"How is your wound doing?" Gimli asked gruffly as he rode on, with Legolas
sitting behind him, holding onto him with his one good arm. This was
actually the first time when he rode in front of Legolas instead of Legolas
being up front, with him holding onto Legolas' waist, and it gave him a
slight sense of pride, which was immediately washed away with Legolas'
answer.
"Not so good, drawf." He said with a grimace. "I think there were some kind of poison or herb on that arrow.I'm loosing consciousness again."
"Or due to blood loss." Aragorn observed grimly, looking at the blood- stained bandage which was wrapped around Legolas' arm. "That was the third time I had to re-bandage you because the bleeding was too much. We would have to hurry, Lothlorien is only a few miles away."
"I can see the woods already." Trying to be optimistic, Legolas looked afar and could barely see the border, between the endless grassland which they rode on now and the forest woods of Lothlorien. It would be more than a few miles, it would not be long, but the road is not short either. He dearly hoped that whatever was on the arrow was not poison. The pain had subdued now, but he was gradually loosing conscious. Sometimes he would sway uncontrollably on the horse, and Gimli would stop for a short while for him to adjust, but it had slowed down the journey by a considerable amount. Then.
"Something.masses of Orcs! They are riding out of Lothlorien!" Legolas shouted, the shock and surprise mingled in his voice. "Orcs! Why.how. they were in Lothlorien!"
"This way!" A sudden voice came from behind them. Legolas instinctively reached for his bow but almost fell off the horse as the jolting pain in his arm ran through his body, making him pause and almost groan. The bleeding had started again, though not as bad as before, as many new patches of red appeared on the bandage. Aragorn had already pulled out his bow and arrow and was turning his horse around, and Gimli already had his axe out, with a menacing look on his face which was mixed with concern for Legolas.
But it was not an Orc, nor an enemy. Legolas recognized that person in an instant. It was an elf, a former inhabitant of Lothlorien.
"What happened?" Aragorn asked as he reeled his horse around and ran to the elf. Gimli did the same, but because of his concern for Legolas he rode on slowly, and the elf did not reply until they were all gathered around him and all four of them made their way at a small trot down the hill, into a patch of woods in the South side.
"Elves out of Lothlorien while Orcs are in it? What happened?!" Legolas questioned urgently as they made it to the covers of the woods.
The elf did not reply at first, then he lowered his head as if in shame, and said in a low whisper: "The Orcs.they have begotten powerful magic, and they.they.have taken over Lothlorien."
This drew a few considerably loud gasps from all around as the three companions each had a different reaction to this.
"Bloody worms!" Gimli fingered his axe and cursed angrily. Aragorn seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows deep in a frown. Legolas did not know what he was feeling at the moment, he was feeling weaker and weaker by the moment, and as to the fact that his brain had stopped functioning again due to the loss of blood, he was in a stage of numbness, a part of it was due to the shock of finding such news.
"Then is lady Galadriel." Gimli inquired hastily. He did not finishing his sentence, but the elf understood.
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn are in good condition, though there were quite a bit of massacre in the beginning. We've lost.quite a few men."
Everybody sank into silence. To the elves, this was a disgrace, one of the biggest failures in history. When the strength of men first failed, the elves were at least keeping up their part, but now, even the elves, who possessed their own type of magic, were defeated, Legolas could see less hope for mankind. Aragorn was deeply troubled for this situation. Then.
"Oh no, they are not.we have heard information about the Orcs breeding new breeds in a secret place, it's not."
The elf did not speak, which was an answer within itself.
"Oh the purity and beauty of the holy Lothlorien, the nurturing place of the beauty of evening and morning, tainted!" Legolas moaned. His sentence struck deep within Gimli and Aragorn's hearts, for they understand who evening and morning stood for. Aragorn thought of Arwen, the evenstar of her people, all alone, taking care of men's business in his place, and a wave of guilt washed over him. Gimli thought of Lady Galadriel, with the morning star shining in her eyes, exiled out of Lothlorien, and hot rage rose up inside him, as he fingered his axe involuntarily.
"We need to see a healer." Aragorn said in a commanding voice to the elf. "Our companion here needs to have his wounds treated, he cannot last long with that wound."
