Summary: Legolas and Aragorn ride ahead to Mirkwood to celebrate an
occasion but never make it.
Disclaimer: I don't own them for their own good.
A/N: Written for a challenge issued on Mellon Chronicles. They would probably be dead by now, if this wasn't AU.
Chapter 5 ( As You Wish)
Legolas waited all night long, waited for dawn so that Aragorn would be released. He had a sickening delight when the human was shoved into the tent, landing on top of him almost. "Estel, can you hear me?" he said to the semiconscious mortal.
Aragorn turned fevered eyes on his friend. "I am well enough Legolas," he said
"You are not well, Estel. Even a madman could see this." Legolas stuck his head out of the tent flap and shouted to Bortian, or anyone else who would listen. "We need bandages and fresh water, or your playtime will be over very shortly!"
Legolas was promptly pushed back into the tent, putting his hands down to catch himself. The pain was almost unbearable, and he rolled onto his side, clenching his teeth. Minutes later the tent flap opened again and one of the men threw in a waterskin and a few bandages to them. "Wrap your wounds well, elf, for later you will be too busy to do so."
Legolas went to work wrapping Estel's hand, his stomach doing flips at how horrid the wound was. In return Estel took Legolas' hand and did the same, and then both took a welcomed sip of the water. "I do hope your father gets worried enough to come and search for us," Legolas said.
Aragorn sat up, cradling his hand to him. "If I am correct, my father will be out searching for us right now. He seems to know when I am in trouble somehow."
Legolas sighed in relief. "How will I ever shoot a bow again with this? What kind of elf will I be if I can't shoot a bow."
Aragorn knew Legolas was starting to despair. "Do not worry, Legolas. My father will fix your hand, and you will be outshooting the twins in no time at all."
Legolas stared down at his hand. "I hope you are right, Estel."
Before they could dwell on it any longer, the tent flap opened and they were told to come. Both of them got to their feet shakily and walked out into the blazing hot sun.
"Today you will see what real work is all about. You both have led charmed lives in the luxury of your elven realms, but that charmed life is now over. Today you will work as real men do, in the heat of the sun."
Legolas and Aragorn soon learned that what the leader had meant was that they would be slaves, basically, to the whims of the other men. They had to fetch water, and yet were given none to drink; they were to collect the firewood for later, and yet knew they would not share in its warmth; they were to even bathe the horses, knowing they could not use them to escape their dreaded fate, it seemed. The last straw came when they were told to clean the deer one of the men had shot, and yet they knew they would receive no food that day.
"The sun has been brutal, and my friend has a fever. Is it your goal to kill us both, for if so I prefer to die now," Legolas spat.
The leader was on his feet in a flash, grabbing Legolas by his hair. "You will do what I say, when I say. My end goal is to see you die, but not before I have broken that royal streak that you so desperately cling to. Your father will come, that I am sure, as will his, and then I will kill you, and not before."
Legolas stood his ground, glaring at the leader, and for his impudence, he was slapped across the face. "Get them back to their tent, no food for them tonight."
While Legolas and Aragorn sat in the tent, around them the men feasted on venison, and the leader spoke of his plans with his men.
In Mirkwood ...
Many days had passed, and with each one Thranduil grew a bit more worried. Usually Legolas was reluctant to leave Imladris and the family of Lord Elrond, but something else Thranduil knew was causing his son's late arrival.
Legolas was supposed to be back yesterday, and yet the sun was setting again, and still no sign of him yet. Thranduil paced the floor in his study, debating on whether he should ride out to find his wayward son, who more than likely was just dallying along the way.
As he paced, the door was flung open and a messenger came in. "Sire, this hawk just arrived with a message attached to it for you."
Thranduil quickly grabbed the note from the messenger and read it. The note was from Elladan, of all people, and read,
"King Thranduil, my father seems to think that Estel and Legolas have come into some trouble on the way to Mirkwood. Ada is acting very strangely as of late. We are headed to you, but I wanted you to be aware of this."
Elladan
Thranduil leaned out of his door and shouted. "Ready my horse, for I am going to look for my son!"
