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His eyes blearily opened but then abruptly closed as an immediate wave of pain hit him. His eyes were sore and painful; he tried opening them again. He managed to keep them open long enough to feel the full force of dizziness and nausea. He breathed a deep breath, as he fought to keep his vision intact. Eventually, the dizziness cleared enough that he could start to make out his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying on a cold, dark stone floor, it was so cold that it felt wet. He moved his body to sit himself upright, but felt a heavy strain on his arms, he looked down and saw that his hands were bound in metal cuffs. He studied the craftwork and tried to wriggle his hands free, but the cuffs were too tight. As he struggled, he suddenly felt a pull and soon noticed that the cuffs were attached to a chain that ran back to a cold wall. He sighed heavily and decided to sit himself up further against the wall. He checked his body for any injuries, fortunately he seemed to be unscathed. The only real problem he encountered was the lingering dizziness and nausea.
'Poison?' he thought.
He suddenly realised what had happened. They were attacked! But by who? He remembered the sight of Sam and Frodo escaping but everything else was at a loss. A thousand questions ran through his mind, where am I? He began to take in his surroundings. It was a cold dark room, ahead of him were metal, vertical bars that went from ceiling to floor, with a door in the centre. He noticed that there were small windows at the top of the room, letting in the smallest amount of light. He was in a prison cell. He stood up and walked to the metal bars, he grasped them in his hands as he tried to poke his head through the gap, taking note of his further surroundings. There was another cell opposite the one he was in, but from what he could see the cell was empty. He looked further down the hallway, there were no more cells but instead, there was a small open planned area with a few chairs and a table. The lighting was still dim but behind the open plan area was a door. He pondered over the door, becoming hopeful that it may be the way out to freedom. Suddenly overcome with questions and worry, he slumped down into the corner of the cell and stared at the opposite side of the room. His eyes widened.
'Aragorn!?' a small voice asked.
'Is that you Merry?' replied Aragorn rising up from his slouched position.
'Yes, it is me' he said slightly more settled.
Aragorn crawled over to the other corner next to Merry, 'Are you alright?'
Merry nodded, 'I am fine, I feel sick though and my neck is sore.'
Aragorn's hands, although bound, checked the hobbits neck and found no serious injury, 'Where are the others Merry?'
Merry smiled
'What?' he asked confused.
Merry turned his head and motioned Aragorn to look. In the darkest corner of the cell lay four unconscious figures who were also bound. Aragorn sighed with relief before questioning whether his vision had truly returned back to its full strength, realising that he had completely overlooked them.
'I have not seen Frodo or Sam though.'
Aragorn was quick to face Merry, 'I let them go Merry, they escaped. Hopefully, they will reach the realm of Lothlorien unscathed so they can send aid to us.'
Merry smiled gently at the man's words, it made him feel more assured, 'Do you think they will wake up soon?'
Aragorn turned to the others, 'Yes I should hope so, they fell unconscious the same time as us, they should awake soon.'
'I am awake already.'
Merry and Aragorn turned to the deep voice that echoed through the cell.
'Gimli?' Aragorn asked hesitantly.
'Aye, I am awake. I just thought resting would get rid of this nausea.'
'We are all suffering from it Gimli' added Merry, 'It will pass.'
'Well good, I do not like this situation' Gimli responded, sitting up and scooting his way over to the other two.
'Ah I see you two are also chained.'
'Yes Gimli, I think we all are. Whoever put us in here clearly does not want us to escape.'
'Aye Aragorn, the question is, who has imprisoned us?'
'I do not know Gimli; for when they attacked us, they did not reveal their faces nor speak clearly.'
'Who was the last of us to fall do you think?' asked Merry.
'Legolas and I were the last two fighting, I was hit with their darts and fell unconscious very quickly, so I know for certain Legolas was left alone to fight, however I do not know for how long. Perhaps he spoke with them.'
'Aragorn, you know I rarely like to speak highly of elves, but even I know that one dart would not have affected the elf. We should check to see if he is injured.'
'Yes, you are right Gimli, it is most likely he was struck unconscious rather than what we all experienced.'
Aragorn shuffled himself to the side of the elf and with his bound hands, carefully started examining the elf for any injuries. Merry began doing the same with Pippin.
'He appears to have been struck on his head. It is hard to see in this light, but I can feel bruising. I think he will be ok though, just sore when he wakes.'
'Owwwww!'
Gimli and Aragorn turned to Merry who looked rather startled.
'Pippin?' Merry asked with a shocked expression
'Yes, who else is it going to be? I was sleeping and your fingers kept jabbing into my ribs.'
'Oh Pippin, I'm glad you are ok!' Merry reached down and hugged his cousin.
'Aragorn do you think we should rouse the other two?' Gimli questioned curiously.
'I do not know my friend. I feel like we should, so we can all determine together what our situation is. But if they both are still unconscious then perhaps they should rest.' Aragorn pondered his decision for a moment, 'My heart is telling them to rest, but the gut feeling says otherwise.'
'Very well, I will tend to the elf, you see if Boromir is responsive.'
Gimli placed himself by the elf's side and gently moved him, 'Wake up'. There was no answer so he shook him again. Still no response. Gimli abruptly slapped Legolas' cheek, 'Wake up you pointy eared elf!'' However it proved useless, Legolas was not ready to wake.
'He is not awakening Aragorn.'
Aragorn nodded, ''He is in elven healing.''
'Elven healing?' replied Pippin almost sarcastically as he sat up next to his cousin.
'Shhhhh Pippin, not so loud, we do not want them to know we are awake.'' Aragorn turned to the dwarf. ''Gimli, if Legolas is not rousing leave him. I think Boromir is coming round.''
Boromir's eyes steadily opened and looked rather shocked to see Aragorn, Gimli, Merry and Pippin staring down at him.
'Is this a dream?' Boromir asked with a deep frown on his face as he began to succumb to the throbbing headache and nausea.
Aragorn smiled, 'Nay my friend I wish it were, how are you feeling?'
'Like death, why is it so dark? Where are we?'
'We do not know. All we know is that we were attacked and now we are all here in this cell.' answered Gimli.
'So, I am lying here bound and wearing nothing more than my undergarments. This is truly folly.'
'Undergarments?' Merry said abruptly.
Aragorn, Gimli, Merry and Pippin quickly realised that they had indeed been stripped of their armour and weapons, and were clad in only their tunics and trousers.
'I'm scared.'
'Do not fear Pippin, everything will be alright.' Aragorn said reassuringly.
Boromir sat up slowly and sat against the back wall beside the still, unconscious elf, 'What of Frodo and Sam?'
'They got away.' Replied Merry quickly
Boromir nodded, 'Good, perhaps they will find aid. And what of Legolas? Why has he not woken up?'
'Legolas is unconscious due to a heavy blow to the head, not through poison. He should wake later on, once his body has healed.'
Boromir took in Aragorn's words and nodded again, 'Very well. I guess all we can do is wait.'
