Fan Fiction ❯ Struggle To Live ❯ The Attack ( Chapter 1 )

Struggle to Live

author: ZeroCool

Summary:

An ancient evil arises in Mirkwood two years after the Ring was destroyed. Legolas is cursed by the evil and will die if the curse is not broken. The fellowship is regrouped to go on a journey for searching a cure.

Disclaimer:

Every character in Lord of the Rings belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien! I don't own any of them… *sigh*

Author Notes:

This is my first story! So please give me some advices on how I can improve my writing. And I want to mention that English isn't my first language and I have only spoken English for four years. Please understand if the story contains *major* usage and grammar errors.

Chapter 1 The Attack

Trees were whispering under the moonless night, creating a sense of tension in the air that Legolas couldn't understand. They were whispering in a shaky voice as if they were too frightened.

Legolas was walking near Mirkwood's boundary alone. It was abnormal for a wooden elf to be alone, especially around the boundary, because the monstrous creatures outside always threatened the safety of the kingdom. But today was different. It was the celebration for defeating a dark sorcerer who once terrorized the lives of elves, men, and dwarfs. The dark sorcerer was defeated by the alliance of the three kith in Greenwood 5000 years ago on this very same day. Although times had passed, the memory was still flesh in the minds of elves. Because of this special date, all the Mirkwood elves were celebrating in the underground fortress.

Legolas, however, had a strange feeling he could not ignore in this night. His conscious was telling him that danger was approaching.

Other elves sensed this also. From years and years of experience on guarding their home, Mirkwood elves learned that they needed to be careful at all time. King Thranduil had wanted to cancel the celebration, but Legolas insisted to continue, because it was the only day in the year that all Mirkwood elves could relax from their duties.

Besides, he felt his people would be saved in the underground fortress.

He volunteered to scout around the kingdom, much to his father and brothers objection. Thranduil wanted to send some guards or his older sons with him, but Legolas argued it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of his people, and the two oldest princes were needed to be in the celebration.

Although he disagreed his youngest son's reasoning, Thranduil knew he could never persuade him, so he reluctantly gave his permission.

The elf prince was walking lightly, holding the bow that Lady Galadriel gave him during the quest to destroy the ring.

He saw two shadows passing in the dark that could only be seen by the keen elven eyes. He reacted immediately and prepared to shoot.

"What are you two doing outside the fortress alone during this hour near the boundary?" Legolas demanded, after discovering the two figures were two elven children and feeling relieve that he didn't fire his arrows at them.

"Ah… Well …"

The children couldn't be more than 70 years old, which were considered to be very young in elven standard. The two children exchanged nervous glances with each other. "We… you see, Prince Legolas, we were only playing… orcs hunt," the taller child answered.

The last two words were barely above whispers, but Legolas caught them anyway. He observed those two carefully, never dropping his frown from his expression and his scolding tone from his voice.

"You could have chosen a better time to play. Do you parents know where you are?"

"WE WON'T DO IT AGAIN!" The younger child widened his eyes in fear.

From the child's exclamation, Legolas knew the answer was no. He needed to bring the children to safety, for they were oblivious to the sudden silence around them.

Legolas' face softened a little, and petted their heads, "Alright, I will bring you two back to the fortress without telling your parents, but don't count on that if I ever catch you again next time."

The children sighed in relief, feeling lucky that they were discovered by Legolas instead of other elves.

Suddenly, they felt a push from the elven prince and heard him whispered, "Run!"

The children didn't know what was going on, for they didn't sense anything. However, when they saw their prince holding his arrow and preparing to shoot into the abyss, they started to follow their instinct and run from whatever the prince feared.

Legolas shot at a shadow, but he missed his target. He didn't know what he was shooting at, but by judging the sudden silence the trees made, he knew it was a foul creature.

"Prince Legolas!!!"

Legolas heard a cry from the children, and he realized there was more than one of these creatures.

He shot three other arrows to the shadow and heard a scream from the shadow. Then he ran as fast as he could to save the children.

Legolas arrived and saw three ugly horse-like creatures chasing the children under the dim star lights. Those creatures were deformed. They had a slimy substance and many flagella exposed from their skin. Only their faces could send shivers down to one's spine.

The children were crying out of fear, holding on to each other tightly as they ran.

Setting the targets, Legolas shot through the creatures' bodies. The attack was not enough to kill them, but he was successfully at attracting the attentions to himself.

Legolas led the creatures away from the children. He was slammed against a tree by one of the creatures. He acted quickly and jumped on the tree to avoid more blows. He shot a few more arrows down to the creatures, but they were able to move shiftily to dodge them.

One of the creatures surprised Legolas by jumping up to the tree branch that he was on, knocking Legolas down to the ground.

Legolas held his digger and stabbed the creature on the neck, but the creature was still standing. He dodged more blows from the creatures, and tried to shoot them in the process.

Sweats began to form on the elf's forehead, and his breathing became very rapid. He was amazed at the numbers of strikes those creatures could endure.

When one of the creatures charged to him, he took a few steps back and used his sword to cut off the head.

The two other creatures were enraged and ran toward Legolas. He had time to thrust his sword to one of them but he could avoid the other one. Legolas screamed in terror and pain when the other one bit on his left arm.

Bloods were flooding down dangerously, but he ignored it and killed the last creature with his arrow.

Exhausted, Legolas sank to the ground and breathed hard. His wound was burning, but he felt there was something else… something had entered his vein. He suddenly felt very cold and tired, but fought hard to stay awake, because he had to make sure the children were alive.

He heard steps running toward him. "Prince Legolas! Are you alright? Prince Legolas!" he heard two children voices calling him. After feeling satisfy to know the children were alright, he let himself slipped into the darkness.

Read and Review!

~ZeroCool