Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way shape or form, The Lord of the Rings. I borrow the characters, torture them righteously, and give them back, though, not always in prime condition.
AN: This chappy is dedicated to my good friends Alenor Peredhel and Aurehen. Thank you so much for your lovely reviews!
Now… for the rest of you… (scowls menacingly, lol) I happen to be on the story alerts for nineteen people on this story. I love you all for your kindness in doing so, and also to the twelve people who list this fic in their story favs. You're all too kind and I hope you will continue to be satisfied with my little work. Don't forget to review! I know who you are! Lol, I'm just kiddin' ya'll….
Please read: I apologize for the lateness and shortness of this chappy, but I would like to say that THIS FIC IS NEARLY OVER! (cries) I estimate two more chapters, and in my appreciation of you all, they will come quicker and they WILL be LONGER! Thought you all should know where this stands! Thank you!
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Elladan let his head drop and slammed his fist against the floor. The torch was gone… and it was his entire fault. They were trapped down here, with no light and no means of moving safely, and no way of helping his little brother.
He felt Legolas shift under him, and realized that he was probably squashing the poor wood-elf. He rose, careful not to step on Legolas and stood to the side, ready to help if Legolas stumbled.
The wood-elf also felt very much like slamming his hand against the floor in frustration, but prudently reminded himself of his still-throbbing hands. It would not do to bang them against stone. "I cannot believe that just happened."
"How are we supposed to find our way out?" Elladan moaned softly. "We will be trapped down here forever! They will find our corpses sometime in the future, rotted and decomposed and—"
"Elladan, calm yourself. We will not be trapped down here forever." Despite his firm words, Legolas could not help but shudder silently. He did not have the best of memories concerning these wretched tunnels and he was determined not to repeat his experience. He forced himself to remember that that the twins, Elrohir especially, needed his help to escape the maze of tunnels, and he would resign himself to spend eternity in Umbar before he would let harm come to his friends.
"I know the way out. I memorized all the turns I took once I left the catacombs, and I know my way around them easily enough. We will be fine."
"But we cannot see, Legolas. How on Arda can you retrace your steps if you cannot see them?"
A sound, cloth sliding over rough stone put them both on edge, Elladan feeling for Legolas's knife and clutching it firmly. A muffled cough and then, "E-Elladan?"
The eldest twin slid the knife into his belt and felt for his brother frantically. "Elrohir! You are all right?" His searching fingers touched cloth and he pulled his brother into a fierce embrace. He sensed Legolas relax and come nearer, and could imagine the relieved look on the prince's face.
"I-I suppose. Elladan, are we still underground?"
The faintness of his brother's voice jolted Elladan viciously. "Yes, gwador-nin, but we will not be for long, according to our blonde guide here."
"I am not merely a guide Elladan. I offer quite a lot of other services you know. Protection, humorous takes on situations and the like."
Elladan felt his brother's head swivel, searching for the owner of the voice. "Legolas, is that you?"
"Yes. I found your brother and yourself more than two hours ago. We are closer to the surface already. We lost the torch, but I was just explaining to your twin that the lack of light will pose no problem."
Elrohir shuddered, and Elladan felt his twin's hands clench tighter around his shoulders. "But we-"
"Don't worry, Elrohir." The youngest twin felt a hand descend through the darkness and rest lightly on his shoulder. Legolas's voice was calm, confident, displaying none of the fear he felt inside. "We will get out of these wretched tunnels, I promise you that. I won't let any harm come to us."
"But that's just it! Don't you see?" Elladan felt his brother remove his hands. "We will be trapped down here! It is coming! It is coming and it will kill us!"
Legolas blinked in confusion, although it did nothing to shed some light on the situation. "What is coming? Elrohir, what do you mean?" Unconsciously, his hand tightened onto his friend's shoulder, the blood-soaked bandages leaving an imprint on Elrohir's tunic. If Elrohir knew something, it might mean the difference of life and death. Unknown to his father, Legolas had done some research on the tunnels. He knew as well as any other elf what lurked under the halls of Mirkwood's palace.
"The creature of the dark. It comes for us." Elrohir's voice rasped uncomfortably on their ears. "It knows we're here. We must leave!"
Legolas straightened, nerves suddenly on edge. "He's right, Elladan. Elrohir, can you stand?"
