Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Peeks out from behind Haldir only to see angry readers with very sharp looking weapons. Eeep! Okay, okay, I know you all want to kill me but don't you want to read this chapter? To do so, you can't kill me. Readers mutter and reluctantly put down their weapons. There we go, that wasn't so hard now was it? Ducks random flying object. Okay, moving on, thank you all so much for your reviews! I adore each and everyone of them! Hehe, bit of a cliffy last time huh? Dodges another heavy object. Many many thanks to my incredible and fabulous beta enb2004! As promised, here is Chapter Fifteen. Have fun!Iaurdil, crown prince of Mirkwood and his men were on patrol near the farthest reaches of their forest. Rumor held that orcs and wargs had been spotted and it was his duty to rid his homeland of those foul creatures.
It was nearly sunset and he and his men were about ready to give up and camp for the night. He was starting to think that the rumors were exactly that, rumors. Just as he was helping to get the camp pitched, they all heard someone screaming, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOO!"
A shiver of dread crept up Iaurdil's spine as the scream ended only to be replaced by total dead silence. His men started to mutter nervously and all made sure that they had weapons upon them.
"Milord, the sun has set," one of his men said suddenly, his voice full of dread.
Iaurdil looked at him with puzzlement. What was so unusual about the sun setting?
The guard seemed to have guessed what his Prince was thinking so he motioned to look at the sky.
Iaurdil looked up and felt his blood run cold. The setting sun had turned the sky the color of freshly spilled blood. He was willing to bet his best bow that the scream they had all just heard and the color of the sky were connected.
"Pack up. We leave now," he commanded of his warriors all the while looking apprehensively towards the direction where the scream had come from. He had a very very bad feeling about this. Something deep within his heart told him that he was not going to like what he found, and it had nothing to do with the color of the sky either. Some evil force was at play here, he was certain of it.
"Milord, are you sure about this? Should we not head back to your father's palace and report what we have heard this day?" one of the warriors asked.
"Nay, we need to find whoever screamed. Perhaps the rumors were correct after all," Iaurdil said grimly.
"But milord, another snow storm is quickly approaching," the guard protested.
"Aye, I know. All the more reason for us to hurry up and find and rescue who or whatever it was that screamed. Hurry, my heart tells me that we have not much time," Iaurdil said.
Without looking back, he and his men headed deeper into the forest all the while mindful of the unusually silent forest and the trickle of fear that crept into their hearts.
The Crown Prince Iaurdil had not been the only
one to see the red sun set. Back within Imladris, Elrond sat on the
balcony looking longingly out at the snow covered forest. Not even a
half an hour ago, a subdued Glorfindel and Erestor had returned with
the grave news that they had not been able to find any sign of Legolas
and Estel.
At the moment, Elrond wanted nothing more than to
ride out and search for his wayward son and Prince but he couldn't.
Elladan and Elrohir needed him here. Although they had regained
consciousness, both were still rather weak; although they denied it
with every breathe they took.
Like their father, they too wanted
to ride out and search for their little brother and friend but Elrond
forbade it, and, of course, they had protested. Finally, Elrond had
been forced to drug the both of them to keep them calm.
Sighing,
Elrond looked at the sunset only to nearly drop his cup of tea. The
sky, oh by the Valar, the sky was the color of blood. A red sun had set
and either Legolas or Estel, or perhaps even both, were in severe
trouble.
His heart cried out at the sight of the sky. Oh Valar,
please, spare them. Estel is but a child and Legolas is far too young
to leave the circles of this world. "Please, spare my son and the
Prince," he pleaded aloud.
"Mellon nin, we shall find your son and the Prince. I promise you this," Glorfindel said from behind him suddenly.
"We
may not have found any sign of them yet, but they are undoubtedly bound
to show up. Besides, I do believe that no sign is a good sign, for it
means that they have not run into trouble," Erestor said, joining
Glorfindel and Elrond on the balcony overlooking the valley.
"I
fear that they already have. A red sun has set and my heart tells me
that danger is very close to both of them. I fear that they are outside
of our boundaries mellyn nin, and that they are much farther away and I
am not there to help them," Elrond said. Estel was probably so scared
even though he was with Legolas. He needed to be with Estel but he
could not for he did not know where his youngest was.
"Elrond,
we will find them, even if we have to search to the ends of this Middle
Earth. They are not lost to us. Nor shall they ever be, not so long as
I draw breathe," Glorfindel stated vehemently.
"I know, but I can not help but fear for the both of them," Elrond whispered.
"Come inside and rest Elrond. I doubt that you have slept much these past few days. Rest while you can," Erestor said kindly.
Sighing
in defeat, Elrond allowed his two friends to shepherd him indoors with
one last look at the blood red sky. "Valar spare them," he whispered
once more before stepping indoors.
