Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Hi there people! I am so glad that you are all enjoying this story. I know that I am having a lof of fun writing it. Thank you so much for your lovely reviews, they mean so much to me. Here is Chapter Eleven and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you have the previous ones. Enjoy!
Estel could not help but moan when Legolas began to cut into the wound. Truthfully, it hurt so badly that he wanted to scream, but his pride would not allow it of him.
Legolas glanced up guiltily at Estel's moan. "I am sorry mellon nin," Legolas said full of remorse.
"It is not your fault. Just get on with it now," Estel said through gritted teeth. The longer that Legolas delayed, the longer he would be in pain.
Legolas nodded remorsefully. That had only been the first cut, and it had not gone deep enough for the blood to run freely, yet he could tell that it was paining Estel greatly.
Gritting his own teeth, Legolas strengthened his resolve by reminding himself that this had to be done for Estel.
Taking another deep breath, Legolas drove the dagger deep into the wound, allowing the blood to flow freely.
This time, Estel did not bother holding back his scream, pride no longer mattered. Pain surrounded him. His leg was on fire, he was sure of it. His vision clouded, all he could feel was the pain.
Legolas grimaced at Estel's scream but he could not stop the procedure. To do so was folly, as it could cause Estel's death.
Seeing that the blood flowed freely now, Legolas applied pressure with one hand, while quickly grabing a piece of cloth with his other. Holding the piece of cloth underneath the wound while still applying pressure in order to help the blood flow, he caught the thick black goop that was tainting Estel's blood and body.
The fierce pain that had encompassed Estel began to dim slightly. Just as Estel felt himself coming back to the real world, he felt pressure on the wound. Estel screamed again, this time the pain being to much, and fell into darkness, welcoming it's relief from the all encompassing pain that surrounded him in the waking world.
Legolas grimaced once more, as Estel screamed again. The pressure he had to put on the wound apparently being to much for the young man to handle, as he felt Estel go limp only seconds later.
In a way, Legolas was relieved. Unconscious, Estel could not feel the pain that the treatment was causing, for which Legolas was grateful for.
On the other hand, the fact that Estel was in so much pain bothered Legolas. The fact that Estel had even admitted to that pain by screaming made the elf all the more nervous.
Very rarely had he seen Estel in such pain, and it scared him. It made him remember that no matter how elf like his friend was, he was still edain, and was destined to die.
Legolas sighed and shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. He turned his attention back to the wound that was still bleeding freely, helped along by the pressure of Legolas's hand above the wound. The piece of cloth was quickly becoming saturated with blood and poison.
For many minutes the black poison continued to spill out. Legolas began to fear that the would never see clear blood, for he could not allow Estel to bleed to much, or else he would die from blood loss.
Only a minute later, the black blood became the dark red blood that Legolas was accustomed to seeing in humans. Sighing in relief, Legolas took a clean piece of cloth while applying pressure directly on the wound in order to stop the bleeding.
Once he was sure that the bleeding had stopped, Legolas applied the Athelas as Estel had directed him to, and quickly, but efficiently wrapped Estel's leg with the bandages that Estel had given him.
Legolas looked over his handy work critically. It would take some time to know whether the procedure had worked. Until then, all Legolas could do was wait and hope. He looked over to Estel and saw that he was still out cold, but that was not surprising. Estel was still injured and would need plenty of rest in order to recover.
Legolas was in need of rest himself. The adrenaline he had been running on for the past couple of days was starting to wear off. He would not sleep though. Estel would need to be monitored carefully, in order to see if any poison remained in his body and if it was a harmful amount.
With Estel unconscious, Legolas decided to use this time to his advantage. Such had been his haste to get Estel to Imladris, he had not been able to rebandage the old wounds, and the new warg bite on Estel's forearm.
Taking in the wounds, both old and new, Legolas decided that the warg bite should be dealt with first. First, Legolas cleaned off the dried blood gently with some water, noticing that the wound had scabbed over. Legolas did not want to take a chance though, so he spread the athelas on it, and gently wrapped it. It would not do for Estel to survive the black poison, only to become sick with infection from negligence on Legolas's part.
Deciding that he done all he could for the Warg bite, Legolas moved on to Estel's other various injuries. He unwrapped the bandage that was on Estel's head, and repeated the same process that he done of Estel's arm.
Not seeing any other injuries, Legolas began to allow himself to relax, until a thought occurred to him. Estel was infamous for hiding injuries, fearing others would think him weak.
Legolas scoffed at the very idea of Estel being called weak. Anyone who knew or had engaged the young man in combat would know better. Estel was the farthest thing from weak, he just did not see it in himself while everyone around him did.
"Stubborn human. What other injuries do you have mellon nin that I can not see?" Legolas asked aloud, even though Estel could not hear him.
