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Mirkwood's Plague II:

Aftermath

Chapter 22 ~ Rescue

~*~

Legolas had no idea how long they remained in the tomb. By now Mia and her brother were sound asleep by their aunt who was dozing lightly against the wall, exhausted by their trials so far. Legolas could not rest though, even though his entire body screamed at him that he needed the sleep. He stared intently at the door as though just thinking about it would force the slab to the side and set them free. Predictably it didn't move. He sighed and leant his head back against the wall. He had been trying to avoid looking at his father's coffin but it was becoming increasingly difficult. In a way he wanted to see him again but he knew that if he looked at the body he would fall apart and he couldn't afford to do that right now.

Amazingly, he managed after a while to fall into a restless sleep. He was woken though by a banging on the door. He stood up slowly as the slab was pushed aside. The others were awakened by the sound of stone scraping on stone and they also stood and Legolas pulled the children behind him, shielding them. They waited tensely as the stone slid aside. It stopped then and Legolas gripped the torch he had been hiding as a weapon.

"Legolas." Glorfindel's head appeared through the gap and Legolas had to work hard to keep from falling to his knees in relief. "Legolas," the Captain sighed. "He's in here," he called back to someone outside, then stepped outside and ran down the steps towards Legolas. Elrond appeared next, also running over to the four Elves.

"Legolas are you hurt?" he asked as Glorfindel checked over the others, leading them outside to safety.

"I don't think so," Legolas answered, handing Gimli, who had also appeared from behind the slab, the torch. "Where is he?" Legolas then asked bluntly.

"We don't know. We have people out looking but we haven't been able to track him.

Legolas nodded slowly. "Alright."

"Come on; let's get you back to the palace."

"I want him found, Elrond," the prince said firmly.

"We'll do what we can. Let's concentrate on you for the time being."

"I said I want him found," the king shouted.

"Legolas…"

"I'll go out and look for him. Maybe I can pick up his trail," Gimli offered.

"No," Legolas shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

Gimli stood firm, tensing in anger. "I can handle myself, Elf," he grumbled, glaring at Legolas.

"I know you can but…"

"I'll go with him," Glorfindel said from the doorway. "We'll find him if we can, Legolas."

Legolas shook his head. "I don't want you two out there."

"We'll take Aragorn with us too."

"Fine. I'll come with you."

Elrond spoke up now. "Don't be ridiculous, Legolas. You're not well. We need to get you back to the palace." Really Elrond wanted to get him to a healing hall right away. The prince looked even worse than he had before.

"Listen, we'll go out and see if we can pick up his tracks. You should go back to the palace and let Elrond check you over. You really do look terrible," Glorfindel smiled. "Go on."

Reluctantly, Legolas nodded. "Alright. Thank you." Glorfindel nodded and turned to leave. "Glorfindel, please be careful."

Glorfindel turned back and smiled softly. "I will. Take care of yourself."

Legolas nodded and Glorfindel and Gimli left, leaving Elrond to look after the king. And he was going to. "Alright, let's get out of here."

"Wait."

"What is it?" Legolas nodded towards the open tomb, not so much as glancing at it. Elrond walked over to it curiously and looked down inside. It only took a second for the healer to identify who the corpse once was. "Oh Gods," he mumbles. He turned sharply to Legolas, who was still staring at the doorway, anything to avoid looking at the body. He strode away from the tomb and wrapped Legolas in his arms, hiding the sight from the king.

Legolas leaned into the healer for a moment before whispering, "Can we please go now?" in such a childlike manner it hurt Elrond to hear it.

"Of course," Elrond said, stepping back and leading Legolas away from the mausoleum. He led the king back into the palace and straight to his rooms instead of taking him to the dreaded healing halls. Whilst Legolas sat in silence on the bed, Elrond quickly set the bath running. When he returned to the bedroom, Legolas was bent over, his hands raking through his long, dirty hair. "Legolas, are you alright?" Elrond asked as he took a seat beside him.

"He drugged me," Legolas said softly, not looking up.

"Do you feel unwell?" Elrond asked, concerned about the younger Elf's slightly dazed state. Legolas shook his head. "Tell me and maybe I can help."

Again, Legolas shook his head but this time he met Elrond's eyes. "I'll be alright."

