Chapter 21 reviews:
Elven Kitten: Thank you!
Crecy: I can torture, as long as I don't kill him. Hmm...
Avion Jade: Thank you! Glad I succeeded in making the character life-like. Shadow is overprotective, ain't he? Ah well, it makes the story better! Yes he will, maybe even the day after tomorrow!
TheAmazingTecnoColorRingWraith: So glad that you think that of my chapter. Feels good to survive something, doesn't it.
Kel: Yes, they are mean. Such terrible things that can cause so much pain!
MaddyPaddy: Ah, now I know what to write so that you have fun with my story! You start on the 1st? Good for you! I'm actually glad that school is about to start. I have more fun there then I do at home.
KyLaaa: Don't worry about it. I like it when people rush me! I think I said that before...well, here is the next update!
Silverkonekotsukari: re-reads chapter 21 that IS ghastly. I never noticed it till now. Wow, I am so slow. Well, thanks for the review! Here is the next chapter!
Rebell: You liked the chap.? So proud of myself! I didn't think that I did so good a job on it. I've always wanted to bike up a mountain. Sounds like fun! It rained the whole five days. Tsk tsk! Well, now you know to never say anything like what you said every again, or else you will be punished! I don't know if I will kill him or not, you'll just have to find out. Oh, and good luck with volleyball!
Illeanah: Ah! Know I see why you like quick chaps. I'll see if I can keep them short, but with lots of action! I'm pretty sure that if it were me, I would have died of pain. Be strong Leggy! Be strong!
Darklink231: I wonder if Shadow is a demon. I like torturing Glorfindel, it's fun. But I still love him!
Silver Mirror: I can come up with some painful weapons, even more painful then the arrow. But since they're not part of the story, I won't describe them. Thank you for the review!
Erenriel the Elven Canuck: The human spellchecker you say. Hmm, I don't know if that friend of yours has read my story, and if your friend did, I don't remember. I have bad memory, you see. I thank you a thousands thanks for pointing out my mistakes. I knew that I spelled 'bridal' wrong, but I forgot how to spell it and told myself that I'll get back to it later. Guess what! I completely forgot about when I finished writing the chapter. Told you I had bad memory. I wonder which anger management class would let a horse in? Boromir was the one being ripped? How evil! That's ok though, I'm not really that big of a fan of Boromir. You don't think that I will kill off elf-boy, do you? You'll just have to read to find out! (Insert evil laugh) Learn to fear my evil writing!
Elf of life: I'm cruel to make the story more enjoyable! That's why. Drama is always good for a story, even if it's a little drama.
KerowynGreenleaf: Suddenly appears in front of you There is no need to cry! Everything will turn out better, you'll see! (Maybe) These should make you feel better. hands you chocolate they always make me feel better!
Arialas: The 16th of August. But that's ok. I like school. I have more fun there than at home. Besides, I can catch up with my friends and they might give me some ideas! I'll probably be able to update during the weekends. I'm not going to stop writing just because school start. Never!
IwishChan: Well, think about it. If you were going to start a fire, would you use large, fat sticks, or long, skinny sticks. I didn't go camping, but when I was younger, my friends and I went into their backyard and started a fire. We tried using big sticks, but they wouldn't light, so we used small sticks, and they lit! I didn't remember that until I really began to think about what kinds of sticks burned better.
Chapter 22
Elrond watched the rain fall from the window of his room. He had washed himself earlier and was feeling refreshed after the sleep he got. He had also gotten up late, much to his annoyance.
Why do I get the feeling that something happened? He had learned long ago that whenever he got the feeling he was getting now, which was concern and confusion, for no reason, it usually meant that something happened.
Before he could continue with his train of thoughts, a knock was heard on his door. Moving away from the window, Elrond made his way to the door.
When he opened the door, Talan stood on the other side. Smiling at Elrond, Talan gave a small bow. "King Thranduil asked me if I can show you around the palace. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to be stuck in the guestroom for your whole stay here."
"I think that's an excellent idea." Elrond said as he stepped out of the room he was given and followed Talan down the hall.
Talan showed him the way to the kitchen first, that way they could get a small snack and something to drink before continuing. They continued walking around the palace, while Talan told Elrond how he could remember which way to go buy looking at the ceiling.
