Beechiki – I sent it. Hope you got it.

Spotnmushlover246 – Thanks!

SofiaB – I love entering elements that no one has thought of. Like I mentioned in my note in chapter 21, there are so many things in Tolkien's world to write about. Glad you liked it.

Linilya Elf – Thanks! I hope I can create more tension in this chapter for your computer screen.

Storiesworm – Good questions. You'll know the answers soon enough.

Daphne – I discovered that I really love to enter new elements that no one else has thought of, or at least I haven't read anything that contained the Blue Wizards. But I've got a pretty good plan for them.

Romy – Whoa, was that you that just flew by here?

ElvenRanger13 – Thanks!

ETphomehome – Thanks! I might be able to use your prank suggestion. Sounds pretty Legolas-like to me. Thanks for the idea.

Meekah Greenleaf – Leggy poo? That is just too adorable.

Legolaslover – Hey, welcome back from vacation. :oP

Author's Note – It's a little short, but I had to leave the cliffie.

WARNING – There will be some rather graphic acts of violence in this chapter.

Chapter 22 – First Blood

Haldir buried his sword into the belly of an Orc and then used his foot to push the dead creature off his weapon. He turned to deal with several others that came at him. From the corner of his eye, he could see his troops holding their ground. They had taken the brunt of the battle ten miles north of Lake-Town, to keep the residents safe from the invasion. Despite the large number of Orcs, the elves of Lothlorien killed nearly half of them with arrows before the rest rushed in, including the heavily armored men on horseback that had kept their distance at first before charging in with on the tail end of the Orc horde. The Kozari men were fierce fighters and Haldir saw many of his people fall. He glanced at the darkened sun, wondering what caused the eclipse before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

Hurbag knew his army of Orcs would be defeated. These elves were not from Mirkwood and he had been surprised at their perfect aim with bow and arrow. He hadn't anticipated that the king of Mirkwood would send his people to defend the city on the water. Lake-Town had been Hurbag's secondary target for many years and even though he lost many Orcs each time, he always left with many spoils and the satisfaction that he had caused death and destruction in his wake. His primary target was always the caverns of the king of Mirkwood. It was always heavily guarded and unapproachable. But not anymore. The loss of his Orc army mattered little to him. Hurrnäd had promised him the caverns and he intended to take them. While his army and the Kozari fought with the elves, Hurbag headed in the direction of the woods. Surely the king sent his people to battle the horde coming from the Lonely Mountain. Thranduil's caverns would be left unprotected. This was his chance.

Glancing toward the line of trees, Emlin, second in command of Thranduil's armies, just witnessed an Orc entering. He recognized the distinguishable saunter of the Orc leader, Hurbag. Emlin scanned around quickly, calling for his horse and mounted. The horse sensed his eagerness and galloped in the direction of the trees. Emlin knew that he needed to catch Hurbag before he had a chance to get any closer to the caverns. The king would not be expecting any Orcs to make it into the woods. Even though there were forty Mirkwood elves protecting the caverns, Emlin could not take the chance that Hurbag might possibly sneak passed them all and threaten the king. He urged his horse to run faster.

Legolas blocked Hurrnäd's sword and ducked the axe that came from the other direction. He swung his knives and was blocked by Hurrnäd's weapons. The Kozari's movements were fast and strong. Legolas countered the blows, fighting with both hands to block the powerful hits of Hurrnäd, who was twice his size in body. The armor worn by Hurrnäd was also strong and deflected the knives that would have delivered fatal wounds to the Kozari's chest. Legolas aimed for Hurrnäd's exposed face, but the Kozari skillfully turned his face away so the blade struck his helmet harmlessly. But a carefully placed swing to Hurrnäd's exposed waist had Legolas drawing first blood. Legolas swung forcefully again with both knives, driving the Kozari ruler backward.

Hurrnäd blocked the elf's knives and then brought his leg up, delivering a powerful blow into the elf's side. The elf fell sideways and rolled several feet away. Hurrnäd saw his chance and rushed forward. But the elf was quickly on his feet and driving him backward again with his twin knives. The wet ground made it difficult to keep his footing as the rain continued to fall, courtesy of his personal wizard. But he had no time to signal the wizard to stop the rainfall.

