11

Tears of frustration poured down Aragorn's face as he grappled with the iron jaws of the trap. The teeth were slick with Legolas' blood and his hands continually slipped from them. Legolas cried out every time his leg was jarred and Aragorn let go immediately every time Legolas keened in pain. The steel teeth of the deer trap had caught him just below the knee. It had sunk deep in the tender flesh puncturing muscle and bone. The trap was old and rusted. It had lain forgotten, under that bush for at least ten years. But for all that, it had lost none of its potency. It easily defeated Aragorn's attempts to pry it apart.

………………

The ranger trembled and sweated his skin covered with a slick sheen as he attempted once again to pry apart the device. His leverage a long paring knife, the only weapon he could have got in the village, snapped in two as he applied too much force. The trap rocked, jerking Legolas' leg to the side. Legolas screamed, a high pitched scream that made Aragorn cast aside the broken knife and hold him. He gathered as much of him as he could in his arms.

"Gohenan nin, gohenan nin," Aragorn murmured over and over, burying his tear stained face in Legolas hair.

Unable to answer Legolas dug his fingers into the soil at his side as he struggled to bear the pain. His face was pale and his lips a shade of blue. The pain and the loss of blood were draining him. When he grew quiet Aragorn lay him back onto the earth and cast about for a sturdy branch with which he could force the jaws apart. He found several limbs, but none of them could be used. There were partially rotted and those that were not were too old. They broke in his hands like old bones. He returned to Legolas who was lying on his back, eyes closed. The elf was barely breathing, just taking small sips of air as waves of agony engulfed him. Aragorn knelt beside him his knees pressing into the earth that was soaked in blood. He lightly touched the cruel trap that so effectively held his dear friend with the tips of his fingers. He could not unlock this thing, asymbol of the uncaring nature of men. Slowly it would kill him; its rusty poison would invade his body and turn him into nothing more than cold flesh. It would take away that shy smile, those sparkling eyes and dull that living gold into pale straw.

Aragorn's breath hitched as Legolas perhaps sensing him there opened eyes, eyesthat had gone dark with pain. Aragorn cupped his cheek, and though only three hours had passed, felt the first faint heat of fever on his skin. Legolas struggled to speak but only a faint sound escaped his parted lips.

…………………

The smell of the blood attracted many predators. But the sight of the tall man, made taller by the fur coat he wore, waving his arms and growling menacingly chased most of them away. There was one predator however unimpressed by the display that bided his time just out of sight. He too had been on the path and had been forced to seek shelter in the dark forest when the winds had come.

Aragorn gathered wood as the shadows grew long and evening wore on. Twice Legolas had called for water and twice had Aragorn helped him drink. As night approached Legolas almost insensible with pain, slipped in and out of consciousness. Many times he spoke to Aragorn in the high tongue, using words that were so ancient that the ranger had great difficulty in understanding him. Aragorn made him as comfortable as he could, using both of their coats to support his head, neck and shoulders.He dipped water from one of the sacks and wiped the elf's hot face. He built a fire, a big blazing fire that shone brightly in the darkness of the forest. Stupid one might say, but it was cold and the predators were wary of such a display.

…………….

Legolas finally lost consciousness altogether and for this Aragorn was glad for he intended to make one last effort to free the elf's leg. He intended to do it even if his heart burst from the attempt.

"Legolas," he called softly, "Legolas mellon nin can you hear me?"

Legolas neither stirred nor replied. Sighing deeply Aragorn kissed his closed eyes and fevered brow.

"Forgive me for causing you such pain, but I must try," he said.

He wrapped his hands in strips of cloth torn from the length of his shirt. Then he knelt in front of the rusty metal. He licked his lips as he prayed to the Valar for strength. Placing one hand on each jaw, he pulled. The trap did not like being forced open. It creaked and gnawed, refusing to give up its victim. But Aragorn did not mean to be defeated again. With trembling arms and straining body he took a deeper breath and pulled, screaming aloud his frustration and desire in one final effort.

The teeth made a wet sucking sound as they were pulled from Legolas' flesh. They sprang apart, at the last defeated by time and love. Aragorn gave a shout of triumph as Legolas' leg fell free. His hands were burning, his back was aching and his head pounded painfully with a rush of blood, but Legolas was free. Almost crying in relief, he was on the verge of rising, for Legolas had groaned, responding to this new pain even at that level, when a sound from behind caused him to turn.

The branch struck him a nasty blow to the side of the head. Aragorn fell wordlessly to the earth like a felled beast. The victor who had trailed them from village to forest, who had suffered terribly alone began to laugh. He dropped the branch bellowing his rich laugh to the distant sky above.

……………………..

Aragorn awoke by increments; the pounding in his head was fierce. He shivered, lips chattering, body almost numb. He struggled to recall what had happened. His arms hurt and he tried to move them but they seemed to be stuck above his head. He opened his eyes a little then, but everything appeared to be covered in mist.

"Awake at last are ye. Thought I'd bunged yer too hard." said a familiar voice.

Aragorn's head whipped around and his eyes flew open.

Talen stood there a smile on his face, he stood over Legolas who remained recumbent on the stained earth. The fire was blazing and even as Aragorn fumbled to take it all in, Talen tossed something that looked like cloth onto the blaze. In horror Aragorn watched his clothes burn. Talen had stripped and tied him to the lowest limb of a tree. He hung by the wrists, toes just brushing the short grass below his feet.

