Disclaimer: All facts and characters related to Tolkien's works are his.
Deep Under the Ground
Chapter II – A Strange Story
A boy sat on the floor, clutching his injured ankle. An ugly looking gash stretched from the base of his foot to just above his ankle and blood was eagerly oozing out from it. A small puddle of the red liquid was already forming around the boy's foot, tainting the dirt floor a rusty brown. The boy's face was crunched up in pain and tears were leaking out of his eyes. His floppy dark brown hair had fallen over his face.
Legolas stepped out of the inn and instantly spotted the crouching injured boy. He observed that no one was paying the child any heed and frowned. He strode over to the boys side and gently pried away the boy's fingers to look at the wound. He poured a little water from his water skin over the gash to wash away the dirt on it and pressed a piece of scrap cloth over it to stop the bleeding.
The boy let loose a choked sound and bit his lip hard when the kind stranger pressed against the tender area of the gash.
Legolas bound up the injury with a long piece of cloth that he carried around for emergencies such as these and after drying the child's tears, carried the boy over to his door step which was thankfully nearby.
By the time the elf returned, Aragorn was already standing outside the inn wondering where his companion was.
They made their way back to the gate, eager to continue on their journey. It was when they were passing a stack of fruit piled almost impossibly high up that the unforeseen happened. A man still groggy from last night's hang over stumbled directly into their path.
The elf wrinkled his nose at the foul smell of alcohol which the man reeked of. The man swayed where he stood for a few moments as the world seemed to spin about him and then toppled forward-straight onto the large pile of fruits.
The polished rosy apples rolled down and bruised on the floor, the melons smashed into a mess of pulp when they hit the ground. The man had ruined fruit all over him and set there in a growing pool of the shop owners spoilt goods.
The incensed shop owner stalked out of his shop and seeing his now un-sellable wares glanced around for someone to blame. He saw the man half lying and half sitting on the dirt floor and then turned his head to see the two figures standing nearby.
He stormed over to their side and accused loudly.
"You pushed him!"
"I assure you good sir that we did not. That man is obviously suffering the effects of drinking himself into a stupor- he lost his balance and fell," said Aragorn as politely as he could, trying to placate the enraged owner.
The man did not listen. He turned to the small crowd which had gathered around them and were staring suspiciously at the two strangers. No one spoke a word in their defense.
The livid shopkeeper insisted on dragging them to the Mayor, to whom all such matters of injustice and family squabbles were brought.
Legolas let out a small sigh as they were shoved into the mayor's office. Brought to see the town's upholder of justice because of some fruit… The whole matter would be humorous if they were not involved.
The shopkeeper addressed his problem to the Mayor and demanded that the two offenders be punished.
The Mayor was a stern looking man. He clasped his hands in front of him and transfixed the elf and ranger with a stony glare. He noticed that one of them had his hood up and felt annoyed. Such disrespect!
"Show your face to me stranger," he said with as much authority as he could muster.
With not much else he could do, Legolas slowly pulled down his hood to reveal his golden hair and pointed ears.
The shopkeeper gasped in shock and took a step backwards, away from the elf. The Mayor jerked slightly but other than that gave no hint of his astonishment.
He turned towards the shopkeeper and told him to leave them, assuring him that he would deal with these two.
The shopkeeper left the room hurriedly, his mind reeling from the dramatic turn of events.
"I am afraid that things have just been made more complicated. You see, master elf, it would have been a simple matter of the two of you spending a night in the lock up but now… you being what you are… I cannot allow you to leave." The room was silent as the elf and the ranger absorbed the meaning of his words. The Mayor continued before they could protest or ask any questions.
"Almost half a century ago, this very town was attacked by a band of wild men. We had word of their coming and so were able to evacuate the town. We hoped they would see the place was deserted, take what they wanted and leave as in peace. However, that was not the case. We hid in a maze of tunnels that runs through this town and waited for them to leave. Days passed and then weeks turned to months. Our food supply was finite and slowly, we were beginning to starve. Women saw their children wither away into skin and bones and men watched helplessly as one by one their family members died.
Something had to be done. One man was chosen to climb above ground and see what was going on. He discovered that the place was overrun with the wild men. They were ruled by one great leader from whom all commands were taken. He was certain that if their leader was killed, the invaders would leave the town. No one dared to follow him on his dangerous mission to assassinate the leader of the wild men. So he took up his knifes and daggers and set off alone.
No one knows if he managed to accomplish what he set out to do. But a full week after he had left, another scout was sent to see if the coast was clear and found the town deserted once again. The body of the brave man was never found."
"But what has this to do with us?"
"It is said that the wild men hid the treasure they had stolen from other towns as well as from ours in the hill that towers over our town."
"I believe you will find it for us."
"And why would we want to help one such as yourself," asked Legolas tersely.
The mayor did not reply. Guards seemed to materialize out of no where and grabbed the elf and the ranger.
"Lock them up for the night," said the mayor gravely.
--
The walls of the cell were covered in dark green mold and the floor was wet and covered thickly with grime. The air in the cell too was foul and smelt like something had died in there. A pair of manacles hung menacingly from a corner of the ceiling. Legolas stared forlornly out of the single window in the cell and sighed loudly.
Aragorn clasped his shoulder comfortingly.
"It's all just a big misunderstanding, I'm sure they'll release us in the morning." He said in a vain attempt to console his friend.
Legolas nodded and returned to staring out of the window. None of them believed that things would end so simply.
TBC…
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