Sacrifice
By Gozilla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you sooooooo much for the reviews!! And thank you for all the comments and corrections! I feel so ashamed that I got a lot of the facts wrong!! A thousand sorry's!!! I once thought whether I should continue with the story. But I feel that I would be very irresponsible to leave you all hanging there. So... please please please bear with me for the mistakes and discrepancies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!
Please excuse my poor English. ^-^
Reviews are most welcomed!!
Enjoy!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*crap* – thoughts / tree talks
"crap" – conversation
(crap) – author's note
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5: Orcs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Flashback continues~
Ever since that night, Legolas spent a lot of time in the wood whenever his family visited Rivendell. Even the trees seemed greener and livelier whenever Legolas was among them.
By the time Legolas turned 1589 years old, he got his father's approval to travel around the Middle Earth by himself, for he was strong enough to defeat a dozen orcs or spiders alone with ease. Apart from the annual visit to Rivendell with his family, Legolas paid visits to Rivendell whenever he travelled nearby.
It had became one of the well-known facts to the elves in Rivendell that whenever you wanted to find the prince of Mirkwood, he would be either with the Lord Elrond's children or in the wood in front of the palace, in particular, near the most ancient tree in Rivendell.
For his love of the trees, Legolas would spend days in the wood, enjoying the company of the trees. Often, he would sit on one of the high branches of the ancient tree and play wonderful music with his flute or sing songs with his sweet voice in the wood.
But the peace of Rivendell was shattered as the evil spirit of Suaron arose again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~One night, in the wood outside of the Rivendell palace~
Arwen and Legolas were talking below the ancient tree, about the recent orcs attacks on the human settlements near Rivendell.
Suddenly, their keen ears picked up usual noise nearby. Reflectively, Legolas picked up his bow and stood in front of Arwen, protecting her from the uninvited visitors.
Their eyes widened in shock as they found themselves being surrounded by dozens of fierce-looking orcs, some of them carrying torches.
The leading orc stepped forward, an evil smile on its ugly twisted face, "Well, well, well, look what we have here. Two elves! Praise to Sauron for giving us an entertainment in this boring job! Well, we are going to have fun killing elves and eating their tender flesh right here very soon."
Legolas tightened his grips on the handle of his bow, "What do you want? You are not welcome here! Leave now! Before the army of Lord Elrond comes and tramples you to hell!"
The leading orc laughed, "You pathetic elf! How do you think Elrond would know we are here? We are going to set fire in the wood. By the time Elrond knew we are here, the flame will be too strong for anyone to put it out. Once the wood is clear, our army waiting outside of the border of Rivendell will have a clear path to destroy the country."
Legolas and Arwen inhaled deeply at the words, knowing Rivendell was in grave danger. Legolas felt his heart twisted in pain as the image of the burning trees flashed across his mind.
The leading orc yelled, "Prepare to die, elves!" as a dozen orc charged towards the elves.
"I will not let you do any harm to Rivendell or the trees!" Legolas yelled. With lightning speed, he shot arrows at the orcs holding torches with deadly accuracy. The torches extinguished as they fell with their holders, leaving none burning.
Quickly, Legolas unsheathed his twin knives and slain the orc charged at them. He stood between the orcs and Arwen, protecting her.
The other orcs paused, stunned by the speed and power of the elf, before gathering themselves and attacked again.
Legolas took advantage of the brief break of fighting and looked around. Knowing that Arwen was not strong in fighting, he tried desperately to find a gap among the enemies for Arwen to escape but no avail. He looked up to the ancient tree and a thought came to his mind.
Swiftly, he held Arwen around her waist. "Please forgive me for my rudeness." he whispered as he gently threw Arwen up to a high branch of the ancient tree.
Shocked by the sudden action of the prince, Arwen landed safely on the branch and held the trunk of the tree. "What are you doing, Legolas?" she asked in confusion.
