Over the next weeks, I found myself slowly learning to trust my new companions. I was sure, also, that they were growing to like me too. They were not so guarded with their words, and I was glad to discover a little more about their true personalities as we travelled steadily towards safety. Even the pain in my leg seemed lessened some days, though it was healing only slowly. Perhaps the amusing distraction they provided helped me forget the wound. Despite Legolas' annoyance on the first night, I could tell that the pair were the closest of friends, with an implicit trust of each other's instincts and skills. Legolas and Aragorn worked like a seamless army all on their own.
Aragorn, in particular, had surprised me with his care over the past ten days. He seemed grim at times, but his heart was gentle and his honourable mind shone out of his scruffy exterior like a beacon. He was always careful not to startle me if he could help it and leant me his thick spare blanket for the cold nights. There was a quality to him I could not quite place, some quiet dignity that had perhaps slept long in his sires, but had awoken in his soul. He smiled only occasionally, but when he did the transformation to his weathered face was astounding. His eyes would lift, their steely grey melting slightly, and for a few moments something of his proud lineage would show. I could well imagine a crown sat on the brow of this careworn ranger.
Legolas, too, went out of his way to make sure I was taken care of. While Aragorn scouted, he often ended up setting a slower pace, making sure I could keep up with him. He was quiet, but still seemed to find conversation simple when he chose to speak, pointing out anything from the strange shapes of clouds to his plans of what we would eat that night. I wished, more than once, that I had the same ability. Legolas did all he could to draw me out of my shell, often asking questions about the most mundane aspects of my life and seeming fascinated by my answers. In contrast to Aragorn, he smiled often, but sometimes, when he thought we were not watching, his fair face would sink into worry. I wondered what cares troubled this elf-lord. He was so far from his forest home, where his people surely felt the loss of their greatest king's heir most keenly.
Aragorn insisted that we took regular rests. He also changed my bandage several times. I knew enough from my healer mother to recognise that there was a rather severe infection, and it was likely only due to the skills of the ranger that I had not lost my leg altogether.
At that moment, he had left us to investigate the road ahead. He'd seen signs the past few days of a travelling orc pack and, though orcs hated daylight, he insisted on checking our way carefully to ensure its relative safety.
As I was sitting and nibbling at our savoured supply of waybread and the previous night's squirrel for breakfast, Legolas stood up suddenly, gazing north and shading his eyes with his right hand from the eastern morning sun. "What can you see?" I called out, watching his tall figure against the rising light of early morning.
He turned with a smile on his face and beckoned me to his side. "An opportunity, if you would like to take it", he answered simply. He placed his bow into my hand, which curled around it almost naturally in the way my brother had taught me.
"You have a good grip, which is an essential part of accuracy" Legolas complimented with a slight nod. I blushed at the unexpected praise and thanked the elf quietly.
"Why do you give me your bow?" I asked. In answer, Legolas pointed at a rabbit half hidden in the grass.
"You're going to catch dinner!" He enthused, then laughed at the alarmed expression on my face. "There are plenty of rabbits around. It matters not if you miss. Now, show me how you'd aim"
"I haven't even finished my breakfast" I grumbled, though there was a grin on my face.
"Breakfast will not hop away if you keep stalling" Legolas quipped back, a twinkle in his eye.
Somewhat nervously, I reached into his quiver for an arrow and fitted it to the bow, drawing the string with more difficulty than I had in previous days. This, I reflected sadly, was the result of my long period of malnutrition. I adjusted the placing of my feet and chest, so I was side on. I could only draw the bow back a centimetre or so more however, so when I released the arrow it fell short. I dropped my bow arm dejectedly.
"I have not the strength anymore" I muttered. Legolas squeezed my shoulder with his slender hand.
"You will regain it in time." he consoled "I am sorry. Perhaps it is too soon for this". I shook my head slightly.
"If I do not build up my strength, I will never regain it. I've got to start practising."
"Then I admire your determination. I could help, if you will permit me to."
I hesitated for a second, my thoughts straying to the one attacker I had run so far to escape. I could almost feel his wandering hands on my body. However, I dismissed my nerves as nonsense. Legolas had only ever acted to protect me, and his intentions were purely to help. I nodded once all this had gone through my mind.
"Are you sure?" Legolas said, clearly seeing my moment of doubt.
"Of course. Sorry, I was just thinking of something"
Legolas' frown deepened. "I know you told Aragorn- but, did something happen to you the night the men broke in to your home?"
The sudden worry tinged with horror on his bright face almost made me want to tell him of the men's intentions, but I restrained myself as the shame of the threats came back to me. "Being pulled from your bed by the cruel hands of strangers is beyond shocking. I did not know what they would do".
"I apologise, my friend. I should not have dragged the memory to the surface."
I shook my head "It's not your fault." I paused and then continued. "If you want dinner tonight, I suggest you give me a hand catching it". Legolas recognised the permission I gave and smiled. As I nocked the arrow he handed me, he stepped closer and put his hand on top of mine on the wood. He reached his other hand towards the string as I leaned towards his chest a little more to adjust my feet and pushed my fingers apart slightly.
"You could hurt yourself if your fingers are too close to the arrow" he said softly. I nodded. He put his fingers just outside of mine to give me control over the shot. As another rabbit hopped into our view, he helped me to draw back the string but encouraged me with a squeeze of his hand to aim towards it myself.
"Loose", I said, and together we released the arrow, which flew straight into the rabbit's eye. I gasped in delight, but Legolas tightened his hands on mine again, reaching for another arrow and shooting another, rather larger, rabbit down too.
I giggled as he let his hands fall and stepped away. "We did it!"
