Heh- sorry, nasty cliffy, I know, I know. But you can't exactly BLAME me. I mean- I read Cassia and Siobhan's stuff! *grin*

Okay, responses:

Elfling: Yep! Siri, Sarah_K and I are sisters. We actually don't know Cassia as well as it appears- kinda funny, huh? The way we talk to her, you'd think SHE was one of my sisters too. ;) Yeah, you're right, we just know her off of ff.net, but Siri and I are related. :)

SilvanLegolas: Oh good! You're not dead! You're just- eh…twitching. A lot. ;)

Elfmage: LOL! Well, you can't exactly read my stories and NOT like angst, can you? ;) I'm afraid I'm rather an angst-junkie, so-to-speak. But I'm so glad you're enjoying it! :D

Space Surfer: Do I like to TORTURE you?! What kind of a question is THAT?!….yeah, actually, I do. *grin* I mean- look at all the fantabulous response I get! People I don't know ready to pummel me. Do you know how often THAT happens? ;)

Cassia: *grin* I know when I see the little :o) that it's you. :D Oh, I'm so glad the mysteries not obvious as a dead bug on a clean window- icky. ;) But I sure hope the result fulfils your expectations. :) LOL! I love putting in little lines such as that between Legolas and Aragorn. It's so- MC! :P That's why I read YOUR stuff, remember? Speakin' of which…*wanders sheepishly off to post the review that is now two posts behind* ;)

Chrisalin: LOL! So glad you're enjoying the fic! Yeah, questions will be answered- in time. :D *grin* don't worry, my sisters and I have caught the "nutty review" syndrome too. ;)

Lina: Eomer: Chloe! Where is Lina?! Coulda sworn I saw her go this way! Me: *shrug* I dunno. Eomer: What do you mean you DON'T KNOW?! Me: I think she said something about going- to GA. Eomer: HA! I'll catch her before she gets THERE! ROHIRUM! Me: *grin* yeah, HAVE FUN!…I can't believe I just covered up for…LINA. Ah well. ;) Miss you, girl! Can't wait for you to be back!

ImaginaryWhisper: Oh, I would LOVE to do a cover- but as of yet, I haven't had a chance to make one, though I've a few ideas. I'm hoping to make one before I submit it to MellonChronicles, yeah. :D

Erestor: I only wish I could tell you how much I thoroughly enjoy your feedback! Thank you again! And also- keep on rambling. ;) I know. *sniffle* missed Aragorn myself. :D

LegolasLover2003: Well, according to Erfier, when Aragorn got poisoned, it lasted about two days- maybe a little less. It really depends on how much you got originally, and how soon you get more. But you gotta figure- it isn't going to last very long either way.

Sorry I haven't much time to answer more- gotta get this posted before TOMORROW. ;) Enjoy everyone- this chapter'll be a bit more interesting, I promise. :D

*****

Chapter 12

Into the Forest

Legolas went quickly to the door, Aragorn leaping to his feet behind him. As the prince threw the door open, a young elven maiden fell against him, sobbing. As Aragorn approached behind Legolas, his eyes went wide at the crying elf. He looked questioningly at Legolas, who's eyes were as confused as his own.

"Átniir?" Legolas asked, massaging her shaking shoulders. "What is it, what's wrong?"

Átniir continued to sob a bit more, than chocked, "H-he's dead!"

"Who, who is dead?"

"Haithen!" she cried. "Haithen is dead, he's dead!"

Legolas remembered that name… Haithen had been Átniir's brother. The one who had died after the Bengwiil-search Thranduil had sent him and the other elves, including Rastaul on. "Átniir- I know he is dead."

"H-he rode up on his horse, he's full of arrows!" she sobbed, clutching Legolas' tunic and burying her face in his shoulder.

"Sh…" Legolas soothed, rubbing her back.

"Isn't he already-" Aragorn asked quietly.

Legolas mouthed the words, "Go check," and Aragorn nodded and ran to the stables.

"I shouldn't have…s-should have listened, and just done it!" Átniir moaned.

"Sh…" Legolas repeated. "It's all right, it'll be all right."

"No, b-but it's not all right!" Átniir pushed away from Legolas, her eyes wide with fear and further tears. "You don't understand!"

"What don't I understand?" Legolas asked calmly.

"Daurrè!" she cried. "H-he said he'd avenge my b-brother, said he'd avenge Haithen," she whimpered between hiccups. "H-h-he saddled his horse, a-and rode for Mirkwood b-but moments ago!"

Legolas' limbs went cold.

