A wounded warrior

4. One mistake

When Aragorn was out of the forest he quickly realised he had a lot of plains to cross. He looked around him for any signs of danger, and his gaze landed on the tree they was sitting under earlier, and the half of the cloak he forgot about when they had ran away.

Aragorn slowly kneeled down so he wouldn't accidentally drop Legolas again and lay him down, covering him with the fabric. He checked the elf's pulse and breathing, and was worried to feel that the pulse was weaker. He lifted him up again, resting his head against his shoulder. If he was to travel hours in the cold he could at least be as warm and comfortable as possible.

The elf was far to pale for the human's liking, and his breathing was slower as well as his pulse. It's like he was slowly falling asleep, but never to wake up. His wounds weren't bleeding anymore, but they weren't healing either. Aragorn feared that he was bleeding inside, as he was coughing blood.

He desperately looked around himself again for any signs of danger, but when he found none he continued to run. He was too worried at the moment to check probably. That could be a big mistake.

Legolas unsteady breathing was the only thing that kept him going. As he ran his mind wandered back to his conversation with Boromir he had earlier.

"I won't leave him, I won't let him die I promised!"

"It's a price we must pay."

His thoughts was interrupted when he heard a horn blowing. He stopped running and listened. That was no Orc horn, he knew that. He recognised it so well, but couldn't put his mind to it.

It sounded again, and Legolas whispered something softly, something the ranger couldn't hear. Aragorn leaned down to hear him better, and his blood suddenly lost all its warmth.

"It's the horn of Gondor..."

Boromir. He called for aid.

Aragorn looked behind him, and his eyes widened.
What he saw made his body freeze.

An whole army of orc's was covering the forest, searching every inch of it.
The horn sounded again, but didn't lasted as long. Probably Boromir was running, and was out of breath.

Aragorn didn't know what to do. He didn't understand how he didn't heard the orc's coming.
He had two choices now. He could leave Legolas here a few minutes to try to save Boromir, or he could let Boromir die to save Legolas some time.

Tears fell down his face as he lay Legolas down. He kissed the cold forehead gently and whispered in the pointy ear of the elf.

"I'll be back in a minute love. Boromir needs my aid." He realised how silly it sounded. The one who needed aid was in front of him. But he couldn't leave Boromir to die like that, not after their fight.

Legolas slowly opened his eyes to look at the ranger. When he saw how distressed he was he used all his strength to raise a hand to cradle his cheek.

"Be careful. I'll wait for you..."

Aragorn nodded and tucked the cloak closer around Legolas before rising and running back, his sword already in his hand.

Boromir ran as fast as he could. He didn't really knew in what direction he was running, he just hoped it was away from Aragorn and Legolas. Maybe he could save them time. When he was far enough away he turned around to fight.