Angel of the Forest

ARGH!!!! This chapter go deleted FOUR DAMN TIMES!!!! I'm starting to think my computer hates me, but that's why I was so long in updating. Sorry about that but what are ya gonna do?

A/N: I know Lurtz is OOC, but if he was in-character then he probably would have killed Legolas from the start, doncha think? And pretty much most of the bad guys in this act like good guys, at least to Legolas.

And I'd like to thank Rabbit of Iron for pointing out my spelling error ^_^ I just hope the rest isn't to bad, I'm my own beta reader so the blame can rest with my English teachers if it sucks.

And some of you might be confused with all the stuff Lurtz is thinking about Legolas but it's not love (I repeat, NOT LOVE) that doesn't happen until later but right now is more of an affection like you would have for a pet or something. But since Uruk-Hai are trained not to have emotion I figure it would come as kind of a shock to him.

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It had been 2 week since they had left the realm of Mirkwood and Legolas was loving it. It wasn't that the Uruks were letting him have the time of his life, far from that, but it seemed to him that he had accomplished more in that 2 weeks than he had in his entire life.

As the youngest prince of Mirkwood he was pretty much allowed to do as he please. After all, he would never inherit the throne and his other brothers would always be first choice to be ambassadors and other such things so Legolas had fallen into the role of the much loved but incredibly spoiled and pampered youngest child. The Uruk-Hai had changed all of that though, he had been put to work almost the instant they had left Mirkwood doing everything from gathering water to cleaning weapons and sometimes tending to minor wounds. In the evening he was brutally drilled for hours in the art of fighting, he was to small yet to use the Uruk-Hai's swords so they gave him an old pair of daggers to start out with (Lurtz said that was only temporary and once they reached Isengard he would get him a new pair). The training was strenuous and exhausting, he was just thankful that he was only fighting Gulmek who was the weakest of the group aside from himself, if he had been fighting anyone else they may have killed him instead of just knocking him around a bit, not that Gulmek was that weak but he was far more laid back then the rest and was willing to go easy on him (if going easy could be considered throwing him to the ground and trying to stab him while he was down).

But that wasn't the end of his training, the Uruks insisted on training his mind as well as his body. [1] While they were on the move Lurtz would carry him and continuously drill him on various subjects concerning war such as strategies, geography , and even torture. Legolas learned much in those 2 weeks but he wasn't the only one who's life had changed. It seemed that Lurtz was learning much in those 2 weeks as well….

Lurtz had continued to wonder if it was a good idea to keep Legolas, not because the Elfling was getting in the way or was lazy but because he was afraid the child was making him soft. He let Legolas share his food, he let him handle his weapons and had even promised the damn Elf a new pair of daggers, hell, he let the thing sleep next to him at night!

When he took the Elfling as a pet he expected him to be just that, a pet, instead he found that the Elfling had taken on the role of a student and both he and the others had unknowingly accepted their roles as his teachers. But what really Lurtz the most was the fact that it really didn't bother him at all, and he knew it didn't bother the others. They had all just accepted Legolas and seemed to enjoy having the elfling around, not in anyway that was overly obvious, but they would allow him to sit with them and even share their food when they stopped, or allow him to handle their weapons. Never had he seen any of them so much as offer up a kind word and here they were sharing their food with an elf.

Lurtz growled softly and turned to where Legolas was sleeping beside him, glaring in to his blank blue eye's (he never could get used to the Elfling sleeping with his eye's open) and slowly wrapped his clawed hand around the his small throat, telling himself to just break the child's neck and be done with it. The muscles in his arm trembled but his hand wouldn't obey him.

What the hell was wrong with him any way's, he never had any problems killing before, so why now? What was it about the elf that made him so weak?!

