Lord Of The Rings Fan Fiction ❯ LOTR : On the Wings of a Dragon ❯ Chapter 8

Chapter 8

No one had time to react. The Nazgul was getting closer to the front of the army with each passing second. It was going straight for Aragorn. Legolas looked over his shoulder. Alassea was in a full gallop directly to the right of him, and the Nazgul was above them, its claws outstretched. They were only a few seconds from Fangorn Forest. If only the front of the army could get into the trees, lives would be spared. But a few seconds they did not have. Legolas looked forward again. He knew that nothing could possible save them now. He was going to die. He could see Argorn's cape flowing in the wind, could hear Arod's heavy breathing and the clash of hooves on solid ground. Gimli was hanging on for dear life behind him. But Legolas kept his hold on Alassea. He shut his eyes and prepared from the Nazgul to grasp them, to either pick them up or throw them forward into the trees. The Nazgul's claws were mere seconds from killing them, and it let out its horrible shriek. Suddenly that shriek was overlapped, by a mighty roar. The fell beast, with its claws forward and its wings out, was rammed into and was thrown to the ground, several hundred yards away.

 

As the front of the army entered the tree line, Legolas stopped and looked at the battling behemoths. The creature that had saved them had beautiful golden scales that looked like polished armour. It had huge, powerful wings, and it stood upright on its hind legs, slashing at the air with its fore claws.

`I can't believe it!' Legolas thought `A dragon!' The fell beast regained its balance and stared at the golden dragon, its maw open. The two slashed at each other with claws and teeth, but the fell beast was at an obvious disadvantage. In the air, the Nazgul was a horrible, nearly invincible creature, but on the ground, it was helpless against the dragon, which had the use of four legs, the fell beast had only two. The fell beast screamed as it saw its prey escaping. The dragon did not allow it to pass. If it was helping them or wanting to kill them itself was unknown, but for now their lives had been spared. Now only the foot soldiers of Aragorn's army were left in the open. Legolas heard Aragorn come up behind him, but did not turn away from the battle in front of him.

“Is… That a dragon?” Aragorn asked, his voice a low whisper. The last know dragon, Smaug, had been killed almost one hundred years ago, but a dragon that definitely was. The Nazgul now took to the air and flew backwards so it could avoid the dragon's rising bulk. But the dragon did not enter the air. It stayed on the ground and was a solid wall between the Nazgul and the men. As the last of the men entered the trees, the dragon took to the air, easily rising to the level of the Nazgul. The two beasts' wings beat steadily as they circled each other, trying to damage its opponent. To Aragorn and Gimli, the two huge creatures were dots in the sky now, but Legolas watched on. As if the dragon became weary of fighting, it bolted backwards and opened it mouth as if to roar. But it did not roar. Fire streamed through its mouth, and the Nazgul went up in a ball of flames. That was obvious to everyone. The Nazgul turned as fast as it burning wings could carry it, and shrieked. It then bolted high up into the thick clouds and out of sight.

 

The dragon dived towards the ground. It belly nearly skimmed the top of a hill as it began to fly towards Fangorn Forest, and the hiding army. As the dragon flew towards them, the men and horses began to panic and began to move deeper into the woods. Legolas and Aragorn moved into the trees, although they knew if the dragon came after them, they would be dead. As the dragon neared them, it looked directly at them. Legolas, for a brief moment, made eye contact with it. He heard a faint whisper, like that of the wind, but not with his ears, in his head. He blinked and lost eye contact with the beast. It then disappeared over the treetops above them. It flew west, towards the Misty Mountains. The army slowly moved out of the shelter of the trees. They were all dumbfounded.

“A dragon. Magnificent.” Legolas heard Aragorn beside him say. They stared after the direction the gold dragon had disappeared to over the tree tops.

“This is amazing.” Gimli muttered. “I thought all of the dragons died out almost a hundred years ago.”

`So did I.' Legolas thought, both dazed and confused. `What was that?' He had no idea how a dragon could still be alive. He also had no idea what that was. What had he heard? Neither Aragorn nor Gimli seemed to hear anything. Then the army quickly continued towards Edoras. All the while keeping their eyes and ears open for that golden giant. The army moved forward though, and in two days, they had crossed the Onodlo River (also know as Entwash) and were camped on the open plains of West Emnet. Only three more days until they were in Edoras, and safety.

 

Legolas sat in a tent that night. All was quiet. He had just bandaged his leg up again. It was stiff from the riding and from the mad bolt towards Fangorn two days ago. Legolas' mind had never once left the subject of the dragon, or of the whisper. He wanted to know what that faint whisper had been. Was it the wind? Or his imagination? He couldn't tell. He then thought of Akila. He had wept silently to himself. He had shed no tears. He was so pained that he could not. She was gone. Any hope that she still may be alive was gone. His head hurt from all his thoughts. He decided to take a walk around the camp to clear his head. He stepped in to the cool night air and the moonlight greeted him. As he walked around camp he stopped by the hitched horses. Alassea greeted him with a soft nicker. Arod, who stood beside her, lifted his head from sleep. Legolas patted them both on the nose and then turned to leave when he heard it. He became silent. The whisper was clearer.

`Legolas.' He couldn't believe it.

“Who is there?” He spoke boldly, but quietly in elvish.

`Legolas, speak with your mind.' The words were very clear to him now. He tried.

`Who are you?' Though Legolas. Maybe he had gone insane, maybe this was a dream. He didn't care right now; he wanted to know who this was.

`I am a friend.' The voice was clear. Feminine. Elvish. So maybe he was crazy.

`What do you want?'

`I want to help you.'

`How?'

`She is not dead Legolas.'

`What was she talking about?' Legolas' mind was swimming. `She couldn't mean…'

`Akila is not dead?'

No Legolas.' Then the voice stopped.

`Wait! Where is she!? Is she alright!?' Legolas closed his eyes tight. The voice was gone, when he would hear it again, he didn't know. But it was sooner then he thought.

 

After the tents and equipment were packed up the next morning, the army quickly set off. They were in the seventh day of their travels. Even as Aragorn's guard and the main army split into two late in the morning, Legolas thought of that odd voice. What had it been? He was not insane. He knew that, but what could it possibly have been? By mid afternoon, Aragorn's guard had made good progress. The sun was at it highest point in the sky. Everyone was calm, almost careless. But not for long. As the sun began to move towards the earth again, they were ambushed, by warg-riders and their hideous steeds. The horses were terrified. As the wargs charged, the horses and men panicked and were left off guard. As the battle dragged on, the numbers of Aragorn's guards were quickly decimating and everyone knew if they did not end this soon they would be targets to anyone who found them. Legolas brought down his knives on a dying warg. He had been pulled from Arod, not long after Gimli jumped off. He looked around. Aragorn and Gimli were in plain sight. He brought another dismounted warg-rider down. He was about to turn when he heard the voice, but this time it was so clear, it startled him. He looked west. The golden dragon flew towards them. Aragorn saw it too. As the dragon entered the battle, it picked up a warg, rider and all, in its massive claws. But there was something else. Legolas looked around. Wargs were suddenly falling. Someone was firing arrows. He looked again. No one in Aragorn's guard was in a good position to be firing arrows. The wargs and their riders, seeing that this dragon was helping the men, began to flee. None of them escaped. The dragon chased them down. Then the creature did something odd. It landed in front of Aragorn.