"We are almost there." The elf pointed ahead.
Surprisingly, they could already see other elves in the distance, underneath the trees.
"So where do your kind take shelter now?" Gimli asked testily, looking around and shivered at the coldness in these dark woods where the sunlight cannot penetrate.
"In the opening, as you see now." The elf said in a murmur.
"It is cold!" Gimli said, shocked. "And what if it rains?"
"We have our magic, dwarf." The elf pointed to the large clearing. "Our magic created a natural boundary, and within the boundary, there is very much warmth, and the foliage moved to form a perfect ceiling."
Contend with the answer, the company proceeded until they went amidst the clearing. Then, they were ordered to stop and dismount, while the elves led their horses away.
Very soon, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn came walking out of the woods, looking as glorious as ever, but both had a hint of tiredness on their face, which did not look like good news to Legolas at all. What was more surprising, is that on both of their faces, there were scars. Gimli gave a small gasp, and Aragorn's sorrow showed through his expression. Lady Galadriel had a diagonal slash on her left cheek, and Celeborn had many more cuts, even a half-healed bruise.
"Welcome, friends." Lady Galadriel said, in her melodious voice. Gimli bowed, and Legolas and Aragorn followed, looking sideways at Gimli's expression, and both trying to keep their mirth in check. "Legolas, you will find fit to follow this elf here, she will take you to be healed. Aragorn, noble lord of men."
At this point, Aragorn could not help but to mutter "Lord no more, my lady." As Gimli gave him a hard glare. But Galadriel did not seem angry, on the contrary, she seemed to be warmer than before. "The noble king's blood runs through you, and one day you will make the middle earth prosper. And now, you will be shown to your sleeping place, and will be notified when supper will be served."
As she turned to Gimli, Gimli straightened up involuntarily, and pulled at his beard. Aragorn watched in silent amusement. "Now, master dwarf, you shall also be shown to your sleeping place. Please rest well, for your companion have a long way to go."
"Do you foresee our road, my lady?" Aragorn asked, respectfully. "perhaps. hardship. toiling. or even death?"
"That I cannot say." Galadriel turned to him with a worried expression, and Celeborn took over for her.
"You have endured much, noble king. But what you shall face will be something new, but what it is I cannot tell. It may be joyous, sad, it may lead you to destruction, or to glorious destiny which was supposedly yours. But there can be no victory without sacrifice, and we shall all hope to meet again in safety, blessed be you and us all."
There was a change in the trees, as the soft wind blew, it carefully pushed apart some of the leaves, as rays of sun shone through the foliage. Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn were, once again, glorious beyond words, standing there peacefully, basked in golden sunlight. The loss of Lothlorien seemed to not have happened, as they looked down upon the three companion, smiling benignly.
"Oh beauty." Aragorn heard Gimli mutter under his breath, and he was sure that Legolas had heard too, for he was also smiling, looking up to lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn with the utmost respect, but at that moment, what they do not realize is that they seem to shine the same way to Galadriel and Celeborn. In Galadriel and Celeborn's eyes, there were three magnificent men, two still in their youth. Legolas, with his blue eyes under his beautiful long eyelashes, his silvery gold hair glittering underneath the sun; Aragorn, with wisdom and strength showing though his grey eyes, noble and proud even in his kneeling position; Gimli, proud and fierce, with intense vigor which radiated off him. The two groups stood there, entranced with each other for a few moments, before Lady Galadriel turned around and left, holding Celeborn's hand.
"Legolas Greenleaf, please come with me. I am to take you to be healed." An elf said timidly, breaking the trance. With a sigh which sounded like an awakening from a dream, Legolas wearily followed the elf deeper into the woods, reluctant to leave Aragorn and Gimli behind. As they walked deeper into the woods, the lighting lessened, and they approached a small opening with several beds.
"Please lie down." The elf told him, while taking some medicine out of a cabinet which was carved into a tree trunk, an amethyst necklace glittering on her neck. "And take off your cloak, and change into this." She indicated to a warm sleeveless gown.
As he changed and she was checking on the medicine, Legolas' curiosity burst out. "How did this happen?"
