The Test of Loyalty

Disclaimer: I own nothing of LoTR. Disclaimer always being a useful tool to avoid sues.

Chapter One

The Night

The sky was dark and low, the air was chokey and dreary. Thunder was marching from the distance, roaring. The troops of storm trample the mountains. Rocks crushed down from the cliffs, water rioted to the banks.

Dark hung over the city of Gondor - Minas Tirith.

On the empty street, little candlelight can be seen from the distance. The people of Minas Tirith huddled in their houses with fears.

Inside the Great Gate, the palace of Gondor looks out upon its people. Surrounded by darkness, no longer resplendence.

" Aragorn! Son of Arathorn, bearer of the Star of North! Awake .." Arwen whimpered as the thunder snarled outside.

On the bed, Aragorn half closed his eyes struggles with the twinge in his chest, whose face twisted by pains, hard to blew out even a word.

Gimli was sitting on a chair nearby, afraid to even look at his friend, his head was filled by miseries. Closed his eyes in terror, remembered the horrible scene that Aragorn laid on the floor with blood all over his body and a dagger in his chest.

" Gandalf, is there any hope left?" asked Gimli anxiously.

Gandalf sighed and shook his head in exhaustion, " The hands of king are the hands of healer," he paused for a while, " this is a wound that the king can't even surpasses it himself."

Looked out from the window, starred at the darkness, Legolas shuddered as he heard the words of Gandalf. Slowly he stood up, left the window and fell into his own thoughts.

In the dreadful silence, Aragorn spoke vaguely. There was an abruptly flash back in Aragorn's mind: a fainted outline of a dark shape.

"Traitor ... Traitor .." Aragorn murmured, suddenly opened his eyes.

Everyone came upon, surprised by the words.

"Who's the traitor?!" Gimli asked Aragorn afire with rage, who hated traitors the most.

"Traitor.Traitor." Aragorn kept calling the word with hatefulness and great fears in his eyes.

"But my lord, this is the time to determine the great affairs of Gondor." Said one of the ministers stood beside Legolas, whose name was Scutz. He had a lined and wrinkled face, though he wasn't as old as his appearance, maybe he just too worried about the "great affairs".

"How you dare to ask this question? For this isn't your business." Legolas queried.

"As a citizen of this country. I bet everyone is worrying about the future of Gondor by now." Replied Scutz coldly.

"Alas! Scutz may be right," said another minister, "as we all know, the throne of Gondor doesn't have an heir."

"Then let's find a suitable advisor to manage the realm in this roily time. We have to be hasten, the time is running out!" Scutz "recommended" in a "worrying" voice.

"The Queen could organize the realm herself. Scutz, you needn't be concern about this," said Gandalf silently.

"But, but it is hard for one to work alone. However, even if the Queen." Explained another minister.

"Enough of these. The Queen has her own decisions. Pray manage your own!" Gandalf frowned.

"For this is the tradition." Scutz continued.

"Scutz! I wonder why these business interested you so much?!" Gimli exclaimed impatiently.

"You aren't even our race, so how do you know the laws and traditions of Gondor?" Scutz stared at Gimli with his pale eyes.

"Advisor or not advisor, you should ask the King himself! No one else should involve in this but the King and the Queen. This is a tradition which uses in anywhere of Middle Earth." Legolas said crossly.

"This is neither a good place nor a good time for altercating! For these decisions should made by the King or the people." Said Gandalf in rage.

"Traitor!" Aragorn exclaimed this last word by using all his strength.

Aragorn shuttered. A shudder like cold water went through his whole body like lightning. The last thought swiftly slides over his mind. Aragorn opened his mouth hardly, ".. tr.i. te."

"No!." cried Arwen, she almost fell on to the floor.

Few minutes later, after the last struggle of the king of Gondor, everything fell into silence. But the hatefulness and the fears of death remained still in the king's eyes.

"Traitor! Who would be the traitor! Tell me! Traitor, come out!" Gimli was throwing all his rage and shames on a short bench.

Gandalf was looking at the dagger all over the blood of Aragorn: "The usurper was quite cunning, it's hard to say now, but there'll always be a clue."

Legolas had think over these things for several days. He was concerned about the loyal of Scutz, and most important: Scutz's truth. But it was hardly to see Scutz's real face behind his "not very good mask".

"Hey! My dear friend, what are you thinking about? You seems really different recently," Gimli was sitting beside Legolas in their own carriage on the way back to Mirkwood.

Legolas sighed, "There would be lots of things going on these days," Legolas looked at his old friend, "I was worry about the safety of Arwen the Evenstar and the faith of that Scutz." Legolas murmured to himself.

"Ah, here, finally! Mirkwood!" Gimli said to Legolas.