Ok! It's time for a lovely chapter of this adorable little tale... he he he... my friend recommended something for somebody to buy me for Christmas- she reckons a nice white straightjacket would suit me... I'd get to hug myself all day!!! ^.^

Anyway, how are you all feeling after that MAJOR nasty cliffie? My friend nearly had a heart attack... LOL! ^_~

Ok, review replies!

Kelly L. K; Thank you!

Gwyn; I know, I know... *blushes deeply* I'm sorry! But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! ^_~

Deana; When I read your review I was reminded of that bit in Shrek where he has the arrow in his butt and Donkey over-reacts... LOL!!! ^_~ Thanks for your review!

ElizabethBlack4; Oh Amy, I think it's because he's so adorable, but he never gets hurt! See, if he got hurt, then girl's sympathy levels will increase for him, and so they'll love him more! So really I'm doing him a favour!

LEGOLAS: Some favour!

Shut up you and get back to where you're supposed to be! I take it you don't like Gimli that much, huh, Hun? ^_^ LOL, never mind!

Sirithiliel; *glances at arrow pointed towards face* WOAH!!! PUT THAT THING DOWN! You could take someone's eye out with that thing! Namely me! Hey, if you kill me, I won't be able to update! Ah ha, see?!

elfmage; Ride Aggy, ride!!! LOL! ^_~ and I suppose we could order Leggy to breathe as well...

LEGOLAS: Nobody orders me to do anything!

I thought you were unconscious?

LEGOLAS: O_O' Oh yeah... ack! X_X

Sadist's Code! Sadist's Code! LOL, you wanna make me President of Sadism?! Ooh, thank you! ^_~

A&L&G: Oh god...

SailorGirl4; Thanks! I thought, hey! If the Elf's gotta go, then I might as well make it interesting! ^_~ I'm gonna take things a little slower now... thanks!

Sparrow Greenleaf; Too good a fic? Thanks! ^_~

Darcy Took; Thanks Darcy! Oh yeah, WILL YOU HURRY UP AND UPDATE FORGIVE AND FORGET?!?!?!?! Thank you... ^_~ LOL!

Estel Elven Enchantress; Yeah, I killed Legolas... again... for the... erm, how many times is that now Legolas?

LEGOLAS: About 4 times now including this one... well, I mean in 2 of them you haven't actually said I'm dead, but all your reviewers are assuming it.

Oh yeah!

LEGOLAS: But you've definitely killed me twice. Have you any idea how disturbing that is?!

Just so everybody else knows what Jo has just written... "...oh well... life goes on... UNLESS YOU'RE LEGGY OF COURSE!" God she's worse than me sometimes...

Alida-Fruit; Woah, don't give yourself a heart attack! ^_~ you reminded me of that line in Shrek as well btw... alright, I'm not a genie!!! I'll grant one of your wishes now... or maybe two...

Ebony Falcon; Thanks!

So, a big thank you to all my reviewers! Now, for some strange, unknown reason you all went a bit crazy at my 'killing' Legolas... maybe there'll be a miracle... who knows... read on to find out!

.:Chapter 6:.

Gimli shut his eyes at the last moment. He was going to die!

"NO!!!" screamed a voice from out of nowhere. He opened his eyes to see Aragorn gallop into the clearing. Sword drawn, the King hurtled towards the Orc that had its knife so close to the Dwarf's heart. Grarag froze still, terror in his blood red eyes as Anduril swept through his neck, sweeping his grotesque head clean off. The dark blood stained the ground.

Rugdish watched this in fear, but before the Man could do the same to him, the cowardly Orc took off through the blackened trees, screeching and hollering.

Aragorn watched in disgust as the hideous being of Mordor gradually grew smaller and smaller. A slight whinnying behind him made him turn.

Arod was bent over Gimli, nudging the Dwarf gently. For a heart-stopping moment, the young King of Gondor feared the worst. His head fell gently onto his chest. "I'm sorry mellonamin," he thought miserably. "I've failed you."

"Gerroff me, you annoying beast!"

The outburst made Aragorn's head snap up. Gimli was pushing Arod's head away from him. "That's your problem; you're too much like your master- oversensitive and overprotective!"

