13 Second Chance
He couldn't move, but to be honest he didn't know if he really wanted to. His pain had reached levels that the prince didn't even know were possible. As far as he was concerned a Balrog had decided to give him an aggressive hug, while a pack of orcs used him as a punching bag.
Sighing internally the prince came to the conclusion that if he had the choice he would rather be attacked by a Balrog than embraced by it. Smiling, he knew it was a stupid thing to contemplate, but it made the situation seem less scary so he really didnt care.
'If my father could hear my thoughts then he would surely reprimand me for wasting time.' legolas groaned as he felt a sharp pain erupt in his chest at the thought of his father, he missed him dearly. In an attempt to take his mind off of his father the prince let his mind wander and eventually found his way to the question, 'where am I?'
He couldn't help but wonder about his current situation, because by all means he should be residing in Mandos halls by now?' After all the last thing he could remember was drowning at the bottom of a river with no hope of survival.
Lying there pondering this thought he couldn't help the overwhelming sense that someone was watching him. 'I need to get up, I need to get up now.' Using his arms to lever his body up, he made it a total of three inches before collapsing onto his back with a groan.
Realising he needed a new plan the prince began to look for a means of escape that didnt require him moving a muscle, but soon descovered the hoplessness of this plan. It was then that he realised he was covered in...something? Something soft, and... was he dry?
'opening my eyes would surely help?' He thought to himself, amazed that he hadn't come to that conclusion a long time ago, but unfortunately this was easier said than done. Apparently some horrible person had decided to turn his eye lids into lead for no apparent reason, and now they refused to open.
"Hello." Legolas jumped in surprise. Someone was next to him. Someone very young by the sounds of it. Fueled by his curiosity and the adrenaline from the shock, he made another attempt to pry his eyes open.
To the princes immense disappointment all he could see once he pried his eyes open were blobs of colour. "Not this again." He groaned.
"I don't know what your saying, I don't speak fairy? But mummy said I shouldn't wake you. Did I wake you?"
'Didn't speak fairy?' Definitely someone young the prince concluded, and female. Legolas couldn't bring himself to speak the human language. He was too tired to try and navigate that particular challenge, he simply didn't have the energy. So again he spoke in elvish more to himself than to the little girl. "It's o..ok, I didn't think I would wake up anyway?"
"Fraya leave the man alone, he needs to rest." A Stern but friendly voice sounded from across the room.
"But Daddy the fairy woke up and I didn't want him to be lonely."
"He woke up? Go fetch your mother Freya I'll look after the elf."
"Ok daddy."
Legolas could hear light footsteps heading away from him, but he found he was more concerned with the particularly heavy ones coming towards him.
'Who is this man. What does he want. Does he work for Kole. Maybe this is all an elaborate trick of Koles. He wants me to build up a sense of safety only to come and tear it all down again.'
Before he could speculative further he was pulled out of his thoughts by a rough voice.
"Is it true elf. Are you awake?"
Legolas turned his head to look at the man. Well the blurry out line of the man anyway, but he didn't speak. 'Why bother?' The prince thought to himself.
'Can you hear me?' The man asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
The prince picked up on this concern but he was confused as to why the man sounded concerned 'Surely he doesn't really care about my health?'
"Elf, can you hear me." The man asked again a little louder this time.
Legolas flinched much to his embarrassment when the man suddenly raised his voice. With a internal roll if his eyes the prince reprimanded himself for his obvious display of fear.
"So you can hear me then." The man concluded "I'm sorry for raising my voice elf. I'm just worried about you, I thought you were as good as dead. After all no man could have survived what you have."
Continuing to just watch the man, Legolas tried to make out some of the man's features. From what he could tell this man had shoulder length black hair and strong broad shoulders. If Legolas had to guess he would say the man was in his late 30s.
Seeing the elf watching him Samir began to feel very uncomfortable. Something about the elfs eyes made him feel unnerved. It was almost as if a man who had seen many decades was looking back at him, but that's impossible, right? This elf looked to be no older that 18. Samir felt the awkward silence descend while he was deep in thought so he decided to continue talking, dispite the fact that the elf probably wouldn't understand him.
"You're probably wondering how you ended up here? Well, my sons found you washed up by the river and brought you home. I have to say my wife and I were quite shocked to see our boys bring home a half dead elf. Here the man chuckled. It was a deep throaty chuckle like all men had but it lacked the malice and contempt that Kole and his men had. In fact this man's laugh made the prince feel somewhat less afraid.
"My wife's the town healer so she did her best to fix you up. I have to admit It was touch and go there for a while there, but once your fever broke a couple days ago my wife said you stood a good chance of waking up. I am Samir son of Lomir, and the little scamp from early is my daughter Freya. I hope she wasn't a bother."
' Where did these people come from, and did this man say his fever broke days ago? How long have I been here?' It seemed the more the prince learnt the more confused he became much to his chagrin.
"Mir, is he really awake?" A soft feminine voice asked.
"Aye Valen, he woke up. But take it slow I don't think he speaks our language."
"Rubbish, he speaks our language just find he's just being stubborn." The women replied
"How do you know that?"
"He was rambling lots while I was trying to bring his fever down, I assume he was having fever induced hallucinations." By now the women had made it over to the prince, and noticed his ears turn a deep red.
