A/N: I'm back… yet again. Here's the elves finally, enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Blind Alliances
Gandalf stared out the shattered remnants of the late Steward's window, the rising wind sucking at the cloth hangings around the frame. The palantir was covered once more. Seconds ticked away. Where was Aragorn? Galndalf knew he couldn't wait much longer, but who was there to reach out to for aid? There was only one hope left, but would they merely turn a blind eye?
Elrohir's eyes shot open as a scream of agony broke over him. He automatically turned to his brother, but was surprised to see his face impassive, yet not surprised to see his eyes closed as he had been given a dose of the orc drug more recently. Taking a few seconds to take in his surroundings, Elrohir pulled at the various holes in the net to form a larger gap in which he could see through. Heavy, dragging footsteps echoed through the room hurriedly. He was in a large chamber and to his right was a huddled form that he instantly recognized as the other captive. It was stirring as well. But further ahead he saw another dark shape; it wasn't moving at all. A sickening feeling crept into his stomach as his gaze traveled to the slowly spreading pool of blood leaking across the already shining tiles. 'Something has gone wrong, and it may be to our advantage' he thought with hope, despite his grim surroundings. Elrohir tried to struggle to a sitting position, but found it impossible with the weight of his brother's prone body working against him. He was starting to grow impatient. 'This may be our only chance at escape! I need to do something, but not on my own. Who is the other prisoner? More importantly, how would they react to an elf?' he reasoned and decided not to take his chances. Clearing his throat experimentally, he decided to go for a slight gruffness that could come from a man.
Legolas had stayed will during the struggle between the man and orc, silently hoping for the first time in his life that the orc would triumph. His luck had held for a second time when the orc who had initially captured him left, but what had caused the fight in the first place? 'And what does, or did, the fallen man want with me and the other captive?' legolas pondered. He shifted to get a better look at the man, but still could not recognize him. Either way, he had an ill look about him and the pool of blood seeping from his arm wasn't helping. Legolas started as unexpected rumblings emitted from the other captive. 'They can't be an elf, they're much too large, and the timbre of their voice proves this. They're either a man or possibly a dwarf. In that case, I doubt they're met an elf and could still have suspicious notions. As long as I have the cover of this net, I might as well maintain good escape conditions. The last thing I need right now is another prejudiced mortal' he groaned inwardly and mentally began preparing his masquerade.
"Hello?" a gruff voice said quietly. Legolas paused.
"Hello. It appears we are in quite a predicament" Legolas stated bluntly, adding what he hoped would pass as a Gondorian accent. The grating voice grunted in agreement.
"So you want out too?" it replied.
"I don't know, my eyes are already used to the constant darkness…" Legolas replied, attempting a combination of manly pride and sarcasm.
"Then it's decided. But what - " the man began, but exploded into a fit of coughs. Elrohir stopped mid sentence as Elladan woke abruptly and noisily. Elrohir quickly grabbed at him and motioned for him to be quiet, lest he give them away. Sure enough the mysterious prisoner replied quickly.
"Are you alright?" said the other. Elrohir let Elladan's coughs subside to quiet gasping before he replied. Apparently the other captive thought they were one person.
'My decision to pretend to be a man was a wise one' Elrohir thought with grim satisfaction. "Yes, the drug has affected me though" he stated.
"Oh…" Legolas replied uncertainly.
"But I'm fine, let's get out of here" Elrohir said stubbornly, supporting his façade.
"Alright, well can you stand? My hands and feet are bound" Legolas said.
"Mine as well, but I think I'd manage to crawl".
"That sounds fine right now. Which way?"
"I have no idea, but you're smaller and may be able to scout ahead and get away faster if you go first. Lead the way" Elrohir reasoned, giving Elladan and himself some cover, seeing as there would be less of a chance that the stranger would be able to catch on to "his" odd way of moving. Legolas didn't reply, but slowly started moving towards the nearby entrance which looked like it led to a hallway.
Elrohir turned to the slightly puzzled Elladan and quickly filled him in. "Try to move at the same time I do, to make it less obvious" he hissed, as he slammed his infected hand a little too hard on the cold floor. Elladan nodded silently, so as to not provoke his already itching throat.
Legolas paused just outside the entrance to the chamber they had been in, he was correct in assuming it would lead to a corridor. And this one branched several ways. "Any suggestions?" he asked in a muffled tone.
