THE TWO TOWERS
Elves can't fly
The Urak- Hai leader sniffed the air, looking around for the source of the smell. One of the higher ranking ones came up to him. "What do you smell?" He asked his commander. His leader continued sniffing. Eventually he spoke. "Manflesh. And birds. Lots of birds." The lower ranked one paused confused. "They've picked up our trail." He then walked away from his commander confused of why a flock of birds would be chasing them. A small curly haired creature turned to his friend. "Aragorn" was all he said. "And Darke" the second said. In a loud bellowing voice, the commander yelled "Let's move!" The orcs picked up speed, carrying the two short curly haired creatures on their backs. The brown haired one spat something hard onto the ground.
Aragorn picked himself up off the ground, just as I stopped sniffing the air and listening. "Their pace has quickened. They must have caught our scent." Aragorn said to the others. "I can't tell if the hobbits are with them." I added on. "Their smell and steps have been masked by the orcs." I felt Gimli give a slight shiver. He still found it a little creepy that I could smell things from several miles away.
With unspoken consent Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli began to run again. Gimli lagged behind, breathing heavily. "Come on Gimli!" Legolas yelled. Gimli mumbled something that only I could hear. I slowly unfolded my wings. After 3 days of flying slowly close to the ground, my back and shoulder muscles ached like hell. I wished to fly on ahead, but I couldn't leave without knowing where the orcs where headed. I glided a couple of feet away from Legolas and Aragorn. Gimli was still behind.
Aragorn abruptly stopped, picking something off the ground. We gathered around him. "Not idly do the leaves of the Lorien fall." Aragorn said. "What is it?" I asked him. "Pippin's leaf brooch." Legolas said to me. "They may yet be alive." Aragorn got up off the ground. "Less than a day ahead of us. Come." I ran this time, in case we quickly stopped again. Landing when close to the ground was difficult and annoying. "Come Gimli, we are gaining on them!" Legolas's clear voice rang out. Gimli promptly tripped and rolled down a hill. Calling after us he yelled "I am wasted on cross country. We dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances." I let a smile pass over my face. He was still behind.
We carried on running. Uneventfully, we crossed into Rohan. The grass here was thicker, and there were many hills and boulders. Gasping for breath, we took a short break at the crest of a tall hill. Aragorn passed a water skin around, and we drank gratefully. Legolas stood upon a rock, trying to see the Uraks. "Legolas, what do your elf eyes see?" Aragorn said to him. "Nothing." He replied. "There are too many hills in the way."
I thought to myself. We needed to be able to see where they were headed so there was a better chance of reaching Pippin and Merry. A idea began to formulate in my mind. "Aragorn." I said. "Do you have any rope in that pack of yours?" He rummaged through it, and handed me some light rope we had received in Lorien." Why do you need it?" He asked me. "I have an idea that will let Legolas be able to see the orcs." Wisely he didn't ask me why it involved rope. I tied it around my waist, and onto my thick leather belt. Most of my knives were absent from it, left in the bodies of orcs near Parth Galen. "Legolas" I yelled chucking the rope toward him. He was sitting on the rock, defeated with the battle with his eyes. "Tie this around you, tightly. I have an idea so you can see those Uraks." Uraks was the nickname I had given the Urak- Hai. I was too complicated to say the whole thing. "Done." He said. "What happens now?" I gave a quick smirk. "When the rope pulls taught, jump." I said to him. I began to do a full out sprint off the crest of another rock on the hill. I heard him swear as he realised what I was doing. "Don't" he began. But it was too late. The rope pulled taught as I rose into the sky, and he had no choice but to jump.
After the initial burst of speed, I rose slowly because of the extra weight. The rope dug into my waist, but I withstood it. "How is it down there?" I asked Legolas, who had just finished swearing voluminously in Sindrian. "I'm not sure whether I hate you or love you."
"Am I high enough for you to see?"
"Yes." I felt him swinging around below. He began to laugh. "This is amazing!"
"Glad you enjoy it as much as I do. Can you see the Uraks?"
"Yes. The hobbits are being taken northeast toward Isengard."
