Killing Beauty

Making love to Inda was not that difficult. She had once bedded him on ride, before the fight with the rangers had convinced her to leave. He was of fine shape, and not unhandsome. And he was a good lover. She believed she had earned the relief he gave her.
Then at midnight she immobilized him and slit his throat. Mother had taught her well. Taking the keys from his belt, she looked around the room and noticed Haldir's weapons in a place of honor over the great hearth that made up one side of Inda's room. She knew she couldn't leave without them, and although the bow was larger than she, she succeeded in getting it over her shoulder while holding on to the two fisted sword.

Getting to her room, confident that her mother was in prayers to her Beloved Sauron, she quickly changed into her riding clothes. Everyone knew that she had gone to Inda's room with him and would not be looking for him before morning, but she couldn't be sure. If caught, death would be her fate as well.

Finding a way to carry bow, sword and quiver, she looked out the door of her room and checked the passage. She could neither see nor hear anyone. With a deep breath, she slipped out and went to get the princess. It would have been easier to leave her, but Haldir would not tolerate that. He had come all this way to get her and could not return without her.

Unlocking the room door, Ashva hissed, "Don't make a sound or I will stop you permanently!"Even though dark, she could see the princess was genuinely impressed."We're leaving. Say one word, and I will kill you."

Ashva's heart was racing as she led the princess downstairs by a rarely used passageway. Keeping the girl directly behind her, she hid in the shadow of an arch and gazed into the garden. Haldir seemed to be alone. Maybe the orc had taken her seriously and was no longer tormenting him.

Passing the bow to the girl, she said, "Wait here. We have to go out this way, and there may be eyes watching us." Then as an incentive, she added, "Like orcs." The princess gasped and nodded.

Haldir raised his head and looked around as AShva approached him. She was fumbling with the keys, trying to find the one that would set him free.

"Hurry!" he hissed. "Hurry!" The moment the lock popped, he reached for his sword and lunged upwards. Ashva fell back as the sword flashed. An orc head rolled beside hers. Baggor would torment no one else. Haldir pulled her to her feet and growled, "Where's the princess?"

"I have her. This way."

Elves do not make much sound when they run, and Ashva had learned to step quietly. BUt it was inevitable that they would run into an Osman just before escape was possible. BUt one Osman against a determined elf is no match. Haldir cut him down with an almost insane rage. Ashva grabbed the man's small bow and quiver. Not even Haldir could draw his long bow from the back of a running horse. But these small bows were designed for it.

Getting their horses, they threw on the waiting tack and bolted from the stable. No one had to tell Haldir which way to go. He was following his instincts towards 'Home'. Anyone foolish enough to try and stop him was met with the downward stroke of an elven sword.


Lady Melann was in quiet reverie when one of her horsemen brought her the news that the elf was gone along with Ashva and the princess, and that the orc and Inda were dead.

"Ashva, AShva, Ashva," she murmured to herself. "What am I going to do with you?"


Except for monosyllabic responses, Haldir refused to speak to either of them as they rode towards the mountains. He could tell no one was pursuing them,yet, but he would still glance back occassionally, and sometimes he would even look at Ashva. The cold rage in his eyes was palatable; she was going to have to answer for what she did to him. And the only punishment she knew she could not bear was being sent away from him.

A stand of rock among some young fir was their first night camp in the mountains. Ashva didn't know if the highborn elven princess would eat game, but she suspected Haldir would. Melann had denied him food and had permitted only a little water. She had reasoned that one going to the slaughter did not require much.

When she had her horse tethered and her saddle laid out to dry from the animal's sweat, she reached for the short bow to leave but was stopped by Haldir. "Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously, ice dripping from his lips.

"To find something to eat," she answered readily, believing it would take awhile to regain his trust, if that was possible.

"I'll go with you," he offered and reached for his bow.

"What about me?" the princess asked.

"Stay close to the fire and you will be safe," Haldir assured her.

He did not mean to hunt. He was being eaten up inside and meant to contend with it that. Ashva wisely followed him deeper into the wood. When he thought he would break like a bowstring from the tension, he spun around and grabbed her firmly around her lovely throat with one hand.

Ashva felt herself going faint. So this was how she was going to die. Grabbing his wrist, she sruggled against it, but then he slung her to the ground and hissed, "You hurt me!"

Coughing and gasping for air, she looked up at him and whispered, "I'm sorry. I knew no other way."

He was almost shaking from pent up emotion. "Pain I can stand, but you enjoyed it. You hurt me because you wanted to! Deny it and I will kill you here."

"Then she wins," Ashva said and sat up. Gazing up at him, she found her eyes clouding. Tears? "I would have done anything to keep you alive," she miserably confessed. "She wanted to take you that first night. I couldn't let her."

"You should have," he growled back but didn't mean it. Reaching for her shoulders and dragging her to her feet, he could see the fear in her eyes. What did she think he was going to do to her? Rediculous question. He had just said he would kill her. "I'm not going to hurt you," he hissed into her beautiful face. "And while I am tempted to...take you, I do not think I can rape someone like you." That drew blood. More tears. Good. "Since you must return to Lothlorien for your animals, I will tolerate your company, but that is all." He turned away from her and returned to the camp.

Ashva felt her blood turn to ice as he walked away. She couldn't breathe or think. He was doing the most terrible thing he could think of to her. Dropping to the ground, she did not believe she would ever be able to move again. Better the ground swallow her up.


Ashva was gone a long time, and Haldir was beginning to think he needed to go find her when she returned with a tekker, a type of small mountain goat. "When we roast the meat, it will attract others," she said listlessly. Looking at him caused the most horrible ache to swell in her throat and breast.

"What kind of others?" the princess asked anxiously. Night in Lothlorien was safe. Here she was in the middle of the wilderness.

"Wolves, bears, orcs, dragons" Haldir answered as he climbed to feet. "I'll dress it," he said and took the animal from her. Leaving the light of the fire, he took it off a few hundred feet and hung it from a tree.

"Dragons?" the princess murmured fearfully and glanced around. "I hear there are still a few about."

"I only know of one, and it's far from here," Ashva said and fixed her gaze on the fire. "Most were killed long ago."

"Galadriel was attacked by a dragon," the princess remembered aloud. "Celeborn had to kill it to save her."

"The end of the First Age," Ashva murmured to herself. Too bad there wasn't a dragon around now.

When Haldir returned to the fire, he spitted the meat and then sat down to wait on it. He knew Ashva was watching him through lowered lashes, but he did not care. She had hurt him in a way he could not stand. And it disturbed him that she had killed Inda after learning how to do it on him.

But at the same time he could not imagine never bedding her again. She was indeed in his blood, as he was most certainly now in hers. He had told her not to confuse love for lust. What did you call their need for each other? He needed to think about it awhile, and she needed to think about it herself.