Set in Stone - Haldir's Story -

Chapter 22 - Stars

The light was the only thing that prevented him from closing his eyes. He was an elf, but still he felt he had never been as tired in his life as he was now. He had expected this to be easy, but still he had expected his first battle would be... well, not as gruesome as it had turned out to be, at least. And he had hoped more elves and men would survive. When finally help in the form of Gandalf and the Rohirrim had arrived, it had almost been too late. And now... indeed, the orcs were defeated and driven into the forest that had suddenly appeared not too far away from the city, men and elves had won... yet at what cost? – There were dead bodies everywhere, the smell of blood and death was filling his nose, he felt sick and queasy... – "You over there!" – He wasn't used to being addressed like that so he didn't know he was being spoken to until the man was standing right next to him. He was a human with long-ish brown hair, covered in dirt and blood. – "How many elves have survived?" – He shook his head. "I do not know. Not many, I fear." – The man – as if remembering his manners – then asked: "What is your name? – I am Aragorn." – He greeted the man the elven way. "I have heard about you. My name is Rohir." – Aragorn nodded. "Find as many of your soldiers as you can, we have to try and find the wounded that might still be healed."

Rohir blinked a few times and then slowly walked towards the heaps of dead bodies that were surrounding him. He climbed the steps up to the outer wall – that was where he'd last seen Elladan. He knew his March Warden was dead, but perhaps Elrond's son had made it... An empty elven face surrounded by copper hair destroyed that last hope. Rohir didn't quite know how he had survived himself, yet he was sure breaking that piece of news to Daëra would finish him off. He knew so much more than anyone expected, he'd always had the gift of patience and observation. Even elves could be read, if one knew how to do it. Rohir sighed. At least now Daëra would be able to make her decision without any regrets. Now she need not be worried about killing Haldir in the process... The Lady would have seen his death by now, probably she had told Daëra already – most likely she was becoming human this very moment, seeing no sense in her life anymore... In this second someone behind him was drawing in a ragged breath. Once Rohir had recovered from the shock and realised who had just shown some vital signs, he prayed he had been wrong about Daëra just this once.

It was the fever dream that kept him alive. There were two constants in his life, pain and the vision. The latter was a woman and he knew her, he just couldn't think of her name... He couldn't think at all, this woman, she was touching where it hurt most, he just wanted her to go away and leave him in peace. He was so taken up in telling her to disappear that he forgot to let go. He forgot that he had been about to leave this place. The vision only faded away after someone else had arrived. – "Haldir? My Lord?" – The woman appeared behind the man and gripped his armwhere he had a deep cut. The elf gave a little cry and looked back and forth between the woman and the wound, before his features suddenly relaxed in relief, as if his pain had just been taken away.

"Haldir! Cousin! Are you awake?" – Slowly, very slowly Haldir opened his eyes just long enough to see some fair-haired elf standing in front of him. Then the daylight started piercing his head like blades and he quickly closed them again. The effort of that one blink almost killed him; there was just pain, no matter what he did. – "Haldir, can you hear me? Can you ride? – King Theoden said you could have one of his horses to get back to Lórien with the rest of the survivors... Are you listening to me, you have to return to the Golden Wood somehow. You do not have a choice, do you hear me?" – Since the volume of the other's voice was steadily increasing and causing Haldir an incredible headache, he finally opened his eyes and made them stay open. 

The elf – he seemed familiar – came closer. "Did you hear what I said?" – Haldir had already forgotten, but he nodded to keep the elf from repeating it. His effort was in vain though, since the other did anyway. "You will have to ride back to the forest or you will die, do you understand?" – Yes, he did. Dying hadn't seemed too difficult and by far not as painful as life proved to be at the moment. Perhaps he should just let go... – "How did you survive that blow anyway? Aragorn told me he saw you die, he said he held you in his arms and you were dead. – I am so glad you are not, though. I will have to go now. I fear my friends will want to move on..." – What else the elf might have said, it faded away in darkness.