*~*"We two of all the men and women in the world need not be so formal."
He peeled off his left glove, let it fall, picked up the silver rose and
held it out. "Thank you for my life, Lady Sophia."
"And you for mine." Sofia's face was solemn, her dark eyes unreadable as she reached into her pocket and brought out the mate. ~ Ru Emerson "Spell Bound" *~*
THE FAERIE GOBLET
Chapter 26 ~ "Into the Nether Realm"
"THIS IS THE MOST HAREBRAINED IDEA YOU'VE HAD YET AND YOU'VE HAD SEVERAL THAT I CAN THINK OF," Gimli shouted. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT WILL EVEN WORK?! YOU DON'T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT MAGIC THAN I DO . . ."
"By the Valar, Gimli," Legolas interrupted, "draw a breath before you pass out."
"I . . ." Gimli shut his mouth with an audible snap and crossed his arms over his chest. "Humph!"
"I must try something, Gimli," Legolas said reasonably enough in answer to his friend's glare. "If you have a better plan, I am listening."
"Let the wizards come up with something. That is what they are for."
Legolas shook his head. "I am reluctant to have Radagast try anything at the moment. Alede's illness . . ." his voice cracked a little, "or whatever it is called, has completely drained Radagast. I would fear for him if he were to go back to Faerie. I think it is up to me."
"What about Cyrus?"
"I do not know Cyrus well enough. I am not certain of his abilities . . ."
"Humph! What you mean is that you don't trust him to do the job right. Legolas . . ." and Gimli fixed his friend with a worried eye. "is this about revenge?"
Legolas sighed. He'd been afraid that Gimli might ask that. In truth he wasn't sure. His first and foremost desire was to free Alede from the Faerie Queen's hold. But if his plan succeeded . . .
*May the Valar forgive me, for I know no other way."
"Come . . . surely this is hot enough?" Legolas asked, changing the subject and gesturing at the coals. He'd practically dragged Gimli down to the Elvin smithy beneath Rivendell and had worked the bellows himself while Gimli argued.
"At least allow me to come with you," Gimli said in a somewhat lower tone.
"Nay, my friend. I cannot ask you to risk your life for Alede."
"I would not be risking it for her. I would be risking it for you," Gimli grumbled. But despite the warning in his heart, he picked up the hammer and began his work.
~ ~ ~
Legolas slipped out onto Rivendell's grounds quietly and walked to where Alede's yarn was still tied to the iron stake. The moon had not yet risen, but there was enough starlight for the Elf to find his way.
With a gentle tug, he began pulling the yarn up from where it disappeared into the ground. Yard after earth covered yard came to him and he carefully coiled it as he went. The ring of mushrooms had completely disappeared after Legolas and Gimli had returned to Middle Earth. In fact, Legolas was willing to wager that there was not a single mushroom in the entire valley. The Faerie Queen had sealed her world off to them.
*But I must or my soul will be as lost as Alede's is.*
A heavy step behind him did not startle the Elf, he had been expecting it.
"I still say this is madness," Gimli said quietly. In his hand he carried the Faerie goblet as if it were a snake. In the other was a length of iron chain, with a round clasp at one end.
Legolas finished pulling the yarn free and tied the coil neatly at his belt.
"I just stopped in at Alede's room a few moments ago," Legolas said softly. "She lies there as quietly as death. Even my eyes can barely see the rise and fall of her breast. Her face is set in a mask of fear and pain. She struggles with an enemy she cannot defeat or even wake from. Radagast sits hopelessly beside her and I am willing to wager he has aged centuries in these last few days." Legolas turned to Gimli. "She is as precious to me as Galadriel is to you, Gimli. Can you not understand that?"
Gimli shuffled his feet a little. "Aye, of course I understand it. Alede is sweet and fair and she loves you more than her own life, more than all of Middle Earth. But can you not understand how it is for me, as well? You expect me to sit by while you once again leap into the snake pit. If it were I, instead of you . . ."
Legolas smiled. "I would be arguing with you, just as you have done . . ."
"Yes! And in the end, you'd insist upon accompanying me," Gimli stated folding his arms across his chest.
