Chapter Four

He was being prodded and he didn't like it. He moved to swat away whoever was squeezing him, but his arms seemed sluggish and he only managed to move a little. He realized suddenly that it was dark, but only because he had his eyes closed. Struggling suddenly to force his eyes open, he was hit with a wash of coldness that penetrated deep into his bones. He winced, wondering how it was possible for someone to get this cold. He was an elf, elves weren't suppose to get cold.

It was then that he noticed there was a sound starting to trickle back into his ears. He listened, laying still to get a better feel for what he was hearing. It sounded as though someone was sobbing. He knew that voice…Arwen?

And then, it all came back to him. The ice had cracked! They'd fallen through into the water. Ai Elbereth, was Arwen all right? He had to see. He had to open his eyes and see.

"I'm sorry!" Arwen was sobbing as tears streamed down her pale face. She was shaking with both the sobs and from the chill of having been in the icy water. She was wrapped in Elladan and Elrohir's cloaks and Elrohir had his arms wrapped around her while Elladan was rubbing his own arms. Arwen didn't seem to notice. "I'm sorry!" She cried again. "I didn't mean to kill him!"

Elrohir tried to hush her but she didn't hear him. "Arwen, hush, it's all right." He said soothingly. "He's not dead, look see? He's waking." Elrohir nodded towards where Legolas' hand was opening and closing. Arwen still sobbed however.

Kelderas knelt on one side of his brother, shivering with Arminas' cloak around his shoulders while Glorfindel knelt on the other side, his leggings clinging to him, still wet. While Elladan had gone to retrieve Arwen from the water, Kelderas had jumped in oblivious to the cold after Legolas' head had disappeared beneath the water. Glorfindel, not finding the thought of telling Thranduil two of his sons had died on a mere trip to the pond pleasurable, had waded in after them. Kelderas had been submerged fully into the water, having to dive a bit to get to Legolas, who had been trapped beneath a layer of ice.

Legolas had been unconscious, but breathing. Now it was a matter of waking him up.

"Legolas," Kelderas called softly, though his voice was shaken by the shivering. "Come, wake little brother." He encouraged the small elfling, gently rubbing circles on Legolas' shaking chest. Kelderas stared down at Legolas' face, which was pale. His lips were twinged slightly blue. Kelderas ran a shaky hand through Legolas' wet hair. "Come Legolas, open your eyes."

As if in answer, Legolas turned his head towards his brother's voice. Kelderas let out a small sound of relief and Glorfindel reached down to take one of Legolas' hands. "Keep talking to him," he instructed quietly.

Kelderas gave a solemn nod before leaning down further, his face close to Legolas'. "Please, Legolas. I know it's hard but you need to open your eyes." His voice had taken on a tone of urgency. Seemingly picking up on the distress in his brother's voice, Legolas' eyelids began to flutter. Kelderas smiled and ran his fingers gently along the side of his pale face. "That's it," he whispered. "Come on."

It took a moment of heavy blinking and surveying the scene around him, but finally Legolas seemed to be fully awake. He was shaking horribly and his teeth chattered insistently. But he still managed a small, "Kelderas?" Kelderas' eyes lit up and he pulled his brother into a sitting position before wrapping his arms around him, embracing him as though if he let go Legolas would fade away again.

"Ai, Legolas, don't do that to me," Kelderas whispered, squeezing his brother once more before pulling back and putting his hands on the sides of Legolas' face. "How do you feel?" he asked, looking for any signs of injuries. There seemed to be a small bruise forming on Legolas' forehead.

"C…cold," Legolas whispered, trying unsuccessfully to conceal a shiver.

Arwen suddenly broke from Elrohir's grip and ran to wrap her arms around Legolas' neck. Legolas grunted but took the embrace quietly. Arwen sobbed once more before pulling back and looking Legolas straight in the eye. "I'm sorry I almost killed you!" She cried.

