Avadis - A legolas story (slow moving!)

Chapter 10 - Questions needing answers

It had been weeks, months even, since Avadis had last met with Gandalf that night. As promised, she kept a close watch on Isengard and Saruman's armies. They had begun to close in around the edges of Fangorn forest, and she made a mental note that if they delved much deeper, she should call an Entmoot to discuss with them the intentions of their now much closer and much more evil neighbours. 

But for the most part Isengard remained the same, each day the same routines, the same foul smells and clouds of ash. As desperate as Avadis was to have a reason to contact Gandalf and tell him to urgently come back, there was no signs of preparing for battle, or any mentions of war. The most she had seen was the emergence of a much fouler looking beast, taller and broader than any orc she had encountered. She decided to draw one in her book, incase Gandalf ever needed to know what they looked like. 

To keep herself occupied, Avadis had made a habbit of hunting down the groups orc or corrupted men that went venturing too far into the boundaries of the forest, or up into the mountain tops. They had become much better equipt for fighting, with properly made armour and sharper weapons, this made for much more of an interesting fight. Secretly, she also enjoyed their moments of crippling fear when they saw her wings, which had now completely grown in size and colour, a deep red streak cutting through her dark brown feathers on both sides. They cried out to their Dark Lord to help save them from the 'sky demon', only for her to slice their throats and leave them in a pile of flames.

And this was how her life went for those months, until one morning when Gwaihir appeared on her hill. 

...

"Avadis come quickly" 

Running out of her home, Avadis looked up to see Gwaihir circling above the forest opening before taking off towards the hill. "Why is... the bird here?" Treebeard huffed at her, obviously disturbed from his week long nap he had taken in the corner by her house. He'd made Avadis jump, thats how silent he had been all this time. "I could not tell you my friend" she puzzled, grabbing her swords, strapping them to her back and jogging up to the hill. 

At the top of the hill, in the afternoon light Avadis walked towards the great Eagle. "Why are you here so urgently?" she asked him, before gasping in shock and surprise as Gwaihir stepped aside to reveal Gandalf lying in the grass, half covered only by a garment wrapped around his waist. "Gandalf!" Avadis yelled, running and shaking his limp body desperately looking for signs of life. "I found him, ontop of one of the peaks" Gwaihir told her, even as she called out to him, "I do not know how he came to be there, so I brought him here to you"

"That is not possible I flew over him just a few days past, near the Misty Mountians." Avadis stopped shaking him, scanning his body for wounds but seeing none. "He had nothing else with him?" she asked Gwaihir, her voice tense with worry.

"Nothing." 

"What has happened to you, my dear friend" Avadis asked as she brushed his hair away from his face, which looked much whiter in the glowing sunshine. "What do I do, what do I do?"

"He needs more help than you or anyone else here can offer" Gwaihir said. "I can see that" Avadis snapped, slightly more aggressively than she meant. She found a very weak pulse, and could see his chest rising and falling. He was close to death, holding on by a thread. "What do I do" she repeated again. 

Then she remembered a story Gandalf had told her of a close friend of his. An elf, living in the woods of Lorien with incredible powers. Galadriel. She must be able to help him, if she is as powerful as he says. Turning to Gwaihir, she stood and began to spread her wings out slowly. "We must take him to Lothlorien, the home of the elf Galadriel. She will be able to heal him." 

"And you will go with him?" Gwaihir asked in surprise.

"I will not leave him until I know he is recovered" Avadis replied stubbornly. She knew exactly was Gwaihir was asking, and if she had more time to process she would have found the time to feel extremely stressed and anxious about visiting the elves. But luckily enough for her, all she could think about was that Gandalf be taken somewhere safe.