Legolas blocked the black sword of an orc and slain the orc before answering, "My lady, please stay up in the tree and may the tree protect you with its strong branches. I shall keep the foiled creatures away from the tree until the last of my strength fades."
Legolas fought with all his might and killed many of the orc. However, he was outnumbered and he gradually grew tired after each swing of his twin knives.
Arwen watched in horror as the orc were getting closer and closer to Legolas and to the tree. Suddenly, she sensed danger closed in. She turned around and saw an orc climbing up from the other side of the tree to the branch she was sitting.
Unarmed, Arwen could do nothing but to call for help, "Legolas! "
Legolas turned and saw the orc threatening Arwen. He charged to the orc and stabbed his twin knives deep into the back of the orc.
The orc let out a heart-piercing scream and swung violently against the hold of the elf prince.
Caught by surprise of the orc's strength, Legolas could only managed to retrieved one of his twin knives from the back of the orc, before being roughly threw against the tree trunk.
Arwen felt her heart skipped a beat as she saw Legolas knelt on the ground, his eyes filled with pain. A large silvery-red blood mark was left on the tree trunk.
The other orcs roared and flooded towards the fallen prince. Legolas stood with difficulty and fought against waves of orc's attack. However, his motions were slowed and his strength was weakened by the injury on his back. To make things worse, Legolas had lost one of his twin knives, leaving the left side of him open and vulnerable.
The orcs saw and took advantage of the weakened state of the elf as they attacked Legolas in a tight circle.
Ignoring the injury and the intensive pain from his back, Legolas fought fiercely and slain many orcs. He was outnumbered and the orcs inflicted numerous wounds, some shallow while some deep, all over the body of the elf prince.
Arwen covered her month in shock, holding back tears as she saw the foiled black swords of the orcs cut Legolas' body mercilessly.
She felt as if centuries had passed until the last of the orc had fallen under the lone knife of the prince. Immediately, Legolas collapsed to the ground near the ancient tree, blood all over his body from the numerous wounds.
Arwen jumped down from the branch and gently held Legolas' limp body. She was terrified to find his eyes were closed and his face as white as snow. Tears escaped her beautiful eyes. She gently shook the prince, "Legolas, Legolas, please open your eyes." she whispered softly.
Legolas slowly opened his eyes, which were clouded with pain, "Arwen, please leave the place. There may be other orcs nearby. I am sorry that I cannot protect you any more. I have no strength left to reach the palace. Please go back to the palace quickly. For there shall provide better protection to you."
Arwen shook her head as more tears escaped, "No, little Greenleaf, I cannot leave you behind with your injuries."
Legolas' eyelids fell slowly as exhaustion and the massive blood loss took their toll, "Arwen, listen to me. You cannot stay here, it is too dangerous for you. I am too weak to protect you on the way. Please leave this place quickly before any further danger emerges..." he said as he gradually lost his hold to consciousness.
"Legolas, Legolas." Arwen called desperately and gently shook the elf prince.
But there was no response.
Arwen felt her heart split into half as she noticed that a pool of silvery red blood was forming under Legolas' body, soaking the soil near the roots of the ancient tree. Knowing that seeking help from the palace was the only hope to save Legolas, Arwen gently laid him beside the tree.
"Little Greenleaf, please, hold on and wait for me to return." she said before running towards the palace as fast as she could.
The moment after Arwen disappeared into the wood, a branch of the ancient tree started to move slowly and leaned towards the unconscious form laid on the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please hurry!" Arwen pleaded as she ran as fast as her exhausted body could, "Please, he needs to be treated immediately!"
Behind her, Lord Elrond, his twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and two of the best healers in Rivendell were following closely. They heard a brief explanation of the situation from Arwen and they were all worried about Legolas' condition.
When they finally arrived, all of them stopped abruptly and stared at the scene with total disbelieve.
Legolas was lying unconscious near the root of ancient tree, the very same place where Arwen laid him. However, he was now surrounded by the branches of the ancient tree, which encaged the elf prince in a protective wooden cocoon. There were dense, long sharp thrones all over the branches, fending off anyone from getting near to the elf.
