PART NINETEEN~
Taryn woke up, covered in a cold sweat. Her torn clothes felt uncomfortably tight against her clammy skin as she struggled to breath in the musty air. She had been brought from her nightmarish dreams by a steady thumping sound, like someone running heavily on a stone path. The clamour grew louder as it drew nearer, and Taryn got up with a start, pushing herself into the corner of the cell, where shadows clung to the cold wall.
A long, menacing shadow was suddenly cast along the wall as the torches flickered violently in the dank air, leaking in from the crumbling walls of the dungeon, and Taryn suddenly tensed up, her trembling arms clutching her drawn-up legs in fear.
She waited anxiously for the newcomer to show itself, and relief visibly flooded through her, her shoulders relaxing, as the Prince's handsome face poked around the corner. He tentatively approached the cell, his eyes seeking out Taryn's features as she moved away from the shadows.
He outstretched his arms, proving he was holding no weapon, and gently clutched the bars as he reached he cell.
"Taryn," he merely stated as she moved closer to him; her hair was matted with dirt, her clothes ripped and frayed, her face pale and dust-smeared, yet beautiful in the dim glow of the torches.
"Legolas," she whispered. Her voice cracked slightly and she swallowed painfully to clear her dry throat. She raised her head and her lips tugged into a slight smile as she found herself lost in his kind gaze. She had missed him since his last visit, when he had left abruptly after admitting he wasn't sure about her story; he never said he didn't believe it.
She slowly reached up her arms, gripping the bars where Legolas' hands were resting. Her fingers brushed past his for a brief moment, and her stomach erupted with butterflies.
Taryn gasped suddenly as her eyes flickered over Legolas' shoulder and she caught sight of another spindly shadow flitting along the walls, along with a light rhythm of footsteps that greeted her ears. "Someone's coming," she breathed.
Alarm crossed Legolas' face as he nimbly darted into the shadows, away from the warm, coruscating light of the torches. Taryn allowed herself to slump back against the wall, taking on a look of sadness and hopelessness.
As she waited for the visitor, she contemplated on the reasons for Legolas' visit; had he heard some news regarding her village or family? was he here to announce the date of her trial? or perhaps the details of her death?
Her thoughts were cut short as a large figure blocked out the light from the torches for a brief second as it passed them, and stepped slowly toward the cell. Another figure followed behind.
"Are you sure you heard someone running?" The larger one asked. He turned to face his companion, who was visibly cowering under the other's gaze. His fingers trembled as he nervously fingered the hem of his tunic.
"Yes, I'm s-sure. S-sounded like s-someone running," he confirmed, nodding vigorously; or was his head merely twitching nervously?
Taryn watched in amusement as she caught Legolas grinning in the corner of the room. He met her eyes and gave a wink, before skulking further back, hiding even his flowing, golden hair.
"Well, there's obviously nobody here. And nobody passed me on the way, so you must be hearing things."
The large elf began to turn away, but the smaller one caught his sleeve. He sniffed in annoyance and tugged it from his grip.
"I wasn't hearing things! I know I wasn't! They must be hiding!" The elf pleaded, gesturing around the room.
"There's nowhere to hide!" He was beginning to get visibly angry; his shoulders heaved and his fist clenched as the smaller one pleaded desperately.
"Why does it matter, anyway?"
This made the other elf falter and he merely stared at his companion, his mouth open.
"Exactly. Now let's go!"
He unwillingly followed his irritated friend down the corridor, and Legolas stayed glued to the shadows until the steady patter of footsteps faded away completely. He sighed exaggeratedly, wiping the imaginary beads of sweat from his forehead, causing Taryn to giggle.
"What's with those two?" He muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Taryn stopped the giggling and took on a serious demeanour. "Legolas. Why are you here?"
His grin faded, but his eyes still sparkled. "I went to your village," he started, kneeling at the foot of the bars, so his face was level with Taryn's. "I lost a friend there, but we saw the destruction cast upon your home."
"How do you know it was the right village?"
"It matched your story," he said quickly, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve this."
"But I did! I am a murderer, Legolas. I killed an elf in cold blood."
His eyes snapped open at her words. No, she did not. She killed out of grief. "No. You were not aware of what you were doing at the time."
Taryn began to protest, but realised he was right. She fell silent and slumped her shoulders. "Why are you here?" She asked again, her voice growing weary. Legolas felt his heart erupt with sorrow as he scanned her sunken eyes.
"I'm here to free you."
~
A/N: At last! At last! He's going to do it! Sorry this is a pretty slow moving story; the parts are pretty short and gradual.
I feel like hell. And I'm off school 'cause of it. And I feel sad because I'm going to miss Geography ._.
Ah, well! It means I can write and stuff.
I realised that most of you update at regular intervals; every Thursday, for example, or every Saturday. I just update whenever I feel like it. Is that a bad thing? Idk why I'm asking. Just wondering, y'know?
Okay. Thanks for reading.
Please VOTE!
~ _imagine_fantasy_