While he was having his inner battle Legolas' eye's slowly came back into focus, gazing at Lurtz, not really to concerned that the large Uruk-Hai had his hand wrapped around his neck as he was to young to believe that his protector could harm him. "Lurtz?" The Uruk-Hai jolted slightly and looked at the small Elfling who was staring at him with those huge blue eye's of his. God, he wanted nothing more than to just get rid of him forever and never have to see those damn eye's again. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Lurtz snarled, withdrawing his hand and turning away from the Elfling. "Go to sleep, we'll be at Isengard tomorrow."

Legolas nodded but instead of going to sleep he stood up and plopped himself down in front of the Uruk. "Are you mad at me, because that's always how ada looks when he's mad, he start's acting all funny and then he and nana go into the room and then they throw their clothes all over the place and start making a lot of noise and-" [2] Lurtz quickly covered Legolas' mouth, grimacing at the mental image and wanting to smack the little upstart for the comparison.

"I'm not mad, not at you any way's. Just go to sleep and stay asleep or you won't get your damn daggers or anything else when we reach Isengard." He threatened, picking Legolas up with ease and setting him down on the bed roll. "Well, what are you waiting for, an invitation? Start sleeping!"

With a sigh, Legolas slipped under the covers and within minutes was sound asleep with his unofficial protector standing watch.

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"Lurtz! Look at that, it's so tall! I bet it's tall enough to touch the clouds, don't you think?" He questioned excitedly. Lurtz made a sound in his throat that could have been either and agreement or a death threat. The elfling had been doing that for over an hour now and it had been about that time that Lurtz had stopped paying attention and just began making those sound to keep the damn thing happy.

They had just arrived in Isengard less than 10 minutes ago and he was taking Legolas to see Saruman, knowing it was best to do it sooner rather than later.

"Are we going in there?"

"Yes. Your going to meet the white wizard so you'd better not screw up, do you hear me?"

Legolas nearly fell of his perch on Lurtz's shoulders. "Th-the white wizard! I'm going to meet the white wizard!" He shouted, drawing strange stares from some of the Orc's, not that they hadn't been before Legolas' outburst.

"Yes," he hissed, pulling the elfling off of his shoulders and tossing him lightly on the ground. "Now shut up and follow me."

Legolas bound to his feet and set about racing around the place like a mad thing, examining trees and flowers and orcs. Giggling in delight at what he saw when all of a sudden he bumped into something and was sent sprawling backwards, landing on a stone sticking out of the ground. "Oooowww!" he howled, jumping up and glaring at the stone, kicking it with all his might as if that would somehow avenge his sore bottom.

A light chuckle startled him somewhat and he turned to apologize to the person he had bumped into only to find himself speechless at who he saw. The long white hair and spotless robes of the purest white he had ever seen spoke of age and wealth and the staff the stranger held in his hand was that of a wizards.

Legolas yelped in fright at the thought of what the white wizard and Lurtz would do to him. He couldn't believe he had just bumped into Saruman the White, ada always said first impressions were important and he would be furious about this if he knew. How was he going to fix this one? Legolas honestly didn't know so he did the next best thing he could think of, he turned tail and ran straight to a large tree, scaling it as fast as he could.

Lurtz had arrived just in time to witness Legolas' great escape and a feeling of dread settled in his stomach as he walked up to Saruman.

"Well well well, Lurtz. I do believe that there has been a misunderstanding here, I thought that I had specifically said to scout the area and kill on sight but I suppose I must have said bring back a baby elf and let it run wild around Isengard because the Uruk-Hai never disobey orders, do they?"

"Well….." Lurtz began nervously.

"Oh this should be interesting," Saruman said sarcastically. "Don't bore me with excuses, Lurtz. I know why you brought the Elfling here."

Lurtz sighed, despising that Saruman was so good at reading him that he knew what he was thinking without even trying. Maybe it was just because he was a wizard. "I came to ask permission to keep him…..as a pet."

"Not just a pet. I've been watching you Lurtz, [3] I know this elfling is far more than just a pet to you. You wish to train him, to raise him as an Uruk-Hai. An interesting project indeed but we don't have time for such distractions and you don't know the first thing about taking care of a child, much less an elfling. He'd be dead within a month."

