Eternal Life, Eternal Pain
XVIII. New Life Discovered
Close your eyes
And tell me
what you see
The two of us
And nothing in between
And run away with me
Say goodbye
To all the tears you cried
And all the pain
That you could never hide
And run away with me
~*~*~
Anya watched with sick desperation as Legolas slipped through the crowd gracefully. A horrible sick twinge ran through her stomach, making her bend over in sheer pain and anxiety. As she straightened up, Anya stared at the tiny, thin blade she grasped in her hand. It really was far too tiny to do any significant damage to any live being. What she needed was her own sword - or her bow at least. Preferably her sword. She was far better at swordplay than archery. But how was she supposed to get her sword? Looking around frantically, Anya felt more useless than ever. Her head spun, and her knees felt weak. She was falling...
"Anya, are you all right?!" Lixie caught her best friend, breaking her fall.
"I think," Anya said ever so faintly.
With her hazy sight, Anya could see Byron looking at her with deep concern. "Are you certain? You look horrible."
"I'll be fine." Things were starting to come into sharper focus now.
"You look so pale, Anya. Are you ill?" Lixie asked a bit nervously.
"Even if I am," Anya said weakly, "there are more important things to address."
Lixie gently pushed her back onto her own feet. "All right then," she said, "but you'll need this." A flash of metal sat in her outstretched hands.
"My sword!" Anya cried out in as much happiness as the situation permitted. "Lixie, how did you manage this?"
Byron smiled. "She manages many things."
Anya laughed softly. "And I see you two brought your own weapons as well."
"Naturally!" Lixie said. "My crossbow, and Byron's ever famous saber."
Byron held his saber a bit awkwardly. "My hand hurts," he said. "Can't hold the damned thing properly."
"As long as you can still use it," Lixie said.
"Barely," Byron said, wincing a bit.
"You've been using that thing since you were ten!" Anya said. "You've forgotten already?" Byron looked at her blankly. "That is unimportant now," Anya added quickly. "Like I said, there are far more important things to address now."
"Oh, right," Lixie said almost absentmindedly.
Anya unsheathed her blade from its silver engraved scabbard. "Let's go!"
"My people," King Zeroun yelled over the loud screams as the loud pounding on the door continued, "follow me! Take this route with me. It is a secret passage out of this castle that no one but I and my family knows about."
Aragorn stepped up. "We'll stall as long as we can so your people can escape."
Arwen squinted a bit. "You know Aragorn, we are lucky everyone's here."
Aragorn nodded.
Zeroun turned to the king. "Elessar, are you sure you are willing to sacrifice your lives for us? You are a king. I can put others. Unfortunately, Lanmuir has no warriors. Perhaps our best is my very own daughter, whom I am certain will join you." Zeroun said this almost pathetically, knowing Anya's habits. For all he knew, he might never see her again.
The king of Gondor looked at Zeroun with a bold glare. "I would not put my own life before the lives of thousands."
Gimli, who was standing behind the man, said, "B'sides, King Zeroun, if anyone can leave this place unscathed, it's us."
King Zeroun said nothing, but looked over where Legolas had returned with his bow and was standing with Anya. He saw the two embrace, and looking closely, he could see tears falling down Anya's face. "They are too young to die," Zeroun said remorsefully, "yet, death makes no exceptions. Darkness would take any life it can." He turned to Aragorn. "Thank you. My people are eternally in Gondor's debt."
"Aragorn, do you think it would be closer to go to Mirkwood or Rivendell?" Arwen asked.
"Mirkwood would be closer, but I think it would be safer to go to Rivendell. Mirkwood is in much turmoil now, and King Thranduil is away on some business or other. Go to Rivendell," Aragorn said.
Zeroun nodded.
"Go now," Aragorn said a bit harshly after Zeroun made no move.
The elder king looked at his daughter. "She is my only child," Zeroun said. "And now she has to die for me."
"Perhaps she will not die," Arwen said soothingly. "Perhaps she will meet you in Rivendell after this is over."
"I pray you speak the truth," Zeroun said to the Evenstar. "I pray." Knowing there was no time to say goodbye to his girl, he turned and left, not saying a word for he was trying to hold back tears.
Aragorn glanced over to where Legolas stood with his bow and quiver. Laughing, the man replied, "Perhaps, Gimli! Take a few more, just for good measure."
"Sounds good to me," Gimli yelled back as he sliced another.
