Chapter 3: Cave Troll
"Legolas, we have to get to him! Follow his screams!" Tavel listened carefully as he ran through the halls. Suiadan had no regrets as he chased after Tavel, except for ever agreeing to come with them. Now, they all had a risk to die, if there was truly a cave troll. If this were one of Legolas' stupid jokes, he would strangle the careless elf and not care if the king of Mirkwood was watching.
As they approached the source of the screams, they found Legolas. Legolas' leggings where caught on a cave plant as he said, and nearby was a cave troll. Around the troll's neck was a chain, and he swung it around, making stones fall. Tavel ran over to Legolas, who was shaking and his heart pounding so fast Tavel was worried it was unnatural. Suiadan held Legolas tightly, trying to sooth the panicked elf as Tavel got behind Legolas to unhook his leggings.
"How did you get caught on the plant Legolas? It's knotted itself into your leggings, practically!" Tavel said, cutting off the plant. When Legolas had been freed, he pulled out his bow and the three boys jumped away from one of the cave trolls swings of his chain.
"Legolas, stay down!" Suiadan jumped on top of Legolas, who was just about to stand up to aim his bow.
"Get off! I'm NOT stupid! I can take care of myself! SUIADAN!" Legolas gasped as Suiadan was thrown off him and into a wall by an Uruk-Hai.
"What do we have here? Is it the king?" The Uruk-Hai put his filthy hand on Legolas' cheek and looked deep into the prince's eyes.
"No, too young… Must be one of them filthy little princes… I know some uruks that could have some fun with you!" The Uruk-Hai said, squeezing the prince's face. Legolas squirmed and wanted to see if Suiadan was all right. Legolas was a bit relieved when the Uruk-Hai gasped and fell dead, by Tavel's sword.
"Be careful Legolas." Tavel said, frowning at his friend as he helped him to his feet.
"I could not see anything, Suiadan had jumped on me!" Legolas protested, still fidgeting. Tavel was standing in his way, blocking his view of Suiadan, and Legolas was afraid to see his friend's states.
"Where is Suiadan? Did the uruk get him?" Tavel asked, suddenly having a face filled with concern.
"The uruk wanted me, he threw Suiadan over there." Legolas looked over his friend's shoulder, to see Suiadan getting to his feet, pain spread over his face.
"Suiadan!" Tavel ran over to Suiadan, who fell into his friend's arms.
"Your arm is broken, don't use your bow, and keep away from the troll." Tavel sat Suiadan up against the wall.
"I just wanted Legolas to be safe… Ai that hurt…" Suiadan winced as Tavel had torn a strip of his tunic to make a splint for his arm, and he had moved the broken arm slightly.
"Stay here, I wont let the cave troll get to you. You did well, protecting our prince like you did. The king would be proud." Tavel tried to reassure his friend.
"Keep watch on Legolas, too, the foolish imp." Suiadan smiled before his eyes widened in horror.
"Legolas is taking on that cave troll on his own! Help him!" Suiadan pointed with his good hand to Legolas, who was backing away in fear from the troll. There were a few arrows in the troll's arms, clearly Legolas had spent all of the arrows he had poorly. Legolas' knife lay a few feet before him. Tavel ran forwards to get his friend's knife, but came to an immediate halt and just stared, not being able to say anything in pure horror and worry.
The troll had swung his chain, and in such shock Legolas did not move, getting the chain in his side. Legolas screamed louder than he had been before, and fell onto the ground. Legolas curled into a ball and sobbed, not stopping. Suiadan had never seen Legolas so upset, nor in so much pain. And neither Suiadan nor Legolas had ever seen Tavel in so much rage.
That was Tavel's best friend, ever since they had been young children. That had to be the worst pain Legolas had ever felt, Tavel was certain. He had to avenge his friend, Legolas did not deserve such pain, and no elf did. Yelling his best warrior-yell, Tavel unsheathed his long sword and ran forwards, jumping on the troll's head and ramming his sword into his neck. Legolas raised his head, still sobbing, and with a blurry vision because of the tears, he saw his friend fighting. It amazed him; he never thought Tavel was very good, only since Tavel never competed in the archery or sword competitions.
