FIC: "The Elf Princess Diaries, Vol 1" (39/39)
Title: The Elf Princess Diaries, Vol 1
Author: DantanaSkywalker (aka Haldiriell if you're joining us from a LOTR site)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: action, romance, mystery, humour
Author Notes: LOTR characters and Princess Diaries characters not used with permission. Everything else is out of my imagination. Sindarin translations included at the end of the entry.
Previous chapters
--Chapter Thirty-Nine--
"Do you think they'll be okay?"
Melinda glanced over at Scottie, who was sitting pale and drawn on the sofa, one of the throw pillows clutched to her chest. "Yes, of course. I would imagine that this will be nothing. After all, Haldir fought not only at Helm's Deep, but also in the Last Alliance. And Legolas is there, as well."
Scottie shook her head, wide-eyed. "I still can't believe Haldir's old enough to know Gil-Galad."
"Of course he knew Gil-Galad. Gil-Galad was his mother's cousin. Or something. Elvish geneology confuses me." Melinda rubbed between her eyes. "Bree said that Arwen is Aragorn's second cousin sixty-three times removed, as well as his third cousin sixty-two times removed. Which makes him Bree's cousin . . . I can't think about this, it makes my head hurt."
She turned to the girl. "You should head home, Scottie. Your parents are no doubt wondering where you are."
Scottie opened her mouth to protest, but at the look on Melinda's face, closed it and slowly rose, nodding. "Okay. But you'll tell me when Bree gets back?"
"Sure. I'll have Bree call you, okay?"
Melinda stood and walked the young woman to the door. She placed her hand on the door. "Good night, Scottie."
"'Night, Mrs. MacArthur."
She shut the door and leaned against it for a moment, closing her eyes. Melinda took several slow, deep breaths. There was no sense in getting worked up. Her worry would do nothing for her daughter. Or for Haldir.
Her brown eyes opened. Maybe brandy would help. She wasn't fond of alcoholic beverages herself, but Jared had been a connoisseur of brandy and Scottish whiskey, and there was at least one bottle of brandy left in the apartment.
In the kitchen, Melinda's hands shook as she reached for the bottle, which was hidden behind the cooking sherry.
Suddenly, a pain stabbed through her, making her cry out. The bottle fell from her abruptly nerveless fingers and shattered on the floor in a shower of glass shards and a spray of amber liquid. She slumped against the counter, breathing ragged, heart pounding, as the pain receded.
Her fingers lifted to her breastbone, just right of her sternum, a little above her heart. She almost expected to find a hole there, for it had felt like she'd been impaled, run through, by something hot.
There was nothing there.
"Bree," she whispered, and tears welled in her eyes.
Brianna regained consciousness as hands lifted her from the pavement. The voices were gone, and she could breathe easily. For several moments, she was confused, wondering why she'd been on the ground.
Then, among the black of the many fallen gang members, she saw lighter grey, and the bright glow of platinum blonde hair. "Ada!"
She was on her feet before she'd even looked to see who had helped her. There was too much blood, she thought, as she dropped to her knees beside Haldir. His eyes stared a little too blindly into the night sky for her comfort.
Bree's fingers sought for a pulse. It was faint, but steady. She heaved a sigh of relief. He wasn't dead, then.
As she reached to check the wound, Haldir coughed and woke, blue eyes refocusing on his daughter's face. He groaned as he tried to move.
"Daro," she said, without thinking. "Dartho, û-havo am."
He blinked at her, and shifted. "Aew-"
Haldir stopped, groaned again, and fell back against the cement.
"Okay, along with 'don't sit up', there's also 'don't move', and 'don't talk', got it, bub?" Bree scolded.
"Bub?" Gimli asked.
"Wolverine," Legolas supplied.
"Oh, right." The dwarf nodded.
The prone elf closed his eyes and sighed. Then he looked again at Brianna. "What happened?"
"You were shot," Legolas said. "It would have been worse, but Brianna hit him with her sword."
"I did? I know I threw it, but . . ." She trailed off, as Gimli handed her the weapon. "Thanks."
He'd wiped the blood off. "Ye hit 'im in the arm, lass. If ye hadn't, he'd ha' likely killed the elf, here."
"Lovely."
Fingers clutched Bree's sleeve. She looked down at her father. "The istari?"
"Gone. It was either fight his invisible wall, or save you." Brianna smiled ruefully. "We'll get him. We can follow him. We've stopped him for now. He still needs me, though, for whatever it is he wants. Well, he needs someone with elvish blood. Which means you, me, or Legolas."
"Do you know where he went?" Legolas asked quietly.
She nodded briefly. "I heard it in the avalanche in my head. But we're not going to worry about it right now."
