Unspoken ( A Legolas Love Story )

2.14: Mount Gundabad

A day later and the morning dawned pale and bleak, with little light penetrating the murky clouds that hung low overhead. Legolas set his jaw in grim determination as the rangers rose early. No one spoke as they quickly broke camp. He could sense Wren glancing occasionally at him, her brow furrowed and her eyes anxious. An unnatural quiet sat heavy in the air.

Moving in small groups, the rangers crept along the sides of the valley from boulder to boulder as they approached Mount Gundabad from the southwest. The imposing wedge of the mountain seemed sinister and cruel against the skyline. It would have been easy to doubt the presence of orcs, except that they could all feel the small hairs on the backs of their necks prickling. The rangers did not know whether the absence of movement demonstrated fear on the orc's part or whether they were being lured in closer to an ambush. And yet the Rangers continued towards the mountain unmolested.

"Well then..." Beringil cleared his throat, as the rangers regrouped behind a rocky outcrop within several hundred yards of the main entrance to the mountain, an hour later. "Now we come to it; to enter Gundabad and gouge evil from its very source in these lands." Although he spoke calmly, no one missed the hint of apprehension in the older captain's tone. "Elladan, do you see any other entrances besides the main tunnel?"

The raven-haired Peredhil nodded. "Did you see those small openings in the rock face? They point the way to two auxiliary tunnels, one on either side of the main entrance. Most likely they are used to channel air into the space within. I would recommend we split into two parties and send one in through either tunnel."

"Shouldn't we go in all together? In case we meet enemies and need all our numbers?" Kaelin said quietly as her fingers lightly twitched on her bowstring.

"What, through the main entrance?" Asvard asked incredulously. "I'm with the elf, better to go in with stealth."

Beringil ended any further debate before it even got started. "Experience speaks, Asvard. We break into two parties. Elladan, Elrohir, you take two and twenty rangers and go through the left entrance. The rest of you with myself and Legolas."

Beringil paused as he grimly eyed up the newly-weds. "Wren, you go with the Peredhil." There was no room for argument in his tone.

Legolas, felt his body stiffen as he subconsciously flexed his knuckles. He eyed up Beringil but the rangers bearded jaw was clenched tight and his gaze unblinking. The elf prince suddenly felt Wren squeeze his hand. As he turned to look at her, his sharp eyes did not miss fleeting look of pain cross her face, before it was replaced by her half-smile. She stood on raised toes as she whispered in his ear.

"Try not to kill any of my orcs..."

Her words diffused the tension, although he could not bring himself to smile in response. It was as if an invisible hand had wrapped itself around his throat, but he lent to kiss his wife. Gently holding her face in his hands, he said softly, "Le melithon anuir, mell nín."

"And I you. Return to me." Wren said, her hand lingered on his cheek. Her brown eyes were just beginning to melt his newfound resolve, when Beringil cleared his throat.

"Well that went better than I thought it would...Now let's hunt some orc!"

"Gladly." said Elrohir.

"About time too..." Added his brother.

Alongside Beringil, Rodorin, Kaelin and the other rangers, Legolas climbed up the steep slope of Gundabad. They had not seen any signs of life since dawn, and now as the sunlight feebly attempted to lighten the land, yet still nothing apart from the rangers, moved. The gray slate beneath their boots shifted and cracked easily as they approached the tunnels, every sound ominously loud in the silence of the mountain. As Legolas cast a glance across the mountainside at Elladan and Elrohir as they led their own party, he had his last sighting of Wren alongside the brothers, just before Legolas took a deep breath and plunged into the darkness after Beringil.