Out of Mirkwood

Scribbles-on-Parchment

November 23, 2019

Chapter 20 – Attack

Tamír was still reeling from the shock of having the young Sinda attack him and almost kill Estel when he heard a harsh cry from behind him. He cursed.

Yrch.

They had taken too long and the foul creatures had caught up with them.

The Silvan drew his bow from his back in one fluid motion and turned to face the threat. His head was still pounding from the assault by the young ellon, but he brushed it aside; he needed to concentrate now. Tamír groaned as he saw the hillside in front of him swarming with yrch. They were going to have a nasty fight on their hands. As he nocked an arrow, he prayed that the elfling would attack these creatures as he had Estel, otherwise he feared that the Sinda would not stand a chance.

The eldar let his arrow fly, giving a grim nod of satisfaction as it embedded itself into the throat of the nearest orch. The beast went down with a screech and was soon trampled under the feet of its companions. The Silvan wasted no time in firing another arrow almost immediately after and succeeded in taking another hideous being down. Yet he was not able to do much else as the attacking group was suddenly upon him.

The elf quickly exchanged his bow for the sword that hung at his waist and as the first orch came within striking range he quickly lashed out, not waiting for them to attack first.

As Tamír took down the nearest creature with a vicious sash to its chest he wondered where the twins and Elrond were. Had they been taken by surprise too?

He blocked a strike from an orch sword, intent on cutting through his midsection, and pushed the beast away. The Silvan quickly brought his blade around, slicing through the side of his attacker's neck and severing the artery there. A jet of black blood spurted from the cut vein. Tamír, however, did not wait to see the creature's death but rather he took this opportunity to cast a glance around him.

He was relieved to see that both Elladan and Elrohir were dispersing a great many beasts that got near to them and the horses, while Estel was fighting furiously with any orch that dared to draw close. Already a pile of bodies lay at his feet and the green grass was being stained black with the creatures' filthy blood.

The Silvan turned back and managed to catch a glance of Elrond. The elf lord's fluid sword swings cutting through the yrch bodies from where he fought a ways off. The eldar frowned and turned his mind back to the attack. The yrch company they had seen had not been this large. Where had they all come from?

There must have been another that we did not see or sense, Tamír thrust his sword past an orch's defenses, stabbing it into the creature's abdomen, trouble just seems to follow Estel around everywhere he goes. Valar knows how much more Elrond can take before he forbids the boy from ever leaving Imladris at all.

It was at this moment that a horrid realization struck the Silvan.

Where were the young Sinda? What had Elrohir done with the elfling after pulling him off Estel? Surely they had not just left the young eldar somewhere in the fray to fend for himself? He was still too weak and had no weapon to use to protect himself.

Panic welling up inside of him, Tamír slashed at the yrch coming at him. He needed to find the elfling.

As the Silvan began to frantically cut through the creatures around him, his mind continued to scream at him to find the young ellon before the yrch did. This was his one chance to find out if any of those in the Woodland Realm had survived the first attack; if his wife had survived. He was not going to lose this opportunity. Not when he had gotten so close.

Hethion could not help but smirk as he watched the attack begin. Though the number of yrch was many, he knew that the Noldo were too skilled at fighting to be ultimately overpowered, but this did not matter. All he needed was a minute of distraction to complete his task.

The sounds of the battle began to reach his ears and the Silvan closed his eyes for a moment, relishing in the screams and shrieks as the yrch were slaughtered. He cared little for the foul creatures; they only needed to serve their purpose. It did not matter if any of them escaped alive, not to him anyway.

Hethion's eyes flew open as he heard a voice call out from the chaos.

"Maer!"

The ellon's dark eyes immediately fell on one of the eldar who was fighting frantically in the fray. The e.f was glancing around as if looking for something... or someone.

It was then that Hethion saw a flash of gold and knew who the other male was looking for, There at the edge of the battle lay Legolas. The young prince's bright golden hair lay splayed out around him and his blue eyes were gazing upwards as if in a daze.

So far, the yrch were too busy focusing on the four brown-haired elves to notice the elfling, however, Hethion knew this would not last long. Everything was going to go perfectly. They had abandoned Legolas before the battle had even started. Even with the ellon looking desperately for the Sinda, or Maer as he appeared to have been named, Thranduil's young son would be dead before anyone ever found him. He would make sure of that.

Legolas found himself looking up at the crystal blue sky and furrowed his brow. He could not be in the Greenwood, for nowhere was there a place this open as to see the sky in all of its entirety. Perhaps he was in a dream, however, the dull pain told him he was not.

The young elf blinked at the bright sunlight. His mind felt slow and muddled. Where was he?

In that moment his brain seemed to jolt awake. Sounds and memories assaulted him; his kidnapping, his failed escape, the human. Adrenaline flooded the prince's body and he forced himself to sit up, closing his eyes for a moment as nausea overwhelmed his senses.

Legolas flinched as shrill shrieks and yells that began to permeate the air around him even as he tried to force off the sick feeling that had come over him. He forced his eyes open and instantly froze. Off to his left side yrch were swarming around the grassy hills.

He was at the edge of a battle.

Thanking the Valar that he had not already been killed, the young Sinda slowly began to edge his way farther away from the fight. He did not yet trust his leg to hold his weight if he should try to stand and his instincts were telling him that this was his time to run.

The elfling got almost two arm lengths away from where he had woken up when he was spotted. An orch at the edge of the pack had turned to look towards him; an ugly grin spread onto its face and the creature drew its sword, moving towards the prince's frozen form.