"You are right," Legolas admitted. "And for any other purpose, I would welcome your company. But I cannot ask you to risk your life for Alede. She is . . ." Legolas groped for words. How could he tell Gimli that he knew the dwarf viewed Alede as a competitor for his affections? He had seen how jealous Gimli had been of her at first. Jealous of anyone who might come between their friendship. The dwarf had obviously mellowed toward her some, but once Alede recovered *if she recovers!* the rivalry would return. How could he tell Gimli without wounding the Dwarf's stiff pride, that he could love them both? That their friendship would never be compromised? Instinctively, he knew that Alede would never step between them. Somehow, their friendship was as important to her as it was to Legolas.
"She is the woman you love," Gimli finished, tired of waiting for Legolas to speak his mind. "And even if she was not, you and I would both seek to help her because it is the right thing to do. And, even if I were alone, I would try to help her for the same reason."
Legolas considered his friend's words and grinned. Never would he admit that he'd been defeated by dwarvin logic. Gimli was right and the dwarf was not lacking in courage.
"Very well. Then let us try our luck again and may the Valar favor us both."
Gimli grunted in acknowledgement and fastened the clasp around the stem of the goblet, locking it tightly. Then he dipped it in the nearby stream and handed it to Legolas. The Elf bent down on one knee and wrapped the length of chain around his wrist and held onto the end tightly. Gimli grasped both the chain and also took a large handful of Legolas' collar too.
"If we are pulled apart," Legolas complained, "you will rip out half of my hair."
"Then let us hope we are not pulled apart," Gimli said. "Get on with it!"
Nodding, Legolas raised the goblet to his lips . . .
And drank.
~ ~ ~
It felt to both the Elf and the Dwarf as if they had been literally dragged through the dirt, turned wrong side out and thrown to the floor of the dark tunnel.
Considering that the goblet had just transported them back into the land of Faerie again, that was probably about what had happened.
With one exception.
The goblet had been forced to come along for the ride this time. Bound by the iron chain which Legolas held, it had had no choice.
Legolas groaned and rolled up from the dirt where he lay, dislodging Gimli as he did so.
"Get your elbow out of my face," the Dwarf grumbled.
"Gladly, if I knew where your face was."
It took them several moments to sort themselves out. In the process, Legolas discovered that the goblet had torn the skin on his hand as it had been dragged unwilling back down to the land from whence it had come.
Gimli struck a light and helped to bind Legolas' hand. He also unclasped the iron chain from the goblet. Legolas held onto it tightly with his good hand.
Together they started down the long stairs, back to the land of Faerie.
~ ~ ~
When they reached the lake with the enchanted boat, they had a furious whispered conversation. Gimli wanted to accompany Legolas into the Queen's clearing, but Legolas would have none of it.
"She will suspect you immediately," the Elf pointed out.
"But you can't go in there alone!"
"I can and I will. You must stay here or you will ruin my entire plan! The Queen must believe me!"
After much grumbling and several threats on the Elf's side, Gimli finally agreed. Legolas crossed the lake alone and made his way cautiously up the hill and into the clearing.
As he walked into the lighted glade once again, his stomach turned. It took every ounce of Legolas' courage to walk back into that prison. He couldn't stop himself from cringing as faeries rushed up to him. Their very presence made him remember his entrapment in this land and he had to fight down a wave of nausea.
Pushing his way through them, he walked slowly toward the dais.
"I am returning to my Lady," he told the faerie knights that looked as if they might threaten him.
At his words, they smiled smugly and let him pass. Legolas knew that many returned to this enchanted land, seeking an addiction that would never give them peace.
The Faerie Queen sat upon her throne, her head bowed and her hands clutched what appeared to be a scepter. She was oblivious to his approach, obviously locked in the mental or spiritual battle which she waged with Alede's soul.
Legolas mounted the dais, her sweet perfume nearly making him retch as he stood over her. When she did not look up, he casually placed the faerie goblet upon the table near her throne. He doubted that any of her people would know what it was. The faeries hardly thought for themselves. They were merely extensions of their queen.
"My Lady," he said softly.
She did not look up, so engrossed was she with her inner battle.
