Marry the Night

"Over there!"

Gimli's call made me startle. I had fallen asleep - on a running horse, in a world that had belonged only to the realm of fantasy to me for so long. I would never have imagined that four years ago.

It took me a moment to get oriented, then I realized where I was. And with whom. Involuntarily I had to swallow, while I felt Legolas' grip around my waist. He must have encompassed me at some point, probably when I had dozed off, to prevent me from sliding off the horse. Now his grip pressed me tightly against his chest, with the other he held Arod's reins. Part of me wanted to remain, right here, in this situation. Another part, the one responsible for logical thinking, stiffened uncomfortably.

When Legolas realized I was awake, he loosened his grip and I held onto Arod's mane, just as I had before I fell asleep. "You're awake."

"Looks like it," I replied, and immediately scolded myself for being a fool. Why was I being so rude? He had held me because I was sick and had sunk into a feverish sleep. Therefore, I hastily added, "Sorry. What did Gimli see?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Elf nod his chin forward. "Lothlorien is in sight."
"What?" the word slipped out of my mouth. "I've been asleep that long?"

"Save and sound," he said, and I could hear he was amused by that. "Indeed, I have never met a human who could rest so comfortably on a galloping horse."

"You can't choose your talents," I retorted dryly. "The orcs?"

"No sign of them."

"So we outran them." The elf behind me remained silent. "Legolas?"

He hesitated for a moment longer before saying, "No, I don't think so. The clouds have nearly driven the sun away, and soon the next storm will be upon us."

"And they'll be back."

"I reckon."

It only could be hoped that by then we had made it to the edge of the forest of Lorien. My gaze wandered upward, toward the sky, and at that very moment the first drop of rain fell on me. "Shit."

"If you want to put it so graphic... But I do agree with you."

While I didn't see any orcs or other creatures storming across the grassy plain yet, they couldn't be far. Both Treebeard and the elf at my back had confirmed this. And I believed them.
Legolas said something in Elvish and Arod quickened his pace. Gimli's pony barely kept up and soon fell behind us. "What about him?", I asked, the wind almost tearing the words from my lips. "Surely we can't leave him behind!"

"It is not Gimli who is the target of the orcs."

"But they will attack him!"

"He can defend himself, Aspen. And with some luck, that won't even be necessary."

I pinched my lips together, but said nothing. Still, I felt guilty. Gimli had grown on me, and he was Legolas' friend, too. Watching him grow smaller and smaller behind us didn't feel right.

The rain started again, weaker than last time, but the weather left no doubt: it would give us a run for our money. And although Lothlorien was already visible on the horizon, it was still far enough away to seem unreachable to me.

Legolas had leaned forward slightly, and I had also leaned lower over Arod's mane. We both knew we had to reach the edge of the forest - as quickly as possible. The clouds that had gathered overhead were so dark they seemed abnormal. "Magic," the elf said against my ear. "This is not natural. I can feel it. Someone is trying to stop us!"

Magic? Where did that suddenly come from? He hadn't talked about that before. On the other hand... we hadn't had much time to talk about it yet. To recap. "Orcs and magic?", I breathlessly gasped out.

"Later, Aspen."

"No," I hissed, "now!" What if we missed something? What if it led us into a trap - like last time?

"A less unusual combination than you'd think. They are the vanguard of evil, of shadow mages and necromancers. They are drawn to their power, to their promises," he replied curtly, sounding not a bit out of breath. I, on the other hand, was getting more and more physically exhausted by the continuous gallop. I wanted to ask more questions, wanted to learn more, because his answer had not dispelled my doubts, but rather intensified them. But my muscles began to tremble. Now, of all times! I tried to suppress it, not wanting to ask for help. But finally I lost the battle against my body. "Legolas, I…"

"I know." He slid his left arm under my torso, holding me close. "We're almost there."

Lightning flashed across the sky, as bright as if to prove Legolas' words wrong. The clouds towered over the forest, an almost impassable barrier. Legolas was spurring Arod on, I knew that, even if I didn't understand what he was saying. The horse put all its strength into the sprint.
But it wasn't enough.

When we were still a good five hundred meters from the edge of the forest, something detached itself from one of the clouds. It looked like a black arm or... or a tornado looking for ground contact. Except I knew it wasn't looking for the ground. It was looking for us.

"Valar!" Legolas had spotted it, too. His grip tightened around my waist, his fingers digging painfully into my side - as if he was trying to protect me with nothing more than his body from whatever was moving across the sky above us. I didn't have to ask what that was. It was obvious to me that he didn't know either.

Another flash of lightning twitched across the sky, which by now was as dark as nightfall. And that, even though it was only early evening. Then we had reached the edge of the forest, diving into it as though it was a protective cloak.

Indeed, the rustling of the wind ebbed away and even the darkness was replaced by golden light after the first few meters that Arod was still galloping. As if Lothlorien had fallen out of time and space, secured from influences from the outside world.

Legolas reined in the horse and finally brought it to a halt still within sight of the forest's edge. We both stared toward the outskirts of the forest, speechless. The chirping of birds and the soft rustling of leaves seemed out of place. Unreal. As if we had slipped from reality into a dream. Legolas still hadn't let go of me, his grip nearly squeezing the air out of me.

"I won't run away, I promise," I said, looking down at his arm, which held me tight as a vice. Immediately he loosened it, but only enough to allow me to breathe freely again. Apparently he feared that I was still exhausted enough to fall off the horse as soon as the adrenaline rushing through my veins calmed down. He wasn't wrong about that.

Just as I opened my mouth to ask what in three devils' names had just happened to us, Gimli burst into the forest on his pony. With him, a cacophony of various sounds reached my ears: The rush of the thunder wind, the shrill cries of orcs, and something more dark that I couldn't quite place. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to send a sharp pain through my head. Almost as if someone had stabbed me with a long needle.

"Ah!" I grabbed my temples.

Alarmed, Legolas asked, "Aspen?"

I wanted to reassure him, wanted to say it was nothing. But that wasn't true.

Yet another pain shot through me, stronger than the first. With a groan, I held my head. Damn, what was that? Yes, I had headaches from time to time, but none like this one. None that consumed me, ate me up from the inside out in a matter of seconds. This wasn't normal for a cold, not even the flu.

Another pinprick that made me wince. Legolas' voice saying my name sounded as distant as if he wasn't sitting right behind me. Where Gimli had stopped, something black spread out, looking very much like the thing that had tried to reach for us outside.

No.

Not us.

Me.

It swallowed the dwarf, the forest, and everything that had surrounded me until just now. And in the darkness, a figure of shadow appeared, its gaze so intensely focused on me that I could neither look away nor look at it. Its stare bored into mine, many times more hurtful than Legolas' fingers. The only thing I could make out was the crown on its head.

Then I lost consciousness.