The troll lost his balance and soon fell, but Suiadan and Legolas gasped as Tavel fell with him. The two fell together, but the troll fell on Tavel's legs. Tavel let out a loud groan before shutting his eyes.
"No!" Legolas screamed in between his sobs of pain and now worry.
Suiadan was not sure if the fall had killed his friend, but right now it was of no concern to him. He was worried for Tavel's life, but Legolas was still alive and he had to get him out while he was living, to be healed. Despite the pain and agony that it caused Suiadan to move, he trudged over to Legolas and pulled off the elf's tunic. The wound was terrible, blood was pouring from in, wetting Legolas' tunic and leggings, and the ground as well. Suiadan wrapped the tunic tightly around the wound and lifted Legolas, trying to not use his bad arm to support his friend. Suiadan did not want to leave without making sure Tavel was dead, so went down to where he lay.
Tavel's upper body showed, but his legs where buried beneath the troll. His eyes where shut and Suiadan did not realise he was crying over Tavel's body.
"Leg… Legola… Las…" Tavel moaned softly.
"He's here, friend. He's safe, hurt, but safe. You did it… You killed the troll. We owe you our lives… Tavel?" Suiadan looked down at Tavel. "Will you be alright?" Suiadan asked in a quiet tone.
"Leave… Legolas… you… hurt… Get out… Me… Me die…" Tavel said softly.
"No… Tavel… Can't you get up? I can't leave you to die… I wont…" Suiadan said, gently, shaking.
"No move… Die… leave now." Tavel said, shutting his eyes again, as tightly as he could. Suiadan did a soft prayer for his fallen friend and turned to leave, but not without saying, "I will come back to get you, alive or not. I wont let your body be buried in this cave. You will have a proper funeral, my friend. My best friend." Suiadan said as he left. Legolas was falling in and out of consciousness, and when he was conscious he cried.
Sometimes it sounded as if he was asking something, but Suiadan was never quite certain so never answered, even if he thought he knew what the prince was saying. He could see the palace in sight, voices of servants in the distance.
"Nana… Nana…" It sounded as if that was what Legolas was saying now.
"We're home Legolas…" Suiadan said softly, now dragging Legolas into the courtyard. All the guards and Servants stopped what they where doing to stare at the elf and his friend. Suiadan knew he was safe now, so let himself collapse onto the ground, he had wanted to so badly but had not before because he had to bring Legolas home. Legolas was unconscious now.
When Legolas awoke, Haldir and his siblings all looked down at him with concern. Relief filled their faces when he opened his eyes for the first time in five hours.
"Thank Valar! Legolas, how do you fare?" Illiendal immediately jumped out of her chair beside Haldir and took Legolas' hand.
"Where are Suiadan and Tavel? Is Tavel still dead?" Legolas shot up and groaned at the pain in his side.
"Careful, child… You have quite the damage done to you." Haldir said, helping Legolas back into a better position.
Legolas looked over to the bed beside him and gasped when he saw that it was Tavel who lay in the bed.
"How did Tavel get here? I heard him say he was dieing, or, I thought that's what I heard, I was so overcome with my own wound that I was not very alert…" Legolas said quietly.
"Suiadan only had a broken arm so he led us to Tavel's 'dead body', which turned out to be his barely alive body. But he wont be there for long…" Tonus said, noticing the nervous look on Legolas' face.
"Is he going to die?" Legolas asked.
"No… But… I don't know which is worse, death… or such a brilliant archer to have both legs amputated…" Tonus shut his eyes when Legolas gasped and sprang up again to see Tavel. Legolas winced at the pain in his side, but did not move, only continued to stare at Tavel.
"He is going to have the operation later this afternoon. We do not expect him to be awake by then, and he has already been drugged just in case. We don't want him to wake; he would be in much pain and would not be able to remain calm, most probably. He would panic." Tonus said, helping Legolas back into a better position and a much less painful one at that.
"But, Tavel lives on his own, his parents sailed west without him. Without legs, he wont be able to get around!" Legolas said. Cield, who sat near with one elfling on each leg, nodded.
