Chapter 13: The Smell of Blood



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*[ ]* - indicated the translation of the Elvish words into English.



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The scream pierced through the darkest corners of the mountain. Walls echoed with the torturous sound and for a moment, all time seemed to stop.

Legolas fell to his knees, blood pouring from his side. He blinked, once... twice... three times. Then, with eyes suddenly full of furry, the Elf hurled himself upon the Orc which had attacked him. The foul creature could not wait to get it's hands on the prince and, the moment they were out of sight of their master, it struck. Without warning, Legolas felt the cold steel of an Orc blade slice into his skin, tearing muscle and flesh, breaking at least one of his ribs in the process. The pain, at first, had been overwhelming, but not it only fueled the Elf's anger, causing him to become an even more dangers captive.

"LUMBRI YRCH!" *[FOUL ORCS!]* he cried, his emotions taking control.

The Orc beneath him died in seconds, having it's throat crushed by the weight of the Elf. The other five looked on in fascination, wondering to themselves how such a being could suddenly turn so violent.

Legolas' own blood now covered the Orc, but he drew himself to his feet wearily and lashed out a leg, catching two of the others off guard and throwing them into the tunnel's side. Another Orc reached for it's dagger, only to find that the Elf now held his own daggers.

"You should have taken them from me when you had the chance." Legolas said, an odd smile playing at his lips, "Now I will show you the true power of the Elves!" With that, he twisted the dagger, cutting his bonds in two, and then twirled them. The remaining three Orcs ran at the prince with incredible speeds, but Legolas was one step ahead of them and, after a brief moment of twisting and turning to keep their daggers from bitting into him, the Elf had decapitated all three.

The last two Orcs, whom he had thrown into the tunnel wall, were unconscious and Legolas stabbed each of them through the throat. He fell back against the wall, clutching his side and gasping for breath.

"So this is how Aragorn felt when he defeated the Uruk-Hai leader at Parth Galen..." The Elf said to himself, quietly, "I must commend him when I return, for such stamina."

He wiped a hand across his forehead and re-sheathed the daggers. The sunlight was near, he could feel it, but he desperately needed to rest. Walking along the tunnel, a hand at his side and one on the wall, Legolas felt for any type of small crack or crevice in the rock. He found one, much to his surprise, that was barely big enough for him to squeeze his injured body into, without getting hurt. There, Legolas covered himself with his Lothlorien cloak, blending into the rock completely. Noone would see him, he was certain of it, not even Saruman himself could see through this Elven magic nor could he detect it.

Legolas smiled to himself, the wizard would be most unpleased when he learned of his escape a second time. But right now, the Elf needed to regain what little strength he had left, and hopefully start off a healing process on his punctured side.

With that, the Elf's eyes glazed over and he fell into dreams.



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Aragorn bent low to the ground and picked up a broken leaf, "This is his blood, unless the Orcs took a second prisoner." The Ranger said, showing Gimli the blood stained foliage.

"Then we're close?" he asked in anticipation.

Legede shook his head, "Nay, the Grey Mountains are still half a days journey from here. But, if we move quickly, we may reach it before sunrise."

"So you're saying we are supposed to find out way there in the dark, Master Elf?!" The Dwarf replied.

"Yes. The sun will be setting in an hour's time, by morning we will come across the fields before the mountains. I suspect an Orc camp to be waiting there, unless they have made their fortress within the mountains itself."

Aragorn, who was in front of the tracking party, turned, "They will not go far into the mountains for they attacked the palace too quickly to be much farther than it's foothills."

"But they could have tunnels." Gimli stated, raising a finger, "Then there is no telling how deep they hide."

"Or how deeply they have taken the prince." Legede reminded.

The King of Gondor sighed, "I have taken that into account, yes. But we cannot plan farther until we reach the stronghold."

And with that, they continued walking. Daylight passed into darkness and evening turned into the dead of night. Still the party walked on, fearing the worse for their friend and prince.

By early morning however, Aragorn stopped the company and they stood at the edge of Mirkwood, looking toward the Grey Mountains.

"There is no Orc camp, but they come and go from that cave, yonder. What do you think, Legede?"

The Elf captain sighed, "It is too risky to attack during the daytime. We must wait until cover of darkness."

"Or another path presents itself." Aragorn said in reply.