Suddenly I felt the rope slip from around my waist. I cursed. I had never been good with knots and now I was paying for it. A loud "Woa" came from below. I grabbed the rope and began to pull Legolas up. "What are you doing?" He asked, a little panicked. "I'm pulling you up a bit. The knot has come undone." He gulped. "Just don't move much." I told him. I continued to pull him up, when the rope grew slack down below. "Er Darke- My knot is coming undone too." I swore again. "I'll land. " I said. "Just hold on." I felt the vibration as he gripped the rope tighter. I began to descend slowly, when of course my knot undid and went snapping off my arm.
Legolas gave muffled yelp as he began to fall. Muttering a string of swears in Vianliz, I dived directly down. There is literally nothing faster in middle earth than a bird diving directly down as fast as possible. My heart was in my throat and my eyebrows creased in concentration. We had been around 700 meters up in the air, and even an elf could not possibly survive a fall that high. The rushing air ripped off my cloak, but I didn't even notice. Slowly I began to gain on the falling elf because of my more streamlined position. 500m, 400m, 450m- I was just a few feet away from him now. I stretched out my arms out in front of me as far as possible. My gloved fingers brushed him, but didn't quite reach him. In a final desperate attempt I thrust my wings out, then tucked them back into my back. Now I was falling feet first. I held out my arms and Legolas fell right into them. Using our momentum I scooped him around so that he was pressed against me, a bit like a hug. At the same time I snapped my wings out and thrust them down pulling us up into the air. We were now only about a hundred meters off the ground.
Relief washed through me now that I knew that he wasn't about to die. "Are you ok?" I asked him gasping for breath. In my sudden pursuit I hadn't even taken the time to breath. "Shaken" he gasped back. Long strands of hair brushed across my face as I inhaled. For the first time I noticed that he had long hair and smelt of pine. I know the smelling bit is a bit unusual, but smells are just something I notice about people. We stayed up in the air for a few more seconds catching our breath, when a loud voice beamed up to us. "When you two lovebirds are done hugging, we're trying to find some orcs here!" Gimli shouted. Legolas warmed up as he blushed. I was also held guilty of my ear tips going a bit red. "I'm going down now." I told Legolas, back to my normal demeanour. I slowed my wing-beats, and we descended back onto the ground.
Thankfully our landing was soft, and nothing like the fate that Legolas had been awaiting. We untangled our arms from each other as quickly as possible, both of us slightly embarrassed. Gimli handed me my cloak which had fluttered down. Gratefully I fastened it back around my neck and flicked the cowl up. I didn't want to be seen at the moment, and my ear tips were still red.
After a brief awkward silence I decided to speak. "I am so, so sorry." I hurriedly said, turning to face Legolas's direction . "It was a stupid idea, I never should have even thought of using it. I understand if you hate my guts." It was one of those times that I cursed my blindness. If I had been able to see the huge grin spreading across his face I would have stopped there and probably have given him a good flip to the ground as well. Gimli and Aragorn had started mysteriously shaking uncontrollably, but I ignored them. Sensing movement on their faces I assumed they were frowning. I continued to speak. "I am at your service." I said, bowing my head slightly. I should have taken my own advice, and not have pledged anything. No sooner had I finished the sentence, the uncontrollable shaking that I had been wondering about turned into laughter.
Legolas walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Thankyou for the apology." He told me. "It was unnecessary though, you just saved my life. That was apology enough." I gave a small genuine smile. "But I've got to admit," he continued. "The way you said it was funny. We didn't think you're the 'oh no I must quickly apologise' kind of person." I slowly shook my head and did a face palm. "That explains the laughing. Remind me next time that I can let you go and die." I told him jokingly. I gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder and began to walk off. His heat went down a little after I said that. "Next time!" He called back to me slightly alarmed. "We've got orcs to catch" I shouted back at all of them.
Aragorn and Gimli had finally stopped laughing, and had turned to face Legolas. "What did your elf eyes see?" Aragorn queried. "The Uraks are headed northeast." Legolas replied using the nickname I invented. "Their taking the hobbits to Isenguard." They began to sprint past me and I took off again. Aragorn took the lead telling us to follow him. We finally had a place to get to.
YAY!- The start of the two towers. Yay for randomness! I have also updated my profile is anyone is interested.
