Warning: This chapter is expected to be a tear jerker.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Bright Eyes

Legolas and Rothinzil felt the colors drain from their faces as they realized the orcs had broken through. There was nothing else that series of bangs could have meant. Not unless a troupe of oliphaunts had decided to start living underground in the dead of winter so far up north.

That was highly unlikely and all hope for getting out before the orcs managed to get in was lost.

Running down a far off passage that was hidden and looked freshly tunneled, the Elves hurried so as not to be captured. The torch sputtered and threatened to give out in the darkness and wind of their plight. The flames danced and so Legolas sent a quick prayer to Eru that it would stay alight. Otherwise he would not be able to find Aragorn in time.

Rothinzil began to slow down as his wound caught up with him and Legolas slowed in weariness. He felt like he had run for years and years on end with a merciless slave driver behind him.

The walls around them were definitely freshly hewn. As of yet not all the silver was taken out and the fire of the brand they held reflected onto the precious medal that ran in tendrils on the wall, like silver rivers and threads. There were also unrefined and gapping pits the further they went on, where the men had been removing the white gold.

But there was a crevice very far back, where it was black as pitch and the light of the torch had trouble piercing its darkness. Indeed, the light seemed to wither in the blackness. Legolas and Rothinzil stopped suddenly, their breath coming fast and winded as they listened to the sounds about them. Far behind they could hear the harsh cries of battle with men and orcs. They wondered what was going on and wondered if their friends were alive.

But besides the harsh voices of Mordor, they heard a bunch of low and venomous hisses, like a bunch of angry kettles bubbling over and spitting steam. Legolas looked at Roth and in the light of the torch they exchanged glances. "The snakes are around here!" Legolas whispered hoarsely. His blue eyes spoke alarm and he began to run further back.

Roth sprinted ahead and suddenly he stopped abruptly, his toes on the brink of a large pit writhing in twisted and rope like bodies. A stench rose and Legolas grabbed Rothinzil, pulling him backward to keep him from falling face first into the midst of the poisonous snakes.

Both of the Elves gasped. Legolas called out wildly, "Aragorn! Where are you, mellon nin?" He cried this over and over, waiting for an answer.

Rothinzil was the first to spot the unconscious or dead ranger. He was dangling from the ceiling in a corner, where the hungry snakes had a fair chance to sneak up and eat him alive. His head lolled over on his shoulder and Legolas winced as he saw the entire weight of the ranger was upon his wrists.

Looking down at Aragorn's legs, the Elven prince saw a few snakes twisted, sinking their long fangs into his boots. Giving a cry, Legolas ran over and grabbed the ranger's head in his long pale hands. Putting his forehead against Aragorn's he asked, "will you ever forgive me? Speak to me! Please!" Tears didn't even bother damning themselves before they spilled out of Legolas' eyes, but slid out without ceasing.

Rothinzil said, "Legolas, the orcs are coming!" His voice brought Legolas back into reality. "We must bear him and ourselves away from here and quickly at that!"

Legolas stiffened and asked with a weary sigh, "how can we do that? I can free him, yes, but we will never get past the orcs." He looked at the rope that bound Aragorn's wrists and then he told Rothinzil, "I will hold him, you cut the bounds, quickly."

Rothinzil looked down and realized he still had Legolas' twin knives. Smiling grimly, not because he was happy, but because he realized that everything was almost over, that he and his friends could be free.

Legolas wrapped his arms around Aragorn's middle tightly, so that his friend would not fall to the hungry, writhing creature's below. Rothinzil severed the ropes with the white knives that made short work of the bonds. Legolas pulled Aragorn up to 'safety' and then realized that two snakes that had their fangs embedded in his boot leather had come up with him as well.

Tumbling backwards in weakness and horror, Legolas fell and Aragorn fell on top of him. The snakes slithered around and hissed at the Elves with dark beaded eyes. Legolas was shocked into completely inactivity by the knowledge that his friend was most likely already poisoned and as he looked into Aragorn's pale and limp face, he wondered if the ranger's Fëa was already missing and he held a lifeless body.

Rothinzil slashed the head off one of the snakes swiftly with the cod blade of an identical knife. Wasting no time and certainly not willing to take any chances he was not forced to. He was going to see himself, Legolas and Aragorn through this. He wouldn't lose his dearest friends, he just would not. There were too many memories and yet he still wouldn't mind adding some more to the collection, happy memories, if that were possible.

