I Will Always Come Back

Chapter 9

We started walking southward, where we saw the Orcs take Míreth. The Orcs ran the whole day, and the whole night. The only reason why we could keep up was our constant supply of Lembas bread and miruvor to give us energy and increase our motivation. I, however, didn't need them, but I knew if I didn't, I could starve, so I reluctantly took breaks for this purpose. Eventually, the Orcs stopped for the night, and we snuck carefully around the outside of the party.

"Okay," I whispered, "We'll surround them, and then, we'll shoot them. Got it?" When they nodded, I added, "Be careful not to hit Míreth. Let's go!"

I ran around the outskirts of their gang, barely making a sound with my feet on the grass with my Elven abilities. When everyone was positioned, we fit arrows into our bows, and, at my nod, we released them. The Orcs we aimed our arrows at fell to the ground. None of the others noticed. We shot again, and this time, all of the Orcs noticed they were being ambushed. We fired arrows rapidly. As an Orc ran at me, I pulled out my long knives, and pierced his heart. After casting its body away, I ran at another one, which was trying to carry a tied-up bundle away, and slashed at it, slicing it across the back, and fell writhing to the ground.

I ran over to the bundle it had dropped, which stiffened instantly at my Elven touch. I cut away the coarse ropes keeping it together and unwrapped the sad which was holding it together. What I saw horrified me.

"Míreth!" I whispered in shock. She had a gash across her head, which was bleeding profusely, and she had lots of other cuts across her body. The burlap sac which she had been wrapped in rubbed on her skin, which was now raw and bleeding. I reached into my healing bag and pulled out some slightly wilted Athelas and placed it overtop of her heart to help its medicine to course through her body. I spoke some words in Elvish, and instantly her wounds healed. Her eyes fluttered open.

"...Legolas?" Míreth said faintly. She looked at me, confused, then caught her breath when she realized what happened. After glancing it her arms, which she held in front of her as she analyzed them, she said, "Thank you, so much!" she said. I picked her up and ran away from the battlefield, which was almost empty of Orcs. In the darkness, under the stars, Míreth's hair seemed to glow faintly. It was beautiful. I placed her down upon the grass and sat cross-legged beside her.

"Thank you," Míreth said again.

I shrugged of her gratitude, saying, "I would have done anything to keep us together." I paused for a moment. "I need to tell you something, before the others come back. It may cause you joy for the moment, but also may cause you pain when I get to Rivendell."

Míreth looked confused. "Yes, Legolas? What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I love you, Míreth." I felt a great weight be lifted off of my chest as I told her this.

I saw the unknown emotion that appears in Tauriel's eyes pop into Míreth's. So that's what that emotion was. Love. "I love you too, Legolas."

I leaned down towards her. Then I saw the others start to come back to our spot, and quickly recovered by brushing some of Míreth's hair away from her face. I saw Tauriel's reaction, which was a look of deepest hurt, and instantly regretted my actions, but she covered it up quickly. "Let's rest," I said. Gandalf took over night watch, and I fell asleep next to Míreth, hand in hand with her.

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I woke up to the sound of soft singing. I looked up and saw the full moon still way up at the top of the sky. It was just past midnight. I looked around and saw Gandalf, smoking his pipe and singing. I decided to listen to the words, as the music was very soft and delicate.

Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow
To the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall fade.

The song ended in a very quiet note. I watched Gandalf intently for a moment, and then he unexpectedly said, "You need your rest. Go back to sleep."

I tried to argue, but I suddenly felt a great exhaustion come over me. I realized it was the wizard's magic, and tried to fight it, but eventually I gave in and passed into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

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This time, I woke to Gandalf murmuring something about getting ready to get to the mountains today and also something about making up for lost time. He blamed it on me. I knew he did. But I didn't care. I got Míreth back. I got my love back.

We packed the rest of our gear and started walking. Again. We walked in complete silence today, but I had both Míreth and Tauriel on either side of me, both seeming to compete to see who could get closer to me. After a while, I felt slightly claustrophobic and moved between Arnos and Gandalf. Being next to Gandalf made me feel a bit better about going to the mountains, which I had never stepped foot in my whole life.

After a few hours and it was late afternoon, we finally reached the mountain. My skin crawled with the anticipation of something jumping out at me. There was something lurking sound here. I could feel it. There were Orcs or spiders or Trolls or something vicious around me.

I kept my bow off of my back, letting it hang limply at my side. Watched as the peaks around me seemed to grow taller as walked through the grey rocks. I continued walking, letting go of my claustrophobia ease, but it wasn't working. I fit an arrow into my bow. This was going to be a long day.

I heard a rock fall in the distance, and almost let my arrow slip from my hand when I realized it was only Arnos running his hand against the cliff face. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, then went on as though nothing had happened.

I thought about what could possibly be the bright side of this situation. Only one thought came into mind - the mountains weren't very big, so we would be out soon and in Rivendell in a few more days, considering there were no setbacks. As soon as I finished my thought, I heard a battle-cry just in front of us. "Fall back!" I told everyone, but as I turned around, I saw more Orcs.

We were trapped.