Chapter 9

In the Clear

"Is it much deeper?" Legolas attempted to sound mildly curious, but Aragorn heard the edge in his voice. They'd been steadily descending into the deep underground four several minutes, and the increasing ground-pressure was making Legolas' adrenaline level rise.

Aragorn gave his friend's arm a squeeze as Elrond replied from ahead of them, "Not much further now, Legolas, don't worry."

Legolas opened his mouth to reply something like 'I'm not', but Elrond cut him off.

"I don't care for the underground either. But this is the safest way."

At last, their downward trek ended, and they were standing in yet another dirt room. It was amazingly large for such a depth, and Aragorn had to blink hard to adjust to the light. "How do you keep it so bright down here?"

"Just a lot of torches, my friend. We need the light more than anyone down here." Aragorn turned to see who had replied, and saw an elf whom he hadn't expected to see again.

He smiled his surprise, but Legolas was the first to announce the newcomer's name. "Harain!" he cried, now smiling as well.

Harain tilted his head. "My Prince Legolas."

Legolas sighed in relief, and pressed forward, offering the traditional elven greeting of his hand against his chest. "Long have I wished to thank you, my friend."

Aragorn nodded in agreement. "Tirniel has told us of your bravery, the night the King used Bengwiil against me."

A shadow passed over Harain's eyes as he turned his gaze to Legolas. "Your father was unwise- foolish, Highness. But I was wrong to call him heartless. I think- he did believe…well. I'm sure you understand the ways of the King more than anyone."

Legolas nodded silently, and waited for Harain to lead. He was waiting to say something besides the traditional hello's. But Harain seemed determined to stand on ceremony and have Leoglas lead. Legolas opened his mouth to ask, but Aragorn beat him there.

"What is it you wish to tell us, Harain? I feel that is why Elrond brought us down here." He switched a quick glance at Elrond, and the expression on the lord's face told him he was correct.

"We have no time to mince words," Harain said lightly, motioning them to follow him across the room. At its center was a veritable crowd of tables, boxes, barrels and sacks full of various greenery. Harain tossed an edgy look Legolas' way before he started talking.

"We have found a cure for Bengwiil."

Legolas' breath gasped into his chest as though someone had pushed him suddenly into cold air. Aragorn's mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"A cure?" Legolas said at last, his voice low, not daring to be excited yet. "A real- real cure? Tested, proven effective?"

"Proof is relative, Highness, and it's hard to say under what circumstances it works, and if it could possibly not work. But- yes. As far as we can now tell, it is a real cure."

"What- what is it?" Aragorn stammered, finally getting his mouth to shut.

"The answer was thanks to our own Edren, Highness."

Legolas' excitement faded a little, but he didn't say anything.

"When Mornaeg shot him with this arrow," he lifted the delicate weapon from the table beside him, showing it to Legolas, as though he wanted him to take and inspect it.

Legolas' heart reeled, eyes fixed on the arrowhead.

Harain looked down. "I- apologize we haven't cleaned the blood from it, but we needed it for testing…well, anyway," awkwardly, he put it back on the table. "Mornaeg mixed Salab and Bengwiil in equal portions, and put the result on this arrowhead. The Bengwiil, of course, was meant to kill him."

There was a pause.

"But- why mix Salab into it?" Legolas asked.

Harain wouldn't look at him, and pretended to straighten a row of glass vials on the tabletop.

"The Salab was meant to enter the nervous system through his neck, Legolas." Legolas turned to look at Elrond. "So it would appear he died on the spot."

"What…?" the prince's voice was small.

"He wanted to see your reaction to Edren's death, and Bengwiil is too slow-working. That's why he shot him through with arrows when we left. Just to be sure." Aragorn finished, looking to Elrond, asking if he was right. He was.

"Ah…" was Legolas' only response.

"The Bengwiil did its work- it attempted to kill him, but unfortunately, Salab is twice a strong. It wasn't wise to mix them evenly, because the Salab soon overcame the Bengwiil in his system, and then began healing the arrow wounds." Harain summed-up.

