the rest of the wine and I could see her fighting to not cough again. Her will to defy me was amusing. And I had no idea why I thought that.
"Wait," she said before I could walk away. "How about untying me?"
"So you can sneak behind me and plunge a knife into my back? Not a chance."
"Come on, do I really look like I'm capable of doing that?"
I looked deep into her eyes. Aye, she was quite capable of it. She wanted to avoid going to Anfalas at all costs, it seemed. Perhaps her crime was far worse than just stealing a horse from Draconir. Had she also killed someone?
She continued, "Besides, you'd know if I was sneaking up on you, right? Don't Elves have a sixth sense or something like that?"
I thought it over for awhile longer. Finally coming to a decision, I crouched down and untied her wrists, but I stared her down, trying to instill further fear into her. I wanted her to know that I would not hesitate to kill her and sleep well afterward. "Do not even think about escaping. I will hunt you down and you will arrive at Draconir Castle as a corpse. Am I clear on this?"
She rubbed her chaffed wrists, looking wryly at me. "Perfectly."
The look upon her face hinted to me that she understood but perhaps did not intend to follow my advice.
Anórien
(Ariedel's POV)
An hour later the Elves were asleep. I looked around for Legolas and spotted him sitting up on a huge boulder. He was facing the opposite direction, staring at the full moon above him. I half expected him to start howling at it.
I silently crawled away from the fire and kept going when I entered the bushes. I knew I wasn't going to get far on my hands and knees, but I wanted to make sure I was far enough away so no one would hear me.
Just then I ran into a pair of black boots. "Going somewhere?" asked the voice above me.
I recognized the voice. It was Legolas. Shit! I lifted myself up and sat back on my heels, trying to think of something quick. "Look, I have to pee, okay?"
He frowned at me.
Maybe he didn't know what I meant. "You know…make water, urinate, empty my bladder. How else do you want me to describe it to you?"
"I know what it means," he replied in irritation. "Get on with it already."
It just so happened that I really did have to pee. When he made no move to leave, I looked expectantly up at him. "Do you mind? I'm not going to do it with you standing there watching me. Turn around."
Legolas retrieved one of his long knives. "Do anything else and you will feel the point of my knife." He turned his back to me impatiently, knife at his side.
I proceeded to take care of business. "Aren't you getting tired of threatening me with your knives?"
"I will cease when I can trust you will not try to escape again."
"I wasn't trying to escape. I said I had to pee."
"You will ask my permission next time."
I scrunched up my face and mimicked his words. "You will ask my permission next time."
Legolas whirled around and the tip of his knife was at my throat. "You mock me?"
But the threat didn't last long as I moved to stand up, pulling the leggings with me. I saw his eyes drift downward. How typical. This Elf was just like any other man. Show a little skin and they get all distracted. "Why don't you lighten up, Legolas?"
He moved closer to me as he grabbed my arm. The tip of his knife started to pinch the spot right under my chin. "What do you mean?"
I stared into his blazing blue eyes. "I thought Elves were supposed to be easy-going."
He angrily narrowed his eyes. "You try my patience, woman." He abruptly released me, pushing me backward with some force.
When we arrived back at the Elf camp, he took me by the wrist and led me back near the fire. I laid down and rolled over on my side. Then to my surprise, I felt him lie down next to me. I assumed it was to make sure I didn't try to escape again.
"Why are you taking me back to Draconir Castle?" I asked him.
"I will see you return the horse you stole and receive your punishment."
"What's the punishment for stealing a horse?"
"In some villages, death by hanging."
I knew I wouldn't be hanged because the master of Draconir Castle believed I was his daughter, so rightfully the horse belonged to me. "Why do you hate me? I did nothing to you."
"Be silent, woman."
"You can't even call me by my name?"
"You are a prisoner."
"Back where I come from, even prisoners have names and they're considered innocent until they're proven guilty."
"A horse with the shield of the Anfalas king was in your possession. You are guilty."
"You're so sure of this?"
"Aye."
"Fine. We'll see." I was going to prove him wrong and then he was going to be sorry he ever met me.
Anórien
(Legolas's POV)
This woman was quite entertaining, if anything. At every opportunity, she attempted to escape. It became a game in which I actually looked forward to what she would endeavor next.
The day after her feeble attempt to crawl away, she spurred her black stallion down into a canyon, thinking that the heavy horse would be able to navigate the vertical slide. Luckily neither she or the horse were injured in the tumble that resulted. As punishment I made her walk for most of the morning and afternoon, leading her horse instead of riding him.
She glared at me with such venom and uttered the most colorful words in my direction. Shithead, Elven prick, asshole. I had not idea what these words meant, but I recognized the emotion behind them.
