Immortalitui // Faramir 🥀

Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Search

Word Count: 2,346 words. 

Warnings: I apologise for the massive gap between updates.  

Time did not pass as it should for an elf, and in the days that followed Boromir's death, Arathiel was unsure as to how long the days lasted, only that the nights remained longer than them.

Her mind was plagued with images of death, the pain of roots being pulled from the ground, Orcs emerging from sap beneath the earth's floor. She could see the glint of a white cloak, dirtied and dimmed by the darkness that oozed from both the wizards mind and the evil that he created.

Sleep did not come easily, and when it did, Arathiel feared that it could be her last. Sauron was quiet, and the silence unsettled her. Aragorn noticed such a thing when they stopped to rest. She had argued against it, but quickly spotted Gimli's laboured breaths and decided it best. Her fingers played with the sapphire ring on her hand. 

The she-elf did not sit nor did she eat when Legolas took lembas bread from his satchel. Hidden by a small cliff, Arathiel stood at its peak, scanning the earth below her.

She tried to search her mind, using any power she could to predict the movement of the Orc's that had the two Hobbits. She could not. Her Elven blood was failing her and the darkness was growing. Arathiel feared that soon she would have nothing left. 

"He grows too strong," Aragorn tried, approaching her side, hand poised on his sword. "Sauron. Legolas claims that it is impacting his ability to see clearly."

"It is part of it," Arathiel began, taking a deep breath. "My immortality is fading."

Wide eyed, Aragorn cast a glance to the others of their small company. They bickered. He returned to her. "You have not chosen mortality, have you?"

Arathiel shook her head. "I have not, but the Valar challenge me. They grow weary of my selfishness as Sauron pulls on the darkness within my soul. I only pray that the God's bestow upon me enough to live to the end of this war."

"And past it," Strider added.

She faced him with a sad smile. "I am not strong enough to win, but I have enough vengeance in my heart to deny him until my last breath."

"Choose mortality," Aragorn urged. "If you refuse your Elven nature now then Sauron cannot take you."

"If I do such a thing, my skills will be hindered and I will not longer be able to see Frodo," Arathiel argued.

"You can see Frodo?"

She nodded, closing her eyes and pulling on the darkness. He trudged through the wet ground, Sam at his back and the Ring heavy on his neck. The chain began to burn at his skin.

"With my connection to the Ring, I may ensure that he is alive."

Her friend too a deep breath. "We shall both see the end of evil Arathiel, and live beyond that."

Nodding, Arathiel knew that her old friend did not believe her, but there was little else that she could say.

"I can hear them," Legolas announced, rising from his seated position. "They move to the left, along the mountain ridge."

Aragorn shared a sorrowful look with Aragorn, knowing that she could not hear them. He did not question what she said any longer.

"We must move quickly!" the lost King of Gondor returned, and the company moved.

They ran across the dying grass, boots crunching against the frozen blades and squelching on the morning dew when they descended. The clouds moved, the sun appearing in the centre of the sky. It watched them, followed their path as Legolas lead the hunt.