Heiress of Isildur (Legolas Love Story)

Chapter 17

They reached the pile of bodies within an hour now they were on horseback, Fangorn spread out in front of them. Farren dismounted while the horse was still moving, landing in a crouch before she walked towards the bodies, still smoking.

The leader of the Uruk-hai's head was on a spear, she looked at it feeling a sense of triumph that Boromir's death had been avenged.

"It's one of their wee belts" Gimli muttered pulling a belt out of the carcasses. Farren hurried over to them Legolas whispered an elvish lament sadly looking down. As Farren reached them Aragorn kicked a helmet, screaming as he fell to his knees.

"We failed them," Gimli said, Farren felt her knees go weak, dropping to her knees slightly ahead of Aragorn, fingers brushing over the burnt, crushed grass. When her eyes caught a trail in the grass, she heard Aragorn moving behind her, "Aragorn. Tell me you see this"

"A hobbit lay here. And the other" he sighed but Farren was on her knees, hands running frantically over the grass.

"No! Aragorn look here"

"They crawled. Their hands were bound" Aragorn muttered on his feet now, moving towards Farren who raised a cut rope.

"Their bonds were cut!" she cried out happily, moving faster as both siblings followed the tracks. Legolas and Gimli following blindly behind. Farren looked around desperately as the battle of the previous night was revealed, horses' hooves, Uruk-hai feet pounding into the ground, all the while two small hobbit tracks darted frantically around.

"They ran over here"

"They were followed" Farren said pointing at an Urkhai's tracks,

They were running now, "The tracks lead away from the battle" Aragorn yelled. The four of them came to a halt in front of the tree line "Into Fangorn Forest" he breathed.

"Fangorn. What madness drove them in there?" Gimli asked aghast.

"The desire to survive and their innocence of Middle-Earth" Farren replied, stepping into the tree line, "Come. Quickly now, we may yet have time to reach them". She hurried into the trees, Legolas by her side and Aragorn pulling Gimli into the forest.

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Aragorn crouched fingers running over the rocks again, Legolas looked around. 'These are strange tracks' he said beckoning Farren over. They almost looked like tree roots.

"The air is so close in here"

"This forest is old. Very old" he said helpfully, "Full of memory...and anger" a loud groaning sound filled them, Gimli raised his axe. Farren looked around, she had a strange feeling in her chest, she could feel the truth in Legolas' words. "The trees are speaking to each other" Legolas gasped.

"Gimli, lower your axe," she told the dwarf, he did so raising his hands in surrender, he was scared, very scared. They continued onwards when Legolas froze, catching Farren by the waist pulling her back into his side. His hands stayed on her waist as he looked out through the trees.

"Something is out there" he whispered in elvish to them, speaking in elvish so not to alarm Gimli.

"What do you see?" Farren replied in elvish, her hands still pressed to his shoulder as her hip bone dug into his leg. Aragorn came up beside them.

"The white wizard approaches" he spoke so Gimli could understand them. Farren detached herself from the comforting warmth of Legolas.

"Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us" Aragorn whispered. He withdrew his sword from his sheath slightly, Gimli raised his axe, Legolas' fingers trailed softly to the string of his notched bowstring while Farren raised her hand slowly, grabbing the hilt of her sword over her shoulder. "We must be quick" Aragorn warned.

Together they spun as a bright white light filled the space behind them, Legolas released an arrow as Gili threw his axe. Aragorn and Farren raised their swords but the white figure deflected both the arrow and the axe. The metal of her sword burnt Farren's hands causing her to drop the blade.

Farren raised her hands to protect her eyes from the light. "You are tracking the footsteps of two young hobbits" the voice seemed to be made of two voices. Aragorn yelled at the figure where the hobbits were, also with his hand raised. "They passed this way. The day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?" the light was fading slowly.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Aragorn ordered.

The figure stepped out of the light revealing Gandalf's old face. They all gasped his name, Farren stepped forward feeling in a trance. Legolas dropped to his knees, followed by Gimli. "You fell" Farren whispered.

Gandalf recited his tale of his fight with the Balrog, of how he had been returned to them at the turn of the tide. "Gandalf?" the old man looked confused as Aragorn said his name, 'That is what they used to call me', Gimli smiled agreeing with him, "Gandalf the Grey. That was my name' he winked at Farren. "I am Gandalf the white. And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide"

The wizard led them to the edge of the wood. "One stage of your journey is over the next is just beginning. War had come to Rohan, we must ride to Edoras with all speed" out in the light he began to whistle, a tune very similar to the one Farren used when she called Nuallan.

A beautiful white horse galloped towards them, it seemed to glow with ethereal light. "That is one of the Mearas. Unless my eyes are cheated by some spell" Legolas said, Farren looked up at the prince's face, it held a glow of awe at the horse.

"Shadowfax. He is the Lord of all horses and he has been my friend through many dangers" Gandalf smiled stroking the beautiful horse's mane. Aragorn pulled Farren onto the back of his horse as together they galloped over the plains.

"Farren, where is Nuallan?" Legolas called to her over the wind,

"He is where he wishes to be. Shadowfax is the lord of all horses, Nuallan is his son. He will come when I call, but I want him to remain war free for a few more days. He has been in many battles with me, let me spare him a few more days" she called back her grip tightening on Aragorn as they picked up speed.

In the distance, they could see Edoras, on a hill. It looked bleak and dark, nothing like what it had been the last time she has seen it. Eomer's words echoed in her head. She hoped Theodred was still ok, it had confused her why he was not with Eomer. Maybe he had stayed to help Eowyn?

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A/N Thank you so much for 2k reads! I didn't even realise until this morning, which has been a lovely surprise! School starts again tomorrow so updates may go back to being twice every week but I will try to remain consistent, exams suck!

Wren