I can't believe I did this, but I'm posting two chapters today!! I might not be here tomorrow anyway, so enjoy this one till I get back!
When Aragorn woke up the next morning, the cloak beside him was empty. The young man instantly jerked upright, looking around him in a slight panic. Elladan, who was rolling his own cloak several feet away, smiled back at his brother. "He was already up before dawn."
Aragorn frowned. "That early? Where is he now?"
"The burnt cabin," Elrohir replied, leading their mounts to the stream for their morning drink. "He'd asked about how we found him. So I showed Legolas the tree where they hung him, and the cabin where we believe was the place that Thranduil was…murdered."
Aragorn stood up and stretched, loosening the kinks all over his body. Then he began to head for the cabin, thinking of the best way to approach his dejected friend. Reaching the clearing, he saw the prince kneeling in the ground right in front of the wreckage. Legolas was wearing the ranger's spare shirt and Elrohir's spare leggings. The bandage was still wrapped around his head.
Staring at the charred timbers, with a handful of dirt in his tight grasp, Legolas felt so empty inside. His heart had this kind of strange hollow feeling…nothing to feel there anymore. There was no emotion whatsoever on his face, only plain bland and calmness. But despite it all, a fire of great fury was beginning to blaze through his blood and fueling his mind, as he plotted his way to get Mirkwood back from that traitorous Cayel. I've failed you. I've promised not to let this happen to you. Still, I've failed to stop it. I'll avenge your death, father. I give you my word.
"Legolas?" Aragorn had come closer and placed a hand on Legolas's shoulder. The prince looked up, and Aragorn was startled to see the hard glint in the silver eyes, just like blazing steel. Never before had Aragorn seen this kind of look on his friend. The Legolas he knew had changed in just one night.
The prince, now the new king of Mirkwood, stood up. "Aragorn," Legolas whispered back, his throat still swollen and his voice still raspy. He slowly opened his fist to let the dirt fell back to earth. "Dust to dust…and blood for blood. Cayel will fall, Aragorn. I vow to it."
"And I'm with you, my brother. All the way," Aragorn responded. The two friends clasped hands, sealing the pact. Throwing a last glance to the burnt cabin, Legolas followed the ranger back to their camp. He was determined.
I'll get back what's been cruelly taken from us…and father's death will be avenged. I'll do whatever it takes. I swear.
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Cayel sat on the throne, relishing the powerful feeling of simply being there. He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes, a satisfied smile playing at his lips. This is very nice! No wonder Thranduil loved this chair so much! Now it belongs to me!
Then a sudden chaos came from the hall entrance. Cayel opened his eyes and saw both his sons rushing towards him. Several Redwood guards were chasing after them, trying to hold them away.
"Father! What's the meaning of all this?!!" Fardeen, his eldest son, cried out in great confusion and anger.
"Father, what have you done?" Firman joined his brother. His two sons stared at him in disbelief, as they began to see their father in a whole different light.
Cayel stood up and smile. "Welcome my sons! I heard you have just returned and I know you would come and see me eventually. That's okay, guards. You all may go. I need to speak to my sons privately." The Redwood elves then walked out of the hall.
"Why are you doing this?" Firman asked, almost pleading for his father to return to sanity.
"Why, I'm doing this for you, my sons. For you, for your sons, and your sons' children. All for you!!!" Cayel exclaimed, raising his arms dramatically.
"Father, this is treason!" Fardeen grew more agitated. "Have you lost your senses?"
Cayel's eyes hardened and his face clouded over. "I have not lost my senses! I'm taking what's belong to us!" He stepped down the throne and grasped both his sons' shoulders. "The realm belongs to us, the Silvans, not the Sindarins!"
"You are mad! This is Mirkwood we're talking about! We've lived peacefully together for thousands of years! You cannot do this, father!"
"It's already done!" Cayel's face was like a thunderstorm. He was displeased with his sons' reaction. "No one can change it! "
"Father, please. You have to cease this…"
"Speak no more!" Cayel shouted, glaring at his sons. "Either you support me…or get the hell away from here!"
"Father…"
"Get out!!"