People about the palace ran to do as he asked, and Thranduil went to his room. He gathered up a few items of clothing, and then he walked over to the shelf above his dresser. There laying on it was his sword, gleaming as if it had been cleaned just that day. Thranduil grabbed it, placing it in the sheath at his side and took off out the door.
"Ada, I really must protest," Elrohir called to him. "The horses are tiring. My horse will surely die if we keep this pace up much longer."
Elrond turned his eyes to meet those of his sons. "We are close now. We cannot stop just yet. If your horse falters, ride with your brother. Its death will be regrettable, but your brother's life means more right now."
Elladan was truly tired of the cryptic messages his father had given them. "Ada, tell us now what is going on! I refuse to believe that it is nothing more than Estel and Legolas are in our need."
Elrond halted his horse, and it began to graze while he spoke. "Your brother and Legolas are now near death, their bodies covered in gashes and wounds. If we do not reach them soon, they will both perish. This is what I have foreseen, this is why I rush you so, and if the horse dies, so be it, but I cannot wait while it rests!"
The twins then grew very somber. "We did not know Ada. We thought it was merely something else. Forgive us."
"There is nothing to forgive. I should have told you from the beginning. Come, we are close to them I can feel it."
Back at the camp ...
Aragorn's head lolled to the side as he slept. The sun beating down on the tent had been too much, and he had succumbed to the heat and fell into a fitful sleep. Legolas had stayed awake until, at last, his own eyes had glazed over, and he joined his friend. Both of them were jolted awake by the boot that kicked them.
"Wake, both of you!"
Legolas was the first to open his eyes, blinking several times to clear his vision. "How long did we sleep?" he asked not fully aware yet of where he was.
The leader hunched down, his foul smelling breath just inches from Legolas. "You have been asleep for three days. My men and I thought you had died, but alas, that was not your fate. Gather your friend quickly elf and get outside!"
Legolas gently shook Aragorn until the man opened his own eyes. "Legolas? I was having a dream, a dream about home and my nice soft bed."
"Estel, come quickly before they return. We have been instructed to go outside. I am too weary to fight what they want anymore."
Aragorn seemed to understand, and both resolved that if they were to die today, they would not go from this world begging for their lives. When they opened the tent flap, the men stood waiting for them.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. My men and I have things we need to do to prepare for your families' arrival. We do not have time to bother with either of you and prefer to have you where we can see you at all times. We have such devised a place that you shall remain until at last we see your fathers."
Both Aragorn and Legolas shuddered, wondering what fate was to come to them, but they did not wonder long. The men parted the circle that they had made, and both noticed the spikes in the ground.
It was Legolas first who was led to the spikes and his hands and feet were bound, stretching him out on the hot, dusty ground. Aragorn was next, wincing in pain as his hands were roughly pulled together, before he too was bound to the spikes beside Legolas."
The men seemed satisfied and returned to what they were doing, sharpening blades, and fletching arrows. "Legolas, the dirt clings to my back and seeps into my cuts," Aragorn whispered.
"My hands and cuts are also riddled with dirt, and the noonday sun is unforgiving at best. Try to not think about it, Estel. Place your mind somewhere else, somewhere that you enjoy, the river perhaps where we played."
Aragorn let his mind wander until he could pictured the river Legolas spoke of. They had often played there when he was a child, coming in dripping on the palace floor, much to his father's fury. He spent the next few hours drifting in and out of consciousness, only fully aware when he tried to move, and his bonds pulled at his wounds.
Legolas could not think of a safe place in his mind. His hand ached against the rough material they were bound with. His back and thigh screamed to be free of the dirt that was now mingled with the dried blood, and his lips were parched from the sun to the point they had begun to crack and bleed. This was not how he was supposed to die, not like this, tied to the ground, his body covered in gashes and scars. He was supposed to die fighting like a warrior.
Legolas stared over at Aragorn who flinched each time a passing ant found one of his wounds. Several times the men would come over and toss water on their heads, and Legolas felt shamed that he was happy about it. Those were the times he would try to catch the water in his mouth, swallowing down the precious drops, and he spoke to Aragorn, telling him to do the same.