The other snake he swiftly kicked out at, knocking it over the edge of the orifice to join its comrades that hissed and writhed below. His white face looked at Legolas' grey and aghast one. Legolas struggled to stand, bearing Aragorn in his arms, but he could literally feel his last reserve of strength draining and leaving him empty and lifeless.

"Legolas, let me carry him," offered Rothinzil helpfully. His own tired eyes connected with Legolas' filmed over blue ones. It looked to him as though his friend was dead on his feet literally speaking. "You have been through enough, my friend. You need to save your strength…"

"Rothinzil, you have to be weaker…."

"No, I am not. We do not have time to argue!" he told Legolas with a serious scowl. "It is my turn to look after you." He gave a weak and entirely hollow smile. "Let me bear him."

Legolas felt his legs about to give out under the extra weight that he lacked the initial strength to bear. Trembling, he nodded and said quietly, "Rothinzil, where would I be without you?" Roth held out his arms and Legolas placed the unconscious ranger in them with a bit of reluctance to put his friend's life in another's hands.

Immediately Legolas felt his burden lighten and he felt like he could stand and fight a little longer; maybe just long enough to get out and die free. He certainly could not possibly know if he could last that long, but he decided to believe that he could. Rothinzil whispered, "the orcs are coming. Take your knives."

The dark-haired Elf was still gripping the twin blades and Legolas looked down and seeing them cried, "I thought they were lost! Rothinzil, you are a marvel!" The other grinned.

"I wasn't exactly me who got them back, but that is a tale to be told at a better time," he added as he shifted the human's weight in his arms. His hazel eyes looked fearfully about as the harsh cries of the orcs, like iron grating on iron, filled the room and echoed down the passage way.

Legolas looked at Aragorn solemnly before he took his identical knives and held them. As he did, he felt his strength renewing. They were so familiar, a piece of home and something he could protect himself with. He did not like to admit that while he had been imprisoned, he had been helpless. Defiance had not served him and in the end had proved totally useless except for daring to stay alive.

Hope had been what had gotten him through more than anything, he decided as he and Rothinzil began to walk down the corridor quietly in the hopes of sneaking around the troupe of orcs.

If they were captured, it was sure to be their deaths. The brutality of the orcs and the evil weight that accompanied them would kill Legolas' spirit before his body and then he wouldn't have long to wait.

Then Roth stopped without warning and he went stock-still. "Legolas," he began in a voice that sounded weighted down in dread. "We left the torch back there."

The sounds of tramping feet and smashing stone followed by the clanging of their horrible laughter drifted into their ears. Legolas thought for a moment and whispered, "it would give us away anyway. As a matter of fact, it could act as a decoy. If they go to the light and we aren't there…"

"they will be even more angry and determined to taste our blood!" muttered Rothinzil, unwisely interrupting.

"Or confuse them and give us enough time to get out!" finished Legolas thwarting the argument that Rothinzil had nearly started.

Rothinzil took a careful step forward and then the orcs came into view. They were large orcs not the smaller goblins that usually tunnels these mountains. Whatever they were doing, neither of the Elves wanted to know. But it was also obvious they came from Mordor and were here on some sort of business.

"Go back to Mordor," snarled Rothinzil, his voice sounding hard. Legolas nearly gapped, seeing a side of Rothinzil that hardly ever came out.

"Come little Elves and friend, to Mordor we will bring you," they taunted, seeing the weakness of the Firstborn and the unconscious ranger that the dark-haired one bore. Stepping forward and laughing -the sound of which was like grinding ice- the evil creatures raised their scimitars and prepared to capture the Elves. What delightful experience this was going to be. They could already taste the sweet taste of Elven blood in their mouths.

Roth just looked back at Legolas with a sorry-that-was-stupid-wasn't-it? Look and the prince glared, "that was very helpful. I am sure they are scared out of their minds!" He watched the orcs advancing on them with the most irritating smile's on their ugly faces.

Rothinzil stepped forward uncertainly and suddenly everything began to spin and his feet lurched out from underneath him. Fear and confusion crossed his paled face all at once merging to create quite an interesting expression from Legolas' perspective.

