Disclaimer: Don't own I've said that so many times, that now, I don't really care!
A/N: Hope you guys liked the last chapter! *hopeful face* Ok, guess not. Um, yeah, nothing really to say
Special thanks to beta reader Sirith! Thanks a lot!! She's got REALLY good stuff. So, if you haven't read it, go check it!
Um, I forgot to mention this in my last chapter: don't mind the Prologue warning. There is no slash yet. I know the story may say there will be, with the whole consort thing, but so far there has been nothing. So for all of you who don't like slash, you don't have to worry until next chapter. But it will not be implied! I promise!
Thoughts are in Italics.
Warning: The beginning might be a little mushy
The sun was just rising over the hills as Falacas opened the door to his home. The smells of baked bread and freshly picked fruit wafted through the air and surrounded him. He smiled, knowing Fallandra wasn't expecting him home so early, but he liked the idea of surprising her better. He left the front hall of the large house and walked silently to the kitchen where he found his Elven wife sleeping soundly in the chair beside the table. He set the documents he was holding on the counter and sneaked up behind Fallandra and wrapped his arms around her waist. She jumped, not knowing who the mysterious person was and smacked the being with a wooden spoon she had been stirring the porridge with before she had fallen asleep.
"Ow!" Falacas exclaimed. "Well good morning to you too!"
"Oh, sorry, baby! I didn't know who you were," she apologized. Suddenly remembering what had happened the day before, Fallandra asked, "What did the King order?"
"We are leaving in an hour. He just has to send off a few messengers to Laketown and Rivendell, and then we head out." Falacas sighed and sat at the table, rubbing his weary eyes. He and Lumlier and been up all night with the King and a few other high ranking nobles, discussing war tactics and the best way to save their Prince without having to sacrifice the lives of their kin. Luckily, Lumlier had a room at the Palace that he usually stayed at. Falacas, on the other hand, lived several miles out in the country. At least twenty minutes from the Palace at a steady trot.
"Why so soon? Thranduil should know you need more rest. I mean you just got back from the desert and he kept you up all night! Now he wants to ride all day without stopping until he reaches Harad! Couldn't you skip the journey just this once?"
Falacas looked at his wife with disbelieving eyes. "Obviously, you've never lost a loved one. Well I have. I lost my whole family to bloody human torture! Legolas has been out there for more than a week at the mercy of those filthy humans! I love him as my brother. He is my Captain. Fallandra, I can't bear to lose another immortal life that I love to mortals!" Falacas said, coldly. "So if you don't care about anybody other than yourself, then get out of my way and let me try to save a person that I care about!"
Falacas stood suddenly after glaring at a shocked Fallandra for a few moments and grabbed the documents from the counter and stormed off. The Elf jumped to her feet when she realized that he was going off to war and that she might never see him alive again. "Falacas! Wait! Please, I didn't mean it that way!" But before she could reach him, Falacas was galloping out of the courtyard on his white gelding and down the lane to the Palace.
Fallandra put her hand to her mouth as she tried to stop herself from screaming her frustration as tears poured down her cheeks. This was her first fight with him in over a thousand years. I'm so sorry, Falacas. I'm so sorry. Please just come back alive.
Aragorn moaned as light streamed through a crack in the heavy curtains and hit him in the face. He sat up and looked around the room, not knowing where he was. The first thing that registered odd in his mind was the petite maid curled up on the couch that was on the opposite wall of the bed. Aragorn climbed out of the bed and tiptoed softly to her. He shook her shoulder until she opened her amber eyes and looked at him.
"What are you doing in here, miss?" he whispered as he lowered himself to her height.
"You told me to stay here last night after the incident with the Elf, My Lord," she replied, equally quiet.
"What Elf? What incident?" Aragorn inquired curiously.
"You don't remember, My Lord?" Aragorn shook his head. "Tis Prince Legolas."
"Legolas!? What—" The maid pointed over his shoulder to a corner in the room as she sat up. Aragorn looked and to his amazement, saw Legolas kneeling on the ground with his arms tied behind him around a pole. The Mirkwood Prince slept with his head on his chest, his golden hair cascading around his face, shielding it from view. "Legolas?" Aragorn whispered hoarsely. He crawled over to the Elf and shook his shoulders. "Legolas! Wake up!"
The Elf lifted his head slowly and blinked at the sudden burst of light as the maid fully opened the curtains. When his eyes focused on the human in front of him, Legolas' face suddenly changed into a mask of hate and built anger.
"Legolas! What is wrong, my friend?"
"Get away from me Estel! I am no a friend to betrayers such as yourself!" he said with animosity thick in his musical voice. When Aragorn didn't move, Legolas spat in his face and shouted, "Get away from me!"
