Title: Regret

Summery: When you lose a friend to death, it is tragic, but what if you lost them before you got the chance to say, "I'm sorry." Could you live with that?

Note: Sorry it took so long to update, but for some reason I wasn't able to upload anything for days, so I just never got the chance. However, it's given me time to rethink this chapter, and change it so that it will hopefully make you want to keep reading. I hope you enjoy this, so read on……

Chapter eight

The rain was starting to pour, and it was beginning to stall their journey south. The amount of rain seemed not to bother the two elves who were being forced to walk alongside the horsemen, however, the dunlandings were another story. The weather was obstructing their vision and causing the horses to act up. The whole scenario, with the men trying to clam down their steeds all the while, obsessing about the "blasted rain" as they put it, made both Elvomir and Piong smile.

The elves could not stay joyful for long, when they noticed that Legolas had yet to waken. The sight of their beloved prince, unmoving, and still bleeding from the wounds that were not remotely tended to, was all it took to make their hearts stop. It was bad enough that they had allowed the young son of Thranduil, to be taken captive, but to have him on the verge of death, and helpless in the men's grip, made them angry.

"We have to stop" Aleic informed his captain, "the horses refuse to go any further."

Jevinx paused, he thought about what the man had said, as he scanned the group of men that followed behind him, as well as their newly taken prisoners. The elves were staggering, but not from exhaustion, but from worry. And the man had a good idea as to the cause of that. The limp elf that was riding in front of Hirid, was on death's doorstep, and Jevinx did not know whether he was happy for that or not.

Learning that one of his captives was indeed the Prince on Mirkwood, and Thranduil's only heir, made his eyes light up, and his imagination wander. He could have left him, there in the glen, to die next to the other being, but no, this would be much more fun. Whether the prince would die right away, or be first held for a unthinkably high ransom, he was undecided upon. The only thing he was sure of, was that he had been given a chance to repay the realm of Mirkwood for the pain they had caused his family all those years ago, and that was an opportunity he would not throw away.

"We rest here," he ordered, as he quickly dismounted, "but not for long. Rangers roam these parts. The last thing we need is Elrond's wrath upon us, for killing one of his sons."

The man's words rung hard in the ears of the elves, as he made his way over the steed that Legolas was on. The hillmen, it seemed, feared the elven lord, which suddenly made sense of why they were so eager to leave his lands as quickly as possible. Piong wasn't sure of why Jevinx was cautious about Elrond, but on the other hand, he could not blame him. Lord Elrond was always courteous, and friendly, unless of course he was your enemy. If the Dunlandings were afraid of Rivendell's wrath, then it seems that they had in fact made the biggest mistake they could have possibly made.

"Then you seemed to have done the wrong thing here. For Prince Legolas is like a son to the Lord Elrond, and like a brother to his adopted son." Elvomir mocked, as Legolas' body was lowered to he ground. Even though something seemed to have broken their friendship before their leaving, both elves knew that Estel, and his family would see that justice was served. As well as aid Thranduil in his search for his son, and the missing party

The elf knew he struck a cord in Jevinx, when his eyes fell to the motionless form of the prince, who lay bleeding at his feet. If what the elf said was true, than they would be in more danger than he had thought. Which meant that they would have to be faster and smarter than they had ever been until they reached the small city. There the could hide out, until the coast was clear for him and his men to continue back to Dunland. If Jevinx and his men were going to be the target of both King Thranduil and Lord Elrond's anger, than he decided that he might as well enjoy deserving it.

Ignoring the elf's comment, Jevinx turned to the man to his left. "Have the loud one clean him up." he ordered, as his motioned to both Elvomir and Legolas. They all knew that the young prince was fading, and without some sort of treatment, all of Jevinx's newly thought of plans would be down the drain. He had plans for Legolas, and those plans meant that the elf had to remain breathing. At least for another couple of days.

Elvomir would not object, and the second his bonds were cut, he rushed to the elf's side, and felt for a pulse. It was strong, which surprised him, and even though Legolas seemed to be fighting to stay alive, he was far from able to make any type of escape, but that was the furthest thing from Elvomir's mind. He focused entirely upon keeping Legolas's heart beating.

Piong watched nervously, as the elven guard opened the tattered green tunic, and gently pulled it from the prince's broken body. He squirmed, as he felt the fabric clinging to the gash on Legolas' back. The wound wasn't deep enough to do serious damage, but the skin was becoming enflamed, and discoloured, showing signs of deep infection.

"I need some water, to cleanse his skin," he informed Aleic, who laughed in his face. "No," he answered harshly, giving the elf a hard kick to the ribs, which made Piong jump to his feet, which earned him the same fate.

