The Mission Impossible theme tune starts up. In walks Star, new chapter in hand, hoping to place chapter up quietly and hope that people just think they missed an update which happened ages ago. Unfortunately for the said author, hundreds of angry reviewers turn on spotlights, sirens, and release the hounds...
Amunet; Lol!
The one called Anarya; Thanks! ; ) Sorry I took SO long...
Manders1953; Is it? I swear it was the other way round... –feels confused-
Mellaithwen; WELL I'M GLAD YOU WERE HAPPY! AND I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY AGAIN!
shadowfox8; Ooh, you've made me go bright red! Yup, Legolas is evil, and he's about to do a VERY EVIL THING in this chapter... sorry I made you wait so long! But I hope you like this chapter...
Coolio02; Thanks!
Stoneage Woman; Lol! Well, I hope the author alerts are working now...
Kyliah; OK!
Wren Birgitte; Lol; well, this story is written in order to freak people out!
WestieLab; Thanks!
Nessa Ar-Feiniel; Ok.
TO EVERYONE!
I guess I've been caught... yes; it's been a long time, no update, I know, and if I'm honest I'm really rather ashamed of myself... I've been looking over my track record and I've decided that I started too many stories at once, which are still in dire need of completion, and so I've decided to tie up all my loose ends before writing any brand new stories. Hopefully, this means I should be able to get all my current WIPs finished before starting any new fics! ; ) Ok? I only realised HOW long it's taken me to update this by looking at a review reply for the last chapter. I was 14 the last time I put one up. I'm now 15. –hangs head in shame-
So, without further delay...
.: Chapter Four :.
When Aragorn opened his eyes, he was immediately aware that they were no longer in a safe world.
The land looked as though someone had painted it brightly, and then sucked it dry of all life and colour, draining it, leaving only an empty shell of a world and a glimmer of a distant memory. A wispy mist clung to the barren ground, broken only by twisted thorn bushes and clumps of dry brown grass. Everything was grey and cold. Even the sky was a stormy colour, no stars, no moon, and no sun. He couldn't tell what time of day it was.
This was the Shadow Realm.
The former Ranger shivered at the tremendous cold he felt. He could see his breath misting slightly every time he breathed out.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked turning, expecting to see Gimli and Tathiel. Instead, he was filled with utter horror as he realised he was completely alone...
-
Tathiel hesitated as she opened her eyes, not sure whether she wanted to really see this world. As the landscape came into view, she gasped. This was a dead world, a cold world; for an Elf this was sheer hell.
Gimli rose up alongside her and shook his head numbly. "Worse than I thought..." he whispered gruffly. Tathiel simply nodded.
The Dwarf turned to see where their other companion had gotten to and was more than a little alarmed when he realised that Aragorn was nowhere to be seen.
"Aragorn! ARAGORN!"
Tathiel also turned at Gimli's cries. "Where is he! He was right with us!"
Gimli looked about frantically. "We have to find him," he said quickly. "Who knows what's in this blasted place, and now he's away out a-wandering on his own!"
Tathiel tried to think. "Perhaps if we look around, we may find him?" she suggested. Gimli shook his head.
"No lass; look around you! You see how vast this place is! Surely you've heard of the phrase, 'needle in a haystack', aye?"
Tathiel conceded. Gimli was right; they would never find Aragorn that way. After all, it was like her father had always told her; "To head north, south, east and west to find one person would be useless; not only is there but a one in four chance of finding them, but people walk and are curious; they could move on before you find them..."
"Then... what do we do?" she asked, looking at Gimli sadly. In her heart, she knew that should Aragorn encounter the same trials as Legolas had, he barely stood a chance, and that was hurtful indeed. She wanted no-one with such a good heart to go through what her brother had...
Gimli shook his head and sighed heartily. "I... don't know..."
-
Aragorn stumbled across the dead land. As he tripped yet again, he cursed this place. It was almost as if the land was pitching this way and that, forcing him to fall. The mist was a never ending blanket in front of him, rolling along with him and concealing the ground from his view.
He only wanted to find Gimli and Tathiel. Little did he know that he was about to find so much more...
As he took a step forward, having just regained his footing, Aragorn suddenly found himself falling again. The ground had suddenly dropped out from underneath him; the cursed mist had hidden the steep hill from sight.
As he rolled over again and again, Aragorn felt small rocks bite into his skin. The world span, round and round, and he found himself wondering if this would ever end.
Then suddenly, it did. He was left sprawled out on the ground, gasping for air. He felt relatively unhurt, although a little stupid. Staring up at the sky from the position on his back, Aragorn saw nothing; the sky was just a monotonous grey. Dreary, dull grey...
