Chapter 17

Cloaked in Obscurity

A/N:: I must begin my author's note with a little apology. I am sorry to all of you who had to wait so long for this chapter. It was a dangerous mix of laziness, school, and just plain writer's block that prevented me from posting sooner. But it's here! *Cheers!* I'm so glad… and the chapters will be up a lot sooner, I promise. Special thank yous to Lexilee and Valerie for giving me the motivation to get working. Also, a great thank you to my beta reader, Erika Palad, who never fails to give me ideas… even though I don't use a lot of them ~.^.

Legolas and Middle-Earth belong to Tolkien. I hold claim to nothing but my OC.

***

Legolas took a lit torch from one of the walls and handed it to Laera. "Be careful…" he warned, grabbing a torch for himself.

"Of what?" she asked. Although the cave was dark and gloomy, there didn't seem to be anything menacing about it.

"Just… stay alert."

She threw a suspicious glance at him. "You don't know yourself, do you?"

Frowning, Legolas chose to conveniently ignore her question. He'd rather she didn't know. But how much did he know exactly? He'd only heard stories. Well, he thought, we will find out soon enough.

They walked along the passageway, the firelight of their torches dancing across the stone walls of the cavern, causing eerie shadows to seemingly jump out at them. Shivering, Laera unconsciously groped in the darkness and grabbed Legolas's hand.

He glanced sharply at her and his eyes softened at her frightened face which was illuminated by the light of her torch. Her hand felt so small and cold in his and he could feel her trembling. She should not be here, he thought for the millionth time. But she was there and there was utterly nothing to be done now. Even the doors of the cavern had shut behind them.

There were many passageways and corridors, but Legolas chose his path confidently. Laera wondered if they were lost countless times, but it only took one glance at Legolas to reassure her. Nevertheless, as the two arrived at another fork in the road, she decided to speak up.

"Are you sure you know where you are going?" she whispered. They were alone, yes, but the acoustics in the cave caused noises to be magnified to a startling pitch. She didn't want to notify any beings about their presence.

He glanced down at her and smirked. "No, actually, I am not. I could be leading us to our doom for all I know…"

"Legolas!" she hissed, "I would not jest at a time like this! Now, tell me, are we lost?"

"Well, to be fair, I'm only half-jesting."

Laera's eyes widened and she felt panic rise inside of her. "So, you mean to tell me you are not altogether sure where you are going?" She gazed unbelievingly at the walls that enclosed them. "We're going to die down here."

"No, we are not, Laera," he said quickly, not expecting Laera to react so alarmed. "I am pretty confident about where we are going. I pored over detailed maps before I left Rivendell. Unlike you, I prepared myself for this venture." When she didn't speak, he threw an anxious glance at her. He could see his words did little to assure her. "Are you frightened about being here? I did warn you…"

"I am not afraid," she lied, her voice faltering.

"Then perhaps you can loosen the hold on my poor hand. I have lost feeling in them, you are clutching it so hard."

Looking down, Laera realized that, indeed, her right hand was tightly grasping his. When had she taken his hand? Shamed and slightly annoyed, she snatched her hand away and narrowed her eyes. "If you ever take my hand without my permission again, you will be sorry."

Legolas looked at her for a while before shaking his head.

***

To Laera, they seemed to have been walking for miles when they finally stopped. She then realized they were at another set of doors. Legolas lifted his torch and cast it's light over the runes that were engraved above them. She couldn't recognise what script it was in… they looked like a form of Dwarvish.

"What does it say?" she said, "And tell me the truth this time," she added.

"It says,

'Many come to seek their turn,

Only to be lost in shadow.

Through these doors, the light doth burn,

Bright amidst the darkness 'low.

Heed this warning, valiant knight,

Not many come this far in strife.

A word uttered is to lose one's sight,

Keep reverence for it means your life.'

"Basically it is saying 'do not speak', Laera," he warned.

"It said all of that? Is that not odd… that it rhymes to us although it was written in another language? How is that so, Legolas?" she asked, puzzled.

He paused, beginning to wonder himself. But he shook his head and turned away. "Do not speak," he repeated.

