where tears fall: Hello again! and thank you to all who reviewed! It is alway nice to hear from people with critisizims and suggestions!
sadly though, there will not be any cookies-- (evidently slice and bake burn easily)...
anyways here is the next chapter! cheer - oh, and happy Palm Sunday!
Chapter 11
It was dark. The moon filtered slowly through the dark clouds above on to the two captives, illuminating their faces.
Aragorn sighed, sparing a glance at the elf before returning his thoughts to what his mind had been fixed on all day: Escape.
He had been racking his brain for the past few hours on how he could escape, and through those few hours he had come up with absolutely nothing.
A smell of cooked meat invaded his nostrils for not the first time that night. Aragorn rested his head back against the trunk of the tree in attempt to block out the scent. A small gurgle form his stomach proved to him what he had known for a while…
He was hungry. The last time he had been offered any thing to drink or eat was almost twenty four hours ago. His stomach protested again as he licked his dry lips.
On top of all that he still had next to no idea what Sadir was up to, or why the human had even captured the elf and him in the first place. Speaking of the elf…
Aragorn glanced over at his blond friend, who seemed to be in the same position that he had been all night. In fact, the elf hadn't even struggled with his bonds or moved his head to the side for hours. Aragorn almost expected that he was asleep, but had no idea how he could have fallen asleep in their current situation.
The human inhaled a deep breath. He had no idea what the elf was doing, or even what he was doing.
All he knew was that he needed an escape plan and, at this particular moment, had none.
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Legolas had the perfect escape plan.
But, he would need Strider's help. The elf had been closely watching all the men around the camp and what they had been doing, which, up till now, had been nothing.
The fair elf watched, through anxious blues eyes, the men falling into a deep slumber one by one. Now there was only one man left.
The skinny and rather disturbed looking man was obviously on guard for the prisoners and sat on a short stump not far form the two captives.
His dark eyes slowly surveyed the two beings closely, making sure nothing was amiss. At the beginning of his shift the man had been annoyingly attentive to the prisoners, moving his hand to the hilt of his sword with each move they made.
But now, with the sun well sunken below the horizon, and the normally noisy bustle of the men in the camp turned to silent breathing, Legolas could tell that the man's attention was waning.
The elf was waiting… Legolas knew, from what Dater had said, that these men were not necessarily accustomed to keeping prisoners and most likely had no experience with keeping guard. That's what the elf's plan depended on…
The guard shifted slightly before moving off his tree stump and sitting on the ground so that could remain sitting, but with his head leaned up against the trunk, to make it more comfortable.
Legolas inwardly smiled as the man's eye lids began to drop slightly. The elf remained still, not moving an inch, in order to not alarm the man.
The guard stirred slightly as if fighting a silent battle between his mind and body. But in the end, his body won out as the man's eyes dropped all the way and finally closed.
Legolas held his breath for a second, scared that the slightest sound might awaken the man. After a few seconds he let his breath go, taking one last glance around the camp to make sure that all the men were indeed asleep.
The soft sound of snoring drifted across the camp, confirming Legolas' wishes. The only ones unaccounted for were Dater and Sadir, who the blond had not seen since Dater was abruptly called away.
The blond took a steadying breath and closed his bright blues eyes. It was now or never…
Legolas looked to Strider, who seemed to be in deep thought.
"Strider." Legolas hissed softly.
Aragorn's head shot over to the elf, his bright eyes confused and slightly annoyed.
"What?" he whispered back, now seeing that the whole camp was asleep.
"I have a plan to get us out, but you have to remain as quiet as possible." Legolas whispered back in a pleading manner.
Aragorn only nodded his dark head in understanding.
With that over, Legolas focused his attention on his savior and item of escape:
A cloak.
To be exact, a cloak that was carelessly discarded only a few feet out of Legolas's reach. The cloak itself may have not bee that important, but the shinny, sharp-edged broach adorning the side of the cloak was.
If Legolas could just reach the broach, he just may be able to use the sharp edge to fray and cut the ropes. It was a long shot, but a shot nonetheless, and Legolas would take it.
The blond elf took a large breath and stretched out his leg as far as it could go in attempt to reach the cloak.
Instantly, his ribs burned from the pain of rubbing up against the ropes. He clenched his teeth tightly together as the elf stretched further, bringing on a new wave of pain to his bruised body.
His foot hovered only inches from the cloak, giving it the appearance of an unreachable goal. The continuing Thump Thump of blood in his ears grew with every moment.
Legolas pushed one more time, grimacing when, yet again, the ropes rubbed strongly against his ribs.
With an inward cry of success, Legolas hooked the edge of the cloak with his foot and dragged it slowly toward him.
A small noise caused Legolas's head to snap up, blues eyes surveying the surrounding area.
The guard, sleeping by the stump, shifted slightly.
Legolas froze, sending a silent prayer to Valor for pity. It seemed as though his prayer was granted as the guard returned to his undisturbed sleep.
