Thanks to the following for reviewing this chapter: Lord Elrond of Hogwarts, TeacherTam, Brittany, Renna, Lady Jaina, Lady of Nimrodel, ancalimawen, wolf main, witchmaster, catmint, Lady of the Forest1, Angel-Spirit, Rika-Chan, Shauna, Riva van Dyk, bant, azla, elvendancer, Dimgwrthien, tini-angel, Mellaithwen-AngelMaiden, Deana, Gwyn, Ymmas Sirron, LegolasLover2004, and elfmage.
Chapter 10: Unfair
Estel let out cry and closed his eyes for the impending impact into the ground. But it did not come.
He felt himself land in the safety of Legolas' arms.
"Legolas?" he asked incredulously as the breathless prince lowered him to the ground.
Legolas nodded with a wry smile, feeling his heart beat wildly inside of him. He had kept a close watch of the child, just as he had promised, but when he awoke early that morning it had snowed considerably during the night and the boy was shivering in the cold. He momentarily left the tree to get a blanket from his pack and had only just reached the ground when Estel rolled in his sleep and fell from the tree.
"You promised me you wouldn't let me fall!" Estel exclaimed accusingly.
"Yes but this morning it was so cold you were shivering so I went down to retrieve a blanket and before I knew it you fell out of the tree!" Legolas tried desperately to explain himself. He felt horrible that he'd broken his promise and endangered the boy.
Estel could tell he was sincere and caught the distress in the prince's tone. He realized that the elf must've been very scared when he fell.
"I'm sorry," Legolas said softly, looking down.
Estel recalled how Legolas was continuously checking if the child was too cold, hungry, tired, etc., and when the boy asked Elrohir why Legolas had been wary of him going to Mirkwood the younger twin had explained that the prince held himself responsible for the orc-incident.
The truth was, the memories of the episode were hazy for Estel and he had been in so much pain that instead of being in horrible anguish it actually was too overwhelming to really register. Some in Rivendell were worried he'd be traumatized by the event for the rest of his life but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, he barely thought about it. But now he realized Legolas must think about it a lot and didn't want anything to ever happen to him again.
Estel realized how much Legolas cared about him.
A lump formed in his throat when we realized how he'd accused Legolas of letting him fall even though the prince felt terrible about it already. He desperately racked his mind for something to say to Legolas to apologize, but he never got to say it.
Legolas' head shot up suddenly, his eyes shining with alarm.
"Legolas, what's wrong?" Estel asked worriedly.
"Get on the horse quickly, Estel," Legolas commanded softly. He felt them, very near...he cursed himself for not feeling them before, but he had been so wrapped up in Estel's fall. But they were very nearby now…Spiders.
The boy quickly pulled himself onto Hyalma and glanced over at Legolas. The prince was already on his mare, Tarienna, and it was pawing the ground, anxiously waiting to run. Estel wondered what was possibly so important.
"Legolas," Estel begged. "What's wrong?"
Legolas glanced around the surroundings nervously. "There are spiders nearby." He hissed bitterly.
Estel felt his heart constrict and gulped. Giant spiders. He took a deep breath and it was shaky with fear.
"I'm going to make a wide, winding sweep throughout the forest to try to lose them, alright? Follow me and go as fast as you can. We want to avoid a fight be any means." The prince instructed.
Estel nodded slowly and shivered despite himself. Remembering the weather he realized that it wasn't a shake of fear and he was getting cold. As Legolas glanced about the trees, probably deciding what sort of a path he should go in, the boy hastily retrieved his thick ginger traveling cloak from his pack and wrapped it tightly around himself, fastening it at his neck with a sturdy navy brooch. The bitter winter wind nipped at his skin as he proceeded to quickly put on a pair of riding gloves, glancing about the forest and feeling quite vulnerable at not being able to sense danger like the elves.
Legolas walked his horse up to Estel's. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Estel nodded weakly. Legolas nodded back at him and opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then thought better of it.
The prince sighed inwardly, hoping the boy didn't hold it against him for falling out of the tree. But there was no time to talk about those matters, the spiders were near and he couldn't let Estel get hurt again.
"Go!" he snapped sternly.
The pair dug their heels into their steeds and the horses immediately took off.
