Well, this took a while didn't it? Mainly because 1) it did get really hot and 2) i've been so busy trying to get everything ready for moving out of home. Oh and 3) my parents are cracking...er...chuckikng tantrums cause they reckno i'm on the computer too much. Pfft. they have no idea! Yesterday i went surfing cause it wa like 30 degrees (Celcius) and as it was my first time, i spent most of the day drowning under the waves and checkin that everything is where it should be....er...don't worry. The day before that it was 44 degrees!! We turned the air con up and sulked inside the house. So thats why this chappies been a while coming. But i hope you like it!
Lauren: Hey Lurker! I got a lurker! WOOHOO! I hope you don't mind but i put ur emails up in my reviews. My hotmail account is beginning to do its random deletion thing *grrr* and i don't wanna lose ur emails, cause they're nice and i love readin bak over reviews. If you don't want me to, just tell me!
tmelage: Kudos! I love that word! Ya think? Thanks! Most of my stories start off too slow and end too fast.
leggylover: Yeah, doing Elrond's character WILL be weird and hard!
legolaslover/lotr chik: Don't worry, estel won't die! I'm glad u like the flashback! I thought it was cute when i was writin it. My fave bit is when Leggy nearly drops Estel in shock cause he pulls his hair! Ehehehe...I can just see it.
Rosie: Hey! Thats my nickname too! my full name is Rosanna. *blushes* thanks for all da compliments! i don't deserve them! But thanks for reading!
daw: Yeah, and it only gets worse for Estel from here! I'm glad that u liked the flashbak in the flashbak! Lol, not funny! I actually really liked writing that...and reading it, surprisingly enough. i normally hate all my written work.
Frisha: *hangs head in shame* sorry that its so evil...but this one is not so bad!
galadriel: Either its a saying i've heard or just made up but it just means that in a battle, someones been wounded and they're bleeding. So, first blood has been spilt, meaning a first person has been wounded..sounds dumb i know. Argh, thats just me and my bad choices of phrases and not being able to explain them properly.
grumpy: I'm glad u liked the flashback too! You liked the trees? I wasn't sure if i should make them talk to Legolas, but i've read it in other ppl's fics and Legolas is a wood elf and does have a kinship with the trees, so...yeah...and i live in Australia where its just coming to the end of summer and boy, have we had some scorcher days! I"d love some snow! i've never seen snow!
Catmint: I knew i'd seen ur name before! U review Spades stories! thats where i've seen ur name! God, i pick up on the most useless things! Heres more for u!
I hope you like this chappie although its full of Estel-ouchies. And can anyone tell me what a beta-reader is and any americans here, can u tell me how ur school times work??? everytime i watch an american movie, i get thrown off track when they talk bout the start of school. 1) what time does it start in the morning? Ours here starts at 9am, finishes at 3.30pm. 2) when does the school go from? Ours starts in Feb, finsihes in december... Sorry bout that and BACK to the story.
****The orcs laughed and jeered while the boy cried out in pain and tried to pull away from the teeth that dug into his shoulder. The warg growled and sunk the teeth in further, Estel screamed as he felt the canines slide along his collarbone while the orcs sniggered.
Suddenly, the bushes burst open and before Estel could blink, an orc that had been holding his scimitar in a suggestive position tending to indicate harm was lying dead on the ground and the warg had released the boy and reared up in pain and soon was lying dead with another arrow through the throat.
The warg landed so close to the child that Estel was covered in the small cloud of dust the animal raised when it landed and unfortunately, most of it went into the Edain's eyes.
"Estel!" The boy looked around blindly, hearing his name yet unable to see anything as the gritty dust covered his eyes.
"Legolas!" Estel recognised the voice and called back yet, still unthinking as the drug still reeked havoc with his system, stood up, gritting his teeth to stop from crying out in pain as the dust stung his eyes and made them water continuously. One hand he was using to rub his sore eyes to try and make them clear, unsuccessfully and the other hand he held his wounded shoulder, gasping as everytime he moved his arm, a lance of hot white pain shot up it.
The warg had done more damage then the orcs had probably intended. If the collarbone was not broken, then it was at least fractured or dislocated pretty badly. Estel groaned as the pain went straight through him.
Legolas sighed in relief when he saw the boy, relatively unharmed – well, alive – but then gasped in astonishment and fear as the child stood up in the battlefield and then just stood there. For a second, Legolas wondered why the child had done such a thing but when he noticed the boy was rubbing his eyes and he saw the tears streaming down his face he guessed pretty quickly and came to the right conclusion.
