(Right after lunch in Roseblade's "lair". Roseblade is frantically flipping through a ridiculously large, leather bound book the table. Haldir is rubber-necking while casually scooping up spoonfuls of Easy-Mac. Rabid Possum is on the floor a few feet away, playing Nintendo on the giant computer monitor. Unfortunately, she's not doing so well on account that she can hardly press the buttons with her little paws)
Haldir: (asking casually, to Roseblade) What are you looking at?
Roseblade: (not even looking up from the pages) I've tried to you physical force to capture William and it didn't quite work. So instead, I'm going to look up a spell to bring HIM here to ME.
Haldir: (jokingly) Are you gonna use another spell to make him fall in love with you too?
Roseblade: (looks up from the book and grins madly) Haldir…I believe that's the first good idea you've had!
Haldir: I had one? Oh, crap! I should learn to keep your big mouth shut!
Rabid Possum: (from on the floor) Shiznit! I died again! Who created this Mario guy anyway?
Roseblade: (flipping through book again) Aha! A transportation spell! I'm gonna read it.
Haldir: (growing nervous) Maybe you should …
Roseblade: GROGERUM HOURTEB GUTTERBAGGERWURM!!
Smoke: (poofs)
Haldir: (staring warily into the smoke) Um…Roseblade?
Roseblade: (paying no heed to Haldir) And now for the love spell! HORREM BORREM GROGGER SHUMCKT!!
Light: (flashes)
Smoke (gradually clears to reveal…)
Haldir: (eyes wide) Oh. My. God.
Elrond: (groggy from all the smoke) What in…Where am I?
Roseblade: (face falls)
Elrond: (looks up and locks eyes with the very disappointed looking Roseblade. We can practically see the hearts suddenly appear over his head.)
Roseblade: (snapping out of her catatonic phase once she sees the way Elrond is looking at her) GAH!! What the hell are you looking at, you perv?
Elrond: (poetically) The fairest face I've ever had the honor of seeing, milady.
Roseblade: That is so sick.
Haldir: (bursts into laughter)
Roseblade: (to Elrond) You! Stay away from me!
Elrond: (seems not to hear her and inches forward.)
Roseblade: I said stay away!
Elrond: (inches closer)
Roseblade: I'm warning you…
Elrond: (still closer)
Roseblade: STOP!
Elrond: (too close)
Roseblade: (shrieks and runs into the darkness)
Elrond: Come back, fair maiden! (pursues Roseblade)
Haldir: (finally regaining composure) Hehe…ah. Roseblade does not own Lord of the Rings nor any of it's characters. They all belong to Professor Tolkien. Now on with the story.
******************Chapter 53*********************
When Legolas awoke the next morning, two familiar things had returned to him.
One of them was pain. His whole body ached miserably, the torture still fresh in his mind and his muscles. His wounds on his arms seemed on fire, and the fire was burning away his insides. The only place that he could not feel the pain was those which he could not feel at all: his wrists and hands. He briefly wondered whether he would ever be able to hold a bow again.
The second familiar thing was that which was next to him, smiling: Lady Curdolin was back. She had food on a tray beside her, and Legolas could see the wisps of steam floating up off of it.
"How are you feeling?" She asked immediately after she knew he was fully awake.
"Like I've been hung from my wrists till dead." Legolas answered quietly, not a hint of amusement in his voice.
The Lady took no notice to his sarcastic comment. She turned to the food at her side. "I have brought you food." She said kindly. "You have not eaten for a long time."
Legolas squinted at her. He was not sure how long he had been hanging from the ceiling of that dungeon. But he knew one thing—he was hungry. He paused.
"How—how long was I in there?" He asked timidly.
Lady Curdolin looked at him and blinked, confused by the question. "Oh, you mean in the dungeon? You were there for nearly 24 hours. It's a miracle you survived."
"And Eredor?"
The Lady's eyes looked away with sorrow. "I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could do for your friend. He was already dead when my party and I came down."
Legolas's face set and he looked away from her. He knew that, of course. He had seen Eredor take his last breath. Heard his friend speak his last sentence. His heart felt as if it had a gaping hole in it.
Eredor's fears about being caught had been for good reason. Legolas realized he should have listened to his friend and his warnings. If he had, he and Eredor and Eressa would still be under the dark cloak of slavery, as they were now…but at least Eredor would still be alive.
