A/N: I had wanted this chapter to be a little longer than it is but I had to rebuild my hard drive over the weekend and so did not have the time I hoped I would have for this chapter. But, the computer is up and running again and almost all of the bugs have been worked out of it.

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Activate yourself to duty by remembering your position, who you are, and what you have obliged yourself to be.
Thomas ã Kempis

Chapter 5

Legend Keeper

Halgar gently lowered the unconscious elf to the ground, taking great care not to physically touch or jar the dagger still protruding from the wounded Prince's side. He briefly examined the jagged wound the vicious blade had made, and when he carefully moved the blood soaked bandage aside, he realized that he was running out of time for he saw that although the blood was no longer showing the Orc poison, it was beginning to flow faster. Removing his cloak, and laying it over the elf to stave off the chill of the darkened cave, he swiftly began setting up their little camp. In no time at all, he had a small fire going and water was set to boil in a small pot set on a tripod that spanned the flames within the small circle of stones.

After making a comfortable palette for the elf made up of fragrant pine boughs with a cloak over the top, Halgar ever so carefully moved his wounded friend to it. It was his hope that the scent of the pine boughs would act as a soothing balm to the wood elf and would help hasten his recovery if he were to wake and find himself in such soothing surroundings.

After coaxing Legolas to drink a pain potion, Halgar set out the herbs from his healing pack as well as several thick linen pads that he would use to try and stop the bleeding once the dagger was removed. With no preparations left to make, the human took a square of linen in his hands then braced his arm across the Prince's chest to help prevent any movements he would make during the procedure that would cause him further harm. Grasping the dagger's blood-slicked hilt, Halgar began to slowly and carefully pull it straight out knowing that if he did not pull the blade straight out that the jagged teeth of the blade could cause additional and possibly more extensive damage.

Even though deeply unconscious, Legolas still cried out softly and tried to move away from the new pain and for this, Halgar whispered his apologies again. After the blade had been successfully removed, Halgar tossed the cruel thing away from him with a quick flick of his wrist, then immediately took a pad of linen with his right hand and used it to apply pressure to the wound. With his left hand, he stroked the injured elf's forehead, speaking soothingly to him, trying to get him to slow his breathing and calm down and letting him know that he was safe and being cared for.

Although Legolas finally calmed and lay still, the wound still bled and after Halgar had discarded the third thick linen pad into the fire, he decided that he would have to take a different tack if he wanted to slow the bleeding before the elf bled to death. Still keeping pressure on the wound, the human rummaged around among his herbs until he found a special packet then smiled. Every Legend Keeper had a good knowledge of herbs and their uses but they also had a special herb, only to be used in the direst of circumstances, and whose name and possible uses were known only to them. The plant was a common one and could easily be found in the forest, its tiny white flowers being its own particular trademark.

Quickly opening the small packet, Halgar took out a good, healthy pinch of the herb and after picking up another linen pad, pressed the herb into the wound then placed the linen pad over it. Again he smiled for it was not but a few moments later that the bleeding began to slow significantly until finally the blood flow was to the point where the jagged opening could finally be stitched. After carefully cleaning the area around the wound, Halgar stitched and bandaged it then sat back on his heels and took a deep breath – for the moment, the crisis was over.

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Over the years, Halgar had developed a habit that he would use in moment of extreme stress or when the burdens of solitude would lie heavily upon his heart. It was a habit that not only offered him consolation but also helped him focus his mind away from the negativity that could easily distract him at a time when he needed to keep his mind on the business at hand. Now, as he fought to lower his friend's fever and the possibility occurred to him that he might not be able to save the elf, he fell back on his habit and from it gained a measure of peace of spirit so that he did not fully give up hope. He began to recite the line of the Kings.

"Elros Tar-Minyatur, Vardamir Nólimon, Tar-Amandil, Tar-Elendil ..."

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Snuffling sounds just outside the cave caught Halgar's attention and he immediately looked around the cave for something he could use as a weapon. His eyes fell on Legolas's ivory-handled knives and after quietly unsheathing one of the knives, he moved silently to the entrance of the cave. Staying to one side of the door, the human cautiously looked outside, carefully scanning the bushes, trees and any other place that could be used as a hiding place for an enemy. When he finally determined that whatever had made the snuffling sounds had departed, he forced himself to relax, slowly releasing the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he turned and walked back to the fire, resheathing the long knife next to its twin before once more sitting himself beside the fire, once more staring into the mesmerizing flames and once more losing himself in his own thoughts and remembrances.

A small rustling sound and moan from Legolas immediately brought Halgar out of his dark thoughts and he again focused his attention on his wounded friend. Turning to the Prince, he lightly brushed the side of his face with the back of his fingers, trying to calm him and give him what comfort he could although he knew in his heart it wasn't much and definitely not as much as he deserved. After he had quieted, Halgar studied the Mirkwood Prince, noting the air of quiet nobility that did not leave him, even in unconsciousness. Halgar smiled at this, for even though wounded and unconscious, he recognized readily the kind heart and loyalty of the being lying before him.