The armor was hindering Legolas's movements. It did not weigh him down, as the metal was not heavy, but it prevented him from reacting quicker to his assailant's hits, even though he knew it protected him. Several times did the Kozari's sword and axe collide with his armor and it warded off the fatal strikes. Legolas swung high with his right hand and low with his left hand, catching a piece of Hurrnäd's thigh. The Kozari howled in pain and drew back away from Legolas. Legolas took the moment of reprieve to tear away the armor at his chest, legs and arms. He wanted to end this fight as soon as possible and he needed more freedom to move.

Aragorn watched from astride his horse. It was difficult to see with the shadow blocking the sun and the eerie darkness caste a gloomy glow on everything. And with the heavy rainfall, it was even more difficult to see. His elf friend had removed his armor in what appeared to be frustration. He had faith in Legolas's abilities, but was unfamiliar with what the Kozari ruler was capable of. When Legolas lunged forward, his movements were swifter without the bulky armor. The clashing of metal against metal was loud as knives struck sword and axe.

The sight of Legolas clashing weapons with Hurrnäd made Aleera's heart beat faster. She had never seen Legolas fight like this before. He aggressively swung the knife in his right hand to strike Hurrnäd's armored shoulder and then blocked Hurrnäd's axe with his left knife. Over and over, their weapons struck, each looking for an opening. Aleera's eyes were wide with terror, knowing that at any moment, a single blow from the Kozari's weapons could harm Legolas.

Legolas felt Hurrnäd's sword bite into his left arm and he quickly pulled away, whirling around to his left to strike with first the knife in his left hand and then followed by the one in his right. He caught the side of Hurrnäd's face as his blade lodged into the helmet. In an attempt to dislodge the blade, Legolas received a knee in the ribs. He countered it by slamming the faceplate of his helmet into Hurrnäd's forehead. The blow drove Hurrnäd backward and Legolas was able to loosen his knife from the Kozari's helmet. The rain started to hinder Legolas's sight and with only two small holes to see from, he decided to forego the helmet, tearing it off his head. Then he swung left again and right, his knives blocked. He struck the side of Hurrnäd's helmet with his left and repeated the blow twice more in rapid movements before Hurrnäd swung his axe at Legolas's midriff. Legolas pulled back at the last second, the axe catching a bit of his torso. The pain in his arm and torso nearly brought Legolas down to his knees. He knew he was bleeding from his wounds and did not know how serious they were. But he remained standing and staring furiously at the Kozari ruler.

Hurrnäd felt himself tiring. But he knew he had hurt the elf somewhat, if not much. The sight of blood on the elf seemed to renew a measure of his strength and he swung his sword. The elf blocked the sword with both knives and suddenly sent it sailing through the air to hit the muddy ground twenty feet away. In rage, Hurrnäd swung a hard fist into the elf's face, driving him back briefly. Then he swung his axe with both hands in a downward arc to hopefully lodge it into his skull, but the elf crossed his knives and blocked it.

Legolas held the block for a few seconds before slashing his knives outward, cutting the underside of Hurrnäd's forearms. He watched with satisfaction as a shower of blood sprayed from the open lacerations. In the brief reprieve, he spit out whatever blood had accumulated inside his mouth from Hurrnäd's punch and then swiped the back of his hand across his face. The Kozari ruler swung the axe again, his movements much slower. Legolas stepped out of the way and twirled around to plunge the knife in his left hand just beneath Hurrnäd's chest armor. The knife sank into Hurrnäd's stomach and Legolas drove it in deeper. Then Legolas pulled it out and came around with his right hand, slicing the blade across Hurrnäd's throat.

Hurrnäd stared in shock. Air no longer entered his lungs. He felt a sickening pain clenching his stomach and an even worse one gripping his throat. The elf stepped back, his teeth clenched in furious rage. What was happening? The axe dropped from his hand. It no longer wanted to cooperate with him. But his left hand still moved. He had been clutching at his stomach and when Hurrnäd looked down at his hand, it was covered in blood. His blood. The last thing he saw was the bitterness in Gwinn's face that he let an elf beat him.

Legolas stepped backward as the Kozari ruler took several tentative steps backward before falling dead. He turned in the direction of Aragorn and Aleera and starting walking toward them. The battle was over. Just then Legolas felt something slam into his upper back with such force that it pitched him forward into the muddy ground and everything immediately went black.

