Find Me
Erm...Well. I never expected my story would be so well received. Hence, I never anticipated need for another chapter. Please excuse the horrendously long wait! (Bad writer, bad!) So, anyway, here's chapter 2 (finally). Standard disclaimer applies...(see chapter one) (But this time flames will be used to warm me up, because it's pretty much monsoon season over here...Where the bleep is my summer sun, huh! All I know is it's not cooperating...)
The sun rose carefully and quietly over Middle Earth, trying not to cause ripples in the deep blue sea that was the sky. However gingerly it stepped over the horizon, the sun did not go unnoticed by one creature. A lonely hare had crept out of his hidden home underneath a bush, perhaps bent on finding a safe store of food for the day. Or maybe to watch the Great Light cross the sky, as all creatures referred to the sun. Or possibly just to stare out at the land before him and notice that all his family were still missing. They had left him one day, deciding that instead of staying, they were going to find a new home with more food and less of the Tall Ones, as they called humans. The hare was the only one who had stayed and was still waiting for them to come back home.
/But they did not come today/ the hare twitched his ears in lonely boredom. /Maybe the next time the Great Light crosses, they will be here./ Content to sit for a while before going to look for something to eat, the hare settled down to watch the sky.
Looking up however, he was suddenly immobilized with mindless terror. Death was up there, circling in powerful spirals on wings of feathered dread. And worst of all, those eyes that burned through everything like fire born on the wind, surrounding you, scorching. The hare couldn't move. The slightest twitch would bring the great hunting bird down on him in seconds, carrying him aloft in steely talons. The hare closed his eyes, waiting for a screeching cry of triumph and the swooping sound of wings that would mean he had been found.
But nothing happened for several minutes. Hopefully, the hare opened his eyes a crack to see if the killer had left him alone. No...It was still there, but very high up in the sky now. Very close to the Great Light, casting enormous shadows every time it circled in front of the sun.
/Could I run? Would it be safe/ The indecision of the hare caused his ears to flick and he realized too late how much of a critical mistake that was as a wild screeching noise filled his mind.
Death had seen him. It was coming.
Terrified, the unfortunate hare made a mad dash for his burrow, only to be blocked by a flash of talons and spraying dirt as the bird dived. Feathers drifted lazily down around the hare as he thumped his hind legs in danger and scurried off in the other direction. The bird, furious at it's miss, beat its wings hard to catch up and was about to dive at the poor small animal huddling petrified between the roots of a tree. Yet it paused, sensing danger. Not from the creature it had intended as its meal, but from a different, far more dangerous intruder. A twig snapped nearby and with its strong eyes, the bird spotted a hunter the likes of which it could not hope to win against. Giving a piercing shriek at its annoyance, the bird flew up towards the sky with powerful wing strokes, leaving the hare numbed by its luck and weak with fear, but alive.
It was several minutes before the hare felt brave enough to move again, cautiously hopping away from the tree and looking after the disappearing hunter.
But what had made it leave? Was there a Tall One nearby, bent on killing him now that the bird was gone? Unfortunately, his recent brush with death had left the hare bold, and he loped away from the tree base, daring any Tall One to try and shoot him. However, boldness does not make anyone stronger, as the hare realized to late when he heard an almost sweet sound whistling through the air.
He was mid jump when the arrow struck him, and the hare fell back to the ground, scrabbling, trying to get his legs under him. But he no longer had the strength to do so, and as he lay trembling, he felt the slight vibrations in the ground that told him something was coming. Then he was lifted with gentle hands, staining them with berry red blood.
"I'm sorry," said a voice. A Tall One voice. In strange words that were foreign, yet instinctively, the hare knew what they were saying. Only the Old People used those words. Magical words. Words that the animals said had made the trees in the forest they live in come alive. And only the Old People apologized for death.
"I'm sorry that you must die for me."
/Well. Since you're nice about it./ twitched the hare, at last giving up his lonely body and floating towards the Great Light to join his family.
Legolas Greenleaf carried his burden back to his makeshift camp, situated by an old Ash tree. Gently, even though it had long passed, he set down the dead hare and washed his reddened hands in a nearby stream. As much as he had hated to do it, he needed the hare for meat and had killed it just after it had so narrowly escaped a first death. Though he comforted himself with the fact that he had been less brutal then the Hawk would have been, carrying it up thousands of feet, ending its terrified journey with the horrible crush of its talons...
Legolas shook his head angrily and splashed water on his face. 'I hate it when I get depressed like this..., ' he murmured, watching his dripping face waver in the reflection of the stream. 'Everything seems so much more morbid.' Turning away from the stream, he looked at his gear. There wasn't much of it; he had been so bent on getting out of Gondor that he had left all but the necessities, taking only his weapons, a spare cloak, and whatever food he could carry as he passed the kitchens on the way to the stables.
The elven face frowned as his traitorous mind hit on the reason for his flight from Gondor.
Aragorn... The man was probably in his counseling room, focused on his city, solving problems of great import. A crystal clear image of him doing just that floated into Legolas' mind. The frown dissolved and a heavy sigh escaped the elf. A saddened look now lay upon his face, the leaden weight of it pulling Legolas' face down to rest in his hands.
Aragorn... he thought again, squeezing his eyes shut against any treacherous tears. What hold it is you have over me?
FIN
Ahaha! How'd ya like that? Does it suffice? Hopefully the whole thing with the hare and stuff wasn't too weird...If so, expect a bit more normalcy next chapter, which will be...(drum roll please...) Aragorn's point of view! I promise, no wacky animal hunts thrown in...In fact, if I use my most awesome writers ESP and look at my notes, I foretell only of a horse being in the animal department...AND I already have that chapter sort of half-written, so it may only take me...three weeks to post it...sobs
Hope you enjoyed it!
TA!
Darashini