I can still hear you all scream for that cliffie!! Good, because I'm going to make more!!! Ha! Ha!
@Fairylady : Drop Legolas? That's exactly what it did!!
@Kayo : Like Legolas said, "Oooo…I'm scared…!!!
@szhismine : You got that right!
Okay, read on!
Hawkeye, the eagle saw it all from afar. And he started to follow, pursuing the creature that had his master in its cruel grasp. Meanwhile, on the ground, Aragorn and the elves frantically whistled for their mounts.
"What the heck is the Ringwraith's beast doing out here?" Keldarion said through gritted teeth as he climbed atop his horse after collecting his brother's abandoned weapons. He was greatly perturbed by his brother's safety. Please don't let the beast drop Legolas! Please let him be alive!
"We will find him, Kel," Elladan tried to sooth the worried Mirkwood prince. "Look! Hawkeye is following them. Let's follow him."
Together, they all spurred their mounts and chased after the flying figures that was fading fast from their eyes.
**************
Legolas was totally helpless in the hideous creature's clutch. His body was bent backwards in an odd and painful angle, with one of the creature's claws digging deep into his left ribs. He felt himself bleeding heavily. The agony was excruciating, and the dizzying speed the creature was moving at was not helping any. From his upside down position, he saw the ground blurred fast in front of his vision. I'm going to be sick, Legolas realized in horror. It was such a frightening height, too, about five hundred feet in the air. If the creature dropped him, Legolas knew he would not survive the fall. Ai Elbereth! What have I gotten myself into?
Legolas's hands were empty; he had lost his blades somewhere in the mad flight. Grimacing, he grabbed the claws and tried to pry them apart from his body, but they won't budge. On the contrary, the creature clutched him even tighter. Where is the beast taking me? Legolas started to panic. He began to struggle earnestly, already forgetting that he would splatter to the earth if he fell.
Then all of a sudden he heard a familiar sound; it was Hawkeye's squawk that came louder and louder. Legolas looked up and was startled to see his friend charging at the beast with its sharp beak. "Hawkeye!" Legolas shouted, incredibly worried. "What are you doing? Get away before you get hurt!"
But the eagle ignored him. He repeatedly attacked the shrieking beast, converging wholly on the creature's beady eyes with his sharp claws and beak. Legolas looked to the ground anxiously. They were now flying over a marsh. Legolas blanched. The Dark Swamp! Have we really flown that far? This is not good! I'm definitely doomed!!
Even before he finished thinking that thought, the beast loosened his hold on him. Legolas screamed in great fright as he found himself falling freely to the earth!
**************
"Where did they go? I can't see them anymore!" Keldarion cried out in frustration. He gripped hard on his stallion's mane, trying unsuccessfully to hold back his apprehension.
"I suggest we keep going forward," said Elrohir. "Hawkeye might turn back and lead us to Legolas."
"I pray that you're right," Keldarion muttered. "Valar! My father would kill me for this!"
"No, Kel. I think he'll kill me. Legolas got taken because he was protecting me," Aragorn said quietly, lowering his head in guilt.
"Look, no one is going to kill or get killed, okay! Especially not Legolas. He'll be all right," Elladan jumped in when he saw the gloomy faces of his companions. "He'd escaped death many times before, and I'm sure he's going to escape this one too."
Nodding in agreement, their hope rising once again, the small group rode swiftly towards the direction that they had last seen the flying figures.
**************
It all happened like a slow motion to Legolas. He felt himself falling…falling…falling…and then plunged with a big splash into a deep bog. For a while there, the fall had rendered him senseless. He was incredibly stunned and confused for a full minute. Disoriented, he didn't know which way was up or which way was down, so dark the water was.
Then he slowly found himself drowning, and close to blacking out. He desperately clawed his way up, if it was the right way up, while his chest was about to burst from all the great pressure. Legolas was about to give up when he suddenly broke the surface. He breathed a huge lungful of air, gasping and choking.
Through his blurry vision, he could see that the nearest embankment was only a few feet away. Swimming through the murky water, he grabbed hold of the bank and painfully pulled himself up. Then he lay there on his back with his eyes closed, panting in exhaustion.
Hawkeye landed beside him a few minutes later, squawking in concern. Legolas opened his eyes and stared at his friend. "That was…hmm…very interesting, my friend," he said weakly. "Now I know how it feels to fly."
Hawkeye squawked again. Legolas laughed in return but hissed in pain when the action jarred his wounded ribs. Pressing a hand over the wound, he carefully sat up and looked around him in great despair. The ugly creature was already gone; it might've flown off somewhere after it had dropped him. Dark clouds covered the sky above. All around him was only bogs, swamps and marshes…as far as the eye could see.
Great! I'm in the middle of nowhere! How am I going to get out of here? Legolas looked down to his injury and found it still bleeding profusely. It needed to be healed quickly before he bled to death. His inner healing ability would not be strong enough for such a serious wound. He pushed his hand through the high collar of his tunic, intending to pull out the healing stone of Manya attached to a silver chain around his neck. But to his absolute horror, the silver chain wasn't there!
Ai Elbereth! Don't tell me I lost that stone! Legolas was frantic. He searched everywhere, all over his body but still he couldn't find it. Now he felt like crying. I cannot lose that stone! It's my legacy! It's a part of me! Oh Valar! I cannot lose it! Not now!
He looked at the ground around him, crawling on all fours. Hawkeye only looked on in puzzle. A few minutes after that, Legolas collapsed in full weariness; tears welled up in his eyes. No, I will find it! It must be here somewhere! He glanced at the bog where he had fallen in just now. The chain must've dropped in there!
Lacking all the grace that he used to have, Legolas dived into the water and started looking. But the water was very dark. It was very hard to see. He could only rely on the shining glow of the stone…if the stone was really in that bog.
He repeatedly came to the surface before diving again for almost half an hour when the pain in his side began to weaken him. Reluctantly, he dragged himself back over the bank. Hawkeye was still there, perching on a hummock.
"Hawkeye, now I really need your help," Legolas said between gasps. "Please, go find the others and lead them to me. Can you do that?"
Hawkeye obviously was reluctant to leave his master all alone in the terrible place but he knew that he had no other choice. Legolas would die without help soon. Squawking a final cry, the great bird spread his wings and lifted off, higher and higher into the air.
Legolas stared at his friend until the eagle vanished from his sight…then he passed out…
TBC…