Tada! The next chapter lol. I am now hoping to finish this story by the New Year so that my wonderful beta Jaimie-Erin can read it all before she goes! Thanks again for doing a great job on the chap : ) and thanks all for the reviews!

Chapter 9: Decisions

The king of Gondor and Arnor was fast asleep in a chair beside Legolas' bedside. Despite the uncomfortable position, he was sleeping quite contently, as he felt completely drained.

Almost as soon as he had brought Legolas in, Eowyn, Faramir, Arwen and an injured Gimli with several broken ribs, had come in to find out what was going on, all of them shaken by what they had just witnessed in the hall. Faramir had come up with the idea that the cause all of all of this may be poison, or worse, a morgul wound. Aragorn however dismissed this idea almost immediately, saying Legolas, although he was a strong willed elven warrior, would have faded beyond the help of anyone by now.

A knock on the door caused the tired Aragorn to jerk awake. He stifled a yawn and pushed himself out of the chair to go and open the door.

A nervous looking young boy of around 12 years old, who was holding a letter, greeted him.

"Sorry to disturb you, my king," the boy said shyly. "I was instructed to give you this letter from Ithilien. It arrived this morning." He timidly held out the sealed letter, which Aragorn gently took.

"Thank-you." Aragorn said The boy beamed, gave a bow, and ran off to complete his morning errands. Aragorn shut the door with a snap and peered at the seal on the letter, which he knew. It was the Sindarin symbol for B that was entwined with a knife. Recognising this, Aragorn hurriedly broke the seal, and read the letter from Baraner, one of Legolas' friends and patrol leaders in Ithilien.

King Elessar,

I hope this reaches you quickly. The trees spoke of the wound Prince Legolas obtained from the orcs, and that some of the foul creatures were still running afoot in Ithilien.

During the past few days, our patrols have found and destroyed five orc hordes, as well as seven scattered orcs. We believe the scattered ones may have been the ones that attacked you, the son of Gloin and our Prince. Before one of them killed themselves, it muttered something about a 'durzum-kan' in its vile speech, whilst mentioning Prince Legolas.

Aragorn grimaced and felt his blood run cold. He heard that term somewhere before, and made him feel like ice… he also knew that the Black Speech was like poison to the ears of the elves. He hoped that that was not what Legolas had heard in the hall, as he had not reacted very well when Gandalf spoke it at the Council of Elrond.

Aragorn turned back to the letter and continued to read.

We know not what was meant by this, as no elf here has heard of it, though all claimed to feel a sense of evil when it was mentioned. When burning the orc carcasses, we discovered that each orc 'group' had a particularly nasty looking arrow, save the ones that spoke of our prince. A black, severely barbed head, long and thick shaft, with red and black fletching.

I deemed it important that you should know of this, for in case it has put Prince Legolas in danger. I trust your healing skills will do all that they can to help our friend.

Hannon-le.

Baraner

Patrol Leader of Ithilien.

Aragorn frowned as he lowered the letter. They all trusted his healing skills, but he was beginning to doubt them.

To make him feel even worse, he recognised the term 'durzum-kan'. It meant shadow grip. He racked his brain, trying to remember where and when he had heard this. With every second, he was becoming more and more convinced that wherever he had heard or read this it, it was on the same piece of parchment that matched Legolas' symptoms. What ever it was, he did not think it was good.

Aragorn cast a quick glance to the deathly pale unconscious elf, and ran out of the room. He was so engrossed with his thinking that he almost ran into the boy that had given him the letter earlier in the morning.

"Sorry!" both exclaimed. The boy looked up and nearly fainted in shock. "My lord! I am sorry! I did not see you!" he stammered, as he knelt before Aragorn.

Aragorn smiled and gave the boy a hand up. "No, I am sorry, I too was in a rush and did not see you. You are not hurt are you?" The boy shook his head. "That is good then. Could you please run me this errand? Could you ask Lord Faramir to come here with ink and parchment, and for the Queen to come here with her hawk please?" the boy nodded and bowed slightly. "And afterwards, go on into the kitchen for some cake, and tell them I sent you." The boy beamed even more at this.

"Thank-you , my King! All say you are a kind and valiant leader, and now I can say so too!" The boy suddenly stopped smiling and looked up nervously "Not that you weren't anyway… I mean…"

Aragorn laughed. "It is fine; I know what you meant." With that, the boy gave a grin and ran off towards the citadel. Aragorn smiled and relaxed slightly, but suddenly remembered that he had left Legolas alone.

Thankfully, the elf was exactly how he was beforehand. Breathing a sigh of relief, Aragorn sank into the chair and waited for Faramir and Arwen.

The steward was the first to arrive, carrying all the items required, a confused look upon his face. "I got your message, what is going on?" he asked, as he placed down the ink and parchment on the table. Aragorn immediately stood up and began unscrewing the inkbottle.

"I'm taking Legolas to Rivendell," he said, not taking his eyes off of the letter he was scrawling to Lord Elrond. "I got a letter from Baraner. I fear that my father is the only one who can help him now." He finished writing, and held the parchment out, allowing the ink to dry.

Faramir had walked over to the desk and had picked up the letter from Baraner and was frowning more and more with each sentence he read. "So this was definitely intentional then."

"It must have been."

"What makes you say that?" Both men turned around to see Arwen pace into the room, her hawk on her arm. Although she was no longer immortal, her keen hearing and light tread still remained.

Faramir passed the letter to Arwen and relieved her arm of the large bird. She too frowned as she read.

"I am taking Legolas to Rivendell." Aragorn repeated. He checked the ink, and, satisfied that it was now dry, rolled it up tightly and began to attach it to the hawk's leg. When done, Faramir walked over to the window and allowed it to fly off. "Faramir, could you go and ready Brego, and get some supplies for me to take?" Faramir bowed his head and exited the room. Aragorn turned to his wife. "I am going to go and speak to Gimli, can you – "

"I'll watch over him." She smiled. Aragorn returned the smile and kissed her on the lips in thanks, before going into the neighbouring room.

The dwarf was on the bed propped up against the pillows, snoring. "Gimli?" He continued to sleep. "Gimli!" The dwarf jumped out of sleep, and let a small groan of pain, placing a hand upon his ribs. Aragorn winced. "Sorry. I'm taking Legolas to Rivendell, my friend."

"I'll come with you." Gimli said simply. Aragorn raised an eyebrow, a look he had picked up from Legolas long ago.

"Gimli, you have three broken ribs! I am sorry, but you are not going to be able to ride," he said apologetically.

Gimli saw sense in this. He gave a sigh. "Just be careful, lad." he paused, "and make sure he comes back well," he added quietly.

OOOoooOOOoooOOO

Aragorn mounted Brego behind Legolas, his food and water on one side of the saddle, his healing kit on the other. He wrapped the elf's cloak around its owner, ensuring he would be warm enough.

"Ride safe, my love," Arwen whispered. Aragorn cupped her face and stroked her cheek.

Within ten minutes, he was riding through the City gates and across the Pelennor Fields with an unconscious elf, as they rode towards the elven sanctuary of Imladris.

TRANSLATIONS.

durzum-kan – My own black speech I made up meaning, shadow grip.

A bit of a short chappie I know, :s sorry! Lol spent a couple of hours on the council of Elrond website today, checking out the pics of Legolas lol, he is sooooo dreamy…… lol

Have written a mini story, and am currently writing another as well as this one lol. Hope you enjoy!!!! And please please please review! Even of it is one or two words! It'll be much appreciated… : )

xx