Disclaimer ; Tolkien and Legolas is mine at last!!! (Yeah, right. In my dreams…)
Thank u guys for your nice reviews!!! I can't stop smiling for a week!
Legolas lay curled on his side in his chamber; the welts on his backs were still bleeding and staining the sheets of his bed. He had kicked out the servants that tried to tend to it, hurtling the dish of medicinal salve and herbs at the hastily closing door. Now, too exhausted to care for his cursed fate, he tried to lull himself to sleep, ignoring the stinging pain on his back.
The door silently opened. Soft footsteps approached the bed. With his back against the door, Legolas couldn't see who was coming but he recognized his father's scent.
"Legolas?" The prince stiffened, still not moving even when his father touched his bare shoulder. He heard the king sighed. "Why didn't you let them tend to your back?"
"What ever for? It's not my back that's hurting," Legolas replied softly. Thranduil winced involuntarily, totally at lost on how to face his miserable son. He looked around the room, noticing the jars of salves and herbs scattered on the floor, and the broken pieces of the ceramic dish that he nearly step onto. He went to retrieve the salve and sat down at the edge of the bed. "Lie down on your stomach," he ordered.
Legolas did not respond at first, but then he slowly moved. Lying face down, he hugged his pillow to his cheek, giving his father the full view of his bleeding back. The king hissed and winced again for he knew how in pain Legolas must be. But his youngest child was known as a very stubborn and strong elf.
Gently, the Mirkwood king rubbed the salve onto the lacerations. He also used the damp clothes the servants had provided to wipe the blood away. His touches were gentle but Legolas could not help whimpering and cringing in agony when the pain became too unbearable. Thranduil felt like crying himself.
"I'm sorry this is hurting you, my son. But you should have let the servants look at it earlier before it became infected," the king said, still tending to the welts. Legolas was silent, his heart in mixed emotions.
"But I am not sorry for my order on your punishment. The people must know that any sort of immoral behavior is not accepted in this realm…"
"But I am innocent!" Legolas suddenly cried out and shot up in his bed, facing his father with fury blazing in his silver eyes. He ignored the searing agony on his already battered back when he made the sudden move. "I'm innocent, father. Can't you see?"
Thranduil's hand reached out to touch the angry tears on his son's cheeks. Legolas slapped it away. "You don't trust me enough to believe me, your own son! You're too blinded by her exotic beauty that you can't see the whole truth! What kind of a fair king are you?"
His father lost control. Without thinking, he slapped the prince. Hard. Legolas's face snapped to the side, his long hair swirled around him like silken gold, covering half of his anguish face.
"Get out," he said softly after a long minute of horrified silence.
The king was looking at his own hand in disbelief. "Legolas…"
"Please…leave me…" The prince lay down on the bed and curled himself into a fetal position.
The silence was deafening, but at last he heard his father's retreating footsteps and the click of the closing door. Then, and only then, Legolas let himself succumbed to tears of hurt, anger and sorrow. His whole body shook by his sobs. How long he was in that state, he didn't know. He was oblivious to time and his surroundings, too deep he was in his grieve.
Suddenly, small furry noses nudged his wet cheeks. He opened his eyes to see the two ferrets (that had caused much chaos in the Mirkwood household) rubbing against him, as if trying to console the miserable prince. Despite of his misery, Legolas chuckled. "What would I do without you guys?"
He grabbed hold of his two friends and hugged them to his bare trembling chest. Not long after, he fell asleep, with tears drying up on his pale cheeks and his back healing slowly by its own elven magic.
****************
Keldarion walked to and fro in his own chamber. If you want to know the truth, look at her through a mirror. His brother's words kept playing at the back of his mind, again and again. The truth...the mirror…
Keldarion loved his brother very much and despite all that had happened, he trusted Legolas whole-heartedly. Heck, there was no one he trusted more with his own life! He might be younger, but Legolas acted wiser than his age…well, most of the time that is. The rest of the time he was his joyful and reckless self; quite a spoiled young prince, Keldarion would say.
No, something is wrong with the whole picture, Keldarion thought, doubts starting to attack him from every angle. Legolas would never do such a thing! He would not hurt me by doing so!
Reaching to a decision, he stormed out of his chamber towards Lady Arulin's. He heard no sound from within, though he could sense her presence. He knocked at the door. "My lady?"
"Who is it?"
"It is I, Keldarion."
"Oh, just a minute." A slight scuffling sound came to his ears before the door was opened by Berthana, Arulin's lady-in-waiting. "Your highness." She curtsied.
"May I see you, my lady?" Without walking inside, Keldarion looked at Arulin's tearful face. She demurely nodded, touching a handkerchief to her watery eyes. Somehow, Keldarion felt so annoyed with the gestures. She's too emotional or she just putting up a good show?
Swallowing his ire, he asked politely, "How are you doing, my lady?"
With trembling lips, she replied, "I will be fine, thank you. It's just that…I still find this whole situation very odd, your highness."
Offering his arm, Keldarion suggested, "May I offer you a tour of the Mirkwood gallery? There's lots of painting there that might catch your interest."
She smiled prettily at the crown prince. "Why, it's so kind of you, your highness. I would glad to."
With her hand on his arm, Keldarion steered Arulin towards the royal gallery where many beautiful paintings and art creations were hung on the walls. Several elves from Garmadris were already there, admiring the craftsmanship of Mirkwood elves. The Garmadris elves were delighted to see the crown prince together with their Lady Arulin, assured that the wedding will still go on schedule after all.
They came to a grand painting of a very lovely she-elf. "It's a painting of my mother, Lady Marwana," Keldarion told Arulin, while his eyes gazed lovingly at the picture.
Arulin frowned. "She's very beautiful," she said grudgingly.
"Do you know who painted her?" Keldarion continued, ignoring the sudden chill that came from Arulin's voice. She shook her head, not actually enthusiastic enough to find out.
"Legolas did."
Arulin's head whipped around and stared at Keldarion in shock. "What?"
Keldarion chuckled to see the surprise on her face. "Amazing, isn't it? Our mother died when she gave birth to Legolas. So how does Legolas know how she looked like?" He touched the painting tenderly, marveling at his younger brother's wonderful talent. "He claimed that she came to him in his dreams."
Arulin was seething inside. Keldarion's obvious love to his brother did not sit well with her. Wasn't Legolas's betrayal enough? I must break the brothers apart!
She started to say something when Keldarion said, "Oh, I nearly forgot! Can you wait here, my lady? I have a matter to settle. I'll be right back." He walked swiftly away towards the gallery exit, leaving Arulin steaming in his wake. She resisted the urge to cross her arms in anger, knowing it would not do to her angelic image. She forced a smile when the others approached her and asked about her well being. She answered it all graciously even though all that she wanted to do was screamed in enrage.
Unknown to her, Keldarion had retraced his steps and peered into the gallery. He saw her being surrounded by the concern elves. Then his eyes rested on the big mirror near a huge urn of flowers beside the door. He went to it and stared at the reflection, hoping against hope that his brother was wrong.
At first, nothing happen. All that he saw was Arulin's beautiful face when she smiled appreciatively at her sympathizers. But then, something did happen. Her beauty slowly turned into such ugliness that he'd never seen before. He saw her eyes turned into red and her skin started to become sallow and sunken. Her smile had turned into an evil sneer that shook him to the core.
Keldarion faltered. He found himself trembling in terror. Is this what Legolas had been seeing all along? Without a backward glance, he rushed out of the gallery and headed towards the king's chamber.
TBC…