Playing with Fire [Legolas/Tauriel]

4: Duty Comes First

Chapter 4

Legolas strode past the gate, and into the forest, with the Elven Guard at his heels. Although he was next to Tauriel, they did not speak, and he had no plans to apologize.

Why was she acting this way? It was not as if he had said something to irritate her, or to make her snap at him. He had discussed his prospective wedding. Why would that have gotten to her? They hadn’t given each other the cold shoulder like this for many years.  But with Tauriel, one could never be sure. Talking to her was like playing with fire.

They had received word that more spiders were coming up from the South to try and break down the walls of the Woodland Realm. Legolas wondered if those horrid creatures would never learn. As soon as he had heard the news, he had gathered the Guard, including Tauriel, and had set off for Mirkwood.

He turned to the elves behind him. “Keep your eyes open. Don’t attack until I give the word.” He could feel Tauriel’s eyes on him, but he ignored them. Duty came first, and friendship came second.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Good.” He drew an arrow, and kept it ready. Spiders may be stupid, but they were quick, and they could spit poison from yards away.

He motioned with his fingers, and two elves went either way. He would be fighting with Tauriel. Just great.

She seemed to think the same thing, because she kept her distance from him as they made their way through the first grove of trees.

Suddenly, he tensed. “Tauriel, wait.” She stopped moving. She could hear it too.

Then, “Rima[run]!”

Legolas quickly climbed the nearest tree and began shooting. Before a spider could feel his weight, he drew back his arrow and hit it straight, between its eyes. The first spider writhed on the forest floor, its horrible body twitching as black blood poured from the arrow wounds. Tauriel was the same, weaving from tree, shooting with fluidity, as if it was second nature. She moved so swiftly that the spiders could not tell which way the young she-elf was going to go.

They kept coming, spreading from branch to branch, tree to tree. If Legolas and Tauriel had not done this many times before, they would have been finished. The air was filled with the screams of the dying spiders.

 Lithely, jumping from branch to branch, he shot each spider he came into contact with. If they put up more of a fight, he drew his sword and stabbed the beasts. There were almost none that he had to actually put up a fight with. There were soon no more on his side.

But he could no longer see Tauriel.

“Tauriel?” he called. Drawing an arrow, he crept off of his branch, low to the ground.

She was wrestling with a ring of spiders, but there was one behind her she could not see. It was clearly the spiders’ strategy to distract her until their brother could stab her from the back with its dripping pincers. By the time she turned around, it was already leaping towards her, fangs outstretched.

Instinctively, Legolas hurdled past the nearest tree, and, using the branch as leverage, shot the spider from above and landed cat-like next to his friend. Back to back, they drew their swords.

They finished off the other spiders rather quickly and regrouped. While Legolas was giving orders to the other elves, he could feel Tauriel’s gaze again. Although this time, it was not a glare she gave him, but rather a look of disbelief. He had just saved her life.

The reason? He did not know, nor did he want to know. He was to be betrothed soon. There was no time to consider his possible feelings for his longtime friend, and the Captain of the Guard.