Authors Notes: I'd just like to say again a quick thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far, your kind and encouraging words are much appreciated.
Chapter 3
The heavy set chieftain of the Hrotaki tribe glared menacingly at Legolas before schooling his expression to one of polite blandness and turning to face the young King.
"Forgive me My Lord. Your concubine was being impolite and I simply wanted to remind it of its manners in front of its betters. Perhaps we could include the slave in the negotiations. I would be happy to take him off your hands and educate him properly," the chieftain said.
Legolas' eyes flashed fire at the foreigner but as the elf turned to his husband menacing fury that emanated from the usually calm young man stunned him.
"Slavery is illegal in Gondor. Now you will remove your hand from my husband before it is forcibly removed." Aragorn spoke softly but the fierceness of his eyes caused the Hrotaki men to move away from the elf Prince, all except Grotahn who removed his hand with a studied indifference.
The tall chieftain inclined his head in apology. "My apologies My Lord. I meant no disrespect."
Aragorn met the intense look of the chieftain with his own cold gaze. He let his gaze move to rest upon his husband who, now released from the tight grip of the foreigner, moved to his mate's side.
"My love, allow me to introduce you to Chieftain Grotahn of the Hrotaki tribe. He has arrived today to negotiate a new trade alliance between our peoples."
Legolas' eyes frostily held Grotahn's, and the foreigner shifted uncomfortably under the knowing gaze that seemed to penetrate his soul. He was grateful when King Elessar spoke again allowing him to move his gaze to rest upon Gondor's king.
"Chieftain Grotahn, you did not meet my husband at court, he was tending our son, but let me introduce you now to Legolas, Prince Consort of Gondor. Son of King Thranduil, and Crown Prince of the woodland kingdom of Mirkwood." Aragorn allowed a small triumphant smile to grace his features as he took in the look of shock upon the foreigners face. "Now if you would excuse us, my husband and I have matters to attend to. Please do not let us halt your progress to your chambers." Grotahn nodded distractedly and turned to leave when Aragorn's voice stopped him. "Let me give you a friendly reminder Grotahn, we do not condone the mistreatment of our household staff in Gondor. Any action that causes harm or distress to any of my people will not be looked upon lightly."
Grotahn's body tensed at the grim tone of the King before nodding again and leading his people away. As soon as the Hrotaki people were far enough away Aragorn turned to his mate, gently grasping the elf's shoulder and inspecting him for signs of injury.
"Are you well my love?" he asked urgently.
Legolas sighed and smiled ruefully at his partner. "I am fine Aragorn, embarrassed more than anything else. I should easily have been able to defend myself against all of them."
Aragorn grinned. "It appears that you certainly gave them something to think about if the blackening eyes of the majority give any indication." They both laughed at that, but then the young king's expression sobered. "Still beloved, you are not fully recovered from your earlier actions, you should not have moved from our chambers. I was on my way there to join you for the rest of the day."
Legolas smiled before wrapping an arm around his lover's waist. "Well I certainly do not wish to delay you in your quest Your Majesty, but do you think that we might take a short detour through the gardens?"
"I do not think that should be a problem, after all a King is subject to the wishes of his subjects, and surely the most deserving of those subjects is the King's own husband." The young king wrapped his own arm around the elf's waist and steered him towards the gardens.
When they got outside Legolas breathed a huge sigh of relief. Pulling gently away from Aragorn's arm he moved further into the gardens until he stood in the centre of the lawn. There were no other occupants to Aragorn sat upon a nearby bench and watched his husband with curiosity. Legolas stood still with his eyes closed breathing deeply and steadily. A breeze blew through the garden and Legolas embraced the cold biting caress of its kiss. He felt his energy being renewed, and the trees around him sang of their joy at his joining with them.
Finally the wind died and Legolas opened his eyes, smiling as the natural beauty of his surroundings greeted him. He turned and made his way on steady feet once more to his husband who sat watching him with a strange look in his eyes. The young elf looked at him quizzically, and held out his hands towards his mate. Aragorn took the elf's hands and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He moved up against his mate and gazed deeply into his eyes before softly kissing the Prince. "I love you," he said his eyes filled with wonder as they travelled across the fair face of his partner.