At that moment, the steady patter of feet came flying up the hall, and Legolas looked to see Aragorn running towards them, a gnarled black arrow clutched in his fist.

"It is true," he breathed with a slight cringe. "Haithen is dead. Look." He turned the arrow over, showing a bloodied arrowhead. It was crudely cut, and jagged at the point.

"Yrc," Legolas swore, and Aragorn nodded. "I should have known. There are many, many orcs roaming Mirkwood."

"You must find him, your highness, you must!" Átniir's sobbing jerked Legolas back to her presence, as well as her last piece of information.

"Find who?" Aragorn demanded, looking at Legolas with renewed worry.

"Daurrè," Legolas sighed, pressing his fingers against closed eyes as though in a headache. "He has ridden off into Mirkwood, alone, to avenge-"

"No, no *not* alone." Átniir shook her head rapidly, tears forming in her eyes again. "He said that he could try to keep Daurrè from going. He said he'd go with him if only to bring him back. Oh, your highness, he would have told you- but there was no time!"

"Who?!" Legolas demanded, unable to take Átniir's random mumblings any longer, and tension making his voice harder than it was meant to be.

"Edren, highness!" Átniir wailed, and flung herself on Aragorn, Legolas' harsh tones obviously the cause for the change of comfort. Aragorn patted her kindly on the back, and tried to soothe her, while looking worriedly at Legolas.

"Edren…" the prince whispered. "No. Oh please, not Edren." He turned and met Aragorn's eye. "I must go, Aragorn, I have to. I won't let anything happen to Edren. I can't."

Aragorn nodded readily. "Of course. And I go with you."

"Aragorn-"

"I go with you," he repeated, and in his eyes there was no room for argument.

"Of course." Legolas nodded slowly, and then almost smiled. "Hannon le."

"Ea le govonnen," Aragorn responded with a slight nod, and pulled Átniir off him. "Átniir?" he said kindly. "Legolas and I plan to ride into Mirkwood and search for the both of them. Worry no more, all right?"

Átniir swallowed and looked over at Legolas, who smiled reassuringly and nodded, and then back at Aragorn. "All right," she said, barely over a whisper. "B-be careful? Don't let him…please don't let him…"

"Go rest, Átniir," Aragorn told her softly. "Go rest."

"Hannon le," she chocked out weakly, and turned down the hallway and towards her room.

"I shall saddle Horthor and Lint, and you had best go inform your father we are-"

"I shall saddle Lint," Legolas interrupted. "My father doesn't know the difference between fire and ale anymore. He will not know I am gone." Legolas' voice was slightly bitter, but Aragorn could understand that. After all the battles he'd had with Thranduil, it was a wonder Legolas was still alive. Still, he wondered at the wisdom of leaving without mention to the king, and hoped it was not a decision Legolas regretted later.

"Let us be off," Legolas said swiftly, breaking into Aragorn's thoughts. "We have not an instant to lose."

**********

"Mirkwood looks somehow- murkier since I was last here…" Aragorn mused. His voice made Legolas jump slightly, mainly because neither of them had said more than three words since they'd left the Halls of Thranduil.

"It's the clouds," Legolas sighed. "Mirkwood's been threatened by rain since we got back from Rivendell."

"Hm," Aragorn replied.

Legolas sighed again, and shook his head. "I can't for the life of me figure out which way…" he knelt down by his horse again, and searched the dented earth, Aragorn doing the same beside him. "I think it's only about an hour old…"

Aragorn ran his fingers along the hoof-print's wall. "The dips and curves are still sharp," he murmured, more to himself than the elf beside him. "There is no sign of wind over it…nor dew."

"So what do you think?"

Aragorn nodded. "I think it's either Daurrè's or Edren's. It has to be."

"But wouldn't there be signs of two horses? They are surely riding together, if Edren is going under the pretence of being with Daurrè all the way."

"True, but it is hard to say how many prints there may be. There could be five horses but one set of prints, as long as they were of elven riders. With such light step, and such quick travel?"

"I see your point," Legolas nodded. "Then we follow these prints on."

They rode after the hoof-prints for almost another hour, before Legolas pulled Lint to a halt once more. "Did you hear that?" he whispered urgently to Aragorn.

The young Ranger listened carefully to the air, and shook his head. "I haven't elven ears, my friend, I hear nothing."

Legolas shook his head. "Perhaps I just-" He froze, and this time, Aragorn heard it too.

"Legolas! The Bengwiil…Legolas!"

