365

feb.20.22

It's a weird feeling, to lay as still as possible and dissect where all of your pain is coming from. When your heart beats in your ears, and you can hear the wind above you speak, and an eagle's cry whines in the distance. And you can feel your body slowly stitch itself back together again around the arrowhead lodged in your side.

Tendons and muscles and nerves spill over each other, weaving over the opened wound. As I pull the arrow out, I scream through my teeth. Hot blood flows over my side, soaking the sand beneath me. Only for a moment, before the closing of my skin stops the blood from escaping. I feel the nerves scream, then go to a dull ache once satisfied the wound isn't in the danger zone. The river sand under me soaks my blood, greedily.

I analyze the arrow that stuck me: lavish metal that shone under the moonlight, a birch core, and black raven feathers. This is an arrow of the Kingdom. The warriors I could have been once, had I not learned their hellish ways and ran. Now, they're after me, and all of the other outlaws.

Footfalls sound nearby, and they get louder as they approach. I duck down, hiding in the undergrowth beneath the evergreen that shelters me. These footfalls are soft and gentle. Not belonging to a warrior.

"Legolas," the person says in a loud whisper, knowing I would hear her if I were closeby. Her voice warms my heart. This is my love.

I lift my head, and slowly stand. She's over to me before I can call her over, her arms tightly wrapped around me, her head against my neck. I can hear her heart: rapid, thudding against her ribcage.

I exhale in relief, heavy, unaware how much I had been holding my breath. I hold her close to me. "My Love. My Lullaby."

She leaned back, holding my arms, searching my face. Her grey eyes are filled with worry. "Damn it, Legolas! I didn't know where you were! I thought they...." She couldn't finish her sentence.

I take away the gentle tears leaving her eyes with my thumb, and I hold her face. "They didn't, My Love. And you, I.... I thought they'd gotten you."

"They almost did." Lullaby put her hands on the side of my head, under my ears. "I hid in a rosebush thicket." I could see scratches on her cheeks, a few bruises down her neck. "The thorns got me a bit," she says, watching where my eyes were looking.

I move her shirt a bit, at the base of her neck. There are more bruises, more ugly in colour. "Rosebushes do not do that."

She exhaled shakily. She placed her hand atop of mine. "One of them caught me. One of those warriors. He hit me. And when I wouldn't go down, he got mad. I threw a rock at his face, and got away. Then, I hid in the rosebushes."

"I will kill the man that did this."

She looked to the elegant bloodstained arrow in my hand. "You're hurt?"

"I was." I turn, showing her the closed wound, and my ripped and bloodstained shirt at my side. "I heal quick."

She gently ran her fingers over the wound, which was now a pale scar. "I wish I were an elf. I could heal like you." She met my eyes. "But I get a bruise, it's on me for a week. I'm just a fragile human."

I smile. "You're brave, and for what it's worth, you're the strongest human I've ever met."

She chuckles. "I'm the only human you've ever met."

"That's besides the point."

She smiles. Moonlight reflects off her hair. Her eyes look at mine with love. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

She scoops my bow from the ground. As we walk back toward the village, I hold her close to me. I made the mistake of losing sight of her when we were ambushed. I will not make that mistake again.