A/N: Heehee, So many people loved that cliffie ;)
Astalder27: Estel is studying his nails wondering why they are dirty Leggy: Um Help! Hehee
Deana: Um No I don't think he can stay out of trouble...
Mornflower: Falling into a gorge isn't fun. Pushing Legolas into one can be ;) Especially when he's annoying me.
Sielge: Oh Yes I left you with that. ;)
Chapter 9
"Legolas!" Estel yelled as the elf fell out of sight, he ran to the side of the gorge and breathed a sigh of relief for the elf was clinging to a ledge not far below him. "Legolas hold on!" he said
"I can't do much else can I?" Legolas shot back Estel offered the Prince his hand and as Legolas took the mortals hand the man attempted to pull him up, with Estel's help Legolas managed to climb back up the gorge,
"What was that?" the mortal asked
"Aftershock" Legolas replied with a smile. "I have to thank you again"
"There is no need" Estel said with a smile, which fell as he saw Legolas pain filled face "what is it?"
"I just hope your brothers are well"
"I wonder how Legolas and Estel are." Elladan said as the twins walked down the tunnel. "Not well if Legolas' previous adventures are anything to go by" Elrohir replied
"And Estel isn't exactly un-accident prone" added Elladan
"I think Ada is going to have a lot on his hands when they return" laughed Elrohir "Legolas won't hurt Estel. Will he?" Elladan asked
"No. He won't hurt him. Legolas will cause harm to no one unless they threaten him or those he loves."
"I know. I am just worried; Estel does not know what his past holds. What if..."
"He won't. They will both be well." It was then the aftershock hit them, knocking them to the floor. It caused some rocks to fall from the roof of the tunnel, when the chaos ended Elrohir rose "Elladan!" he yelled when he could not see his brother, for a moment everything in the elf's mind fled leaving one thought, 'where was his brother?' "Elladan!" he yelled again getting frustrated and afraid "Where are you?"
"Behind you" said the voice of his twin, Elrohir span around and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the valar" he walked over to his brother "I thought you were dead"
"I'm not dead." Elladan replied embracing his brother "You don't get rid of me that easy" "Don't scare me like that again" Elrohir scolded "I don't know what I'd do if you died"
"Well I'm not planning on dieing" his brother assured him despite the fact he too did not know what he would do without Elrohir, they had always been together. They shared an unbreakable bond; this worried their Father, who knew if one was killed the other would surely die of grief. That was one reason he told them to be careful, the other was that they could be as bad as Legolas at coming home injured. "I hope Estel and Legolas survived that" his brother looked over at him
"Do you think they did?"
"I do not know"
"Legolas," Estel asked as they made their way down the tunnel "Can we stop please" Legolas turned; the young man did look like he needed to rest, and they had been traveling a while, and though he hated to admit. He too needed a rest, his chest was paining him and he guessed he had broken a rib- though how he did not know.
"Very well" the elf said carefully lowering himself to the ground, then placing a hand on his chest he tried to find the source of the pain, as he came in to contact with a broken rib he grimaced in pain, this was not missed by the mortal.
"Legolas, are you hurt?"
"It is just a broken rib, I'll be fine" the elf replied
"Let me see, I can help" the mortal replied moving forward
"No, I can treat a broken rib." The elf said a little harsher than he wanted, he pulled his tunic over his head and unbuttoned his shirt, wincing as he saw the bruises on his chest
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Estel asked again
"I will need to in considerable more pain than this before I let your filthy mortal hands touch me" Legolas snapped his eyes flaring
"Do you need any salves or bandages or anything?" the mortal asked again a minute later
"No" Legolas replied rummaging in his own pack and pulling out the medical supplies Ilyanna had given him and binding his ribs like he had done many a time before. It was part of the training in Mirkwood. All warriors had to know basic medical skills- in a dangerous place like Mirkwood getting injured or having a companion injured was not all that rare. After he had finished that task the elf-prince looked up
"I am sorry if I seemed a little harsh then" he said
"It is quite alright" Estel replied
"No. I should not treat you like you are one of those who have in the past hurt me. I do not understand you. Why did you save my life, any of the other mortals I have known would have left me there?" His voice showed confusion
"Not all mortals are the same" Estel answered looking up at the elf,
"I have been through so much, men have done terrible things to me, I hate them for it. But you, you are different" he looked into the mortals eyes "You saved my life, you didn't care how I treated you, you just wanted me to accept you and I didn't. But you didn't give up. You could have left me with those orcs. You didn't. No man has ever done that for me before" he looked at the mortal "Why you came back is a mystery to me, but I must thank you for it, I never will feel at ease around mortals, but I have changed my mind about you, Estel. I think I can trust you, and I do not fear you, I would be honoured to call you my friend"
"I always wished to meet you, and when I did, and you didn't accept me. It hurt, and I understood you have been through a lot, but I hoped you would accept me, but you hate humans, yet still you saved my life twice, once when the earthquake struck and then when he orcs attacked, you let me escape. Why when you hate mortals?"
