"I am going to bed, mellonin. I will see you in the morning," Aragorn said as he stood and stretched his back.
Once Legolas and he had finished talking about Arwen, they had brought Elladan and Elrohir back into the room. The four friends talked and joked late into the night. The outside world faded away for those few hours and everything was like it was supposed to be.
"It is well, Aragorn. Till morn," Legolas replied as the human went to the door.
Elrohir and Elladan bid Legolas goodnight. Elrohir remained outside Legolas' door while Aragorn and Elladan went to Aragorn's usual room. Legolas changed into a pair of sleeping leggings and blew out one of the light globes before hearing voices at the door. Slipping on his robe, he pulled open the door and looked at Elrohir and the other elf. The elf was one of the servants that Legolas frequently saw in the hallways.
"Yes, Tilisan?" he questioned as the elf bowed to his prince.
"I have brought you some tea, my lord. Your father said that you might like some," he replied and lifted the tray a bit to prove his purpose.
Legolas was slightly shocked that his father would send him tea but sometimes his father did odd things. Stepping aside, he motioned for the elf to put the tray on the small table.
"Not everyone is subject to your interrogations, Elrohir," Legolas commented once the elf left.
"I can never be sure with you Silvan elves."
Legolas gave the Noldor elf a half-hearted shove with a smile. Elrohir declined the offered cup of tea and closed the door to give Legolas his privacy. Shaking his head, he poured some of the tea and slowly sipped the steaming liquid. His wound was sealed over and practically completely healed. It seemed that he was constantly injured in some fashion. Getting over one injury, only to be wounded again and that would directly affect the old wound. With a smile, he set down the empty cup and turned towards his bed. The room suddenly titled and blurred out of focus as he stumbled. His legs suddenly gave out and he started to crumple to the ground. It seemed that none of his muscles wanted to support him. Instead of hitting the floor, a pair of powerful arms caught him mid-fall and carefully lowered him to the ground. Long, dark hair shielded the beings face from Legolas' view. Legolas tried to say something but his vocal chords didn't seem to want to work. The being rocked back onto the balls of his feet and brushed back his dark hair from his face. Legolas focused on the dark elf and committed the face to memory. Ebony hair, pale face, and dark piercing eyes that proved he was older than he looked.
"Mae govannen, Thranduilion. So you are the one that Thranduil allowed an elf village be ravaged by orcs for. Sixty immortal lives for you; seems unfair to me," he whispered so quietly that Legolas had to strain to hear him.
His eyes snapped towards the door, hoping that Elrohir would realize something was wrong. He loathed feeling this helpless and glanced towards the bedside table where his twin blades rested. He had heard what the dark elf had said about his father but he was more concerned about defending himself. This feeling of vulnerability was not sitting well with him at the moment. The dark elf glanced to where Legolas was looking and reached over to pick up the elegant twin blades.
"You are craving to run me through with this, are you not? Just imagine how surprised Thranduil will be when he is killed by one of his son's blades."
That caught Legolas' attention quicker than anything else could. He stared at the other elf as he slowly lifted on of the blades and slowly dragged the razor sharp edge down Legolas' cheek. The young elf flinched as the edge sliced into the skin and drew blood.
"It is time Thranduil knew what it feels like to lose someone close to him. Then I will enjoy killing him, slowly."
Pulling a piece of parchment from his tunic, he stood and stabbed through the parchment with Legolas' bloody blade and stabbed it into one of the sleeping pillows. From another pocket in his tunic, he pulled out a roll of twine to tightly bind Legolas' hands and feet. Legolas was finding it harder to stay awake as the dark elf bent over him.
"Time for us to leave," he whispered and stepped over to the far wall.
Pressing on a spot on the wall about mid-chest, a small doorway slid in from the rest of the wall and moved to the side. Legolas' eyes widened in shock at the hidden passageway leading to or from his room. He had no inclination about it and through he should have been told. It was his room after all. Wishing he could move just a little, he frantically tried to move his fingers of his tied hands and felt them brush against the thick carpet just a bit. Painfully slow, he drew an arrow towards the wall and hoped that Aragorn or someone would notice it. His last memory was of the dark elf slinging him over his shoulder and moving towards the passageway before he slipped into unconsciousness.
