Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one, except Eredor, Eressa, Curdolin and his wife, Aleka and a couple others.
IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE: Everyone read this! Kay, I just realized a mistake that I made in the last chapter concerning Eressa and her dream with Sauron. Here are the facts:
a) Sauron called Eressa "my child" but I didn't mean that like she's his daughter. I used that phrase to further stress his power over her. If it's really that confusing I'll change it.
b) As you will see as the story goes on, Eressa will have a blood-kin kind of relationship with Sauron, but not the way I mistakenly suggested. But I'm not telling anymore about that! *duck tapes mouth*
c) Yes, Sauron is just a spirit roaming around Middle Earth still—this is the year of the 3rd age 2976, forty-two years before the Fellowship of the Ring. That's why he appears to Eressa in a dream instead of real form. He said that she would "bring him back into this world", which is something you have to pay attention to or you will be seriously confused as the story goes on.
PS: Sauron will probably appear to Eressa in more dreams, and I'll try to further foreshadow what's gonna happen again so you guys don't get bored.
I'm sorry for the confusion that small detail caused and I'll change it if it's necessary. Thanks to Starknight for making me aware of this.
ALSO: Yay!!!!! I broke over a hundred reviews!! Thank you all you wonderful, grand, absolutely awesome people! *extra cookies to all* Take them! And if you don't want them, I've got Monkeybread too, which despite the name is really good! Thanks so much you peeps! I wuv you!
Ah…now that that's over…here we go…
*********Chapter Nineteen*********
The next morning it was Legolas who awoke first. He blinked a few times as his eyes regained their focus and then suddenly remembered that there was a girl in the bed next to him. He felt the warm breath of Eressa on his neck, and looked down to find that during the night she had turned towards him and that her head was resting peacefully on his shoulder.
Legolas smiled at the sight of the sleeping girl and carefully moved her head and rested it on the piled blanket at the head of the bed. Then he got up. The moment his feet touched the floor he felt wetness. Looking down, Legolas saw that the dirt on the floor had mixed with the water that had turned into a slick mess of mud.
"Wonderful…" He muttered to himself as he kept his balance in the slippery goo.
He looked out the window and saw that the sun was about to rise. His body had become accustomed to being woken at this hour and now he did it naturally. Glancing back at Eressa, he decided to wake her, rather than let the guards do it once they came.
As he sat down on the bed, the planks creaked loudly, and Eressa jerked but remained asleep. Legolas placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake. Her eyes opened sleepily, and she said his name.
"Legolas?" She said as she yawned. "What time is it?"
"The sun is about to rise." The elf answered calmly. "The guards will be coming for you soon."
"Oh." Eressa grunted before standing up. Immediately her feet slipped on the mud and she almost fell—in fact she would have—if Legolas hadn't caught her.
Unfortunately for both of them, the sudden weight of Eressa in his arms set Legolas off balance too and he fell into the muck, pulling Eressa down with him.
The two landed side by side with a splat and got smeared with mud and water.
Legolas lifted his head and wiped a smudge of mud away from his cheek. "Sorry." He apologized sheepishly. Elves were supposed to be graceful, and yet here he was because he couldn't even keep his balance in the mud.
Eressa rolled over on her back. Apparently she didn't notice Legolas's embarrassment about his flaw, for she began to giggle, and then to laugh.
Legolas didn't really find anything funny about it, but he smiled and began to chuckle in return. His laughs grew louder as Eressa tried to stand up again but only succeeded in falling down again, splattering them both with more mud.
Suddenly, the door of the cell banged open, and Legolas looked up to see that the guards had come. They looked at the pair in the mud with only the slightest care on their faces and motioned for Eressa to come.
Eressa shot Legolas one last smile and carefully pulled herself up. This time she managed to get up and walk out to the hall where the mud became stone. One of the guards led her away, but looking back she could see the remaining one moving into the cell to clamp irons on Legolas's wrists.
The guard led her past two more corridors, Eressa noticed. Upon reaching the third one the guard took a right. From there they took a left turn at the next corridor, and then walked on straight until they came to the staircase and the red door.
Past two corridors…at the third one turn right…left at the next corridor… and straight to the door…Eressa repeated in her mind, hoping to memorize it so that she might tell Legolas later.From there the guard led her to her small servant's chamber and then left her.