Her finger poked Haldir hard in the arm. He'd closed his eyes, but when she poked him, he opened them again.
"And I'm adding 'don't go to sleep' to the list," she said. "You wait here. We'll . . . uh . . . figure out how to get you back to the apartment. Legolas needs to collect his arrows."
The elf crouched beside her looked startled. "I was just thinking that."
"I know." She grinned impishly. "Don't think so loud, then."
The elf on the ground let out a weak chuckle. "I'm not moving, do not worry."
Brianna got up, and cast her gaze around for something to use as a stretcher, or anything to support Haldir, as Legolas pulled his arrows from the dead or wounded, He gathered Brianna's, as well as Haldir's, and wrapped them in the cloak of one of the fallen soldiers. Finally, she just whipped her cloak off. "We'll just use this to cover him, and we'll hurry home as fast as possible."
Legolas nodded, and stooped to lift Haldir.
Brianna took one last look around, noting vaguely that Shane had escaped.
While gathering arrows, trying to hurry so that they didn't get caught by the police--it was an absolute miracle that the idiot gang members had only actually shot at them once and just tried to use knives for the most part--Bree ran into Merc, who was supporting Shelley.
The two girls hugged each other tightly, Shelley sobbing in relief.
"It was Shane," she said brokenly. "He said he wanted to talk to me, because you wouldn't talk to him. And then he and someone grabbed me and I think they chloroformed me, 'cause the next thing I knew, I was being dragged across the park and shoved into that bathroom."
"It's okay. We've got you, and we're going to take you home."
When they got back to where Haldir was, Merc whipped out his cell and called Scottie, who picked them up in the limo. It ended up being Brianna who brought Haldir home, bleeding on the floor of Scottie's limo.
"I'll just have it detailed," the heiress said. "Daddy doesn't ask, anyway."
In the apartment, Melinda set Brianna and Legolas to treating Shelley and Gimli, and shut herself and Haldir into the master bathroom, where he was bleeding on the white tiles.
She got him into a sitting position and leaning against the side of the tub. "What happened?"
"Shot," he grunted. "Legolas says it went through."
"Judging by the amount of blood soaking into the back of your tunic, I'd say yes."
Melinda forcefully stripped him to the waist, the thought occuring to her that it was a shame that she hadn't been able to see his chest until now, when it was bloody. She grimaced at the sight of the wound on his chest, but didn't feel dizzy. "At least you're still breathing. Other than the entry and exit wounds, does it hurt anywhere else?"
"No. I can breathe without difficulty," he said.
She quickly checked his pulse. "Your heart seems to be fine. That's a minor miracle, considering where the thing hit you."
"Especially since he was aiming for my head," the elf said dryly.
Melinda couldn't smile. It was a relief to know that Bree hadn't been hurt, but she was still confused as to why she'd felt Haldir's injury from miles away. "This will probably hurt," she said, applying a hot, wet cloth to the wound on his chest.
His breath escaped in a low hiss. "That would be an understatement."
"I imagine your back will hurt more." Melinda made him hold the washcloth to the wound with his left hand, since his right was weak from the injury. "Now sit forward. I need to look at your back."
She winced at the wound on his back. It was nasty-looking, raw and uneven, nothing like the neat, round hole in the front. The bleeding seemed to have slowed already, which she took as a good sign. No arteries hit, then. To her amazement, the bullet appeared to have missed all majour organs, and exited as well as entered between ribs.
Shaking her head, she cleaned the wounds, washed the blood from his skin, and bandaged front and back with thick wads of gauze. Then she bound his torso.
"The Valar must have been protecting you," she said finally.
"I suppose they were," he murmured.
"We should get you to the hospital anyway. There could be internal bleeding. I can't tell how bad it really is and I'm not a medic. I barely know first aid." She felt his forehead, then checked his pulse again. Everything still okay. "Did you get the wizard?"
"No," he muttered, his expression darkening. "He got away. But Brianna says she thinks she knows where he went."
"Well, then, we'll just have to go after him."
"Melinda-"
"Don't tell me I'm not going with! You nearly died tonight! I can't take it, sending you and Bree away, while I sit behind and-"
"Melinda!"
Haldir grabbed her wrists. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. "Melinda, I do not want you in danger! I have seen what he is capable of. This is nothing next to his power!"
"Brianna is my daughter! I can't let you take her away from me! If you take her and go after him, I may never see her again! And if you do that, I'll have no one, and I'll be alone again, and I-"
His words hadn't stopped her approaching hysteria. His lips were more effective.