Valar…Eredor, you have to forgive me…He said in his mind, full of sorrow and pain. I tried…I didn't think you would end like this…and because of me.
Legolas felt a warmth grow behind his eyes. He was going to cry. He didn't want to do it in front of this woman, however. Sniffing, he turned his head in the opposite direction and blinked the tears away.
Eredor…in my heart you will always be my brother. Legolas thought. My best friend and brother.
The thoughts turned to Legolas's true brother, but Legolas was able to contain the voices in his head this time. It was the first time he had thought of Ithilion and not silently asked his forgiveness. Legolas began to realize that as he grew to love Eressa and Eredor, the wound in his heart that bore Ithilion's name had grown smaller.
I haven't forgotten you, brother. Legolas thought grimly.
Legolas was pulled from his thoughts when Lady Curdolin spoke again.
"Can you sit up? I don't want you to choke on your food." She said, reaching to him.
Legolas flinched away from her touch. He didn't mean to, it was just instinctive. But the Lady looked offended.
"Do you want someone else to feed you?" She asked, disappointed.
Legolas looked guiltily away. The woman was just trying to help him recover. Then why did he feel he didn't want to recover himself?
"No." He said softly. "I just wonder why it is you doing the feeding."
"I wish to help you. I want to see you become well with my own very eyes." Came the equally soft response.
The elf paused for a minute or two. The woman beside him was patient with him, which partially surprised Legolas. She wasn't like a normal human aristocrat—impatient, quick to anger and looking down upon all others. She was different. It made Legolas wonder why, and how she came to be this way.
"Very well." He accepted.
The Lady smiled and reached her hand under his head, lifting it. With her other hand, she reached down and pulled out a large pillow and set it under the elf's head. She grinned again. It propped him up just enough for him to eat properly.
Legolas allowed her to do what she wanted. He tried not to wince as she touched him, but there seemed to be no part of his body numb to pain, except for his hands.
"You are in pain." The Lady stated after she had propped him up completely. "Would you like some more medication after your meal?"
Legolas politely accepted once more. Then he tried to lift his hands so that he might eat.
He couldn't. There was not response from his arms. He stared at his injured form fearfully. What if he was crippled like this for the rest of his life?
"I didn't intend for you to feed yourself." The Lady said, picking up a spoon and dipping it into a bowl of steaming hot stew. "Here." She offered the spoon to him.
Legolas looked at her, then at the spoon, then back at the woman.
I don't intend to be fed like a child either. He thought. But if he didn't let this woman help him, he could very well starve. Without her help, he would have died. He owned his existence to her. Suddenly, Legolas came to terms with this, and he felt no hostility towards her any longer.
"Thank you." He said shyly.
"Your very welcome, good elf." Lady Curdolin returned with a smile. She pushed the spoon closer to the elf's mouth.
Legolas slowly opened his mouth and allowed her to feed him. It was humiliating, watching her watch him like this, with a smile gracing her face, but there was no one else who would help him here.
"You are not a thing like your husband, are you?" He asked her suddenly between spoonfuls.
The Lady stopped all movements abruptly. "I suppose I'm not." She said after a long pause. "I…I don't agree with what he does to you…the slaves."
"I am no slave." Legolas hastily repeated the sentence he had said the night before.
"No, you are not." She agreed. She was about to give him another spoonful of stew, when she paused again. "What is your name?" She asked rather directly.
Legolas's mouth set in a tight, straight line. Lady Curdolin blinked.
"You don't have to tell me if you wish not to." She said. "It was a request, not an order."
Legolas licked his lips and paused again. Then he spoke. "I will tell you my name. But you must answer my questions about you in return."
"I'll agree to that." The Lady answered warily. "What do you want to know?"
"Your name in exchange for mine." Legolas told her.
"You already know who I am." Came the response.
"No. Not that name. That's your husband's name you took when you married him." Legolas said boldly. "I want to know your name."
Lady Curdolin smiled slowly and set the spoon down back on the tray. "I am Maryn." She said matter-of-factly. "And what is your name?"
"Legolas." Legolas answered. "You must not tell anyone else of my name."
"I won't if you don't want me too."
"Thank you."
