Chapter 31

For a moment it was very quiet in the small room. Nobody dared to say anything, everyone was too shocked. Only Legolas' far too quick breath broke the continuing silence. Aragorn tried to calm down. He had assumed that the elf who had killed his friend's brothers was dead. And now he stood before them and threatened the beautiful archer. The man couldn't imagine how terrible it had to be for the Prince of Mirkwood. He knew that Legolas now had to deal with his past again. With the fact that the murderer of his four brothers was still alive.

At that moment Aragorn awoke from his rigidness and carefully went to the elf. The ranger immediately noticed how much his friend was shaking and his heart was cramping. He was so incredibly sorry for the beautiful warrior. Two blue eyes looked up at him and the ranger involuntarily winced. All courage was gone. Legolas' eyes were full of pain, grief, and fear. The man knelt and gently pulled the prince into his arms. The Mirkwood elf also hugged the man and put his head on his shoulder. Aragorn just held on to him, ignorant of what to say. But the ranger knew that he didn't have to. He knew that it was enough for the archer to just be held in his arms and know that someone was there. So they sat there for quite a while. No one said a word, just eyes that were completely frightened. Legolas slowly relaxed a little, the tremor subsided, but the ranger still held on to him. He didn't know why he did it himself, but he didn't want to let go. The beautiful elf's head was still on his shoulder and Aragorn gently stroked his back.

"But if Saruman doesn't have the ring, who has it?", Frodo's low, frightened voice finally broke the silence. Aragorn looked up. That was a very good question that he had also asked himself. Where did this ring go? Legolas sighed on the human's shoulder.

"I know where he is." All eyes immediately turned to the blonde elf. The ranger smiled. Why wasn't he surprised that the prince had made sure that the ring could not be found by evil? "But I'm not going to tell you for your own protection. It's better if nobody but me knows until we get out of here." With these words, the archer raised his head and looked at the fellowship. Determination had returned to his eyes, but the ranger knew his friend well enough to say that Legolas was still fighting inside.

"Is it all right, Legolas?", Boromir finally asked and looked at the handsome warrior, who sighed and nodded in response. Aragorn put a hand on his shoulder again and his friend's blue eyes turned to him. The pain was still there.

"We can do it together", the man whispered in Elvish and the Elven Prince gave him a small, grateful smile. Gimli got up angrily.

"There has to be a way out of here. I'm not going to wait for this crazy elf and old wizard to pick us up for torture." The hobbits winced again and Aragorn was about to roll his eyes in annoyance. The dwarf had to pay attention to what he said. The little creatures were already scared enough.

"Don't worry, Gimli. I won't let them do anything to you. Eero won't do anything to you anyway. He doesn't have his problems with you but with me," Legolas reassured, although his voice grew quieter towards the end. But what was said did not reassure the ranger. The elf was already weak, his injury hadn't healed completely.

"Legolas, you are hurt!" The prince's blue eyes sparkled resolutely, and at that moment Aragorn realized that there was nothing he could do.