The Dwarves

3

The tip of a spear digging into his leg painfully prodded Aragorn back to wakefulness. He woke with a groan to see a forest of axe blades aimed at their throat. He blinked then held up his hands palms facing outward in a gesture of surrender. The small dwarves glared down at him. At his side he felt Legolas stir.

"Easy," he whispered "we have company."

Legolas stared at the dozen or more tiny dwarves that held their deadly blades in wait with barely concealed contempt. The leader, who carried a spear and stood a little taller than the others, let loose a grunt and jabbed at Legolas, he motioned for the elf to stand.

They bound the elf tightly, pulling his hands together behind his back. Aragorn soon suffered the same treatment. Pushing their prisoners ahead of them, the dwarves took them on a tortuous route through the stifling heat of the forest that had somehow become a jungle. Tall ferns abounded and broad leaved plants dripped water off their tips. The trees soared so high that looking up they could not see the sky. The ground was covered with a carpet of decaying leaves of rusty brown.

Everywhere there was the riotous growth of towering plants with blooms of reddish gold. The giant flowers dropped pollen on their heads as they walked. Legolas sneezed. Aragorn looked back at him in surprise; Legolas was looking decidedly pasty, as though he were getting ill. A swift jab from the nearest dwarf made Aragorn start walking again. 'Elves cannot get ill.' He thought, 'but then again' his mind reasoned 'we are not in a world where normal rules apply'.

The dwarven leader overtook Aragorn and motioned for him to stop. Aragorn came to an abrupt halt and Legolas who had been walking doggedly behind ran into him. With a loud oomph Legolas fell. The small dwarves hurriedly righted him and together with Aragorn pushed him through a tangle of vines into the dark entrance of a cave mine. Without even a pause they were hustled deep into the mine down long flights of slippery steps until they came to a stout oaken door hinged with steel pins. This they opened and both man and elf were thrust inside and the door clanged shut.

'More darkness,' Legolas thought wretchedly, turning onto his stomach to ease the pains in his bound arms. 'Will we never be rid of the darkness?'

He could hear Aragorn moving about. Soon he felt the ranger working on the knotted rope that bound his hands. With a final tug the rope fell away but Legolas lay still on the earthen floor.

"Legolas, Legolas," Aragorn's hands pawed at his face, he heard the concern in his friends voice.

"I am well, Estel, I am well." He responded dully, sitting up though he did not want to. He would cause Aragorn no further worry if he could help it.

There was silence for a moment but for their breathing.

"You do not sound well; you did not look well just now," Aragorn said.

"Aragorn, do you not feel the darkness that holds us, do you not feel it eating away at your soul? It consumes me mellon nin, I feel thirst and hunger to a degree that I have never felt before. I grow tired in this heat, I lack my strength. How is it that you do not feel these things?" Legolas' voice cracked with misery, his despair filled the small cell.

Aragorn swallowed a lump in his throat, he had not known that his friend suffered so. He reached out tentatively, afraid that Legolas would reject him out of hand. But Legolas was too far gone to do such a thing, so he tucked the elf's head under his chin rocking him as he would a child.

"Is that why you were afraid of me at the river?" Aragorn asked.

The muffled response Legolas made was in the affirmative.

"I am sorry, I did not know. Maybe I am not affected as much because I am human. We are not bound to the natural world as are elves."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Legolas, I did not get the chance to tell you before but I saw Elladan."

This made Legolas sit up. "In a dream you mean." He said.

"No it was no dream, it is as you described your…vision when you saw Lord Elrond. It was real, it felt real, yet I could not move or speak. I was in the healing hall, just as you were in yours."

"Then if our bodies are in Rivendell, where are our minds?" asked Legolas.

The two elves dismounted, having ridden out, as the wood was quite a long walk from the main house and Elrond felt they were running out of time. The trees recognized their stature by the power that emanated from them; nevertheless they gave their warning loud and clear in their leafy voices and blocked the path into the wood. They would see no more elves hurt by the malevolent intruder. Though not a wood elf Elrond heard and understood, nevertheless he said,

"Hannad mellyn nin, boe veriad na lin i carnen an veleth. But there are two that we love who are dying and we must destroy this thing you speak of. Estelio ammen, we will not falter."

The trees swayed and slowly a path opened before the elf lords. The trees cleared the path so that in little time they were standing before the abomination that mocked the creation of the Valar. The plant was sixteen hands high and as wide as a troll. It stood hunched over like an old man. Its reddish gold blooms had dried and fallen to the forest floor like so much chaff. It was what it held in its vine like embrace that made Elrond's mouth go dry and Glorfindel to stare like one petrified.