Legolas suddenly realized how easy it had been to tell some one who was almost a total stranger his name. He hadn't even given his name up to Eredor this quickly. Why was that? For all he knew, Lady Curdolin, or Maryn, as she now called herself could be working down her for her husband, trying to get information about him.
When he thought of this possibility, Legolas didn't feel threatened, or concerned. Could it be that because Maryn had saved his life he didn't want to believe it, or that he simply didn't care anymore?
Maryn smiled lightly again and offered Legolas another spoonful of stew. Legolas decided to press his thoughts down and ignore them. He took the food eagerly. He fed until the whole bowl was empty. Afterwards, Maryn allowed him to drink some water and then got up to fetch his medicine.
As she stood up from her chair, Legolas noticed for the first time her bulging belly. He tried not to stare at it particularly as she left the room.
Legolas was not stupid. He knew what that bulging belly meant.
He did not hesitate in asking her about it when she returned. After all, she had agreed to answer any of his questions.
"Are you with child?" He asked directly.
Maryn stopped in surprise halfway across the room. This room was twice as large as Legolas's tiny cell. She gripped her free hand to her stomach.
"Yes." She confessed. "I am."
"Your husband's child?" Legolas asked again. A side of his mouth curled up to barely form a mischievous smile.
Maryn crossed the rest of the room and sat down next to him. "You are being very rude." She told him.
"I know." He returned. "But you made a deal with me that you would tell me whatever I wished to know about you."
Maryn shook her head and opened her mouth. "Of course it is my husband's child. Whose could it be if not his?"
"I don't know." Legolas said, looking down, his barely-there smile fading into blank expression.
"Here. Take this." She said, offering a flask full of dark liquid to him. It smelled foul and Legolas's first instinct was to turn his head away.
"It will help you with the pain." Maryn said. "More than that Kingsfoil stuff, anyway."
Legolas gulped and put his mouth to the flask, sipping the vile-looking medicine. Remarkably, it didn't taste all that bad. He drank it all down in one swallow.
"You know of the remedies of Kingsfoil?" Legolas asked her. "What plant is this?"
"Dragon's Thorn." Maryn answered automatically. "It only grows in this country."
"I see." Legolas said to her. It was astonishing, really, and he realized for the second time how he was comfortable with speaking openly with a woman he had only known for two days.
There was a silence. Legolas didn't speak but he could feel Maryn staring at him. He looked down at his forearms. They were heavily bandaged, but there was still signs of blood that had soaked though all of the material. His hands were not a healthy color. They were, in fact, a frightening shade of purple.
Maryn say the reaction on the elf's face as he saw what had been done to him. "If what the storytellers say about your kind is true, you should soon recover." She said helpfully.
Legolas tore his eyes away from his bloodied arms. "And what do they say?"
"That elves heal much faster than humans." Maryn answered.
Legolas glanced back at his hands, lying limply on the beside his body. "Even and elf might not recover from a wound like this." He said fearfully.
Maryn shifted. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'll do what I can do."
Legolas turned to look at her. For absolutely no reason except that he wanted to know, he asked: "What were you before you married Lord Curdolin?"
Maryn's blue eyes grew wide and then softened. "I was a servant." She said surprisingly.
Legolas's mouth opened slightly in shock. He was expecting her to say she was the daughter of another wealthy man, perhaps one of Lord Curdolin's friends, and the marriage had been arranged.
"You were…a servant? A slave?" He asked cautiously.
"Yes." Maryn said. Then she paused, clasping her hands in her lap. "Legolas…" She said his name for the first time. "…I must be on my way. My husband doesn't know I come down here."
She got up.
"I didn't mean to upset you, Maryn." Legolas said, returning the use of his name with the use of her own. "I'm sorry."
"You need not be." She answered. She turned and headed for the door. Reaching it, she quickly spun around again. "Do not tell any soul that we have spoken, except for one person, understand?"
"Who?" Legolas inquired.
"I believe you will know him when you see him." Maryn said. "He's met you before."
She smiled and with a ruffle of the velvet she was wearing was gone.
Legolas thought about who she had implied he speak to. He hadn't spoken openly like this to anyone save Eredor and Eressa before…had he?
*****************
Half-an-hour later, Legolas was still along in the stone room. This room was more pleasant than any cell he had seen. There was the chandelier hanging in the center of the room, casting a faint light in every corner. His bed was against wall farthest from the door. Legolas noticed the door didn't have a lock on it. He thought of leaping for the door, and he knew he wanted to, but he didn't.
