Anariel of Erudin: The Age of Revolution | Lord of the Rings

12. The Hunter and the Prince

From a tall tower, I saw the grey sky light up with fire, exploding into vivid oranges, yellows, and reds, as beautiful as Gandalf the Grey's legendary fireworks. One blast! Two blasts! Kaboom! Kaboom! And all the people were cheering and clapping. "What a sight!" they cried. "What a treat!" But then their cheers turned to screams. The mountain was crumbling, sending down sharp, heavy rocks that fell like a great rockslide, destroying everything they hit. Dirt, there was so much dirt, clouds of it, smothering the people as they tried to flee. Across a great bridge they ran, and with one more blast the bridge was gone, smashed into hundreds of pieces, and all the people plummeted into the river below.

From a tall tower, I saw Rivendell fall.

"No!" I screamed, rising up from the bed with fright. Quietly panting, I searched the room with wide, terrified eyes as tiny beads of sweat dripped down my forehead. Somehow, I was no longer in the fortress. The stone walls held no strange writings, no moving shadows, and the raven was nowhere to be found. 

No matter how far I thought back, I could not remember how I'd returned to Thranduil's halls, but there I sat in a soft feather bed, with the morning sun pouring in through unseen windows, filling the room with a warm golden light that put my troubled mind to ease. Still, even as I sat in complete tranquility, I couldn't help but wonder what had happened in that fortress. What had happened to me? what had happened to Lassiel? The latter quickly consumed my thoughts, and when Legolas entered the chamber, before he could say a word, I asked, "Where is Lassiel? Is she all right?"

"She is fine," he told me, and his voice lacked the compassion I would normally expect to hear from him. His voice was reserved, cold even, like he was speaking to a soldier. "We found her ... after we found you." And then I heard the frustration. "What were you thinking, going there by yourself?"

"I was not by myself," I answered. "Turin was with me, and we were managing just fine on our own. We found her, you know. We did find her."

"I told you to stay here," he said, looming over me like some angry giant. "Did you not hear me, or did you simply choose to disobey me?"

My eyes hardened. "I chose to disobey you because you cannot just give me orders. I am not some soldier for you to command!" Even I was shocked by the boldness of my response, but I refused to show it on my face. I sat smugly with my arms crossed over my chest, while Legolas's face fell, frozen in this mixture of anger and fear.

For a while, he was silent, lost in an aimless stare. "I thought you were dead, Anariel," he said, his jaw clenched so tightly he could barely utter the words. "You were not moving. You were not speaking. You were barely even breathing. And there was so much blood everywhere." He fought back the tears that were forming in his eyes. "Never do that to me again."

"Is that an order?" I fired back without thinking, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I deeply regretted them because I saw how much they hurt him, but I was too proud to take them back.

He left, just like that, stormed right past Turin, who was standing quietly in the doorway. They didn't even look at each other, not that I expected them to, but this time it was Legolas who held all the fury, and Turin seemed almost sympathetic to the elf.

"You know," Turin said to me, "as much as I dislike him, I can't say I blame him."

"You're siding with him now?" I could hardly believe my ears. "How long have I been asleep?"

"This isn't about sides, Ana," he went on, sitting down at the foot of my bed. "You didn't see what we saw. You really scared him. You really scared me. I thought I'd lost you."

"But you didn't. I'm fine."

"You almost died, Ana!" he shouted, catching me completely off guard. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick? Why didn't you tell me?"