Author's Note: I have received more reviews from my last chapter than any others, and I think some people got a little annoyed by the way I left it, I know I was very cruel and I don't want to upset my precious readers, so here is the next chapter. Please enjoy and please review!
Chapter 23: Surrendering to the Dark
Legolas closed his eyes, and felt as though he had been punched in the chest by a great force. The world seemed to spin in his mind and appeared before his eyes to be in a thick fog. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to fight back the tears that begged to come.
'Why? Oh whatever power that might be listening, why! What have I done to deserve this life you have cursed me with!' Suddenly, he could not hold back his scream of utter desperation.
'Why?' Legolas' mind raced, his world began to truly tumble and fall away, and leaving a gray world of stark and cold images that didn't seem real.
How could this be true? It couldn't be true, there way no way that the Elf whom he had placed all his trust had been a part of the murder of all he held dear all along. What must have that Elf thought when he confided in him, took his all too wise words to heart?
No, he would not believe it! He would never believe any words from Kayrel, Lord Elrond would come and help him as he promised.
Either way, to Legolas, it did not matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. For, right now, in this hall, his fate was sealed.
He was going to die on this cool night in autumn.
"So, you have no words, young Prince who would be King? Didn't your father teach you manners?" Others around Kayrel laughed.
"I need not give great speeches, I need not try to spit anger back at you in the form of feeble words." His voice seemed far away, like it was another speaking.
Kayrel lifted his eyebrows, and gave Legolas a good once over.
"So you would challenge me not with words?"
"I would challenge you by my blades, for they shall speak." Legolas drew out his pair of blades and prepared to face Kayrel, prepared for the fight of his life, and the fight to end his life.
For there was no more for Legolas. Already, he could feel the cold hand of all his grief finally take hold over his heart. He had fought it hard, after all that had happened to him, he knew if he fought the grief eventually his life would be given joy again. Now that hope was gone and he was slowly beginning to succumb, he would soon be too far-gone to save.
Forsaken by his kingdom, his own kind, and those he trusted, he charged with all the power he had in him.
Kayrel drew his sword quickly and blocked the attacks, but not well enough and gained a slice across his cheek. The usurper was startled when he drew his hand to his face and found the trickle of blood.
"You have been trained. I give you credit, I would have thought you hiding among the humans. Scraping a living in the streets, nothing more than a gutter rat." Kayrel's thick voice was powerful enough to leave a bitter taste in Legolas' mouth.
"You underestimate me, and the blood that runs in my veins." Legolas stood firm, prepared for the inevitable attack now that he had shown he could draw blood.
Kayrel smiled faintly, "I didn't underestimate your father, and I will not underestimate you again." He gave a nod to an Elf standing in the group.
Without warning, the Prince felt a small pinprick in the left arm and pulled out a small dart, causing him to stop in his tracks. It was laced with some fluid on its tip. Legolas met Kayrel's eyes, waiting for his fate to be revealed.
"No, you are not able to die, well, not by that at least. Drugs are a wonderful thing; they helped impair your father's skills on that night. Without them, I never would have been able to defeat him."
Rage took over and cancelled out any thought.
"You took the throne with dishonor!" Legolas charged once more, but the effects from the dart were taking hold and he could not hold himself up any longer, his knives falling to the ground with a hollow ring that echoed in the chamber.
Elrond never came.
"Here is a taste of the events to come, Son of Thranduil. Your death shall not be as quick as the rest of your pathetic family. No, I have wonderful plans for your torture during the remainder of your short life." The poison brought down his body, but not his mind and he felt every kick, punch and blade dealt down upon him by his lifelong foe. Unable to fight, unable to defend, unable to care any longer, despair washed over his youthful, innocent and tortured spirit.
"You shall pay for escaping from me, Little Prince." Kayrel smirked at the thin Elf lying at his feet.
'So, this is the end. All has been for naught. I have failed.' These words were followed by three more in his mind as the pain and the feeling of blood escaping him from many wounds accompanied him into darkness.
'I'm sorry father.'