Chapter 7 - Bodies In The Water
"Who is it?" came the voice of the king from the bank. The tone of his voice suggested that he did not want to know. Silnan turned around in the water, dragging the cloak of the corpse in the water.
"Nothing but an orc, sire!" Came the reply. The elves around the clearing breathed sighs of relief, apart from the five brothers, who began wading in to the water.
Captain Silnan pushed the carcass of the orc, still studded with arrows, to the side of the pool. When he emerged he was drenched in blood, though most of it was not his own. In the water, elven blood had mixed with orc blood, creating swirls of black and red patterns, staining anybody who went in.
Wading in to the deeper parts of the water, the princes continued looking for Legolas and Aliela, fear growing inside them with every submerged step they took. The king and queen joined them, and then Silnan and his guards waded in after them.
"Where are they?" muttered Nilwethion, "Where are they? Legolas! Legolas! Little Greenleaf! Where are you?"
As the bottom of the pool became to deep for him, he pushed off a muddy shelf in to the middle of the blood stained depths of the pool. As he did so, he felt a hand brush on his leg. He yelped loudly and looked down, but the masses of blood stopped his view.
Taking a breath, Nilwethion ducked underneath the water to get a better view. The water that had been so clear earlier that you could see the bottom from the other side was now dark and misty, and Nilwethion could hardly see a foot in front of him. It was enough. Enough for him to see what he did not want to see.
Floating face downwards was the body of an elf, an orc wrapped around it - most likely to stop it from reaching the surface. Legolas. A few feet away, much closer to the stirred up mud that represented the bottom, was another elf, but this time facing the surface. Her eyes were shut peacefully, radiating calm. Like Legolas, her hair was curling through the water in every direction, blending in with a water plant. Through her leg, a long arrow, finished with a black feather, protruded. The same kind that pinned Legolas' arm to the orc.
The prince struggled to the surface and yelled, "They are here! Legolas and Aliela are here!" Before diving down again.
From under the water, Nilwethion could just about see elves swimming towards the spot where he had surfaced. Within a matter of seconds a warrior of the royal guard joined him, letting out a gasp - or as close to a gasp as you can get under water - as she saw the bodies.
Acting quickly, Nilwethion pointed Aliela out to the guard, and he grabbed hold of Legolas and the body of the orc, still wrapped deathlike around the prince, arrows binding them together.
Fighting his way upwards, Nilwethion burst to the surface again, tasting blood as he opened his mouth to gasp for air. Next to him, the guard surfaced, holding Aliela. Many hands pulled them to the soft and welcoming earth, dragging them out of the water.
The arrows were pulled out of the prince and the maiden quickly, and the orc hacked off from Legolas and thrown on to a pile with other dead beasts of its kind.
Under the water, everything had seemed somehow calm and peaceful, but here chaos had grasped control. Legolas and Aliela had turned a shade of blue, glaring through the black and red blood and were lying deathly still. The queen began to cry hysterically as she grabbed the hand of her bloodstained son as blood from the water mixed with his own blood from his arm and shoulder as they continued to bleed.
"Is he dead?" she managed, her voice horse. Nobody answered.
"I asked if my son is dead! Answer me!" he voice became a scream, still clinging on to the limp hand of her youngest son. Silence fell, nobody wanting to answer the queen in her wrath. The lack of sound began to ring through ears, until it was broken by a cough.
Aliela's body jerked, and she spluttered, water spilling from her mouth. Guards gathered around to help her sit up. Her spine curled and she began a coughing fit, gasping for breath through the chokes.
As she sat up weakly, fits of coughing taking her over, Elrond entered the clearing, led by a worried warrior. Taking in the situation, Elrond strode across the clearing, picking his way over a few dead bodies of orcs, and around the dead bodies of elves.
Kneeling down by the prince on the opposite side to the queen, who was still in hysterics, not taking in anything around her, Elrond put two fingers on Legolas' wrists, checking the pulse. Beside him Oroweth and Thellind knelt down.