"Your guess is as good as mine" Elrohir replied in the same gravelly tone. Legolas didn't answer, but with a painstaking lack of speed, headed for the second of the three doors in the left wall. After a few minutes of struggling, all the escapees had made it into the room. For that's what it was, a mere room and not any sort of hall or passage leading to freedom.
Saruman had left his palantir with a sense of satisfaction and was now in yet another room plotting his next move. As he drifted through many dusty scrolls, he thought of his new captives , and the prospect of torment was too much. "Grima," he called, knowing he was bound to be lurking nearby, "bring the twins to me, I've decided on some early interrogation". Finding the scroll he had been searching for among his vast collection of dark sorcery, he sat down, leisurely poured himself another glass of red wine and began studying the ancient paper. Ten minutes ticked by. Saruman looked up expectantly. The room was empty. Glancing down at the paper again, Saruman did not lose track of the next few minutes as easily. "Grima!" he barked impatiently, slamming his glass down. Nothing. "Insolent fool!" he hissed as he stood, threw his goblet of wine to the floor where it promptly shattered, and strode for the door.
Legolas stiffened as the sound of breaking glass met his ears. "Quiet!" he whispered urgently to the other, who had been heading towards the door again. Seconds later white robes swished past the threshold of their room at an alarming speed.
"Quick, we have to go somewhere else!" Elrohir said in a rush, releasing his bated breath. The two jumbles of net made their way much more awkwardly, yet faster, into the hallway and into the adjacent room. This time Elrohir and Elladan were leading. "Ah, be careful, there's glass on the floor!" Elrohir said, surprised, as he crushed a shard with his knee.
"Yes, I heard glass breaking just before that man missed is… he must have been in here".
"But who was he? I thought we were here because of that injured man in the room we were in originally?"
"Obviously there is more than one in on this" Legolas decided stonily. "Well we might as well use this glass to our advantage, can you find a piece large enough to use but still fit through the net?"
"Already done" Elrohir replied, grabbing two pieces and pulling them into his net and handing one to Elladan. Legolas raised an unseen eyebrow.
"Do you mind giving me a piece?" he asked.
"What…oh yeah sure" Elrohir said and scrabbled for another chunk and sent it sliding to the other net. Legolas silently grabbed the shard and managed to get it through his net. "The other oiece I have looked a bit dull…" Elrohir explained lamely. Legolas continued to work in silence, concentrating on hacking away the layers of netting without slicing up his own hand too bad.
"We're going to have to show ourselves anyways" Elladan whispered to Elrohir.
"I know, but at least this charade bought us some cooperation before we could be free of these bonds" Elrohir said half heartedly. He continued slicing at the fairly large sized hole they had managed to make. "He did help us get this far, so we owe it to him to at least help him get out of that thing. Besides, we have twice the energy!" Elrohir continued, smiling. Elladan coughed in response.
'At least it's fairly fast work' Legolas thought, but was still surprised when a pair of hands burst through the other net. 'How…' he puzzled, but was shocked even more when another pair of hands joined the first and together ripped the net open. Despite everything, Legolas began laughing, as he could with his injured chest restricting him. 'I can't believe it! All this time we were hiding from each other' he thought with relief, yet disbelief at this twist of fate.
Elrohir wasn't expecting a good reaction, but he certainly wasn't expecting laughter! Striding over to the other partially shredded net, he gave it one last slice and opened it for it's inhabitant. H edropped the shard he was still holding as the blond haired elf emerged stiffly. "You!" he and Elladan exclaimed simultaneously.
"You." Legolas replied with amusement. Elladan was the first to recover.
"Beautiful accent, O man of Gondor!" Elladan wheezed, joining them.
"You did a fine job as well, that coughing threw me off."
"I will take credit for the outbursts, but the rest was Elrohir" Elladan replied.
"Well, now that we can truly trust each other, let's get out of here" Elrohir advised, serious once more. Quickly making his way to the window, he instantly knew their problem. "We're far too high up. This is a tower, we need to find stairs" he said as he watched the orcs begin to rally in front of the entrance to the fortress, "and fast".
A/N: YAY, reunion! Anyways I went back and fixed all the chapters slightly, so I'd advise you to go back and skim over the chapters just to recap what's going on with everybody. I doubt anyone remembers it's been so long!
