23
The Rescue
Unfinished Tales: P. 395: Cirion and Eorl: "Vanda sina termaruva Elenna-norco alcar enyalien ar Elendil vorondo voronwe. Nai tiruvantes; harar mahalmassen mi Numen ar i Eru or ilye mahalmar ea tennoio."
"This oath shall stand in memory of the glory of the Land of the Star, and of the faith of Elendil the Faithful, in the keeping of those who sit upon the thrones of the West and of the One who is above all thrones for ever."
Gimli comforted the distraught Legolas as best he could. He was shocked by the Elf's appearance. He had never before seen Legolas in such a state; wounded so badly, both physically and emotionally, that he had collapsed. When the Elf had become calm, Gimli led him to the stream that ran through the woods. He helped Legolas remove some of his outer clothing in order to wash, and as he did so, Gimli noticed that the Elf had sustained many wounds. There were deep gashes in his neck and shoulders and teeth marks on his forearms where he had tried to fend off the wolves' attack. There were also bite marks on his thighs and knees that were in the process of healing. Gimli winced at the sight of these hideous wounds that covered his friend's body.
"Great stone quarries, lad!" he exclaimed. "I have never seen wounds such as these on you. It must have been a terrible battle that you fought. You were lucky not to have been killed!"
Legolas spoke for the first time in months. "I have not much memory of what occurred here. Of one thing I am certain, and that is that the spirits in the wood have helped me. They heal. They do not harm. I was forced into a peculiar sleep, and while I slept I walked about, half asleep and half awake."
Legolas looked at Gimli with the shadow of deep melancholy darkening his eyes. He gingerly let himself down into the clear water. He bathed for awhile in the stream, examining the marks that remained on his body. Gimli wrapped the Silmaril securely in Galadriel's cloak and placed it in his own backpack. Afterward, when Legolas was ready to leave, Gimli helped him through the wood, and out into the daylight where they stood upon the road. The water from the stream had renewed the Elf's strength, and helped his wounds to heal swiftly.
"Whither shall you go, Legolas?" asked Gimli, his heart beating hard with anticipation.
Legolas stood still and silent. "I do not know, Gimli," he replied after a few minutes had passed.
"What happened before you entered the wood, Legolas? I have many questions. Let me ask them. Why did you stay in these woods for so long? Why have you not come to Moria?"
Legolas stared at Gimli for many minutes without speaking. He pulled off one of his sleeves, exposing a large bite in his forearm, with several gashes and scrapes around it, still red but in the process of healing. "Fingalas is dead, Gimli," he said finally. "She was killed at my home by thieves - Dunlendings - who set fire to my stables. Six horses were lost as well. But the worst wound I have suffered is the knowledge that I let her down. I did not protect her well enough to keep her from harm. In my failure to protect her, I allowed her to be killed. When I left for the Grey Havens with the Silmaril, Gimli, I knew it had brought the ill luck that I was not strong enough to withstand. I could not let it cause another tragedy, yet one more has occurred despite my effort."
"What has happened to Arod?" asked the Dwarf, already knowing the heart-breaking answer, but wishing to help his friend to come to terms with the events that had occurred, however difficult that would be for him.
"He is dead," Legolas cried, and his voice broke. "Arod and I were beset by wolves. They killed him and injured me. Because of my negligence, two loyal friends, Arod and Fingalas, both have died." Legolas buried his face in his hands in anguish.
Gimli let out his breath in a deep sigh at these bitter words. He foundered for the adequate words to say to soothe him. "Legolas, you tried your best to help them. I am sure of that because I know you, and I have never seen you do less than your best. However, there is always a reason, a fate, if you will, for these things to happen. Sometimes it is not in your control to make it otherwise."
"My mind went blank and I was drawn, I think, into the wood by the spirits of the Amon Anwar. They were benevolent, for they saved me and they healed me," Legolas replied. "I know now my fate is to be an Elf, not a mortal, and thus an Elf I shall be. The best one that you have ever known."
