Disclaimer: Ah! winces don't make us! Please, don't make us! It hurts, it hurts us! We is not amused, precious. My muse and I don't like itsssss. No, no! Not the rights! Not the rights! It is hurting us! hisses horribly Fine! We doesn't own it, precious, we doesn't own the elves, or Mirkwood, or nasty lembas bread! Now take the rights away! Please…

AN: Ahem, sorry about that. I'm better now… especially with the reviews I got! Yea!

pauses and glances around at the angry readers Everybody, I'm so sorry I haven't updated, but my mother has locked me off the computer, and I have to snatch bits of time…

Now, here's the thing… I would like to make this a longer fic, but I'm not sure if my muse has any ideas for a better plot… oh wait! She just bit me… Oh! And I have to stop doing the Elven translations in the second chapters… dold bennas, or what Legolas affectionately calls Mordax, is Sindarin for dark angel… Thanks are at the bottom! And special thanx go to Deana for pointing out that the feathers are not quarrels, they're fletchings. My bad…

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The elf shuddered as the orcan blade dug into the ground where his heart had been just an instant before. Oh no… Clutching his shoulder, he rolled, less than gracefully to the side, then fell back as a nasty orc foot appeared. Trying not to breathe, (it would be fatal) he came face to face with a scimitar arcing down toward his head.

Time slowed down to a crawl as he let go of his shoulder and threw up his right arm in a feeble attempt to deflect the blade.

A vicious clang rang through the small clearing. A dagger parried the sword away, a hairs-breadth from Legolas' arm. "Don't kill him! 'E may be.. 'elpful."

"Over my dead body!" Legolas spat.

The dagger dropped, coming to rest against his throat. "I can arrange that. But I want answers first. Name."

The prince twisted to look at this new foe. Similar to all it's kind, it was a squat, bow-legged creature. It wore rough fabric twisted into a ratty tunic, and strange leather sandals. The leather was unlike any he had ever seen…

The orc noticed this and pivoted gracefully. "Like 'em? Made of elf-skin, they are." Legolas' eyes widened in horror and disgust, and he moved as far away as he dared. The orc bent down, its dagger moving across the elf's chest. "Name?"

Legolas stared at the creature silently, letting the contempt and defiance on his face answer.

The orc hissed in annoyance. The dagger cut through Legolas' thin tunic and sliced into his skin. He stubbornly remained silent. The longer he did, the deeper and longer the cut became.

Almost unconsciously, he edged away. The orcs, it was obvious the he was attempting to escape from the pain. However, Legolas was highly aware that one of his knives was only a few inches away. Counting on the orcs stupidity, he watched his tormentor through slitted eyes.

"All right! I'll tell you! Just... stop, please!" The orc lessened the pressure and considered him.

"Yes?"

"I lied." Legolas reached out, felt the hilt of the knife slide comfortably into his grip. Cries of surprise echoed through the forest, and several of the orcs leaped for the blade. Legolas brought it up in a desperate arc, and the silver blade quickly became dark with orc blood.

A sword slapped in rapid succession, the blade out of his hand, his shoulder, and finally his temple. Blackness ate at the corners of his vision, even as he cried out in pain and reached for his shoulder.

But unconsciousness was not complete, voices filtered through the haze, harsh grating voices that did nothing for the prince's nasty headache. "Not very smart, little one. Brave but foolish. 'Orrible combination."

Legolas struggled to open his eyes, knowing full well that if he showed too much weakness, they would certainly--

"Aw, come on, Gulk! 'E's just lyin' there! Can't we eat 'im?"

"No! You idiots! He may be an elf, but elves do talk if... pressured. We wait, see, 'e's waking up now."

As the prince's eyes flickered open, he found his vision had been blurred. He could still see forms, but they flickered around the edges.

"We'll try something else. Elrond of Rivendell was due here sometime this week. 'is sons are with 'im. where are they?"

Legolas didn't respond right away. How did these creatures learn of the twins? And Elrond as well? He himself hadn't known of their visit until his little 'welcoming' gift went awry.

A hand descended and came to rest upon his left shoulder. "Tell me!." Legolas stayed quiet. "So, this is how you want it!" Gulk sounded almost gleeful as he wrenched the elf's shoulder back.

Legolas cried out in pain as bone grated against bone. Black spots appeared before his eyes, and he struggled weakly to move away. Gulk sneered and easily halted him.

For an instant, everything was black, then sight returned in a rush. Legolas blinked rapidly, trying to understand what had happened, then smiled in comprehension as a horse's enraged whinnies reached his ears. Mordax was back.

"Kill it you idiots!" Gulk yelled in the general confusion. The smile disappeared from Legolas' face faster than a hobbit could down a mushroom. Ors were good at killing, and, more often than not, ate their victims.

