I Will Always Come Back

Chapter 5

I stayed in my stretcher for the rest of the day. When the sun started to dip past the horizon, we stopped for the night. I decided I would try walking now, since I wouldn't hold up the company. I asked for some help from Arnos, which he quickly agreed to. He pulled me up, and, as my balance wavered, held me up. I was surprised to find that my leg didn't hurt very much at all, just a dull, annoying pain that I could easily overlook. I started to fall, but luckily Tauriel was behind me, and she and Arnos picked me back up. After I could finally stand, I gripped Arnos's shoulder as though my life depended on it as I tried to take a step. Seeing him since in pain, I loosened my grip and tried again. I was still very wobbly, and the first couple of times, I ended up tripping over my feet. After about twenty times, I could finally take my usual steps with the help of Arnos. Then, I completely let go of his shoulder. At first, I couldn't stand very well at all, and grabbed Arnos again to prevent myself from falling, but then I tried again, and this time, I could stand on my own. Then, I bravely tried to walk. Surprisingly, it came easily, after I had regained my balance.

I walked over to Míreth, who was just outside the camp, looking at the sunset. The way the firelight reflected off of her hair made it look like starlight. As soon as she saw me, Míreth smiled, and said, "I see you can walk now. I'm glad."

As she said this, she didn't only seem happy, she seemed relieved, as though she thought she might never have seen me on my feet again. But I just smiled at her, pretending I hadn't noticed. "Yeah, I can't believe that happened, though." We both knew what I was referring to. The fact that I, of all the elves in this world, would be the one to receive a wound that would have killed me if Gandalf hadn't come to my aid.

"All warriors attain some sort of life-threatening wound. Yours just so happens to be the first of many you could receive," Míreth lectured, then she smirked.

"Well, I wasn't the only one, now was I?" I joked. At this, Míreth looked embarrassed, and looked away. "Oh, come on, I was only joking," I said when she turned to leave. She looked back at me sadly.

"I don't know what happened there. I'm sorry," Míreth said. I looked questioningly at her, but all she did was shake her head. "It's just that we're on such an important mission, and the fate of the world could possibly be in our hands, and the fact that both of us could've..." she trailed off. Then, Míreth took a breath. "All I'm saying is that I'm worried, for us and for Middle Earth."

I was surprised when she opened up like this. It was very rare, and only happened when she was truly scared. I had only every heard her do this a few times. She was one of the strongest people I had ever met. It made me scared, knowing that if even Míreth was afraid, it must be a big deal.

As Míreth got up to leave, I grabbed here hand gently. I didn't know what made me do it; it just seemed necessary. At this touch, she flinched in surprise, but didn't pull away. Then, I told her, "Don't worry. This will be sorted out eventually." Then, I let go, and she walked away after smiling weakly.

I stared at the stars for a moment. They were so bright, little rays of hope in the night sky. This view was amazing. In Mirkwood, the only place I could see the stars was a clearing in the center of the town, or when I sneaked out of the castle at night to climb to the very top of the trees. The guards made a deal with me: they don't tell my father, or they will get in trouble for letting me out. My father would spoil me when I was young, so he would probably would have believed me. I wonder what happened. Now, he was cold, cruel, and seemed to be too powerful for having a son. My mother died when I was just a little Elfling, so I had no one to turn to when my father shut me out. I will have to talk to him about it when I get back, and see whether or not he would treat me better.

After a few minutes, I decided I should get some rest. I was still weary from blood loss. As I walked stiffly over to where I would sleep, I heard Míreth mumble my name. I walked over to her, and said, "What do you need?" All she did was roll over and mumble my name again. I watched as she slept. She looked like an angel, with her beautiful golden hair and smooth skin. I realize then what I was doing, and, disgusted with myself, walk back to my resting place and fall asleep.

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At dawn, Arnos, who had been keeping watch for the night, gently woke everyone up, and woke me last. I thought it was probably because he thought I was still weary or injured. As I stood up, mild pain streaked through my leg, but it was very much bearable and I only winced a bit. Tauriel had been watching me as I got up, and gave me a look of worry. I smiled at her, hoping she understood it was nothing. I think she understood, because she walked away and talked with Míreth.

I tentatively took a step forward, testing my weight on my leg. Gandalf walked over and asked, "Does it still hurt?" I did not answer, not wanting to insult his healing abilities, but he strode quickly towards his bag, and pulled out a plant I had never seen before. It had purple flowers and spiked leaves. Gandalf crushed it up and walked back to me. "I need to apply this to your wound. I warn you, though: it will sting."

Wondering how it would help if it made the pain worse, I pulled up my pant leg and saw that the gash in my leg had healed over, and had a scab over it. It was as though it had been several day longer since it was cut than it actually was. Taking me out of the trance I was in, Gandalf started to spread the crushed plant onto the cut, and it was like it was being sliced open all over again. I cried out in agony. But, as soon as then pain came, it was gone. Shaken up, I realized there was no pain whatsoever left in my leg. I looked over at it and saw that it looked several days older than it did just a few minutes ago. It now was starting to turn into a whitish scar. I then realized I would carry this scar forever. "Thank you, Gandalf. I owe you for this."

"Oh, don't mention it, my boy." Gandalf said. It was nice to feel that someone cared about me, even if it was a wizard I had just met the day before.

Then, we had something to eat before the day's journey, as we planned to go as far as possible today to make up for lost time. We had just left when we heard a howl in the distance.

Wargs.