"Well." The elf considered it for a while, and began her tale. "I am not exactly the best person to ask for this, for I was asleep when the main invasion happened. When I was awakened by the noises outside, the main shelter of Lothlorien was already ablaze. Quite horrified, as you could imagine, I made it for the exit in my sleeping gowns, in time to see the massacre. I have no idea how they got past the magic of Lothlorien's borders and came in without anyone noticing them, but they have their own powerful brand of magic. As we found out later when we were running out of Lothlorien." there was a small pause, as she took a deep breath. "We found all our sentries dead, with no wound, which was a curious thing indeed. There was a massacre. Many were slain in their beds, unable to grasp for their weapon. They were ruthless. Male, female, children, they laid their butcher knives on anyone they could find. Lord Celeborn saved my life. An Orc came straight for me, apparently drunk and had his sword raised, and I was cornered against a tree. I was sure that I was going to die then. Lord Celeborn ran him through the moment his sword was about to come down. I was shocked and could not move, so he carried me out of the blazing woods and set me down with the a load of children. 'Take care of them!' he said, before running back into the woods with his sword. In the end, we all evacuated the place, and came to this piece of woods, next to Lothlorien. We are too much and too weary to move further, and we are safe here. The Orcs, so far, had shown no intention of moving into these woods."
Legolas had finished changing now, as she came over to apply redmoss and some herbal medicine to his wound. It was a very bad sight, as Legolas unwrapped his bandages and looked involuntarily at his wound, and shivered. The flesh had rotted a bit around the wound, but the bleeding had almost came to a stop.
"You let this wound carry on for too long!" The elf exclaimed, as she immediately went and fetched a small bottle of some bluish water. "This may sting, so please bear with me."
With jerky motions, she poured the liquid over the wound. Legolas had to bite his lips to prevent himself from crying out. The liquid did stung. It felt like thousands of needles piercing into his skin. Seeing this, the nurse took a small pillow and handed it to him.
"This may sting like this and worsen, for at least another hour. Bite on this, because if you bite down too hard on your lips, it is bad for you. But when the pain is finished, your wound will be healed, this is the quickest way."
Not caring about dignity anymore, Legolas accepted the pillow and stuffed it into his mouth, and bit down hard. He was fighting hard to keep back tears now, the stinging seemed to sink into his very bones, and he felt nauseated due to the pain.
The nurse had seen this before, and knew how to react. "Please lie down, Legolas Greenleaf, and try to relax. I will leave you here now, and I will be back. The next few minutes will be the most painful minutes, then the pain will eventually subdue. I will be back with your dinner." And with that she walked out, leaving Legolas alone in the quiet clearing.
Quite relieved that she had gone, Legolas saw no more need to hold back, and let his tears stream out. As to the fact that he found the pillow was not helping, he spat it out and just gritted his teeth, and groaned. He felt as if he could barely move. The pain was so intense it stabbed at him with the ferociousness of hundreds of swords, leaving him to endure it in silence. He bit his lips so hard that soon blood was streaming down the side of his cheeks onto the bed. But he knew the moment the nurse left that there was some special herb in the medicine which would help him loose consciousness until the pain had died down a bit, so he tossed around on the bed, waiting for blackness to come over him.
It was slow in coming, but it came at full force. One moment, Legolas was well aware of his pain. He felt drowsiness overcome him and the next time he opened his eyes, the pain was only a dull throbbing, which was only limited to his left arm.
It came to him as a bit of a surprise, but he found himself on the soft bed no longer, but on the mossy bank of a river, holding the nurse's amethyst necklace, inside a cave with an entrance covered by pine branches which provides the perfect camouflage for an autumn forest. He tried to move his arm but found only slightly mobile, he could move it only with difficulty, but the rest of him seemed to be in good condition. There were some food left beside him, which had apparently gone cold because they had been left there for quite a long time. But as he saw the cold bread and cheese and pears, his stomach growled, reminding him how long he had slept without food, and he gratefully gulped down the food without complain. The moment he heard the sound of running water outside, his throat screamed suddenly for water, and he was about to walk out of the cave to take a drink when he heard some distinct Black speech.
