Ok, heres the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. It was just too hot to write and i was getting kinda tired uploading almost everyday. So sorry. But here it is. The next chapter will take a while to write up cause theres more hot days forecasted and i don't have air conditioning my computer room. But i am planning to have this done in two weeks, in two weeks i move out of home! scary.
Trin: yes. *sighs* Males. You can't expect much from them! Joking! I'm sure theres nice males in the world...i just haven't run into one yet!
leggylover: Yes, it does seem as if estel was stoned, that was the effect i was aiming for athough i couldn't write from personal exprience, which is, like a miracle in my town. If you haven't been stoned before you turn 18, theres soomething wrong with you in my small town.
grumpy: yeah, i remember no matches, like AFTER i'd posted it and i couldn't be botehred going back and changing it so i just left and wondered how many ppl would pick up on it. surprise! not!
Catmint:Do i know you from somewhere? Your names familiar...did u review ne of my other stories? *frowns and then scurries off to check out reviews for other stories*
KumQuat: Oh yeah, angst to come alright.
legolaslover: I have to stop somewhere! Thanks for all the compliments *blushes* really? I just read lots of other ppls' stories and tend to model my estel on all their estels joined together. That sounds dumb doesn't it?
Creekpass: *gives into puppy dog eyes* Ok. Heres a new chappie. And i'm not wonderful! I'm mediochre! You got it wrong! i don't know what the weed was at the moment...i have to think up a good name for it!
Daw: Nothing ever turns out right when it comes to those two. Legolas has been naughty!
galadriel evenstar, tmelage, Frisha: Glad you're liking the story and heres a chappie for you!
Enjoy!
****Legolas cursed as he watched the boy head off into the forest but kept true to his word and stayed where he was.
One minute passed. It seemed like eternity. But Legolas just sat by the fire and fretted. Watching the sparks flying form the fire, he thought of the young boy that he had taken hunting and more importantly, taken a liking to. It had been a strange but likeable experience, finding out that he had taken a liking to a human. His father tried not to have any dealings with humans himself, he was suspiciously wary of them but never-the-less didn't stop his son from seeing the young boy. What he thought and what his son thought were two very different things, and Thraundril respected his son's decisions, even if he didn't thoroughly approve of them.
Two minutes passed. Legolas threw more wood onto the fire and thought back some more. He remembered when he had first met the boy. He had travelled to Rivendell to deliver a message from his father and spend some time with the twins. When he had arrived, the twins hadn't rushed out to greet him and with a wary and heavy heart, Legolas had uncertainly walked into the house himself. There had never been a time when the twins had not greeted him when he'd arrived, the only times the twins hadn't greeted him, they'd either been away or injured and condemned to bed rest.
Three minutes passed. Legolas sat lost in his thoughts, thinking back through the past. The reason why the twins hadn't greeted him were quickly found out when the elf prince ventured deeper into the house. He could hear giggling and gurgling, sounds that seemed extremely childish within the old elven house. Even the twins didn't giggle anymore. Legolas remembered stepping around a doorway, following the sound and stopping in shock at the sight that greeted him. Both Elladan and Elrohir were seated on the floor, with a human child in their midst. Elrohir was cross-legged, his hair loose from warrior braids, the dark brown hair trailing down his tunic and tickling the Edain's face. The child itself was seated in Elrohir's lap, giggling at something that Elladan was saying, one of the child's chubby hands were trying to clutch at the soft toy that the Elladan held tantalizing just out of the child's reach.
Four minutes passed. Legolas stared with unseeing eyes into the fire, his mind still lost in the lane of reminiscing. He remembered all the details clearly, the events had etched themselves deeply into his memory. The child frowned as Elladan began pressing the boy's patience. With frustration, the young child did what any child would've done, no matter what its species. It's chubby hand unconsciously clutched Elrohir's long hair and yanked it hard. Elrohir responded with a yelp that made both the child and his twin laugh. And while both twins were occupied, the Edain clumsily jumped from one twin to the other, taking the older elf by surprise, slamming into Elladan's chest, knocking him over backwards, his hands trying to grab the soft toy that the elf held.
"Want!" The high childish voice was almost lost amongst the merry laughter of elves at the human's antics.
Legolas coughed. "Am I disturbing something?" Truth be told, he was feeling betrayed. The twins hadn't even bothered to come out and see him after his long journey to their home, they hadn't even realised that he had been there. They were too busy playing with a child, even more, a human child.
