Sword and Arrow

Chapter 40

"Where is he?" Aragorn heard a low voice growl as people in the crowd were pushed apart by an unseen person. "Get out of my way! I'm going to kill him!" He glanced down at Beruthiel beside him, who also wore the same expression of bemusement. Finally, two soldiers walking side by side were pushed apart and a redheaded dwarf wearing a surly expression emerged.

"You," Gimli said, pointing a gloved finger at Aragorn, "are the luckiest, the cunningest, and the most reckless man I have ever met!"

Aragorn grinned. He bent down and embraced Gimli, who patted him on the back.

"Bless you, laddie!" the dwarf exclaimed.

"Gimli, where is the king?" Aragorn asked. Beruthiel had last seen him in the armory, but that had been hours ago.

Gimli pointed a finger behind him at the passageway into the deeper parts of the fort. "He'll be in the war room, he will."

When Aragorn and Beruthiel left, Gimli was still shaking his head and muttering to himself about Aragorn's recklessness and tendency to get himself in danger. "I told you," Beruthiel whispered to him.

"At least I came out alive," Aragorn muttered back, continuing on with long, confident strides. Beruthiel had to walk rather fast to keep up, and while it was extremely painful for her back, she didn't say anything.

A tall, slim figure emerged from the crowds of armored men, walking towards the duo. Legolas came to a stop before Aragorn and tilted his head to the side. "Le abdollen."

Aragorn gave Legolas one of the most disbelieving looks ever possible to mankind. Or, you know, Dunedainkind.

Beruthiel stammered in outrage and surprise. Her Sindarin wasn't too good, even though Legolas had been helping her, but she did know that le abdollen translated to more or less, you're late. Legolas had known that Aragorn would come back? And he hadn't told her? Suddenly she was mad at the elf. Had he not seen how she had been grieving? How distraught she had been? Or were elves just so unaccustomed to feeling grief?

"You look terrible," Legolas said with a grimace.

Aragorn's look of incredulity turned into a wide smile. He clapped a hand to the elf's shoulder, laughing softly.

Legolas took Aragorn's hand in his and slipped something into it. When the elf pulled away, Aragorn opened his hand to find his pendant that Arwen had given him. I thought I'd lost it. But there it was, gleaming bright as ever, though it was slightly dusty.

"Hannon le," the Ranger said with a nod. Small words of thanks that could not convey how much that pendant meant to him.

Aragorn stepped back with a nod, heading once more to the war room where the King and his advisors were. Beruthiel and Legolas trailed a distance behind him.

"You knew he was going to come back?" Beruthiel hissed at Legolas, her fists balled at her sides. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't know for sure," Legolas said in soothing tones. "I had a hunch, based on my previous records with him, that he might survive."

"And you didn't tell me?!"

"I didn't want to give you false hope, Betty. I didn't want to tell you that he'll come back, only for you to wait, days and nights, and for him to never come back."

Beruthiel blinked back tears. Just half an hour ago, she had been up there in the watchtower, cloak wrapped around her as she wept for her best friend.

"False hope is better than no hope," Beruthiel whispered.

She felt a hand on her shoulder as they walked, and Legolas pulled her closer with his arm around her shoulders. They walked like that for a while, only pulling apart when they reached the war room.