Disclaimer: All characters from LOTR belong to Tolkien. The eventual other ones are from me ;)

DARK IS THE NIGHT FOR HEARTS

CHAPTER 4 - JOURNEY THROUGH SHADOWS

Slowly and painfully, Legolas' consciousness took over the hazy dreams he was floating in for what had seemed an eternity. He could feel the cold stone against his cheek and realized he was lying on the ground on his left side.

His head had become a vast chambered hive; pain roared and raved in each irregular room and crooked corridor. Bees had arrived. Bees had thought him dead. They had invaded his head and turned his skull into a honeycomb.

Legolas tried to move and the pain exploded in his head. Clouds of bees, furious and stinging, flew from the bells.

He became aware of the noise of the flames and piercing cries that seemed to dig his headache even deeper. He clenched his teeth and the bees swarmed rageously. He couldn't prevent an agonized groan to pass his lips.

He tried to open his eyes, but never succeeded; then he understood that he probably had a glue of drying blood sticking them shut. He wanted to raise a hand to remove the blood from his eyes, and realised that his fist, his legs and ankles, were bound. Worst, his body seemed so heavy that he couldn't move his arms of more than an inch without great effort.

He realized the presence of a dull pain in his left thigh, his abdomen and his chest, as well as another pain - less dull - in his right side. A pain that strangely seemed to diffuse... to extend...

Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle of his memory came into the fitting places. And after a while, still focused on the external noises, he managed to remember what happened.

He had left the camp half a dozen of hours before dawn, making estimation that he could reach the border of the woods and come back before the sunrise. If he could decipher the trail of the orcs and check if Pippin or Merry had left some indication, this could help what was left of the Fellowship to gain some useful time in the morning, and he preferred to keep himself busy rather than doing nothing and tormenting himself at the camp.

The task had been quite easy as, apparently eager to reach the cover of the woods, The Orcs hadn't lost time trying to confuse the trails but had run almost in a straight line towards the forest of Fangorn.

Four leagues from the forest, he had heard battle noises and had identified a human presence, mixed with the orcs. Sound of clashing swords, bows, and metal from the armors indicated to him that this was a well armed group. He had accelerated, fearing that in the confusion of the fight, humans would make no difference between hobbits and small orcs. Swift and silent, he had passed very close to the humans and had leaped to a high branch of a tree to judge of the situation.

It was serious; the orcs were literally destroyed in pieces. This was of course not what was worrying him. He observed closely the fray to try to locate his friends but could not distinguish them in the middle of the bodies lying on the ground, the weapons and armors that clashed and beings that were fighting. At least, Legolas was sure of one thing: he would have to interfere here and now. Out of question to return to the camp to warn the others: He had no time left.

Jumping from branches to branches, and from trees to trees, he kept on scanning from his height the battlefield, and more by chance than by any real hunting talent, he noticed a trail moving away the Big Meeting. He jumped on the ground and observed quickly. Some orcs had escaped, and with a little bit of luck, he could hope that they had taken Merry and Pippin with them, prize apparently too precious to be abandoned to the humans. Legolas had leaped on the trail and very soon, he could distinguish the sound of orcs who were running away, swearing and shouting. Movements between the trees had showed him their positions. Again he had leaped on low branches nearby to observe easier his friends.

And then he had seen them, at last; a group of approximately forty orcs, and Merry and Pippin, half dragged half carried by two of their raptors who were constantly threatening them with their spears or swords. No time to wait anymore. The human army could emerge at any time and make the safeguard more difficult. Legolas had quickly armed his bow and had started to strike down one by one these dark creatures. Three had fallen before they started to realize that they were tackled by an invisible enemy, and four died moreover before the orcs could locate him.

The continuation of the fight had been clearly at his advantage, he could shoot his fearsome arrows very quickly and move before the orcs could ever counteract with their bows and stones. Encircled by a single yet elfish opponent, they had little chance. Pippin and Merry had tried to escape, taking the opportunity of the confusion among the orcs, but two orcs had jumped on them, blades withdrawn. They had apparently forgotten all about Uglúk's orders concerning the survival of the hobbits, and still preferred to finish them by themselves, than to let them turn over to their group. Legolas had used his last arrow to strike down the closest orc to the halflings, then had jumped of the tree, his two blades withdrawn. They had cut the second orc vertically in three quite distinct parts. And before these pieces could touch the ground, he had decapitated two others orcs who had reach him.

