~*~Chapter 11~*~
Aragorn's eyes widened and his hand went to the arrow in his side. His breathing hitched and he winced when his hand came in contact with it.
Terrian gasped loudly.
Legolas pulled the bow away from the elven lord, "Gandalf! We need something to put him to sleep!"
The wizard had been busy and even he was surprised at what he saw. He moved over quickly, chanting something under his breath.
The elf wavered and Legolas caught him as he fell back, lowering him onto the bedroll. The archer sighed and smiled sadly at the unconscious elf.
Terrian looked ready to kill him, the only thing keeping him from it was the wounded man that would not let go of him.
"Terrian," Aragorn ground out.
The hobbit ignored him and pulled again.
Aragorn took a deep breath, "Terrian!"
Even Halbarad who was finishing up in the other clearing jumped a foot.
The hobbit froze wide eyed and Aragorn started breathing deeply, "I… I am sorry…" Terrian lowered his eyes and sniffed.
Aragorn, still trying to regain his breath, smiled weakly at him, "I-t's okay…" he hugged the hobbit gently and turned to Legolas, "Legolas, re-sterilize the needle."
The elf nodded and took the needle from the man, and went to do as he was asked.
Aragorn sighed slightly, "Listen Terr, he has been poisoned. He didn't know what he was doing. It was not his fault. Please give him another chance, this was not him. Trust me."
The hobbit stared at the elf lord and nodded slowly, "Okay…"
"Thank you," Aragorn said, letting the halfling go.
He put his hand on the arrow, took a deep breath and pulled it out. He only just managed to hold back a gasp. He quickly took the soaked cloth and cleaned the wound, pressing the fabric against it to get it to clot. He sighed with relief when it stopped after a while; glad it surprisingly hadn't hit anything important.
Legolas knelt next to him but paused, "This I know you can not do yourself."
Aragorn sighed, "Nay, this I can't do…"
Gandalf walked over and knelt in front of the man, taking the needle from the elf.
Aragorn nodded and winced when the needle jabbed him.
When they finally finished Aragorn sighed in relief and went back over to where the elf lay. He turned him over carefully and cleaned up his back.
He looked up when the other three rangers entered the clearing.
Halbarad narrowed his eyes when he noticed the other man's sluggish movements, "You're wounded… what happened?"
Aragorn sighed, "I was shot."
Halbarad was worried for a moment but then simply looked confused, "They had no archers…"
"Nay they didn't…" he glanced meaningfully at the elf, "a mixture of poison and waking up thinking you're still in the hands of your captors… I was stupid enough to leave my bow within reach."
Halbarad's eyes widened, "He shot you? Ai… he must be worse off than we thought."
"He was slightly delusional… I still need to get the poison out of his system…"
"Poison?!" Halbarad's eyes widened, he took a good look at the elf and sighed.
"It will only take a moment…" Aragorn pulled out a long, fresh leaf out of his pack, took out a small wooden bowl and dropped the leaf in it before crushing it into a mush.
Halbarad glanced at it and pulled a face, "That looks appetizing…"
Aragorn smirked, "I always knew you were crazy."
Halbarad rolled his eyes, "Where did you find it?"
"The plant grows around The Shire. Rare though it is, it's great at countering poisons."
Halbarad nodded slowly, "When did you find it?"
"About three years ago… one of the captains from Rohan had found it during his time off. Brought it back for one of our healers to examine. It had been unheard of in Rohan until then. They call it 'Night-healer'."
Halbarad raised an eyebrow, "Night?"
"The plant only blooms at night."
Aragorn took the mush and dumped it into the last of the hot water. He waited a couple moments before stirring it up, "It dissolves amazingly well."
Halbarad glanced into the pot and nodded in surprise, "*Very* well…"
Aragorn poured it into a cup and moved behind the elf, bring him up to lean against him, "Hal?"
The older ranger handed the man the cup and watched as the other slowly got the elf to swallow the contents.
Aragorn sat there until after a few moments the elf groaned and made a face. The man turned him carefully and the elf expelled all he had consumed in the last while.
Everyone in the camp pulled a face and Legolas, who had missed what was going on as he wandered through the trees, glanced over in surprise.
Elrond turned back weakly and groaned, "What just happened?"
Aragorn couldn't help the snicker, "I'm sorry," he muttered immediately, "you're safe now."
Elrond sighed and Aragorn lowered him back down onto the bedroll.
Tyryn cleared his throat, "Now that this is done," he handed Aragorn a metal trap, "we found this near the clearing…"
Aragorn sighed and glanced at Halbarad, "Can you watch him?" He motioned to the elf-lord.
Elrond glared weakly at him, "I can take care of myself Estel…"
Aragorn rolled his eyes, "Of course you can. Legolas? Can you help me?"