"Get on with your duties." He ordered before going.
Eressa watched him go and then changed into some cleaner clothes. After that she walked down to Lady Curdolin's room. She was assigned to fit a dress to her this morning.
When she arrived there, one of Eressa's fellow seamstresses, Aleka, was already there with the Lady, taking measurements. She and Aleka were good friends, in fact, they shared their servant chambers together.
Aleka noticed Eressa coming in and grinned, but didn't speak. Quickly Eressa took the measuring strip and helped her friend with her duty.
"There, milady." Aleka said as she finished. "Now all you have to do is pick out your favorite fabrics for your new gown."
"Very well, Aleka." Lady Curdolin replied softly. Eressa very much liked Lady Curdolin. She wasn't like her husband at all. She didn't approve of his 'hobby' to force slaves to kill each other, but she didn't let him know that often. There was nothing she could do about it anyways. She was very kind to Eressa and all her servants, and she called them by name instead of by purpose.
Aleka displayed three large roles of matching fabric to the Lady. "If you like, milady, you can choice the two you like best and we can make you a two layered gown."
"One layer is perfectly fine, Aleka dear." Lady Curdolin said smiling. "It is after all summer, and the heat is dreadful at times. I wouldn't want to become too warm."
"Yes, milady."
Lady Curdolin carefully choose which of the fabrics was to her fancy, and Aleka and Eressa set off down the halls again to begin work on the new dress. They arrived at their chamber without a word being said between the both of them. That was where they did most of their work, as to avoid disturbances.
Once there, Aleka began to lie out and cut the design out of the fabric while Eressa readied the needles and thread.
"I haven't seen you much in two days." Aleka said casually. "What have you been up too?"
Eressa blinked. "Aleka, I've told you this. I've been given to one of the fighters."
Aleka shrugged. "Well, you did tell me that, but you didn't tell me how it was."
Aleka grinned. She herself had been a 'reward' for a fighter until recently. Her man had been killed shortly before Legolas had arrived. She was two years older than Eressa, and she was much more interested in men than Eressa was.
Or was, until last night…Eressa thought to herself, if a bit shamefully, remembering her dream.Eressa rolled her eyes. "Why do you want to know?"
Aleka stopped her work and looked at Eressa slyly. "Rumors have been going around that you haven't been given to just any fighter." She leaned forward eagerly. "It's the elf isn't it?"
Eressa sighed. "Yes…"
"Ohh, I knew it!" Aleka said, bouncing on her bed and clapping her hands. "You are such a lucky girl!"
"No I'm not." Eressa protested. "If I was lucky I wouldn't have been given to anyone at all." This was a lie. In truth Legolas had been one of the luckiest things to happen to Eressa.
Aleka nodded a bit. "Well, alright then. But he's…very handsome, isn't he?"
"He is."
"And…did he…"
"He didn't do anything, Aleka."
Aleka sat back. "What do you mean he didn't do anything? He didn't take you?"
"Well…yes." Eressa said. "He did take me…but as a friend, not as a reward."
Aleka snorted in amusement. "Oh, so you made friends with the elf then. Tell me another."
"It's true!" Eressa insisted.
Aleka laughed, but then stopped quickly, remembering her work. "Alright then, don't tell me. I need to work anyway."
Eressa took a quick last glance at her friend as she took the cut pieces of fabric and began to sew. Her hands were sure and quick and working together she and Aleka could have the dress done before morning. But she knew at sunset she'd be seeing Legolas again, so that might not happen.
As her hands worked, Eressa's head strained to think of a way to get a knife Legolas could use as a carving tool. She thought that maybe she could get to the kitchen if she had time off, but the Lady's dress had wiped out that possibility. Then, as she reached the end of sewing together a sleeve, she turned to grab the scissors to cut the thread.
Suddenly, Eressa realized that she didn't need to go to the kitchen to get a blade. She was holding one right in her hand now. Legolas could probably take apart the two blades and use one as a carving tool. And, if that one for some reason became dull, he could simply use the other!
Watching to make sure Aleka wouldn't notice, Eressa hid the scissors under her bed sheets, and then looked up again and tried to act.