Legolas and Aragorn dangled like fruit encased in a viscous pod. As the elves watched they turned gently as if blown by a breeze. Legolas looked like a golden haired waif embalmed. He was still in his cocoon, eyes closed, at rest. Aragorn, though he appeared to be sleeping, twitched as though he found his prison uncomfortable.

"It is feeding off their souls." Glorfindel exclaimed aghast.

And indeed the plant creature pulsed with energy and the glow within the pods dimmed ever so slightly with each beat.

Elrond drew his sword which was over a foot long and curved, it gleamed in the sunlight. Glorfindel did the same and together they attacked the vine.

Legolas shuddered squeezing his eyes shut as the whip bit into his flesh again. His back, chest and legs were bloody and his arms were on fire. The petty dwarves had taken him out of the cell and without a word had strung him up between two wooden stakes and proceeded to whip him. He had lost track of the number of blows he had been dealt and the time that had passed since the beating started.

Aragorn had screamed himself hoarse trying to get them to stop. He had begged them, taunted them, and promised them the vilest of deaths, all to no avail. He was plastered against the door, pounding on it with his fists until they bled. Each crack of the whip brought pain to his heart, they would kill him!

Legolas eyes flew open and his mouth opened in a soundless scream as the whip curled around his chest. He sagged finally unable to take anymore.

The elven steel bit deeply into the roots of the great plant and it shuddered.

Elladan gathered Legolas into his arms as cut after cut appeared on his body. Blood ran freely from the wounds even as the twins worked to stop the bleeding. The golden haired elf twisted and jerked choked sounds coming from his mouth as his face contorted in pain. He arched in Elladan's hands almost falling out of his grasp. When Aragorn's hands started to bleed Elrohir became frantic.

"What is happening to them?"

"They are dying, before our very eyes they are dying!" Elladan cried. "Find father Elrohir, find him quickly!"

Elrohir ran from the room flying down the hallway screaming for his father at the top of his lungs.

The dwarf drew back the whip and suddenly froze. All about the cave everything flickered as though all had become vaporous. The door that Aragorn was leaning on disappeared for an instant and he fell through landing on the ground that felt more like a pillow than earth. He surged up and saw that Legolas had also fallen to the ground in a bloody heap. He threw himself forward as it happened again and got a firm grip on his friend.

Suddenly the dwarf blinked and he cracked the whip forward and hit nothing. Aragorn hoisted Legolas to his shoulders and began to run, he ran carelessly, taking any and all passages that opened up before him, until at last he was on the long flight of stairs leading to the outside. Legolas dangled lifelessly, his long hair streaming along the length of Aragorn's flank, his head thudding dully against Aragorn's back in synchronicity with the man's movements. Behind them the dwarves issued a chilling ululating cry and gave chase.

Aragorn ran steadily up his heart beating in his mouth, anger flooded into him as the stairs kept winding impossibly upwards, "Let us out you coward!" he shouted, "Let us out!"

And just like that they fell.

Alone Elladan wrapped up the battered hands of his human brother and tried to staunch the blood that had spilled onto the bed from Legolas' wounds. He prayed that they lived until his father returned. He knelt between both beds holding onto their hands in each of his.

"Lasto anim, garo bo. Im si, im ava awartha le."

"Elrond daro!" commanded Glorfindel, seconds before Elrond swung again. He caught the elf lord's hand and pointed to Legolas. The elf face was scrunched up, he was squirming, mouth opening and closing in a hideous imitation of screaming.

"It's hurting them." Elrond whispered.

Just then they heard a voice screaming their names. It was Elrohir.

Notes

Hannad mellyn nin, boe veriad na lin i carnen an veleth….My thanks friends, you feel bound to protect us out of love

Estelio amen….. trust us

Lasto anim, garo bo. Im si, im ava awartha le…….Listen to me . I am here. I will not abandon you.

Daro….. stop.

Lindahoyland……. Hope you liked it. Many thanks for reviewing.

Someone reading……. You review made me feel very exhilarated, thank you so much.

Deanna…. I thought about mentioning that graze then I decided it was so tiny… heh heh.

Mornflower…. Here is another.

Slivertongue….sorry for misspelling your name. Many thanks for your review.

Barbara Kennedy…. I haven't actually decided about that yet.

Shanna…. Pienso que sucederan pronto.

Hanyou-demoness… They are not actually dreaming you see.

Celebrean…. Thank you very much.