Legolas smiled in bemusement before placing a light kiss upon Aragorn's lips in response. "Come, we should return to our rooms. I promised Celdarion I would be gone for a short time, and I would not wish to turn his hair silver with worry." The young Prince smiled mischievously and pulled his husband behind him.
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Celdarion looked up as the door opened, but he was not alarmed. He had heard the King's light tread as he approached the door and detected his Prince's voice conversing with his mate. He observed his prince keenly as the young elf entered the room, he seemed much improved from his earlier state, and in fact he was almost glowing with renewed vigour.
"It seems your quick trip outside has done you much good My Prince," Celdarion said quietly.
Legolas looked at him with a small smile. "Yes, I am glad of it for I was beginning to tire of being tired. Had I not felt this renewal of strength I would not have thought of challenging you to spar with me later."
The older elf grinned suddenly. "Renewed strength or not, do not think I will allow you to best me again, after all, what need would you have for a guardian who cannot even keep his charge firmly in place," Celdarion said, raising a brow in challenge.
"That brings me to something I wish to talk to you about Celdarion," Aragorn said.
Celdarion's gaze switched from the serious expression of the King to the mulish expression forming on the elf Prince's. "What trouble has my young Prince gotten himself into now?" he asked, drawing both pairs of eyes to him.
Legolas drew himself up with a look of indignation, and turning his back on both his husband and guardian he sat to play with Elessarion. Aragorn shared a knowing look with the older elf before explaining something of Legolas' encounter with the Chieftain of the Hrotaki.
"Do you think he will try anything further?" Celdarion asked when King Elessar had finished.
Aragorn frowned. "It would be very foolish of him to try anything, yet he knows that he is in a strong bargaining position when it comes to the mineral. He may well be bold enough to attempt something, which is why we should be all the more careful around him."
Celdarion nodded thoughtfully.
"Well there is one thing we can be sure he is not guilty of," Legolas commented, proving that he had been listening to them talk despite his appearance to the contrary. At the questioning looks of both his husband and guardian he elaborated. "He could not have been the one to poison Elessarion having only just arrived in the city. He certainly would have had nothing to gain from it anyway."
"That leaves us still with the question of who did though. As the Royal family it would be natural for us to have enemies, but were these enemies from without our borders or within?" Aragorn mused.
"Perhaps we should enlist the help of Lord Fenner. If it came from within our borders he would certainly be in a position to discover something and report back to us," Legolas said.
"Unless he is the one behind all of this. What makes you think he should be held above suspicion?" Celdarion asked sourly.
Legolas frowned. "He has proven himself to us before. He places as much trust in us not to reveal his secret as we do in him for the information he brings. Besides what motive could you possibly ascribe to him for these actions? He is not in line to the throne unless he were to take out first the Steward's family and a few others besides. I think that would be a little too obvious for him. He would work with more subtlety so as not to cast a shadow over himself. Whoever did this did not care if the whole world knew how Elessarion would have died had we not been successful in healing him."
"Which is another reason why I agree that your secret must be kept my love. If we do not announce the attempt on Elessarion's life then whoever did this will simply think that he did not drink the milk, never knowing about the healing abilities you now possess? It may cause him to become more impatient and careless," Aragorn stated.
"In which case we will be ready to swoop in and take care of him," Celdarion said, a small spark of vengeance lighting his eyes.
"Yet I worry," the younger elf stated. "What if he was not alone in his actions, how then would we ensnare the group? What if they attempt something again but this time we are unable to stop it?"
"I have sent word to my father by carrier pigeon, within a few days I believe he will set out from Rivendell to join us here," Aragorn informed the elves.
"But it will take weeks for him to arrive, I suggest that we contact your father My Prince, he could arrive much sooner and bring with him some of the Royal Guard," the guardian elf stated.
"But that would draw a lot of attention," the young man said.
"Midsummer's Eve is almost upon us, perhaps we could cover the arrival of both my father and yours by saying it is an elvish custom. If anyone is at all familiar with the customs of the elves they would know this to be true. In the meantime we will just have to be extra vigilant," the young elven Prince informed his husband and guardian, who both nodded in agreement. "Good, then I shall send word to my father."
