For Disclaimer please view chapter one.

Author's Note: Tried to not make it long between chappies. Read and Enjoy.

Kersi xx

Chapter 9: Well Met Princess and Farewell!

He rushed down the stairs, without thinking of the consequences. He had not kept any weapons with him, he had no guard, and to all knowledge he was still known to be a prisoner of Rohan. As he made it to the bottom, the one guard that had always remained loyal to Eomer came forth. At first the guard looked surprised, and then when the guard saw the blood on Legolas's clothes and the state of him, he drew out his sword.

Legolas immediately stopped; he put his hands in front of him. "No, wait!"

"What have you done? Where is the king?!" shouted the guard.

"Eomer is unharmed, he is with Lothiriel and Elfwine…" said Legolas.

The guard gave him a look of disbelief.

"I swear to you, it is the truth."

"Then you will escort me to see him!" Said the guard.

Legolas shook his head. "I must find my wife, I know she has escaped and there are those who will hunt her down. I cannot waste any more time."

"You will escort me to the king, for I will not let you pass!"

Legolas carefully thought out his options, he could try and get past him, at risk of death, or he could lead him towards Eomer wasting even more precious time. "Follow me then!" He said as he quickly made his way up the spiralling stairs and back into the room he had been. The guard quickly went past Legolas and towards the king who was holding his wife closely.

"My lord." Said the guard and he knelt down on one knee, bowing his head and placing his arm across his chest.

Knowing that the guard was now satisfied at seeing no harm had come to Eomer; Legolas began to make his way down again. But this time Eomer went after him, hastily leaving his family and the loyal guard behind. "Legolas! Wait!"

The scene outside was still chaotic. The night was lit by some places that were on fire, and by those who carried torches with them. Eomer realized that it would take long before anything could be repaired. He still went after Legolas, who seemed to be dashing past the vast amount of people crowding around the hall. No one noticed Eomer walking past them; they were all too busy with what had just occurred. At one point Eomer could no longer see Legolas save but by his blond hair that reflected both the moon and the fire of the night. "Legolas!" he shouted. But Legolas either could not hear him or would not hear him.

When his guards noticed that he was shouting after Legolas, whom to them was still a prisoner, they went after him. Legolas had no weapons, and was trying to move past the open gates, they gathered around him at once, pointing their swords and arrows at him. Almost dejectedly, Legolas laughed at his situation. "Surely one arrow would be enough." He looked around him, "But ten swords and ten arrows….that would be enough to kill a troll!" He laughed, almost desperately at his situation. He needed to get to Aurel, but it was useless getting himself killed.

Eomer finally had the time to speak to him, "Put your weapons away!" He shouted at his guards. They all looked at him curiously as if they did not understand what he had just said. "Put them away! And Leave us be!"

The guards dispersed and Legolas only stood there watching Eomer walk up to him. "You are confusing your people Eomer King. One day you are friends to the Elves and the next we are your enemy. What will it be?"

Eomer shook his head. "I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me."

"Perhaps, but it is not this day." Replied Legolas. "I must go."

"Legolas, you are not armed." Said Eomer stating the obvious.

"I do not have the time to stand here in trivialities Eomer." He said walking past the gates.

"At least, take a horse. It will aid you in your search. If you can but spare a few more moments, I will have weapons and horses brought to us."

Legolas looked at Eomer, "I have few to spare, but if you are willing to aid me, perhaps it will make the search easier."

Eomer nodded. "Of course." Eomer went to give the command that weapons and horses be brought to them, and his royal armour. It only took a few moments for them to be ready, but it was still dark out and the search would not be easy. Legolas watched in wonderment of Eomer as he put on his armour. Legolas, who had by now mounted his horse, stopped him.

"Eomer, you cannot come with me. Your men will be eager to shoot down anything that moves and your people here need you alive."

"This is my choice, not yours, and I do as I wish in my kingdom."

Legolas said nothing more, but only whispered near to his horse's ear with commands to move forward. Eomer rode beside him and off they went into the darkness of Rohan's fields once more.

