~*~Chapter 2~*~
Legolas' troop had made its way to either side of the cave. With a nod from the Prince they leaped forward and started firing arrows into the dark cave.
Aragorn had barely re-gained consciousness when there were suddenly yelp and cries all about him. He felt a sudden pain as he was hit in the shoulder with an arrow. His own yelp was drowned out by the cries of the orcs. He pulled out the arrow and used it to stab an orc in the back of the neck that had nearly stepped on him. He was still unable to use his right leg so he sat there, hoping he would not be shot again. After a minute or two, the loss of blood from the arrow wound and the infection in the whip cuts that had been left untreated and his wooziness from the vile liquid seemed to grow worse and he slowly drifted once again into unconsciousness.
The elves finally stopped their shooting when the cries stopped and slowly moved into the cave. They quickly checked all the bodies, making sure they were all dead. A sudden yelp from Raenan stopped them all in their tracks. Legolas turned swiftly and ran over to where his friend was. He gasped at the sight.
"Aragorn," he muttered. The human was slumped against the wall of the cave. Legolas gave a cry when he saw the blood running down from his left shoulder and a bloodied elven arrow clutched loosely in his hand. He quickly felt for his pulse and sighed in relief when he found a weak but fast pulse. He could barely feel it but it was there and it was going much to fast for his comfort. His breathing was coming in quick shallow gasps as well. He carefully lifted the human and brought him out of the dirty, stuffy cave with Raenan following closely behind. He realized with a start that the human was stripped from the waist up. He cleaned out the arrow wound and bandaged it. He turned him onto his stomach and winced, the welts along his back were bloody and looked as though they were becoming infected. The elf shook his head sadly and sighed. He cleaned the would with some herbs to bring down the pain and infection and then left him for a minute with Raenan to see if he could find any of the human's belonging's.
When he came back, he had his pack and cloak. Surprisingly his cloak was fine, but his pack was another story, it was torn to shreds, but he managed to pull out a blanket and some lambas bread that the orcs did not like and did not touch. He took a spare tunic from his own pack and managed to get it on the human. Legloas was glad that the young Ranger was still about the same size as he was. After that he pulled on his cloak and wrapped him in the blanket. The cold of the night did not bother the elf, but he knew the man probably found it a bit cold. He rolled up his own cloak and laid it under his head. Then sat back and rested. He did not sleep though; he stayed up to watch the human.
~*~*~*~*~*~
In the middle of the night, the elf was half asleep, well, more like three quarters of the way there; they had not rested much while following the orcs as it was kind of hard to sleep in the bright sun. Being so tired, his senses were dulled and he did not realize that the human beside him had awoken.
- What happened? – Aragorn thought with a start when he saw the elf, then it slowly came back to him, he looked up at the elf and realized that he was asleep. The glazed, unfocused look in his eyes told him that. He moved slowly and quietly, he pulled the tunic out from under his head and laid it where he could reach it. He slowly laid the elf back and pushed the rolled up tunic under his head.
He then lay back on his stomach beside the sleeping elf and pulled the blanket back up around his shoulder, maneuvering it slightly at the side so he could lay his head on it as well, instead of laying in the dirt. He sighed slightly and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
The elf looked over, the quiet sigh and movement had awoken him. He smiled at the Ranger and lay down to sleep, resting a hand on the human's back so
that if anything happened during the night, he would know.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aragorn woke up and was about to stand when he felt the slight weight on his back. He froze, then slowly looked around for something to attack with when he found his gaze resting on his weapons right beside him. He grabbed his sword and, in one quick motion, had it up and under the, now fully awakened, elf's chin. The human saw the surprise and fear in his eye's but
masked it quickly.
- I have only met this human once, and though he seemed kind I was obviously mistaken, - he scowled at the man.
Suddenly the human dropped his sword to his side, his memories of the last day flooding back to him. He stared at the elf with barely concealed fear and surprise, much like the one the elf had before.
