Chapter XXIII: Brothers

But when the Uruk's blade came down, Legolas defended himself by reaching for his other knife and the sound of the metal clashing seemed to make the sand vibrate."You see?" it said with a wiry smile and it swung its blade across Legolas' stomach, making him recoil back to avoid the blow. "Not so hard."

Legolas' fingers were trembling and the blood seemed to run out of his hand. The Uruk-hai attacked in a series of movements, but Legolas knew the reply to them all. He had been taught, long ago.

"Legolas, King of Mirkwood, king of the Elves that die," it mocked, no longer surprised by the Elf's accuracy, but intrigued. "Fight for your people!" It brought its sword across again and Legolas jumped back.

"No, not against you," the archer refused to comply.

"What is it about Lurtz that frightens you?" Lurtz said as though he were speaking to a child. He swung hard.

Legolas tried to challenge the sword with his knife, but fell to the sand and felt the creeping water beneath his fingertips. "It is not Lurtz."

Aragorn stood back, unsure whether to run with Merry and Boromir or stay. He was unarmed; there was no good he could do for Legolas.

"Go, Human. My business is no longer with you, though you cannot run forever," Lurtz said, swiping his blade under Legolas' chin. "Go."

Aragorn lifted Merry out of the sand and stood momentarily with Boromir. They stared at their companion for a moment then disappeared into the forest.

"Will they grieve for you when they find your body?" Lurtz asked, tilting his head in sick curiosity.

Legolas felt his fingers beginning to loose from their grip and tightened his hold until his finger hurt. "I thought you wanted a fight."

"I do." Lurtz grabbed Legolas' collar and held him above the ground then dropped him to his feet. He attacked and was blocked every time. "How do you do that?"

Legolas dodged left. "I was trained the same way you were."

Lurtz laughed and withdrew his sword momentarily. "I highly doubt that."

Legolas tried to look everywhere except at Lurtz except when he had to. His back was to the river again after numerous rotations around the tiny bank. He waited for another attack, unable to attack himself.

"Do my eyes deceive me or does the Elven scum cry?" Lurtz did not pause this time.

"I cry," Legolas answered with a trembling voice. "I cry because you do not remember."

Lurtz kicked Legolas' weak ankle and drew the end of his sword in a thin line across the Elf's back. "What do I not remember?"

"Who you are, Calen," Legolas replied. His voice did not even grow louder with pain.

Lurtz halted completely, his eyebrows crossed quizzically. He was about to behead his prey when a signal came from inside the forest. "Pray you do not see me again, Highness."

(…)

"We must go back," Boromir said, following Aragorn through the maze-like forest, pushing invading branches away and stepping over logs. "We cannot leave him to fight on his own. It will be his death."

"Wait until we find the others," Aragorn said with extreme calmness that revealed how miserable he was inside. He glanced down at Merry, who was awake but had not said a word. "Then we will go back for Legolas."

"I will go back—"

"You are unarmed, Boromir. As am I. We would be of no aid," Aragorn said. His eyes ran along the shoreline until they fell upon a dull orange glow. "I believe we have found them." He started to run.

(…)

Sam sat up. "Did you hear that?"

Frodo and Pippin looked at him. "Hear what?"

"There's somethin' in there…"

Gimli stood up and grabbed his axe. "Show yourself," he muttered, prepared to face a battalion of Orcs.

Aragorn, Merry and Boromir burst through the thicket of branches and leaves.

"Merry!" Pippin cried. He slapped his hands over his mouth when he realized how loud he had been. When Aragorn set the hobbit down with his friends Pippin embraced him.

"Where's the Elf?" Gimli asked, lowering his axe.

Aragorn searched for his things and adorned himself with his sword. "I am going back to retrieve him."

"Back where? What happened?" Gimli asked Aragorn's back. "Aragorn!"

(…)

Legolas ran, ignoring the pain in his leg when he knew it would pain him greatly later. He tripped several times and was stabbed by intruding branches. The knives on his back made metallic noises in their sheaths after being put away haphazardly and threatening to fall out and be lost. Tears streamed down his cheeks. This was far worse than if Calen had tied. He had been poisoned, corrupted in the worst way; had a hand in the deaths of so many people. It was Calen who nearly drowned Aragorn, Calen who brought Êlanna within an inch of her life, probably Calen who led the hunt for Thranduil and Ithil.

Prince Calen, eldest of the fourteen, the only with green eyes. The green eyes that Eryn had inherited.

He is not Calen anymore.

Legolas collided directly with Aragorn, but did not have the strength to knock the Man over.

"Legolas, are you alright?"

Bowing his head to hide his tears, Legolas shook his head and was guided to the Fellowship's camp.

(…)

"Please, Legolas! Hold on!" Calen screamed, his voice heightened by his terror. He put his mouth to the wound again and sucked out the blood then spit it on the floor.

Legolas lay on his back. The damp stone numbed the fresh whip-lashes on his back, but did nothing for his arm. A cut ran from the middle of his bicep to the middle of his forearm and was riddled with a deadly poison. Legolas could feel his lungs turning to stone, felt his heart beginning to stop…

When he woke up Calen was sitting beside him, pale from the number of times he vomited poison out of himself, but smiling thankfully. "Thank the Valar," he said, green eyes glittering with tears. He had already lost four brothers; to lose any more would break his soul.

"You saved me…"

"I will always save you."

(…)

Legolas cringed as Aragorn washed the cut on his back, silently crying.

"Legolas, why was he so set on fighting you?"

Unable to answer without showing how much pain he was in, the Elf remained silent. He was thankful Aragorn did not ask again. They returned to the others.

"You alright, Master Elf?" Gimli asked when he saw the bandages around his stomach, the one on his arm and one that stretched over Legolas' shoulder.

Again, Legolas could not reply. He pulled a fresh tunic over his shoulders a fastened the front. For a moment he found the strength to speak. "Not at all, Gimli."

"Care to talk about it?" Boromir asked, remembering the look of liberation on the Elf's face the last time he had explained what was wrong.

"My brother tried to kill me," Legolas said flatly, faintly. He touched the pendant around his neck, but did not feel the comfort he had when he first touched it, as though his family was astonished as well and could offer no words of comfort.

"Brother?" Aragorn asked and then it occurred to him. "Legolas, please forgive me for leaving. I did not know—"

"Do not apologize, Aragorn. If you had stayed you would have been dead," Legolas said with a few more tears.

"That thing was your brother?" Boromir asked breathlessly as though the shock had pushed it out of him.

"Yes." Legolas put his fingers to his lips and swallowed hard.

"Was your brother, Legolas," Aragorn said, setting a hand on his shoulder. "That is not Calen anymore."

"He fights like Calen, threatens like Calen, breathes like Calen," Legolas said. Another flood of tears threatened to spill.

"But he is not Calen," Aragorn emphasized.

"Eryn has his eyes. That green… the colour of a living place, the colour Mirkwood was. He looked at me with those eyes intent on killing me." A few tears escaped.

Aragorn watched Legolas as though he were on a rack having his bones and muscles ripped away from each other. He embraced him. "Lurtz is not Calen, Legolas."

I will always save you.

A/N – There. Less of a cliffhanger.