Legolas stumbled to the edge of the pit that had swallowed up his friend before Rothinzil could so much as cry out. Then, seeing no other alternative besides getting eaten by orcs, Legolas jumped in to follow his friend.

Aragorn fell from Rothinzil's grasp as the dark-haired Wood-Elf slipped into the darkness. He called out desperately, "Estel!" but there was no answer back. Suddenly he hit something and then felt himself sliding down a rough sort of passageway.

Whatever this was, at least it had gotten him away from those orcs, but Legolas was still up there, wasn't he? If that was so, then that was where he needed to be as well. "Legolas?" he cried out, his voice echoing of the walls.

"Rothinzil?" Legolas called back as he slid behind his friend. "I am here! Where are you?" He had a lost sensation. Elves are not used to darkness and lost their ways easily underground. He saw nothing but blackness and his heart was beating a mile a minute. What if he was going to be trapped in some dark pit forever? Where was this taking him to other than away form the orcs?

"Legolas?" Rothinzil inquired. "Thank the Valar!" He as about to tell Legolas he had lost Aragorn when he came to a sudden jolt and found himself pressed against the wall of a hidden cavern. Groping in the ark, he found Aragorn crumpled on the floor to his left.

A bang into his shoulder and back and Legolas slammed into him. The prince blinked stupidly as he shook dust out of his hair. "Where are we?" he asked grimly noticing with irritation that his voice echoed off the walls of the close grotto.

"How am I supposed to know?" retorted Rothinzil grumpily as he brushed his hair from his face. He gathered Aragorn back into his arms and muttered, "I suppose this is our tomb."

Legolas felt the color drain from his face as he realized how true Rothinzil's words were. "I suppose it is." His voice was soft. He wished he could say Rothinzil was wrong, but how he could look his friend in the eye and say it was beyond him.

"Helluin's long braids, her bright eyes…Legolas if I were ever to marry someone…anyone, Elf-maiden to mortal, it would be her." In the dark his face took on a dreamy look and he smiled. "But I suppose I shall never get to have a family now." His voice sounded regretful and Legolas felt ill.

"Roth you would give up your life for a mortal? Die? Leave me? How?" Asked the prince in shock as he realized all of what Rothinzil had just said. "How can you do that?" Legolas growled.

"I didn't want to tell you this Legolas, but I already have," said Rothinzil quietly and his throat choked as his voice squeezed off.

"You what? You are going to…die?" he stammered as he felt his heart seem to stop and everything…time itself…freeze.

"Yes, eventually. I will still be here for many more years," assured the dark-haired Elf as he realized how this had to sound to Legolas, his dearest friend since a long while.

"But I thought we were going to go to the Grey Havens together," whispered Legolas as he remembered Rothinzil becoming his best friend and finding the dear Elf, broken and spiritually dead…lost.

Now he was lost and Rothinzil was found.

It was odd how the tables had turned. But Legolas felt he would never find himself again and he lay down in the cave, and closed his eyes, letting his tears trickle down his face in unhampered rivulets. How could he ever feel whole again.

He remembered Rothinzil playing with him and them reaching majority together, mentally as much as physically, even though Legolas was five-hundred years older, he still was a child at heart until Roth 'grew-up'.There was so much they had shared and so much that they knew about each other -worst fears to humiliating secrets used as blackmail. They had promised to be best friends forever, but now that was impossible. Why did it seem to him that all his best friends, the people he really cared about, would leave him someday?

Estel would die someday, and he knew that day it would rain. It would rain cold and bleak somewhere in Middle Earth, perhaps the place Aragorn loved most, in the North it would rain. In the runes of Rivendell, it would rain and all the memories and familiar sights would be washed away. Perhaps, when he was older, he wouldn't remember his friends anymore. Perhaps all these memories he thought he would cherish forever would disappear with the changing of the seasons.Maybe one day he would forget everything, maybe after he had gone into the West.

Shivering Legolas wondered what Rothinzil would look like…stilled. He was always doing something obnoxious or humorous, Legolas did not think it was possible that one day his friend would never laugh again. Rothinzil was going to die after Helluin…unless he was murdered or something of the like…and Legolas knew he would not die of old age, but of a heart broken beyond repair. He did not want to see Rothinzil…crushed.