Everyone saw the arrow hit Legolas in the back. It had come from the Kozari side. Gwinn still had her bow raised so they all knew who had shot the arrow. When it happened all hell broke loose. Dagnir charged toward the other side, followed by the Mirkwood elves. But Aleera had charged first upon seeing Legolas's still form. Just then a wall of flames rose out of the ground in front of the advancing elves, forcing them to stop where they nearly all collided into one another. The flames stretched across for a mile in either direction and expanded thirty feet in the air.

Aragorn's eyes widened in horror as through the flames he saw an invisible force throw Aleera from her horse to land several feet away. Several of the Kozari gathered their dead king while another tied a rope to Legolas's ankles and began to drag the elf on the ground behind his horse. Another picked up Aleera and carried her off on another horse.

"Aragorn! Do something!" cried Elladan.

Aragorn kicked his horse forward and the frightened animal blindly leapt through the flames. He gave chase to the rider dragging Legolas, raising his sword in preparation to cut the rope.

Gwinn set her horse in motion and she raised her hand toward the wizard before pointing to Aragorn. To her satisfaction the black clad wizard made a small movement with his hand which sent the Dúnedain man and horse flying backward from a force similar to what had knocked Aleera down.

Aragorn's horse nearly landed on top of him, but he felt the bone in his right leg shatter before darkness claimed him.

Elladan, Elrohir and Celegmin watched helplessly through the wall of flames as the Kozari people raced off into the darkness, Legolas being dragged behind one of them. They did not even know if he still lived after being hit in the back with an arrow. He could already be dead. Then they saw Aragorn go down, his horse falling on top of him. Even after the Kozari had gone, the wall of flames continued to burn. The three elves turned to Dagnir who paced his horse back and forth in front of the flames, a look of utter despair and panic on his face.

"We ride around it!" Dagnir finally yelled to the others.

The elves charged down the length of the wall of flames, leaving Elladan, Elrohir and Celegmin alone. The three remained mounted on their skittish horses, contemplating their next move.

The Kozari rode back in the direction of the Lonely Mountain. Gwinn glanced back over her shoulder to see the wall of flames still holding the elves back. She turned her attention to the rider beside her. "You have done well."

Pallando turned his gaze to the queen. "And so the kingdom belongs to you now, my lady."

Gwinn smiled evilly. "I knew Hurrnäd could not win against the elf."

"You have what you want and I have what I want. It has all gone according to my design." The Blue Wizard glanced at the guard riding up ahead, pulling a horse behind him. Slumped across the front of the saddle was the unconscious elvenprince. When they had gotten far enough away, Pallando ordered the elf to be tied and thrown on the back of a horse for the remainder of the ride. No sense in killing him before his time. As for the she-elf,the Kozari queen had her owndesigns, of which Pallando had no interest. He had waited far too long for this moment and nothing was going to get in his way.

Haldir and his Lothlorien elves returned to Thranduil's caverns. Six elves had died in the battle. They were taken to a special chamber where they would be prepared for the trip back to Lothlorien and their proper burial.

"What of the Orcs and Kozari units that attacked you?" asked Thranduil.

"None of them lived," replied Haldir. "All were slaughtered and burned in the plains north of Lake-Town."

"Good." Just as Thranduil was about to exit the Upper Halls, Celeborn entered from the other doorway. "What news do you have of the contingent with my son?"

"Grave news, Thranduil. Legolas killed the Kozari king in battle and was shot in the back with an arrow. They dragged him away by his ankles with them and formed a wall of fire to prevent pursuit. We know not if Legolas lives." Celeborn turned to Galadron, who stood beside Thranduil. "Aleera was also taken."

Thranduil took a deep breath, trying to contain the raw emotions that threatened to burst from within him. "From where did this wall of fire come?"

"It appears the Kozari have a Blue Wizard among them."

"Ithron Luin? How do you know this?" (A Blue Wizard)

"Have you looked at the sun, Thranduil? It is shrouded in shadow. Only the Blue Wizards have power to do such."

Thranduil frowned. "I Ithryn Luin an gwann!" (The Blue Wizards are dead)

The doors to the hall swung open, revealing Gandalf the Grey. "One still lives, king of Mirkwood and I believe you know which one."