One Friend to Another

8: Fallen

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The trees flew past and bushes whipped his chubby face as Estel clung skilfully to his little pony. He relished in the feeling of speed and freedom as the landscape seemed to fly under the hoofs of his puffing pony. In truth the animal was going no faster than Legolas' stallion had been at a brisk trot, but in relation to the little boy's size he was going faster than the wind. So it seemed totally unfair to the boy that pony and rider would break through the dense bushes and into a large clearing as the day neared late evening, to find no sign of the elf and his big bay.

Reining in the pony to halt, Estel cocked his head to the left and right to listen and look for any sign of the large horse or royal rider. He sat on the pony and stretched out his senses to the surrounding area as his big elf brothers had taught him., listening and waiting for a sign. His pony dropped his head to graze on the lush green grass that grew thickly in the sun-lit clearing, then suddenly the head flew back up again and the pony whinnied a greeting into the air, only to be answered by a deeper throatier snort from a much larger horse.

Legolas' bay stallion emerged from between the trees on the other side of the clearing with a distressed neigh, it's reins trailing on the ground and the prince's bed roll hanging half off it's back. The great horse snorted again, then wheeled on it's back feet and disappeared again into the undergrowth, the bedroll falling off and hitting the ground with a thump before the animal vanished. Immediately Estel jumped from his own pony's back and pelted after the bay, with a child's typical disregard for danger - and he immediately spotted the limp figure dressed in greens and browns sprawled beneath the spreading boughs of a rowan tree.

With a non distinct cry Estel shot forward and skidded to his knees at the elf's side.

"Leg'lass?" the child called warily into the regal face of the elf , dismayed to see eyes closed and the elf's chest barely moving with shallow breaths.

"Leg'lass!" Estel called again, placed a grubby hand either side of the pale face and peered into the closed eyes with mounting terror.

He repeated the elf's name again and again, hoping, praying for some response from the fallen prince as the sickening feeling of terror grew and spread in his little round tummy. His cries came to no avail.

"Saes….mellon nin……Leg'lass!" he tried again, pleading with the prince, begging for the eyes to open once more and look at him and the elf to tell him everything was going to be alright. But it didn't work. The eyes stayed closed and the elf remained unmoving.

Estel withdrew his hands from the face of chiselled face and sat back on his heels dejectedly. He suddenly had a very strong urge to cry and he had no sooner thought it than a great fat tear rolled down the chubby cheek unhindered.

Then nearby the bay stallion's head shot up and the great horse whinnied in fear and pawed the soft ground. The animal shuffled closer to the child and nudged him with his nose and Estel finally heard what had startled the horse. The voice was indistinct at first, then he heard the words being spoken and the cold, course tone they were spoken in and he held his breath to listen.

"'E was just over 'ere" the voice was saying "I'm telling' ya, he weren't no good. Damned thing were near dead" the voice continued, getting louder. "'E's probably all dead by now"

The child remained frozen in place for several seconds more, then instinct kicked in and he felt the urge to flee. Adrenalin pumped through his body, but the thought of leaving the unconscious elven prince kept him where he was, denying the urge. He just knew the voice belonged to no one that had good in their hearts and would help him or the elf. He knew somehow that whatever being owned such a voice was evil. That meant trouble for him if he stayed…but also trouble for the elf if he left. The boy just did not know what to do.

Then his choice was taken from him as he had lingered just a little too long. From out of the bushes just ahead of him came the ambling and shuffling figures of several creatures in miss-matched armour and rags. They were ill-proportioned and deformed, their faces hideously cruel looking, their skin grey or green or various shades of brown, with sharp faces and red eyes. There were around ten of them, and the one thing that really caught Estel's eye was their pointed ears. Why would something so hideously ugly have the pointed ears of elves?

"Well, looky here" the largest and ugliest creature remarked on spotting the kneeling boy. "Looks like the stinkin' elf has a little friend"

"Aye" another of the creatures replied with a cruel laugh. "Seems that even if the elf is no good for sport, his little friend just might be!"

