Alright, y'all! Sorry it took a while to post! This is my last day of Thanksgiving Break! Ugh! Thank you so much for the reviews! Enjoy!
Estel rode with the group all the way to the ferry, where he put his pipe away and brought his mount about to face the other three, "Bilbo, my friend," he began, then nodded at Fili and Kili as well, "Master Dwarves, I am afraid this is where I leave you. I trust your road is safe from here and you will reach the mountain soon enough."
"Oh," Kili breathed, trying to mask his disappointment, "You aren't coming with us, then?"
"I would not neglect this chance to look upon your kingdom so rudely, Kili, but I am expected elsewhere. I am sorry, but there will come a day, sooner than we both might think, that I swear to you I will come and visit." With that, Estel clasped wrists with the dark-haired dwarf and similarly traded such niceties with Fili and Bilbo.
He spurred his horse onward back down the road from whence they came to disappear into the Mirkwood. "Farewell!" he called and his horse's tail swished as if to wave a silent goodbye.
Fili, Kili, and Bilbo watched in a silence, which Bilbo soon broke, "I told you he was a good man."
Fili huffed, and Kili laughed at his brother's expense.
"What does he plan to do in the woods?" Kili asked, "Hunt spiders?" The comment was a bit ironic, considering Kili was just out in the woods hunting earlier that very day, but his older brother said nothing of his younger brother's logic.
"Oh, I certainly hope not!" cried Bilbo as chills ran through him, "I hope he never sees a giant spider as we did for as long as he lives!"
Fili decided he would answer his little brother since it was apparent the hobbit was distracted by uncomfortable memories of Mirkwood and the "talking spiders," as Bilbo had told it, but Fili never recalled those fowl beasts speaking in any tongue at all. "He is going to go meet Thranduil's son, Kili," Fili explained.
"Who, Legolas!?" Kili asked as his face squished in distaste, "But he is such a bore! He has no sense of humor at all! And he's rude. You remember what he said about Gimli, don't you?"
Fili let a barking laugh escape his lips, "Aye, Gloin would never let us forget. Honestly, Legolas hates dwarves as much as Thorin hates elves."
Bilbo decided to join in on their conversation, "You know, I do think you are onto something there, Fili. Thorin and Legolas are alike… in a roundabout way, at least, aren't they?"
The three friends sat there for a moment, each atop their perspective mounts, in utter silence mulling over Bilbo's comment until Fili and Kili both, in unison, shivered at the very thought of comparing the two, and Bilbo coughed awkwardly.
"Well, yes, maybe we should speak of another matter then."
"Yeah," Fili agreed with a little clearing of his own throat, "Let's not mention that little revelation to Thorin. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" Kili and Bilbo replied, a little too quickly.
Estel, or rather, Aragorn, son of Arathorn, had traveled to the Mirkwood before, but he had never gone through it alone. As he was indeed only twenty-five, he had left Elrond's care in Rivendell seven, maybe eight years ago, and even then, he came back often because the Lady Arwen, dear, lovely Arwen Evenstar, always lingering in his thoughts, compelled him to return.
There was a time in Aragorn's childhood, when Elrond had traveled to the Greenwood, as it was once called before the spiders encroached upon the forest and sickened it.
Elladan and Elrohir, son's to Elrond, but as close as blood brothers to Aragorn, had remained behind in Rivendell with their sister, to watch over the Last Homely House in the lord's absence. Aragorn, as he recalled was originally supposed to remain behind as well, but he had miraculously convinced Elrond to allow the heir to accompany the Elven lord.
Elrond had come from Rivendell, the Lady Galadriel and Celeborn from Lorien, to meet with Thranduil of the Greenwood. A council of Elves, as it were, had been in place to discuss what, he knew not, for he had not been privy to such apparently important information at the time.
No, not he. Rather, he was elsewhere in the Greenwood, frolicking about with none other than Legolas Greenleaf, prince of his realm. That trip had been his first encounter with the elven princeling and they had become immediate friends when the sun-haired elf had saved Aragorn from being skewered by a wild boar.
The memory brought a fond smile to his face. He had been a teen at the time, no older than fifteen, and Legolas, an elf of nearly three thousand years, had taken the time to befriend a mortal boy such as himself. And thus far, that friendship had lasted.
The Ranger liked to think that being heir to the throne of Gondor had nothing to do with the elf's choice.
Aragorn let loose a resigned sigh as he looked upon the dankness of Mirkwood. He recalled a time when it seemed brighter and he silently cursed the evil of the world for daring to touch a once more joyful place.
Inevitably, he was reminded of his role in one day combating such evil, but the thought honestly scared him. What if he failed? What if the darkness that was growing within the world proved too much and he himself succumbed to the Enemy?
His troubling thoughts were interrupted by a rustle in the thick brush to his left. With warrior reflexes, he faced the sound while his hand simultaneously reached for the sword at his belt. At first, he thought himself a bit ridiculous. Many small creatures rummaged through the bushes, what had he to fear? But some other instinct, one that was birthed from his time in the wilderness, warned him, told him, differently.
He felt his heart thump against his chest as the presence, the lingering presence of the unnamed being did not lift. His horse snorted nervously and she pounded the damp earth beneath her hoof.
Aragorn peered into the shaded brush, but even his keen eyes could only make out a ghost of a form, bestial and dark. His blood ran cold as his gaze met the thing and it emitted a low, murderous snarl, quiet, but terrifying. Though he could not see it from its place in the shadows, the keen Ranger sensed the tenseness in its limbs and knew it would strike soon.
He had seen bears, wolves, and even wargs, but none of them had ever felt so very sinister.
The pressure mounted and the grip he held on his sword tightened as he prepared to draw it forth.
Only, the encounter Aragorn anticipated never came, for as the thing prepared its attack, a call, so sudden and unexpected rang out in a fine elven voice that both he and the unknown beast started violently. Then, Aragorn drew his blade so quickly he nearly unseated himself as he caught sight of the shadow dart off into the depths of the forest.
"Estel!" The voice was as clear as mountain streams and the air seemed to lighten as its bearer drew nigh.
Legolas, garbed in pleasant green clothing and armed with his bow and dual knives strapped across his back, was met with Aragorn, sword drawn and breathing heavily, sweat beading on his brow. "Estel?" the Elven prince asked the young man more cautiously, "What is it, Mellon?"
Aragorn, at first, said nothing. He only looked from the bushes to his left then to his friend with a blank expression upon his stubbled face.
"Estel?"
At last, it seemed that the shock of the moment had finally left him, the Ranger calmed enough to respond to his ancient friend, "I am sorry," he breathed, sheathing his sword, "It is only that I saw something that disturbed me greatly in the woods."
Legolas's brow furrowed at that and he strode quickly to his friend's side. He grabbed Estel's saddle horn with one hand and shook it lightly as he also patted the horse's strong neck with the other, "Estel, what is it that you saw that could alarm you so? Even with the boar you did not act as such."
Aragorn looked upon his friend with a heavy gaze, his eyes piercing the fey folk's blue orbs. "I have never encountered such a creature as the one I confronted today. I do not know the nature of it, Legolas." He swallowed, "Only that it is evil."
Legolas only nodded, but his eyes betrayed him, for they were wrought with thoughtful concern. "Come," he said softly, taking the reins from Aragorn's hands and pulling them over the horse's head so he instead could lead the mare, "Let us get to my father's hall. There we can further discuss this beast you saw." The elf looked uneasily towards the shadowy brush all about them. "I do not wish to talk of such things here, lingering as we are with shadow all about us."
Hope you liked it! Don't worry, I'll have more Fili and Kili next chapter! Please Review, or writer's block may take me!