Legolas's mind filled with panic, please let this just be a hallucination. A dream caused by the poison.

But as the orch drew closer, blood-hungry eyes fixated on him, the Sinda knew that he was about to be killed. He had no way to defend himself and even if he did there was little chance that he could take down the creature in his current state. He could feel his dry tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth as he looked around frantically trying to find some way to slow down his attacker.

Legolas saw a dark-haired elf fighting his way towards him and hope flared in his chest. Perhaps the ellon would reach him in time, however, that thought quickly vanished as the orch above him raised its blade to strike. The dark-haired Silvan yelled as he caught sight of the prince about to be struck down, but the yrch swarmed him quickly blocking the eldar from the prince's view. He was on his own.

The elfling looked back up at the orch standing over him, the rotting teeth of the beast displayed in a grotesque smile. Then Legolas's eyes immediately came to rest on a blacked blade laying beside a corpse. The body was nearby and so too was the crude sword. The only problem was that his soon-to-be killer was standing in between him and the weapon.

Legolas glanced back at the orch standing above. His blue eyes widened as the creature swung its blade right for the Sinda's neck. His mind went blank for a second.

This could not be happening.

It was all just a dream; the spider's toxin must be causing him to hallucinate. There was no orch there.

However, the elfling heard the whistle of the blade as it cut through the air towards him. This was not just in his head.

The eldar threw himself backward as the grim reality of the situation sunk in. The blade brushed past him, missing his throat by a hair's width. The evil creature stumbled as its sword missed its target, sending stumbling forward, off balance. Seeing this, Legolas gathered his strength and lunged forward. The orch's blade thudded harmlessly into the grass where the prince had been not a moment before.

With a roar of anger, the orch yanked his sword from the dirt and spun around, as the Sinda scrambled to his feet. The black eyes of his attacker came to rest on him as he bent down to retrieve the dead beast's blade. Acting on pure instinct Legolas thrust his arm forward, stabbing the sharp metal into the orch's chest.

The hideous creature's eyes widened as a wet gurgling sound left its mouth. A moment later the dead body of his attacker fell to the grass, sword embedded in its black heart. The blade was yanked out of Legolas's hand as the body crumpled to the ground.

Hethion frowned as he watched the young prince kill the orch. It was only by pure luck that the elfling had survived this long. Either that or it was the stupidity of the creatures attacking him.

The Silvan watched as the Sinda stood frozen for a moment looking down at the body of the beast he had killed. A second later the young prince fell to his knees in the bloodied grass.

Weak. Just like your adar, Hethion put an arrow to the string on his bow and aimed, I guess I shall have the pleasure of killing you myself. Your time has run you.

The ellon smirked as he let the arrow fly. Revenge was sweet but this revenge was priceless. By killing one useless elfling he was ensuring the death of many.

Legolas did not know of this new threat. His mind was cloudy; the pain was working its way back into his body, he felt cold and numb. Never had he killed an orch before. What if his mind had been playing tricks on him all along? The adrenaline coursing through his body was making him nauseous once more.

The young prince desperately wished he would just wake up and this would be a dream. It had to be.

He looked up and his heart skipped a beat. There, standing on top of a nearby grassy hill, was an elf. The eldar had brown hair and stood tall, bow in hand.

Êmand.

He had come to save him. In a poison-induced haze, Legolas got to his feet and started to stumble away from the fight. He was safe now.

Estel heard Tamír's cry and looked around but could not see what had caused the ellon to cry out. Slashing the legs of an orch the human turned to look for the Silvan, praying all the while that the elf had not been killed. It was now that the edan realized he was at the edge of the skirmish.

Estel could not see Tamír but instead, his eyes came to rest on the blond elfling kneeling by the body of a dead orch. Was he lamenting the death of the evil being?

The edan watched as the young ellon struggled to his feet, he appeared to be staring transfixed at a nearby hill. The human followed Maer's gaze and saw a figure, bow in hand, looking down on them. A second later the eldar let his arrow fly straight for the young elfling.

Estel felt his heart stop as he witnessed the arrow embed itself in the soft earth where Maer had just been. The Sinda had moved at the last possible second and was stumbling towards the figure who had just tried to kill him.

He's insane, Estel thought as he took off at a run towards I did not save his skin just to have him go and get himself killed.

Hethion growled as he saw the prince stumble forward a moment before the arrow would have killed him. This all could have been over so quickly. The Silvan angrily drew another arrow but stopped as he saw Legolas look up at him. The elfling continued his slow stumbling walk towards him. Was he really trying to get to him? What in all of arda was the stupid elf doing that? Did he not realize he was trying to kill him?

The young Sinda put a hand to his head before falling suddenly to his knees. Hethion immediately knew what was going on. Spider poison. The toxin was wreaking havoc on the ellon's body no doubt causing him to hallucinate. The Noldo who had rescued him must have not given him the antidote yet, or they had not given him enough. The effects of spider poison were much worse for all young eldar who had not yet reached their majority.

A movement behind the prince caught the Silvan's eye and he saw a young human running toward them. The ellon lowered his bow. Perhaps it was time for something different. After all, it was only right for Thranduil's son to know who his killer was; and this human would be no trouble at all.

Hethion grinned and drew his silver blade as he started striding down the hill towards Legolas. This was going to be fun.

Elvish Translations:

yrch – orcs

orch – orc

maer – golden

adar – father

ada – dad