A/N: Here is the next chapter. I must warn you that yes this is a chapter dedicated to the art of senseless estel violence and I give full responsible to Legolas and his sick sense of imagination. Elves really are a lot more diabolical then we ever give them credit for…
Well I hope even so that it is enjoyable and also I apologize for bad spelling and grammar and appreciate your pointing out my errors. I was in a bit of a rush and lets just face it I lack grammatical skill…so just assume I am insane and everything should make perfect sense…good reading.
Chapter Five: Pray to Die
The young human felt the ground come up to meet him, jarring him from his self-induced coma-like state.
The sound of a crack echoed eerily across the forest, as the young boy's wrist was painfully snapped upon impact with the earth.
A scream of pain burst from his lips, as he grabbed the useless appendage protectively to his chest.
"Get up edain." An elf snarled as he grabbed roughly at the scruff of the boy's collar, forcing the child unmercifully to his feet.
The boy forced oxygen into his deprived lungs as he compelled his wobbly legs to support his weight. He gritted his teeth against the pain radiating up his arm, and forced himself to place one foot in front of the other as another guard prodded him forward.
: This filthy edain almost killed the prince. I say we teach him a lesson: One of the guards muttered in elvish, not realizing their young charge was also fluent in elvish, thus hearing all that was spoken.
: I agree. We will teach these meddlesome humans not to mess with elves. They will not be so quick to send one of their young into our woods again.: Another concurred.
:But the prince told us to take him to the dungeons.: Another elf felt inclined to add.
:We will be.: The first guard replied. :Just not right away. The prince is too kind hearted to lay a hand upon the boy, but he will be thankful we put the edain in it's place.:
:He's only a child.: The most hesitant one of the party insisted.
:He was old enough to harm our prince and he will pay for his transgression.: The first elf replied fiercely daring the other elves to disagree.
Slowly all the elves gave a brief nod of acquiesce, the last elf the most reluctant of all, but under the first elf's dark glare, also nodded his acceptance.
The young boy felt fear grip his chest, as his mind ran through all the things they could do to him. There were indeed some things worse than death, and the would-be-assassin had no wish to become better acquainted with any of them.
He watched the elves prod him away from the relative safety of the palace walls and towards the further dark foreboding reaches of the forest. He trembled slightly as they traveled to some unknown destination filled with unknown horrors that chilled the imagination.
"Wh…where are you taking me? Where are we going?" The boy stammered weakly, his own helplessness leaking away his courage.
"You'll see soon enough edain." One of the guards answered, clipping the boy forcibly on the back of the head causing him to stumble forward. "Just keep walking and hold your tongue, or I'll relieve you of it."
The boy snapped his mouth tightly shut, not wishing to further antagonize his captors. Fate had something evil in store for him, without adding further fuel to the fire.
Finally the party entered into a clearing shrouded by trees, leaving the area looking dark and ominous in appearance.
The young human felt a wave of apprehension run up his spine chilling him to the bone.
One elf dragged the non-resistance human towards a low ranging branch; while another came forward with a bundle of rope slung over his shoulder.
The boy couldn't help but wander where this mysterious rope had come from as his arms were roughly yanked up and tied tightly to the hanging branching forcing him upon his toes. After all for what reason should an elf have need of rope?
The elves worked in smooth unison, each performing some unspoken task, giving the boy the chilling impression these elves had done this before.
He tugged helplessly at the rope, but they held firm. His struggles would only be a useless waste of energy so he quickly gave up and merely waited apprehensively to discover his fate.
He felt the rope rub roughly against his tender arms, and his broken wrist shot painful agony across his synapses, as he stared at the gathered elves with wary fear.
"I think he's scared." One of the elves laughed to his companions.
"He'll be more than scared when we're done." Another one threatened darkly. "He'll wish he was dead."
I already wish I was dead The boy was tempted to add, but saw no reason in further provocation.
Unexpectedly, a fist connected with his midsection, sending the boy into a fit of coughing as he tried to regain his breath. He struggled futily at the ropes trying to escape the reigning blows that now burst forth like a riptide.
The young boy buried his face instinctively into his shoulder trying intuitively to protect his fragile head and face, as the blows left the rest of his body a mass of bruises.
He felt tears falling freely from his eyes, as he world became a horrible endless wave of pain that left him weak and trembling.
