A/N: Every character that you can look up in Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings belongs to the mighty Tolkien. The other characters are my little inventions.

A great thanks to all the reviewers. Don't forget, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll most likely post! I got up to chapter 8 written ahead, so I can hopefully keep up this pace...

Chapter 3: Respite broken

Using a hand to shade his eyes against the sunlight, Legolas nervously glanced up the tall tree. Though he had been under the care of the dark elf for nearly four days, not counting in the three days he had spend unconsciously, his leg had not yet fully healed, and he could only limp very short distances, even with the usage of the crutch the dark elf had made for him.

However, that had not prevented Mel, as Legolas had taken to call his dark-skinned companion, from deciding they ought to have apples for their lunch. Or yelli, as apples seemed to be called in his own tongue. And now, Mel was high up one of the tallest trees in the forest, fully determined to pick the ripe apples hanging at the edge of the branches in the neighbouring apple-tree – although the apple-tree grew on top of a small hill, it was surrounded by thick bushes, all sporting inch-long thorns that easily could dig deep into elven flesh.

Swallowing nervously, thinking that even wood elves would have thought twice before attempting a move such as this, Legolas watched his friend hang on to a single, thin branch, and lean out to grab the apples with the other hand, shoving them into the small bag around his neck.

"Be careful!" Legolas called in warning, wincing as Mel slipped for a split second, and nearly plummeted to the ground.

"Genarli takkanari, Leglas!" the merry voice called from the treetop, before Mel, undaunted by the fact that he had nearly fallen the fifty feet to the ground, leaned even more out to get his hands on a particularly ripe apple.

Unable to keep a smile from crossing his face, Legolas shook his head to himself, watching the enigma of an elf he had named as a friend finish the plucking, and begin his down climb.

Once safely on the ground, he helped Legolas to his feet and, with the wood elf leaning onto Mel for support, they returned to their small camp. Settling down by the small fire that Mel devotedly kept burning, Legolas speared his apple on a stick and began roasting it over the flames, letting his mind travel while his dark friend skinned the rabbit he had caught earlier the same day.

Although Mel had told he came from the far south, he had not been willing to tell much else about himself or why he had ventured this far away from his home. He had not even told his name, instead informing Legolas that it was a past he did not like, and that he much preferred the name he had been given by the Mirkwood elf.

"Leglas?" the melodious voice asked, startling the wood elf from his thoughts. " Sakutu yae yelliae."

Blinking once, not understanding the words spoken, but when Mel nodded downwards, Legolas looked at his stick, and quickly removed it from the fire when he saw that his apple not only had been roasted, but was, in fact, burning at the moment. The dark elf's merry laughter rang over the small glade that their camp was placed in, as he watched the Mirkwood elf desperately try and extinguish the flames that were trying to devour his apple - nearly setting himself on fire at the same time. However, Legolas' attempts proved to be too much for the already burned stick, and he could only watch as his blackened apple fell off along with the end of the stick, dropped to the ground, and rolled into the fire where it settled a small way under one of the burning logs.

"Leglas not apple-friend," Mel chuckled, tossing a lukewarm, toasted apple to the wood elf while shaking his head to himself. "Nai vena velli."

Sticking out his tongue at the amused Mel, Legolas found himself fighting hard to contain his own laughter. Surely, it had to have been fun to watch him being too lost in his thoughts to notice his own lunch was being fried, and had Mel not interrupted his thinking, he would probably not have noticed anything until the fire had burned the stick completely.

Grinning, Legolas bit into the warm apple while Mel speared more of the fruits and placed them over the fire along with the now clean rabbit. The wood elf had long since noticed that Mel carried nothing that had any resemblance with lembas, but instead lived off what he could find in the wilds.

They had managed to cross a few miles on foot, travelling in the general direction of Mirkwood, though Legolas' wounds made it nearly impossible for him to walk, even with the crutch, and Mel was unable to carry him along with the packs. Instead, they settled with what distance they could make a day, though they quite often pushed on to the limits of Legolas' stamina, so they could find a small river to make camp near. Mel seemed quite stubborn when it came to keeping them clean and supplied with fresh water.