Each part of the ceiling had some sort of design on it, so that visitors could have an easier time walking around without the fear of getting lost. It was sort of a map that, when read right, can tell you which way to go so that you can get to your destination.
A symbol of a crown tells someone that the way to the kings meeting room is through a certain door, while a picture of several elves carrying plates to a table can tell one the way to the dinning area. Of course, to anyone who doesn't know what the pictures mean, that's all they are to them, pictures.
After Talan finished explaining what each picture or symbol represented, Elrond looked at him with wonder in his eyes. "That is quite clever." He said.
Talan shrugged. After all, he was used to it. "We don't tell all the visitors about this. And it has been a while since our last visitor." Then he turned around and headed to a hallway that lead to the kings study hall. "Come Lord Elrond! We mustn't waste time."
Elrond just arched an eyebrow before quickly following. "Is there some reason for us to hurry?" He asked.
Talan shook his head. "No, not really."
"Then why do you want us to rush?" Elrond asked with a frown starting to form on his face.
Talan looked at Elrond from the corner of his eye. "Well, the palace is a big place. I just wanted to show you as much as I could, and the best way to do that is to set a nice quick pace. That way, once I show you everything, you can take your time and look at the palace on your own pace."
Elrond turned his head slightly to look at Talan. "That doesn't make much sense."
Talan only shrugged.
The sound of hooves hitting the wet ground was muffled by the storm, which had grown stronger.
While it had been raining earlier, it was now pouring, and the rain was making it a bit hard for Raindul, holding a mostly unconscious Legolas in front of him by the waist, to see what was in front of him.
Twice, they had almost ran smacked into a tree, and only Shadow's quick reflexes saved him from a broken neck.
"Damn rain!" Raindul whispered as he tried to wipe the rain from his eyes without letting go of Legolas or the rein. He could hear Shadow panting from underneath him.
Come on Shadow! Just a bit more! The muddy ground was making it hard for Shadow. Raindul looked up at the storm clouds, hoping to see a break in them, but instead, all he saw was more dark clouds and lightning a bit further ahead.
"Come on Shadow!" He yelled over the thunder. "We should be reaching the border on Lothlorien in a short while!"
Shadow gave a snort and increased his pace, ignoring his aching muscles.
They continued racing through the rain, and at some point Legolas was completely knocked out. This sent Raindul into a panic and urged Shadow to go even faster.
In a short while, they pasted two thick tress that marked the beginning of the Golden Wood realm. With the knowledge that they had made it into Lothlorien, Raindul felt hope whelm up in him.
Suddenly, without warning, a bolt of lightning landed right in front of the racing horse, leaving a pretty large hole in the ground.
Shadow, who had freaked out seeing the bright light, tried to slow down, but the ground was completely muddy, making it hard to slow down in. Having no other choice, the black horse tried to jump the gap, but didn't have enough momentum.
Instead, what happened was that both of Shadows front legs hit the edge of the gap, causing the horse to flip over, and throw both of his riders off before landing on it back.
Raindul lost his grip on Legolas when he was tossed off the horse. Legolas landed on his side and skid a few feet before coming to a complete stop.
Meanwhile, Raindul flew into a nearby tree with a thud, then blacked-out.
In Lothlorien, a blond haired elf with dark blue eyes stood near a large rock, trying, unsuccessfully, to find a spot were said rocked blocked the wind from hitting him. This certain elf was named Haldir and he was the captain of the warriors of Lothlorien.
At the moment, he was waiting for several elves to come back with reports on the area they were assigned to watched.
The storm that came without warning was pretty strong and he didn't want to let any of the scouts stay out in it to long. Didn't want them to catch a cold.
After about five minutes of waiting, a shout was heard. "Haldir! Hey Haldir!"
Haldir quickly made his way towards the sound of the voice, which was coming from one of his brothers.
Orophin ran over to Haldir before he continued to speak. "A scout found two elves and a horse lying motionless on the ground near the border!"
Haldir's eyes widened. "What? Are they dead? Did any of the scouts stay behind to find out?"
Orophin held out a hand to stop the questions. "No, they are not dead. At least not yet." At Haldir's confused look, he explained. "On of the elves is lying under a tree. He's bleeding from the head, but it's not bad. The other though, the other has an arrow in the chest and his breathing is labored. I think that he might die soon without help."