On a few occasions he felt certain oblivion would finally claim him and the Valar's mercy would be revealed, but then cruel relentless clarity would come unerringly back into focus making the agony continue on until he was certain he would be driven mad.
The would-be assassin could not stop the sobs the choked his throat, leaving him ashamed of his own weakness. His ears burned with shame as he listened to the elves lude comments of his cowardice and their heartless laughter at his tears.
After what seemed an eternity, the blows finally subsided, allowing him a few moments respite.
After a few moments collecting his strength, the boy forced his lead-weighed head up to face his attackers trying to regain some of his lost honor, as tattered as it may be.
The elves were watching his pain with ill-concealed amusement, enjoying his struggles to regain his composure. But otherwise remaining absolutely still as though they had suddenly been transformed to statues.
Idly hoping perhaps the torment was over, the boy silently waited, he could play the statue game too. And so he stood as still as he was able staring at his captors without blinking…waiting to see if the elves felt satisfied he had been justly punished now, and would take him to the palace, so his real fate could be decided.
His hopes were shattered as the lead guard slowly and methodically pulled out one of his elven daggers watching with a morbid curiosity to see what the young boy's reaction would be to this turn of events.
The boy closed his eyes and hung his head refusing to see what was coming. His heart screamed at him to fight back, not to let this injustice happen, but he remained slumped in defeat.
This was justice in the purest sense of the word. He had attempted to kill one of the children of light, Valar's chosen ones, and now the Valar punished his transgressions. The god's had forsaken him and his pleas for mercy would remain unanswered.
And he knew he deserved it.
Perhaps his greatest crime of all had been that the elf he attempted to kill was innocent of the misdeeds he had placed upon the prince. It was not Legolas' actions that had taken his family. It was rather the prince's father, king Thranduil, who had ordered his family executed.
He had been so certain Legolas was the one he sought. The prince fit his own father's description so well it was simply uncanny. If the assassin had not heard the guards talking he would never have realized his err in judgement.
His thirst for vengeance had blinded him and nearly cost the life of an innocent elf. And he hated himself for it.
His Father had always warned him from making hasty judgements was folly and could only lead to disaster….a lesson learned too late.
He deserved whatever punishment the God's deemed fitting. He only prayed that they would eventually grant him the mercy of death.
He knew that he could no longer hope for a welcome into Mandos' Halls…that he would never see his parents again (real or adopted)…nor his brothers, and he knew that no punishment could be worse than to know he was castaway from all he loved for the ends of eternity.
The child jerked back in fear when the elf guard grabbed painfully on to his hair, forcing his head up. He had not heard the elf's approach….dark thoughts made deaf ears.
The boy felt his head pulled painfully up till he was forced to look into those cold unforgiving eyes, so much like the elf prince's but colder somehow. This elf relished his pain in ways the prince could not even contemplate. This elf savored his suffering. He harmed not out of necessity, but out of spite.
The elf ran his blade casually down the boy's cheek, drawing a line of crimson paint against the child's face.
The boy instinctively closed his eyes, feeling the cold steel split his skin. He could not stop himself from jerking back out of the blade's reach sending the elves laughing at his reaction, but he did not cry out. He held his tongue refusing to scream out his pain. He would not give these elves the satisfaction of hearing his sufferings, be they the punishment of the Gods or not.
He felt another cut slice across his arm, much deeper than the first. He felt the blood flowing freely down his arm, in a red rivulet of agony.
A single drop of blood dripped onto his cheek leaving a tear of blood pouring down the boy's face.
"I see the prince did a bit of cutting on you himself." The elf smiled maliciously as he rubbed his blade in the shallow cut across the boy's neck.
The elf cut deeply into the wound, opening the healed cut.
Still the young boy would not scream, biting his lip against the pain.
The elves grew restless at the boy's non-responsiveness and soon they all pulled their own daggers in a rare act of impatience, and began to help cut into the boy's helpless body, no longer caring about the damage inflicted.
So intent were the elves upon making the boy scream…in proving that humans were indeed the weaker race… the prince's orders became like distant memories.
The would be assassin felt the cruel slashes burning across his abdomen, down the back of his legs, afire acrossed his back. Pain once more became the bane of his existence, but now it was as much a blessing as a curse for at least it kept the screams at bay and his honor intact.
