Reviewer responses to Chapter 14:

InsanePirate624: You flatter me, mellon nin! I'm tickled to death that you like my writing so much and I hope that you dorelease your PotC fic. I'll boost your confidence if you like...I'd be happy to read what you've written and tell you what I think. I hope you like this post...I tried to put more Legolas in it...

Deana: Hehe...yes, and more poor Legolas to come! AND poor Estel...and Elladan and Elrohir and Elrond and Thranduil and .... Ok... shutting up now.

Sielge: LOL...Ok ok... you have no questions. Good then, here is the next chapter!

Mornflower: Ah heck, I sometimes write a story and forget how I had glued to the saddle and have to go back and double check that it didn't change from chapter to chapter. Thanks for reading...here's the update.

Marbienl: I never thought of it that way, Legolas' words about Estel inflicting the wounds. Hmm...interesting. Yeh, dirty dagger no good... Yeh, I think I will need to return to the bit that Elladan told Thranduil, perhaps when Legolas is well.

Star Wars Forever: LOL...thanks for the compliment. Yeh, I like twin prank stories too. I wrote up one of those a while ago, A Prank Gone Wrong. That was fun to write. Hehe...spiders and exits...man what plot bunnies. Enjoy!

Kelsey: My fault...the characters with similar names. It might not be a prob if I was not writing them simultaneously, right!? Anyway, I like cookies, but I don't think I'll tell you what's gonna happen for a virtual cookie. Perhaps a cookies and cream Hershey bar... That might work. I hope those hurricanes do not go NEAR you guys, I don't know where you live, but good luck. I also responded to your question about the underlining in a review to the story. If you go to the review page you will see that.

Shadowfax2931: Hey again. Yeh, Glorfie didn't yell. I've made him yell before and threaten as well. But not this time. I hope you don't go nuts because Legolas doesn't get out of the cave just yet.


Chapter Fifteen: Anti-Venom

Thranduil and Elladan had traveled all night to reach the palace as soon as possible. Both were exhausted by the time they reached the gates and the King commanded them to open.

"Hir nin!" Called a guard. "You are back! And not a moment too soon! Estel's condition is in the last stages and he is failing fast!"

The two Elves wasted no time. Sprinting toward the healing chambers, Elladan in the lead, the two burst into Estel's room, panting and holding the bag with their prize out in front of them.

Elrond, startled by the sudden arrival, was about to berate the newcomers, after all, Estel needed rest and Elves bursting into his chambers was not going to allow that.

When he saw the burlap sack in Thranduil's outstretched arm, he immediately surged forward and took hold of the wriggling bundle.

"Thank the Valar!" he muttered, moving off toward a table, immediately immersed in his work. "Elladan, I shall need your help."

The twin nodded. "Yes, Ada."

"Elrohir, get me my herb sack."

There was silence.

Thranduil cleared his throat. Elrond turned to face him. "Uhm, Elrond, Elrohir isn't here."

The dark-haired Elf Lord turned around and looked at each person in turn, now realizing that indeed his younger twin was missing.

"Where is he?"

The question was directed at Elladan, but Thranduil answered. "He is trapped in the Orc cave."

Elrond's eyes widened and he staggered back. "Trapped? How did this happen?"

Elladan couldn't hold it in. "Ada, we were taking down the cave to rid Mirkwood of this incident forever. But we didn't know that Legolas and Celronen were inside the cave. Elrohir jumped in just as the cave collapsed."

He saw his father jerk in response to his last statement and he knew he had to quickly appease the fear. "Don't worry, he is all right. We called to each other through the cave-in. He was hoping to be able to make the anti-venom for Legolas, he feared the Prince was just as far along as Estel would be."

Elrond had to admit that his younger twin had been right. There was little doubt in his mind that Legolas was just as sick as Estel. It just took longer to manifest itself in the Elf because he had not had such a strong dose. But any dose of the venom at all was enough to kill Estel and Legolas.

The Elf Lord knew there was nothing he could do about Elrohir right now. As much as he hated to think of his son trapped in that vile cave, he knew that Elrohir was the only chance Legolas had right now.

