A/N Man, I can't think today. I was making several numbered lists and I swear I forget how to count to 20 more than once... :) Therefore any mistakes that are made can be blamed upon my brain... (Good thing I am only editing today and din't actually write it out.)
By the way, you guys are the best! You go above and beyond every week!
Disclaimer: not mine.
Chapter Six
The moonlight filtered in through the branches of the tall, beautiful trees that had yet to be corrupted by the evil that had consumed so much of their forest. The branches cast their dancing shadows across the earth and these momentarily hid the dark shape that was clumsily and painstakingly slowly making its way through the trees. The figured tripped and landed on his knees, throwing his form clearly into moonlight.
Cursing softly, Aragorn staggered back up onto his feet. His hands were bond tightly behind his back, but the real hindrance was a long, black, blind fold which had been tied around his eyes, making him as good as blind. Muttering another curse to himself, the man edged forward, waiting anxiously to see if his toes would come into contact with anything before sliding his feet forward.
The orcs had blind-folded and tied him up, before leaving him in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the assurance that if he kept walking forward, he would eventually end up by Thranduil's palace. Aragorn had his doubts.
This is not the way I imagined dying. The man reflected darkly. Blind folded and wondering through the forest. A spider's present. Or for all I know, I could be about to step of a cliff.
That thought scared him and he barely shuffled forward, ready to jump back if his toes suddenly didn't have any firm ground to stand on. They remained on solid footing, and Aragorn let out a relieved sigh. He took another larger step forward and felt his right foot connect solidly with the base of a tree.
Gritting his teeth at the new pain, Aragorn began to cruse the orcs under his breath. He hated them more than ever at this point. Why coudln't this be Legolas in his stead? If only he and Legolas could have switched places...He would have much perfered that, for he did not want Legolas alone in that dark, evil, infested place with only orcs around.
Feeling around the tree with his toes, Aragorn froze, sensing more than hearing something else besides him out there.
Please, please let it not be spiders…
The sharp hiss of an arrow though the air sounded and Aragorn dropped to the ground, curling into a ball in a desperate attempt to make himself less of a target. Who was he kidding, though? He was a sitting duck, a duck already tussled and blindfolded.
A spry of dirt hit his face and Aragorn cringed, rapidly offering a pray for his life up to the Valar.
"What is your business?!" A voice called out and Aragorn started. Relief shot through his system so quickly that he felt dizzy. Elves, it was elves.
"I am Aragorn son of Arathorn. I am a friend to your prince and known in the palace," he called out clearly as he slowly uncurled form his fetal position. "I need to speak to your king immediately, it involves his son."
The elves didn't answer him, and Aragorn held his breath, suddenly afraid that the elves would just leave him here to die. He strained his ears, hoping desperately for something that would indicate that he wasn't alone.
He sensed the elves moments before he felt the cool fingers tugging at the hemp binding his hands.
"Hold still, Arathornion," a new voice said lightly and as the rope was worked off. Feeling flooded into his numb fingers, and the human began to flex his digits.
"Hannon le," Aragorn breathed out. As soon as his fingers had stopped tingling, he reached up and fumbled with the knot on the blindfold. "Hannon le," he repeated, shaking his hair out of his yes and blinking up at the dark haired elf leaning over him. Another elf stood behind him. Both were dressed for war with bows slung over their shoulders and swords at their sides.
"Are you hurt?" the elf asked.
"No, I am fine." The human scrambled to his feet, brushing dirt off of him. "But I must see King Thranduil right now; will you take me to him?" The elf rose to his feet, casting the rope aside, and gave Aragorn a long, searching, look.
"Why do you need to see the King? Why were you tied and blind-folded?" he asked coolly, stepping in front of the human to block his path. Aragorn sighed impatiently but answered diplomatically, understanding the elf's concern.
"I was captured by orcs, as was Prince Legolas. The orcs let me go to bear a message to Thranduil." The elf was silent for a second, but his eyes widden dramtically. Turning to the other elf, they began to whisper in rapid fire elvish. Aragorn sighed at the delay, but from what they said, he realized that Thranduil started gathering elves when his son had not come back. The elves turned back to him, and Aragorn straighted.
"Follow me, son of Arathorn, and I will take you to the king."
AMESSENGERTOTHEKING
King Thranduil carefully set down the glass of wine he had been holding with a masked expression on his face. He turned to the haggard human behind him and clasped his hands behind his back.
"My son is still in their grasp," the elf whispered so softly that Aragorn had to lean forward to hear him. The human noted that it was a statement rather than a question and resisted the urge to sink lower in his chair.