"My Lady," he said again, forcing a note of longing into his voice and knelt in front of her.
The Queen looked up startled as Legolas took her hands.
"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply. Then looking up at her guards, "Why did you allow him entrance?"
Before they could answer, Legolas forced himself to kiss her hand. "Be not alarmed, Lady. I could not stay away. My love for you can not be quenched in the dull world above." Legolas suddenly knew how Gimli must have felt as the lies nearly choked him.
"Deceiver!" The Queen cried, snatching her hand away. "You stole away your love and now you have come to try and release her!"
Legolas blanched, but tried hard to cover it up. "Nay. I come for my love of you, my Lady. Alede has turned cold to me. She does not respond and what I thought was love, was not real. But you are real!" he cried with a vehemence that made his stomach roil. "You are the fairest I have ever known. Let me prove it to you! Let me prove my loyalty to you. Allow me to return to your side and . . ." he swallowed the bile rising in his throat, "and your bed!"
The Faerie Queen looked up at those words, a hungry light in her eyes, though she still was suspicious. But she was desperate as well. Her kingdom was fading. If she could not make true the lies she had told Alede, her people would turn to dust. She needed an heir and Legolas was her last chance.
With a flourish, Legolas turned and scooped up the faerie goblet as if it had been sitting beside her throne all the time. This was the most dangerous part of his plan. If she should recognize it . . .
But he was counting on her not looking at it closely. All of the goblets at her table were ornately engraved and the faerie goblet had been made long, long ago. With any luck, this Queen would not know it by sight.
"A toast," Legolas cried, flourishing the goblet and walking to a small cask of faerie wine to fill it. "A toast to our Lady, the Queen!"
He raised the treacherous goblet to his lips and pretended to drink. The faeries all around him, sensing a cause for celebration and hopefully the end to their Queen's brooding silence, all took up goblets and returned the toast.
The sickly sweet smell of the wine nearly captured Legolas for a moment. He had drunk much of it while he'd been here and its smell was almost as potent as its taste. But he hardened his will and thought of Alede.
Sending his song out, across the vast space of worlds, he heard Alede's reply. The Faerie Queen was sufficiently distracted to release her for a few moments. Legolas knew this was his chance, his one chance to free her.
Turning to the Queen with what he hoped was a winning smile, he held out the goblet.
"Will you not join us, my Lady?"
Apparently convinced that he had indeed drunk the enchanted wine and convinced of her own vanity, the Queen took the goblet. Legolas' smile froze and he held his breath as she raised the cup to her lips and . . .
Drank.
Legolas watched her swallow once, twice . . . *By the Valar! Will it not work?!!*
A third time . . .
And then the Faerie Queen opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She sagged and twisted where she stood. The faerie goblet fell to the floor, spilling out the last dregs of its contents. Writhing, as if in agony, the Faerie Queen slid across the floor toward it.
The Faerie goblet was sucking her in.
The floor suddenly buckled and bounced. The walls oozed and ran as if they were made of warm candle wax. All around Legolas faeries began twisting and falling. The tables began to swirl against the wall. The whole cavern was turning, spiraling inward, downward, toward the goblet.
Legolas looked at the Queen. She lay on the floor in a contorted puddle. Her arms were outstretched toward the goblet. It seemed to be sucking the color off of her skin, like a painting left out in the rain.
Alarmed, Legolas backed away. He had hoped the goblet would pull her in, as it had done all the rest of them. He had thought it might keep receding in upon itself sending her to a realm where she could not reach Alede anymore.
But this was far more horrible than he'd imagined. He'd never imagined that it would effect all of the Faerie world. He had not intended to condemn all of them.
Around him the cavern was spinning, swirling. Colors blended into each other and faeries were twisting around on the floor, all of them moving closer and closer to the goblet, faster and faster.
Legolas turned and bolted toward the entrance of the clearing. But it was no longer there. It was merely a run on the swirled walls of the cave which were spinning more rapidly.
"Legolas!"
On the other side of the smeared entrance he could hear Gimli's frantic shouts.
