Chapter 10 – The Last Secret
"You can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than one word you gave away." –Arthur Miller
There was complete and utter silence, before Era said what was on everybody's mind.
"What?"
"Legolas, I think you've had a little bit too much to drink," Ithilas said, determined to discredit him as much as possible, and if possible, remove him from the party. He began to guide his brother towards the door, before Elleredh stopped them.
"No, no, don't go. I want to hear this for myself. I want you to explain what you meant by 'he sold you.'"
"Also," interjected Aniriul, "it's Greenwood."
"Your patriotism is admirable," Legolas said to Aniriul, smiling at him sarcastically. "It's just a pity it's bestowed upon such a deceitful ruler."
"Legolas, that's enough!" snapped Ithilas.
"You knew about this?" Era turned on her oldest brother.
"I…" It wasn't in Ithilas' nature to lie, but that didn't mean he particularly wanted to tell the truth either.
"How could he not?" replied Legolas scathingly. "He was there when the decision was made."
"What decision?" asked Rolena, glaring at her husband and sons.
When Ithilas and Thranduil gave no indication of responding, Legolas started to tell the story. "When Mirkwood-"
"Greenwood!" snapped Aniriul.
"Oh, look around you! Anyone can see that there's more shadow than light! You just need to not refuse to see it and you'll understand why everyone calls it 'Mirkwood'!" Legolas glared so fiercely at Aniriul that he fell silent. "Anyway, when Mirkwood was besieged by the Necromancer, Ithilas and I were sent on a skirmish to try and eliminate a potential threat of a dragon. Unfortunately, it was a set-up and we were going to head back before we were found when somebody…" Legolas turned to Aniriul, "…decided it would be a good idea to attack a group of orcs which would outnumber us."
"Yes, yes, I remember!" snapped Rolena, as though she wished she didn't. "I always assumed that was where you were captured."
"Well, it was." Ithilas took up the story. "But the part that you don't know is that both of us were captured. I promised Legolas that we would both get out alive or I would die trying. And I'm sorry, Legolas." He turned towards his brother, and he really looked it. "I really am sorry."
"Anyway," Thranduil broke his silence, but was determined not to make eye contact with anyone, least of all his younger son. "The Necromancer lifted the siege. I went down to negotiate with him, and he told me he would lift the siege for the price of one of my sons. I didn't believe him at first, until they were brought forward. I could see that Legolas was already wounded. The Necromancer told me that either I could save one of my sons and the siege would be lifted, or I could choose neither to save and they would both be killed, and the siege would continue. I didn't have a choice. I had to choose one to save or I would lose both my sons!"
Nobody listened to his justification. They were all too appalled that the king had willingly given up one of his children to die.
"You're despicable," spat Elleredh, finally breaking the silence.
"And you kept this from me for all this time?" asked Era incredulously to Thranduil and Ithilas.
"I'm sorry, Era," Ithilas said and tried to lay a comforting hand on his sister's arm, but she was having none of it.
"How could you?" she screamed at Thranduil. "How could you do that? To Legolas?"
"Era, I-"
"NO! Don't even pretend you're sorry! I hate you! I never thought I'd say this, but I hate you!"
With that, she turned and fled out of the room, tears streaming down her face. As she left the room, Thranduil called after her.
"I didn't have a choice!"
Rolena was speechless. She merely walked up to her husband and slapped him hard across the face.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Isiris asked Ithilas. Without waiting for an answer, she followed Era out of the room.
Meanwhile, Legolas had slipped unobtrusively out of the hall and headed straight for his room. He collapsed on his bed, waiting for the inevitable.
Sure enough, without so much as a knock, the door banged open, bounced off the wall and hit an already-very-angry Ithilas in the face as he tried to storm into the room. Employing swear words that would cause any elf other than Legolas to keel over in shock if they realized that he knew them, he finally made it into the room, and glared down at him so fiercely it was surprising that he didn't spontaneously combust.
"Why did you do that?" he shouted. "Why on earth did you do that?"
"People have the right to know the truth about their king," Legolas replied calmly, almost serenely.
"Do you know how messed up Ada was after you were captured? Do you know how damaging the guilt was to him?"
"Yes, I do, actually. I mean, the fact that I was in Mordor undergoing tortures that you couldn't even begin to imagine was just a mere technicality. I was keeping completely up to date with the family that abandoned me," Legolas said sarcastically. When Ithilas glared at him, he just smiled sweetly.
"Ada nearly went insane! The guilt tore him apart, and just the simple fact of not knowing what had happened to you practically drove him permanently out of his mind!"
"Well it can't have been permanent, because he seemed fine to me when I spoke to him the other day."
"You know what I mean! Anyway, he suffered all that in silence, not telling anyone, because he was so ashamed of what he'd done!"
"Coward," Legolas commented calmly.
"Shut it!"
"And he was right to be ashamed."
"Legolas!"
"Right, sorry."
"I was the only person who knew what he was going through, who understood why he was so upset. Eventually, he managed to pull through, on his own, without telling anyone. He became a respected ruler who had lost a son, and now you've just undone all that work! He has just spent the past quarter of an hour repeating the same five words over and over again."
Legolas remained silent, but glared at Ithilas.
"Oh, I see. You're angry at me because I was saved."
"No, I'm not." Legolas' voice was calm. "I resent the fact that you were the one that Ada chose to save, that you were the one who led a normal life, with the lady who was my fiancée at the time, that's true, but I'm not angry at you, no."
"Why not?"
"Because you didn't have a say in the matter."
"Well, Ada had to save one of us."
"Yes, and I'm angry that he chose you."
"So you wanted me to undergo those tortures?"
"No! Oh, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. No, I'm angry that he didn't find a way to save both of us."
"Legolas, I wouldn't have found a way to save both of us if I had been in that situation. Sauron had a knife to my throat and was twisting an arrow in your chest. I would have chosen to save one of us. Does that make you angry at me?"
"Well, no, because you didn't actually do that."
"But I would've done."
"You wouldn't have been an idiot to end up in that situation in the first place."
"Yes, I would've."
Legolas fell silent.
"Just… think about who you're really angry at." Ithilas left, shutting the door behind him.
Downstairs, Thranduil was sitting in his throne. The room was completely empty. He was hugging his knees into his chest, and the only sound was his voice, still repeating the same five words.
"I didn't have a choice."
