Disclaimer:

I owe nothing, everything belongs to mister Tolkien, who had created the wonderful fantasy story 'the Lord of the Rings'.

Elvish translations are at the bottom.

Chapter 10: Bad mistake…

It was still dark when Gimli woke Elanor up. The poor hobbit girl had the feeling that she had only slept for a few hours, which was close to the truth. "Hurry," Legolas whispered. The dreams that Elanor had had that night had been anything but pleasant, one had better call them nightmares. But when Elanor woke up it seemed like she was back into another nightmare, "The orcs are close, we have to ride quickly, we are almost there."

How long had they been riding yesterday? Elanor had no good memory of it, for she has been too sleepy to notice. Yesterday evening they had two days left to travel, but now it seemed that they were near the city. With the sleep still in her eyes Elanor got up and mounted Bill, who seemed equally nervous. As they rode of Elanor could hear something. Her eyes widened in fear as she looked behind them.

There were figures in the dark, still far away, but close enough for Elanor to see them. She did not need more encouragement to drive faster and neither did Bill who bolted off. Elanor held the reins tightly for she did not wish to fall off. After a few minutes of riding Gimli said, "We're almost there. Pelennor Fields is the name of the field we are riding over now." his voice was a low whisper, but hard enough for Elanor to hear.

After an hour the sun was rising and beams of light lit the fields in front of them. Behind them the sound of their pursuers was fade. With weary eyes Elanor looked to the beautiful city in front of them. 7 layers it had, just like her father had told her. And it was a white city. Yet her father had not told her that there were trees to be seen as well. Green dots they seemed to Elanor from that distance. But there was green nonetheless. Legolas said, "We'll rest here for a moment."

Immediately Elanor got of Bill and laid down again, not soon after that she was sound asleep. Gimli and Legolas looked to one another and smiled. "She's a lovely little Lady," Gimli said with his booming voice, only now it sounded soft as if he did not wish to wake the hobbit. Their decision to rest turned out to be a bad one.

Up in the citadel Aragorn was in the council chambers, talking with his counsellors and the prince of Ithilien. "Have there been any sight of orcs lately in Ithilien, Faramir?" the prince of Ithilien shook his head when the King asked him the question, "I'm happy to say that we have not, my King, but is this the same around the Druadan forest?" The King shook his head, "We have promised not to enter the woods of the Ghan-buri-Ghan. And I do not intend to break this promise. All we can do is keep watch at the borders, as the Rohirrim have promised him."

The conversation was rudely interrupted by the captain of the Guard Mablung who came rushing in, " 2 riders have been spotted my lord." he said after a quick bow, " We think it might be Prince Legolas and Master Gimli with Misses Gamgee." The King got up, "Thank you for your news Mablung. Gentlemen," he turned to his counsellors, "I'm afraid I have to greet our guests, we will continue this meeting later. Faramir?" The King walked out of the room, followed by the steward of Gondor, leaving the counsellors to talk about unfinished business.

" We will ride out and meet them," Aragorn said with a smile to Faramir. The two men were good friends and Faramir nodded and with a bow he walked to the stables. Not long after that they were ready to ride out and meet the three companions.

Back with Legolas, Gimli and Elanor everything seemed to be alright. Legolas kept a look out for the orcs, so things were fine. Elanor was by now sleeping on her back; it seemed to Legolas that she was having nightmares again. These probably were about the orcs. All was silent around them so Legolas allowed himself to rest for a moment. That was another mistake.

For not so much later Gimli and Legolas were alarmed by a piercing scream of pain: Elanor had been hit with an arrow in her shoulder. It was a foul looking one. Gimli was so angry with himself, he had his axe in his hand and was waving it at the direction from which the arrow had come. "Gimli… Gimli!" Legolas had to call him twice before he looked around, "Help me move Elanor behind this rock, Aragorn is coming."

Elanor who wasn't used to such pains had passed out a few moments ago, she did not move when Legolas easily lifted her up. Gimli moved the horses behind the huge boulder as well. "Sam is going to kill us," Gimli muttered angrily. "We will revenge this wound." Just at that moment the King arrived together with the Steward, they had heard Elanor scream and the look on their faces was grave. "Legolas, kill those bastards," he said as he dismounted his horse. The ten guards who had accompanied the King and his steward drew out their bows.