"You...you can understand me?" The man turned to Legolas with a slightly annoyed look on his face, which only served to make the prince blush more.
"I...didn't mean to d..deceive you, I'm s...sorry." Legolas stammered. His manors won over his fear.
"Ahh so he can understand us." Legolas was confused for it was the women who said this. 'Why would she be surprised, she already knew that?'
Seeing the confused look on both her husband's and the elfs face the women smiled. "I'm sorry child, you weren't talking in your sleep. Well not anything I could understand anyway. I just told you that to see your reaction. You have to admit my devious plan worked."
Legolas was dumbfounded. This women looked like a small friendly blob, he did not expect her to do something as cunning as that.
"Yes honey, your plan worked but it seems to have upset our guest. I heard elves can't lie, maybe he can't comprehend what you did?"
"Hm is that true little one?" The women asked with quite a bit of concern shinning in her eyes.
She didn't mean to upset her patient but it's much easier to treat someone who you know understands you.
Legolas just looked at the lady with a look of pure confusion. He had struggled to keep up with the conversation but one thing had caught his attention, she called him 'little one.'
"Honey can you get him some water please, something seems wrong? Are you ok?"
Legolas realising that this last question was directed at him tried to come up with a suitable response in his head. Something along the lines of 'yes I'm fine thank you, or no I'm in immense pain and very confused may I go home, both seemed like great options. But unfortunately the inly thing that came out if his mouth was "Im not little."
He groaned internally yet again. 'That sounded so childish how could I have said that?'
Meanwhile the women just grinned. "Of course not honey you're huge."
This made Legolas blush perfusely, he knew she was just teasing him, but he surely looked like a child now. After all he was lying there rapped up in blankets complaning that he wasn't small and blushing when he's told otherwise.
'Could this get any worse.' He groaned to himself.
Seeing the elfs embarrassment Valen decided to carry on with the conversation.
"So you probably already know my husband and of course you've met Freya, she believes your a fairy you know?"
"Legolas nodded he had heard the child call him a fairy earlier. At the time he was more confused by it than anything but now he was just plan embarrassed.
Valen spotted the red tinge creeping back into the elfs ears and smiled.
"Dont worry about it, I'm sure she'll believe your an elf soon enough."
All Legolas could do was nod again.
"Well aside from Freya I have two more children, both boys. The eldest is 15, and lately hes become obsessed with travelling. Hes called Henrod after my father but everyone just calls him Hen.
George is the middle child hes just turned 8, but hes the complete opposite of Hen. He's decided he never wants to leave town, instead he'll just work with his father." Valen chuckled. "I believe he'll change his mind though. All sons worship their fathers but eventually hes going to have dreams of his own, and when that happens I dont believe anyone will be able to change his mind. All the men in this family are as stubborn as mules."
Legolas smiled, he liked this women she had a strong but comforting soul that reminded him of his ada.
Legolas felt his eyelids grow heavy, as he relaxed and listened to this womens story. He felt safer than he had in a long time.
"ah ah little one, you need to stay awake just a little longer I need to check you over for injuries before you fall back a sleep. I shouldnt have talked for so long but I wanted you to feel safe around me, I'm sorry."
Legolas was instantly awake. He did not like the idea of having yet another human touch him, even if this one didnt want to hurt him.
Unfortunately Samir chose this moment to return with a glass of water for him, so Valen didnt see the fear her words awoke within the prince.
"Thank you honey I was just telling the young one that it was time to check on his wounds, will you help me sit him up?"
"Of course." It was now that Samir glanced at Legolas and noticed the fear in his eyes. "But Val I don't think our elf friend wants that?"
Val turned to the injured elf now as well and noticed the fear in his eye. "What is it little one, I promise we'll be as careful as possible?"
"I...I can sit up by myself." Legolas stammered while trrying to push himself up with all the strength he had left. Unfortunately though, it was no where near enough and he soon found himself collapsing.
The moment Valen had realised what the elf was doing she rushed over to stop him but unfortunately he had already fallen.
"You silly elf what were you thinking? You're not strong enough to be trying that on your own yet."
As she reached out to help the elf reposition himself, she noticed him violently flinch.
He was afraid she would hurt him. Now it all made sense, he didnt want to be touched. She should have guessed something like this would happen. She had seen the wounds after all, and knew that this elf had been tortured. "How could I be so stupid." She groaned.
"Val what is it?" Samir hadnt seen the princes reaction but he had heard his wife's harsh words.
"I believe he doesnt want to be touched." She sighed.
Samir suddenly realised why his wife believed herself to be at fault. They had both discussed the elfs wounds the night he arrived and decided that torture was the only explanation.
"Its not your fault hun he's just a little afraid. He'll learn to trust us soon enough. How about we just talk to him for a while longer." He wispered to his wife.
"You're right Samir, we'll just need to be patient."
The couple then turned back to the exhausted elf. Apparently that little tirade had used up all of his energy and he was back to just struggling to stay awake.
"We still dont know your name little one, and I know you would probably apreciate it if we stopped calling you little one."
Legolas looked at the smiling couple. He definitely didnt want them knowing he was royalty, they could use him against his Ada. He liked these people but he didn't trust them enough to tell them that particular secret.
What could he tell them then? Suddenly he knew. "m..my names L..Las."
"We'll its nice to officially meet you Las." Valen replied.
Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading:)
