CHAPTER ELEVEN: Why gooey-eyes now.
After walking what must have been a fairly short distance, but which felt longer being shackled and roughly shoved and pushed around by the Orcs, they arrived at a small opening in the hillside. Branwell and Jude were both shoved through the hole into the darkness of the cave beyond. They were dragged and pushed through the dark passage until it opened up into a larger cave. It was circular in shape and stretched well above their heads. It was lit by smoky oil lamps that gave the curved rock formations sharp flickering shadows, you could imagine all sorts of sinister forms in the rock if you let yourself. Jude tried not too. At the opposite end of the cave to that they’d come in was another opening.
A tall, stately figure in a flowing black robe walked through the opening, she had very long black hair and ivory skin. By her grace and beauty Jude thought she must be an Elf, but what would an Elf be doing amongst Orcs. She was obviously not their captive, as the Orcs bowed before her. Jude and Branwell were forced by the Orcs behind them to kneel down before her. They pulled Branwell’s hood back from his head. She came toward them like an approaching thunderstorm and Jude noticed she did have pointed ears. Branwell was also staring up at her. She looked at them both and snapped. ”Report” to the Orc that had captured Jude and seemed to be the leader. The Orc gave a grovelling report detailing how the other group of Orcs that Branwell had defeated were cowardly and unalert. How his group had been on their way to rescue them and by bravery and cunning had got their captives. The Orc threw Branwell’s weapons to the floor.
“So he,” she said pointing to Branwell, “defeated a group of Orcs single-handedly?”
“Yes, Lady,” said the Orc proudly, “and I captured single handed.”
“So what about the boy?” she said sharply pointing to Jude. “Where was he when this was going on?”
“Hiding near by.”
“And what made you think they were together?” she hissed at him leaning closer. The Orc looked confused.
“Dropped weapons when threatened to cut boy’s throat.”
She now turned to Jude, holding his chin firmly between her fingers, he could feel her sharp nails, she raised his head her eyes burning into his.
“What were you doing on the hillside?”
“I..I was just camping,” he gasped. It was kind of the truth.
She turned back to the Orc and hit him in the head, sending him sprawling.
“You fool,” she shouted at him. “You’ve brought me a human boy. They weren’t together.”
“You however,” she now turned to Branwell who’d been watching her intently from the minute she appeared. “Those are Elvish weapons, and you took out a unit of my Orcs. Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Branwell just continued to stare up at her.
“What have you to say for yourself?”
Branwell looked her straight in the eyes and said in an awed voice, “you’re beautiful.”
She blinked and laughed mirthlessly, hitting him hard in the face.
Jude stared at him totally bemused. What was going on?
“You’re as beautiful as a midnight starry sky,” he said in the same awed voice, not taking adoring eyes away from her.
“Enough,” she shouted at him. “You think flattery will stop me getting the information I want.” She hit him again eyes flashing, sending him flying.
“You’re even more amazing when you’re angry.”
Blood was trickling from his mouth, but he didn’t seem to notice and continued to look enraptured. It was the only way Jude could describe it. She walked away from him visibly seething, her gown swishing around her. She turned back and stared at him her brow thunderous.
“Take them away and secure them. I’ll decide what to do with them later,” she snapped storming out of the cave. “You’d better get rid of those dead Orcs too.”
Branwell and Jude were dragged to their feet and to a small hole in the floor of the cave. They were shoved inside and fell a short distance to land with a thud on the floor. A metal grill was slotted over the entrance and an Orc stood guard next to it. The cave they’d been imprisoned in was small and bare and the only light came from what filtered down through the grill. Jude had been looking forward to seeing caves, but not like this. Circumstances were not boding well for the two of them. At least so far as he knew Ruby was safe, for the moment. He looked at Branwell, who was sat calmly on the floor of their prison, looking up at the grill above. Jude hoped he was coming up with a plan to help them escape.
“Any thoughts?” Jude asked hopefully.
“Do you think she’ll look down here if she walks past?” he asked continuing to gaze upwards.
“Are you under a spell or something?” Jude shook Branwell. “Snap out of it.”
“I’m under no magic spell,” Branwell smiled serenely. “Only under the spell of her beauty.”
Jude groaned. Great, he thought, the great warrior of this little adventure, who we were counting on to get us out of any problems, is in love. Jude started to pace the floor, which wasn’t very easy as there wasn’t much of it and he was still tied up. Look at all those gorgeous elf ladies we left behind in Aldea, why couldn’t he have fallen in love with one of them. Why does he have to go all gooey-eyes over the dark bitch that’s locked us up in a dungeon and will probably kill us. He’ll probably look at her just an adoringly while she chops his head off. He hadn’t been such an idiot when he’d first met Ruby. Jude threw himself down on the hard floor with a sigh, purposefully not looking at Branwell.