Aurel had stopped walking. It seemed that they have been walking for days but it had just been hours and she was just not in the right state of mind to be walking about in the darkness. The child inside of her was unhappy as well. He constantly seeked Aurel's attention, and would not relent, not even at the waves of reassurance that Aurel would try to send him. At last Aurel could not take one more step forward, she put her hand to her back as if to hold herself upright. "Wait…I cannot walk any more, at least not for the moment. I need rest."

The young guard stopped at her command, and looked at her. "As you wish. We will be sheltered better by those trees." He said as he pointed towards the trees

Aurel nodded then walked over and removed the bow that she had placed on her shoulder and the strap that held the quiver, and sat herself down on the ground, sighing a breath of relief. The young guard did not sit down; he stood a few paces from her, constantly watching the darkness that surrounded them.

"What is your name?"

"Maethorgond."

"I am sorry we have not acquainted ourselves before this Maethorgond." She said leaning back on one of the trees. "Your name is very befitting."

He did not reply.

"You said earlier that this was all carefully planned. How so?"

"Captain Ihawsanor made sure of it."

Aurel sensed that he was holding a grudge against her for embarrassing him, and that that was the reason for his being vague and short with her. "Have I offended you?"

"No, My Lady."

She wished to ask questions no longer and only took in the moment of rest while she could, but she did not dare sleep for although she was a seasoned warrior, she still held a fear for the darkness of the night, especially when even the moon was shrouded by dark clouds. After an hour or so the guard spoke again.

"We should try and move as soon as you feel that you can, for a dark feeling has overcome me." Said Maethorgond walking closer to her.

"Yes, I felt it too, but it is not the feeling of imminent danger. I feel it far yet near."

"As do I."

"The sun should rise in a few hours, then better will we be able to move." Said Aurel.

Maethorgond shook his head. "Not better to move, for the Rohirrim will be at their strongest then. "We will walk amongst the trees; it will be harder for them to manoeuvre with horses."

Aurel nodded. She held her hands out for him to help, and then he handed her the bow and quiver. As he passed it to her he gave her a curious look. "You are not known for your skill with the bow; though many say it is great…they say your skill with the sword is greater still."

At last Maethorgond had released his pride.

Aurel smiled as she placed the strap around her shoulder. "Yes, that is what they say, but I know of those greater than I."

"Even the captain boasts about it, and he is seldom to give praise."

Aurel raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I do not believe he has ever seen me wield a blade."

"He speaks as if he has." Said Maethorgond, leading her into the woods. "Though there has not been great need for the show of skill as of late."

Aurel secretly thanked the Valar for it. She enjoyed as they quietly spoke to one another while passing the trees but she could not help but feel that there was a great shadow upon them. The sun had now risen and all seemed well but suddenly Maethorgond turned around and faced her, "You must go." Was all he said. "There are a dozen men up ahead, well-armed. If you go now, there may be a chance that you can escape. I cannot hold them all."

"I will help you then." She replied.

"You forget your life is not your own. I will not hither to your commands now, there is no time. Go! Or I will have failed in my duty to you and Eryn Lasgalen."

She wanted to stay but resigned herself to go. "Well met Maethorgond. I will not forget you."

"Well met Princess and Farewell!" And he went off towards where he had seen the pack of men.