Halgar had not had many dealings with elves and though he knew much about their race through the lore he had studied over the years, his practical knowledge of the Eldar was almost nonexistent. The concept of immortality was almost unimaginable to him and he could not conceive of living for ten thousand years and probably more nor could he understand what joy could be derived from living that long.

The Prince began to stir and this time Halgar knew that he was regaining consciousness. Kneeling beside the wounded being, he waited until the elf's fever glazed eyes opened and after they had wandered around the cave for a bit, came to rest on him. He smiled then took the elf's hand and held it.

"Welcome back my friend."

Legolas tried to acknowledge the human, but found he could not for his throat was too dry and he could get no sound passed his lips. When he put his hand to his throat, Halgar understood what he wanted and after carefully raising his head and upper body a bit, helped him drink from a water flask that he had nearby. When he had drunk his fill of water, Legolas pushed the flask away and Halgar helped him lay back down and after he had rested for a moment and had gathered his strength, Legolas tried once more to speak.

"What happened? What happened to that last Uruk?"

Halgar shrugged his shoulders.

"I persuaded him to put you down." Halgar said simply.

Legolas frowned.

"And how did you manage that one?"

"I gutted him with his own friend's scimitar."

Legolas was silent for a moment while the import of the human's statement sank in. Seeing the man blushing as if in embarrassment, he tried to put him more at ease.

"Then I owe my life to your skill with an orc blade."

The human laughed which caused the blonde archer to smile for his laugh was the kind that you could not be around without feeling your spirits lift and once again he found himself comparing the man to Aragorn. Still laughing, Halgar began to assemble his healing supplies so he could change the elf's bandages. Helping Legolas sit up he carefully began to unwrap the bandages but when Halgar saw that even this small task was causing the Prince pain, he began to talk, in an attempt refocus his friend's discomfort on something else.

"Those of us who commit the rest of our lives to keeping the secrets of the cave, also commit the many years of our apprenticeship to arduous training in many fields. We are trained to be a self-contained unit that is capable of existing on our own in any type of situation, any time and anywhere. In other words, we are capable of being whoever we need to be at the time we need to be that person, and are capable of defending whoever that person is which means we are willing to go to any lengths to protect the secret that we are committed to carry."

Legolas suddenly turned pale and shut his eyes, biting back a groan of pain as the pain from his wound, regardless of Halgar's gentle tending, almost made him pass out. Halgar laid a comforting hand on the Prince's shoulder and patiently waited until the pain spasm had passed and Legolas was once again in control of himself. Halgar felt the elf squeeze his arm and knew that he was trying to let him know that it would be all right for him to continue with what he had been doing. As he once more began cleaning the wound, he noted the sheen of sweat on the elf's brow and pausing what he was doing for a moment, reached for another bowl of cool water. After dipping a clean piece of linen in the bowl he gently wiped the sweat off his friend's face, after which, he went back to cleaning the dagger wound as well as to the telling of his story.

"There are some people in our village, and who are in the minority, thankfully, who are reluctant to bless our simple life for they see no purpose to what we are doing and show no desire to learn what it is that we do we do all day long and why we do it. These people, though well-intentioned, believe that our efforts would be more beneficial to those who live in our village if our time was spent tilling a field or planting a garden. They think that all we Legend Keepers do is sit idly all day long and think happy thoughts and dream."

Legolas chuckled then grimaced when even this small act produced intense pain.

Halgar finished rebandaging the wound then helped his friend drink a pain potion. Brushing the back of his fingers across the elf's forehead, he frowned as he felt the excessive heat of fever and while the two waited for the pain potion to take effect, he continued his story.

"Our entire existence, from the time we first take our oath is dedicated to duty and service, the duty of keeping and caring for the secret of the cave as well as service to our community. We are the teachers and healers for everyone who lives in Hope which proves, I'll have you know, that we do more than just sit all day and think happy thoughts!"

Halgar took a small stick that was laying nearby and stirred the dying embers of the fire, encouraging it to burn a little hotter as he laid another piece of wood on the little flames. The temperature in the cave was a little cool and he did not want the cooler temperatures to have an adverse effect on an already sick patient.

"Our training consists of many things and we are continuously adding to the knowledge we already have so that we will have something of quality, something more than what we started with, to pass on to the next successor when our time finally comes for our final journey. Our training includes all facets of life, herbs and their practical application in medicine, and we learn how to fight so that we can protect others and ourselves against stupid Uruks who don't know when to die. We don't have the skills that the elves do, that is a given fact, but the little we do know serves us well when we need to apply our skills in battle. We need to learn as much as we can of the lore of Middle Earth so we can better understand the world we live in. And," he adjusted the light blanket he had placed over Legolas, "we must be good runners and horseman."

