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(Taken from the Fellowship of the Ring, by
JRR Tolkien)
(with the final paragraph being our own addition)
--Some sixty or more years later--
Legolas laid down
his paddle and took up the bow that he had brought from Lórien.
Then he sprang ashore and climbed a few paces up the bank. Stringing
the bow and fitting an arrow he turned, peering back over the River
into the darkness. Across the water there were shrill cries, but
nothing could be seen.
Frodo looked up at
the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a
mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars
that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind. But now rising and
sailing up from the South the great clouds advanced, sending out dark
outriders into the starry fields. A sudden dread fell on the Company.
“Elbereth
Gilthoniel!” sighed Legolas as he looked up. Even as he did so, a dark
shape, like a cloud and yet not a cloud, for it moved far more swiftly,
came out of the blackness in the South, and sped towards the Company,
blotting out all light as it approached. Soon it appeared as a great
winged creature, blacker than the pits in the night. Fierce voices rose
up to greet it from across the water. Frodo felt a sudden chill running
through him and clutching at his heart; there was a deadly cold, like
the memory of an old wound, in his shoulder. He crouched down, as if to
hide.
Suddenly the great
bow of Lórien sang. Shrill went the arrow from the elven-string.
Frodo looked up. Almost above him the winged shape swerved. There was a
harsh croaking scream, as it fell out of the air, vanishing down into
the gloom of the eastern shore. The sky was clean again. There was a
tumult of many voices far away, cursing and wailing in the darkness,
and then silence. Neither shaft nor cry came again from the east that
night.
Giving one last
look up at the sky Legolas shouldered his bow. He had a good idea
what it was he had shot out of the dark sky that night. A faint
smile of satisfaction pulled at the corner of his lips. That was
something he had wanted to do for years.
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