After only a slight hesitation, the younger twin rose unsteadily. Legolas swiftly arranged them into a line that stretched across the tunnel, Elladan on the right, himself in the middle, and Elrohir on the left. "I cannot use my hands to feel for the openings of new tunnels. Each of you needs to feel along the walls and tell me when you feel a tunnel branching off."
"How will that help us?"
Legolas smiled into the dark. "I memorized all the turns I took, remember? You will see. Elrohir, hold my other knife will you?" He waited until he heard the blade sliding out of its leather sheath. "Now. We must hurry. Come, this way."
He rested his hands lightly on the twin's shoulders, and even that hurt the tender wounds, but he held his pain back and began to move forward. He would rather have the pain of his wounded hands than the pain of losing one of his friends after all!
Several minutes passed before Elladan spoke, "Tunnel, Legolas."
"All right. Keep going."
They progressed with no significant problems, save for the low hanging bit of tunnel Legolas had forgotten about. They all received smashing headaches, and Legolas, who was taller than either of the twins, nearly cracked his nose. His muffled grunt of surprise mingled with the muffled first syllable of a curse that was quickly becoming very well known amongst the three friends.
"Legolas, don't let your father catch you saying that." Elrohir snickered. "Tunnel."
Each twin felt the hand on their shoulder shudder as the prince started to laugh. "Actually… he did."
"You're kidding!"
"No I'm serious! And…" Legolas paused, unsure if he should reveal the next secret or not, but found it too funny to pass up. "I got so flustered when I turned around and saw him there, I swallowed some narvosalv."
"Not the dwarf brew?" Elladan laughed. "Tunnel."
"Turn right into it." They swung round, keeping their line straight. "And yes, the dwarf brew. I thought it was water…"
The twins snickered again as they headed into this new tunnel. "Oh, I wish we had been there to see your face!"
Legolas remained silent, sending a mental prayer of thanks to the Valar that the twins weren't there to see it. They would probably be mimicking his expression and reaction right then and there. And he had no desire to have high-pitched identical squeaks echoing off the walls.
Speaking of which… As much as he hated the idea of picking at the twin's happiness, he shushed them. "We must keep quiet. There are creatures down here that have very keen ears, and a very keen craving for elf-flesh."
"Elf-flesh?"
Twin hands tightened on the white knives, twin faces set into a determined look, and twin sets of feet moved much more quietly.
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"Tunnel."
Silence.
"Tunnel."
"Turn."
Silence.
The continued hush of the tunnels began to wear on the three friends as they made their way back into more familiar tunnels. Elrohir had begun to sink into a dream-like state, lost in the feel of something oppressive moving towards them. Elladan grew tenser by the second, no matter that they were getting closer to the surface. And the prince of Mirkwood tried to concentrate on anything other than the merciless throb of his hands. And his thoughts wandered back to what he believed was stalking the tunnels right now.
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The radag-gor picked up its pace, urging its minions to speed along ahead of it. It sensed that its prey was close to leaving the deep tunnels, close to escaping into the shallow passageways of the palace where it dared not go.
The ancient creature's scales scraped along the rock walls, producing sparks and a grating, screeching noise. The radag-gor tried to hunch in upon itself, well aware that the clatter would reach the ears of any wary elf long before the creature neared the victim.
But it was no use. The creature had allowed itself to gorge over the years. It was not as small as it once was, and its steady snacking on orcs and goblins had caused its girth to expand to a point where it barely fit through the tunnels.
Gritting its many rows of sharp teeth, it sped on with all the speed it could muster, determined that even if its quarry should hear it coming, it would overtake the elves in seconds and tear them apart.
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The keen ears of Legolas Greenleaf heard the noise long before the creature itself appeared. Elrohir gasped as the shadow that had been plaguing him boiled and grew darker. "It's almost here!" he hissed.
Elladan and Legolas looked toward each other in alarm, though neither could see each other's faces. How did Elrohir know this? Was the creature pursuing them the cause of Elrohir's earlier collapse?
They did not allow themselves the luxury of time to ponder the meaning of this new development. They scrambled forward, wishing to put as much distance between themselves and their pursuer as possible. "We must turn left, left, and right in order to reach the upper levels and come back into the catacombs." Legolas hissed.
The dreadful scraping was almost overwhelming now, grating on the elves' sensitive ears and rubbing their nerves raw. And then, over the scraping, they caught a hint of a sound that chilled their blood, left them cold and shuddering.