Gimli put an affectionate arm around Legolas' waist, and the two walked slowly down the road toward Gondor. "Of course you are an Elf, Legolas," Gimli responded. "A great Elf-warrior, I might add. One of the best I've known, to be sure. Why do you talk nonsense about being a mortal?"
"Because of Fingalas, Gimli," Legolas replied. "I had considered asking permission of the Valar to marry her, and she was a mortal. Therefore, I would have relinquished my Elvish immortality, and I would have had to remain on Middle-earth. I was torn between doing so, and taking the Silmaril to Valinor, and thus remaining an Elf. Fate has decided the answer for me."
They had been walking for a few hours when riders approached them on horseback, coming from the north. The horsemen bore the insignia of the royal house of King Elessar of Gondor. They were Aragorn's men returning from the Grey Havens, where they had been searching unsuccessfully for Legolas. They stopped when they saw the Elf and the Dwarf.
"Are your names Legolas and Gimli?" the lead horseman asked. "The king has sent us to find you."
"Well, bless my axe! Yes, we are. You are a sight for sore eyes!" exclaimed Gimli. "Look at that, Legolas! Aragorn has sent his men to find us. We are most happy to see you!"
The men helped Gimli and Legolas up onto a spare horse, and they made straight for Minas Tirith. When they arrived, a messenger was sent into the palace to tell Aragorn that Legolas had been found, and that he and Gimli had gone to the Houses of Healing. It took the king but a few minutes to dash to Legolas's bedside. He dropped onto his knees beside his friend's bed, a look of anguish on his kind face, and took the Elf's hand in his.
"I should never have let you leave here with that accursed jewel, Legolas. I blame myself for what has happened to you, and I was grieved to hear of what befell Fingalas. I have never seen you hurt in this way before. You look terrible, my friend." He raised Legolas' wounded body and folded him into his strong arms.
Legolas gazed at Aragorn with a look of great pain in his eyes. "Aragorn, what happened was my fault alone," he said. "I believe that it was my destiny to bear the Silmaril and to suffer the consequences of that fate."
Aragorn turned to Gimli. "Where is that accursed thing now?" he asked.
"It is here," said Gimli. "I have it with me." He dropped his backpack onto the floor. It opened, and the Silmaril rolled out, still wrapped in Galadriel's cape.
"By all that is good," exclaimed Aragorn, jumping out of his seat, "we need to get that thing out of here right away. Guards!" he called out. "Gimli, please go with the guards and tell them to take it to the deepest vault beneath the city. Then go to the throne room to meet me where we will decide what is to be done with it."
"I will, Aragorn," said Gimli, "but there is one thing I believe to be of importance. I believe that Lady Galadriel's cloak may be protecting us from further harm from the curse. Nothing ill has befallen us since I used it to wrap around the jewel."
"That may be so, but it does not make me feel any better," said Aragorn. "To make sure that we are safe, I want it to be put away in the deepest vaults."
The guards arrived, and Gimli went with them to transport the Silmaril down to the lowest depths below the city.
Arwen, too, went to visit Legolas in the Houses of Healing. "Dear friend," she whispered to him, sitting at his bedside, stroking his brow. "How sad I am for your loss. I wish I had known of your plans."
"I should have paid more attention to your warning," he replied, "when you feared for Fingalas. I did not heed your words, and now she is gone. I feel that the agony of my responsibilities has come upon me, Arwen." He began to cry tears of anguish.
She did her best to soothe him, although it was in vain. She could not staunch his tears. When Elspeth, his nurse, came to his bedside to look after him, Arwen returned to her husband in the palace.
"What shall we do with the Silmaril?" she asked Aragorn. She was worried. "Should we take it to Imladris?"
"Let me think on this matter for awhile," Aragorn replied. "I have to be sure that I make the right decision, for the outcome may affect us all."