The elf bit his lip in consternation as he realised the boy was blind and defenceless without his sight and weapons. Making a quick tactical decision while despatching another orc with his blades by inserting them into the orcs stomach and pulling quickly upwards, slitting the foul creature open, Legolas tried to fight his way over to the boy.
Estel blinked frantically as he tried to clear his eyes and thankfully, the next time he opened them, he was able to see the area surrounding him, although the vision was still blurred and distorted due to both the dust and the drug still in his system. Suddenly, an orc foot impacted heavily with his back and the child went sprawling to the ground. The orc laughed at the human child's weakness and bent down, grabbed the boy by his wounded shoulder, dragged him upright and then without even a slight pause, backhanded the boy.
Legolas face darkened with fury as he saw the boy go down a second time from the cruel blow. "Estel! ESTEL!" He yelled out across the clearing, hoping anxiously that the blow hadn't knocked the child out. He needed to get across, he needed to get over to the Edain. The boy was defenceless, he was weak, he didn't have any weapons, he was only a child!
The band of orcs and wargs was small but they fought viciously and Legolas had a hard time trying to dispose of the wargs. The beasts were agile and took great pleasure in inflicting pain, the prince could feel the evil radiating off of them.
The prince sprang forward in an attempt to get to Estel but at that very moment, one of the wargs sprung forward and hit the elf in the chest, making the two combatants roll over and over backwards. Legolas wasted no time but pulled out one of his blades and during the tumble, swiftly shoved it up to the hilt into the beast's chest, the tip of the blade piercing the warg's heart and causing it death almost instantly.
When the two had rolled to a stop, the elf kicked the warg off it's chest with disdain and without hardly harder breathing, stood up to face the rest of the combatants that separated him from the child. The orcs milled around nervously, almost afraid to make a threateningly move towards the elf, lest their death come on swift wings. Even the wargs appeared to be more cautious, slinking around the legs of their masters.
Legolas didn't have time for this. He needed to get to Estel. Then the uneasy silence shattered as one of the largest orcs raised his scimitar and yelled, "Kill the elf! KILL!"
And then, both orc and warg rushed the prince……and life suddenly got a lot harder for Legolas.
****"Pathetic whelp of a human!" The orc growled before his fist came down across the boy's face.
Estel didn't reply but concentrated on not blacking out. At least I'm not a foul, disgusting orc, was the sardonic comment that came into his mind.
"Your elf friend isn't going to help you here. No, he won't. There are too many of us for him. We will capture him and take him to our lord and he will make a pretty present indeed. And you will die. And we might decide to eat your meat, your young tender flesh." The ugly being sneered while entwining his hand cruelly through the boy's hair.
"No! Legolas will beat you all!" The drug made Estel speak his mind, his tongue flowing freely.
In reply, the orc just sneered and by tugging viciously on the boy's brown locks, made the child look up into his eyes. "You speak foolishly, human. But now, that is enough talking. Your voice annoys me, I think we might cut out your tongue."
Estel's eyes widened in fear as he realised that the orc was going to keep him alive just to torture him, IF he captures me, he thought, then rebuked himself, Well, I feel awfully 'captured'. He's got me and I can't escape. Where is Legolas??
The orc pulled out a dagger from wherever foul place he had been hiding it, and despite the darkness, Estel swore that he could see a foul, black substance coating the blade. Involuntary, he shuddered.
"Yes, my pretty. This could certainly do some harm to you but I am just itching to spill some human blood, to smell the blood, to taste that blood. I can smell your fear human. It smells good." The dark creature bent down and while whispering into the boy's ear, traced the knife from one shoulder to the other, the bloody cut following the boy's collarbones. "There is nothing sweeter then the taste of human blood, the metallic tang of your red liquid. Your flesh is tender and soft. Very tasty." The orc sneered while Estel struggled to get away from the blade that was cutting a line of fire on his skin. The blade stung and Estel gasped as it began to burn like fire. Despite the fact the cut was only shallow, it hurt so much and the blood continued to flow thinly from the wound.
"I see you liked that my pretty. Well, lets see what else we can do", and to the boy's horror, the orc pinned him down and positioned the knife right above the boy's soft, defenceless belly.
In a cry of terror, the boy screamed, "LEGOLAS!"
