Into the Labyrinth
Author: Amorous
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: In chapter one.
*Chapter 9: Lavi*
The son of King Thranduil slowed his breathing so as to not aggravate his hurting chest and listened to the noises around him, since the blindfold still blocked his vision. Many guards had trooped in with their two prisoners, obviously to compensate for an escape attempt, should one be made. The thought had certainly crossed the Elf's mind but at this point, he was doubtful as to how far they would get. Both their arms remained securely tied behind their backs and their weapons had been lost somewhere outside.
Muffled noises reached the Elf's sensitive ears as they rounded a corner as though there were people on the other side of the wall to their right. More turns came after that, the noise dying away, and Legolas guessed that they might have even doubled back on their path several times. He tried to remember how many turns they took and in what direction, and he was partially successful. They'd just rounded yet another left-hand corner when he heard one of the guards in the lead speak.
"Wait, what are you doing?" The procession slowed to a stop and the grip on his arms tightened.
"Taking them to the fighter cells. Why?" Said another somewhere ahead.
"These two should be taken to the Brothers. We don't even know what they'd want to do with them."
"Don't they usually see prisoners after they've been secured?"
"Yes, but I think the Brothers would want to see these rogues right away, don't you?"
"I suppose so." Was the reluctant reply. They were shuffled back and then led to their right and the twists and turns resumed. However, these guards seemed to know exactly where they were and where they were going for soon after they were stopped again and Legolas heard a knock and the soft talking from behind a doorway paused.
"Enter." Came a light voice from inside.
The handle clicked as it turned and the captives were hustled roughly forward. The door was closed behind them.
"What is this?" Came the same melodic voice, now clear and close.
"We captured them in the area. I thought you'd want to see them first." Answered the guard who'd stopped the procession earlier.
"Alright. Remove the blindfolds."
Legolas felt someone working at the knot behind his head and the black cloth fell away to reveal a lavishly furnished room. Rich fur rugs covered the floor and lanterns decorated the wood walls, lighting the room with bright orange light. But Legolas and Aragorn noticed none of this, for their eyes were locked with the two men in front of them.
On the left stood a tall, built man with jet-black hair that was braided in many small braids and reached past his shoulders. A very short and thin lined beard and heavy eyebrows only accentuated the already defined features on his lightly tanned face. His eyes were fierce and dark and he was dressed in shining green lined with silver - a sleeveless shirt with a robe hanging on his shoulders and down his back.
On the right sat his mirror image. Aragorn got flash vision of his own twin brothers as he looked at the men in front of him. The only differences in these two lied in their hair and their color of dress, for although the man on the right wore the same style of clothing, his was a deep crimson lined with gold. His black hair was left unbraided and was partially pulled back. His face was identical to his companion's.
Aragorn blinked and tried to further clear his pulsing head as the man in red stood tall next to the other and looked them up and down.
"Two young heroes, I'm assuming?" Scoffed the man in green and the prisoners recognized his musical voice as the one who'd called them in. He strode around a glossy wooden table to come closer, the cape swirling about his feet. "Are you here to rescue a friend? Or perhaps you just thought to see for yourself if the rumors were true."
The prisoners stared at him, not saying a word.
"Whatever it is, you have seen too much." Continued the unfazed man. He stepped close to Aragorn and looked at him, taking in his swelling eye and the bruises on his face. Then he passed to Legolas and gazed at him, though soon his brows furrowed at the intensity of the glare he was receiving in return. Then the man smiled. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Alymar Lavi." He held out a hand mockingly as though to shake and then looked at their bound arms, laughing, and continued. "My twin here is Amadeo. We are the Lavi Brothers."
"Are you the leaders of this place?" Aragorn questioned.
"Yes, we are." Alymar answered, pleased that at least one of the captives was saying something. "And who might you be?"
"We are hunters from the north. We were just passing through Rahma and I believe we must have gotten turned around in these woods. I'm sorry if we trespassed-"
"Hunters do not get 'turned around' in a forest, my good boy. Either you lie about being hunters or you lie about getting lost."