Legolas leapt off of Lint, and felt Aragorn dismount from Horthor at the same time. The two crashed through the brambles, and after many scratches and cuts, found themselves standing before the source of the voice.

"Prestomin!" Legolas exclaimed, kneeling down by the elven Healer. He was covered in mud and blood, and his arm lay at an unnatural angle to his side. Legolas swallowed hard. It was broken. "W-what happened?" he asked, bewildered.

"Yrc," Prestomin hissed through bloodied and swollen lips. "I went for the Bengwiil, long before everyone else. Just after your human friend was cured of the injuries that unknown elf inflicted on him, I left. I wanted to find that Bengwiil and use it as a cure for everyone." He coughed dryly and closed his eyes in pain. "I was wrong…so wrong…Bengwiil, it is poison, Legolas! It is poison! It burns it freezes and it kills as it brings to life." Prestomin shuddered, and his eyes opened and shut rapidly. "I left Tirniel to handle it all on his own…I s-shouldn't have…I…it is poison…"

Legolas shook the Healer. "Prestomin? Prestomin, lasto beth nin!" But Prestomin shuddered once more, his eyes unfocussed, and then closed. As his body went slack, Legolas let him sink to the earth.

"Hiro ith…ab…ab-weneth." Legolas felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It is not too late for Daurrè and Edren."

Legolas nodded and looked gratefully up at Aragorn. "Yes."

And so they left Prestomin in the growing shadow of Mirkwood, along with yet another piece of mystery.

So yet another hour passed with no one speaking but the wind. At long last, Legolas made his dry throat open, and whispered the thoughts he couldn't hold back any longer. "We never should have told my father what happened. We never should have told him about Bengwiil."

Aragorn too was quiet for a moment, and then he sighed and shook his head. "We couldn't have known. And you were right to inform your father of everything. It is your father who is wrong. Not you."

But Legolas still stared fixedly at his horse's mane, and looked as though he hadn't heard Aragorn. "Bengwiil has ruined everything. So many lives lost, and perhaps more to come. And what is it all due to? Bengwiil and greedy mistakes."

"Legolas, I sure hope you do not blame yourself for these things."

Legolas was taken aback at Aragorn's impatient tone, and turned to look at him. The human stared steadily back at him, and there was a look of almost frustration.

"Legolas, I forbid you-" Legolas laughed, knowing what words would follow, and Aragorn smiled in return. "I am serious, my friend," he said, still smiling. "Do not blame yourself for your father's, Prestomin's, Daurrè's, Anwé and Fenan's, Bodruith's, nor anyone else's mistakes. They are *their* mistakes, and you and I shall try to the death to fix them."

Legolas stared at the ground a feet beneath Lint's saddle, taking in every word in full meaning. At last, he nodded, and gazed back at Aragorn. "Hannon le, mellon nin."

Aragorn only smiled, and turned his eyes back to the forest ahead. "It's so good to be with you again, Legolas Greenleaf."

The prince's smile nearly beat Aragorn's in cheer. "Oh, Aragorn. You have no idea how-"

Legolas' hand went to his bow, an arrow already notched, and Aragorn but milliseconds behind him. But it was too late. With a cry, Legolas pulled the black arrow from his thigh, while Aragorn sent his arrow into the underbrush.

The screech of an orc sent Horthor rearing, and Lint suddenly jumpy. Aragorn leaned forward on his horse to keep from falling off, and patted him reassuringly on the neck. Legolas sent a volley of arrows into the bushes around them, while whispering elvish comfort to Lint, so to calm him.

Aragorn had just settled Horthor back to the ground, when the full barrage of what had been hiding in the bushes exploded into the clearing. Orcs came spilling from the undergrowth, screaming and brandishing jagged knives and gnarled arrows.

Wide-eyed, Legolas shot his notched arrow, and thrust his bow into its quiver, pulling his twin elven knives from his back in the same movement. Aragorn threw the bow he'd been shooting into a slit in Horthor's saddle, and pulled out his sword, thrusting it into a near orc immediately.

Stabbing and slicing, they fought their way towards the end of the clearing, trying to get some space to ride off. Aragorn had taken a knife-point through his boot, piercing his foot, and leaving the offending orc with an anger-driven execution. Legolas had stopped several arrows that had been flung his way, but not unscathed; he had several cuts across his sleeves, and one slice left by an arrow that had swung a little too close to his neck.

But all in all, they seemed to be winning, if they could only escape the piles of orcs by their horses' feet. "Legolas!" Aragorn called over the commotion. "Jump them!"

