"Gandalf has truly lost all sense between his ears this time! He will bring death on the entire fellowship! All to bring us all through a dark, old, dead and must I mention forbidden forest and in the wrong direction. We shall not see another sunris...
We tumbled out of the Great Eastern Gate onto grassy hillside. We had lost another. Gandalf had fallen. Grief had taken ahold of me. The hobbits were distraught, they fell to the ground, sobbing for our fallen wizard. Aragorn turned to me. "Legolas, get them up" he demanded. I looked down at the hobbits, barely registering his words. "Give them a moment...for pity's sake!" Boromir begged. "By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlorien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up. On your feet, Sam." Aragorn picked Sam up by the arm and looked for Frodo. "Frodo? Frodo!" He yelled. Frodo looked back at the ranger, numb shock on his devastated face. His burden was growing by the day. We marched on.
After an hour, we stopped by a small encosled area, with rocks, boulders and trees, to tend to our wounds. Sam passed around dried meats, comforting us in the only way he knew how, food. I sat with Boromir by the large boulder on the far side, seeking some relief from the loud hobbits. I hear a groan of pain not too far away, but it was not made by any of our group. Boromir and I shared an alarming look and drew our weapons quietly. Boromir eyes searched for the source of the sound. Then we heard it again! We both jumped up and I notched an arrow in my bow as he held his dagger. We approached the rock cover where the noise came from, a little away from our camp. Boromir jumped into action and brought the knife down to strike as he turned the corner. His face dropped in disbelief. "A knife, are you flirting with me, my lord" the voice said with painful breaths. My bow clattered to the ground. It couldn't be. Boromir's eyes met mine, and back down to the person. I willed my legs to move closer. There, behind the boulders with branches and other foiliage covering her was Ayla.
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"ARAGORN! Come! You must come now" Boromir boomed as he moved towards her. This broke my disbelieving trance. Blood was dried into the skin of her face, hair slick with grim and sweat. Boromir pulled all the branches off that were covering her and I pulled her into my arms. I was shaking violently. I gripped her so tightly she was almost one with my skin. "AYLA! I don't believe it. You're alive!" Aragorn said in disbelief. The rest of the group came over to see for themselves. "Legolas" she choked "please" I released her enough to see her face. "It hurts, please" tears in her eyes. I noticed her properly then. She clutched her chest lightly, her breast plate was missing. She was coved in scrapes and bruises. Her chest rose and fell uncomfortably. "Aragorn, she's hurt! She needs you!" I begged him. "We must bring her back to the camp, I need more space to assess her." He demanded. "I have to carry you. I'm sorry if I hurt you" I whispered in her ear but she not reply. The pain must be too much.
I picked her up lightly, and carried her to the fire. The hobbits ran ahead and roughly put together a cot using their cloaks. Gimli stoked the fire to get the flames burning higher so she was as warm as possible. Everyone was in utter disbelief. We had spent nearly four days believing her dead. As I laid her down, her face scrunched up in pain. I held her hand in both of mine. Aragorn kneeled over her. "Ayla, can you tell me where the pain is?" "My chest...." she choked out. Her breathing was low and deep, as to not put any pressure on her lungs. "I'm going to need to look Ayla." She nodded her head. Not able to give him any more permission than that. He turned to the rest of us. "Merry, fetch some clean water from the stream, Sam and Gimli look for some kings foil. We may have need of it. The rest of you look away" he barked orders. "Legolas...." He motioned for me to go sit with the others. I could not leave her, not even a step. Her hand squeezed mine in pain. She needed me. I looked to Aragorn, he was frustrated with my hesitation. I turned my body around but still held her hand. "I will not look, I promise!' Aragorn huffed, he knew that I would not move.
The rest returned with all that the ranger asked for and joined the others. "Tell me if anything hurts, Ayla!' He said as he began. When he looked at her chest, he hissed at the sight. "You have at least two.......if not three broken ribs, many more cracked. There is some internal bleeding too. How did this happen?" Aragorn was in full healer mode. Ayla coughed and groaned before she spoke. "I stabbbed the beast by tentacle that gripped me with, and it threw me far and hard into a tree. I felt a blinding pain shoot through my chest as I fell to the ground by the tree. When I woke, it was almost sunrise. I managed to drag myself here. I feared you had all passed me. I hid here, under the branches hoping help would find me before evil does" she groaned in pain. "Settle, Ayla, we have you now, we will get you to safety". He rummaged in his pack for something. "Here, take this." He demanded. "What is it?" "Somthing to ease your pain. I need to set your ribs." He said gravely. "Are you sure you wish to keep hold of my hand through this Legolas?" She laughed low and then groaned again in pain. "I'm not letting go!" And squeezed her hand gently. "Stubborn" she mumbled.
After a few moments passed she took a deep breath. "I feel as ready as I ever will be, Aragorn" she said nervously. "I'll be quick, I promise". Within moments her body contorted and she squeezed my hand with all her might. She forced a breath out of her mouth with a whoosh. "One more Ayla, tell me when you're ready." Aragorn said regretfully. "It's...not ....somthing you...can prepare for" her voice was strangled. She took another breath in "now!" She demanded and a moment later I heard the bone crack and snap into place. The noise was sickening. But even more so was Ayla's short sharp scream. Her body completely relaxed and her hand went limp.
I turned panicked. "It is alright, the pain was too much, and she has fainted. But all is well for now." Aragorn had already covered most of her chest before I turned. Her torso was covered in black bruises, cuts and scrapes. "I'm going to treat the cut on her arm and head, so they do not get infected. The gash on her hairline seems the deepest. There is nothing I can do about the internal bleeding until we reach healers in Lothlorien. Help me bind her ribs". I held her upper body up while Aragorn tightly wrapped her chest. Then he tended to her cuts while I wiped her face of grim and blood. The rest of the group set about making a makeshift stretcher for her with branches and our cloaks. "We have tarried here too long, we must move!" Aragorn ordered. I placed Ayla on the stretcher and me and Boromir carrried her towards the forest.
We were half a days travel from the forest. Aragorn ordered that we stopped to rest while he checked Ayla's bindings. "We are not moving fast enough" he worried aloud while he removed her bandage. "I will carry her myself, the stretcher slows us down. I will be careful not to disrupt her wounds." I pledged. Aragorn thought quietly to himself. "You know I'll be careful with her." Aragorn met my eyes. "I do not doubt you Legolas, least not when it concerns her" he smiled and wound the binding back around her. "Her ribs have stayed in place and the bleeding does not seem to be growing any worse. We must move now" I put one arm under her knees and the other under her neck and pulled her towards me as I stood.
Our pace quickened as Lothlorien came into view, spurred on by the safety of its tree line. I stared down at her resting face as I ran. Suddenly it hit me. The relief. I was so caught up in the shock of finding her,tending to her injury's and getting her to safety that I suppressed any selfish emotions. Now with safety so close and her wounds somewhat tended to, I could nearly relax. She survived! She is here in my arms. Emotion bubbled up in my throat and I let out an unnatural laugh. Many of the group looked at me as if I were not sane. "She's alive" I cried out happily, my vision blurring with the tears forming in my eyes. The relief rolling out from every pore. "Aye laddie!" Gimli cheered with me, emotion in his voice too "we have a tough lass on our side, and she don't go down easy!" He boomed. The group laughed at his comment. All feeling lighter at Ayla's return to us.
Forgive the terrible photoshop I did. I spent an embarrassing amount of time putting it together and when I was done I laughed so much at how ridiculous it looked that I had to include it. I hope you and enjoyed this chapter and are as happy as I am that Ayla survived. Until the next chapter my loves. 🕊️