Not long after that the soldiers, Legolas, Gimli and Faramir were tracking down the orcs. Aragorn was now kneeling besides Elanor with a grave expression on his face. He carefully touched her shoulder and then with one swift motion he drew out the arrow. Right then Elanor opened her eyes in shock, she tried to push the stranger away, but he was much stronger then her and her left shoulder hurt terribly. She gave up her attempts, " Calm down Elanor, it's going to be alright." Through the tears of pain Elanor looked up to the man, "Strider?" – "Yes it's me, now rest, we will get you to Minas Tirith, you will be alright." That was the last thing that Elanor remembered.

When Elanor started to wake up she heard familiar voices in the hall, but they were talking a language that she did not now. "Amin dele ten'he" – "n'dela no'ta"… the conversation went further but Elanor paid no heed to that. She looked around in the room in which she was staying. It was different… wasn't she at home? "Mum? Dad?" she called, she tried to sit up, but she couldn't, her left arm didn't do what she want it to do. She looked towards it and her eyes widened, "What… what happened?" she whispered. Then two people entered her room.

"Ah, you are awake," the first one said. It was a tall man, and where first his hair must have been brown it now began to grey. The other who entered she recognised immediately, "Legolas!" she exclaimed, trying to sit up again. The elf looked down at her, was it pity that she could see in his eyes? Her left arm was bandaged so she could not sit up properly, yet she tried to do this. Only then she realised what had happened. "Wait… wait…" she said, frowning slightly, " I got shot… right? By those orcs who persuaded us, and I'm not in the Shire…"

"No you are not," It was Legolas who had spoken. But now Elanor looked to the other man with a slight frown on her face, "Are you… Strider?" the man laughed and nodded, "Yes I am, I'm glad to see you awake, Elanor, and this was certainly not the way that I wanted to greet you here in Gondor." Elanor smiled slightly, "You healed me…" It was more a statement then a question. "Yes I did, but you have to be careful with that shoulder of yours for a while," Strider answered her.

Then suddenly the tears came, Elanor had no idea from where they came; but they came, "I was so frightened… I didn't know that orcs are still running across the country. We did not have any trouble since the ruffians were driven out of the Shire by Pippin, Merry, Frodo and dad. What did I do wrong to them? I think they are scary and they hurt my friends, but why would they do that?" Strider had sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms around the frightened hobbit.

" Calm down now, orcs are orcs, dear Elanor. And not all living creatures in this world are good. You did nothing wrong to them, they would have attacked you even if you would walk towards them with a white flag in your hand," Aragorn said, trying to comfort her. Legolas looked from a little distance away, it was his fault that Elanor was lying there, with this thought haunting her. He felt sorry for and he wasn't ready to forgive himself until the young Peredhil would be herself again.

Finally it seemed to Aragorn that Elanor was calming down, so he laid her back down on the bed. Then he whipped the remaining tears of her face. "It'll be alright, I promise you that." Elanor smiled up to him, her eyes still red, "I know…" And just like she had read the elf' mind Elanor turned to Legolas, "It wasn't your fault, I just should not have fallen asleep." It was Aragorn who spoke, "See Legolas? Don't feel too bad about it." Elanor grinned, she was feeling better in some kind of way, just crying everything out had helped, "I've got some letters for you, and a gift, but I don't want to give you that yet."

"She's back to her old self," Legolas said smiling, "Now you must rest some more Elanor, tomorrow there will be a little feast in your honour." Elanor sat up in her bed again, "What! A feast in my honour? Well I can't I… I mean." Aragorn smiled, "Yes you can, now rest." Elanor muttered something under her breath but lay back down anyway. "There had better be a good reason for that feast," she muttered before she closed her eyes. A few moments later she was asleep.

Legolas and Aragorn walked out of her room. " You see, Legolas my friend, she isn't angry with you." Legolas smiled slightly, "It is not her anger that I fear, but Sam' Estel."Brotherly Aragorn pushed him aside, "Don't call me that, I'm not a child anymore." – "Are you saying that my father chose the name wrongly?" A soft female voice joined the conversation and soon Arwen Undomiel appeared around the corner. "Of course not, my love," Aragorn said with a roguish grin, "But I was trying to get our friend Legolas here to cheer up."

Amin dele ten'he - I am worried about her

n'dela no'ta - don't worry

Dear readers,

It took me longer then expected to finish this chapter, I'm not really content with it, but I think it will have to do, perhaps I will do it over later... who knows :)

Tjuus

Maikie