"I am here!" Legolas called out. He pushed his hand through the dark smear on the wall. It felt like a river of honey and threatened to yank him sideways. Looking back, he saw the great whirlpool that the inner clearing had become. The Faerie Queen could only be discerned by the bright white smear of her dress. The other faeries were being sucked down on top of her into the center of the gooey hurricane, into the Faerie goblet.
"Gimli!" Legolas thrust his hand out the entrance again, trying to force his way through it. Suddenly a hand caught his, dragging him though the thick gel that had once been the entrance. He fell into Gimli's arms, splattering him with nameless muck.
"What in the name of Mordor is happening?"
"She drank from it," Legolas shouted, dragging Gimli up toward the steps. The tunnels and caves around them were showing the same whirlpool effect that the inner cavern had done, but not as quickly. Did they have time to get out? "Hurry! We must get out. The whole place is collapsing in on itself, like the inside of a whirlpool!"
Hand over hand they gathered in the yarn that was their lifeline and bolted for the stairs which sagged and ran beneath their feet.
"I thought you said it would just suck the Queen in?" Gimli gasped as they bolted up the steps two at a time.
"That is what I thought it would do!" Legolas shouted, reaching down to grab the back of Gimli's jerkin when he stumbled. "I did not realized how intertwined she and all her people were!"
They continued up and up. Gimli stumbled several times and Legolas was near picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder when they finally reached the top. But the tunnel walls were oozing and heaving about them. The pathway to the surface had disappeared.
Frantically, Legolas ran his hands along the slimy, squirming walls where the yarn went out, trying to find an opening. His hand suddenly disappeared into the muck as he followed the yarn.
"Here Gimli! Take the yarn and pull yourself out with it. I will be right behind you!" He shoved the dwarf forward into the swimming mess of a wall. The dwarf burrowed through it like a badger and Legolas grabbed the yarn behind him, pushing himself into the dark mass.
For several panicked moments he thought he'd never draw breath again. There was no air in the fetid ooze and he could not crawl swiftly enough. Then suddenly his head broke out of the surface and bright sunlight blinded him.
"Give me your hand," Gimli called and Legolas reached up to take it. But the muck beneath him started falling away, swirling beneath him. The ground all around him was twisting, forming a funnel that was intent upon sucking him back down. Frantically, he clawed at the spinning mud, but down and down he went as if he were at the center of some great earthen hurricane.
Just as Legolas thought he was lost, Gimli stepped into the midst of the vortex hefting his iron axe. With a mighty swing, he drove the dark blade deep into the earth, the earth of Rivendell. Then holding on to the shaft, he reached out and caught Legolas' wrist, anchoring the Elf to Middle Earth.
With a great sucking sound, the ground swirled out from under him completely and Legolas swung from Gimli's hand for a moment. Then with a roar, the ground belched up a huge mound of earth, throwing both Legolas and Gimli free. Clumps of soil, rocks and sod struck them as they tumbled to Rivendell's grassy meadow.
The ground trembled and with a groan, the mound sunk back down level with the meadow, leaving only a spot of churned up earth. Legolas and Gimli stared at it and then at each other in astonishment.
Then all was silent.
Silent, except for the soft sound of bare feet running over grass. Legolas did not think his legs would bear his weight just yet, so he merely turned his head to see who was running toward them.
Alede ran as fast as she could, headless of stones beneath her feet and of her tangled hair and the diaphanous nightdress she wore. She fell to her knees in front of the two friends.
"Alede, are you . . ?"
"Yes. Is she . . ?"
"Gone. The goblet pulled her . . ."
"Inside of itself and inside of itself . . ."
"For all of eternity . . ."
"Gimli, are you . . ?"
"I am well . . ."
"We are all well."
And with those last words they realized that all three of them were sharing song, their voices, their individual notes, their very thoughts, intertwined, forming a melody of friendship . . . a melody of love.
Alede crawled forward on her knees so that she could reach her arms around both of them. Legolas did the same and then Gimli as well.
How long the three of them sat holding each other as Rivendell's bright sunlight warmed them, they did not know or care.
