Chapter 15
“Legolas! Legolas! Get up!” Aragorn pleaded. He had been forced to watch his sweet lover battle the monstrous thing alone after they had been inexplicably separated by that damnable force field.
“By the Gods!” whispered Mithrandir as he took in the scene. Elrond stood frozen beside him.
“She’ll tear him apart, Gandalf! What can we do?” said Elrond, despairingly, as he stared in disbelief at the dragon like thing that loomed over the unmoving body of the young Elf.
“Nothing, I fear,” choked out the Mage. “This shield seems impenetrable. No doubt it was designed to permit the combatants their final show down without outside interference.”
“Gandalf!” cried Elrond suddenly. The Elf Lord grabbed the Mage’s elbow and pointed to the far side of the arena below them.
The Wizard gasped.
“Arwen.”
“What is she doing?” asked Elrond as he edged closer to the drop. Gandalf grabbed his arm to prevent him from getting too near the end of their precarious little perch.
“I don’ t know, my friend. Perhaps to get a better look at the end of her competitor,” said Gandalf with sadness in his voice.
They watched the demented Queen of Gondor approach the edge of the shimmering barrier, with an eerie glow in her eyes. She put her hands up to it and pressed against it much as Aragorn did on the opposite side. Her blue eyes looked up from the still form of the Archer to lock with those of her one-time husband from across the vast distance. Between them, the golden body of the Elf lay prone beneath the black nightmare thing that salivated over him.
Aragorn sobbed helplessly even as he continued to pound against the invisible air. His blows bounced off the barrier as surely as if he’d tried to topple the Black Gates of Mordor with his bare hands.
“Legolas!” he howled in anguish, his eyes now only for his beloved. Arwen cringed in fury. Let her burn with her rage, thought Aragorn in remote defiance. He had only one objective: to save his lover. But the barrier would not yield and he pounded in frustration against its unrelenting surface.
The Great Alien Mother snapped her tail in exhilaration, obliterating a pile of boulders in the process and shaking the earth into fragments around them. Dust and sharp rocks rained down on the helpless Mirkwood Elf. Only a few yards away, tongues of fire flew out of the earth high into the air above them.
Aragorn screamed in fury. The Creature roared in pleasure and snapped her tail thunderously against the earth a second time. The rips in the ground widened.
Legolas moaned in pain as one slender hand drifted to his head. He did not seem aware of the menacing terror that snarled ever closer above him. Saliva rained from the Creature’s bared jaws as she bent her black face towards the beautiful Elf King. The Elf moaned again as the hot liquid pooled in the hollow of his throat and slid it’s sticky trail down his chest. The Creature growled in anticipation. Victory was within her grasp! Now, to savor the moment…
Arwen licked her lips with mixed emotions as she pressed up against the shield for a closer look. She placed her palms against the strange tingling warmth of the barrier and gasped to feel it melt against her skin. Her hands slipped through the gelatinous field until she had pushed through to the other side. She stood there, submerged up to her elbows, and gazed at her hands as she turned them experimentally up to her face.
Aragorn froze, his screams suddenly lodged in his throat. Gandalf and Elrond both gasped. Legolas was beginning to stir beneath the hulking form of the enormous Alien Mother, but the beast abruptly snapped her enormous jaws shut and swung her great monstrous head in the direction of She-Elf. The Creature tilted her black face to the side in strange mimicry of Human curiosity. None should have been able to penetrate the ancient barrier.
Surprise pierced the storm of Arwen’s tumultuous emotions as she easily slipped her arms further past the force field. She looked up in confusion and locked her gaze on the penetrating stare of her husband. Aragorn pressed himself against the stinging glass-like barrier and tried to decipher the dark inscrutable look that slowly came over Arwen’s features. His eyes fluttered worriedly over to the beautiful Archer who was slowly regaining consciousness.
Arwen’s gaze shifted from Aragorn’s stunned face to the black inhuman eyes of the Creature. She shuddered. Cold insect-like eyes stared back at her and Arwen knew that an alien equivalent of a smile lurked in their malevolent depths. Repulsion rippled through her and she had the oddest sensation of looking into a warped mirror. Realization came slowly: the Creature found her repulsive!
But the moment of repulsion passed as swiftly as it had come. The Great Alien Mother found Humans and Elves to be oddly distasteful, misshapen little things. But they could be surprisingly enterprising at times. The Creature watched in fascination as the She-Elf defiantly stared back at her before pushing her body the rest of the way through the barrier.
It should not have been possible but then again, little of this Hunt had followed the prescribed course laid down millennia ago. The She-Elf had summoned the Sky Rock prematurely from its orbit, and dared attempt to use The Mother as a weapon for her own plot. Now, that same She-Elf was entering the Sanctuary! Since the first days of the Hunt, long ago, none other than Queen and Hunter were by tradition permitted this honor.
She shook her enormous thorned head in consternation. The shield recognized Arwen as a combatant! This little She-Elf continued to intrude where she should not. The Mother bared her fangs in Arwen’s direction.
Arwen froze, fear suddenly penetrating the fog of her mind. She could feel the simmering rage of the Queen Creature turning towards her.
‘So you have come, She-Elf! Your enemy is about to be devoured. Our enemy. Yet, I do not think you wish to join the feast. Why do you intrude in this sacred place?’
