The Lonely Mountain [1]

It is Our Fight

Tauriel followed the company's trail down the river. She crouched on the side of the river looking at the various footprints when she heard a noise behind her and swung round, bow loaded. She found Legolas stood looking at her, also with his bow loaded. She stood up and lowered her bow.

"Ingannen le Orch. (I thought you were an orc)." She said.

"Cí Orch im, dangen le. (If I were an orc, you would be dead)." He said, also lowering his bow. "Tauriel, you cannot hunt thirty Orcs on your own." Legolas said.

"But I'm not on my own." She replied with a smile.

"You knew I would come." He said.

"Yes. I knew you would come to make sure she is safe." Tauriel said referring to Amara. She knew they had been betrothed longer than she had been alive, but why they had never married, that she did not know.

"The King is angry, Tauriel. For six hundred years my father has protected you, favoured you. You defied his orders, you betrayed his trust." He said walking forward. "If you return, he will forgive you." Legolas said.

"But I will not. If I go back, I will not forgive myself." Tauriel said walking to the edge of the cliff. "The King has never let Orc filth roam our lands. Yet he would let this Orc pack cross our borders and kill our prisoners? And what of Amara? They want her for something and whatever it is, it cannot be good." She said.

"It is not your fight."

"It is our fight. It will not end here. With every victory this evil will grow. If your father has his way, we will do nothing. Amara and the dwarves will perish and we will hide within our walls, live our lives away from the light and let darkness descend. Are we are not part of this world? Tell me, Mellon (friend), when did we let evil become stronger than us?" She asked.