"Arwen, what happened?" Elladan asked, confused.
Arwen was as confused as anyone on the scene, "I do not know. There was nothing but a normal tree only a few moments ago. I do not understand how the tree could have grown so many branches in such a short period of time. How can we get to Legolas now? He must be treated immediately."
Elrohir stepped forward, his sword in his hand, "Stay back! I will cut the branches and free Legolas from the tree prison!"
Suddenly, with no wind in the air, all the branches of the ancient tree started shaking angrily. Angry hisses seemed coming from every tree in the wood.
Elrond gently pushed down the sword of his son, "Halt, Elrohir. The tree is not imprisoning Legolas, but protecting him. I do not know how it could grow in such astonishing speed. But I am sure the tree is doing this with good intention towards Legolas. We shall not harm any of its branches."
Elladan asked, "Father, then what should we do? We cannot treat Legolas' wounds with all these branches around him."
Elrond stepped towards the tree and said, "Ancient tree of Rivendell, I am Elrond. We cannot express how much we appreciate your protection over our friend, Legolas. But we must request you to retrieve your branches from our friend for us to treat his wound."
The angry shake of the branches and the angry hisses of the trees stopped. But the ancient tree refused to move its branches away from Legolas.
Elrond sighed, trying to thinking of another way to retrieve Legolas from the tree, without harming the tree itself.
Suddenly, Arwen stepped forward and stood right in front of the thorny branches protecting Legolas, "Ancient tree of Rivendell, I am Arwen. If you could see through my heart, you will see how much appreciation I have for your protection over Legolas. But we need to tend his wounds before his life fades away." she said as she slowly put her hand onto the thorns of the branches, "Please, with all my sincerity, please let us treat our friend."
As Arwen's soft palm touched the thorns, the thorns penetrated her fair skin and the wounds started to bleed.
"Arwen." Elladan and Elrohir said in unison, worried about their sister.
In everyone's amusement, slowly, the thorns started to shrink back into the branches and the branches started to retrieve. In a moment, the cocoon disappeared, leaving Legolas open to his rescuers.
"Thank you." Arwen whispered through tears before she reached down to Legolas. She turned to her father, "Please, father, please help him."
Elrond and the healers recovered from shock and started inspecting the numerous wounds of the elf prince.
When they have finally treated most of the more serious wounds, Elrond and the healers sighed in relief, sweat covered their faces.
"How is he, father?" Arwen asked anxiously. She did not dare to ask the question earlier as she feared she might obstruct her father's and the healers' attempt to save Legolas.
A smile appeared on Elrond's face, "Legolas should be fine. He will live."
The sister and the twin brothers sighed in relief.
Elrond's face turned serious, "It is a miracle that he is still alive. I have never seen any elf who could survive injuries as serious as these. But the most amusing thing is that I can feel two distinctive life forces inside Legolas, one belongs to elves, the other a life force which belongs to the trees."
The others were stunned. Arwen asked in confusion, "How... how could this be possible?"
Elrond inspected the ground where Legolas laid, taking a small amount of soil and looked at it thoughtfully. He then turned and looked up to the ancient tree, "I believe that it may be because the tree has absorbed Legolas' blood."
Elrond knelt beside Legolas and gently stroke his soft blonde hair, "The blood of this child with intensive passion and love to the trees had created a special bond between him and the ancient tree. This has somehow granted the tree the ability to grow and move in an astonishing rate, and the ability to transfer its life force to Legolas, saving him from the hand of death."
Arwen put her hand on the trunk of the ancient tree and whispered, "Thank you for saving our little brother."
The branches of the ancient tree shook gently, for the elves were not sure if it was caused by the wind or it was a response from the tree.
~End of flashback~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Chapter 5
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Please feel free to review and comment!