"Legolas! It is such a pleasure to see you!" Elladan's muffled voice floated across to the prince, as the child wriggled in his grip. "Elrohir take him! He seems to be calmer with you." With that, the older elf plopped the child into his twin's arms and Elrohir smiled at the child before getting up and walking towards the waiting Silvan elf.
"Yes, Legolas! It is good to see you again! I'm sorry that we did not meet you at the entrance, we were, slightly busy as you can see!" Legolas tried to think up a barb to reply with but before he could, Elladan was beside him as well. The Noldor elf bent down to look the Edain child in the face and said clearly:
"Estel this is Legolas." Then turning to look at Legolas, Elladan smiled warmly and said, "Legolas, this is Estel." Then is a whispered voice so that child couldn't hear him he continued, "His family were slain by orcs, father has decided to adopt him." Then louder once again, "He is our new brother!"
Legolas just stood there stunned, not knowing what to say. But children have a way of bending fences without even trying.
Before any of the elves realised, Estel had raised himself out of Elrohir's arms and flung his own chubby ones around the Silvan elf's neck. "Reg'ras!" The prince smiled in spite of himself as he heard the child try to say his name. Hesitantly, his arm's encircled the small body, making sure not to crush the small boy. Estel wriggled around in his arms until he faced the prince and then when the child could see that the elf was looking at him, held up his soft toy and asked, "Want?"
Legolas smiled once again, his hurt and heart melting at the child's antics. "Nay, little one. You can keep it."
Then, the spell broke as the child yanked on the prince's hair, giggling as it pulled on the golden tresses and the Silvan elf nearly dropped the child in shock.
After that, things had continued smoothly, and things had only gotten stronger between elf and human, and Legolas did not doubt that he and the human were destined to be friends for a while longer. Estel was indeed a horror as a young toddler, a stubborn child but overall, a courageous and brave human. Legolas was certain that no matter what fate held in store for the child in the future, Estel would face it head on and prosper.
Estel! With a jerk, Legolas realised that he had almost let five minutes past since the boy had wandered off into the forest. Legolas cursed again, something had been happening on a regular basis ever since meeting the human and got to his feet.
"Estel!" Legolas cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound in the night air. No reply. "ESTEL!" Still no reply. "ESTEL! Can you hear me? Your three minutes is UP! I gave you FIVE!! ESTEL!"
Legolas strained his sharp elven hearing but still, no reply came forth from the dark forest. Legolas began to worry even more. Oh no, if something goes wrong, Lord Elrond is going to have my head for it.
Making a quick decision, Legolas quickly gathered up all the supplies he could carry – his twin blades, his bow and arrows, Estel's sword and dagger and all the medicinal supplies – and loped off into the woods, intent on finding the young boy.
"Estel! Estel, reply! Call out to me! Where are you?" Legolas easily picked up the boy's tracks and throughout the whole time he followed them, he did not stop calling out. However, as the elf continued on his journey, Legolas frowned as no reply was heard and he grew more worried.
Legolas thought that the tracks were going to go on forever but his worried eased slightly as the tracks led to where Estel had found the plant. He smiled as he looked at the tracks, seeing the excitement that the child had when he'd skidded to his knees and ripped the plant out of the ground. Legolas also knelt down but with more grace and elegance then the aforesaid child. Gently, he picked up the plant and frowned again as he saw how the leaves had been hastily ripped off and the plant discarded.
The elf looked around him, half expecting the Edain to jump out of the bushes where he might've been hiding in and surprise the elf. Estel had a habit of trying to catch elves unawares, and so far, he'd failed each time. But, to the prince's chagrin, no human child came charging out of the bushes. Subconsciously, Legolas had been rubbing his fingers together while still holding the plant and hadn't realised it, however, he started as he felt a sticky substance on his fingers.
Perplexed, the prince raised his fingers to eye level and in the waning light tried to see what the sticky substance was. He wasn't able to see much, only enough to deduct that the substance was the sap from the stem of the plant. The sap was oozing out from where the leaves had been ripped from the stem and was dripping from the elf's fingers.
Legolas frowned. He'd never known pipeweed to do that before. He didn't even think that pipeweed had thick sap. Suddenly worried, he raised his fingers to his nose and sniffed it delicately.