The Queen’s voice rang sharply in Arwen’s thoughts. The link of many colors twisted between their two minds as they fought for dominance. Arwen stared at the Queen Creature and gasped, as if seeing it for the first time. The Black Menace shook her crowned head and took a menacing step towards the She-Elf.
Arwen did not have time to scream. Even as it reared up in preparation to attack a flutter of motion jarred the great beast from its new target. The Great Mother snarled in anger as it turned its thorny head towards the King of Mirkwood.
Arwen saw two circular blades protruding from under the hard cowl of the Monster. With an angry swipe of a clawed hand, the Creature managed to dislodge one of the blades and sent it flying to land at Arwen’s feet.
The Monster swung her massive tail at her opponent. Legolas somersaulted over the spiked appendage in a smooth feline move. His lean muscled body gleamed in the firelight and the tattoos on his skin slithered into a new powerful totem of animal stripes.
He landed on his feet like a cat, his body shimmering with renewed light. The Creature roared her displeasure and bared her fangs in challenge. The Hunter smirked defiantly and vaulted into the air again to evade another impotent strike. The Creature’s tail smashed into the wall sending a rain of stones over them all.
Legolas landed smoothly in between the ravenous Creature and the Queen of Gondor. He scooped up the circular blade and sent it flying into the Creature’s face. It struck above her eye and imbedded there. Howling with fury the Creature smashed her tail again into the ground causing the earth to shake.
“Arwen, run! Flee!” he cried over his shoulder as he prepared to meet the impossible menace that now lumbered toward them both. Arwen shuffled behind him as if in a daze. The Creature turned her black eyes upon the Queen of Gondor with a low hissing sound. Legolas did not like the looks of this. What was she trying to do? The link twisted and somehow blocked him from seeing her intentions.
“Get out of here, Arwen!” he whispered nervously, over his shoulder.
Legolas raised his arms up to draw the Creature’s gaze away from the She-Elf. Aragorn’s frantic cries were a distant buzz in his ear. The Creature hissed and bared her teeth. Behind him, Arwen moaned throatily. He did not have time to see the blade of the small Elven dagger descend but felt it when it penetrated his flesh and sank with surprising force between his shoulders.
The sensation of hot spurting blood soaking down his back dominated Legolas’s awareness as his knees began to give out and the ground came up to meet him. The black face of razor sharp teeth and menacing cruelty filled his eyes as the Great Mother slowly thundered towards the two Elves.
Arwen walked around him to stand with her back to the great Beast. Legolas fought to stay conscious. The white face of the Queen of Gondor swam before him blearily as he sank to the ground. Arwen’s eyes were rimmed in red and her ivory teeth bared in a snarl.
“The rules have changed young King,” she said with a hiss. “Now my kind will finally rule this Green Wood. This meddlesome She-Elf has been of indispensable help.”
The white hand of the Queen darted out to grab the necklace of the three glowing space stones, which still hung around Legolas’s slender throat. With waning strength, he grabbed Arwen’s wrist.
“No, Arwen. You must fight her! Do not let her have the stones! They will give her all the power she needs to conquer Middle Earth. Fight her, Arwen. I know you can. You are the stronger one.”
The She-Elf’s brow furrowed and a pale light struggled to emerge through the fog of the Creature’s control. Legolas could perceive a pale green thread among the cacophony of the Creature’s thoughts. He followed it in his mind’s eye, hoping the Creature did not see their link.
Arwen’s consciousness winked back at him and he knew she understood the danger if the Creature took possession of the stones. Legolas felt the strength slowly ebb away from him as his blood drained into the rumbling hot earth. The fissure behind them gurgled another long spout of fire into the air and burning chunks of molten rain fell around them.
A plan formed in his mind. It was terribly risky but precious few options remained open to them. The hulking form of the Creature hovered menacingly over them. Arwen blinked her understanding and a single tear fell from her eye.
Legolas smiled as his hand fell away from her wrist and his head fell back in a swoon. Life was quickly draining away form him but he would see this thing defeated before death took him.
“LEGOLAS!” Aragorn pounded against the invisible barrier with impotent rage. His voice was a tragic wail of sorrow. Elrond and Gandalf managed to climb down from their perch and ran to Aragorn’s side. They clasped him and each other in shock as they watched the Queen of Gondor bend over the dying Elf.
Arwen pulled the chain free of the Sindar’s neck and clasped the hanging trophy to her breast.
“YOU BITCH!” screamed Aragorn in fury. Arwen threw him a dark look and turned slowly to face the Creature that lumbered over her.
‘Give it to me, Arwen,’ She hissed into the mental link. A black skeletal claw opened in imitation of a human hand, palm held open in expectation.
The Queen of Gondor held the chain out with a trembling hand towards the Creature but took a slow shaking step backwards. The Creature snarled with displeasure. Arwen took another step backwards, towards the ravine. The stones glowed hot against her skin and she wondered that the Sindar had actually had enough power to withstand the energy that she felt pouring from them. She glanced back at the pale form of the Elf.
Legolas was struggling to reach the dagger still in his back. He grimaced in pain as his fingers brushed the bloodied hilt. He was barely conscious, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and the stripes on his skin had broken down into fragmented hash marks.
The Creature shook her massive head and whipped her spiked tail towards the Sindar. She stopped an inch above his chest, the long thorn pointed directly at the Elf’s heart.
