The Seven Seeing Stones
Author's note:
Yes this has been a bit delayed but I have an Anatomy mid-semester to blame it on. I'm sorry about the short chapter but I'll try and get the next one out quickly to make up for it.
Six
The Fourth In The River
Celeborn woke early after a fitful day of sleep, the sun had only just begun to set and the stars were not yet out. He looked over to the sleeping form of Avaanta, who even while asleep refused to remove the metallic mask the Dwarves had crafted for him. Celeborn knew what lay beneath it though, he knew exactly what the scarred half of Avaanta's face looked like and it certainly was not pretty. But he had cared for him through it all and surely he didn't feel as though he had to hide his face from him.
"Why are you watching me while I sleep." Avaanta said as he opened his right eye to look up at Celeborn.
"I was wondering why you sleep with that mask on."
"I don't want anyone to look at my hideous face."
The Elf's words were painfully honest and his mood was darkened by it. Celeborn pitied him in that moment, unable to see the beauty he still held despite his facial deformity.
"With all due respect Avaanta I treated your wounds and it really could have been far worse."
The younger Elf scoffed and turned onto his side so that his back was to Celeborn, forcing an exasperated sigh from the Elven Lord. He settled back down to try and catch an hour or two of extra sleep.
He woke again only an hour or two later to the shuffling of Avaanta's soft leather boots on the stone floor of the ruined building they were hiding out in. It was cold in Osgiliath down by the river but neither Elf felt it. Celeborn did think it odd that Men would build a city here though when it was so obviously cold in winter. None lived there now though.
Celeborn pulled himself up from the stone and looked up to question Avaanta but the other Elf had already disappeared. Hurrying after him the Elven Lord found the damaged Prince standing by the water's edge, carefully surveying the slow flowing mass.
Avaanta then began to strip off his clothing, tugging off each boot before throwing them further up the bank, away from the water. His hands pulled his outer tunic up over his head and it quickly joined his boots on the bank. The clasps of his silvery under tunic were undone and he let the garment slip from his shoulders, catching it with his right hand he tossed it over with the rest. Celeborn could only see the Elf's back but he knew each scar that traced across his thorax and abdomen as well as if they were on his own body. Finally Legolas jerked his tights down and stepped out of them, using a foot to gracefully flick them up onto the clothing pile.
He strode confidently out into the water but only made it in up to his knees before he stopped at Celeborn's request.
"How are you planing to locate the Palantir in the river in the dark?"
Avaanta said nothing but opened his left hand and held it out to Celeborn. Nestled in his palm was the phial Galadriel had given Frodo on their quest so many years ago.
"Where did you get that?" Celeborn asked, slightly suspicious of the other Elf.
Avaanta only smiled in response before whispering the Elven words to light the phial, bright white light erupting from it as Legolas waded further into the river.
Celeborn had been almost blinded by the sudden flash of light and had to hide his eyes beneath a hand but then, accompanied by a splash, the light dimmed considerably. When he looked back to the river, even in the darkness of the night he could see Avaanta's naked form swimming beneath the surface, illuminated by the phials bright light.
"He's thought of bloody everything." Celeborn muttered to himself as he wondered just how long the Elf had truly been planning this endeavour.
He slipped smoothly beneath the water's surface, holding his breath as he cast his eyes and the light about under the water in search of the Palantir's polished surface. The mask settled on the left side of his face was cumbersome in the water and he considered removing it and tossing it to the bank but knowing then that he would have to face Celeborn's stare when he returned he gritted his teeth and put up with it.
Kicking his feet furiously he surfaced and gulped in a lungful of air, not having realised he'd been holding his breath for quite that long.
"Anything?" Celeborn called out from the bank.
"Just keep watch!" Avaanta yelled back before he ducked beneath the surface again.
The light certainly made seeing a lot easier but he could still see he would have his work cut out for himself. He set up a search grid for himself, travelling from one bank of the river to the other, slowly making his way down stream as he cut back and fourth across the great river.
A hundred or so meter's downstream of his starting point his lungs were aching and his muscles were tiring and then he found what he was looking for. He spotted it, poking just above the silt at the river's bottom but was out of air and had to quickly surface and gulp in a breath of he before going back down.
Kicking furiously to the bottom he dug the precious orb up out of the slit and hauled it into his arms. Sinking his bare feet in to the river's gritty bottom he pushed up and sped towards the surface, breaking free with a gasp, sucking fresh air into his lungs as he kicked his legs hard beneath him to keep himself and the Palantir above the surface.
The Palantiri had always felt heavy but now, struggling with tired muscles to stay afloat he realised how much the stones truly weighed. He didn't bother to swim back upstream, choosing instead to make for the bank and walk back to the ruined city where Celeborn was no doubt still waiting for him. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do with the Elf but had a feeling he would come in handy yet so he kept him around, really his use had run out when he had finished healing Avaanta's wounds but the Prince would never tell him this.
Avaanta strode confidently, even in his nakedness, back into the ruins of Osgiliath to find Celeborn seated atop a turret, hidden from sight but with a good view of the lands around them. The Elf stood as Avaanta approached and a rose an eyebrow as he saw the wet Palantir nestled in his arms.
"So you found it then."
