Disclaimer: All names and places that you have heard of belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. Any other names belong to me, Elenya, copyright 2002.
~*~A/N: Wow! Thanks for all of the encouraging reviews!! I love all you guys! :-) I'm having sooo much fun writing this story and I'm glad you all like it so much! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you continue to do so! Oh, and I know some of the things in this chapter may not be exactly following the timeline from the books, but it's my story!!!
; )~*~
Three weeks had passed since the Fellowship arrived in Rivendell. The friendship of Lina and Legolas grew steadily. Legolas felt he was in love with Lina, but she would never let him get close enough to tell her. One day he had a sneaking suspicion that she did not want him to love her.
"Ah, I see I found you here, once again, Lady," Legolas said to Lina, approaching her at her perch on the tree in the garden which she had spoken about earlier. It was her favourite and she could often be found, lost in thought, near it.
"Good afternoon, Legolas," Lina said brightly. "How are you today?"
"Very good, thank you. And yourself?"
"Okay… I was just thinking," came her vague reply.
"And what, may I ask, about?" Legolas asked, inquisitively.
"Nothing really, just thinking," her eyes wandered but she found herself looking deep into Legolas's blue eyes, her own eyes twinkling.
"You know, Lina," Legolas began. "You are amazing." He did not know where these words came from, but they just seemed to spill out when he opened his mouth.
"What? Oh," she said, blushing, "thank you, though I do not know what you mean."
"I mean, everyone like you, you are always happy, and ever-caring for others."
"Well, I suppose that is my nature," she replied softly, a little unsure of herself. Her heart was pounding and she didn't know why. 'Stop this, Lina!' she told herself. 'You made a promise to yourself and you are going to keep it.'
All this time, Legolas was staring at Lina. When he realised that she was uncomfortable with his open statement, he shook himself mentally. 'Why are you such an idiot?' He asked himself. 'You always bring up topics of discomfort. Lina must think you are a fool!' he berated himself.
He was slightly blushing when he gave an excuse about going off to meet Gimli somewhere, and he left. He ran off, leaving Lina to think about what had just happened. She had no idea what Legolas was implying. Did he wish for her affection? If so, he could not get it. She did not want to lose him either. 'We are fine as friends,' she said, consoling herself. Perhaps she was overreacting. Maybe he only meant it as a compliment between friends.
Lina jumped nimbly from her position to the ground. She thought about going to have a chat with Arwen. Talking to the elder cousin always made her feel better. But Arwen was away, deep in the woods, with Aragorn and Elrond. Lina smiled, thinking of what Arwen wanted to achieve by the trip with her father and her love. Lina suddenly felt quite tired and decided to take a short nap. She was making her way to the House of Elrond, when she decided that it was a nice day outside and she might as well make the most of it and sleep outside. So she walked to the small patio about a fathom away from the main House, nearly tripping over her scarlet dress, because sleep was already claiming her. She did not know what was wrong with herself, but she shrugged it off and flopped onto a soft bench on the patio. Immediately she fell into deep slumber.
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Lina sat upon her regal, white horse, urging it to follow Arwen upon her own steed. She and her cousin were riding to Lothlórien to stay with their grandmother. Lina kept glancing furtively behind her back because she had a slight feeling that someone was behind them. The lady-Elves were not travelling with escorts, as was the usual case in those times, because the road was dangerous and they had enough training to fend for themselves. Lina constantly looked behind herself, though she did not expect to see anything. It was not the feeling of danger, that Elves were usually good at picking up, but a feeling that she was being watched by someone. It made her feel sort of uneasy.
Lina and Arwen were not talking because they were frightened of disturbing the forest. Sauron's forces were not yet advancing on their goal of trying to find the One Ring, but it was still perilous to be journeying like this.
Suddenly, Lina's sharp sense of hearing picked up the slightest sound of the crunching of leaves. It was heavier than the sound the Elven horses made, and Lina eyes took in the surroundings carefully.
"Arwen," she whispered, "I think there is something else here."
Arwen gestured for her younger cousin to be quiet and she too looked around cautiously.
Then, a shrill scream pierced the air and the white Elven horses whinnied frantically. The ladies drew their swords, ready for a battle.
In a split second a red-eyed, black horse appeared in the spot where the two lady-Elves stopped. Upon it was a black-cloaked figure: a Ringwraith. The Elven-horses bolted, Arwen's horse taking her deep into the woods.
"Lina!" came Arwen's voice, growing fainter. The horse was not listening to Arwen, who was trying to get it to slow and go back to Lina's aid. The Ringwraith would soon be upon her and kill her. Tears began to fall down Arwen's face at the thought, but her horse would not slow. It would be dangerous for her to take the risk of jumping off her horse because it was running at such a fast pace that the impact would surely kill her as well.
Lina's horse, in the meanwhile, had also bolted. But Lina was thrown off of it, and she lay, face-down in the mud. She struggled to get up from the position. The Ringwraith was slowly advancing in her direction, for it knew that she would not be going anywhere anytime soon. Lina finally managed to stand on her feet, though she was wavering uncontrollably. She picked up the sword that fell a few feet to her right and kept it in front of her, to protect herself. The Ringwraith was still coming forward. Lina knew she had not the strength to run, so she decided to fight.
"I will kill you, or I will die trying," came her clear voice, faltering only slightly, though her choice was a confident one.
The Ringwraith let out another blood-curdling shriek and was now next to Lina. It raised its sword and was about to bring it down on her body, but she deflected it with her own sword. She fought hard for a few minutes, but then her strength failed her. She fell to the ground. The Ringwraith's sword had made a long gash in her arm and it was bleeding profusely. As the Ringwraith brought its sword down on her to make its finishing blow, she closed her eyes. This was the end. Nothing could save her now. But her eyes flew open when she heard the sound of metal on metal.
"Farin!" she screamed. "Get away from here! Save yourself while you can!" Lina was horrified, seeing her true love fight against a creature that could overpower him in a second.
The Man was fighting steadily until the sword of the Ringwraith found its way to his stomach. Farin let out a groan and sunk to the ground.
"FARIN!!!" Lina screamed, tears now pouring down her face.
The Wraith now turned to where Lina lay. She staggered to a standing position.
"Kill me too!" she screamed. "I do not wish to live!"
It stabbed her, too, in the stomach, but a sudden noise of many hoofbeats made it flee into the darkness. Blood gushed from Lina's wound, but she mustered all of her remaining strength to crawl to the body of her lover.
"Farin," she whispered hoarsely. The sound of the approaching hoofbeats grew louder. "I love you so much." She lay his head in her lap, but her body was in pain. The wound in her stomach, though not as deep as that of her lover, was unbearable in pain.
"And I you, Melamin," came the reply of the Man. He was not dead yet, but nothing could be done to save him.
"Farin, don't leave me," Lina pleaded. But her pleas were all in vain.
"I'm sorry, my love, but my time has come. You may live on, but please never forget me," he said quietly, as if every breath was painful.
"Hush, now, Farin. Help is coming. You are okay," Lina sobbed.
"Good bye, Melamin…" his voice faded.
Lina's shrieks filled the air, but her strength, too, was soon gone. She fell faint, and lay, seemingly dead, next to her deceased love.
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