Disclaimer: I do not own LotR.

Sorry 'bout any grammar and/or spelling mistakes.

Yeah… I dunno 'bout this chapter… especially the end… You let me know, 'kay? …I think it might be too… well, whatever. I hope you enjoy it anywayz.

Bound

Chapter Eight: Outside

Legolas was staring blankly at the wall; had been for hours. He had been stuck in the same room with the same person since the day before. The human had only been relieved a few times, to go to the bathroom and such. It seemed, to Legolas, that this "loyal" human was as much a prisoner as Legolas was himself. Obviously there were big differences between the elf and human, however: one had done the capturing, while the other was captive, one could freely move about if he so desired, while the other couldn't even scratch his nose if needed. Oh yes, there were major differences between the "prisoner" and the captive.

The "prisoner" (who he found out to be Tanol) had tried to get conversations going on between them. And Legolas actually did converse with the man who had captured him, if only as a desperate attempt to get information. That hadn't worked, much to Legolas' dismay.

Currently, the two were in complete silence; had been for the past few hours and would be as far as the elf's state of mind was concerned. It was driving him mad being captive again so soon. He had expected something to happen already. Nothing had, though. Nothing. He had no idea what to do either.

His mind was a blank canvas and he had no paint brush.

Stuck in the same position, same room, with the same person, it was unnerving.

And that was how he had succumbed to this state, this state of obliviousness. It had just become too much for him to handle.

If he had been fully recovered and back to his usual self he would have forced his way out, but that was far too late, and he wasn't fully recovered so that had been entirely out of the question.

So there he was, waiting for whatever was to come. He had decided that he would have to do just that: wait. Wait for the opportunity that they would surely give him. He prayed that it would come soon and that he would not miss it. He couldn't, it would probably be the only chance he would get.

About an hour later the leader of the village, Adanel, entered the room.

The black-haired man frowned deeply upon seeing the way Legolas stared straight ahead blankly. He hadn't wanted the elf to be this unaware, but at least this would make things easier for him.

"How long has he been like this?" Adanel inquired, going closer to the blonde elf.

"All day," Tanol answered, standing behind his lord. He had stood and bowed when the man had first entered the room.

Adanel continued to inspect Legolas, and the elf didn't say or do anything; even when the human waved his hand in front of his eyes he did not blink.

"Well," he said, finally standing, "it cannot be helped. Today is the day; nothing can ruin it."

Tanol watched his lord warily. He always had this demented look to him on this day. Everyone was more careful around him whenever he got like this, for it seemed like he would do anything, anything for his son and wife.

He put an end to his thoughts. He did not wish to dwell on this, he had work to do.

"Bring him," Adanel ordered. This time it would work. This time they would be back. He knew it; this beautiful elf looked almost exactly like her, and had arrived on the same day. It would work; he knew it.

Tanol nodded and picked the captive elf up, arms on his back and under his knees. It still amazed him at how light the being was.

Legolas started to struggle seconds after being picked up, making it difficult to hold on to the elf. He had snapped out of his daze, thinking the orcs were going to torture him again.

The blonde didn't wish to be in the same room any longer, but he had a horrible feeling about this and he had long since learned to trust his instinct. Besides, he didn't need to be carried, he was not weak.

However, Legolas found that the reason why his legs hadn't been as painful as before was because they had been numb. Now, feeling was returning to his limbs and, with it, a prickling feeling like thousands of needles ran up and down his legs. Not a pleasant feeling.

Tanol was surprised when the elf in his arms suddenly started struggling. He tightened his hold on the thin body. "Hold still, elf," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Legolas grimaced in pain and his movements stilled. The human didn't know what had caused this pain, for he had done nothing to him, but he was glad that he had stopped squirming. He didn't want to drop him.

He followed Adanel outside to the back of the house.

There they reached a clearing where trees made a semi-circle around a dirt area with stones placed around the middle, forming an oval. The stones had intricate designs on them; some had writing on them which would look like mere scribbles to the stranger's eye.

