A/N: Hi everybody! Thank you to all my reviewers! Here are some replies.
Issy: I know! I was waiting for someone to notice! More about this will revealed in this chapter, so keep reading on!
Gracie: Haha! I can't tell you whether he'll survive this or not, cuz that will ruin the story.
Shelly2728: Thank you so much! I hope I can keep you interested.
Guest: Thank you! I agree, there should be more fics with a near-dead Legolas. J
Jenri92: Thanks! I hope that you will keep reading. Thanks for reviewing.
Juanita: Thank you! Please keep reading and reviewing; reviews keep me writing!
Eruaistaniel: Thank you for your support on both this fic and "Hello". I hope that you will like both this and my future fics!
Chapter 4
Legolas woke up because of a fiery pain all over his body. It was centered in his arm and his chest, and as he forced his eyes open, dizziness overcame him. He knew this feeling.
Poison, he thought sourly. Just what I need right now.
"Ah, you are awake, princeling," he heard a voice say, and he cringed, but he put a mask of indifference over his eyes. He had showed far too much weakness to this man already. He heard laughter that made him wince. The man looked at him, and blue and green clashed in an icy battle. The man smirked.
"You still believe that I am him, don't you?" the voice said, and the man laughed some more. Forcing his eyes open again, Legolas looked up and blinked in the bright light. A face loomed above him, and the eyes were filled with laughter. Legolas coughed, and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse.
"What?" he said, and the man smiled even wider at his response.
"I am not the man you think I am. How could I be? That was over a thousand years ago. We humans don't live that long, you know," he said, twirling one of the prince's locks around his finger. Legolas tried to move away, but he found himself unable to move without a bout of dizziness.
"Not him?" Legolas rasped, wishing for water silently.
"No. Not him," the man said, blinking his big eyes.
"But…But the eyes…" Legolas said. The man laughed.
"Many in my family inherited these eyes from him, princeling," the man said, and Legolas's eyes widened.
"He was…ancestor?" he asked. Of course, now that he looked past the eyes, this man was pretty different from the one who had haunted him as an elfling. While the other had dark hair and a stubble on his chin, but this man had lighter hair and a clean shave.
"These eyes of his have been a curse to all who inherited them," he said, shaking his head. "My father was lucky, and he did not get them.
"Veritinan," he continued, and Legolas shivered at the familiar name, "Knew that his eyes were what scared you most about him. He said that it was the duty of any who received them to find you and finish where he left off."
"So you mean to kill me," Legolas said without expression. "because of your eye color."
The man laughed.
"Of course, princeling. For once my duty is complete, I can live freely without the burden of your capture in my shoulders."
"The ways of men have always confused me," Legolas said, glaring. "But I never knew they would kill a person for a family member long forgotten."
"No, princeling, not forgotten," the man said. "Never forgotten. The eyes have always searched for you, always. You know this, obviously."
"Many years have passed," Legolas said, trying to ignore the dizziness that was growing steadily worse. "I am no longer an elfling. I have lost my naneth, been through many battles, and become Greenwood's," ah, how he loved that name. "finest warrior."
"And yet you still scream for your daddy at the sight of these eyes," the man taunted, bending over so that the icy green was all he could see.
Legolas felt the panic and anger swell within him, just as it had all those years ago. He wanted to scream, but he clamped his mouth shut. The dizziness became overwhelming, and as he faded into oblivion, he heard the man's maniacal laughter.
When Gimli woke up, it was because of a groan from his right. Muttering under his breath about it being too early for anyone to be awake, he blearily made his way over to Aragorn, who was wide awake and in pain.
"Ah, Aragorn," Gimli said in mock pity, yawning as he looked upon the man. "Is there not anything I can do to ease your pain?"
"Well," hissed Aragorn. "You could make a pain-numbing tea. That would be appreciated."
Dropping his joking tone, Gimli nodded.