I hope I trained him well enough to create the anti-venom. This is a complex procedure and this particular species of snake is highly irregular. I hope there is something he can use to create it in that cave. Elrond knew that his sons both carried many herbs on their person. He hoped it was enough.

"All right, Bardon, could you get me my pack? I am certain the King wishes to return to the cave with some Elves to clear away that cave-in."

Thranduil drew in a deep breath. "Aye, I do wish to leave at once. But, as much as I do, I will wait until you have created an anti-venom. In the event that Elrohir does not have what he needs in that cave, I want it on hand when I reach Legolas."

The King handed Elrond the pack, locking eyes with the healer. Both fathers had desperation and distress in their vivid eyes. They knew they were feeling similar emotions at the moment.

"That is a wise plan, hir nin," Elrond said with a small, reassuring smile. "I will be able to easily create this anti-venom with the aid of Bardon and Elladan. We may need some help with the snake, however, extracting the venom."

Elladan spoke up now. "I was wondering how that was done, Ada. You never had occasion to show us the process of removing the venom for use in the anti-venom."

Smiling now, Elrond rolled back the sleeves of his robes. "That is a rather...tricky...job, Elladan. But pay close attention and I will try to explain what I am doing as we go along."

And with that, the four Elves, with the failing Estel as a backdrop, began the arduous task of creating an anti-venom from the venom of a live, restless snake.


Elrohir was beginning to get a little worried. Celronen had been gone a while now and he hoped the Elf hadn't found a passage and then gotten lost. Sighing, he checked Legolas' temperature for the seemingly hundredth time.

His condition is worsening rapidly, the Elf thought with a frown. And there isn't enough venom on this dagger. Besides, what is left is now mingled with spider blood and I can not create the anti-venom from this.

This posed a problem. The Orcs had left everything in the cave in their thirst for blood and pursuit. But, Elrohir had so far had no luck locating a vile of any kind that might contain a venom, or even traces of one. He wouldn't need much to work with.

Deciding he had to ask Legolas to aid him in his search, the younger twin reached out to his friend and lightly shook him. Legolas groaned at the treatment, his body on fire.

"Lemme alone," he murmured, not fully awake.

"Come on, mellon nin, you must wake."

Legolas felt like he was trapped in a burning building and unable to escape the scalding heat. This was not a typical fever. The snake's venom actually made every nerve ending in his body fiery.

As Elrohir's prompting got through to him, the Elf Prince dragged himself to full consciousness. "What is wrong?" he said, looking around the cave with bleary, blood-shot eyes. "Where is Cel?"

Sighing, Elrohir leaned back on his heels. "He has not yet returned, but do not worry about that. I have need of your memory." Gesturing around himself in frustration, he continued. "I need some direction in finding something that could be the snake venom. The dagger was unusable.

Legolas sucked in a breath as a wave of pain washing over him, momentarily squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them, he saw new concern in Elrohir's face.

Choosing to change the subject before they began to discuss it, Legolas pointed to his right. "Urghartz slept there. He was also often in the corner of the cave, sharpening his knives and trying to make Estel and I nervous with those silly antics."

He looked about to continue, but was instead consumed by a coughing fit that left him breathless. The hacking sounds reverberated in the large cavern, bouncing off the walls. When it subsided, Legolas lowered his hand discreetly, hoping that Elrohir did not notice the blood staining the palm.

That is not good, he thought to himself. I am coughing up blood, can not hear nor see well and my body burns like a fire has been set in my flesh. Can this get any worse?

Almost as he thought the words, Celronen came running back into the cavern, panting, which was unusual for the Elf Warrior. He staggered to Legolas' side and looked for Elrohir.

"Legolas? Elrohir? We've got a problem."

Elrohir frowned. "We have many problems, Legolas dying and no venom to make an anti-venom being a major one. Can you top that?"

He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth and bit his lip when Legolas shot him a scathing look of reproach. But Celronen only raised his voice.

"Yes, Elrondion, I can top that. There is a way out of this cave."

Legolas and Elrohir were interested now, both perking up and looking expectantly at the newly arrived Elf. "Well, why is that a problem?" Legolas asked, holding his stomach wounds tightly in an attempt to stop the burning.