"Where have the scissors gone to?" She wondered, hoping her acting was at least half as good as Legolas's. "I can't find them."
Aleka glanced up. "They were just here a minute ago. Here, use mine." She gently tossed her pair of scissors to Eressa.
"Thank you." Eressa said, and Aleka grunted in return. Then the two continued with their work.
**************
"Come on you mangy dogs! Put some backbone into it!" A harsh voice yelled, and the sound of a whip cracking accompanied it.
Morning training hadn't come that day. Instead, Legolas and the prisoners were put to work in a different manner. Lord Curdolin had decided that his current arena wasn't big enough, so he had proceeded with plans to build another—and Legolas and his cellmates were his laborers, among many others.
"Hurry up! We haven't got all day!" Another voice rang out.
Legolas smiled grimly at the guard's comment. He knew that they would keep the slaves working all day and night to meet Curdolin's deadline. The Lord of the house wanted the new arena to be finished and ready to be used by the birthday of his friend, Lord Haveth, which from what Legolas heard, was less than two months away.
Eredor was working beside the elf, stacking bricks to build the wall. He had wrapped cloth around his hands to prevent them from being damaged. Legolas would have too, but he had no cloth. His hands were beginning to bleed. The bricks here were poorly made out of rough rock and they were not pleasant to handle.
"You want some?" Eredor asked as he saw the elf's hands. He motioned to the cloth on his hands as he took yet another brick from a different worker.
"If you have any to spare." Legolas answered softly. He wasn't used to this kind of work. As a prince, he had never been trained to do anything like this, and he was surprised to find that it was harder than it seemed.
"Sure." Eredor said, and he quickly reached inside his shirt and pulled a piece of cloth out. He handed it to Legolas, who promptly tore it in equal halves and wrapped them around the palms of his hands.
"Thank you." Legolas said gratefully.
"Don't mention it." Eredor said, smiling. He continued to work, and the smile slowly slid of his face.
"Legolas?" He asked, his tone of voice completely changed.
"Yes?"
"How's Eressa?"
Legolas blinked and looked up. "Why?"
"Because she's my sister and I don't get to see her and you do." Eredor's answer was quick. Then he added: "Because I want to know."
"She's fine." Legolas replied. "But she had a nightmare last night and she refused to tell me about it."
Eredor looked up with interest and a smile. "I thought she told you everything."
Legolas brushed aside his friend's jest. "You should have seen her, Eredor. She was terribly frightened. She even tried to fight me off when I…" Legolas suddenly trailed off, realizing that he had said too much than he had meant to.
"When you what?" Eredor questioned.
Legolas sighed as he took another brick. The cloth around his hands helped. "It rained last night. And Eressa was on the floor and was getting wet. So I moved her to the bed."
"What's so bad about that?" Eredor asked again.
"The fact that I moved into the bed with her." Legolas confessed, deciding it was best to come clean.
Eredor's mouth opened and he looked at the elf sharply but did not say anything.
"It's not what you think." Legolas said quickly. "She was cold…and it was the only way we both would not get wet."
Eredor breathed a sigh of relief and grinned. "Legolas, do not scare me like that."
"I didn't mean it in that sense." Legolas said, smiling back. "I care for your sister, but not in that way."
"It's not like I would mind if you did." Eredor said softly to himself. But Legolas heard.
"What?" Legolas gasped, his blue eyes wide with shock. His cloth-covered hands slipped from the piece of brick he was taking, and it fell with a thud to the ground. He cursed in elvish quietly and picked it up.
"Well, if not me, then she'd have you to protect her, wouldn't she?" Eredor said.
"But she does have me to protect her." Legolas stressed, trying to convince Eredor.
"I know." Eredor whispered. With that he looked down and continued with his labor.
Legolas watched his friend work out of the corner of his eye. Did Eredor really think that he and Eressa had something? The elf prince let out an exasperated sigh and focused on his work. Humans were so confusing.
Eredor pondered what he had just said to his friend. His comment about Legolas and his sister was supposed to be a joke, but Legolas acted somewhat strongly towards it. That was odd. Was it possible that Legolas did have a fancy for his sister?
No…he thought certainly. He's well over two thousand and she's still so young.