The elf nodded and walked up next to him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Legolas sighed as he jabbed his stick into another trap, pulling it out just before the metal fangs closed around it, "How many of these things are there?!"
"Oh, I know exactly how many my friend, I did lay them out!" he muttered sarcastically.
Legolas rolled his eyes and froze, "There is someone out there…"
Aragorn paused and focused; "Aye… now that I think about it I can sense another…barely…" he glanced around.
Their eyes widened when they heard a snap and a yelp. They both started running in the direction the sound had come from.
As they came upon the source of the noise Aragorn's eyes grew even further.
He knelt next to the hobbit and only then did the being look up. He immediately searched for the small sword that he always brought with him on his walks in the forest.
Aragorn found the blade a short ways away and reached out, lifted it and examined it with a smile, "Has been a long time since I last saw this."
The hobbit looked confused for a moment before gulping, "If you're going to kill me don't taunt me and just do it," his voice shook.
Aragorn looked at him in shock, "Never! I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!"
The man handed the hobbit the sword, confusing him even more, "Hang on a second."
Aragorn pulled the stake from the ground and lifted the hobbit.
The small being stiffened but sighed and decided it would be better to just go along with it.
"Legolas, can you make sure there are no more traps and collect them?"
"Aye, I'll catch up with you in a moment."
The elf took off quickly and the man heard only a couple more snaps before the elf appeared a while later, carrying a bunch of the metal traps.
"There were only a few others."
"Thank you Legolas."
Legolas glanced at the man, "You said something about Rohan?"
Aragorn nodded slowly, "I've been there for a few years now…"
Legolas blinked and went to reply when the hobbit cut him off.
"You're Legolas?" He asked, looking slightly surprised and relaxing a bit, "The prince of Mirkwood and son of Thranduil?"
Legolas groaned, "Aye… but please… treat me the same way you would with any other."
The hobbit nodded slowly, "I knew your father…"
Legolas looked confused for a moment then blinked, "You are the hobbit my father spoke of? The one in the battle of five armies?"
The hobbit nodded.
Legolas couldn't help the slight smirk, "They say you hid the whole time, no one could find you!"
Bilbo blushed and looked at the ground. Aragorn laughed.
As the human let out a shrill whistle the hobbit looked up at him, "Who are you though?"
Aragorn looked down at the hobbit, his eyes showing his amusement, "I guess after 19 years… mortals begin to forget one another… or at least not recognize each other…" he paused, trying to straighten out his words, "Of course… when one changes and the other seems not to…"
"Telcontar," Legolas said, cutting him off, "You're ranting."
Aragorn blinked and shook his head, "I've got to stop doing that…"
A/NElven Kitten: Hey. I feel sorry for my outburst the other day… so I decided to make it up for y'all and post… early… lol, at least I'm in a good mood this time! ^_^
Elf Side: Okay, so here are the replies!
Jadelyn Rashwe- Yes, EVIL CLIFFIE! ^_^ here. No more cliffie… right? In my mind, the end of every chapter is a cliffie since you know that another chapter is coming and you have to wait… lol ^_^
grumpy- Yeah. They might just come in handy… *Trails off*
Kandice- O.o… how is that funny?! *Gasp* U r so evil… lol, stranger, is funner… funner is not a word… more fun? Meh… w/e… ^_^ and… btw, there is no such thing as 'way too excited'. ^_^
leggylover03- Yes? Come on. He's poisoned, delusional… and that plus… well… you read it. ^_^
SilverKnight7- R u by any chance obsessed with that word? ^_^
Hobbit Side: Well… this is much happier! ^_^
Gollum Side: *Snore*
E.S.: Trust me when I say you might not wanna now why it's so tired…
E.K.: It decided that gluing quarters to the mall floor was funny… been watching people try to pry them from the floor for hours…
H.S.: It was funny!
E.S.: Those poor, poor confused humans…
E.K.: *Rolls eyes* come on! It was funny!!!
E.S.: Of course is was…
E.K.: You need to lighten up… Ow! *Rubs arm* that hurt… evil booster shots…
E.S.: *Snicker*
E.K.: THAT isn't funny…
E.S.: You told me to lighten up…
E.K.: Well not at my expense!!
E.S.: No fun…
E.K.: *Rolls eyes* Go climb a tree…
E.S.: *Climbs tree*
E.K.: … *Climbs up tree* ^_^ I like trees…
H.S.: I like trees… hate being in them… *Shudders* too high…
G.S.: *Snore* Yesss preciousss! Get the wicked hobbit! Get it!!!!!!!!!!!
H.S.: *Shifts uncomfortably*
E.S.: Namaarie!!!
~*~Elenmeoi~*~