A Tale with only few Words || Legolas

From A Tale of the Bard series

The great wizard gazed upon three different ways that lay just before him. Every one of them was as dark and dangerous as the other but directed to other parts of the Mines. The man stood on the cold stone ground facing the holes carved in stone but didn’t move. In his head he was carefully choosing which one should he take. Fate of the whole Fellowship was in his hand and only he could rescue them from that forsaken by the maker place. Creatures of the darkness lived there and no one wanted to wake them up from their sleep.

But which way would bring them freedom and which one meant death? They had only one chance...

“Aren’t you a little bit overdoing it?” Legolas asked as he was reading the words you were writing on the empty paper. Something similar to a grimace appeared on your face and then disappeared in another second. You thought of a right answer to give him.

“I can’t just write that Gandalf forgot the way.” you finally said quietly so the old wizard wouldn’t hear you. There was moment of silence before you exchanged small smiles filled with amusement with each other and then returned to what you were doing before, waiting.

You raised your head so you could see the upper part of the three cave entrances. You fought with the need to go there and study them but on the other hand you didn’t really want to do that. Who knew what kind of creature could hide in the dark corridors. After a longer moment you once again pressed your back against the sharp rock that stood behind you. It wasn’t the most pleasant place to sit and was definitely something you weren’t used to, yet.

It seemed that you were remaining in the same spot for hours or maybe even days. You even started rereading what you had written before and added a few words to it. But there wasn’t much of the dark lines for your eyes to follow so you mostly just sat there looking at nothing. Suddenly, from the corner of your eye you noticed movement. You directed your gaze there and saw Frodo making his way up, towards the place where Gandalf was sitting. You didn’t follow.

Your eyes shifted towards your open book but you couldn’t see almost anything. Grey shadows danced on white pages and you had a hard time concentrating on the blending lines. With a small sigh you crawled to Boromir and Aragorn.

“Make way, make way!” fell from your lips as you sat comfortably between them, near the small fire. They exchanged looks before directing their attention to you, who weren’t really interested in their company and was too occupied with writing to notice anything that was happening around.

“I thought lades these days have better manners.” Boromir said aloud as if offended but you could hear the tiny thread of amusement in his voice.

“I’m only feminine looking.” You answered to his comment completely forgetting about your book.

“And yet you never did anything to change that.” You heard the other male voice and shifted your face towards Aragorn who was watching the dark abyss before him.

“I don’t see a problem.”

“One can never tell your gender, my friend.” Boromir added and you were getting tired of their game. But as you were to open your lips again, you heard the words you were waiting for so dearly.

"Oh! It's that way." your companions looked towards Gandalf as if to make sure they heard it right. You closed your book hoping that your cheeks didn’t colour in pink because of the embarrassment you felt. Everyone stood up and moved towards where the wizard was standing.

"He's remembered!" Merry exclaimed happily.

"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here." and you hoped it was only some kind of a joke. As you reached the stairs you couldn’t help but to stare at them with eyes open wide. They lead into a pure darkness and you felt a shiver run down your spine.

Every step felt like if it was the last one, and the light shining from Gandalf’s staff didn’t help much. But as you reached the open space with a ceiling held by many columns your eyes widen as you couldn’t believe what lay before your eyes.

"Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf."

You suddenly felt so small, wondering how the Dwarves even constructed something like that. It looked so majestic, so unrealistic as if it all was in your head. No human estate had this something in it that made people just want to look at the place even though it wasn’t safe to do that.  

"Now there's an eye opener and no mistake." and you couldn’t say it better.

The Fellowship moved slowly ahead, every pair of eyes gazing at every little stone that built the place. You just couldn’t stop yourself from taking your book out again and start scribbling the description of your surroundings there.

As you started traveling with your new companions you learned a few additional abilities. But the most important and the one you were proud of the most, was walking while writing that did not end with your death. But you had yet to master it because sometimes you could walk into something or rather someone.

“It’s not safe to wander without looking ahead.” Legolas’ fingers tightened around your chin and your head was raised so your eyes could meet. Sometimes you wondered if there was a possibility that your blonde companion could see through your cover. It was impossible of course, but your maiden heart liked to tell you otherwise.