"Is he alive?" whispered the eldest, fearing the worse. Elrond looked at him gravely but did not answer. Instead, he began to pound down on Legolas' chest, trying desperately to bring him around. Behind him Aliela had been given a cloak and was crying, almost in the same state as the queen. Blood was still flowing from the leg where it had been pierced by the arrow, but she would not let anybody near it.
At last, Elrond gave up hope on the prince and turned sadly to the king. Just as he opened his mouth, what could be counted as a miracle occurred.
Prince Legolas heaved in a breath of air and began to choke as Aliela had done a few minutes ago. Unlike Aliela, his eyes stayed firmly shut, but at least he was alive. A smile curled on Elronds lips as he got up and stood back, letting the royal family gather round the prince. He carried on spluttering and coughing for what seemed like eternity until at last, the final cough left his mouth and he opened his eyes. Dazed, he tried to look around, but nothing was focused.
He blinked slowly and then cracked open his lips.
"What . . ." he began, but his mother laid a finger on his lips.
"Shush Little Greenleaf," he crooned, "You are alright now. There is nothing to worry about."
Legolas was not satisfied. He tried to raise his right arm, but cringed and gulped back a moan of pain.
"My arm," he managed, "It hurts,"
"Well little brother, it would do. Three arrows have after all, pierced it, and I am not quite sure what happened to your shoulder. It looks as if it has been bitten!" Astalers voice seemed confident, but relieved. At last Legolas managed to focus on the elf.
"Arrows? Oh . . ."
~~~Flashback~~~
~~~ As the three maids ran away, a shower of arrows hit the water around the two elves trapped in the water. Wasting no time, they took a deep breath and dived as deep down as they could, far away from the splatter of arrows on the surface.
Looking up, they could see the sun twinkling through the surface of the water as if teasing them. The surface was broken again by another volley of arrows, the odd spear blending in with them. An arrow hit Legolas in the arm before he could move out of the way, letting out a burst of blood.
In his sudden an unexpected pain, Legolas opened his mouth in anguish, bubbles escaping and rising upwards, letting the orcs find their position as the pair tried to hide among the weeds.
Another volley came, and one pierced Aliela in her thigh. Her eyes rolled in pain as she began bleeding and she fell unconscious, floating downwards.
A pair of orcs dropped in to the water close by and began swimming towards the two trapped elves.
The prince of Mirkwood had just enough time to be disgusted at the thought of the two disgusting, foul creatures the elven pool before he was attacked.
The first orc, a better swimmer than the other, reach the prince first and raised his dagger - or attempted to. The years of training were not lost on Legolas, and reacting in a flash he grabbed the weapon and twisted it out of the grasp of the orc. Stabbing it in the neck, the first orc fell dead, a surprised look over his dumb features as his body floated to the surface, wrapped up in its cloak. As soon as the orcs on the surface saw it, they began aiming arrows at it, suspecting the body to be that of one of the elves.
Before he had time to think, the second orc grabbed hold of Legolas from behind, unseen. Aliela had been left for dead, drifting by the weeds, unconscious.
Legolas struggled, the dagger still in his hand, but the orc was too strong for him, and he desperately needed to breath. He opened his mouth again, and more bubbles of air escaped. The prince accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water mixed with blood, wriggling wildly in a vein attempted to escape the orc.
As the prince tried to get free of his captor, an arrow ripped through the same arm and in to the orc. Now they were pinned together, working against each other. The blood ridden orc gained the upper hand again, using his weight to push the elf further down in the water, wrapping its other arm back around Legolas' chest, not letting the elf getting another chance of escape.
As the elf thrashed about weakly, he lost grip on the dagger and it floated down, lost in the weeds and swirling mud and pebbles. The orc bit Legolas' shoulder, and the prince at last gave way to unconsciousness, unable to hold on through the mix of agony and need for oxygen.
