For disclaimer and other notes see prologue
Thank you so much Gwenneth for beta reading this chapter
Strangers in Shadows
By; Amanda & Shelby
Chapter 5
A Healing Hand
The man's cheeks flushed red with anger, thinking to himself that having a spy in their midst wouldn't help matters. Grabbing Aragorn's collar like a horse's bridle, he dragged him toward the camp.
"Yeah right! You were eavesdropping? We'll see what Frimond has to say about you," Nolan barked, still not sounding entirely convinced that Aragorn was who he claimed to be. He looked too much like a ranger to the untrusting man.
Pulling himself and Aragorn through the bush, being louder than normal because of the struggling ranger, there suddenly sounded the frustrated bark of a man from up ahead, startling the men and their new captive.
"Have you got that water yet, Nolan?" Frimond yelled through the trees. He was kneeling down as he tried to start a fire and he could not see what was going on behind the camp.
"No! I couldn't find any!" was the response he got, Frimond was just about to release his anger on the man, when Nolan interrupted again, bursting through the trees and shoving a man in front of him.
"I didn't find any water, but I found him. He was spying on our camp!" Nolan threw Aragorn to the ground and kicked him in the ribcage. Aragorn doubled over again, trying to protect his vulnerable stomach. His chest felt like it was on fire and he continued trying hard to catch his breath.
"Like…I said," the ranger replied between gasps, "I wasn't spying." Aragorn lifted his head and met the eyes of Frimond. Then he turned his gaze to the being lying on the ground. The being's long blonde hair was clumped together and matted with blood and from what the man could see the his tunic was covered in the same red substance. Aragorn glanced back at Frimond, waiting for a response.
"He was trying to see if he could be of any help," Abdul volunteered in his whining voice.
Frimond raised an eyebrow in suspicion and gazed back at the ranger who was still on his knees, tenderly gripping his stomach and taking deeper than normal breaths as he tried to recover from the earlier blows to his midsection. The large man rose to his feet, anger filling his eyes. "What did you hear?" He asked.
Aragorn carefully worded his reply. Obviously there was something that these men were discussing that they didn't want him to hear. "I didn't hear anything," Aragorn replied. "I am a traveler, a healer. I was more concerned about who was hurt. I thought I could be of some help."
Frimond saw the look on the ranger's face as he studied Aragorn, his eyes finally coming to rest on the hilt of a dagger tucked into the man's waistband. Frimond suddenly lunged for the dagger but Aragorn was too quick and pulled it out before Frimond had much of a chance to move, ready for any attack this man would try on him.
"Very nice," Frimond replied, eyeing the dagger. "Where did you get that dagger, it looks elvish made to me," he pointed out. "You ain't a friend of those elves are you?" He questioned suspiciously as he pointed to the injured elf lying on the ground.
Aragorn thought for a moment and simply answered; "No."
"Then what are you doing with an elvish dagger?" Frimond questioned him again.
It took a bit for Aragorn to come up with an answer that he felt wouldn't give anything away to tip these men off to his true identity. "I traded with some hunters a while back and I thought it was a well made weapon," he finally responded, loosening the grip on his stomach slightly.
Frimond looked back at him and seemed to accept his answer. "You said you were a healer. A good healer?" Aragorn nodded his response. "You said you were willing to help, are you going to help us or not!" Frimond snapped the question as he pointed at the blonde individual lying on the ground beside him.
Aragorn nodded at Frimond and made his way over to the hurt blonde being. An immediate look at the beings face he knew it was an elf. Why would these men want an elf? A closer look at the elf's attire, though it was saturated in blood, and he knew the elf was a wood elf.
'It' Aragorn thought defensively, why would they call the being, 'it', he thought further, remembering the way the men had referred to the injured blonde. "What happened to him? Why is he so gravely injured?" Aragorn asked in a very concerned voice, his eyebrows furrowing.
"He's a violent and stubborn creature. He wouldn't cooperate with us." The answer had come from Nolan.
Aragorn shook his head, not really satisfied with that answer, and turned back to the elf, more questions flooding his mind. He didn't want to sound too curious however, knowing his position was precarious at best. The elf's eyes were closed and he was unconscious. Blood streaked across his face and his tunic was ripped across the chest. He was losing too much blood too quickly.
Taking the wrist of the elf, he felt for a pulse. It was too fast. The Ranger whistled and Thunder, his gelding, ran through the trees to the camp, stopping right in front of his rider. The men eyed the horse wearily as if expecting Aragorn to pull something on them. Aragorn patted Thunder's neck and took his saddlebag, digging through it, searching for bandages to stop the blood rushing from the elf's body.
The small group of men watched Aragorn over his shoulder, as the strange man they met applied bandages and started to mix a substance in a small mug. Aragorn looked behind him and saw the men watching. "I can't heal him unless you give me space."
The men stepped away and went about their business, but Frimond kept a close eye on Aragorn, not moving from were he stood.
Aragorn lifted the elf's head as a thousand questions ran through his mind about this group of men and why the elf was in their captivity.
He slowly dripped the liquid into the blonde's mouth, thankful that swallowing was a reflective action.
The worst part was the Elf's ankle; it had been broken and twisted over and there were deep marks on it that looked like they had been healed shut and then reopened. The skin on his ankle was crimson red and was dangerously swollen.
