~ Wynne feels post-traumatic stress and Legolas comforts her. The elves have made a useful find. ~
15. Finding a Map
When Wynne and Legolas joined the others for a late dinner, Thranduil had a piece of dirty parchment in his hands.
He looked up, greeting them with a nod. "Ah, there you are. I hope you are feeling better, my lady."
"I do, thank you. And please, after all this, call me Wynne."
"Of course." He turned to his son. "Come take a look at this, we found it in the orc den." He spread out the parchment on his lap.
Galion offered Wynne a bowl of stew. "I took the liberty of using your supplies. I figured after this we could all use a warm meal."
"Smells delicious. Thank you." She sat down next to Legolas, eating without tasting the food.
He was examining Thranduil's find with interest. "It looks like a map. There, the arrows seem to point out the direction, and those suns could mean days."
"That is what we thought also," Thranduil agreed.
Wynne looked over Legolas' shoulder, trying to seem interested, but she was still too agitated.
Every now and then the other elves sent quick glances in her direction and she knew they too must think the orcs had molested her. But how could she explain? Maybe she could ask Legolas to tell them nothing happened. Or, at least nothing too bad. The orcs had scared her, and Lug had ruined her clothes and touched her breast, that memory still sent chills down her spine. But it could have been much worse.
Now was not the time for explanations, however; the elves were occupied with the map and trying to decipher it.
"What if those triangles are orc hideouts?" Nodir leaned over and pointed with a slender finger. "If this triangle is where we are right now, then that one up here could be where we were ambushed the other day – in the place with the elks. See, the direction is right. And the number of suns matches as well; if they travel on foot it would probably take that many days."
"It makes sense," said Legolas. "We never found that den, but naturally there must have been one."
"We can investigate it on our way back." Thranduil looked pleased. "If this really does point to orc dwellings the difficulty of our task will be greatly reduced. We shall ride to the first triangle tomorrow and if there are orcs, or an abandoned den for that matter, we shall know for certain."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Then perhaps we should do something more cheerful," Galion suggested. He had pulled out his flute. "Let us forget orcs for a while and have an evening of merriment and music!"
oOo
It really became a very pleasant evening and Wynne found that she actually could push down the dark thoughts for a few hours. But when she returned to her lonely tent the memories came back, as did all of the "what ifs". What if she had not had her period? What if the elves had not found her? What if the horses had not been there? She kept playing up worst case scenarios in her head, events that had not happened but could have.
Restlessly she turned this way and that in her bedroll.
Eventually she gave up sleep entirely, and just like that time after the first orc attack she sought comfort from her horse. Mounting Vatna she leaned back, resting her head on the meara's croup and her feet on her neck, a feat she had learned in childhood when she had been spending more time on horseback than on the ground.
On Vatna's warm, comforting back, with the endless sky expanding above her, Wynne finally began to relax.
Things would work out somehow. The elves had an orc map now so things would never get this bad again. And they were kind to her, first by trying to find her when she went missing and now by trying to soothe her with music.
They had become her friends, something that had seemed unlikely in the beginning of their journey, and Thranduil had even agreed to call her by name.
And Legolas... He had been so angry at the orcs! And so proud of her resistance. And then he hugged her.
Something fuzzy and warm filled her chest when she thought about that.
The night was mellow, almost summer-like, and it didn't take long until the rustle of dry grass in the breeze lulled her to sleep.
oOo
The elves were eager to leave the next morning, curious to know if the map really would guide them to where the orcs lived.
Wynne had made up her mind to be enthusiastic too and not let the thought of more orcs scare her. She had to get over her fears.
They took a southern route, having settled on the closest triangle on the map to begin with.
Legolas nudged Stelpa to fall in step with Vatna. "How are you feeling today?"
"Just fine. All good. Looking forward to watching you kick some orc butt." Wynne tried to smile but it was a shaky attempt.
"I shall stay with you when the others check out the nest."
"Don't, I will be on horseback this time and quite safe," she assured him. "I have realized that if I had stayed on Vatna I could have outrun both the warg and the orcs easily and none of this would have happened."
"What warg?"
"There was a warg that threatened the horses but I made it stop long enough for the flock to escape."
"You stopped a warg?" He stared at her incredulously. "How?"
"Well I... I guess I shooed it." In retrospect that seemed like a rather stupid thing to have done.
"You shooed it." He looked like he didn't know whether to be awed or annoyed. "You shooed a thousand-pound beast with huge fangs. One that eats people!"
"That sounds quite impressive." Bronedir had apparently been listening.
"What sounds impressive?" asked Nodir.
"Wynne scared away a warg barehanded."
"Really? Aye, that is impressive."
"You took a great risk, however." Legolas still didn't look happy. "Please do not do such a dangerous thing again. If a warg comes at you you must flee."
"I disagree," said Nodir. "Wargs chase after anything that runs. She would have been easily caught."
That silenced Legolas momentarily.
A while later, however, when the others were further away he brought up the subject again. "I think your plan to stay on horseback during orc encounters is wise. That way you can outrun most foes. But I meant what I said before. Do not try to be brave. There is no dishonor in fleeing."
"Trust me, I like nothing better than staying far away from danger."
He smiled then, looking relieved. "Good. Keep that mindset."
oOo
Around noon they reached the area marked on the map and the elves left on foot to search for the hideout.
Wynne could see them easily from Vatna's back; the open grasslands were good that way. Spreading out, they examined each hill closely, and it didn't take long before Bronedir raised a hand and waved for the others to come over.
Tensing, she shadowed her eyes with a hand to see better.
They circled the hillock, obviously looking for other exits, and then positioned themselves around it. Nodir and Bronedir guarded one side, while Legolas, Thranduil and Galion opened a door at the other.
They disappeared into the hill and soon Wynne heard muffled yells. The back door opened and three orcs emerged, only to be met by a hail of arrows felling them on the spot.
Not much later Thranduil whistled and waved to Wynne, signaling that it was safe to come.
When she got closer and saw the heap of dead orcs the elves had dragged out she felt the thrill of victory for the first time. This was how it should be done. Fast, smooth, everything going according to plan. All in all, the attack had taken only minutes.
She saw the same excitement she felt herself in the elves' faces.
"It worked," Bronedir exclaimed, triumphantly raising his fist to the sky. "The map was correct!"
"They slept when we came upon them." Legolas proudly stacked five orc helmets beside the corpses. "I think I took most of them out before they even knew what had hit them."
"Next time I go in first," said Galion with mock annoyance. "Why should you have all the fun to yourself?"
oOo
After burning the carcasses they rode back to the Anduin instead of searching for a new den. Though the next triangle on the map was further east, everybody longed to camp near a source of water where they would be able to wash all the blood and dust from themselves and their clothes.
Thranduil decided they could afford to take the next day off as well; they had been traveling nearly a week now and both the company and the horses needed to rest.
And, they ought to celebrate the victory.
"Do you still have any of that fire water left, Wynne?" he asked.
"Plenty."
"Then tonight we feast!"
A/N:
Drunk elves coming up! Always a treat to write.
Thanks a lot again for reading and giving votes, and don't hesitate to leave a comment too! I love getting them, even if it's an older story.
Image Credits:
Public domain (Wikimedia commons), source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Pergament_Marmels.JPG