The boy began to feel himself weakening, as the blood loss became too great. He could scarcely hold his head up any longer, as his energy fled him. His weight lay heavily on his wrists, the broken one finally gone mercifully numb after so much pain.
He felt darkness entering the corners of his vision as a wave of cold chills rushed up his spine.
He was dying.
And he longed for it desperately. Anything would be better than this torture.
Unexpectedly a dagger was jabbed into a tender spot on his side, and he finally could not still his voice any longer. He screamed loud and painfully, like a wounded animal.
And then suddenly his whole body went numb and his head dropped like a brick weight against his chest. As his eyes closed against his volition he prayed to the gods he would not awaken.
A short time later the young boy was jerked painfully awake as his body was jarred and bumped.
He was disoriented and didn't know what was going on. He struggled weakly to get free of the force that kept rocking him painfully, but he could not move. He was weak beyond all feeling.
Finally, mercifully, the jarring stopped and he heard the jangling sound of keys followed by the loud creaking of a door.
He was thrown unceremoniously into a black void from which he thought he should never return.
The boy impacted heavily with a stone floor sending ripples of pain across his entire body. He whimpered softly, curling in on himself in a defensive posture.
"What should we do with him." The boy heard someone say from out of the darkness. "We can't leave him like that…the prince will not be happy if we leave his wounds untended."
"The prince will not care. He will no doubt thank us for teaching the filthy human a lesson about messing with the elves of Mirkwood. Leave him and let's go."
The sound of a clanging door and a turning key broke the forbidding silence of the dark.
"Perhaps he will die." One of the voices commented disinterestedly.
"Perhaps I will, if the god's are mercifully." The boy thought as he cried himself back into oblivion.
REVIEWS: As always I thank all those who've been keeping up with my story and I especially thank all my reviews who keep me on track.
DeanaI and my bum thank you very much for your sympathy plea. You would think that giving people shots in the bum was an out dated practice, but It seems I am doomed to live old fashion practices. Perhaps next visit I will get some cods liver oil and a some leech treatment. But after about a week the humongous bruise has disappeared and I only feel it when it rains…lol.
I feel bad about Legolas' arm especially since he hasn't stopped whining to me since…these elves are persistent. But at least he didn't get shot in the bum right? Lol. Or got A shot in the bum…I could have been really malicious.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it and I hope this senseless Estel violence will help you forget about Legolas and start saying poor Estel because he's starting to get jealous…lol
Elf771: Now this is certainly an easy review to respond to. I also have no concerns, comments, or complaints about your review. I always love to hear how my readers are enjoying the story and even a short comment is truly the greatest form of flattery because it takes that extra effort to take a few minutes to let me know my story has been enjoyed and entertaining. I hope if you have the time and the motivation you continue to share your thoughts and I hope I continue to please.
Kathleen LaCorneilleYour review definitely made me do a double take after you started referring to me as "He." I hope it doesn't disappoint, but alas I am female, which means you have some competition for Estel and Legolas' affections. I think is my first out of gender experience…lol
I'm glad that you felt I kept Estel in character. I've always considered Legolas and Estel to both be very complex characters with I hope complex emotions that are often similar, but at times also vastly different in their ranges, if that makes any sense.
I was really aiming to make Estel first off someone who is very young and thus easy to fool hardy actions such as walking all the way to Mirkwood to avenge his family. But I also wanted to emphasize that Estel is a very moral person and like young people is constantly question what the moral action is because he's still trying to determine his own identity. And I also wanted him to certainly be a brave and determined character who even at an early age was willing to stand up to who he perceives is his enemy, but that being young he is still vulnerable. And considering he has lost his family, walked quite a distance, and done an action he is morally at odds with, he is suffering emotional vulnerability as well.
I hope that I haven't over done his emotions or that by having him seem overly scared or sad makes him seem too weak. I don't want Estel to come off being overly weak merely vulnerable.
And "By the beard of Gandalf and the damned Morgoth's Spider" I believe I've found my new curse of the month. I shall be sure to enrich the nontolks of the world with this pleasant little ditty. Please continue to share these tasty tid bits of word expletive to add to my collection. )
silvertears630I hope this chapter lived up to expectations, especially with the gaurds tender love and care towards poor Estel. I'm sure you will find this on the verge of senseless Estel bashing, but I still hold all blame for this chapter towards Legolas (don't worry I'll get him back for you…wink wink) and of course if you enjoyed it will take all credit. Thanks again and I look forward to what you thought of this chapter.