The last chapter is coming! So stay tuned! ^-^
By Gozilla
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you sooooooo much for the reviews!! And thank you for all the comments and corrections! I feel so ashamed that I got a lot of the facts wrong!! A thousand sorry's!!! I once thought whether I should continue with the story. But I feel that I would be very irresponsible to leave you all hanging there. So... please please please bear with me for the mistakes and discrepancies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!
Please excuse my poor English. ^-^
Reviews are most welcomed!!
Enjoy!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*crap* – thoughts / tree talks
"crap" – conversation
(crap) – author's note
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5: Orcs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Flashback continues~
Ever since that night, Legolas spent a lot of time in the wood whenever his family visited Rivendell. Even the trees seemed greener and livelier whenever Legolas was among them.
By the time Legolas turned 1589 years old, he got his father's approval to travel around the Middle Earth by himself, for he was strong enough to defeat a dozen orcs or spiders alone with ease. Apart from the annual visit to Rivendell with his family, Legolas paid visits to Rivendell whenever he travelled nearby.
It had became one of the well-known facts to the elves in Rivendell that whenever you wanted to find the prince of Mirkwood, he would be either with the Lord Elrond's children or in the wood in front of the palace, in particular, near the most ancient tree in Rivendell.
For his love of the trees, Legolas would spend days in the wood, enjoying the company of the trees. Often, he would sit on one of the high branches of the ancient tree and play wonderful music with his flute or sing songs with his sweet voice in the wood.
But the peace of Rivendell was shattered as the evil spirit of Suaron arose again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~One night, in the wood outside of the Rivendell palace~
Arwen and Legolas were talking below the ancient tree, about the recent orcs attacks on the human settlements near Rivendell.
Suddenly, their keen ears picked up usual noise nearby. Reflectively, Legolas picked up his bow and stood in front of Arwen, protecting her from the uninvited visitors.
Their eyes widened in shock as they found themselves being surrounded by dozens of fierce-looking orcs, some of them carrying torches.
The leading orc stepped forward, an evil smile on its ugly twisted face, "Well, well, well, look what we have here. Two elves! Praise to Sauron for giving us an entertainment in this boring job! Well, we are going to have fun killing elves and eating their tender flesh right here very soon."
Legolas tightened his grips on the handle of his bow, "What do you want? You are not welcome here! Leave now! Before the army of Lord Elrond comes and tramples you to hell!"
The leading orc laughed, "You pathetic elf! How do you think Elrond would know we are here? We are going to set fire in the wood. By the time Elrond knew we are here, the flame will be too strong for anyone to put it out. Once the wood is clear, our army waiting outside of the border of Rivendell will have a clear path to destroy the country."
Legolas and Arwen inhaled deeply at the words, knowing Rivendell was in grave danger. Legolas felt his heart twisted in pain as the image of the burning trees flashed across his mind.
The leading orc yelled, "Prepare to die, elves!" as a dozen orc charged towards the elves.
"I will not let you do any harm to Rivendell or the trees!" Legolas yelled. With lightning speed, he shot arrows at the orcs holding torches with deadly accuracy. The torches extinguished as they fell with their holders, leaving none burning.
Quickly, Legolas unsheathed his twin knives and slain the orc charged at them. He stood between the orcs and Arwen, protecting her.
The other orcs paused, stunned by the speed and power of the elf, before gathering themselves and attacked again.
Legolas took advantage of the brief break of fighting and looked around. Knowing that Arwen was not strong in fighting, he tried desperately to find a gap among the enemies for Arwen to escape but no avail. He looked up to the ancient tree and a thought came to his mind.
Swiftly, he held Arwen around her waist. "Please forgive me for my rudeness." he whispered as he gently threw Arwen up to a high branch of the ancient tree.
Shocked by the sudden action of the prince, Arwen landed safely on the branch and held the trunk of the tree. "What are you doing, Legolas?" she asked in confusion.
