Another Life

Chapter 15 - Betrayal

Warning: This chapter contains rape and violence.

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That night, we could finally rest on the bank for a few hours before returning to the boats, and I spent some of the night paddling, some of the night asleep, the conversation dancing in my head. I tried to keep the phone hidden so I resisted touching it during the night- the light would show up- but I wanted to. I wanted to find out what else it had on it. The battery probably needed charging anyway.

Boromir avoided me. He just ...wandered off, if I came, he spoke as if I wasn't there, and somehow this hurt more than anything else. Yes- we'd already been separate in the boats, but suddenly... his silence hurt more than any insults. I liked the man. I hadn't meant to hurt him. I couldn't sleep well that night, wishing he'd let me come close to speak, to ...I didn't know. Talk about what he'd seen. What it was. Tell him that ...what? I liked Legolas? It semed so childish.

When light came on the third day on the river, the landscape had changed, the cliffs almost gone now, the hills rising up. Legolas was tensed again, as if he could sense something, and the mood of the Fellowship hadn't improved. I felt it, as everyone probably did, that we were a long way now from the safety of Lothlorien. That we were back on a deadly quest of some kind.

I put the phone in the sunlight with the solar panel charger, waiting, while Legolas kept an eye on the banks. He seemed to be at ease with the phone now, either that or there were worse problems, because he was distracted all day. So I played Angry birds between paddling. Silly, yeah, but somehow... it helped.

We stopped that night, before it got dark, Aragorn calling something out about 'bathing'.

Legolas glanced towards the east bank and said something in Elvish, hurriedly. I hoped it wasn't 'There's a bunch of Orc over there'.

Aragorn was already stripping his tunic off though. “Yes, Legolas. Sam, make a small fire, and cook the last of the meat. We may not have a few hours to wash for some time, or to eat, so we eat, we bathe, and we wash. The meat should be finished while we have some distance.”

Sam was already tugging his frying pan off his pack, eagerly asking, “Can I cook the bacon?”

“It should be safe enough.” Aragorn nodded. He glanced up to Boromir, who was already walking away, “Boromir?”

“Wood.” Boromir's eyes met mine, he flinched, and turned his back to us. “I will find it.”

“I'll try and catch a fish.” Pippin offered.

Aragorn nodded, a small smile on his face, and turned to me as he flung his shirt on the bank. “Will you bathe though it is dark?”

“Yeah.” I needed to. I stank. Cold water didn't scare me right now.

“Legolas will guard you then.” He didn't even have to ask. I didn't mind this time. I nodded, turning to Legolas, who was already heading in the oppsiate direction to Boromir. Aragorn called after us, “Do not be long.”

I waded into the water over the pebbly beach, the faint moonlight on us, and washed as fast as I could with the small bar of soap I'd had packed. I could feel Legolas gaze on me, sort of, but it felt different to Lothlorien. When I got naked in Lothlorien, it was ...well, lust, and affection, and intense focus on me.

I twisted around to gaze up at him in the water. He stood there, eyes on me, but ears everywhere else. No real lust, not really, except for a trace of affection, his focus on the world. Guarding me and the Fellowship. It wasn't just that though. He heard something.

“You hear Orc?”

Leoglas nodded, vaguely, his gaze going over me to the far bank. “More than that, I feel. We are safe to rest overnight. Aragorn is right.” But still, his grip on his bow wasn't faltering, and he was as tense as a coiled spring. How he kept that energy held so well was beyond me... he seemed ready for battle day or night without rest. Elf thing again.