A Silver Lining (Lord of the Rings) [Legolas]

V. A Bump in the Road

V. A Bump in the Road

            Dawn came all too quickly the next morning for our trio. The horse had waked me rather than Legolas. Once we were all up, we made sure to have a quick breakfast before continuing on our voyage to Lórien.

            We continued our trek at a nice, slow lope. Legolas was directing the horse once again. I wondered what it would be like to actually ride a horse, to be in command of it. Surely it could not be hard, it looked easy.

            As the sun continued to rise in the sky, I let my mind wander. There was so much I could tell someone with my busy, terrible past. I wished I could spill it all to Legolas, but I did not feel I could confide in him fully, not yet. I barely knew him. If I told him everything, what if he turned out to be a different person than I assumed him to be?

            The wind blew my hair around me annoyingly, constantly blinding me. I grimaced. I should have pulled my hair back out of my face so I would not have this problem.

            I was pulled out of my thoughts by a noise. It sounded eerily familiar to me…like hooves, but they were not ours.

            My blood went cold. Oh no. Not now! Even though I told myself repeatedly to not look behind, I did so anyway. I could not even utter a scream, I was too in shock.

            One of them had found me. But I guess it was a good thing that only one had found me compared to half of the group or the entire group. Nevertheless, even the sight of just one terrified me, because I was sure he knew who I was. He was probably a part of the group that I had been stuck in for years.

            “Can he go any faster?” I pressed Legolas, my voice high in panic.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Someone is after us!” I looked over my shoulder again to the rider gaining ground on us. “Please, we need to outrun him!”

            “Do you know him?”

            “Trust me, Legolas, please.”

            It was evident that he did, because our steed’s hooves pounded harder and quicker across the earth. The pounding hooves behind us sounded like they were getting even closer despite us gaining speed. The last thing I wanted was a confrontation right now.

            From the corner of my eye, I saw flickers of a brown nose bobbing in the air. How had the horse caught up to us so fast? The rider was not whipping it, Legolas and I would have heard it strike the horse’s hind repeatedly with our acute hearing.

            I was ripped off the horse in a quick second, taking Legolas down with me by mistake. I hit the harsh ground first, immediately rolling to be on all fours. Legolas lithely jumped to his feet, standing in front of me, shielding me from the rider who was getting to his feet. The horses continued to run off, but I heard their feet stop.

            “Give me the girl,” the rider hissed, his black eyes trying to see past my guardian. I swallowed, slowly getting to my feet. My heart beat furiously in my chest.

            “She is not going anywhere with you,” Legolas said coldly. I stared at him, stunned. Here I thought he was not capable of delivering words with a drop of malice in them. Today it seemed he proved me wrong.

            “Don’t force me to take her from you, it won’t be pretty.” A gasp escaped me as I saw the rider brandish a bow and arrow. In the same instant, Legolas was armed with his weaponry. The rider looked surprised. I tried not to smirk at him.