Shades Of Darkness (Legolas/LotR) Book 2 ✔️

XXIV

To @ShdaowCat5 - for the encouraging words and for reading this whole escapade of a story in just a few hours.

"Do you think we should return to the King?"

"Give her some time, Gandor. We have another mission as well, if she does not wake, we will have to split up."

Arya groaned in dismay, her head throbbing viciously.

"Lady Arya!" She recognized Gandor's voice immediately, and was about to tell him to lower his voice when Luhrien beat her to it; "Stop shouting Gandor, her head is bound to be hurting."

Gandor, unluckily, did not listen, and before she could open her eyes hands clasped her shoulders and started shaking her as he shouted even louder for her to wake up.

"If you wish to keep your hands Mirkwoodian, I advise you to pull them away right this second," she snarled, eyes glowering as she finally managed to open them.

Grumbling to herself she slowly sat up, one hand rubbing at the large bump on the back of her head. Looking around she saw that only Gandor and Luhrien was sitting around her and her sharp eyes landed on Luhrien. "Where are the others? What happened?"

"A band of orcs attacked us, Kaydin pushed you out of the way of an arrow, which is when you blacked out. Orian is dead," he paused slightly as he raised a hand to his heart. "Ulmas and Zariel is out scouting and should join us again shortly."

"Is Kaydin alright?"

"He is alive and quite well as far as we can tell, but he won't let anyone come near him, so we have been unable to get the arrow out and access his damage."

Slowly getting onto her feet she tried her best to keep her balance, accepting Luhrien's outstretched hand. "Lead me to him?"

Kaydin was not very far from where she had been knocked out. She could see the white in his eyes, and he was stomping his feet into the ground restlessly.

"Hey boy," she called softly, waving Luhrien and a grumpy Gandor out of view. He stomped his feet some more when she got closer, his eyes flashing. "Shh," she mumbled as he whinnied. "Everything is going to be alright. Davo nestad anech (let me heal you)."

Though he seemed fine, she could easily see the arrow that had struck right into his left shoulder. "Dartho (hold), Kaydin." Taking the last few steps towards him she held out a hand, palm facing him. She stopped there, waiting for him to make the final move. Once his soft muzzle touched her palm she reached forwards with her other hand, gently caressing his long and strong neck. "There we go," she mumbled softly, continuing to talk to him in a calming manner as she moved closer to the arrow.

She knew she would have to cut slightly into his skin to get the arrowhead out and told him as much. Kaydin stood completely silent, barely moving a muscle as she as gently and as quickly as possible sliced his skin open until she could see the part of the arrowhead.

Grabbing a tight hold of the arrow she looked at Kaydin and gave him a few calming pats before she hurriedly pulled it backwards, and out of his shoulder. He neighed in dismay and she gently patted him again as she looked carefully at the arrowhead making sure it had not broken and left anything inside his shoulder. Looking closer at his wound she made sure there had been no poison on the arrow, but seeing that the wound looked clean she efficiently closed it up and covered it up again with what Luhrien handed her.

"How long have we been delayed?" She asked, her eyes looking up at the sky to see if she could find the sun. "You have been unconscious for almost a day, so right now the day is about to pass into night again."