7. chapter: In the House of Horandor

The Road to the Lake of Rhûn was long. It was at the start of spring now, but still the weather was unpredictable, one moment the sun could shine, and the next the rain pouring down.

Legolas had taken Rozarko, Girion, Falael, Cyan, Kaleth, Galdor and Gilthron with him, and they had been riding for several weeks already, and was still a long way from the huge lake. The rest of the team, consisting Anglond, Mirthral, Rogon, Logon and Tristan, would escort the son of the house of Horandor, and ride a week after them. They would be going at the approximately same pace, and then Legolas and his team would disguise themselves as men from Harad, and "attack" the others when they neared Khand. Legolas hoped it would all work out, and that the man would trust them and their disguise, otherwise, they would have to let him run of by himself, and get access to the house otherwise.

It was starting to get dark, and the eight elves decided to make camp near a small stream in a wood not far ahead. Galdor and Gilthron started to make a small fire, while Legolas, Rozarko, Kaleth and Falael took care of the horses, and Cyan and Girion unpacked the bedrolls, and placed them around the fire, and started preparing dinner with Galdor and Gilthron as soon the fire was going.

Legolas was brushing Girion's gray horse. He was deep in his own thoughts, remembering the night before he had to ride out, he had gone to see Lucien, and ended up in a massive fight with Gilmarkar. He was glad Lucien had been there, or it may not had been only words they had used against each other.


Legolas walked through the corridors towards his littlebrother's quarters. He knocked on the wooden door, and heard Lucien call for enter, but when he entered, it was not Lucien who greeted him. His younger brother was sitting on the pillows before the fire, and Gilmarkar was already on his feet.

"What are you doing here?!" Gilmarkar almost yelled, anger evident in his voice.

"Gilmarkar" Lucien got up, "these are my quarters, and Legolas is more than welcome here".

"Then I am leaving" Gilmarkar announce and turned to walk past Legolas, but Legolas gently put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Please Gilmarkar" he tried, "enough of this".

"Don't you dare touch me" Gilmarkar yanked his arm free and stepped back from Legolas' reach.

"I'm sorry" Legolas apologized, "but really, isn't it enough?".

"I will not forgive nor forget what you did!" Gilmarkar growled angrily, "and you" Gilmarkar turned to Lucien, "I can't believe you take his side".

"Do not take this out on Lucien" Legolas warned, "your anger is towards me, do not brake this family further apart than it already is".

"Brake this family apart?!" Gilmarkar yelled angrily, "I am not the one who broke this family apart! It was YOU! You are the reason this family is falling apart. You are the reason everything changed".

Legolas was stunned, and didn't know what to say, he felt a lump inside his chest, and had difficulty getting any words out.

"Gilmarkar" Lucien reasoned, "you are being unfair".

"How dare you?!" Gilmarkar growled, turning to Lucien once again.

Legolas quickly stepped in between them.

"Stop, Gilmarkar" he almost commanded, "leave Lucien out of this, do not take your anger towards me out on him, he has nothing to do with all of this".

Gilmarkar's eyes became dark with hate and anger, and in one swift move, he had grabbed Legolas' throat and slammed him against the wall. Legolas winched at the impact, and Lucien stood completely shocked.

"You should have died the first time" Gilmarkar growled and lay pressure on Legolas' throat, almost cutting of the air supply.

"Want to give it another try?" Legolas challenged, his voice hoarse, "and with Lucien as witness this time".

Gilmarkar growled, and pressed even harder, cutting of the air supply. Legolas held his gaze, he did not think Gilmarkar would continue while Lucien was present. But after what seemed like minutes, Gilmarkar still held his pressure, and Legolas started to struggle for air, his body screamed at him to do something, but he would not lay a hand on his brother, he had promised to always look after and protect him.

Lucien saw Legolas struggle, and came out of his stupor, and rushed to poll Gilmarkar away from Legolas.

"Please, Gil" he pleaded, alarm evident in his voice, "you are choking him".

Gilmarkar slowly released the hold on Legolas, and Legolas stumbled down to the floor, breathing in some much needed air. Gilmarkar did not look at any of them, but stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Lucien knelled in front of Legolas, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned, "are you hurt? Can you breathe? Do I need to get Belenor?".

Legolas coughed before answering, "which question would you prefer I'll answer first?", his voice was hoarse and raspy.

"Legolas!" Lucien scolded, he was indeed worried.

"Water, please" Legolas asked, and Lucien jumped to his feet, rushed to a table and poured a glass of cold water, and rushed back again. His hands were shaking, and water was spilling over his hands. Legolas took hold of his hands and looked him intently in the eyes.

"Easy now" he said gently, his voice still hoarse and raspy, "I am going to be all right".