"All I ask for is a chance, Saruman." Weakness didn't suit the Uruk and he wished dearly to strike out at the Wizard.

Saruman gave him a searching look and began tapping his staff irritably. "Make the elfling presentable and send him to me," he said shortly, walking past Lurtz and continuing on his stroll without a second glance.

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Legolas winced and rubbed his stinging cheek. Lurtz had been furious once he had dragged him out of the tree and had slapped him several times and going so far as to throw him against the wall, luckily Legolas had been toughening up the past few weeks or it would have come as a much bigger shock, by now he was almost used to being slapped and pushed around (it never did get any easier, only more anticipated), the Uruks were a violent bunch and thought nothing of delivering a few blows every now and then.

Once they had reached the tower an Orc had shown them to the room that had been prepared for them. That surprised Lurtz somewhat, usually Saruman didn't even bother and he slept outside with the rest of the Uruks, but he wasn't complaining, he liked sleeping on a bed as much as the next person. As Lurtz scanned over the room he noticed a small white bundle on the bed and went over to examine it and wasn't surprised to find that it was a small white robe, obviously for Legolas.

"Elf, take this and get dressed." He threw the robe at Legolas and proceeded to completely ignore him, even as the Orc came back and led him off to Saruman.

Lurtz didn't allow himself to hope for Legolas's return , or even to wish for it, he simply began cleaning his weapons and if the elfling didn't come back than so be it……….. But if he did come back, well, only time would tell.

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"Tell me Legolas, have you ever heard of the Seeing Stones?" Saruman asked, guiding the young elf across the room to a small pedestal in the middle with a murky gray stone sitting on it. Legolas thought it looked like a miniature storm was entrapped in it and his gaze was fixated on the moving clouds, he was completely enraptured by it and couldn't seem to look away even though something was screaming at him to run far away. "You may touch it if you like." The Wizard offered.

Legolas gave no answer, reaching out a small hand and touching the stone lightly.

Immediately he became aware of something speaking to him but it sounded as if were speaking to him though a wall but eventually he realized that it was asking him questions. He did his best to answer all of it's questions but couldn't seem to keep up with it's demands as hundreds of them were fluttering through his head at a time and he couldn't sort them out. Strangely though he felt no fear from this 'presence' inside of his head it was almost comforting, this strange being, like a warm blanket on a cold day as it opened it's mind to him and he, in turn, did the same, letting it in, becoming a part of it.

It was strange, he knew it and it knew him, they were completely entwined and even as he let go of the stone and began talking again to Saruman he could sense the presence as strongly as if he were still touching the stone……..and he could feel something else in addition to the 'presence', like a tugging in the back of his mind. An image came to him immediately, a small gold ring with writing on it like fire. "The One Ring" Yes, that was it's name.

"Well, elf? What did you see in the stone?" Saruman asked him and Legolas realized he hadn't been paying attention to a word the Wizard had been saying.

"Um, nothing, sir. I saw nothing."

Saruman gave him a strange look as though he expected a different answer and then dismissed him, telling him to return to Lurtz. Legolas happily left, eager to tell Lurtz that he was being allowed to stay with him and wasted no time exiting the room.

As he ran through the hall way (somehow knowing exactly where to go despite the fact that he had only been through there once) the voice spoke once again only this time was much clearer and with the voice came images of an eye with flames surrounding it and a large battle at the base of a mountain: "Your name, elfling? What is your name?"

"Legolas." He said to the voice. "What is yours, Precious?"

"…………Sauron"

A/N: So, how did you like it, I'm half asleep right now but I hope it's as good as the other chapters. Should I continue like this or skip a few years. It's up to you.

[1] You can't tell me Saruman made up all of those battle strategies. Uruk-Hai were trained to be machines of war so I figure they would have to be smart in order to be perfect.

[2] *shudders* Guh! That happened to me once. Went in a normal 7 yr old, left a traumatized shell of a human being.

*sweatdrops*

[3] Remember that seeing stone thingy? I can't remember the name.