Scars Chapter 21- Double Jeopardy
Disclaimer: This story is being written for enjoyment only. I do not own any of Tolkien's characters.
Author's Note: Once again, thank you for your kind words. Hope you enjoy this next chapter as well. :)
Legolas gasped beneath Aragorn's touch; his blue eyes opening at last. Aragorn paused briefly in his song to smile down at his friend. Legolas' mesmerized gaze, however, did not meet with his own. The Elf's fevered eyes were looking past him towards something that the Human's earthbound eyes could not see. A look of utter joy filled Legolas' sapphire depths, brightening his previously pallid complexion. The same feeling of rapture was not to be shared by his friend as Aragorn's anguished heart twisted painfully within his breast. His frantic actions had been for naught, for the Ranger had witnessed this very same expression a handful of times before during his brief lifetime. And each time had only brought him pain.
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Legolas' breath hitched within his throat as he continued watching the foaming surf break against the wooden prow of the advancing ship. An undeniable yearning filled his being, tugging at his heartstrings to become one with it. Yet something held him back from answering the eternal call of peace beckoning outward.
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Aragorn looked on sadly as heavy tears once more began to cloud his vision. He stilled his prior ministrations, reaching out now to turn Legolas back over before drawing the Elf into his unsteady embrace. Though lithe, the added weight of the Elf proved difficult to the Man's own injured body increasing the throbbing pain radiating outward from the Ranger's injured side. With his worry now building, Aragorn ignored his own nagging discomfort believing these fleeting moments with Legolas to most likely be their last.
"My friend…." The Ranger began, his tight voice cracking with emotion.
Legolas' breath caught in his throat as his once joyful expression fled being replaced by a look of anguish. "Ah!" He groaned. Agony washing over him afresh, as his body and mind returned to the here and now.
Suspecting the unbearable torment his friend was most likely experiencing, Aragorn raised his hand to caress Legolas' face. "Easy mellon-nin," he spoke out. "Ride it through," he encouraged extending his other hand forward to clasp one the archer's own. "Hold onto me. I shall not abandon you!" Then remembering the Elf's prior delirious ramblings the Ranger reassured, "I am here with you, Legolas, and I shall be until whatever end."
Glassy eyes reopened to look up at the voice now speaking. Legolas' head moved against Aragorn's arm. The Silvan Elf gasped once more before responding, "Estel?"
"Yes, mellon-nin," the Ranger answered. "It is I. I am here now, with you, beside you." And to prove this point to the disoriented Elf, the Human used his gentle hand to soothe back Legolas' golden hair.
"You did not leave me then?" The Elf inquired anxiously, pain riddling his efforts at speech.
"No…yes… but only for a short while to collect some herbs to help you and my brother, but I am here now."
"Estel?" Legolas choked out again, his confusion growing more paramount with each passing second. "Estel?" He beseeched once more, as his trembling hand clamped tightly around Aragorn's wrist while another wave of pain assaulted his senses. Tears now wet the Ranger's dark lashes as he observed his friend trying to ride through it, failing miserably. The Elf's continued attempts at breathing were becoming more and more difficult for his failing body to sustain.
Gulping finally, Legolas uttered distraughtly, "Forgive me…forgive me…"
"Hush, mellon-nin! There is nothing to forgive…" Aragorn answered emotionally when he could find his voice, taken aback by the Elf's sudden desire for absolution. If anyone should be seeking penitence, it should be he, himself, for he had gotten Legolas and his brothers into this deadly situation, one that could quite possibly cost the Silvan archer his life. He would not burden his friend now, however, with ill-spoken words of regret, not when the gift of time was so precious to them.
And so the Ranger continued on humbly, "You have done nothing wrong…not a thing…" Then with a shaky hand, he reached out again to soothe Legolas' strained features before moving his tear-stained face towards the Elf's. Aragorn touched his lips to Legolas' heated brow leaving a kiss of affection, his beard roughened cheek brushing against the archer's smooth flesh. With his trembling mouth mere inches from the Elf's pointed ear, he whispered roughly, "You are my dear friend…my mentor…my brother…"
"No!" the Elf responded emphatically, his despondency growing more and more while he struggled within Aragorn's embrace; his head tossing back and forth in disagreement. "No!" He disputed again, his words coming out now disjointed. "No…not there…not there when it counted… not when you needed me most…did not see your pain…"
"Do not speak so, Legolas!" Aragorn retorted instantaneously not wanting to spend this precious time arguing over some moot point, not while his friend suffered, not when these might prove to be their last minutes together. "You have always been there for me!" The Human reiterated. "Your friendship has been the most important of my life. It has been one of the greatest gifts I've ever received along with my family's and Arwen's love."