~ ~ ~
A/N: Whew! Now that the Faerie Queen has been taken care of, I think its time for a celebration and . . . for Legolas and Alede to get "things" settled between them. ;) Meet me here next week for chapter 27. ;)
"And you for mine." Sofia's face was solemn, her dark eyes unreadable as she reached into her pocket and brought out the mate. ~ Ru Emerson "Spell Bound" *~*
THE FAERIE GOBLET
Chapter 26 ~ "Into the Nether Realm"
"THIS IS THE MOST HAREBRAINED IDEA YOU'VE HAD YET AND YOU'VE HAD SEVERAL THAT I CAN THINK OF," Gimli shouted. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IT WILL EVEN WORK?! YOU DON'T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT MAGIC THAN I DO . . ."
"By the Valar, Gimli," Legolas interrupted, "draw a breath before you pass out."
"I . . ." Gimli shut his mouth with an audible snap and crossed his arms over his chest. "Humph!"
"I must try something, Gimli," Legolas said reasonably enough in answer to his friend's glare. "If you have a better plan, I am listening."
"Let the wizards come up with something. That is what they are for."
Legolas shook his head. "I am reluctant to have Radagast try anything at the moment. Alede's illness . . ." his voice cracked a little, "or whatever it is called, has completely drained Radagast. I would fear for him if he were to go back to Faerie. I think it is up to me."
"What about Cyrus?"
"I do not know Cyrus well enough. I am not certain of his abilities . . ."
"Humph! What you mean is that you don't trust him to do the job right. Legolas . . ." and Gimli fixed his friend with a worried eye. "is this about revenge?"
Legolas sighed. He'd been afraid that Gimli might ask that. In truth he wasn't sure. His first and foremost desire was to free Alede from the Faerie Queen's hold. But if his plan succeeded . . .
*May the Valar forgive me, for I know no other way."
"Come . . . surely this is hot enough?" Legolas asked, changing the subject and gesturing at the coals. He'd practically dragged Gimli down to the Elvin smithy beneath Rivendell and had worked the bellows himself while Gimli argued.
"At least allow me to come with you," Gimli said in a somewhat lower tone.
"Nay, my friend. I cannot ask you to risk your life for Alede."
"I would not be risking it for her. I would be risking it for you," Gimli grumbled. But despite the warning in his heart, he picked up the hammer and began his work.
~ ~ ~
Legolas slipped out onto Rivendell's grounds quietly and walked to where Alede's yarn was still tied to the iron stake. The moon had not yet risen, but there was enough starlight for the Elf to find his way.
With a gentle tug, he began pulling the yarn up from where it disappeared into the ground. Yard after earth covered yard came to him and he carefully coiled it as he went. The ring of mushrooms had completely disappeared after Legolas and Gimli had returned to Middle Earth. In fact, Legolas was willing to wager that there was not a single mushroom in the entire valley. The Faerie Queen had sealed her world off to them.
*But I must or my soul will be as lost as Alede's is.*
A heavy step behind him did not startle the Elf, he had been expecting it.
"I still say this is madness," Gimli said quietly. In his hand he carried the Faerie goblet as if it were a snake. In the other was a length of iron chain, with a round clasp at one end.
Legolas finished pulling the yarn free and tied the coil neatly at his belt.
"I just stopped in at Alede's room a few moments ago," Legolas said softly. "She lies there as quietly as death. Even my eyes can barely see the rise and fall of her breast. Her face is set in a mask of fear and pain. She struggles with an enemy she cannot defeat or even wake from. Radagast sits hopelessly beside her and I am willing to wager he has aged centuries in these last few days." Legolas turned to Gimli. "She is as precious to me as Galadriel is to you, Gimli. Can you not understand that?"
Gimli shuffled his feet a little. "Aye, of course I understand it. Alede is sweet and fair and she loves you more than her own life, more than all of Middle Earth. But can you not understand how it is for me, as well? You expect me to sit by while you once again leap into the snake pit. If it were I, instead of you . . ."
Legolas smiled. "I would be arguing with you, just as you have done . . ."
"Yes! And in the end, you'd insist upon accompanying me," Gimli stated folding his arms across his chest.