As he passed out, another two arrows came through the water. One hitting the orc through the eye, killing it instantly while the other went through Legolas' arm, pinning him more firmly to the orc. ~~~
~~~End flashback~~~
The youngest prince of Mirkwood winced in pain.
"I remember," he croaked, "Where is Aliela? Is she alright?"
Nilwethion grinned.
"Don't worry little brother. Your little girlfriend is in a better state than you. No orcs have tried to eat her, as far as we can tell,"
Again, Legolas winced.
"Ow," he muttered, as his nerves began to work again. The pain from the shoulder and the arrows became, again, almost unbearable.
"The pain will not be there long, prince Legolas," said Elrond from a few feet away, "The wounds ought not take long to heal. A couple of weeks at most."
Legolas nodded and sat up, taking in everything around him.
"For now, I think, your first priority ought to be finding some clothes," came the voice of Oroweth, from slightly behind the young prince.
It was then, and only then, that Legolas realised he still was not wearing anything. Turning a very bright red, he grabbed the cloak from Thellind's shoulders and wrapped it around himself, burning up. He realised too late he should not have moved either of his arms so quickly, as the wounds complained loudly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Wasn't I kind? I didn't leave a cliffy with this chapter! Respect and an extra cookie to everyone who guessed correctly that the body in the pool was an orc. Basically, that's ORION and DAW THE MINSTREL.
~~~Review Thingy~~~
DAW THE MISTREL ~~ I don't think that battle scenes are that intimidating. You just don't think too hard about them, and you try to give an overall image, not small details. Well Imlammthien wasn't going to be a warrior queen type character, but she told me what to write with a dagger at my neck daring me to write anything else about her. How could I write anything else?
FIREANGEL ~~ Hehe, best reaction yet. If you want I've still got a couple of nose pegs here to block out the smell of the orcs, but they aren't going to feature for a little while yet.
JUKIA ~~ the floor says hello back, and wishes you would pay it another visit soon. The floor is missing you.
TECHNETIUM ~~ she isn't dead, and this little event is not going to stop any of the princes or the twins from acting like idiots. Sorry, um, being mischievous and adorable. **Cough**
LADY V ~~ oh all right, I suppose I'll have to forgive you for not updating. If you do it again though, please will you give us a warning? Please? So how did the performances go?
ORODRUIN ~~ Oroweth has not failed his dare, he completed it. The king did drink some of the salty wine, but he never got a chance to drink it. He might have to drink another goblet of salty wine though, just to complete it. Well the body could have been Aliela. At no point in this will I be killing Legolas. We have no right to change the writings of the great J.R.R.Tolkien.
IZABELLE ~~ I guess that would make me a criminal then. Oh well, never mind.
ELFAER GILIELL ~~ not so much as WHO it was as WHAT it was. I don't think orcs count as people.
ORION ~~ yes, the body in the pool is an orc. Very well done.
O.B.I.M. ~~ I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't kill me. I didn't get the chance to update sooner. PLEASE don't kill me! Blood was shed by the way, it just wasn't mine. It was the orcs.
IMBEFANIEL ~~ I really pity you. No stories, no music and no bow? ARGH! Holiday from hell! I really, really do pity you.
DOT ~~ sorry not much happened with the wine. I'll add something to that dare later. You will see an 'angry' Thranduil in the not very distant future, and you will probably wish you hadn't.
GREENLEAFGRL ~~ It depends what you mean by badly wounded. They are both wounded though. I KNEW somebody would make reference to Déjà Vu. I knew it!
Thanks to y'all for reviewing, those of you who did. Thanks to all you lurkers as well, who read this story but don't review. Just remember, my little lurking friends, you don't get the cookies. Only my little reviewing friends get those! HAHAHAHA! **Cough** yeah, well. Y'know.
Please remember to click the nice little box in the bottom of the corner and leave me a lovely review. If you do, you get a choc 'n' cherry cookie like everyone else who has reviewed. Plot bunnies that are used and correct guesses at the next chapter get two cookies. ; P
Lots of luv,
==X=X==EMQU==X=X==
"Who is it?" came the voice of the king from the bank. The tone of his voice suggested that he did not want to know. Silnan turned around in the water, dragging the cloak of the corpse in the water.