That was not enough to fool the elf though. He could see the look in Estel's eyes and calmed a bit, - I probably just startled him. –
As the adrenaline in his system wore off, the Ranger fell to his knees on the ground, using a tree for support. He suddenly felt very sore… everywhere. His head was swimming, his shoulder and leg wounds burned badly and the whip lashes on his back screamed at him when anything touched them.
"I'm so sorry," the man whispered, he couldn't believe what just happened.
The elf calmed down completely, the apology was genuine and he could tell. He dropped down next to him, "Do not worry about it mellonamin." //my
friend. //
"Friend?" Aragorn asked, looking up slowly, he snorted in disgust, "friend's do not threaten to kill each other."
"It was an accident, I understand, I must have startled you, it was my own fault… are you okay?"
"No," the answer startled him when he said it.
Legolas blinked in surprise, he knew the Ranger was a stubborn one… so why did he admit it?
The Ranger looked down at the ground, disgusted by his weakness. How could he admit that? He'd had worse injuries before and wouldn't admit to them, not even to his brothers. Then it hit him, it was that stupid goop the orcs poured down his throat, that 'truth serum' or whatever. It must still be working.
"What's wrong?" Legolas asked, concerned.
Aragorn groaned, "My shoulder and leg burn, my head is making me dizzy and my back, I swear, is trying to kill me."
"Why are you answering me? I thought you were a stubborn one," Legolas said.
"I am stubborn," Aragorn answered, "and those darned orcs gave me some kind of truth serum type thing… and it's starting to bug me."
"We should get you back to Imladris." (Imladris is the elven name for Rivendell.)
"Yes, I suppose so," he sighed.
"Good, can you stand?"
"Yes, barely," he admitted. With that, they began their journey to Rivendell.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The human stumbled and winced. He'd been trying to hide his weariness for a while now and was relieved to see that Legolas was watching him just then and was glad for the noise the other elves were making for once. They were about half way through the high pass. The noise was making the Ranger's headache worse but it hid the sound of his stumble so, for once, he was glad of it.
The elf glanced over at him, he could see the man's limp getting worse and, though he hid it well, he could also see that he winced with each step on his wounded leg. He wished he could get a glimpse of the Ranger's leg but he hid it with his long cloak. Legolas sighed, turned forward again and focused on where he was going. Legolas motioned for Raenan to get onto the man's other side, should he stumble or fall. That way they would be ready to catch him.
In about an hour, the Ranger stumbled again, but caught himself and angrily pushed away the two elves that jumped forward to help him.
"Listen, we should rest for a while," Raenan said softly, he hadn't trusted the human at first but he was beginning to and he knew that Legolas trusted him, so he had decided to give the man a chance. Reluctantly, the Ranger gave in and nodded.
"Adar?" Elladan stood in the doorway leading out to his father's balcony, "what is wrong?" // Father? //
Elrond sighed, "I have been having bad feeling's, I believe something ill has befallen Estel. Though it has been getting better, I do not know whether that is good, or bad."
"I have begun to have those feeling's as well adar," Elladan said quietly, "me and Elrohir both."
Elrond nodded, still staring out into the slowly darkening sky.
"If it would make you feel better," said a new voice suddenly, causing the other two elves to jump slightly, "I can go out and look for them."
"Oh! By the Valar Glorfindel," Elladan exclaimed, "you scared the crap out of us… I hate it when you do that."
Glorfindel laughed, "yes, but I've become quite good at it. I will go out to look for Estel, though, if you wish."
Elrond nodded, "Yes, if you have time."
"Me and Elladan will come to," Elrohir stated from the rooms doorway.
Elladan nodded, "Yes, we will."
"Good," Glorfindel said, "I will go and get the horses ready, you two go and pack."
"Shouldn't you pack as well Glor?" Elrohir asked.
Glorfindel just smiled, "I already have."
Aragorn had already fallen asleep; he did as soon as they laid him down. Legolas had just finished cleaning his wounds and turned to Raenan.
