Legolas swallowed nervously, eyes not once leaving the arrow still being twirled deftly in his brother's fingers. He wouldn't. Surely there was not enough hate and malice in Calaen's soul? Raising his silver eyes to meet the green ones in front of him, the young Prince clenched his fists, determination crossing his face.

"I trust you are aware of the consequences should you fail to guess correctly?" Calaen asked.

"I am hoping that if I fail to name the correct word, then I miss a turn," Legolas replied. "But it is you making the rules, so I imagine that this is different to any other game."

Calaen smiled, and paused momentarily in the twirling of his arrow. He resumed it a moment later though, and he looked almost bored. "Firstly, if you fail to guess the word drawn in the air, then that word will be engraved onto your body with this arrow. That might make you concentrate more. Secondly, there is only one player in this game. That is me."

Legolas turned away and closed his eyes tightly. He felt sick. "Valar, how can you…?"

"Shall we start then?" Calaen asked. Not taking his eyes off his brother, he wrote something in the air: it was a single downwards stroke.

"I…" the younger Prince said softly, pressing a hand to his burnt arm. A wave of fresh pain swept through him, and he flinched as many different coloured lights flashed in front of his eyes.

Calaen's face fell, and he looked disappointed that Legolas had guessed correctly. Still, they were not even halfway through the game yet. Without speaking, he raised his hand once more and swiftly wrote something else, ending in a flourish. This time though, it was two separate words.

"Am a…" Legolas muttered, leaning back against the wall as he swayed on the spot.

"You are not supposed to guess it right!" Calaen snapped, jumping forwards. Raising the hand that held the arrow, he struck his brother across the face, causing a long crimson gash to appear on his cheek.

"I did not know that that was part of the game," Legolas said softly. As the added pain washed over him, he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. He drew his knees up to his chest, and looked up warily.

Anger flashed through Calaen's eyes, and he threw his booted foot into the younger Prince's face. "Silence!" he hissed. "Let us see if you can guess this last word."

The kick that he had received sent Legolas' head snapping to the side, and he visibly grimaced as blood began to fall down his face. He was rapidly losing vision; the whole room was spinning around him, and he wondered vaguely how long it would be before he once again lost consciousness.

Calaen took a step backwards, and wrote the final word in the air. He smiled triumphantly as Legolas blinked – there was no way that he would be able to guess correctly now. Even though there was really only one word it could possibly be, the state that the young Prince was in meant that he would have no chance.

"Well? Tell me what it is," Calaen said softly.

"I…I did not see," Legolas breathed, fear shooting through him as he eyed the arrow.

"You did not see?" the dark haired Elf laughed. His eyes danced with a manic glee. "Did you not listen to the rules of the game?"

Legolas ran his tongue nervously across his lips, and stood up with great difficulty. He felt that there was more safety to be had standing than down on the ground. He reached out a hand and placed it on the wall, trying to keep himself steady as his brother stepped towards him, a nasty look on his face.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Calaen said. "Either you do not struggle, and it is over with quickly. Or you do struggle, and just make it worse for yourself. It is up to you."

"No. I will not let this happen to me," Legolas said softly. He took an unsteady step forwards, but Calaen struck out, catching him in the ribs. As the young Prince doubled over in pain, the older one took it as the perfect opportunity to throw his fist into his face.

Legolas hissed and jumped to the side. His long hair was falling into his eyes, along with blood from earlier assaults. His vision was momentarily obscured, and he saw nothing but darkness as his legs were kicked out from under him. He tried to get up, but Calaen jumped over and touched a foot to his chest, holding him down.

"You agreed to play the game, so you must abide by the rules," he hissed. He dropped the arrow to the floor, so that he could pull off the tunic and light blue shirt that Legolas wore.

The Prince inhaled deeply and tried to reach out to grab the arrow, so that he could use it as some form of defence. But his terroriser merely laughed and brought the heel of his boot down on his hand. Legolas bit his lip and tried to pull away, but Calaen ground his foot down harder, smiling as he felt bones breaking beneath him.

