Heiress of Isildur (Legolas Love Story)

Chapter 10

The fellowship arrived by a lake surrounded by stones, Farren didn't like the look of the water, it was too still, far too still. Farren watched the doors light up and Gandalf yell a bunch of words that she did not understand, pushing at them. They did not move.

It was going to be a long night.

"Are you excited to see Balin again? He spoke very highly of you, lassie" Gimli told her hours later. Farren was distracted by watching the water but she made herself smile encouragingly at the dwarf. "Very much so. As I am sure Legolas is too, as the only other person to have met him"

Legolas snorted from beside her as Gimli walked over to Boromir, "That is putting it nicely. Do you remember when I called him a..."

"Goblin mutant" Farren giggled, nodding, "You were very rude Legolas"

He was about to reply when Farren stood up as Pippen threw a third stone into the water, she caught his arm just before Aragorn did. "Do not disturb the water" her brother warned warily. Something was definitely moving in the water.

"That is definitely alive" Farren commented lightly as Boromir came to her side seeing it too.

Frodo stood up, "It's a riddle." The thing was moving quicker now. "Gandalf what is the elvish word for friend?"

"Mellon" The doors opened; Gimli laughed. Farren reluctantly turned away from the water smirking at Legolas.

"Surely you must have known the elvish for friend Princeling" she teased, receiving a light jab in the ribs as they followed the others inside. But as they entered Farren's blood went cold. Something wasn't right. That something was revealed as Gandalf lit his staff, to reveal bodies scattered around.

"This is no mine. It's a tomb" Boromir gasped. The Hobbits in front of Farren panicked as they stepped on bones.

Legolas bent down to pull out an arrow, "Goblins" he spat, dropping it as if it had burnt him.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come" The men drew their swords as Legolas raised his bow. Farren stepped forward to get ahead of the hobbits when something curled around her ankle, before she could move another black tentacle wrapped around Frodo's it yanked them backwards.

The hobbits yelled their names as the two of them were dragged into the water. Legolas turned his bow towards them. Farren was lifted into the air. Looking down was not a good idea, straight into the mouth of a lake monster.

Farren couldn't see anything as she was thrown around the place, she could hear yells and shouts of her name and Frodo's, hear Aragorn and Boromir splashing somewhere. But she focused on calming her breathing and thinking. Which was difficult when she was held by her ankle and waved around like a flag.
Unable to reach her sword she unsheathed Legolas' dagger, swiping it across the tentacle holding her. She left out a very undignified shout as she fell towards the monster's mouth.

Movement flashed in her peripheral vision and a force knocked her in mid-air, arms held her in a bridal hold. Her saviour kept hold of her carrying her into the mines, just as the doors collapsed. Leaving them in complete darkness.

Light-filled the cavern as Gandalf illuminated his staff, she looked up at her saviour, Legolas looked down at her worry etched onto his features. "You kept it" he said happily looking at his knife still clutched in her hands.

"Of course, I did"

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After three days in the cold, dead mines, Farren was beginning to lose her mind. They kept mostly silent as they walked and during the brief hours that they got to sleep, one of them would always be on guard watching the darkness. When she did sleep, she curled into Aragorn for warmth. The hobbits all slept together to keep warm. Neither Gandalf, Legolas nor Gimli seemed to feel the cold. After the first sleep, she had felt Aragorn shivering in his clothes so had curled up to him. That had become their pattern.

It was the sleep marking the third night when Farren awoke to the soft whisper of voices. She could feel the light vibrations of Aragorn's chest as he had propped himself up slightly and was talking to Legolas who was on watch. Elves didn't need sleep like the rest of them, the only other sound was the snores of Gimli a few feet away, sprawled on his back.

"You must tell her Legolas. She will be angrier if you do not" Aragorn was saying.

"I cannot"

A pause.

"How long? Before or after?"

"Before. Long before. I just did want to admit it to myself"

"She will not wait forever my friend" Aragorn whispered, "I do not know what I think, but if you are to tell her the truth, do it quickly. You may not have the opportunity"

"She spoke highly of Rohan and its people"

"She has two great friends there"

The two fell silent again as Farren sat up looking at the two, Aragorn looked guilty and Legolas horrified. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing' was Legolas" quick reply before he set about rousing the rest of the fellowship to continue their journey.

The fellowship climbed up steep stairs, Farren catching Pippen as he slipped. Gandalf had warned them to be silent, Farren had the feeling the wizard feared something that wasn't goblins. They came to a halt at the hall with three stairwells. Gandalf wouldn't admit he was lost. But he was.

She perched next to Aragorn who looked over her to check up on her. She gave him a small nod to indicate she was fine. "I could have saved myself you know" he looked over his pipe at her, it had been bugging her for the last three days. She was a ranger, had fought Smaug, had fought in the Battle of the Five Armies and many more, she was not some damsel in distress.

"I know. Legolas was keen to save you though. Give him some credit for his loyalty. No one thinks any worse of you, they know what you can do. And so, do I" Farren felt lighter at his words, she did not want to be treated differently.

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A/N This is a really weird experience as this whole story is a form of a rewrite from my first Legolas fanfiction (which was my 2nd ever published book on Wattpad). That first story is from over 4 years ago, it's actually really satisfying to see how far my writing has come! Like I was writing some of the later chapters yesterday and it just hit me at how much I had improved over the years!

It just goes to show that writing really is like a muscle it takes practice to improve, not just talent. Trust me I was told years ago I would never write good stories because I was dyslexic and I found English hard!

What have you guys got better at over the years?

Thank you for all your support on this book, we are almost at 1k reads, which is insane! I read every one of your comments and they really do make me smile so thank you.

Wren