CHAPTER 15: THE DAWN OF TRUTH
Aragorn tossed and turned all night after what they had learnt from the prisoner hours earlier.
The worst storm Minas Tirith had seen in years had lashed its fury on the city for two hours, and then rained steadily for two more, making it impossible for anyone to attempt venturing outdoors, let alone ride anywhere in it in the dark.
“Quel amrun, Rallias,” Aragorn greeted the beautiful animal, although it was not quite a good morning yet. The horse nickered softly.
The king mounted his horse and rode off, with two rather sleepy guards behind him, unaware that the reason for his going to the woods would, in a little while, be waking up himself, and departing from the place before long. 终于。。。出发了！！
Legolas came awake from his elven reverie in his talan, in that small breath of time before Ithil graciously left the skies and Anor traced her own path into it to herald a new dawn. He lay still for a few minutes with his eyes closed and listened for the first bird call, the first flutter of wings, the first sound of a woodland creature’s feet to welcome the birth of a new day in Arda.
What would each new day be like in Valinor? Tranquil, restful… The thought came from nowhere, unbidden, surprising him.
Shaking off the thought, he sat up quickly. He dressed in a light shirt, a thicker tunic and strong leggings. Travel clothes, he mused. He had prepared his pack and equipment, and checked his weapons the previous night, and they lay ready at the door.
I hope I will be able to leave without suspicion, he said to himself.The elves, he knew, would not let him go alone if they realized where he was headed.
Arwen’s note from the basket last evening had given him a tiny measure of solace, a spark of hope that his friendship with his human friend was not as damaged as he had feared, that the man’s trust in him was not dead and that they had not grown too far apart. But still, he had not heard it from Aragorn’s own lips. It might have been Arwen’s mistaken perception, or her own way of making him feel better. 媳妇，你不愧是自虐狂啊！小莱痛爱A叔，也~
He sighed. There was no point in musing over this now. He would have to get going.
“Fứillin, would you prepare Aérodel for me, please?” the elf prince requested, casting his eyes briefly in the direction of the stables. “I will need a saddle today.”
Like all elves, Legolas rode bareback. But Brûyn would not be able to, and he did not want to take an extra horse on the journey and run the risk of the man riding off on his own if something should happen.
“We leave now,” Legolas whispered, releasing him from the tree and tying his hands securely behind his back.
The man yawned and tried to stretch himself. This time, Legolas’ impatience was at him.
“Get up and move quickly,” he hissed. Then he grabbed the man’s shoulders and stared him hard in the eyes. “Remember, breathe not a word of where we are going to anyone, or you taste the blade of my knife.”
Even in his sleepy state, Brûyn could not ignore the deliberate coldness in the elven eyes, and he nodded, swallowing. 是为冰山美人哟
“Will you be gone long?” Fứillin asked, looking up at the elf on the horse.
“I will return as soon as I can, when matters have been settled. It may take several days,” was the vague and carefully worded reply.
Fứillin nodded. “Namárië, Bridhon nin,” he said in farewell.
“Namárië,” Legolas said in return, giving him a warm smile. “Please tell Hamille to watch over things in my absence.”
With a click of his tongue and a last look at the landscape behind him, the Woodland prince guided his horse and his prisoner out of the clearing, melting into the chill mists of Ithilien. Legolas was glad for the mists, for when they came to the fringe of the woods, they would make it easier for him to evade the eyes of the elf guards in the trees when they had to seek the route to the north and east, in the opposite direction to the White City.
All through the journey, Aragorn thought about what he would say to his friend, how to convey to him all that needed to be conveyed. He could think of no easy way.
He and his escort moved slowly in the dark, for the clouds covered the moon, and the horses trod more cautiously than usual. By late morning, they were approaching the eaves of Ithilien.
Aragorn found himself relaxing, breathing in the scent of the trees and flowers that Legolas and the elves of the Greenwood had lovingly nurtured back to life. A picture of his friend’s warm and breathtaking smile filled his mind. 让人无法呼吸的笑容，妈呀，A叔你还真说得出口囧
It has been too long since I came here, he thought with a tear in his eye. Too long. How could I have lost touch with this part of Legolas that he loves so deeply, with everything he is? He demands nothing, he gives so much, and he waits for me to come back.