****"I'm coming, I'm coming." The prince grunted as he dispatched another orc and in the quick lull, took a second to snap his head up and see where the Edain was. What he saw made his eyes widen in fear and without apparent thinking, he grabbed his bow and in a split second, and arrow had hit the orc threatening Estel in the back of the leg.
At that exact time, a warg realising that the elf was distracted leapt and with ferocity that surprised Legolas himself, pinned down the prince. Quick thinking and battle instincts were all that saved the prince.
The warg made a move to rip the face off the elf but Legolas had snapped his head to the side and the warg's claws only went through air and tore up the ground. With lightning speed, Legolas slammed the end of his bow into the wargs face, luck and skill making sure that the tip went through the warg's right eye, blinding it and causing great pain.
The moment that the warg reared up in pain, Legolas rolled out from underneath it and without thinking, slammed Estel's sword through the animal's hide, the blade inserting itself between the beast's 3rd and 4th rib, going straight through the lung and puncturing the heart.
Legolas quickly pulled the sword out and with all his might yelled, "Estel! Catch!" and hurtled the sword to the boy before another orc blocked the elf's vision and Legolas, once again, found himself locked in close combat with a foul, stinking orc.
He could only hope that the sword would help the boy hang on until he, himself, got there.
What a futile hope. What kind of warrior am I? Leaving a human child of only thirteen summers battle an orc on his own when I'm meant to be protecting him. This whole thing is my fault. By the Valar, Lord Elrond is going to skin me alive when I bring his child home. Legolas winced as he thought of the elf lord before the battle took his mind once again. He'd have been a lot more worried if he'd seen what was happening over the other side of the clearing where Estel was.
A lot more worried indeed.
****The orc screamed in pain as the arrow slammed into the back of his knee, the tip of it jutting out the other side, the kneecap shattered completely from the force of the arrow hitting it.
In the split second that the orc was distracted, Estel twisted himself out of the foul creature's grip and stood up, panting several metres away from the orc. He looked wildly around for something to fight the creature with and moaned slightly as his vision blurred and his head felt like it grew heavier. The nausea was rising once again in this stomach and the slight flesh wound the orc had given him burned like acid. Blood still flowed freely from the wound, although the blood itself appeared to be thinner somehow. Something was still very wrong with the boy's body, something was definitely unbalanced but Estel could not think what was causing it and why.
Maybe it's the weed that I smoked, maybe it's the knife wound, maybe the blade was poisoned, Estel jumped as the orc stopped howling and clutching it's knee and instead snapped around and fixed hate-filled eyes on the child. Uhm, maybe doesn't matter at the moment. I think I'll deal with the orc problem I have now and deal with whatever's causing these strange effects later.
"You! This is all your fault whelp!" The orc snarled and with a vicious movement, yanked the arrow straight out of his leg and advanced steadily on the scared child. "You are going to die the most painful death I can think of. You're going to undergo the worst tortures I can think of. I'm going to make you scream, tear you limb from limb, skin you alive, break every bone in your scrawny, pathetic body and roast you alive."
Estel backed away hurriedly, his gaze frantically searching for something, anything, he could defend himself with. But there was nothing. There wasn't even a decent sized branch on the ground that would withstand a blow to the orc.
Estel panicked.
This is it. Its just me and this orc. Its not fair! He's a lot bigger then me! Estel's senses were heightened in his moment of fear and he could hear Legolas battling all the wargs and orcs while he himself was only faced with one. Legolas is fighting over there for me, and still he manages to save me. Estel winced as he remembered how the whole situation had occurred. This is all my fault. None of this would've happened if I hadn't have decided to smoke that pipe. What a mature decision, Estel, well done indeed. And now, I've put Legolas in a lot of trouble and in an awkward position, and if something goes wrong, and it will, this is all my fault. I shouldn't be here, Legolas shouldn't be here.
Estel stepped backwards as the orc snarled and advanced. His pessimistic thoughts were halted as he heard the prince call his name and his eyes widened as he saw the elf throw his sword across the clearing before another orc disrupted his view.
Time seemed to slow as the sword twirled the air and both the orc and human child turned and watched it make its way through the air towards them. And then in a split second, time seemed to speed up and the sword was in the child's hand. With a roar, the orc swung his scimitar around but Estel lunged forward and met the scimitar with his own sword.