For a moment, Melinda froze, stunned, as his mouth covered hers, his arms tightening around her. Then she threw herself into the fire, one hand braced against the bare skin of his chest, the other buried into the long, wet, blood-soaked strands of his blonde hair.
As quickly as he'd grabbed her, Haldir pushed her away. "Stop."
Melinda looked at him in confusion for a moment, struggling with her warring emotions. She pulled back, looking away. "I'm sorry, I-"
He was kissing her again, cursing himself as he did. She just felt right in his arms, and he had been so long without a female touch . . .
"Mom?"
Bree's voice, accompanied by a knock at the door, made them tear apart.
Melinda scrambled to her feet. Her face was flushed.
"Just a moment, honey!" she called.
Haldir struggled to rise. Melinda knew she shouldn't touch him, not so soon, but lent him her arm anyway.
She opened the door.
Brianna came in, oblivious to the discomfiture of both parents. "Shelley's gone home, and Merc is crashing on her sofa. Scottie's on ours and says she isn't going anywhere. I was beginning to get worried. I mean, I was already worried, I just . . . You're okay?"
Haldir nodded. "Thanks to your mother's excellent skills, I am all right."
"You're far from all right," Melinda snapped. "You're still bleeding. And you are going to go lie down right this instant! I'm going to go see if I can borrow the Lancasters' car. It's less conspicuous than the limo."
She pointed him to her bed and made him lie down. "If you so much as think about moving before I get back, you will regret it."
"She's not joking, Ada," Bree said. "You don't want to make her mad."
"I was under the impression she was already angry," Haldir said wryly.
"This isn't even close," Brianna informed him. Then she frowned. "Um, Mom? What if he's gotta go?"
Melinda stopped, then sighed. "Okay, you can move if you absolutely find it necessary. But other than that, no."
Haldir looked from Melinda, to Bree, and back. "Fine. I will not move."
Legolas, hearing the commotion, came to the door. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah," Brianna said. "It's fine."
Haldir reached up a hand and grabbed his daughter's wrist. "Brianna. You said you know where the wizard went."
"Well, he was broadcasting it pretty loudly." She shrugged. "Though I personally think it's a weird place to go."
"Where?" her father asked.
Brianna frowned, and shook her head.
Finally, she said, "Las Vegas."
-------
To Be Continued in "Elf Princess Diaries 2: Elves Rush In"!
Translations:
Daro. Dartho, û-havo am. - Stop. Wait, don't sit up.
Author: DantanaSkywalker (aka Haldiriell if you're joining us from a LOTR site)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: action, romance, mystery, humour
Author Notes: LOTR characters and Princess Diaries characters not used with permission. Everything else is out of my imagination. Sindarin translations included at the end of the entry.
Previous chapters
--Chapter Thirty-Nine--
"Do you think they'll be okay?"
Melinda glanced over at Scottie, who was sitting pale and drawn on the sofa, one of the throw pillows clutched to her chest. "Yes, of course. I would imagine that this will be nothing. After all, Haldir fought not only at Helm's Deep, but also in the Last Alliance. And Legolas is there, as well."
Scottie shook her head, wide-eyed. "I still can't believe Haldir's old enough to know Gil-Galad."
"Of course he knew Gil-Galad. Gil-Galad was his mother's cousin. Or something. Elvish geneology confuses me." Melinda rubbed between her eyes. "Bree said that Arwen is Aragorn's second cousin sixty-three times removed, as well as his third cousin sixty-two times removed. Which makes him Bree's cousin . . . I can't think about this, it makes my head hurt."
She turned to the girl. "You should head home, Scottie. Your parents are no doubt wondering where you are."
Scottie opened her mouth to protest, but at the look on Melinda's face, closed it and slowly rose, nodding. "Okay. But you'll tell me when Bree gets back?"
"Sure. I'll have Bree call you, okay?"
Melinda stood and walked the young woman to the door. She placed her hand on the door. "Good night, Scottie."
"'Night, Mrs. MacArthur."
She shut the door and leaned against it for a moment, closing her eyes. Melinda took several slow, deep breaths. There was no sense in getting worked up. Her worry would do nothing for her daughter. Or for Haldir.
Her brown eyes opened. Maybe brandy would help. She wasn't fond of alcoholic beverages herself, but Jared had been a connoisseur of brandy and Scottish whiskey, and there was at least one bottle of brandy left in the apartment.
In the kitchen, Melinda's hands shook as she reached for the bottle, which was hidden behind the cooking sherry.
Suddenly, a pain stabbed through her, making her cry out. The bottle fell from her abruptly nerveless fingers and shattered on the floor in a shower of glass shards and a spray of amber liquid. She slumped against the counter, breathing ragged, heart pounding, as the pain receded.