"I'll be the judge of that." Elrond looked down at Legolas' trembling hands and noticed the cuts. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. "Oh, Legolas," he whispered, pulling the blonde Elf into a hug. Tears slipped silently from his eyes as he held onto Elrond tightly. "Shh, it's over now."

"Please make it stop, Elrond. Please." Unfortunately, Elrond couldn't do anything but hold onto him and whisper reassurances. "Please. I just want to be left alone. Please," Legolas cried onto Elrond's shoulder.

"Shh, it's alright. You're safe now." He held onto Legolas for a while longer. "Let's get you cleaned up and into bed so you can get some rest." Legolas nodded and pulled back, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. "Alright." Elrond helped Legolas up and led him to the bath. "Will you be alright?"

"Yes, thank you."

"I'll be right outside if you need me."

It didn't take long for Legolas to get himself cleaned up but he sat in the bath for a while, crying softly to himself so Elrond couldn't hear him. After a while though he cleaned himself off and got out of the warm water, quickly drying himself off and changing into warm nightclothes. Taking a steadying breath, Legolas opened the door to find Elrond sitting on the bed waiting for him. The healer stood when he saw Legolas. "Feel better now?" he asked kindly. Legolas just nodded. Both knew it was a lie but neither felt inclined to comment. "I'm sorry, we're a little short on bandages but I could try and rustle something up."

"It's alright," Legolas said softly. "It's fine."

"Lie down and try and get some sleep. You look exhausted." Legolas nodded and Elrond stood from the bed as Legolas slipped beneath the sheets. As soon as he lay down, his eyes began to close. "Sleep well."

"Elrond, can you stay?" Legolas whispered as he drifted off.

"Of course, I'll be right here," Elrond said softly, sitting on the chair by the bed, keeping watch over a sleeping Legolas.

~*~

"This is impossible. There's nothing to track. This man is long gone," Gimli mumbled for the eighth time in the past hour.

"Will you please stop complaining," Aragorn muttered under his breath. "I think I have something." He gestured to the broken branches to Glorfindel and the Elf nodded in agreement. "This way."

"Even if we do catch up with him, what exactly are we supposed to do? Kill him?"

"That would be a good start," Glorfindel said softly.

"Legolas should have said."

"I suppose we should try and bring him back alive if we can," Aragorn suggested, keeping his eyes on the tracks they were following. "Leave Legolas to decide what to do with him when we get back."

"He'll want him dead," Gimli growled.

Glorfindel sighed heavily, his own eyes on the ground. "You want him dead. Legolas isn't like that."

"Then he's a fool," the Dwarf snapped.

Aragorn turned sharply to his Dwarven friend. "Gimli, that's not fair. He's been through a lot." As Aragorn began walking again, Gimli hung back, keeping his distance from the Man and Elf.

Eventually, they came to a clearing and all drew their weapons, ready to face the Elf that had killed King Thranduil. In the clearing they found a decrepit old wooden house. No smoke billowed from the chimney and the place looked empty and yet the tracks led them here. Aragorn and Glorfindel nodded that they were ready and they looked back to Gimli, who also nodded eagerly, his axe raised for action. Slowly, they crept into the clearing and walked quietly up to the house. Whilst Aragorn and Gimli looked through the front windows, Glorfindel went around the back, trying to see through the back windows but they were too filthy to see anything. He joined the other two at the front. Aragorn nodded to the door. They took positions as Glorfindel put his hand on the handle and turned it. The door didn't budge though.

"Locked," he whispered to the others.

"Maybe there's a key," Aragorn said, glancing around for a place to hide a spare key.

Before they could look around more, Gimli slammed his axe against the lock and it broke instantly, the door swinging open. "Not locked anymore," he said.

"Very stealthy," Aragorn said.

"Thank you."

Glorfindel rolled his eyes and together they stepped into the house, weapons raised. Once they were inside they split up and each took a room, wary for attackers. "All clear," Aragorn said as they joined each other in the dilapidated front room.

Glorfindel sheathed his sword and strode over to the fireplace, holding his hand near the coals. "Still warm. Someone's been here recently."

"You think it's him?" Gimli asked.

"Makes sense. He'd want to hide somewhere," Aragorn replied. "If he was here he's gone now."

