To The Rescue
Estel sank to the ground, totally exhausted. His shoulders hurt from his efforts to open the trap door but now he had to admit to himself that it would not budge. Whatever object Galoth had used to weight down the wood fulfilled its purpose perfectly.
"At least I did not break my back", the boy said aloud. His voice sounded strangely muffled in this confined space. The hole was so shallow that, had the door been open, he could have comfortably stuck out his head.
Suddenly, Estel felt like tongs settled around his chest and his breathing sped up. He scooted back until he was stopped by a wall, pressing his back firmly against it, and closed his eyes. He was not normally afraid of small places but now an unfamiliar panic was settling in, an irrational fear that he would suffocate any minute.
It was not true, of course. He mind was certain of that, because there were cracks in the trapdoor´s planks that had allowed earth to trickle down onto his face when he had inspected them earlier. Even so, his heart was not that easily persuaded.
"Alagos will get help", he said, trying for his own courage´s sake to sound confident, "and Elrohir and Elladan will take care of me."
Unless Galoth´s ruse worked. Estel knew that his brothers´ love for him might be their one weakness. He had no doubt that they had survided the earlier attack, and neither did he query that they would tear the human archer to pieces for what he had done to him. The thought was strangely comforting, even though it chilled him all the same. But when would they turn against Galoth? Only once they knew he was safe.
Did the twins truly suspect Galoth´s treachery? Was this what Elrohir had meant when he had said that he knew what the man was about to do? He decided to believe just that, for any other reasoning would have only scared him more. If they had known, they surely had a plan that would not endager either him or them. "They could at least have let me know", Estel grumbled.
His breathing had eased a bit, and to keep himself occupied he allowed his mind to roam through his memories of the past day, trying to find any sign that his brothers had truly found out that the archer could not be trusted. He did recall now that Elladan had talked to Galoth for a while, leaving Elrohir and Estel to bring up the rear of their small group, but he had not said anything about that conversation. The boy had assumed that he had simply been trying to ease the tension.
And then there had been Elrohir´s archery contest with Galoth. It had bemused Estel that his brother had lost, but how could this have raised the twins´ suspicions? He sighed. His exhaustion began to lead his thoughts astray. For a moment he considered trying to fight the tell-tale feeling of heaviness that signalled to him he was about to fall asleep, but then he decided against it. What use was it to stay awake in this hole? He had to trust his brothers. He had to trust his horse.
/
Legolas had the nagging feeling that he was missing something. He had left the village several hours ago and so far, his journey had run smoothly enough. The tracks left behind by six horses only a day earlier were easy to follow, even from the stallion´s back, and the pain in his leg was still bearable.
Nevertheless, a feeling of unease had steadily grown in his mind and it was beginning to distract him from his task. With a sigh, he urged his horse to stop and listened.
The familar sounds of a forest surrounded him, birds chirping away merrily, small animals scuttling through the underbrush, leaves rustling in the light breeze. And yet, the peacefulness seemed fleeting to him. He closed his eyes, intend on the trees´ songs, when he suddenly picked up a new sound.
It was still quite far away, and he would have missed it entirely had he not stopped to listen so closely. After a few more moments he was certain that it was a horse, and one that was in a hurry.
The elf opened his eyes and reached for the bow. He had practiced with it a little once there had been enough light, and even though it was certainly no comparison to the weapon he had lost he was confident that it would serve its purpose.
He loosely nocked an arrow to the string and waited. The horse came closer at a steady pace, obvioulsy using the same path that he was on. What unnerved him was the feeling that he still had not found the source of his original unease. His restlessness began to transfer itself to the stallion, who began to pace and turn as if trying to keep an eye on everything around them.
"Sîdh, mellon nin" /Peace, my friend/ Legolas tried to soothe the steed, but the horse did not calm. Instead, he suddenly threw back his head with an aggressive neigh.
It was answered at once - from two directions, one still very far away, the other uncomfortably close.
A sudden rusteling travelled through the leaves above him though the light breeze had not picked up - the way it often did in Mirkwood just before a pack of spiders would strike. For a moment the elf wavered, unsure which direction to face, but following a sudden impulse he turned the stallion into the direction he had come from and pressed him into a gallop.