This is going to be impossible, Anya realized. Great warriors they were, they were simply outnumbered. She looked over to where Lixie and Byron were fighting, side by side. Byron looked to be horribly struggling under the heaviness of his saber, meekly swinging his blade, looking tiredly at the Orcs. Lixie's face showed despair. They were starting to feel the weight of all the orcs.
"Are you all right, Anya?" Legolas yelled over.
"Fine," Anya muttered, not necessarily to anyone.
"I'm sure you are, my pretty," a nasty voice said.
Anya looked around frantically, as she recognized whose voice that was. Finally finding him, she glared him into the eye - or where she assumed it was. He was wearing a dark cloak with a hood that shadowed his face. "You!" she cried out.
"Me," he replied snidely.
"You!" she could only utter.
Though she couldn't see it, Anya could hear the smirk in his voice. "Ready to watch all your friends die?"
The princess gripped her sword and got ready to help when some orcs stopped her. Lifting up her blade, she tried to attack them, but another held her arm down. "What the hell is this?" Anya yelled out.
"I want you to watch them suffer."
Perhaps any other would have sat back, giving in to what was so obvious. Not Anya. Her stubborn nature took over as usual. Fiercely, she kicked the orcs as hard as she could, anywhere she could. One holding her right arm winced, bent over, and let go. Quickly taking this brief opening, Anya jerked her arm out of the other's grasp and ran as fast as she could...
"FOOLS!" Helnulka screamed as Anya ran off.
Don't be afraid to be free
Cuz no one's perfect
I'll always be there by your side
~*~*~
"That's forty-five!" the Elf prince declared proudly to his dwarf friend beside him.
"Legolas!"
"Anya, what is it?" Legolas looked at her with deep concern for her voice sounded full of fear.
"He's here!" she gasped, clutching the stitch in her side.
"He?" Gimli asked.
"Where?" Legolas asked, recognizing the anxiety in Anya's voice.
Anya could not say a word, gasping for breath. Legolas narrowed his eyes, searching while still trying to fend off the orcs from behind her back. "Are you all right?" he asked her.
Still not able to draw breath clearly, Anya could merely nod, which she did. Vaguely pointing over in the direction to her right, she tried to show Legolas approximately where he was.
Legolas's sharp eyes scanned the area. "I see him," he said. The prince looked at him with a glare, only to have the cloaked figure look up and send a death stare over to the elf, sending chills down his spine. Something about the way that... creature looked at him was unsettling to the prince, but he couldn't place why, exactly.
"Legolas, what are you doing!" Anya's shrill voice cut him back to reality, as did an arrow that shot right by his face, making his hair stand on end. "Whoa..." he said. That was close.
"You idiot!" Anya screamed. "Are YOU trying to kill me too?" Mercilessly, she swiped at an orc advancing upon her.
"Me?" Legolas shouted back. "And how would I manage that?"
"By giving me a bloody heart attack!" she yelled. "Legolas, WATCH YOUR BACK!"
He turned back just in time to cut down an orc that was trying to sneak up from behind. "Thanks," he said.
"Anytime," Anya said.
"That would be fifty now," Legolas said. "Bet that's more than Gimli."
Anya half-laughed. "Why not add a bit of insurance?" she asked. "That'd be nice."
"As you wish, my princess," Legolas said, notching two arrows to his bow and letting them fly.
As Anya realized quickly, Aragorn then too noticed it was futile. The orcs were simply too many.
"Arwen, we may very well die here," Aragorn said softly.
Arwen touched her arm gently and winced. "I know," she said.
"Are you all right?" Aragorn looked at her arm. Her forearm had a massive cut on it.
"I'll be fine. What about you? Fighting so hard you forget an arrow is sticking out of your back," Arwen said, trying to laugh a bit. Slowly, Arwen pulled the arrow out of her husband's back.
Aragorn didn't so much as grimace. "Oh that," he said nonchalantly. "I almost forgot..."
"Die here," Arwen said softly, still standing behind Aragorn. "Never see Alli or Eldarion," she added sighing.
"At least," Aragorn said almost miserably, "the people of Lanmuir escaped unscathed."
"The price of being brave," Arwen said, "is often death."
"It'd take a miracle to get us out of this," Aragorn said.
What Aragorn didn't know was that the miracle he was hoping for was riding up at the exact moment.
The orcs, when invading the hall, had slammed the doors shut, as so not to let anyone escape. Fifteen stood by to guard, as to not let anyone in, however, they were not ready to stop anyone from entering.
The doors, with a loud thud, opened, and twenty elves entered the room, all armed with arrows, bows, and swords. Quickly the fifteen protecting the doors fell as the twenty made their way through.
