Disclaimer see chapter one.
Author's Notes: I want to thank all my dear reviewers, I loved reading your comments and thoughts! ((hugs)) It seems most of you want either Aragorn in the cave, or Legolas out of it, or both. We'll see. (g)
Now I'd like to ask you something: do you want an update between Christmas and New Year, or would you prefer if I waited until the first week of the next year? Just mention it in your reviews, if you have any preferences. ;-)
Thank you to Draugwen and Lee-Anne, whose suggestions helped me to translate an obstinate little sentence into Elvish. (huggles)
Some Elvish translations:
(all other needed translations will be found in the text)
mellon-nîn: my friend
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Chapter Two: Sounds in the Dark
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"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
Helen Keller
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"Legolas?"
"I see it," Legolas answered, and his voice sounded excited and hopeful.
It made Aragorn realize just how tired and defeated his friend had sounded before. Both his surroundings and his injuries had obviously taken their toll on the elf. Silently, he willed the sun to move faster. The dust had settled down almost completely by now, and with the additional light he believed he could see a hint of something golden down there.
"Legolas? Can you move your head?"
The elf did not answer, but one moment later Aragorn clearly saw the golden patch move. He smiled again.
"I can see you!" he called down. "Now we only have to wait for the sun to show me the best way down there! You will be out of there soon, mellon-nîn!"
After some time of waiting, which seemed agonizingly long to both of the friends, the sun had finally moved into the right position, standing directly overhead the dark hole in the ground and allowing its rays to fall down unhindered into the cave below. A shaft of light appeared, piercing the darkness and illuminating a part of the ground below and a lonely elf sitting on it.
It was a relief for Aragorn to finally see Legolas clearly again, and not just hear his disembodied, echoing voice. For some reason, it was much more calming to see that Legolas was alive than to only hear it. The elf sat huddled against the rock wall, his cloak wrapped tightly around him. Aragorn frowned. Sitting up here in the still-bright autumn sun he had failed to realize how cold it must be down there.
At that moment, Legolas looked up and their eyes met. Aragorn saw a smile appear on the fair features and noticed the same, if not more relief on Legolas' face that he had felt before. He could only guess how wonderful it must be for the elf to be out of the darkness again, if only for a short time. The elf's right leg was stretched out in front of him, bent at an unnatural angle right under the knee.
Suddenly Aragorn became aware of how far down Legolas was, even deeper than he had feared before. It was all the more reason to find a way down there quickly, while the sun was still in the right position. He directed his attention to the rock wall Legolas was leaning against. The ranger did not like what he saw.
The wall was smooth and glistening with moisture, and barely seemed to provide any hand- or foot-holds at all. He followed the wall with his eyes from the bottom to the rim of the hole directly in front of him. He pressed his lips together tightly and looked again, more closely, leaning forward until he nearly lost his balance.
Finally he sat back slowly, hoping that the sun behind him would hide his features from his friend. The only way to get down there without a rope was to jump, and it would help no one if they were both trapped down there with broken bones.
Aragorn felt both defeated and angry at his own helplessness. Why did something as unlikely as this have to happen on a day that should have been filled with the pleasure of seeing each other again, with talking and celebrating? There were so many things he had wanted to tell his friend, so many things they had wanted to do together, and now Legolas was trapped in a dark hole deep underground, and injured in a way that would prevent him from walking and riding for quite some time.
And all that on the day when the wood elves were about to celebrate one of their most important festivals. Aragorn knew how much his friend had been looking forward to it. The ranger nearly wished Legolas had just allowed him to fall without interfering. Though, on second thought, he was not sure if he would have been able to survive that fall.
Here and there ledges and sharp points of rock jutted out of the wall, too few to use them for climbing, but enough to collide with some of them on the way down. Aragorn found himself wondering if Legolas had really been able to avoid them. He realized that it was a small miracle that even an elf had survived that fall without any serious damage. He was not really sure whether he should feel grateful or angry at whatever fate allowed things like that to happen to them.
He felt Legolas' eyes on him and knew there were more important things to worry about now. He looked down and met his friend's gaze.
"You will not be able to climb down," Legolas stated calmly. The elf's features had hardened slightly, and his eyes were fixed on the ranger's face unwaveringly.
"No," Aragorn confessed, hating that he had to say it. "Only if I jump," he added in a weak attempt at humour.