"Give it to him" Jevinx ordered the man, surprising both his men, and he elves as well. However, Aleic would never go against an order given to him, and urgently when to his saddle and got his canteen. He didn't know why Jevinx was allowing Legolas to even be tended to, but the man had yet to lead them astray, and so he reluctantly handed the water to the elf who was on his knees beside the prince.

The rain was helping with cleaning Legolas' wounds, but the canteen helped immensely. Using his own tunic, Elvomir, tore it into strips and bandaged the prince's two wounds that opened on his lower back and between his shoulder blades. Once that was done, he rolled Legolas onto his side, and tossed Legolas' bloody tunic into the grass, while he tried to pour some of the cool water into Legolas' mouth.

"Will he survive the night?" Jevinx asked, as he reached down and picked up the torn shirt of the prince, and studied it with his eyes as he spoke. Elvomir finally let his eyes drift form Legolas and met they dark ones of the man who stood above him. "He will," he answered, as he too rose steadily to his feet.

Jevinx smiled, "then it seems that you have fulfilled your usefulness to me," he replied with a cock of his head. The look on the elf's face was unreadable, and the men could not see the fear that had suddenly overcame him, however Piong was a different story. The advisor of Thranduil was almost in hysterics, as he fought the bonds that held him to Aleic horse. The animal wouldn't dare budge for fear of the punishment it would receive for it's betrayal.

"Kill him." Jevinx said flatly, as five of the armed hillmen roughly grabbed his arms and pulled him in the direction of the large cluster of trees to the left. Elvomir did not fight them, and even though Piong continued to holler and fought to get to him, he remained silent, and went easily with the men. He could see, from the corner of his eye, that the prince was slowly regaining consciousness, and he knew that unless he allowed himself to be taken, the attentions of their captures, may indeed fall back upon the young royal.

The prince's vision was blurry, and he could feel the intense pain still filling his mind as he lifted his shaky hands up to his face, and rubbed his blood shot eyes. The sounds of angry voices brought him back to reality, and as Legolas opened his eyes, the sight he saw was horrifying. A group of men had hold of Elvomir and were mocking and poking at him, as they tied his body down to the overgrowing roots of a large tree. To his right, he saw that Piong was still restrained, and was helpless to stop it. However, it seemed, that he was free of any type of ropes of chains.

With an almost silent moan, Legolas started to crawl with all the strength he had towards the brutal attack on his friend. Elvomir was refusing to scream, and that only edged on the hillmen to hit him harder with the whips they held. As the blows came harder and faster, the guard could not help but allow a cry to escape his lips. Finally, overjoyed with their victory over the stubborn elf, Jevinx took out a small knife that he had hidden in his boot.

Perching himself on his knee, the captain used the blade to trace some sort of pattern into the elf's chest. Not cutting deep enough to kill, but merely to break the flesh, and allow the warm blood to flow freely from the immortal. Another cry, louder this time was let out, and filled Legolas with enough anger to force himself to his feet.

"You should have killed me" he mocked, as he met the side of Aleic's face with his fist. Having no weapon, the prince was forced to fight without, which he knew to be one already lost.

"Legolas, no" Elvomir and Piong called out together, but it was too late, the men turned their attention back to the young heir of Mirkwood, who immediately fell back to the ground silently. The pain was already unbearable, and it only increased, as two of the Dunlandings dragged him back to the base of a tree trunk, doing so, putting pressure back upon the open wounds on his back.

"Be careful what you wish for, prince." Jevinx hissed, as he ushered for the men to go back to finishing up with Elvomir, before he gave the prince another swift kick to the midsection, causing Legolas to roll over onto his stomach.

"You see, Legolas," he continued, as the elf let out a groan, "I have nothing against you. It is not your fault that you are the son of a murderer. He, and his kind took my father away from me, and because of that, I grew up in a broken home. I promised myself I would seek revenge of him for what he did, and now, fate has decided to give me you. Thranduil will know what it feels like to lose somebody he loves. And if Lord Elrond does in fact think of you as his own, then I guess, he will as well."

The man's statements were being heard, and though Legolas had no idea of what the man was speaking of, he knew that their lives were in great peril. And so, discreetly, he pulled to chain of Mithril, the one that had been a parting gift from Estel the day before their argument, from around his neck. And as he received another kick, it gave him the opportunity to curl himself into a ball, and hide the fact that he was strategically pushing it into the dirt of the ground, so that only one who was trained in tracking would see it.

And with that, the screaming of his long time friend ended, and the silence stopped the breathing of both Legolas and Piong. They had been unable to stop the attack, and again, they had failed another one of their traveling companions. The situation was only growing worse, and from the looks of it, there was still a long way for them to fall.

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To Be Continued…..

Do you all still like it? I hope so. And not to worry, Aragorn will be in the next chapter, which will be up in a few days. Until then, please let me know what you think. Thanks a bunch, see you next chapter.