Chapter 16: The Fading Light of Hope



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



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The group of Elves packed up camp immediately and set out as quickly as their legs would carry them, back to the Palace. Worry had set in Aragorn's face and he feared for Legolas' very life now. Something was wrong, horribly wrong. Legolas' limp body lay on a makeshift stretcher, which the Elves had hastily put together, and it seemed to be deteriorating from the inside out.

The King of Gondor carried the end of the stretcher, his eyes rarely leaving the still form of his friend. Legolas was not completely unconscious, it was evident from the sighs of pain which escaped his lips from time to time. Not only was the struggled breathing of the Mirkwood Prince frightening Aragorn, but blood began to seep through his closed lips to trickle down the side of his face.

"He is dying!" Gimli observed, rushing along with everyone else, at Aragorn's side.

The Man looked to him, "Say not such a thing, dear Gimli. He has not given up and neither should we!"

But Aragorn feared they would arrive at the palace too late and he urged the Elves before him to make haste.

Legede ran beside him, attempting to support the edge of the stretcher, "We near the borders of home, Aragorn." he glanced at Legolas' form, "But I do not think we have the skills needed to heal such an affliction."

Aragorn knitted his brow, "We must try our hardest, Legede. I fear that whatever has physically assaulted Legolas may also do the same mentally. If he is not saved soon, his mind may fall into never ending torment."

The Elf's eyes blinked with understanding, "When we return, I shall send my fastest riders to fetch Lord Elrond from Imladrius."

"Very good." He answered before his concentration was broken by the strangled gasp of the Elven Prince.

Both looked to the stretcher, fearing that it would be their friend's last breath. The afflicted archer's eyes snapped open, as if some horrid nightmare had plagued him in his mind. For a moment, his eyes rested on Aragorn and he parted his lips as if to speak. No sound issued from his throat save a horse whisper which could not be heard by mortal men's ears. Legede however had heard the message quite clearly and he turned worried eyes to Aragorn.

"Speak, Legede. What did Legolas say?!"

The Elf captain struggled to find the right words but he simply replied in Sindarin, knowing that the meaning would be lost in translation.

"E tiri an i peth o i bad. Dago nin si, nu e garen hirin i peth, Aragorn... Na i Valar, dago nin..."

*[He looks for the words of the passway. Kill me now, before he has found the words, Aragorn... by the Valar, kill me...]*



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Aragorn's face paled slightly but he shook his head, "Nay, Legolas... I pulu... I pulu dago le." *[No, Legolas... I cannot... I cannot kill you.]*

At that moment, Legede saw something in the prince's eyes which frightened him and he ordered the Elves to halt. They set the stretcher upon the ground and Aragorn took his friend's head in his lap.

Legolas looked up to him and spoke in the common tongue, "Saruman will gain the opening words and the world will come to ruin. He will conquer Mirkwood first, Aragorn... then spread his darkness across all lands. Everything will be consumed by his evil greed and no good thing will exist in this world..." he gasped as air was taken from his lungs and blood poured from the side of his mouth. After a few tense moments, air returned to his body as the spasm passed. Reaching up, Legolas' hand grasped Aragorn's shoulder.

"His power is strong... Im pulu maeth ha an-uir..." *[I cannot fight it forever...]*

Aragorn fought back his emotion, "You must fight it as long as you can, Legolas. For I will not bring myself to kill you, to take your immortal life. You are a friend and confidant to me, Legolas and I will not let you leave this world so soon before your true time. Remember the sea, mellon nin. I calls to you, you cannot leave this land until you have sailed across the wide sea into Valinor. You cannot abandon us, not now, not yet, Legolas. Hold on! By the Valar hold on!" *[mellon nin - my friend]*

The prince's eyes became unfocused for a moment, and in that fleeting moment the King of Gondor thought he had lost his friend forever. But Legolas' eyes returned to his own and, though his breathing was shallow and ragged, the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.

"Then make haste, Aragorn... before Saruman takes my mind in his hand once more."

The man nodded and once again the group moved on, coming soon to the gates of the Elvenking's Halls in Mirkwood.



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Thranduil was at the gate to meet them, but one look at his broken and bleeding son sent his heart into despair. Though he wore his long woven emotional mask upon his face, inside he was being torn in two. Quickly he ordered that the best healers in Mirkwood be summoned into the palace as Legede, Aragorn, and Gimli laid the prince in his bed.

"What happened?!" Thranduil asked harshly when the task was completed.

The King of Gondor shook his head, "I know not, Lord Thranduil. We found him battling a great evil and, though we won the battle, we thought he was fine. His injuries had already begun to heal themselves and Legolas was nearly as merry and joyous as ever. Then, darkness fell upon him as we spoke and, I fear some foul devilry is at work within his body."

The Elven King paced back and forth, anxious for the healers to come to call but his eyes rarely left his son's bed. Legede had departed at once to send riders for Elrond, but he feared that the Lord of Imladrius would arrive to late.

"All is lost..." Gimli said to himself as he stood near the bed's head, "Aragorn, is there nothing we can do?"

The man shook his head, "The healers are our only hope, Gimli. But Legolas' strength is fading and he may soon be taken into darkness once more. If he loses the battle with Saruman, all will be over."

"Saruman?!" Thranduil exclaimed, turning sharply upon Aragorn, "What has the traitorous white wizard have to do with my son?!"

