Middle-Earth Meets Loki

Part 32

Loki woke with a start, flying up from where he had been laying against the tree. His eyes were wide and wild as they scanned the area, his body tense and still. Haldir stared at him, slightly worried, and a bit unnerved. The other had not had a nightmare, he would have known, so what was it that could have woken him so sharply from the rest that Haldir had aided him in, and why was he so...alert? Well, from what he could tell Loki seemed alert more than he was otherwise, but to go from sleeping to jumping forwards and being as tense as he was? Haldir did not like the implications. There was no way that he would have had a nightmare. 

It was not until a second later that he realized exactly what it was, and a distant part of him was wondering why it was that he had managed to sense the orcs before Legolas or Haldir had manged it, but a stronger forefront of his mind was already on his feet running towards the camp with Loki knowing that they were about to have a fight on their hands. The dramatic entrance to the camp startled everyone except Legolas and Aragorn. Loki supposed Legolas had sensed them as they had, and had shared the information with Aragorn. The two seemed quite close with each other. Aragorn shook the others awake as they quickly formed a plan. Loki glanced at the two. 

"Loki," Legolas spoke softly, but loud enough that everyone suddenly turned their eyes to him, Loki swallowed but otherwise waiting for Legolas to speak further his demands. "What do you think that we should do?" Loki blinked, watching them with an almost shocked expression. 

He helps them escape from one mine and now they expect him to come up with all the plans? He supposed it was not a bad idea on the Elf's part. He was the smart one, and he had the most experience, barring perhaps Haldir, and Legolas himself, not that he was one to say such things, nor did they really know that, but it was obvious that the two trusted him with this to some extent. Or at least, Legolas did, and Haldir would not go against the Prince, and Aragorn trusted Legolas' judgement. He almost wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew that time permitted a plan now, and they needed to hurry. 

"We need to get to higher ground. The island is not that large, and it is easy to ambush. We are basically sitting in a perfectly formed trap, and have been for hours. When they ambush they will likely come from all sides to attempt to overwhelm us." He explained, straightening himself and letting his mind run with the possibilities. They had very little time after all, it would not do to dwell on small minor things that did not matter when lives where at stake, specifically theirs. He needed to move fast, all of them needed to. "We are vastly outnumbered, but we will be able to do more damage from higher ground. My magic can only get us so far, and I am too weak at the moment to manage against all of them alone." He was loathe to admit it, but destroying the mine, and that Bal-Rog creature that Gandalf was almost stupid enough to try and one up on his own, had taken quite a bit out of him. For good reason. 

Loki was not invincible, and he was strong, and incredibly powerful, but he did still have his limits. While his magic reserves were vast, he had dealt with quite a lot in the last few months. From the fight on Jotunheim which had taken a lot out of him, to finding out he was the heir to the throne of monsters, to going against his biological father in an attempt to prove his loyalty to his adoptive father only to be shunned and once more rejected in a fit of annoyance from Odin, to dropping between the Tree, not to mention the vast amounts of reserves it had taken to slow his fall so he did not...die upon impact of this world, then the sleepless nights, lack of food, and the vast amounts of magic that he had taken to using in the Mines, and out, it was not shocking his magic had forced him into a sleep. Yet he had woken from it, probably far sooner than he should have. 

Usually, when his Magic forced him into a sleep he stayed in that sleep until he fully recovered, but he had not been able to do that this time, too many pressing things, and his Magic was not entirely alone in sentience. It knew when he was in danger, and its priority was to keep him safe, so he had been woken. Then again, it was not surprising, given the fact that he was found alone in a forest of unkown origins. He still could not believe that they had decided that was a good idea. He wondered if part of it was not Gandalf's hope that he would be picked off by Orcs, but he dared not really dwell on it for too long. While Gandalf was brainless, he did not know him well enough to conclude such things yet. 

Now, while Haldir's song of rest had helped him, and he certainly felt better than he had since coming onto this world, he knew that there was no way he would be able to one up several hordes of Orcs alone, on top of trying to keep everyone safe. It was just not doable. He needed a bit of help, and anyone knew that the higher one was, the easier it was to spot the enemy, and deal with them. Luckily, he knew a great place on this pathetic isle to rush to. Perhaps it was a bit hasty planning, but really he was on a time crunch here, he was sure that he could be forgiven for not planning everything out perfectly.