Disclaimer: Well since their not willing to sell, I guess they are not mine. (pout, pout, pout)
Reviewer Responses:
Karone Evertree: My own little world. I like the sound of that. Man I need to do something original soon. But for now I'll borrow Tolkein's characters. I hate it when you really get into a story then you get to the end of the page and realize there is no more after that. It's like buying a book only to find someone has torn out the last five pages. So I guess I need to update soon. Oh and don't feel bad I'm usually in a daze when I write too.
Well I think I have about 5 or 6 more chapters for this one, and there is also a sequel in mind. So I better get to it.
Pain Is More Than Skin Deep
Another day dawned, but for Atavus, who hadn't seen sunlight since she had been brought to Dol Guldur, it seemed as if the world was becoming a very dark place. She remembered what she had told Legolas. Him and Estel had brought the sunlight to her existence, but she had not seen them in what seemed like forever, and every part of her life seemed dark now. She was no longer sure how much time had passed. She knew it could not be very many days. She wanted to see her friends, but she knew that if she did it would mean that it was their turn to be tortured. It had hurt her heart to watch as Elladan and Elrohir had been tortured, but it would be so much harder if it were Legolas or Estel.
When the orcs came to get her she fought harder than she had every remembered fighting. She was weakened by the lack of food and water, but she struggled knowing one of her friends would be waiting in the Nazgul's chamber. She had scratched, bit, clawed, and kicked at the orcs who had brought her to the chamber, which had only gained her more bruises. A couple of the orcs had faired worse than her though, which did bring her a sort of perverse pleasure. She was roughly thrown to the floor where she spit out the foul orc blood she had just drawn with her teeth. She rolled onto her back keeping her eyes closed for a moment. But she had to see which friend she would have to watch tortured that day. When she opened her eyes she was horrified to see Legolas dangling from chains that had been attached to the ceiling in the middle of the room. He had dark bruises forming on his bare chest, and his lip was split and bleeding. Obviously she wasn't the only one who had fought.
She could not control the small groaning noise she made caused by the absolute dread at what would happen next. This made the Nazgul cackle with laughter. "So does this one mean more to you than the others?" She just shook her head. "I think he does. Maybe today will be the day that you finally give in."
"She will never give in you fiend." Legolas sneered at the wraith. "She's too strong for that." He smiled at Atavus showing her his faith in her. He wished he could tell her that they had a plan of escape. The thought would have helped her resolve, but she would just have to find it in herself to survive what was to come.
She was going to break. She could feel it in her heart and soul. She couldn't watch anymore. She wished Legolas' words were true, but she knew she was not as strong as he professed. She got to her knees and looked up at him. She opened her mouth to say that she couldn't do it anymore, but the look in his eyes stopped her. He had complete and utter trust in her. He smiled and said something she did not expect. "We all have to sacrifice something to make it through in the end." She thought of his words a moment. She had sacrificed in the woods, so the attention was on her, and not them. Elladan and Elrohir had sacrificed part of themselves for their people, and in a way for her. She did not blame them for accepting the torture. She would have done the same to keep Rivendell safe. And she now realized that both Legolas and Estel felt the same. The people of Rivendell were not there to defend themselves. So her friends, and herself would have to do that for them, and the sacrifice was well worth it.
She stood upright, and held her chin high giving him a small nod. Whatever the day might bring she would be strong. She would still grieve later when alone, but for now she would not give in.
The Nazgul made a deep growling noise. He could see that this elf would have to be silenced. His words gave her strength that would deter his own plans. He ordered the elf to be gagged. He hadn't done that with the others hoping that they would scream.
She could see that a strange mechanism had been brought into the room and was positioned several feet from where Legolas was chained. The orcs placed her on the opposite side of the contraption from Legolas. She was held there while a rope was tightly fastened around his ankles, the other end of the rope was fastened to a hook on the side of a spindle on the machine. They then used a handle on the side of the spindle to tighten all the slack in the rope beginning to stretch Legolas' long body. They then hooked another rope to the handle, and attached it to a pulley system above them. There was another rope hanging from the pulley system. It had a loop at the end that was chained to the floor at the moment. She began to understand the concept of the machine. If that chain was freed the weights attached to the spindle would stretch Legolas' already taught body. It was a horrible form of torture. It would not be hard to dislocate his shoulders, or stretch precious muscle tissue, which would be hard to heal.
