See Ch. 1 for disclaimer.

Ch. 8 The Hunt

The final glimmers of daylight were beginning to fade as they made their way into the forest to begin their hunt. Six others had joined them and were leading the way through the darkening trees. Legolas and Roitar trailed behind eagerly, securely sandwiched by Tavaro and Herendil in the front and Baragallon and Aradun in the rear.

Legolas shifted his grip on his bow and felt his excitement mount as they moved deeper into the forest. His eyes darted about in the near dusk, seeking signs of danger. But all seemed at peace as the trees murmured their sighs of welcome to the elves. Legolas willed himself to relax for he knew they would not come upon their prey for some time yet.

The wild boars had been making their way nightly to an area of the forest where young trees and shrubs were beginning to grow back after a fire had razed the area more than a year ago. Now once again, the same area was under threat of decimation as the boars uprooted the fragile new growth in their endless search for food. Herendil had estimated their number to be at least six, possibly more. Legolas fervently hoped that he could lay claim to at least one of those beasts with his bow before this night was over.

Tavaro glanced back at him and Legolas returned his brother's smile with one of his own. Legolas cast a sideways look at Roitar. The younger elf was watching his father's back intently, his lips pressed into a thin line. Legolas thought his friend looked nervous. He reached out and grasped the other's arm briefly and offered a reassuring smile when the younger elf turned to him, looking rather startled. Legolas edged closer to his friend, hoping the close proximity would bring a greater measure of reassurance to his young friend.

This was the first time hunting dangerous game for both of them, though Legolas was the more experienced of the two, having had numerous hunting excursions behind him, whilst Roitar had hunted on only two previous occasions. Legolas was surprised that Roitar's adar and naneth had allowed their son to join the hunt. He was certain his own adar would not let him to take part in such an excursion if he was so lacking in experience. In fact, he was not certain whether his adar would approve of his joining this hunt now. Hunting in the dark for wild boars. No, his adar would not approve, and once again, Legolas was glad that his adar was too far away to say no.

The last vestiges of daylight were now gone, but their way was lit clearly by a crescent of new moon whose ethereal glow shimmered through the lofty branches, casting a myriad of shapes and shadows on the forest ground. The air was fresh and their breaths misted as the warmth met the cold. An owl hooted in the distance, its distinctive sound rising above the faint scurries of other night creatures.

Legolas felt awed by his surroundings. Rarely before was he in the forest at night and he greedily drank in the tranquil beauty that enveloped him. A strange calmness descended upon him as his senses reached out to embrace all that offered by the woodland, and he knew then that he would savour the delights of this spring night for all of his immortal life.

Legolas knew not how long they trekked through the forest, for time and its passage had seemingly slipped from his realm of senses, so entranced was he by the beauty of his surroundings. Thus, he was quite startled when he suddenly realized they had come to a stop. Instinctively, the muscles in his body tensed and the calmness he had felt earlier quickly slipped away.

Both Tavaro and Herendil had turned and were looking back at them. Tavaro gave a slight jerk of his head in the direction ahead and held a finger to his lips. The boars must be near. Legolas nodded at his brother to indicate that he understood the need for silence and care. He did not miss the look that his brother shot past his shoulder to the two guards who were close enough to breathe down his neck. Legolas forced back an exasperated sigh. No doubt Baragallon and Aradun would whisk him off to safety at the first sign of danger. He hoped they would at least allow him to let fly some arrows, even if it was at a distance from their prey.

They crept forward silently. The trees began to thin out as they moved closer to their prey, but their path was also made more treacherous by the charred remnants of the fire. They came to a stop again, behind a deadfall of half rotted and burned branches and trunks. A clearing stretched ahead in the distance, studded here and there with new vegetation growth, but there was also ample evidence of the destruction left by the boars' rooting. The clearing at the moment was empty of inhabitants. Legolas looked about him carefully, but could detect no sign of their prey. He glanced back at the direction they had come. The unblemished trees were some ways back and Legolas mentally gauged the distance to them. He was confident that he could reach the trees with little effort, should the need arise to seek protection in the trees' lofty branches. He hoped that such need would not be necessary.

