(Roseblade, Haldir, and Rabid Possum all sit around a metal table at a map of the Caribbean, speaking softly to one another. Roseblade is excited, Haldir is bored, and the Rabid Possum is trying to resist the urge to eat Haldir's leggings again.)
Roseblade: (pointing to various places on the map) Okay, we'll intercept them here, and if they put up a fight I'll whip them, and Rabid Possum will back me up. Then, once they've surrendered, we'll get William, bring him back here, and Haldir will have the priest and cardboard guests ready for our wedding. Got it?
Haldir: (yawning) All this for a guy?
Roseblade: (insulted) William is not just ANY guy, you know.
Haldir: I don't see what you find so attractive about him. Oh, wait! That's right…he's a co-host AND a bitch! How manly.
Roseblade: (angry now) Don't forget that until I very generously promoted you to a 'sidekick', YOU were once a 'bitch' too.
Rabid Possum: (raises paw) Ah…may I speak?
Roseblade: What?
Rabid Possum: Well, I don't mean to choose sides here, but I don't think Will is that great-looking either.
Roseblade: (shaking with anger) Might…I…ask…why?
Rabid Possum: (a little nervous) Ah…well, for one thing, he's bald…
Roseblade: He most certainly is not BALD!! He's got the most luscious hair in the world! I've combed my fingers through it, DAMMIT!!
Rabid Possum: No, that's not what I meant. I like mammals with hair, like me. (grins) All over.
Roseblade: Oh.
Rabid Possum: Secondly, he hasn't got a tail…
Roseblade: He's HUMAN!! Not a possum!!
Haldir: (thoroughly enjoying the conversation) Please, Possum, go on.
Roseblade: You shut up! He's not for either of YOU, he's for ME!! And we're gonna kidnap him!!! (eyes glaze over)
Haldir: Whoa, cool it sista.
Rabid Possum: Was that Ghetto-speech I just heard?
Haldir: I can speak it fluently, among my many other talents. (to Roseblade) Calm down. We'll get your William for you, ok?
Roseblade: Right. We will. (eyes unglazed)
TO BE CONTINUED
I own nothing. Hehe.
****************Chapter 51***************
Legolas and Eredor faced each other one more time. They were being held at Curdolin's orders in a slightly larger chamber together now. There were guards in the room beside them, waiting for the Lord of the House to arrive and give his orders of what was to be done with the two rebels.
Eredor did not look well. He was able to stand, but he was slumping, eyes downcast, and Legolas was fearing he could faint any moment. He wanted to reach out to him, to speak to him, but his guards and his shackles would not allow it.
Legolas has his own self to worry about. By the looks of the objects in the room, Lord Curdolin did not have the intention that either of his prisoners come out of this room alive.
There were shackles and chains everywhere, hanging off the walls, from the ceilings, and attached to the stone floor. In the places where there were none, various cruel-looking instruments hung from racks on the walls. Legolas cast his eyes downward, not wanting to look at them. But as his eyes found the gray, pale floor he saw the dark stains that had formed upon it. Blood.
Legolas gasped, and turned away. Valar have mercy on he and Eredor; that they might die quickly in this place, if they must die.
It is inevitable now…The elf thought to himself sorrowfully. And I thought that I would die on a battle field, fighting a formidable foe. But instead I am here, among the dead stone, in chains…to die without honor.
Legolas let his mind wander over the years of his life. He thought back to memories of his childhood, and how he wished he could be that way again, without a care in the world. He sighed and slid out of dreamland. He felt his soul escaping him.
Lord Curdolin arrived some minutes later. He was, as usual, dress in bright and textured garments, fit for a rich man in this country. Legolas didn't dare to turn and look him in the eye.
"Good morrow, my Lord." One of the guards greeted.
The Lord merely grunted and rounded the slew of guards to face the prisoners. Legolas kept his eyes downcast.
"Have you told them of their fate?" Curdolin drawled.
The guards shook their heads. "You were to give us orders, my Lord." One of the guards stated.
"Then I shall give them to you." The Lord said cheerfully. He delightfully said loudly: "Hang them from their shackles until they're dead."
Legolas shuddered at the words. He was going to die, this time for sure. Then why couldn't he quite grasp it? It didn't matter anyhow. Somehow, he didn't care. The things he had lived for before…Eredor's friendship…Eressa's love…it was all about to be killed now...along with him.
His mind as well as his body was numb as he watched the guards unshackle Eredor's wrists. Eredor's eyes were without life, but he looked at Legolas for a moment and it seemed like they were smiling.
Eredor didn't struggle as the guards led him to a wooden stool close by. There were shackles attached to the ceiling above him. Legolas watched with growing fear as the guards positioned Eredor's sack-like body on the stool and clasped Eredor's wrists in chains.
Then Legolas spoke. "Lord Curdolin!" He shouted, whirling around. The fat, rich man's eyes widened in shock as the elf's voice echoed in the room.
"The escape plan was all my idea." Legolas continued. "Eredor and Eressa didn't want to carry it out in the first place. Please, spare their lives. Kill me. For this revolt was my fault."
"Legolas…no." Eredor whispered so softly, only Legolas heard it.
His friend's plea didn't stop Legolas. He went on. "Please, Lord Curdolin. I'm begging you. I know I'm a slave and I have no right to, but I do otherwise."
All the others in the room were even more surprised then they already were when Legolas suddenly dropped down to his knees.
"Do whatever you like to me…only, please…spare them." Legolas felt a sob welling up in his throat after the last word came out, but he held it back.
Legolas thought that if Lord Curdolin had a thread of mercy in him, he would listen to his desperate plea.