Well as the warrior was out of action it was obviously up to him to try and rescue them. He looked around him, it didn’t take long they were in a cave hollowed out of solid rock. Jude felt the sides closest to him, all smooth, it must have been hollowed out by water, no handy sharp edges to cut the ropes that bound them. No windows and the only way in had a heavy metal grill secured over it, which Jude couldn’t even reach. Jude tried to think if their was anything on him that he could use, but the Orc had searched him too and taken everything in his pockets, not that that had included a handy penknife anyway. Think, he said to himself, he’d watched enough action films, how had people escaped in those. He remembered a film where two people had been tied up and they sat back to back to let the other person untie them. Jubilant Jude looked at Branwell who was still gazing hopefully upwards. Hasn’t he got a crick in his neck yet thought Jude. He moved closer to him, first checking no Orcs were actually looking down at them.
“Branwell,” he whispered. ”Can you undo the ropes around my wrists if I sit with my back to you?”
“Sure,” he said absent-mindedly. Jude checked for Orcs again and sidled up to Branwell. Glancing back at him, he realised that Branwell had already got his own hands free by himself. He was now easily undoing Jude’s hands and then feet, followed by his own feet.
“Why didn’t you say you could undo the ropes earlier?” asked Jude in an exasperated whisper.
“You didn’t say you wanted them undone,” he shrugged returning to gaze upwards. Jude went and sat as far away from Branwell as possible, as least he could now fold his arms and hunch his shoulders in a proper sulk. Branwell was oblivious to all but the possibility of seeing a glimpse of his Elf.
Jude awoke with a jerk of his head, he hadn’t realised he’d fallen asleep. What had woken him, a noise from above? He glanced over at Branwell, who was already stood up listening intently. Then they heard a barrage of noises, Orcs shouting in alarm, others shouting orders, lots of heavy running feet; then a scrabbling of claws and fearsome roars, followed by the cries of dying Orcs. Looking up through the grill Jude and Branwell saw their guard running away and heard heavy Orc footsteps running past and away. Suddenly they saw the edge of a sheet of flame overhead and felt an intense heat on their faces. The horrible smell of burnt skin and hair drifted down to them. What on earth was up there attacking the Orcs and would it be a friend or foe to them. They could hear no more of the Orcs, just slow heavy foots
teps with tapping claws coming towards their grill and then a sniffing noise as it grew closer. It was nearly over the grill now, suddenly a large clawed foot appeared and grasped hold of their grill. Jude shrank back against the wall of the cave; it’d never felt so nice to be in there as it did now. His heart drumming in his ears he held his breath. Branwell remained motionless looking intently upwards his knees slightly bent ready to spring. The claw seemed to be pulling at the grill, Jude hoped it would hold, it didn’t. With a metallic groan and a bang the lock broke and the grill moved. Jude thought he saw a flash of red scales reflected in the oil lamps for just an instant before the claw disappeared. They heard the clawed footsteps retreating away from their dungeon towards the cave’s exit. Branwell turned to Jude.
“Quick, give me a leg up.”
With help from Jude, Branwell could reach the grill and quickly slid it aside. He listened for an instant and then jumped back down again.
“You first,” he said to Jude.
Jude put his foot in Branwell’s outstretched hands and Branwell almost threw him out of the hole. Jude looked around quickly for any Orcs, but all he could see were dead ones. Some had been torn apart, some burnt and their was scorch marks on the walls of the cave. Jude was starting to ponder what on earth could have saved them when Branwell jumped out of the hole. How did he do that?
Branwell looked around for his swords, spying one of them near the tunnel which led further into the cave, he picked it up and looked for the other. A voice, coming from the darkness of the tunnel, suddenly said.
“Looking for this?”
A thin blade glinted in the lamplight as it was raised and started coming towards them. The black-haired Elf stepped out of the shadows a sneer on her face. Branwell stood their transfixed in front of her.
“Do I have you to thank for all this?” She gestured to the carnage around them. Jude realised she was starting to walk around the walls trying to get in-between them and the exit. “You will not get escape from ME so easily.” She said as she lunged at him, sword raised to strike, black hair and robes flying out behind her. Jude thought for a horrible moment that Branwell was going to do nothing and let her strike him down. But at the last minute just as she was about to make contact, Branwell, with lightening speed, brought the twin sword up of the one she was wielding to meet it. Their swords met with a clash, Branwell remained where he was not taking a step back as the momentum of her lunge took her straight into him. Their eyes met over their sword blades.
“You are amazing.” Branwell whispered to her.
With a growl of annoyance she spun away from him and around to bring her sword in a circle to slash at him again. This blow he also parried. So began a swordplay which mesmerised Jude, he could easily have slipped out and escaped, so engrossed were they in each other, but he was unable to take his eyes off them. Jude had seen the ease and grace of Branwell fighting before, but that had been against clumsy Orcs, not against someone who seemed to match him in skill with the sword. What Jude saw seemed to be more of an elegant dance with flashing blades and swirling fabrics. The fight seemed to range over the whole cave, the walls as well as the floor as they both used the wall to jump off towards each other. Jude was sure one of them was going to be injured at any moment, but they seemed to have an instinctual knowledge of what the other was about to do and so avoid the blow when it came. Their eyes were locked together as they fought, not a word spoken. Jude could see that she was now starting to tire, and Branwell managed to slowly back her against a wall, where with one deft movement he managed to knock the sword from her hand. He trapped her against the wall with his body the point of his sword at her throat.