They waited in silence. Though each moment added to his mounting anticipation, Legolas dared not give voice to the questions that were streaming steadily into his mind. The wait seemed interminable. Then, imperceptibly at first, he picked up the sound of slight rustling of creatures moving through the woods. The noise was coming from the opposite end of the clearing and Legolas strained his eyes in that direction. At first he could see nothing, then all of a sudden, dark hazy shapes wandered into the clearing. There were several of them. Legolas silently took in a deep breath and his grip on the bow tightened, though he made no move as yet to draw an arrow for the other elves so far had remained motionless.

Unaware of the hunters, the boars moved slowly about the clearing, digging their strong snouts into the ground in search of roots. Legolas counted four of them and from this distance, the creatures appeared rather small and certainly did not look to be the dangerous game that they were reputed to be. As he watched, two more boars wandered into the clearing to join the others. Still the elves made no move to ready their weapons. With an effort, Legolas forced himself to remain still though every muscle in his body screamed for action.

At last one of the elves nodded and in one fluid movement, readied his bow. Others followed instantly and sprang from their hiding behind the deadfall. Legolas was among them and after breathing a brief prayer of regret to the creature that he was about to slay, he released his arrow. Squeals of pain broke the silent serenity of the night. Three of the boars had already fallen to the ground, presumably dead. The remaining three began charging toward the elves, their speed seemingly unhindered by the arrows that protruded from their hides. Arrows flew through the air and two more beasts crumbled to the ground.

"Legolas, get back!"

Someone behind him called out frantically, but Legolas was already taking aim at the creature that was charging toward him with flashing speed. The advancing boar was no more than twenty feet away when Legolas' arrow caught it between the eyes. For a brief second or two, the creature wavered and then renewed its charge with deadly determination. Legolas had time to release another arrow before he was suddenly swept up in someone's arms and out of the way of the charging beast.

Someone pulled him from the arms of his rescuer. "Legolas, are you all right?" It was Tavaro, sounding frantic.

Legolas twisted his neck to look past his brother and saw the dead boar mere steps away, with two of his arrows protruding from its inert form. "I killed him!"

"Legolas, are you all right?" Tavaro was pawing him from head to toe in search of injury.

"I am fine, Tavaro. Look, I killed him! Those are my arrows!" Legolas cried excitedly as stepped closer to the now dead creature. "My first boar!"

Tavaro let out a breath of relief and nodded at the elf who had so deftly removed Legolas from possible harm. "Thank you, Baragallon."

The other elf nodded. "The prince's second arrow dropped the creature. He was in no real danger, but I did not want to take a chance."

"Nevertheless, thank you," Tavaro said gratefully before turning to his younger brother. "Legolas, do you have any idea what you just did?"

"I killed my first boar," Legolas said, still engrossed by the creature that he had so easily fell with his arrows.

"You could have been killed, standing in line of a charging boar," Tavaro said. "Did you not hear my calling you to fall back?"

Legolas nodded. "I heard you, but I knew I would not miss the boar at such a distance. And I did not."

Tavaro let out an exasperated breath. "You promised to heed my commands during this hunt."

Legolas pulled his eyes from his prize to look at his brother. "I did heed your commands, but by the time you called out the warning, there was no time to pull back. If I had not released my arrow at that moment, then the creature would have ran into me."

Tavaro shook his head, but before he could utter another word, Legolas rejoined him at his side and threw his arms around him in a quick embrace. "I am fine, Tavaro. Do not look so stricken."

Tavaro returned his brother's embrace rather fiercely. "You will age me before my time if you continue to frighten me like that."

Legolas laughed. "You sound like Adar."

"I am beginning to feel what Adar must have felt for years," Tavaro said dryly.

Legolas laughed again and then turned to look for Roitar. The latter was standing back a few paces beside his father.

"Did you get one, Roitar?" Legolas asked his friend.

Roitar shook his head and smiled. "I did not even attempt to shoot at one. I am not very good with my bow so I just watched. It was very exciting just the same. I saw how you killed that boar. It was amazing. You are very good with your bow, Legolas."

Legolas smiled in acknowledgment. "Thank you, Roitar."

"You are more than good, Legolas," Herendil spoke up. "Your arrow was one of the first to find its target. I am sure you have felled more than one boar tonight. The arrows will tell us. You are well on your way to becoming one of Mirkwood's finest archers."

Legolas beamed widely. "Thank you, Herendil. Your words are very kind."

"I speak only the truth," Herendil smiled. "Your adar must be very proud of you."

