Journey into Darkness
Disclaimer- ~jumps out~ Hi! I do not own LOTR...and if I did...well, that's a very scary thought...~holds up a bound and gagged Legolas~ Yup, that would be scary....
Warnings- I am not going to bother. You know them by now.
A/N- A very huge thank you for my dear friend Adam for going back, reading all my fics, and deciding to be my beta. Hopefully this will vastly improve my writing. It also helps that he's a LOTR fan and has read the Silmarillion quite a few times. Heehee...I'll still welcome any info, and ideas any of you would like to throw my way, though. A huge thank you to my reviewers and those of you who have added me to your favorites list. I am in all of your debts...and damn that's a lot of debt....Elbereth....~sighs~ ^-^x
This is dedicated to Adam, my aibou Kris, and all those of you who have waited so patiently for a Legolas chapter......
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Legolas fought back a hoarse scream. He was jerked to his feet by clammy, warty hands. He felt so weak. As strong as the elves were, there were limits even to their strength. He felt something within him tear, and didn't bother to halt his groan of pain. He glanced at the night sky, his blue eyes misting over. The stars were covered by black clouds. The rain had halted momentarily, and he was grateful. He was beginning to feel extremely waterlogged. He tried again to see through those thick inky clouds to those bright little jewels of hope, and failed. Something within him dimmed a fraction.
Feeling that now familiar swell and tightness in his chest, he choked back his wail of grief and tried to turn his voice to song. All he could manage were some soft squeaks. He cleared his throat and swallowed carefully. Taking as deep a breath as he could manage, luxuriating in the feel of the balmy night air expanding his lungs, he attempted to force himself to calm, and his feelings of paranoid terror to dissipate. One of them loped past him at a light jog, and the smell of old urine drifted towards him. He felt a bit of private amusement as his subconscious registered the fact that he was no longer fully disgusted by the smells his foul captives gave off. He inhaled another hesitant breath, the clean earthen smell of rain underlying the smell of wastes and other bodily odors leeching into his lungs.
When next he attempted to sing he managed a soft melody, made rough by a lack of having used his voice. The orcs glanced amongst themselves and at their fair captive with unease. With a start, the prince noticed that some of the orcs were gazing at him with some sort of emotion, some feeling, within their jaundiced eyes. They looked...trapped. Trapped, and as though they were longing for something? Perhaps it was freedom, the same thing he himself felt. Elves were meant for cages or bonds. They were like any sort of wild creature, as civilized as they were. They thrived upon nature, and despite the fact that Legolas could feel the earth solid, and comforting beneath his light shoes, he was still unable to freely relish in it. Yes, they were caged and longing for their freedom just as surely as the prince was.
Panic gripped him as some part of himself, that natural survival instinct, recognized them. He could see through there grotesque outer forms, and see through to their very souls, and he recognized them. He recognized the essence of their beings. It felt as though their essence was a perverted light. He suddenly couldn't breathe and his song died in his throat. He moved his bound hands up towards his throat, clutching it, clawing at it. The orcs who had bee staring at him looked away quickly. Why was it so hot? He fell heavily to his knees, halting the orcs procession.
One of the larger orcs knelt before him, and cuffed him across the cheek. He fell face forward, the sound of his skin splitting open still ringing in his head. He knew that the raw tissue had split all the way down to the bone. The sting of the exposed flesh was intensified by the cold salty mix of tears and sweat funning down his flushed face. Blood baptized the earth as his face was ground firmly against the earth by the orc. Elbereth! He felt as though his body was burning and he would melt away. He vaguely remembered a spider bite he had acquired on his foot as a child, and the resulting raging fever complimented by hallucination. He had been poisoned then, and he felt poisoned now. He was poisoned by filth, cold, their horrid spoiled food, and foul liquors, and stagnant water that they forced down his throat. He was poisoned every time their cold, pustule ridden flesh touched his. He was poisoned by his lack of faith and loss of hope that he would be freed from this hellish torment. But mostly, he was poisoned by a sickening feeling that he had realized the truth. There was something of the elves residing in these orcs, and that scared him so completely. Were they trying to turn him into an orc? He was living as they would, and why else would they have taken him? It didn't matter anymore. He was too ill and tired to care.
He coughed and tried to push the orc off him. His infected wounds had caught up with his severely weakened body. The orc gripped a handful of his filthy no longer golden hair, and pulled him until he was leaning on his knees. The foul beast sniffed at the wound it had caused on his cheek. and all feelings of familiarity was driven from the prince's mind when it leaned closer. He could feel the sour breath exhaled on his cheek, the feel of cooled pus brushing against his skin, and he could hear his mind screaming at him. Tears leaked from his eyes when he screwed them tightly shut. He bit his lower lip hard. The orc licked the blood, dirt, sweat and tears from his skin with his fat, rough, slimy tongue. Legolas was reminded of a monstrously large, decomposing cat. His stomach roiled. The thing swallowed, and did indeed make a low growling sound like a purr. The orc reached out and stroked his hair away from his face, snarling orders, as he shot out a hand to grip the Elf's throat and pull him to his feet. He barked something in Legolas's face leaving Legolas gagging at the smell of rotten meat on the dark creature's breath. He was shoved forward, and caught himself before he could fall again. He obediently started walking. After all, what else could he do?
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Ok, short I know. I haven't really had the time to crank out really large chapters lately. My inspiration regarding my stories has been coming in short spurts lately. (I can't write on one story exclusively, or I get very bored with it and end up abandoning it.) So, I am working on longer chapters. I'm going to have two weeks coming up in about a week where I can do nothing but write, so I'd like to get a chance to have a few VERY long chapters written up, and typed up so I can have both Adam and Kris beta them. Unfortunatley I won't have access to the internet much during those days. If it makes you feel any better though, I should have time to get out some great chapters, I hope....~sweatdrop~ @-@x Heehee.... Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and remember to review! BTW, saw Pirates of the Carribean again with my friend Dru last friday night. We both fell in love with Johnny Depp and Orlando...again....and we both cursed at Keira (sp?) Knightly as she kissed Orlando...lucky bitch. It was my third time seeing it, but I still get jealous, and all googly eyed at the two hotties...LOL. Well, that's enough rambling from me. Go review please, and tell me how much you loved or hated it and give me some ideas, ok? I'm a little unsure of what's going to happen next.....~grins~