"Yes, my lord," he answered, bowing his head in shame. He wanted to say more, to shout at the king that he was sorry about Legolas, that he would much rather be in the prince's shoes and have his friend relaying everything to Thranduil instead.
"Tell me the message once more," Thranduil requested, beginning to pace the stretch of stone in the front of the room. His face was hard and Aragorn could sense the storm that was about to break. Closing his eyes, he he again summarized the full message that had been given to him right before they had sent him off blind-folded into the unknown.
"The elves are becoming a nuisance to the orcs. To clear up this problem, the orcs have decided to make an example out of Legolas, though they don't do not know of his status," Aragorn added, "They invite the king of the elves to witness," his voice faltered and he grimaced a little as his face fell. He continued in a softer tone, "-to witness the execution of Legolas. They plan to perform this at Dol Guldur's doorstep at the full moon, or three days time. You are allowed to bring three guards with you, but if any other elves are spotted, then Legolas will be held captive and tortured until he begs for death. Otherwise, they promise they will let you walk away unharmed."
Thranduil scoffed loudly, his face contorting into a seething mass of emotions, before he gained control again. "The day they let an elf walk away unharmed will be the day that stone walks," he said in a pained voice. Aragorn bowed his head further, surprised to hear such raw emotion in the king.
There was a long stretch of awkward silence as Thranduil paced and Aragorn fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat, but the king broke the silence with a command.
"Go see a healer and then get some rest." He pointed at the door and Aragorn followed the ordered, realizing it as a clear dismissal. He paused at the doorway; much like Legolas had only a few days before, and turned back.
"I'm not going to let Legolas die. I'm going to go back for him," he said, eyes flashing. Thranduil looked over at him with alarm and strode forward, grabbing the human none too gently by the arm.
"You must wait for the help of the elves!" he demeaned sharply, shaking the human lightly. "Do honestly think that I would just let Legolas die? But we must wait, just rushing in will do more harm than good."
Aragorn shook his head, gently freeing his arm from the king's strong grip, "Forgive me, my lord, I did not express myself well. I merely meant that I want to be part of the rescue effort," he clarified. Thranduil took a step back and nodded.
"It will be as you wish," he said in parting, turning back once more, and Aragorn left in pursuit of a warm bed in which to lay his aching and dead-tired body. He had to be rested if he hoped to help at all with whatever plan the elves came up with.
Still, as he lay staring up at the ceiling sometime later, Aragorn could not help but think of Legolas, who had sacrificed his health and so much more for the over, Aragorn thumped his pillow angrily, trying to push back the frustration and anger that was building up in him.
It was a long while before the man managed to drift off to sleep, his thoughts continually straying to Legolas, who was more than likely spending the night on the cold, hard ground at the mercy of the orcs. Thranduil did not sleep at all that night, but paced the length of the throne room, his mind ever on his son and how to get him out of the orcs grasp.
AMESSENGERTOTHEKING
While Aragorn slept and Thranduil paced, Legolas lay curled up on his side, huddled up against the tree stump for protection. A leering orc stood guard over him, though for the most part they simply ignored each other. Legolas didn't even notice the lack of attention.
The orcs had had their fun with him once again, and his body had fared the worst for it. One of his eyes was swollen shut and a dark, reddish purple bruise had crept across the left half of his face and his hair was stained crimson from a gash at his enflamed cuts from the day before had been reopened and his blood dotted the dirt. His wrist were swollen exceedingly and bloodied from his attempts to free himself from the rope and the filthy gag that was still shoved in his mouth caused his breathing to be heavy as he tried to get enough air in through his nose which looked to be broken.
The elf hardly noticed the fiery agony anymore. His mind was numb, the shock and horror of what had happened seeming unreal. A faint trail of tears marked his grimy face, but he didn't have any more to shed even if he wanted too as his unseeing eyes stared blankly at something in the far distance.
It was a headless body, strung between two dead trees that bordered the land.
The body was partial hidden by the trees and it was hard to discern much besides the fact that it had lost its head, but Legolas didn't need to look to know who it was. The orcs had told him in graphic detail how they killed Aragorn because the elf had refused to corporate. They had jeered the words at him over and over again, searing the horrific image of the man's final moments in the elf's brain. The dark creatures had even been kind enough to bring the elf the man's maroon tunic that was soaked in his blood. The elf now it clutched to his heart with stiff, swollen fingers as if he would hold tight enough Aragorn would come back.
"Orc lie!" A small part of Legolas had screamed all day, but as the minutes stretched into hours with no sign of the man, he had finally accepted what he thought was the truth. Aragorn had been sacrificed just like his faithful warriors.
That was when he had given up, not that he had that much hope to go on before.
