Author's Note: Ai! Ai! Bob the Belrog is come! *runs away*
Please review!
Chapter 24: Hear my voice, Come back to the Light
The only sounds reaching the ears of the Prince were the constant and even dripping of water from some unknown place. The chill and dampness in the air reached into him, touching his very bones.
The words would not leave him be, images would not flee from his mind.
"Lord Elrond has been my ally all along."
Slowly, Legolas opened his eyes and found himself someplace different than where he remembered.
He was in a place of brick with an uneven, dirty stone floor. The darkness was not helped very much by the light from a couple torches on the walls.
Slowly and painfully, Legolas began to rise, feeling pain in many places. He began to do a once over on himself, trying to figure out exactly how bad he was.
The cuts he had sustained were not that bad, only a couple slices on his arms, however they would impair his ability to wield his bow and his knives. Legolas realized that didn't matter so much because his weapons were noticeably absent from his back, where he felt bruising from multiple kicks.
The worst of it all was in his side, where he must have sustained quite a blow for it felt as though a couple of his ribs were broken. When he tried to adjust himself to sit up better, he found a new challenge. His left hand wore a heavy metal cuff attached to a chain binding him to the wall. Only his one arm was restrained. They must have felt that would be adequate given his current state.
Even with the handicap, he was able to finally gather himself well enough to sit upright against the wall and take in his situation. His sight adjusted and the blurriness faded when he noticed he was not alone.
Another Elf, a woman, was bound to the opposite wall the same as he. She was staring at him, agape and unblinking.
"My eyes must be playing tricks on me, or else hope has decided to deal a cruel hand to me."
The Prince did not answer, unsure of what to expect. He did not wish anymore surprises at the moment, only one moment's peace to gather his thoughts during these, his last hours, or so he was sure.
"Young Prince?"
Those words, they were only ever spoken to him by one person.
"Can it be?"
"Yes! After all this time, I knew you would grow strong and return to us! I never gave up that hope!"
"Shierra!"
"Yes, Little One!" Her words were barely understandable with the sobs that escaped from her.
"Oh, Shierra, I am so happy to see you again! When you left in the world of men, I thought I would never see you again." Just one moment with someone he had trusted all that time ago brought down the final barriers. Tears were shed unashamedly, and grief that had built up in his heart came pouring out like the great rivers.
He told her all, he told her of Jaden and of Ranger and of everything he had done and encountered.
When he was finished, she was very quiet.
"You have not had the life you were meant to have, a life with happiness and friends. It was ripped from you, and I knew what had to be done, but my dear, sweet child. My dear child, I wept during the entire journey back to Mirkwood."
"I tried to live, I just tried to stay alive."
Shierra's dark eyes seemed to be looking somewhere beyond the walls, someone long guarded, "I tried to mount as many rebellions as I could as long as I could find Elves willing to follow me. Kayrel was able to defeat us for many of the trained warriors followed him. He killed those that followed me, but never killed me. He said that keeping me alive was a worse punishment than allowing me to pass."
"I have failed you all."
"What?" Her voice registered genuine shock at those words.
Legolas hung his head, unable to look his former Nurse in the eye. "I have been defeated by him. I am down here and he still reigns. Those I have trusted have allowed me to perish." His quiet voice began to break. "I have allowed Mirkwood to remain in darkness!"
Shierra sighed, "Do you remember nothing I have taught you? Remember what I told you the last night I saw you?"
Legolas blinked away the tears remaining in his eyes.
"To those words I and you must hold. You are Prince Legolas, son of King Thranduil and the only true ruler of Mirkwood. They can take everything from you, but they cannot take that away, not with a thousand swords."
Legolas took a deep breath.
"Do not allow anything said to you ever allow you to doubt that. You are stronger than all of them combined and only you can reclaim what was lost."
The chains rattled as Legolas moved to look at her once more, "How? How can I reclaim the throne now?"
"You will find a way Legolas. If you honor all that you are, you must."
Grief was finally released from his heart and he felt the warmth of her love for him filling him, moving aside all the cold that had been placed there by those who would fight him.
He may die soon, but not from any weakness on his own part.
They had been talking for a great amount of time and the drugs were still strong in his system.
Even though his throat was dry and his stomach empty, he fell into an uneasy sleep filled with disturbing and haunting dreams.
His father stood before him, "Come, Legolas, let us go out and visit the trees and let the sunlight bring us joy."
"I cannot go with you, for the sun shines here no longer." Legolas responded.
Thranduil smiled, "The sun shines, it shines within you, let it out and it will brighten the lands once more."
Something was near him and Legolas woke with a jump to see a dark figure standing over him, holding a long sharp sword that glistened like in the dim surroundings like sunlight.