@Lissyelen aka Lady V : Have fun in your play!
@szhismine : Well, it might happen that way…or maybe not at all. He! He!
@Alkvingiel : Thanks for those pictures! They are funny! LOL!
@purplesmackers : Legolas should be in a mental hospital since the day he was born! Ha! Ha! Yes. Too bad about Jonathan, though. If it was indeed suicide, I wonder what had caused him to take such action.
@Volcanic Plug : I'm sorry, mate. No extra chapters yesterday and today. Forgive me?
@Kayo : That was why Kel was so chagrin. He forgot to put guards on the trees! Silly prince.
I'm glad you like and hate that cliffie so much! Any casualties? He! He! Thank you for those wonderful reviews! I'm sorry I can't reply to it all because I'm in a rush right now. I'm going to be out of town for several days and won't get near any network within that period. So, no new chapters until next Thursday (at least). I know. I'm sorry for keeping you all hanging. I have to go to my granny's house to celebrate Aidilfitri. It is the biggest holiday here in Malaysia, hence the long celebration! Yippee!
Oh, to all our friends in USA, Happy Thanksgiving!
Now, for the next chapter. Still R-rated, guys!
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Keldarion cried out in agony as he was thrown against the slate from the impact. He reached up to steady himself, snatching at Legolas' bleeding palm. His brother's wide and stricken eyes stared back at him in total fear and dismay. As his strength drained out of him in one single rush, Keldarion felt himself slowly slide to the ground. "L…Legolas…"
"No!! Kel!" Legolas screamed through his gag when his brother's fingers gradually slipped from his grip. "KEL!"
The elder prince slumped face down onto the dirt with a grunt, the arrow still wedged in his chest.
"Got you!" Dior made his appearance then, rushing into the cavern and smiling gleefully. He stared down at Keldarion's prone body in satisfaction before he exclaimed, "That should teach you, prince! Now I won this round!"
"Not…yet…you fiend…" came Keldarion's feeble voice. With much difficulty, he valiantly raised himself off the ground to face the smirking elf. Seeing this, Dior reached over to grab the arrow and yanked it out of Keldarion's back in a sharp tug.
Keldarion's agonized scream filled the cavern as he collapsed once more. Legolas cringed at the sound. His tears were flowing in rivulets as he witnessed his brother's pain. I'm sorry, Kel. If I had listened to you, we won't be in such a terrible fix. I'm so sorry…
Dior laughed when he saw Legolas sobbing. "Ooh, what a baby," the elf crooned. He bent down near Legolas' face and stared at the prince's heavy tears with interest. "I wonder how it tastes like." Then to Legolas' increasing horror, Dior's tongue came out to lick at his bloodied and tear stained cheek. Legolas tried to move his face away but Dior firmly held his chin.
"Hmm, it's salty," Dior was murmuring. "But your blood taste so sweet to me."
"Get away…from him…whoever the Mordor you are…" Keldarion was down but he was not out. He had silently taken grasp of his fallen sword and tried to lift it as he faced the evil person once more.
Dior released Legolas and turned his full attention to Keldarion. "Don't you recognize who I am, cousin?"
Keldarion's narrowed his eyes. This elf looked nothing like the Dior he remembered, especially with the missing ear and that scar across his face. But he was not surprise to meet his cousin at last. "Dior," the prince managed to utter through gritted teeth.
"Oh! You know me! Good. That makes my job much easier!" Dior glanced down at Keldarion's left hand that held the sword, and sneered. "Now I'm going to finish what we've started." Without warning, he took out his dagger and stabbed through the prince's wrist. Weakened by his pain and blood loss, Keldarion was slow to avoid his cousin's thrust. Crying out in anguish, he lost his hold on his sword and the long blade fell clanging to the ground.
That made Dior laughed all the harder. He kicked at the prince's sword, sending it flying a few yards away. Then he put the tip of his own dagger against the white column of Keldarion's neck. "Do you know how it feels like to bleed to death?" he asked, pressing the blade harder.
Keldarion didn't dare answer for he could feel the sharp blade digging into his vulnerable throat, drawing blood. On the slate, Legolas was protesting loudly, terrified at what Dior was about to do to his older brother.
Dior's face suddenly changed. "Oh, I love to kill you both right away!" he cried out. "But this party is short one member; your father." He straightened up and glared at the two brothers. "I'm going to lure him here so that the three of you can witness one another's death!"
"Don't…you dare!" Keldarion growled. Slapping the sharp blade away from his neck, the prince lunged for his cousin. Dior back stepped before he swung his foot at Keldarion's head.
"Kel!" Legolas watched in dismay as his brother was flung backwards from the blow to land hard onto his back. Then Keldarion became perfectly still.
Staring down at the unconscious prince at his feet, Dior shook his head. "Why can't you just give up?" After taking another coil of rope from his pack, Dior bent down and began to bind Keldarion's wrists behind his back. Legolas was still mumbling incoherently from the slate.
Dior grinned back at him. "Don't worry, little one. You brother is still alive, but not for long. Let's pray your father gets here fast before his royal highness here moves on to Mandos!" With that, Dior picked up his pack and Keldarion's sword from the ground. Then he turned around and disappeared into the tunnel…leaving the two Mirkwood princes bleeding to their deaths.
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"What do you mean he is not in his room?!" Thranduil shouted in shock anger.