Already, others orcs were arriving on Legolas and the hobbits. These creatures could certainly fear the speed of the elf, but they seemed to fear even more the wrath of the uruk-hai Uglúk. "Go away!", Legolas had shouted to the terrified Merry and Pippin, "And stay away from the humans, they could kill you on the spot before ever realizing that you were not orcs."

Merry and Pippin had remained petrified for a few moments before starting a retreat movement. Already, the surviving orcs and goblins were charged after them. Legolas estimated their number at a fortnight. He could quickly be done with them. His blades had sung a deadly chant among Sauron's and Saruman's envoys. Merry and Pippin had almost gained a darker zone of trees, and though they feared what could ever hide in there, they knew they hardly had the choice. They had turned towards Legolas in the hope that this one was done with their enemies.

At that very moment, Merry had probably glimpsed something among the trees that Legolas hadn't seen, because he had suddenly howled. "Legolas, on your left!!!". Legolas had quickly turned around to face whatever the threat, and that's moment when things started to turn out very wrongly for him. At first he had only felt a pain tearing his left thigh. In front of him, at some distance, a creature of a type he had never seen before, holding as much from the immense orc than the goblin, yellow eyes burning with hatred and a white palm mark on the top of its head. This creature, the uruk-hai held a now empty bow in its claw like hands. The arrow - looking more like a dark spear, compared with the smoothness of the delicate elfish arrows - was now deep in the elf's left thigh, and coming out on the other side. Legolas had staggered backwards, this had saved from the twisted sword of a goblin; he had quickly plunged one of his blades in the latter and, trying to be forget about the pain, he had kept on massacring his close enemies. Suddenly, a clamour had drawn his attention, and he had seen, emerging from the shades of the wood, the enemy reinforcements. Some of Saruman's groups had heard the clamour of this battle and, understanding that the enemy was not human, had come to give help to those in charge of the hobbits. Legolas had counted about thirty invaders. In his state, he knew he would probably not overcome them all, not to mention the uruk-hai. Alone, he could avoid them, run in the woods and disappear among the shades; but he had to take Merry and Pippin into account. They were completely paralysed with the fear. He had felt a wave of pity and sympathy for them, so badly adapted for this war.

"Flee! Do not wait for me! I'll hold them here!", he had shouted in their direction while removing his blade from the goblin's torso. The hobbits had probably seen he could still fight and understood their own presence was a nuisance to him, for they had started a movement of retreat.

Legolas had seen one of the orcs leaping towards them, and had thrown one of his blades to him. The blade had briefly whirled in the air before plunging into the creature's back, nailing it to the tree nearby. Legolas had only one blade left to defend himself and would have to gain some time for Merry and Pippin before running in the depths of the wood and reach for the hobbits further up. As he was turning to face a new twisted-face opponent, he had perceived an acute sound approaching him. Before he could understand, a second arrow/spear had hit him in his chest, a little under the left collarbone, piercing right through him, the metallic tip of the arrow inserted in the trunk just behind him, nailing him like an insect, the same way he had nailed his latest orc.

Boromir...!

Strangely, the face of the blond human came in his mind. In 2931 years, Legolas couldn't remember he ever felt a pain like that. The wound was serious... Not necessary lethal if healed in time... But serious enough to put his life in peril if he lingered here too long. He heard someone scream his name. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Merry and Pippin had stopped and seemed to be coming back to help him.

The fools...

He raised with difficulty his left hand towards them, in a gesture he hoped was reassuring, ordering them not to take care of him and to run away as fast as they could. Pippin had apparently understood as he was trying to drag Merry away from the battlefield. Weaponless, none of them had the slightest chance if they remained there. Already, cheered up by the sight of their hurt opponent, the orcs were charging again, threatening swords and prepared bows. Legolas had gathered his last strength and with his one blade, had inflict losses among his opponents. He wondered if he would still have enough strength to escape. To breathe was hurting terribly, and a several moments, he felt like chocking and coughed out blood. Moreover the two arrows/spears he had in his body were slowing his movements and diminishing his reflexes. He receive an ordinary arrow in his abdomen, and in comparison with the two previous one, he barely felt it. Now, for each strike he could do, he was hit thrice.

Boromir, O Boromir, is this what you felt at Amon Hen?

He cleared his mind from these thoughts that would not help, trying to keep some hope in this situation.

I hope Merry and Pippin moved far enough. But if Aragorn and Gimli don't arrive soon...

He interrupted his train of thoughts. Why would they come to the rescue? He had gone alone without warning them while they were asleep. Legolas realized suddenly something else: he had left, abandoning his watch... What if enemies had attacked during their unguarded sleep? His stupidity and impatience might cost everybody's life...