‘Give it to me! Or I will kill this pretty gold one.’ She threatened.
Arwen looked up at her in shock.
‘Yes, I see regret in you mind, dear little Queen. But it is too late for that now. He is dying and his lover, your former husband would now gladly kill you with his bare hands. Look at him, over there.’
Arwen glanced over her shoulder at her husband. There was murderous rage written on Aragorn’s face. But also something else. Aragorn was no fool. He understood something was happening, some moment of decision had arrived.
‘Please, Arwen,’ he whispered silently. His eyes pleaded with her to make the right decision.
Arwen looked back at the Creature as its thoughts poured into her again.
‘ You have no choice. Why not join me? Together we will rule your Middle Earth. My children will be your children. Join me or I will hasten Legolas’s end.’
Arwen hesitated and caught a glimmer in the fallen Elf King’s eyes. She nodded and stepped hesitatingly forward with the necklace in her hand.
But then, with unexpected speed she bolted toward the fiery chasm. A blast of heat brought her to a halt several feet from the edge. The Creature thundered after her with snarling fangs and razor sharp claws.
“Throw it in!” croaked Legolas through blood stained lips, as he struggled to get up. “Throw it into the fire!”
The Creature howled in fury and charged after the She-Elf. Arwen screamed in fear and swung the necklace over her head towards the opened mouth of the underground volcano.
The Queen Creature screeched in rage and plunged past Arwen after it. Her clawed hand wrapped around the thin metal chain and plucked it from the air. She turned slowly, a few feet from the crumbling edge, with a hideous grin of salivating metal teeth.
Aragorn, Gandalf and Elrond all pressed themselves against the glass-like wall as the enormous thing tilted its grimacing massive head toward the She-Elf.
Arwen screamed.
The glowing sky stones flared with unearthly blue fire. Arwen shook her head, tears rolling down her face and took a tiny step back. The Creature tilted its head in mock sympathy. Sarcasm had somehow become part of the Beast’s repertoire.
Had the Creature become more ‘human’ by its contact with her or had Arwen become more monstrous? Perhaps the answer was a little of both, she reflected distantly as she continued to back away. The Creature stepped forward. They stared at each other. Somehow they understood each other perfectly. The Creature was smiling with pleasure! The Hunt was almost at an end at last. Only two things remained to be done. Arwen knew what those two things were.
The stadium’s invisible barrier would be lowered only when Arwen and Legolas were dead. The Creature would be declared victorious. She would be free!
No longer would She be the hunted one! The power of the sky stones was now hers, and with it, she would defeat the Predators and their Elven step-children. She bared her fangs in anticipation as the vision of her victory sailed out to her opponents. The Green Wood would be her new lair. From here she would breed an army to devour all of Mirkwood and the world beyond.
The Creature hissed triumphantly as she moved to tower over Arwen. Her black eyes pierced Arwen with their intelligence. Now She was the Hunter and Arwen the hunted. The She-Elf sobbed in terror.
“No,” whispered Legolas to himself, where he lay. “I wont let you.”
Fueled by desperation, Legolas summoned what little strength was left to him. He rolled onto his stomach and reached behind him with gritted teeth. Razor sharp pain lanced through him as his fingers again brushed the hilt. He bit his lip and closed his fingers around it. He brutally yanked the dagger free with a howl of pain. Spots danced before his eyes and he willed himself not to pass out again.
Slowly, painfully he dragged himself up to his knees, then carefully to his feet. He pushed himself forward, each step threatening to bring him to collapse.
The pounding of his heart thundered in his ears. He could feel the blood spurting with each pulse down his back. The hilt of the small Elven dagger dangled loosely from his red slicked fingers. Like a sleepwalker, he stumbled forward towards the monstrous behemoth that now toward over the piteously crying Queen of Gondor.
Aragorn cried out as the Elf King stumbled past them, unseeingly, towards the Creature and towards Arwen.
Arwen screamed as the Creature opened its jaws wide above her head, the inner jaws ready to make the kill. Saliva rained down on the paralyzed She-Elf.
But the strike never came. A flying golden body hurled itself at her. As tiny as the Elf was the Queen’s mind registered danger. She reared back with a snarl and whipped her tail at the Elf. Legolas just barely dodged the assault and staggered back towards Arwen.
Arwen gasped as he sagged against her weakly, and she scrambled to hold him up. The vision of the Queen’s conquest in her mind gave her renewed courage.
“Legolas,” she whispered to him urgently.
But Legolas had seen the vision as well. No further words were needed between them. The two Elves looked at each other in sudden understanding and Legolas raised an ancient war cry. After a moments hesitation Arwen took up the cry with him.
They both moved together then. Unexpectedly, as one, they charged her and the great Mother reflexively took another step back. The ancient Hunter within the Elf King flashed in the Creature’s mind like an avenging golden god. Lines of light danced on his skin and he leapt at her with a killer instinct.
The chain with the sky rocks dangled from her black grip as she stumbled back from this ancient menace. Why would this Hunter not die? She hissed in frustration as she thundered backward.
Beneath her the earth rumbled. Fire hissed up from the pit behind her feet. The ground lurched and cracked again, as her massive weight shifted the loose stone floor so near the precipice. It began to crumble. The Creature roared in shock.
