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It was very early in the morning. Standing in the middle of the palace courtyard, Lord Elrond looked up to the sky. He'd already sensed the eagles' arrival from leagues away.

"Elrond? What is it?" Lord Thranduil of Mirkwood inquired. Elrond turned to the fellow elf beside him, almost forgetting his guest's presence. "It's them…returning home by air."

Thranduil had just arrived from Mirkwood yesterday before midnight. The king was very annoyed that his sons failed to return home on the expected time, so he decided to surprise them before fetching his sons home himself. Instead, he was surprised to find the two princes missing along with the Rivendell brothers.

"By air?" Thranduil frowned, then he understood as he saw the approaching eagles and their riders. Heaving a huge sigh of relief, the king grumbled, "I'm going to kill those boys for worrying me like this! I've already considered sailing over the sea much early to escape their bloody escapades!"

Elrond did not respond though. His eyes were fixed on his sons, especially Aragorn, before rested upon the Mirkwood brothers. One of them was near death, while the others were either badly injured or suffering some other kinds of malady.

 "Father?" Keldarion's mouth dropped open as he saw Thranduil standing right beside Lord Elrond. What is he doing here? Oh, great! Now we're really dead!

As they landed, Thranduil rushed forward to his sons, yelling, "Of all the most irresponsible things, this one really takes the cake! That's it! Both of you are grounded!!! No more…" Thranduil's voice trailed off as he got his first clear look on his sons' condition. "Legolas? Kel…what in Middle Earth had happened to you?"

Keldarion couldn't hold it much longer. Getting down Gwaihir's back, he blurted, "I'm sorry, father! Forgive me. I've failed to protect him again."

Gathering Legolas's limp form into his arms, Thranduil looked up to his elder son and was startled to see that Keldarion was crying. "What happened, Kel?" he asked, softer this time.

Keldarion opened his mouth again to answer…but suddenly, his eyes rolled into his head before he went absolutely limp. The prince would have toppled over and kissed the ground if Lord Elrond didn't reacted quickly enough by grabbing him. The two elven lords looked in dismay at Keldarion's battered and bloody back, and found out that Legolas also had the same wound, though not as severe as his elder brother's. But why is Legolas rapidly fading so?

"The Ringwaith's beasts had attacked us. We are unharmed but Legolas and Keldarion were not so lucky," Elladan told the worried fathers. "To make matters worse, Legolas got bitten by a snake."

"Snake?!!!" Thranduil exclaimed, looking down at the pale face of his youngest son. Legolas's skin was too cold and clammy to the touch.

"We had to hide in the bog all night to evade their attacks," Elrohir said. "That's why Estel is badly freezing."

"The bog?" Elrond stared at Aragorn's shivering form in Elladan's arms.

"The Dark Swamp. And that's not all." Elladan was quite reluctant to continue. "Legolas…well…he…he'd lost the stone of manya."

The two elven lords were even more shock than ever.

Then Elrond took control of the situation. He told his servants to help his sons get warm. Next, he directed Thranduil to take Legolas into the guest chamber. Before he followed them inside with the unconscious Keldarion in his arms, Elrond turned to Gwaihir and his friends. "We are very grateful for all your help, Gwaihir. The boys would not make it if you and your friends had not come to the rescue."

"We could not take the full credit, my lord. Hawkeye had called for our help when his master was in trouble," Gwaihir replied.

Elrond searched for Legolas's pet, but the eagle was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?"

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

When Keldarion came to, he realized that he was lying shirtless on his side and someone was tending to the injuries on his back. He turned to see but hissed in pain as he moved.

"Lay still, Kel," Thranduil ordered as he put some healing salve onto his son's wound. The room was filled with the scent of crushed athelas and tunsil, the common healing plants that Keldarion rarely smelled these days.

"Legolas?" Keldarion asked, sitting up slowly despite his father's protest. Then he saw his brother, lying so still on the other bed beside his. Elrond was tending to him. "Is he going to make it?"

The Rivendell lord looked up from his patient. He had placed the two brothers in the same room so that he can treat them both at the same time. Keldarion would not want to be parted with Legolas anyway. "I can't promise you anything. The venom had spread all over his body. It's a good thing that he'd tied the belt over the bite marks. It had slowed down the venom flow and gave him some time."

"But…?"