The first thought which came to him was Orcs are here! But then he thought about how impossible it was, and yet these voices were so undoubtedly guttural and it was Orcs alright. Silently, Legolas shrank to the back of the cave, listening to any sounds made by the Orcs. Legolas himself could understand a bit of Black speech, as he listened intently to the conversation through the only few words he could understand. He only caught a few words, like "Elves", "attack", "win", "stupid" and "we killed", but it was enough for him to gather what had just happened. Distinctly he heard lady Galadriel and lord Celeborn's names mentioned. These Orcs were apparently of the newest breed, since they did not have Aragorn's face imprinted into their minds, but went past Aragorn's name as a simple human with gray eyes. Gimli was with him, by the sound of it. By the end Legolas had gathered that Gimli, Aragorn, Galadriel, Celeborn and a group of other elves were taken prisoner and locked deep within the jails of Lothlorien, while all others were killed.
Suddenly, cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he came to the realization of what happened. Shock had numbed him and nailed him to the spot. Though he was completely healed, he was still a bit weak and his left arm still cannot move. The Orcs' voices moved closer and closer, to the entrance, until the leaves crunching underneath their feet became distinct sounds. Legolas' heart almost leapt to his throat as he listened intently, with his good right arm on his short sword, his posture crouching, ready to leap if he had to attack. He was so high strung that he could almost hear his own heart beating, as his breath became soft and ragged. He knew that the chances of him winning against the Orcs were very little, since his left arm is virtually useless.
But nothing happened. The shadows of the Orcs passed by the pine leaves, one of them gave a loud hiccough, and said that he was so full from the meal. With a wave of nausea, Legolas recalled that the Orcs were cannibals which ate their victims' dead bodies without mercy, sometimes they even fought amongst themselves and ate members of their team. With that sudden urge to throw up, Legolas pressed a hand to his mouth and waited until they were well out of hearing range before rushing out of the cave to retch into the river. He immediately regretted it because now his stomach growled, he had just retched all that he ate, and he is wounded, desperately hungry, and alone in an enemy-filled place, hiding away in a small, dimly lit cave.
With a heavy sigh, Legolas washed himself in the river and shook his head to clear it up. No Orcs were in hearing range and as far as he could see, there was no one. He took this opportunity to go into the woods and hopefully collect some wild fruits so he could eat his fill. And as he went, he tied on the amethyst necklace around his own neck.
"Not so good, drawf." He said with a grimace. "I think there were some kind of poison or herb on that arrow.I'm loosing consciousness again."
"Or due to blood loss." Aragorn observed grimly, looking at the blood- stained bandage which was wrapped around Legolas' arm. "That was the third time I had to re-bandage you because the bleeding was too much. We would have to hurry, Lothlorien is only a few miles away."
"I can see the woods already." Trying to be optimistic, Legolas looked afar and could barely see the border, between the endless grassland which they rode on now and the forest woods of Lothlorien. It would be more than a few miles, it would not be long, but the road is not short either. He dearly hoped that whatever was on the arrow was not poison. The pain had subdued now, but he was gradually loosing conscious. Sometimes he would sway uncontrollably on the horse, and Gimli would stop for a short while for him to adjust, but it had slowed down the journey by a considerable amount. Then.
"Something.masses of Orcs! They are riding out of Lothlorien!" Legolas shouted, the shock and surprise mingled in his voice. "Orcs! Why.how. they were in Lothlorien!"
"This way!" A sudden voice came from behind them. Legolas instinctively reached for his bow but almost fell off the horse as the jolting pain in his arm ran through his body, making him pause and almost groan. The bleeding had started again, though not as bad as before, as many new patches of red appeared on the bandage. Aragorn had already pulled out his bow and arrow and was turning his horse around, and Gimli already had his axe out, with a menacing look on his face which was mixed with concern for Legolas.
But it was not an Orc, nor an enemy. Legolas recognized that person in an instant. It was an elf, a former inhabitant of Lothlorien.
"What happened?" Aragorn asked as he reeled his horse around and ran to the elf. Gimli did the same, but because of his concern for Legolas he rode on slowly, and the elf did not reply until they were all gathered around him and all four of them made their way at a small trot down the hill, into a patch of woods in the South side.
"Elves out of Lothlorien while Orcs are in it? What happened?!" Legolas questioned urgently as they made it to the covers of the woods.