Legolas had to smile at that, and Aragorn felt his heart lighten.
"As much as I would value your company, I do not really think that would solve our problem," the elf answered dryly. He fell silent for a moment.
"Go," he said then. "Go back to the palace and get help."
Aragorn tensed. "Legolas, I will not leave you here alone," he answered decisively. "It took us hours to get here!"
"What else do you want to do?" Legolas asked, trying his best to sound reasonable. He was not looking forward to being left alone in this place. The light would soon fade, and the darkness would close in on him again. He was feeling tired and cold and a little bit afraid, and he hated all of it. But there was no other way out of here, and the sooner he could convince the stubborn human to leave, the sooner he would be back. "And even if you need hours, what could happen to me?"
"Says the elf who fell in a hole that suddenly opened in the ground," replied Aragorn, sounding not the least bit amused.
Legolas stifled a sigh. It was obvious that the ranger was not willing to see reason. The elf could not blame him for it, in fact he even felt a bit grateful for his friend's concern, however mule-headed it might be. But the only other thing they could do was sit here and wait until someone found them, and with all the excitement about the festival that could take a very long time.
Even aside from that Thranduil and everyone else knew that they tended to forget the time when they were together, and no-one knew where they had gone. Aragorn would just have to listen to him, whether he wanted to or not.
"Aragorn, I am not hiding any serious injuries from you, I do not think the cave is likely to collapse and as there is not a single cloud in the sky I will probably not drown or be hit by lightning anytime soon. I will not pretend that I like the situation, but you are only making it more difficult for both of us. Just leave. There is no danger…" The elf stopped suddenly in mid-sentence, looking away from his friend and into the cave before him.
He had heard something, and it had not been the steady dripping of the water. He listened intently, but the sound did not repeat itself. Legolas hesitated, wondering if he was already nervous enough to imagine sounds that did not exist. For a few long seconds there was only dead silence. Then, suddenly, there was another sound, a light clicking, scraping, and something like – breathing?
Legolas felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Whether he imagined part of these sounds or not, he knew there was something out there. His nerves were already on edge, and listening to strange sounds from somewhere in the darkness did nothing to calm him down.
For the first time since it had appeared, the elf was not grateful for the bright light that surrounded him. He felt vulnerable and exposed, knowing that anything or anyone in the cave would be able to see him clearly, while the sunlight around him was so dazzling that even his elven eyes could not pierce the shadows and the darkness beyond.
"Legolas?"
There was a worried undertone in the ranger's voice, and Legolas realized that he had been silent for some minutes now, lost in his thoughts and listening into the darkness. For a moment, Legolas considered keeping silent or lying about the new development, but he could not bring himself to do so.
The situation could very well become dangerous, and Aragorn had a right to know about it, even if it would make things harder for both of them. If Aragorn left and something happened to him, the ranger would never forgive himself.
"Estel, im ú-vinai!" ((Estel, I am not alone!)) Legolas called up to his friend, wishing there could have been a more quiet way of communication. If whatever moved in the darkness happened to be blind, he would have attracted its attention now at the latest. He cursed his broken leg, wishing he could move out of the light.
Aragorn straightened, and Legolas could very well imagine the alarm he must feel now.
"Man na?" ((What is it?)) the ranger asked, his voice curt and tense.
"Ú-iston." ((I do not know.))
Aragorn stayed silent, obviously understanding that the elf needed to concentrate on his senses now. In the ensuing silence, Legolas could hear the same sounds again, and this time they were nearer. Something moved over the rocky ground, slowly and carefully, and occasionally he could hear wheezing or sniffing.
Looking in the direction of the sounds, he thought he could make out a large shadow moving towards him. His instincts started screaming at him. Whatever that shadow was, it was coming for him and it did not mean well. For the second time that day, he wished the sun would move faster. Silently, his hand moved towards his weapons. He had lost his bow and most of his arrows during the fall, but the twin knives were still fastened securely to his back.
Legolas knew he would only be able to use one of them, as he would need the other hand to brace himself against the wall and keep upright. If he would be able to stand at all. It was time to move and find out. He unsheathed one of his knives and took it in his right hand. Then he grit his teeth against the pain to come, and forced his unwilling body to rise, using only his good leg and leaning heavily against the wall for support.