"You are right," Legolas admitted. "And for any other purpose, I would welcome your company. But I cannot ask you to risk your life for Alede. She is . . ." Legolas groped for words. How could he tell Gimli that he knew the dwarf viewed Alede as a competitor for his affections? He had seen how jealous Gimli had been of her at first. Jealous of anyone who might come between their friendship. The dwarf had obviously mellowed toward her some, but once Alede recovered *if she recovers!* the rivalry would return. How could he tell Gimli without wounding the Dwarf's stiff pride, that he could love them both? That their friendship would never be compromised? Instinctively, he knew that Alede would never step between them. Somehow, their friendship was as important to her as it was to Legolas.
"She is the woman you love," Gimli finished, tired of waiting for Legolas to speak his mind. "And even if she was not, you and I would both seek to help her because it is the right thing to do. And, even if I were alone, I would try to help her for the same reason."
Legolas considered his friend's words and grinned. Never would he admit that he'd been defeated by dwarvin logic. Gimli was right and the dwarf was not lacking in courage.
"Very well. Then let us try our luck again and may the Valar favor us both."
Gimli grunted in acknowledgement and fastened the clasp around the stem of the goblet, locking it tightly. Then he dipped it in the nearby stream and handed it to Legolas. The Elf bent down on one knee and wrapped the length of chain around his wrist and held onto the end tightly. Gimli grasped both the chain and also took a large handful of Legolas' collar too.
"If we are pulled apart," Legolas complained, "you will rip out half of my hair."
"Then let us hope we are not pulled apart," Gimli said. "Get on with it!"
Nodding, Legolas raised the goblet to his lips . . .
And drank.
~ ~ ~
It felt to both the Elf and the Dwarf as if they had been literally dragged through the dirt, turned wrong side out and thrown to the floor of the dark tunnel.
Considering that the goblet had just transported them back into the land of Faerie again, that was probably about what had happened.
With one exception.
The goblet had been forced to come along for the ride this time. Bound by the iron chain which Legolas held, it had had no choice.
Legolas groaned and rolled up from the dirt where he lay, dislodging Gimli as he did so.
"Get your elbow out of my face," the Dwarf grumbled.
"Gladly, if I knew where your face was."
It took them several moments to sort themselves out. In the process, Legolas discovered that the goblet had torn the skin on his hand as it had been dragged unwilling back down to the land from whence it had come.
Gimli struck a light and helped to bind Legolas' hand. He also unclasped the iron chain from the goblet. Legolas held onto it tightly with his good hand.
Together they started down the long stairs, back to the land of Faerie.
~ ~ ~
When they reached the lake with the enchanted boat, they had a furious whispered conversation. Gimli wanted to accompany Legolas into the Queen's clearing, but Legolas would have none of it.
"She will suspect you immediately," the Elf pointed out.
"But you can't go in there alone!"
"I can and I will. You must stay here or you will ruin my entire plan! The Queen must believe me!"
After much grumbling and several threats on the Elf's side, Gimli finally agreed. Legolas crossed the lake alone and made his way cautiously up the hill and into the clearing.
As he walked into the lighted glade once again, his stomach turned. It took every ounce of Legolas' courage to walk back into that prison. He couldn't stop himself from cringing as faeries rushed up to him. Their very presence made him remember his entrapment in this land and he had to fight down a wave of nausea.
Pushing his way through them, he walked slowly toward the dais.
"I am returning to my Lady," he told the faerie knights that looked as if they might threaten him.
At his words, they smiled smugly and let him pass. Legolas knew that many returned to this enchanted land, seeking an addiction that would never give them peace.
The Faerie Queen sat upon her throne, her head bowed and her hands clutched what appeared to be a scepter. She was oblivious to his approach, obviously locked in the mental or spiritual battle which she waged with Alede's soul.
Legolas mounted the dais, her sweet perfume nearly making him retch as he stood over her. When she did not look up, he casually placed the faerie goblet upon the table near her throne. He doubted that any of her people would know what it was. The faeries hardly thought for themselves. They were merely extensions of their queen.
"My Lady," he said softly.
She did not look up, so engrossed was she with her inner battle.
"My Lady," he said again, forcing a note of longing into his voice and knelt in front of her.
