Chapter 9 (Elemmire's POV)
Once we had regained our strength, the four of us made haste in traveling through the forest. We had lost our horses, but I had faith that Naertho led the others out of the forest and to East Bight where we planned to go.
We found very little sign of any living creatures, after the spider incident. It almost unnerved me though because I could feel the lingering in the shadows but I could not see them.
There was no doubt, I was physically exhausted. My whole body ached after I had used my 'powers' to save us from the spiders. And as we continued to pursue deeper into forest in hopes that we would reach East Bight soon (at least that is what we thought). It was hard to tell what direction we were heading under the shadow of the forest.
"You alright?" Legolas's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Fine," I forced a smile. I could really not complain about much, I have been in worse situations but I feel an evil growing. Not just in the trees, but inside myself as well.
"I would not worry, we will reach East Bight soon," Legolas gave me the confidence I need to continue.
"Thanks," I looked up into his eyes, he was slightly confused by my reply.
"For what?"
"For giving me confidence."
Legolas chuckled wrapping one arm around my shoulder, "That is what I am here for."
After that none of us spoke much, we let each other to their own thoughts.
~~~
It felt as though days had gone by, but it was really only one rotation of the sun. "We should rest here," I suggest, "All of us are tired and could use the rest."
"I will take the first watch," Legolas states.
"That is fine with me!" Reinya quickly laid down her bed and with minutes she was fast asleep. Gorell followed in her steps, and it was not long before he too was asleep. But for some reason I had a hard time.
I laid awake for a long time, dwelling on this ever growing threat in my mind. I wondered if any of the others felt it too, but I did not bother to ask because I did not want to damper the mood any more than it was.
Soon I pulled into a deep slumber.
I awoke to a dimly lit room with a single circular shaped window on the east wall. "Where am I?" I muttered to myself.
"In a nightmare, sweetheart," A mocking voice replied in my head. Though the voice was awfully familiar. "One that I had casted upon you myself, it was actually quite easy, you being so, so tired."
"Ravaonna!" I sneered.
"That's my name," she replied before I felt a figure appear behind me. "I was hoping to show you around."
"Do I have a choice?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"Nope."
"Alright, let's get it over with," I sighed knowing that she had full control over what was to happen.
"Great," Ravaonna snapped her fingers and brought me back to what I guessed was a clip from the past:
I noticed that Legolas was tied to a chair in the middle of a room that looked almost identical to the one I was in. But my attention was quickly drawn to Ravaonna who circled him in a seductive manner. Before placing a finger on his shoulder and sitting across his lap.
Ravaonna blocked my vision from Legolas so I could not see his reaction. She also blocked all sound so I could not hear what either of them were saying.
Then all of a sudden I notice Ravaonna unbuttoning the top of Legolas's tunic and starts tracing circles across his chest.
"That is it!" I thought. With all my might I tried to yell at Ravonna to 'get the Hell of him' but this was only a flashback so all I could do was stand there helplessly.
Ravaonna then quickly brought me out of the vision and back to the small room she had placed me in before. And I was fuming, my fists were clenched and I had the urge to stand up and slice a sword right through her chest.
"I did not want to bother showing you with the rest of the details, I knew you would be upset if you found out your fiancée had a little crush on moi." Ravaonna spoke so innocently it made me want to hurt her even more.
"Are you done with me yet?" I sneered under my breath.
"Oh not quite yet I have a few more things I wish to show you." I could tell that Ravaonna was enjoying this just a little too much. "On to the present, shall we?"
Then once again Ravaonna had whisked me away into some vision where I could watch Reinya, Gorell, Legolas and myself, but I could do nothing to intervene.
"Aren't they so peaceful!" Ravaonna stated, "Look at your cute friends helping yourself to return to full health, but they don't know is that you are all going to get yourselves killed."
"You are wrong," I contradicted, "Not only will we complete what we sent out to do and return from it safely, but we will also make you pay for what you did in the process."
"I think that is the cutest thing I've heard all day!" She exclaimed as though she was talking to a child. "What you don't realize is that I could kill your little friends in two second if I wanted to because my lair is less than a league away from where they sleep."
Dul Guldur, that is why I feel an ever growing threat in my mind, and also why Legolas was hesitant to travel near there. "Why don't you just kill us now and get it over and done with?"
"Because you see Elemmire, I don't just want to kill you I want to watch you suffer," Ravaonna snarled, "So I thought I would let things play out and see how they go."