Aragorn looked reluctant for a moment, then replied, "We didn't get lost. We're actually looking for a friend, he disappeared near this town two weeks ago and we've been searching for him."
"So you have come to rescue a friend? And you thought you could spring him out on your own."
"What do you mean rescue?" Aragorn tried to look confused. "Well, I suppose if he needed rescuing, but…this happens often and it's usually just that he's injured himself and must stay where he is." Aragorn was desperately hoping that these men would think that Legolas and he had no idea what this place really was and might consider them not a threat. He was hoping.
"Really."
Aragorn nodded. "You know, I don't blame you for having such tight security around here. Such a nice house must get robbery attempts quite often."
"I'm not buying it."
"Sureim, why did you not secure them as usual?" Amadeo broke in, speaking for the first time to one of the guards. His voice had the same melodious ring, but was slightly deeper and almost gravelly, though not quite.
"I thought you might want to check them out first." The lieutenant called Sureim shrugged. "It was a light in the woods that originally attracted my attention, and I called Vin over." Legolas stiffened and Aragorn glanced sideways at the man. "But before we could get close, these two bolted from the spot. The thing was, that one" – he gestured towards Legolas –"he was…well, he was glowing."
Legolas shot a look at the twins to judge their reaction and Aragorn bit his lip. Amadeo just furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure and crossed his arms.
"Glowing?" Alymar repeated, his own eyebrows raising. He looked again at Legolas, more intently this time. "Did you find any light source on them?"
"We didn't search them yet, we usually do that at the cells."
"Could you do it now?"
Sureim nodded to the men around Aragorn and Legolas and they began to pat them down. They could not remove the coats because of the captives' arms' being tied, but they pulled the over-coats down off their shoulders anyway and let them hang in the back. Legolas tried to suppress a shiver as hands groped across his chest and waist.
"Nothing," Sureim stated, "except their empty scabbards."
"Remove his hat." Amadeo said, pointing at Legolas. The Elf's eyes widened and he jerked back as a guard's hand reached out.
"Ah." The man in red gave a dry smile and nodded his head. "Here I think you will have your answer."
The guards tightened their hold and the guard in front of him reached up again. Legolas shot his leg up and caught the man in the groin, causing him to fold over with a grunt. Then the Elf pushed back with all his weight, slamming the guards into the wall beside the doorframe, trying to shake off their grip. A man to his right punched him swiftly in the stomach and the Prince cried out, doubling over slightly. He was punched again and then felt hands moving around his feet. He looked down to find that they'd tied a short rope between his ankles. He would just be able to walk, but kicking anyone was now out of the question.
"Him, too." The red twin gestured a thumb at Aragorn The young Ranger tried to move his feet out of the way but soon several men got strong grips on each foot, holding them in place, and a rope was tied on his ankles as well.
"Now." Alymar strode up to Legolas, who was now sufficiently restrained, and stared him in the face. Legolas looked daggers back, putting all his long years of royalty to good use while working to control his rapid breathing. Aragorn could feel his heart thudding in his chest. "Remove his hat."
Sureim came up from the side and reached out with two hands. With one, he snatched the back of Legolas' neck when the Elf tried to move away and with the other he whipped the hat off the Prince's head.
The pale blonde, slightly tussled hair fell around his shoulders and revealed two delicately pointed ears. Several of the guards nearby gasped audibly and drew back, but Sureim just narrowed his eyes, his fingers digging into the Prince's neck. Alymar's mouth opened a bit and look of uncertainty and awe passed over his features. Amadeo started, seeming both unsure and angry. Silence filled the room and Aragorn hung his head, shame welling up inside of him again. Legolas' stomach fluttered but he steeled his features.
"What is it?" Finally a guard asked tentatively.
"What do you think it is? It's an Elf!" The green twin said sharply, taking his eyes off the subject of scrutiny for only a second. "I knew there was something different..." He said more quietly, plainly fascinated.
"Are you sure?" Questioned the same guard. "No one's ever seen one before, we can't really be sure..."
"What else would he be? Not a man. Certainly not a dwarf."