For a second, the world whirled sickeningly around the elf and all his senses became heightened. Legolas could hear everything, from the sound of ants marching through the leaf litter to the quiet rustle of the trees as they moved their leaves in anxious agitation. He could see better and saw with consternation that Estel's tracks seemed to be randomly panicked, the boy had jumped up and sprinted off, as the elf could see the footprints becoming wider and wider spaced. He could even see the tread that the boy's shoes had implanted onto the soft soil. The elf's nose quivered delicately, like a bow that had just released an arrow, the tangy, spicey smell that the sap had left in his nose filled everything, yet the prince released he could smell the coming rain, even though it was hours away. He normally didn't smell the coming rain until a few minutes before it began to pour. He could feel the bristles of the stem of the plant digging into his fingers and he could feel the life leaving the plant as it expired in his palm.
And then, the heightened senses fled him and Legolas was left with a slightly nauseous feeling in his stomach but not enough to worry him.
Legolas eyes widened in fear as he realised that the plant WAS NOT pipeweed. And it had ill side effects on him and he'd only smelled it for a second. Estel had stripped it of ALL it's leaves and SMOKED the whole lot. Legolas was an elf. Estel was a human. Whatever it was that had affected Legolas, it would affect Estel a whole lot worse.
Legolas sprung to his feet and hurriedly tried to trace Estel's tracks. His heart thumped wildly in his chest, fear for the child he had been meant to be guarding. Lord Elrond is going to kill me. If Estel has been harmed in any way at all, it's going to be my fault. It IS my fault.
The boy's tracks were easy to follow, he had not even tried to cover them up – Legolas doubted that the Edain had been in the state of mind that he'd been coherent enough to cover his tracks. He was definitely worried. It was almost like something had been chasing the boy, according to his tracks. They were random and panicked. Legolas skidded to a stop, when the tracks showed that Estel had tripped over here and fallen. Legolas winced. The fall had been a bad one, it would've left bruises and grazes. The elf bent down and touched the ground and grimaced when his fingers came away with red smears. He was about to follow the tracks which led off further and deeper into the forest when he noticed something.
It was the pipe. It was nestled amongst the undergrowth and looked like it had been randomly chucked away but Legolas got the feeling that Estel had dropped it when he'd fallen. The elf scooted over and picked it up. The weed inside still smouldered and Legolas almost leant over to knock the weed out of the pipe before deciding to keep it. Who knows? It could come in handy. Instead, the elf extinguished the tiny embers, carefully, making sure to not inhale any of the smoke and pocketed the pipe. The smouldering weed told him several things, the main thing being that the boy hadn't passed the way long before him, meaning that Estel was only a little way in front and that the boy hadn't finished smoking the pipe.
And with, whatever it was that was within the pipe, that was definitely a good thing.
****Estel skidded to a stop in a small clearing, realising even in his muddled state of mind that something was wrong. It was too dark and it was too quiet. He couldn't hear anything, anything at all. Even the sound of his own harsh, shallow breathing and thumping heart appeared to be muted. Even though the feeling on unease didn't pass, the boy sagged against a tree and tried to force enough air into his lungs from blacking out. It was a struggled to breath, to just draw in oxygen seemed like such a huge task. The running had taken away most of his breath and now, it felt like it was almost impossible to retrieve it all. It felt like there was an iron band around his chest, it felt like his ribs weren't moving, stuck in place, instead of offering protection for his lungs, they had turned into a cage making it seemingly impossible for his lungs to expand.
So intent was the boy on trying to calm and control his breathing that he didn't notice the approaching darkness nor the evil that seemed to taint the wind.
Legolas stiffened as he felt the air change impercepably around him. Something was coming and it was coming fast. It wasn't that far away altogether but still it came. Something evil. The air felt tainted by it and Legolas placed a hand against the tree and felt it trembling in fear from the evil presence and in fear for the elf and human who were under the canopy. Estel! Legolas' mind cried out! Estel was out there! The evil was coming for him!
Estel wheezed, his hand gripping the tree hard, accidentally stripping it of it's bark. Something howled in the very near distance but the boy didn't hear it. His mind was still whirling from the after effects of the drug and the oxygen deprivation that was occurring. Estel swallowed anxiously as something seemed to touch his conscious, something tugged at his mind for recognition but it was soon swept away as the boy fell to his knees and began dry retching.
Legolas froze in fear at what the trees were telling him, what their leaves whispered to him while there was no wind. The human was wounded, the human was ill. Something was wrong with the human. He was harming the tree while trying to breath, his breathing was harsh. He was being sick and still the evil came. It was only seconds away, only seconds away. It had already passed some of the others, tainting the soil and grass with it's evil footsteps and still it came. Towards the ill, defenceless boy.