Tears welled up in Aragorn's eyes as Legolas continued to stare at him with hate. He crept behind the Elf and began to untie the cords keeping his slim hands in place. He put his face close to the pointed ear and whispered, "I don't know what I did, and I can't remember, but please forgive me. Please, believe that I mean it. Legolas, I'm sor—"
"Save you breath, Estel! Just go!"
At that moment shouting could be heard outside the door. Damean and four guards burst in seconds later, just as Aragorn had the knots undone. Legolas jumped to his feet and tried to escape but two men slammed him into the wall, while the other two caught Aragorn and pinned him to the ground. Damean knelt beside him; with one hand he pinched Aragorn's nose. With the other, he uncorked a vial and poured a green liquid down the King's throat.
Aragorn tried to cough it up but Damean had his hand clamped over his mouth. "Swallow it!"
When he was sure everything had gone down the Gondorian's throat, Damean removed his hands and stood, motioning for Aragorn to do the same. The man stood and blinked a few times before smiling at Damean in recognition.
"Do you remember anything from yesterday, King Aragorn?" the Prince asked.
Aragorn looked at the Elf and smirked evilly. "Plenty." Damean laughed cruelly as he ushered Aragorn to the bathing room where he dressed. A few minutes later, Aragorn emerged and Damean started talking to him about the plans for expanding Harad. Aragorn cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the maid behind Damean who looked very surprised as to what she was hearing.
"Ah, love, if you'd be so kind and come here," Damean commanded. The maid timidly obeyed the Man and stood before him. "I can't have you repeating this. I hope you understand." In one swift movement, Damean unsheathed his sword that was hanging at his side and decapitated her. Her body stood for a moment before crumbling backwards into Legolas, smearing fresh blood all over his face and chest, staining the purple robe he wore darker.
"Lle ulundo!" Legolas shouted. "She was an innocent!" [You hideous monster/creature.I think, not completely sure. Thanks Sirith, for finding it for me!]
"Take him to the dungeons!" Aragorn ordered. "I can't stand to listen to that creature talk!"
Legolas couldn't believe what he had just heard. His best friend was ordering him away! He finally decided he wasn't going to be silent anymore; to put it nicely: he snapped. "I'm nothing more than a thing to you, aren't I? You don't care about me, do you? I'm just some toy you humans think you can play with whenever you want to! Well guess what?! I'm not! You can just say good-bye to your toy because I won't." The door slammed shut behind Legolas as the guards pulled the screaming, struggling Elf away.
"God that was annoying!" exclaimed Damean. He stepped back from the door with a grin but it immediately faded as he stepped in a puddle of fast growing blood. "My apologies, Aragorn. I shall have you and your wife moved to the North Tower and this mess cleaned up immediately."
"Speaking of my wife, where is Arwen? She was supposed to be here to look after Legolas, but she wasn't."
"I believe my mother was with her in the gardens all day. Supposedly, the flowers are blooming as well as she had hoped, so Queen Arwen thinks a bit of Elven love should make them all nice and healthy," said Damean with sarcasm dripping of his words. He wrinkled his nose at the thought of gardens and flowers as he wiped his gleaming sword clean with the victim's apron. "Come! My father wishes to talk with us."
Legolas sat brooding in his cell for the remainder of the morning before a guard came in and chained him to the wall, telling him he had a visitor. The Lady Arwen gracefully glided into the cell. She smiled at the guard and sweetly asked him for some privacy. The human, too awestruck with the beauty of the Evenstar, complied without saying a word. She turned back to Legolas with the deepest pity glowing in her radiant eyes. "I am truely sorry," she whispered. "This never should have happened to you." She pulled a handkerchief from the sleeve of her dress and started to wipe away some of the maid's dried blood from his face.
"Why are you doing this?" Legolas asked.
"Prince Legolas, can you not see what Damean and his father are trying to do? They want to rule Middle-Earth! Damean has already sent a letter to your father telling him if he wants to see you alive again he must give up Mirkwood. And King Thranduil will."
"He can't! Mirkwood is too important! Lady Arwen, go to my Father and tell him to stay put! Please?" Legolas pleaded. Arwen shook her head. "Arwen, please! Mirkwood and my people shouldn't suffer a lifetime of enslavement because of me. Please, go!" The desperation to protect his home was so evident in his voice that Arwen felt tears of sorrow and guilt well up in her eyes.
"I can't, Legolas, I can't. Estel has forbbiden me to go anywhere. Be that as it may, I can't leave you. Estel will hurt you even worse than you can imagine if I'm not here to stop him. He is under a spell that I can't break. He listens to everything Damean says." She stopped to dry her eyes and let Legolas digest what she had just told him.