"Hello Aragorn."
Aragorn looked up sharply to see someone standing there whom he had never thought he would see.
"Legolas?" he asked, amazed. A smile broke over his face and he picked himself up from the floor. "You're alright! Come, quickly, we need to-"
"Shut up human," snapped the Elf, cutting him off.
Aragorn's smile disappeared completely; he was stunned. Legolas had never spoken to him like that before; nay, he had never spoken to anyone like that before!
"Legolas?"
And then he remembered Gandalf's words.
...in the Shadow Realm, it is possible to turn anyone into a betrayer, a traitor... even someone like Legolas. I do not know how, but Saurar has now gained possession of a very powerful magic; the ability to control minds yet still make the mind concerned believe it is of their own free will...
He couldn't believe it. He had tried so hard to convince himself that the wizened Istari was wrong, that he was mistaken, but in the end it was his own mind and stubbornness that had betrayed him.
Gandalf had been right all along.
Now that he truly understood the situation, Aragorn wondered how he could have been so blindly foolish.
"Because you always have been," said Legolas in a low intimidating voice. Aragorn stared at him.
"How did you know what I was thinking!" he demanded. Legolas smirked.
"It's a rather drab thing, being a spirit, but it has its perks," he said. "Including mind reading. Quite a gift, don't you think?"
As he said this, he drew a wicked looking long knife, the blade of which glinted in some unknown darkened light. He held it up clearly in Aragorn's view. The former Ranger suddenly realised what it was; a twisted parody of Legolas' old white handled knives. This new knife handle was black, as was the blade, and there was only one, but there was no mistaking it.
"Rather pretty, agree?" said Legolas matter-of-factly. "Though it is quite sharp." He laughed, no longer sweet and melodious but cracked and broken, soft and sinister.
Aragorn shook his head, despairing. "I don't want to fight you."
Legolas sighed sarcastically. "It is a shame then, that the feeling isn't mutual!"
With a sudden lunge, he swiped at Aragorn, who in turn managed to draw his sword just in time and parried the blow. The force made him stumble back a little, and Legolas took the opportunity to try and strike again.
The knife left a long slash down Aragorn's sword arm and he hissed with the pain. The blades clashed together and became stuck together, and Legolas leant forward as they both fought against one another; one to attack, the other to defend.
"Give up," he snarled. "This is my world now."
"Why are you doing this!" cried Aragorn. Nothing made sense to him anymore...
Legolas voice dropped to a low whisper, and his eyes narrowed. "Because I can..."
-
He watched the scene unfold through the Elf's eyes. It was a magnificent thing to behold; friend attacking friend, and Saurar relished in it. This was what he lived for, what he was willing to die for... the sheer thrill of watching others suffer so.
Dilathnior stood quietly in the corner, awaiting instruction. Saurar had called her to his chamber; a vast dark room that stretched so far in every direction, it seemed that there were no walls at all. She felt a mixed ripple of fear and admiration shoot through her as her lord swept down the stairs of his throne and approached her.
The spirit bowed low before her master. "You sent for me?"
Saurar nodded. "That I did, she-Elf," he said. Clicking the fingernails of his right hand together, he opened his hand, from which smoke began to rise from. The smoke swirled for a moment before taking the form of a young Elf and Dwarf who were trekking along an unseen floor.
"Find them," ordered Saurar. "And bring them here to me. If they are hurt, then so be it... I simply want them alive. Understood?"
"Aye sir. Captured alive."
Saurar nodded. "Good. Now, go..."
Dilathnior bowed low again, and disappeared into nothingness. Saurar smiled. The two Elves, Legolas and Dilathnior; they were proving exceedingly useful in his plan. True, they were both severely disillusioned, both bought in their weakened mental states by promises of power, but Saurar knew how to bend them to his will, and so far it was working well.
Once he had the Dwarf and the younger she-Elf, everything would finally fall into place. After all, and it was here that Saurar threw his head back and laughed like a lone wolf howling to the moon, if Legolas did eventually kill Aragorn, and Saurar was eagerly expecting that he would, the guilt that would consume the prince if he regained the memory would be enough to kill him, and, as Saurar had already figured out, this would be more than an easy way to quickly get rid of the Elf as well.
"And then, Thranduil," thought Saurar. "You will know what true revenge is..."
Saurar smiled to himself. Never before had a plan come together quite so perfectly...
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! -nods- I promise that I'll update a LOT sooner next time, I swear!
Oh; to anyone who's reading another one of my fics, Return to Us the Sun, that was updated quite a while ago, but I think I updated when the author alerts were down which is why I've got only 2 reviews for something which appeared quite popular... if you haven't seen the new chapter, it's up! ; )