Legolas nodded and on a mental count of three, they urged the horses to a leap, and flew smoothly over the orcs' heads. As they landed, taking out several more orcs under the beasts' pounding hooves, they both shouted, "Noro lim!" and Horthor and Lint tore off into the forest, hoping to escape the frightening screams of orcs.

Legolas and Aragorn turned in their saddles, and stowing their blades, pulled out bows and arrows once more. Volley after volley flew into the orcs running behind them, until they could no longer see any in their wake, but dead ones.

Aragorn was about to turn back to face the upcoming forest, when Horthor reared up and screamed in fear. "Horthor! Ea na gwiil!" Aragorn cried, leaning over to calm the horse. But as Horthor's feet hit the ground again, his legs crumpled beneath him, and he sank to the forest floor, throwing Aragorn off his back and sprawling backwards onto the ground as well.

"Aragorn!" Legolas leapt off his horse, and ran to his friend's side. Aragorn rolled over, and worked his way to his knees.

"Ea mae im," he murmured dazedly.

//I am well.//

Legolas went to Horthor's side next, and searched the horse for an explanation for his strange behavior. "Salab?" he said, curiously inspecting the darts he pulled from the horse's chest and rump.

"Where would orcs get Salab darts?" Aragorn asked, looking around the clearing for a sign of activity. There didn't appear to be anyone…

Legolas looked up as well, searching the surrounding undergrowth once more. "Perhaps there-" in a lightening move, he notched an arrow and shot it into the bushes. After a piercing scream, a filthy orc tumbled from the bushes, what looked like a tiny crossbow clutched in his hand.

Legolas ran forward to grab the tiny crossbow, knowing it was a Salab dart bow, but just as he approached, the bushes seemed to rip apart before him, and another hoard of orcs came bursting forward. Legolas ran backwards, shooting arrows as he ran, until he was standing back-to-back with Aragorn.

The two stood together, shooting arrows in every direction possible, until a particularity big orc came hurtling towards them, a fire-arrow strung in his tree-like bow.

"Get down!" Legolas cried, turning to pull Aragorn out of the way of the flaming arrow. It hit a tree not far behind them, and as the two friends stood up again, the tree came crashing towards them, its dead bark crackling with the flames.

Aragorn leapt one way, Legolas tore the other, and the flaming tree fell where they'd once stood. Aragorn stood up, and bit back the panic of having a flaming tree between him and his friend. Stowing his bow, he unsheathed his sword, and headed for the oncoming orcs.

Legolas too was a bit worried for his friend being that far away from him, but he hadn't the time to call out to him. Putting his bow away as well, he pulled out his elven knives, and began swinging at the orcs around them.

Aragorn backed away from the five orcs trying to surround him, thrusting out with his swords as he went. With as quick a movement as he was capable of, he flew at three of them, and took them down, stabbing all the way. But he hadn't accounted for the other two having presence of mind enough to attack him while he did this.

He felt one fling onto his back, and the other rush at him with his knife brandished. Aragorn rolled out from under the orc on his back, just as the filthy beast grabbed the shoulder of his tunic to try and hold him down. The end result was Aragorn coming to his knees with his sleeve torn away. The orc with the knife eyed the scar leading from Aragorn's shoulder to his wrist. That wound that Mornaeg had given him in the tower room so long ago was still healing, and as the orc stared greedily at it, Aragorn felt a shiver go up his spine.

"Dintrok!" the orc cried, whirling about to where several more orcs came rushing up. "Hold the human! He is *mine*!"

Aragorn thrust his sword forward, aiming for the one with the knife, but another orc stood in front of that one, and Aragorn's sword went straight through him. The orc coughed black blood, and leered. Aragorn tried to pull his sword out, but it had gone straight through him, and appeared to be stuck.

The human let go of it and went for his knife instead, but the orc that had been on his back, as well as several new ones, leapt onto him, and drove him to the ground. The one with the knife sprinted forward, and clutched his weapon, staring hungrily down at Aragorn. The young Ranger struggled to get out from under the pile of orcs holding him down, but the one with the knife was quicker.

Legolas took two orcs down at once, and leapt over them for a third. He'd been doing pretty well, but the nagging thought that Aragorn was alone on the other side of the clearing still worried him. He jumped high, and landed on an orc's head, smashing him into the churned-up mud and knocking down one of his companions as well.

A cry of agony rent the air, and everyone, even the orcs, paused a moment. "Aragorn!" Legolas tore across the clearing, the orcs crying with glee in his wake. To his bewilderment, they ran ahead of him instead of attacking him from behind. They ran as though they didn't want to miss something really special.

