A/N: The Italics mean that the trio is speaking in Elven. Thank you for reading and enjoy.
Chapter 2
Legolas rode along with the girl clutched to his chest. She wasn't soft as women were supposed to be, she was hard with muscle yet soft in all the right places at the right time. She must be the daughter or wife of a farmer that was the only way of he could think of how she got to be so firm. She was so tiny yet undoubtedly tall for a woman of men. It getting dark and this angered him he was hoping to reach Rivendell before nightfall. He held up his hand.
"We camp tonight and continue on in the morning. Ophenion ride into the brush and see if you can find a clearing for us to camp in also make sure you can't see it from the road." Ophenion nodded his head in acceptance to the command handed the bag to Arclre, and headed in to the brush. He came back minutes later and motioned for the prince and Arclre to follow. They came to a small clearing; Legolas for Ophenion to came take the girl so he could slide off the horse.
For some reason Legolas didn't like the sight of Ophenion holding the girl in his arms without thinking he whipped off his cloak and spread it on the ground.
"Put up my tent around her. You and I can share a tent for one night." He said to Arclre. Who merely nodded and headed off to do the task. Legolas took one more look at the girl on the ground before sitting down to start a fire.
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Cadence's eye snapped open and immediately regretted it. She had a splitting headache. She was in a tent of some sort, and she was lying on somebody's cloak. 'Wait cloak who the hell wore cloaks any more.' That didn't matter she raised herself into a sitting position and tried to figure out what should to do next. Her bag with all her weapons was gone as well. She stuck her head out of the tent flap and looked to see how many there were and who they were. There were three of them and that sat hunched around the fire. She had expected three big guys wearing flannel and drinking beer around the campfire but instead she saw guys all with long platinum blonde hair that was pulled half back in the same exact braid on each of them.
Just her luck to get rescued by cult members, they might bring her back to their leader and brainwash her. Or they could just kill her. That was a distinct possibility. She saw that they had her bag with them because one of them was holding one of the short swords. She put her head back in the tent and decided that when the time was right she would bust out o the tent and run for her life. That was when she realized that at one point they had removed her sweatshirt, shoes, and her socks. Crap!
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Legolas started the fire and waited to for his companions to join him. Ophenion took the baggage and dropped it at his feet and gestured for him to open. Looking at him quizzically he took the bag.
Ophenion spoke "Open it you'll be surprised. Her name is Cadence Monroe, according to this." With that he handed Legolas a small card that a picture of the girl with her name, height, weight and eye color.
"Well that's informative. But I never have seen the likes of it have you?" Ophenion simply shook his head and nudged the bag once again with his booted foot. Legolas picked up the heavy bag and opened it. He removed the clothes and found something very surprising. Inside was a strange assortment of weapons, there long swords and short, there were daggers of all sizes, throwing knives in various sizes, there were also axes in all shapes, a couple of collapsible spears and bow and a quiver full of arrows. Legolas pulled out the bow it was huge and the string was taut and new. He pulled and was surprised to find that it was difficult not impossible.
At that moment Arclre emerged from the tent. He was holding various items of the girl's clothing.
"What did you do?" He yelled perhaps just a bit too harshly because Arclre flinched before he offered an explanation
"Her clothing was soaking wet and muddy. If we get her to Rivendell in time to heal her I don't want her to go dieing from a fever afterwards." Legolas looked his man in the eye and knew he was telling the truth. He nodded and Arclre proceeded to put the clothing on long stick so they hung close to the fire. When he sat down he took out a flask took a long drink then posed his question.
"My Prince, you know I trust your judgment but I must ask you once more if bringing this girl with us is wise. I mean what if her people are out looking for her as we speak. We basically stole her." Arclre older than Legolas and Ophenion was always worried about something. But he did have a point what if the girl's family could be out there somewhere looking for her. He put the weapons back in the bag and the clothes back on top of them he pulled the little tab that he assumed would close and put it behind him.
"When she is healed we will return her to place where we found her. There is nothing more we can do for the present. Plus if we had left her there she would have died. Do you think it have been right to leave her there with only that little dog for protection?" Arclre looked ashamed and nodded his head in agreement, as did Ophenion.
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Cadence listened to them talking and couldn't understand a word of what was being said. She tried to stand and found her left leg wouldn't support her weight. She collapsed and let out a yelp of pain before she could control herself. She threw herself down, shut her eyes and lay very still. She heard one of the men stick his head in and look around. She never moved once a thud sounded near her feet and then whoever was in the tent with her left. She opened her eyes slowly and grimaced in pain she must have sprained her ankle. The thud by her head had been someone dropping her bag on the ground she could have laughed with relief. She opened and found the weapons on top of the clothes, so they had gone through it great she took a quick survey and found her bow gone. It had been the only weapon that belonged to her. That pissed her off. It was handmade by the Sensei for her thirteenth birthday.
Deciding not to dwell on that she went in the bag pulled out socks and the only other pair shoes she had brought with her. The black leather ballet flats she was about to put them on when she realized that she would have to wrap her ankle. She ripped about three feet off of the green cloak and it gave her a small amount of satisfaction. She wrapped her ankle as tightly as possible without losing circulation she put on the flats grabbed a broad sword out of the bag and swung across her body. She slowly crept out of the tent but immediately stepped on a twig the three men were instantly up and whirled around and surprised to see her there with a sword.
"My lady put the sword down before you hurt yourself." The one who spoke was holding her bow in his hand that just pissed her off more but she kept her face composed and stony.
"Yes my lady, please put it down?" They all were at least 6'3 and pretty much towered over her. Without warning the one hadn't said anything lunged out of nowhere at her with his sword drawn.