With narrowed eyes, Laera watched as Legolas pressed against the doors, testing their strength. After the first set of doors, he wasn't going to take another chance. Surprisingly, the doors swung easily inward, revealing another room.

Legolas peered inside and turned back to her, pressing a finger against his lips, reminding her that she must remain silent. Then he reached to her, and held out his hand. Without hesitation, she took it and wrapped her fingers over his. Slowly, he led her inside.

The cave was different from the others in such that a shaft of light poured in from an opening somewhere in the room. A translucent column of light was cast upon a small object, floating delicately in mid-air. It was beautiful; the gem shone a dark, ruby colour that glinted and reflected the light across the walls of the cave. Laera couldn't help but notice how small it was. Was this the reason her life and Legolas's were in constant danger? She knitted her eyebrows and was about to voice a question when Legolas tightened his grip on her hand, as if he had read her mind. She closed her mouth with a decisive click.

The two edged toward the bright gem, hands clasped, hearts racing. It was only when they reached it did they discover that the rock floor ended a few feet away from where the gem hovered and continued a few more feet away. Inwardly, Legolas groaned. Now how were they going to overcome this obstacle?

Laera was too transfixed with the beauty of the stone to notice that there was no floor where the gem was. Biting her lip, she stepped forward, hand outreached for the glimmering red jewel.

Legolas barely had time to pull her back. In confusion, Laera finally saw the gaping hole and shrugged her shoulders as if to say, 'oops'. The two stood in front of the gem, both feeling hopelessly distraught. They had come so far only to be stopped by such a trivial thing. Suddenly, an idea dawned on Laera.

Quickly, she began making hand gestures to Legolas who looked at her as if she had suddenly gone mad. Repeatedly, she tried to inform him as best as she can of her plan, her actions becoming more and more frantic.

Finally, realization dawned on his face and Legolas began digging around in his pockets. After a moment, he produced a small piece of lembas and handed it to her with a 'how in the world can you be thinking about food at a time like this?' look. He had thought she was saying that she was hungry. How did he get that from her actions? When he turned away, Laera threw the lembas at him in frustration, smiling in satisfaction when it hit the back of his head. Legolas ignored it and began to pace around the cave, contemplating on what to do.

She knew Legolas wouldn't understand. Besides, he probably wouldn't have agreed to the plan in the first place. When Legolas turned away, Laera backed a few feet away from the hole until her back was against cool rock. Taking a deep breath and repeating a prayer over and over in her head, Laera pushed her body away from the rock and ran full speed toward the gem.

To Legolas, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. As he turned his head, all he saw was a blur of dark green as Laera sped past him. His arms flung out, finally understanding her gestures, in an effort to stop her, but he was too late. He watched as she vaulted over the edge, and flew across the gap. His horror turned to awe as he saw her fingers enclose around the gem, plucking it from the spot where it had rested for so many centuries. But concern edged into his heart as she neared the other side. His breath caught in his chest when she landed --not-too-gracefully-- on the other side, tumbling head over heels.

She lay where she had stopped for a few moments, breathing deeply. A smile crossed her lips when she felt something hard in her left hand. A sense of achievement filled her chest and pushed away all other thoughts. Without thinking, she sprung to her feet and grinned victoriously at Legolas. "I got it!" she called, forgetting the warning. Instantly, she covered her mouth with a hand. "Oops," she whispered, as the whole cavern began to shake.

As soon as she spoke, Legolas closed his eyes and sighed as he felt the growing tremors from beneath his feet. Quickly, he copied Laera's actions, leaping across the gaping hole and unexpectedly crashing into Laera. The two toppled and rolled across the rocky floor, slamming painfully into a wall that stopped their plummeting.

Dazed, Legolas rose, shaken. He then realized that it was not only he that was shaken. Everything was beginning to quake, causing rocks to tumble from the ceiling. Hastily, he grabbed Laera's hand and pulled her to her feet. The two scrambled into a corridor as more rocks, bigger and sharper, began to fall. Legolas barely had time to pull Laera through the passageway before the opening behind them was sealed with rocks.

