Faramir Fiction Archive

Elves, Orcs and the Road to Recovery

Written by KC

06 November 2004 | 58662 words

Part 13

Faramir awoke the next morning in his usual sluggish manner. He was vaguely aware that he was lying on his stomach in a nest of blankets on the floor of the cave in which he and his elven companions had slept the past few nights, and that his hindquarters ached. Groaning at the injustice of the world in general, the first words out of the young Steward's mouth came in the form of a growl, threatening his elven brother grievous bodily harm if he were so much as to squeak in anything that resembled, ever so distantly, a cheerful manner. Legolas laughed brightly and deftly dodged the ranger-issue boot that came flying his way.

"I thought that ring was upon your right hand?" Legolas asked as he looked at mithril ring with the blue stone on the ring finger of his brother's left hand.

Faramir looked at the ring now residing on his left hand and growled in frustration as he tugged at it in an attempt to remove the contrary object.

"It was!" the young Steward growled as he continued to twist the ring. "I swear this contrary thing has a perverse sense of humour. Be off with you!!" Faramir barked as he tried in vain to remove the ring.

Legolas turned and walked from the cave chuckling and shaking his head at his brother's one-sided but virulent argument with the ring. Eventually the young Steward emerged from the cave with a thunderous look upon his face, glaring down at the ring on his hand and muttering curses in a variety of languages that would have made an orc blush. It was obvious to Legolas, who was standing with his father, Aragorn and Maglor, that Faramir had lost his argument with the ring.

Still muttering foul curses the young Steward continued to walk towards the four, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were standing there. This was born out in the next instant when Faramir stopped abruptly as if aware suddenly that was not alone. Head still bowed as he had been glaring at the ring on his finger, the Steward looked up through the hair that had fallen in a curtain over his face and winced when he saw who was standing before him. His eyes narrowed when he saw Legolas grinning from ear to ear, shaking his head and Aragorn standing with his arms crossed and a very unkingly smirk on his face. His eyes softened when he saw his father's tolerant expression and winced at the decidedly annoyed look from Maglor. The Mirkwood Seneschal twirled his finger and pointed to the cave in a mute command for Faramir to turn around and go back into the cave. Heaving a huge sigh and knowing that escape was impossible, if not suicidal, the young Steward followed the unspoken command with Maglor close behind.

"Leggings down and bend over that rock, pen-neth," Maglor said, indicating a large, smooth rock that stood about waist height located against the far wall, as he bent down and retrieved 'Faramir's Bane' from one of the supply packs. Berating himself silently yet again for his foul temper and habit of 'verbalising' his annoyance, Faramir did as he was bid. "Ten swats pen-neth. You will count each one in the hopes that you will remember eventually, to keep a civil tongue in your head!" Maglor exclaimed as he landed the first hard, stinging whack.

"One!" Faramir yelped as the paddle landed on his still bottom still sore from the previous night's chastisement.

"Two!…three!…four!…five!…" the young steward sobbed out by the fifth stinging, biting whack of the dreaded red paddle. Maglor felt for his young charge but was determined to get the message home. "Six!…seven!…eight!…nine!…ten!" Faramir yelled between gasps for breath.

The elf pulled up the young human's leggings eliciting a pained hiss, gathered the repentant man into an embrace and rubbed his back as Faramir sobbed quietly. A short time later, the Steward felt himself being turned by another and gathered into a firm hug, which Faramir returned.

"Oh, tithen-pen. What am I to do…?" the elven King crooned as he held his human son and smiled at his Seneschal.

"You could burn that bloody red… 'thing'!" Faramir snapped out in annoyance, burying his face further into his father's shoulder and eliciting chuckles from both Thranduil and Maglor as the Seneschal passed a jar of numbing salve to the elven King.

---

Later that morning the Steward of Gondor, walking a little stiffly, met with Aragorn, Gandalf and the Mirkwood elves for a council of war by a section of the old ruin where several large parts of the original wall had fallen to the ground creating a semi-circle of natural seating. Elessar smiled at his Steward and offered the young man an empty 'seat' opposite. Faramir declined the offer, glaring at his King, eliciting another unkingly smirk from Aragorn. The young Steward looked at each of the others, daring any of them to smirk. It was then that he noticed the absence of the twins.

"Where are Elladan and Elrohir?" Faramir asked as he looked around him for the sons of Elrond.

"Out hunting orcs, against my orders I might add and in trouble when they arrive back," Thranduil growled.

Faramir was just admonishing himself silently for hoping the twins would arrive back before nightfall in the vain hope that his father's attention would be diverted from his own promised punishment, when he staggered back as if from a physical blow; blood draining from his face by the sheer power of the images flashing before him.

"What is wrong, ion-nin?" Thranduil asked as he and Legolas both leapt up and rushed to Faramir's side.

"Nooooooooo!!!!" Faramir yelled, casting his eyes about him as if searching for something.