She tittered on the edge of the precipice, as pieces of earth broke away beneath her huge bulk. Arwen and Legolas looked at each other and rushed at her again before she regained her balance. The heat scorched the delicate skin of their faces and their hands burned on the hard metallic flesh of the Creature’s hide as they pushed with all their might.
Arwen screamed at the pain and pulled one hand off. Her fingers grasped one of the stones that dangled from the necklace that still swung in the Creature’s grip. A roar came from the ground, as a huge chunk of earth broke apart under them all. Arwen screamed again as the ground pushed up under her, lifting her into the air. Legolas was thrown to the side by the jutting shaft of stone that came up out of the turbulent ground.
The Creature was now swimming on the molten shifting earth. The chain stretched as the Monster fell back. Her clawed arms flapping helplessly at the empty air as she was carried back towards the very edge. Arwen’s fingers madly clutched at the one stone in her grasp. The chain snapped between them as the Monster began to fall backwards.
The Creature howled as the ground beneath her crumbled towards the fiery ravine below. Arwen was thrown backwards onto a flat slab of rock that was slowly sliding towards the fiery edge. Legolas crawled over the shifting rocks and clutched Arwen’s wrist as she sailed past him. He pulled her to him just as the slab she had been riding slipped over the brink.
They scrambled to find purchase on the shifting rocks but the ground beneath their feet was rapidly decomposing. They clung to each other as the river of stones continued to push them toward the pit. Legolas gripped her by the waist and grabbed onto a rock shaft as an anchor. It stopped their forward movement.
Arwen clung to him with shivering arms as the world continued to rumble around them. She hugged him in gratitude and was about to smile. But what ever words she had planned to say turned to a scream. The flailing tail of the Creature whipped like a corded snake out of the pit and around Arwen’s ankle. It pulled her violently out of Legolas’s arms.
Arwen screamed as she felt herself being dragged rapidly over the rim. The pit of fire blasted her with heat as she was pulled into the chasm. A hand on her wrist stopped her fall with a jerk. Legolas had thrown himself onto the unstable ground and half over the hot edge into the volcano after her. Thankfully, his aim was true and he managed to grasp her hand before she plummeted to a fiery death. With his waning strength, he clung to her with both hands while somehow riding the shifting earth.
“LEGOLAS!” she screamed as she looked down and saw the Queen monster suspended between two jutting rock ledges. The end of the Creature’s tail was wrapped around Arwen’s ankle. Fire spat up from the lava river beneath them and an ominous rumble below threatened to send another geyser up the fissure. They would all be incinerated!
The Creature’s weight stressed the rock ledge and it began to crumble within her clawed grasp. The Queen Creature snarled as she scrambled for another hold. Arwen screamed as well as the strain pulled at her leg and the grip began to crush the bones of her ankle.
Legolas slid further down the edge as the Creature’s momentum threatened to take Arwen with it into the fire. The Creature snarled and spat in fury as it looked up at them. The black claws clamped a firmer hold on the side of the rock. Metal claws dug their way into solid wall. She began to climb.
Legolas looked into the dark obsidian eyes of the Queen. It bared its fangs at him in a grin. With a prayer on his lips, he let go of one hand from around Arwen’s wrist.
The She-Elf screamed as she felt herself starting to slip out of Legolas’s grip. Stones and dirt rained down on her. She squinted through the dust and then she saw it. Her Elven blade glistened in his other hand. She saw it for only the barest flicker as his keen Mirkwood reflexes sent it flying with precision. It whistled past her face and struck the Queen.
How like Legolas to try anything and everything, no matter how impossible to save his people, to save Middle Earth, …even to save her. She had truly misjudged him! And now they would die together. But the grip on her ankle slackened and the pressure began to lessen.
Confused she looked down. The small gold hilt of her dagger protruded from the Creature’s exoskeleton, just under her crown of thorns. At first Arwen could not imagine how a tiny weapon could do anything beyond annoy the great space Queen. But Arwen looked again, not with her eyes but with her mind.
The link was fraying, like a thick twine of many colored threads. It was unraveling. Death was closing in on the Creature and in a warped mirror image Arwen saw her self as the Creature looked up at them.
The Queen Creature whimpered as she looked up at the two Elves with her one good eye. She was slowly realizing what had just happened. The slender blade had penetrated behind her eye to her brain. Darkness was closing in on her. The Hunter had brought her down with a tiny Elven blade!
Her tail unraveled weakly from around the She-Elf and her clawed grip on the rock loosened. Blackness started to claim her. She began to fall backwards into the chasm.
Arwen cried out at the sensation of falling and tried to fight off the darkness that threatened to consume her as well. It was the link! They had to break free of it! She felt Legolas’s two hands on her wrist as he tried to pull her up. But Death was traveling to them through the link! Arwen tried to warn Legolas but found herself growing numb, the fingers of her hand around his wrist were loosening.
Her last memory was of the sensation of both of them falling as the death of the monster started to consume them both in its cold black web. Arwen floated … mingling with the Great Mother… distantly aware this was the Queen Creature’s final assault. She would draw them into Death with her. Like a mortal lover’s kiss blown on the wind, she sent black Death up to them …to her two Elven lovers.
A pity Elessar could not join them. But Aragorn would suffer. He would have to go on living… alone; and with the knowledge that he was the cause of their deaths… the two (or was it three?) who loved him most. The Queen smiled as Death took her. The image of her grieving Human lover made the moment almost… worthwhile.