"What?" Arwen asked at the sudden noise.
"Could it be..?" Aragorn said, disbelieving.
"Yes, it is!" Arwen cried, elated. "My brothers! They have come!"
It was amazing what life these new warriors brought to the old. Immediately, Aragorn gave out a cry, rousing everyone. With the new added reinforcements, the evil could do nothing but run.
Helnulka turned back and hissed, "I WILL RETURN!"
Anya stuck her tongue out at him.
"Elladan Elrohir," Arwen said, smiling, holding her hands out to her brothers.
"Sister," Elladan said. "How have you been?"
Arwen snorted. "What do you think?"
Elrohir laughed. "Elladan, you had that coming, asking such a silly question."
Elladan smiled warily. "Perhaps," he laughed.
Aragorn asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Saving all your as..." Elrohir started.
"Oh save it, Elrohir," Arwen laughed, hitting him on the arm. "How did you know? I haven't been in touch with Father."
Elladan laughed merrily. "You haven't been quite as conspicuous as you should. We heard rumors of a "strange" group of three elves, one man, and one dwarf roaming the land. We figured it was you."
"But what we couldn't figure," Elrohir continued, "was who the other elf could be."
Legolas smiled and said, "My fiancé, Anya."
Anya blushed at this introduction, but stepped forward and curtseyed a bit. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm sure," she said.
Elladan and Elrohir nodded. "We've already seen you, though you haven't seen us," Elladan said. "But, isn't your name Karlianya?"
Anya made a bit of face. "Yes, Anya for short," she said.
"Duh Elladan," Elrohir said.
"Oh shut up," Elladan retorted.
"Do I have to separate you two?" Arwen joked.
"Maybe," Elrohir said darkly, glaring at his brother.
"Not unless Elrohir can't control his baby tantrums," Elladan said airily.
"BABY TANTRUMS?" Elrohir thundered, going for his brother's neck.
Arwen laughed. "Oh you two!"
Elladan, ignoring Elrohir's death glares, turned to Arwen and said, "We will be returning to Rivendell now. I suppose we would be of no service to the five of you anymore. Smaller group would move faster."
Aragorn nodded. "The people of Lanmuir should be headed toward Rivendell."
Elrohir, discarding his heavy stare turned serious. "We know," he said solemnly. "We saw them headed toward that ways."
"I worry they will not make it," Elladan continued.
"Some are quite sickly, and may not make it."
"Like my mother," Anya sighed softly.
"Perhaps you should serve as a guide for them," Arwen suggested.
"Perhaps," Elrohir said.
"Sounds like a good idea, Arwen," Elladan elaborated.
"We should go, if we want to catch up to them by tomorrow," Elrohir continued.
"Shouldn't be too hard," Gimli said, speaking for the first time.
"At any rate, we should be heading off," Elrohir said. "Good luck on your journey, my friends. May we meet again."
With that, Elrohir and Elladan called their elven friends and exited through the opened double doors.
"And to you," Anya called.
Someone said love is all you need
So take my hand
I'll show you what it
means
Just run away with me
~*~*~
"Ugh," Anya said the next morning. They had hit the road again, and had been traveling for a few days.
"Anya, are you all right? You look pale."
"I'm fine," Anya said uncertainly.
"You haven't looked so well these past few days, are you sure?" Legolas asked again.
"I think," she said.
"Anya, are you sure?" Legolas asked yet again as Anya doubled over a bit.
"I said I'm fine!" Anya yelled.
"Okay, okay," Legolas said, backing off. He walked away, leaving Anya alone as she obviously wanted.
Legolas sauntered over to where Byron and Lixie were sitting under a tree, just sitting and talking.
"You guys know ANya," Legolas said.
"Yes," Lixie smiled.
"Yeah," Byron said.
"Knew her since I was a littlun," Lixie laughed. "Byron too."
"So, can you tell me why Anya is acting liking such a..."
"I heard my name," Anya said.
"Yes, we were gossiping about you," Lixie winked.
"Oh that's just great!" Anya spit out.
"Anya, are you all right?" Lixie frowned. It was very unlike Anya to suddenly blow up at what was obviously a joke.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Anya said a bit calmly now.
"You've been acting strangely this past week," Lixie continued.
Legolas reached an arm around her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Angrily, Anya pushed Legolas away from her. "I said I'm fine! Why are you guys treating me like some sort of a baby?"
"Anya, what's wrong? We're just trying to care..." Lixie said.
"Well stop it!"
As Anya stormed off, Lixie said, "If I know Anya, and I do, she's hiding something."