Behind him, the other horse was drawing closer, though it was still far off. He sensed no danger from it . The danger lay ahead, in the direction of the village.
His sudden action did not fail to trigger a response. Legolas heard the arrow´s hiss in time to duck to his stallion´s neck, and when he rightened himself again he caught a shadow moving in one of the trees to his right. His own arrow streaked towards it not a heartbeat later, but it was deflected by a branch and harmlessly tumbled through the foilage. Cursing under his breath, he tried to turn the horse to take aim once more, but to his surprise, the stallion did not react.
Instead, he plunged straight on with a purpose of his own, ears flattened to his head and teeth bared in anger. There was nothing the elf could do but hang on and duck low. He slipped the bow onto his back as it was useless without the ability to take proper aim, and drew one of his knives instead.
A second arrow whizzed past, close enough for him to feel the draft. His horse suddenly veered from the path and jumped into the underbrush, seemingly out of its mind, but then he saw a rider before him. It was a human man, that much was certain, and he was only now drawing his sword, as if surprised by the elf´s sudden appearance.
The grey stallion did not slow his approach but simply raced straight into the other horse. The impact almost unseated Legolas and sent a bolt of pain through his leg, but it affected the human even worse. There was the sickening crunch of a broken bone and a yell, followed by the muted clatter of a sword falling to the soft packed earth.
Once Legolas had found his bearings he could see that his horse had pushed the other into a tree, smashing the rider´s leg against the trunk. The man was doubled over in pain in such a boneless way that Legolas knew he no longer presented a threat.
Now, finally, the stallion turned back into the direction of the path. Legolas once again switched weapons, quickly drawing his bow and scanning the treetops for the shadowy archer. He did not like the lack of control he had in this fight, but at least the grey stallion seemed to have a smart brain in his head.
Beneath the trees that lined the path, the horse halted, panting heavily. Legolas appreciated the cover and took a moment to listen. The only thing audible beyond his own horse where the hoofbeats that were still drawing closer. Any other sound had died away.
The birds had fallen silent, the breeze had stilled, the trees had stopped singing. The elf tried to catch on to any sound that lay hidden benath his stallion´s breathing and finally caught the softest scarpe of boot upon branch.
It came from the foilage of the tree they were standing beneath.
Legolas brought up his bow at the same moment that he sensed movement from above. Two arrows were loosened at the exact same moment, and to the elf´s astonishment they grazed each other in midair, causing both shots to go wide.
His next arrow was nocked in no time, his hands doing their duty while his eyes sought out his target. When he finally found it, however, his resolve faltered. Hiding among the still leaves was a slim figure clad in green clothes that blended so perfectly with the foilage that even he would have missed it, had he not known at least in which tree to look.
The face that stared down at him was young, its edges still rounded by the absence of years, and unmistakenly female. When the young woman realized that he had seen her she sneered angrily, bringing up a new arrow of her own. As she took aim she tilted her head slightly, causing the hood to fall away from her head. The move revealed a slightly rounded ear. Not completely round like that of a human. Not pointed like that of an elf.
Totally taken aback now, Legolas lowered his bow, unwilling to shoot one so young and one who gave rise to so many questions.
The girl had no such qualms about him. Not taking her eyes off him she let the arrow fly. He could tell that her aim was true, and only the fact that he had seen the shot coming enabled him to avoid it. She cursed in the common tongued and shot again. And again. It was becoming difficult to sidestep her attacks without the use of his legs, especially because the grey stallion was growing resteless. Legolas could tell that he wanted to flee.
"Who are you?" he called up, at the same time willing his horse to remain in place. "There is no resaon for you to shoot me. Come down and speak to me."
"I have not one reason to kill you, I have hundreds", she replied and suddenly jumped from her branch to the one below, taking advantage of his unwillingness to attack her. "Come down, though, that I will!"
Legolas sensed that he would not be able to avoid her next shot at such close quarters and finally allowed the stallion to spring away, carrying him onto the path. He heard her arrow leave the string with a deadly hum, straining his ears in an effort to tell the shot´s general direction, but the noise of the hooves distracted him.