"Your aim was almost perfect!" Legolas grinned. "Once you regain your strength, we'll make an archer out of you."
"Do you think so?" I asked, my heart lifting in pride and my cheeks colouring.
"Almost certainly" said another, deeper voice. Both Legolas and I looked around to see Aragorn. His grey eyes were warm and he bowed his head courteously. "You'll outstrip my talent in a matter of weeks".
"Thank you, friends" I said, my blush deepening. "It was a team effort though."
"Only because your strength does not yet match your skill. In time, you will need no more help than I do now." Legolas said modestly.
"The fat rabbit was all yours though", I insisted. Legolas rolled his eyes.
"Well the smaller one was harder to shoot", he teased, joining Aragorn in laughing as my cheeks turned as red as a tomato at the determined praise given to me.
"We should go and collect our dinner before some scavenger gets lucky" Aragorn said sensibly, halting Legolas' playful teasing. We packed the rest of our things up and walked on, while I ate my last few bites of breakfast.
***
The going seemed easier that day than it had for all the others. We were closer to Imladris than ever and I could tell the others' hearts lightened with every step they took. Soon we would all be in safety's arms. As we walked on slowly through the cool autumn day, talking unconcernedly and with ease, I felt a warmth spread through my chest like fire. It was a feeling I recognised as if from long ago, one that I had not thought to feel again after everything that had happened, but perhaps I did deserve to feel it after all. Legolas and Aragorn would've said so if I had confided in them. Looking to my friends walking beside me gave me a sense of security too. They were tall and strong, and I knew I was neither, and could never have had either courage or skill to undertake this journey alone.
They had formed the rather sweet habit of walking either side of me, in case my leg got too painful or I was tired from my still malnourished and weakened body. For the first little while, it had made me a nervous to have them so close, but now I took it as a sign of comfort that I could grab onto one of them if my leg throbbed suddenly, or I felt faint from frailty.
"How is your wound?" Legolas said, changing the subject of our conversations as if he had guessed my thoughts.
"It hurts a little less today, though I think it will be a long while before it is healed. I would have lost my leg soon enough if not for Aragorn's skill."
"Well, we did not want to say, for fear that we would scare you, but that was certainly a risk when we first found you." Aragorn admitted quietly. "Now it will heal, but you will have a scar , I fear. If you were under the care of Lord Elrond, even that might have been prevented".
"A scar is the least of my worries!" I laughed "I have both legs, and you have my thanks for ensuring it."
Aragorn smiled for once, and was about to answer, but Legolas thrust out an arm across my chest to stop me from walking any further, looking around him grimly. Aragorn glanced at him and with a look between them, they both confirmed the danger I could feel creeping into my heart.
"Yrch" I said, almost in a whisper. Legolas nodded slowly, fitting an arrow to his bow. (S: orcs)
"We have been too idle with our talk" Aragorn muttered "and now they have snuck up on us unawares".
Legolas unsheathed his long white hunting knife and held the blade, turning the handle towards me. I glanced at him, wide-eyed, but took it silently. "Only as a last resort." He insisted, nocking an arrow and moving in front of me. "Stay behind us and we'll keep you safe."
The orcs came out of the brush either side of the path we had taken, so many that I could not count them, and then they were upon us. Legolas and Aragorn pushed me further behind them, standing shoulder to shoulder so I could barely see what they were facing. The sounds of screeching, rough voices using a foul tongue rent the air, but Legolas and Aragorn did not give up without a fight, spinning this way and that as sword and arrow felled the creatures assailing us.
Always I was kept safe, but my heart pounded to hear the screeches of the orcs closing in – my friends were struggling. The man's breathing was laboured and even the elf looked troubled and weary.
Before I had time to blink, Aragorn was shoved to the ground, and an orc was upon me. It grunted in laughter as I gasped and lunged forwards. However, barely knowing what I was doing, I pushed Legolas' knife in front of me and heard the laughter fade abruptly. My eyes were screwed shut, so I forced them open. They widened as I looked at the bright blade imbedded in the grey skin of my assailant. I flicked it to the side, and blood spurted from the orc's jugular. It collapsed, while I jumped back to escape the torrent of black blood pouring from its wound.
Legolas breathed a sigh of relief, before turning to shoot down the orcs around Aragorn so the man could get to his feet again. However, the orcs seemed only to be increasing, no matter how many were killed. Another ran towards me before Legolas and Aragorn could reach me, and I ducked as it's sword almost plunged into my stomach. However, I was lucky again. Thrusting out Legolas' blade, I sunk it into a small gap in the creature's armour. It fell and I stabbed it in the throat to finish it off.
Hearing a gasp of pain, I turned in fear to see Aragorn drawing back from an orc, holding his bleeding wrist at an awkward angle. Legolas shot the creature and I backed away as three of its companions advanced on me. I could not fight all of these off at once, I knew, and the others were caught in similar difficult situations. They were splitting us up.
Suddenly, orcs and friends alike turned, hearing the swift thundering of hooves coming towards us. Fair, wrathful voices filled the air and more arrows than those of Legolas soared above my head, finding their marks in the now screeching orcs. The three surrounding me fell within seconds, and I turned to see a company of elves riding towards the fight. Men were also emerging from the grass, hooded and armed with longbows. They shot into the orcs, aiding the elves with precise skill.
I heard Legolas laugh with joy and Aragorn shouted out, relieved, but in a moment the pain in my leg had returned, thundering into my awareness with the hooves of the elves and the shouts of the men who had come to our rescue. I cried out not in joy but agony as my knees hit the ground. Someone shouted my name, but it seemed distant, as did the hands that caught me as I sunk into a dead faint.
AM