"My adar told me not to boast."

Herendil laughed. "You need not to boast. Your skills are obvious for all to see. You two remain here. I must confer with the others as to how we will transport our prizes back to the settlement."

"You will make a very good warrior when you grow up," Roitar said with open admiration. "You shoot so well."

"That is what I am training to be," Legolas said. "I want to be a warrior so that I can help my adar defend his realm." Legolas looked at his friend. "Do you not want to be a warrior also?"

Roitar shook his head. "I do not have the skills as you do."

"You can return home with me and we can train together," Legolas said quickly.

Again, Roitar shook his head. "I do not want to leave my naneth and adar. And they would not want to leave here, nor do I. We like it here."

"Oh, I guess I would not want to leave my adar either," Legolas said. He smiled and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I hope you will all come and visit us. Then I will have an opportunity to show you things."

Roitar smiled happily. "I would like that. I must speak to Adar and Naneth about that."

At that moment, Tavaro returned to their side and Legolas looked at him expectantly.

"Can we go back now?" Legolas asked his brother.

Tavaro shook his head. "Two others will return to the settlement and bring back horses to aid us in getting the boars back. They are far too heavy to transport by our own strength. In the meantime, we must prepare something to carry them so that the horses can pull them with less hindrance."

"What can we do to help?" Legolas asked eagerly.

"You can start by salvaging what arrows you can from the beasts and from the ground. Do you think you can do that?"

"Of course," Legolas nodded quickly. "Come, Roitar!"

"Stay alert, for we do not know whether there are more boars out there, though I doubt any more would venture forth into the clearing this night. Nevertheless, it does no harm to keep your senses open to danger," Tavaro cautioned the two younglings.

"We will be careful," Legolas assured him as he started toward the nearest boar, the one that he had brought down moments earlier.

"It looks so big lying there," Roitar said as he stared at the inert form before him.

Legolas nodded rather solemnly. "They are much bigger when seen so close. They had looked so small when they first appeared in the clearing that I had doubted their ferocity at first. Their speed surprised me too. I did not think they could move so quickly."

"Were you not frightened when this one charged toward you?" Roitar asked.

Legolas thought briefly and then shook his head. "It happened too quickly for me to be frightened. When it was charging toward me, I was only thinking how I can bring it down as quickly as possible." He reached forward and yanked at one of the arrows. It was stuck. He grasped the shaft with both hands and gave a grunting heave and the arrow came free, dripping with gore. He looked at the stained arrow with disgust. "Ugh!"

Roitar's face mirrored a similar distaste. "They are ugly creatures, are they not? Look at those tusks!"

Legolas nodded. "I certainly would not want to have one of those tusks in me." He had pulled out the second arrow and was attempting to clean them on a rough patch of grass. He saw the unconcealed look of half fear and half disgust on the other's face as they approached the body of another boar. "I will remove the arrows from these beasts. You can go and search for fallen arrows."

Roitar gave him a grateful look. "I will do that."

Legolas was immensely pleased to discover that all but one of the fallen beasts had been struck by his arrows. He may not have killed the boars by himself, but he certainly had a part in bringing them down. This night would be another experience that he could not wait to recount to his adar, and Salque.

The night was half gone by the time the elves at last began their trek back to the settlement, with the bodies of the six boars in tow behind the horses. Legolas trudged closely by the side of Tavaro. A quick sideways glance showed that Roitar too kept close to the side of his adar. The animated talk had dwindled slowly as the two young hunters were beginning to feel the weariness of the long night. When Roitar stumbled yet again, his adar scooped him up and placed him atop of one of the horses.

"Adar, I can walk," Roitar protested though the weary muscles in his body sighed with relief as the horse took his weight.

"You are too exhausted to walk any further," Herendil said. "Rest."

Tavaro glanced down at Legolas who kept pace as yet, though his strides had slowed considerably as weariness cast its weight upon him.

Before Tavaro could voice his concerns, Legolas said quickly. "I can walk, Tavaro. We are nearly there."

After a brief hesitation, Tavaro nodded. "All right." He reached out and draped an arm over his young brother's shoulder. "You did well tonight, Legolas. I am very proud of you."

Legolas looked up and grinned widely. "Thank you, Tavaro. I will not soon forget this night."

Tavaro grinned back. "Nor will I, bratling."

TBC