Out of Mirkwood

Scribbles-on-Parchment

August 29, 2020

Chapter 56 – A Brother's Love

Legolas had sworn that he would not allow himself to sleep, yet as darkness settled over the Noldor camp he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. Even now as he lay on a small cot that had been set up next to Elladan and Estel's, the seductive call of sleep was growing stronger by the second. Across the tent from him, the young prince could see the silhouettes of Glorfindel and Elladan who stood by the door guarding against any more attacks. The two ellyn appeared to be in deep conversation but Legolas did not care to try and listen in. Beside him Estel lay still and silent on his own bed, the absence of the human's loud snores testifying to the fact that the man was still awake.

But despite all of this Legolas was having a harder and harder time focusing on anything and his thoughts were scattered and drifting off. He heard Estel roll over loudly on his cot, but his mind was too tired to care. The events of the past two days were finally catching up with him and Legolas knew that it would not be long before he was plunged into the world of dreams. A minute later and the prince's body relaxed completely as his azure eyes glazed over in elven sleep.

Legolas opened his eyes and found himself lying under the bows of a great tree. He frowned deeply as he recognized the whitebark and large branches. He had climbed this tree many times as a young elf for this was the tree his naneth was buried under.

After several minutes of just laying there and staring up at the waving branches and leaves, Legolas shifted uncomfortably. There was something sticking him in the back. The ellon sighed and rolled over onto his knees so he could find what he had been laying on. It was a small smooth stone.

The young elf picked it up and ran his hand over the polished surface of the rock as a frown once again began to form on his face. It was tradition for the Sindar to place a single polished stone at the place where a loved one had been buried and he remembered doing this for his naneth so many years ago, yet this stone was different. It had only been set here for but a couple of days and was still clean and free from dust and grime. Someone had been buried here recently.

This thought sent a shiver of dread down the elfling's neck. Was this a vision or a dream of what was happening back in the Greenwood? Had his adar or brother been killed in his absence?

Legolas set the stone back where he had found it before getting to his feet and looking around. The dream world he had entered was gloomy as if great storm clouds loomed overhead and made all of the trees that surrounded him look dull as if all of the colors were being sucked out of them.

The prince began to walk through the forest he had woken up in. It reminded him of the Greenwood, yet it was different somehow. Behind him the white oak stood tall in a small clearing like a beacon and Legolas was tempted to come back to it, but he forced himself to continue on because for some reason he felt as if he needed to search for someone.

After several minutes of winding through the twisted trees, the Sinda suddenly found himself at the edge of the forest as the trees abruptly came to an end. In front of him now lay a large open plain but this was not what he noticed first. What he noticed first was some kind of large silver and white wall that towered over him and seemed to waver with every breath of wind. Behind its almost transparent stones, he could see a great darkness that seemed to stretch out for miles in all directions. Everything behind the barrier seemed black and felt almost evil.

Then it hit him; this was his adar's barrier. This was what his adar had created to protect his kingdom and had poured so much of his power into.

Legolas's eyes widened in surprise and he slowly walked forward until he could touch the quivering wall. To his astonishment, as his fingers came into contact with it, a great jolt ran through the entirety of the barrier and it immediately began to glow white. Cracks that Legolas had not noticed until now started to vanish and the ellon realized it was using his elven magic to repair itself. But how had such a great structure come into such disrepair? Surely his adar would have noticed and come to fix it by now.

But not if his adar was dead. Was that what the purpose of this dream was for? To reveal to him that the king had died in his absence and the Greenwood was failing?

Dread at his thought began to settle in his mind and Legolas quickly jerked his hand away from the wall suddenly afraid of the great structure.

Turning away from the barrier Legolas turned to head back towards his white oak, the only place that seemed safe now, yet he spotted something that made him stop in his tracks. A figure lay at the base of the wall several paces away, pale blond hair made dull by the grey air around them. It was Kélion. He would recognize those locks anywhere.

The crown prince lay pale and lifeless by the barrier and as Legolas ran to him, the elfling off-handedly noticed a large blackened portion of the wall. It seemed to be on the brink of crumbling for large cracks and through it allowing dark mist to seep in. However, the young elf was too worried about his brother to care.

"Kélion? Toron?"

He gently rolled the ellon onto his back desperately hoping to hear a response, but none came. Legolas shook the Sinda frantically before reaching for the prince's neck to check his pulse. His hand halted in mid-air as he saw the blackened hand marks imprinted into the pale flesh of Kélion's neck. His brother had been strangled. Worry flooding his heart. The elfling felt the bruised neck in search of even the slightest pulse.

"No!"

Legolas collapsed onto the ellon's chest as he felt no heartbeat beneath the bruised skin. Kélion was dead.

At once the entire world seemed to crumble around him as he struggled to understand what was happening. He let out a dry sob into his brother's tunic. This was not fair, Kélion was supposed to be king. He was supposed to live. Even though part of him still recognized this was a dream and it was not happening in real life, the young prince could not stop the overwhelming emotions that flooded him and tore at his very súlë.

Legolas pushed himself upright and gently moved so he could cradle the body of the eldar in his arms. As the crown prince's head rolled lifelessly to the side the black marks stood out more than ever creating a different, but equally, powerful emotion to rush through him: anger. Someone had murdered his older brother and left him here.

