Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, save the plot.
Rating: PG 13 for scenes of battle violence and adolescent angst.
Summary: To all, the prince of Mirkwood was Beloved. But to the lone Warden of Lorien, he was a nightmare incarnate.
Author's Note: Finally, a story of Legolas and Haldir – a standalone, yes, but a backdrop to my ongoing Road to Redemption series. Thank you in advance for reviews. Wink.
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By Kasmi Kassim
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Golden Sun, Silver Moon
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Chapter 8: Always Loved
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Haldir had seen darkness many times.
One night had been darker than others. Children continued to come asking for their parents, and he shook his head, wishing he could ask the same. When his wailing brothers finally fell asleep, he slumped, wishing he could fall asleep and never wake again.
He rose and left the pavilion.
Hours, darkness, and the wails faded to silence. He walked far from the lights of the city. There was a whisper of reeds, and darkness suddenly parted to a full moon lighting a sweeping glade. Amid it was a glimmering pond, and in it stood a maiden, her face turned toward the moon.
Who is there, she called, and Haldir held his breath.
She moved, and moonlight trickled down her hair. A silver ripple, and she turned, and bright blue eyes seared his soul.
"Haldir."
Those eyes were watching, and Haldir forced himself to speak. "I'm back," he whispered.
Legolas smiled sadly, and moonlight trickled down his hair. "She's dead, Haldir."
Haldir's heart trembled.
"She's not coming back." Legolas watched Haldir slice the ropes around his wrists and feet. "She's gone."
"Come, Legolas."
Legolas didn't move. "Were you in love with her?" He looked up. "Was she your first love?"
Haldir grabbed Legolas' bruised wrists. "Get up!"
"She was my mother too!"
Legolas pulled violently away. "Do you think I did not feel her loss? Do you think I did not call for her?" His hiss rose. "You are not the first to blame me for Greenwood's loss of its queen, Haldir. Her death was my doing, and I will live with that for the rest of my life!"
"Who's there?" shouted an orc.
Haldir grabbed Legolas' arm and leaped into a sprint. Legolas stumbled, but nimbly caught himself, and ran.
"They're getting away!" Shouts rose, torches flared. "Two of them!"
"I told you not to trust that elf!"
Mid-sprint, Legolas tore his arm away from Haldir. Haldir glanced. Insubordination. A link in the chain that moves on its own. Endangering a fellow Galadhrim.
Her child.
Haldir let go.
They ran side by side, a whole eagle's wingspan of distance between them. Pain grew in Haldir's side. The seams were tearing; he was losing blood.
"More orcs from the city!" Legolas panted.
Haldir looked up in despair. Far-off shadows were squirming in their direction. Stragglers from earlier in the day. The trees around them thinned until they gave way altogether, and then the land opened into endless marshes, long blades of grass swaying under the moon.
Legolas was looking wide to the right, eying the distant trees. Haldir ran straight, and Legolas blinked to see Haldir dive into a pile of rocks. "Haldir!" he shouted. "To the trees!"
The forest was far. Haldir shook his head. "You go ahead."
Legolas paused. "You cannot be serious."
"Perfectly." Haldir had located it – the entrance of the demolished cave. It was still held up by broken logs and reinforcements at the mouth. "You run, and I will stay here."
"Or we could both just run for the trees?" Legolas said, incredulous.
"We're wasting time." Haldir ducked into the cavern's entrance, and Legolas caught his arm.
"What are you thinking?" he hissed. "Why are we back here?"
"I have a plan."
"What plan? You have no cover here! The orcs are stampeding over your head!"
"Run!" Haldir gripped Legolas' arm like a vice, and thrust him into the direction of the trees.
Legolas stumbled, and looked back, uncertain. The rumbling of the orcs began to whisper through the grass.
"Get to the trees." Haldir hissed. "I will not go with you. Do you understand?"
Legolas stared. "I wish I understood." His face contorted under the moon, confused and childlike. "I wish I understood you, Haldir. But I understand nothing of you."
Might as well.
Haldir retreated into the shadow, and Legolas looked toward the trees.
"An elf! I see an elf!"
His hair. He had been standing directly under the moon.
Haldir's arm shot out and jerked Legolas back from a wobbly arrow. Several orcs jumped down the small plateau of the cave entrance and peered in. Haldir pressed Legolas between himself and the wall, and pulled out his Mirkwood sword from his sheath.
"What are you doing?" Legolas watched in familiar dread as Haldir jammed Legolas' sword and his own into the ground, a stride apart from each other, in the corner of the entrance. He raised his hands in a pacifying gesture toward the orcs. Eyes locked between swinging ropes from the broken ceiling.
"What have we here?" snickered an orc. "Hey! Elves!"
A few more orcs appeared, while the rest thundered on.
"We will do no harm," Haldir said raspily, "if you be on your way."
"Or you'll do what?" snickered another orc.
One of Haldir's raised hands brushed past a swinging rope. "Or you will die here."
The orcs began to laugh. Haldir pulled the rope.
A crevice shot across the ceiling, and then the entire entrance tumbled down. Haldir grabbed Legolas and rolled between the two swords as a giant slab of wood hit them. With a roar, the entrance became a rain of dust and dirt and rocks and grass, and Haldir tucked Legolas' head under his own.
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Orophin kicked the last of the orcs off of his foot, and started at a white gleam in the dirt. Familiar engravings on splintered white wood. It was Haldir's bow.
He leaped off of the heap he was standing on; a broken trench, rising to form the remainders of a cave. Around him opened the silent marshes. "Mordor," he breathed.
There was no question as to what – or rather, who – had set off the destruction of the trenches. He had to report back to Rumil. They would need daylight, and reinforcements. That's what Haldir would do. What Rumil would do.
Haldir. Haldir could be out here, dying. And Legolas – an adolescent with fire in his eyes, an annoyingly happy laugh -
He began to climb the rubble.
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Legolas raised his head in the darkness. "Haldir?"
"I'm here."
Legolas turned to the voice near his head. "The orcs…"
"They're here too. But dead."
There was not a sound. Legolas breathed slowly. "I thought you were going to –"
"Sell you out again?" He could hear a dry smile.
Legolas cleared his throat. "What now?"
"Stay quiet, wait for daylight. The orcs will have all retreated by then, and rescue will come." A bundle was then nudged into his hands. "Lembas. Keep your strength up."
Legolas hesitated. "Why are you giving me the whole thing?"
"Eat."
Legolas squirmed in the dark, and took a bite of the bread. "Did you mean it?"
Haldir did not answer. Legolas smiled a little. "What you said to me in front of the orcs. It seemed so sincere. So true."
Silence.
"I wish I understood you." Legolas hugged his knees. "I wish you would let me understand you. You don't let anyone help you. Not even your brothers."
Legolas closed his eyes. The rumbling of the orcs seemed so far.
"I do not hate you."
Legolas opened his eyes. "What?"
"I never hated you." Haldir's voice was strange. "Never doubt that."
Legolas' heart pulsed. "Were you there – when I was talking to Orophin?"
Silence. Legolas reached out, grasping in the dark, and felt something warm and wet. "Haldir?" His fingers mapped a torn ribcage. "Haldir!"
"Remember, Legolas." The rumbling was fading into a distance. The last of the orcs were passing. "You have always had my love."
In the darkness, Legolas screamed.
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To Be Continued