~~~~~~~
Aragorn rolled over and kicked at the sheets before sighing and snuggling into the plush pillow. Halfway to falling asleep again, he realized that something was wrong. Normally, when he was at one of the Elven homes, he slept longer than he normally did when he was out in the wild. He could hear soft voices arguing outside his door as well as other noises. Elves normally didn't make so much noise, he thought and cracked open an eye. The two arguing voices sounded very similar to Elladan and Elrohir. Swinging his legs over to the bed's edge, he walked to the door and jerked it open. The guilty twins jumped in surprised and dropped their gazes guiltily.
"Something you two would like to tell me instead of discussing it outside my door?" he asked as he looked at the two.
The twins looked at each other still unsure who would tell Estel what happened. Elrohir stepped forward to tell his little brother since he was the one that failed.
"Estel, I would beg you forgiveness when I tell you this. Sometime last night, Legolas was taken from his room."
That was all Aragorn needed to hear. He pushed past his brothers and raced down the short expanse to Legolas' room. He didn't care or notice that he was clad in only a pair of sleeping leggings and nothing else. The doors to Legolas' room were opened all the way with only two people in the room. Thranduil and the captain of the Mirkwood home guard stood in the room and looked up when the human rushed into the room. Thranduil raised an eyebrow at the human's state of dress but wasn't really that shocked. He would have been more surprised if the human had taken the few seconds to put on a shirt.
"What happened?" he asked and quickly scanned the room to verify for himself that Legolas was actually gone.
"There are no signs of the dark elf being in the room but he is an elf. No signs of a struggle and Lord Elrohir did not hear a thing from his post outside. Legolas' bed has not been slept in, so the attack must have occurred before he went to bed for the night," Drulanean, captain of the home guard, supplied.
"Was the tea drugged?" Aragorn asked, noticing the tray of tea on the table.
"We have already checked it, human. It is harmless tea," Drulanean snapped, offended that the human would think him such an idiot to not check that first.
Aragorn was slowly scanning the ground before holding up a hand suddenly.
"No one move!"
Everyone froze at the human's sudden command as his eyes narrowed.
"How many people have been in this room since this morning?" Aragorn asked quietly before taking a large step to the side.
"Only Drulanean and myself," Thranduil replied, confused at the human's strange behavior.
"What does the note say?" Aragorn asked and nodded towards the note in Thranduil's hand and continued to stare at the floor.
"'It is time we met again, Thranduil. I am delighted that your son will be able to join us this time. I will contact you again, mellonin.'"
"What are you thinking, brother?" Elladan asked from the doorway where the twins watched their little brother.
"The dark elf placed the letter after drugging and binding Legolas," he muttered to himself, allowing the elves in the room to hear him.
Aragorn held up a hand to stop the oncoming questions. He continued to scan the carpet and pick up the small clues that were almost invisible.
"He stood here and put down the cup of tea which was probably drugged. He turned to go to the bed but stumbled," Aragorn explained, "and would have fallen but the dark elf caught him. He lowered Legolas to the floor and then bound him."
"Estel, I am afraid that the rest of us are not following you," Elrohir stated as everyone nodded in agreement.
"It is hard to explain but I am reading the carpet just like I would if I was tracking in the wild. The carpet here is twisted to imply someone turned on the balls of their feet. Watch me."
Aragorn stood in one place and turned to walk to his left. After he took one stride, he turned back and knelt on the ground.
"See this swirl pattern from where I turned? It is quite obvious because this is soft carpet and I am a human. But here is the same pattern, made by a bare foot, by someone as light as an elf. The carpet here is scuffled a bit to tell me that he stumbled. But, there is no sign that he fell to the ground. Someone caught him and lowered him to the floor."
"I am impressed, Estel," Elladan offered with a smile.
"That is all great and good but we do not have anything of use from that," Drulanean said dryly.
Aragorn took off the lid to the teapot and looked at the remaining liquid. The king and the captain had started to talk again but Aragorn paid them no mind as he sniffed the liquid. Dipping a finger into the cold liquid, he placed a drop on the tip of his tongue before spitting it out. Everyone stopped talking and looked to the human.
"Who brought him this tea?" he asked and looked over to Elrohir.
"An elf named Tilisan, he brought it last night."
"I told you, human. The tea was not drugged," Drulanean snarled and Elrohir had to restrain Elladan.
"I do not care if you think that Master Elf but it was. I would like to speak with this Tilisan."
Aragorn eyes narrowed and his posture changed just enough that the twins could easily picture him as the king that he was destined to be. At times, he could be just as imposing as Thranduil or Elrond himself and deadly with the glare. Drulanean looked to Thranduil for his permission as the elf king nodded. The elf captain left to search for the elf as Thranduil turned to Aragorn. He didn't know where Estel was going but the human was confidant with his explanations.