He struggled harder, biting clean through his lower lip as he was brutally slammed back against the ground. Gulk's foot pressed against his chest, heedless of the pain it was causing by grinding dirt into the dagger cut.

Legolas heard his stallion scream, and the triumphant cry in the Black Tongue. Gulk leaned in close and whispered menacingly, "Me, I wouldn't mind giving you the same fate as your 'orse. I'd get a new pair of sandals. But my master wants information, and you're going to give it to us."

"Master?" Legolas gasped. The combination of pressure, orc breath, and orc foot was rendering him hard pressed to breathe. "A wizened old coward who scraped you off the bottom of his foot?"

Gulk smacked him across the face. A gash appeared where one of the orc's hardened yellow fingernails scratched. "Quiet! Where are Elronds sons? And the young prince? They passed by not long ago, where are they?"

Legolas closed his mouth and shut his eyes. If the orc wanted quiet, he'd get quiet. But inside, his mind was whirling. What did the orcs want with them? Why, even though they knew so much, did they not recognize him? Another voice, one that often got him into trouble asked, have these guys ever heard of soap?

Another smack brought him back from wonderland. "Answer me!" The prince's cool blue eyes stared defiantly back. In a swift, but jerky movement, the orc's foot was removed from his chest and slammed into his shoulder.

Too pained even to cry out, he watched through a growing haze of darkness as Gulk drew his dagger and raised it above his head. Suddenly, an arrow embedded itself between it's eyes. The orc fell to the ground, sword clattering beside him.

"Impatient, yet incredibly stupid." Legolas remarked, even though the orc could no longer hear him. "Horrible combination." Then, with the noise of battle around him, he gave into the deep black.

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Nothing could describe the sheer terror Thranduil felt at seeing his only child at the mercy of an orc. Or the rage that was quick to follow. Drawing his bow, he sent an arrow flying.

Before it even reached it's mark, he ordered his elves forward. They surged ahead, a sturdy, deadly force of nine, all that could be found immediately. The battle did not last long.

Thranduil raced over to his son, dropping to his knees. His stomach twisted. The prince was covered in blood, both black and crimson. A cut upon his left cheek, and blood trickling out of his mouth was the only thing that marred his fair face. His shoulder spread at an alarming angle, and Thranduil knew it was dislocated.

"Water." The king called softly, yet commanding. On of the remaining elves handed him a small canteen. Five had gone to scout the area, making sure that no more orcs lurked in the shadows. Two had briefly examined the dead orc bodies before cautiously approaching Mordax, who was struggling weakly to rise.

Moving quickly, Thranduil rinsed away some blood and gently brought Legolas' arm down to his waist. Ripping a strip of cloth from his tunic, the king bound his son's arm firmly in position. He did not know how to relocate joints, but he had enough experience to know it had to be isolated.

Legolas shied away as the last knot was tied. His right hand slowly made it's way across his chest to gently grasp his left shoulder. He mumbled something impossible to make out, even with elven ears. Suddenly his eyes flew open, piercing blue eyes penetrating into Thranduil's own.

"Ada! What are you—the orcs—twins—Mordax…" He trailed off and rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Don't ever let me do that again."

"The twins tell me that no one had a say in this."

Legolas offered an abashed smile. "Well, there wasn't any time—wait, the twins are all right?"

Thranduil began to scoop his son up and told him, "Yes, they are back at the palace. They had to be forcibly restrained from coming back with us."

"Hey, put me down! I'm not an invalid!"

Legolas smiled triumphantly as he felt his feet come in contact with the ground. He did have his pride, which he guarded fiercely, having lost it too much in his short life. The cuts on his chest burned fiercely, but bled less. As for his shoulder, it was beginning to go numb. "Wait! Mordax!"

Thranduil firmly pulled him in the general direction of the palace. "I believe he will be all right. Now, come!"

The two elves that were tending the stallion smiled and nodded reassuringly, and only then did Legolas allow himself to be led away.

Father and son made their way back to the south, flanked by the final two elves acting as scouts. Legolas unconsciously held his breath as he felt Thranduil's grip tighten. Here it comes…

"What were you thinking? You have a wish for death maybe?"

"Oh, Ada, don't start. I have this talk memorized. I'll explain later." As they continued, Legolas had to fight back a wide smile. Thranduil was clearly audible as he grumbled in a very un-kingly fashion.

"If you've heard it so much, why don't you listen?"

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The attempt to get in quietly through the gates and into the palace failed miserably. The entire realm was on high alert, and many elves clustered around the gates waiting for the return of the king, guards, and prince.

A great cheer went up as the gates opened to admit them. Legolas laughed and traded comments with several of his friends. Thranduil herded him along, anxious to have the shoulder checked and the cuts looked at.