"In that case I have only one question," Aragorn stated. "If we do not wish to alert the poisoner to the fact that his plan was nearly successful, how do we go about ensuring that milk is not poisoned in the future? If we were suddenly to oversee the preparation of the milk from the animal to Elessarion's belly it is certainly going to attract attention and send the gossip mongerers into a feeding frenzy."
There was silence as each adult pondered the answer to that problem.
"Is there any way we can stop Elessarion from drinking milk now? Give him more of the fruit juice or water instead, that way he could drink from the same pitcher as ourselves and no suspicions would be aroused?" Aragorn asked finally.
Legolas sighed as he picked up his son, cradling the now drowsy infant. "We can but try," he said.
"We have no other apparent choices," Celdarion said glumly.
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A few days later...
King Thranduil looked up from the papers strewn across his desk at the knock on the door to his study. Frowning he recalled giving explicit instructions to his personal guard outside that he was not to be disturbed.
"Come in," he finally called out impatiently.
The door opened quickly and Trasyn quickly entered holding a piece of parchment in his hand. "My Lord, we just received this." He hesitated and handed the parchment to the King before continuing. "It came by carrier bird from Gondor and bears the seal of your son."
Thranduil looked sharply at the elf before him before turning his attention to the paper he was grasping. He quickly broke the seal and with some trepidation opened the parchment out fully. Trasyn watched as he King quickly read the contents of the message. He felt the first stirrings of alarm as Thranduil's face paled suddenly and then tightened. His body tensed in response to the sudden surge of adrenaline and he was prepared when the King looked up with furious eyes.
"Trasyn prepare a company of the Royal Guard and some of my household retinue. We are going to pay a visit to Gondor's capital," the King said.
"My Lord... might I ask if all is well with the Prince?" Trasyn enquired hesitantly.
"Nay, all is not well Trasyn. Someone has tried to take the life of my grandson," Thranduil said, his voice expressing the hidden depths of his rage.
Trasyn could not hold back the cry of alarm, and without another word he bowed swiftly to his king before leaving to make preparations for their departure.
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Elrond Peredhel, Lord of Rivendell, Herald of Gil-Galad, Keeper of Vilya, sighed. He put down the parchment he had been reading and tiredly rubbed his forehead, attempting to stave off a quickly forming headache. The library door opened with a bang and Elrond winced as he recognised the entry of his twin sons.
"Ada, we are planning to travel to Lorien today. It has been some time since we saw Grandmother and Grandfather last and of course Arwen..." Elladan stopped talking as his twin grasped his forearm.
"Ada what is wrong?" Elrohir asked, concerned at the pale countenance of Rivendell's Lord.
"We are making a journey my sons but not to Lorien. I am afraid instead we must journey to Gondor. Your brother has need of our help."
"Is something wrong with Estel?" Elrohir queried, thinking of their younger foster brother.
"I fear so my sons. It appears there may have been consequences to Legolas' labour that were unforeseen, but that is not all. Someone has attempted to kill Elessarion," the older elf said. Shocked gasps met this announcement.
"Who would wish to do something so heinous?" Elrohir asked finally.
Elrond sighed in defeat. "I do not
know. A King may have many enemies but
as yet Estel does know who to suspect."
"Then we must not delay, Estel needs us. Do not fear father we shall make all preparations and we will be ready to depart this afternoon. You had better inform Glorfindel that you are leaving him here," Elladan stated with a mischievous grin.
Elrond groaned at the thought of breaking the news to his overprotective seneschal. "I do not know why he thinks that I will find myself in trouble if I set foot beyond Rivendell without him by my side. In fact if he were referring to you then I would not doubt that he would be needed to free you whatever trouble you had placed yourselves in."
Two identically innocent expressions were directed at him. "Ada I think you exaggerate far too much. Elrohir and I have always been most careful in our excursions," Elladan said, with his twin nodding beside him.
Elrond sighed again, he had no energy to argue so instead he waved his sons away. "Go, please, prepare for our departure. I shall try to get what little peace I can muster before I speak to Glorfindel."
As one the twins turned and exited the room, waiting until the door had closed behind them to allow their mischievous smiles to spread.
End of Chapter 3