17. Darkness Beneath the Boughs
Originally written for the LiveJournal tolkien_weekly "Mealtimes - Breakfast" challenge. (And yes, the interpretation of 'breakfast' is somewhat... lateral...)
The raid comes swift and violent; clashing chaos under dark trees. Confusion reigns, until -
"They've taken the Gollum-creature! And Calandil, and-"
Their captain's eyes flash. "Galathil, Rumion, with me. Taurlaegel, Falastir, break off left, try to cut them off - break fast! Go!"
They are swift and their arrows deadly - but too few, too late; when they meet hours later, in a clearing far to the south, they're empty-handed.
"Do we go on?"
"Getting too close to... Dol Guldur. I'll not risk the rest of you." Legolas slowly lowers his bow, defeated. "Now I just have to explain this to Father..."
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.