Eventually, Legolas returned to his former strength under the auspices of his friends Aragorn, Arwen, and Gimli, and the capable nursing of Elspeth in the Houses of Healing. In some way he had changed; aged, perhaps, because of the new grief that never left him, but also more determined and more fit, with keener Elvish senses than he had previously possessed. As he said to Aragorn, "I have lost something that was dear to me, although I did not have it for very long, and that was the unconditional love of two devoted friends."
Aragorn had replied, "At least you will always have the memory of that love, which will become even more special to you as you approach the end of your days."
Legolas nodded gravely at Aragorn's sage words.
Ioreth had been upset when she heard of the loss of Fingalas, who had worked with her for a number of years in the Houses of Healing. Legolas comforted her by saying, "The loss of Fingalas will be felt by all who were her friends. She will not soon be forgotten." They talked at length about the memories they both had of their friend. After awhile, Ioreth asked Legolas what had happened to the poison she had given him for the ant lions of Moria.
"I do not know. It must have been consumed by the wolves during the attack," said Legolas.
Ioreth looked grim. "That poison is very dangerous stuff, indeed," she said. "I shall give you more to replace it, but I am sure that I do not need to tell you to be careful with it."
Elspeth was deeply concerned for him, too. "My Lord, Legolas," she said. "When I first saw you in my old hut in Rohan, I thought that you were surely an angel sent by the Gods to take me away to a better place. You proved that you were an angel of flesh and blood when you helped me and saved my little girl's life. I could never thank you enough or repay you for that. Now, I am a nurse, and I have helped to save an angel's life, and I feel privileged to have been a part of your recovery."
"Thank you for those beautiful words, Elspeth," he smiled at her, holding her hand tenderly in his. "You do not know how much better they have made me feel."
When he was well enough to leave the Houses, Legolas told Aragorn and Arwen that he wanted to return to Ithilorien to make his final farewells to his friends there. "I wish to leave Ithilorien to them," he said. "From there, I shall be going with Gimli to Moria, where I will live from now onward in the caves. I will never live in the forest again."
Aragorn gave them a horse from his own stables, and sent a guard of four men with his friends in order to protect them from any ills that may befall them on the ride back. However, they arrived in Ithilorien with no further incident. Gimli felt certain that the curse of the Silmaril was being held in abeyance by the protection of the cloak of Lady Galadriel.
"I believe she looks out for us still, Legolas," said Gimli. He sighed. "I do understand how it feels when one who is dear to you has gone, and you know you will never see her again."
Legolas gave the Dwarf a grim smile of agreement. At his home he found that the Elves had made sure everything ran smoothly, and had done much more building in his absence. Fingalas had been entombed in a special catacomb of the Elves' making, and Legolas went to visit her there. He tenderly placed some red and white roses on top of her sarcophagus.
"Go now to your place of rest, and find peace," he said. "Goodbye, Fingalas," and after a few minutes of silence he turned away.
He gave a deep sigh and put his hand on Gimli's shoulder.
"Come, Gimli, and let us go back to Moria," he said. "Ithilorien is in very good hands. I do not wish to delay any longer. I wish to see Mene-mil and the root-people again."
Gimli smiled up at him. "That's the spirit," he said. They went to the stables, where they found Cemera, who was overjoyed to see them. Legolas stroked and patted the pony's nose.
"I know that you miss Arod," he told Cemera, tears falling from his eyes. "I do as well. I shall make sure that nothing happens to you, my little friend."
He readied the pony for Gimli to ride, and they left Ithilorien, Legolas upon Aragorn's horse. They took the road to Pelargir, and rode along the banks of the Anduin to the Mouths of the Entwash, where they made their way gradually back to Moria. They had left the Silmaril behind in Minas Tirith. Legolas had no more plans to leave Middle-earth before his time was come, but when that time was nigh, he planned to take the Silmaril to Valinor with him.
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