At that very moment, a strong hand grabbed the big arrow he had under his collarbone and propelled him against the trunk. He couldn't prevent a howl as he felt something tearing up in his chest. He raised his eyes and found himself facing the strange creature, the uruk-hai, the spear in one hand, and something he couldn't distinguish in its other hand. For a moment, the two opponents just faced each other, still. Then the uruk-hai made a fast movement towards Legolas and the elf's scream echoed in the forest when he felt an icy and sharp pain in his right side. Lowering his eyes, he saw the uruk-hai's hand holding the dark handle of a scraping-knife. The rest of the blade had completely disappeared inside his body.

His vision blurred and darkened very fast. Too late, he still thought in a coherent way. He was aware that the uruk-hai was raising a hand above his head. Do not come... Legolas thought with all his strength, as if he was trying to send a telepathic message to his friends. Do not come... They will all kill you...

Then he felt a violent blow on the side of his head. The darkness engulfed him.

--Aragorn!!!--

Then it was pitch-back.

And now, lying on the cold stone, not very far from the orcs and their fire, Legolas could feel a strangely crushing weakness. 'What happened to Merry and Pippin?', he wondered, 'Why the orcs didn't kill me? And where are we?'

He moved weakly, fighting against his bounds. His muscles seemed as heavy as lead. 'What did they do to me?'. Even though the pain of his many wounds seemed asleep, the one in his right side seemed to grow slowly, and a deadly cold seemed to spread from the wound and invade his whole side.

One of the orcs, sitting nearby, laughed and said something to one of his comrades in their abominable tongue. "Rest well you fool", he then said to Legolas in an elfish language that his accent was rendering as hideous as his own tongue. "Rest well while you still can! Tomorrow will be hard day!"

"If I could do it my way", the other orc started, "you'd wish you were dead now". He leant on Legolas, bringing his yellow fangs close to the elf's face. Legolas managed to turn his face away against the warm foul breath. Suddenly, Gimli's odour seemed like a fresh spring breeze. The orc put a black knife with a long jagged blade on the elf's throat. "Lie quiet, or I could play of this instrument!", he hissed through is teeth. "Don't bring attention on you, otherwise I could forget my orders! Curse the Isengarder! Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-nie ashto bubhosh skai!!" he switched to his own language for a long and furious speech that ended by something sounding like growls.

Still blind, Legolas remained still on the ground, even though the pain in his side prevented him to sleep as ordered. To keep his mind busy, he started to listen with attention to the voices around him. During the many centuries of his life, he had learned the languages of most of the creatures of Middle-Earth, and he recognized at least three dialects in the aggressive conversation of the present orcs. Apparently the various tribes could not understand very well one another's orc-speech, but Legolas didn't really want to help as interpret: they were actually busy in an angry debate about his own fate and the road to take from now on.

"We don't have the time to kill him properly", one was saying, "No time to play on this trip!"

"And then?", another was saying, "Why don't we kill him fast? He's going to delay us and we are in a hurry! Humans could come back, they know some of us escaped. They have horses and could catch up with us easily.

"ORDERS!", a third voice said in a low growl.

"Orders did not concern HIM!", a fourth voice said. "They said to kill them all BUT the halflings; only them had to be brought ALIVE as soon as possible!"

"Why did we have to bring them, by the way?", several voices asked. "Why ALIVE? They give a good sport?"

"No! I heard one of them has something that is necessary for this war. Probably some elfish stuff or else"

"But then why did we keep the elf?", the first voice growled furiously, "he was no part of the orders!"

"Yes, it's true! Let's kill him now!", several voice shouted.

Legolas tensed when he heard hurried steps coming his way. He made an effort to open his eyes, but the dried blood was still sealing his eyelids. The next moment, he heard an acute whistle and an incomprehensible gargle as something hit the ground. A head probably, as another noise followed little after... probably the rest of the body.

"MY orders...", the growling voice started at a distance so close to Legolas than the elf jumped backwards. He didn't like to be so weak and blind in the middle of his enemies. "... are also for the elf!", the growling voice went on. "Saruman the wise told me of a link between elves and the origin of orcs. And even thou we failed the orders when we lost the hobbits, if we bring this elf to Saruman, he will be lenient to us and will be able to find something interesting to make with him. In addition, he was in contact with the halflings; they perhaps gave him the object that Saruman seeks. Anyway, we can't go back to catch our prisoners anymore!"