"It was a long series of experiments," he continued, "that brought us to Salab. From various accounts from Legolas, Edren, Thranduil and a few others in The Halls, I realized that each time someone improved much in their Bengwiil-induced state - not counting when we attempted to heal it with more Bengwiil - Salab had been involved.

"We had many failed experiments, I'm afraid. Tiriniel has been assisting me for these past weeks in getting the sick from the Healer's to here, that I may attempt to heal them. We lost a few…Aryto hurt the most."

"Tirniel's assistant?" Legolas asked.

Harain nodded. "Tirniel assisted in the burials of Maranos, Haithin, Rhinthûr and Meliim. All died of Bengwiil, all under his care. But then the Prince Legolas came along, telling him that though Estel appeared dead, he was not. Tirniel blamed himself, thinking perhaps those elves could have been saved. Aryto desperately wished his mentor to relieve himself of that blame, and pleaded to be allowed to test the Bengwiil on himself, to prove that Tirniel was capable of healing it.

"Tirniel, of course, said no, but that night, Aryto tested it anyway. I believe you saw the result."

Legolas and Aragorn nodded, remembering when they'd awoken to find Aryto seemingly dead, and then half-crazed with Bengwiil.

Harain nodded back at them. "Tirniel brought him here in person, he was so worried about him…but we lost him. Tirniel was broken by the ordeal, and I cannot tell you how guilty I have felt." He sighed. "And then we sent Nyarim out on his horse, thinking he was healed, but he came back a few days ago, worse than ever."

"I thought he'd acted strange when I met him in the forest," Legolas mused to himself.

"I didn't pull all the pieces together, until we heard the Lord Elrond had been taken by the orcs."

"Yes!" Aragorn turned suddenly. "How on Middle Earth did that happen?"

Elrond looked slightly amused. "Is it so impossible to imagine someone besting me, ion-nin?"

Aragorn grinned back, and shook his head. "Well, I mean- yes, but it just doesn't make sense. What were you doing in the woods, anyway?"

"Ah." Elrond shook his head. "That…I don't really want to bring that up just now, Estel. But I can tell you that the orcs had both Mornaeg and the element of surprise. Between the two, they managed to overtake me fairly quickly."

Aragorn's eyebrows knit, as he had a hard time imagining his father taken down by the orcs.

"Do not fret," the lord told him gently. "I wasn't with them long. Two of the dwarves working with Harain were on their way back from The Halls, and they saw the whole thing. One stayed, and followed us through the woods, and the other came back to inform Harain."

"The Dwarf who stayed also saw Edren's 'death' as well as your capture, and quickly reported back to me as well." Harain went on. "We were in a hurry to get the Lord Elrond out of the orc's custody, for they were all ready on their way to Mandossea, so a group of the dwarves accosted them at a roadway, and managed to get the Lord Elrond away.

"We all ready had a dwarf inside Mandossea, attempting to get the other elves away. He was eager to assist you and Estel as well."

"Anorc," said Legolas.

"Pinwen," clarified Aragorn, and Harain nodded, smiling slightly.

"When the Lord Elrond arrived, he assisted us with our work, and within days, helped me pull all the pieces together, leading us to the possibility of Salab as a cure. We had retrieved Edren by that time, and found him alive, but barely hanging on. The Salab was having a hard time healing his arrow wounds, due to traces of Bengwiil left in his system.

"It was amazing. Something had killed off almost all of the Bengwiil in his system! We studied the arrowhead for quite sometime, and eventually decided. We tried Salab. And- as far as I can see, it has worked. According to our studies, well…it's the cure." Harain shrugged somewhat anticlimactically.

Legolas nodded slowly. "Is Edren the only test subject?"

"No," Harain said quickly. "We used it on Nyarin as well, and he has recovered well."

Legolas nodded, trying to look pleased, but the shadow would not leave his face.

"Legolas?" Aragorn said, so low that, were it not for the precise sound of the 's', the other two elves wouldn't have even known he was talking. "Edren?"

Legolas looked at him, feeling like a spoiled child as he nodded. "I just…can't help but think that if Salab was such a wonderful cure, it could have kept him from losing his memory."