"I do not have the antitoxin for the venom right now, Kel," Elrond said, almost resigned. "It takes many days to brew one, and time is what Legolas does not have. All that I can do is purged the poisoned blood out of him and give him some herbs to drink to lessen his pain."

"But it won't be enough?" Thranduil also looked on in worry. Elrond didn't answer. He didn't have to. They all knew that without the manyan stone, Legolas's life was already doomed.

Keldarion and Thranduil watched anxiously as Elrond cut through the swelling skin of the bite marks on Legolas's calf. Black blood immediately burst forth and the elven lord staunched it repeatedly with a damp cloth. The poisoned blood kept flowing out of the cut. Still, Elrond patiently purged and wiped it away, murmuring some healing chants as Legolas writhed in agony.

After an hour, the bleeding stopped. Elrond straightened, quite exhausted. Keldarion had moved to sit beside his brother on the bed, holding Legolas's hand. Thranduil had taken position near Legolas's head, sponging down his youngest child's burning forehead.

"Now we let him rest," Elrond said. "And pray that he's strong enough to fight the remaining venom." After grasping Thranduil's stooped shoulder consolingly, he left the room and headed straight for Aragorn's chamber.

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

Aragorn was pushing against Elladan's restraining arms. "Let go! I want to see him!"

"But you are still not well!"

"I'm fine now! Please. I just want to see if Legolas is going to be all right." He stopped struggling when Elrond entered his chamber. "Father! How is Legolas? How does he fare?"

Elrond sat down on the bed beside Aragorn. He gently gathered the young man into his arms. Aragorn tensed as he got the wrong impression by the gesture. "No! Don't tell me he's dead! Please, no…"

"Be calm, my son," Elrond soothed him as he pulled away. "Legolas still breaths. Now, what is this I hear about you refusing to rest?"

"I feel better already. Please, father. I want to see him."

"There's nothing you can do for him now, Estel. You should rest. You are still shivering."

Earlier, Elrond had instructed his sons to change into dry clothes. Thick blankets and hot soup were also given to the brothers to warm them up. The twins had quickly recovered even though they were still weary. Aragorn took quite longer time, though. He could still felt the biting cold deep in his bone. At least, he'd stopped hallucinating.

"This is all my fault," Aragorn suddenly said, lowering down his head in guilt.

"What?" Elrond and the twins were alarmed by Aragorn's dejected look. "Why did you say that?"

"Legolas got hurt because he was protecting me. The beasts had attacked us because they were after me. I'm the cause to all these troubles."

Elrohir sat down on Aragorn's other side. "That is nonsense, Estel. No one is to blame for all these."

"But these things would not happen if I wasn't there!" Aragorn cried out. "No one would've gotten hurt…or dying. I shouldn't have come along."

"Estel." Elrond called but the human didn't look up. Elrond tipped the young man's chin up until their eyes met. "Aragorn, listen to me. Things happened at their own courses. You are not to blame. It's true; you are one very important person, the future of Gondor and Middle Earth. All of us would do anything to protect you from the dark forces that will come your way. We would give everything whole heartedly to keep you from harm…including our life and soul."

Aragorn stared deeply into Elrond's eyes. "Somehow, I have the feeling that Legolas had already given up his soul for my sake, once."

Elrond visibly flinched when he heard that. He recalled the terrible tragedy that had befallen Legolas over ten years ago. The prince had refused to disclose Aragorn's whereabouts, so he was punished in the most horrible fashion one could ever imagined.

"I am right, am I?" Aragorn continued. "His soul was lost. I believe I was just a child at that time…too young to understand. But I can still remember how Legolas never speak for days and days, avoiding me the whole time. Something had happened to him…something terrible. Now I understand that it was the price he'd to pay for protecting me. Legolas had already sacrificed his soul for me…but his life? No, father. I won't let it. He will not die because of me. I swear to it." With that, Aragorn got to his feet and walked out of the room. He headed directly towards the guest chamber, clutching the blanket that was draped over his broad shoulders in tight fists.

Elladan and Elrohir glanced at each other uneasily, before staring back at their father for answer. Elrond sighed. "He has the trait of a king, that boy," the lord softly said, clearly evading his sons' unspoken question. "He has a sharp mind and very perceptive. He'd spoken just like a true king would."

Elrond sincerely hoped that they would not lose Legolas. If they did, he knew that he would lose his human son too.

TBC…