Shaking his head, Legolas gently prodded Estel's body, looking for any hidden injuries the man might have sustained. Once he got to Estel's chest, Legolas knew that he had been right, unfortunately. From what Legolas could tell, Estel had a few broken ribs.
Muttering in disgust about humans that were too stubborn for their own good, Legolas lifted Estel's tunic to get a better look. Sure enough, there were bandages wrapped around Estel's torso, which practically screamed that Elrond had been at work here.
"What am I going to do with you mellon nin?" Legolas asked the unconscious ranger.
"You were severely wounded before you even dreamt about me, judging by these old wounds. Ugghhh, I am willing to bet that you went against your father's orders to stay in bed in order to rescue me as well.
Stubborn human," Legolas muttered fondly.
He would not have Estel any other way though, even if Estel did drive him to the brink of insanity at times.
Life without Estel would be unimaginable to Legolas. Legolas could not imagine life without Estel. How he had lived for a couple of millenniums without Estel was beyond him. He did not know what he would do with Estel.
Estel was the best friend any being could ask for. "No, not only a best friend, but my brother as well," Legolas thought to himself. "Yes, Estel was like the younger brother he had never had, being the youngest within his own family.
Tearing away from his inner thoughts, Legolas peeked outside the cave. To his most profound relief, the sun was rising, and dawn was quickly approaching. Legolas had feared that he and Estel might run into goblins while hiding in this cave, but luck, for once, appeared to have been with them.
Seeing the dawn approaching, Legolas was debating with himself. Now that dawn had arrived, perhaps he and Estel should take advantage of the daylight and move on towards Imladris, where Estel could get the proper rest and care he needed.
On the other hand, Estel needed to rest, and moving him could possibly hinder the healing process. While Estel was still unconscious, the ride on the horse could reopen his wounds, something that Legolas definitely did not want to happen.
Legolas sighed in confusion. He was not sure what he should do. Both staying and leaving had advantages and disadvantages. Which decision was the correct one, he knew not.
Watching the sun rise, Legolas knew that he would have to make a choice, and soon.
Turning back to his friend, he went over to Estel and checked on his progress. He was relieved to see that Estel's coloring was beginning to return to normal and that his skin felt only slightly warmer than was natural.
Seeing that Estel was on his way to recovery, Legolas decided that they should move out and take advantage of the daylight. With any luck, they could reach Imladris before night fell.
Legolas doused the fire with soil, and quickly ridding any sign that there had been a camp there. He did not want any orcs to pick up on their trail and catch them unaware.
Just as Legolas was about to go and get Estel, he heard a noise just outside the cave. Legolas froze when he heard someone approach. Legolas quickly backed into the shadows and waited to see who was out there. Drawing his bow and arrow, Legolas waited.
Elladan and Elrohir rode hard, thinking nothing else but of their brother. Their Ada's words still rang through their ears. Estel was poisoned. "Oh Valar help him," Elladan thought.
"You know what Elladan? Once we rescue Estel, yet again I might add, and he has recovered, I am going to kill him myself. What in Arda was he thinking, going off like that by himself when he was injured and poisoned," Elrohir said worriedly.
"Elrohir, calm down. Yes, it was foolish of Estel to run off to "save" Legolas while he was injured, but he did not know that he was poisoned Ro, you know that. "We ourselves only just found out," Elladan said calmly.
Elrohir growled in frustration. " I know Elladan, truly I do. I just worry about Estel. If Legolas is indeed out here, I hope that he has somehow run into Estel and is taking care of him," he said.
"Elrohir, look at that, up ahead," Elladan said.
Elrohir immediately saw what Elladan was looking at. Straight ahead of him, were many orc and warg bodies, along with one horse. "Oh no, please no," Elrohir whispered when he saw the horse.
Elladan saw the horse as well, and grimly ran his horse to the body. He sighed in relief when he saw that the horse was not Estel's, but that did not give him much comfort. The steed was Legolas's, he recognized the horse right away.
"It would seem our little brother did indeed find and save Legolas," Elladan said wryly.
Elrohir looked over at the horse carcass and agreed. "I swear Elladan, those two are going to be the death of us one day," Elrohir muttered.
"Come Ro. There are another set of horse tracks that lead away from the battle. They are relatively fresh. Estel and Legolas can not be more than a half a day ahead of us," Elladan said.
Elrohir nodded. "Let's go and hope we can catch up with them. It seems they are headed for Imladris, but they will have to stop for the night somewhere," he said.
Elladan nodded and turned his horse around in order to follow the tracks, with Elrohir right behind him.
Surprisingly, it took Elladan and Elrohir most of the night and almost up until sunrise to find where Estel and Legolas had hidden themselves.
"They managed to get farther away than I had though possible," Elladan said tiredly, having ridden most of the night nonstop in order to catch up with Legolas and his little brother.
Elrohir only nodded tiredly, to tired to actually speak or do much of anything.
