Green Cloaks || Legolas

Eight

They set up camp in under a small overhang half way up Weathertop. The rocky overhang provided slight protection from the howling wind. The hobbits all collapsed with sighs of exhaustion, grateful to relieve their aching feet. Luin stood at the edge of the cave. His toes almost handing off the edge of the hill to the steep slope below. It was not a fall, but it would be a painful rolling tumble of his slipped. The wind was tugging at his cloak and layers of robes, playing with the stray strands of black hair which had fallen out of his braids. He watched as the last remains of the sun slipped out, black clouds covering the sky. It looked forebodingly stormy.

Behind him, he heard Aragorn set down a heavy bundle. The man unrolled it to reveal a set of short swords. The blades were old and not very well weighted, the edges nicked from use. But they would do in a fight. Aragorn tossed one to each hobbit. "Keep these with you. Keep them close", Aragorn instructed as he stood up. He rested a hand on the hilt of the lone sword on his belt as he shared a look with Luin. "I'm going to have a look around. Luin scout the west side. I'll take the east". Luin nodded. Aragorn disappeared down the slope back the way they had came.

There was not much of a path in the other direction. Only a small trail leading up to the ruins. Luin gazed out at the dark. His cloak and hair so blended into the deep blue of the night sky that he looked like a ghost. Not scary but with a certain lack of presence that made it difficult for him to be spotted. The hobbits gasped as one of the blades shot out of its sheath and hovered in the air in front of him. The silver blade was as thin as a sliver of moonlight. The fine white handles decorated in jade sparkled slightly. Luin stepped lightly onto the blade and the sword immediately drifted up into the air until he was not discernible from the night sky.

Luin circled the hill in wide, slow looping movements. His form gliding through the air as he patrolled. Mists had descended and they hung low to the ground. It made it hard to see anything below. Shadow figures from trees to rocks appearing the same in the gloom. He scouted for about two hours. During which the sky became cold and wind howled with a fever.

He was just looping around in what must have been his fourth circle when a light caught his eye. He turned sharply, halting in midair. The stupid hobbits had lit a fire. Luin inwardly cursed. He should have warned them. As he watched the fire sharply faded, one of them stamping it out. But it was too late. A inhuman screech echoed below him. Luin looked down as four shadowy figures broke through the mist. He cursed again, much more violently. He had to find Aragorn. Thinking quickly, he raised his left arm and his second sword unsheathed itself and floated in the air. This one was a mirror image to the first one. The two blades a matching pair. But if one looked closely, they could see the empty hole in the hilt where a blue jewel was once held. The jewel now several miles away.

Muttering under his breath, Luin flicked his wrist and the sword shot through the air towards the ruins. A streak of silver before it vanished. He just had to hope that it would help the hobbits hold out while he got Aragorn.

Luin found Aragorn at the northern base of the hill. This side was a harsh, almost as steep as a cliff face, drop of rock. No way for a man to climb up easily. Aragorn was running along the base but the distance between him and the path leading up to the ruins was big. As Luin swooped down, he could feel the vibrations as blades deflected off of his sword. "Aragorn!" He called as he dropped down. "Come on!" He waved. Aragorn looked up and nimbly jumped on to the blade as Luin swooped past. A move they had done many times before. He clung on to Luin's shoulder with one hand as they rapidly flew through the air to the ruins.

Luin could feel the the energy of the fight in his blade. His sword couldn't keep up. The hobbits had no training and were being easily pushed back. The sword couldn't keep up. It kept on flying between all of them and the nazgul, unable to protect all of them at once.

Luin and Aragorn landed just as one of the dark shadowy figures plunged the tip of its sword down. There was a scream and Frodo appeared. The ring clutched in one hand and the tip of the sword stuck in his shoulder. Aragorn and Luin charged.

Aragorn snatched up a branch from the ground as he moved. Luin around him, shooting fire at the end with a flick of his wrist. The branch caught alight and burst into flame. Aragorn waved at the wraiths. The light driving them back as he swung his sword around in the other hand. Luin's swords shot back into their sheathes as he held out his hands. Spiritual energy began to condense in his palms. Two balls of pale blue light, like stars, formed in the air. He ran forwards. Twisting and jumping as he drove the nazgul back. The dark phantoms screeching high pitched wails as the light burned.

The nazgul were weak, not yet at full power. Luin counted his lucky stars that there were only four here, and that they were weak. If it had been all nine at full strength, he doubted he and Aragorn could drive them back on their own. But these nazgul weren't much more than ghosts, they could still burn.

Luin drove the two he was fighting back towards the tip of the slope. The wraiths unable to defend themselves against the brightness of the blue light. They howled as Luin got closer. One falling back with a kick to the chest. The black shadow disappearing into the mist. Luin slammed the palm of his hand into the second ones chest. The creature wailing as the light vaporised it. Luin took in a breath and relaxed his hands. The blue light dimming to a soft glow. The nazgul would be back.

"Mr Luin!" Sam screamed. Luin turned and hurried over to where the hobbits were gathered, Aragorn doing the same. Frodo was whimpering on the ground. The wound in his shoulder a dark colour in the gloom.

Aragorn picked up the sword lying at his side. The blade vanished into nothing bat shadow and he snarled in disgust. "He's been stabbed by a morgul blade. This is beyond my capabilities".

"He needs elvish medicine", Luin stated. He had his hands pressed to Frodo's chest. Qi spilling from his fingers and circling around the hobbit's body in soothing waves. "I can only delay the darkness", Luin sighed. "I can't stop it". Aragorn nodded and stood up. Frodo cried out in pain as the man heaved him up and passed Frodo into Luin's arms. Luin cradled the hobbit easily, still channeling spiritual energy through him.

"We must make haste", Aragorn stated as he took off down the hill. The hobbits scrambled after him.

"Can't Luin just fly Frodo to Rivendale?" Merry asked.

"I'm keeping the poison back. I can't do both". Luin voiced, breath slightly unsteady as he concentrated on the sickly darkness trying to stop Frodo's heart.

At the same time, Aragon said "we don't have enough room on the swords for all of us. Hurry there will be no rest tonight". The group barely paused to grab their pack before they were leaving Weathertop and jogging through the mists. Their forms shadows against the moonlight.

Unedited