"I could not let you die, and with the orcs I did not want you to die at their hands, or worse be captured and tortured. They would kill you. You are a man, they would torture you for a while ad then kill you when the tired of it. They would never tire of causing me pain. They despise elves more than any other race, Maybe because they are jealous of what they once where. I do not know. But I have experienced the bite of their whips, the pain of being beaten by them. I do not want you to experience that. I would not wish it on anyone, save a few I despise more than them" Estel was quiet for a moment "Why you would be honoured to be my friend I do not know, for it is me who is honoured that you wish to be my friend. You are a Prince and a brave warrior, I am an orphan, and I can't wield a bow" Legolas replied
"There is nothing wrong with being an orphan, and maybe archery isn't your strong point. But then swordsmanship isn't mine"
"But you are the second best at wielding a sword in Mirkwood!"
"I have never yet bested my Father though, I am much more suited to the bow, or the knives" Legolas replied "I am not a fan of the sword, and as for being brave, you are wrong. There are many times when I have been afraid, and anything but brave."
"Even the bravest warrior is afraid of something" Estel replied "Being brave is to stand up to what you are afraid of. Not running away and hiding just because you fear something" Legolas smiled
"You speak words of wisdom that I would not expect from one of your years, Mellon Nin." Estel face broke into a smile at hearing the elf call him 'my friend'
"Thank you. Mellon Nin" he paused. Stifling a yawn
"You need some rest" Legolas added "I will take watch" Estel nodded and lay down and eventually fell into the world of dreams, at sometime in the night he stirred, and he saw the elf-prince sat softly singing, looking at peace, yet his eyes darted around, showing he was not comfortable in this place.
Back in Rivendell, the elves had not suffered the earthquake. This however did not stop the two elven lords worrying about their sons. They stood side by side on the balcony watching out for the four companions to return. "Do you think they are well?" Thranduil asked
"They will be fine" Elrond assured him not quite believing himself
"You lie" Thranduil replied softly
"very well" Elrond muttered "I do fear for them all, Elladan, Elrohir, Estel and Legolas"
"Estel?" Thranduil said
"He is like a son to me, I adopted him fifteen years ago, he does not know Thranduil, but he is the last heir to Gondor's throne."
"A mortal"
"But no one must know his real identity" Thranduil was not listening
"you sent a mortal to find my son. You know how he feels about them."
"I do, but your son needs to learn to trust the race of men. Thranduil, Estel will not harm him"
"I know that. But Legolas...you know what they did to him; you know how much he has suffered at their hands."
"Thranduil, I know you both have every reason to mistrust men. But please, do not blame Estel for their past deeds."
"I will not reveal the mortals true identity, but I may not be able to trust him"
"Elendil was a good man, Thranduil, as was his son"
"Yes, Elendil knew my Father well. Let us hope that his heir has the same qualities and that my son can count him as a friend, such as my Father counted Elendil, maybe then I will trust him"
Estel woke the next morning feeling refreshed he looked over to where Legolas sat, the elf looked over at him and smiled "Are you ready to leave here?" he asked
"If you are" Estel replied,
"Good" replied the Prince "then let us leave this place, I do not feel at ease in the deep places of this world."
"Why?" Estel did not mean to ask that, "I'm sorry; you don't have to answer that"
"No, I will. When I was much younger, about 500 years of age, that in mortal years being five, I was abducted by some men. They took me deep into Mirkwood and hid in a cave, I was kept blindfolded and in the dark all the time. My Father found me eventually but I never liked the dark after that unsurprisingly. Ironically, it is the ancestors of those men who we are tracking now"
"Then I am not surprised you are not at home here."
"Elves were not made to be in captivity or dark places" Legolas said simply. "We are not dwarves. We need the sun to live; we need the shade of trees, the wind's cold breath, we need freedom, the ability to run where we choose and to live as we choose. If we are denied that, we die. The only thing that kept me going in my darkest hours is the thought that I would be aided. That there would always be someone who would give what ever it took to keep it safe. My Father, The one whom I betrayed by letting Talider into his palace, I cause him more grief than he deserves, and yet. Throughout everything he has loved me. That is why I have to get the sword back." He looked over at Estel "come now. Let us get out of this dark hole, into the warm sunlight" they began to walk again then came Estel's voice
"Is it true that you and the twins once swapped my Father's drink for one much more potent, getting him drunk" Legolas could not help but laugh
"Yes, one of the only times we have successfully pulled a trick off and not been punished. We were accused of course, but nothing was proved! That was funny, ai if you could have been there. He was very drunk, he was even singing vulgar songs we never thought he knew of, from his younger days I presume" Legolas laughed
"You say you were not caught, how?"
"We were suspected, yet no one could prove it" he glanced up at the mortal "it is possibly one of the few times we have got away with a trick we played on Lord Elrond, if anything goes wrong in Mirkwood or Rivendell we are suspected often it is not we who are responsible" "From what I hear you are often responsible" Estel replied
"Well that is certainly true" Legolas laughed "However your brothers are the ones who get me into trouble with my Father"
"I can easily believe that" replied Estel
"Yet they always seem to be there for each other when it counts...and for me" Legolas looked forward "we are close to the end of this cave now, we should be out before tonight"
"Oh" replied Estel with a smile as he noticed a sparkle in Legolas' eye "that is a relief"
Only a few more hours passed before the pair caught a glimpse of the brilliant blue sky, the hurried forward to stand in the entrance to the cave and stood looking at the golden sun shining in the sapphire sky, feeling the soft wind on their skin.
TBC...
See you all tomorrow
Aranel