“By the Gods!” whispered Mithrandir as he took in the scene. Elrond stood frozen beside him.
“She’ll tear him apart, Gandalf! What can we do?” said Elrond, despairingly, as he stared in disbelief at the dragon like thing that loomed over the unmoving body of the young Elf.
“Nothing, I fear,” choked out the Mage. “This shield seems impenetrable. No doubt it was designed to permit the combatants their final show down without outside interference.”
“Gandalf!” cried Elrond suddenly. The Elf Lord grabbed the Mage’s elbow and pointed to the far side of the arena below them.
The Wizard gasped.
“Arwen.”
“What is she doing?” asked Elrond as he edged closer to the drop. Gandalf grabbed his arm to prevent him from getting too near the end of their precarious little perch.
“I don’ t know, my friend. Perhaps to get a better look at the end of her competitor,” said Gandalf with sadness in his voice.
They watched the demented Queen of Gondor approach the edge of the shimmering barrier, with an eerie glow in her eyes. She put her hands up to it and pressed against it much as Aragorn did on the opposite side. Her blue eyes looked up from the still form of the Archer to lock with those of her one-time husband from across the vast distance. Between them, the golden body of the Elf lay prone beneath the black nightmare thing that salivated over him.
Aragorn sobbed helplessly even as he continued to pound against the invisible air. His blows bounced off the barrier as surely as if he’d tried to topple the Black Gates of Mordor with his bare hands.
“Legolas!” he howled in anguish, his eyes now only for his beloved. Arwen cringed in fury. Let her burn with her rage, thought Aragorn in remote defiance. He had only one objective: to save his lover. But the barrier would not yield and he pounded in frustration against its unrelenting surface.
The Great Alien Mother snapped her tail in exhilaration, obliterating a pile of boulders in the process and shaking the earth into fragments around them. Dust and sharp rocks rained down on the helpless Mirkwood Elf. Only a few yards away, tongues of fire flew out of the earth high into the air above them.
Aragorn screamed in fury. The Creature roared in pleasure and snapped her tail thunderously against the earth a second time. The rips in the ground widened.
Legolas moaned in pain as one slender hand drifted to his head. He did not seem aware of the menacing terror that snarled ever closer above him. Saliva rained from the Creature’s bared jaws as she bent her black face towards the beautiful Elf King. The Elf moaned again as the hot liquid pooled in the hollow of his throat and slid it’s sticky trail down his chest. The Creature growled in anticipation. Victory was within her grasp! Now, to savor the moment…
Arwen licked her lips with mixed emotions as she pressed up against the shield for a closer look. She placed her palms against the strange tingling warmth of the barrier and gasped to feel it melt against her skin. Her hands slipped through the gelatinous field until she had pushed through to the other side. She stood there, submerged up to her elbows, and gazed at her hands as she turned them experimentally up to her face.
Aragorn froze, his screams suddenly lodged in his throat. Gandalf and Elrond both gasped. Legolas was beginning to stir beneath the hulking form of the enormous Alien Mother, but the beast abruptly snapped her enormous jaws shut and swung her great monstrous head in the direction of She-Elf. The Creature tilted her black face to the side in strange mimicry of Human curiosity. None should have been able to penetrate the ancient barrier.
Surprise pierced the storm of Arwen’s tumultuous emotions as she easily slipped her arms further past the force field. She looked up in confusion and locked her gaze on the penetrating stare of her husband. Aragorn pressed himself against the stinging glass-like barrier and tried to decipher the dark inscrutable look that slowly came over Arwen’s features. His eyes fluttered worriedly over to the beautiful Archer who was slowly regaining consciousness.
Arwen’s gaze shifted from Aragorn’s stunned face to the black inhuman eyes of the Creature. She shuddered. Cold insect-like eyes stared back at her and Arwen knew that an alien equivalent of a smile lurked in their malevolent depths. Repulsion rippled through her and she had the oddest sensation of looking into a warped mirror. Realization came slowly: the Creature found her repulsive!
But the moment of repulsion passed as swiftly as it had come. The Great Alien Mother found Humans and Elves to be oddly distasteful, misshapen little things. But they could be surprisingly enterprising at times. The Creature watched in fascination as the She-Elf defiantly stared back at her before pushing her body the rest of the way through the barrier.
It should not have been possible but then again, little of this Hunt had followed the prescribed course laid down millennia ago. The She-Elf had summoned the Sky Rock prematurely from its orbit, and dared attempt to use The Mother as a weapon for her own plot. Now, that same She-Elf was entering the Sanctuary! Since the first days of the Hunt, long ago, none other than Queen and Hunter were by tradition permitted this honor.
She shook her enormous thorned head in consternation. The shield recognized Arwen as a combatant! This little She-Elf continued to intrude where she should not. The Mother bared her fangs in Arwen’s direction.
Arwen froze, fear suddenly penetrating the fog of her mind. She could feel the simmering rage of the Queen Creature turning towards her.
‘So you have come, She-Elf! Your enemy is about to be devoured. Our enemy. Yet, I do not think you wish to join the feast. Why do you intrude in this sacred place?’
