The Price of Pride

Elvish translations

Amin mela lle – I love you
Caun nín – my prince
Meldir – friend (male)
Peredhil – half-Elves
Uma – yes


Chapter 22


I left Arwen’s arms before dawn, bathing and dressing in the silent darkness. She rose to braid my hair – warrior’s braids. She called for breakfast to be brought to her rooms before helping me gather my gear. We did not speak, even of mundane things. Those words were not needed between us, and the ones I still longed to say had to stay unspoken.

Though the sky had barely begun to lighten, Elladan and Elrohir were already in the courtyard, ready to be off. Arwen embraced them before they mounted. Then she turned to me, embracing me as well. “Come back to me safely,” she whispered.

“I will keep them safe, mir nín. If you need to get a message to me, have Erestor speak to my father. He can find me wherever I am.” She bestowed one last kiss on my lips, one last caress on my hair before stepping back. I swung to Fanya’s back and followed the twins out of the courtyard. Amin mela lle, my heart whispered to her as it always did at our parting. Silence, as always, was the reply.

We were well armed for our journey, the twins and I, quivers bristling with arrows, knives and swords strapped to belts and braces. We listened to the whisper of the trees as we passed the borders of Imladris and made our way into the wild. The trees hated Orcs almost as much as my companions did. They led us unerringly to the vile creatures within their domain.

We found the first pack, twenty or so, as they were setting up their camp. Elladan and Elrohir were not interested in strategy or caution. They wanted only to kill. I took to the trees to cover them as they charged the camp. They fought with all the expertise, but none of the caution Glorfindel had instilled in them. They were deadly in their fury, but my arrows picked off more than one Orc who would have approached their unprotected backs as their anger made them reckless. I fell into a rhythm. Nock, aim, fire. Nock, aim, fire. In minutes or hours, I know not, the pack was slaughtered. I collected the arrows that were still usable while the twins cleaned their weapons. They did not even glance at the hideous remains around us.

Whe hae had finished our tasks, we remounted and rode on, not stopping until Arien had sunk below the horizon. We made camp as we had ridden, in silence. They only sounds I had heard from either all day had been their battle cries. Only after we had eaten did Elrohir speak. “Twenty fewer Orcs plague Arda tonight,” he said. The dead tone of his voice troubled me. It was the tone of one who has nothing to live for.

“It is not enough,” Elladan replied. “Two hundred, two thousand, it will never be enough.”

I realized in that moment just how right Arwen had been to worry. My friends were not just out here to kill Orcshey hey had passed the point of caring whether they lived or died. I had not thought to work that hard to keep my promise to bring them back alive, but I was glad now that I had spoken to my father. Elladan and Elrohir were not going to be persuaded to pass up a fight because of the odds. They would kill Orcs until the Orcs were dead or they were.

“Which way shall we ride in the morning?” I asked, hoping they had not really thought about it.

“Wherever there are Orcs,” Elladan replied in that same empty voice.

“There are Orcs aplenty toward Mirkwood, with Dol Guldur active again. If you truly care not, let us ride that way,” I suggested.

“To Dol Guldur,” Elrohir agreed.

We had been riding and hunting in the general direction of Mirkwood for a week when I heard the birdcall that my father’s soldiers used as a signal. I was relieved to know that we had found them. So far, we had only come across small bands of Orcs, easily dispatched, but I did not know how long our luck would hold. I would try to speak to the captain during my watch that night.

I offered to take second watch, knowing it would be hard to slip away during first watch with the twins only barely asleep. I waited at least an hour into my watch before moving away from our camp and returning the call I had heard earlier. It was immediately answered. I walked toward the sound.

“Prince Legolas?” a voice asked in the darkness.

“Uma,” I replied, surprised and relieved to see Saelbeth, my father’s seneschal. “My father sent you, Saelbeth?”

“King Thranduil seemed to think you would need my counsel as well as my sword.”

“Wise as always,” I said with a smile. “I am worried, Saelbeth. I wonder, truly, if the Peredhil seek death. They are beyond reckless. If we meet a large party of Orcs, they will get themselves, and me, killed. They fight with no heed for themselves, or even for each other. I have managed so far to cover their backs, but even I can only fire so quickly. I am frightened for them.”

“And for the impact their deaths would have on their sister, I imagine.” My father had not confided my state to many, but he had told his seneschal of my love for Arwen.

“I promised I would keep them safe from Orcs. I did not realize that I would have to keep them safe from themselves as well. I do not want to be foresworn.”

“There are twenty of us here. Between us, we should be able to defeat any regular party of Orcs. Unless an army marches from Dol Guldur, we should be able to take them. Do the Peredhil know we are here?”

“N’uma, and I want to keep it that way if we can. They accept my presence because we have been friends for a long time and because I am not trying to dissuade them from their course of action. I know not how they would react to having a patrol on their heels.”

Saelbeth smiled. “What they do not know cannot hurt them, caun nín. We will watch your backs.”

“Hannon lle, Saelbeth. Where should I take them to hunt?”

Saelbeth updated me on the Orc movements in the woods of my home. From the sound of it, Elladan and Elrohir would have plenty to do for as long as the rage controlled them.

We had been hunting for several months, Saelbeth’s patrols taking care of any large bands, leaving the three of us to take care of any smaller bands, when I woke from my reverie to the sound of tears. I sat up in my bedroll to find Elrohir trying to stifle his sobs as he sat on watch. He had not seen me awake yet, so I risked a whistle to check on the Mirkwood patrol. The call that answered me assured me that I could distract Elrohir from his watch. Saelbeth’s soldiers would guard us awhile.

“What troubles you, meldir?” I asked, startling Elrohir.

“Nothing, Legolas. Go back to sleep.”

“’Ro, do not lie to me. I heard you crying when I awoke. Share your troubles with me. I may not be able to help, but I can provide a listening ear.”

“I…” Elrohir began fitfully. “I had hoped to… to stop… I had hoped that killing Orcs would help.”

“Help what, ‘Ro?”

“Help me feel better.”

“How do you feel?”

“Sad. Angry. Guilty.”

That last surprised me. “Guilty?”

“Ell and I were supposed to go to Lórien to escort Amme home, but we were late. It was our own fault. Amme left without us and was captured. It was our fault that she was attacked, our fault that she lies at home, fading.”

“She did not travel alone, ‘Ro. She had an escort, some of the best Lórien had to offer, and they were all killed. Do you really think you could have made a difference?”

“We should have been there,” Elrohir repeated heatedly. “Even it made no difference, we should have been there.”

“And now your father would be caring for three of you instead of focusing on your mother. Or maybe they would both be grieving for you while they struggle to heal her wounds. Would that be better?” I knew I was being harsh, but I did not know how else to get through to him.

“You do not know that. Perhaps we could have saved her.”

“Perhaps you could have,” I admitted finally, for I had seen the twins fight. They were formidable enemies. “Is what we are doing now helping you?”

“Not really.”

“Then maybe you should go home. If your mother does decide to leave for Valinor, will you not regret it if you are not there?”

Elrohir did not speak for many long minutes. I was about to give up and agree to continue this futile quest when he finally said, “Let us go home.”

“We will tell Elladan in the morning. I must admit, it would be nice to sleep in a bed again.”

“In my sister’s bed, you mean,” Elrohir teased.

“In any bed,” I replied, refusing to let him bait me.