Estel clutched his stomach in agony as pain seared throughout his belly. He couldn't stop being sick, he couldn't stop retching, yet he knew that there was a chance he might tear the lining in the stomach if it continued.
Legolas ran as fast as his legs could carry him yet it seemed everything came against him in his spring. The grass was gluggy and sucked at his shoes as he ran, making it hard to lift his feet. Even though the elf was light, his fierce running was making him dig his feet into the soft ground, trying to propel him faster thought the air.
Estel retched again, this time feeling relief as he brought up something yet his face blanched as he saw that it was black bile. Not a good sign, he remembered his father telling him that once. His father? He had a father? Suddenly, the urge to vomit was gone, just leaving the child with a sore stomach and aching lungs. Estel leaned back wearily against the tree and closed his eyes, trying to restore his breathing and stop from fainting from oxygen deprivation. He didn't hear the twigs cracking just on the other side of the clearing.
Legolas urged himself to run faster and when realising that he couldn't, he made a quick decision and swerved to the right and jumped straight up into the trees and without even stopping for a second, continued on his perilous journey through the boughs. He could feel the trees welcoming him as he sped through them, their leaves rustling as the gathered beneath his fleeing body, lest he fall. What they whispered to him though, made his heart freeze in his chest. The evil was there. It had reached the boy. NO! Legolas screamed in his mind. ESTEL!
The boy opened his eyes and lifted his head muzzily from where he'd let it droop on his chest. When another twig cracked and a glint just on the edge made him look and concentrate, Estel jumped to his feet in fear and terror. Unfortunately, the quick change of height made the boy horribly dizzy and by the time he'd been able focus once again, they were standing in front of him, the moonlight glinting off of the cruel looking scimitars they held and highlighting the foul grins that the beasts wore. The wargs that they had brought with them, snarled and snapped around their legs and the boy nearly fainted in fear and sickness. Orcs. Orcs had found him. He'd wandered into a bandful of orcs and wargs. He was alone……at their mercy.
To try and get there quicker, the prince began taking frightful chances, leaping from branch to branch, distances that even elves were afraid to tackle. Legolas somersaulted and swung from tree to tree in an effort to get to the boy before any harm could take place. However, his swiftness and recklessness was his undoing.
"Well, well, well, what do have here? A human by the look of it! And a baby too!" One of the orcs strode forward and while Estel tried to press himself up against a tree, grabbed the boy's chin and peered into his eyes, roughly forcing to the boy to look which way he wanted.
"Tender meat then! Very tender!" Another disgusting orc sneered while running his clawed finger along the blade of his scimitar. "We haven't had meat for days!"
"We could have a lot of fun with this one! Soft unmarred skin, I think we should introduce him to our friends!" They laughed while Estel paled. There was no way he could outrun them in his condition, there was no way he could do anything.
The orc that had him by the face, laughed at his boy's terrified expression and then in a swift movement, grabbed the boy by his hair and throw him to the ground in front of the feet of the other orcs and at the mercy of the wargs.
One of the wargs leapt forward, its teeth bared, its lips pulled back in a snarl and just before the warg reached him, just before it could bury it's teeth into his flesh, Estel remembered and cried out, a cry full of desperation.
"LEGOLAS!"
Legolas swung from one tree to another, landing on a branch, however, being in the fast flight that he was, he didn't hear the trees whisper of consternation and the only warning he head that something was wrong was when the branch snapped underneath him and he fell the long distance to the ground. If he had dropped straight to the ground, at the least something definitely would've broken but the distance itself could've killed him. Instead, the elf impacted with several branches on his way down, each knocking the air out of him and when Legolas slammed into the ground in a heap, he had trouble not fainting and had to blink hard to keep the impending oblivion at bay. Estel needed him.
"LEGOLAS!" The prince heard the cry and struggled to his feet.
The warg reached the child and buried it's teeth in the boy's shoulder. Estel cried out in pain, his voice hoarse from his retching.
"NO! ESTEL!" Legolas didn't even stop for a breather but continued on his relentless rush. He could hear the harsh laughing of the orcs, the cries of the child and the snarls of the wargs."ESTEL!" Legolas reached back and grabbed his bow and put an arrow into position while sprinting and tried to ignore the frantic whispering of the trees around him.
First blood has been spilt.
****I didn't get time to spell check so sorry and leave a review!