Aurel rushed the other way, knowing that she should find a place to hide a soon as she could. She could hear the sounds of battle and could not help but feel herself a coward for hiding. A dozen men…she had fought more than that on her own before, but she was with child and it was burden on her. She thought that perhaps she could help; the arrows she would let fly could reach far and accurately, Maethorgond would not have to perish. Against the wishes of Maethorgond, and her own will, she selfishly looked for a place where she could have the sight to aim true. At last she found it and was gladdened to see Maethorgond still standing, but still there were six men to one. She knew that as soon as she would let the first arrow fly that her position would be revealed, so she had to be quick. She had not done it for quite some time, but her heart was put at ease as the first mark fell without a cry, she had struck the man between the eyes. To busy in battle, Maethorgond did not notice, while Aurel struck again, but this time through the neck of one of the men. He flipped onto the ground like a fish out of water, and it was then that the remaining men directed their attention towards her and not Maethorgond. Now there were only four, but big were they and full of rage. Maethorgond managed to finish one more before the other three were out of his reach. Aurel aimed again and managed to take another down, but if she was not quick enough there were be no use in arrows against the remaining two. She pulled pack and let go of another arrow, but her target was missed and she struck the arm of one of the men. It did not deter them. Maethorgond was quick to chase after the men, taking his sword and throwing it toward one, and striking him down. But one came with full force towards Aurel; she had but one mere chance to strike him down. She aimed and let go, the arrow went straight through the man's skull, and he fell backwards with a large thud. Her heart was racing, but even more so the heart of her unborn child, as it could sense that it had been in grave danger. She needed to catch her breath, and she sat down on the forest ground. Maethorgond pulled his sword out of the man he had stroked down and walked slowly towards Aurel. He only stood in front of her and stared, he held the sword out to his side and blood dripped from it. Aurel did not look up at all; adrenaline was still coursing through her.

"Why do you stand there?" asked Aurel, she was annoyed because she could feel his stare on her.

"You are above me in rank; anything I would wish to say would be out of order."

"Well, I give you my permission to say whatever is in your thoughts, rather that, than your solemn stare."

"It was foolish." Was all he said.

Aurel had expected more. Surely if it would have been Legolas or Aragorn for that matter, she would have received an ear full of criticism, but Maethorgond only said three words, and those words made her feel more guilty than she had ever felt before. She knew she had risked her life and the child's life with her actions. Nothing more on the subject was said, as Maethorgond turned around to other more important matters.

"Come and look." Said Maethorgond.

Aurel stood and followed him as he knelt down next to one of the fallen men. He shook his head, and rather obviously said, "These are not Rohirrim, these are Easterlings."

"What do they do here?" She asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"They carry trinkets with them." Maethorgond said while removing one such trinket from the dead man. He observed it. "It is Elvish!" He stood and ran towards the place where he first saw the dozen men. Aurel slowly caught up with him.

"It looks as if their encounter with us was a surprise; they have come from a different battle, we were not their target." Said Aurel observing the weapons they carried.

"I fear something horrible has happened." Said Maethorgond. "For these men all carry Elvish possessions with them."

"Then let us keep walking." Said Aurel motioning him forward.

Maethorgond nodded. They walked forward until they encountered a stream. Aurel was gladdened at its sound, she had been thirsty for a great while but did not want to deter the move forward.

"If we can but just rest here for a moment." Asked Aurel.

"Of course."

Aurel splashed her face with some water before taking a drink to soothe her thirst.

"Princess?"

Aurel turned her face to Maethorgond, "Yes?"

"About what happened earlier…"

Aurel frowned, "I would rather wish not to think about that."

"For your courage, I thank you." He said rather abruptly.

Aurel's frown disappeared and a smile took its place. "And for your loyalty, I thank you."

"I am glad that your skill with the bow seems to be equal to that of Prince Legolas."

"Equal?" replied Aurel in jest. "Nay, far better I would think!"

Maethorgond smiled, but not for long, as he soon found himself imbedded with an arrow to the chest. He fell sharply to the ground, his hands seems to be trying to clutch the ground, shock clearly marked his face. He was gasping for air. Aurel quickly moved herself behind a tree, trying to see where the shot had come from. No doubt it was more Easterlings, or one, but that one had the advantage for she could not see anything. She could hear Maethorgond's gasps for air. At once she shouted, "Calm your breathing! I will come to you when I can!" She heard a thud as an arrow embedded itself against the tree she was hiding behind. Whoever was letting the arrows fly was a poor marksman, and Aurel was glad indeed, but she needed to get to Maethorgond, he would not last long in his state.