"Sothe potion he drank this morning makes him submissive to the King and Prince?" Legolas asked.
"Exactly, I've never seen this magic before. It's old and powerful. If only I could talk to my father, he would know what to do. Legolas you know your fates already, don't you?"
"My fates? You mean I have two of them? I thought it was just life enslavement to Damean and his offspring."
"If your father gives up Mirkwood, you're Damean's consort. If he doesn't, they are going to slay you in three days and will try to take over your home anyway. Legolas, this is really bad."
"I know, but what do they want with you and Aragorn?" asked Legolas.
"At this moment, Estel is signing official documents that hands the rule of Gondor over to King Quasir. Under the influence of the potion, he has no idea of what he's doing."
"So he really did mean it" Legolas whispered more or less to himself.
"Mean what, Legolas?" Arwen asked gently.
"This morning, he wasdifferent. He kept saying how sorry he was while he tried to save me. Valar, what have I done?" Legolas stared at Arwen with horror written on his face. "How am I going to fix this?
"I don't know, but—"
"Time's up, milady!" said an awfully cheerful and familiar voice. Arwen stood and turned around to meet Damean and Aragorn. She smiled and curtsied and walked out of the cell, but not before she looked at Legolas with something in her eyes that he couldn't place.
"Tell me, Legolas," Damean said, "are you afraid of anything?" Legolas glared but said nothing. "I figured you'd say that. Aragorn, the water if you please?" Damean held out his hand for the glass the ex King of Gondor held. "Now, will you drink this with a fuss, or do I have to force it down your throat?"
Without waiting for answer, Damean unlocked the manacles from Legolas' wrists and handed the glass to him. The Elf stared at the water for a minute, trying to detect any poison in it, but couldn't. Finally he looked up. "What did you do to it?" he asked.
Damean chuckled. "Do you honestly think I try to kill my consort? Especially when he's as breathtakingly beautiful as you? You know, Aragorn did ask to for a try with you when you were properly broken in. He was going to test you, see how good a slave you are, serving his personal needs"
Damean stared at the soft lips of the Elf as he spoke. Suddenly not being able to contain himself, he grabbed the immortal's wrists and pinned them to the wall so that he would not be able to strangle the human. Legolas was taken by surprise and dropped the glass with a crash on the stone floor as he tried to move away from the Man. Damean pushed the slim, lithe body into the wall as he crushed his lips against the Elf's.
Legolas tried to move his body, but the human was so heavy. He was trapped as the mortal forced his tongue inside his mouth, and began to explore with it. Legolas moved his head to the side breaking contact with the Prince. Damean, angry with Legolas for doing this, slammed the Elf's head into the wall behind him, sending him into the world of dreams.
Damean looked behind his shoulder at Aragorn as Legolas' body crumpeled to the floor. "Like what you see, My Lord?"
Aragorn smirked. "Loved it, as a matter of fact. But it would be so much better if he did it willingly and responded to it."
"You know, once the King of Mirkwood gives up his land to us, and the Elf is properly broken in, I might be willing to share him." Aragorn smiled again and ran his hand through his hair. "I would be my pleasure, Prince Damean."
"Excellent!" the Prince said, clapping his hands together. "Help me carry this creature to the woodsmith. He is expecting us."
A/N: Ooh! What's gonna happen with the woodsmith guy and Legolas??. Yeah, I haven't got a clue either. Well, I guess review!! And don't forget to check Sirith's stories too, ok?
Replies to Reviews:
Lady of Mirkwood: Glad you liked it!! Aragorn is being a butt, isn't he? I explained it though, so, I guess no worries!
Toby Keith Fanatic: OMG, I love Toby Keith!!! He has such a great voice! Hope you liked the chapter!!
Sirith: Hello!! Nope, Aragorn really isn't evil, I promise! I don't think he would ever hurt Legolas intentionally. Although, I could make him permanantly evil. Which means he really does like to torture Leggy on purpose. Of course, I don't know what to write, so I can't make him evil just yet, now can I?
Lol, you should make a story called 'Rise of the Evil Author'. That would be hilarious!! I'm working on the next chapter now, but since I didn't pre-plan this, I've got no clue what I'm doing and I'm writing as I go along. And with school starting, I'm gonna have even less time. You know, my first day back to school, and all my teachers already pile loads of bookwork on my agenda?!?! That's just crazy!! They seriously need to get lives or something similar.
Elenillor: Here's the update!! Hope you liked it!
A/N: I know I probably missed a lot of people, but my e-mail decidedone day, that it just didn't like me, so it deleted everything I had saved. I'm really sorry to everybody I missed!! Review please!!
Caio! (how the heck do you spell that?)