The chilling screech of orcs and goblins. "Oh, Valar no!" Elrohir cried in despair. "Do we not have enough to handle?"
The floor became rough and uneven, and the trio began to stumble, fighting to keep their balance. Elladan felt the slight weight on his shoulder become a rough grasp as he slipped, helping his to regain his footing. He grimaced outwardly, furious with himself for losing his balance and causing Legolas to use his injured hand to keep him afoot. The wood-elf certainly did not need him blundering along, needing help every step of the way.
Elrohir was next to slip, and he too felt the weight be replaced by a clutching hand as they skittered along. The younger twin though, was grateful for the help, as he had been unconscious and had no knowledge of the serious injuries on his friend's hands. If he did, he certainly would not have allowed himself to stumble again so soon afterwards, causing Legolas to once more clutch at Elrohir's shoulder.
Into the dark, Legolas allowed his face to contort with pain. His hands were afire; it seemed that the skin was being peeled back from the wounds and rubbed in salt, that dwarven hammers pounded on the bruises, that a dozen splinters had worked their way onto the flesh of his hands and remained stuck there.
He wished desperately that the tunnels would suddenly become light with the coming of someone to rescue them. He would have been pleased to see a party of dwarves by this time. Not only would he have welcomed the stunted creatures with open arms, he would have learnt their rocky language and become a smith, if only they would help him and his friends escape from what was certain to be their doom.
Several staggering footsteps later, Legolas revised his thoughts, berating himself for even thinking of such a thing. Elven warriors would be preferable. Even the six puppies would be preferable to a smelly band of dwarves! His mind in such emotional turmoil, he both forgot about the pain in his hands, and turned his ankle by stepping into a depression in the floor. He crashed heavily to the ground, air rushing from his chest in a whoosh.
The pain instantly flared, and he was so overwhelmed he barely noticed the hands hauling him to his feet. By this time, the orcs were so near the elves knew they would have absolutely no chance of outrunning the nasty little creatures. Legolas mentally cursed their situation and hustled them all into a small side tunnel that turned a sharp bend and ended abruptly. They huddled there, Legolas pressing the twins against the wall, offering a small bit of a safe feeling.
The screech of the little bowlegged beasts grew ever louder, occasionally peaking as they fought amongst themselves. Not even the mind powers of the radag-gor could completely sublimate the evil creature's battle lust. The lust burned within them like fire, and the anticipation of battle and the feel of their weapons slipping into elf-flesh was simply too great for the radag-gor to completely erase.
To the elves, crowded in a dead-end side passage, the sounds were terrifying. It sounded like the entire tunnel complex was about to come down around their pointed ears. The twins were feeling decidedly squished, but the thought of complaining never entered their minds. Indeed, they tried to make themselves as small as possible to allow more room for the slightly larger wood-elf. Legolas was grateful for that, for the passage was so small, he could not get very far around the corner, and much of him was exposed to the view of anyone who happened to wander by. And, from the sound of it, about a hundred orcs were about to 'wander by', most likely carrying sharp and pointy objects.
"Not good not good!" Elladan hissed. He could feel Legolas's hand pressing against his chest, keeping him from leaping forward and placing himself on the outside of the stubborn prince. He had one of the weapons after all! What was Legolas going to do, bite the smelly orcs? Aside from that though, he could feel the blood flowing from Legolas's hand; it soaked through the thin fabric of his tunic to rub uncomfortably against this skin.
Struck by an idea, he sank to the floor, pulling his brother along with him. Legolas easily discerned what they wanted him to do, and he wasted no time bracing his back on one side of the tunnel, his legs on the other, and raising himself until he was about three feet off the ground. He eased himself further back into the tunnel, until he was directly above the twins, taking care not to knock either of them in the head. So perfectly was he balanced, that he no longer needed the use of his hands, so he gently laid them on his lap, mentally sighing with relief.
All this took less than fifteen seconds, and yet by the time they situated themselves, the orcs were upon them.
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AN: Hee hee. Hey, with only two chappies to go, did you really think I wouldn't leave you all with a cliffhanger? I'm going to exercise my power over all of you until the very end! (insert evil laugh here)
Review review review everybody! Don't give up on me now! Make a poor high school kid very happy by clicking that lovely box that says 'Submit review'. Thanx ya'll!