The elf did not reply at first, then he lowered his head as if in shame, and said in a low whisper: "The Orcs.they have begotten powerful magic, and they.they.have taken over Lothlorien."
This drew a few considerably loud gasps from all around as the three companions each had a different reaction to this.
"Bloody worms!" Gimli fingered his axe and cursed angrily. Aragorn seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows deep in a frown. Legolas did not know what he was feeling at the moment, he was feeling weaker and weaker by the moment, and as to the fact that his brain had stopped functioning again due to the loss of blood, he was in a stage of numbness, a part of it was due to the shock of finding such news.
"Then is lady Galadriel." Gimli inquired hastily. He did not finishing his sentence, but the elf understood.
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn are in good condition, though there were quite a bit of massacre in the beginning. We've lost.quite a few men."
Everybody sank into silence. To the elves, this was a disgrace, one of the biggest failures in history. When the strength of men first failed, the elves were at least keeping up their part, but now, even the elves, who possessed their own type of magic, were defeated, Legolas could see less hope for mankind. Aragorn was deeply troubled for this situation. Then.
"Oh no, they are not.we have heard information about the Orcs breeding new breeds in a secret place, it's not."
The elf did not speak, which was an answer within itself.
"Oh the purity and beauty of the holy Lothlorien, the nurturing place of the beauty of evening and morning, tainted!" Legolas moaned. His sentence struck deep within Gimli and Aragorn's hearts, for they understand who evening and morning stood for. Aragorn thought of Arwen, the evenstar of her people, all alone, taking care of men's business in his place, and a wave of guilt washed over him. Gimli thought of Lady Galadriel, with the morning star shining in her eyes, exiled out of Lothlorien, and hot rage rose up inside him, as he fingered his axe involuntarily.
"We need to see a healer." Aragorn said in a commanding voice to the elf. "Our companion here needs to have his wounds treated, he cannot last long with that wound."
"We are almost there." The elf pointed ahead.
Surprisingly, they could already see other elves in the distance, underneath the trees.
"So where do your kind take shelter now?" Gimli asked testily, looking around and shivered at the coldness in these dark woods where the sunlight cannot penetrate.
"In the opening, as you see now." The elf said in a murmur.
"It is cold!" Gimli said, shocked. "And what if it rains?"
"We have our magic, dwarf." The elf pointed to the large clearing. "Our magic created a natural boundary, and within the boundary, there is very much warmth, and the foliage moved to form a perfect ceiling."
Contend with the answer, the company proceeded until they went amidst the clearing. Then, they were ordered to stop and dismount, while the elves led their horses away.
Very soon, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn came walking out of the woods, looking as glorious as ever, but both had a hint of tiredness on their face, which did not look like good news to Legolas at all. What was more surprising, is that on both of their faces, there were scars. Gimli gave a small gasp, and Aragorn's sorrow showed through his expression. Lady Galadriel had a diagonal slash on her left cheek, and Celeborn had many more cuts, even a half-healed bruise.
"Welcome, friends." Lady Galadriel said, in her melodious voice. Gimli bowed, and Legolas and Aragorn followed, looking sideways at Gimli's expression, and both trying to keep their mirth in check. "Legolas, you will find fit to follow this elf here, she will take you to be healed. Aragorn, noble lord of men."
At this point, Aragorn could not help but to mutter "Lord no more, my lady." As Gimli gave him a hard glare. But Galadriel did not seem angry, on the contrary, she seemed to be warmer than before. "The noble king's blood runs through you, and one day you will make the middle earth prosper. And now, you will be shown to your sleeping place, and will be notified when supper will be served."
As she turned to Gimli, Gimli straightened up involuntarily, and pulled at his beard. Aragorn watched in silent amusement. "Now, master dwarf, you shall also be shown to your sleeping place. Please rest well, for your companion have a long way to go."
"Do you foresee our road, my lady?" Aragorn asked, respectfully. "perhaps. hardship. toiling. or even death?"
"That I cannot say." Galadriel turned to him with a worried expression, and Celeborn took over for her.