"We thought of that. But Legolas, it is either amputate his legs or kill him. His legs where crushed, you must understand that he will never be able to use them again. Once the surgery is over Tavel will need to recover, so he will remain in bed at the palace. Afterwards, we all agree that Tavel should stay with us at the palace until father returns. I don't think he will be able to return home, Legolas, he will have to drag himself everywhere and it's too dangerous to have a handicapped underage elf living on his own in Mirkwood." Cield said, Illiendal keeping Legolas down since the young prince wanted to spring back up and make sure Tavel would never be able to walk again, he was not going to have his friend loose his legs for no reason.
"But… Tavel was such a great archer; he took such good care of himself… He did not even want to come with us, when I came to collect him he said he had many chores to do, but he said he would come along for a short while. When I wanted to go into the caves, he was uneasy about it. He was worried when he chased after me into the caves, and he only jumped on that cave troll because he was trying to protect me. It's my entire fault; I should be the one loosing legs and not him. There is not way you could… Remove my legs and attach them to Tavel, is there?" Legolas gave his brother a sad, weak smile. He knew that would not happen, ever, and even if Tonus could do that he would not.
"I'm sorry, brother. It won't happen." Tonus said, giving his brother a weak smile.
"Don't work yourself over this, little one… You took a lot of damage." Haldir said, pulling back Legolas' sheets to show Legolas that he was shirtless and the wound was tightly bandaged. "You needed a lot of salve and stitches, I watched. We had not drugged you because you looked like you would be out for hours, but we where wrong. You woke when Tonus began to stitch, and you just began to fight. You did not realise who you where fighting, you just kicked and screamed. Tonus managed to drug you before you did serious damage to anyone or yourself." Haldir said.
"My side is sore…" Legolas said, watching as Tonus rubbed some sort of ointment on Legolas' chest.
"Breathe it in Legolas, it will ease you." Tonus watched as Legolas inhaled and sighed.
"It is soothing. Hannon-le (1)." Legolas said softly. "What of Suiadan?" Legolas asked.
"Since he only had a broken arm, he chose to leave. He had no need to stay, anyways." Haldir said, watching as Illiendal took a brush off a nightstand and began to brush her brother's hair affectionately.
"That's my brush, right?" Legolas asked, giving his sister a feeble smile as she nodded her head.
"Whose did you think it is?" Illiendal asked, caressing her brother's cheek as his smile grew a bit.
"Some dead elf who had died in this bed before me, and forget to take his brush with him to mandos." Legolas said cheekily. Illiendal pat her younger brother on his head before continuing to detangle his hair that had been messed by the encounter with the troll.
"You silly elf." Illiendal said, not noticing that Legolas was not listening very attentively. Legolas was looking directly at Haldir, who was watching Illiendal. Legolas saw the way he was looking at her and was not happy with it. Illiendal already had a good boyfriend, Elladan son of Elrond, and to have Haldir looking at Illiendal in such a way would not do.
"Here Legolas, drink this. It's just some Minuvor; it will help you gain strength. There will be no getting out of bed for at least a day-
"But Tonus, a whole day? What on earth will I do in such time? When will I eat?" Legolas looked confused at Tonus.
"You can read, draw, write… There is plenty you can do in bed. Food will be brought to your chambers. We will be taking shifts on watching you, Haldir has volunteered for first shift. I am very serious about this Legolas." Tonus said, standing up.
"I will leave now." Tonus said. Everyone but Haldir and Illiendal left Legolas.
"I will leave too, I must collect my bow and quiver, I abandoned it in the courtyard when I saw you and Suiadan entering in such a horrid state." Illiendal said. Haldir's gaze switched from Legolas to Illiendal immediately.
"My lady, would you get my bow and arrows as well? They should be near your own…" Haldir said. Illiendal frowned.
"What? I won't be leaving Legolas for a while, I would appreciate it if you got my weapons." Haldir said.
"Haldir, you did not say please." Legolas grinned, even he knew better than not to say please to his sister when requesting. Haldir grumbled and sighed.
"Would you please get my weapons?" Haldir asked again. Illiendal smiled and left.
"Stubborn, isn't she?" Legolas smirked.
"I would not say stubborn… I mean, I don't know her well but I would not call her stubborn, we talked before and she sounded so fine, and she looks just as sweet." Haldir said. Legolas snorted.
