Wounded Warrior (Legolas x OC) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 6: Among Friends

"So what happened?" Legolas asked as he tossed Rushil a wet rag for her face.

She caught the cloth and bent down over her reflection in a bucket of water. "Well, I was going to kill the Uruk-Hai who had shot Bromir, but someone must have snuck up behind me and hit a rock over my head." Rushil rubbed the rag against her face, taking some of the white paint off her cheek. "From there, I was kidnapped, snuck into Isengard and Saruman made me a general. That's how I led the orc army here."

Legolas walked over to her, "How did you get into Isengard?"

Rushil straightened and pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal the necklace, "This is the necklace of Manwë. Galadriel gave it to me before we parted and told me it would transform my figure into anything I needed. At the time, I needed to be an orc so Saruman wouldn't know my true identity." She smiled slightly at her cleverness and let her collar slide back up again.

"Well, now that you're back, I thought you might want these," Aragorn appeared with Rushil's bow and quiver.

She smiled and held them with a bit of surprise. "The orcs took these when they captured me. How did you get them back?" Rushil held up her bow to observe it closer in the sunlight, drifting her fingers over its limbs.

"Nearly snapped it under my feet when I was running at an orc," Gimli demonstrated with his axe as he swung it into an imaginary orc.

"He really almost tripped over them while walking because he wasn't looking where he was going," Aragorn whispered in Rushil's ear and she chuckled silently.

Gandalf also entered. "There will be more time to talk later," he said. "Now, we must ride to Isengard."

The group left on horseback and arrived at their destination to see two familiar hobbits sitting on a broken wall. "Welcome," Merry rose on his short legs atop the wall and raised his arms, "my lords, to Isengard!"

"You young rascals!" Gimli exclaimed from his seat behind Legolas. "A merry hunt you've led us on and now we find you – feasting, a-a-and smoking!"

"We are sitting," Pippin responding with a mouth full of food, "on a field of victory enjoying a few well earned comforts. The salted pork is particularly good."

Rushil laughed and looked at Legolas who was smiling at the hobbits' habits.

"We're under orders from Treebeard, who's taken over management of Isengard," Merry informed them.

Gandalf led them into the now flooded Isengard and an Ent met them by the tower. "Hmm Young Master Gandalf," the tree said slowly in a deep voice as their horses trudged through the water. "I ammm glad you've come. Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there's a wizard to be managed here. Locked in his tower," he gestured with his eyes to the tower behind him.

"And there Saruman must remain," Gandalf replied, "under your guard, Treebeard."

"Well, let's just have his head and be done with it!" Gimli suggested.

Gandalf replied calmly, "No, he has no power anymore."

"The filth of Saruman is washing away," the Ent commented. "Trees will come back to live here, young trees, wild trees."

Pippin jumped off the horse on which he had been riding behind Aragorn and into the water, wading through it to some destination. He bent down and reached below the surface, pulling out a black ball.

Treebeard looked at it with wide eyes, "Bless my bark!"

"Peregrin Took," Gandalf bent down from his horse with an outstretched hand toward the hobbit. "I'll take that, my lad."