I felt myself wanting to growl at her and my anger continued to grow. Whatever she had planned was not going to work, and I am going to do whatever it takes.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when Ravaonna brought me back to the small room. "What now?" I demanded I was starting get furious with these mind games.
"We take a little look into the future."
I knew that the future was not going to be full of rainbows and unicorns, but I never expected it to look like what Ravaonna showed me. At first I didn’t understand exactly what she was showing me, but it became all, suddenly, painfully clear.
I watch as in the depths of Isengard, an army is created, 10,000 hybrid Orcs are formed. Then another vision of men and armies traveling from other worlds to Mordor where they will fight along the side of evil.
“You are going to start a war,” I state almost flabbergasted. I did not see it coming, but it did not surprise me that it was Ravaonna’s doing. “You are going to bring back the Necromancer and his nine followers.”
“Oh look at how smart you are!” Ravaonna mocked my every word. “I am bringing back the Dark Lord of Mordor, the creator of the One Ring, and together we will rule Middle-Earth.”
‘“What becomes of Legolas and myself?” I wished not to ask her any more questions because I knew it would provoke her, but my curiosity got the better of me.
“You are never mentioned,” Ravaonna said with a smile upon her face. I knew what she meant, I was to die before the war. Possible by Ravaonna herself. “But Legolas on the other hand…”
I was then brought to another part in the future, Legolas stood along the side of eight others. They adventures through the some of the most dangerous parts of Middle-Earth that loomed under the shadow of the Dark Lord.
“You see Elemmire, your fiance joined the Fellowship of the Ring, but it did not last. You mother predicted that if the nine companions were to break apart at any point in time, they would all fall to their deaths. And then not too soon later the fellowship broke.” Ravaonna continued to explain the future along with her plans, but with every word she spoke it gave me a stronger urge to kill her. Once and for all.
I broke my stare from the vision, “You are lying to me, I know you are.”
“Haha, you may dream as you wish, but I state the facts that lay before us on the road of fate.” She cackled enjoying every minute.
I tried to calm myself down of my rage, but once again it took control. “We the good of Middle-Earth will not fall, when we stand together we can beat any force that comes our way!” Then suddenly a fire appeared in the palms of my hands.
“I like your optimism, but the races of Middle-Earth will never work together!” My anger was spreading upon Ravaonna as well. “The elves are leaving for the undying lands, the dwarves are too greedy to come out of their mountains, Shire folk are barely known by the most and they are a peaceful community that does not involve themselves with war!”
“You leave out the men, honourable men who fight for what is right!”
Ravaonna shook her head, “Men are weak, their race will die out, and all that will dwell in Middle-Earth will be under my control!”
“Never will you rule Middle-Earth!” With that I sung my arms at Ravaonna and shot fire at her hoping in some way I could at least severely kill her. I could almost taste the her death on my lips. But I was too late.
I heard Ravaonna’s last few words before I was pulled out of the dream, “Your world will burn!”
“Elemmire, Elemmire wake up,” I heard both Legolas and Reinya yelling at me. It took a couple seconds for my eyes to adjust, but I could feel their arms holding me down from thrashing out.
When I finally opened my eyes, my whole body lay frozen on the ground. It was almost as if I had troubles moving because I was scared, scared of-of myself. I had wanted to kill Ravaonna so bad I lost all my values.
“What-What did I do while I was asleep?” I tried to ask normally, but the words came out stuttered.
I noticed both Legolas and Reinya were both out of breath from holding me still. Legolas took a deep breath in before explaining, “At first you were just mumbling, but then about ten minutes ago you started thrashing and yelling out Ravaonna’s name-.”
Reinya interrupted Legolas’s story, “-Then Gorell and myself woke up to your screams and tried to help, but all of a sudden you started using your fire against us. I am not quite sure, but at one point I think you hit Gorell, his whole body went cold-!”
“What!” I just dawned on me, I could have killed Gorell! “Is he breathing?”
“With the way you were flailing around it would have put all our lives in danger if we did not wake you up first-,” I did not sit around waiting for Reinya to continue explaining, I went straight to work on creating a fire (without using my powers) to cure him.
I stuck one hand into the fire, and in the other I held Gorell’s hand. I worked quickly on spreading the heat throughout his body. “Come on, come on,” I mumbled, “Please wake up!”
I closed my eyes, and focused. For one, Reinya would kill me if I let him die, and it was my fault that I put him in this situation. I pushed the heat farther in, and forced it into his heart, where the cold was most prominent. He groaned immediately, and rolled away from me, Reinya squealing in happiness and engulfing Gorell in a hug. “Your hands are burning!” He exclaimed at me, glaring slightly.