Turning weak, blue eyes towards Aragorn, Legolas attempted to answer him, but the Elf's strength finally gave way, while he grew frighteningly quiet. His body becoming alarmingly slack within Aragorn's embrace.
"Legolas!" Aragorn shouted his alarm as his hands gathered his friend's limp body even closer to him ignoring the pain his frantic response now caused. Aragorn's heart leaped into his throat choking off any further attempts at speech along with the inarticulate cry of anguish rising up within his chest. It was then that he felt another pair of hands take gentle hold of his now hunched shoulders drawing his attentions momentarily away from trauma playing out in front of him. Elladan had joined him, his grim eyes acknowledging the rampant fear running through Aragorn's haggard body. The Ranger's searching gaze quickly returned back to Legolas' still form. He hardly dared to breathe as his previously caressing hand stilled, now looking for any hint of respiration or pulse from the Elf's lifeless form. Legolas' weakened body complied to his unspoken request. But for how much longer would it remain doing so the heartbroken Human could not say.
Silently then Aragorn admonished himself for being so selfish. Legolas was suffering unimaginable pain, and here he sat holding the broken Elf within his arms, willing him, cajoling him to remain in These Lands.
"His body longs to let go…" Aragorn announced inconsolably. "But he fights to remain here…He does so for us…He does so for me…He even begged for my forgiveness…" Aragorn's disbelieving voice stammered., "when it is my fault…my fault that he lies here so very close to death."
Elladan dropped down beside his mortal brother gathering the grief stricken Human into his arms. Aragorn let out a startled cry of pain at their close embrace, but Elladan mistook his sudden exclamation for grief over the events now happening. As the burning pain in his back and side began to subside, Aragorn gratefully accepted the comfort his eldest brother's arms offered while he maintained similar custody of his fair-haired friend.
"I cannot bear to lose him, Elladan," Aragorn lamented before adding in misery, "Yet I also cannot abide his suffering in agony. He believes that he has wronged me in some way, but it is I, who has failed him."
"Do not speak such nonsense…" Elladan retorted, before his younger brother cut him off.
"No, it was I , who brought him here… you and Elrohir also. It is because of me now that they both suffer… a result of my error in judgment…my mistake…"
"Estel…" Elladan began to argue, but Aragorn would not allow him further word as he rushed on.
"He is mistaken…I must make him see this. I must let him know also that he does not need to cling to this life for my sake, though that endeavor will prove near impossible. It would be easier to rip my own beating heart from my chest. His parting shall bring me unimaginable pain, yet I cannot allow him to continue suffering as he does. I love him too much to watch him linger…If there was any hope left that he could recover… But the fates dictate otherwise… I have seen none before recover from such severity of wounds... Fool that I am, I never envisioned that he would leave this life before me…He has always been so invulnerable…even all those years before when he suffered miserably under the Orcs' harsh captivity. I did not believe it possible then that he could pass from this realm, but then again I did not believe my own life to be forfeit either. How can I let him go?"
Elladan had no time in which to answer his brother's desperate appeal, for immediately the sound of an impending approach hearkened in the forefront interrupting their bleak discussion, while heralding Halfdan's much anticipated return.
Breathlessly the younger Ranger drew up beside them, and with his arrival came the company of a number of other Rangers, who until presently had been overseeing the mass burial of the deceased victims from the village fire. Regaining some composure, Halfdan waited as his Chieftain resettled the fair-haired Elf he had been holding within his arms. Then rising up, Strider moved forward to greet his newly arrived companion.
Silently, the Ranger held out the sample of the water he collected from the well passing it to his leader. Aragorn took possession of the tainted liquid, lifting it towards his face. Sniffing it briefly at first to no effect, the Ranger's next action stunned all those surrounding him. Dipping his ungloved fingers into its dampness, Aragorn lifted his hand toward his lips quickly sampling its taste. Surprised gasps of protest sounded all about him, his brother's and Halfdan's leading the outcry. But just as quickly Aragorn spit the foul fluid toward the ground beneath him.
"It is inorganic… metallic in origin," he announced with a small amount of satisfaction at last. "The medicines I gathered should not add to its potency, but work against it. A poultice can be made from the comfrey root to draw out the infection. I will prepare a salve from the Elm bark later on to soothe their burns. I have dried dandelion within my pack. An infusion made from it should act as a blood purifier to aid both their liver and kidney function, removing the build up of impurities in their bloodstream. We'll keep up the willow bark tea as well to keep them hydrated and deal with the fever. Moving them into the sunlight too might prove beneficial…But we must be very gentle in our handling of them, so as not to add any additional stress to their already compromised systems. Quickly now! Time is of the essence…" Aragorn retorted. "We must get started on the preparations posthaste."