The Queen’s voice rang sharply in Arwen’s thoughts. The link of many colors twisted between their two minds as they fought for dominance. Arwen stared at the Queen Creature and gasped, as if seeing it for the first time. The Black Menace shook her crowned head and took a menacing step towards the She-Elf.
Arwen did not have time to scream. Even as it reared up in preparation to attack a flutter of motion jarred the great beast from its new target. The Great Mother snarled in anger as it turned its thorny head towards the King of Mirkwood.
Arwen saw two circular blades protruding from under the hard cowl of the Monster. With an angry swipe of a clawed hand, the Creature managed to dislodge one of the blades and sent it flying to land at Arwen’s feet.
The Monster swung her massive tail at her opponent. Legolas somersaulted over the spiked appendage in a smooth feline move. His lean muscled body gleamed in the firelight and the tattoos on his skin slithered into a new powerful totem of animal stripes.
He landed on his feet like a cat, his body shimmering with renewed light. The Creature roared her displeasure and bared her fangs in challenge. The Hunter smirked defiantly and vaulted into the air again to evade another impotent strike. The Creature’s tail smashed into the wall sending a rain of stones over them all.
Legolas landed smoothly in between the ravenous Creature and the Queen of Gondor. He scooped up the circular blade and sent it flying into the Creature’s face. It struck above her eye and imbedded there. Howling with fury the Creature smashed her tail again into the ground causing the earth to shake.
“Arwen, run! Flee!” he cried over his shoulder as he prepared to meet the impossible menace that now lumbered toward them both. Arwen shuffled behind him as if in a daze. The Creature turned her black eyes upon the Queen of Gondor with a low hissing sound. Legolas did not like the looks of this. What was she trying to do? The link twisted and somehow blocked him from seeing her intentions.
“Get out of here, Arwen!” he whispered nervously, over his shoulder.
Legolas raised his arms up to draw the Creature’s gaze away from the She-Elf. Aragorn’s frantic cries were a distant buzz in his ear. The Creature hissed and bared her teeth. Behind him, Arwen moaned throatily. He did not have time to see the blade of the small Elven dagger descend but felt it when it penetrated his flesh and sank with surprising force between his shoulders.
The sensation of hot spurting blood soaking down his back dominated Legolas’s awareness as his knees began to give out and the ground came up to meet him. The black face of razor sharp teeth and menacing cruelty filled his eyes as the Great Mother slowly thundered towards the two Elves.
Arwen walked around him to stand with her back to the great Beast. Legolas fought to stay conscious. The white face of the Queen of Gondor swam before him blearily as he sank to the ground. Arwen’s eyes were rimmed in red and her ivory teeth bared in a snarl.
“The rules have changed young King,” she said with a hiss. “Now my kind will finally rule this Green Wood. This meddlesome She-Elf has been of indispensable help.”
The white hand of the Queen darted out to grab the necklace of the three glowing space stones, which still hung around Legolas’s slender throat. With waning strength, he grabbed Arwen’s wrist.
“No, Arwen. You must fight her! Do not let her have the stones! They will give her all the power she needs to conquer Middle Earth. Fight her, Arwen. I know you can. You are the stronger one.”
The She-Elf’s brow furrowed and a pale light struggled to emerge through the fog of the Creature’s control. Legolas could perceive a pale green thread among the cacophony of the Creature’s thoughts. He followed it in his mind’s eye, hoping the Creature did not see their link.
Arwen’s consciousness winked back at him and he knew she understood the danger if the Creature took possession of the stones. Legolas felt the strength slowly ebb away from him as his blood drained into the rumbling hot earth. The fissure behind them gurgled another long spout of fire into the air and burning chunks of molten rain fell around them.
A plan formed in his mind. It was terribly risky but precious few options remained open to them. The hulking form of the Creature hovered menacingly over them. Arwen blinked her understanding and a single tear fell from her eye.
Legolas smiled as his hand fell away from her wrist and his head fell back in a swoon. Life was quickly draining away form him but he would see this thing defeated before death took him.
“LEGOLAS!” Aragorn pounded against the invisible barrier with impotent rage. His voice was a tragic wail of sorrow. Elrond and Gandalf managed to climb down from their perch and ran to Aragorn’s side. They clasped him and each other in shock as they watched the Queen of Gondor bend over the dying Elf.
Arwen pulled the chain free of the Sindar’s neck and clasped the hanging trophy to her breast.
“YOU BITCH!” screamed Aragorn in fury. Arwen threw him a dark look and turned slowly to face the Creature that lumbered over her.
‘Give it to me, Arwen,’ She hissed into the mental link. A black skeletal claw opened in imitation of a human hand, palm held open in expectation.
The Queen of Gondor held the chain out with a trembling hand towards the Creature but took a slow shaking step backwards. The Creature snarled with displeasure. Arwen took another step backwards, towards the ravine. The stones glowed hot against her skin and she wondered that the Sindar had actually had enough power to withstand the energy that she felt pouring from them. She glanced back at the pale form of the Elf.
Legolas was struggling to reach the dagger still in his back. He grimaced in pain as his fingers brushed the bloodied hilt. He was barely conscious, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and the stripes on his skin had broken down into fragmented hash marks.
The Creature shook her massive head and whipped her spiked tail towards the Sindar. She stopped an inch above his chest, the long thorn pointed directly at the Elf’s heart.
‘Give it to me! Or I will kill this pretty gold one.’ She threatened.
