Last Act of Love (Sequel to The Last One)

Chapter 24

Aragorn, Ruive, Legolas and Gimli stood in a line along the bank as the Corsair ships sailed pass.

"You may go no further. You will not enter Gondor." Aragorn stated firmly. 

The Corsair sailors laughed as the captain walked to the side of the ship.

"Who are you to deny us passage?" The Captain challenged.

"Legolas, fire a warning shot past the bosun's ear." Aragorn said, his face vacant of emotion.

Legolas pulled an arrow from his quiver and readied it in his bow.

"Mind your aim." Gimli warned as he bumped Legolas' bow as he fired.

The arrow launched through the air and landed in the chest of one of the men standing next to the captain. Gimli gasped and placed a hand over his mouth as Legolas looked down at him in shock.

"That's it. Right. We warned you. Prepare to be boarded." Gimli announced. 

"Boarded? By you and whose army?" The Captain scoffed.

"This army." Aragorn snarled.

The Dead army appeared from behind them and charged towards the ships, swarming over and killing the Corsair men.

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Ruive sat on one of the many cargo crates on the ship, and watched as the water flowed by. She had so much on her mind that she couldn't distinguish one thought from another. She heard the lightest of footsteps on the deck behind her, footsteps that could only belong to a certain Elf.

"Promise me something?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the water.

"Anything." Legolas' soft voice replied.

Ruive inhaled deeply through her nose, and turned to look up at Legolas.

"Promise me you will not die out there."

Legolas was taken back slightly by her request. Of course he had no real plans of dying in the coming battle, unless to save the ones her cared for, her being one of them.

"I promise."

Ruive exhaled, and the tension in her shoulders disappeared as though Legolas' agreement put her mind at ease. Legolas timidly sat down next to Ruive on a crate, he gazed down at her curiously. For two and a half centuries he'd known her, and he could still never figure out the puzzle that was Ruive. 

"You know, I've been welcoming death ever since my parents died. I did not care when or how I would die, as long as it was in the place of someone I love. I've been so ready to die, but now, part of me is afraid almost, that I will die with so many regrets and of what I might leave behind."

Legolas was not exactly sure what to say, but he knew Ruive was the kind of person who didn't need a response or advice, she just needed you to listen.

"I look at the life I live and the people in it, and I wonder; what reason do I have to die, that cannot be outweighed by a reason I have to live?"

Ruive paused for a moment, Legolas could almost swear he saw a single tear well in her blue eye.

"I've been dying a little everyday for 250 years. And part of me will continue to die with every passing day. But part of me will keep fighting, because I have too many reasons to live and not enough to die."

Ruive looked up at Legolas with a small, almost invisible smile. But Legolas saw it non the less. He smiled, glad knowing that she had found renewed strength in her heart, for he has seen the years tear at her like wolves and could not blame her for wishing for death. He only hoped that he was one of her reason to live.