"My theory about the lost patrols of your army is true, Lord Thranduil. With the help of a band of Orcs in the far north, Saruman the white has returned to power. Some evil gave him his power and, though we believed him to be dead, he has cheated even that fate. What darkness has befallen the mountains to the north I know not, but Saruman has turned your lost patrols into an army of his own and, with that, he attacked the palace. His entire plan, it seems, was to capture a member of the royal family and, from as much as Legolas has told me, this realm is in graver danger than ever. Before he slipped into this state of half wake and half sleep, Legolas told me that 'He looks for the words of the passway.' I know not what that means, but if Saruman gets these words, he could gain control of this entire realm, or so Legolas thought." Aragorn's eyes met Thranduil's and, for the moment, the two had a common understanding.

"Then Saruman has invaded my son's mind in order to gain the words which will break the Elven seal upon this kingdom... If he cannot be pulled from this darkness, I fear the last course of action may be to..."

"Do not speak of such things." Aragorn replied, his eyes now upon Legolas once more, "He ordered me to kill him and I could not. We must not give up our hope, not yet."

"Aragorn's right." Gimli replied, "The strength and will of Legolas surpass even those of the heartiest Dwarves or the strongest Men or the bravest Hobbits. He is an Elf among Elves, one to be sung of in days gone by. As true as anyone ever was, and a possessor of the purest and most caring of hearts and souls."

"Well met, Master Dwarf." Thranduil said, his eyes going to the still form of his son, "But words alone cannot save him..."

Just then, a group of seven healers entered the room and, after ushering out both Aragorn and Gimli, they set to work. Outside the doors of Legolas' room, the two remaining companions stood, each lost in their own thought. While Gimli's mind was on all the good jests he and the Elf had shared along their travels, Aragorn's mind was far more troubled.

He blamed himself for these events and, between prayers to the Valar for Legolas' safety, he wondered what had gone so horribly wrong...

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Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1 for this.



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Reviews:



rogue solus: Hahahaha! Good job on that slaughter... but I wonder, did you do away with ALL the Saruman lovers out there?



Elentari Manwe: He's collapsed due to... something. Most probably can guess it by now, but if you can't I'll talk more about what caused the affliction in the next chapter!



Goma-Ryu: Thanks! I hope this chapter had enough pain and suffering for you angst fans out there.



Silent Angel: I use a downloaded program called Dragon Flame for all my Sindarin. It comes in pretty handy at times, though I have had a little help with some of the word endings from a book I borrowed from a friend. Though I had to give it back, I wrote down some interesting things for the Sindarin Language. It's helped out a lot too! But don't worry, do I look like someone who would kill poor Legolas? Also, thanks for adding me to your favorites! I feel so loved, hehehehe!



Legolassie Kyo(na) Leonhart: AH! *holds her hands up* alright I'm writing I'm writing. Even though I am dreadfully sick today, and yesterday. All I've been doing is watching The Matrix and reading The Two Towers (which I have finished and am now on The Return of The King). But, I supposed (today that is) that I had gotten enough rest, though I'm still dreadfully exhausted, and that I should give you guys the next chapter of this story!



Sailor Gaia: There's a code to shrink the Uruk-hai?! I knew I should have gotten the player's handbook for this game. But, I haven't tried playing it with anyone save for my hero Legolas! Though, I did manage to get halfway through Orthanc before I was felled. Anyway, yeah, my name should tell everyone that I won't kill him. I don't think I've ever killed the main character of one of my stories before, though I've been tempted to many a time. I also haven't watched all the interviews yet, but I have basically memorized Orlando's! *glares at an Orc* 'Back to the pits that spawned you...' Hehehehehe. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story and thanks for the incredibly long review, it made for some good reading! Hehehe...



Lani Lathron: Actually, I was just messing with your mind. I debated if I should have had Aragorn kill him during this chapter but, something in me says that Aragorn could never bring himself to slay his close friend.



Moonfairy2000: Quite a bit more I'm afraid. But don't worry, revenge is to be had in the end!



BakurasGrl66: *watches you fall through the hole in the ground* Have fun! And don't worry, I'll make sure Legolas doesn't pass into the next realm too soon, if at all! Also, I think Orlando wouldn't mind if accidently missed his birthday, as long as you say happy birthday to him! I wonder to myself, or I did on that day, what he did for his birthday. I'm guessing he was busy shooting in L.A. for Pirates of the Carribbean, but I wonder what he did afterwards... clubbing maybe? Who knows!



Brin: I hope this cliffhanger wasn't too drastic for you. I tried to lessen the tension just for your sake! But, you still know little about if he'll be alright or not. Let us just hope that Elrond has a very very fast horse.



EvilPenguinandSharonToggle: Yes, he is a marvelous actor. *watches his scene in Wilde* Especially when he's playing somewhat normal people. *watched him in Black Hawk Down* Of course I do love him as my Elven hero Legolas *watches both The Felloship of the Ring and The Two Towers* Who can't love him as an actor. He's freakin awesome!





MaDMageMerlin: Yep, guess you're gonna have to wait. And I didn't say too much about what's truly going on in his mind. Just wait till the next chapter, it'll be a head trip... literally.



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Author's Note: Well all, I hope you're enjoying this story so far. It has been a pleasure to write it for you. Hopefully, once this story's over (which may still be a while) the sequel will be just as good. To ensure this, I ask you guys to e-mail me with some ideas for what can happen next time!

In the next installment, it's back off to Gondor but there will be big trouble there for Aragorn and Arwen. When Legolas and Gimli get into a fix, who can help them out? Trouble will ensue and old friendships will be rekindled in the land of Gondor. Plus, find out what Legolas truly thinks about ruling Ithilin and the pressures of being a High Elf.

But of course, this isn't for a while, so you guys can just sit back and relax and read on. Of course, there may be some plot turns and twists from what I've originally planned out, but I hope you do enjoy it!

Laters!