Arwen looked up at her in shock.
‘Yes, I see regret in you mind, dear little Queen. But it is too late for that now. He is dying and his lover, your former husband would now gladly kill you with his bare hands. Look at him, over there.’
Arwen glanced over her shoulder at her husband. There was murderous rage written on Aragorn’s face. But also something else. Aragorn was no fool. He understood something was happening, some moment of decision had arrived.
‘Please, Arwen,’ he whispered silently. His eyes pleaded with her to make the right decision.
Arwen looked back at the Creature as its thoughts poured into her again.
‘ You have no choice. Why not join me? Together we will rule your Middle Earth. My children will be your children. Join me or I will hasten Legolas’s end.’
Arwen hesitated and caught a glimmer in the fallen Elf King’s eyes. She nodded and stepped hesitatingly forward with the necklace in her hand.
But then, with unexpected speed she bolted toward the fiery chasm. A blast of heat brought her to a halt several feet from the edge. The Creature thundered after her with snarling fangs and razor sharp claws.
“Throw it in!” croaked Legolas through blood stained lips, as he struggled to get up. “Throw it into the fire!”
The Creature howled in fury and charged after the She-Elf. Arwen screamed in fear and swung the necklace over her head towards the opened mouth of the underground volcano.
The Queen Creature screeched in rage and plunged past Arwen after it. Her clawed hand wrapped around the thin metal chain and plucked it from the air. She turned slowly, a few feet from the crumbling edge, with a hideous grin of salivating metal teeth.
Aragorn, Gandalf and Elrond all pressed themselves against the glass-like wall as the enormous thing tilted its grimacing massive head toward the She-Elf.
Arwen screamed.
The glowing sky stones flared with unearthly blue fire. Arwen shook her head, tears rolling down her face and took a tiny step back. The Creature tilted its head in mock sympathy. Sarcasm had somehow become part of the Beast’s repertoire.
Had the Creature become more ‘human’ by its contact with her or had Arwen become more monstrous? Perhaps the answer was a little of both, she reflected distantly as she continued to back away. The Creature stepped forward. They stared at each other. Somehow they understood each other perfectly. The Creature was smiling with pleasure! The Hunt was almost at an end at last. Only two things remained to be done. Arwen knew what those two things were.
The stadium’s invisible barrier would be lowered only when Arwen and Legolas were dead. The Creature would be declared victorious. She would be free!
No longer would She be the hunted one! The power of the sky stones was now hers, and with it, she would defeat the Predators and their Elven step-children. She bared her fangs in anticipation as the vision of her victory sailed out to her opponents. The Green Wood would be her new lair. From here she would breed an army to devour all of Mirkwood and the world beyond.
The Creature hissed triumphantly as she moved to tower over Arwen. Her black eyes pierced Arwen with their intelligence. Now She was the Hunter and Arwen the hunted. The She-Elf sobbed in terror.
“No,” whispered Legolas to himself, where he lay. “I wont let you.”
Fueled by desperation, Legolas summoned what little strength was left to him. He rolled onto his stomach and reached behind him with gritted teeth. Razor sharp pain lanced through him as his fingers again brushed the hilt. He bit his lip and closed his fingers around it. He brutally yanked the dagger free with a howl of pain. Spots danced before his eyes and he willed himself not to pass out again.
Slowly, painfully he dragged himself up to his knees, then carefully to his feet. He pushed himself forward, each step threatening to bring him to collapse.
The pounding of his heart thundered in his ears. He could feel the blood spurting with each pulse down his back. The hilt of the small Elven dagger dangled loosely from his red slicked fingers. Like a sleepwalker, he stumbled forward towards the monstrous behemoth that now toward over the piteously crying Queen of Gondor.
Aragorn cried out as the Elf King stumbled past them, unseeingly, towards the Creature and towards Arwen.
Arwen screamed as the Creature opened its jaws wide above her head, the inner jaws ready to make the kill. Saliva rained down on the paralyzed She-Elf.
But the strike never came. A flying golden body hurled itself at her. As tiny as the Elf was the Queen’s mind registered danger. She reared back with a snarl and whipped her tail at the Elf. Legolas just barely dodged the assault and staggered back towards Arwen.
Arwen gasped as he sagged against her weakly, and she scrambled to hold him up. The vision of the Queen’s conquest in her mind gave her renewed courage.
“Legolas,” she whispered to him urgently.
But Legolas had seen the vision as well. No further words were needed between them. The two Elves looked at each other in sudden understanding and Legolas raised an ancient war cry. After a moments hesitation Arwen took up the cry with him.
They both moved together then. Unexpectedly, as one, they charged her and the great Mother reflexively took another step back. The ancient Hunter within the Elf King flashed in the Creature’s mind like an avenging golden god. Lines of light danced on his skin and he leapt at her with a killer instinct.
The chain with the sky rocks dangled from her black grip as she stumbled back from this ancient menace. Why would this Hunter not die? She hissed in frustration as she thundered backward.
Beneath her the earth rumbled. Fire hissed up from the pit behind her feet. The ground lurched and cracked again, as her massive weight shifted the loose stone floor so near the precipice. It began to crumble. The Creature roared in shock.