The Nazgul motioned to one of the orcs to remove the chain. She could see how much trouble the creature had holding onto the rope after the chain was removed. The orc was strong, but the weights attached to the spindle pulled the rope up spinning the spindle and stretching Legolas even further. She could see the strained look on his face.
"Now it is your turn girl." The Nazgul said with a sickening sweet voice. She looked from the wraith to the orc before her. She was suddenly shoved forward. The orc holding the rope slipped the looped end around her wrist and let go. She was immediately jerked upwards by the mechanism, putting more tension on the ropes around Legolas' ankles. She saw this, and dropped to her knees pulling the rope with her, loosening some of the tension on Legolas. Her arm was stretched upward, but she would not dream of letting go of the rope. She had a good hold on the rope, and knew it wouldn't slip from her wrist. She began to think this would not be as hard as she thought. Her arm would become extremely sore, but she could block that pain out, to keep Legolas safe. She didn't know how wrong she was.
She remained that way for quite awhile. No one in the room said anything. She could just see Legolas' face. She could tell, light as he was, that his own weight was pulling at his muscles, stretching him some, but it was bearable.
She was startled when the Nazgul spoke. "Are you getting sore? Tired maybe? Or possibly just bored?" She didn't like the sound of the taunting words. "I know I said that you weren't going to be harmed child, but I'm afraid it will be necessary for this experiment." She heard the whip snap, but was shocked to feel the leather sting her back. Her body jerked up trying to get away from the stinging instrument, but she stopped herself seeing that the ropes stretched tighter on Legolas. She clasped the rope as tight as she could willing her hands not to sweat, She couldn't let the rope slip from her fingers.
She remained completely still as the orc captain stood behind her laying the lash to her back time and again. The only reaction she allowed was the blinking of her eyes every time she heard the snap of the whip. She knew she had to try to push the pain away, but it was so much more difficult while she was trying to concentrate on holding the rope that held her friends fate. This continued for what seemed like an eternity. She could feel the blood flowing down her back but she focused her attention on Legolas. She watched his eyes trying to get lost in their blue depths. She had managed to block the pain out of her system, and wore a completely relaxed expression on her face, which angered the Nazgul.
She did not see when the Nazgul nodded to the orc captain, but she did see Legolas' eyes widen as he saw the orc behind her pick up a spiked mace. She felt the mace strike her side puncturing the skin and fracturing ribs. It was too much. She screamed and to her own horror she felt the rope slip from her fingers. She could see the tension on the rope around Legolas' ankles double, and she heard the muffled scream, coming from behind his gag, as both his shoulders were dislocated.
She did something then she would have never imagined possible. She was not being held by any of the orcs and she had surprise on her side. She turned on the orc behind her shoving him to the floor and grabbing the sword he wore at his side. Uglúk was sure she would skewer him then and there, but instead she turned and stalked to where Legolas was writhing in pain against the ropes. She brought the sword up and swung slicing the rope that held his ankles. He swung backwards hanging from the ceiling, back where he was when she first was brought to the room. The other orcs regained their senses and rushed her. She remained in front of Legolas slicing anything that came within three feet of her position. The pain coming from her ribs was excruciating, but she didn't care. She was killing the foul beasts that had tormented her, and her friends, and she enjoyed it. She didn't care if they killed her as long as she got to take as many of them with her as possible, when they did.
"I want her alive." The Nazgul hissed, which brought quite a few groans from the orcs trying to disarm her. She continued fighting the orcs as they came at her, but missed the presence of the orc slipping up behind them.
"Drop it, or the elf dies." She heard from behind her. She turned to see Uglúk holding a knife to Legolas' throat. She muttered a curse in elvish.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." She spat at him, and then threw the sword to the floor.
