Guest Reviewer - I have not broached Aerlaer's heeling skills yet but I do (This story is a massive re-write) and she is a magnificent healer, but she could not have saved Boromir. He was meant to die and in this fic I am keeping about 95% canon in the sense of characters living or dying. In this chapter you will learn just why she, or even Aragorn, could not save Boromir. Legolas did the right thing, he has been in enough battles to understand if someone, either Elf or Man, can be saved or if they can not. If Boromir could have been saved, Aragorn, who found the Man first, would have been doing something about it or calling upon Aerlaer's aid.
Now, I am quite sure you are also the same Guest Reviewer to 'chapter 48' of Fated. You'll likely find most of your answers in author notes explaining Ara's reasoning and actions. I have purposely written her as an infuriating character. Just wait until you read the Lorien chapters, you'll want to actually kill her. Spoiler alert, she is at her most idiotic in Lorien but, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Legolas was an absolute prat starting out but he is improving but there is more going on with him than just the temper thing. Ara just does not know enough of the races of Elves to understand and Legolas does not either so together, it is a recipe for disaster and lets face it, I've written Fated with the full intention of causing utter mayhem and disaster at ever turn.
Glad you are enjoying both stories none-the-less. Thanks for your thoughts and comments :)
A.
The Urak-hai had left an easy path to follow; Branches and plants had been broken and strewn in their wake.
"No other folk make such a trampling." Muttered Legolas, disdained. "It seems their delight to beat down and slash growing things that are not even in their way." They disgusted Aragorn too but, it made tracking easy and they could keep a swift pace of their own. No matter how swift they ran though, the Urak part was swifter. The broken branches and scattered leaves already curled; the damage was not fresh.
"They go with a great speed, for all that." Aragorn replied worriedly.
"These Uraks, they are like the large Orcs or Uraks which persuade you, Aerlaer?" Legolas questioned, running on the opposite side of the Edhelroch.
"Yes, they are the same, save for the white hand. There swiftness too, and possibly intelligence." She replied warily. "They are formidable." They certainly were. It sickened him that these creatures had caused the end of Aerlaer's line. He also now realized even more so, just how lucky she had been to escape them and that Legolas had found her.
"The Uraks which chased me did not tire, it is as if these ones do not either. I could race ahead, see if I can catch them and-"
"No!" Legolas spoke quickly before Aragorn had even begun to form the word.
"It is too dangerous to go alone." He added.
"Yeh should know that first hand, lass." Gimli grunted, puffing a little at their fast pace.
"Very well." Aerlaer muttered sullenly.
"Well, we'll just have to get after them!" Gimli declared. "Us Dwarves do not tire swiftly either."
"It will be a long chase, and they have a long start." Aragorn murmured. "With hope or without hope, we will follow the trail of our enemies and woe to them if we prove the swifter." He pushed himself to run ever faster, leading ahead of the others to track easily although still the path was clear.
Mile upon mile they followed the destruction left by the Uraks, following the trail out of the woods and up slopes; hard edged and tainted red from the setting sun around them. Dusk fell and still they ran on, becoming grey shadows in the twilight. Aragorn would not stop until he either completely lost their trail or his heart gave out.
The moon was waning but the sky was clear and full of stars. They had arrived at the foot of stony hills and their pace slowed; the trail of the Uraks now difficult for Aragorn to detect and follow. The land was fraught with many gullies and ravines and the going was getting harder, even for him and, he noticed, the Elves.
…
More miles, up and down ravines and gullies they traveled. Aerlaer scrambled up a loose-rocked, high ridge and upon reaching the summit to find it plunged down into a valley, made quiet whinny of frustration but, seeing small, tell-tale signs the Uraks had passed that way; threw herself at a reckless speed down the slope. She leapt over or onto rocks in her wake and swerved trees, knowing the others would not keep up with her frustration fueled descent. It did little to expel that frustration.
Boromir was dead. He should not have had to die. It left her feeling guilty. If they had arrived a little sooner, perhaps she could have saved him. Perhaps he would not have been hit at all by the bolts of a crossbow. As for Merry and Pippin; no matter how fast they ran, they had not caught up to them. Aragorn would not let her go ahead. not that she could track as he could, but still it annoyed her. it ate away at her and left her feeling all the more restless.