So you have won,” she sneered at him. “Kill me quickly.”
“I don’t wish to kill you,” Branwell replied softly. “I love you.”
“Enough games,” she replied haughtily. “So what would you have of me?”
“Your name?”
“Go to hell.”
Jude, who had gone to the exit tunnel’s entrance to keep out of the way of their fighting, could hear in the distance the sounds of Orcs shouting to each other, another Orc unit was on its way to the cave. They were going to be trapped.
“Branwell,” he shouted. “More Orcs, we must go now.”
He remained motionless looking into the Elf’s eyes.
Jude ran up to him, picked up his other sword and grabbed him by the shoulder, trying to pull him towards the way out.
“Come on.” He was as immoveable as a rock. “Snap out of it, we’ve got to go.”
Branwell lowered his sword from her throat. At last thought Jude, we’re going and started heading towards the exit. He turned back to see that Branwell was not following him. Branwell, still holding the Elf’s eyes, reached up and brushed her cheek. Then ran his fingers through her hair; pulling her towards him he kissed her passionately on the lips.
“I don’t believe this.” Jude tried again to drag Branwell away, luckily, this time he didn’t resist. But he continued to gaze at the Elf as Jude dragged him back wards. They’d just got to the tunnel leading to the way out when and the Elf, who hadn’t moved, said. “Edrea. My name’s Edrea.”
As soon as they were into the tunnel and Branwell was out of sight of the Elf, he gave a sigh and at last seemed to ‘snap out of it’. He turned and ran with Jude to the entrance of the cave. The Orcs sounded very close now, not far from the entrance at all, but they managed to sneak out of the hole and quickly hide behind some rocks. The Orcs didn’t really seem to be paying much attention, so close to their hideout, and it was not light yet. They past them by without seeing them, Jude noticed to his relief that they didn’t seem to have any captives. As soon as they had gone inside the cave Jude and Branwell sprinted away, listening for the Orcs hollering in pursuit. But it did not come. They had just got back to where they had left Ruby and Connor and the sky was beginning to lighten when they heard faint Orc cries.
They both dived into the dip unsure what to expect there. The heather was still mostly covering the hiding place and Jude could see Ruby and Connor curled up next to each other, still asleep. They had such peaceful expressions on their faces and he was so relieved to see them, that he hadn’t the heart to awaken them. Another Orc cry rang out, a bit closer this time, and any thought of letting them sleep fled. Shaken urgently, Ruby and Connor awoke with a start.
“We must leave now,” said Branwell urgently to them. “We have Orcs hunting us, we must lose them before we can reach the Dwarves.”
They grabbed what provisions were to hand and followed Branwell, carrying Connor, away from the cries of the Orcs.
“We do seem to have been given a bit of a head start,” said Jude innocently turning to Branwell as they hurried along.
“Perhaps, but Orcs can hunt by smell, we’ll have to disguise our trail. Luckily for us they don’t like the sun and it should slow them down.”
Branwell seemed to know the country well and soon led them down into a wooded valley with a stream running down the middle. They walked up the stream, under cover of the trees to throw the Orcs off the scent. It was hard going; the water was freezing and the bottom of the stream stony. Jude took Ruby’s hand to help her. He was feeling exhausted and his feet were like ice. He couldn’t believe she could still have a smile on her face while being chased by monsters up a freezing stream. She was pretty incredible.
They couldn’t hear the cries of the Orcs anymore. They left the stream as it ran through a bit of rocky terrain. They continued for some way over the boulders before Branwell called a halt under an overhang of rock. Jude brushed some dirt from a rock for Ruby to sit on and sat down himself, exhausted. He emptied the water from his boots and wrung out his socks. Ruby wriggled her toes in front of him.
“What are you looking so smug about?” he asked suspiciously.
“Elf boots.” She wriggled her toes some more in their knee-high brown leather boots. “Totally waterproof apparently.” She said wi
th a smile.
“It’s alright for some.” Jude smiled back. “You wouldn’t have done so well in those sparkly red shoes though.”
After a brief rest they continued briskly on their way higher into the mountains, continually on the look out for any sight or sound of more Orcs. Branwell felt they should be fairly safe as long as they reached the Ninque Oron by nightfall. A whole day climbing a mountain at this pace groaned Jude inwardly. But Ruby still seemed to be treating it as a pleasant walk; she continued to be cheerful and interested in her surroundings, not showing any real signs of tiredness. Branwell carried Connor for most of the time, as he couldn’t walk very fast and he didn’t want the Sprite’s sparkles to attract attention. He was constantly on the lookout for Orcs, leading the way and he showed no sign of tiredness at all, Jude felt he only called a halt to give the others a break, especially him. Jude was finding it hard going but was determined not to show it in front of Ruby. When they stopped to rest instead of flopping down on the ground, which he really wanted to do, he made sure she had somewhere comfy to sit, or as comfy as a rock or log could be. Before he then collapsed on the ground.