"Faramir, what is wrong?" Aragorn asked in a commanding voice trying to get through to his distressed Steward.

"The twins are in mortal danger!" the Steward exclaimed as he turned, grabbed his bow and ran towards the horses tethered a short distance away.

"Faramir Thranduilion, cease!" both Thranduil and Gandalf bellowed but the young Steward either ignored or did not hear their angry calls to stop.

Mounting a saddled horse, Faramir rode at full gallop through groups of soldiers who, in some cases, had to leap out of the Steward of Gondor's way or be mown down. The Ithilien ranger rode out past the ruins and onto the ravine pass road on the edge of which Minas Morgul was located and led thence into Mordor.

---

"Legolas! Take Finrod with you and go after that young fool of a brother of yours! Keep him in sight and mark your way so that we can follow quickly." Aragorn yelled torn between fear for his brothers and fear for his Steward. Legolas and Finrod mounted their horses and galloped after Faramir. "Lieutenant!" Aragorn yelled to a soldier who was already hurrying towards him as the two Kings, Wizard and Seneschal strode towards the horses. "Gather a company of your best warriors and follow me."

The Lieutenant gave a salute, turned and ran to do as the King ordered.

"When I get my hands on him…" Thranduil growled as he strode towards his horse.

"With all due respect, mellon-nin, this time you will have to stand in line, for *I* want the first piece of my Steward," the King of Gondor promised retribution against a certain headstrong and oft soft-headed Steward as they mounted their horses.

---

Faramir continued to ride at full gallop, driven by the absolute certainty that he knew where the Elrondion twins were and that they were in mortal peril. Looking behind him briefly the young Steward could see Legolas and Finrod following for which he was grateful as he realised, with a sudden lurch of his stomach, that he did not tell anyone where he was going. If truth be known, he did not know exactly why he knew where he was going, just that he…knew. Faramir's thoughts wandered briefly to the trouble in which he was likely to be before he forced his thoughts back to the task at hand.

Legolas and Finrod finally caught up with Faramir as the ranger stopped his horse, dismounted and grabbed his bow and a length of elven rope. Looking at Legolas and Finrod with a rueful expression as they both looked at him intently shaking their heads, he made his way up the ravine wall to higher ground in silence with both elves in tow. Moving quickly along the top of the ravine around a bend towards noise that could be heard up ahead, the ranger stopped, went down onto all fours, and crawled to the edge of the ravine to look over the edge. The sight that greeted Faramir made his stomach drop for it was one of the images of the vision that he had seen back at the ruins. Elrohir was down and unmoving as Elladan fired arrows at the orcs that had them pinned down in some rocks, and were advancing. Legolas and Finrod began firing down upon the orcs to stop their movement towards the twins whilst Faramir tied one end of the elven rope to the trunk of a tree and threw the other end over the edge of the ravine.

"What in Eru's name do you think you are doing?" Legolas yelled as he saw his brother throw the rope over the edge.

"Sorry," Faramir apologised as he scampered over the edge, down the rope with bow in hand and into the ravine before Legolas had a chance to stop him.

"Aieeeeeeee! Your arse is toast! Do you hear me muindor tithen? Your arse is toast!" Legolas shouted after his brother as he disappeared over the edge, his voice a mixture of anger and fear.

---

At the bottom of the ravine, Faramir let go of the rope and made his way over to Elladan.

"How is Elrohir?" the ranger asked as he fired arrows at the orcs.

"Alive, but knocked unconscious," Elladan replied, his relief evident. "And I am glad to see you."

"You may be glad to see me, my friend," Faramir said as he continued to fire arrows, "but neither of us is going to be too pleased to see ada, I think."

"Very angry?" Elladan asked tentatively.

"Oh yes," Faramir replied in a resigned tone.

Elrohir, at the feet of his twin, began to stir and both the attention of Elladan and Faramir was diverted to the Rivendell elf struggling towards consciousness. When Faramir looked up again he gasped, for the image that had caused his panic at Minas Morgul was about to happen. An Uruk-hai stood with bow drawn, aimed directly at Elladan. Faramir pushed the elf aside and stood directly in front of the Uruk-hai as the fell creature let loose the arrow. The ranger held his left hand in front of him as if attempting to stop the arrow in mid flight. A bolt of blue light shot from the ranger's hand and knocked aside the orcs directly in its path. The Uruk-hai's arrow hit the blue bolt and bounced off it as if hitting a physical wall. Faramir had but a moment to register the strange events when he dropped like a stone, unconscious before he hit the ground.

NB: Please do not distribute (by any means, including email) or repost this story (including translations) without the author's prior permission. [ more ]

Enjoyed this story? Then be sure to let the author know by posting a comment at https://www.faramirfiction.com/fiction/elves-orcs-and-the-road-to-recovery. Positive feedback is what keeps authors writing more stories!