Eredor's thoughts strayed through time and he remembered one of the last memories he and his sister shared, along with their mother. He was13 and she was 9, and they had been playing near their home, which was no more than a shack built on the property of their owner.
Eressa had somehow convinced Eredor to play a boring girlish game—tea parties and cakes and things. Back then he was bored, but now Eredor would give almost anything to spend time with his sister. They had been separated since they had been sold, and the only way they found out if the other was alive was through someone else.
Eressa's friend, Aleka, who used to be a reward to another fighter before he was killed, would often stop by Eredor's cell and pass on messages from his sister. But now that Aleka was 'off-duty', she never came around.
Thank goodness for Legolas…Eredor thought.
Legolas had continued to watch his friend as they both worked. The elf could practically hear the wheels in Eredor's head turning, he was thinking so deeply. It was an amazing ability for a human to shut out the world with his thought like that, especially when the world was so cruel and unforgiving.
"Eredor?" Legolas asked.
"Huh?" Eredor replied intelligently, snapping his head up.
"What are your thoughts?"
Eredor rolled his eyes. He should have known that the elf would notice his deep thought. "Legolas, you never miss anything, do you?"
"Only the things I can afford to miss." Legolas said, and he nodded for Eredor to answer his first question.
"My thoughts lie on Eressa. And you. And me. And this." He let go of the brick he held with one hand and with the other gestured to all that was around them.
"What about this?" Questioned Legolas.
Eredor shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know…everything." Then under his breath he added: "I want to get out of here so badly."
Legolas glanced around quickly to make sure their conversation wasn't being listened too. "As do I, Eredor."
"But how? It's impossible! I've seen it been attempted before!" Eredor said, his voice barely a whisper. But he knew that the elf's ears heard him all to well.
Legolas looked at his friend seriously. "You know I once would have sooner thrown myself off a cliff than become friends with a human."
Eredor's eyes widened slightly at this but he said not a word.
"And yet here I am with you," Legolas continued. "And here we are depending on each other like we are brothers."
Eredor watched as the elf's eyes grew brighter, almost like he was smiling. But he wasn't smiling.
"Eredor," Legolas said firmly and confidently. "Nothing is impossible."
********Personal thingy***********
itarilde-elenastar: Thank you! I'm glad you liked the dream sequence…I was really hoping everyone would like it. And I'm glad you love the plot line too…but I warn you…this is still just the beginning of my story. The thing with Sauron was a foreshadowing of things to come *laughs all evil-like* I love foreshadowing!
My story isn't a Mary-Sue! Yay! *does happy dance* Thanks! That's like the best compliment ever!
Yeah, I wanted to know what the Spanish word for sexy was so I could say this "Orlando Bloom esta atrativo!" (Transation: Orlando Bloom is sexy!) Which is definitely is. Thanks for looking it up for me and thanks for the website. It will come in handy when I'm doing my Spanish homework!
Don't worry about blabbering! I love long reviews! Thanks again! Bye!
Starknight: Louis! Yay! Oh, yay! You think my romance is good! Oh joy! *dances around*
Oh good, I wanted you to like it. It's not too graphic is it? No, you just told me it was good…ok….calming down now….
Yes, I'm gonna try to make the relationship realistic, but first let's remember…the relationship hasn't started yet…there will be problems for Legolas and Eressa…big ones…little ones…Sauron-shaped ones…etc. And I'll try my best to make Legolas work in the relationship…but remember Eressa is a slave, and she doesn't understand independence very well.
Ok, I'm betting you read the stuff at the top of the page about the Sauron "my child" thing…so sorry about that. That's not what I meant at all. But "standard process"…LOL that was funny. Oh, and Eredor isn't related to Sauron either. Sorry again for the confusion. I feel so dumb now…*goes and hides away*
I know, only one more day! *cries* I don't want summer to end! Oh, you have little second cousins! Cute! My oldest cousins are old enough to have kids but they have to get married first, so maybe a couple of years and I'll have little second cousins….
I'll see you real soon! Byebye!
PS: Thanks for giving your support to my lil sister and her story! But she (and I) want to know this: What's a RPG site?