Celronen swallowed. "There is an exit down a side passageway I was able to locate. However, the exit is blocked."

"Another cave-in?" Elrohir asked.

"No..."

"What then?" Legolas prompted, quickly losing his battle to stay awake. He blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head to get Celronen's figure back in focus while he awaited the answer.

"A nest of spiders has made the exit way and part of the tunnel their home," Celronen answered. "There are a great many of them. Once they realize we are in here, they will not waste a moment in coming here. And I fear they will discover our presence before Elves are able to dig us out."

He glanced to Legolas, who was nearly unconscious again. His head was lolling and his face was a mask of pain. His hands, grasping his stomach, were tinted red with blood. But Celronen wasn't sure if the blood all came from the wounds, there was too much.

"We will have to protect ourselves, stand and fight," he added, looking to Elrohir. "We must find that venom so you can begin work on the cure for Legolas. We will be hard pressed to protect him if this cave is invaded. Hopefully, we can heal him in time."

Elrohir was frowning deeply now. "Even if I found the venom in the next 20 minutes or so, it would take Legolas hours before he regained the strength to draw his bow or stand steadily to fight."

"What other choice do we have?" Celronen asked, impatiently glancing around the cave. "There has to be a vile or bottle or jar of venom somewhere. They can't have killed a snake each time to drain it of venom."

The younger twin shook his head. "No, they would need a live snake and I have seen no evidence of one. You are right, there must be a vile or container of some sort. The question now is whether or not it is here or was on the Orc when it was killed."

The two looked ready to continued the conversation when Legolas began to cough again. This time there was no way to hide the blood, he had been taken off guard by the fit and blood splashing Elrohir's legging.

The Noldor Elf immediately stooped down and tried to sooth Legolas, rubbing his back in slow circles to ease the pain of the coughing. The Prince clutched his chest, trying to control his erratic breathing.

Celronen watched in fear as blood continued to spill from his friend's mouth, dripping down his chin onto the tunic below. Finally, the coughing subsided, and with it Legolas' consciousness fled.

He collapsed backward onto Elrohir, who had been partially ready for the fall. The Elf lowered Legolas to the ground and gently wiped blood from the pale face. He noticed that the Elf's breathing was severely labored now.

Reaching into his pack, he took a bunch of leaves out and handed them to Celronen. "Take these, put them in boiling water. They will create a relaxing aroma that will help his breathing."

The warrior nodded. "Athelas, I know their uses, Elrohir."

"Sorry, I forget that even warriors can be skilled healers. Forgive me if I offended you."

A small smile crossed Cel's face. "It's all right. We are all tense and worried. I am sure I will snap in a little while too. I apologize in advance if I offend you later on."

The two laughed at that, then Elrohir left Cel to his task and began a systematic search of the places Legolas had indicated as Urghartz's haunts. The task was both tedious and hard in the low firelight.

He only hoped it would not be too late.


"I never thought you had to make the snake...attack...the jar that way to get the venom." Elladan was looking intently at the two fang marks in the top of the jar he was holding.

Elrond had just shown them how to "milk" the snake of its venom and he was quite in awe, despite the gravity of Estel's condition and the situation at hand.

"Yes, well, can I have that now please?" Elrond had his hand out to Elladan and was waiting for the precious venom he needed to finish his job.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

He remained in a daze as Elrond and Bardon worked on the anti-venom, occasionally aided by a blundering Thranduil who really had no place in the healing chambers. Not all Elves had abilities as healers and the King was in that category.

It was during one of the times that Thranduil was trying to help that Elladan noticed movement from the bed in the corner. Choosing not to interrupt his father's work, the twin slinked over to the bed, careful not to draw any attention to himself.

He watched as Estel's eyes fluttered and finally opened. They were glazed and full of pain, but they recognized him. "El?"

"Yes, Estel, I'm here. We found the snake, Ada is preparing the anti-venom as we speak."

The man chose not to respond, it was too much effort and right now all that managed to really permeate the haze of his vision was the blinding pain he was in. But he was determined to not worry his brother.

"Legolas?"