"You have endured much, noble king. But what you shall face will be something new, but what it is I cannot tell. It may be joyous, sad, it may lead you to destruction, or to glorious destiny which was supposedly yours. But there can be no victory without sacrifice, and we shall all hope to meet again in safety, blessed be you and us all."
There was a change in the trees, as the soft wind blew, it carefully pushed apart some of the leaves, as rays of sun shone through the foliage. Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn were, once again, glorious beyond words, standing there peacefully, basked in golden sunlight. The loss of Lothlorien seemed to not have happened, as they looked down upon the three companion, smiling benignly.
"Oh beauty." Aragorn heard Gimli mutter under his breath, and he was sure that Legolas had heard too, for he was also smiling, looking up to lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn with the utmost respect, but at that moment, what they do not realize is that they seem to shine the same way to Galadriel and Celeborn. In Galadriel and Celeborn's eyes, there were three magnificent men, two still in their youth. Legolas, with his blue eyes under his beautiful long eyelashes, his silvery gold hair glittering underneath the sun; Aragorn, with wisdom and strength showing though his grey eyes, noble and proud even in his kneeling position; Gimli, proud and fierce, with intense vigor which radiated off him. The two groups stood there, entranced with each other for a few moments, before Lady Galadriel turned around and left, holding Celeborn's hand.
"Legolas Greenleaf, please come with me. I am to take you to be healed." An elf said timidly, breaking the trance. With a sigh which sounded like an awakening from a dream, Legolas wearily followed the elf deeper into the woods, reluctant to leave Aragorn and Gimli behind. As they walked deeper into the woods, the lighting lessened, and they approached a small opening with several beds.
"Please lie down." The elf told him, while taking some medicine out of a cabinet which was carved into a tree trunk, an amethyst necklace glittering on her neck. "And take off your cloak, and change into this." She indicated to a warm sleeveless gown.
As he changed and she was checking on the medicine, Legolas' curiosity burst out. "How did this happen?"
"Well." The elf considered it for a while, and began her tale. "I am not exactly the best person to ask for this, for I was asleep when the main invasion happened. When I was awakened by the noises outside, the main shelter of Lothlorien was already ablaze. Quite horrified, as you could imagine, I made it for the exit in my sleeping gowns, in time to see the massacre. I have no idea how they got past the magic of Lothlorien's borders and came in without anyone noticing them, but they have their own powerful brand of magic. As we found out later when we were running out of Lothlorien." there was a small pause, as she took a deep breath. "We found all our sentries dead, with no wound, which was a curious thing indeed. There was a massacre. Many were slain in their beds, unable to grasp for their weapon. They were ruthless. Male, female, children, they laid their butcher knives on anyone they could find. Lord Celeborn saved my life. An Orc came straight for me, apparently drunk and had his sword raised, and I was cornered against a tree. I was sure that I was going to die then. Lord Celeborn ran him through the moment his sword was about to come down. I was shocked and could not move, so he carried me out of the blazing woods and set me down with the a load of children. 'Take care of them!' he said, before running back into the woods with his sword. In the end, we all evacuated the place, and came to this piece of woods, next to Lothlorien. We are too much and too weary to move further, and we are safe here. The Orcs, so far, had shown no intention of moving into these woods."
Legolas had finished changing now, as she came over to apply redmoss and some herbal medicine to his wound. It was a very bad sight, as Legolas unwrapped his bandages and looked involuntarily at his wound, and shivered. The flesh had rotted a bit around the wound, but the bleeding had almost came to a stop.
"You let this wound carry on for too long!" The elf exclaimed, as she immediately went and fetched a small bottle of some bluish water. "This may sting, so please bear with me."
With jerky motions, she poured the liquid over the wound. Legolas had to bite his lips to prevent himself from crying out. The liquid did stung. It felt like thousands of needles piercing into his skin. Seeing this, the nurse took a small pillow and handed it to him.
"This may sting like this and worsen, for at least another hour. Bite on this, because if you bite down too hard on your lips, it is bad for you. But when the pain is finished, your wound will be healed, this is the quickest way."
Not caring about dignity anymore, Legolas accepted the pillow and stuffed it into his mouth, and bit down hard. He was fighting hard to keep back tears now, the stinging seemed to sink into his very bones, and he felt nauseated due to the pain.