"What about this drug, Estel?"
"This tea was laced with crushed yexmen leaves," Estel said as he put down the teapot.
"Yexmen?" Thranduil asked as he flipped through his limited knowledge of plants and herbs.
"It is a rare plant that grows only in ideal settings. It is a powerful sedative and inhibitor but only works when it is in a heated liquid-"
"Like tea," Thranduil supplied and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Exactly, only when it cools does it changes its properties and becomes a harmless herb. It leaves a distinctive flavor though and that is what I tasted," he explained as Drulanean appeared with Tilisan.
"You wanted to see me, my king."
"Did you bring my son tea last night?" Thranduil asked while clasping his hands behind his back.
"Yes sir, you requested that some tea be brought to Prince Legolas in his room."
"I what? I requested no such thing," Thranduil snapped and the servant elf stepped back in shock at the vehemence in the king's voice.
"You did, sire. Liliath said that you asked her to do it but she had other chores so she asked me to do it for her."
The other elves looked at each other as Thranduil looked back to his captain.
"Bring me this Liliath. Thank you for your help Tilisan."
Aragorn glanced towards the spot on the floor and started to look away before snapping his gaze to the floor again. How could he have missed that? Legolas would have swatted him over the head and lectured him non-stop. A bright smile slowly stretched over his lips and he started laughing.
"Oh, mellonin. You are one intelligent elf," he laughed and moved to the far wall.
"What are you talking about, Estel? Are you sure that you are well?" Elrohir asked and moved towards his little brother.
"I am more than well, brother. Elladan, go and get my boots, a shirt, and my sword, please," he instructed, ignoring his brother's worried looks.
Elladan left to get what Aragorn requested as Drulanean and Liliath arrived and the captain closed the door behind them. The she-elf glanced at the occupants of the room before locking gazes with Thranduil. She quickly dropped her gaze to the ground upon seeing the sharp glint in the king's eyes.
"You know that it is treason to aide a criminal in plotting against a member of the royal family? The extent and severity of the treason could garner death," Thranduil said and Liliath physically flinched.
"I do know that, my king," she replied and everyone heard the tremor in her voice.
"Tell me why you had a pot of drugged tea delivered to my son's sleeping chambers."
"I can not, he will kill my child."
"If you do not then he will kill my son, your prince, and you will be charged with treason. Who is this dark elf?" Thranduil pressed and slowly advanced on the she-elf.
Liliath's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she bit her bottom lips. Her body trembled slightly in fear as she looked everywhere except at the king. She wished that her daughter could be with her so she could be safe. She didn't want her daughter to die and didn't want the prince to die either. The prince was loved by all in the kingdom and she was the same as all. Being a king, Thranduil could read his subjects' posture and could easily read the she-elf's.
"Durlanean, please have one of your most trusted soldiers go and collect Liliath's children. I am sure your wife would not mind having another maiden have tea with her."
"I am sure Reliansal would enjoy that much, my king. Lady Liliath's daughter can play with my little one."
"Now, I have taken care of your daughter. Tell me who took my son."
"It was Bretharso."
Thranduil
jerked back like he had been shocked. His face drained and left a pale chalky
face. His old best friend took his son from him? Where had Bretharso been the
past few thousand years? The knowledge of who the dark elf is was a shock to
Thranduil. For years, he thought Bretharso was either dead or had sailed.
Seeing his king's shock, Drulanean escorted Liliath out of the room and instructed one of his soldiers
what to do.
"I found it!" Aragorn cried
from inside the room suddenly.
The doorway was just opening when Drulanean stepped into the room. Aragorn grabbed the scabbard with his sword and sprinted down the dark hallway with everyone following. Elladan moved in front of his human brother and increased his natural body glow that blessed all elves. The passageway had signs of being used recently but before that it looked to have been forgotten. Broken cobwebs hung from the ceiling and small spiders were already trying to rebuild their webs. Everyone had different personalized thoughts running through their mind. Few blamed themselves, others thought about what could be done, and one feared what was happening to his son.
Thranduil ran as fast as he could in the darkened, mysterious passageway. His memories were pressing forward but he refused to slip into the past. He was only concerned with the present and his son. His son was his life, his reason for living. Everytime he looked at Legolas he saw his wife in his eyes. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to Legolas.