"Ophenion! No!" But it was too late because the girl had already reacted. She parried and thrusted with such skill that Ophenion was having trouble finding openings. She could possibly beat him; Arclre saw this to and took action. He grabbed the girl from behind and lifted her off the ground.
"My Lady, please stop this nonsense we mean you no harm. Please release the sword before you hurt yourself." He held her there not moving holding her about a foot above the ground. She bucked, kicked and flailed her legs she wouldn't let go of her so she punched Arclre in testicles and he dropped her like a sack of flour. Bent over double in pain, Legolas had to admit that was the first time he had ever seen the old warrior bested and by a mere girl no less.
"Mean me no harm! Hah!" she kicked Arclre in the ribs and turned to face the other two. The one she crossed swords was out of breath and she probably knock him out with little or no effort. But the apparent leader would take some time and a good amount of energy, energy that she didn't have. Her ankle was throbbing and her head starting to hurt again. She decided her best option way to run.
"Wait there could be Orc in the forest." He yelled as the young girl called raced off into the forest. He told Ophenion to wait with Arclre until he was better then to follow. He prayed to the Valar that he got to her before the Orcs that roamed the forest did.
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Cadence had never been so scared or lost in her entire life. She leaned back against a huge tree trunk. She could hear one of them crashing through the woods right behind her. She had at least a minute before he caught up with her. She inwardly groaned in pain when she shifted her ankle. It was still hurting like a bitch and the bag was really heavy. Out of nowhere an arrow shot towards her head and it missed by inches she screamed without meaning to. The bastard had managed to circle around and aim at her while she was resting. He was clever but she was smarter. She was just about to move away from the tree when she was surrounded by a bunch of the ugliest creatures she had ever seen in her life.
There weren't words to describe them. They were grotesque in every sense of the word. They were gray skinned and looked like something out a Lord of the Ring movie. She brought up her sword and silently counted them. There were seven or eight of them all of them bigger than her. She would never be able to take them all down especially winded and hurt as she currently was. That when she noticed that one of them was holing a sort of cross bow it had been that one that had shot at her.
One of them spoke "Well, well it looks like the little girly wants to play. We should oblige pretty young girly shouldn't we? Cause we like it when they scream." It reached a hand out to touch her face, but an arrow struck it right in the eye. It clenched the trigger on the cross-bow and an arrow that was at least an inch in diameter launched out it and shot straight through her shoulder and anchored her to the tree.
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Legolas took off after the young girl she was every thing that a girl shouldn't be. He took a moment, found her trail and took off after her. He prayed that she didn't run into a group of Orcs. Though he knew that she could take care of her self she had to be tired and hurting. He had noticed that she had been favoring her left ankle. He remembered when he had found her on of them had been angled strangely. He was relieved to find out that it was just sprained and not broken. He heard an aggravated scream of surprise and fear coming from not that far ahead. He quickly veered off his path and climbed a rock to see what was going on.
The girl, Cadence was surrounded by a group of Orcs. An arrow was lodged an inch or so just above her head. The Orcs smiled nastily and one of them spoke to her and reached out its foul hand to touch her face. Legolas just snapped. He was still carrying her bow and without thinking he pulled an arrow from his own quiver, notched it and sent it flying right into the beast's eye.
But in the Orc's dying pain its hand flexed and pulled the trigger on the crossbow it held. The arrow went straight through the girl's shoulder and anchored her to the tree. He leapt from the tree he was in and landed nimbly between the Orcs and the girl. He heard a swish from behind him and turned to see her swinging her sword as best as she could that Orc who had just attacked her. He heard more footsteps and was relived to see that Arclre and Ophenion had joined them at last. They formed a half circle around the girl and didn't move until the last Orc had been killed.
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Cadence watched in awe as the blonde guy appeared out of nowhere and start killing the things. The other two joined them and they formed a protective circle around her. They must have seen them or faced them before because they dispatched them quickly. She felt her self surrendering to the pain she slumped slightly and that caused even more pain. She dropped her sword with a clang that caused them to turn to her.
The leader looked worried and he raised his sword and she thought it was the end. But he sliced off the end of the arrow and the last thing she knew before she was sliding into oblivion.
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Legolas reacted as soon as he heard her drop her sword. He sliced off the end of the arrow and gently pulled her away from the tree. She went limp instantly and he held her there not sure what to do.
"My Lord, Arclre went to get your horse. You ride straight on to Rivendell and we'll pack up camp and be right behind you." Ophenion said quickly and just after he finished speaking Arclre rode up on Legolas's horse. Legolas handed the girl to him once again and got up on his horse. Arclre handed the girl up to him slowly.
"May the Valar be with you, My Prince." Legolas nodded and rode off into the night.
Legolas arrived at Rivendell early the next morning. He called for help and slid off his horse still holding onto her. He carried her into Lord Elrond palace and waited for the master of the house to appear. Arwen appeared first.
"My friend what has happened?" She held a look of concern on her beautiful face.
"We found her injured in the woods. We were bringing her here for help, but she panicked and ran away. She ran into a group of Orcs and she was shot through the shoulder. Please get your father she is fading." With that Arwen hurried away to get her father and Legolas scurried after her. The girl was getting heavier and he could feel her leaving. Lord Elrond appeared and wept the girl away.
Arwen re-appeared "She'll be fine. She is in my father's care now. Are there any other injuries other than her shoulder?"
"Yes, her head has a nasty cut on the back of it and her ankle was badly sprained. But I fear she may have made it worse when she ran away. Oh and her name is Cadence Monroe." With one last assurance that she would be fine Legolas left to go to get something to eat.
A/N: That was really long, so I hope you all enjoyed it. Please review. Remember Criticism is welcome. So Read, Review, and Enjoy. Love, Saylin