"What does it take to teach you?" he asked. He dropped down to the ground and knelt beside his brother. Taking the arrow and putting it back into his pocket, he pulled off Legolas' outer tunic. After throwing it to the other side of the room, he started to undo the clasps on the blue shirt.

"Don't do this," Legolas breathed, trying desperately to jerk away.

"If you don't stop that, then I will tie you up again and we can do it that way!" Calaen yelled. "Do you want that?"

"No," the younger Prince whispered. "Cal, this is wrong. Please, do not-

"Shut up," the dark haired Elf spat. He pulled the arrow from his tunic pocket, and without even a moment's hesitation, moved it down towards his brother.

Legolas closed his eyes tightly and laid his head back on the floor as he felt the sharp point coming to rest on his abdomen. Fear crossed his face, and he had to bite down on his already split lip to stop himself from screaming when his captor dug in and began 'writing', if writing it could be called.

Calaen was cruel and merciless, pushing the arrow point into his brother's flesh, and dragging it ruthlessly through the skin. He ignored the fact that Legolas was shaking uncontrollably. The only thing that was fixed on his mind was that he had to cause as much pain as possible to his younger brother.

"That was the first letter," he said conversationally. "Do not worry. There are only…let me see….oh, seven left."

Legolas tried to sit up, but the movement just pushed the arrow further into his stomach. His breathing became faster and faster, and fresh tears pooled in his eyes. Not only were they tears of pain, but they were also tears of disbelief – disbelief that his own brother could do this.

He could feel the blood all over his stomach, could feel it rolling down his side and pooling beneath him. Clenching his fists, ignoring the broken bones in his left hand, and slamming one down onto the ground, Legolas cried out. But he wished he had not – he had not wanted his pain to be seen.

"Daro Calaen," he sobbed. "Saesa….saesa daro."

"Oh Legolas, do not say that," the dark haired Elf said soothingly. "I cannot stop when I am only half way through the word." He reached up a hand, and brushed away a lock of hair from his brother's blood stained face.

Legolas jerked his head to the side, and rested his cheek on the floor. "Daro," he whispered.

"Oh stop crying, there are only two letters left," Calaen snapped. He smiled vaguely. "That's a pity. I like this game."

As work began on the penultimate letter, Legolas felt his eyes beginning to close, and even if he had wanted to, he would not have been able to do anything about it. He cried out as Calaen moved his hand particularly quickly, and the room began to spin around him.

"Ada…" Legolas breathed. "Ada, please help me. Please…"

"How touching. Little Legolas is crying for his Adar. Well, he is not coming!" Calaen spat. He jerked the arrow free and embedded it a little further on, so that he could complete the destruction that he had started.

Legolas blinked, trying to regain his vision. Everything was fading, and Calaen's face above him was slowly going out of focus. His eyes closed, but that did not prevent the tears falling from under his lashes. In his unseeing state, he was dimly aware of somebody knocking on the door.

Calaen cursed as he realized that there was someone outside, and he swiftly ended the word, finishing the letter with a sharp flourish, causing Legolas to cry out in pain. Shooting his brother a venomous look, he reached up a hand and clamped it over his mouth, silencing him.

"I am going to the door so that I can get rid of whoever it is," he said in a low voice. "If you even think to make one noise, then I will make you wish that you had never been born. You understand?"

Legolas nodded once, wishing that he was already dead. As Calaen jumped to his feet and crossed the room, the young Prince stuck his hand into his mouth to stifle his sobs, though his body was still wracked with them. He took a deep breath and lowered his eyes. He could barely see, and the blood that covered his body did not help. But when he managed to make out the word that had been engraved into his flesh, he nearly cried out again. But he held himself together. He had to.

The door closed, and Calaen came back to the middle of the room. "You make a lot of noise, little brother. Too much noise, in fact. One of the servants was on a lower floor, and she heard your screams."

"She…she heard me?" Legolas breathed, a flicker of hope in his slowly darkening eyes.

Calaen smiled at that. "Yes, but I have explained it all away. I am afraid that you can no longer be allowed to draw attention to us. You must be tied back up, and gagged this time."

Those were the last words that Legolas heard, before falling unconscious for the second time in one day.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Daro……………Stop

Saesa daro……..Please stop