With those thoughts, he spurred his horse on, eager to see once more the elven light in his friend’s fair face, to embrace his company and listen to his songs.
He was greeted by Hamille, Lanwil and several other elves…. Politely giving the elvish greeting, he asked for Legolas immediately, expecting that the elf would offer to inform his prince about their arrival. But he was taken aback at the response he received.
“But my lord, he left early this morning,” Hamille said.
Aragorn stopped, a note of anxiety and dismay in his voice. “Left? Left for where?”
Hamille and the other elves exchanged a puzzled look before Hamille answered: “For the White City, with the man we held captive. Did you not pass him?”
“You held someone captive?” The note of surprise in the king’s voice was loud.
“Yes, one of the attackers. We caught him later that night, after Prince Legolas left for Minas Tirith,” Lanwil explained. “I rode there to tell him the next day, and he came back here with me. He wanted the man held here for questioning.”
Aragorn felt a rising sense of urgency but still needed to place events in sequence in his head. He was trying to remember when, if at all, he had heard about this other captive, when Hamille interrupted his reflections. “The prince learnt about it after he left the healing room,” he offered softly, fixing his gaze on the king.
Aragorn looked into the eyes of the elf and read the hidden meaning and knowledge there. He flinched a little as he realized that Hamille had known all along. Did Legolas – ?
“He told no one, it was I who heard,” Hamille intercepted in a voice barely above a whisper, reading Aragorn’s mind. “He defended you to the end.”
Aragorn swallowed and his eyes glistened. “I know he would have, and deep has been my regret over my careless words since. This is why I came, as I said I would,” he whispered back. “There is no nobler friend than your prince, I have none truer.”
Hamille seemed appeased at the sincerity in the man’s voice, and his elvish smile was one of forgiveness. The other elves watched them, uncomprehending, unable to follow the tangent on which they had departed.
Fứillin’s voice brought them back to the subject they had been on: “He left before dawn this morning.”
At those words, Aragorn’s heart sank, and a sudden fear gripped him. “We departed from the City before dawn as well, and if he had been riding in that direction, we would have crossed paths. We saw no one. That is why I do not think he went to the City.”
“What did you find out from the one you held captive?” Aragorn enquired.
Lanwil told him what they knew of Sarambaq and his halls in Adhûn.
Aragorn’s thoughts suddenly flew to what Legolas had said that night after his own outburst: “I will go now to make amends, to redress the wrong that has been committed, as best as I can…”
To make amends, redress the wrong…
And then he knew.
When he looked at Hamille with wide eyes, he saw that the elf had guessed as well. Legolas must be going east with the prisoner. Aragorn’s heart sank even further and his hands shook as he ran them through his dark hair. His voice, when he spoke again, was equally shaky and full of remorse.
“I rue my careless words even more deeply now, Hamille, for I fear they may have been the reason he set off in the first place.”
“I am not surprised that he should want to try and find your enemy, my lord, for he would do anything to aid you, though I cannot help but wish he had been less hasty, or at least invited some company.”
“No, he would not want any of you to go, for he cannot know what lies ahead. He would spare all of us the danger; that is his way.” Aragorn shook his head. “Neither have I known him to act in haste, yet his heart must have been restless, due in no small part to my own failing.” His pain and self-reproach was plain for all to see, even if no one but Hamille understood exactly to what he referred.
“Alas that I did not get here sooner, but I could not, and the news that I bring now, we only learnt last night,” he continued to lament in distress. “But for the storm, I would have come straight away, and little did I suspect that he had these plans. Ai, Legolas!”
Hamille pressed him. “Please, my lord, tell us what this news is.”
There was no easy way, so Aragorn stated it plainly: “They did not come here for my son, Eldarion. It was the King of Mirkwood they were talking about,” Aragorn drove the thought home for them. “Your king, Thranduil. The son they sought to capture was your prince – Legolas.”