Metal shrieked as the two blades slid down one another but with strength Estel didn't feel, he forcefully pushed the orc away from him and stood back panting. That's strange, I can't feel the pain from my collarbone……
But then the thought was thrown away as the orc threw his head back and roared, "You'll die whelp!"
Estel didn't wait but sprang forward, ducked under the beast's swing and with a grunt slammed the blade into the orc's chest but sheer bad luck meant that the blade missed the beasts heart and the major organs…..only just though.
With a scream of pain the orc unthinkingly dropped his scimitar and sagged forward leaning his weight on the boy who partially held him up, his white fingers gripping the hilt of the sword. Estel just stood there in shock and watched as the thick, black blood coursed from the wound, onto the sword and dripped down his arm. No matter how many times he killed, he'd never get over how……real it seemed when done in close quarters.
To console himself, Estel whispered to himself, It was either me or him. Estel sighed and relaxed his grip on his sword and shakily stepped back.
A fatal mistake.
****Legolas smiled wanly as his blades slaughtered another orc.
Another couple of minutes went past and another warg went down, never to get up again.
The fight was easing, finally.
Legolas smiled again, this time smugly and looked over to where Estel stood, and grinned, as he saw the orc impaled on the boy's sword.
He turned around to fight another orc that was eyeing Estel and provided a distraction that the elf easily took advantage of.
Several more minutes passed as Legolas killed some more of the remaining orcs and wargs whose nerves had been severely rattled and their battle skills compromised by the deaths of the comrades. By now, only several were left.
The sound of a scream made the prince whip his head around to where Estel was, and the sight that filled his vision made his eyes widen in fear and a coarse curse pass his lips.
"ESTEL!"
****The minute Estel relaxed his grip, the orc shrieked again and slammed his fist into the boy's chest making the Edain stumble backwards to the ground and losing his grip on the sword. The orc snarled in pain and made no move to pull out the sword from his chest, instead swiftly advancing towards the boy.
Before Estel could realise what was happening, the orc had picked him and growled in his ear, "You're going to pay for that human. I'm gonna make you scream," before spinning around and slamming him into the trunk of the tree.
Estel gasped in pain as he felt his side impact solidly with the tree and could almost feel the severe bruises beginning to form.
However the orc wasn't finished. Over and over again the foul beast slammed the child into the tree-trunk, crushing the Edain's ribs with brute strength. Estel' s face had blanched when his first rib had broken. The orc had just sniggered as he heard the bone snap. When the child's third rib had broken, it took all of Estel's strength not to scream in agony when the orc continuously slammed him against the tree.
No matter how many times the evil beast battered the boy against the tree, the child made no sound cepting gasps and whimpers, although the orc knew that he was causing great pain. It was frustating. A child so young, especially a human child, should not be so stubborn!
With a snarl, the orc threw the boy to the ground, yanked the sword out of his own chest and swiftly drove it through the child's shoulder, effectively pinning the boy to the ground. It smiled evilly as the boy couldn't help but jerk and gasp in pain.
"Now, I know that I do not have long to live but you will scream for me child." The orc sneered and placed a heavy leg onto the boy's chest. Panic welled up in Estel and the child tried to struggle but could only moan as his struggles made his own sword tear in his shoulder and jostled his broken ribs and collarbone. Estel's eyes widened in fear as the orc increased his pressure downwards with his foot, steadily placing more weight on the boy's chest, making it extremely difficult to breath. "Scream for me whelp."
Estel gasped in pain as he felt his ribs grate against one another and struggled to draw in breath while the orc pressed down even harder. "Scream boy."
Heavier and heavier the orc's foot became as he placed more and more of his substantial weight on the boy's fragile and broken chest. Estel clenched his eyes shut tightly and moaned in anguish as his broken ribs moved.
Suddenly, white hot pain flared through the boy's chest and Estel gasped, finding it harder to breath. Liquid fire raced in his lungs and Estel wheezed frantically, trying to pull in air. He was suffocating, he was drowning! The Edain gurgled for a second and then coughed up some blood, each cough racking his ribcage, tearing tissue and causing agony to the boy.
The orc grinned. "That's right boy. Now scream." And with a vicious downward thrust, forcefully put all his weight on the boy suddenly, making the broken rib which had punctured the lung, thrust itself further into the boy's already torn lungs.
Estel screamed.
****Legolas forgot everything. He forgot where he was, he forgot who he was fighting. All that mattered was getting to Estel.
