12
Return to Rivendell
Neglis and I had now spent several days of what you could call training. I had learned how to properly hold on and such while he flew.
I would like to state here and now that drakes do indeed have a sense of humour (or at least Neglis does). For instance, one day while we were flying low over a small lake, Neglis, with a very large grin, did a quick roll in the air. I lost my grip, and... Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened next. I sure learned to hold on tight after that, believe me.
Anyways, Neglis also told me a little of drake history. Although he had not been hatched at the time, the evil Lord Sauron had manipulated many of his ancestors to do dirty deeds during his original conquest of Middle Earth three thousand years ago. Some had done so willingly (of which Neglis seemed to say with disgust) while others had been forced into slavery by the dark magic of Sauron's rings. Neglis spoke of great atrocities that had been done by his people under Sauron's control. The drakes would attack and burn the cities until the entire sky was dark with smoke. Then Sauron's ground forces would move in and easily slaughter those few who had managed to survive the aerial assault.
Then Sauron had deemed the drakes too much of a threat to him, so he had his forces attack and destroy drake nests and kill all mature ones they could find. In retaliation, the drakes fought back, but they were battling against superior numbers. Eventually, the few that survived retreated back towards the northern mountains and started using such tactics as the cave abysses to protect their nests from intruders. In addition, it was Sauron's betrayal that had led most drakes to dislike humanoid creatures in general and stay away from them. Those were dark days for the drakes, just as they had been for most of the peoples of Middle Earth.
As a result, Neglis told me he would like nothing better than to be given the chance to make up for his people's wrong doings by defending the innocent. He also admitted he wanted to take vengeance upon evil by making it pay for what it did to his people so long ago. It did not matter whether it was Sauron's forces or not; he wanted to wipe evil clean from the land and stop it from disturbing the peace in Middle Earth. Though we both knew that evil would never be completely vanquished, we also knew we had to try to at least keep it at bay. Neglis told me he had somehow knew he would get his chance to do all this the moment he saw me in that clearing, under seige by the wurm. Though neither of us believed in destiny and that things were "written on the wall", we were both glad the universe had somehow placed us together for our mutual benefit. In addition, I could not help but wonder if this had all partly been the sword's doing.
And it was now upon this very morning that we set off for Rivendell to begin our mission to help the elves. As the sun rose up from the eastern horizon into the sky, Neglis flew over the mountains and down towards the south. The cool wind blew across my face, and my jean jacket (now quite torn and stained I might add) danced about in the breeze. I felt good in that my gambles had paid off, and I would finally be able to help my friends, from my world and this one, in defeating their enemies.
"Besides," I thought with a grin, "whoever said I wasn't a mischievous individual just looking for a little adventure?"
At one point, we passed over a large lake which had a village of men at the end of it. We made the mistake of flying over it. The people there started screaming when they saw our approach and ran into their homes. Whoops. Sometimes I forget drakes and dragons were one of the more scary components of legend. Nevertheless, Neglis and I had a good laugh from that incident. I know it's mean, but what can I say? I was having the time of my life here.
Less than two hours later (my watch was one of the few things that had survived my quest remarkably well) we were flying over the forests surrounding Rivendell. It was amazing to think it had taken me twelve days to cross that same distance on foot. The elves were as watchful as ever, for we heard the blare of warning horns as Rivendell came into view. Scouts must have spotted us and somehow gotten the message all the way back.
Neglis looked back at me, and I knew what his concern was.
"Yes, I know," I reassured him. "I'll make sure they don't shoot arrows at you... much."
Neglis looked back at me and gave a rather volatile huff.
I grinned and replied, "Okay, okay. Just don't scratch any of their buildings' spires with your talons when you fly over, all right? Go ahead and do a few circles round the city, though. That'll really impress 'em."
Neglis shook his head in disbelief and continued a standard descent.
"Oh, you're no fun," I remarked.
Neglis responded this time by giving a twirl. Fortunately, I had learned my lesson from the lake and held on. He grinned at my resilience, and I laughed. Oh my... What would Elrond think of this? Probably something starting with "Foolish men..." Poor fellow. He needs to get out more and have some fun. I started wondering if he would accept a ride with me on Neglis. Then I started wondering whether Neglis would try to bite off his head at the prospect of carrying someone other than me on his back. Hmm... interesting scenario...
Then I started realizing how much he must have worried about my safety after I had left. I hoped he wouldn't freak out too much when I got back. I'd never wanted to cause him more trouble than he already had.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when we came rushing down to Rivendell. Neglis did indeed circle the city, but it was more for the practical purpose of slowing down than to impress the elves. Down below, I saw dozens of elves running about with quivers at ready and often glancing up at the sky to keep track of our position. I immediately started waving down to them and shouting, but it seemed to have no effect. I'm not even sure they noticed me. And they say elves' hearing is so much better than that of men.
Neglis gave me another look, basically saying, "This isn't working. Shout louder, you fool! A lot louder!" I think he would've given off a roar himself, but he fortunately realized that would probably do more harm than good by only putting the elves further into panic mode.
"Yo! Down below!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and leaning over the side of Neglis as far as I dared. "It's me! James! Put down your bows and let's have a cup of tea, I say!"
I swear Neglis rolled his eyes. We had circled Rivendell at least four times now, and we were both growing impatient.
"Hello!" I continued. "It's really me, James! The drake's on our side! Put down your bows!" Arrows started whizzing past us from all directions, and Neglis was really getting pissed off now, so I switched to plan B.