The next day she managed to make off with a bow and arrow and found herself blocked in a gulley, with no exit. When I approached her, she threatened me with the bow. "I'll shoot you. I swear, I will."
"Go ahead," I said, spreading my arms wide, giving her more access to my chest. "Shoot me."
She took aim as I continued moving toward her. When she released the arrow, it sailed clear over my shoulder. Either her aim was atrocious or she intentionally missed, but I respected her for making the attempt nonetheless.
I reached out and snatched the bow from her hands. Then I leaned into her face, trying to appear angry, when in fact I was highly amused. "Would you like another arrow?"
"Yes, that would be nice," she said with a smug smile.
I cursed in Elven and led her by the arm back to our camp.
And the day after that, she ran off into the darkness again, thinking I could not see her from where I sat in the tree. I shook my head in disbelief and hopped from the tree branch. After grabbing my bow, I set an arrow, took aim and fired. The arrow struck the ground in front of her. She was startled and spun around, seeing me approach.
When I finally reached her, she put her hands on her hips and looked at me with a grin. "You missed."
I reached down for the arrow and held the point right in her face where a dead rabbit dangled. "I never miss."
She stared at the dead rabbit and even in the darkness I could see her eyes widen. But then she pretended that she was not in the least bit impressed. "Hey, great, now we can have rabbit stew for dinner tonight."
She did not wait for me to lead her back. She turned and headed back on her own. I shook my head again and could not help the smile that spread across my face.
Two days prior to reaching Anfalas, I was resting beside her on the ground. The next moment, she began coughing rather violently. When she sat up, her hands reached out for support. Unfortunately one of them rudely went to my face. As I struggled in irritation to push her hand away, I suddenly found the point of my knife at my throat. I stopped struggling and stared up at her.
"Don't like it much, do you?" she asked with a smile.
I smiled back at her, admiring the skill at which she had put me in this position. "Do you intend to cut my throat anytime soon or must I lie here indefinitely?"
"That's cute, Legolas. Don't follow me this time."
"You know I must. If you do not want me to follow, then you will have to kill me now."
She got up on her feet, still pointing the knife at me. "Stay."
I sat up and patiently crossed my legs, holding my hands out in a helpless manner. But I was unable to prevent the smile.
"Good boy," she said as she backed away. And then she turned and made for the trees.
From the corner of my eye, I saw my kinsmen head for their horses. "Nay…I will go." I went after her. Such wicked cunning from a woman. She earned my admiration tenfold.
She was running up ahead, turning her head to see me coming. Her breathing was labored as she ran faster. I caught up easily and just as she turned to me, I launched myself at her, dragging her to the ground. She reached with the knife in her left hand, trying to strike me with it. I took hold of her wrist and applied enough pressure so that she dropped it.
She continued to struggle beneath me. "Get off me, damn you!"
I pinned her wrists above her head. "Stop struggling."
She stopped for a brief moment, glaring up at me. There was fear, anger…and something else. Hunger…and it was not for food. My eyes drifted down to her lips where she was breathing heavily from the exertion of running. They were parted in a seductive manner, drawing me into her. I battled my own wits to control the sudden urge I had to dip my tongue into her beckoning mouth…to taste what she had to offer.
"Don't even think about it," she spat out at me. "I'll pull your pointed ears out of your head."
I released her and she quickly got up and ran back in the direction of camp. I continued to stare at the ground where she had lain beneath me, still feeling the heat from her body. The urge had been so strong. Had she not woken me from my spell, I feared I would have violated her. I closed my eyes to the vile thought. Nay…never.
On the last day prior to reaching Anfalas, she made one final attempt to escape. This was after the Elves in my company had bound her from head to toe with rope and she was lying across her horse's saddle. She had managed to hop off her horse and kept hopping because her legs were bound and she could not take any steps.
I smiled at Elladan and Elrohir beside me as they chuckled. "I should allow her to keep going for a time and see how far she actually gets in that manner." We laughed again before I nudged Arod forward and walked him in her direction. She continued to hop even as I walked up beside her. "Tis a fine day for hopping."
She turned her face to look up at me. "Fuck you."
She had used that inflection many times now and I truly wanted to know what it meant. "Fuck you? I am unfamiliar with that phrase. What does it mean?"
"It means that you should take an arrow and shove it up the hole in your backside."
I could not stop the smile and nodded with interest. "Aye, I imagined it might mean as such. Very colorful."
She stopped hopping and sighed heavily. "This is exhausting. Can you get my horse for me, please?"
I smiled again and turned to my company. Blade was released and he trotted over. I reached down and grabbed her by the rope, lifting her to lay across the saddle.
"This is humiliating, Legolas."
"I realize that, but you leave me no choice." I heard her sigh again as we headed back to the others.