Title: Dragonrider - Author: Legorfilinde, Dark Forest Singer - Rating: PG-13 - Summary: The Dark Forces unleash a dragon beneath Gundabad and now Legolas must gain its trust and prevent its destruction of the northern realms. - Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with J.R.R. Tolkien's works, characters, stories, histories, or maps and am not being paid for this piece of fan fiction. I am only using Mount Gundabad in this story because I really like the sound of that word!
Part Twelve
Legolas lost track of the numerous tunnels and warrens as the orcs rushed him along the stone passageways. His head was pounding and he was nauseous from the blood loss and the crack to his skull. When the black soldiers finally pushed him through a final doorway and shoved him to his knees, he was so disoriented that it took him several moments to realize that he was facing the demon Udûn. The dark lord was speaking to a slightly charred uruk-hai, but he could not concentrate on the words and ultimately his head dropped forward onto his chest in a dazed stupor.
Before Udûn could question him further, Erashnâk stepped back and the goblins carrying the cage filled with the shrieking dragon's young burst into the room. Still confined within their iron prison, the squawking hatchlings loudly voiced their fear and distress with deafening mania. The dark lord scowled at the chaotic interruption and Erashnâk cringed.
"I am well aware of the debacle outside," Udûn sneered as he turned back to face the captain. "I observed much of it from the watch tower. At least your men have delivered the Elf to me," Udûn nodded his head indicating the kneeling captive. "What of the dragon?"
Erashnâk averted his gaze from the demon. "As you predicted, my lord, the dragon was lured closer to the mountain by the cries of her young, and I was able to shoot down the Elf, but the dragon's attack has all but destroyed my troops." He chanced a glimpse at his master and then quickly looked away. "I only just escaped before she sent her flames throughout the upper tunnels." He paused again, knowing his next words would not please the demon. "I know not what became of the dragon."
Udûn growled at the uruk's failure and turned his attention on the Firstborn kneeling between two very large and ugly orcs. He marched forward until he was standing directly in front of the pinioned Elf. Without warning, he viciously grabbed the arrow shaft protruding from Legolas' shoulder and gave it a harsh, upward twist and Legolas gasped in agony. His head came up and his eyes opened wide in anguished torment as he tried vainly to quiet his ragged breathing.
"Where is my dragon?" the demon snarled, giving the arrow bolt another hard jerk.
Legolas sucked in another shaky breath through gritted teeth and desperately fought the urge to scream. He slowly looked up at the blurry, wavering image of the evil being standing in front of him and glared at the demon with a bravado he did not feel. "It…is…not your…dragon."
Udûn lunged forward and shoved the arrow shaft deeper into Legolas' shoulder. Despite his best efforts, Legolas cried out at the pain. His head fell forward upon his chest once more as a wave of queasy sickness swept over him. If he had not already been on his knees, he would have fallen there as he felt his body suddenly weaken and go limp between the orcs holding his upper arms. Their hands dug into his flesh as he sagged between them and they cruelly jerked him back upright.
The dark lord nodded his head toward an iron ring dangling from one of the stone columns within the room. "Tie him up," he ordered.
The orcs dragged Legolas toward the stone pillar and then quickly cut away the leather bindings from about his wrists. Each took an arm and lifted the Elf to his feet, securing his wrists to the ring overhead with a pair of iron manacles. After they had chained him to the column, the orcs backed away, slavering with excited anticipation.
Without the support of the orcs, Legolas fell toward the floor, his legs too weak to support him. The metal bands cut deeply into his wrists as his full body weight pulled against them. He buried his face into the side of his upraised arm, raggedly panting and trying in vain to regulate his breathing, but the pain in his shoulder was sending a fire throughout his body and he knew then that the arrow's poison was rapidly coursing through his veins.
Udûn reached for a long, heavy whip and once in his hands, began to fondle the course leather. "I ask you again, Elf, where is the dragon?"
Legolas turned his head to face the dark being and his expression hardened, but he made no reply.