These were the very same, evil creatures which had slain her herd, her family. They had now slain her friend and taken the Hobbits. Once they discovered neither Pip or Merry had the ring, they would be slain too. She was sick of death, but she knew deep down, this was only the beginning. If they did not succeed, if Frodo did not succeed with Sam, the world would be but darkness and death. It was a chilling thought and she involuntarily shuddered.
"Yeh right lassie?" Gimli rumbled, coming to pause beside her, catching his breath. He had beaten both Aragorn and Legolas down the steep decline.
"Yes, but I fear we are too far behind the Hobbits." She let out a quiet sigh. "I do not want us to lose them too. I do not want to be too late in saving them." A rough hand patted her shoulder and she craned her neck around to the Dwarf who gazed sadly up at her. "If only I could race on ahead."
"Not worth risking your own life too." The Dwarf murmured. "I wish I could sprint faster." He added wistfully as Legolas and Aragorn finally joined them.
The Ranger strode ahead, eyes searching the ground before him. After quite some moments he cursed and turned back to them.
"The trail has vanished. It makes no sense." Aerlaer felt her heart sink at his words but held onto the fact that the sky slowly lightened as dawn approached.
"Which way would they turn do you think?" Legolas asked, also striding forward, casting about. "Northward, to take a straighter rode to Isengard or Fangorn if that is their aim as you guess, or southward to strike the Entwash?"
They had figured out that the Uraks who bore a white hand were those of Saruman the White. It made sense as Saruman knew of the quest and had tried to thwart their efforts before Moria. Sauron, to their knowledge, still knew naught of the quest at hand. That meant, the Urak's which had slain her herd were of Saruman's army. Why the evil Wizard had ordered such a thing she did not understand, but it sickened her greatly. He had been a friend to the Edhelroch.
"They will not make for the river, whatever mark they aim at." Aragorn finally decided. "Saruman's powers, I fear, have greatly increased.
"They will take the shortest way; Orcs rarely idle when under orders. Over the fields of Rohan I should think". Aerlaer murmured.
"Let us take our search northwards." Aragorn murmured and, feeling a sense of purpose again, they broke into a run, moving along the gully floor.
They ran on like this for another mile or more, Aragorn searching the ground intently as they jogged but there was little to see, although the sky was turning from night to grey. They came upon a sharp turn in the valley they ran through and Legolas loped ahead, around the corner and out of sight. As they too reached the corner, the wood-Elf called out quietly to them.
"Look." He pointed and Aerlaer, immediately on alert, trotted cautiously towards the dark shapes of huddled bodies. They were Orcs. Well, four were, the fifth was an Urak. "It seems we have already overtaken some of those that we are hunting.
Aerlaer, feeling a slick-wet sensation snorted in disgust and stepped back as she realized one of her hoofs had stood in a pool of dark orc blood which had flown freely from the cut-up bodies of their enemy.
"Perhaps one of those we are hunting. The others are not of Urak-hai kind." She frowned.
"Well here is another riddle." Gimli said, surveying the mangled bodies. "But it needs the light of day, and for that we cannot wait."
"Yet, however you read it, it seems not un-hopeful. Legolas mused. "The folk who have slayed our enemy are likely to be our friends. Do any dwell in these hills?" He looked up from the mangled bodies, to Aragorn.
"No, the Rohirrim rarely enter these gullies and ravines." Aragorn replied, running a hand through his hair trying to puzzle it out. "There could be wild Hillman in these lands but, they are usually closer to both Gondor and Mordor. I think the enemy brought his own enemy with him. As Aerlaer pointed out, these orcs are different to the ones we pursue. These are possibly northern orcs from very far away.
"There was a quarrel I guess which is not uncommon with these foul creatures." Legolas mused aloud. "Maybe a dispute over which road to take."
"Or what to do with their captives." Gimli added darkly and Aerlaer felt her stomach twist. "Let us hope they did not meet their end here."
"No." She spoke up, pushing away such foreboding thoughts. "They would not have, I think Saruman will try to gain information from them once he finds they do not carry what he seeks." She didn't miss Legolas's grimace. They all knew just what kind of methods the eviler creatures of this world used to gain information. To do such things to an innocent and cheery Hobbit, no bigger than a child, was unfathomable.
