Somebody was dragging him back ward across the forest floor, the fall leaves slick with blood made it difficult. They had about five seconds before the orcs came over the hill and saw them, and it was imperative that they did not see the hatch.

He heard it thud open as somebody else said the password.

Four seconds.

They managed to lift him into the dark hole in the earth with surprising tenderness. Five of them already waited inside.

Three seconds.

They had to close the hatch door. They had to wait for the rest of them. They did not leave people behind.

Two seconds.

There more elves fell inside, all as wounded as the other waiting within.

"Now." Somebody asked the tree's and the enchanted wood snapped shut. Rustling overhead told them that the roots had covered them with leaves.

One second.

The heavy thundering of uncaring feet shook the earth around them. And then over top.

They all held their breath as the darkness washed over them. Waited to see if they had pulled it off.

Waited to see if they were about to be hunted from their den like helpless rabbits. Because with so many of them so badly injured, they were helpless.

But the feet continued to thunder over them. The start of a brutal attack they had been able to properly warn their king about.

Silently, those that were still somewhat able to move set to helping to bind and treat the other's wounds.

When she was done the bandages on his chest she collapsed into the dirt next to him, her forehead pressed against his shoulder, a non-lethal but painful poison boiling in her veins.

Time passed.

Two of them were escorted to the halls, the last thing their eyes seeing nothing but darkness. His hand gripped her wrist, a thumb pressed against her pulse point.

So he knew she hadn't left him. Not yet.

Even Elves are not immune to bleeding out.

Time passed.

The swelling darkness above them didn't seem to be slowing in the slightest, and the thundering feet seemed endless. Most of them were not conscious to hear it.

But their troubled minds felt it, even in their oblivion.

Time passed.

Her wrist twisting in his grasp jerked him back to their tortured darkness.

"I'm here."

He whispered, his voice hardly existent even if he wanted it to be louder. She kissed his shoulder and pressed her face against it, her forehead still burning.

Time passed.

His hands grew colder, and his heart beat slower. Tired. So tired.

Time passed.

Another one drifted away, all their lifeblood soaked into the earth and roots that cradled them.

They all silently agreed there were worse places to die.

They would have all rather die in the dark and the dirt than be found and captured by the enemy.

Her heart still beat, very slowly, but it beat.

Time passed.

It was the screaming of elves that woke him, not underground in their dark prison like he expected them to be. Not a scream of pain or fear, but of rage. Pure and unadulterated rage.
A war cry.

A cry of desperation.

Time passed.

The hatch above them thunked open as somebody on the other side said the password. The first light they had seen since they fell into their sanctuary turned grave spilled in. A few of them stirred, most did not.

Bue eyes turned a blurry vision to the door, where a golden head framed with tears and distress glowed prominently. For the first time since the darkness had enclosed around them, he felt comfort

His father's broken voice filled the silent and dark expanse, "Oh, Legolas."

Her heartbeat still fluttered under his thumb.

Time passed.

He didn't need to open his eyes to know that he was no longer in their underground sanctuary turned grave. Sunlight glowed a bright red even through his closed eyelids.

He could not feel her pulse.

His eyes flew open against his own will, squinting and watering in the morning sunlight, desperately searching for the face of the one he loved.

"She's okay."

The voice was soft, loving, and both his blankets and his hair were slightly adjusted. There was a creak as someone sitting in an old chair changed the way they sat in it.

His empty-spaced between his fingers were filled with his fathers, and he clenched onto them tightly, craving the contact he thought he would never see again. Slowly, and carefully of his many injuries muscles he turned his head to where his father sat in a chair between him and his beloved.

One hand of his holding each of theirs.

"I'm sorry it took so long to get you."

His voice sounded hardly better than when he promised he had yet to leave her here on this earth without him, "Doesn't matter."

"Yes it-"

"Just matters that you got there."

His father pressed a loving kiss to his forehead, a tear leaving a drop of wetness on his forehead. "You need rest."

Time passed.

It was the middle of the night the next time he woke, the shadows form the moon casting long and intimidating shadows.

He glanced to the bed next to him, finding her eyes open and staring at the ceiling. Surprisingly, his father was nowhere to be seen. Ther must have been and emergency that needed his attention. Otherwise, he would have still been here.

"Ava?" Her head turned to the side, and her eyes warm with tears the second they met him. Scared, alone, in pain. "Come here."

Carefully she clambered out of her bed and he delicately moved himself to the very far right of his bed, and she slipped into the left.

His chest still ached with the wound and the poison, but for the first time, a sense of warmth touched it as her arm carefully and delicately snaked across his chest, pulling herself closer to him.

The darkness pressed in around them, but the candles kept their waking nightmares from before form touching their dreams.

O.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Hello!

I've almost finished my list of one word prompts. So, if you want, when you leave a review, leave a ONE WORD prompt for me for next chapter.

I'll add them all to a random selection generator.

If none of you want to leave a suggestion, that okay, I'll find prompts other places.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts, I'll see you next weekend!