Legolas also had a hard time picturing Estel…dead, Hope, dead. It was a shocking thought that seamed impossible but he knew that one day it would happen. He would linger here as Aragorn drifted away and his life was changed forever. Aragorn was always doing something to make him laugh when he was feeling blue or being eager to learn and lend his aid where he could. He could not imagine this curious and joyful child, as he considered the man to be, lost to him. Legolas could not picture holding the cold hand of the body of the greatest man he had ever known.

Sleep stole over him, his weariness catching up with him and he drifted thankfully into nothingness. He was too fatigued for dreams and he doubted that they would be more than nightmares for the rest of his life.

>>>>>>>>

Glorfindel shifted Erestor in his arms and nearly jumped as the dark-haired Elf muttered, "its so dark. Dark, dark, dark, and cold, very cold." The counselor began to shiver and Glorfindel stopped, laying Erestor gently on the ground, taking care not to bump his friend's head.

Unclasping his cloak, he laid it on the ground. Smoothing it out and then he placed Erestor's now stilled body on top of it, wrapping him in its folds.

Jerking his head as he heard a harsh cry of an orc that had picked up their scent, Glorfindel picked up Erestor once more and pulled him close. The counselor cried out deliriously, "there are wargs loose in the woods. There are wargs loose in the woods!" Glorfindel knew to what Erestor was referring and it didn't make him feel any better.

Running on down the corridor he nearly slammed into Celebalda, Caranfëa, Shaalth and Elméra. "The orcs have broken through!" he stammered.

"We know, how are we going to get out? Where are all the men?" asked Caranfëa in a breath. Celebalda remained silent, holding Shaalth, who was passed out in his arms. Elméra looked nervously about.

Before Glorfindel could answer the red-haired Elf's question she blurted out in a choking voice, "where is Rothinzil?" Her bright eyes searched the darkness in a worried fashion and Glorfindel knew what she was thinking.

"He went with Legolas to get Estel. He will come back, I promise you. Knowing him he will just be late about doing it." Glorfindel winced and wished he had forced Rothinzil to come with him.

"Why didn't you stop him?" she asked sharply and spun around in the darkness as the orcs screams drew nearer and the screams of the men mingled with the cries of the foul creatures. "He could be dead!" she seethed.

"My Lady," said Glorfindel, "we must be going or be killed ourselves, come!" Caranfëa gripped her hand and pulled her after him.

The companions ran on until they came to the grate that barred their way past the entrance.

Glorfindel kicked it and growled, "Why was I this stupid? I knew we would never escape, but no, I had to light that false hope and…" the rest of his words were completely inaudible. Nobody dared to guess what he had said.

Caranfëa wrinkled his brow as he stared the grate down. It was rather bleak and foreboding now that he really looked at it. He could easily see how it had trapped the Elves and ranger in a state of panic but now that their heads were cleared, they may be able to find a way to lift it.

"I think we may be able to find a way to bring it up," muttered the redhead grimly. He glanced at Glorfindel who was nodding his head in thought.

"We might were we as strong as cave trolls," he said morbidly.

"If we don't we are going to get killed or worse," said Celebalda glumly. He looked at Shaalth's white face and said, "it is my responsibility to get my men to safety."

Caranfëa's glare deepened and he looked at the stone surrounding the entrance. Large rocks were along the door, and he saw a few places were they had slid free, making mounds of dust and small pebbles in their wake.

Going over, he kicked a large stone and after a few more kicks it broke free, creating a large sized hole. It was still not large enough for even him to make through. He kicked and many more stones fell out, sliding and clinking as they crumbled.

The hole was larger, and it would be a squeeze, but all of the Elves could eventually fit through it. He looked back and then slipped through it, he was free. But he wasn't going to leave without his father or his companions.

Glorfindel forced Elméra through next, knowing that she wouldn't leave if she wasn't forced. She would never willingly let Rothinzil do this on his own never knowing if he would return. She whispered back to the Gondolin Elf, "quickly, hand me Erestor."

The golden-haired Elf hesitated before carefully handing Erestor through to her. She gripped him and then set him in the sand of the cave floor a little further back. Glorfindel slithered through and then turned around took Shaalth from Celebalda.

Celebalda slithered through and they were all out.