Then Legolas saw a sadness come to the man's eyes that he knew reached back 3,000 years and that laid witness to the event of that time though long gone.

"And we must also recognize when it is time to run. Isildur's son knew that his father had to run rather than let what he carried fall into enemy hands. The King was so adamant about this and told his Token Bearers that even if it made them look like cowards for deserting their King, that they had to run. And for us, no matter what our heart and soul says to us, no matter how fiercely our heart aches for what we must do, we also, like the Token Bearers of that time, sometimes must run."

Legolas felt his eyes getting heavier as the pain medicine finally began to ease his discomfort.

"We must be compassionate and humane in all of our dealings in life – well, with killing orcs being one of the few exceptions. We must be able to blend in wherever we go and in all situations and we must be physically and mentally willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done."

He smiled as he replied to Halgar's statement.

"You sound like someone else I know. Maybe you will get a chance to meet her one day."

Halgar looked at the elf.

"I think maybe I would like that, for if your friends are anything like you then it would be my honor to meet them."

The Prince smiled at the human kneeling by his side, just before his eyes again slipped shut.

For a time Halgar just sat beside the elf and watched him sleep and weighed Ilúvatar's gift of death that had been given to human kind against the gift of immortality that he had given to his firstborn, to the elves.

The elf laying in front of him, if he lived the night and barring a death by other means in the future, would live until time itself grew old whereas he, a mere human, and one of Ilúvatar's second born, would live perhaps another 40 or 50 years - if he was lucky. Finally, he would make his final journey beyond the circles of the world to a place or destiny of which only Ilúvatar knew about. Death couldn't be all that bad for it would be a release from all the ugliness, hurt and malice of the world he lived in and a place where he knew his relatives – all those who had gone before him – waited to greet him and welcome him home.

On the other side of the scale of life were the elves with the gift Ilúvatar had bestowed on them – the gift of immortality. Halgar wondered how immortality could even be considered a gift. There was nothing on Arda, and he couldn't conceive of anything in the Undying Lands, that would not eventually wither in a being's heart – that would not eventuality grow old and cause the heart and soul to beg for the release of the final journey. How many times in 50,000 years or even 100,000 years could you look at the same tree or even its offspring and think that particular tree was still beautiful?

Halgar sighed deeply as he rummaged in his pack and took out a piece of dried meat to nibble on as he thought on the intricacies of life.

If there was truly duality in Ilúvatar's song then how could there be no evil in Valinor where there was supposed to be so much good, no sadness where there was such bliss? And the way he had learned it, Valinor itself would only last as long as did the elves' beloved Arda and when the end of days finally came, Arda as well as Valinor would be gone forever. Where did the elves go after that?

He looked at Legolas again and sighed. Even with so many unanswered questions, the elves were satisfied with their lives and accepted their fate without protest and no matter how many years passed, their faith in the bliss of the Undying Lands never wavered. Maybe that was the secret to understanding the immortality of the elves. Maybe the answer could be found in a single word – faith.

A log popped in the fire and Halgar jumped and laughing at his own jittery nerves, he put another piece of wood on the fire then stirred the embers so the new wood could burn better. Realizing that the supply of wood he had gathered earlier wouldn't last the night he decided to leave the cave and gather more and after checking on the condition of his friend one last time Halgar rose from the ground and walked outside. Halgar knew that his responsibility as a healer and his instincts would tell him, even after he left the cave, if the Prince grew restless or even if he woke.

As he began to gather the wood from the ready supply of dead wood around the entrance, the realization suddenly hit him that once he had passed the responsibility for the contents of the cave over to Aragorn, the responsibility and duty that had been his for most of his life would have been fulfilled and would be gone from his life forever. For the first time in his life, since the last Keeper had passed the responsibility for the cave and the jewel to him, he didn't know what he would do. For good or ill, his job was ending and he was suddenly finding the prospect a little daunting. He would miss the jewel he had almost built a relationship with over the years and he would miss Isildur as well, for every time he entered the cave, he could feel the spirit of the great King's presence.

Halgar suddenly found his eyes full of tears because he knew, no matter how much he wanted to avoid thinking about it, when he and Legolas finally got to Hope, he would have memories to face and bodies to bury – and that would be one of the hardest tasks he had ever faced in his life. There was some comfort that he would not have to face this particular challenge alone. Of that fact he was certain for he had seen the heart of Mirkwood's Prince and knew with certainty that he would not lack for an emotional or physical ally.

TBC

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Deana: Thank you for the review. To answer your question, yes, Legolas will be in Chapter 5. Our Mirkwood Prince will be in a good many of the chapters in this story as will Aragorn and the Twins. My OC characters will not enter the story until later. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Moriarwen: Welcome – and thank you for the review. This story is going to be history and mystery and a little fun along the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Star-Stallion: I haven't heard from you in awhile! Welcome and thank you for reviewing my story. Hope you continued to enjoy it.