"Is he dangerous?"
"Apparently not." Alymar replied scornfully, glancing at Legolas' bound state. The Prince pulled against the guards furiously.
"You know not what Elves are capable of!" He spat at the man, and it was partially true. Alymar's haughty expression faltered for a moment.
Amadeo took his brother's arm and led him to the far side of the room. They spoke in hushed tones, and Aragorn could not make out what they were saying. He looked sideways at Legolas, knowing the Elf could hear them perfectly well. His friend's face was set, but Aragorn noted that his breath was still coming rather quickly and he kept stealing glances at Sureim, obviously uncomfortable with the man's hold on his neck. He wondered dismally what the Lavi Brothers would do, now that they knew Legolas was an Elf.
"How can you say this doesn't change anything?" Legolas was listening to the brothers speak.
"We can still go through the way we usually do, Amadeo. He wasn't so powerful that our guards could not capture him, correct? All Sureim said was that he glowed. We can handle that."
"Alymar, listen to yourself! Do you know what you're getting into? He's right, you know – we don't know what he's capable of."
"Let's find out."
"What?"
"We'll keep them as fighters. If it took that much effort for the guards to catch them, imagine the money we'd bring in with them in the ring?"
"Alymar…"
"You didn't buy that kid's thing about having a lost friend, did you?"
"No, but brother, I really don't think we should involve ourselves with them. It is too dangerous. Did you see the look in his eyes when you scorned him?"
"Yes, it was amazing! I've never seen anything like it. Just look at him, Amadeo. Have you seen any creature more fell to look upon?"
"I don't like it. I say we kill them before anything happens."
"No, we can't just kill them! Amadeo, I've heard stories about Elves -"
"- Yes, so have I."
"- and in all of them, the Elves have been magnificent swordsmen."
"Exactly why we should not keep him prisoner. The boy we can, though."
"That's exactly why we should keep him here! We have to at least try. He can't be that hard to keep under control, we seem to be doing fine so far. Besides, all the guards anywhere near him will have shooters, remember?"
"They've only been used on humans and beasts, brother. We don't know how an Elf's body would react to that."
The Lavi Brothers argued as such for another minute, then finally reached a decision. They turned and came back, Alymar looking pleased and Amadeo seeming reluctant.
"Well, gentlemen," Alymar began and then paused, looking at them. His dark eyes lingered on Legolas unnervingly. "Or should I say gentleman and gentle-elf…it seems as though you shall remain here as our guests for some time," he confirmed with a smile.
**
Yeah, so um…how is everyone doing? Anyone seen Pirates of the Caribbean yet? I saw it opening night, and I loved it! (Naturally…I mean come on. Anything with Orlando in it is like 18 stars with me. J ) Ah, water and Orlando are a wonderful mix….Can't wait to go see it again! (yes, I'm that obsessed)
Ahem…well, on to other things:
Grumpy – Thank you very much for reviewing, I'm glad you like it so far! It's good to know people seem to like it.
ASL – Hehe, sorry for the cliffies. I try not to do them, but…you can see how successful I've been with that. You'll find out what'll happen to them all. All I'll say is that I have some stuff planned for Isor later in the story. Well, all of them, really. But you know what I mean. Hee…
Key – Thank you so much! I'm glad you think that the fight scene was done well…those are my favorite to do. Well, generally. Oh, and the Isor/Elladan thing, too. Thank you!
James – Yes, the ranger and prince are slightly prone to trouble. I mean, only slightly… J hehe. Anyway, yeah. I'd be getting tired of Elladan and Isorfinduil if I were Elrohir. Well, tired of them fighting. Thank you!
Trin – Oh yes…I'm always glad when they're captured as well! How was vacation? Mountains are lovely, hm? Aha, so you are a Aragorn fan. Well well well. Stay tuned… J
Yeah, so…I just started reading The Sword of Shannara and I love it…but it is frighteningly similar to Lord of the Rings. Interesting. Oh well.
Okay, see you all later! Thanks for all the reviews! Please, keep them up!!
