Disclaimer: not mine, and never will be;)
Chapter Three: Lost and Found
Aragorn frowned, wondering where in Middle-earth the elf had got too! He had been standing there waiting for almost a half-an-hour, and he was starving. The man had thought that Legolas was going hunt, but maybe he was wrong. He shifted slightly; he had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right.
Aragorn's frown deepened as a soft sound caught his ears. Stepping outside the cave he cocked an ear, listening intently. There it came again! This time he was able make out the sound, it was the moan of a wounded person. Fear caused his heart to jump to his throat; the only other person out there was Legolas!
Charging farther into the woods, he began to softly call the prince's name. When no other sound was heard he called louder, his voice containing a certain amount of panic. He knew that something had been wrong, why hadn't he searched for the prince earlier!
15 minutes later, Aragorn rushed back to the cave. He could not find the elf and his mind was in a whirl. His heart begged him to go back out and find the elf, but he knew that he needed to go back and get some supplies. He had spotted his pack and sword rested against the cave entrance and would firstly need to get bandages and herbs and his sword for protection. There might still be orcs round about.
Reaching the cave, he barreled in, almost immediately slipping in a thick substance. Looking down, he gagged slightly before a full fledged panic took hold of his heart. It was blood, elven blood, Legolas blood! His eyes quickly found the prone elf, and he felt even sicker.
I didn't even look in the cave for him... Aragorn thought, panicky scrambling over to the elf. Legolas lay face down in a pool of his own blood, the little skin that Aragorn could say was white and translucent.
A loud groan left Legolas lips and Aragorn frowned, carefully pushing the blond hair away from the elf's face so he could get a good look at Legolas. At least he knew the prince was alive. He was surprised to find that the elf's eyelids were fluttering.
"Legolas..." he called gently.
"Mmm..." was the only reply he got, but the prince did shift his head, a small gasp of pain escaping him
"Where are you injured?" Aragorn asked, stroking the elf's cold cheek.
"Aragorn..." the elf groaned, his eyes flickering open.
"Tis I..." he whispered in a soothing tone. "Can I turn you over?"
Legolas mumbled something low and intelligible, Aragorn sighed, but took it for a yes and carefully took the elf by the shoulders and helped Legolas weakly roll over onto his back.
Aragorn immediately began an examination, quickly glancing at Legolas face, he disturbed by the pallor of it. Looking back down, he found the dead giveaway; a blood soaked bandage wrapped around the elf's waist. Reaching down, he unsheathed his boot knife and cut the ragged cloth away, growing worriedly when blood began t o flow heavier. Lifting Legolas's tunic and undershirt up, he instantly found the round hole in Legolas side, and he swore softly. The prince besides him reached up, gently touching on of the bruises which adorned the man's face, his eyes specking his concern.
Grabbing the cloak, Aragorn ripped several pieces off before folding it into a square and holding it against the wound. Legolas gasped and arched his back at the sudden pressure and pain, squeezing his eyes shut, his hand falling to his side.
"Shh...it'll pass," Aragorn soothed, running his free hand through the blond locks.
"You were...you…"Legolas mumbled, sounding lethargic.
"I, what?" Aragorn asked, if talking helped keep Legolas mind off the pain then they would talk. Concerned by the archer's mental state, he gazed deeply into the blue eyes.
"hurt..." the elf gasped.
"I know, I know, just keep talking." Legolas opened his eyes and glared slightly at the man,
"you!" Aragorn's eyes widened in realization.
"I am fine, worry about yourself" He replied gently, hoping to lessen the princes worry. Lifting the cloak slightly he winced as he saw that the bleeding had only slowed a little. Pressing down harder, he gently restrained the elf as Legolas cried out.
Legolas hand flew out and caught Aragorn's wrist, feebly attempting to remove the source of the pressure, which was causing immeasurable amounts of pain to his already pain filled body.
"Hey hey hey," the human said sharply, yet strangely gently, as he grabbed the wandering hand and held it tightly in his own. His heart clenched in fear as ice-cold fingers were pressed against his own warm ones. Legolas was probably deeply rooted in shock, which just made the situation turn from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.
"You were...unconsciousness," Legolas spat the last word out through the pain.
"Yes, but I am fine." Aragorn comforted, though he was secretly touched that, through all this agony, Legolas, had remembered that Aragorn had been hurt.
Once again slowly lifted the folded material, he found that the bleeding had finally slowed at least somewhat and Aragorn let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Here, keep the pleasure on it." he said quickly, moving Legolas hand down to his wounded side.