The massacre of his friends and warriors, the long, never ending battle that he led had taken its toll on his hope. The last five years had been hard for the elves, especially on the prince even if he had hidden it well. All his decisions seemed to end in death and ruin, and each event had slowly sucked away at his endurance and strength. His prolonged stay in the very midst of evil had not helped matters at all. The loss of twenty warriors under his charge had pushed him to edge of the abyss, but Aragorn's death threw him brutally over it and into darkness.
When morning came several long hours later, Legolas hadn't slept. He hadn't moved at all, he hadn't even closed his glassy eyes.
Uglk noticed all this as he watched the elf with dissatisfaction from the shadows. When he had faked the human's death, he hadn't expected anything like this. The anger, yes, the tears for the fallen comrade, yes, even denial. But the elf's disconnection from the world around him was unsettling, and the way his eyes had lost their terrible light wasn't helping any. If it was any other elf, he would be laughing with his underlings about it, but this elf was different.
He needed this elf alive to make a statement to the other elves. It wouldn't do at all to have it die before he was ready for that to happen.
Marching out of the shadow, the orc snapped at a younger orc furiously and it scurried away.
"ELF!" he shouted, striding to stand next to the miserable being. "ELF!" it yelled again when Legolas didn't show a reaction. It hunched down, slapping the elf sharply across the face with the back of his gloved hand. The elf didn't even blink an eye, lost in his own thoughts, despite the fact that skin had been broken. The orc curled its upper lip, showing its yellow, pointed teeth. "Get up, elf!" it snarled, striking out again with the same results. Hissing with frustration, with the orc reached out and roughly tore the red material which the elf was clutching to his chest away.
That got him a reaction.
Legolas violently jerked, his fingers tightening desperately around the cloth. A muffled sound escaped his gag and the orc laughed. It yanked hard, and the material slipped through the prince's grasping fingers, causing another strangled cry of despair.
"Throw it in the fire," the orc ordered disdainfully, shaking the cloth tauntingly in front of the elf's eyes before tossing it towards a nearby orc.
The elf shook his head aggressively, his eyes pleading. He scrambled to his knees and clasped to the side, his abused body protesting the movement. The orc smiled slowly, enjoying the sight of the elf so distraught. At least it meant that it wasn't dead. "Hold!" he called, holding up a fist. The orc holding the cloth paused, and Legolas sank a little lower against the ground, relief creeping into his eyes. "Good to know your still alive, elf." Uglk growled, before snapping its fingers. The orc dropped the cloth into the small fire, and the material went up in a blaze of smoke.
The elf's eyes shone in horror, and then he slumped to the ground, defeated.
Forgive me, Aragorn, he thought, his eyes flicking back to the distant body. His heart crumbled away a little more, and he closed his eyes. He would never forgive himself, never. It only he had managed to convince the orcs to take him and kill him instead… He deserved death, Aragorn hadn't. His warriors hadn't…
A harsh slap brought the prince's condemning thoughts back to the present, and he turned his head back to stare at the orc.
Why don't you just kill me now? He thought bitterly, but something in his eyes made the orc grin, before turning away. Legolas curled up into a ball as much as was possible to avoid looking at the orcs or the body and bowed his head. He had failed. Failed Aragorn, failed his father, and failed his people.
Uglk meanwhile began to converse with his new second in command (he had killed the other one yesterday for propose that it was unnaturally tall and about the same height as the human).
"See if you can get more of a reaction out of it. Don't kill him, though, we still need him," he ordered, before stalking away to finish making preparations for the big day. His underlings would keep the elf with them for a little longer, and who knew, maybe his despair would convince the other elves that it really was usless to fight agianst evil.
The execution of the elf would cheer him greatly as well as stand as a lesson to those elves.
Little did the orc know that a large gathering of elves had left the Mirkwood palace early that morning. Little did he know that he had captured a beloved prince and that there were many who were willing to risk their own lives to see him live and lead them once more. Little did he know that a very angry and worried father and friend where leading they group. And they had a plan.
TBC...
Hey! At least I didn't end in a huge cliffe!
Review Replies:
Anoriel: Haha, yes, Legolas, you are fooling noone. :) I don't think those two are ever going to stop getting into trouble...poor Thranduil and Elrond. We ccan all cross our fingers that it will. Thanks!
Guest(2): Aw, thanks! I am glad you are enjoying it! :)
Guest(1): Bwahah, because I am evil! Yea...I love my cliffies quite a bit! It is my guilty pleasure. Oh, I am a Legolas fangirl through and through, he was one of the first for me. Thanks!
Nameless: Haha! Yea, do you forget about how much I love cliffies? :) It hasn't changed, by the way, I still use them more than I should. Well, at least Thranduil and Aragorn have a plan, that makes things better, right? Thanks!