"This is an interesting remark you tell here", another voice hissed. It was softer than the others, but more evil. "Why don't we search him to find out? We might even find something interesting for us..."

"I will specify 'Alive and in the same state than at his capture'", the growling voice said, "You won't have your games with him. These are my orders! I am Uglúk. I spoke!".

"You spoke more than enough, Uglúk!", many raging voice exploded. "Those are not our orders! We came here from the mines of Moria to kill and avenge our comrades! We wish to kill the elf, then go back to the North!"

"Wish all you want", Uglúk growled, "I command here, and I return with the elf to Isengard by the shortest way!"

"BUT WHO COMMANDS IN THIS WAR? SARUMAN OR THE GREAT EYE?!", several voices shout, and many approved. "Who Saruman does he think he is?!"

Other growls. "These strange ideas about the halflings... Are they coming from the Great Master or from Saruman himself?"

Many shouts in orc speech, that this time Legolas was unable to understand, rose to answer, and the sound of withdrawn swords filled the forest. Carefully, Legolas tried to crawl away; this woke up some of his wounds; he clenched his teeth to muffle a scream. Bu the pain had woken him up completely. For the moment at least. He raised his bound hands towards his face. This movement seemed to last an eternity so much it was slow. When his hands brushed against his face, he had to pause to catch his breathing, caught in some vertigo; then with two fingers, he forced open the eyelids of his right eye.

Dried blood in his eye was burning him. Through the red haze, he saw that his guards had moved away, attracted by the imminent fight. In the gleam of the flames, Legolas saw a gigantic black orc, and recognized the one who almost killed him in the forest the day before. Or the day even before? He realized he had lost the trak of time... When he heard the voice of this orc, shouting orders, Legolas knew that Uglúk was the name of his opponent.

Many orcs of small size and goblins were around him. Legolas supposed that those were from the mines of Moria, those who wanted him dead. They had withdrawn swords and long knives but hesitated to attack Uglúk.

Uglúk shouted something, and other orcs, of a size similar to his, raised on their feet. Then suddenly, without warning, Uglúk leaped forward and with two fast movement, he tore away the heads of two of his opponents. The other orcs, surprised, moved backwards and one of them stumbled on Legolas, swearing, hitting in its fall the elf's already very painful right side.

This was what probably saved its life because the allies of Uglúk flew above it and struck another orc with their long-blade swords. It fell down at less than three feet from Legolas, its hand still contracted on the handle of his long knife.

"Put down you weapons!", Uglúk shouted, "And no more of these non-sense! We leave directly straight towards the West, towards Isengard, and we march day and night. Understood?!"

Orcs were ready to depart again, but some of the northerners were still unwilling. Uglúk's allies decapitated two more before everybody agreed on the road to take.

"Pick up the prisoner!", Uglúk shouted, showing Legolas. "And no one plays games with him! If he is not alive at next halt, other will die too!"

One of the uruk-hai seized Legolas like a sack and put him over his shoulder, his claw like hands grabbing the elf's arm like iron; the claws biting into him. Legolas, caught by a new sleep vertigo, closed his eyes and slipped again into dark dreams.

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Yeah, another cliff-hanger.. but less sadistic than for chapter 3, no? ;-)

So yes, he is alive!!! :D Sorry if the previous chapter made you think that Legolas had been killed during the escape of Merry and Pippin (but anyway, had you read the summary, you'd have guessed he had survived... :p )

Towards which hell? You'll have to wait for the next chapters ;)

Grimlock: actually, the story in French is also published in fanfiction.net if you feel too impatient to wait ) In French, Dark Is The Night is at chapter 6 -)

Arbariel and Kellen: thanx for the spelling correction ;) I'll post soon the chapter3-corrected ;)

For all the others, sorry of the time it took to update... Now I found my preciousssssssssss French-English dictionary :D (it had disappeared in some dark and spider-webby part of my studio ;-) ). The translation will be faster now :))))))))

Thank you all for your kind reviews ^___^ It really warmed my heart :,-)…..

I can now make the history of this fanfic. I started it the 15th January 2002, in the plane flying about USA as I was coming back from a filming in the Kauai Island in Hawaii. I started on the idea of what orcs would do if they caught Legolas alive, then I fell asleep, and during the dream, the story evolved...

That dream was only interrupted by stewardesses who, I'm sure, must have a special dark and secret formation before they ever work in a plane: a formation during which they learn to wait until they are sure that the passenger is really asleep, before they wake him/her up to ask if he/she wants a pillow, a blanket, or a cup of strong coffee ;-)