As the surrounding Rangers and Aragorn began to scatter to begin the preparations needed, Elladan grabbed a tight hold of his youngest brother's arm swinging him forcefully backwards towards him; his prior empathy completely forgotten being replaced by a seething anger at his brother's careless actions. The Elf was now so emotionally charged that he did not notice the look of pained surprise that crossed Aragorn's suddenly paling features.
"How could you?" The Elf charged. "How could you be so careless as to put your own life in jeopardy as well? Is it not enough that I stand to lose Legolas and Elrohir from this, but that you should recklessly endanger your own life too? What were you thinking when you tasted that water? Have you not gained any more sense than you had before leaving Rivendell all those many years ago? Still you go charging ahead like the brash youth you were then leaving caution and reason to the wayside! Does common sense never play into your thinking?"
Trying to regain some composure and steady his now ragged breathing, Aragorn attempted to answer the charges leveled against him by his irate Elven brother. Elladan, however, attributed his hesitancy at reply and his now hurried breathing to anger brewing within the Human to his harsh words of rebuke. And then adding to his tirade Elladan finished off with, "I wash my hands of you, and your ill thought out ways! I go now to my brother and friend, to make sure someone with half a brain is overseeing their care!"
Turning his back upon the Human, Elladan made his way back towards the injured. He did not see Aragorn stumble forward trying to compensate for the flood of pain that his turbulent response had reawakened within the Ranger. Nor did the Elf witness the young Halfdan, rushing to his Chieftain's side to steady him when he believed the elder Ranger's feet might no longer have the strength to bear his weight.
"Release me, Halfdan." Aragorn hissed sharply, not wanting to alert any of the others about him to the increasing seriousness of his condition.
"You are not well." His companion responded in concern. "Do you not see this? If you do not seek treatment soon, you shall collapse on your feet, my lord! The longer your injuries go unnoticed without treatment…"
"Peace, Halfdan…" Aragorn retorted now with more of a semblance of composure. "I will seek aid, just as soon as my friends are looked after. They need me now and my wounds are trivial. Really…" The Ranger continued noting the look of disbelief shining in his young comrade's dark eyes. "I shall be fine…I've suffered with much worse than this many times before…This is only a scratch."
"But all the blood, my lord?"
"From its location….there are many capillaries filling near its vicinity. Nothing of great significance however....much like a superficial head wound…they bleed terribly, but are nastier in appearance than in urgency. I shall be fine…You must give me time…Say nothing. I know my limitations."
"As you wish, my lord, Halfdan answered hesitantly, not completely convinced by his Chieftain's words. However, it was not his role to question Strider's authority on matters, and so he complied moving out now to join the others in their preparation.
Watching the Ranger's departure, Aragorn finally allowed himself the opportunity to clench his teeth as his breath hitched within his throat. The pain from his injury was becoming more intolerable, and with Elladan's unforeseen response to his findings with the poison, the Elf's jarring actions had reopened the wound. Aragorn felt the dampness of blood once more soiling his clothing beneath his borrowed cloak. He could not falter now, however, not when he had finally been handed some measure of hope, even if it be slim, that he could help his brother and Legolas.
Author's Closing Notes: Well if you've reached this point, then I hope you enjoyed chapter 21. Hopefully there aren't too many glaring errors. I apologize that I did not reach Aragorn's revelation yet. Seemed an easy enough task to do, but unfortunately a few more things need to happen before it can take place. Hopefully I can do so by the next chapter and then we'll be delving into the past once again.
Please don't be too harsh on me for coming up short. Also please don't be too harsh on Elladan too for his final reaction. He cares deeply for his Human brother and the others as I hope was the message earlier on in this chapter. Unfortunately I need some conflict and he just happened to be the fall guy once again. ( I love conflict.) Trust me, he will regret his actions, which IMO were justified somewhat. Aragorn has been indeed a little negligent with his current state of health.
Phew, Deanna! At least I don't have the worry of you fading away on me for a while yet. :) Lol!
I actually wrote two versions of this chapter ditching most of the first one in favor of the second.
Well until next time which will not be written or posted as quickly as this one. I have a meeting coming up to prepare for. :) Sue a.k.a Quickbeam1