With that, the group waited in the shadow of the forest. They breathed not a word, moved not an inch.



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Legolas' mind had been thrown into a most horrific dream the moment his sleep began. Within his mind, he once again saw the palace, his birthplace and his home, and once again it was surrounded in flames. The tips of the bright orange fire danced upon the houses around the palace and Orcs appeared in every crevice, burning their as they went. Legolas saw himself standing atop his own balcony, looking down at the carnage that these foul creatures had wrought. Suddenly, from the path ahead, Saruman walked through the flames. His staff was raised and he shouted words that the Elf vaguely remembered hearing in his childhood...



Angol edhellen mabale gwannad. *[Elvish magic take your leave.]*

A Elbereth Gilthoniel, le nallon si. *[Oh Elbereth Gilthoniel, to thee I cry now.]*

Annon edhellen, edro hi nin! *[Elvish gate open now for me!]*

Alae! Edro i amen! *[Behold! Open the gate!]*



Legolas gasped in horror as the spell of protection was lifted from the Mirkwood palace. Orcs began to flood through the main hall, within moments they had surrounded his chambers. The archer grabbed his weapons, preparing to fend them off but was startled when a dark aura approached from behind. Turning back to the balcony, he saw the figure of Saruman, no longer clothed in white but in black, deeper than the shadows of night. The Elf wanted to run, his inner light trying to shield itself from such a dark power, but to no avail. There was a feeling of falling which Legolas experienced then, and it was only as he spun back around did he notice a huge Orc had torn a gash upon the Elf's back. He could only stare in horror as his life slowly faded and he fell to his knees, all the while the foul creatures around him celebrated. Warm blood reached Legolas' fallen hand as he lay on his stomach upon the stone of his chamber. His own blood's scent filled the room and, with one final breath, his light faded.



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With a gasp, Legolas was startled from his sleep. He found himself disoriented and not quite sure what was happening. However, when he attempted to sit up, his mind reminded itself of the injury he had taken to the ribs.

"Saruman..." he whispered, memory of the past day flooding back into his mind.

The wizard would not perform that spell upon his home, there was no way the prince would ever let him have those words. And, without a second thought, Legolas hurried to his feet and began to run silently down the corridor he had been captured in before.

"I felt the sun from within the mountain." He whispered to himself, "It has to be this way, I am betting the lives of my people on this gamble."

So, the Elven Prince ran on in the darkness of the Grey Mountains, not knowing that he was ever being watched.



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Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1 for this.



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AH! STUPID CAVE TROLLS!

I'm playing TTT for PS2 and I'm having difficulty on Helm's Deep. I suppose I'll just have to try again tomorrow after school.

*shudders*

Which reminds me, I'll try to update this every other day, but sadly there are no guarantees. Though, I don't have much homework, when I do have it, it tends to be very hard. But, I'll try my best just for you guys!



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Reviews:



MaDMageMerlin: Saruman does not die. I talked with my friend for an hour on this over the phone. In Return of The King, Chapter 6, Part II of the book in the chapter Many Partings, it says that the Ents let him crawl away from Orthanc. In other words, he's out there somewhere, though noone knows where. But, he can't cause much trouble without his staff, his magical abilities are limited now to only his voice. However, as I said earlier, some darker power has given him back his magic. That darker power has yet to be revealed but it will be eventually, though most likely not in this story. Also, I've seen it Istar and Istari and I could never really figure out which one it was. But I do think Istari is right. However, till I actually see it for myself, which I may have I don't know I wasn't looking for it, it will stay the same.



laure: The white fruit huh? Well, you're going to develop an even deeper hatred of Saruman before this thing is over. But, if you want an even more gruesome story with Saruman out to kill poor Legolas, check out Lisseyelen aka Lady V's story, Isengard's Captives. Wow, that thing will totally make you cringe!



Elvensong: Thanks! I use Dragon Flame which is a Sindarin and Neo-Sindarin translator and I also use a website. The link for it was up in a different chapter, someone else had wanted it as well, and everything they have is dialogue from the movies!



Goma-Ryu: Wow! You have some Quenya, I can hardly find any of that. I suppose I like using Sindarin better though, easier to pronounce. Also, do the same as I suggested above and go back a few chapters, I told someone in a review what the sites were that I used. I hope it helps!



: And to you, who did not give me a name, here's the next chapter!