"Nothing but an orc, sire!" Came the reply. The elves around the clearing breathed sighs of relief, apart from the five brothers, who began wading in to the water.
Captain Silnan pushed the carcass of the orc, still studded with arrows, to the side of the pool. When he emerged he was drenched in blood, though most of it was not his own. In the water, elven blood had mixed with orc blood, creating swirls of black and red patterns, staining anybody who went in.
Wading in to the deeper parts of the water, the princes continued looking for Legolas and Aliela, fear growing inside them with every submerged step they took. The king and queen joined them, and then Silnan and his guards waded in after them.
"Where are they?" muttered Nilwethion, "Where are they? Legolas! Legolas! Little Greenleaf! Where are you?"
As the bottom of the pool became to deep for him, he pushed off a muddy shelf in to the middle of the blood stained depths of the pool. As he did so, he felt a hand brush on his leg. He yelped loudly and looked down, but the masses of blood stopped his view.
Taking a breath, Nilwethion ducked underneath the water to get a better view. The water that had been so clear earlier that you could see the bottom from the other side was now dark and misty, and Nilwethion could hardly see a foot in front of him. It was enough. Enough for him to see what he did not want to see.
Floating face downwards was the body of an elf, an orc wrapped around it - most likely to stop it from reaching the surface. Legolas. A few feet away, much closer to the stirred up mud that represented the bottom, was another elf, but this time facing the surface. Her eyes were shut peacefully, radiating calm. Like Legolas, her hair was curling through the water in every direction, blending in with a water plant. Through her leg, a long arrow, finished with a black feather, protruded. The same kind that pinned Legolas' arm to the orc.
The prince struggled to the surface and yelled, "They are here! Legolas and Aliela are here!" Before diving down again.
From under the water, Nilwethion could just about see elves swimming towards the spot where he had surfaced. Within a matter of seconds a warrior of the royal guard joined him, letting out a gasp - or as close to a gasp as you can get under water - as she saw the bodies.
Acting quickly, Nilwethion pointed Aliela out to the guard, and he grabbed hold of Legolas and the body of the orc, still wrapped deathlike around the prince, arrows binding them together.
Fighting his way upwards, Nilwethion burst to the surface again, tasting blood as he opened his mouth to gasp for air. Next to him, the guard surfaced, holding Aliela. Many hands pulled them to the soft and welcoming earth, dragging them out of the water.
The arrows were pulled out of the prince and the maiden quickly, and the orc hacked off from Legolas and thrown on to a pile with other dead beasts of its kind.
Under the water, everything had seemed somehow calm and peaceful, but here chaos had grasped control. Legolas and Aliela had turned a shade of blue, glaring through the black and red blood and were lying deathly still. The queen began to cry hysterically as she grabbed the hand of her bloodstained son as blood from the water mixed with his own blood from his arm and shoulder as they continued to bleed.
"Is he dead?" she managed, her voice horse. Nobody answered.
"I asked if my son is dead! Answer me!" he voice became a scream, still clinging on to the limp hand of her youngest son. Silence fell, nobody wanting to answer the queen in her wrath. The lack of sound began to ring through ears, until it was broken by a cough.
Aliela's body jerked, and she spluttered, water spilling from her mouth. Guards gathered around to help her sit up. Her spine curled and she began a coughing fit, gasping for breath through the chokes.
As she sat up weakly, fits of coughing taking her over, Elrond entered the clearing, led by a worried warrior. Taking in the situation, Elrond strode across the clearing, picking his way over a few dead bodies of orcs, and around the dead bodies of elves.
Kneeling down by the prince on the opposite side to the queen, who was still in hysterics, not taking in anything around her, Elrond put two fingers on Legolas' wrists, checking the pulse. Beside him Oroweth and Thellind knelt down.