The passageway started too lightened from another light source as they reached the end. Rock pieces littered the floor from the crumbling wall and led out into a thick portion of the forest. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and danced across the forest floor. Aragorn picked up a discarded wall torch and carefully smelled it before dropping it back to the ground.
"That was what he used to move through the tunnel; it still gives off the smoking smell. He definitely came this way."
"Who knew of this passageway?" Elrohir asked and everyone looked to Thranduil.
"Only the royal families from Oropher and prior. My father had it sealed when I was about two hundred years old. Bretharso and I used it to sneak out of my room and go on adventures when my father did not allow it. After it had been sealed, I forgot about it and it passed into unimportant memories," Thranduil supplied as he stepped to one of the bigger trees and placed a hand against it.
The tree could feel the elf-king's sorrow and fluttered its leaves in compassion. It told Thranduil everything that happened the night before. Watching the dark elf go into the passageway and eventually reappeared with the unconscious prince slung over his shoulder. The tree apologized for not being able to stop the dark elf and save his son. Weakly thanking the tree, Thranduil turned to the others.
"Drulanean, I want you to organize search parties and start combing this forest. Ask the patrols if they have sensed or heard anything from the trees. Look everywhere for a place where Bretharso may keep Legolas. I do not care if you need to ask the spiders; find my son. And have someone begin to permanently seal this passageway," Thranduil ordered his captain and started back up the passageway.
Aragorn looked to his brothers and nodded.
"Looks like us three are going tracking."
~~~~~~~~
Legolas focused on the soft bubbling sound of a nearby brook. That was the first sound he could recognize and hear so that was what he held onto. He had tried to open his eyes earlier but everything was spinning out of control even behind the blindfold so he decided to wait until the world stopped spinning. It wasn't like he was going anywhere any time soon. His hands were bound tightly behind his back, as were his ankles. The gag in his mouth prevented him from singing to himself and the blindfold kept him from seeing anything. He was blind, bound, and gagged; it couldn't get any better. Since awakening, he had heard nothing from his captor and was starting to think that there was no one there. He knew that wherever it was that he was at, there was some kind of lighting for he could see it faintly through the blindfold.
"I would like to think that if Mathulius had grown into a warrior and adult, he would have looked and acted a lot like you."
Legolas' head snapped to his right from where the voice had come from. Had the dark elf been there the entire time and was just now revealing himself? His guard was immediately up and on high alert.
"You will be a perfect host for my son when the time comes."
The blindfold was suddenly removed and the archer quickly closed his eyes against the bright lights. A hand pulled down the gag as Legolas slowly opened his eyes to allow them to adjust before focusing on the dark elf squatting in front of him. His black hair was pulled back and loosely tied at the base of his neck with a strip of leather. Ancient eyes watched the blond elf as they slowly evaluated each other.
"Who are you?" Legolas asked once moistening his throat.
"My name is Bretharso, I use to be your honorary uncle a long, long time ago. Or do you not remember?"
Legolas pressed back to his earliest memories, which were from a very long time ago. Most of his memories from that time consisted of his mother, father, and him together but he did remember another blond, older elf.
"I will admit that I did look differently then but elves change. Almost becoming an orc can do that to someone. Also it does not help watching your wife and son be violated before your very eyes and you are unable to help them. It can really break an elf's spirit."
Legolas' eyes widened as his mind compared the face of the loving uncle against the face of the dark elf before him. His father never spoke about his once best friend from so many ages earlier.
"What do you want?"
"That is very easy to answer. I want my son back, and you are going to help me."
///////////////////
I am really disliking school right now. I am really not liking school. The teachers are conspiring against me to keep me from writing; I swear they are. Well anyway, Twitch is doing well. Worked really hard yesterday and today for me and we got this chapter down on paper and I am proud of it. Okay well, that is all that I have to say and Twitch says hi to everyone out there in reader land.
XxgemxX- I thought the tutu comment was just hilarious when I wrote it out. I am making Thranduil out to be a cool dad in this story. Well, not really cool but not nasty like in other stories. Or in my 'Unspoken Words' story. I have no problem with four lush lads in my flat. Yummy.
Deana- Sorry for taking so long with this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Elven Kitten- Hannon lle, mellonin.
Dha-Gal- 'Yee-haw!' Oh, honey, please get out of that Texas or whatever accent. I went to see 'Oklahoma' that my school was putting on and I swear; I was about a few more lines from getting out of my seat and killing everything that spoke with the accent. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Elven-Star-of-Gold- I know you demanded a chapter and I am sorry that it took me so long getting this chapter out to you but I finally got the chapter out there. Better late than never, right? You will just have to wait and see what happens in the story. Heehee.