"I do not understand why the orcs wanted him so badly, or to know who he was so bad that they resorted to giving him a truth serum," Legolas finally said the thing that had been bothering him.
"Yes, I've been wondering the same thing," the shorter elf replied, "you should ask him when the orc goop wears off, you don't want him forced to tell you something if he doesn't want to… or you could ask if he would mind telling you first."
Legolas nodded slowly, "I suppose, I wonder if he even knows why."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I think he's waking up Legolas," Raenan called to the elf who was just across the camp, "now's your chance to ask him."
"Chance to ask me what?" the Ranger asked curiously.
"Well," Legolas started, "I was wondering if you'd mind telling me why the orcs wanted to know who you were so badly."
Aragorn sighed, then he glanced at Raenan, "No offence Raenan, but, if I am to tell, then I wish only to tell one at a time, I want to know how Legolas reacts before I tell anyone else."
Raenan nodded and walked away.
"Well," the Ranger started, obviously uneasy about telling the elf that seemed to hate all humans so much, he wasn't sure how the elf would take to him after he found out about his lineage, "they wanted me killed, I do not know who their master was, but he wanted me killed. If you must know I'm…" he paused and glanced up at the elf, then closed his eyes.
"You're what?" the elf asked, looking down at the Ranger on the ground. He knelt beside him and cocked his head to the side slightly.
The man took a deep breath, "as you know, Ranger's are the last of the Númenóreans. Well, I… they are looking for the last of Isildur's heir's."
"Really?" Legolas asked, "Do you know who the descendant of that… man… is?" He sneered slightly at the mention of Isildur's name and the word 'man'.
"Yes," the Ranger said quietly, the sneer was not lost on the young human, "in fact I know him very well."
"Do you?" the elf asked, "Despite the little love I have for his line, we must protect him, as he is the hope of man."
Aragorn looked down, "Yes."
"Do you have any clue where he is?"
Aragorn looked back up at him slowly, "I know exactly where he is."
"Well then, we should find him," the elf started, "I guess."
- I don't like the way this is going, - the Ranger thought, - he obviously has about as much love for my line as I do. -
"Well, if we are to protect him, we must find him, where is he?" Legolas looked down at the human.
The human looked straight at the elf and sighed sadly.
Legolas looked surprised for a minute but covered it, - why is there so
much distress in his eyes? –
"Look, I'm sorry if I said something wrong," Legolas said, resting a hand on the man's good shoulder.
"No… it… it's not that," Aragorn whispered quietly.
"Well then, what's the matter?"
The heir of Isildur took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not willing to see the look on the elf's face when he told him, - how do I get myself into these things? –
"Estel?"
"I'm…" he started, "I am Isildur's heir."
A/N
Niani- Thanx 4 da' review... I'll try to fix it but... I've never really actually BEEN in middle-earth so ya' gotta forgive me if it's a bit too modern.
Lomiothiel- I mean u could hurt the air... wait... that makes no sense... BUT IT'S STILL MEAN! I think... YES IT IS!! I'm confuzled... glad it
intersting:) Peace out!!!!
leggylover03- Evil AND good!? WOW!!!! Special me :) glad ya' like it!
mascara freak- YES!!!!!!! I'v finally hooked someone... well.. someone who's admitting it :):):)
feanen- Ooooooooh... niiiiiiccccccce... :)
LalaithoftheBruinen- Goody! Someone not picky!!!!!!! Some people are to picky... *pouts* -_- I didn't just do that... *Closes door after putting
cat out and releases new bunnies* *glances around room full of bunnies* ... I'm gonna need a bigger room...^_^
lizard13z- *hides sword behind back* I"M NOT KILLIN' NO ONE!!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR!!!!!!!!! :)
Oracle10- *bounces around too* Me hyper too!!!!!!!!! Here's an update 4 ya'!
Thanx again 4 posting 4 me AoD!!!!!!!!!!!
E/N: Sorry this took so long to put up…(runs from the rocks thrown at her) My email died after Ek sent this to me. :P anyway, here you go, be happy!