"That… was exciting," Laera gasped. She smiled innocently at Legolas who hid his anger by turning away and grabbing a new torch from the wall. They had left theirs in the cave.

"You must be the most heedless, stupid Elven woman in all of Middle-Earth," he said in a low voice.

"There is no need for name-calling, Legolas," protested Laera, genuinely surprised and almost hurt at his tone. "I have it. We now have to gem."

He turned to her with flashing eyes. "It was not the gem that was afraid for, Laera! Why, you could have gotten killed!"

"But I didn't!" she pointed out, her voice beginning to rise. "Thanks to me, we can now go home."

He looked at her disbelievingly. So she didn't know? "You are right," he muttered, handing her a torch. "You are safe now, I suppose. Our only problem now is getting out of this cavern."

"Don't you know?" asked Laera, thankful that he did not seem angry anymore.

He shook his head slowly. "When the earthquake began, I ran into any passageway. I did not stop to think where I was going. My only concern was for our lives."

She swallowed thickly and looked around. "Well, we might as well go this way," she said, walking towards a narrow hall.

"Why that way?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and standing his ground.

She reached for his hand and began to pull him after her. "Do not question me. If we end up lost, I want it to be on my head. I am tired of arguing with you."

"That makes two of us," he said softly.

The two continued on the path Laera chose until the floor dropped away in front of them. Tied to a metal peg that had been driven into the rock was a rope that stretched on into the darkness.

"Let me go first," Legolas said, stepping nimbly on the coarse rope. He turned briefly to her before continuing. "Do not follow me until I call for you to let you know that it is safe, all right?"

She nodded and watched as the light of Legolas's torch was swallowed up by the tangible gloominess. Soon, she was alone. Laera shivered and glanced nervously about her, jumping at every noise she heard. It wasn't a noise, however, that caused her to gasp in alarm.

Something long and black slithered towards her and slid across a foot. She bit her lip, wishing to cry out, but not being able to do so. It was only when the creature bared two fang-like teeth did she lose her composure.

She flung out her leg, whipping the creature into --what she hoped to be-- the farthest reaches of the room and scrambled across the rope, not caring that Legolas had not yet called for her. All that seemed to matter was that she be near him. Because she was blinded by fear and also because she was going so fast, Laera failed to see Legolas who was not yet at the other side. She also failed to slow her steps and, inevitably, she crashed into him, causing both of them to lose their balance.

As the feeling of the rope was lost from under his feet, Legolas instinctively threw out a hand, being able to grip the rope before he plummeted into the dark depths below. Laera, however, was not able to grab the rope in time. Fear giving way to confusion, and confusion giving way to sick realization, Laera's hands shot out to grab something -- anything.

She almost cried in relief when her hand managed to take hold of Legolas's foot.

"I should have known," he muttered, looking down at her.

"There was a creature…" she explained miserably.

Legolas sighed and glanced up at his hands. He had a steady grip --for now. "Well, climb up me, Laera. I cannot very well lift you to safety."

Biting her lip, Laera began to laboriously climb up Legolas's body. Because she never got much exercise, her arms were not very strong and it took her longer than she would have liked. Although Legolas's arms were becoming very sore, he didn't really mind one bit.

Finally, Laera managed to wrap her arms around his neck. There, she chose to pause before continuing. "This is hard," she said, her voice muffled for her face was pressed against his shoulder.

"Well, how about a trade? You hold the both of our body weights while I shimmy up your body."

Laera pulled away from him so that she was facing him. "This is no place for sarcasm."

"Believe me, Laera, I was not being sarcastic. How much do you weigh?"

"Be quiet," she said tartly.

She began to continue climbing up him. Her arm reached out, in an effort to grab hold of the rope, but her fingers slipped, causing her to lose her balance momentarily. But it was enough for her to knee to spring forward, in an effort to regain that balance. She gasped as it made hard contact with Legolas's stomach.

She heard a muffled groan of pain, and she watched, in silent terror as Legolas's fingers loosened their hold on the rope. In the next few seconds they were falling. And as the darkness enveloped Laera, she prayed that Arwen, Aragorn, and the rest of her family lived happily until the time came where the world was to come to an end.