The two warriors that had been appointed as Keldarion's guards gulped and fidgeted nervously under their king's formidable glare. "That's exactly what we just found out, my lord," one of them explained. "Prince Keldarion has disappeared, and he has taken his sword with him. We believe he left on his own accord as we could see no signs of any struggles in his chamber."
The two guards had been so flabbergasted to discover that the crown prince had secretly taken his leave through the opened balcony into the woods beyond. They only realized of the prince's disappearance when they wanted to relay to him the news of Red Star's sudden return. Legolas' stallion had somehow found its way home and came galloping into the grand stable, much to everyone's surprise.
"And, my lord, we found this note on his pillow," the guard spoke again and gave the parchment to the king.
Thranduil took the note and read, his dread mounting with every word he skimmed. "Ai Elbereth! He has gone to rescue his brother!"
The king looked up at Linden beside him and saw the same horror he was feeling reflected in the commander's eyes. "And I thought Legolas is brash," Thranduil said quite shakily. "My eldest son is even worse! Valar! Why didn't anyone see him leave?"
"Because no one expected he would act exactly like his brother, my lord," Linden replied, re-reading the note. "But at least he left us something to trace him with."
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Legolas must have passed out for quite some time because the next thing he saw was Keldarion's face looming above him.
"Legolas?" the elder prince softly called as he gazed forlornly at his brother, saddened to see all the blood covering Legolas' limp form.
Whimpering, Legolas tried to respond but couldn't. He stared with dread at Keldarion's chest wound that was still bleeding profusely. The large bruise on his brother's temple did not look pretty either. Leaning heavily against the slate, Keldarion wobbled on his feet from his quickly draining strength, his face pale and drawn. How he managed to get up and come near to the slate, Legolas had no idea.
With movements that were greatly hampered by pain, Keldarion reached down and took the gag off Legolas' mouth. "Don't worry…brat. I'll…set you free."
Legolas took a deep grateful breath after the thick cloth was taken out. "H…how did you…free yourself?" he asked, his voice coming out in a croak.
Keldarion gave a wan smile. "My dirk…from my boot." He showed the blade to his brother.
"Good…for you," Legolas replied, grinning. Then his face crumbled as he began to cry earnestly. "I'm s…sorry, Kel…I sh…should've listened to you…"
"Come now, brat…none of that," Keldarion soothed his brother, wiping away Legolas' tears. "I'm…sorry, too. I shouldn't have been…so careless myself. Now…I'm going to cut your bonds…and we'll get back home."
"You think…father will kill us?"
"Want to bet?" Keldarion weakly grinned as he began to saw at the rope around Legolas' right wrist. It was not an easy task due to the stab wound in his left hand and the grave injury in his right chest, but Keldarion ignored the agony. He frowned in displeasure when he saw the tiny bleeding marks all over his brother's body. "What exactly…did he do to you?" Keldarion asked, gritting his teeth in fury.
In a faltering voice, Legolas then told Keldarion of his horrible experience in the hands of their cousin. Keldarion could feel his brother still trembling uncontrollably with fright.
"The worst are…the bats," Legolas said as Keldarion slowly moved like an aging man down the slate toward his brother's bound feet. "I thought…they would eat me whole."
Keldarion looked up at the ceiling, saw the flying mammals clinging there, and couldn't help but shudder. He thought he would not get any angrier but he did. Dior was not only cruel. He was crazy. The elder prince clearly noticed the vast amount of blood that his brother had shed. No. Not only crazy. Dior is pure evil!
When Legolas was completely free of his bonds, the two brothers faced another problem; how to get Legolas off the slate without falling onto their faces.
"I feel…so weak," Legolas moaned as he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to get some feeling in them.
"Same here," Keldarion replied, leaning down to wrap one good arm beneath Legolas' shoulders to help him up. "But we can not linger…we must leave."
Legolas nodded and pushed himself off the slate with all the remaining energy he still possessed. But the two brothers' weakened condition did not help matters as they were not able to stop the momentum from dragging them down to the ground. They collapsed on top of each other, cursing and grunting with pain.
Legolas turned to see when Keldarion broke up coughing heavily. "Kel!"
Smiling weakly, Keldarion teasingly replied, "That was…graceful." His face then twisted with pain when another spasm hit him. Legolas panicked when the wound in his brother's chest bled heavier then before. "Kel!"
"Leave…while you still…can..." Keldarion managed to whisper just as his eyes fluttered close. "…I can not…" His head lolled to one side and went totally still.
Legolas was so terrified that his brother had died then and there. "No!" he screamed. "Kel…please! Wake up!" Getting no respond, he placed his shaking fingers on Keldarion's neck and found the feebly beating pulse there.
Without thinking of the consequences to his own life, Legolas quickly put his palm over his brother's wound, forcing out all his healing energy as strong as he could. But the healing process was not running as effective as usual due to his own severe injuries. He managed to stop Keldarion's heavy bleeding but found it hard to close the wound completely.
Feeling the fast waning of his strength, Legolas sobbed in dismay, "Please…no…" He stared through his tears at his palms that were drenched with the blood of his brother and his own.
"Elbereth…help us…" Legolas' eyes rolled upwards, and he crumpled beside his brother.
The torch kept on burning, the bats kept on watching…while the two princes kept on fading.
TBC…
See you when I get back! ^_^