Legolas blocked the black sword of an orc and slain the orc before answering, "My lady, please stay up in the tree and may the tree protect you with its strong branches. I shall keep the foiled creatures away from the tree until the last of my strength fades."
Legolas fought with all his might and killed many of the orc. However, he was outnumbered and he gradually grew tired after each swing of his twin knives.
Arwen watched in horror as the orc were getting closer and closer to Legolas and to the tree. Suddenly, she sensed danger closed in. She turned around and saw an orc climbing up from the other side of the tree to the branch she was sitting.
Unarmed, Arwen could do nothing but to call for help, "Legolas! "
Legolas turned and saw the orc threatening Arwen. He charged to the orc and stabbed his twin knives deep into the back of the orc.
The orc let out a heart-piercing scream and swung violently against the hold of the elf prince.
Caught by surprise of the orc's strength, Legolas could only managed to retrieved one of his twin knives from the back of the orc, before being roughly threw against the tree trunk.
Arwen felt her heart skipped a beat as she saw Legolas knelt on the ground, his eyes filled with pain. A large silvery-red blood mark was left on the tree trunk.
The other orcs roared and flooded towards the fallen prince. Legolas stood with difficulty and fought against waves of orc's attack. However, his motions were slowed and his strength was weakened by the injury on his back. To make things worse, Legolas had lost one of his twin knives, leaving the left side of him open and vulnerable.
The orcs saw and took advantage of the weakened state of the elf as they attacked Legolas in a tight circle.
Ignoring the injury and the intensive pain from his back, Legolas fought fiercely and slain many orcs. He was outnumbered and the orcs inflicted numerous wounds, some shallow while some deep, all over the body of the elf prince.
Arwen covered her month in shock, holding back tears as she saw the foiled black swords of the orcs cut Legolas' body mercilessly.
She felt as if centuries had passed until the last of the orc had fallen under the lone knife of the prince. Immediately, Legolas collapsed to the ground near the ancient tree, blood all over his body from the numerous wounds.
Arwen jumped down from the branch and gently held Legolas' limp body. She was terrified to find his eyes were closed and his face as white as snow. Tears escaped her beautiful eyes. She gently shook the prince, "Legolas, Legolas, please open your eyes." she whispered softly.
Legolas slowly opened his eyes, which were clouded with pain, "Arwen, please leave the place. There may be other orcs nearby. I am sorry that I cannot protect you any more. I have no strength left to reach the palace. Please go back to the palace quickly. For there shall provide better protection to you."
Arwen shook her head as more tears escaped, "No, little Greenleaf, I cannot leave you behind with your injuries."
Legolas' eyelids fell slowly as exhaustion and the massive blood loss took their toll, "Arwen, listen to me. You cannot stay here, it is too dangerous for you. I am too weak to protect you on the way. Please leave this place quickly before any further danger emerges..." he said as he gradually lost his hold to consciousness.
"Legolas, Legolas." Arwen called desperately and gently shook the elf prince.
But there was no response.
Arwen felt her heart split into half as she noticed that a pool of silvery red blood was forming under Legolas' body, soaking the soil near the roots of the ancient tree. Knowing that seeking help from the palace was the only hope to save Legolas, Arwen gently laid him beside the tree.
"Little Greenleaf, please, hold on and wait for me to return." she said before running towards the palace as fast as she could.
The moment after Arwen disappeared into the wood, a branch of the ancient tree started to move slowly and leaned towards the unconscious form laid on the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Please hurry!" Arwen pleaded as she ran as fast as her exhausted body could, "Please, he needs to be treated immediately!"
Behind her, Lord Elrond, his twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and two of the best healers in Rivendell were following closely. They heard a brief explanation of the situation from Arwen and they were all worried about Legolas' condition.
When they finally arrived, all of them stopped abruptly and stared at the scene with total disbelieve.
Legolas was lying unconscious near the root of ancient tree, the very same place where Arwen laid him. However, he was now surrounded by the branches of the ancient tree, which encaged the elf prince in a protective wooden cocoon. There were dense, long sharp thrones all over the branches, fending off anyone from getting near to the elf.
