Hi! Yes, I know. Last chapter lack excitement. It will come up later on, I promise you. Anyway, this fiction is pre-LOTR, so no Aragorn. Sorry. Still mad at me about killing the ferrets? How about if I kill…mm…Legolas?

"What?!" Legolas yelled. "You can't do that! I have a contract for…let see…" He looked over his contract, reading intently. "Hah! I have four more stories with you! You cannot kill me until I finished all four of them!"

"Shut up, or do you want me to gag you like Tarang did to you?" He shut up.

Enough joking around! Read on….

"Forgive us, your highness. Prince Legolas didn't tell us where he'd be going." One of the woodland guards replied. "The last time we saw him, he was heading deeper into the woods towards the Misty Mountain."

Keldarion exchanged glances with the twins. Legolas rarely ventured that far without anyone escorting him. "Why didn't any of you accompany him?" Keldarion asked, frowning in displeasure.

"He wouldn't let us, saying that he prefers to be on his own," answered the guard, feeling slightly guilty. Keldarion shook his head. "That stubborn fool!" Taking a deep breath to calm down, Keldarion said, "We must find him. Fast."

The woodland guards joined their search. Keldarion and the twins had gotten down from their mounts and moved on foot. It will be much easier to track the area that way.

It was about several hours later as the sun was about to rise when something caught Keldarion's eyes. "What is that thing glowing over there?" They all rushed to it, ever mindful of their steps. It was not good to get caught in a trap at a time like this.

"The stone of Manya!" They exclaimed. Keldarion picked it up with trembling fingers, noticing the broken chain. "This did not fall deliberately." The elves scanned the area with their keen eyes. "Some kind of scuffles had happened here." They spread out to search for clues and found many tracks of boot prints.

"From the look of it, these prints belong to the dwarves!" Elladan touched one of the indentions on the ground. "What are they doing so far out here?"

"Your highness! Over here!" One of the guards called out from the other side of the area. Keldarion came over and saw the deadly disarm trap. A lone spear lay on the ground, its sharp point drenched in blood. The prince touched the red liquid by his fingertips and knew it had been Legolas's. His fear for his brother's safety mounted in very high degree. "Search the area. The dwarves must have taken him away somewhere," Keldarion said. "If he's still alive," he added under his breath.

*************

Legolas was very much alive, but mad as hell! No matter how hard he struggled, he could not get free of the bonds. The gag in his mouth was making matters worse. It was dirty and oily, sickening him to the pit of his stomach. He could not imagine the terrible humiliation of throwing up all over himself, so he swallowed the bile and took a deep breath, willing his stomach content to settle down.

He started to drift in and out of consciousness. Sometimes he would jerk awake as if pulled by something, and then he would slowly faded to nothingness. He found himself shivering, which was odd; it was not that cold inside the cave, maybe a little chill. And why do I feel blazing hot at the same time?

His thigh was on fire. The wound was not healing properly, he realized. Could the spear be poisonous? There were also sharp pains prickling him from inside his body, signaling him that the feared poison had already spread through his blood system.

Legolas cried out through his gag, demanding the dwarves to return. Only incoherent mumbling sounds could be heard, too weak to be heard by the others. He kept on yelling until his throat ran dry. He suddenly became extremely thirsty. Slowly, he wiggled forward, but was too exhausted and in too much pain to continue the rest of the way to the mouth of the tunnel.

He rested his head on the hard ground, gasping for breath. The dwarves are not going to let me die here slowly, aren't they? This is definitely not a good way to die!

***************

They lost the dwarves' tracks at the base of the mountain. No boot prints were visible on the rocky surface, which meant it was not possible to determine the direction that they'd taken. Keldarion had led the group for over a league now. The sun had already risen, washing the woods in beautiful pastel colors. He looked up; his keen eyes desperately looking for further clues to the dwarves, and Legolas's, whereabouts. How can we go on without any more signs to show the way?

Keldarion slapped the base of a tree trunk in pure frustration. This is not what we need! They could not have vanished just like that!

"Kel?" One of the twins called him.

"What?" The Mirkwood prince replied without turning.

"Unless my eyes are playing trick on me, I think the stone of Manya is shining brighter than ever," Elladan said, pointing at the said stone tucked at Keldarion's belt at his waist. Keldarion looked down. Elladan was right, the stone was shining brighter than the last time he saw it. He grabbed the stone and walked quickly forward, closer to the mountain. The shine became even stronger.