…
They continued, the sky to the east now lightening in earnest as the sun began her accent into the sky.
A little further north, they came upon a fold where a tiny stream, falling and winding, cut a path into the wide valley. In the valley, some bushes and long grasses grew and, Legolas noticed, in the pale light some of the grass lay flattened on its sides.
"Here are the tracks we seek." Aragorn said excitedly. Brushing forward through the grasses to kneel and observer the bruised and flattened grass. "This is the direction the Uraks turned once they decided their path." He added, leaping back up. There was hope in the Ranger's eyes which Legolas felt too. They had to find Merry and Pippin. Spurred on by the new path, he ran, like the others, with a renewed vigor, after their foes.
Another hour passed and ahead of Legolas, Aerlaer bounded up to the crest of a grey hill and halted, gazing out to lands they had not yet seen.
"Come Gimli, he looked back, urging the Dwarf on but received a stream of Dwarvish curses in return. Looking forward again, he raced up to stand too beside the Edhelroch; the dawn breeze tousling through his hair as it did through her long mane. It was a refreshing feeling. As the others reached them, the sun suddenly seemed to leap into the sky and the grey fields which lay before them were bathed in sunlight; a boundless stretch of green and yellow. White mist shimmered in vales of water and far off to the left, many miles away lay the purple and blue mountains, peaked with snow which was flushed red from the early risen sun. These lands were foreign to Legolas but they held a beauty. He breathed in deeply, savoring the dawn which carried on the breeze.
"Gondor." Aragorn said quietly and Legolas let his gaze follow that of the Ranger's. From books and maps, he knew that the white city of man lay before those far-off peaks. "Let us go." The Ranger said, turning from the south and towards the north-western path that lay before them.
The ridge, upon which they stood, fell steeply before them. Below a few meters there was a rocky platform which then ended suddenly in a sheer cliff. It was the eastern border of Rohan. Movement caught Legolas's eye and he glanced towards the bluing skies. It was a great bird, an eagle.
"Look, there is a great eagle." He pointed to the sky ahead of them at the large bird circling in the air currents. Why was it here, alone? Higher and higher the bird flew, his direction not towards them. "Oh he is going away now." Legolas murmured, feeling as if the great, majestic bird carried all hope and freedom away with him.
"He is going with great speed, I wonder what his errand is?" Aerlaer pondered beside him as the bird, even to his eyes, became a black speck in the wide sky. Sighing, he turned his gaze back to the lands ahead and frowned.
"I see a great company moving on foot, twenty or more miles ahead." He glanced excitedly to Aragorn. "The enemy we track!"
Aerlaer looked too. "Our theories were true, they are taking the Hobbits to Isengard." She said, turning to the others, ears flickering back and forth worriedly.
"I think we no longer need any trail to tell us which way to go." Gimli stated, fiddling with his beard.
"Then let us go!" Legolas declared, excitedly. "We will surely gain on them now!" With that, he carefully descended the steep peak; picking a path safest to lead the others who followed closely behind.
He reached a lower ridge and it was that they ran upon, the very same path the Uraks had taken before them.
As they ran, Legolas noticed objects strewn upon the ground. A rusk of bread, a torn shred of a cloak and an iron shoe. The trail was easy to follow and eventually it lead them up an escarpment and to a deep cleft, carved into rock by a stream that flowed noisily down and into a narrow ravine.
From here, a difficult and rugged path descended like a steep stair down to the plain below. Aerlaer lead them down, Legolas following closely behind until all four of them stood, feet sinking into the springy, lush grasses of the Rohirrim plain.
Beside him, Aerlaer seemed to quiver from her delicately pointed ears, to her long tail. Worried, he made to ask if she were well, but she seemed content to gaze about at their surroundings. Her ears flickered to the musical sound of the stream nearby them as it became hidden by water rushes and then disappeared underground where it would continue to the Entwash far ahead.
The Edhelroch suddenly let out a soft snort and danced forward and into a gallop, in no time, racing at high speed in a large circle before them. It was a welcome sight, after the pain and death of the past day. She shook her head, snaking it low and with a menacing look in her deep blue eyes, galloped flat out towards Gimli who stood a few feet to Legolas's right.