"She is very nice, she spends time with me. But don't think I did not see you looking at my sister like you where… She is far too young for you!" Legolas said, crossing his arms to seem to make a point.
"Hir (2) Legolas, you do not sound very much like you want to. It's not convincing, pardon me for saying so." Florien said as he entered. "How are you?" The young red-haired elf asked.
"Sore, but I will heal." Legolas smiled at his nephew.
"I am sorry I was not there before, hir. I only just found out what happened. I feel awful for Tavel, having his legs amputated and all." Florien said. Legolas nodded, briefly looking over at Tavel who had not moved since he woke up, before returning to see his nephew.
"I will leave you to rest, uncle." Florien said, giving his uncle a hug before leaving the room, Haldir and Legolas again being alone.
"I'm sorry I did not follow, things may have turned out better if I did not allow you to leave on your own. I should have known better, Valar, you are only ten!" Haldir said, looking shamefully away.
"You clearly have not dealt with children my age in some time, have you?" Legolas asked. Haldir sighed and did not plan to answer that.
"I'm sorry I never came to see you, and I did now answer the letters you sent me. But it would be expensive to send letter back and I had no free time during the years, my job took most of my time… " Haldir looked around for something to do with the prince, not finding much. Obviously the prince was too old to play the childish games he used to enjoy, but it had been long since Rumil had been that age and he vaguely recalled what he had played with him. He did recall buying Rumil chess set for his tenth birthday and he had spent all the money he had on it, and Rumil loved playing chess.
Haldir then noticed what looked like an old chess set, sticking out of a bookcase. Haldir walked over to the bookcase and took the chessboard and pieces. He set the board up on Legolas' abdomen.
"Do you wish to play?" Haldir asked. Legolas was looking very confusedly at the board.
"What is it?" Legolas asked, picking up a pawn and running his fingers over the smooth wood.
"You mean to say you have never played chess? I will show you how to play then, I must." Haldir smiled, taking the pawn from Legolas' hand and putting it back in its place.
To be continued…It's a bit miserable at the moment but the joy of the story will come back soon!
Melannen Amarie: I'm glad you like the bratty side of Legolas, he will get a bit nicer but often he will be a little brat.
Aranna Undomiel: He found out quite soon, actually.
Haldir's heart and Soul: I got the caevtroll thing from watching the Fellowship of the ring in moria one too many times… hey at least I did not make them encounter a Balrog, now that would be just unreasonable!
Bberry06: Galion will be back, don't worry…
Seriously Wrong: I don't like you. There are four different kinds of reviews: Flames, constructive criticism, addictive fan girl reviews and generally nice reviews. You, in your profile, try to act like your giving out the constructive criticism, but your just bloody flaming. Here's a small description of flaming, pretty straight forwards: Flame: (noun) A review or comment that is harsh with personal offence. Calling something utter garbage is a flame, saying may orcs tear you to shreds is a flame, and I DO HAVE SPELL CHECK and I DO HAVE GRAMMER CHECK and I DO PROOF READ. IT'S CALLED CANADIAN SPELL CHECK, where COLOR is COLOUR and HONOR is HONOUR. Idiot, I'm afraid you are seriously wrong.
Some Guy: Well, I am in Montreal so the drinking age is 18, is it still 19 for driving even in Quebec? I'm just a thirteen year old so I am completely unaware of these things, really. I'm thirteen and everyone considers me a teenager, so I don't know where 15 takes place but whatever you say Mr. Some guy… I like you, actually. Canadian reviewers are the best since I never get any… My uncle lives where you live, so that makes you an even better reviewer. Ottawa is a nice place…
Mistopurr: There might be some teenage angst but it's a humour story. Do you say humour or humor where you live?
Here comes the hockey puck: Ah, he's an elf… he'll live!
A. NuEvil: Yea, and he can sure teach Nenmir how to aggravate Haldir just like Legolas used to when he was Nenmir's age.
Legolas' Girl 9: Don't worry! Legolas is alive and sort of well…
Caprice Ann: Well, what if Haldir finds those images when he is your husband? Then he will think he has married a crazy woman who when younger had a perverted mind! Poor husband. Ah well, when I marry my copy of Haldir he'll probably find those images too…