Slowly Udûn extended the whip's tail and began to chant in the Black Speech until the whip turned into a red-hot flame. He drew his arm back and then brought the lash down upon Legolas' back with a brutal crack. The suede of his outer tunic began to sizzle and smoke and then the material burned away exposing the flesh of his back to the flame. Legolas fell forward into the pillar, his fists clenching, and he bit down on the heavy leather material of his sleeve to keep from screaming. His back was on fire and he could feel the flame burning down into his skin.
Legolas' continued silence earned him several more lashes until his tunic hung from his body in burned and torn shreds and his back was crisscrossed with angry red burns and gashes.
"How are you controlling the beast?" shouted Udûn.
Legolas shook his head trying to force the all-consuming pain from his thoughts. He stared back at the demon and compelled his lips to move. "I…do not…control Naurnyar."
Udûn's reply was swift and brutal. Legolas moaned into his arm and the welts marring his back began to bleed. "By what power do you manipulate this beast and sway her from my dominion!" Udûn yelled.
When Legolas failed to answer swiftly enough, the dark lord struck him again and again until Legolas was finally reduced to uncontrollable screams as his horribly abused body shook and convulsed.
Thwarted by the Elf's resistance, the demon angrily threw aside the whip and turned upon his captain. "I will get nothing from this Elf and the dragon has betrayed me."
"The dragon…wants…her young," Legolas gasped. "I…do not… command her."
Udûn glanced back at the Elf with disdain. "I warned what would happen to her hatchlings if she defied me." He pointed at the iron cage. "Now she will reap the rewards of her insolence."
"No…you must not," Legolas began, fearing the dark lord would turn his wrath upon the young ones.
"Silence!" Udûn ordered. He gestured toward the orcs standing to either side of Legolas. "Turn him around so he may witness their destruction."
One of the orc guards scurried over and grabbed Legolas around the chest and roughly spun his torso about. As he did so, the Elf's injured back scraped against the stone pillar. The harsh rock cut into his already bleeding back and he moaned anew. The orc grabbed a fistful of his golden hair and pulled his head up. Legolas winced at the brutal snap of his head and the pain in his scalp as the orc twisted his hair around his fist, holding his head immobile.
The demon came over to the column where Legolas was chained and clasped the Elf's chin between his thin fingers. He gazed into the blue eyes of the wood Elf and smiled malevolently. Slowly he withdrew his hand from the Elf's chin and reached within his tunic, drawing out a small black orb. He held it casually in his left hand so that Legolas could see it.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked.
Legolas did not reply and the demon did not expect an answer. His gaze had already moved from the Elf to the ebony crystal and he caressingly rolled the globe around within the palm of his hand.
Udûn glanced back at the Elf and saw Legolas' glazing eyes start to shut. He nodded angrily at the orc holding onto the prince's hair and the beast yanked upward, pulling his head up farther and stretching his neck back. Legolas gasped in renewed pain and tried to breathe but his taut throat would not accept air.
Udûn moved forward and leaned close to the prince's face. "I ask you for the last time. What have you done to the dragon?" he asked.
"I have done nothing," Legolas choked out.
Udûn snarled his frustrated anger and whirled about to face the iron cage holding the young dragons. He held the black sphere out in front of him and began to intone the fearsome words of the Black Speech.
"Khlaar-izg! Mat, foshân kulkodor-ob. Shuk Utumno-ob, barashul! Azul!"*
The dark orb began to glow with an inner red fire and at the end of the vile speech, a white hot bolt of energy shot from the orb and struck the iron cage and the dragon hatchlings. Legolas watched in horror as the cage and its prisoners exploded into a horrendous fireball of flame.
"No!" the Elf wailed as he struggled against the chains binding him to the stone pillar, but it was too late. The dragon's young were nothing but smoking grey ashes. "No," he whispered as tears filled his eyes. Heartsick and defeated, his energy spent, he once again slumped down and hung limply from the iron ring above his head.
Udûn returned the orb to his inner tunic and turned to face the Elf. His expression was cold and heartless. He glanced at the waiting orcs and waved his hand at the Elf with callous indifference. "Kill him," he said.
The orcs sprang upon the Elf, snatching at the chains above his head and quickly lowering him to the ground. As they seized his arms, the demon abruptly raised his hand.
