Disclaimer: (yawns , rolls eyes, and twirls finger in the air) This whole 'I don't own them' thing is getting old…. It gets me down…
AN: Wowza… HERE IT IS! The last chappy… besides the epilogue… Absolutely amazing! I can't believe I've gotten this far! Whoo hoo! Since there's not much else to say, I'll let you get on to reading the chappy… before you all hurt me for taking so long… (cowers)
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Elrohir struggled like mad against his twin's iron grip. Why couldn't Elladan see that he had to go! The voice was calling to him insistently and each syllable that it uttered only pushed Elrohir to greater lengths to escape from his brother. Why couldn't Elladan hear it? Why couldn't Legolas? It was perfectly clear to the young elf that he had to go to see the owner of the voice. There were just no other options. Distantly, he was aware of an annoying screech, and that he should be terrified, but somehow… he just didn't care. All that mattered was the beautiful voice.
Elladan had managed to grab his brother by the waist before Elrohir had reached the main passage. Thoughts spun through his head, even as Elrohir kicked him viciously in the shin. What in the name of the Valar had come over his little brother? Applying all of his strength, he pulled, dragging a kicking squirming Elrohir along with him. He knew that if he let his brother go, all of them would be killed, probably horribly and painfully.
However, he reflected miserably as Elrohir twisted and sunk his teeth into Elladan's hand, it couldn't possibly be more painful than that! He let go reflexively with that hand and was instantly pulled forward as Elrohir made another bid for freedom.
Above the struggling twins, Legolas listened helplessly. He kept an ear trained on the tunnel as well, wanting to be ready if one of the orcs heard the scuffle.
This was not turning out to be a good day.
The flow of orcs continued by, but Legolas did not think there were quite as many as there were before. In fact, he decided after listening hard for several seconds, there definitely wasn't as many. If Elladan could keep a hold of his brother for another few minutes, he judged that all of the orcs would be long gone. And that's when he felt Elrohir's back brush against his legs as the twin leaped for the opening.
He didn't think, he just reacted. He bent his legs, and as the pressure between his feet and back disappeared, he dropped from his perch.
He landed atop the twins with a muted thump. His weight, light as he was, was more than enough to drive both twins to the ground. The prince twisted about and tried to pin the younger twin to the ground, only to be kicked by a now-furious Elrohir. The breath went out of him in a rush, and he frantically gasped to fill his lungs. He mentally swore that, when all of this was over, that Elrohir would find several dozen frogs in his bed.
The already-crowded passageway grew to be far too restrictive for a good and proper tussle. In the first several seconds, Legolas and Elladan were at a high advantage, but that advantage quickly wore away as Elrohir began to use the close quarters to his benefit. More often than not, the elder twin and the prince found themselves squished against the walls while Elrohir struggled frantically to the opening.
The clamor from the orcs provided enough cover for Legolas to hiss, "When you argued about who would win a fight between the two of you, I did not think that I would be in the middle of it! Ouch!" Elrohir had once again employed his teeth.
Each of the two was grasping what they thought was a leg; the darkness didn't help matters at all.
"Elladan!" Elrohir whispered, suddenly intensifying his struggles. "Don't you hear it? Why won't you let me go?"
If there had been any light at all, Legolas and Elladan would have shared a glance of confusion. "What?"
"The voice! Why can't you hear it? It's getting closer! Please let me go, I have to go to it! Please!"
Elrohir's voice was harsh, ragged with emotion. It tore at Legolas and Elladan's hearts, but there was absolutely no chance that they would let Elrohir go to his doom.
Legolas realized that the sounds of the orcs had faded into the distance, and that no more wind from bodies passing the little tunnel brushed against their faces. The orc onslaught had ceased. And now all they had to worry about was the creature of the darkness. For some reason, the thought wasn't very comforting.
And neither were the thoughts that followed. The creature of the darkness… the radag-gor… He remembered all the things that he had read about the beast, and with a chill he remembered one of the creature's greatest talents: mind control.
"Oh, dear."
Elladan snapped his head around to look in what he thought was Legolas's direction. "What? I don't like the sound of that."
"The creature is trying to control Elrohir's mind. It's trying to lure him closer so that it can… well, devour him."
Elladan was suitably horrified.
After several moments of complete silence between the trio, punctuated only by the sudden, odd screams of orcs and the awful racket of the beast, Elrohir lunged one more time. And succeeded.
The younger twin fell to his knees as his captors accidentally let go of his legs, but he was back up in an instant, and fleeing down the tunnels… directly toward the radag-gor.
The same curse rose to both Legolas and Elladan's lips as they charged to their feet and raced after their fleeing companion. If the situation had not been so dire, they would have found time to laugh about their selected word, but as it was, the thought didn't even rise to their minds.