Frowning, Elladan bit his lip. "Well, that's a long story, Estel. One I don't think you are ready to hear right now...I think we should wai..."

"NO." Estel said fiercely, but still in barely more then a whisper. "Now."

Sighing, the Elf nodded. "All right. It's like this. Thranduil, 'Ro and I decided to block off the cave that you and Legolas had been...held captive in. So we felled a tree on the entrance and then...as it was falling, 'Ro ran into the cave and was trapped."

Elladan shuddered at the memory, but went on when Estel gripped his shirt. "'Ro is fine. He said he had seen Legolas and Cel's horses and tracks. We had no reason to believe they would be in there, we didn't look for tracks."

"Why 'Ro went in there?" Estel croaked, licking his dry, chapped lips.

"Because, we know that Legolas is as bad off as you now and the Cel wouldn't be able to make the anti-venom even if they had what they needed in the cave."

That is a good reason, I'm glad he is all right and he cares so much for Legolas. Estel frowned now. "Then Legolas is dying?"

Elladan nodded mutely.

"But don't think on it. There must be venom in that cave, the Orc would have had to had a supply to douse his daggers in. Elrohir will find it and be able to save Legolas. And if now...well, Thranduil is just waiting for Ada to finish his so that he can ride out, clear the cave-in and help Legolas if need be."

Estel relaxed a little at the reassurances his brother gave him, but he couldn't shake the fear for his friend completely. Here I am, lying comfortably...scratch that...safely in bed and Legolas is in that vile cave with no anti-venom. Without his father, without Elrond to help him. At least he is not alone.

Elladan laid a hand on Estel's arm and leaned forward. "All will turn out well in the end, Estel. Neither one of you are going to die. Not if Ada and King Thranduil have anything to say about it."

"Iston," Estel answered wearily. "But I fear I can not stay awake any longer, El. Too tired...too much pain."

He began to drift off to sleep, his eyes slowly closing and his head lolling to the side. Elladan sighed lightly and turned to go back to his father's side. But something stopped him.

Something was terribly wrong, he had a sudden strong feeling that he needed to turn back around.

He did so and gasped.

"Estel!"

The man's chest was still.

"Ada! He's not breathing!"

As he spoke, the Elf flung himself back down at Estel's side, frantically searching for a pulse. Relieved when he found one, he stepped aside to let Elrond reach his youngest son.

Thranduil and Bardon stayed their distance, knowing they would only be in the way, while Elrond worked on Estel. When nothing he did worked, he glanced at Elladan. "One more option."

Turning quickly to Thranduil and Bardon he said rapidly, "This remains in this room. You did not see this and you will not mention it to anyone, ever. Is that understood?"

Hearing the importance in the words of the Elf Lord, both nodded emphatically. Elrond turned back toward Estel and fingered his ring finger.

Thranduil watched carefully, wondering what the Elf would do. He saw Elrond finger the empty hand and frowned. What good will that do?

His question was soon answered.

Something began to glow on Elrond's finger as he spoke in rapid-fire Quenya. Thranduil, who didn't bother to keep up to date with the language of the High Elves, didn't understand his words, but was fascinated by the glowing.

Then, a ring materialized on Elrond's hand and Thranduil knew he would never forget this day for those who witnessed the power of the Elven Rings never forgot the sight and forever remembered the experience.

Vilya. Thranduil's eyes widened. He was pulled from his thoughts by Estel. The man suddenly gasped deeply and drew breath. He jerked for a moment and the King thought he would not continue to breathe, but the man drew in a shaky breath.

The light of Vilya wavered and died, but the Ring still shown on the finger of Elrond. "Remember, do not speak of this." He said with a small smile as he checked over Estel, sighed, and returned to work.

"He doesn't have much time. And I doubt Legolas is fairing better."

Thranduil sank into a chair and his head fell into his hands in despair. Valar save my son and Estel.


A/N: Yeh, I know...using Vilya was a bit over the top, but I wanted to. I just love the Elven Rings! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Just a quick warning, I will most likely be working 2 weeks straight with no days off and I might not be able to post LONG chapters often...I will try to at least post though. Please R/R!!! THanks much!!!

-Gwenneth