Glorfindel looked at the entranceway and he gasped, "we are going to have to collapse it or be followed. We cannot allow the orcs to escape." He looked back at his friends and said, "Legolas, Estel and Rothinzil would have it no other way. We cannot get them, they are beyond our aid, our only hope is that they can find another way out."

Elméra shut her eyes and a sob shook her. She couldn't lose her beloved Rothinzil now. But she had to do this or let Erestor, Shaalth and the other Elves get cut down in the snow. What is, is what must be and she knew it. Either way she felt like she was committing a murder.

Going over with tears streaming down her face she helped them to kick the loose stones and collapse the tunnel entrance, dust turned to a thin layer of mud as it mixed with her tears. She was never going to see Rothinzil again and she felt like a dagger had been ran through her heart, shattering it. To her the pieces were never going to be mended unless he could relax in his strong arms, the arms of a warrior, again. They were such a comfort to her, knowing he would always protect her.

They could hear the screams of men as their own plans backfired on them and the orcs slaughtered them, ripping their corpses apart.

Celebalda wept as he thought of his warrior's bodies and the body of Thalionril in especial. He could not bear the thought that those foul creatures had marred it beyond recognition. It was enough to make him sick.

A loud rumble and the door to the mines came down in a puff of dust. Once the debris and dust settled all the companions looked upon it and sorrow and wonder. They were alive and had just sentenced their friends to death. It was a strange misery.

All were crying. Celebalda and Glorfindel gathered Erestor and Shaalth up and then all six departed, stumbling into the sunlight. It was blinding and they faltered, collapsing into the snow. Glorfindel clutched Erestor close to him and cried bitterly for the first time in a long time as he realized the fate of Estel, Legolas and Rothinzil.

Caranfëa stood on top of a snowdrift, looking towards the sun and blinking dumbly. He hadn't seen it in so long. It was beautiful and yet he would rather be in the dark, with Legolas, his prince, dying. Looking away from his friends and father, he let the tears slip down his dirty cheeks in tainted runnels, for the first time in years.

It seemed that in the end the friends were all robbed of the joys of freedom. It was bittersweet and had more bitterness than anything.

>>>>>>

Rothinzil sat in the dark, realizing that he was going to die here and that Legolas wouldn't live forever either. He felt tears bubbling up in his throat and behind his eyes. Legolas didn't deserve this. He didn't care about himself anymore, but he wished Legolas were free. He wished that he knew someone would be there to take care of Helluin.

He held Aragorn in his lap and murmured, "I am so sorry Estel, I couldn't save you or Legolas. We are going to die down here. The only good thing is we are beyond the orcs." And that actually was some comfort.

Suddenly, he heard a strange noise over head, like thunder but it wasn't that at all. It was the sound of many feet. The orcs must have found a way out. That was the only logical explanation.

A loud discord filled the air, like the screech of a Nazgul but he recognized it immediately by its far softer tone. Naneth! His horse was above them with possibly other horses. Hushing even his own breathing, the dark-haired being sat up straighter, listening as the horses danced above.

Suddenly, light mingled with snow filtered down and dirt with ice crashed down upon all the companions. A surprised shriek came from one of the horses, which hurriedly jerked its foot out of the small grotto it had found. Suddenly it stuck its nose, grey and soft down into the darkness of its discovery.

"Naneth! My darling horse, its Rothinzil," murmured Roth as the horse pressed her nose into his hair and even went so far as the lick and chew gently on the dark locks. He gently set Aragorn down and wedged himself out of the hole, using his shoulders to shove more dirt clear, enlarging it.

Nickering, the mare mouthed the Elf's ears and seemed to chide him for being gone so long. He pushed her face aside lovingly and then he went back down into the darkness to pull out Legolas -or wake him. He could pull himself out and help pull Aragorn up.

Gently tapping Legolas' shoulder he woke the blonde Elf quietly. Legolas glanced up and seeing the sunlight, he jerked up too quickly and bumped his head on the low dirt ceiling. Cursing under his breath, for he already possessed a seemingly lethal headache, the prince inquired with surprise lacing his weak voice alongside a pinch of gratitude mingled with awe, "how did you do it, Roth? You are truly a marvel!"

The dark haired Elf smiled as he teased, "so I have been told." Sighing he muttered, "and watch your head. One unconscious person is enough!"