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Elrohir let a surge of relief take him over as he felt the hands restraining him slip away. So deep was he caught in the spell of the radag-gor's control, that he did not even remember who had been holding him back. All he knew was that he was free, and that he would be able to get to the voice.
The only obstacle in the younger twin's way was the darkness. Elrohir was guided by the voice in his mind, but even the voice couldn't warn him about low ceilings or uneven footing. After stumbling more times than he could count, and cracking his skull twice, Elrohir was forced to slow his headlong rush. But he didn't dare let himself walk, afraid of having his captors catch up to him and taking him away.
He could hear them in the tunnel behind him, calling in fierce whispers. He scoffed at that in open disdain. They were scared of the voice. Why on Arda would they be scared of the voice? It didn't sound at all frightening to him, rather, it sounded melodic, much like what he had heard the previous day, at the archery fields… It called to him, wanted him to come to it. He would do what it asked. How could he refuse? Why should he refuse?
He quickened his step once more as he heard the whispers come closer. Being captured again did not fit in with his agenda.
Perhaps, if he had had the foresight to place his hands out in front of himself, he would not have run headlong into a low overhang. The blackness of the tunnels bled away, leaving the twin with a white flash and stinging pain before he hit the ground in unconsciousness.
He was not out for very long. Hands snatched him and pulled him roughly to his feet. He staggered, dizzily wondering what on Arda was happening. His head was filled with cobwebs. Appropriate really, considering he was somewhere in Mirkwood. Elrohir shook his head, vaguely wondering if perhaps an army of tiny spiders had crawled into his ear and spun webs everywhere.
"Elrohir?"
Elladan's soft whisper penetrated through the fog that surrounded his mind. He instantly began to feel better. Whatever he had gotten himself into, Elladan would help him to get out of it.
"Elladan… I—" Elrohir gasped in surprise as a horrible screeching assaulted his ears. It sounded very close. "What in the name of Mandos is that?"
"Never mind that… RUN!" Legolas's voice came out of the darkness, nearly frightening Elrohir to death. The prince's voice contained such a commanding tone that Elrohir was moving before he even registered what Legolas had said.
"Legolas? What are you doing here?"
"Trying to keep you out of trouble," came the short reply. "It is not easy, you understand?"
Elrohir chose to let it go. It was not worth getting into a word tussle with the prince, who would certainly win. And besides, the screech was very close now, only a few yards away. He decided to focus on running.
Legolas dropped back behind the twins as they ran, blindly trying to put some distance between them and the radag-gor. He was not sure why, especially as he didn't even have one of his knives to use if the creature got too close. There was a dagger in his boot, but with his hands in their awful condition, he doubted that he would be able to fumble the dagger out of the sheath, let alone throw it with any sort of accuracy. He hurried them along, glancing back every couple of step as if he could see the monster coming at them. There was only the black of the tunnels, and every time he turned, it cost him precious seconds.
And then the creature was upon him, snatching him up in its mouth like a dog would a bone. Legolas cried out in surprise and terror. It echoed throughout the tunnels, and he heard the twin's footsteps falter and halt.
"No! Keep going, don't stop! Go!"
The beast shook its head and Legolas felt the odd sensation of flying back and forth. He decided then that he did not much care for being the bone.
For all its viciousness, the creature had yet to bite down hard. Legolas knew that if he found a way to survive this, he would have dozens of bruises. He struggled, and cried out the first thing that came to mind. "You half-wit! Do you have any idea what I've been through today? I've been poisoned by an evil stream, forced to hide from thousands of orcs, and have tramped through who knows how much mud and filth! Put me down! I'm probably poisonous!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how foolish he sounded. But he seemed to have confused the creature, so he kept talking, all the while reaching for his dagger. "All in all, this has been a horrible week! First, I get attacked by a party of orcs, who almost beheaded me, and then I got grounded, and I had to deal with my evil weapons master, I got pranked by the twins, trapped in the tunnels, attacked by spiders, trapped in the tunnels again, and now this! Honestly, I think that I've been cursed!"
He could practically feel the confusion of the radag-gor, which had probably expected its prey to grovel and beg for mercy. It certainly hadn't been expecting the rantings of a furious and desperate elf-prince. And he could certainly hear the twin's terrified snickers as they disappeared down a side tunnel.
The creature had had enough of the elf trapped in its huge jaw. It decided that the time had long come for a taste of elf flesh.
Legolas gasped in pain as he felt the jaws of the radag-gor begin to close. He desperately strained to grasp the hilt of the dagger; he could feel it, but he couldn't get his painful, treacherous hands to close around it! In a sudden burst of determination, he forced his swollen hands to grasp the hilt and pull. The wounds began to burn painfully, but Legolas paid them no mind. All that he wanted now was to escape from the creature's mouth.