The nurse had seen this before, and knew how to react. "Please lie down, Legolas Greenleaf, and try to relax. I will leave you here now, and I will be back. The next few minutes will be the most painful minutes, then the pain will eventually subdue. I will be back with your dinner." And with that she walked out, leaving Legolas alone in the quiet clearing.
Quite relieved that she had gone, Legolas saw no more need to hold back, and let his tears stream out. As to the fact that he found the pillow was not helping, he spat it out and just gritted his teeth, and groaned. He felt as if he could barely move. The pain was so intense it stabbed at him with the ferociousness of hundreds of swords, leaving him to endure it in silence. He bit his lips so hard that soon blood was streaming down the side of his cheeks onto the bed. But he knew the moment the nurse left that there was some special herb in the medicine which would help him loose consciousness until the pain had died down a bit, so he tossed around on the bed, waiting for blackness to come over him.
It was slow in coming, but it came at full force. One moment, Legolas was well aware of his pain. He felt drowsiness overcome him and the next time he opened his eyes, the pain was only a dull throbbing, which was only limited to his left arm.
It came to him as a bit of a surprise, but he found himself on the soft bed no longer, but on the mossy bank of a river, holding the nurse's amethyst necklace, inside a cave with an entrance covered by pine branches which provides the perfect camouflage for an autumn forest. He tried to move his arm but found only slightly mobile, he could move it only with difficulty, but the rest of him seemed to be in good condition. There were some food left beside him, which had apparently gone cold because they had been left there for quite a long time. But as he saw the cold bread and cheese and pears, his stomach growled, reminding him how long he had slept without food, and he gratefully gulped down the food without complain. The moment he heard the sound of running water outside, his throat screamed suddenly for water, and he was about to walk out of the cave to take a drink when he heard some distinct Black speech.
The first thought which came to him was Orcs are here! But then he thought about how impossible it was, and yet these voices were so undoubtedly guttural and it was Orcs alright. Silently, Legolas shrank to the back of the cave, listening to any sounds made by the Orcs. Legolas himself could understand a bit of Black speech, as he listened intently to the conversation through the only few words he could understand. He only caught a few words, like "Elves", "attack", "win", "stupid" and "we killed", but it was enough for him to gather what had just happened. Distinctly he heard lady Galadriel and lord Celeborn's names mentioned. These Orcs were apparently of the newest breed, since they did not have Aragorn's face imprinted into their minds, but went past Aragorn's name as a simple human with gray eyes. Gimli was with him, by the sound of it. By the end Legolas had gathered that Gimli, Aragorn, Galadriel, Celeborn and a group of other elves were taken prisoner and locked deep within the jails of Lothlorien, while all others were killed.
Suddenly, cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he came to the realization of what happened. Shock had numbed him and nailed him to the spot. Though he was completely healed, he was still a bit weak and his left arm still cannot move. The Orcs' voices moved closer and closer, to the entrance, until the leaves crunching underneath their feet became distinct sounds. Legolas' heart almost leapt to his throat as he listened intently, with his good right arm on his short sword, his posture crouching, ready to leap if he had to attack. He was so high strung that he could almost hear his own heart beating, as his breath became soft and ragged. He knew that the chances of him winning against the Orcs were very little, since his left arm is virtually useless.
But nothing happened. The shadows of the Orcs passed by the pine leaves, one of them gave a loud hiccough, and said that he was so full from the meal. With a wave of nausea, Legolas recalled that the Orcs were cannibals which ate their victims' dead bodies without mercy, sometimes they even fought amongst themselves and ate members of their team. With that sudden urge to throw up, Legolas pressed a hand to his mouth and waited until they were well out of hearing range before rushing out of the cave to retch into the river. He immediately regretted it because now his stomach growled, he had just retched all that he ate, and he is wounded, desperately hungry, and alone in an enemy-filled place, hiding away in a small, dimly lit cave.
With a heavy sigh, Legolas washed himself in the river and shook his head to clear it up. No Orcs were in hearing range and as far as he could see, there was no one. He took this opportunity to go into the woods and hopefully collect some wild fruits so he could eat his fill. And as he went, he tied on the amethyst necklace around his own neck.