"Okay, screw this. Land on the far side of the town beyond that building there," I told Neglis while pointing, "and I'll get off and explain everything to the elves. Watch the trees."
Neglis rushed down to where I had indicated, and flew a little close to some trees on purpose I believe. In any case, we both got down to the ground all right, but my jean jacket had picked up some souvenir leaves along the way as well as some more rips.
I jumped off and brushed off the leaves. Swinging my finger from side to side, I said, "Tsk, tsk, Neglis." He gave his usual huff in response.
"Aw shoot," I muttered. "Where's my sword? Did I still have it before we flew over Rivendell?"
Neglis gave a sort of snort which I had learned by experience was basically a snicker.
"Thanks a lot buddy," I said with a grin, then started looking around in the fallen leaves.
I didn't have much time to do that, though. The elves came rushing over, bows raised and loaded with some very sharp tipped arrows. I put up both of my arms.
"Whoa, whoa," I exclaimed. "Watch where you point those things. It's me, James." I pointed behind me. "That's Neglis. He's a friend. Now put those bows down, damnit."
When the elves didn't proceed to do so, Neglis started to emit a low growl which certainly didn't help. With fear on their faces, they started aiming at Neglis more than me.
I jumped right in front of him and yelled, "Hey! Did you not hear me? He's making that noise 'cause you're making him feel cornered! Now put the bows down!" I was getting a lot more serious now, because I didn't want Neglis to get hurt due to my actions (although I'd probably be the one more hurt by those arrows).
Fortunately, Elrond ran up at that moment.
After staring at me and Neglis for a few moments and rubbing his brow, Elrond commanded, "Put down your weapons. They are friends." Upon saying "friends", Elrond looked me straight in the eye. I couldn't help but smirk a little. Thankfully, though, the elves did indeed put down their bows.
Elrond gave a deep sigh and stated quite loudly, "Does all mankind feel the need to disappear on their hosts and do something heroic?" At my blank stare, Elrond only seemed to scowl more.
"I'm sorry," I said sincerely to Elrond. "This was something I had to do."
"Did you think it would be a wise idea to run around without a guide of any sort in a land you know not of, with beasts and beings which could easily slay you at any time?" he retorted. "Did you consider the possible consequences of your actions?"
"Actually, I did," I said gravely. "Granted, I didn't know of many of the threats here, and it was definitely a foolish move on my part. But I couldn't tell you of my plans. You would never have let me go if I told you I had been going to find a drake."
Elrond grinded his teeth. "You are certainly right in that I would not have-"
Just then two more elves ran up. The lead one interrupted with a "Sir" when they each did a double take at the sight of Neglis. Elrond did a slight rolling of his eyes and prodded them to go on.
"We couldn't find them, sir," the lead elf continued while keeping one eye on Neglis. "We looked all over. They are not here."
Elrond seemed to be in a state of total frustration and started muttering, "Stubborn little...", but then stopped himself. He looked back to me and said, "Do you see what you have started?"
"Huh?" I said, completely baffled in what he meant by that. "What's going on?"
"Your friends, Shea and Lauren, decided to pull the same stunt you did. They snuck out this morning at the crack of dawn," Elrond firmly told me. "I don't suppose they are off to find drakes too?!"
"Oy..." I said very slowly.
"Legolas, Arwen, and several others are leading search parties right now," Elrond told me. "We can only hope they find them soon."
"So that's where my man is," I said, and then realized that was a really, really stupid thing to say in a situation like this. I bit my lip and lost the smile. "I'm going after them." At that, I made a run for Neglis, but I didn't get very far.
"No!" Elrond called out very loudly. "No you shall not! I am not having any more of you running around to who knows where in the forest."
"I won't be going into the forest," I said. "I'll be flying high above it."
"And should you fall off...?" he asked with a terrible frown on his face.
Neglis came to my defence at that moment with a rather snarky huff. Elrond looked back to the drake and made a face. Many of the other elves raised their bows again. Elrond immediately put his arm out to the side to tell them to lower their weapons. The elves did so slowly.
"You are not leaving," he commanded. "I will not permit it."
"Look, I know how you feel-" I began.
"Do you?" he asked hastily.
I gave him a nice big Richard Dean Anderson kind of wince/smirk and said, "Somewhat. Listen, I started this mess, and I have a responsibility to clean it up. Besides, now that Neglis is with me, I know I can make a difference, even if my combat skills are minimal-"
"Or nonexistent," some elf in the background stated quickly.
I whipped my head to where the comment had come from, but I couldn't locate the individual who had said it. I turned back to Elrond and continued, "I'm going one way or another, but I respect you, I really do, and I would rather have your approval in all of this. I promise I'll be careful. Neglis and I will stick to the air unless we find them. There'll be no landings otherwise, no chance for some beast to come along and eat me or maul me, okay?"
Elrond seemed to give this some very serious thought. Finally, he said, "Fine. But take Aldarion with you." The elf he pointed to looked from Elrond to me and then to Neglis in a state of fear. The expression on his face would've made you think he'd just been sentenced to death. After a moment's hesitation, he stepped forward, nodded stiffly to me, and followed me to Neglis.
Neglis stared straight at Aldarion and emitted a low growl. Aldarion halted behind me, and his eyes grew wider than before.
"Now c'mon, Neglis," I prodded. "Just this once. Let him ride on you. We could use his help anyways."
Neglis didn't seem to agree, but he finally allowed this arrangement. Aldarion climbed onto Neglis' back behind me, and we were zooming away from Rivendell at breakneck speed soon enough.