The Exile's Daughter

Out in the Open

NWe walked on through the trees and to the outer slopes of the valley. The country was wild even a mile from our base; scrublands surrounded us, with plenty of long grass and brush making a convenient hiding place for the enemies.

Elbereth was not with us that night, for the stars were veiled by thick cloud. The moon was hidden, and we had no fair light in the dark to guide our way. However, Legolas and I needed no such direction. Our sharpened instincts, our far-seeing eyes, our advanced hearing, all pointed to one fact: there was more than one.

"Stay close for a moment", Legolas breathed, glancing back at Mithrandir and myself behind him. Since he had better senses than Mithrandir and was certainly more experienced than me, we had decided he should lead our patrol. My swords were in my hands and Mithrandir had drawn Glamdring.

There was the snap of a twig some way ahead of us. Legolas' hand tightened on his bow; he itched to nock an arrow, but we needed one, at least, alive. If we killed the enemy in front of us immediately, the rest would surely run back to their camp and we would have a far worse fight on our hands. Legolas held out his left hand, using his index and middle fingers to gesture me over. "I need the lightest of steps", he whispered apologetically to Mithrandir, who assented with a nod and stood with his sword held aloft. 

Legolas gestured me closer, raising his bow at last and prowling forwards like a cat on the tail of a mouse. It was the first time he had led in a sortie, and though we numbered just three I admired his expertise. The slightest of glances, the strategic placing of Gandalf behind and I beside him, all showed his experience. He was clearly a great captain among his own people.

His bowstring creaked slightly as it tautened; his fingers curled around it, fingering the arrow and waiting. The enemy was visible in the bushes now, ten orcs and a warg, but they had not noticed us yet. Legolas jerked his head slightly to the left and I stepped across a foot or so, crouching the other side of the brush where the orcs hid. Any that escaped his arrows would find themselves at the mercy of my blades. They glowed like moonlight in the dark in anticipation of the fight, with the strange green tinge dragon blood brought just discernible.

Legolas warned me with the smallest of glances, then loosed his arrow into the middle of the pack, hitting the warg directly in the eye. There was silence for a few moments. The orcs and us alike watched it twitch, then fall like a stone to the ground. They looked up and finally saw Legolas. He was standing in the open, while I stood in darkness. I raised my swords as one raised a crossbow, but before I could so much as prepare to run Legolas had killed it. "Os-veno adel din", he ordered. I hesitated to see him being rapidly surrounded, but he spoke again, raising his bow and shooting down two others. "Ness, caro!" (S: go around behind them. S: Ness, now!)

The urgency in his voice stirred me to action. I leapt to the top of the brush, my light footsteps dancing easily over the dense undergrowth. The orc closest to me was raising his bow at Legolas. I jumped from the brush on high and drove my swords through its unprotected shoulders, slicing the throat from the inside. It fell in a gurgle of blood.

However, the other orcs now noticed me. Harsh cries assaulted the cool air. Six still lived. They turned from Legolas and ran faster than I could have imagined to surround me instead. "She-elf!" one of them growled. I turned to meet it only to find every blade pointed at me. Turning again, a sharp hiss escaped my mouth. One of their blades sliced sharply against my neck.

I was trapped, but I was not alone. One fell, then another, to Legolas' arrows. I mastered myself, pushing the nearest one away and cutting its throat with a cry. There were now only three left alive, but still they pushed on to me, ignoring with offensive indifference the arrows of Legolas and, when he burst onto the scene, the glowing sword of Mithrandir.