Legolas let out an amused laugh as the Dwarf hopped up and down, gaping at the Edhelroch. At the last moment, she veered, dashing through the gap between he and the Dwarf, her speed causing his hair to ruffle. She spun, plunging and bucking like a spring yearling and Legolas could only smile as too did Aragorn.
Snickering in obvious amusement at having ruffled the Dwarf, she trotted back with mincing steps, her tail swishing back and forth.
"Try and give a poor Dwarf a heart attack! Aerlaer, sometimes I wonder if you carry more mischief than the two hobbits we track combined!" Gimli glared at her but Legolas knew he was not angry with her.
"You are altogether full of yourself, Aerlaer, you best be careful prancing around like that or the Horse Lords will capture you for their stable!" Aragorn taunted.
"There would be none fleet enough to catch her." Legolas said in awe, seeing the other Elf for the first time, truly revelling in her horse form, as if no worry or burden were laid upon her and the world were not at war brought a warmness to his heart. She shook her mane out.
"And if you let me race ahead, our enemy would not be able to lead for long." Legolas heard the plea in her voice and Aragorn's sigh.
"No, Aerlaer. It is too dangerous to go alone." She let out a huff of annoyance at the Ranger.
"Fine, but this land is invigorating, none could harm me!" Aragorn simply shook his head.
"Your mad, lass." Gimli rumbled. "We're not letting potential harm befall you too." She still looked far from pleased and so Legolas tried to ease her restlessness for it was action she sought and right now, they were idling.
"You are right." He exclaimed, breathing in. "Ah, the green smell. It is better than a long sleep." He turned to her. "Let us run, but run with me so I might keep up." He bounded forward, without waiting for her and, within a moment, she ran by his side, Aragorn and Gimli trailing quite some feet behind.
…
No matter how fast they pursued their foes, Aragorn did not think they were gaining on them. It was disheartening and he kept the thought to himself as they bounded over the green grass which was darkened in places where the Uraks had tread with their heavy, iron-clad feet.
The trail suddenly turned toward the west and Aragorn halted, signalling the others to wait. He jogged slowly ahead, reading the marks upon the ground intently. Tracks lead away from the main trail and he knelt, inspecting a mark. It was made by a bare foot. There were more but they only belonged to one being. He followed them some twenty feet before they became mingled with iron-clad marks. Something glinted in the trampled soil and grass and he knelt again, digging the small object from the ground. Hope and relief flaring within him, he stood, beckoning to the others who jogged eagerly forward.
"A Hobbit's footprints." He pointed to the faint marks. "Pippin's, I think for he is smaller than Merry." He held up the item in his hand. "Not idly do the leaves of Lórien fall." He smiled as the others recognized the green coloured leaf which matched the clasps of their own cloaks.
"This was not accidentally dropped." Aerlaer said excitedly. "They are leaving a trail for us."
"It is heartening, we do not pursue in vain." Gimli added cheerily.
"Let us hope he did not pay too dearly for his boldness." Legolas murmured, frowning a little. "Come, let us go on. The thought of those merry, young Hobbits, driven on like cattle burns my heart." Aragorn agreed with a nod and they raced on.
All day, they continued their pursuit. The sun climbed high into the clear, blue sky and then slowly dropped back down toward the earth and still they ran. No closer to their enemy or, to the Hobbits they carried, did they get and it worried Aragorn. It made no sense, they were a smaller group and each swift, in their own right. Even Gimli, with his shorter legs, did not slow down the pace the Elves had set.
As the sun sank, shadows reached out from the east over the plains and darkness began to slowly fall. One day had now passed since Boromir had fallen and the Uraks, many miles ahead, could no longer be sighted by the two Elves, a fact they pointed out in dismay.
As light left them and low clouds veiled both stars and moon, Aragorn found he could not see the trail before them. At length, after following the direction he was sure still let where the Uraks had vanished, he slowed to a halt.
"Shall we rest now, in this darkness or attempt to tarry on while our spirits hold?" He questioned his three companions. Legolas's shadowy form gazed uncertainly in the direction they ran, his hair lifting lightly in the cool breeze.