Other of the creatures joined in with the laugh, delighted that their previously futile hunt for "sport" had finally shown some promise.

"Bring him to me" the first creature ordered, and the rest of the ugly beings surged forward towards the child and the fallen elf.

Estel realised he was in real horrifying danger here. He sprang to his feet and unsheathing his small hunting knife he stood in front of the prone elf.

"Go away!" he shouted, trying to make his voice as strong and as loud as he could. "Leave us alone!"

"Or you will do what, human spawn?" the second creature asked. "Stick us with that little needle of yours?"

The rest of the vile beings laughed again as they moved forward and encircled the tree, Legolas and the boy. The laughing was a horrible scratchy sound that made Estel wince.

"'t aint no bigger than my toe nail!" the orc continued indicating the knife in the boy's wavering hand, enjoying being the centre of attention of his hideous comrades as it too shuffled forward on legs that seemed too short for it's body.

It came to stand just in front of the terrified boy, pulling out it's own sword from it's dented scabbard with a ring of metal that reverberated through the trees.

"Put it away, little human…." the orc ordered in a voice that was suddenly thick with menace "…...or else I will have to 'urt ye"

For all his size the child seriously considered attacking the vile creature, but suddenly he heard a wise voice in his head, one that belonged to Elladan.

"When outnumbered and with no chance of winning, there is no shame in backing down" the voice said, in an echo of a time Estel had started a fight with a bunch of unruly elflings who had thought to bully the tiny human last summer. "Your chance may come later"

He had come out the worst in that fight, outnumbered and out skilled in hand to hand combat with the agile young elves. His nose had almost been broken that day.

Reluctantly Estel lowered the small knife and the orc gave a crooked gap-toothed grin.

"There's a good boy" it sneered.

Three of the orcs came forward the rest of the way and grabbed the child's arms. His knife was wrenched from his grip and his bow and quiver pulled from their place on his back as his arms were grabbed then pinned behind his back, his wrists tied together roughly with a course length of rope. The child was then dragged, struggling futilely, towards the big orc that seemed to be the leader of the unruly rabble.

"Tie 'im to that tree" the big orc ordered, pointing to a young oak at the left of the clearing. The boy was dragged over and forced to sit at the base of the tree by one orc pinning his shoulders while another tied the rest of the length of rope that held his hands around the narrow trunk.

"What about this 'un, Grknak?" the other orc asked suddenly, indicating Legolas by a sharp kick to the prone elf's ribs. In Estel's own terror the boy had almost forgotten his ailing friend. He tensed with sinking heart and waited with a sickening feeling in his stomach to see what the huge ugly creature would do to his friend.

The big orc Grknak, satisfied that the boy was secure, strode over to his second-in-command and the blond elf on the ground. It hunkered down by Legolas' head and grabbed a handful of the long blond tresses, pulling the elf's head up off the ground, as if to check for reaction. No reaction came from the prince, his head and shoulders coming off the ground as if he were a limp doll. Grknak let go of the hair and Legolas' head fell back to the ground with an audible thump, then the orc put two fingers to the elf's neck to feel for a pulse, all the while peering into the elf's face.

"You were right about it being near dead" Grknak declared. The orc wiped it's hands on his filthy breeches as if touching the elf had soiled them. "Looks like some of our Mirkwood cousins have already had fun with it, it has the smell of Shadow sickness on it"

"It's long passed being any use to us" Grknak stated as he turned his back on the elf and began to walk to where the scared boy sat tied. The orc paused in it's path for a second to turn briefly back to the other, it's decision made.

"Kill it"

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TBC.

A. N. In the words of Britney Spears "Oops, I did it again!"

I didn't mean to have another cliffy, honest I didn't. It just came out that way. Sorry! Blame my muse. Yeah, that's it. It's all her fault. J