16) Lifeless As A Human

Legolas looked solemnly at his best friend, his own piercing blue eyes drinking the image of his face and filling to the brim with water. He had finally got what he had been searching for – Aragorn's live eyes staring into his. This was the most peace he had felt since his death and he ached with the nostalgia of it – he had known this divinity all of his life and only now could he fully appreciate it. And then, remembering his predicament, a slight pink touched his cheeks and he hung his head, wishing that the ranger would avert his eyes away from him.

"Legolas. . . Is that really you?" Aragorn's words came to him slowly. He wished the elf would speak to him and verify that he wasn't dreaming. He pushed himself up, letting go of the sword and raised himself slowly to his knees to face the three of them at eye level.

Maeryn snorted. "Looks different now, doesn't he?"

"Who are you?" Aragorn asked her.

She gestured towards the elf. " Nothing like the way he looked when you two first came to my forest. Looks more… lifeless…"

Without meaning to, the ranger nodded. "Legolas, what is going on?" A desperation was creeping into his voice. Why wouldn't he speak to him?

"He's dying, you fool." Said Ithast impatiently, trying to concentrate on the spell.

A cold stone dropped into the ranger's stomach. "But he's already dead! How can he be here? How can he be killed? He was already killed."

Maeryn rolled her eyes. "He rose from his grave in Rivendell and has been doing it ever since. He couldn't be killed. Every time something befell him that should have killed him, it did not take affect. He kept rising again, alive." Maeryn could see the confusion resting on the man's face. "He is not the first of this sort of abomination. Every now and then it happens. No one knows why, but some cannot succumb to true death on their own."

Aragorn struggled to process this information for a moment, his gaze switching back and forth between the haggard old woman before him and the elf hunched over. "And-And now you're killing him? 'True death'? You're helping him succumb to 'true death'?"

"Indeed. Helping him." A sneer formed on Ithast's lips. "There is a simple spell that can bring about an absolute death."

"But why?" Aragorn was astounded. "He's been given a second chance!"

Ithast allowed himself a bemused chuckle. "It's quite simple. We struck a bargain. I wanted his beauty and he wanted your life, so we arranged an exchange. He has his part of the bargain," Ithast held a palm out towards the ranger. "And now I need mine…" He said slowly, experiencing a wicked joy with each word.

"But…."Aragorn stumbled, realizing abruptly that the people before him were foe. He looked at Legolas, dreading confirmation.

Legolas slowly looked up, straightening. Surprising even himself, he found tears had seeped onto his face. Aragorn was horrified.

Legolas doesn't cry!

A terrible shame seemed to be burning on the elf's face. "It's true." He whispered.

"You traded your life for mine?" Aragorn sounded both aghast and disgusted at the same time. "Why would you do that?"

Legolas began to lower his head again, but the ranger continued with such rage that he couldn't look away.

"What were you thinking, Greenleaf! You've been brought back! You've been given another chance – several, apparently– and now you're just going to throw all that away? Did you ever stop to think that you were being brought back for a reason? You are obviously meant for great things! And you lob all that away just f- " The man stopped himself, his voice going hoarse from yelling. "If one of us has to die…."

"Then it can-not be you." The elf's voice broke, true sorrow coming into it. He was crying indisputably.

"Why not!" Screamed the ranger.

"Because…They need you. Everyone needs you. You are the one who can solve all of the woes of-"

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't care!" Aragorn turned to Maeryn and Ithast who were watching with mild amusement. " Stop this! Stop this immediately!"

Maeryn gave a short laugh and opened her mouth to speak but Legolas cut her off.

"No! Estel, they have been more than fair. I have got my wish, I cannot deny them theirs." Tears flowed freely from the elf. Dark circles hung under his eyes, blatant on his sallow, bleached face. His hair was ragged and hung upon him like straw, framing his sunken features. His tunic was a ruin hanging off of his shoulders, various rips showing evidence of his deaths as he knelt, bound to the sword in the grass. Even the beautiful green brightness of the sunny forest floor could not bring loveliness to the frailty of the elf's features.

"Legolas…" A shock filled the ranger's face and he could not take his eyes from the Prince. "You are quite human…."

Astonishment filled the three of them and they all stared at the elf.

"What…."Legolas began.

"No, no, he's right. Look at him, Maeryn. Have you ever seen an elf that looked like that?" Ithast said.

"No…He looks human. He does. No elf ever looked so…dead." Maeryn agreed.

"Legolas…What in all of Middle Earth has happened to you?" Aragorn whispered, moving forward and reaching out to touch the elf's face, as though to verify that he was real.

Legolas, who was beginning to feel as wild as they were all telling him he looked, had half a mind to bite the ranger's hand. For a moment, he swore he could hear Estel's voice in his head: In death you become more human than you have ever been. . .