Aragorn ran over and skidded on his knees in the mud to rest beside his friend. "Gimli!" he cried happily.

"Aragorn laddie, I thought you'd never get here!" laughed Gimli. His mood suddenly sobered. "Where's Legolas? He got to Minas Tirith, didn't he?! He's alright?!" He would have asked more questions, but Aragorn raised his hand to stop him.

"Sssh Gimli," he sighed. "Yes, Legolas did get back, but I fear for him. He has been poisoned, but with what I do not know."

Gimli's eyes suddenly lit up. "I know!" he cried. "It's some foul concoction called Vrorbug."

Aragorn looked at him in horror. "What?!"

Worry mounted in the Dwarf's heart. "Vrorbug. Aragorn, tell me... is it true what the Orcs said? That there is no hope?"

"There is only one cure I know of," said Aragorn gravely. "And it is not a nice one..."

~*~*~*~

The White Woman took his hand. "Fair child of Mirkwood, I come to spirit you away," she whispered. She danced more, twirling under Legolas' arm and smiling sweetly at him.

"Where to?" he asked, slightly afraid of the spectral woman that spoke so softly.

"To a place where there's beauty beyond your dreams..." she whispered. Without warning, she suddenly moved to kiss him. He pulled back at the last moment, making her miss.

"What is your name?" he questioned; his fear of her mounting with each passing moment.

"Death," she hissed...

~*~*~*~

"No! No, Legolas, you can't do this to me!" cried Arwen desperately. She shook the Elven Prince's shoulders roughly. Tears began spilling from her eyes. "Don't you dare leave us here!" she shouted, a sudden anger welling up inside her. "Don't you dare!"

She didn't know why she did it; perhaps she thought that her friend would respond to such an act. She balled her fist and hit her lifelong friend on the chest. "Please don't leave..." she whispered. Her eyes swept over the body in front of her, seeing no change come over it, before giving up and she rested her head on Legolas' unmoving chest, sobbing...

~*~*~*~

Death went to kiss him once more, when suddenly a bolt of pain went through his chest. He cried out and pulled back from the woman, staggering slightly as he did so...

~*~*~*~

They were riding hard now. Aragorn had not realised it at first, but Gimli had lost a lot of blood from the torn and bleeding gash. Now he held the Dwarf precariously in front of him, trying to keep a grip on both his friend and Arod. It would do neither of them any good if they fell.

Gimli had gradually drifted out of consciousness, for the rhythmic rocking of the steed had lulled him into a dreamless sleep. Aragorn had considered waking him up, but thought better of it; if the wounds tore at all, at least his friend wouldn't feel it.

The white walls of Minas Tirith slowly rose up out of the horizon, welcoming them home. However, something inside his heart told him that not all was well in the White City...

~*~*~*~

Rugdish ran into the cave where the other Orcs were busy arguing over a kill they had made. An animal of some description was slowly burning into charcoal over the roaring fire. Many eyes turned to him.

One Orc, a mountain of dark flesh, rose from his seat and strode over. "Rugdish!" he barked. "Where is Grarag?!" He moved nearer to the smaller Orc, his fearsome face right up close, portraying a threatening air.

Rugdish cowered slightly. "He was killed!" he blurted out, putting his arms above his head to protect himself from any blows.

The larger Orc growled. "By who?!" he questioned.

"It was a Man, Eralg," replied Rugdish. "He killed Grarag and tried to kill me; I ran though."

Eralg looked as though he would strike the miserable creature down. His eyes blazed with fury and he hissed in his breath. Before he could react any more however, a new voice interrupted him.

"Calm yourself Eralg," it hissed. The tone was soft, smooth... deadly. "Go sit. I shall deal with this."

Eralg took a deep breath, grinning maliciously at the smaller Orc in front of him. "You're in for it now, runt!" he spat, before turning and heading back to where he had been sitting.

Rugdish trembled where he stood, his bony knees shaking, almost knocking together.

"Come forth Rugdish," commanded the voice. Silence had fallen over the cave, all the evil inhabitants of that Mordorian cave hungering for blood.

Step by step, the little Orc moved closer and closer towards the dark corner. A shadow could be seen down in the pits of the inky blackness.

"M-My Lord?" he stammered, terror taking him over.