"The stone must have caught Legolas's presence, like a homing device of some sort. That's why its glow keeps getting brighter and brighter. Legolas must be nearby..." Keldarion whipped his head about, his eyes busy scanning the area. "…but where?"

**************

Again, Legolas was jerked awake from his deep slumber. Someone had come near. Tilting up his head, he saw the young dwarf that had been staring at him earlier was now kneeling beside him. He mumbled through the gag, asking for the dwarf's help. The young dwarf hesitantly reached down and took off the gag.

Legolas inhaled deeply before he croaked, "Water. Please."

The young dwarf was uncertain at first, but then he rushed away. He returned not much later with a water skin. Lifting the elf's head, the dwarf put the mouth of the water skin at Legolas's dry and chapped lips. He drank greedily, nearly choking himself.

"Gimli!!"

The young dwarf cried out in surprise, so startled he was to hear the sudden booming voice. He immediately released his hold on Legolas's head, throwing the water skin away reflexively. Legolas moaned when his head hit the hard floor.

Tarang came forward, a fierce expression on his face. "What the hell do you think you were doing?!" Gimli stood up on shaky legs; obviously he was afraid of the much elder dwarf. "I…I was just…giving him a drink."

"Who asked you to?" Tarang was glaring at the young dwarf. "You are such a fool! You are lucky that you're Gloin's son or I will…"

"Or you will do what, Tarang?" Gloin suddenly appeared.  He saw the angry expression on Tarang's face and anxiety on his son's. "What's going on here?"

Gimli lowered his head, staring at his feet. "I gave the elf a drink. Was that a crime?" Gloin's gaze snapped towards Legolas who was lying on the ground, writhing in agony. The dwarf chieftain was actually surprised to see how pitiful looking the elf had become, even though he'd been brought here not more than a day ago. Legolas's condition was worsening very swiftly. Even his glow was now fading upon their very eyes.

Gloin reached down to touch Legolas's burning forehead. He frowned when he realized that the elf was running a very high fever. "He's very ill, father. Are we going to leave him like this?" Gimli found the courage to ask, seeing the concern on his father's face.

"The spear…it was poisonous…wasn't it?" Legolas somehow got the energy to speak, though his teeth were chattering uncontrollably and his head felt so heavy like a rock.

Gloin looked the prince over and realized that Legolas's wounded thigh was still not being tended to. "The spear was indeed poisoned, Prince Legolas. I had overlooked your condition and for that I'm deeply sorry. The traps were intended for the spiders, not your kind, and definitely not you." He called for warm water and bandages. "Tend to his wound. Clean it up and dressed it good. I hope it's not too late before infection sets in." Several dwarves reluctantly moved to do his biddings.

"The poison? You also have the cure for it?" Legolas asked, wishing that the dwarves would unbind him. Gloin was silent for a full minute, avoiding from looking directly into Legolas's eyes. "I'm afraid we don't have the cure for the poison, Prince Legolas. We had used the orc's poison, and we do not have the knowledge on how to neutralize it." With that, Gloin walked away, his steps a little quicker, as if running away from his guilty conscience.

Legolas couldn't help himself but groaned. That's just great! What have I gotten myself into? Fallen into a trap, kidnapped by the dwarves, bound and gagged, poisoned and infected wound. What else? Beheaded by this dwarf warrior who can't stop glaring at me, licking his chops?

Tarang frowned in disgust as the other dwarves tended to the prince's injured thigh. Legolas gritted his teeth to prevent himself from making any sound of distress, though the sheer agony from their rough treatment was tearing him to pieces. But when one of them pressed harder than necessary over the wound, he reflexively jerked and struggled earnestly. They worked together to hold him down, one of them even sat on his chest, while another yanked onto his hair and held his head immobile. Legolas yelled in outrage, "Let go, you stupid dwarves! I'll get you for this! Damn you to hell!"

Gimli watched wide-eyed as Tarang grabbed the abandoned dirty rag and tied it once again over Legolas's mouth. "Stay quiet! You're lucky we do not kill you. So return us the courtesy by stop cursing at us!"

Legolas moaned in discomfort, his energy already spent. His limbs were weakening in a rush. He didn't want to, but he felt himself already slipping back into dark oblivion. The last thing he saw was the young dwarf's sympathetic gaze, staring back at him…

TBC…

And that is how Legolas and Gimli first met….