Rustling from the trees ahead could be heard and Aurel took her chances and went to Maethorgond who had luckily been covered in his fall. His eyes were wide open, but he had done as he was commanded, and had calmed his breathing.

Aurel looked at him. "I am going to break the arrow, it will hurt, prepare yourself." She gave him no chance to hesitate as she broke it and he grunted. "Do you carry a dagger or blade?"

He did not respond, he was slipping. So she searched him and found a dagger. She took the dagger and ripped his tunic off, revealing the fresh wound underneath. She used the dagger to help her remove the arrowhead. For some reason, no other attempts were made from the archer, but Aurel had no time to ponder this. Maethorgond had now fallen unconscious and she struggled with her healing, there was too much blood flowing out. She had to keep wiping the blood away with her hands, until they were completely covered. Maethorgond stopped breathing. Aurel panicked… "No, do not leave your body, I can save you, hold on a bit longer." She recited more healing chants, but it was no use, Maethorgond was dead. She wept as if it was someone she loved, and continued to try and heal him, though she knew that he was dead. She wept loudly for all that had happened, finally now she was alone and she did not care who heard her. She did not want to leave Maethorgond behind, but she had no choice, it was too risky to stay. She removed his sword from him and for a while listened to hear more from the mystery archer, who had not yet revealed himself. She could not hear anything, save herself breathing. Before standing she looked at Maethorgond one more time and then took the ring of Imladris from her finger, she felt since she could not bury him, at least this would give him some honour, and she placed the ring inside his hand. She waved the sword outside of the shelter of the tree to see if any more attempts were to be made, but not a sound was heard and she found that very strange. The true test would be when she went to move, so she made the step backwards from her shelter, not daring to turn her back. Nothing happened, and she took another step and another, until she realized that the archer was probably no longer there and then quickly turned around to try and find her own way through the woods.

Their search in the night has proved fruitless, save for they had found some of the Rohirrim, and Eomer had told them to stop their hunt and return to Medusheld. At dawn, luck stroke as they encountered some of the Elven guards that had escaped including Ihawsanor. Legolas immediately went to him.

"I am glad to see you here."

"As am I." Ihawsanor replied and then gave a sharp look to Eomer. "I do not trust that he is here with you."

"It does not matter. Where is Aurel?"

Ihawsanor shook his head, "We do not know, we split, she is with Maethorgond. We were meant to meet not far from here, but scouts have returned saying they are not there, which means they must have had to avert to other plans." He looked at Eomer once more. "His Rohirrim have been a nuisance, no doubt they are the cause for their unknown whereabouts."

"Look at me only Ihawsanor." Said Legolas.

He did as he was told. "Yes, my Lord."

"They would have to have been on foot, knowing the Rohirrim were after them, they would have travelled somewhere more difficult for horses to roam. We shall go into those woods." Said Legolas pointing towards the trees a distance away.

"We can cover more ground if we split." Said Ihawsanor.

"No, we stay together." Legolas said quickly, and then turned to Eomer who had been waiting patiently to hear of what was happening. "We are going to search for Aurel in the woods, if you wish to return to your family, I would suggest you do it now."

"No Legolas, I go with you, as I said before."

"Do not do this out of debt for me Eomer King."

"It is not for you."

Legolas wanted to say something to him, but he only gave a small bow of the head before taking the lead into the woods to find Aurel. He constantly tried to make a connection with Aurel or his child, but they were unreachable, he had not felt them for a great while, even before Aurel had escaped, for some reason, the connection had been lost, this worried him greatly. Ihawsanor had found marks that he was sure were hers and Maethorgond's, and quickly found the dead Easterlings at his feet.

"Legolas!" He shouted. "Over here!"

Legolas quickly rushed to him, thinking he had found her. "Dead Easterlings?"

"Killed by Elven hands….these are arrows of Eryn Lasgalen."

"Maethorgond's?"

"No doubt." Said Ihawsanor nodding. "We should not be far, these are fresh kills."