"I'd never thought to see ye both again." Talen continued conversationally. He reached up and broke off a thin branch from a tree behind him. Nonchalantly he whipped out a short blade and began to whittle away. Aragorn's eyes dropped to Legolas when Talen moved, but the elf was still unconscious.

"Everything went wrong after ye took away the boy." Talen continued. His green eyes were shinning strangely in the firelight. Aragorn twisted his wrists trying to slacken the ropes, but they were tied too tightly.

"I'd never seen such gold afore, should ha' known t'were bewitched. Elven gold." Here Talen looked up at Aragorn slyly from beneath his thick black lashes. "Should a' been warned when ye took to him so quick. Not natural for a man to want such a creature so bad."

Aragorn said not a word. He watched Talen's hands strip the limb of its lesser branches as though fascinated.

"My old man died," he said. "Almost as soon as ye left, like ye took his spirit with ye. I loved my da." Talen stopped examined the branch then began to whittle some more.

"I took the gold, that cursed gold and bought meself new trappings, thought to settle in the town at the lake."

He paused then and looked directly into Aragorn's frightened eyes.

"I been over that bridge a hundred times in my life, never had naught happen to me. But this time I were attacked by fell creatures robbed o' all I had, near killed," he smiled. "Barely made it to the village."

He swished the branch, now whittled smooth, through the air. It sang and snapped in his hand.

"Imagine my surprise to see one day, the very reasons for my misfortune, settin' there as happy as a couple o' larks eating their faces full, while I had to wait on Gilden's good pleasure for a crumb."

He took two steps closer to Aragorn and the ranger's breathing quickened. That close Aragorn could see the madness in his eyes and smell the old wine on his breath.

"I coulda killed ye as ye lay sleeping. Dead to the world ye were, in yer nice beds. But then questions would ha' been asked and how could I prove yer bewitchment."

Aragorn trembled to speak to deny Talen's words, but he was afraid, deadly afraid of the dark emotions in those deep marble eyes.

"I heard ye talking telling the innkeeper where ye war headed so I followed ye, on foot mind, I dogged yer tracks. But then up comes the wind and I was lost in this 'chanted forest. I thought it would ha' been the end o' me." Talen smiled at the ranger. "But that's done now, I found ye."

He touched Aragorn's cheek and the ranger flinched.

"Ye should not ha' taken him, he is mine boy. I'm taking him back. I'll not kill ye, but you must pay for all the troubles you caused me."

Again Aragorn tried to pull his wrists free but Talen's knots could not be undone so easily. Talen stepped back as the ranger struggled. He examined him critically from head to toe.

"Ye are a beautiful man," he said softly. The hand that held the whip drew back.

"No, " Aragorn whispered in denial.

The first lash caught him just below the buttocks and Aragorn inhaled sharply. Talen swung again and the whip flicked across his back. Aragorn gave a little cry.

"OOOOH, Talen mocked him. "Hurt did it?"

The big man's hand rose and fell in a practiced rhythm and by the tenth stroke Aragorn screamed out. Laughing joyously Talen flogged him.

………………….

Aragorn's body was on fire. He had screamed his voice away and his face was wet with sweat and tears. He hung limply from the tree, head lolling forward. Talen stopped then satisfied and admired his handiwork. Not a strip of skin broken, not a drop of blood spilled, but the ranger's body was nicely covered with ugly red welts. He traced his fingers down Aragorn's back and the ranger shuddered. Talen was pleased. He had not lost his touch, but then how could he. He had had so much practice with the elf. He dropped the whip and held Aragorn around the waist. The ranger's body was hot to the touch. Aragorn whimpered as Talen's fingers ran through the thick weight of his hair and his warm breath caressed his neck.

"Not so cheeky now are we?" he taunted.

Aragorn took in a shaky breath.

Talen's hand slipped lower and crossed to his backside. Aragorn could do nothing but utter a wordless sound of negation. Then Talen did something there with his fingers that made Aragorn writhe. A piteous sound escaped his lips. Talen laughed and grabbed the ranger's chin. He kissed the side of his swollen mouth and tasted the salty tears that flowed afresh from his eyes. But Talen was tired of playing with the ranger. So he turned to his favourite thing.

That the elf was severely hurt bothered him not at all for he had no intention of leaving either one of them alive. He intended only to fully satisfy himself.

Now Legolas had lain there for the better part of a day in pain and growing fever and though he was oblivious to the world around him inside his mind heaved. At first, half forgotten images and vague memories had flittered across his mind's eye. But as he grew worse the sharper they became, for the pain became so exquisite that it forced him to flee to a place deep inside himself. A place about which he had forgotten, a place in which all the doors to his memories lay. And one by one as he faced them they opened, flooding him with the past. He came to know himself as he lay there. He remembered his people. All too clearly he remembered the fateful day that he had been undone.

It was not Aragorn's screams that awakened him, nor Talen's voice. It wasTalen's smell, that musty almost animal scent that invaded his senses, found him where he was and warned him that his life was in danger.

So that as Talen took began to cut the clothes from his body his eyes opened.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Gohenan nin----------forgive me

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Ciryaquen-----is this better? (Grin)

Aleerah-------as quick as I can I will.

Ainu Laire-----It's one of the languages of my country.

Tmelange------Oh yes!

Knight Guardian---- Thanks for the enthusiastic review

Shanna---- hola querida, te gusta?

Lindahoyland---- cold eh? hope you like this one too.

Legolass----- thank you so much Lass.

Lior-a------ Thanks for reading.