"Wait," he commanded and the orcs halted in their frenzy over the Elf. Udûn's decree now meant they could not have him and the disappointment was evident upon their hideous faces. "Better yet, chain him to the mountain side like Maedhros and let the vultures have him. Let him serve as a warning to all who would defy me."
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Legolas barely knew what was happening to him as he was literally dragged through the tunnels of the mountain and then out onto the hard rock of the outer ridges. His body was on fire and he could feel the poison fever raging throughout his limbs. The arrow still lodged in his shoulder was continuing to secrete its vile toxin and his ripped and shredded back bled profusely. He was weak and sickened by the enduring abuse and was rapidly losing his hold on consciousness.
He tried to concentrate on his current dilemma as the orcs fastened a heavy iron band to his right wrist. The manacle was attached to a heavy chain that was secured to a large spike pounded into the rock and protruding from the top of the ledge. Once the metal cuff was secured they began rolling him toward the edge of the cliff. Realizing they planned to heave him over the side, Legolas tried desperately to fight back, but in his weakened condition he was no match for the heavily built orcs.
He dropped over the edge and was momentarily weightless until the chain jerked taut and his shoulder was ripped out of its socket by the sudden jolt. Legolas screamed at this new torment and then fell silent as merciful unconsciousness swept over him and he was troubled no more.
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Billowing black smoke and flames could be seen above the mountain peaks as Aragorn and his army struggled up the narrow, rocky terrain of the trail. Strider expertly led the band through the paths in a single file and quickened his step as they drew nearer to the slopes adjacent to Gundabad. The stench of burned orc hide rolled over them from the valley below and the ranger knew that a recent battle had been fought here.
As he rounded the last of the crags and entered into the small vale he beheld the harrowing carnage and decisive destruction of a great many orc warriors. The dragon had been particularly thorough in her devastation, for there was not an inch of land left untouched; scattered all about were the remains of charred bodies and lingering fires. Hundreds of orc lay dead and the landscape was blackened beyond recognition.
Aragorn's gaze drifted upward and for the space of a horrifying second, he froze, and then he fell to his knees and screamed out a wail of tortured anguish and ultimate despair. His body sank back against his heels and he rocked back and forth, howling in sorrow and pain.
Tharel saw the ranger suddenly drop to his knees and thinking him struck by an arrow, dashed headlong down the sloping terrain until he reached the young man's side.
"Strider!" he shouted. "Strider! Are you hit?"
The ranger did not answer; he only swayed back and forth, his gaze never leaving the mountain side in front of him. Tharel turned his head to look in the direction of the ranger's glazed stare and his breath caught at the sight he beheld.
"Ai!" he gasped, his hand seeking Strider's shoulder and finding it, clamped down tightly.
He looked back up at the cliff side hoping that what he had seen before had only been an illusion, but it was not to be. The appalling reality of the prince of Mirkwood hanging suspended from the mountain ledge was all too real. Legolas' body dangled by one wrist, brutally encased in a metal shackle and attached to a great iron spike above his head. The shaft of an arrow was plainly visible piercing the Elf's left shoulder. He saw no movement, and from this distance he could not determine whether the Elf was dead or alive, but several large, dark carrion birds circled menacingly above. Even as he watched, one of the vultures landed upon the Elf's bloody shoulder and began to snatch and jerk at one of Legolas' blond braids.
The bird's vile assault upon his friend roused Aragorn to action and he rose to his feet with a seething rage. He brought up his hunting bow and snatched an arrow from his back and then fired at the offending vulture. His blind rage marred his aim and the shot missed wide of the mark, but it served to rouse the vulture from Legolas' body.
By this time Gandalf had pushed his way to the young ranger's side and gazed up in horror at the spectacle of the tortured Elf. He clasped Strider's forearm tightly and murmured close to his ear. "Steady. Draw on your strength, my boy. We will get him down."
Aragorn barely heard the wizard's remarks. He could not to move, nor could he force himself to turn away from the ghastly image of Legolas hanging from the mountain side.
*Hear me! Die, dragon spawn. Orb of Utumno, crush them! Kill them!