I swear I'm going to bite you. The elf thought. But he never got the chance. Maeryn caught the ranger's hand, snatching it up in her own.

"On the other hand," She said to Ithast while looking deep into Aragorn's face. "He is already half dead. The spell is almost complete."

Legolas' skin had turned pearly, thin and translucent. All of his veins were visible under his skin and it seemed that his innards might, at any moment, break free and spill out onto the grass.

"Please- please stop this! I beg of you! Restore him! You can have anything – anything at all. You can…"Aragorn tried desperately to think of something that he could offer the 'wizards'. "Have my life. Take my life!"

"Your life is worthless." Maeryn said coldly, dropping the ranger's hand away from the elf's thinning face. "Anyways, we could have your life at any given moment, we wouldn't hesitate. So, don't think you're offering us something that we don't already possess. I own everything in my forest, boy, and don't you forget it."

"Besides, you don't have the ethereal beauty of an elf, much less this elf." Ithast piped up. He stared at Legolas a moment. "Let us hope," He said to Maeryn. "That his live beauty is restored to him in true death."

Legolas had slumped against the ropes holding him up against the sword in his back. His eyes had glazed over and diluted as though a white film had clouded their blue depths. Aragorn no longer knew if he could see.

"Please! Stop! You don't need to live off the beauty of others."

"He's already been dead all this time, ranger. He's merely an organ donor of sorts – a feature donor." Ithast said.

"Ithast, concentrate." Maeryn chided.

Legolas closed his eyes.

"Legolas! Wake up!" Aragorn screamed.

"Why did I think you would go quietly?" Legolas murmured.

"I don't know, why did you think he would go quietly?" Said Maeryn dryly.

"Go, Aragorn. Get away before they change their minds." Legolas' soft voice came slowly, his tired eyes resting behind eyelids creasing with worry.

Aragorn conceded that this was a good time to try out his own restored body. The 'wizards' had closed their eyes, their full concentration on the spell. He mustered as much force as he could and pounced on the foe, sending them sprawling onto the ground. Aragorn had broken their hand-to-hand contact and at that moment, Legolas' face infused with colour.

"Arrgh." Ithast growled. The three of them were struggling in a tangled mass of limbs on the grass. Aragorn felt a hand close over his collar and yank him to his feet. He found himself face to face with the warty jowls of Maeryn.

"Don't mess with us, fool. We have weapons you cannot even surmise." She let go of his collar and he lost his balance and fell backward into the grass.

Aragorn had only a moment to see Ithast hold a closed fist towards him before he opened it and unleashed thousands of monarchs. The butterflies all flew past his face as though being blown by an invisible wind. Their wings slid over his skin, shredding it to ribbons. He was absorbed in the pain of a thousand parchment cuts and could only blink as he became coated in their yellow dust. He began quickly losing sensations all over his body and knew that he would once again fall unconscious if he did not try to resist. He shook his head trying to clear his blurry vision. He thought he could hear someone calling his name as though from a great distance. At that moment, something exploded out of the ground right in front of him. His fuzzy sight told him that it was brown and he quickly realized that a humungous cedar was sprouting out of the ground at the speed of light. The tree grew taller and wider and soon its trunk thrust Aragorn's unsuspecting body back from the 'wizards' a good fifteen feet. Soon a wall of trees began shooting up at the same catastrophic rate and before he could mobilize his unresponsive body, Aragorn was caged in four walls of tall, tight knit cedars. He could see out through their straight trunks, but was not thin enough to escape them. Aragorn gasped, trying to manipulate his mouth into speaking. He concentrated all of his strength into lifting his arm so that he could wipe the dust off of his face. He succeeded in this and pulled himself into a nook between the trees.

"Set me free!"

"I warned you not to mess with us." Maeryn said, dusting herself off and getting into the kneeling position in front of Legolas once more. Maeryn pulled off her gloves and put her hand to the ground and a rumbling sound began. A dark root system began shooting out of the ground where she touched her hand to it and it crept along the ground towards Aragorn's cage. It quickly began wrapping itself around the trees of the enclosure, sealing them off, strangling them, and quickly succeeded in not only blocking Aragorn's view, but also fastening him in darkness. But the roots were not satisfied with simply wrapping up the trees. Soon they pierced inside the ranger's small opening and sought out the man himself. They came for his feet first, and he backed up against the far wall trying to get away from them. But they soon came from behind as well and in no time at all, the roots had seized his legs and arms. They rolled upwards, closing off circulation where they went and weaving together over his chest. They squeezed and choked the air out of the ranger's lungs. He fainted and the roots suspended him in the middle of his cage.

TBC