The elfling tightened his hold on Kélion as his body began to quake with the emotions building up inside of him. He should have been the one who had died. A silver tear slipped down his cheek and fell onto the still face of the older ellon; many more soon followed.

Another moment passed and all that could be heard were the heavy sobs of the Greenwood's youngest prince as he mourned the loss of his brother. But as Legolas poured all of his anger and grief out into his tears the elfling's body began to glow in a bright silver light that enveloped both the ellyn. It seemed to pulse and grow causing the air around them both to almost sing with magic that Legolas did not know he was creating. He was too entrenched in his own grief.

After what felt like hours the Sinda's sobs slowly faded leaving him feeling exhausted and utterly hopeless. He raised his hand to wipe away the tears that still clung to his cheeks. He needed to think of what to do next and how to get out of this nightmare of a dream. Legolas looked down at the pale body he held and placed a hand gently on his brother's chest. He gasped as he felt a great jolt travel through him. It felt as though a great amount of power had just been removed from his body. But he did not have long to dwell on this because to his utter shock he felt Kélion's chest move as the elf drew in a large breath. The elfling drew his hand back quickly and the feeling of power leaving him immediately vanished.

"Toron? Can you hear me?"

Had he just imagined his brother take a breath? But a second later Legolas was rewarded with a soft groan from the crown prince.

"Kélion! Wake up!"

He placed his hands on the ellon's chest again and felt another great rush of power leave him, but he did care. He just stared at his brother's face as he felt the elf's heart begin to beat again under his hand. It was not long after that the dark lashes fluttered open to reveal sky blue eyes causing the elfling to let out a sob of relief.

"Legolas? Is that you?"

"Yes! It is I. I am here toron nín, do not fear. I will make you well," Legolas bit his lip and forced his inner light to flare sending another wave of energy into the crown prince.

"How…" Kélion blinked wearily, "How are you here? Am I dead too?"

Legolas's concentration faltered and his light dimmed.

"Dead? You are not dead. You are breathing again."

"How?"

"I don't know," the young prince furrowed his brow for he truly had no idea what he was doing, "I think I am giving you my inner light and it is healing you."

Kélion said nothing as he felt a rush of energy enter his limbs creating an odd tingling feeling. He remained silent for several moments as the numbness left his body and after several minutes, he felt his full-strength return. The prince sighed softly in relief. The last thing he remembered was a dark figure standing before him and choking him causing a bitter chill taking hold of his body as he tried to breathe.

"I am so glad you are here," the ellon moved his hand and placed it over his brother's, "I have missed you so and even if this is only a dream and you will be gone when I wake I am still grateful I have gotten to see you. It is as if Mandos knew I needed to see you one last time, if only in my dreams."

His younger brother's gold-flecked eyes blinked at him in confusion.

"But I am not going anywhere," Legolas's brow furrowed, "I was not sent here by Mandos."

"Everyone must awake from dreams at some point toron," Kélion smiled sorrowfully, "All things must come to an end even if we do not want them to. But do not be sad for I am sure naneth is pleased to have you with her."

"Naneth?" Legolas drew his hand back sharply, "Naneth is dead."

"I know," the Sinda could feel the dream world starting to dim around him, "And one day soon I think adar and I shall come and join you."

"You don't understand. I am trying to get back to you. I am not dead," Legolas's voice was fading and Kélion knew his time was running low.

"Hush toron. Just know that I love you always and that I will never stop no matter how many long years I have to endure on arda before I see you again."

With those last words, the figure of his youngest brother faded into blackness as did everything around him.

Kélion jolted awake with a gasp. The first thing he noticed was how wet his face felt. He lifted his hand up and felt some kind of water on his face. He brought his hand back and noticed the silver tint of the moist liquid that clung to his fingertips. Tears.

What in Eru's name? Had he been crying? The prince groaned. And why was he on the floor? Had he fallen or been knocked out or… the barrier!

The Sinda scrambled to his feet, his body seeming to buzz with energy. And Legolas! His brother had been there with him and had saved him from… the traitor.

The prince stumbled forward as his legs remembered their own strength. He had to get to his adar and tell him of the danger. There was evil in the Greenwood still and it was taking down the barrier from the inside.

As Kélion yanked open the door he noted the pale morning light that filtered softly through the small window. Had he really been unconscious all night? He shook his head as he stepped out into the hallway. However, he had barely gotten two steps away from the door when he almost ran into Meldir as the eldar came running around the bend in the passageway. The ellon was wearing his green and brown uniform and looked worried.

"Meldir?"

The Silvan gasped as he noticed who he had almost run into.

"Kélion! Where in arda have you been? We have been searching for you for hours. Thank Eru you are alright!"

"Wait mellon nín. I must speak with you about something. It is critical. There is a…"

But the other ellon cut him off,

"You must tell me of this later for we need to get you ready."

"For what?"

"To fight. The yrch have broken past the barrier."

Elvish Translations:

naneth - mother

adar – father

toron – brother

toron nín – my brother

penneth – young one

súlë – spirit

mellon nín – my friend

yrch - orcs