Legolas, smiled suddenly. "Y…you could have t…told me you wanted to g…go swimming," he shivered.

The others chuckled and the comment even garnered a slight laugh from Arwen, though her eyes still shone with tears. Legolas smiled at her again to show that he didn't feel angry towards her. Glorfindel stood, picking Arwen up and wrapping the cloak tighter around her shivering form. Elrohir put an arm around Elladan's shoulders, noticing that his brother had begun to shiver as well. Kelderas reached for Legolas and held him tight as he stood, Arminas instantly coming to help. Legolas lay his head on Kelderas' shoulder tiredly.

They started their trek back to the palace.

After some hot baths and a few serious explanations to Thranduil as to why his sons had returned to the palace exhausted and freezing, everyone had found their way into Thranduil's study and now sat near the warmth of a fire. Legolas sat on his father's lap, wrapped still in warm blankets. He had fallen asleep in the comfort and safety of Thranduil's arms while the elf king attempted to attend to his duties and read a patrol's report. Kelderas and Arminas sat on the floor, Kelderas slightly dozing as he leaned back against his soon to be wife. Arwen and the twins sat near the fire, talking quietly about how Elrond surely would have locked them in their rooms by now. Glorfindel sat quietly, thinking of how life in Mirkwood had changed over the years. He remembered the days of Greenwood the Great. It had once been beautiful. It had rivaled Rivendell and even Lothlorien. But now, it was a dark, worrisome place. But there was light yet, in Mirkwood's people.

The orc scimitar whirled past his head, making Luthin duck backwards, cursing to himself. He held his right arm close to his chest, feeling the burn of the slash that cut its way across his skin. It wasn't deep, but it was long and had withdrawn one of his arms for use in this battle. As the orc raised its arms to swing the scimitar again, Luthin say his chance and dove forward, knife outstretched and drove the blade into the orc's belly. The orc let out a screech but was soon silence as Luthin twisted the knife and then withdrew it upwards, cutting the flesh deeply.

Taking a few steps backward, he scanned around him to see if there were any more enemies. A hand on his shoulder and he swung around, preparing to drive the knife into flesh again. But his arm slowed even before it was caught in the hand of Meneldur, who gently lowered the weapon away from both of them. "Easy," he said quietly but enforcing. Luthin took in the sight of his mentor. Meneldur had a nasty bruise forming on his left cheekbone and he was filthy with orc blood, but otherwise he seemed to be unharmed.

Meneldur was eyeing his charge just the same. His eyes lingered on the slash across Luthin's arm. It looked painful and was bleeding heavily. He guided the prince to sit near a tree so he could get a better look and patch it up if need be. Luthin sat heavily, breathing to regain control of himself. "Where's Veryandil?" Luthin asked, his eyes scanning the woods for any sign on his captain.

"I lost track of him," Meneldur said, digging into his pouch and pulling out a needle and thread. "This will need to be stitched," he said, looking up at Luthin who merely nodded in response. Meneldur began to stitch the wound.

Several elven warriors were starting to appear. An elf was suddenly at Luthin's side and he looked to find it was Losmor. Losmor and Luthin had been advanced and had gone through training together. Luthin found that he enjoyed the other elf's presence and secretly thanked Kabain for having chosen to keep the two together. Though he supposed Kelderas has something to do with it as well, seeing as now Kelderas had begun working with Kabain, preparing to take over as captain of Mirkwood's army. There was no doubt that Keldreas had pulled to keep Luthin with familiar elves who would protect and follow him without question.

"How is he?" Losmor asked, directing the question at Meneldur, who gave him a quirk of an eyebrow in answer.

Luthin let out a chuckle and clapped Losmor's shoulder. "Worry not," he said light-heartedly. "It's a scratch, nothing more."

Meneldur snorted. "Well, this scratch will no doubt earn you a sling and a trip home."