Legolas hadn't continued his struggling once the tingling sensation had disappeared, but had accepted his position, for he knew the human would never let him escape; mainly because his wrists and ankles were still bound by the ropes.

He, instead, took in his surroundings, eyes wide in awe. He didn't know what to make of this set-up but he knew it was nothing good for him, especially when he saw two long, wooden boxes on either side of the dirt area. If he had to guess what was in those wooden boxes, he would place his bet on bodies, one a lot smaller than the other.

He sucked in his breath deeply, not knowing what to expect.

When they kept heading towards the middle of the dirt patch, getting closer and closer, Legolas started to thrash within Tanol's grasp again.

He was not going in there! He didn't know what it was for or what he was doing there, but he could guess, and he did not like the outcome of his thoughts.

He most certainly wasn't going in there. Not if he could help it!

Tanol nearly dropped the blonde when he had started to try and break free so suddenly, however, his reflexes prevented that as he tightened his hold.

Legolas flailed about, trying to get loose, despite the pain it caused his wearied body. The ropes were still tied so nothing really helped and, even if he did get free, he wouldn't be able to get anywhere. This he knew but he didn't care. He just wanted to stop them from getting into the middle of the stones, the stones that were painted a bright – almost white – blue.

Somehow the elf managed to get himself free of Tanol's strong hold and he fell hard against the ground. Ignoring the pain, he tried to get away. This, however, did not work in the least.

The brown-haired human knelt down next to him and whispered threats into Legolas' ear, threats that frightened the elf and stilled his body against his wishes. He couldn't help it, if only he hadn't run into those orcs before! If he hadn't been captured by them none of this would have happened.

Before he could refocus his thoughts on his current situation he was being laid down into the middle of the oval, the stones all around him.

Tanol backed out of the area quickly; Adanel hadn't even entered it to begin with.

All of a sudden the stones began to glow a crimson shade all at once.

Legolas wondered why they didn't continue to hold him still, even with the ropes he could still squirm his way out of this odd set-up. Then, as he tried to do just that, he realized why they didn't bother: he couldn't move, period. All he could do as move his eyes and mouth, nothing else worked on command.

Oh Valar, no no no no no! Please, help me, he pleaded silently, eyes clenched shut, hoping against everything that help would come to his pleas. He didn't know what was going on, but he did not care to know, not if it would initiate whatever they had planned, not if he could close his mind and pretend this wasn't happening.

He felt hands touching him and snapped his eyes open, breath coming in quick gasps.

He found that the hands belonged to the brown-haired human and that he was untying the ropes that bound him.

The elf was extremely glad to be free of the ropes, but could not enjoy his freedom, for he still couldn't move an inch.

Tanol moved Legolas' arms from underneath him and put them at the elf's sides. Well, that would help for when he did get loose of whatever spell bound him.

Legolas' panic was gradually rising as the humans prepared. He watched out of the corner of his eyes while Adanel stood at the bottom of the oval, still out of reach of the stones' power apparently. He had to wonder if it affected the lord of the village. It didn't cause Tanol to freeze, but who knew, it could affect Adanel. He didn't know of the details of the stones after all. Of all his years he had never heard of a stone's glow able to immobile an elf. That did not mean it didn't exist, for it blatantly did and he knew first hand.

Legolas wanted nothing more than to be able to move. However, he didn't think that, even if the glow of the stones didn't still his trembling body, he would be able to move, unless the fear that gripped him would be merciful and loosen its ever-tightening hold.

"Estel! Estel!" he started shouting for his friend, along with other Elvish words, in panic after minutes of nothing happening.

"Nay, leave him," Adanel ordered Tanol when the younger human started to go to Legolas to quiet him. "So long as he does not die it is not our concern."

The brunette stopped, obeying his leader. He looked at the elf, his eyes were tightly shut as he continued to scream in his tongue and for his friend; he was surprised to find that he felt bad for the beautiful elf. He hadn't felt bad for any of the others. Maybe it was because he had spent more time with this one. It didn't matter, though; he had a job to do. He would not touch or talk to Legolas unless instructed to do so.