Ringmarciel- This story does not fit in with any other of my LotR stories. I am thinking about writing a sequel to this story; the idea is just floating around in my head lately and I have been toying around with it. Nothing solid yet.
Vicki Turner- I am glad that you are enjoying this story so much.
Coolio02- Hannon lle, mellonin. I am glad that you enjoy this story so much. Sorry for taking so long with this chapter.
Isadora2- Yes, my plot bunny has a name. And he is very adamant about it *nerf balls flies through the air and hits Spades on the head*. And that is Twitch, my annoying plot bunny that is picking up bad ideas from Poppy. Poppy and Twitch are pulling tricks on me and my roommate. Hannon lle, mellonin for the encouragement on my stories. I am really trying to update them as soon as possible but school is really pressuring me right now. I will do as well I can and the updates will increase when summer comes.
Galadriel evenstar- Heehee, yes the hidden future is stupid.
Bragol-dae- You are turning into Aragorn with all of these different names. I can not keep them straight! In Word, I did have the switch over marked like I normally did in the other chapters which was put in extra lines but for some reason it does not appear. So, I have to put in the physical marker of the lines and I just forget sometimes. Sorry about that. I know it was hard to read it like that. I did it correctly in this chapter.
Lyn- He is a wood-elf, who knows why they do the things that they do. Heehee, um gee. That was a slip of my hand when I wrote that, I will admit. I think I meant it as now that the guards are on alert then the dark elf would not be able to get past the warriors. Yeah, that was a little slip up.
Got-lotr- Bretharso will die, have no worry. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Jadesaber- The end of school is almost here! I am so thrilled! I think that I will just have writing to be my side job. All the explanations are going to be revealed soon enough, my friend.
Tychen- Everyone is well now, thank you for asking. I will keep my writing talents on the side and get a job that I actually get paid constantly instead of just when I publish. It will be okay then, just as long as I can write. With a pen in my hand and a clean pad of paper in front of me, I am content.
Roz- The scene breakup was having a bit of a problem earlier when I wrote it. I put it in the chapter but it does not upload onto FF.net but I fixed it so it would this time. So sorry about that.
French Chipmunk- Enjoy!
Grumpy- Yes, poor King Thranduil. Glad you like the story so far.
Roccovende- I am thinking of keeping my writing life on the side and do it in my free time. I am seriously about to fall asleep while I am trying to type these responses.
Elvendancer- Papers are evil! Very evil. I just finished doing a huge project for my HTMT class with a friend in the class and I turned it in today. Glad that you are enjoying the story so much.
Someone Reading- *blushing deeply* Thank you so much, mellonin. I just write as I see it and put my feelings into the story. It is a curse, I write way too much. My heart is whispering several things too me, several things that I really should not be listening to at the moment. But I think that I will work it out eventually.
Leggylover03- They both are coming.
Silver Wolf Gurl- Tutu was a marvelous strike of genius. I have no idea where it even came from. You want to kill Bretharso and do not worry; everyone else wants to kill him too. It is contagious.
Kept-Secret- Legolas angst in the next chapter or so; I promise. Legolas is no longer bound to Aragorn, that part of the story is over and done with. I got a little backwards trying to read what you were talking about when if I hurt Aragorn then I hurt Legolas and if I hurt Legolas then I hurt Aragorn and then it hurts Elladan…or does it go to Thranduil? Oh gee, I am lost.
Riva van Dyk- You really need to fix that evil eye twitch. I know it is really bad, I have had one and it usually comes up whenever Poppy and Twitch act up. I know, I know that it has been a really long time since I have updated and I am so sorry. I really do not intend for it to take so long. Better late than never, hunh?
Hiei-Rulez- I am glad that you found the tap-dancing, tutu wearing troll comment was funny. Bretharso is actually Thranduil's old friend. Elrond's best friend was his brother, Elros. Glad you are liking the story so much, mellonin.
Lynn- Hope you enjoy this chapter, mellonin. Till next update.
Legalady- I am really excited about this story and where it is going. I think it will turn into one of my best, if I can say. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others.
Lauren- Oh my god, I was rolling on the floor laughing my rear off at your comments. I swear you and I have to meet up sometime and just spend a few hours with each other. I think we would both split a lung from laughing so hard. That would be very funny.