In the trees, a half a dozen surrounding spiders watched the pair greedily, ready to strike, and were taken off guard at the quick departure of their prey.
But they perused quickly...
Estel closed his eyes and gripped Hyalma's mane securely as the roan chased after Legolas' speeding mount. He couldn't help it--- he felt scared. Terrified, actually. He wanted to be brave but his body trembled at the thought of the spiders chasing them. He desperately didn't want to have to fight them.
Before, playing with his brothers, fighting seemed slightly fun. He knew battles were horrible but the use of a sword against a foe seemed like it would be some sort of exhilarating event. That was his mind-frame when he had to fight the orcs and got caught up in the 'thrill of the fight', but now he knew...He knew what could happen, he'd experienced it.
Legolas crouched closer to his white horse but looked back the whole time at Estel who was right behind him. He knew the spiders were following them, he just couldn't tell where they were. He needed to outrun them , he needed to get Estel to safety.
Suddenly, four large arachnids jumped out of the trees, chasing quickly after the pair. Hyalma neighed in fright, and to both Estel and Legolas' horror, reared up, tossing the child to the ground roughly on his back.
"Estel!" he called as he quickly tried to turn Tarienna around. The unsuspecting mare tried to rotate sharply at her master's command but slipped on the snow and ice covered ground and fell to her side.
Before Legolas could move, the large animal crashed on his left leg.
Estel frantically stood, horrified at the sight of his horse fleeing into the forest and wincing at the pain in his back. Through the swiftly falling snow he couldn't see where Legolas was but had a horrible feeling when he didn't see the prince's horse.
He turned just in time to dodge a giant black body hurling towards him. Fumbling at his waist he drew his sword.
'Valar, No! Not again!'
The snow was so thick he could barely see his attackers and his heavy cloak slowed his moves. As he hastily backed up with his sword in a defensive position, he cast his thick cloak to the ground so he could move faster, but now the frigid weather stung at him.
Two of the spiders ran for the trapped prince. The horse saw the predators and stood up quickly, Legolas managing to stand shakily and cursing the fact the all his weapons but his sword and dagger were with his horse, who had darted to safety.
He had, however, much experience fighting, so even injured, he elegantly and expertly executed the spiders with swift elf-movements.
Estel ran backwards, slashing at the creatures legs. He hewed two off and the brute fell helplessly to the ground. He stabbed it quickly and called for Legolas.
Another ran for him, almost twice as tall as the boy. Estel darted to a snow covered mound so at least he would have a little more height on the spider.
It lunged for him.
Terror struck, the boy threw his sword and fell to his knees, curling in on himself, paralyzed with fear...
But no pain came.
Estel, trembling, opened his eyes too see the spider laying, unmoving- one of its outstretched legs laying limp, only inches away from him and the sword imbedded in its head. He sat there for a moment, marveling at the fact he was uninjured. Estel did not see the other spider in the trees before it jumped behind him.
Legolas heard the boy shout but could not locate him. From a distance he saw a dark shape hovering above a small one he recognized as Estel.
He knew in his condition he could not reach the kid in time so prepared to throw his dagger at the predator. As he did, however, something impacted hard with his side and he was thrown to the ground, his blade's path altered. He looked up in time to see a ravenous spider hovering over him and heard a human cry of pain. His heart froze as his mind reeled. Valar no! He thought to himself. All he could think was that he had hit the boy with the dagger instead of the spider.
Estel shouted when the spider dropped behind him and he had no immediate weapon. Suddenly a glittering object flew from somewhere, hitting the spider in its cephalothorax. As it fell to the ground it raised its leg and with a final burst of life hit Estel with its leg squarely in the side of his chest and sent him flying to the ground. The boy cried feebly in pain before hitting the ground and remembering no more.
Legolas raised his sword and struggling, finally killed the spider, finally being rid of the beasts.
"Estel?" he called breathlessly as he struggled to stand. Suddenly, he felt rough hands on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned around to face a small hoard of rugged-looking men, clad in crude fur garb and not looking the slightest bit welcoming.
Before Legolas could say anything the forward-most man punched him in the chest. Already weak, the prince fell to his knees.
"Pathetic elf," the man growled. "Bind him! We move out!" he called.