Reinya stepped in for me. “We thought you were dead, or dying, and you were freezing cold so Elemmire stepped in. You should thank her for saving your life.” Reinya pointed out, and for a moment, I saw someone who could rule Mirkwood, but I was sure I was imagining things because it was gone the next second.
I nodded, feeling exhausted, and stuck my other hand in the fire, relief washing through me as energy filled me up again. I knew it was all my fault, because I had given the Fire Flower to Gorell it has put his life on the line more than once. When I felt as though most of my energy had returned I stood up.
“I am going on a walk, alone,” was all I said.
“Let me-” Legolas wanted to come with me, but I was already deep into the forest before he could finish his sentence.
I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing, I just had to get away. I wanted to run, but every few steps I walked I stumbled over the branches. Finally I had enough, I picked up the branch that lying on the ground, snapped it in half, and threw it at another tree. “UGHHHHHHH!!!” I screamed falling to my knees.
Slowly, at first, I felt the tears streak my face until the poured out of my eyes. I did not mean, nor did I want my friends to get hurt. Maybe Ravaonna was right, if I die then I will no longer cause harm to anyone again. Ravaonna would never hurt any of my friends again...
But she’d be free to rule Middle Earth, and maybe take Legolas as her own. I squeezed my eyebrows together. Maybe it was a fair trade-off. Safety for friends in my death. Ravaonna would win Middle Earth, but she wouldn't take my friend’s lives with her when she won.
“Are you just going to mop out here, or are you plotting you own death?”
I groaned. “Leave me alone Reinya. How did you find out anyway?” I asked, rising to my feet.
“Your predictable. Let’s be honest. You looked shaken, and I saw that rage you took out on the poor stick, it must have hurt.” Reinya laughed, picking up the broken stick, and holding it between two fingers.
“It’s a stick, it doesn’t have feelings.” I said blandly, resting on a large rock behind me. Reinya came to sit beside me, and we looked up idly at the sky between the treetops.
“You cannot be thinking of giving yourself over to Ravaonna,” Reinya told me softly, and I heard the break of emotion in her words. “She’s evil, and no matter what she says, and promises, she’ll go back on it just to benefit her own self. Don’t trust her, don’t ever trust her.”
“I would never give myself up to Ravaonna, I hate her. She’s given me reasons to want her dead as much as you-” Reinya opened her mouth to contradict me, and I stopped her by harshly cutting her off. “No, I do, you don’t know what she showed me, in that, that...that nightmare. It was terrible! I hate her, she should die, I am going to kill hernext time I meet her, whether it kills me or not!”
I realized I was shaking with rage, but I couldn’t stop myself, my anger. Sparks flew from my clenched fists, and when I released my grip, a shower of sparks flew from my now exposed palms, and rained onto the ground. Reinya gasped, and moved quickly, raising her legs off the ground and clutching them to her chest protectively. “What the hell, Elemmire?” Reinya yelled out of shock. “You created sparks. What the hell?”
“It’s Ravaonna,” I cried, breaking down. “She’s going to kill you, and Gorell, and Legolas. She’s going to burn the world, and kill us all if I stick around. I need to go, to protect the ones I love! You can’t, and you won’t change my mind. I’ve decided, I am going to go to Ravaonna, and I am going to attempt to bring her down.”
“It’s not possible anymore, just by yourself anymore, Elemmire,” Reinya hissed at me, hitting my shoulder, “You can’t go by yourself anymore. People want to kill you. People are scared of Ravaonna, and they will follow her rules and wants. And right now, Ravaonna wants you, and she’ll do anything to get you. She wants to get you and possibly kill you, and I don’t want to loose my friend again. I spent ten years protecting you, and I don’t want it to go to waste. You are my friend, and I know I don’t have many so I don’t want you to die, and I definitely don’t want to loose my friend to Ravaonna. So if you die, I’m coming to the afterlife to drag you back, since I don’t really have anymore friends. Sure you could count Gandalf, but he’s really never around. And you know I don’t like Legolas, and Gorell is my husband.”
“I’ve made up my mind, I am going-”
“No, you are not. What are you going to tell Legolas? Do you think you he’ll let you go?” Reinya yelled at me, and I shrunk back.
“He doesn’t need to know,” I sputtered out, trying to find some leeway in this argument.
“If you don’t tell him, I will!” Reinya cut me off. “He does need to know. He loves you, I know him well enough to know if you die, he’d be devastated. He would be so lost, I don’t think he could ever fight properly again, I don’t think he could function again, without you.”