The man laughed. "A pathetic display for a pathetic slave." He said. "Do not think your words will bring your friends mercy." The man flung his robes behind him triumphantly. "Kill them both."
Legolas stood, his face expressionless. That was it then. His fight was over. There was nothing he could do about it.
Lord Curdolin left the room, grinning.
The guards took Legolas roughly by his arms and dragged him over to another stool right next to Eredor's. They too chained him to the shackles hanging from the ceiling, forcing his hands to hang above his head. Then Legolas noticed something. There was a difference between these shackles and the ones he'd been carrying since he'd come here.
As anybody with sense would know, shackles were shaped like short metal cylinders. The shackles Legolas now wore around his wrists now were shaped much longer than the ones he was usually imprisoned by. They extended halfway up his forearms. What was even more puzzling about them was that the chains had been attached closer to his elbow than close to his hands.
Legolas didn't understand. Was this a simply flaw of engineering, or was this odd construction intended? He got his answer an instant later when the stool he was standing on was kicked out from under him.
The chains were only long enough to allow Legolas's feet hang about four inches off the floor. His arms were wrenched. The shackles hadn't been built like this as a mistake. They were built like this to cause pain.
Indeed, they did. It was so much that he had to struggle to breath. Because of the oddly placed chains, the shackles bit deeply into the soft skin of his forearms, and the weight of his body--the pressure that was forced upon his forearms--was enough to shatter human bone. He thought he felt a warm trickle of some liquid running down his arms. Then he realized it was his own blood, dripping out from the gashes the shackles were slowly wearing into his skin.
He gasped in pain and tried to turn his head. He did just in time to see the guards kick out the stool from under Eredor's feet.
There was a sickening crack, and Eredor cried out in agony. Legolas's frightful eyes traveled up the length of Eredor's mangled arm, and he saw the damage that had been done. Blood dripped from were a bone protruded from the young man's left forearm. As Legolas had feared, the pressure was too much for Eredor's human body to take. But his other arm managed not break. It was left suspended in a terrible pain.
The guards smiled at their handywork and left soon after. Eredor and Legolas were left to die together, hung above the floor, as if they were flying.
Flying…Legolas thought ironically. Flying and nearly already dead.
Legolas clenched his teeth as the pain in his forearms began to grow. His eyes closed for a moment and he wished that they would never open again.
"Legolas?" A voice from outside him asked.
Legolas struggled to turn his head again. Eredor had spoken. It was a broken whisper, calling to him.
"Legolas?" Eredor asked again.
Legolas hitched in an agonizing breath as the shackles dug into his flesh further. "I'm here, Eredor."
Eredor didn't say something for a minute, he just struggled to draw in enough breath to do so. "I…I just wanted you to know…" He finally rasped. "…that it's…it's an honor to have known and died next to you, Legolas."
Legolas looked at his friend sadly, but managed to smile, in case he should look at him. "And it is also an honor to have know and die next to you, Eredor."
Nothing was said for a long time. Legolas thought Eredor had passed out, either from weakness, or simply from the pain. But his body wouldn't allow him to escape that easily. He was left to endure the pain as it filled his body.
It took him a while to realize that he couldn't feel his hands anymore. The shackles had cut off the blood flow to them, and they'd become numb. If only the rest of his body had that feeling.
"L…Lego..las.." Eredor's voice, even softer this time, suddenly came to his ears.
"Ere…Eredor?" Legolas choked back his pain and spoke.
"Do…you think…that…Ere…Eressa is…alright?" Eredor spoke slowly and painfully.
Legolas knew that Eredor had not been conscious to hear it when Curdolin had ordered that Eressa be locked in a cell without food nor water and left till dead. He hadn't the heart to tell his dying friend either.
"She's…she's going to be fine…Eredor." Legolas siad, sucking another breath that felt like his last.
Legolas looked over at his friend, and remarkably, Eredor was smiling.
"Eredor?" Legolas asked.
Eredor's head dipped down a little lower, but his smile stayed on. "You are a true…friend…Legolas." He said weakly.
Legolas watched with horror as Eredor's chin dropped down to a chest that no longer moved with any breath.
He was dead.
Legolas's eyes closed and he fought back a sob. He could not, however, fight back the tears. He wept in silence until he himself passed into darkness.
***************Personal thingy***************
Don't worry, Legolas isn't dead. Eredor is, but Legolas isn't dead. And I know you all must want to kill me now, if you didn't before! Oh…sorry. *holds up sheild*
AN: Ok, so one day I was on the computer and then this pop-up ad kept coming up asking me to download something and it wouldn't leave me alone so after I got very fed up I just clicked "yes" and ever since, my computer has been acting very out of the ordinary. If this behavior persists, we might have to get it fixed or something. I just wanted you all to know this because yesterday I couldn't get on to FF.net and I was scared to death that it wouldn't let me on it forever! But it worked today. Still, I just want to inform you guys that if I don't update for a long time, it's either because the computer is acting screwy again (in which case I will smash it with a big, big axe) or we're getting it fixed. So don't worry. If nothing like that happens, I should be able to update more quickly now. April is my "nothing's happening" month! Thank you so much for your patience, guys!
Also, this story is very slowly coming to a close. I plan (well, more like hope) to end it within the next ten chapters (or less). Then I will get to work on the sequel and the sequel's sequel.
Oh, and for those of you who haven't already, check out my other story, "The Song of the White Wood." It's close to completion and I'm working on a sequel. Once again, thank you!
And lastly, I didn't have time to do reviewer responses (again). I'm really sorry and I wish I had more time, but if I did do that it would take longer for me to update. Maybe at the end of this story I'll just do a great big thanking to everybody. Anywho, tell me what you want. Reviewer's always right, you know. Bye, people!
~Roseblade22