"Rugdish, poor simple Rugdish," cackled the bearer of the voice. "I do not blame you for Grarag's death." The lecturer paused for a moment, drawing breath. "I do find fault in you, however, for fleeing."

Rugdish fell to his knees and wailed. "Forgive me!"

The voice laughed manically, before stopping. A silent hush filled the room before he answered, quite simply; "No." The other Orcs whooped and cheered; it had been quite a while since the Master had killed anyone. "I do not take kindly to cowards Rugdish. You are a coward. And now you pay the price for your cowardice..."

The ear splitting screams could be heard for miles around as the full weight of the Master's fury was unleashed upon him. As Rugdish flopped boneless to the ground, his former companions cheered, before abandoning their original meal which now smoked into ashes over the flames and feasted on his body.

To those who could not get in to gorge on the spoils however, the Master gave a command.

"Go follow this Man. I have seen him from afar; he is the King of Gondor. I know you have done good work tonight, for getting rid of his two friends, I knew, would be a difficult task. But now," he cackled once more. "Now you must take what other thing is precious to him..."    

The Orcs of Mordor ran from their cave and made their way towards Minas Tirith; towards Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Arwen, and her unborn child...

~*~*~*~

Arwen could not believe it. She had lost one of her best friends to an unknown poison, in a way he should never have had to go. Legolas was an immortal; he was not meant to die! How could the Valar be so cruel?

All these thoughts were running through her head as she sobbed on his chest, when suddenly...

"I swear to Eru I felt something there!" She jerked her head up. She thought she had felt Legolas take in breath there... but he couldn't have... could he?

Legolas' already closed eyes shut tighter as he struggled to inhale some more live-giving air. Arwen's eyes widened in surprise and shock.

"He's alive!!!" she cried. Swiftly she grabbed his hand again. "Come on Legolas!" she called, hoping this might encourage the Elf to come back to the light. However, from the looks of things, there was something stopping him from breathing.

"Perhaps..." she thought all of a sudden. "Perhaps when I hit him..." She muttered a small apology to her friend before hitting him once again square on the chest. As she heard a whistling sound, she knew it must be working. She pushed down harder this time.

She was horrified to see a small black line run down the side of Legolas' mouth. It was a dark liquid. It must have been settling on his chest and stopping him from breathing!

Quickly she rolled her friend onto his side before thumping his back like she had his chest. As more of the sickly fluid was dislodged, she wiped it away with a white cloth. With a final spluttering cough, Legolas relaxed, his breathing returning to normal.

Arwen dared not draw in a breath until she was completely and totally sure of his safety. This was answered as Legolas' eyes fluttered meekly for a moment, before slowly opening.

~*~*~*~

Legolas blinked a few times, trying to clear his fuzzy vision, before the beautiful vision of Gondor's Queen finally swam into view. She had tear tracks down her cheeks, and her eyes were puffy and red, but she beamed broadly as she saw him wake. As he realised that, for now at least, he was out of immediate danger, he cracked a weak smile.      

"Thanks..." he croaked...

~*~*~*~

There, you see!!! He's alive! Well... just about anyway.

I hope you enjoyed reading that chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, especially the bit in the cave. I've never really written in this much detail about Orcs before, so it's a bit bewildering. Tell me what you think!

Ok, I think some of you might want to know this. I'm a BIG Evanescence fan, and the last 2 chapters came from a song of theirs, the last one on the Fallen album; Whisper. Anyway, I was trying to think of a way to show Death, but in a different way from most of the things I've seen before. Well, that was playing along with my extended version of FOTR. Frodo had just said "I think a servant of the Enemy would look fairer and feel fouler" and on the CD, the lyrics at that point just so happened to be;

Fallen angles at my feet/ Whispered voices at my ear/ Death before my eyes/ Lying next to me I fear/ She beckons me/ Shall I give in?/ Upon my end shall I begin?/ Forsaking all I've fallen for/ I rise to meet the end...

Talk about divine intervention, huh?! ^_~ Anyway, I thought about it for a moment, a quickly sketched a woman... and so Death as poor Legolas sees it was born... ^_~

So, I hope you enjoyed that, and R&R!!! ^_^

~*~ Star-Stallion ~*~