Any other time, Legolas would have protested, said it was fine. But his chest was beginning to bleed again, and it would be dangerous to go much longer without setting his shoulder. So he allowed himself to be taken to the Healing Rooms. Or, as an inside joke about the palace, his secondary living quarters.

Elrond was there, along with the twins who leaped up simultaneously in dismay. Legolas groaned inwardly, there were no trees here to help him identify which was which.

"You're alive!"

"Are you absolutely out of your tree? Why didn't you come with us?"

"Enough you two." Elrond cut in firmly. "We all want to hear your motives and what happened, but right now, lay down and let me see."

Legolas obediently lowered himself down and waited for the inevitable. As he glanced all about the room to see if anything had changed since the last time he had been there, (actually only a week) he spotted a bruise on one twin's cheek, and a swollen lip on the other.

"What happened to you?"

The one with the bruised cheek smiled ruefully. "We took an unexpected flight. 'Ro's lip met with the ground, and my cheek was introduced to my knee."

Legolas smiled slightly. "Well, at least I can tell you two apart now."

Elrond took hold of the prince's left arm and positioned himself on the bed. "This is going to hurt." He warned.

Legolas turned and focused on the opposite wall, not wanting to see the setting. He held his breath and let it out sharply as feeling flooded back in a rush. The pins and needles he had felt as it numbed was nothing. Now it felt as if several dwarves had hacked at him with their axes.

He began to bite down on his lip, but realized at the last second that two holes would do nothing except to draw more discomfort.

Thranduil's heart squeezed as he saw the pained grimace on his son's face. Taking Legolas' right hand, he stroked it gently, offering a form of comfort.

"How did you get there so fast, Ada?" The prince's voice was hoarse with pain, but genuinely curious.

"Well," Thranduil replied, "If you had seen Mordax flying out of the forest as if all of Mordor was behind him, you'd know something was wrong. And if he stopped so suddenly that the two elves riding him flew off, turn and run back into the forest, you'd start to worry. And if the two elves came running up to the gate babbling frantically about orcs and acts of craziness, you'd know that something needed to be done—right away."

"What were orcs doing so close to the gates?" Elrond asked as he unbuttoned Legolas' tunic to better see the cuts. "Did they say anything?"

Legolas began, slowly at first, to tell of what had happened after he had sent the twins on their way. He was unable to keep the disgust from crossing his face as he spoke about the sandals of elf-skin, and the twins showed downright revulsion.

The room was silent as he finished his tale, before Elrohir asked quietly, "What would their master want with us? We have done nothing."

"It still does not make sense. This is a puzzle with many pieces missing, and a possibly deadly time limit." Elrond said, winding a long bandage across the prince's chest.

"I will send extra patrols to the borders." The king said, rising to his feet. "Whoever is threatening us will soon regret it."

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AN: Sorry, not exactly a good chappy for making you wait so long. I will hopefully be posting regularly again from now on. Mists of Memory is giving me a whole bunch of trouble, but I won't stop working on it. (This one either, don't worry!)

Oh, and just a heads up: From June 1 to June 21, I will be in California, with out computer access. I'll keep writing though, so as soon as I get back a chappy will go up.

Thanx to:

NuEvil: Long fic, eh? My muse will begin working immediately. (She's been very lazy as of late.) Hope you liked!

Ceriadera: Here's your update! Sorry it wasn't soon though. smiles ruefully

werewolflemming: Thanx, I had so much fun writing that!

swasti: Thanx for reviewing!

Someone Reading: Thanks for the praise, I try to make it descriptive as possible! As for Legolas being trained before the twins, I just had to!

kel: Hey, you found this one! I like elflings too! I think Legolas looks about 15 and the twins a bit younger, maybe a year. They're 52 years younger than Legolas, (according to my source) but as we all know, that's just a breath to the elves.

Deana: Thanx for the correction, I was wondering about that!

theo darkstar: Yes, more of the twins! Not so much in this chapter, but lots more in future ones! As for Arguments and Attack of the Squirrels, I'm thinking….

Shauna: In my source, Legolas is 2,931 years at the time of the Quest. Which means he was born in the year 87. According to Tolkien, the twins were born 52 years later. So, that's just how I had it.

theamazinftechnocoloredringwraith: First off, I LOVE your name, made me laugh. Yes evil ending, I'm afraid I'm getting kinda attached to the cliffies… Sorry I haven't updated 'soon', but here's the next one! Don't even get me started on teachers… lol…

darklink231: Thanx for reviewing!

Haldir's Heart and Soul: Thanx for reviewing!

Indigo-moon: Continuing…. Thanx so much for your kind words, made me happy! Yes, Legolas is, well, kind of strange, but I had a vision of him being just plain clumsy unless it's with his weapons, and it stuck. Sorry, there isn't much of the twins in this chappy, but they will return, in great force in chappy three!

Elemental flair: Continuing… Thanx for your review!

firehottie: Thanx for your review!