"Yes you should have." He gave her an evil smile. The other orcs grasped her. "You continuously try to best me, but you never manage to finish the job freak. And your friends pay the price for your ineptitude. Oh and by the way, I told you I'd hear you scream."
She wanted to scratch his eyes out, but deep down she knew he was right. Everything she did seemed to bring pain to her friends. She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered Legolas' gagged scream as she let go of the rope. He was suffering, and it was her fault. She didn't fight anymore, as she was lead back to her cell. She actually welcomed the deserted cell. She collapsed on the floor wrapping her arms around her broken ribs. She didn't cry. She had no more tears. She just felt dead inside.
Legolas was carried into the cell and thrown to the floor. Aragorn could immediately see he was in trouble. The gag had been removed from his mouth, and he unintentionally screamed pulling both his arms to his sides protectively. "Mellon-nin, what have they done to you?" His hair, which had come loose from his normal braids, was covering his face. Aragorn pulled the hair away, and was shocked to see tears streaming from his friends eyes. "By the Valar Legolas, what did they do?"
Legolas said nothing groaning, from the continued pain in his shoulders. Aragorn could see rope burns around his wrists and ankles. Elladan and Elrohir held Legolas down as Aragorn checked his shoulders. He could tell they were both badly dislocated. "Legolas I have to relocate your shoulders." Legolas nodded his head, but still said nothing.
Garin entered the cell then, and saw what was happening. He immediately went to Aragorn's pack removing the pain-killing herb he had seen the human give to Elrohir the day before. "Let me have it. He needs to chew it. The pain is too great." He placed the leaves in Legolas mouth instructing his friend to chew. A few minutes passed and Legolas' eyes became unfocused as the herb took affect. With the help of the twins Aragorn relocated both of Legolas' shoulders. "Where else hurts?" He asked.
"All over." Every muscle in his body had been strained or pulled in one way or another, and his entire body ached. He didn't even have the strength to lie to his friend.
"Tell us what happened." Aragorn said as he pushed Legolas back against Elrohir so he could rest. He could see the haunted look in Legolas' eyes.
Legolas recounted the story to his friends. Part of the way through Garin stood and began to pace the cell, listening to what they did to Atavus. He worried even more whether she would survive until they could put their escape plan in motion.
"She's hurt and she's alone." Legolas said finishing the tale. He was angry, angry with himself for not being able to help her. "How can she make it through another day?"
"Legolas, I'm as upset as you are. But we can do nothing for her now. We have to wait until the Nazgul is gone." Aragorn said stating the horrible truth.
"There is something that I can do." Garin said with quiet resolve in his voice.
Several minutes later Garin crept silently up to the cell door they were keeping Atavus in. He looked around nervously knowing it would mean his death if he was caught near the Master's private cell, but it was a risk he had to take. He could not get in the cell. The key was in the Master's chamber, but there was a very small sliding plate in the door so passing guards could look in on the prisoner. Garin was glad that most orcs were short so he was tall enough to see in the window. There was very little to no light in the hallway, and none whatsoever in the cell.
"Atavus." He said just above a whisper. He could hear rustling noises in the cell. "I have a message for you, from your friends."
Her voice came back to him, and it seemed almost desperate. "What do they say?"
"Legolas said to tell you these words." He continued in broken elvish. "Gar nan galad. Avo gwanno men." They meant. 'Hold to the light. Do not leave us.' "Don't give up hope girl. We have a plan. You must make it through two more days. Your friends will come get you on the second night." He never imagined he would speak elvish one day, but at that moment he would say anything to give her the much-needed hope he offered.
"Who are you?" She didn't recognize the whispered voice even though she felt as if she should. She instinctively trusted it. She would hold hope.
"Just a friend." He couldn't tell her yet who he was. They did not have the time it would take to explain.
"Please tell them this. Im garo estel. They will understand."
He closed the window on his dear friend and returned to the prisoner's cell. "She said to tell you Im garo estel. What does that mean?"
Estel sighed hearing the words. "It means, I have hope. She will make it."
