When the Snow Falls Red
Chapter 7: Bed Sheets
Don't own.
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A few moments after Legolas had ceased pounding on the door, there was a soft click, and the door opened slowly. Legolas scrambled to his feet, and watched as Thranduil and Aranel entered the room. Both were angry... it was evident in their eyes. When they were in the room, the door closed and locked behind them. They both turned and looked at Legolas.
Legolas noticed that Thranduil was holding something in his hands. It was a piece of cloth that was rolled into a tube shape.
"What's going on, Ada?" Legolas asked. Thranduil said nothing. Aranel's hands balled into fists, and he started to edge towards the confused elf prince, but Thranduil put an arm out to stop his eldest son. "Please! Tell me what is going on! Why was the door locked?" Legolas asked, getting nervous.
Thranduil held out the rolled cloth and pushed away the edges, and they slid off the items that were inside. Three arrows. Two of the tips were covered in blood, and the other was only tinted with blood. Legolas stared wide-eyed at the arrows. They were his.
"What is the meaning of this?" Thranduil roared, throwing the arrows at Legolas's feet.
"I... I don't know what you are talking about!" Legolas cried, looking down fearfully at the arrows.
"What do you mean you don't know what we are talking about?!" Aranel cried in much the same fashion as Thranduil. Legolas shook his head, confused. What was going on?!
"Náessë is near death!" Thranduil cried. It was now apparent that there were tears forming in his eyes.
"W-what?" Legolas stammered. His face paled, and his father and brother stared at him, expecting an answer. "What happened?" Legolas asked.
"We were hoping you could tell us. After all, these are your arrows." Aranel said, his eyes narrowing.
"I don't know anything." Legolas cried. Hot tears were now forming in his eyes. Why was he being accused so?
"Your sister was found this morning down in the halls. Two arrows were lodged in her body; one in the shoulder and another in the thigh. The third was found not to far off, but she had a cut on her arm." Thranduil explained, trying his hardest to hold back tears and remain calm. Legolas's mouth dropped open. Who would do such a thing to his sister?
"Who did it?" Legolas asked quietly. This was too much for Aranel and he lunged forward, knocking Legolas to the ground. He raised his fist, and it made contact with the side of Legolas's head. The world started spinning, and Legolas blinked to clear away the silver stars he saw in his eyes. Before he had time to recover, a second punch made contact with his nose. Pain shot through Legolas, and he tried to reach up to his face.
Aranel tried to swing again, but Thranduil pulled the Crowned Prince off of the younger elf. Legolas now could put his hands to his nose. He felt the hot blood seeping from it. Tears sprung to his eyes, and they began to fall down his cheeks. His face was flushed from the tears, and from the slight beating he just received from his brother. "That's enough." Thranduil said, pushing Aranel back away from Legolas. The latter sat up and stared at his family.
"I would never do such a thing to Náessë!" He cried, half from the accusations being made about him, and half from the pain in his nose and head. Thranduil said nothing, but pulled Aranel to the door. He knocked three times, and the door unlocked and opened. The King and Crowned Prince left the room.
Legolas was left sitting on the stone floor, holding his bleeding, aching nose.
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Órelindë was a wreak. She moved from bed to bed, wrapping wounds, applying herb mixtures, and actually making the herb mixtures. Lólindir tried to help as much as he could, but when Órelindë was nervous and scared, she didn't bark out orders like usual.
Lólindir stood beside Náessë, pressing a cloth against the wound in her shoulder while Órelindë made a new herb mixture. Luckily, there was no poison, so soon, Náessë's elvish healing abilities would kick in. Hopefully, anyway. She had lost a dangerous amount of blood. No one had found her for several hours after she had been shot with the arrows.
Much to Órelindë's relief, Finwëwas recovering. His wounds were not severe, but he too lost much blood.
As the healer was applying the herb mixture to Náessë's shoulder wound, there was a loud knock on the door. She sighed. "Lólindir, please unlock the door for the King." She said. The silent apprentice nodded and left her side, unlocking the door. No sooner had he pulled the key from the hole did the door burst open and a very angry king stormed into the room.
"Órelindë!" He roared. The healer put a finger to her lips.
"Hush!" She said, continuing to apply the mixture to the elf princess's wound. Lólindir jumped to the rescue and brought two goblets to the King and the Crowned Prince, who had just entered the room after the King. They looked down at the goblets that the elf was holding to them.
"Tea?" Thranduil asked. Lólindir nodded. He took the goblet, and Aranel took the other. Lólindir moved away, a small smile playing on his face. Órelindë had expected that the King would come into the room, enraged, so she prepared. She slipped a sleeping herb into the tea. Lólindir watched with amusement as the King and Crowned Prince drank the tea quickly and put the goblets on the table. It was now just a matter of time before they got tired and went to their chambers.
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Elerossë looked up at the palace, satisfied. He was sure the other three would be too. He had successfully fired two out of the three remaining arrows at the princess, and made direct hits. He knew the best way to get back at that brat prince was to target the people he loved the most, and he knew that Princess Náessë was one of them.
As he walked away, he pulled a cloth out of his tunic. Wrapped up in the cloth was a once white cloth that was now stained red. He gently squeezed the silvery blood from the cloth, and it burned through the snow, staining the spot of snow red. He laughed. Legolas would learn... oh yes... he would learn.
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Legolas's nose had stopped bleeding, but the pain was still there. His whole head hurt. Rising from the bed, he went to the window and looked down. The sun was setting, but he could still see clearly. Something was different. There was a dark spot in the snow. Legolas wondered what in Middle Earth it could be. Crossing the room and checking the door to be sure that it was still locked, he devised a plan.
He noticed that whoever locked him in the room failed to lock the windows. Grinning, Legolas went to the windows and pushed them open. It was a long drop from the window to the ground, and there was no way Legolas could make it down without seriously hurting himself. He decided to try something. He took the bedsheets from his bed, and tied them together. He pushed the bed close to the window, and tied one end of the sheets to the bedpost. He threw the rest out the window. It didn't go very far, but he could try. Silently, he climbed out of the window, and his feet found a ledge. He stood on it on his toes, then grabbed hold of the sheets. With both hands, he started to lower himself down the side of the palace.
He climbed down, but something was screaming at him, telling him something wasn't right. He looked up just in time to see the end of the sheets leave the window. It was as if he was suspended in the air for a moment, before gravity kicked in and Legolas fell down...down the side of the palace, landing in the snow below the window from which he had fallen.
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Lólindir was making his way to Legolas's room. Before Thranduil had fallen asleep, he had said something about Aranel hurting Legolas. Órelindë asked Lólindir to take some herbs and bandages to the room and to tend to Legolas. There was not much he could do about the nose, but he could ease the pain.
When he reached the doors, the guards smiled and unlocked the door, allowing the young healer inside. He stepped in, and the door closed. Lólindir dropped his things and the clay bowl shattered on the floor. He stared at the bed that was moved. The sheets had been ripped from it. The window was open as well. Lólindir rushed to the window and looked down.
"Legolas!"
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Woo special cliff hanger once more! Haha. Ok.
Reviewers:
Deana: Glad to see you're reading my work again! Thanks. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Thanks for reading!
Celebrian: The family reniuons I have to go to are NEVER fun. Always boring for me because I don't like to talk to those people. Hehe. I'm just a weirdo like that. Yup.
Thanks for reading everyone.
Later-
Blue September Rain