Haldir grabbed his brothers arm and began to drag him behind. "Well then, what are we waiting for! Let's go!"
Estel, Elladan, Elrohir, and the rest of the Mirkwood elves were, to say the least, miserable.
They had, after many, many trials and errors, managed to set the orcs on fire. Then they had to keep a constant watch to make sure that the fire didn't go out. It went out several times, making them have to re-light the mound of bodies. Finally, after what felt like forever, the bodies managed to burn until they turned black.
Now they were tugging their horses behind them and walking in sticky mud so that they would be able to reach Lothlorien before nightfall. Of course, on couldn't really tell if it was night, seeing as the clouds covered the whole sky.
"Elladan?" Elrohir said. "You remember this trip better than I do. How far do you think until we reach the border?"
Elladan looked around for a while, then thought back to the last time the came through here. After a moment, he spoke. "I'm not entirely sure, but if I had to make a guess, I would say another four hours at this pace."
Estel just groaned.
But sure enough, after four and a half hours of walking in the rain and getting feet stuck in the mud, they made it to the very edge of the border. Now all that was left to do was walk on and hope that one of the Lothlorien elf scouts would be kind enough to show them to the realm where Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn are at.
Another half hour of waking and they arrive at the area where Shadow and his two riders had their little accident. Both Legolas and Raindul had been taken away, but Shadow was still there with several elves with horses with them. They also had some sort of sled made out of wood with them.
Elrohir let out a cry of horror, and without thinking, ran to Shadow's side. This of course made all the Lothlorien elves stop working and go for their weapons.
Elladan and Estel quickly followed their brother, but at a slower pace. The Mirkwood elves followed after them.
Elrohir began to pat Shadow on the neck. "Oh Shadow, what happened?" He also had tears forming in his eyes. Yeah, Shadow and him didn't always get along, but he still liked the horse, and it was his!
Shadow just looked up at Elrohir with pain filled eyes and let out a sort of horse-like whimper.
One of the Lothlorien elves walked over and kneeled next to Elrohir. "Do you know this horse?" Elrohir nodded his head.
"Yes." He said.
Elladan stood at the other side of the Lothlorien elf. "There were two elves on this horse. Do you know where they are?"
The Lothlorien elf looked at Elladan. "Do you know the two who were riding the horse?"
This time it was Estel who answered. "Yes we do. They are both friends of ours. One had an arrow in his chest while the other volunteered to take him here so that you might be able to help him."
The Lothlorien elf gave Estel a curios look. It had been a while since their last human visitor, after all. "And who are you?"
Estel pointed to himself. "I'm Estel." Then he pointed to each of his brother in turn. "These are my brothers, Elladan and Elrohir."
The Lothlorien elf practically flew to his feet and gave the brothers a dip bow. "I didn't realize! I apologize for questioning you-!"
Elladan held out both of his arms. "Ok, ok! We just want to know were to two riders are."
The Lothlorien elf stood up again. "They were both injured and had been taken to the healers. We are now trying to get the horse onto that," he pointed to the wooden sled, "so that we can drag it back to the stable. That way we can heal the horse as well."
Elrohir looked up. "They were both injured? Then you must take us to the healers as fast as you can!"
The Lothlorien elf quickly nodded. "Of course. Follow me."
The three brothers and the Mirkwood elves stood in front of the Healing room. Inside, they were told, were Legolas and Raindul.
Raindul had come out a few minutes after they arrived, holding his head. Before he knew it, he was being hugged to death by some very worried elves and human. Now all that they needed to do was wait until they heard news about Legolas's condition.
They stayed out until well past night. Finally, one of the healers came out. The healer, who was female, was looking at the ground, hiding her face.
Estel was the one who spoke. "Lady? Is he...can we...?"
The healer was still looking down, but the two words she said made all of them feel dread.
"I'm sorry."
There, all done with this chapter! This was a bitch to write. I had this really great idea, but I'm not sure if it came out right. Oh well, you be the judge!
School starts this Tuesday for me, so I probably won't be able to update as often. I'll try to update on the weekend, but yall probably won't get to read the next chapter until next week.
Oh! What's the name of Haldir's other brother? You know, the one who's name starts with an 'R'? I forgot.