"Well, it may yet come back," Harain put in, a little too cheerfully for his personality, making the words stick out oddly. It sounded a little too much like purposeful optimism. "He has only been awake, without his memory for a few days. He could recover."

Legolas didn't reply. Obviously Edren's recovery of his memory was something he wanted. He ached for it. But he wasn't dumb enough to get his hopes up about it, and he rather wished everyone would stop trying to make him believe it was a possibility. Then you really shouldn't have brought up Edren again, Legolas, he told himself, and it was enough to keep him from brooding on the subject any further.

They made their way back up the stairs in silence. Harain said he had more work to do, liquidizing the Salab into vials, for more efficient use, so it was once again just the two friends and Elrond. When they reached the top of the stairs, Elrond said quietly, as he led them down the next hall, "Your brothers must be worried sick, Estel. We should make plans to away back to the Halls."

"Indeed," Aragorn said automatically, though he wasn't exactly listening. He'd never noticed it before, but- the walls weren't exactly flat. They were bowed to the middle, sort of like a rippling shape. No, wait, they were bowed at the top, and the middle arched outwards. Hang on, they were- were the moving? They were! They were rippling, bucking, calling him closer. Take a look, Aragorn…watch it move…

"Estel?" He could feel his father and friend looking at him. Their eyes burned into the back of his head, but he didn't look around. His hand was outstretched to the wall, trying to steady it. It kept rippling and rippling, bucking like a wave in the wind. It wouldn't hold still!

"Aragorn?" The voice was distant, echoing strangely around him. A high, tinny sound that reverberated in his ears, leaving behind an insistent ringing.

"The walls," he said, and it seemed to take him forever to form the words. "They're…won't be still- water. The walls are-" His head spun crazily, and he was slamming hard into the wall, as though it had suddenly become the floor. He was shocked at how firm it was, considering it'd been moving like a wave. He'd expected something soft and pliable.

Words were flying around him from both Legolas and Elrond. They were on either side of him, half dragging, half carrying. "What's wrong with him?"

"He has not yet been dosed for his Bengwiil."

"Why not?"

"That's what we were on our way to do, I have a vial from Harain downstairs. I may need some help, Legolas."

"Who will hold Aragorn down?"

"You're right. Binwen! Binw- here, you take him, can you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Lie him down on his bed, and try to keep his head cool. Binwen!"

"Hang on, Estel, help is finally on the way. We'll fight this cure together, you and I, all right? All right? Aragorn, can you answer me?"

Everything was fading, darkening…deepening.

"I've learned my lesson, Strider, and I'm not giving up anymore. Just hang in there."

Black.

- - - - -

"Wake up, Aragorn…Can you hear me? If you can hear me, open your eyes…Aragorn?"

"I feel…terrible."

Legolas was laughing. "The numbness will dull off in a moment, so Harain says."

"Does that mean he's used Salab on me?"

"Yes."

"Did it work?"

The elf held his hand against the side of Aragorn's head, as he whispered excitedly, "Yes."

Aragorn opened his eyes at last. Legolas was sitting over him, his eyes brilliantly blue in the dim lighting, his face alit with relief.

"You're cured, Estel. Your father checked you all over before he left, and he says there isn't- there isn't any Bengwiil in you anymore, Aragorn. Not any."

Aragorn felt his own heart beginning to reflect what was in Legolas' eyes. Peace. "Then- it's over? The fight against Bengwiil, it's really over."

Legolas thought a moment. "Well, no it's not over. But making it end is now a possibility, which is a major step. Big enough for me"

Aragorn grinned. "Me too. But what about your home? All the damage there?"

At that, the light in Legolas' eyes dimmed.

"What?"

He didn't reply.

"Legolas, what?"

He swallowed. "Lord Elrond- thinks that someone in The Halls has been working with Mornaeg."

Aragorn's face paled. "Why?"

"Well, it was someone from the Halls who tipped him off about going into the woods to look for something. Plus, Mornaeg seems to know a lot more than he ought about yours and my comings and goings. It's also the same someone who directed you and I into Mornaeg's room to find Edren."

"Who, Legolas?"

He covered his face with his hands and groaned quietly. "Thernad."