Lucien took a deep breath and helped Legolas drink the water.

"Are you sure I do not need to get someone?" he asked again.

"Rozarko" Legolas whispered, his throat felt like he had swallowed thorns or something.

Lucien jumped to his feet again and rushed out of the room, yelling all he could for Rozarko. Legolas sat heavily against the wall, closing his eyes and tried to ease his breathing. Soon after, Rozarko came rushing into the room followed by Lucien, still looking out of himself with worry. Rozarko and Legolas' eyes met, and Rozarko calmly knelled in front of Legolas, gently touching the blueish marks on his neck and throat.

"What happened?" Rozarko asked, his voice a bit angry.

"Gilmarkar tried to strangle Legolas!" Lucien blurted out before Legolas could answer.

Rozarko's eyes darkened, and he had to concentrate to compose himself.

"What?", his voice was dangerously low.

"Rozarko, please" Legolas pleaded with barely a whisper.

Rozarko looked into Legolas' eyes for a long moment, and then sobered, and turned to Lucien.

"Would you please boil some water?" he asked gently.

"Off course" he said and went on with the task.

"Lucien" Rozarko called when he saw that Lucien still was indeed worried, "he is going to be fine" he reassured, and Lucien looked relieved. Then the stopped and looked back at Legolas.

"What did you mean when you said ´want to give it another try'?" he suddenly asked, looking a bit pale.

Legolas quickly exchanged glances with Rozarko, and Lucien then knew.

"He was the one, wasn't he?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper, "he was the one whom attacked you months ago, and nearly killed you?".

"You didn't hear that, Lucien" Legolas stated.

"What?" Lucien looked perplexed.

"You never heard that, understood" Legolas emphasized.

Lucien then understood, "father doesn't know?".

Legolas shook his head.

Lucien then nodded in understanding, and went on with boiling the water for tea.


Legolas had been sore for days after this, and his voice had been hoarse too, much to everyone's wonder. But Legolas would not tell the reason, just that he had been yelling in a fight with Gilmarkar. He had a hard time explaining the dark bruises on his throat though, his father or team would not accept the "I fell and bruise my next" explanation, but Legolas had made it crystal clear, that that was the explanation they had to settle with.

The fire was burning nicely, and the team had settled down for a hot meal together. Legolas sat in quiet conversation with Girion, when the team decided to get the real explanation out of their captain.

"So, captain" Gilthron started and got Legolas' attention, "who strangled you the day before we rode out?".

All eight teammembers looked intrigued at Legolas, and Legolas looked like he was thinking hard on some explanation they would accept. Gilthron saw right through that.

"Do not try to think of some excuse" he warned, though kindly, "we would like to know. Those marks on your neck was not from a fall or some other accident, it was clear someone tried to strangle you, and did a quite good job too".

Legolas sighed, he knew he was trapped now, they knew how bruises looked after a strangling. He set his bowl of strew down, and looked shortly to Rozarko, who nodded reassuringly, before turning to Gilthron to explain.

"It was Gilmarkar" he said quietly.

"What?" they all exclaimed surprised.

"What happened?" Cyan asked a bit sad.

"He is still very angry with what I did", he did not have to explain what he talked about, they all knew it was about his mother's death, "he was there when I went to see Lucien, he snapped and I tried to reason with him. We got in a huge fight, and he lost it completely. Lucien was too shocked to react in the beginning, but managed to convince Gilmarkar to let go".

"Varla" Gilthron breathed, "your own brother", and then he looked like lightning had struck him, "was he the one who tried to kill you this winter?".

Legolas sighed, and the look on his face was answer enough.

o0o

"Get moving" Anglond commanded to the still sleeping human on the ground.

His small team of five elves was already ready to go, and they just needed to wake the man up and go. They the man growled irritated, he was clearly not a morning person, every morning they had to drag him up. Anglond yanked the blanket off of the man, and the cold morning air woke him up instantly.

"Get up" Anglond commanded coldly, and the man knew he should not complain to the cinnamon brown-haired elf, who clearly was the leader of his escort.

The man was surprised that the elves had decided to escort him home, but he suspected they had something up their sleeves, but he had no idea what.

When he had mounted the brown horse, his hands were bound to the saddle, and two elves with dark caramel hair held on to the horse, guiding it, and making sure the man did not run of with it.

o0o

After five weeks on the road, Legolas and his team reached the southern bank of the Lake of Rhûn. From here, they would travel south towards Khand, they used a day to make sure their clothes were in order, and they were ready.