Nirobie: Thanks! You think I seem older than 16? Really! Tell my parents that one! LOL. Fourteen is a good age. I liked being fourteen. You don't have worry about driving cars and prom and all that rotten stuff. God, I get to go to prom this year! *runs off to get life-sized Orlando Bloom cutout* Here's my date!
Yes, Eressa's a lucky little girl, ain't she? Haldir wouldn't be bad either…or Jack…or Will…or any of the characters those men portray in movies…yummmm…..Thanks again!
XxDarkgoddessxX: Hey other person! What's up?
Yeah, your right…my cookies are too good to give away. LOL.
Plague in New York subways? Now I'm never going there again! Ew…and DUDE! The RATS! Have you ever seen a rat in New York City? Girl, I have, and you do not want to! They're so big they could eat a small dog for breakfast! Seriously! Not to mention all the nasty diseases they could be carrying around…
Tomorrow my school starts! *cries* I have 1st period Advanced Algebra with my former track coach and all he's gonna do all semester is bug me about joining track again…WHICH I AM NOT! You're lucky your periods are soo short!
Ohhhkay…Seshumaru…that's how you spell it. He's cool. Evil and cool. But…erm…I have now idea who any of the other peoples are! Who's Inu-kun? Who's Rin? How do her and Seshumaru "grow together" like you said? And I know who Kagome and Inuyasha are (duh) but who's Koga? I haven't been watching it that long, and I've only been doing it when I can. I always miss episodes and then I'm confused out of my wits! *is mad* Darn me!
Last night's episode had no Seshumaru! *stomps foot* But that little chick with the mirror was cool…what's her name…Kanna! I liked Kanna, but I can't figure out why all them nasty bugs were following her around and then when she's inside the house..POOF..they're gone! I think too much! And (darn it!) last night I meant to watch it but I friggin' fell asleep before it came on…Grr…I know, it's pathetic because it only comes on at 11p.m. where I live…*yawn*…oh well, I'll try again tonight!
Orlando Bloom was less than two hours away from you??? AAAAAAHHHH!!! Lucky you!! Me, I've made it my lifelong goal to at least stand in a place I know that he's stood in…or something completely fangirly like that…oh, lucky you!
Washington is the coolest place in the world compared to Wisconsin, where I live. The closest place I could hope to get close to ANY movie star is Chicago, and that's like 3 hours away from me. Plus all the good movies are filmed in New York or L.A. or in a studio in California…the only movie I know was filmed in Chicago was 'Backdraft,' and that one was boring, if you ask me. Grr…why couldn't I have been born in California or someplace cool!
I apologized for having romance because I don't know what some people will do when they read it and stuff…
Ok, maybe it will get a little more graphic, but not severely…I'm not gonna go as far as narrating any…um…deeds the characters do, but I will give you enough to give you the right idea. Oh, great. Now I just gave something away.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Johnny Depp is on the "Actor's Studio!!" Must tape!!! *runs off to Bravo website to see when next airing is* Thank you for that info!
I'll try my best to keep with regular updates when school starts, just for you, kay? Thanks again for everything!
Anolinde: Hey! Possible romance *nods head* Mm-hmm…I got the hint, I'll post more! SAURON IS COMING! SAURON IS COMING! Yay! Plot thickening is good! Thanks!
In Response to Anolinde's review that was in my sister's review box: Hey thanks for supporting my sister, even if it was just so you could review my story. She appreciates it. Oh, and your message did come up in my review box too. Well, if you write your stories on Word, like me, you have to save them as a web document before you upload. That confused me at first too. What you do is you
a) write what you wanna write,
b) go to File and then to Save As,
c) the little save box will pop up, and at the bottom under "File Name" you'll see another text box that's label "File Type" or something like that. You click on that and a whole buncha choices will come up. Choose the one that reads "Web Page" or "Web document". Then save your file in whatever folder you wish.
d) Now when you go back to your document, the format will be changed to that of a web document, meaning the print will be really small and the page seems to go on forever. Well, to change that, you click View up on top and select Print Layout. It will go back to normal then.
Hope that helps you. And if it doesn't, read all the instructions by the Document Manager on ff.net. Also you can't have the file you want to upload open when you try to upload it, so close it before you do anything. I hope this helps you! Bye!