Legolas glared and then crawling over peeked his head through the hole, letting the sunlight fall upon his face, warming it. He closed his eyes, ready to bath in the long lost and loved light. Ignoring Rothinzil's cries from below to get his head down, the prince continued to bask in his new found freedom. But a sharp nudge in the back of his head jolted him out of his dream land and he felt hot air being snorted down his neck.

Turning around he saw his dapple horse staring him in the face. "Hello old girl," he said soothingly. "Did you miss me then?" He raised his brows and actually laughed as the mare nibbled extremely delicately on his ear.

Pulling himself out, the blonde Elf turned back down and called, "hand me up Estel!"

Roth narrowed his eyes, suspecting Legolas was not half as strong as he thought he was and wouldn't be able to bear Estel. But he wasn't about to argue.

Carefully gathering the passed out man in his arms, he tenderly handed him up to Legolas who received him with as much care as though he held a tiny butterfly.

Staring down into the face of Aragorn as Rothinzil climbed out, Legolas said, "you can wake up now. Please. We are free. We escaped. The sunlight is shining down on us and she is glad. Please wake, my friend." His hands trembled as he checked Aragorn's neck for any sign of even a weak pulse.

Roth placed his hands on Legolas' shoulders and murmured gently, "Mandos does no more than his appointed task, Legolas. Aragorn will be well," he finished as he realized the prince could not detect a pulse.

He watched as Legolas' blue eyes glazed over as though a misty veil was drawn over them and the Elf collapsed into the snow. Rolling him over, Rothinzil saw the face of his friend and liege was very pale. He was begging with fate that Legolas had not just died.

Shaking like a leaf, he felt for a pulse and felt one, to his astonished joy. "Legolas, we are all three going to be fine. We will be found." He felt his own wound hurting and his own weariness catching up finally as his adrenaline died away.

He knelt in the snow and realizing Legolas was without a tunic, he took off the cloak stolen by Helluin for him and laid it on the frosty ground before rolling Legolas up in it. Then, his strength gave out and he slipped into darkness, falling across Legolas' resting body.

TBC……..Well now, -glances over chapter-. Is that an evil cliffy? Yummy. Nothing like an evil cliffy. They can really make your day... ur -our day. LOL

Please review and tell us what you think, as this is the second to last chapter. Aragorn fans, don't give up. Next story is a little more biased towards the ranger, called Estel. :)

Review Responses:) Thank you for each and everyone of these.

Leela 74: We are making you like Legolas? Wow! Well, the next story may be more to your liking if you remain a sucker for ranger pain. Aww…thanks. We really try to bring out the character of the characters. –that sentence sounds so strange-. As they saw, practice makes perfect. Ummm…very interesting family tree. So you might be moving over here? Do you have any idea where yet? Thanks for the inspiring review.

Linuvial Greenleaf: Hey, nice to see you back. You are still one of our favs! Kickboxing, eh? Wow! That's awesome. Hope it is going well. Yes, well, not too much Estel angst in this one, but fear not, our next story strongly focuses on him and it has lots of graphic violence. :) Wow! That sentence was that good, huh? Thank you so much. Wow! We feel honored, really. Thanks for that very wonderful and encouraging review.

Deana: Yes! Thank God indeed!However, they managed to find trouble…again! Thanks for the kind review.

lil Cwick: You flatter us! But thanks so much for the sweet review!

Marie Delcore: We are not mean! We resent that very much mellon nin! LOL Erestor had already lost his mind. Hehehehehehe. At least, so one would think. Shallth liked it, we swear he asked us to torture him. Thanks for the review mellon nin.

elitenschwein:Oh we agree, totally satisfying, he deserved to die. No, mobs with pointy objects are not on our want-to-show-up-on-on-doorstep-list. However a certain Elf and ranger are. Hmmmm...yes, he may or may not be in this chapter too much, but we felt this chapter was a bit too brief. Yup, next story will be much more even. Thanks for the review.

Sindauviel: Elvish for something along the lines of Grey Bird? Very nice, really. It has a nice ring to it. What a question. Well, he might be okay, might. That is if our evil side submits, which it probably won't. Thanks for the review.

Shadowfox8: Hehehehe, okay sure, we would love to check out your story as soon as we get a spare moment. Why not? 'Dark Rose' sounds like an awesome title. Thanks for the review.