"Don't be so sure," a voice said, plunging his dagger into Glorfindel's back. The seneschal of Imladris fell to the ground, leaving the dark Elf standing with the blood-coated dagger. Before he could even move, he had both Gimli's axe and Aragorn's sword sticking out of his body and he fell to the ground dead before he even had a chance to react.

"Glorfindel," Aragorn shouted, crouching down to look at the Elf. He carefully looked at the wound on the Seneschal's back. "It's not too deep," he assured, helping Glorfindel stagger to his feet.

"Easy for you to say," the captain ground out.

"We need to get you back to the palace now, get Elrond to take a look at you."

"I thought you said it wasn't serious," Glorfindel said breathlessly as Gimli retrieved their weapons from the dark Elf's body.

"I don't think it is but you had a knife in your back, mellon nin." Glorfindel glared at the Man.

"What should we do with him?" Gimli asked, kicking the body with his foot.

Aragorn grimaced. "Leave him. We'll come back for him later. I don't feel like dragging his body through the forest. It'll be getting dark soon anyway, we should hurry."

"Agreed," Gimli stated.

"Alright, let's go," Aragorn said, helping Glorfindel stagger out of the house, supporting him as best he could. Gimli closed the door behind him and followed them, keeping alert as they struggled through the forest. Finally, just as the sun was setting, they reached the palace and Aragorn aided the injured Glorfindel inside. "I'll get him to the healing halls, you go and find Elrond. I'd imagine he's still with Legolas."

"Right." Gimli ran off to do as asked.

"How are you doing?" Aragorn asked Glorfindel as they continued through the deserted corridors.

"Just super," Glorfindel ground out through gritted teeth. In truth, his back felt like it was on fire and his head was starting to swim from the blood loss. Finally, Aragorn managed to get the Elf to the healing halls and he laid him down on one of the beds. "Stay with me, Glorfindel," he encouraged as he rifled through the drawers and supply cupboards. Unfortunately, they were almost empty of anything useful. "Damn it," he swore softly. Of course they had used so much during the plague. They barely had bandages or healing herbs.

Meanwhile, Gimli ran to Legolas' rooms and slammed through the door. Elrond looked up, across the living room but Legolas remained sound asleep in the bed. Frowning, Elrond stood up and walked out of the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind him.

"Gimli, what's wrong?" he asked in a whisper so as not to disturb Legolas.

"It's Glorfindel. He's hurt. Quite badly, I think."

"What happened?"

"That Elf stabbed him in the back. Aragorn sent me to find you."

Elrond looked back to the bedroom door in concern. "I can't leave him alone. He's in pretty bad shape."

"You go, I'll stay with Legolas," Gimli offered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go and help Glorfindel."

"Alright," Elrond said hurriedly. "He's pretty sound asleep but I think he's been dosed so keep a close eye on him."

"Right."

"Send for me if you need to," Elrond told him firmly.

"We'll be fine. Go. They're in the healing halls."

Elrond nodded then dashed off, leaving Gimli to stand quietly in the centre of the room to catch his breath for a moment before going to the bedroom and taking up his vigil over the sleeping Legolas.

Elrond went straight to the healing halls and found Aragorn trying to stem the flow of blood from the now unconscious seneschal. "Aragorn."

"I can't seem to stop the bleeding. We have none of the necessary herbs or any bandages."

Elrond was immediately next to the bed. "Go to the nearest guest room and find some clean towels or bedsheets, anything we can use as improvised bandages." They transferred pressure and Elrond took over as Aragorn ran from the room. "Hold on, mellon nin," he whispered. Aragorn returned just a moment later, ripping up a sheet and bearing towels. He threw them to Elrond, who immediately pressed one against the wound. "Help me pack this," he instructed his son.

The two expert healers worked on Glorfindel for over an hour before the seneschal was stable and resting peacefully. They had managed to stop the bleeding and had wrapped lengths of material around him to act as bandages.

"Should we tell Legolas?" Aragorn finally asked.

"No, he's exhausted; we should leave him to sleep."

"Did he tell you what happened?"

Elrond shook his head. "No, he didn't really say much at all. He seemed really shaken; I didn't like to push too hard."

"Is Gimli with him?"

"Yes, I'm sure they're fine. Can you stay here? There are some things I need to take care of."

"Of course. What things?"

"Don't worry about it. Just keep an eye on him."

To Be Continued…

Mellon nin – My friend