Three equally cruel-looking humans came out from the crowd and began tying the prince up.
"No!" Legolas cried as he desperately tried to fight them off. He needed to find Estel. He couldn't leave. "No please let me go I have to get to-" a dirty cloth was wrapped around his face and in his mouth, reducing his cries to nothing but desperate muffled noises.
He struggled as best as he could until the first man kicked him as hard as he could in Legolas' injured leg. The prince fell, dazed and temporally quieted by the pain. Then man kneeled beside him and held a short dagger dangerously close to Legolas' face.
"Such a pretty elf," he sneered, running his hand along Legolas' face. The prince shuddered. The man held the dagger to his face. "So fair," he growled, "a pity it would be to be marred by scars, eh?"
He grabbed a lock of Legolas' hair. "So gold," he whispered into the elf's ear. "Would be a shame to cut off, wouldn't it?"
Then he roughly grabbed the tip of the prince's delicately pointed ear, causing Legolas to hiss in pain. "And it would be too bad if I was forced to 'round' these ears of yours."
He laughed and held the blade less than an inch from Legolas' frightened eyes. "Oh, and these wonderfully blue eyes, you wouldn't want them stabbed out would you?" He snorted wickedly. "Well we'll see how much compassion my men take on your beautiful body. Trust me, elf, you'll be wishing you were dead before we're through. You shall pay for the crimes of your kin."
Legolas could do nothing as he was dragged away, miles from where Estel lay, quickly covered by snow, into the camp of elf-prejudice men.
Legolas was tied to a thick wooden post in the center of a small clearing with a circle of four ragged tents and a fire pit. The man who had threatened him stepped up to the prince.
"Who are you and what are you doing in Mirkwood?" Legolas asked sternly after they had removed the cloth, clenching his teeth to prevent himself from saying something he'd regret.
The man grunted as he circled the bound elf. "Seeing the predicament you're in, I'd say you're in no position to be demanding answers from me. If you must call me something, though, how about something that shows that you're lesser than me? 'Milord' sounds good, I think. Royal, even."
Legolas said nothing. He desperately needed to know who these people were and why they were in Mirkwood and why they seemed to hate elves so much. He dared not dispute 'Milord' if he had hope for ever escaping to save Estel.
"Your filthy, despicable race, thinks they're sooo much better than everyone else, don't they? I have seen what you do." Milord continued.
Legolas had a sinking feeling. Most elves were kind and peaceful, but a small few despised humans and did cruel things to them. From what Legolas could tell these humans must had had a bad experience with these elves. He then noticed a gruesome scar maiming the left of 'Milord's' face.
"You will pay for the horrible things elves do!" 'Milord' sneered.
Legolas couldn't control himself. "That's not true nor fair!" He spat. "Elves are the gentlest race and most would never hurt another being! I never did anything wrong so why punish me? Wh-" Legolas was silenced when 'Milord' roughly punched the side of his face.
"Shut up!" the man shouted. "Speak like that again and I will see to it that you are not able to utter words!" he threateningly held a dagger to Legolas' throat but the prince barely seemed to notice.
"I will talk when I feel like it!" the elf growled. "You do not control me!"
"Why you belligerent little-!" 'Milord' stabbed the dagger into Legolas shoulder. "Take care of him boys!" he shouted to the surrounding men.
The men gathered around Legolas and began cruelly kicking him, pulling his ears and his hair and teasing him about his appearance as they lazily punched him.
"A pretty lil' lady," one drunken man sneered as he yanked the delicate point of the prince's ear and ran his hand crudely along Legolas' face.
"Amin feuya ten' lle" The elf whispered under his breath but the man didn't hear him and continued his offensive treatment. You disgust me
Legolas could not restrain himself against the demeaning conditions. He had managed to wriggle one hand free and without thinking, grabbed the man's throat tightly. The men began to shout brokenly and someone grabbed a large wood club, bringing it down on the prince's arm with a crack, causing the elf to release the choking man.
'Milord' walked forward. "Ya shouldn't 'ev done that, elf," he growled and raised his blade. Legolas instinctively closed his eyes as the blade was plunged towards his throat and the sickening sound of metal sinking into flesh was heard.
TBC!!!