He! He! He! You all like that cliffie, didn't you?
@Abbi Cat: The story of Legolas being kidnapped by the Norsemen can be red in 'Touch Of A Healer."
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Standing outside on his balcony as the wild wind whipped his cloak about him, Thranduil looked up to the dark sky worriedly. The boys still have not returned and the storm is approaching fast. Where exactly are they? How do they fare?
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"Legolas! Hang on! We must not get separated!" Keldarion shouted over the din of the howling wind as they slowly made their way up. Their aim was to get to a small cave they knew situated right over the hill.
Holding tight to his brother, Legolas tried not to get blown away by the vicious gale. The torrential rain had cut down their vision to only several feet. To make matters worse, hail had also come down, hurling pellets of frozen hailstone all around them. Thunders boomed loudly as lightning struck crazily, one after the other. Their path was getting more slippery from the mud and sleet.
"Kel! How much further?" Legolas yelled the question. Unbelievable, but the wind was getting stronger and louder.
"I don't know! I can't see!"
"Are we heading to the right direction?"
"I hope so!"
Then, the inevitable happened. As they climbed up over a ledge, the two brothers heard another horrific sound.
"Landslide!!!!" Keldarion shouted, instantly grabbing his brother against him.
A second later, tons of earth from above came down in rapid slide, dragging both brothers back to the bottom of the valley!
Crying out in terror, they tumbled head over heels among the rolling earth and rubble. Somehow in the confusing chaos, they lost their hold on each other.
Legolas must have been knocked unconscious for several moments. When he came around, he found that he had stopped sliding and was lying face down in the mud. Groaning and spitting mud out of his mouth, he tried to raise himself up but stopped short when he felt intense pain coming from his right arm.
Moving more gingerly this time, he sat up and looked down. His arm looked awkward, bent at an angle that told him it was either twisted or broken. Brushing the pile of earth off his body with one hand, he made further inspection for any injuries. Except for the arm and some cuts and a big bruise on his head, he was not badly injured.
Too bad I can heal everyone else but not myself, Legolas thought ruefully, staring at his arm.
Then he remembered something else. "Kel!!!"
He hastily got to his feet, cursing fluently when he slipped on the slippery ground, and continued calling frantically for his brother. "Kel!!! Where are you?!!!"
The rain was still falling heavily but the wind had let up somewhat. Cradling his injured arm, Legolas made his way through the rubbles and searched for Keldarion. As tears mixed with the rain on his face, he began to imagine the worse fate that had befallen his brother.
"Please, Kel, answer me…" Legolas was crying earnestly now. "Where are you?!!"
Through the blurry range of his vision, he finally saw a limp hand poking out from beneath a fallen trunk of a tree. "NO!! KEL!!! Valar, no!!!"
He rushed to it, stumbled heavily to the ground and got up running once more. He fell to his knees beside the tree trunk and started digging his brother out. "It's all right, Kel! I'll get you out of there! Just hold on! Please, stay with me!!"
It took him several minutes to get the dirt and pile of earth off Keldarion's body by using only his one hand. But when he finally managed to unearth his brother, Legolas found out that Keldarion was far from free. The elder prince was still pinned under the tree. He was not moving and his eyes were closed.
"Kel…" With trembling hand, Legolas reached down and touched his brother's neck. When he found Keldarion's pulse, Legolas heaved a sigh of relief. Keldarion was also still breathing, but very weakly.
"You are going to be fine, big brother. I'll see to that." Legolas gently ran his hand over his brother's mud-splattered face, brushing away the dirt and looked intently for any injuries. He found a big gash at the back of his brother's head and it was still bleeding. Placing his hand over the gash, Legolas forced out his energy to heal it.
A moment later, Keldarion stirred and his eyes fluttered open. "Legolas?"
Legolas smiled. "Well, who else do you think?"
Keldarion made a move to rise but halted instantly. He stared in dawning horror at the heavy tree trunk lying across his middle. "Ah…this is not good."
"I know," Legolas said, putting a restraining hand on his brother's chest. "Don't move yet. Where else do you hurt? Is the tree giving you pain?"
"Not really. I don't think I break anything, if that's what you mean. But I can't move. I'm totally stuck here!"
"Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere else?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine! Just help get this stupid tree off of me!" Keldarion was already pushing at the said tree trunk.
Legolas looked down sadly. "Kel, I wish I can."
"Why not? It will not be too heavy if we do it together. I'll push it up while you lift, and then I'll scoot out from under it."
"I…I…think I broke my arm. I'm sorry," Legolas said softly.
Keldarion brushed the rainwater out of his face and took a good look at his brother. He finally noticed that Legolas was cradling his right arm against his chest, grimacing in pain. "Oh, Legolas. Sorry, I didn't know." He reached up and lightly touched his brother's injured arm. "Well, how bad is it?"
Legolas shrugged. "Bad enough that I can't help you with this bloody stupid tree!!"
Keldarion grinned. "That bad, huh? Well, looks like we're not going anywhere for quite a while. I think we already lost the race to the twins!"
Legolas rolled his eyes. "Kel, it's not funny!"
"Aw, come on, Legolas! Where's your sense of adventure?"
Legolas groaned out loud when his brother repeated the exact words he had said a while ago before the storm hit. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny, Kel. That was totally brilliant."
But Keldarion was no longer listening to his brother. Something else had suddenly grabbed his attention. "Do you hear that?"
"Oh, great. What now?" Legolas also listened intently. Then he heard it; the thunderous sound of rushing water. Legolas looked around and realized that they were very near to the stream that ran through the valley.
"Oh, no. Flash flood from upstream," Legolas uttered in horror.
TBC…
Evil cliffie from Moria!!! Yes!!!