"Is he alive?" whispered the eldest, fearing the worse. Elrond looked at him gravely but did not answer. Instead, he began to pound down on Legolas' chest, trying desperately to bring him around. Behind him Aliela had been given a cloak and was crying, almost in the same state as the queen. Blood was still flowing from the leg where it had been pierced by the arrow, but she would not let anybody near it.
At last, Elrond gave up hope on the prince and turned sadly to the king. Just as he opened his mouth, what could be counted as a miracle occurred.
Prince Legolas heaved in a breath of air and began to choke as Aliela had done a few minutes ago. Unlike Aliela, his eyes stayed firmly shut, but at least he was alive. A smile curled on Elronds lips as he got up and stood back, letting the royal family gather round the prince. He carried on spluttering and coughing for what seemed like eternity until at last, the final cough left his mouth and he opened his eyes. Dazed, he tried to look around, but nothing was focused.
He blinked slowly and then cracked open his lips.
"What . . ." he began, but his mother laid a finger on his lips.
"Shush Little Greenleaf," he crooned, "You are alright now. There is nothing to worry about."
Legolas was not satisfied. He tried to raise his right arm, but cringed and gulped back a moan of pain.
"My arm," he managed, "It hurts,"
"Well little brother, it would do. Three arrows have after all, pierced it, and I am not quite sure what happened to your shoulder. It looks as if it has been bitten!" Astalers voice seemed confident, but relieved. At last Legolas managed to focus on the elf.
"Arrows? Oh . . ."
~~~Flashback~~~
~~~ As the three maids ran away, a shower of arrows hit the water around the two elves trapped in the water. Wasting no time, they took a deep breath and dived as deep down as they could, far away from the splatter of arrows on the surface.
Looking up, they could see the sun twinkling through the surface of the water as if teasing them. The surface was broken again by another volley of arrows, the odd spear blending in with them. An arrow hit Legolas in the arm before he could move out of the way, letting out a burst of blood.
In his sudden an unexpected pain, Legolas opened his mouth in anguish, bubbles escaping and rising upwards, letting the orcs find their position as the pair tried to hide among the weeds.
Another volley came, and one pierced Aliela in her thigh. Her eyes rolled in pain as she began bleeding and she fell unconscious, floating downwards.
A pair of orcs dropped in to the water close by and began swimming towards the two trapped elves.
The prince of Mirkwood had just enough time to be disgusted at the thought of the two disgusting, foul creatures the elven pool before he was attacked.
The first orc, a better swimmer than the other, reach the prince first and raised his dagger - or attempted to. The years of training were not lost on Legolas, and reacting in a flash he grabbed the weapon and twisted it out of the grasp of the orc. Stabbing it in the neck, the first orc fell dead, a surprised look over his dumb features as his body floated to the surface, wrapped up in its cloak. As soon as the orcs on the surface saw it, they began aiming arrows at it, suspecting the body to be that of one of the elves.
Before he had time to think, the second orc grabbed hold of Legolas from behind, unseen. Aliela had been left for dead, drifting by the weeds, unconscious.
Legolas struggled, the dagger still in his hand, but the orc was too strong for him, and he desperately needed to breath. He opened his mouth again, and more bubbles of air escaped. The prince accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water mixed with blood, wriggling wildly in a vein attempted to escape the orc.
As the prince tried to get free of his captor, an arrow ripped through the same arm and in to the orc. Now they were pinned together, working against each other. The blood ridden orc gained the upper hand again, using his weight to push the elf further down in the water, wrapping its other arm back around Legolas' chest, not letting the elf getting another chance of escape.
As the elf thrashed about weakly, he lost grip on the dagger and it floated down, lost in the weeds and swirling mud and pebbles. The orc bit Legolas' shoulder, and the prince at last gave way to unconsciousness, unable to hold on through the mix of agony and need for oxygen.
