Chapter 29

Legolas heard a soft music in his head. He breathed in the scent of fresh grass and fruit bursting with flavor.

Springtime.

Home.

Wandering through the courtyard, he took in the green all around him. It felt so good to be home again. He never thought he could be this happy.

The wind in the trees began to whisper to him. Softly... peacefully. Whoosh... hiss... betrayal... hatred... hiss... burning... bleeding... whoosh...

DEATH.

Legolas snapped awake to a living hell. He felt drowsy and his head heavy. His vision swam. His back was a garden of pain. Burns, cuts, welts and blisters stabbed at him. He wanted to rub his head but his hands were stuck at his sides. He was too weak to move them at all.

He had been trapped here for at least a week, not eating nor drinking. Only once had he left his cell, and he didn't want to remember what they had done to him. Each cut was deep, deeper that any he had ever experienced.

He coughed on a cloud of dust and his lungs pulsed with pain. He sighed and breathed deeply. He was swimming in a pool of his own blood. He prayed that this would end soon.

Legolas seeped in and out of consciousness for who knows how long. He remembered only the sliver of light that fell across his face and the shadows of the gang members outside his cell.

Finally, he was kicked awake by the young man who asked him why he had to kill the other gang members. Legolas was pulled to his feet which didn't want to support him. He was carried like a wounded soldier out of cell and down the dark corridor. His head rolled on his chest. He could barely move his feet across the floor.

He was carried, an arm around a shoulder of a gang member, into the large room. Gang members were gathered there in a massive crowd. Legolas looked up at each of them in the eyes. They glared, brandishing a sword or dagger at him with dark eyes.

Legolas was brought to a post set in the center of the water. He was thrown against it. He grunted and grit his teeth as the splinters of wood itched his back. Ropes tied his arms against his sides and his feet and neck to the post. He struggled against them as much as his energy would let him. By now, the gang members had started a chant that echoed throughout the cavern. Legolas was waist deep in what was surprisingly warm water. His back was ablaze with pain, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The chanting suddenly came to a halt when the crowd parted and a tall man emerged. Legolas recognized him as the member who had tortured him days earlier.

'We gather today at an event that will bring glory to us all.' Legolas felt his chest tighten as he pulled a sword out of his sheath. The cave was quiet, save for the rushing water and the ring of metal that the blade sounded out. 'Today is a day that we repay the blood spilt from our comrades. Today is a day that we give our own the revenge they lusted for.' Legolas could tell that this was not the first time this had happened. The speech seemed almost traditional, along with the setting of the full moon shedding light into the cavern.

Legolas pulled against the ropes again but there was nothing he could do. He was too weak to fight; too bound to resist; too broken to rise again.

'If anyone disagrees that this man be killed in honor of the fallen, let him speak now.' Legolas didn't expect anyone to step forward. Some looked to their feet, as though ashamed of a single thought of rebellion. The man smiled and turned to Legolas.

He started towards him into the river water. His fur-lined cloak at first floated, but then grew damp in the water and sank. The rushing water splashed his face and sword until he was waist-deep and level with Legolas. The blade rested on the front of his neck between two of the thick ropes.

'I may die.' Legolas suddenly said in a voice that he didn't recognize. 'I may rot in some dark hole or burn on some pile of wood, but I will certainly not be forgotten.' The man laughed.

'You think there is some person at your home where they will miss you?' he said. 'They may, but not for long. We intend to see to anyone who resists us. To make sure the great eye with oversee the lands again.' Legolas's eyes widened.

Men of the darkness. Men of Sauron.

'You-' he didn't finish as the blade began to cut into his neck. He gasped at the pain, but didn't cry out. 'Y-you will never convince everyone.' he said. 'Anyone who resists, you'll kill without question. You'll kill them because you're afraid they'll kill you first. You're all nothing but cowards!'

In the blink of an eye, the blade left his neck and plunged into his flesh.

.

OH NO! Did I kill him? Did I really do it?