Chapter 18
Loki was settled near the other members of the Company, both Legolas and Haldir watching him expressionlessly. Loki had his eyes closed, calming himself down. He had, after all, somewhat lost himself, and it would be best if he managed to regain control.
Legolas, though he had seen the extent of Loki's magical prowess having rent the Moria mines to naught more then a small hill, the entire mountain having crumbled, was still continually being surprised. After Loki had fainted, they had taken it upon themselves to bring him into the Wood. Originally, they were uncertain what to do, and they had left Loki to speak with Haldir, of the Guard. They did not expect to have been gone so long, nor had they suspected Loki to wake so soon. According to Gandalf it was a rather large feats of magic, he should have been unconscious for a long while, and therefore they had not seen anything particularly upsetting with it. The orcs would not dare venture into the forest, and Loki should not have waken so soon.
It would appear, however, that in this instance, Gandalf's suggestion and advice was wrong. Something which Legolas was forced to begin to suspect happened ore often than the elder wizard was going to admit when it came to Loki. Gandalf had so far been wrong in almost every assessment that he had made of the other, which was not necessarily shocking, but what made it more shocking is that Aragorn was more correct in his own assessments than the Wizard when it came to Loki. Not that the other made it easy to try and figure him out. The man was hard to read, more so than most, and it made for questions of why he was trying so hard to keep them from knowing too much about him.
Haldir, for his part, was just watching the other. He had seen the man's magic lash out at Aragorn, mostly because Aragorn had likely surprised him and heh and not suspected, or waned him to grab at him. Haldir himself was not a large fan of touch, and therefore he could somewhat understand where the other was coming from, then again, most Elves were not all that much fond of too much contact. Haldir found the other...interesting, he supposed. His Lady had not informed him of another in the woods, hence why he had not bothered to look around. If his Lady had informed him of this, he would have.
Then he began to wonder if his Lady had even known if the other was in the wood. Though, Haldir did not understand why she could not have known, it was possible, after all. His Lady, for how great and wonderful she was, was not infallible. He knew that, so did everyone else within the Wood. However, it was rare that something escaped her notice, and rare that she was wrong. This made him wonder, what it was about this man. He had seen that the magic he had used was powerful. Perhaps he had managed to hide himself from here, without her knowing?
Haldir shook himself from such thoughts. It would not do to be thinking of such things. It was not proper. He was within his Lady's lands, he would have to put his faith in her. She may not have seen him, but that was of little consequence. It did not matter, of course. Haldir would bring him to her.
"Why did you leave?" Loki asked, watching them with pale blue eyes. He drifted his gaze over the rest of the company, before catching them on Legolas's own. He was not happy, and that was something that clearly showed in his eyes.
"Gandalf said that you would not wake for some time, and we had intended to return before that happened." Legolas said simply. He saw no reason not to answer Loki. It was, after all, his right to know why they had left him in the middle of an unknown place. They would not have done so if Legolas had any inkling that Gandalf would have been wrong. The Grey Wizard had made a lot of sense however. None of them even thought that he could be wrong. Clearly, they needed to begin to reassess their ideas on that matter.
"Gandalf," Loki muttered the word, eyes flicking over to the so-called great wizard. He did not see how. The other was pitiful. He had magic, but not a lot of it, and he did not understand the constructs of it well enough to wield it as it would desire. Loki could strip him of his magic, of course, and he even entertained the thought a bit. It would be quite a sight to see. The other scrambling but realizing that his magic was gone. unable to use it any more. After all, the way the other tried to control the magic was unnatural, and it gave Loki shivers of horror every time the other used it.
He reigned himself in, however, and sighed heavily. Though the thought was incredibly tempting, he would not be so cruel. Yet.
"That wizard of yours?" Loki looked up at the two elves, tilting his head slightly to the left. "Told you that I would be unconscious for longer than I was?" He did not understand.
"He said that your magic use overwhelmed you and Because of that you would likely rest and allow your magic to regather itself." Legolas said simply. They both watched in shock as Loki began to laugh.
Laugh.
As though the mere thought of such a thing was so ridiculous he could not fathom it. The shook his head, calming himself down. Standing, he interlaced his hands behind his back, looking at Legolas seriously, eyes on each other.
"I fell unconscious because I had not rested in several days, nor eaten, and not only that, but I fought two dark creatures of powerful and evil origin. Of course I am exhausted. My magic had nothing to do with that. My magic is the one which put me to sleep to aid my body. Not because it was so deprecated I could not use it." Loki could not help but laugh again.
"If my magic were to be depleted, I would be dead. Do not worry over such things." He said simply, shaking his head as if it was hilarious.
Legolas supposed perhaps Gandalf did not know as much about this person as he had originally claimed. He heard no hint of a lie in the words which Loki spoke, though he could not say that meant that he was speaking to them the whole truth.
"I must bring you to The Lady." Loki turned to look at Haldir, watching him carefully.
"Very well, let us go." He said simply. Haldir stared. He was rather surprised.
"Wait," Aragorn said, finally coming up, having heard this. "What makes you..." Loki turned to stare at him, eyes dark, the mere look having Aragorn stop short.
"Are you really going to deny him from doing his duty? It is his superior which told him to bring you to her, and bring you to her he will do, or die trying. Whatever pitiful anger you hold, keep it to yourself. We shall have to meet the Lady of this forest at some point anyways." Loki said with a small shrug. "Better sooner, rather than later do you not think?" Loki turned to Haldir once more, "Let us go."