QuinlanRamseySee I bare the gift of foresight and so I knew you were reading the first too chapter and thus posted the second two so I could give you a super great surprise…now how many writers do you know that cater their posts to their readers schedule…wink wink.
And I absolutely loved how you describe the characters. That is exactly what I was trying to go for and you cannot imagine how pleased I am that you got what I was trying to say. It's always a reward in itself when you can really get the reader to visualize what your trying to say and I am very pleased that I was successful…I'm not even sure I could have described my characters so fittingly myself.
I thoroughly enjoy your insightful nature and I hope that you continue to share your thought provoking comments because it really gives me the opportunity to share my vision so to speak.
Thank you for your thoughts and I hope you continue to share your thoughts.
Sielge: I am pleased that you are enjoying the story. I suppose my concious really should be eating at me considering all the cruel things I think up for Estel to endure in this story and Slave to Hope. It really is unproportional to Legolas' own trials. I haven't quite figured it out yet. I guess it's just more fun to pick on Estel. Some many authors like to pick on Legolas that I'm not sure there is anything left to do to Legolas that hasn't been done and I'd hate to go cliché. But I make it my solemn vow to try and find new and exciting torments to enrich our young elf friends life.
I would make the same vow for Estel, but I can assure you that's not a problem. I have so many exciting things for Estel in the future that I can assure you he will not be getting a break anytime soon. ) I think hopefully you will find this particular chapter helps to prove this point.
I missed the last boat: But I get on free right? And what about Estel…I can bring my date right…wink wink. I vote we build a speed boat so while we're sailing to the undying lands we can totally do some water skiing and speed intertubing out the back. We'll definitely give everyone in the undying lands something to come out and stare at if we do come up riding in style.
Elrond and Co have indeed been under the weather, but the sun will come up…tommorrow…tommorrow. Wouldn't that be cool if someone wrote the annie/lord of the rings musical? Estel could be the adorable little orphan and ada perendil (daddy warbucks…don't know if that's right, but you get the idea) was wanting an elvish son (like warbucks wanted a boy), but ends up with a human son (and got a girl). And Glorfindel is like that secretary (but no he doesn't fall in love with elrond…this isn't a slash) and I'm not sure who the other orphans are, but Legolas could be like that other orphan that gets adopted or something. I don't know I just want to see all the loftr characters singing and dancing old show tunes because it's funny…and I need to take my crazy medicine now.
Perform short return bow….I thank you boat master for you most gracious approval and I shall work ever so hard to continue providing the gut wrenching agony of emotion that leaves you screaming for more…an angst all in itself.
Grumpy: I didn't want to hurt Estel…I love him I swear. Legolas made me do it. He said he was going to let a warg eat me if I didn't.
I am sure this chapter will be leaving you even more sympathetic for our young human's plight. Everything always happens to poor Estel it's really just unfair.
But when it comes to losing his family ( forgive me if I'm giving too much away) lets just say sometimes lost things are found again, but they could also then be lost or misplaced or stolen….or maybe they only existed in our minds so who can say…hopefully I've confused you so much that my secrets remain safe.
Sadly after my shameless Estel and Legolas torture disorder I suffer an unquenchable desire to reveal every minute secret of my stories before I've written them. I'm so bad. I need help.
viggomaniac"I'm a maniac…maniac that's for sure…." You always get that song stuck in my head just by looking at you. Now I'll be singing that all night.
For shame on you….aren't I crazy enough all ready?
"What have you done to him (viggo)" Ouch that was angsty. I felt the heart wrenching agony…I felt like I was like that super evil bad guy and you were the herioc best friend come to save poor estel from my evil clutches.
But I'm going to be the bad guy who turns good in the end and tell you to save Estel and Legolas quickly before my deranged mind comes up with some other cruel plight for our poor human….oh woes me and my insanity.
jacquelinestel and wackorangerHave you been eating my story? I knew there was a reason that words kept disappearing. I thought Legolas was playing with my computer again by now the truth comes out.
I didn't even know you could eat words. What do words taste like? Chicken perhaps? Or choclate…I like choclate so you better just lie if that's what they taste like cause I'll just keep eating everything I've written and we'll never get another update…lol.
Legolas down elf down…stop trying to eat the computer…I'm sure it doesn't taste like lembas bread….back I say….