The blond elf let out a long sigh and pulled the cloak the rest of the way to him.
Aragorn didn't speak, but gave a questioning look at the elf's smile of triumph.
Legolas ignored the man's look and went to work to taking the broach off of the cloak, which was difficult for Legolas had no free hands and one badly hurt leg.
After a few minutes, the elf was finally able to pull the sharp object off, giving another silent praise to the gods.
The blond glanced over at Strider. This was where the human was needed.
Because of the way Legolas was tied and the tree that he was tied to, it was nearly impossible for him to grasp the broach tight enough to use. But if Legolas could kick it over to Strider, then it was possible that Strider could cut himself loose and then untie him.
He didn't like it. There was always the small chance that the human would cut himself loose and leave him behind. But Legolas had no other choice than to trust the human and take his chances.
"Strider." Legolas whispered. The patient Strider met Legolas's eyes as the blond turned to a very uncomfortable position and painfully kicked the small broach over to Aragorn.
The dark-haired Strider quickly caught the broach with his foot and pulled it back so that his bond hands grasped the edges. He gritted his teeth and started the painful procedure of cutting the rope.
The rough texture of the rope cut into his skin every time he moved his hands, making it difficult for him to cut the bonds.
Strider closed his eyes, and after what felt like and eternity, he felt the rope begin to fray.
But not soon enough as the guard shifted again, this time in a way that showed he was awakening.
Legolas shot his head around to take a good look at the guard, and then returned his gaze on Strider, his blue eyes sharp and pleading. The human didn't need to hear words to know that they where quickly running out of time.
With a finally grunt, the last of the rope fell to the ground and Aragorn began to work on the ropes binding his chest to the tree; an easier job since his hands were now free.
Another eternity passed before Aragorn finally felt the fresh feel of freedom on his hands as he began to get the feeling and circulation back.
He walked cautiously; being careful not to make a sound over to the elf and began to work on his bonds.
Legolas was more than tempted to say something smart on how long it took for the human to untie his bonds, but thought against it as the guard shifted yet again.
With a huge smile, Aragorn finally finished untying the elf's bonds.
Legolas stood up and was met by a wave of paint that seemed to echo through his whole body.
It took all his self control to not show any signs of discomfort to the human standing next to him.
With a small intake of breath that burned his broken ribs, Legolas said "Let's go before they notice we are missing." And began to silently make his way out of the camp, in the way that only an elf can.
Aragorn followed, taking on last glance at the sleeping camp of men.
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They had been walking for about an hour in the unusually dark forest and Legolas was starting to feel the full extent of both his injuries and having no nourishment.
The elf's leg was giving him particular trouble, as was his ribs.
But he would continue. He would keep going, despite his hurt leg and ribs. He would keep going even if he had an axe in his back.
The elf's breath was strained and sweat glistened on his pale face. He took a glance at his companion.
The human seemed to be fairing no better than him.
A far away noise brought him out of his thoughts. He paused and stood completely still, looking almost like a statue.
"What is it?" Aragorn whispered, hoping that the elf was just being over-cautious.
Legolas paused and listened for another moment before his blue eyes widened and he began to run through the forest, pulling a confused Strider along with him by the arm.
"What did you hear?" Strider asked while trying to adjust to the elf's quickening pace. The fair being could run awfully fast for having a hurt leg.
"They are near; right behind us. I apologize, mellon-nin. I should have heard them earlier. I do not know why I did not." Legolas replied golden eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
"Peace, mellion-nin." Aragorn replied, knowing that the elf was disturbed by this.
"You are injured." He offered.
Legolas did not feel the least bit comforted by the statement. Maybe he was more injured than he originally thought…
The elf and human continued through the forest, both being's breath highly hitched and bodies aching.
Aragorn knew that they could not keep up the pace that they were moving at. He was already extremely tired and one look at the pale elf told him that fair being must also be.
All of the sudden, Legolas quickened his pace farther. "Come… they… are…near!" Legolas strangled out between gasps.
The air felt unusually thin against his strangled breaths. He quickly noticed at Strider wasn't beside him.
Legolas began to turn behind him when a sharp pain spread across his back and propelled him to the ground. Time seemed to be in slow motion as he felt himself falling and finally hitting the earth, landing on his ribs.
His golden hair spilled into his face as his harsh breath blew the dirt near his mouth. Legolas felt unusually light as a haze covered his vision and hearing.
Darkness was ebbing at his sight. He barley heard a voice calling in the distance. Someone familiar? To far away to hear.
Legolas's world was swirling. The trees the ground were morphing into one.
The forest was closing in fast as the darkness finally consumed him and took him to be a captive yet again…
where tears fall: those of you who where hoping for answers... oops!- they will come, sooner or later:) anyways thanks for reading and please review!-
I know, I'm horrible with cliff hangers...