"Not another step, elf!" Legolas froze in his tracks, his eyes wide with horror.

Aragorn was on his knees, holding himself up with one arm. His other arm was being pinned behind him, and was bleeding freely. Legolas shuddered. The evil beasts had reopened his wound.

Three orcs stood about him. Two held his arm painfully behind him and the third held his stringy hair with one hand and dagger pointed to his throat with the other. "Not another step," he repeated. "I *will* kill him, if I have the excuse."

"What do you want?!" Legolas demanded, pain making his voice angry.

The orc grinned, showing spiky and rotted teeth. "Your cooperation."

"What do you want," Legolas repeated dangerously.

"I want you to put all your weapons on the ground."

Legolas gritted his teeth, but not wanting to play games with Aragorn's life, reached to his shoulder and undid the strap to his quiver in which his bow, arrows and knives were. Ever slowly, he set them on the ground. Several orcs dashed forward and scooped up the weapons, whispering excitedly.

Legolas had to keep himself from strangling them as the rushed past him. "Now what?" he demanded loftily.

The orc continued to leer, but the look slipped slightly to annoyance as Legolas continued to be the proud Mirkwood elf they knew he was. "Now I want you to answer a question."

"What," Legolas asked, uninterested.

"Why was your stupid, mortal friend, so stupidly easy to capture? Is it because he's stupid, or mortal?"

Legolas felt heat rise solidly to his awareness. He was seriously considering making an about-face and snatching his weapons back, when the large orc who'd had the fire-arrow kicked his legs out from under him. Or at least he tried to.

Legolas sank to one knee, but managed to keep the other from tripping. He was about to spring to his feet again, when with a *THHHONT* burning pain began to spread from the Mirkwood prince's knee to his toes. It took the Salab dart milliseconds to work, and before he could think, the elf's leg was too numb to raise, and it too sank uselessly to the forest floor.

His hand groped for the dart, fighting to pull it out of his knee so the numbness would die off, but just as he did so, his arms were both wrenched behind him. Unwilling to give up without a fight, and hoping the daggered orc had forgotten the upper hand he had by holding Aragorn hostage, Legolas twisted around, only slightly disoriented by his deadened leg, and made a grab for the offending orc behind him. *THHHONT*

Legolas' fingers flew to the Salab dart in his neck, and he tore it out frantically. But it had done enough of its job, and unable to feel his shoulders, he sank limply to his hands and knees.

The orcs piled around him almost immediately, and Legolas dimly felt his arms being pulled behind him once more. He looked up, just barely enough feeling in his neck to do so, and saw several of the foul beasts tying Aragorn's hands behind him too. Now that the daggered one had pulled his weapon away to assist, Aragorn was able to speak. But he didn't appear to want to.

"Are you all right, mellon nin?" Legolas demanded, eyeing the gash in Aragorn's arm furiously.

Aragorn nodded slightly, wincing as his wounded arm was treated callously behind him. "I- I'm sorry, Legolas…" he said at last, his voice audibly chocked. "I didn't- t-there were so many of them-"

"Sh…" Legolas hushed, closing his eyes and creasing his forehead to keep himself from hissing as feeling came back to his wrists, letting him know that the ropes binding him were much too tight. He didn't want to make Aragorn feel even worse. "It is all right, there were too many for me as well. It wasn't just you."

Aragorn nodded, trying to look reassured. "But- well, you put up a good fight, considering there were too many…I- gave up too quickly…but n-not next time…I'll try- I won't let you down again, I- I promise…"

"Aragorn," Legolas whispered sharply, grief creasing his eyebrows together again in a look of the greatest of pity for his friend. "You did well, we were tricked. We were drawn into a trap."

"I- shouldn't have given up…could have tried h-harder…"

"Aragorn?" Legolas was no longer listening to the human's words, but watching him instead. The human was shaking all over, and his eyes were glassy. "Are you all right?"

"I'm s-sorry…sorry I'm a human…I let you- let you down…I…Erfiér." With a gasp, Aragorn's knees crumpled beneath him. The orcs, surprised by this sudden change of events, let go of him, and allowed the human fall limply onto the forest floor.

"Aragorn!" Legolas cried, lunging forward. Several orcs, also surprised but unwilling to be tricked, held tight to Legolas' shoulders, holding him to his still-numb knee. "Aragorn!" Legolas struggled against the orcs. "What have you done to him?!"