The missile hit his right arm with enough force to throw him onto the stallion´s neck. For a moment his vision blurred and he felt himself slipping. The horse neighed loudly and altered its direction to stabilize him. His left hand caught the steed´s mane and held on, but he was too dizzy to pull himself up. All he could see was grey legs swirling beneath him, kicking up dirt and a fine spray of dust.
Then they were passed by a second set of legs. Legolas could feel the other horses´s body brush by him, felt the slight slap of a loose stirrup against his shoulder. Blinking away tears that the dust brought to his eyes he looked behind him and saw a brown horse halt and turn, racing to follow them.
He had a slight sense that the horse was familiar but he did not dwell on the thought. All that counted now was that the animal galloped to flank his own, moving in close enough to prevent him from falling. "Daro!" he ground out. "Daro hi."/Stop. Stop now./
Both animals obeyed, the strange one a little more readily than his own. With an effort, Legolas finally managed to heave himself back onto the stallion´s back and remained motionless for a while., resting his cheek against the coarse grey mane.
When he sat up, he found the brown horse staring at him with questioning eyes. The grey stallion had turned his head to do the same, both regarding him with a graveness that almost made him laugh. "Aye, I know. I should have been more careful."
The animals snorted, both at the same time as if in agreement. "Very well, it looks like now I am being mothered by horses", Legolas mumbled as he used the hand of his good arm to search through Meila´s pouch with healing supplies. Hearing his own voice helped to anchor him in the here and now, though his mind was reeling with the discovery of the young woman.
It was by no means unheard of that elves and men had children – Lord Elrond being proof of that – but it was rare indeed. For one so young to live in these wooods without anybody´s knowledge was nothing short of a mystery.
As was the reason for her hatred.
Legolas twisted to have a look at her arrow. The archer in him noted that it was crafted with care and fledged with patience, as a good arrow should be. He could not help to also realize, however, that it would be next to impossible for him to draw it out on his own. The angle simply did not allow for him to gain the needed leverage.
With a sigh, he tied a bandage around the object to stabilize it. Thankfully he could feel that the weapon had merely pierced his flesh, an injury which he had suffered often enough in the past to recognize it. Unfortunately this did not mean that there was no pain – one simply did not grow used to being pierced by arrows. To his immense relief Meila had equipped him with a generous amount of plants that would dull the throbbing. He chose several leaves with a slightly reddish hue and began to chew them.
Even with the pain abating, his inability to use his right arm remained and it endagered him almost as much as his inablity to walk. He briefly considered turning back towards the village to seek Meila´s help, but quickly thought better of it. He had the sinking feeling that doing so would only lead her into more danger.
With another deep sigh, he considered his situation. He could not walk , not shoot, and rode a horse that clearly only obeyed him when it saw fit. Then there was the matter of the second horse and why it seemed slightly familiar to him – he could not put his finger on it, but he was certain that he needed to remember where he had seen the animal before...
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop when voices drifted through the calm forest air. Voices that were raised in anger, accomapined once more by the hammering of hooves.
Riders were approaching.
Riders who did not seem friendly.
To be continued
Once again, thank you so much for reading and reviewing! This next week will be very busy for me so I cannot promise a speedy update. I will do my very best to be fast, though.
Review Responses:
snowywolf7: Yep, he at least tries to ride to the rescue* g*
bettsam 0731: You COULD be correct with that assessment...
AgentsofArda: Oh my, thank you for that review – blushes – I´m truly happy that you enjoy the story so much!
Guest: Yep, the horse is helpful, but in his own way, LOL
Horsegirl01: You are quite right, trouble is already there – and then some!
sehellys: Thanks! I´ve grown rather fond of Meila myself and I sure hope my evil plotbunny is going to be nice to her... Sorry for the rather slow update but there´s a lot going on here right now (planning a kid´s birthday, anyone?)
SnoCat: *Smells the air* Nope, it´s not just you. It certainly smells like trouble (Did I mention that the plotbunny for this story is called Trouble?)