The hours flew by, yet Aragorn did not take a break from healing the hurt elf. Frimond, with a quick glance back at the ranger, finally moved toward the bright orange fire where the rest of the small group had gathered.
Aragorn, meanwhile, leaned back on his heels and moved his hair out of his face, clearing his view of the dark locks. He watched the elf as he breathed, his chest rising and falling. Uneven though it was, at least it was a sign that the wood elf was alive. Having no luck with calling him back to consciousness, there wasn't much for Aragorn to do now but wait until he came around.
The quarter moon was framed by the swaying trees that silently watched the men around the camp, lighting the ground with the waving shadows of the tree's leaves and branches. Watching the maples branch's shadows play across the forest floor beside him, Aragorn's mind began to drift. The swaying of the leaves soothed him, like a baby in a cradle, rocking to the sound of the wind. Aragorn's eyes were partly closed, but he forced himself to stay awake in case the elf awoke, but the glow of the moon pulled at him, bidding him to sleep.
That is, until something beside the shadows caught his attention…
A shimmer, nothing more, was skimming the edges of the light and the shadows. In and out of the gloom, the object captured both Aragorn's and the moon's interest.
He tilted his head to one side when the glimmer caught full attention of his awareness. The glimmer had been coming from the elf's bloody, ripped tunic that lay beside him and it had suddenly disappeared. Leaning over to grab the discarded tunic, he searched for that iridescent object he had seen.
When he couldn't find it initially, he laid out the tunic so he could see the entire cloth as he skimmed it to find the source of his curiosity. Without the light of the moon, however, he could find nothing. No sight of the glittering item. The brooch or whatever it was, had gone.
Moving the tunic closer to his eyes so the soft fabric graced his nose, Aragorn continued to look. He found nothing but the smooth design that the elf preferred to wear.
Then, the moon returned and…There! There it was. It turns out that it wasn't a brooch at all, but a graceful bit of stitching with a silver thread. The stitches curved in and out of a form of a dark-green threaded leaf that was cross-stitched into the cloth. The silver thread weaved through the leaf as if the very beams of light from the moon were crossing through it like the waves of water ran through the grass on the shores of the sea. The print was so small that had one looked upon it, it would have been carelessly overlooked, for its size was less than that of Aragorn's smallest fingernail.
Cautions must have been taken when the makers of the elf's tunic had created it so that none who didn't know the elf knew his place in Mirkwood. The stitches were sited on the inside the of the hem.
Aragorn knew the symbol that the elf he was watching wore and what it stood for, and only those that wore it stood in his place; this elf that lay unconscious before him was the Prince of Mirkwood, he was Prince Legolas.
The rangers eyes planted themselves on the prince when he realized his identity, only to find that Legolas' eyes where already staring into his. Aragorn jumped back, nearly losing his balance on his heels when he discovered the wounded elf was awake. His heart fell when he saw what pain the prince held in his eyes. Pain and confusion.
Still slightly surprised, Aragorn leaned forward to check the temperature of Legolas' forehead, quickly finding he still ran a fever.
When he was certain that none of the others could hear him, Strider whispered in elvish so only the prince could understand; "Don't worry Legolas; you're going to be alright."
Blue eyes locked onto his after the friendly words were spoken, until silently fluttering closed as he lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Looking back at the stitching he had found, he almost cried aloud. No elf should be in captivity like this, least of all the Prince of Mirkwood.
A loud snort from behind made Aragorn look around. The others were asleep and Abdul was snoring. All were asleep except Nolan who subconsciously moved the dying embers in the fire so they sparked and hissed. Nolan looked up to the ranger, realizing that Strider also looked at him. He raised his eyebrow in a questioning look that clearly asked; 'What about the elf?'
Turning his gaze back to Legolas, he found that the bandages around his ankle were already drenched in red blood. He needed to change them and possibly give the wound something more to stop the bleeding, what he used before clearly hadn't helped much.
As he changed the bandages, Aragorn made a silent vow to Legolas who lay there trying to breathe around the pain as he slept. He vowed that somehow, in one way or another that they both would return home. He inwardly hoped that one way or another didn't mean one of them dead.
Glancing back to the sleeping men he found that the fire had completely died and Nolan was nowhere to be seen.
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Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! We loved each and every one of them! Welcome new readers and thank you to those who have continued to read!
Karri- Thanks for the review!
Jedi-Bant- Oh, there will be plenty of room for more Legolas torture! Thanks for the review!
Saerwen- Shelby and I still smell like pickles from the last time you threatened us. If you use the manacles then we wont be able to write. Thanks for stickin' with us!
Slayer3- LOL! Legolas and Aragorn do seem to get into lots of trouble don't they? Thanks for reviewing!
Mornflower- Thanks for the review, I got your email about you leaving. Hope you have fun on your trip.
Iluvboduke- We are so glad you enjoy the story! Thanks for reviewing!
Ivinsigoth3- Thank you for the review! Yes our favorite elf and ranger are having problems again. Hehe.
Lost-Elf- lol! Finals can really get to you. Im glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!
Deana- Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for staying with us!
SmilingDragonGirl- Thank you so much! I am so glad you like our story. We were just talking about Thaladirith. You will see some of him in the next chapter, and you will find out what's happening. Thanks for the review and we hope to hear from you again.
Massager of the Elvenking- Thank you for reviewing, Im glad you liked what we have so far.
wolenczak2004- Thanks for reviewing. Glad you liked it.
Namarie, for now
Amanda&Shelby