As they waited for the meat to roast, Legolas found his mind wandering again, wondering if Aragorn – or King Elessar, as he was more known as these days – had reached the halls of Thranduil by now, if someone had come across the orc camp, and, in particular, if anyone of his party had survived the attack of the orcs. Mel had already searched through the camp after Legolas had been brought to safety, the dark elf had told, yet there had been no trace of other elves. Either the wood elf's party had been slain in the battle or in the camp, or they had managed to escape. Legolas did not even want to consider the possibility that Mel could have lied about elves in the orc camp to spare his mind.

Yet, if his last assumption was true, and the elves had been able to escape, there was a fair chance they had managed to get back to the Mirkwood Halls, and, by now, there was probably a search party out to find him. He could only hope that he and Mel would cross the path of such one.

Suddenly conscious of the feeling of being watched, he withdrew from his thoughts, and found the dark elf watching him with an amused smile.

"Leglas head in sky," Mel sniggered, though his tone told he meant no harm with it.

Smiling apologetic, Legolas accepted the piece of meat he was offered, and apparently had been offered several times without noticing, and ate while letting his mind continue its wanderings.

"Kakati nelia?" Mel asked, crocking his head when looking at the wood elf. "You think what?"

"A lot of things," Legolas admitted. "If anyone had gone out to find me, if my friend has arrived where I was supposed to meet him, if we'll meet anyone on our trip…"

"Tasu," Mel replied, smiling lightly. Legolas had heard the word often enough to know it meant he did not have to worry. "No people come, to you home I take. Ekkilan hradi."

The wood elf smiled, nodding his thanks. He already understood his dark skinned companion well enough to know it meant Mel would take him all the way home, no matter how long it might take them. The thought, he had to admit, comforted him greatly, and though he worried for Aragorn - and Arwen, who he knew would be accompanying the human King - they would have a large escort on the long trip to Mirkwood, and both, he knew from experience, would well handle themselves in a battle. Though it had been years since both King and Queen had been in any serious battles of any kind, he knew both of them would never cease their training unless they had no other choice, and that most of the court of Gondor found it to be a great source of entertainment to see their King and Queen spar within the courtyard. And, according to some rumours, within the halls of the palace itself whenever they were bored.

The sound of a twig snapping made Legolas look up, and he was instantly aware of the clear sounds telling someone was approaching their small camp. Mel has apparently heard the sounds as well, and was now standing on his feet, looking around to catch a glimpse of who was nearing them. Though he knew he would not be of much aid as his leg could not support him, Legolas grabbed the small bow he had made with the help of Mel, and hoped his dark-skinned companion would manage on his own. Though the other elf still held the small knife he had used to skin the rabbit, he did not appear to own any other weapons, and, if he did, had not yet brought them out.

The seconds passed in silence, as the sounds of movement grew around them. Suddenly, without warning, an orc burst through one of the bushes, racing straight for them with its club lifted high. Moving quickly so he was kneeling on his good leg, Legolas let the first arrow fly, dropping the charging orc before it managed to get five feet further.

However, two more immediately broke through the foliage, followed shortly by three others, and though Legolas could take down one more of them, he was unable to stop them all. Instead, Mel exploded into a blur of movement, his fists burning with fire as they struck against every exposed area on the orcs.

The wood elf found his attention drawn to his companion for a moment, noticing that each blow delivered seemed to go through both the orcs' armour and thick hide, sending them reeling back, or fleeing as their clothes and hair caught fire. However, he quickly turned his attention back at the flow of orcs that came from the forest, and tried his best to take down as many as he could, attempting to keep more than three from reaching Mel at a time.

But his makeshift quiver was quickly running out, and still the orcs kept pouring in – though it appeared most of them were reluctant to attack after seeing their kin either die or flee from the fury of the dark elf. Yet, Mel's movements were slowing, and Legolas could see that he was running tired. It seemed as if they were doomed….