GreenEyedElfGoddess – Thanks for the both the compliment and pointing that out to me. I guess what I meant was that before everyone just was glad he was there helping to fight and now, he's helping people on a more personal level. It is kinda funny though, isn't it?
Danger in the Misty Mountains
The first thing Fiondra noticed when she breathed the air of a free world was the landscape. "It's changed since I last saw it," she said in astonishment to Legolas and Gimli. "This land used to be barren and full of obstinate boulders. Now, it is verdant and blooming."
A strong wind swept across the plains. Fiondra shivered as it hit her and Legolas laughed. "I see you've forgotten how the wind is a whip out here. On a plain such as this, there are no trees to block its' force." Fiondra smiled at him, and put up her hood. They rode in near silence for a long time.
The sky was painted in orange and pink. Legolas looked at the sunset, and then said, "We should stop and make camp before it is night. Look for a shelter of some kind."
Fiondra looked ahead and with her keen sense of sight quickly noticed a copse of trees around a small clearing. "Perhaps that arbor up ahead would be a good resting place," she said, pointing to it. Legolas nodded and they let the horses trot to the clearing.
Fiondra lay awake, gazing at the stars in the velvet night. She could dimly hear Gimli's snores from her makeshift bed. Both he and Legolas were sleeping across the clearing to grant her privacy. Fiondra turned her head and saw the outlines of both elf and dwarf. They had fallen asleep not long ago, after they had all eaten, and discussed the next day's traveling. Legolas had told Gimli that they would have to cross the Misty Mountains. The dwarf had been happy at this news. "It has been far too long since I last saw rock and stone," the dwarf had said pleasantly.
Fiondra smiled drowsily. Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that she would soon be home.
"So these are the Misty Mountains," Gimli said approvingly, glancing up at the high cliffs around them. "My father Gloin oft used to recount the tale in which they lost Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, in a twisted passage here. They are exactly as he described."
Ignoring Gimli's comment, Legolas looked around, his blue eyes narrowed. He turned to look at Fiondra. "Some evil is at work here," he said to her in a hushed tone. "It would be good for us to get out of the mountains quickly."
Fiondra nodded and told him, "I will keep my bow at the ready." She reached around and took it off her back and fitted an arrow to it. Legolas did the same, while Gimli took his axe in his hand.
They rode that way through the gap in the mountains, until they came to the end of the path. Legolas relaxed visibly. "It seems my worries were in vain," he said to both Gimli and Fiondra.
Fiondra opened her mouth to agree with him when a black arrow soared past her head. She looked at it and immediately cried, "Orcs!" Fiondra urged Etul to a gallop and behind her, Legolas and Gimli followed on Arod.
"We have to get to Mirkwood!" Legolas yelled to her over the deafening wind rushing into their faces. The grunts of orcs could now be heard following them.
Gimli turned to look back at their pursuers and groaned. "Not only orcs, but Uruk-hai," he shouted. Arrows kept flying towards them, but the horses were able to dodge them with the help of their riders.
Fiondra took her bow and turned to partially face the vile creatures. She briskly let loose an arrow, which found its way to the pulse in an orc's throat. Next to her, Legolas' bow sang, arrows zooming to any orc or Uruk that was getting too close for comfort.
'They're gaining on us,' Fiondra realized. Quickly, she glanced at Etul and then at Arod. Both were breathing heavily from running so hard at quite a long distance. She shot another arrow straight into the heart of a slobbering orc and then screamed to Legolas, "The horses are tiring. We won't make it to Mirkwood!"
Worried, Legolas searched for the trees of the Woodland Realm. He could barely make them out on the horizon. "Keep the horses at their pace," he shouted. "We will fight if they catch up to us." Desperate, he tried to push Arod to run faster, but the white stallion couldn't carry such a weight of an elf and a dwarf and flee any quicker.
Fiondra and Legolas kept shooting arrows at the enemy. Some were able to get close to the horses, but they didn't live for long. "Taste the wrath of my axe!" Gimli bellowed. "You'll not harm me!"
"Almost there," Legolas panted reaching for yet another arrow. 'We just might make it,' he thought to himself. So distracted by the possibility that they would not have to stand and fight, he never saw the offensive arrow. It hit him in the side from an orc who had somehow gotten next to Arod.
Legolas cried out in pain. Fiondra saw him clutch at his side and her eyes grew large in alarm. She watched as Gimli quickly beheaded the lucky archer who had shot Legolas. "Gimli! We must get to the woods!" she yelled. "Try to steer Arod. We're almost there." Then in retaliation for what the orcs and Uruk-hai had done to Legolas, she swiftly killed six more as she and Gimli entered the forests of Mirkwood, leaving the rest of the enemy behind. The orcs dared not enter the Woodland Realm, for they would be badly outnumbered by the elves.
Fiondra leaped off of Etul to Arod. She hastily helped Gimli dismount and then reached up to help the wounded elf. "I'm fine," Legolas informed her, dismounting on his own. But as soon as his feet hit the ground, Legolas' eyes clouded with pain and his knees buckled.
Fiondra fell to her knees alongside him. As she took away the unconscious elf's hand from his side, both she and Gimli gasped. Legolas' wound was steadily pouring blood onto the moss-covered forest floor.
X X X X X
Ooh, what's gonna happen next? I know, but you don't. (Sticks out tongue in pleasure at the thought of all readers writhing with anticipation.) Don't worry, I'll try to update soon. Thanks for reading. Please review!