The daggered orc stood over Aragorn, and kicked at his still form curiously.

"'That'?" the one called Dintrok murmured in the other's ear.

The daggered orc nodded slowly, and smirked. "So even a mortal…"

"Better then. Much better. But we need a name, he would like that." Dintrok smiled cruelly. "What do we do now, Gamdag?"

The other looked up and searched the forest around him. "The horses!" About two dozen orcs screamed with glee, and took off towards the burning tree, and then over it.

Legolas stared miserably at Aragorn's still body. "If you've killed him…" he whispered dangerously to Dintrok and Gamdag. The two began to laugh mockingly.

"Oh, will the elf attack poor Gamdag?" the orc sneered. "Poor, frightened Gamdag, the tied elf will attack him!" Gamdag stumbled backwards and did a gurgling imitation of chocking, and Dintrok let loose with strangled guffaws. "I suppose then, you'd rather I not do this?" Gamdag sent his booted foot into Aragorn's knee, sending the right leg flying over his left.

"Oh, but can't I do this?" the orc took a step back, and sent his booted heal into Aragorn's cheek, snapping the young Ranger's head to the side.

"Hauta han!" Legolas cried, and tried to push his finally feeling leg underneath him.

//stop it//

"The elf is cruel!" Gamdag hollered. "He speaks a language we orcs cannot understand. Poor, poor Gamdag can't talk to the elf."

"Don't be rude," Dintrok echoed. "What did you say?"

"Hauta han," Legolas repeated, meeting Dintrok's gaze unflinchingly.

"Don't disrespect me!" Dintrok struck Legolas across the face angrily. "What did you say?! What is 'hanta han'?"

Legolas licked at his bloodied lip, and looked Dintrok in the eye once more. But before he had to answer, the panicked whinnying of a horse split the air, and Legolas looked up to find a hoard of orcs pulling a frightened Lint into the clearing.

"We pulled the barbs from the human's horse, but he won't stand!" one of them spat.

"It doesn't matter," Gamdag stepped forward and leered at the white beast. "The elf-horse will be faster. Brog!" The massive orc still standing behind Legolas approached. "Ride the elf-horse with the human. We'll keep the elf in front."

Brog grinned, bearing his pointed teeth, and climbed onto Lint's back faster than the horse could react. But the moment Lint realized what was riding him, the beast began to buck and shake his head. "Calm it!" Brog cried, gripping onto the flowing white mane with his gnarled fingers.

Legolas steeled his jaw, and watched Lint's work with a satisfied glint in his eye. Boiling at the arrogance of the elf, Gamdag made a lunge for Aragorn, his dagger clenched tight in his fist. Legolas, catching this in a split second of horror, jerked his back towards Lint. "Ea na gwiil, sadroner!"

Gamdag stopped, and turned a pleased eye on Legolas as Lint settled his feet uncertainly on the ground. His eyes were wide, and he snorted wildly, jerking his head about, but he kept a careful watch on Legolas, and trusting him, settled a bit.

"There," Legolas said bitterly.

"Well done," Gamdag responded calmly, causing Legolas to grit his teeth. "The human!" he called over his shoulder.

About five orcs crowded about Aragorn, and hoisted him off the ground. They sprinted him easily to Lint, and lifted his unconscious weight over their heads. Brog grinned again, and reached down beside him, wrapping two massive arms around the young Ranger's waist.

In one swift motion, he pulled Aragorn from the other orcs, and settled him so he was sitting in the front. Brog reached around Aragorn's chest, and stretched his dirty fingers through Lint's pure mane. "Ready!" he called, grinning.

Legolas' heart gave a lurch to see Aragorn trapped on that horse with Brog. He looked so small in comparison to the gigantic orc, and his head lolled helplessly onto Brog's shoulder. His eyes were closed, and yet his unconscious face was creased in pain. And blood was dripping from the cut in his cheek to stain his tunic shoulder.

Legolas shuddered at this last sight. He should have said something- he shouldn't have let Dintrok and Gamdag hurt Aragorn. "'Hauta han' is 'stop it'!" it wouldn't have *killed* him to say that!

"On your feet, elf." Gamdag spat the word like a curse as he stood over Legolas' shoulder, and several others were pulling on the prince's bound arms. Legolas got his legs under him, and finally stood up. His knees trembled, and at first, he wasn't sure they'd hold him. But after a few moments, he was steady on them.

"Go," Gamdag hissed blandly, and sent a fist into Legolas' back, almost stumbling the elf. "We've got a long way to walk."