With a enraged snarl upon his normally calm face, the elf viciously fought his way over, killing all of the remaining enemies and before either orc or child knew what had happened, the orc that had been torturing Estel had keeled over, his eyes glazed to land on the ground with a thud, dead.
An elven blade in the neck gave substantial evidence to what had transpired.
But Legolas was not concerned with his blades, instead he dropped to his knees beside the stricken child and swiftly yet gently, pulled the sword that impaled the boy to the ground. Estel cried out in pain as the sword tore at his skin and arched his back in an effort to ease the pain.
"Oh Estel! Ssshhh….ssshhhh….I'm so sorry!" Legolas spoke quickly and softly as he tried to envelope the boy into a soft hug but his efforts were thwarted as the child yelped in pain as he picked the boy up.
"Estel, whats wrong?" Legolas asked, extremely worried as he lay the boy back down.
"S-shoulder….r-ribs broken….c-cut burning….i-I'm sorry L-legolas…" Estel wheezed the words out between shallow breaths. Every breath tore at his ruptured lungs and the child could feel the fire racing through his ribcage everytime he tried to breath.
With an angry look on his face against the orcs which had inflicted such pain unto only a child, Legolas carefully examined the wounds. What he found made him bite his lip in consternation. The wounds were bad. The cut across the collarbone was only shallow yet still bloody flowed from the slash. Legolas touched the cut and winced as the boy moaned. The blood was strangely thin and smelt funny. The sword wound on the shoulder was worse, the hole all the way through the shoulder. Blood also flowed steadily from this wound and was also thin and had a strange smell. Legolas carefully examined the boy's collarbone and ribcage and found the collarbone to have only a fracture while three of the boy's ribs had been broken.
What the elf completely failed to pick up was that one of the ribs had punctured the boy's lung. But what he did pick up was that Estel was beginning to run a fever, something that shouldn't have happened so quickly but another look at the boy's collarbone cut proved the elf's suspicions. There was orc poison in the boy's system.
Legolas quickly pulled out all the herbs he had and tried his best to tend the wounds but no matter what he did, the boy just seemed to get worse. His face became paler, his breathing grew more shallow, his eyes more glazed.
There was something else seriously wrong. Legolas suspected that whatever it was that the boy had smoked, it was playing havoc with the boy's natural healing system. It was thinning the blood and not allowing it to clot.
With a prayer to the Valar, Legolas pulled out the athelas and applied it to the wounds. Athelas normally managed to cure everything. But after he applied it to the wound, the blood flow only slowed down considerably, to the point of stopping, but STILL continued to ooze. And the boy's temperature also continued to rise.
"Estel, Estel…..can you hear me?" Legolas gently shook the boy and bit his lip in worry as the boy only moaned in reply, his eyes shut yet the pupils moving rapidly under the lids. "I'm going to take you home. I'm afraid only your father can tell me what's wrong. Estel? Estel! You must stay with me! ESTEL!" Legolas shook the boy harder to try and make him wake up.
Estel slowly opened his pain-filled, dilated eyes, "A-Ada? No….L-legolas? I-is that….y-you?" he whispered brokenly.
"Yes, its me Legolas, Estel. We're going ome to see Ada. Stay with me alright?" Legolas peered worriedly at the boy. This is bad. Lord Elrond is going to kill me. I am so dead.
"A-alright…." Estel forced a small smile up at the prince. Legolas tried to smile back but found himself way too worried. Estel's eyes then fluttered shut and Legolas nearly panicked, thinking the child had passed away but sighed in relief as he noticed the boy's shallow breathing.
It is probably better this way. This way, the journey will not cause him anyway near the amount of pain he would experience if he was awake, Legolas surmised as he gently scooped the boy up in his arms.
He started as the Edain trembled violently and then turned in his arms to bury his face into the elf's chest. Estel's dark locks fell over his face, and Legolas sighed again. The child looked so young, too young. He was too pale, and his body felt too light. He could feel the boy's shallow breathing and his rising temperature. Something was still not right.
By the Valar, if you can hear me or are listening, please allow this boy to live. Grant him life. He has so much more to fulfil in his future, please……let him live…..too much will be lost if he is to pass through the veil, Legolas sent up a prayer, hoping that they were listening before started to jog back through the forest, towards Rivendell.
The boy moaned again in the elf's arms and shivered violently. Legolas anxiously increased his pace slightly.
It was going to be a long, hard, painful night.
****I don't suppose neone speaks Latin here?