"I did." Avaanta stated simply, plucking his dark cloak from the ground and wrapping it about the glistening stone in his arms.
Celeborn climbed down from his perch and landed gracefully beside Avaanta. He waited patiently as the other Elf dressed, watching dull blue eyes that never removed their gaze from the round from on the ground by his feet. Celeborn worried more now than ever that this desire to possess the Palantiri was consuming Avaanta.
"And what now Legolas?"
Furious blue eyes turned on Celeborn and the Elven Lord took a tentative step back at the fire blazing in those eyes.
"I have asked you not to call me by that name!"
Avaanta lowered his shoulder and landed a heavy tackle in Celeborn's abdomen, sending the both of them crashing into the water behind them.
Celeborn found himself completely submerged beneath the water with the weight of the other Elf pressing down on him. He struggled furiously beneath Avaanta but to his horror the other Elf seemed to be holding him under. He finally landed a kick and felt the pressure on his chest ease up slightly, enough for him to force Avaanta off him and struggled to the surface where he gulped in a lungful of air.
"What the hell are you doing?" Celeborn spluttered at the other Elf, completely loosing his composure for a moment.
"I asked you not to call me that Celeborn but you just can't seem to remember that simple request."
Avaanta advanced on him again and Celeborn ducked and weaved out of his way as he suddenly realised the Elven Prince was actually trying to harm him.
"Avaanta! What are you doing?" He stumbled through the now thigh deep water to avoid the raging blond Elf.
"Oh you remember my name now!" Avaanta hollered as he charged at the older Elf again, this time catching him round the thighs and knocking him off his feet and back into the water.
Celeborn cried out but it was cut off by a gurgle as his head disappeared beneath the water again. Before Celeborn could break the surface he felt strong hands grip his shoulders and hold him under. Precious air rushed from his lungs as he cried out in surprise, chocking as river water flooded into his mouth.
A fearful thought stood prominently in his mind; he was going to die. Avaanta was trying to drown him and if he didn't react in the next few seconds he would not be coming back up. His life did not flash before his eyes but as he contemplated his position a sudden surge of energy rushed through him and he managed to force the other Elf off him and struggle to the river's surface.
Gulping in air Celeborn struggled over to the river's bank, hauling himself to dry land as Avaanta picked himself up from the water. Dull blue eyes blazing in fury turned upon the rapidly escaping Elf. The younger Elf stood waist deep in the river, watching Celeborn, as he stood on the river's bank looking frightened and confused.
"Avaanta…I don't know what to say."
"I suggest you go Celeborn. Run like the coward you so obviously are. You had no plans to ever help me, you want to take them from me…I can see it in your eyes."
The younger Elf had gone quite mad.
"Take what from you?" Celeborn paused for only a moment before he answered his own question. "The Palantiri? If you think I want to take them from you Avaanta you have gone completely mad!"
"Have I?"
Avaanta took a step forward and grinned wolfishly as Celeborn took a cautionary step back.
"Stay where you are Avaanta…"
"Or what Celeborn? What will you do?" Madness danced in Avaanta's dull eyes, lighting them ever so slightly in a way Celeborn had never seen before.
"You stay right there Avaanta, the King of Gondor will know of your deeds soon enough."
The young blond Elf threw back his head and laughed menacingly.
"You plan to walk up to the King of Gondor and turn in an Elf by a name he's never heard of?"
"He has heard of you Legolas, he knows you well."
"He thinks Legolas is dead."
"What?" Celeborn looked legitimately shocked.
"I overheard him telling his advisors so before I burst in on their little meeting. Not so confident now are you? All he knows about the man who stole his precious stones is that his is an Elf and wears a mask. You walk in there and he's going to have you arrested, with or without a mask." Avaanta grinned slyly in self-satisfaction.
"Well I'm certainly not staying with an Elf who is trying to kill me."
"Fine, go. See how you fare on your own. I'm going on with or without you."
Celeborn stood, eyes locked with the other Elf for sometime before he finally turned on his heal and walked, dripping wet, to his horse. He mounted the steed and it complained slightly beneath him as the Elven Lord sat himself upon his back, wet clothing pooling about him.
"Who knows, I may see you again Celeborn. Though I believe if I do it will be at the service of some Man clever enough to capture you, it's only a matter of time and you know it."
Avaanta sounded close by all of a sudden and Celeborn turned his horse to find the Elf leaning casually against a crumbled column, rivulets of water running from his soaked clothing.
Celeborn shot him a nasty look before gently digging his heals into his horse's side and sending the animal off at a gallop. Never looking back at the Elf he left behind. Once such a gentle and caring creature Legolas or Avaanta was now a beast who cared little for anything but himself and those stones. Celeborn supposed the new name, though unnecessary in his eyes, was fitting as the Elf had changed so much it was as though an entirely new personality had emerged, one that Celeborn was not so sure he liked.
Author's Note 2:
Laurenke1: Yes it is a very different side to Legolas but that's sort of what I was trying for, I wanted to put a new possible angle to his character given the circumstances of the story. Hopefully it's believable.
THECheeseTurkey Thank you very much for your consistant and kind reviews. I hope your vacation was fun
Thank you also to Crecy and Deana for your early reviews.