Nikki: Yes, Orli in BOP! Go buy it! Lego/Eressa-ness! Yay! But did you like it? And Sauron? See my long long thing up at the top for that Sauron "my child" thing…sorry about that…
You have a college dorm? Your that old? Sorry, I'm making you sound like an old lady, but I have a tendency to think that everyone who reviews my fic is my age (16). Silly old me. Have fun in college!
The 'people' didn't give Legolas a new shirt cuz, frankly, he don't need one for what he does. In fact he probably wouldn't have needed another if it weren't for Eressa…he wanted one so he wouldn't be embarrassed and she wouldn't be embarrassed and it kept him warmer at night. (If you ask me, he's hotter without his shirt, but the story needed for him to have a shirt!)
Truffles: Oh, it's ok about the last review! Hyper people are fun! Yeah, when I get like that you can't stop me either. Especially when Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp is involved…and they always are…
You know, I've never had a dream in which I know I'm dreaming. Well, maybe one or two, but I can't remember them now. That's cool that you know. Hasta luego, chica!
Andmetwen: My school starts tomorrow! Today is my last day free! *cries* My math teacher/former track coach is gonna give me hell this year, so I feel for you. I really do.
Yeah, if you describe Legolas's smile that way, it does seem sort of scary…more like sexy…yum. Ah, fear. Fear is good. I love being scared crap-less! I always buy all these scary movies and I watch them in the dark with no one else and I love it!
Thanks girl! Bye, and good luck with school!
The Noble Platypus: Hey, good, you didn't mind the interaction. I didn't think you would. Yay! You think my Sauron was scary! Yeeha! Dude, if it wasn't a dream…I'd be weird. I am weird. But it still was a dream…confusing myself now….
Good luck at flute tryouts! I used to play flute so I know how hard it is. But I quit and now I sing and play piano. Piano suit me better, I guess.
I think it will let you post another one if you sign in…I've never tried that before…hum ho hum…well, thank you and goodbye!
PS: I'm eagerly awaiting your LotR mono-sylabic (still can't spell) fic! Also there's another note to you on the bottom in response to your second review!
Samwise the Strong: Hello! I'm ok, except for the fact that school started today and I hate it cuz it gives me less time to work on my one and only joy—fanfic! So….how are you?
Oh, your moving…so sad! It'll be really hard for me when I move out (if I ever do, LOL) cuz I get so attached to things once I have them. Once when I was like 7 we scrapped our old refrigerator and got a new one and I was crying because I missed the old one….oh dear…I'm weird. But you're right, "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger." That's been a motto of mine since last year when I stupidly joined Track and Field. Ugh…I'm never doing that again!
Yup, Orli's in BOP! And yesterday I went shopping to see if the stores had the new magazine (it's the October issue but they always bring them out early, don't they?) and they didn't have it! Grrr….I really gotta befriend a person who works at a bookstore so they can save me copies of magazines.
*Poke* *Poke poke* *POKE!* I'm having way too much fun with this! Your turn!
The Noble Platypus (again): Hey, you did manage to get on! Cool! Well, maybe only Eressa was 'feewing secksoowal tenshun' (Hehe, I like that!) cuz it was her dream, and she didn't even tell Legolas about it. Maybe I could get it so that she tells him mistakenly…hum…*thinks*…that'd be good…don't you think?
You know what, you're right about the everything in stories is symbolic! I never thought about it like that before…it's kinda deep, ain't it? Cool! Yeah, Thunderstorms ROCK!
Oh, poor you! I've never really had my shirt become transparent…well, there was this one time when my friend spilled chocolate milk all over my chest when I was wearing a white shirt! Thank god my friend Dawn gave me an extra shirt to wear the rest of the day.
Oh great…you don't like tragedies…well, I'd like to change it for your sake, but I can't! I warned you in the summary that it's kind of angsty…sorry! But it's not gonna be a total tragedy, it's gonna be a more…uplifting tragedy…does that make sense? And I might write and alternate ending too. But it's gonna be a long time till then!
I love my pith helmet! It's all rainbowy and wonderful and I'm wearing it right now! *twirls pith helmet* CROIKEY! LOL. Thanks, and bye! I'll read your fic now!