"Arwen, what happened?" Elladan asked, confused.
Arwen was as confused as anyone on the scene, "I do not know. There was nothing but a normal tree only a few moments ago. I do not understand how the tree could have grown so many branches in such a short period of time. How can we get to Legolas now? He must be treated immediately."
Elrohir stepped forward, his sword in his hand, "Stay back! I will cut the branches and free Legolas from the tree prison!"
Suddenly, with no wind in the air, all the branches of the ancient tree started shaking angrily. Angry hisses seemed coming from every tree in the wood.
Elrond gently pushed down the sword of his son, "Halt, Elrohir. The tree is not imprisoning Legolas, but protecting him. I do not know how it could grow in such astonishing speed. But I am sure the tree is doing this with good intention towards Legolas. We shall not harm any of its branches."
Elladan asked, "Father, then what should we do? We cannot treat Legolas' wounds with all these branches around him."
Elrond stepped towards the tree and said, "Ancient tree of Rivendell, I am Elrond. We cannot express how much we appreciate your protection over our friend, Legolas. But we must request you to retrieve your branches from our friend for us to treat his wound."
The angry shake of the branches and the angry hisses of the trees stopped. But the ancient tree refused to move its branches away from Legolas.
Elrond sighed, trying to thinking of another way to retrieve Legolas from the tree, without harming the tree itself.
Suddenly, Arwen stepped forward and stood right in front of the thorny branches protecting Legolas, "Ancient tree of Rivendell, I am Arwen. If you could see through my heart, you will see how much appreciation I have for your protection over Legolas. But we need to tend his wounds before his life fades away." she said as she slowly put her hand onto the thorns of the branches, "Please, with all my sincerity, please let us treat our friend."
As Arwen's soft palm touched the thorns, the thorns penetrated her fair skin and the wounds started to bleed.
"Arwen." Elladan and Elrohir said in unison, worried about their sister.
In everyone's amusement, slowly, the thorns started to shrink back into the branches and the branches started to retrieve. In a moment, the cocoon disappeared, leaving Legolas open to his rescuers.
"Thank you." Arwen whispered through tears before she reached down to Legolas. She turned to her father, "Please, father, please help him."
Elrond and the healers recovered from shock and started inspecting the numerous wounds of the elf prince.
When they have finally treated most of the more serious wounds, Elrond and the healers sighed in relief, sweat covered their faces.
"How is he, father?" Arwen asked anxiously. She did not dare to ask the question earlier as she feared she might obstruct her father's and the healers' attempt to save Legolas.
A smile appeared on Elrond's face, "Legolas should be fine. He will live."
The sister and the twin brothers sighed in relief.
Elrond's face turned serious, "It is a miracle that he is still alive. I have never seen any elf who could survive injuries as serious as these. But the most amusing thing is that I can feel two distinctive life forces inside Legolas, one belongs to elves, the other a life force which belongs to the trees."
The others were stunned. Arwen asked in confusion, "How... how could this be possible?"
Elrond inspected the ground where Legolas laid, taking a small amount of soil and looked at it thoughtfully. He then turned and looked up to the ancient tree, "I believe that it may be because the tree has absorbed Legolas' blood."
Elrond knelt beside Legolas and gently stroke his soft blonde hair, "The blood of this child with intensive passion and love to the trees had created a special bond between him and the ancient tree. This has somehow granted the tree the ability to grow and move in an astonishing rate, and the ability to transfer its life force to Legolas, saving him from the hand of death."
Arwen put her hand on the trunk of the ancient tree and whispered, "Thank you for saving our little brother."
The branches of the ancient tree shook gently, for the elves were not sure if it was caused by the wind or it was a response from the tree.
~End of flashback~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Chapter 5
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Please feel free to review and comment!
The last chapter is coming! So stay tuned! ^-^