The Queen looked up startled as Legolas took her hands.
"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply. Then looking up at her guards, "Why did you allow him entrance?"
Before they could answer, Legolas forced himself to kiss her hand. "Be not alarmed, Lady. I could not stay away. My love for you can not be quenched in the dull world above." Legolas suddenly knew how Gimli must have felt as the lies nearly choked him.
"Deceiver!" The Queen cried, snatching her hand away. "You stole away your love and now you have come to try and release her!"
Legolas blanched, but tried hard to cover it up. "Nay. I come for my love of you, my Lady. Alede has turned cold to me. She does not respond and what I thought was love, was not real. But you are real!" he cried with a vehemence that made his stomach roil. "You are the fairest I have ever known. Let me prove it to you! Let me prove my loyalty to you. Allow me to return to your side and . . ." he swallowed the bile rising in his throat, "and your bed!"
The Faerie Queen looked up at those words, a hungry light in her eyes, though she still was suspicious. But she was desperate as well. Her kingdom was fading. If she could not make true the lies she had told Alede, her people would turn to dust. She needed an heir and Legolas was her last chance.
With a flourish, Legolas turned and scooped up the faerie goblet as if it had been sitting beside her throne all the time. This was the most dangerous part of his plan. If she should recognize it . . .
But he was counting on her not looking at it closely. All of the goblets at her table were ornately engraved and the faerie goblet had been made long, long ago. With any luck, this Queen would not know it by sight.
"A toast," Legolas cried, flourishing the goblet and walking to a small cask of faerie wine to fill it. "A toast to our Lady, the Queen!"
He raised the treacherous goblet to his lips and pretended to drink. The faeries all around him, sensing a cause for celebration and hopefully the end to their Queen's brooding silence, all took up goblets and returned the toast.
The sickly sweet smell of the wine nearly captured Legolas for a moment. He had drunk much of it while he'd been here and its smell was almost as potent as its taste. But he hardened his will and thought of Alede.
Sending his song out, across the vast space of worlds, he heard Alede's reply. The Faerie Queen was sufficiently distracted to release her for a few moments. Legolas knew this was his chance, his one chance to free her.
Turning to the Queen with what he hoped was a winning smile, he held out the goblet.
"Will you not join us, my Lady?"
Apparently convinced that he had indeed drunk the enchanted wine and convinced of her own vanity, the Queen took the goblet. Legolas' smile froze and he held his breath as she raised the cup to her lips and . . .
Drank.
Legolas watched her swallow once, twice . . . *By the Valar! Will it not work?!!*
A third time . . .
And then the Faerie Queen opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She sagged and twisted where she stood. The faerie goblet fell to the floor, spilling out the last dregs of its contents. Writhing, as if in agony, the Faerie Queen slid across the floor toward it.
The Faerie goblet was sucking her in.
The floor suddenly buckled and bounced. The walls oozed and ran as if they were made of warm candle wax. All around Legolas faeries began twisting and falling. The tables began to swirl against the wall. The whole cavern was turning, spiraling inward, downward, toward the goblet.
Legolas looked at the Queen. She lay on the floor in a contorted puddle. Her arms were outstretched toward the goblet. It seemed to be sucking the color off of her skin, like a painting left out in the rain.
Alarmed, Legolas backed away. He had hoped the goblet would pull her in, as it had done all the rest of them. He had thought it might keep receding in upon itself sending her to a realm where she could not reach Alede anymore.
But this was far more horrible than he'd imagined. He'd never imagined that it would effect all of the Faerie world. He had not intended to condemn all of them.
Around him the cavern was spinning, swirling. Colors blended into each other and faeries were twisting around on the floor, all of them moving closer and closer to the goblet, faster and faster.
Legolas turned and bolted toward the entrance of the clearing. But it was no longer there. It was merely a run on the swirled walls of the cave which were spinning more rapidly.
"Legolas!"
On the other side of the smeared entrance he could hear Gimli's frantic shouts.
