Author: Mirrordance
Title: Return
Summary: Post-LOTR. Legolas always felt at odds with his home kingdom. Though it's King by birthright, he fled it, building a prosperous colony in Ithilien. Just when all seems well at last, great dangers in Mirkwood call for the return of THIS King home.
* * *
PART ELEVEN
* * *
"Those blasted elves are fast!" Gimli grumbled as he huffed along. Before him, the three elves ran as quickly as their legs could carry them. Beside him, Aragorn slowed from his pace and grabbed a dagger from one of his boots. He stopped altogether and braced himself upon the ground, as he tossed the dagger towards the escapees.
The blade caught one of the elves by the back of his neck, and he fell to the ground, stumbling one of his comrades. Legolas took the opportunity to down that one by an arrow to the head, and he fell too.
"One last," Gimli breathed.
Legolas reached for the dagger he hid upon his own boot, and wordlessly handed it to Aragorn by the hilt. The human King tossed it forward and downed the last running elf.
"Not bad," Legolas winked at the adan as he jogged ahead and recovered their weapons from the bodies…
One of which was still very much alive.
Legolas drew out the arrow from the elf's back, just as it swiftly turned to face Legolas with its claws raised toward his neck.
Legardo watched alongside the dwarf and the adan, horrified. Aragorn and the Gimli sprinted forward; they had no long-range weapons amongst themselves at all. But Legardo… he always had one…
Legolas' death could have meant wonders for him, at this point. But too long has he lived in his hatred. And too long has he paid for his old mistakes, only to make new ones now. He had already wasted much of his life disliking his brother, but if he did nothing now… he knew he would be spending the rest of his life disliking himself, and all that he had become.
He drew the dagger from the back of his boot.
* * *
~Legolas!~ the King commanded, ~End it!~
Legolas was Mirkwood elf long enough to know if it was the King making a demand or if it was his father. Thranduil was both, and Legolas knew only to defy the side of Thranduil that was his ada, but certainly not the side of Thranduil that was the King.
End it, the King commanded in a detached, high-handed tone. It will not suffer defiance.
Gritting his teeth in determination, Legolas shifted from defense to offense. He took a step forward and swung his sword against Legardo's. For the first time that night, Legardo was forced to take a step back, forced to evade. Legolas was fighting now, and a fierce warrior he was. He will take all that he desired.
His blows struck so hard it was like hitting rock. Legardo picked the wrong foe to court. While his own skills have been honed by time, this was a warrior's instinct he could not match.
Legolas' swings were perfect, well-calculated arcs that were the stuff of his legend. His precision was stunning, and Legardo soon found it harder and harder to ward off the vicious attack. He had to dodge so quickly he kept stumbling over his own feet.
In two more moves, Legardo was disarmed and on the ground, his sword soaring to the air and landing with a resounding, final clang some distance away, taken by the force of Legolas' assault. Two feet away it was, but it might as well have been two leagues. He will never be able to get it back.
Legolas stalked forward, and let the blade of his sword rest against his brother's neck.
~So it ends,~ Legardo seethed, looking up at the victor, his brother, who once again stole from him.
~I do not understand,~ said Legolas softly, ~I never will. Still I find I can forgive you for taking my life away from me. But what I cannot forgive, is that you found joy in it. My brother, my own flesh and blood.~
His voice trembled, though his eyes and his grip on his sword remained resolute. ~You break my heart. Perhaps this is why I cannot even find the heart to kill you. Or maybe it is because though your soul is black and bought, I still see our mother on your face, and ada, and Lesandro. But mostly, I find I cannot kill you because you are already dead to me, brother. It is over. Goodbye.~
Legolas stepped away, and turned his back on his brother, as much then in that moment, as much for ever.
Nose flaring, eyes afire, Legardo could not accept his defeat. Slowly and shakily, he got to his feet, drawing a dagger from the back of his boot.
~Legolas!~ Estel cried, having seen the motion.
Legardo lunged forward, plunging the dagger deep against his brother's back, and twisting it slowly.
~They said Lesandro had mother's kindness,~ Legardo whispered triumphantly against Legolas' ear, ~And you had the King's spirit. But I… I always had the cunning, brother. It is you who are dead, not I.~
* * *
That was years ago.
The=is time around, the dagger flew from his hands, and ended the life of the elf that threatened his brother—a position which, of course had once been his very own.
You have my sympathies, he thought to the Forgotten Elf sourly.
Legolas looked up at him, stunned. Aragorn and Gimli looked no less surprised.
Legardo took a deep breath, and stepped towards them. He bent over the dead elf's body and reclaimed his weapon.
Legolas opened his mouth to say something to him, but Legardo stopped him with a look.
~Don't,~ he said to his older brother, ~Don't.~
Don't thank me, he meant. His was not an act of kindness; it was a duty long owed. It was his role, as a brother. His honor was not heightened by the act; it was merely justly upheld… Not to mention the fact that he could not accept the gratitude, or the implied forgiveness. He wouldn't know what in the world to do with it, after so long.
~I wasn't going to,~ Legolas lied.