"Unless our enemies rest also, they will leave us far behind if we stay to sleep." He spoke quietly, his tone wary. Aragorn knew he would run all night, as would Aerlaer. He knew eventually, he and Gimli would require a proper rest. They had stopped but twice through the day and those rests had been short.
"Surely even Uraks must pause on the march?" Gimli wondered, sounding weary to Aragorn's ears.
"They are the same as those who slayed my kin. They will not pause. They are relentless and only in death will they rest." Aerlaer spoke with disgust and Aragorn noticed how Legolas rested his hand lightly upon her shoulder, the action one to comfort.
"Yes, these fell creatures will certainly travel by night too. I think we must continue."
"Which I would gladly." Aragorn sighed. "But I can barely see a few feet before me in this darkness and, it will only get darker."
"But the trail is straight." Aerlaer argued. "As far as I could see, it turned neither left nor right."
"Maybe I could lead you in the darkness and try to hold a straight line but, if we strayed or they changed course then when light comes, we might take longer finding the trail again." Aragorn said despondently. "We may find we have traveled miles out of our way."
"And if there is another attempted or successful escape from the hobbits in the darkness, we would miss it." Gimli quipped and the Elves reluctantly nodded at his valid point. "Although I wish to, even I cannot run all the way to Isengard. I need rest if I am to go on swiftly again." The Dwarf added with remorse.
"We Elves could go on but, the decision shall be yours Aragorn for rest will still do us well if you choose it." Legolas spoke what Aragorn already knew. He gazed thoughtfully the way the Urak had traveled, trying to decide if he could keep a direct route. Now he had paused, his own weariness had crept over him. He could make directional mistakes based on his own weary eyes and mind. With a defeated sigh, he turned back to the others who waited his decision.
"Okay we shall rest. Legolas, could you take first watch? Then Aerlaer and then I will cover." The two Elves agreed and, with the decision made, Aragorn wearily unstrapped his weapons, save for his sword, and sank down to the soft grass near Gimli while Legolas stood guard over them, as still as a young tree, a few feet from where Aerlaer's form lay.
…
The night was quiet, save for the snores of Gimli and the softer, more irregular snores of Aragorn and the light breeze through the long grasses of the plain. Here, Legolas sensed no danger. It was a calming thought but, for all the time they lingered in rest, the Hobbits were only drawing further away.
With a silent sigh, he cast about into the starless night before sweeping his gaze to the shadowy forms of both Ranger and Dwarf and finally, to the elleth he stood but three feet from. He caught the glint of light in her eyes and realized she was awake for Aerlaer was not one to sleep with her eyes open as older Elves did.
"What bothers you that you cannot find rest?" He murmured softly and the elleth slowly sat up, wrapping her arms around her bent knees, her Lórien cloak pooling about her.
"They are fare away now." She whispered and sadly, Legolas nodded.
"I know." He found himself kneeling beside her, resting a knee to the grass and his bow across his other. "I fear it will be to Saruman's very door we pursue them."
"Then we shall." She bit out fiercely, yet her voice remained quiet. "His forces have caused enough death and pain." She stared ahead of them but he noticed the firm set of her jaw. "I wish I could have saved Boromir." It was barely a whisper on the breeze but, he heard it.
"Aerlaer, there was nothing you could have done, no matter how you healed him. Two bolts had pierced his bowels, his body was already poisoned by the damage." The elleth let out a quiet, shaky sigh and remembering just how they had found Boromir, how the man's face and eyes had shown the unnatural, yellowy-brown colour of damage to organs which were infecting his very blood.
"I know." She finally spoke. "I know there was nothing I could have done. I just wish we had reached him sooner. Perhaps we could have prevented it all."
"I wish we could have too." He agreed, speaking his own regrets. To his surprise, a warm hand came to rest over his, where it rested upon the grass at his side. He curled his fingers around hers, gladdened for the comforting gesture, glad he could comfort her too.
His watch came to an end, three hours later but he made no move to leave and Aerlaer did not move, their hands still entwined. They did not speak, simply sat, side by side, gazing out into the night. He did not bother, when another three hours passed, to awaken Aragorn, deciding the Ranger needed rest. Legolas could have stayed like this forever. Peacefully beside the elleth, as still as trees, gently ruffled by the cool breeze.