"What?" Losmor and Luthin both echoed at the same time. "It's not that bad," Luthin said, looking down at his arm. But on closer inspection, he found that the wound looked sickening. It spanned the length of his forearm and even though Meneldur had stitched it, it still looked brutally harsh. There had been a fair amount of blood, which now stained his torn tunic.

"If you hadn't been wearing your arm guard, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Meneldur went on to observe. "We'd be thinking of what to do with an armless Mirkwood warrior." Luthin didn't miss the look of seriousness that Meneldur was giving him, even though his mentor was trying to keep the atmosphere light.

Luthin was about to smart mouth him when he saw Veryandil emerge from the woods supporting a wounded warrior. Luthin went to rise, but Meneldur's hand on his chest held him down. Veryandil deposited the warrior into the arms of the patrol's healer before he looked around, spotting Luthin, and walking over. "How's that arm?" He asked once close enough.

"It's fine," Luthin tried.

"He needs a sling," Meneldur answered. Veryandil nodded.

"Loses?" Luthin asked as Veryandil signaled to one of the healers to come and tend to his lieutenant.

Veryandil sighed and shook his head. "At least four that I know of and many injured. I have to send too many home today."

Luthin nodded solemnly. He accepted the sling that the healer was now placing on him. He winced as his arm was slid into it. "Try not to move the arm for a few days. You should be able to use it within a couple of days, but wear the sling if you ride or do engage in something you'll be tempted to irritate it with." Luthin nodded and the healer left. Veryandil sighed, but smiled.

"I suppose you were due for leave anyway," he commented dryly. Luthin looked up at him, unsure whether his captain was irritated or joking. He couldn't tell from the elf captain's face. "Go home, get some rest. We'll still be here when you get back."

Luthin stood and swatted away Meneldur when the older elf went to help him. "It should take me within a week to recover," Luthin said.

Veryandil shook his head. "No, take your full leave. The shift patrol will be meeting up with us soon and we'll be able to handle things." Veryandil's tone told them all that he was not too pleased to be working with the shift patrol, but soon his face changed and he looked at Luthin again. "I hear Prince Kelderas is planning on bonding with Paerus' daughter."

"Yes," Luthin couldn't help but smile. "Arminas will make a good wife for him."

Veryandil nodded. "You should be there for the ceremony," Veryandil said and then turned to attend to the other injured warriors. "The injured will be leaving soon. I want you with them."

As soon as the captain had found other things to attend to, Losmor started chuckling. Luthin turned to glare at him, knowing already what his friend was thinking. But Losmor ignored the glare before he whispered, "Veryandil seems adamant about you staying home. I'd say he's looking forward to the peace and quiet for a while." Luthin swiped at Losmor who just started laughing.

"Is that how you talk to your superiors?" Luthin mocked, a glimmer in his eye.

Losmor struck a thoughtful pose before answering, "Only the ones I know won't be able to best me in a sparring match, gimp." Luthin feigned horror a the nickname and was about to lunge at Losmor, but Meneldur stepped in the way.

"Come," he said, seemingly unphased by the friendly banter between the two. "We're leaving."

Losmor called to Luthin, "Say hello to everyone. And good luck to Kelderas!"

"Don't be too lost without me," Luthin called back, to which he gained a loud scoff followed by a laugh as Losmor went off to see where he could be of some help.

Review Responses:

Haldir's Heart and Soul: Thanks for all the reviews! I love little Legolas fics too. That's why it was one of the first ones that I wrote hehe.

Lothlaurea: Another "de-lurk?" I'm honored. I know I'm cruel hehe. And yeah, right now I can see a bunch of Legolas stories coming out of this head of mine. It's just a matter of writing them all down. I'm already seeing plotty events that I want to throw in but know I'll have to do in a different story. So...there's at least three more stories after this one is finished, because that's how many major plot things I ahve in my head. And not to mention the stories I want to write of when Legolas knows Aragorn hehe.

PL