~Good,~ Legardo said, straightening, ~Let's go get ada.~
* * *
Legardo led the way, and paused by a pair of doors.
"They kept the King in here?" Legolas asked quietly, noting they had stopped by the breakfast room.
"I don't hear anything from within," said Aragorn.
"Naturally we aren't just going to breaking in through the main entrance," Legardo reasoned, "We'll surprise them through the secret ways. There's one in here."
Cautiously, Legolas opened the doors and stepped inside, with Gimli and Aragorn close behind. The room was completely dark, save for the light of the moon streaming from the windows.
Suddenly, the door closed behind them, making the three friends whip around to face the threat…
And were met by silence.
Legolas blinked for a moment, before the realization hit him.
"Legardo!" he yelled, reaching for the knobs of the doors. They refused to turn.
* * *
Legardo took the dagger he had just used to save his brother's life and shoved it into the key hole.
"Legardo!" he heard his more than slightly displeased brother yell from inside the now-locked room.
"I'm sorry, Legolas!" he replied, "You've had your heroic return. Now I must go have mine with ada!"
"Of all the stupid, foolish—" Legolas sputtered, and he cut himself off, "Open this blasted door right now!"
"I'm sorry!" Legardo said again as he readied his weapons.
"And I was just beginning to—" Legolas muttered from within.
"Beginning to what?' Legardo fished.
"It was a fleeting feeling!" Legolas exclaimed, "So it matters not. Open the blasted door!"
"You'll be safe in there, I promise!" Legardo said as he jogged away, "I won't forget to free you later!"
* * *
The Three Hunters, great and grand heroes of legend and lore, stood miserably in the dark.
"I think we've been deceived," Aragorn said evenly, almost amusedly, breaking the sudden silence that engulfed the room after Legolas' string of dwarvish curses died down when his brother left.
"I don't know about you," Gimli said, "But I feel somewhat foolish."
"I'm going to kill him with my bare hands!" Legolas declared, pounding a fist at the door, and then kicking futilely at it. "Gimli," he barked, "Give me that blasted axe, I'm going to tear this door down."
"Don't put anything sharp in his hands," Aragorn teased.
"What are you so happy about?" Legolas asked him testily.
"Why don't we just use one of your multitude of secret ways, elf?" the dwarf hesitated, taking Aragorn's advice very seriously.
"I don't feel like it," Legolas snapped, reaching for the axe, which Gimli pulled away from his reach, to his consternation.
"Oh, just let him have it," Aragorn sighed, "Let him exhaust some of that aggression. We just might avoid a massacre later when he sees his brother again. Elrohir was right. Good thing you cannot see my white hairs in the dark."
Gimli handed his axe to the elf. Oh, but he did wish for some more light, though. He wanted to see the elf wielding an axe, cursing in his language and having his furious way with it. Legolas, perpetually the picture of aloof and careful control, with a dwarf's axe, no less… oh, to have just a little bit more light…
Legolas raised the axe, and it caught a glint of the moonlight. It descended heavily upon the door.
He returned the axe to its proper owner, and by that time his face was carefully composed again… or at least taut with all of its greater concerns. It was not hard to remember that this time, his brother and his father—his entire family was still in grave danger.
"Thank you," he said to Gimli tightly.
"I'm glad I do not get on your really harsher side," Gimli grumbled, as the three warriors discreetly stepped out of the ruined doorway.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Original Character Guide:
Lesandro was the much-beloved heir to Mirkwood and Legolas' older brother, until he was murdered in the 2800's.
Legardo is Legolas' younger brother, and was the murderer of Lesandro, as Legolas finds out in "Exile." He tries to kill Legolas too, but fails and is imprisoned.
Lord Sala is the cowardly but opportunistic Mirkwood politician who tried to take the throne from King Thranduil by accusing Legolas of Lesandro's murder.
Lady Andrada is an old elf woman who fell in love with Thranduil but staged her own death to escape her unreturned love and subsequent despair in Mirkwood. She staged Legolas' death as well, to keep him from being a pawn in Sala's ambitions.
Torres – the leader of the Forgotten elves
Yasmina – Torres' beloved wife, also one of the Forgotten elves
MASSIVE THANKS TO ALL WHO TOOK THE TIME TO READ!!!
THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS: Tychen, Insanechildfanfic, Stoneage Woman, Sodalite, Kit Cloudkicker, Starlit Hope, HalandLeg4ever, Gwyn, Dragonfly32 and Platy.
To Tychen: oh my. You have like an eye inside my head, haha! You're so perceptive! Though I think you'll have even more ideas of what will transpire after the next few posts :)
To Stoneage Woman: ah, more humor in this chappie for you :) I admit I'm having more fun with the humor bits than I ever thought I could. Hope it wasn't out of line :)
To Sodalite: The disasters are about to begin, don't worry, haha ;)
To Starlit Hope: yup, that's Legardo in a nutshell. He really doesn't know what to do with himself wrt to his brother. So here in this chappie he's kind of swinging along between being good, being bad, pursuing his own interests and that of others'. Whew! He's a complicated guy, haha :)
THANKS EVERYBODY!!! 'TIL THE NEXT POST!!!