"Hiding something?" Byron asked.
"You know how it is," Lixie said. "Whenever something either horrible or terribly drastic happens to Anya, she hides it in her heart until it explodes. She's getting ready to explode. Did you do anything, Legolas?
Legolas shook his head. "Not that I know of."
"Someone should talk to her," Lixie said. "Maybe you should talk to Arwen about this."
Arwen did as was requested of her. As they continued through the forest, Arwen tried talking to Anya.
"Hello," she started pleasantly.
Anya happened to be in a good mood. "Hey there," she laughed.
"How have you been?"
"Good," Anya said. "Though I miss my parents dearly," she said with a sigh.
That couldn't be it. "Anything else?"
"Anything else?" Anya repeated.
"Anya, you know it. You haven't been acting like yourself lately."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "You've been talking to Lixie and Legolas, haven't you."
"They didn't need to tell me," Arwen said. "I noticed myself."
Anya snorted. "Sure," she said sarcastically.
"What is wrong? You've been so moody lately."
"Oh I don't know!" Anya said. "Why can't people just leave me alone?! I said I'm fine, but everyone keeps giving me the fourth degree! I'm sick of being treated like a baby! I'm old enough to take care of myself..."
"Anya, we just care, that's all... Anya? Are you all right? Oh, gods..."
Anya had just fainted dead away.
Everyone else had been walking ahead of the two. But hearing Arwen's yells, Legolas immediately turned around to see Arwen struggling to support Anya's weight.
"What happened?" Legolas cried out, as he ran over to pick up Anya from Arwen's arms.
Arwen shook her head. "I was talking to her... and she just fainted..."
The rest had joined them. Arwen had this puzzled look on her face until something dawned on her.
"Lixie, I need to talk to you," Arwen said. "The rest of you, could you step aside for a moment?"
The men obliged.
"Oh look," Lixie said. "Anya's coming to."
Arwen held Anya's hand, feeling her pulse until Anya woke and pulled her arm away. Arwen's face was torn between a smile and seriousness.
"Anya, I know," she said softly.
"You do?" Anya said almost nervously.
"How long have you?"
"Just a few days," she whispered.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"What's going on?" Lixie asked.
"Because it's cursed, all of it," Anya said.
"Cursed?" Arwen couldn't believe it.
"I know..." Anya tried to start. "But I don't... Oh, it's hard to explain."
"Try."
"I never said this but my mother said any I have would be cursed, as long as Helnulka was around... because he'd try to use them..." Anya said, frightened.
"Perhaps your mother is wrong," Arwen said.
"She hasn't been yet," Anya said.
Lixie's eyes widened as she began to understand. "Anya... you're not pregnant are you?"
Legolas's sharp ears picked this up quickly. "What?" he cried out. Immediately, he turned and left for Anya's side, leaving the others lost and confused.
"What was that?" Aragorn wondered.
Gimli replied, "Let's find out," and followed the elf.
Anya looked at Legolas who was now kneeling by her. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly.
"I was scared..." Anya tried to say.
"Scared of what?" Legolas asked, pulling her close to him, hugging her tightly.
"Somebody will die of this, I know it!" She started to cry.
"I'd never let anything harm you, or our child," Legolas said.
"Child?" Gimli whispered. "Whose child? They have a child?"
Aragorn just rolled his eyes.
Anya continued crying. "I'm scared," she said again.
"Don't be," Legolas said. "As long as I'm here, nothing will ever, ever harm you. Ever."
"Can you promise that?" Anya said. "You can't. You don't know the future. None of us do. I don't know what will happen tomorrow. I don't know what will happen any day after that..."
"When will it be due?" Lixie asked Arwen.
"A few weeks?" Arwen guessed.
"What the bloody hell?" Aragorn asked.
"What?" Arwen replied.
"You took at least six months!"
"Well, are our children full-elf?" Arwen pointed out.
"Anya's not full elf," Aragorn retorted.
"Closer than you!" Arwen laughed.
Legolas felt the strangest feeling of wonderment and happiness at the same time. In a few weeks, he could be holding his very own child. He was going to be a father.
"Anya, can't you see how wonderful this will be?" Legolas said, smiling. "You're going to be a mother!"
Even in her sorrow, Anya couldn't suppress joy at that thought. A small smile twisted her frown around.
"See," Legolas said. "Everything will be fine."
"I hope you're right," Anya said quietly.
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in the longest time ever. Short yes. Sorry. Blocked still, but I think I'm busting out. The next two or three chapters should be interesting... Warning: the story is coming near to end!!!