The moment he lifted his broken leg from the ground, the bone shifted position again, sending a wave of agony through his body and nearly making him topple over. The elf could not stifle a groan, but his left hand found the sharp ledge that had pressed against his back before and held on. He remained in an awkward, half-kneeling position for a moment, trying to catch his breath and waiting for the pain to subside.
He listened, but the only thing he could hear was the rush of blood in his ears. Legolas realized that his eyes were pressed shut and slowly opened them again. He did not look up, knowing exactly what he would see in his friend's face. The elf was quite aware that he was in no condition for a fight, but it seemed he would not be given a choice.
Bracing himself, he moved completely into a standing position, slumping against the wall for a moment. Trying to ignore the pulsating pain in his leg, he straightened slowly, listening intently now. There was a soft scraping sound to his left, then silence, followed by something like a hissing breath from somewhere in front of him. The creature was moving, but it did not come nearer.
For a moment Legolas was confused, but then he realized that his unwanted companion was prowling right outside the circle of light that still surrounded him. He could only guess how long this being had lived in the pitch-black darkness of the underground cave. The sudden bright light was probably agony for it. Legolas relaxed a bit against the cold wall, knowing that he was safe for some precious moments longer.
He looked up to his friend, seeing that Aragorn had moved nearer to the edge of the hole, leaning forward in a way that looked dangerous to the elf's eyes. The ranger held his bow in his hands, an arrow already notched.
"I am safe for the moment," Legolas hastened to calm his friend. "I 'alad gosta." ((It fears the light.))
Aragorn nodded, but he did not relax nor move the bow out of its ready position. His face was grim and he clearly did not intend to stop worrying. "How are you?" he asked.
Legolas' eyes flitted over to the moving shadow in front of him, and he hesitated. He was quite sure by now that he was facing some kind of animal, but he did not really know what it was or if it was able to understand what they said. But if it was intelligent enough to understand their words, the condition of its prey couldn't have escaped its notice anyway.
The elf could not help noticing that the darkness was nearer now. The sun was slowly following its course across the sky, and soon the light would be gone, leaving only darkness behind.
Legolas looked up at his friend again. "I have been better," he confessed, seeing a look of surprise appear on his friend's features, "but I have also been worse."
He smiled inwardly as he heard Aragorn groan exaggeratedly.
"Can't you, just once, answer truthfully to a question like that?" the ranger complained.
"I did say the truth, mellon-nîn," Legolas retorted innocently.
Aragorn shook his head, and the elf saw a smile twitch at the corners of the man's lips. "I do not know how I ever manage to put up with such a stubborn, impossible creature as you," Aragorn began, "but I hope you know that if you dare to get harmed down there, I'm afraid I will have to kill you."
Legolas had to laugh at that, a high and clear laugh that echoed gently from the walls around him and seemed to be strangely out of place in the endless darkness of the silent cave around him. For a moment, all strange sounds stopped as if even the creature was listening.
A moment later, Aragorn spoke up again. "Be careful, mellon-nîn," he pleaded, this time in earnest.
Both of them knew that there wasn't very much the elf could do to be careful.
"I do not plan to die today, Aragorn," the elf answered, for the first time becoming aware of the irony of his situation. Today was Ithil-na-faron, the Hunter's Moon, the day when his people celebrated another year of survival against the shadow, another small triumph against the growing darkness. It was not the day to fall prey to a lesser enemy in an underground cave, especially not if you were the son of the king of said people. "I will be careful."
Aragorn nodded, knowing that that promise was all he could ask for.
Legolas' attention was drawn back to the cave and the fading light around him. The sun receded slowly and the sharp contrast of brilliant light and darkness changed into a soft twilight. He followed the strange sounds with his eyes. The shape of the dark shadow became clearer now, as the light became less brilliant and his eyes began to adapt to the darkness once more. The creature was large, nearly as big as a horse, and it was moving on all fours.
Suddenly the beast stopped pacing and turned, and Legolas knew that it was staring directly at him. The elf was standing at the edge of the weakening circle of light now, and for the first time he could see what he was facing.
To be continued…I can tell you one thing… it is not a plot bunny. LOL!
I want to wish all of you a merry Christmas, or simply a wonderful time, if you do not celebrate Christmas – and don't forget to tell me if you want an update next week. :)
Take care,
Tinu