Her fingers lifted to her breastbone, just right of her sternum, a little above her heart. She almost expected to find a hole there, for it had felt like she'd been impaled, run through, by something hot.
There was nothing there.
"Bree," she whispered, and tears welled in her eyes.
Brianna regained consciousness as hands lifted her from the pavement. The voices were gone, and she could breathe easily. For several moments, she was confused, wondering why she'd been on the ground.
Then, among the black of the many fallen gang members, she saw lighter grey, and the bright glow of platinum blonde hair. "Ada!"
She was on her feet before she'd even looked to see who had helped her. There was too much blood, she thought, as she dropped to her knees beside Haldir. His eyes stared a little too blindly into the night sky for her comfort.
Bree's fingers sought for a pulse. It was faint, but steady. She heaved a sigh of relief. He wasn't dead, then.
As she reached to check the wound, Haldir coughed and woke, blue eyes refocusing on his daughter's face. He groaned as he tried to move.
"Daro," she said, without thinking. "Dartho, û-havo am."
He blinked at her, and shifted. "Aew-"
Haldir stopped, groaned again, and fell back against the cement.
"Okay, along with 'don't sit up', there's also 'don't move', and 'don't talk', got it, bub?" Bree scolded.
"Bub?" Gimli asked.
"Wolverine," Legolas supplied.
"Oh, right." The dwarf nodded.
The prone elf closed his eyes and sighed. Then he looked again at Brianna. "What happened?"
"You were shot," Legolas said. "It would have been worse, but Brianna hit him with her sword."
"I did? I know I threw it, but . . ." She trailed off, as Gimli handed her the weapon. "Thanks."
He'd wiped the blood off. "Ye hit 'im in the arm, lass. If ye hadn't, he'd ha' likely killed the elf, here."
"Lovely."
Fingers clutched Bree's sleeve. She looked down at her father. "The istari?"
"Gone. It was either fight his invisible wall, or save you." Brianna smiled ruefully. "We'll get him. We can follow him. We've stopped him for now. He still needs me, though, for whatever it is he wants. Well, he needs someone with elvish blood. Which means you, me, or Legolas."
"Do you know where he went?" Legolas asked quietly.
She nodded briefly. "I heard it in the avalanche in my head. But we're not going to worry about it right now."
Her finger poked Haldir hard in the arm. He'd closed his eyes, but when she poked him, he opened them again.
"And I'm adding 'don't go to sleep' to the list," she said. "You wait here. We'll . . . uh . . . figure out how to get you back to the apartment. Legolas needs to collect his arrows."
The elf crouched beside her looked startled. "I was just thinking that."
"I know." She grinned impishly. "Don't think so loud, then."
The elf on the ground let out a weak chuckle. "I'm not moving, do not worry."
Brianna got up, and cast her gaze around for something to use as a stretcher, or anything to support Haldir, as Legolas pulled his arrows from the dead or wounded, He gathered Brianna's, as well as Haldir's, and wrapped them in the cloak of one of the fallen soldiers. Finally, she just whipped her cloak off. "We'll just use this to cover him, and we'll hurry home as fast as possible."
Legolas nodded, and stooped to lift Haldir.
Brianna took one last look around, noting vaguely that Shane had escaped.
While gathering arrows, trying to hurry so that they didn't get caught by the police--it was an absolute miracle that the idiot gang members had only actually shot at them once and just tried to use knives for the most part--Bree ran into Merc, who was supporting Shelley.
The two girls hugged each other tightly, Shelley sobbing in relief.
"It was Shane," she said brokenly. "He said he wanted to talk to me, because you wouldn't talk to him. And then he and someone grabbed me and I think they chloroformed me, 'cause the next thing I knew, I was being dragged across the park and shoved into that bathroom."
"It's okay. We've got you, and we're going to take you home."
When they got back to where Haldir was, Merc whipped out his cell and called Scottie, who picked them up in the limo. It ended up being Brianna who brought Haldir home, bleeding on the floor of Scottie's limo.
"I'll just have it detailed," the heiress said. "Daddy doesn't ask, anyway."
In the apartment, Melinda set Brianna and Legolas to treating Shelley and Gimli, and shut herself and Haldir into the master bathroom, where he was bleeding on the white tiles.
She got him into a sitting position and leaning against the side of the tub. "What happened?"
"Shot," he grunted. "Legolas says it went through."
"Judging by the amount of blood soaking into the back of your tunic, I'd say yes."
Melinda forcefully stripped him to the waist, the thought occuring to her that it was a shame that she hadn't been able to see his chest until now, when it was bloody. She grimaced at the sight of the wound on his chest, but didn't feel dizzy. "At least you're still breathing. Other than the entry and exit wounds, does it hurt anywhere else?"