Firman and Fardeen looked at each other before they walked together towards the hall exit. They didn't recognize their father anymore. His malicious vendetta had fully twisted him, inside out.
********************
Legolas smiled and crooned to the golden eagle perched on his wrist. Hawkeye squawked back, happy to see his master on his feet again. Legolas then raised his arm and the great bird flew away to reconnoiter the area.
"About this plan of yours, Legolas, do you really think it's going to work?" Elrohir asked as they proceeded towards the Mirkwood palace on foot. They had left their mounts behind; planning to get them back when this was all over…if they were still alive after it was all over, that is.
Legolas turned to his friend and smiled softly, but said nothing. Elrohir sighed. "Right. Stupid me. Why should I even bother to ask?"
"You are stupid, Ro," Elladan commented. Despite the tense situation, Aragorn couldn't help but grin in amusement. Elrohir glared at his twin. "Remind me to kick him later, guys. He's truly getting on my nerves!"
Legolas suddenly stopped. He was staring directly at a thick bush at the base of a humongous tree, right between two small hills. Aragorn and the twins could only watched in puzzlement as their friend walked right into the bushes…and disappeared into the tree!
"Legolas?!" The others were alarmed. They rushed forward. "Legolas? Where are you?!"
The prince's golden head suddenly appeared from among the bushes. He was frowning back at them. "What are you guys waiting for?" he whispered in that still raspy voice.
"Are you by any chance taking a leak…and asking us to join you?" Elrohir grimaced.
Legolas rolled his eyes. "This is the secret way into Mirkwood I've been telling you about."
"You're kidding!" Aragorn exclaimed. "Through that tree?!"
Legolas nodded impatiently. "Come on!"
They followed Legolas through the bushes, albeit reluctantly. They didn't know what to expect, but then they saw a hole fit enough for their body at the base of the tree. They stared at it in awe, marveling at the secret passageway that led into the hill beyond it.
"Oh my…" Elladan gasped in surprise as they crawled after Legolas into the dark tunnel. "How long has it been here?"
"I'm not really sure," Legolas softly replied, leading his friends further inside into the darkness. "Since I was just a small child, I guess. I still remember father telling me about the dwarves they had captured trespassing into our realm, and how father had ordered them to build dungeon and tunnels under the palace as their punishment."
"This would be a great risk to Mirkwood as this secret tunnel is no secret to the dwarves at all, right?" Aragorn asked. "So, what did your father do to the captured dwarves after they had finished building all this?"
"He executed them," came Legolas's reply.
"What?!!"
For a while, there was only silence. In the dark, they couldn't see Legolas's grin. "Sorry, just kidding. My father is…I mean, was not a heartless person. He had let them all go with a warning to never return, under pain of death. The dwarves and us have not been in good terms ever since."
"Until you met Gimli," Elladan pointed out. Legolas smiled. "Yes. Until I met Gimli."
"Who's Gimli?" Aragorn asked. He never met the dwarf that befriended Legolas those hundred years ago.
"My friend, the dwarf. He's the one who gave me Hawkeye to care for," Legolas replied. Then they reached a clearing in the tunnel where the ceiling heightened, enabling them to stand tall on their own height. "Here we are. Let's see if the torches are still here."
"Legolas, I thought woodland elves like you do not like caves and underground tunnels like this," Aragorn said.
"I still don't, but that's not important now." Legolas found the torches that had been put there a long time ago, and he skillfully lighted them. He distributed the torches to his friends. Their light brightened the area. And in front of them they could see three tunnel entrances.
"All right, then. Which way now?" Elladan asked.
"You do know the way, don't you?" Elrohir added.
"I've only been here twice. Once with my father, and the other time was when I got lost for a week," Legolas replied.
"Somehow it doesn't sound comforting to me," said Aragorn.
"Relax, Estel." Legolas led them towards the entrance on the right. "This time if I get lost, I have all three of you for company."
TBC…
P/s : Yes, I know. I still didn't tell you who died in the fire. Keep waiting, guys. You'll know in the end, in two more chapters.
2nd P/s : Does anyone of you have a pic of Legolas at his most cutest and adorable time? Please can you send it to me?