She tittered on the edge of the precipice, as pieces of earth broke away beneath her huge bulk. Arwen and Legolas looked at each other and rushed at her again before she regained her balance. The heat scorched the delicate skin of their faces and their hands burned on the hard metallic flesh of the Creature’s hide as they pushed with all their might.
Arwen screamed at the pain and pulled one hand off. Her fingers grasped one of the stones that dangled from the necklace that still swung in the Creature’s grip. A roar came from the ground, as a huge chunk of earth broke apart under them all. Arwen screamed again as the ground pushed up under her, lifting her into the air. Legolas was thrown to the side by the jutting shaft of stone that came up out of the turbulent ground.
The Creature was now swimming on the molten shifting earth. The chain stretched as the Monster fell back. Her clawed arms flapping helplessly at the empty air as she was carried back towards the very edge. Arwen’s fingers madly clutched at the one stone in her grasp. The chain snapped between them as the Monster began to fall backwards.
The Creature howled as the ground beneath her crumbled towards the fiery ravine below. Arwen was thrown backwards onto a flat slab of rock that was slowly sliding towards the fiery edge. Legolas crawled over the shifting rocks and clutched Arwen’s wrist as she sailed past him. He pulled her to him just as the slab she had been riding slipped over the brink.
They scrambled to find purchase on the shifting rocks but the ground beneath their feet was rapidly decomposing. They clung to each other as the river of stones continued to push them toward the pit. Legolas gripped her by the waist and grabbed onto a rock shaft as an anchor. It stopped their forward movement.
Arwen clung to him with shivering arms as the world continued to rumble around them. She hugged him in gratitude and was about to smile. But what ever words she had planned to say turned to a scream. The flailing tail of the Creature whipped like a corded snake out of the pit and around Arwen’s ankle. It pulled her violently out of Legolas’s arms.
Arwen screamed as she felt herself being dragged rapidly over the rim. The pit of fire blasted her with heat as she was pulled into the chasm. A hand on her wrist stopped her fall with a jerk. Legolas had thrown himself onto the unstable ground and half over the hot edge into the volcano after her. Thankfully, his aim was true and he managed to grasp her hand before she plummeted to a fiery death. With his waning strength, he clung to her with both hands while somehow riding the shifting earth.
“LEGOLAS!” she screamed as she looked down and saw the Queen monster suspended between two jutting rock ledges. The end of the Creature’s tail was wrapped around Arwen’s ankle. Fire spat up from the lava river beneath them and an ominous rumble below threatened to send another geyser up the fissure. They would all be incinerated!
The Creature’s weight stressed the rock ledge and it began to crumble within her clawed grasp. The Queen Creature snarled as she scrambled for another hold. Arwen screamed as well as the strain pulled at her leg and the grip began to crush the bones of her ankle.
Legolas slid further down the edge as the Creature’s momentum threatened to take Arwen with it into the fire. The Creature snarled and spat in fury as it looked up at them. The black claws clamped a firmer hold on the side of the rock. Metal claws dug their way into solid wall. She began to climb.
Legolas looked into the dark obsidian eyes of the Queen. It bared its fangs at him in a grin. With a prayer on his lips, he let go of one hand from around Arwen’s wrist.
The She-Elf screamed as she felt herself starting to slip out of Legolas’s grip. Stones and dirt rained down on her. She squinted through the dust and then she saw it. Her Elven blade glistened in his other hand. She saw it for only the barest flicker as his keen Mirkwood reflexes sent it flying with precision. It whistled past her face and struck the Queen.
How like Legolas to try anything and everything, no matter how impossible to save his people, to save Middle Earth, …even to save her. She had truly misjudged him! And now they would die together. But the grip on her ankle slackened and the pressure began to lessen.
Confused she looked down. The small gold hilt of her dagger protruded from the Creature’s exoskeleton, just under her crown of thorns. At first Arwen could not imagine how a tiny weapon could do anything beyond annoy the great space Queen. But Arwen looked again, not with her eyes but with her mind.
The link was fraying, like a thick twine of many colored threads. It was unraveling. Death was closing in on the Creature and in a warped mirror image Arwen saw her self as the Creature looked up at them.
The Queen Creature whimpered as she looked up at the two Elves with her one good eye. She was slowly realizing what had just happened. The slender blade had penetrated behind her eye to her brain. Darkness was closing in on her. The Hunter had brought her down with a tiny Elven blade!
Her tail unraveled weakly from around the She-Elf and her clawed grip on the rock loosened. Blackness started to claim her. She began to fall backwards into the chasm.
Arwen cried out at the sensation of falling and tried to fight off the darkness that threatened to consume her as well. It was the link! They had to break free of it! She felt Legolas’s two hands on her wrist as he tried to pull her up. But Death was traveling to them through the link! Arwen tried to warn Legolas but found herself growing numb, the fingers of her hand around his wrist were loosening.
Her last memory was of the sensation of both of them falling as the death of the monster started to consume them both in its cold black web. Arwen floated … mingling with the Great Mother… distantly aware this was the Queen Creature’s final assault. She would draw them into Death with her. Like a mortal lover’s kiss blown on the wind, she sent black Death up to them …to her two Elven lovers.
A pity Elessar could not join them. But Aragorn would suffer. He would have to go on living… alone; and with the knowledge that he was the cause of their deaths… the two (or was it three?) who loved him most. The Queen smiled as Death took her. The image of her grieving Human lover made the moment almost… worthwhile.
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