"No. I can breathe without difficulty," he said.
She quickly checked his pulse. "Your heart seems to be fine. That's a minor miracle, considering where the thing hit you."
"Especially since he was aiming for my head," the elf said dryly.
Melinda couldn't smile. It was a relief to know that Bree hadn't been hurt, but she was still confused as to why she'd felt Haldir's injury from miles away. "This will probably hurt," she said, applying a hot, wet cloth to the wound on his chest.
His breath escaped in a low hiss. "That would be an understatement."
"I imagine your back will hurt more." Melinda made him hold the washcloth to the wound with his left hand, since his right was weak from the injury. "Now sit forward. I need to look at your back."
She winced at the wound on his back. It was nasty-looking, raw and uneven, nothing like the neat, round hole in the front. The bleeding seemed to have slowed already, which she took as a good sign. No arteries hit, then. To her amazement, the bullet appeared to have missed all majour organs, and exited as well as entered between ribs.
Shaking her head, she cleaned the wounds, washed the blood from his skin, and bandaged front and back with thick wads of gauze. Then she bound his torso.
"The Valar must have been protecting you," she said finally.
"I suppose they were," he murmured.
"We should get you to the hospital anyway. There could be internal bleeding. I can't tell how bad it really is and I'm not a medic. I barely know first aid." She felt his forehead, then checked his pulse again. Everything still okay. "Did you get the wizard?"
"No," he muttered, his expression darkening. "He got away. But Brianna says she thinks she knows where he went."
"Well, then, we'll just have to go after him."
"Melinda-"
"Don't tell me I'm not going with! You nearly died tonight! I can't take it, sending you and Bree away, while I sit behind and-"
"Melinda!"
Haldir grabbed her wrists. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. "Melinda, I do not want you in danger! I have seen what he is capable of. This is nothing next to his power!"
"Brianna is my daughter! I can't let you take her away from me! If you take her and go after him, I may never see her again! And if you do that, I'll have no one, and I'll be alone again, and I-"
His words hadn't stopped her approaching hysteria. His lips were more effective.
For a moment, Melinda froze, stunned, as his mouth covered hers, his arms tightening around her. Then she threw herself into the fire, one hand braced against the bare skin of his chest, the other buried into the long, wet, blood-soaked strands of his blonde hair.
As quickly as he'd grabbed her, Haldir pushed her away. "Stop."
Melinda looked at him in confusion for a moment, struggling with her warring emotions. She pulled back, looking away. "I'm sorry, I-"
He was kissing her again, cursing himself as he did. She just felt right in his arms, and he had been so long without a female touch . . .
"Mom?"
Bree's voice, accompanied by a knock at the door, made them tear apart.
Melinda scrambled to her feet. Her face was flushed.
"Just a moment, honey!" she called.
Haldir struggled to rise. Melinda knew she shouldn't touch him, not so soon, but lent him her arm anyway.
She opened the door.
Brianna came in, oblivious to the discomfiture of both parents. "Shelley's gone home, and Merc is crashing on her sofa. Scottie's on ours and says she isn't going anywhere. I was beginning to get worried. I mean, I was already worried, I just . . . You're okay?"
Haldir nodded. "Thanks to your mother's excellent skills, I am all right."
"You're far from all right," Melinda snapped. "You're still bleeding. And you are going to go lie down right this instant! I'm going to go see if I can borrow the Lancasters' car. It's less conspicuous than the limo."
She pointed him to her bed and made him lie down. "If you so much as think about moving before I get back, you will regret it."
"She's not joking, Ada," Bree said. "You don't want to make her mad."
"I was under the impression she was already angry," Haldir said wryly.
"This isn't even close," Brianna informed him. Then she frowned. "Um, Mom? What if he's gotta go?"
Melinda stopped, then sighed. "Okay, you can move if you absolutely find it necessary. But other than that, no."
Haldir looked from Melinda, to Bree, and back. "Fine. I will not move."
Legolas, hearing the commotion, came to the door. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah," Brianna said. "It's fine."
Haldir reached up a hand and grabbed his daughter's wrist. "Brianna. You said you know where the wizard went."
"Well, he was broadcasting it pretty loudly." She shrugged. "Though I personally think it's a weird place to go."
"Where?" her father asked.
Brianna frowned, and shook her head.
Finally, she said, "Las Vegas."
-------
To Be Continued in "Elf Princess Diaries 2: Elves Rush In"!
Translations:
Daro. Dartho, û-havo am. - Stop. Wait, don't sit up.