“I am doing this for him!” I yelled at Reinya, jumping up from the rock, and clenching my fists again, which in turn, released a shower of sparks towards Reinya, who ducked aside, and rolled into the dirt, avoiding the sparks.
Reinya looked at me with anger in her eyes, and she glared at me. “You are past help. Elemmire, I am sorry, but you can die. I won’t care anymore when you die. You obviously don’t care about what the people around you think, so you know what?” Reinya whispered loud enough for me to hear. “GO DIE!”
She jumped up, with tears in her eyes and sprinted away, back to camp. I stood, stunned into silence. Had I wanted this? No. I had to do this. I might hate it, but I must do this. I must sacrifice myself for my friends. They will understand in the future...hopefully. And if Reinya didn’t, then Gorell would teach her. Hopefully.
~~~
It was dark when I returned to camp, where an odd feeling settled over our little camp. Reinya started at me, hurt and distrust evident on her features. I turned away and went to sit with Legolas.
“Where were you?” He asked, and he sounded hurt. Really?! Him too?
“In the forest blowing off some steam,” I responded lightly.
“More like throwing around some sparks. Almost burnt down the whole forest,” Reinya hissed out, and received a glared from Legolas, which she responded by sticking her tongue out at him. “Ask her, it’s the truth. Even better, ask her what she plans to do.”
“Reinya!” I scolded immediately. “Shut up!”
Legolas turned to me. “What is she talking about Elemmire? What are you planning? You’re beginning to scare me.” He asked.
“N-Nothing!” I responded, and shot up to my feet. “I am planning nothing! Reinya is just...Just overprotective where she isn’t needed!”
“Am not!” Reinya burst, rising to her feet as well. Her cheeks were coloured with a light blush. “I have every right to say what I have said! You are the one who will cause your own downfall, if you continue like this!”
I gave Reinya one last glare before storming off into the woods once again, but this time I was not thinking about turning back.
I had no idea where I was going, and I didn’t care. I stumbled through the woods blindly, and the lowest hanging branches hit me in the face when I passed, but the strikes of pain didn’t slow my sprint. My feet only started to slow when I heard the recognizable rhythm of Legolas’ feet. “Leave me alone,” I called to him, “It’s better that way.”
"Elemmire," Legolas's tone was slightly confused. "What is going on? You have never acted this way before."
“I am really not in the mood Legolas-,” He grabbed my arm stopping me in my tracks before I could continue.
“That is exactly what I am talking about,” Legolas sighed. For a couple seconds he seemed to study my face. “What was your dream about?”
“I-I just,” I stuttered unsure of how he guessed it, “How did you know?!?”
“I can tell by the look in your eyes when something is troubling you,” He stated find a place comfortable to sit on the ground. I reluctantly sat down beside Legolas knowing it was my best bet to listen to what he had to say. “Did Ravaonna have anything to do with this dream?” He spoke in a soothing voice.
“Everything,” I sighed feeling some anger being lifted off my shoulders. “Ravaonna herself casted the dream to show me what she thought as some important time events.”
“And what were they?” Legolas asked curiously.
I felt a small sting in the corner of my eyes, I really did not want to tell him what I saw because I was afraid that it was true, or was going to come true soon. “She showed me the future, but that could always change, and she showed me the present to warn me of her wrath-.”
“And?” Legolas wanted me to continue, but I wished to end my thought their.
“Do you ummm… have feeling for-,” I swallowed the large lump in my throat, if he really did like Ravaonna I would have to let him go, I would not hold him back if he felt feelings for another. “Ravaonna?”
Legolas face went into shock, “What?!?!”
“I understand if you like her, I am sure she has some great qualities…” My voice trailed off, I could not hold back the tears and I did not want to Legolas to see my cry. I did not take a second more to sit beside Legolas, quickly I stood up and walked away.
“Elemmire, wait up,” Legolas tried to catch up, but failed to do so because my pace was too quick.
“No, no. Legolas, it’s alright I understand, I just wish you told me instead.” I looked down at my engagement ring. With one last tear streak, I pulled the ring off my finger and gave it back to Legolas. “I guess you should have it back.”
“Elemmire, I have no idea what you are talking about, nothing happened between me and Ravaonna!!! Where did you get the idea anyways?!?!” Legolas was scrambling, but it was no use, it was over.
“It is alright,” I forced a smile upon my face, “I hope she treats you well.” I took one last sigh before walking off back into the woods once again. I held back the tears knowing that there was no use in crying.
.....I think the last few paragraphs explains it all....
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