Legolas was brought back to consciousness
abruptly by Estel's scream. Groaning, Legolas looked at the two massive
wargs that were pinning him down and noticed that he was covered in
blood; both his, and the wargs.
Those last two wargs had not
wanted to die. Before he had been able to kill them, one had pounced on
his torso and clawed his stomach pretty badly while the other attacked
his legs. He was able to kill the one that clawed his torso before to
much damage had been done, but the one that pounced on his legs had
nearly crushed the bone in his left leg before he had been able to kill
it before passing out.
He pushed his pain aside though when he saw Estel on the ground crying and not looking very well at all.
"Estel,
tithen pen, shh, it's all right, I'm here," Legolas said soothingly
while trying to get up. To his horror though, he found that he couldn't
push the dead carcasses off of him.
"Leggie?" Estel asked, his eyes red from crying and tears sliding down his cheeks.
"I'm all right Estel, but I need you to listen to me okay?" Legolas asked.
Estel nodded miserably and Legolas gently took Estel's small hand in his own.
"I'm
going to be fine, but I can't get out from underneath these wargs
without help. I know you're scared little one, but I need you to
continue to walk straight that way, where the tallest trees are. Do you
see them?" Legolas asked.
Estel nodded tearfully and looked down at Legolas with huge silver eyes. "Why do I need to go there?"
"Because
that is where my big brother Iaurdil is. Like your brothers protect
Imladris, mine protect Mirkwood. I need you to head that direction. If
you encounter any elf, tell them that I need help and be sure to use my
name. Do you have all that tithen pen?" Legolas asked.
"Uh huh," Estel said miserably.
"One
other thing little one. You must listen to your instincts. If you
believe yourself in danger, run. Your instincts are generally right and
you should do as they say. Do you understand?" Legolas asked seriously.
"I understand Legolas," Estel said.
"Good,
you had better hurry. It looks as though there is another snow storm
headed this way. Don't worry, I'll be fine," Legolas said seeing Estel
was hesitant about leaving him.
"I'll be back as soon as I can,"
Estel promised before gently hugging Legolas and running off in the
direction that Legolas told him too.
"Valar protect him; for I
can not," Legolas whispered to the air once Estel was gone. Once more,
he tried to free himself from the two wargs but found he did not have
the strength. His leg and chest were both bleeding heavily and he knew
that he was slowly slipping into shock. The world around him was
dimming and despite his best efforts, consciousness slipped away from
him. He fell into a world of darkness.
Estel took off for the woods that Leggie had
pointed out at full speed. He had to find someone to help him! Leggie
needed him, he couldn't let him down. Ada had told him to listen to
Legolas and that was exactly what he was doing.
Estel ran for
hours, becoming more tired and ill by the second although he did not
stop nor realize how hard he was pushing himself. After a couple of
hours had passed he became unaware of his surroundings. All he was
focused on was the tall trees that was his goal. He did not even notice
when the snow storm had started to fall nor when the silent forest
suddenly took on an even more eerie quality. So intent upon his goal,
he never noticed the orc party that he was about to stumble into.
As
luck had it, the orc party had not noticed the small little boy either
for they were headed in the opposite direction. That was all about to
change however.
At one point he stumbled and tripped on a root.
Estel started to cry miserably as he felt the pain in his ankle. He
pushed himself up though, he had to go on! While Estel hadn't made all
that much noise, it had been enough for the orcs to hear him in the
unusually silent forest.
Slowly, the orcs crept up on the
unsuspecting boy from all sides. It had been far to long since they had
had some sport. They would enjoy this one.
Estel noticed the
sudden absolute silence of the forest and something inside of him was
telling him to run, and run he did. He did not get far though before a
group of viscous looking orcs caught up with the fleeing boy.
"Well
well, what do we have here boys? A little lost elfling far from home me
thinks," one of the viscous looking creatures said.
Estel screamed in fright and started running in the other direction only to come across more orcs whom he attempted to dodge.
"I
think the little elfling needs to be taught some manners, what do you
say boys?" the leader said as he caught the boy and held him so tightly
it was painful.
"Let me go! Someone, help, please!!!" Estel screamed as the orcs tied him to a tree.
"Nobody's
going to help you elf brat. You're all alone and there's nothin' you
can do about it. Now, let us have some fun. Let the games begin!" the
orc cried holding up a viscous looking whip.
Translations:
Ada: Dad/Daddy
Tithen pen: Little one
Mellon nin: My friend
Mellyn nin: My friends
A/N
2: Hehe, was that so bad? Uhhh, ducks heavy objects that are suddenly
flying through the air. I'm sorry, I'm sorry but my muse made me do it!
Runs behind Lord Celeborn and Haldir. Hehe, see you in a few days!
