Legolas and Tauriel: What I Did For Love

21: Forgiveness

[Tauriel POV]

Sarnlen and I met just outside the camp. I was still trembling from my discovery and Sarnlen noticed.

"Did you find anything?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I wasn't able to get close enough for anything." He eyed me. "What's that?"

I showed him the bundle and its contents. He could just make out what they were in the small amount of firelight that leaked through the trees.

He whisled. "What were a bunch of orcs doing with these? They usually won't touch elven weapons."

"It wasn't the orcs, it was the Haradrim."

He raised his eyebrows. "What were they doing with them?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. But come on, we need to leave now. As soon as they discover these are gone, they start searching. They check their own men first and that'll buy us some time but it may not be enough."

We followed the trail at a slow jog. Being a Dunedain, Sarnlen had excelent night vision for a man. However, it wasn't good enough on such a dark night and he was constantly tripping. I fared somewhat better. Of all the races, elves were best equipped to maneuver after dark.

We weren't far away when we heard shouts behind us.

I glanced at Sarnlen. "Hurry!"

We quickened our pace.

We heard no sign of pursuit throughout the whole of the journey back to Halmad, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

We found Halmad just off of the path we had been following. He had no fire and was huddled at the base of a tree. The horses were hobbled nearby.

"What in the world?' he exclaimed when we crashed through the trees.

"We'll show you later!" I yelled. "We need to leave now."

We scrambled to unhobble the horses, though mine wasn't hobbled because he was trained to stand when told. With a last glance behind us, we cantered away. I would have preferred to gallop, but in the dark it was impossible. We soon had to slow to a trot. Once, we heard an orcish sounding shout behind us, but other than that, we had no proof that they had found our trail. It was doubtful that there were any trackers among the Haradrim and orcs had no tracking skill. They had wargs for that.

We reached the camp around ten the next morning. It was very quiet. The breakfast rush was over and the men were going about their daily tasks. Many looked up as we road into camp. They didn't expect us until later this afternoon and I felt their stares. We dismounted in front of the meeting tent. Legolas ran up as we walked towards the tent.

"Have a good trip?" he asked.

"Yes." I glanced at the Captain's attendant who stood outside of the tent. "Is the Captain inside?"

The man nodded.

"Right," I said. "Legolas, you'd better come, too."

He looked puzzled.

Inside, I found the captain standing over a map that was spread on the table.

"A word, Captain?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

I cast the bundle of weapons on the table and uncovered them. I heard Legolas suck in his breath.

"Is that--"

"Yes."

Gently, he picked up his father's dagger. "Where did you find these?"