A second later a pair of feet walked briskly through the door. Legolas glanced up at a face he recognized that was not Maryn's.
"You!" He said after the two had blinked at each other for a moment. "Malkor! I remember you."
Malkor, the guard who had spoke kindly to him and brought Legolas hot food when he had been injured previously, smiled.
"I'm honored to see that you remembered my name, Legolas." He said, approaching the bed.
Legolas's face darkened. "How did you learn my name? I never spoke it to you."
"The Lady Curdolin told me of it." Malkor said. "I assure you, she told no one else."
Legolas's eyes darted away. "Oh." He said.
Malkor observed the elf. He was lying partially propped up by a pillow. His injured arms lay limply at his side.
"You've began to recover already." Malkor said, mostly to himself rather than Legolas.
Legolas's lips parted. Indeed, he suddenly realized that the pain he had been feeling before had faded to a dull minimum. "I suppose so."
"You'll heal in no time." Malkor said. "Anyway, I've come to keep you company and to bring you news of your female friend."
Legolas instantly brightened. "Has she any message for me? Is she well? Please tell me that she is well." His mood suddenly dropped. "Has…has she been informed of her brothers death?"
Malkor held up a hand. "Slow down. She doesn't know anything yet. But she will today. I'm sure the Lady will have to break the news to her this afternoon."
Legolas frowned deeply as he imagined how Eressa would react to hearing that her dear brother was dead.
How will she ever forgive me? He thought, before realizing something else. Will she have the chance to forgive me at all? Will we ever see each other again?
"Can she see me?" He timidly asked Malkor.
The guard shook his head gravely. "The Lord of the House has forbidden you to see anyone, save your guards."
Legolas's expression hardened. "I understand." Then he blinked. "So then Lady Curdolin is also forbidden to be down here as well?"
Malkor nodded and ran a strong hand through his dirty hair. "Yes. I thought you would have figured that out by now, you being such a clever creature—to plan an escape and all."
"It didn't work, if you hadn't noticed." Legolas said coldly, hinting to Malkor that he wanted the subject dropped.
The man couldn't take the hint. "It almost did." He said. "Besides, that's not what matters, Legolas." He leaned closer. "You were the first person, man or elf, to elude Curdolin and get that close to escape."
Legolas close his eyes and hissed in a sharp breath. He said nothing, and looked up at the ceiling.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Malkor asked after a minute or so.
Legolas's eyes turned on Malkor, hard and cold, like ice at the bottom of a lake. "Yes." He said softly. "You can never speak of the escape again while in my presence."
Malkor was taken aback. He stood up and backed away a step. "Alright…if that's what you want." He said, scratching his head. "Anything else?"
Legolas briefly shook his head. "No." He said quite blankly. "But thank you."
Another long silence.
Malkor smiled suddenly. "Your girl will be fine, if that's what you're thinking about." He said.
Legolas merely turned his head. His expression didn't change.
"And I'm sorry for both your losses." Malkor added. He put his hands on his hips and cleared his throat. "I'd best be going then. I have other things to do."
More like better things to do. Legolas thought negetively. Suddenly a thought came to his mind and he turned to Malkor one last time.
"Malkor!" He cried just as the man was to the door.
The guard whirled around. "Yeah?" He asked intelligently.
Legolas swallowed. "If you happen to see Eressa…please…tell her I love her."
Malkor smiled warmly at the elf. "I'm sure she already knows that, Legolas."
He left. And Legolas was left alone. Again.
****************Personal thingy*******************
Haha! This was a longer chapter! Go me! It was probably almost twice as long as the last one, wasn't it? But who cares, as long as it's long! Right! Thanks guys!
Another Note: Sorry this chapter took two weeks to get up. I have a good excuse though, and his name is Kevin. See, the guy I am absolutely in love with asked me to drive him to the school play (even though he can drive) then he invited me over to a barbeque at his house, and then he invited me to go painting with him and his church pals. Does he like me or what? Dammit I hope so!
I could have done the responses to reviewers thing, but I figured if I made you guys wait another day you'd get mad, so I'm just gonna skip it and post the chapter. Whew. Well, thank you guys for being so patient! I love you all!