"What do I put in it?" he asked, grabbing Aragorn's pack. The ranger told him what to add to the mixture, and soon he had a pot of water boiling away at a fire. Dropping a few leaves of the herbs as he was instructed, Gimli poured the concoction into a small cup, and, helping the ranger sit up, gave it to Aragorn. The man sighed in contentment as he slowly sipped at the contents. Gimli's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"The elf always said that your pain-numbing teas had the worst flavor in all of Arda."
"Ah, well," Aragorn said, closing his eyes and smiling. "That is because I give him the one that tastes like pulverized orc meat."
Gimli sputtered, and Aragorn laughed.
"You can add one herb, that I told you to put in, that makes the tea taste quite nice, actually," Aragorn said. "I usually give him the bad one, unless he is so injured that I pity him. And that doesn't happen often."
Gimli snorted, and Aragorn grinned at him. Slowly, the ranger dragged himself over to the king, who still had his eyes open and glazed in elvish sleep.
"Hir nin?" Aragorn said, patting the elf's cheek gently with one hand. "Hir nin, you need to wake up. We need to leave so we can pursue Legolas." Aragorn's face darkened.
"If we do not leave soon, there will be no hope for him."
Thranduil woke almost immediately. Aragorn smiled.
"Good morning, your majesty," he said, standing up. The tea had eased the pain enough for him to walk, well limp, really, and he felt an urgent need to get to Legolas as soon as possible.
Thranduil also stood up.
"Aye," he said, his face set. "We must reach Legolas."
"Oh, and where did this attitude come from?" Gimli said, surprised by yet unable to control the anger that suddenly came over him and made him see red. "Only yesterday you were bawling like an elfling, now you're a mighty warrior again?"
"Gimli, please—" Aragorn said, but the dwarf cut him off.
"Don't 'Gimli' me!" he said, and turned back to the king, who clenched his fists.
"Are you suddenly so determined because it was a human who woke you up instead of a dwarf? I tried, I tried so hard to help you yesterday, and you just pushed me away!
"Your son was no better than you. When he met me, he pushed me away and despised me to the very core! And he treated men like Boromir no better!"
Thranduil's face was contorted with rage.
"Don't you dare insult my ion!" he yelled, stepping towards the dwarf and making use of his height. "You have no idea what the race of men has done to him!" Gimli looked into the king's eyes, but instead of rage, as he expected, he saw deep sadness, like the deepest lake in Arda.
"You have no idea what he has seen, dwarf," he said, spitting the word out like an insult. "Legolas's heart has been torn apart and never put together quite right ever since. He was on the road to healing, and now he has been captured again! And you call my sadness weak!"
Thranduil paused, breathing heavily.
"He is my only child," the king murmured, so soft that Gimli could barely hear it. "His naneth is gone, and he is all I have left. I love him more than you could comprehend, for our race is mortal. We, as the Eldar, have a way of connecting with our sons and daughters that you will never understand. One's elfling is precious, more precious than all the gold and mithril in the world, for it is a life created that could be sustained forever, given the proper protection."
Gimli shook his head and laughed mirthlessly.
"And he is, obviously, the most important thing to you, especially since you didn't leave at the first opportunity to save him and instead sat here in despair. You could have saved him."
Gimli sunk to his knees, feeling tears welling behind his eyes.
"You could have saved him."
Aragorn reached down to help him up, but Gimli shoved his hand away roughly.
"No, Aragorn. A dwarf can get up by himself. A dwarf does not despair," he said, getting to his feet. "Now, let us be going."
A/N: Ahhh! They aren't getting anywhere nearer to Legolas by arguing!
Sorry the chapters are so short. I think my posts will be every two to three days, this long or a little longer. I probably won't be able to update until Friday. Sorry! Please don't stop being interested in my story because of my infrequent updates. It is just that I have school, soccer, band, girl scouts, etc. and I am currently also working on a novel. Though I try to fit writing fanfiction in, it doesn't always work out.
Please review!