Disclaimer: Not mine!! :(
Title: To New Mutiny
Rating: R
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Chapter 22
The group was silent for a time as they walked under the eaves of Mirkwood. The gloom under the trees and the almost palpable presence of the evil shadow was enough to take the cheer out of them all, but after a while, they began to chatter quietly, growing more and more boisterous as the time went on.
"And…and he turned around and…shot Glorfindel in the foot!" Legolas gasped around his laughter, "Glorfindel was so angry…Elrohir was afraid to come out of his room for two weeks!"
Elrohir glowered at Legolas while the rest of the group burst into laughter. Elladan, noticing his brother's discomfort, decided to add to it.
"Aye. The legendary balrog slayer almost lost his composure that time!" He cackled when his twin turned the glare from Legolas to him, "He was hopping around the courtyard for about five minutes!"
Aragorn leaned against a tree, weak from laughter at the picture that presented. Gimli and Narso, having never met Glorfindel, could not see the height of humour that the Elves and Aragorn could, but the thought was very amusing nonetheless.
Elrohir continued to glower at them. "It was not that funny! He had me scrubbing the bird droppings off the pavilion roof for a week afterwards!"
At this, they all laughed harder, Legolas actually dropping to the ground with tears streaming down his face. Narso looked on fondly, never having seen Legolas so totally let down his guard before. The mirth was cut short, however, when the Elves stilled abruptly, obviously listening hard.
Aragorn immediately noticed and straightened, looking around. "What?" He asked quietly, "What is it?"
"Listen," Legolas hissed.
"I do not hear anything…" Aragorn looked quizzically at the Elves.
"Exactly! It is too quiet, something is not right." Legolas answered, his whole body now tensed in a fighting stance.
They all instinctively moved so that they guarded each other's backs, drawing their weapons and glancing around warily.
Legolas' nose twitched and he frowned. "Yrch," He hissed, turning to Elrohir, who was next to him, "Do you smell them?"
Elrohir nodded tensely. "They are not far,"
Narso looked puzzled. "What?"
Aragorn suddenly realised that the man had no clue what they were talking about. "Orcs," He said softly, "And close."
Legolas grabbed a low branch and swung smoothly into the tree overhead. They heard some rustling as he climbed higher, then silence. Narso was about to ask what he was doing, when Legolas uttered a soft curse and dropped out of the boughs, landing soundlessly beside them.
"There are many…they are coming in from the south and west, two bands, moving fast."
Aragorn frowned. "Can we avoid them?"
"Unlikely," Legolas replied, "They seem to know exactly where we are…" He glanced worriedly at Narso, "But we must try. We cannot wait here for them to come to us. If we strike out to the northeast, it should buy us some time, but we will encounter them sooner or later, there are too many. It will take us off our course, but it cannot be helped."
"Alright," Elladan looked from Legolas to his brothers, "Then we move. Perhaps we will meet one band and not both,"
Agreed, they set out at a fast pace, weapons still in hand and constantly alert for danger. They were only a few leagues from the borders of Eryn Lasgalen when they realised they would not make it. They could hear the sounds of the dark creatures crashing through the trees, destroying at will as they passed.
In silent agreement, the Elves swung into the trees once more to wait, bows drawn, to ambush the orcs as they came. Gimli, Aragorn and Narso stood back to back and waited.
Aragorn cursed as the first orcs burst from the trees. Legolas had not been exaggerating, they were heavily outnumbered. As they engaged the creatures, arrows rained down from the branches above, taking the orcs by surprise and felling many before they realised what was happening and began firing back.
The three Elves dropped from the trees, discarded their bows in favour of their blades and dived into the fray to aid their friends. Legolas fought next to Narso, guarding his back protectively as the orcs closed in around them. Thinking quickly, he threw his head back and uttered a high-pitched call, praying that there was a patrol close enough to hear him.
Only moments later, he heard an answering call and arrows once more rained from the surrounding trees, felling many of the creatures. A few fled, the rest were brought down by blade or arrow as they fought to bring their opponents down.
At last, the six companions stood, panting in the middle of the former battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of the band of orcs.
"Stinking creatures," Gimli muttered as he retrieved his throwing axe from the back of one of the carcasses.
They stood back as Elves dropped from the trees around them, watching the travellers warily.
"Mae govannen," [Well met,] Aragorn said, relief colouring his voice as he greeted the new arrivals.
The leader of the patrol looked at each of them suspiciously. "Who are you travellers, who know the calls of the wood Elves so well?"
Aragorn was about to reply, when Legolas' voice sounded from behind him. "It was I who summoned you," He said softly, coming out from behind Aragorn and into the Elf's line of sight, "I hope I did not call you from anything important."
The Elf's eyes grew wide as the prince stepped into view. He shook off his astonishment and saluted, followed by the rest of the contingent.
"Mae govannen, Captain." He stuttered, "I did not realise it was you, forgive me my rudeness."
Legolas shook his head, smiling reassuringly at him. "Do not apologise. You were right to be careful, these are dark times."
The leader nodded. "Tis good to see you again, prince Legolas. You were gone long, we worried for you."
Legolas glanced at Narso before returning his attention to the Elf. "I was well cared for. We must be moving on, we hope to reach the palace before dusk."
"Do you need an escort to the palace, my prince?"
"That is not necessary, we can find our way unaided." Legolas said, unknowingly speaking the words he had spoken many times before to over-protective guards.
The Elf smiled. "As you wish, Captain." The patrol then disappeared back under the shadows of the trees and was soon lost from their sight.
Aragorn turned to his friend, still slightly out of breath. "Good thinking, Legolas."
Legolas shook his head dismissively. "Twas a shot in the dark, my friend, I am only glad it worked."
Aragorn laughed. "Well, it did! Come, we had better move on if we wish to make it to Lasgalen by nightfall."
In agreement, they left the corpses of the orcs behind and moved on towards the Elven realm.
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Hope they were alright!! More soon and I should be back to regular posting pretty soon, sorry I've been so irregular recently, you've all been so patient! Thanks everyone!
.:Tithen Min:.