Vicious || Legolas

Twenty two

Namir was awoken by a hand on his shoulder and Legolas' hushed voice in his ear. "Come on Radag. We've got to go". The sky was black with no stars but his sharp eyes picked out his lvoer in the gloom. Namir sat up, yawning as his nocturnal instincts began to kick in and wake him up fully. He must have only been asleep and hour or so but fire was out and their tent disassembled. Legolas was holding the reins of his white mare, Gimli at his side. The horse saddled and ready with their packs. 

"Come on lad", the dwarf grunted. "We need to catch Aragorn". Namir stretched lazily as he pulled on a loose green shirt and picked up his longsword. Legolas chuckled and tried to tuck a few of the wavy strands behind the cat's ears.  

"And where do you think you're off to?" Gimli's voice was audible around the tent to their left as Aragorn approached. The dwarf having snuck off before them to ambush the man.

"Not this time", this time you must stay Gimli", Aragorn stated. Gimli hummed as he crossed his arms, obviously not buying it. Nest to him, in the gloom away from the fire light of the other tents, Legolas rolled his eyes with an amused exhale.

"Have you learnt nothing of the stubbornness of dwarves?" The elf asked as he stepped into the light. Namir at his back, long braid swishing behind him almost like a tail in the shadows. 

"You might as well accept it", Gimli grunted. "We're going with you laddie". 

Aragorn glanced at Namir but the skin-changer shrugged. "Don't even bother", he said. "It will save you the breath". The man sighed deeply in defeat and Gimli chuckled. 

"Don't try and tell a cat what to do. Only pointy ears can do that and he is only listened to fifty percent of the time". 

"More like twenty", Legolas smiled as he swung himself into the saddle. Aragorn helping to heft Gimli onto the brown mare. 

"I listen to you about all the important things", Namir complained as he pulled himself up behind his lover. 

"Keep defending yourself laddie", Gimli sniggered as their horses walked on. 

Confused voices and whispers broke out from the soldiers as their horses crossed the camp. The grass giving way to stone underfoot as they headed for the pass into the mountains. Even from this distance, Namir could feel a coldness of death emanating from the stone. Behind them, a soldier called out to Aragorn but his voice was lost to the dark as  they left the camp behind. The company falling into a hushed silence as hooves clattered on stone, the sound echoing around them as the mountains rose on either side. 

The sun broke into dawn after and hour or two, filling the path with grey light. In some places it was narrow, tight enough that they rode their horses in a line. Aragorn with Gimli in front, Legolas and Namir behind. In other places it stretched wide enough that five horses could walk together in the space. But each side rocks rose up like walls and blocked the sky. No greenery was visible, having been left behind long ago. Namir couldn't shake the sense that there was something trapping about this place. A ever present feeling of being caged, entombed, and it was growing stronger as they neared their destination. It left him feeling jittery with the animal need to flee in fear. If his grip on Legolas' waist tightened over time, then the elf didn't mention it. 

"What kind of army would linger in such a place?" Gimli asked around midday. His voice not raising louder than a hushed murmur, as if the walls could hear. 

"One that is cursed", Legolas replied calmly. The elf seemed the least effected by the overhanging sense of death around them. Gimli was looking shaken and Aragorn was wearing an expression of grim determination. Namir was fighting the urge to flee. His head pressed into the blonde's shoulder and eyes screwed shut. The walls reminding him of the cell back at Isengard and it was only the elf's scent that was keeping him grounded. 

""Long ago the men of the mountain swore an oath to the last king of Gondor, to come to his aid, to fight. But when the time came, when Gondor's need was dire they fled. Vanishing into the darkness of the mountain", Legolas's voice was gentle and soothing as he told the story. "So Isildur cursed them to never rest until they had fulfilled their pledge". 

They were nearing the source of the foreboding feeling. The path narrowing down to a single doorway of darkness in the rock. Dead skeletons of trees stood on either side and they rustled with an unknown wind that seemed to exhale like a dying rasp from the cave. "The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away", Gimli whispered as they dismounted. Namir's hand not straying from the elf's back as his feet touched the dirt. Eyes large as he took in the skulls that were stacked in crevices in the stone around them. Most of them were human but a few Elf and Dwarf stood there too. He wondered if those were the travellers who never returned. 

Aragorn unsheathed his sword as they looked up at the images and runes carved into the stone above the doorway. "The way is shut", Legolas read, translating as he spoke. "It was made by those who are dead and the dead keep it. The way is shut". As he finished as ghastly wind billowed from the mountain like fierce roar of a dying man. 

The horses shrieked and took off with a suddenness that ripped the reins from their rider's hands. Namir yowled, skittering back with such sudden haste that he tripped and went sprawling across the ground. His neck burned and the air smelt of decay. He was shaking. "Namir", Legolas was reaching for him, hands cupping his face and forcing the skin-changer to look at him. "Look at me. Breath Radag. Breath for me". His blue eyes were soft and Namir found himself inhaling in time with the elf's words. Slowly, his hyperventilation calmed and he stopped shaking. "There", Legolas smiled proudly. "I won't let anything happen to you. Poloden Radag". He soothed as he pulled Namir to his feet. "Gi Melin". The words were a brief whisper as he pressed a kiss to the skin-changer's brow. 

"We may want to stay away from things such as death", Gimli pointed out. The dwarf was staring at the dark as if something was going to come out and eat him. 

"I do not fear death". Aragorn swore, seemingly enraged by the ghost's tricks. With those words, he strode through the doorway and was swallowed up by the dark. 

Namir whimpered and gripped Legolas' shoulder. "It will be fine", the elf promised. Then he was stepping after the man. Namir closing his eyes and allowing himself to be pulled after him but the grip on the blonde's cloak. 

"Why this is a thing unheard of", Gimli exclaimed. "A elf would go underground where a dwarf dare not? Urgh I'd never hear the end of it". Then he was jogging after them. The darkness swallowing them whole. 

unedited 

Poloden Radar - Gallant beastie. 

Gi Melin- I love you.