He brought his knife around in a sharp arc, and the radag-gor howled in pain as the metal sliced through its tender flesh, dangerously close to its eyes. It shook its great head and yowled, but it did not let go of the elf.
Now furious, it tossed Legolas into the air for a split second and caught him again, securing its great teeth in the prince's battered skin. Legolas yelped in agony and nearly passed out as the radag-gor's noxious breath rolled over his face. It smelled of rotten meat, and Legolas knew that soon, it would smell of fresh blood. The beast opened its great maw slightly and prepared to crunch down, ending the elf's life.
And then Thranduil appeared, charging around the corner, bloody sword raised high. Close behind him came a small group of elves, each carrying a torch.
Legolas had never seen such a welcome sight in his life.
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Thranduil had hurried the group along as fast as he could. They were close, closer than they had thought. They had come upon the twins unexpectedly in a side tunnel and had wasted several precious seconds lighting several more torches. And then, as the radag-gor's unexpected cry of pain battered their ears, they had charged onwards.
And Thranduil had come upon a scene straight out of his nightmares. In a single second, he had taken it in, his son trapped in the beast's teeth, a look of pain and fear stamped across his fine features. In that second, Thranduil had experienced a rush of fear and fury, and he had charged forward, intent on ending the life of the creature that threatened his son.
As the elves bearing the torches had rounded the bend, the beast howled in pain as the dreaded light struck its skin. Smoke began to rise almost instantly. Completely forgetting the elf in its jaws, the radag-gor opened its mouth and howled. Legolas dropped to the floor and lay there, stunned. Thranduil stepped between his son and the beast, a calm look upon his face.
The beast knew then, its time on Middle-Earth was coming to an end. It tried to backpedal, to get away from the elven-king and the light that was scorching it. But its huge bulk prevented it from moving. It was, in effect, stuck. By this time, the smoke was nearly too dense to see through.
The last thing the radag-gor ever saw was the elven-king, stepping through the smoke veil, and his sword leveled at the creature's heart.
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Thranduil wiped his sword on the shoulder of the dead beast and sheathed it, then hurrying to his son. Legolas was sitting up, supported by several of the warriors.
"Ion-nin, are you all right?"
Legolas, tunic ripped in a dozen places, cobwebs in his hair, and covered in radag-gor saliva looked up at his father and said plaintively, "I've had a very bad week, Ada."
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Nethidal was delighted. The elf's face had lit up as the battered twins and prince staggered into his room to be treated. The twin's faces were pale, and they were covered in several layer of grime. Their tunics each sported a bloody handprint. And Legolas… well, Legolas dropped down onto Nethidal's bed and didn't move. He remained there as the healers bustled about, applying ointments and salves to all of their injuries.
He was so exhausted, he actually fell asleep, much to the envy of Elladan and Elrohir, who were forced to go over their entire adventure by Elrond and Thranduil. By the end, as they finished telling what had transpired before they had fled, the two father's felt like doing nothing more than snatching their children up for a good long hug.
Legolas, when woken by his ada for the hug, remarked in a very sleepy tone, "Ada, you shouldn't touch me. I'm poisonous."
Thranduil had laughed and taken his son off to bed. As he helped Legolas into a clean nightshirt, he said, "Legolas, you frightened me today."
His son had looked up with big blue eyes that Thranduil had feared he would never see again. "I'm sorry Ada. I didn't mean to make you worry."
The king laughed and gathered his son up in another hug. "Little one, you always make me worry. You are so impulsive, I fear that one day you shall walk into a situation you will not come out of. But at the same time, I know that you are becoming a most capable, mature young prince. I am very proud of you, ion-nin. I hope you know that. Now. To sleep. We will talk tomorrow."
Thranduil blew out the candle and retreated out the door. With a slight smile on his face, he leaned back in the door and said, "And Legolas… you really shouldn't swear like that. I do not want the twins to pick up on it."
As the king walked away, Legolas turned onto his side and smiled into the dark. "Too late…"
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AN: YAY! I got it up when I said I would! Kinda…ff . net decided not to let me upload any documents last night… But here it is! Woot! Well… how very sadd. It's over! Just the epilogue left! I will try to have it up by Monday.
Amazing!
Thanx are in order to the following people who reviewed: Alenor Peredhel, Ceriadera, sehellys, Haldir's Heart and Soul, theo darkstar, rivendellelve, GundamWingFanatic90, Aranna Undomiel, Tathren Lalaith, and of course, Aurehen!
I suppose you all know it, but I'll say it any ways… ya'll ROCK!
Stick around for the epilogue!