They were ready, and they continued south, and after another week, they were at the place they had planned the "attack" would take place. They waited for a few days, and when Galdor came back, telling them the others was only a couple of hours away, they changed into their disguise. Legolas wore a long tunic in royal blue, with gold embroideries. His hair and mouth was covered with a blue scarf. Rozarko and Girion was clad in rich green tunics, and Falael a deep purple, Cyan a light blue, Kaleth a deep red, Galdor a green with yellow markings, and Gilthron a deep purple with black markings. All had their hair and mouths covered with scarfs, hiding their elven features as much as they could. They had even managed to get weapon designed like the ones men of Harad used, delicate crafted scimitar.

And now, they waited.

o0o

Anglond called for a halt, they had travelled all day, and it was starting to get dark. The elves made camp in a small valley. The landscape had become more barren, there were few trees, and only small brushes. They lit a small fire, and prepared a small meal for the evening, and then set watch for the night and went to sleep.

The man felt like he had just only fallen asleep when he heard loud voices near him. He instantly sat up and saw the elves running around and grapping their weapons.

"What is going on?" the man said as he slowly got up.

But his question was soon answered when eight men came storming down the valley, their scimitars drown. The elves were ready. The man looked on stunned, these men was from Harad, his home. He was excited, this was his change to be free. He would have run of and hid, if his hands and feet was not bound tightly.

The fight was not long, the elves was overpowered. The men did not kill them though, they took away their weapons and took them captive. The man looked on as a tall man clad in rich blue garments neared him, the leader he realized. The man took a knife out of his belt and uncut the roped binding his hands and feet.

"Thank you" the man said sincere, "and whom do I owe my gratitude?" he added with a slight bow.

"My names are Malik" the leader said bowing slightly, "and whom do we have the pleasure rescuing?".

"I am the son of Horandor" he announced proudly with a lifted chin.

The men bowed for him, showing their respect.

"I am sure my father would be most grateful for you rescuing me" he then told.

"Would he be interested in these elves?" the leader asked.

"I am sure he would, if you would escort me to my home, he would definitely pay you for them" the man told.

"Then let us get moving" the leader grinned, and handed the man a horse.

o0o

The plan worked, they were inside the city. Legolas got chills running up and down his spine when he saw the huge arena. Many dark memories he had of that place, how many times had he entered those sand, how many lives had he taken, how many times had he heard the people cheer for him. The sound still echoed inside his head when he thought about it.

They entered the house, Legolas kept his head cool, and acted supreme. He stiffened though when he saw his old master, the slender and tall man rushed down the steps to greet his long-waited son, he was indeed stunned to see him in the company of men he didn't know, and thrilled to see five elves with them. The man had become older, his hair now grey instead of black, and his face a bit more wrinkly. But Legolas knew him, and saw right through him.

The son explained all that happened in short terms, and his father invited them inside. Legolas though, ordered four of his men to stay guard the elves. And he, Rozarko, Girion and Gilthron went inside.

The house looked just as Legolas remembered it. Open spaces, light curtains in various colors separating the rooms. Near the balcony was a small daze filled with soft pillows and cushions. Legolas could not help a small smile, it reminded him of Lucien's livingroom. Just here was a low, round coffee table in the middle.

They were all invited to sit, and the master ordered the servants to bring spicy tea to be served. Legolas noticed as he sat, that the master's wife wasn't present, and he wondered if she was not just home, or she had passed doing the years.

"I do not know how to express my gratitude" the master began, "you saved my only son and heir".

Legolas and the others and removed the scarfs before their mouths as they entered the house, but the master had not looked closely enough, or maybe he just couldn't recognize Vascal (Legolas) with his hair covered.

"Please tell me if there is anything I can do" the master then added, "anything at all".

"We need a place to stay a couple of days" Legolas then said, his voice calm and gently, not like the spiteful one he used to use when he was a slave and gladiator of this house.

"Sure" the master lighted up, "I will have my best guest cambers made ready for you".

Legolas nodded his thanks, and accepted the small kop of spicy tea from a servant.

"Those elves you have with you" the master then asked, "are they for sale?".

"That depends" Legolas said, sipping the tea, "if you are worthy enough to house them?".

The master laughed, "shouldn't I be worthy enough? I am the most successful lanisters of all Harad, even Rhûn".

"I know" Legolas said with a straight face, giving nothing away, "but you weren't able to keep Vascal inside your walls for long, and he destroyed an arena in the process".

"True" the master said bitterly as he sipped his tea, "but that was a mistake, Vascal was strong and special, I thought I had him submissive, but he was even more stubborn and cunning than I thought. I will not make that mistake again".

"And what makes you think he was not just an average elf?" Legolas asked curious.

"Oh, I know a little about the elves" the master said, "and he was no ordinary one, I would give anything to stand face to face with him again".

"You would?" Legolas was now intrigued, as was his elven in disguise companions.

