To Live Again: Waiting Between Worlds {Lord of the Rings Fanfiction}

In Tandem

South Western Greenwood - Close to Amon Lanc

Legolas had directed the warriors as best as his young intuition and skill would allow him. He knew that the attacks would be spread out, probably in the form of orchestrated ambush - that was the favoured approach of the Shaman tribes. It was a good thing that the Silvan also favoured this tactic too. So, before their camps could be spotted, his first order was to fan out the troops and use as much of the terrain as possible.

The archers took to the higher ground and kept at various distances, he nominated himself to go with them, which predictably pleased Aradan. The other forces took up positions on the ground, in the trees, the waters, anything that hid them and hid them well. The aim of the game was to find their assailants before they found them, which was so much more difficult than Legolas could have ever anticipated.

The closer they crept toward the old ruins the more the forest shifted and groaned, turning against the elves instead of aiding them.

The air was hot and close, their armour clung to their skin with the sweat produced by the suffocating humidity, and the very spores of the trees seemed to be reeking with sickness. Somewhere in Legolas's memory he recalled a time when his mother treated sick villagers after the forest was temporarily poisoned by abominations that they called spiders. He sorely hoped he wouldn't run into such unholy creatures today, for they did bite, his Nana still had the scar on her ankle to prove so. However, this was the least of his worries, his concerns were drawn to the fact that the sun could not penetrate the forest canopy. The dark clouds that poured from the old forest did not seem like natural weather, instead it appeared like a growling wind formed, and every so often it breathed over the area blanketing it in a fearful darkness.

Something unholy was trying to take root in his home and without his Adar defending their realm the power of his people would surely fall against its sickness. That being said they still had Celairiel, and if Tauriel was indeed correct, then perhaps there was reason to hope.

Silently Legolas turned northward one last time, the sky still bright there, the light still beautiful - yes, he had to put some faith in his little sister.

She could drive this darkness back, she had their mother's light in her soul and their father's ancestral gifts in her blood, and for once he wasn't at all jealous of it. In comparison her task seemed incredibly difficult for at least he was trained to go into battle. Celairiel was going purely on instinct and for that very reason he offered up his prayers to Illuvatar. Up until this point his little prayers had been answered so he had no reason to doubt, except for the fear that knotted tight in the pit of his stomach.

He wasn't so sure this time.

xXx

South Western Greenwood - The Clearing by the Ravine

xXx

Celairiel watched the dark clouds swirl less than a league from their position - the last known place she had been with her mother before she was taken. Her fingers curled into tight fists and she wrestled with the tears that threatened to push free...she would not succumb to her grief yet.

"Are you ready?" the soft voice of her new companion asked worriedly, and she glanced off to the right to find Glorfindel freeing his beloved horse and turning him loose.

"That is not a sensible question, I do not think I could ever be ready for this," Celairiel sighed, feeling the painful thrum of energy wreak havoc in her tender fea. The fear and anger that welled up in the heart of the woodland was beginning to grow until she was almost certain she could sense its very presence rage and thrash against the violation of its spirit - something was making it sick, something was twisting it and breaking it's beautifully wild and innocent spirit, making it unsightly and unnatural before the rest of creation.