Eomer looked at the men, "What do Easterlings do here?" He observed their bodies, "They have been in battle."

A signalling sound from some of the other guards could be heard, they had found something. When Ihawsanor reached to where they were his heart fell.

"Maethorgond." He crouched to the ground to look at his face, and placed a hand over the wound on his chest. He let his head fall in sadness. Legolas walked up behind him.

"I am sorry, I did not know him well. I know that you and he were close."

"Like a brother he was to me, I loved him dearly, I trusted him with the princess's life."

Legolas noticed that Maethorgond had something in his hand, "There is something in his hand."

Ihawsanor looked to see what it was. He took the ring out of his hand and gave it to Legolas.

He stared at the ring, it was Aurel's. He crouched down next to Ihawsanor, looking at the ring, and then looking at Maethorgond and placing the ring back in his lifeless hand. "He was calm before he passed."

Ihawsanor nodded. "Yes, it looks as if the Princess tried to save him, but with that wound, no one could have survived. His sword is gone and he lies here as if placed, the Princess is still alive, but now, she is alone. We must find her." Ihawsanor said noticing the distanced look in Legolas's eyes. "The Easterlings being in these woods is no coincidence….have you felt the shadow of grief that surrounds us?"

Legolas nodded. "Something has happened to Eryn Lasgalen. I fear that our being in Rohan had something to do with it; there is something larger at hand happening."

"I will have a guard stay here with Maethorgond."

Ihawsanor nodded in agreement. As they both stood to continue their search, two Elven guards came dragging out a half dead easterling. "Look what we found!" They dropped the dying man at Legolas's and Ihawsanor's feet. "We found him barely alive, clutching to his bow…he is the one responsible for Maethorgond's death."

Legolas looked at the man without pity, though he seemed like a child lying on the ground with his mouth open, obviously in pain and thirsty. He had ghastly wounds to his side and by the look of him he would die soon. "Keep him alive, he will live to stand trial in our courts." He said to the guards. "You two will stay here and make sure that Maethorgond is not disturbed."

The guards nodded, while Legolas, Ihawsanor, Eomer, and a few other Elven guards continued their search for Aurel.

"She is light on her feet. There is barely a trail to follow on." Said Eomer looking for any signs of her.

"She learned many years ago how to keep herself from being found." Replied Legolas looking at the tips of some leaves that had been broken.

Ihawsanor came to Legolas's side, "She must be near as I cannot see any further trail, from any direction."

Legolas looked around, all he saw was trees. He could not feel a thing; they all just stood there for a good long moment staring at the trees, not knowing what to do.

"Perhaps she climbed up a tree?" suggested Eomer.

"Not in her state." Replied Ihawsanor.

"We must carry on, the trail must continue somewhere." Said Legolas, and everyone nodded and continued on their search. As everyone walked forward, Legolas decided to walk off to one side to where there seemed to be more light. Not completely paying attention to where he was walking he tripped over the root of a tree and fell forward, and as he stood his eyes caught a shimmering in the distance. He squinted his eyes to get a clearer look, and it was light reflecting off of something. As he walked towards the shimmering he suddenly began to panic. He could see that it had a shape, he could see a hand and the light reflecting off of it from a trinket, and as he approached to see who the hand was connected to, he held his breath. He slowly walked up, making not one sound and looked upon the face. It was Aurel. He nearly cried thinking something had happened to her, but she was only sleeping!, heavily and with her eyes closed. He crouched down and touched her face and she woke up clutching to the sword she had in one hand.

"Melethril." Said Legolas softly.

She was confused at first, thinking perhaps she was dreaming. "Legolas?" But then she could feel the child inside of her wake with joy at the touch that Legolas had given her.

He put both hands on her face, and the connection, both to his wife and child, was reformed.

"Legolas!" She shouted and wrapped both her arms around him squeezing him as hard as she could.

He held her equally as tight, and by then the commotion was heard, and the guards and Eomer went to where they had heard Aurel's voice, only to find the royal couple in a tight embrace.