"I am here!" Legolas called out. He pushed his hand through the dark smear on the wall. It felt like a river of honey and threatened to yank him sideways. Looking back, he saw the great whirlpool that the inner clearing had become. The Faerie Queen could only be discerned by the bright white smear of her dress. The other faeries were being sucked down on top of her into the center of the gooey hurricane, into the Faerie goblet.
"Gimli!" Legolas thrust his hand out the entrance again, trying to force his way through it. Suddenly a hand caught his, dragging him though the thick gel that had once been the entrance. He fell into Gimli's arms, splattering him with nameless muck.
"What in the name of Mordor is happening?"
"She drank from it," Legolas shouted, dragging Gimli up toward the steps. The tunnels and caves around them were showing the same whirlpool effect that the inner cavern had done, but not as quickly. Did they have time to get out? "Hurry! We must get out. The whole place is collapsing in on itself, like the inside of a whirlpool!"
Hand over hand they gathered in the yarn that was their lifeline and bolted for the stairs which sagged and ran beneath their feet.
"I thought you said it would just suck the Queen in?" Gimli gasped as they bolted up the steps two at a time.
"That is what I thought it would do!" Legolas shouted, reaching down to grab the back of Gimli's jerkin when he stumbled. "I did not realized how intertwined she and all her people were!"
They continued up and up. Gimli stumbled several times and Legolas was near picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder when they finally reached the top. But the tunnel walls were oozing and heaving about them. The pathway to the surface had disappeared.
Frantically, Legolas ran his hands along the slimy, squirming walls where the yarn went out, trying to find an opening. His hand suddenly disappeared into the muck as he followed the yarn.
"Here Gimli! Take the yarn and pull yourself out with it. I will be right behind you!" He shoved the dwarf forward into the swimming mess of a wall. The dwarf burrowed through it like a badger and Legolas grabbed the yarn behind him, pushing himself into the dark mass.
For several panicked moments he thought he'd never draw breath again. There was no air in the fetid ooze and he could not crawl swiftly enough. Then suddenly his head broke out of the surface and bright sunlight blinded him.
"Give me your hand," Gimli called and Legolas reached up to take it. But the muck beneath him started falling away, swirling beneath him. The ground all around him was twisting, forming a funnel that was intent upon sucking him back down. Frantically, he clawed at the spinning mud, but down and down he went as if he were at the center of some great earthen hurricane.
Just as Legolas thought he was lost, Gimli stepped into the midst of the vortex hefting his iron axe. With a mighty swing, he drove the dark blade deep into the earth, the earth of Rivendell. Then holding on to the shaft, he reached out and caught Legolas' wrist, anchoring the Elf to Middle Earth.
With a great sucking sound, the ground swirled out from under him completely and Legolas swung from Gimli's hand for a moment. Then with a roar, the ground belched up a huge mound of earth, throwing both Legolas and Gimli free. Clumps of soil, rocks and sod struck them as they tumbled to Rivendell's grassy meadow.
The ground trembled and with a groan, the mound sunk back down level with the meadow, leaving only a spot of churned up earth. Legolas and Gimli stared at it and then at each other in astonishment.
Then all was silent.
Silent, except for the soft sound of bare feet running over grass. Legolas did not think his legs would bear his weight just yet, so he merely turned his head to see who was running toward them.
Alede ran as fast as she could, headless of stones beneath her feet and of her tangled hair and the diaphanous nightdress she wore. She fell to her knees in front of the two friends.
"Alede, are you . . ?"
"Yes. Is she . . ?"
"Gone. The goblet pulled her . . ."
"Inside of itself and inside of itself . . ."
"For all of eternity . . ."
"Gimli, are you . . ?"
"I am well . . ."
"We are all well."
And with those last words they realized that all three of them were sharing song, their voices, their individual notes, their very thoughts, intertwined, forming a melody of friendship . . . a melody of love.
Alede crawled forward on her knees so that she could reach her arms around both of them. Legolas did the same and then Gimli as well.
How long the three of them sat holding each other as Rivendell's bright sunlight warmed them, they did not know or care.
~ ~ ~
A/N: Whew! Now that the Faerie Queen has been taken care of, I think its time for a celebration and . . . for Legolas and Alede to get "things" settled between them. ;) Meet me here next week for chapter 27. ;)