Avadis - A legolas story (slow moving!)

Chapter 6 - Rumours

Avadis was no stranger to darkness. As the whispers of the forest grew ever darker, her conversations with the Ents from all corners of her forest during her visits were full of dark mists or mysterious shadows that lingered in the minds of people and creatures. Rumours grew that spiders had returned to their nests in the forests surrounding Mirkwood, and from high in the skies Avadis observed an increasing number of orc and other foul creatures emerging from the edges of the world.

...

One night, she spotted a small band of orc emerging from the edge of a cave close to the mountains bordering Fangorn forest. Landing silently behind them, she reached her bow, carved from the fallen branches of her tree friends, and shot two of the orc down with a single arrow.

"A winged demon!" the rest cried, in either shock or amazement as the scrambled for their hideous looking weapons. Avadis shrugged slightly at the remark, returning the bow to her back and pulling out her two short swords from her side, "as you see" she replied, extending a sword in each hand before advancing towards the orc. Slicing the first in the throat, she turned and kicked another away from her before throwing a dagger into his skull. As she fought, more and more of the orc fell. Avadis much preferred to fight on the ground than simply shoot from the skies, even if the latter option was a whole lot 'safer' according to her mother. There was something she enjoyed about watching orcs fall one by one on the blade of her swords. Her healthy dose of revenge, perhaps.

In the corner of her eye, Avadis spotted a last orc making a run for the entrance of the cave. With a sigh of annoyance, she turned and spread her wings, flying with great speed into the back of the orc and knocking him to the ground before he could make it to the safety of the cave. Within seconds, Avadis had flipped him over and held her swords against his neck with her foot on his chest, her wings spread out fully behind her shielding his ability to look for escape. "You are beaten" she said with gritted teeth, "what is your purpose here" she demanded, digging the tip of her blade into his neck. The orc only laughed at her, an evil and disgusting laugh that made Avadis tighten the grip on her blades even more. 

"You... will always be one of us" the orc said, "you know that."

"You know nothing of me, you monster" Avadis spat back, "I will only ask you once more, what is your purpose here."

"There is only one that I serve" the orc spat at her, "you will know him... by the end." And with that, the orc took the hilt of her sword and plunged it into his chest, laughing even still as he died. Avadis stood up and slowly took a step backwards, staring at the body of the orc. Though it was still very dark, she decided to risk lighting a candle to inspect him closer, as something caught her eye. Holding the flame up to his face, she gasped slightly at the white mark that stretched across his head. A handprint she thought, hovering her hand over the print before scanning the rest of the orc. New armour  she observed, and a willingness to die rather than confess. These were traits she had not seen in an orc for several hundreds of years, they were very easily interrogated most of the time. Moving back to the other bodies, she saw that they too had the white hand marked on them. Something is at work here, she thought to herself, something dark.

After setting the bodies aside in a neat pile, Avadis was about to take to the skies when she spotted in the distance another body flying high in the sky. Gwaiher, she could recognise the old eagle anywhere . Quickly cleaning off her blades against the grass nearby, she slid them back into the pockets of her pants and pushed herself high into the sky. Flying closer and closer to him, she called out "hello my friend!

"Greeting youngling" he replied, his voice booming in her mind. Avadis landed softly on his back, her legs gripping tight around his body.

"How fares your forest friends?" He asked her, turning and landing on the top of a mountain slope nearby. "Well, for the most part" Avadis replied, her mind still slightly preoccupied with the orc she had just killed.