“No matter how many times you’re going to say that, I probably won’t listen anyway.” you exchanged smiles before you heard Gimli’s voice and you moved your head away to see where the sound was coming from.

The Dwarf ran towards a ray of light that you noticed only after a longer moment. Others followed him through the tall doors and into the chamber. There was something of a stone coffin in the center of the room with the light falling directly onto it. Gimli’s knees touched the ground and cries of deny left his lips. Boromir’s hand was placed on the Dwarf’s shoulder and one of his hands was taken into yours as you crouched next to him.  

The many skeletons lay around, arrows sticking out of them. They were left there as if a warning for any soul that would be stupid enough to wander so deep into the mines. You could only wonder how the battle looked like. Something powerful must had fought with all those Dwarves.

"'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared." and then you needed to think for a longer while if it was a good moment to write the translation down but you resigned from the idea. You decided to ask Aragorn about that later.

You watched Gandalf as he takes a thick book in his hand and you immediately found yourself beside him, leaving the poor Gimli to his chants, and trying to see something over the wizard’s shoulder.

"'They have taken the bridge… and the second hall.'"

Suddenly you felt really uncomfortable. As if a million pair of eyes began watching you in the same moment. Your heart started beating faster as you waited for Gandalf to continue, but on the other hand, you just wanted to run away from there.

"'Drums… drums… in the deep.'"

Your eyes didn’t move away from the book but your hand gripped the handle of your crossbow. It was interesting how much a few words can change the atmosphere and move hearts of the readers. But these few words sounded like a death warrant, a slow painful death.

"'We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.'"

Was it the time for you to beg Gandalf to stop? Or was it the time to cry and hide? You were only certain that it wasn’t the right time to stand there. Your gaze moved from one face of your companions to another. Unrest filled your heart and the darkness seemed to absorb your whole body, and the bright light didn’t fight it, on the contrary, it was helping.

"'We cannot get out…'" your eyes carefully studied the text written in the book. The last line, it was blurred and faded at the end of the page as if it was the last thing that came from the hand of the person who wrote it. An unstoppable fear shook your body as you saw yourself ending just the same way. Alone, in that forgotten place with your unfinished work in your hands.

"'They are coming!'"

Suddenly you heard a loud noise somewhere behind. A very feminine squeak left your lips and you turned around ready to run and hide in any moment. But there was no monster in the back but only one small Pippin with an expression filled with guilt on his face. And then, as you were looking at him, the rest of the skeleton clothed in armor fell into the well, the echo resounding in the room.

"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf took his hat and the staff back from the Hobbit, leaving him there standing, awkward silence filled the air. But it didn’t last long as in the next second you heard drums.

And it wasn’t a happy go lucky sound of the instrument you were used to listen to as a little girl. It was the one that meant only one- danger.

"Orcs!" Leoglas voiced every worry that haunted your mind. Your crossbow was gripped tightly in your hands and a bolt was already planted in it. Was it stupid to hope you wouldn’t have to use it?

You watched as Boromir rushed to the door and took a look around. Seconds later arrows were shot at him but hit the doors behind. Aragorn ran towards the man to help him close the doors. Everything was happening so fast that at first you couldn’t register everything that was happening.

"They have a cave troll." Borormir’s sarcastic comment reached your ears as you retreated to the back of the room.

“Lovely.” you said under your breath as you pointed your weapon at the doors. You wondered if trolls were as big as they said… Or maybe it was better if you never find out.

As the way was blocked with the weaponry that was left on the ground your companions moved before the Balin's tomb with Gimli atop it.

„Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!" he roars.

“I don’t think they need your welcome…” you whispered only to get a reprimanding look from Aragorn.
You didn’t know if it was the waiting or the battle that was more terrifying. Because when your enemies broke the doors and start filling the room, you couldn’t feel anything else than the adrenaline in your veins.

One of your bolts hit the creature in the head and another stuck to its arm. You lose sight of another arrow that left your crossbow as you mostly shot into the dark maze that lusted for your blood.