"Look, there is Estel's horse, hidden in the shrubbery by that cave. They must be in there," Elladan said excitedly. Finally, they had found Estel and Legolas.
Elrohir gave him a tired grin. " I am surprised that Legolas chose to go into a cave, he must have been desperate," he said.
Elladan's excitement died down immediately at Elrohir's words. "Aye, I had not thought of that. I hope that you are wrong brother, I fear what we may find otherwise," Elladan said grimly.
Dismounting off their horses, they cautiously approached the cave, not seeing Legolas hiding in the background. Carefully they entered with their swords drawn, should there be any hidden danger that they could not see in the darkness of the cave.
Suddenly, Elladan sensed movement toward his right, and put his sword up just in time to parry a blow. "Show yourself!" Elladan exclaimed.
At Elladan's command, the sword was immediately lowered. "Elladan?" a very familiar voice questioned.
"Legolas! Oh thank the Valar we found you. Estel is with you right? Is he okay? What happened?" Elladan asked all at once.
"Elladan, calm down. Come on it to the cave, both of you," Legolas said very relieved that the so called intruders were only Estel's fiercely overprotective twin brothers.
Going back into the cave, Legolas restarted the fire to provide illumination.
Once the fire was restarted, Elrohir saw Estel on a bedroll, either unconscious or asleep, he could not tell which. He hurried over to him, and quickly determined that Estel was indeed unconscious as he did not respond to his voice.
"Legolas, we must get Estel back to Ada. He has been...." Elladan started to say, seeing that his little brother was unconscious, but was interrupted by Legolas.
"Poisoned. Aye, I know Elladan, but do not fret. Last night, I was able to drain all, or nearly all of the poison from Estel's system as it was a slow acting poison," Legolas said, his words slightly calming the twin brothers.
"But how could you drain the wound Legolas? No offense, but you are not a healer," Elladan said, clearly puzzled.
Legolas could not help but smile grimly, remembering his own frustration over his inability to help his friend before Estel had awoken in order to tell him what to do.
"No offense taken Elladan. No, I am not a healer, but your little brother is quite fortunately. When he had regain consciousness, he instructed me on what I need to do. "He passed out during the procedure and has yet to awaken," Legolas said.
Both Elladan and Elrohir sighed in relief. "Thank you so much mellon nin. I know not how we will be able to repay your for this," Elrohir said.
"It twas nothing. Besides, I only did the procedure, Estel had to tell me what to do," Legolas said modestly, a slight blush rising in his cheeks at Elrohir's praise.
"It twas not nothing Legolas, and you know that. Ada will agree with us there too. Expect quite the greeting when we arrive in Imladris," Elladan said.
Legolas groaned at the thought of arriving in Imladris. "Do not be so sure of that Elladan. I do believe that your Ada will kill us all for returning Estel to him in this state," Legolas said, shuddering at just the thought.
"Aye, he probably will, but there is not much we can do about that is there? For now, I would be satisfied just to get home," Elrohir said.
Legolas nodded in agreement. "I too look forward to arriving in Imladris, despite the inevitable lecture," Legolas said deftly trying to disguise a yawn.
For the first time since arriving, the twins looked at Legolas. What they saw did not please them. Legolas looked extremely fatigued. His normally bright blue eyes were dull, he had shadows under his eyes, and his shoulders drooped exhaustedly.
In unspoken communication, Elladan and Elrohir walked right up to Legolas and plopped him down forcefully on the ground next to Estel.
"What was that for?" Legolas asked, sounding quite annoyed.
"Legolas, have you looked at yourself recently? You need to rest, as do we. Ada will not mind if we wait another day to set out. When was the last time you rested anyway?" Elrohir asked.
Legolas scowled at the twins. " It matters not. What does matter is getting Estel back to Imladris," Legolas said stubbornly.
Elladan shook his head at the young elf's stubbornness. "So like Estel," Elladan thought amusedly.
"Legolas, we are all extremely weary. Knowing you, I am willing to bet that you have not slept since the battle, where Estel found you. It would not do us any good to fall off our horses from fatigue," Elladan said rationally.
Legolas sighed. He knew that the twins were right, but he did not relish the idea of staying in this cave yet another night. It was for the best though.
"Very well," Legolas said , knowing that he was defeated.. Once the twins ganged up on him, there was no way out of it.
"Good, I will take the first watch, even though it is daylight. Someone needs to monitor Estel," Elrohir said.
Legolas and Elladan just nodded, both to tired to much of anything else.
Both Legolas and Elladan laid down on bedrolls right besides Estel if somewhat reluctantly. The bed rolls had been kindly provided by Elrohir, who had thought to bring extra, knowing his brother's affinity for trouble.
Within a few seconds, both elves eyes had glazed over in elven dreams.
Translations:
Ada: Dad/Daddy
Mellon nin: My friend
Arda: Middle Earth
Edain: Mortal/Human