As he passed out, another two arrows came through the water. One hitting the orc through the eye, killing it instantly while the other went through Legolas' arm, pinning him more firmly to the orc. ~~~
~~~End flashback~~~
The youngest prince of Mirkwood winced in pain.
"I remember," he croaked, "Where is Aliela? Is she alright?"
Nilwethion grinned.
"Don't worry little brother. Your little girlfriend is in a better state than you. No orcs have tried to eat her, as far as we can tell,"
Again, Legolas winced.
"Ow," he muttered, as his nerves began to work again. The pain from the shoulder and the arrows became, again, almost unbearable.
"The pain will not be there long, prince Legolas," said Elrond from a few feet away, "The wounds ought not take long to heal. A couple of weeks at most."
Legolas nodded and sat up, taking in everything around him.
"For now, I think, your first priority ought to be finding some clothes," came the voice of Oroweth, from slightly behind the young prince.
It was then, and only then, that Legolas realised he still was not wearing anything. Turning a very bright red, he grabbed the cloak from Thellind's shoulders and wrapped it around himself, burning up. He realised too late he should not have moved either of his arms so quickly, as the wounds complained loudly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Wasn't I kind? I didn't leave a cliffy with this chapter! Respect and an extra cookie to everyone who guessed correctly that the body in the pool was an orc. Basically, that's ORION and DAW THE MINSTREL.
~~~Review Thingy~~~
DAW THE MISTREL ~~ I don't think that battle scenes are that intimidating. You just don't think too hard about them, and you try to give an overall image, not small details. Well Imlammthien wasn't going to be a warrior queen type character, but she told me what to write with a dagger at my neck daring me to write anything else about her. How could I write anything else?
FIREANGEL ~~ Hehe, best reaction yet. If you want I've still got a couple of nose pegs here to block out the smell of the orcs, but they aren't going to feature for a little while yet.
JUKIA ~~ the floor says hello back, and wishes you would pay it another visit soon. The floor is missing you.
TECHNETIUM ~~ she isn't dead, and this little event is not going to stop any of the princes or the twins from acting like idiots. Sorry, um, being mischievous and adorable. **Cough**
LADY V ~~ oh all right, I suppose I'll have to forgive you for not updating. If you do it again though, please will you give us a warning? Please? So how did the performances go?
ORODRUIN ~~ Oroweth has not failed his dare, he completed it. The king did drink some of the salty wine, but he never got a chance to drink it. He might have to drink another goblet of salty wine though, just to complete it. Well the body could have been Aliela. At no point in this will I be killing Legolas. We have no right to change the writings of the great J.R.R.Tolkien.
IZABELLE ~~ I guess that would make me a criminal then. Oh well, never mind.
ELFAER GILIELL ~~ not so much as WHO it was as WHAT it was. I don't think orcs count as people.
ORION ~~ yes, the body in the pool is an orc. Very well done.
O.B.I.M. ~~ I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't kill me. I didn't get the chance to update sooner. PLEASE don't kill me! Blood was shed by the way, it just wasn't mine. It was the orcs.
IMBEFANIEL ~~ I really pity you. No stories, no music and no bow? ARGH! Holiday from hell! I really, really do pity you.
DOT ~~ sorry not much happened with the wine. I'll add something to that dare later. You will see an 'angry' Thranduil in the not very distant future, and you will probably wish you hadn't.
GREENLEAFGRL ~~ It depends what you mean by badly wounded. They are both wounded though. I KNEW somebody would make reference to Déjà Vu. I knew it!
Thanks to y'all for reviewing, those of you who did. Thanks to all you lurkers as well, who read this story but don't review. Just remember, my little lurking friends, you don't get the cookies. Only my little reviewing friends get those! HAHAHAHA! **Cough** yeah, well. Y'know.
Please remember to click the nice little box in the bottom of the corner and leave me a lovely review. If you do, you get a choc 'n' cherry cookie like everyone else who has reviewed. Plot bunnies that are used and correct guesses at the next chapter get two cookies. ; P
Lots of luv,
==X=X==EMQU==X=X==