The sun grew hotter and the sweat began to trickle down his face. Aragorn could not move more than a couple of inches either way. The injuries from the dogs had reopened when one of the men had come by and kicked him. His back seared with pain, as the dirt clung to the gashes in his back. He couldn't take it any longer and screamed out in frustration.
"Kill me now! I will not die like this, like an animal. If you are true men, you would have killed us."
The leader walked over, kneeling down to Aragorn. "You have such strong words for a man who is bound. Tell me, is this truly your wish? Do you truly wish to die, rather than see your family before I kill you?"
Aragorn licked his parched lips, "My family should not have to see me suffer such as this. I would rather they found me dead than crippled from your cruelty."
"As you wish, son of Elrond." the leader said, but then he stood up from Aragorn and walked over to Legolas. "Your friend wishes death, so I shall give him yours, but do not fear, you too shall hear his last screams before I claim your life. Take the time now, elf, and say your goodbyes."
Legolas' eyes grew huge with fear he could not mask. What more could they possibly do to them that had not already been done? Where was his father? Estel's father? This was not right to die alone in the woods without his family. The leader returned and pulled Aragorn's belt from behind his back.
The first lash brought screams as the belt made contact with Legolas' chest. Aragorn screamed, even begged for them to stop, as he watched Legolas writhe around on the ground, trying to get free, and yet not able. Over and over the leader brought the belt down on Legolas, his chest, his legs, nothing spared but his face, which was covered in tear tracks as he begged for them to stop.
Aragorn watched as welts surfaced on his friend, and wished Mandos would claim him now. He tried to turn his head away, but one of the men held his face firmly in place so that he had to watch. The screams continued, the tears continued until at last the leader stopped. Legolas' body was welt upon welt, and tears flowed from his eyes, but no more words escaped his lips.
"I believe that your wish has been granted. It should not be long before his death, either by despair, or the extent of his injuries."
"That is not what I said, and you know it! I did not wish for Legolas to suffer, I asked for my own death, not his!"
Again the leader smiled and said, "As you wish."
Aragorn knew what was coming but it did not lessen the blow. He felt violated, his clothes nothing more than shreds. The lashes rained down and he heard himself scream with each one, but his mind was slipping into a safe place, a place where there was no pain. The strikes of the belt grew faster in the leader's hand, and Aragorn began to cry. He would never see his Ada again, his brothers. He felt his legs stinging with pain, and the slow drop of blood from the belt. Was it his blood, or that of Legolas'?
The belt stopped after a few minutes more but Aragorn's body was numb now. He no longer felt anything, but the sun baking him. He licked his lips trying to gain some moisture in his mouth, but he could not. He turned his head to face the leader, and noticed the cruel smile upon it. "Your friend seems to be in a great deal of pain, and yet all he mutters is something about water. Come, see that I am not cruel, I will give him something to drink."
Aragorn turned his head to see several men walking towards Legolas, jugs in their hands. It was not water they carried, but instead alcohol. One man knelt down beside Legolas, filling his mouth with cool water from a waterskin. Legolas felt grateful for the merest of seconds, and then the others poured the alcohol onto him. His screams were deafening, and Aragorn felt himself grow nauseated.
He wanted to drown out the screams, but they kept coming, until at last they stopped all together. He turned his head again, and saw that Legolas' fate would soon be his. He would die screaming for his life. He recalled the alcohol being poured on him, his own screams, and then his mind grew fuzzy. He wished death would come swifter, as his body to him was already dead.
Legolas lay, his eyes closed, barely in consciousness. It was then he heard the leader speak to his men. "They are yours for the taking. Do what you will with them." He heard the men speak of vile things they wished to do, things that should not happen. He prayed for death, as he was sure Estel did. He rolled his head to the side, so that he may see his friend one last time before death would come, but instead saw several men, leering over him, their faces smiling in pleasure of what they were about to do.
Aragorn was not alone in his fate, as Legolas saw another group coming towards him. He could not be violated, not this way. He screamed, and then his mind went black, just as the first set of hands touched him. The last thing he knew were the sounds of horses coming from the distance.