"Yes" the master said strongly, "I actually sent my son to the north to see if he could get any information of what became of him. And capture some elves in the process too" he added with a smirk.

"I found him" the son said proudly, and the master almost dropped him tea.

"You what?" he asked stunned.

"I met him" the son said, "he was the one who sieged me, but I didn't knew until I was brought before the elvenking. He is indeed intimidating. And who do you think I saw standing next to him? The elf who sieged me, he is the king's oldest son, father, Vascal is the crownprince of Greenwood".

"What?" the master whispered, not believing his own ears.

"Yes" the son emphasized, "and he clearly holds a lot of disdain towards us. And I don't think it helps that I injured his younger brother either".

"I guess not" the master said thoughtfully, "he was very feisty, Vascal. I guess I will never have the opportunity to meet him again".

"Why are you so intended to meet him again?" Legolas asked.

"I am a curious man, Malik" the master said, "I would like to know more of who he was. And off course I would like to have him back in my stable, he earned me a lot of money. But that stunt he pulled in Rhûn, that cost me a lot too, and I would like to make him pay".

"Ah" Legolas just said as he finished his tea and set the cup back at the table.

"You must be tired after your long journey" the master said and rose, "your rooms will be ready now".

"Thank you" Legolas said gently as he too rose, and followed a female servant down a corridor.

The master stayed to talk to his son, and Legolas just managed to hear a bit of the conversation before they were out of earshot.

"So those elves out there, maybe Vascal would come for them".

"Maybe, he seemed to be their captain, but he did not come with us, guess he was afraid we would pull some kind of stunt to capture him again, or something" …

o0o

Off course their rooms lay with a view over the training ground off the barracks. Legolas hated the sight, but he kept his head cool, and knew, one wrong word, look or act would jeopardize their mission.

His elves companions had been installed in the stables downstairs, Legolas had though insisted that his men took care of them, and none of Horandor's gladiators or household touched them as long as they stilled belonged to him.

They had been invited to dine with the family that evening, and the elves made sure they looked fresh and noble when they entered the dining room.

"So, tell me, Malik, where do you come from?" the master asked as he took a piece of lamb.

"My father lives north from here" Legolas told, keeping a straight face, now was the time to get Malik a background, an earn the trust of Horandor's household. "He is a recognized winegrower, very local though, he does not sell his wines to just anybody".

"His name?" the master asked.

"Thrand" Legolas said, almost not a lie.

"And are you going into his business?".

"Yes" Legolas said, and that was not a lie.

The rest of the dinner was held in casual conversations, and after dinner, the "elves" retreaded back to their chambers, promising they would talk about a possible sale of the elves to Horandor.

Legolas and his friends had no plans to sleep though, they all dressed in black, covering their hair and faced with black scarfs. Falael, Cyan and Kaleth would stay at the house though, and guard the elves downstairs.

The others, Legolas, Rozarko, Girion, Galdor and Gilthron sneaked out of the house when night and darkness had fallen. They planned to go to the arena first, knowing if they took that down first, the gladiator business of Harad would get a serious setback for many years.

The city was silent at this time of night, almost all the streets was empty, and it was easy to move over the roofs towards the arena. They found an open window and sneaked inside.

Legolas knew the bearing structure of the arena was of strong wooden pillars, and if they would burn, the arena would fall and crumple to the ground. The elves carried flammable liquid with them. Galdor stayed outside keeping watch.

Legolas led the three elves down to the cellar, where he knew the bearing structure would be. He rounded a corner and found the wooden stair to the cellar. Down here the men kept the weapons, shields, armors and other stuff used for the games. Rozarko handed Legolas the waterskin consisting the flammable liquid, and Legolas gently poured some over the wood, continuing to the next, and the next… Gilthron and Girion did the same from the other side around.

When they were finished, they continued to the stables where the gladiators were held. There was not many, but at least four cells were filled, and Legolas wanted to free them before they burnt the arena down. He didn't have any keys, but he knew how to pull a lock up, and not long after, the stunned gladiators were free.

"Down the corridor to the left" Legolas told them, "there is an open window and one of our men outside keeping watch. Stay over the rooftops if you can, and get as far away from this city as possible".

The gladiators didn't need to be told twice, and they hurried down the corridor and out to freedom. Legolas and his friends made sure there were no more captured inside the arena, and then returned to the stair leading down the cellar. It had been no problem getting fire, there had been torches along the corridor, and Legolas used one of them to ignite and arrow, the others was ready to run like hell, and Legolas took aim. The arrow flew right down the cellar, and the flames exploded all over it, and the fire caught up right away. The elves turned and ran all they could out of the window, and then the five elves ran over the rooftops, and back to the house of Horandor before they were seen, and before the fire was noticed by the townspeople.