Middle-Earth Meets Loki

Part 29

Haldir hummed, acknowledging the Prince's words. He was right, as was Loki. There was something...not right, about the edges of the river. He thought...perhaps distantly...he heard foot steps. He had thought that perhaps he was wrong. That they would have gone around the forest, rather than through it, but then again he supposed it was not too hard to believe if he thought about it. He knew that they had been experimenting, the eye of sauron would not rest. They would, it would seem, also not rest. The Uru-Kai, some weird half formed mix between Orc and Men, it would seem as though they had managed to close in on their whereabouts. 

"My Prince," Haldir muttered, glancing at the Elf, who turned his striking gaze onto him momentarily. "I believe, that they are following us, running along the riverbank. It is too wide for mortal men to notice, and as such, I do not believe the others have quite caught on yet." He pushed away the realization that Loki was the first to notice, not wanting to pay attention to that slight tidbit of information at the current moment. There was much else to worry about. Though, he filed that away, fully intending on not letting it go when there came a time for them to be able to speak on it. Without running the risk of getting rammed into by a ton of orc evolutionized creatures longing for their blood on their lips. 

"We will need to land soon, and I shall speak to Aragorn about it, at that time, no point in trying to get the point across right now, it will not get anywhere." Legolas said gently, his voice soft enough not to disturb even the water, let alone the tense tranquility that the rest of the team was feeling, having not noticed their impending doom. Loki, Haldir noticed, had his fingers clenched tightly, but did not speak a word, eyes staring intently on the shoreline. They still held that green edge to them. It was...quite curious. 

"We need to be careful. There are far more of them than there should be normally." Loki said, his eyes barely blinking. Haldir furrowed his own brows, somewhat concerned. 

"What do you mean 'than there should be normally'?" He wondered, tilting his head to the man wanna-be who did not even glance at him, eyes trained heavily onto the shoreline, where Haldir, upon glancing in the same direction realized he was tracking them, with his eyes. His curiosity about this man was getting stronger and stronger the more he was learning about them. His eyesight seemed to be rather incredible, at least on par with a half-elf. Though it was clear that he was not one. He pushed the thoughts aside when he began to speak once more. 

"Typically, a group, at least from what we have gathered up until now, and according to what I have managed to gather from the rest of the group, travel in small groups. Five, to ten, maybe, more or less, there is not much deviation. There are at least twenty running on the shoreline." 

Haldir glanced at Legolas, but the other did not seem too surprised that he could infer this information. He almost frowned, but managed to hold himself back. The Prince definitely knew something more than what he did. He wanted to know what it was. He would not press the Prince however, he knew that it would not end in any sort of information. Painfully stubborn as the young Prince was, the best he would get is some laughter, and perhaps a twinkle in his eyes. So he merely sighed softly, under his breath, and let it go...for now. Sooner or later, however, he fully intended to obtain the information that he wanted. He would just...let it lie, for now, not forever. 

"We cannot do anything until the others are within ear reach," Haldir said instead, ignoring the odd facts that were beginning to present themselves in front of him. He would just have to assume it was because of the other's magic. IT was possible that it was helping to aid his eyesight. Though, he had not ever heard of such types of magic, he supposed that it was possible. It meant that this person was even more dangerous that he had previously believed, considering the fact that he had managed to obtain the knowledge and ability of unheard of magicks. 

Though, Haldir had calculated this person as dangerous the moment he had heard what he did to the Mines of Moria. He had managed to turn a vast underworldly mine, reaching far into the depths of the earth into nothing but a hill. If that. All with but a small closed fist. His magic alone was formidable. He also knew those sort of eyes that Loki held. One who knew far more than what they gave away, and yet had suffered for it. 

He was not sure whether that comforted him or not, but those were often the eyes of elves that he hung around with. The ones who had seen their lives span decades. He had that look at times. Though he found his solace in Legolas, as did many of them. Despite that, he was not too sure that was overly comforting. This man was dangerous. More than. He was not too sure that he liked the fact that Legolas was entertaining him so much. 

Still, he would not pull the Prince from this stranger, not as though he could either ways. The other was incredibly rebellious after all. Forbidding him to do something was as good as sending him out to do it, in fact, there were things that he would not have done, but because he was told not to, he was excited to do and then did anyways. Thranduil definitely had his hands full with this one, but Haldir would do his best to protect the Prince, from Loki, or with Loki. One of the two. 

"I know," Loki said gently, eyes snapping to Haldir, staring at him with a slight look of annoyance, he thought it was, before they slid back to the riverside. "I am just telling. It would not do to dwell anywhere too long, and if we need to do so it would be rise to be ready for a fight."