𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 ➵︎ [ 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘧 ]

71| Far from over

Just in time. With a thunk, I watched as an arrow embedded into the man's chest. He let out a strangled cry of pain, trying desperately to struggle free. But it was too late for him.

Several more arrows flew my way, but I ducked my head, hearing more cries from the man in my arms as he took on the arrows of his comrades, his body convulsing with each impact.

I almost felt bad.

After a few more moments, I finally threw the arrow-ridden body of the man aside as more men stepped out to fight.

I narrowed my eyes at them, spitting out the blood in my mouth.

But before I could take another step forwards, the tower behind them seemed to wobble. And before any of the men knew what was happening, the entire structure began to topple, the saddle sliding off the oliphaunt, taking the panicked cries of the Haradrim within with it as it plummeted to the ground with a crash.

Immediately, an arrow embedded into the chest of one of the remaining men. I watched as a flash of golden hair emerged from the side of the oliphaunt. Piercing blue eyes narrowed with concentration, trained upon his target as arrow after arrow was fired in quick succession, picking off the remainder of the men one by one, faster than I could keep track of.

Suddenly, I found myself staring straight into the point of a drawn arrow.

"Woah!" I exclaimed, raising my hands. It was all just so fast.

"Legolas! It-it's me!"

Quickly, I pulled off the helmet.

The elf prince's eyes softened with recognition, and he lowered the bow immediately. I lowered my hands.

"Daeriel?"

Our eyes met, and I felt a rush of an indescribable emotion coursing through my body; relief, regret, care, guilt...

But this moment was short lived as the trumpeting of the oliphaunt beneath us snapped us back to reality. He sent an urgent glance back at me, and I nodded.

Lifting my sword high above my head, I gathered any strength left in my body. With a cry, I drove my sword down into the neck of the beast, severing the brain's connection to the spine. Yanking the blade back out, an earth shattering growl erupted from the mouth of the beast as the entire surface beneath my feet shook violently.

I guess I never planned far ahead enough to figure out how to get off the collapsing beast.

But Legolas seemed to have it sorted.

"Come on!"

I felt the elf grab my arm as the oliphaunt lurched forwards. With him pulling me behind him, we leapt off the head as it crashed into the ground with a deafening thud, sliding down the trunk as the beast finally collapsed. Almost losing my balance as the final movement of the trunk flung me off, I practically fell into Legolas, who managed to catch me before I could faceplant into the ground.

My breaths falling in shallow pants, I glanced back up, seeing Legolas offer his hand to me.

"Th...Thank you." I barely got out, accepting his hand and letting him pull me back to my feet as I caught my breath.

But as I stood up, I found myself no more than an inch away from the elf, his hands still on my shoulders, as if making sure I was okay, supporting my weight.

Looking up, my gaze locked with his. Behind us, I heard Gimli angrily exclaim...something, but I could not focus on that, or anything else for that matter. 

All I knew was the unquenchable spark of something erupting within at the care and concern that seemed to flood his gaze. His eyes seemed to scan my body for injuries, before settling on the cut on my busted lip. His brows furrowed ever so slightly. His hand travelled up from my shoulder, but, almost as if thinking better of it, he stopped, before letting go. His eyes fell to the ground, and he took a step back.