Storm Of Arrows ➝ The Lord of the Rings ✓

Part Fourteen

PART FOURTEEN ~

Bodies.

Bodies were everywhere.

Piled up high in messy heaps; the villagers of Delheim. Bloodied, bruised, slashed and cut. Murdered ruthlessly and left to rot away in the scorching sun. It was a horrific sight, and even Legolas could not fight off the wave of nausea that pulsated through his stomach. He quickly averted his eyes, though he could not extinguish the repulsive stench of death that invaded his nostrils. Tathar and Ferrin were also clearly disgusted, and their eyes were imbued with sorrow.

"We must burn the bodies," Tathar declared, recovering from his abhorrence and hurriedly setting out to start a fire. There was not enough time to set up a pyre, so they merely set alight the mounds of the dead and watched as the wisps smoke curled high into the sky. It would no doubt attract orcs, but they were prepared for their arrival.

As soon as the fire was reduced to mere smoulders, and the other elves had searched the village but to no avail, they prepared to leave. Legolas still wasn't able to determine whether this was Taryn's village or not, but her story matched the one told from the ruins surrounding him, and he believed there was a large degree of truth in the tale.

"We should leave at once."

The prince nodded distractedly, and gathered his command of elves as they set out back to Mirkwood. But they got no further than two blocks of smouldering refuges before they encountered their first band of orcs. They leaped from the crumbling ruins with growls and hisses, clanging their metal swords and roaring distinctly in some irrational war cry. The elves immediately snapped to an offensive stance, nocking arrows to their bows, drawing them back and releasing them with a resounding twang before the orcs could take one more step. Seven orcs fell dead within the second, and Legolas departed another from the world with a slash of his daggers.

More poured out of the buildings, and stumbled clumsily towards the elves. One lunged for Legolas' throat, but he nimbly leapt away from the two-headed axe, skirting around the enraged beast and stabbed his knives through it's back. He continued parrying and dodging and stabbing in counter, until the grotesque corpses of orcs surrounded the weary elves. The remaining two were quickly dispatched of as two more missiles cut through the air and wedged themselves into the orcs' chests.

Legolas remained where he was for a few moments; doubled over, panting heavily. His eyes remained trained on the ground, until his attention was suddenly attained as a bright glint of silver flashed in the corner of his eye. He turned fully, intrigued as to what was beaming so brightly; it was coming from a motionless orc, but the object itself was obscured by it's armour. He frowned and wondered what treasures the beast could be hiding, and steadily leaped over to it, ignoring the other elves' inquiring glances.

Another flash of silver, and Legolas approached the orc gingerly, mesmerised by the coruscating light. As he drew closer, his eyes picked out the item that was emitting the conspicous light; A necklace. An alluring pendant hung around the orc's neck by a barely visible chain. He drew closer for inspection, and found it was indeed a locket, seemingly holding two images inside. He outstreched a hand and pulled the chain from the orc's necks; it came away loosely, and the Prince gripped it in his hand, studying it carefully. The surface was caked with grime and specks of blood, but he wiped it away on the sleeve of his tunic to reveal a tiny inscription etched into the locket;

My Dear Taryn,
Love Mother.

Legolas gasped in surprise, overwhelmed with a sense of shock, yet delight. This was her village! He had been right all along, and there were truth in her words!

As the Prince stared at the necklace in amazement, Tathar wondered over after Legolas had no confided in them regarding his latest his discovery. He picked out the item in Legolas' hands and immediately inquired about it.

"What have you got there, My Prince?"

Legolas jumped slightly, oblivious to the guard's arrival, and gestured to the necklace. "Well, it's a locket. The orc had it strung around it's neck. But, the amazing thing is, Tathar, that it's owner is none other than the very prisoner we hold captive in our dungeon!"

Tathar's eye lit in surprise, and a great interest suddenly kindled within him. "Hmm..." He mumbled, thoughtfully. "What's inside?"

Legolas shrugged, but they soon found out. As the locket sprung open with a light click, the elves laid their eyes on two faded photographs; they were clearly people, and Legolas managed to identify one of the figures as being Taryn. The other was a boy, a lot younger than the prisoner.

I wonder if that's Aris? Legolas pondered, staring intently at the blanched images. He suddenly snapped shut the necklace and turned his attention to his expectant followers, ignoring Tathar's glance of protest.

"Right, let us return to the palace. There are clearly no survivors, and I am sure King Thranduil will be expecting us shortly." Legolas slipped the necklace round his neck, tucking it under his tunic, before rounding up his companions and setting off once more.

It had only been a quick investigation, but the purpose had been completed and Legolas' suspicions had been confirmed. He just hoped he wasn't too late to prove Taryn's innocence. But she had still murdered an elf, and he didn't believe Thranduil would let her off so lightly for doing such a thing; even after hearing her story. Would he be able to save her? Or will her life end, shrouded with misery and grief?

These thoughts stayed with the Prince of the Woodland Realm, until they were interrupted by the steady, low-pitched whistled as an arrow skirted through the air and slammed straight into an impervious Elven guard; Ferrin.

~

A/N: :O Not Ferrin! Yeah. Sorry. Goodbye, Ferrin. We only knew you for, like, two chapters.

Anyways. Cliffhanger? Kinda. Yeah. Sorry. This is my apology for not updating yesterday. Sorry it's short.

I had a French Speaking Exam today :O And it sucked. I forgot, like, most of my draft and kinda paused for an awfully long time. Anyways. I still think I did okay...

So. Have a nice life.
I will be updating 'Price of Battle' next weekend. Yeah. I've started alternating between my two fanfics. Hope you don't mind...

Yeah. Please could you check them out? My other Fanfics? If you like Final Fantasy - which I doubt any of you do - then please read my FFVII Crisis Core Zack Fanfic. It'd mean a lot to me :)

I will stop talking now.

Please VOTE!
~ _imagine_fantasy_