Your position was no longer safe as you had to move around trying not to lose your head, literally. As you duck, the dark shadow overwhelmed you and the bolt hit the monster in the right moment before his axe could touch you. The dark blood split everywhere and you try not to touch it, even if it was almost impossible.

Suddenly, something hard and small fell on your head, making you turn around and look up. You saw that Aragorn’s gaze was directed at the same spot. Your eyes widen as you noticed the biggest and ugliest creature you ever saw in your life. You made a mental note to yourself that you should listen to the stories told you in the inns next time.

Legolas’ arrow hit the giant in the shoulder but it only made it angrier. You pointed your crossbow ready to fire at it but in the same moment, another one of the Orcs crossed your path and you had to jump away from it. Its weapon cut the air where you stood just a second before. You took out your short sword and sliced the enemy’s neck before returning your weapon to its sheath.

Your whole attention was directed at your opponent so you never saw a giant steel mace flying your way. You didn’t have much time to react before something hit you and brought you to the cold and wet from blood ground.

The buzzing sound filled your ears and you needed a while to understand what was happening. You weren’t dead and you certainly weren’t crushed by the unmorally big weapon of the troll. No, something else lay on top of you. You opened your eyes and saw a worried face of a very handsome Elf with bright blue eyes. Only then you noticed he was shaking your arms, trying to bring you back on earth.

As you tried to concentrate your gaze on him, you saw a shadow behind Legolas. You gathered the remaining strength you had and flipped the Elf to the right, falling on top of him. Your hand fished into the bag tied to your belt and took out the knife that you throw at the Orc, hitting him in the head.

You took a deep breath before releasing Legolas from under you and helping him up. The battle wasn’t over yet and you had no intention to die, especially when your heart was beating so fast.
The tomb was crushed into the pieces and the tall monster was swinging his chain like crazy. Another two arrows hit the monster what made the beast roar while falling back, but it was still alive and angry.

Suddenly you found yourself standing back to back with Aragorn. The bolt was freed from your crossbow and when one of the enemies fell from it, the other one was sliced by your companion’s sword. You twirled around, ducking, throwing and shooting what looked like a very bad dance. But as you saw Legolas running along the chain and onto the monster shoulders you can’t stop yourself from being in awe.

“How he can even do that?” you asked no one, as you were shoved away before you could be sliced in half by another Orc.

"Frodo!" you heard Aragorn’s voice mixed with hateful roars and sounds of battle. You tired to localize the Hobbit he was yelling for but you couldn’t concentrate on one spot as it seemed that the Orcs were doubling in your eyes. You shot in direction where Aragorn was fighting his way over to Frodo, trying to help him somehow while looking for a safe passage to get to his location.

You reached Merry and Pippin just in same moment when the Troll pierced Frodo with the spear. Voice died in your throat and you stopped breathing. You could only watch as your companion gasps in pain. The two Hobbits jump on the monster and you wanted to follow but you noticed the dark haired man lying on the floor. Your bolt stuck inside the troll’s arm and you step down to where Frodo fell. Carefully you touched his body but you were too afraid to turn it around.

As the noises dies with the troll, Aragorn appeared before you and you move away, giving him space. The rest of the Fellowship gather too, terror and saddens painted on their faces. Suddenly Frodo groaned and you looked at him unbelievably.

"He's alive!"

"I'm all right, I'm not hurt." he said after a while. Something heavy disappeared from your heart and a long sigh left your lips as you stood up.

"You should be dead! That spear would have skewered a wild boar."Aragorn said what you wanted to ask so badly.

"I think there's more to this Hobbit than meets the eye."

As Frodo open his shirt you could see an armor made of Mithril hid under it. It glimmers in the dark and you can’t stop looking at it.

"Mithril! You are full of surprises, Master Baggins."

But as the atmosphere began to ease you heard Orcs cries, they must had regrouped while you were catching your breaths. The sound of steel hitting steel was heard and you knew they were near. You would give everything you had so you wouldn't have to fight anymore. But there was no-on to listen to your hopes.

"To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!"

And then you simply ran, as fast as you could.