Adanel closed his eyes, lowered his arms to his sides, palms facing towards Legolas, fingers straight, deep in thought, drowning out the sounds of the blonde before him.

Tanol looked away from his leader back to Legolas' face and was shocked to see tears making their way down his pale face. His screams had faded, but he still murmured things that neither human could recognize.

Then, Adanel started whispering things, things he couldn't understand, but he knew exactly what it was, he had heard it at least four times, five now, slightly varied each time.

The stones began to glow brighter and the brunette shook himself out of his daze. He walked over to the front of the oval, to the elf's head and knelt onto a knee, closing his eyes.

Legolas had opened his eyes to see what was going on, his curiosity winning over his panic. He knew there was now way he would be able to escape, not unless he had some type of help and he feared none would show. As of late his pleas to the Valar had been falling on deaf ears, however, he had not lost faith.

The elf hadn't even notice the tears that had been trickling down his face.

He became frustrated when Tanol moved, for he couldn't see him. He wondered why he had moved in the first place.

Adanel's whisperings had become louder soon after Tanol had moved. The leader quickly opened his black eyes seconds later, the crimson glow of the stones brighter than ever, almost blinding the elf as he tried to watch the ebony-haired man for any signs of what he was about to do. He hated the fact that he couldn't see Tanol at all.

Legolas noticed that the leader was looking at Tanol in expectation, waiting for him to carry out his task as he nodded to him.

Then, without warning, Legolas felt a terrible pain in his shoulder, biting his lip to prevent sound from escaping, clenching his eyes shut, trying to show no weakness to the two humans. However, he quickly reopened his eyes to see what was happening.

He was shocked to see a dagger embedded in his skin. The weapon had the same type of writing on it as the stones did running along the edge of the blade; the hilt looked almost black but glinted a deep red with the reflection of light.

All this was noted in seconds as the dagger was roughly pulled out and tossed to the ground. Before he had the time to take a deep breath, a different dagger of the same make but different markings, bit into his other shoulder at the same place as the other.

This time the elf couldn't prevent a cry of pain from escaping between his chapped lips.

"Good. The next step," Adanel said, sounding greedy. Legolas didn't hear this through his haze of pain but he did feel it when a finger dug into the first wound (on his right shoulder), coating it with blood.

Legolas was powerless to stop this agony, and couldn't even attempt to avoid it, for the stones still held him immobile.

Luckily, the finger was quickly pulled out and the elf opened his eyes to see what was next. He saw Tanol go over to the wooden box to the right of him and write with his blood on the top of it in the same scribbles that were on everything else.

The human soon came back and used his left hand this time, digging his finger into the second wound on the left shoulder and going to the other wooden box. This was what made Tanol the perfect person for this: he was ambidextrous. The blood had to come from two (depending on the amount of boxes) separate wounds and it couldn't be mixed when written on each wooden box. This was why this human was the only other one who witnessed such rituals. This would be the last, though. It would work this time.

Tanol soon finished with the left one and came back to Legolas' side. Picking up the dagger again he raised the crimson-stained blade above the elf's abdomen for the final step…

Soo… what'd ya think…? Besides the cliffie… XD Sorry 'bout that. You'll get the next chapter… prob'ly either Friday or Saturday; I actually have some of it typed already. n.n ...maybe not Friday... I just realized it's my birthday... XD I dunno, we shall see...:ahem:.. Anywayz... I hope you guys liked it, though. I still dunno and was thinking about changing it, but… ..:shrugs:.. Let me know, alright? I'd really appreciated it. n.n Just… don't be too harsh, 'kay? n.n;;

Well… at least you all know why Adanel wanted Legolas, right? n.n Now, just where, oh where, is our Estel…? ..:grins:..

Thank you everyone for all your wonderful reviews! They're all very encouraging; please keep them coming. n.n

Ja ne