"Let me just stitch it..." Aragorn began rummaging through his pack, pulling out the herb bag. Sifting through the it, a dark feeling entered his heart. The orcs had gone through his pack scattering everything around, and though it looked like Legolas had gathered most of his herbs, his needles were nowhere! The ranger had found plenty of thread but without the needle they were useless.
On the bright side, however, he had herbs. Gathering the plants back up, Aragorn moved over to Legolas side. He gasped in surprise when he saw the prince attempting to push himself up, his already deathly pale face losing even more color.
"Legolas, What in Middle-earth are you doing?!" Aragorn gently took him by the shoulders and tried to push Legolas back to the ground, adding more pressure to the wound than Legolas had been doing.
"The orcs...the orcs." The prince muttered disoriented, obviously not very aware of what was going on. Aragorn hushed Legolas, telling him that the orcs were not going to find them, but still the elf fought him.
"Leave...cannot stay." Legolas whispered, weakly pushing against the ranger.
"Yes, we can." Aragorn said sharply, using his full weight to push Legolas back to the floor. "You are in no fit condition to leave." Resting back on the balls of his heels he watched as Legolas struggled to comprehend his words. Biting his lower lip in worry, Aragorn reached out his calloused hand and placed it against the elf's check. Legolas was ice-cold, he was defiantly in shock. That explained why the elf was so confused however. His attention was turned back to Legolas, when he felt the elf began to tremble slightly.
Moving his arms, he began to vigorously rub Legolas's, trying to bring back at least some warmth.
"Move...on...tomorrow." Legolas asked, began to shiver violently despite the man's best efforts. To Legolas surprise he found himself breathing hard and heavy, his heart pounding. Aragorn noticing the way the elf was panting and quickly pressed his fingers against Legolas pulse point, his heart was beating too fast.
"Legolas...take calm even breaths, it will help. And, no." Aragorn said flatly, using one hand to wrap the elf in the remaining part of his cloak, using it as a blanket, before taking the elf's hands and rubbing them instead to get the circulation going and warm him up some.
Legolas frowned, they had to move on or else the orc might find them and they were in position to be able to fight. He closed his eyes against the horrible pain in his side and let despair almost take hold of him.
Aragorn saw the depressed look on the prince's face and relented some, he also needed to calm down Legolas before he hyperventilate.
"We will decide tomorrow, depending on how you are feeling." He said grudgingly "But for the moment we need to bind up your wound. I can't stitch it, I've lost my needles."
Legolas let a wince/smile cross his face when he heard the news; he would feel so much better if they left his valley. His breathing began to slow and he relaxed against the stone floor. He could deal with the pain of having his wound cared for as long as they would move on.
Aragorn collected a bandage, carefully soaking it into the water, before cleaning out the wound. Legolas gasped sharply and, unable to stop himself, rolled over and curled up into a tight ball.
"No, Legolas, let me see to it." Aragorn urged, uncurling the elf and straddling him to keep form doing it again "I'm almost done." the man said, finishing the gruesome task.
"I need you to sit up for a moment, do you think you can?" Aragorn asked, after arming himself with more bandages and some herbs. Legolas nodded slowly before allowing the human to help him up. Aragorn wrapped a steadying arm around Legolas shoulders, and watched worriedly as Legolas paled even farther. When the prince reopened his eyes, Aragorn cupped the elf's chin forcing him to look at him.
"Can you stay up by yourself?" Legolas simply nodded, while placing a hand against the cave wall to help steady himself. Aragorn slowly removed his support making sure that the elf really could stay up on his own before letting go completely.
Aragorn grabbed the herbs first and pressed them against the wound. Legolas bit down on his lip trying to stifle a gasp, even though it was wrenched from his lips a few seconds later. The ranger quickly began to wrap the bandages around the slim waist straight over the herbs and wound.
Legolas winched as Aragorn pulled the bandages tight, too tight. He could fell himself beginning to sway more and automatically reached his other hand forward and latched onto the first thing he found; Aragorn's tunic.
"Sorry," Aragorn muttered losing the bandages just a little bit. They needed to be tight for the bleeding to stop. Finishing, the human immediately wrapped on arm around Legolas and used the other to untangle the elf's fingers from his tunic and squeezed them gently.
"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Aragorn asked, wanting to do that before they lowered him back down.
"Water, please…" Legolas said, blinking sluggishly, trying to stay conscious for a few more minutes. Aragorn nodded and grabbed the water skin and helped him take several long swigs. "Now you need to sleep." Aragorn ordered, knowing that the elf would have to obey him.
"Hannan le, mellon-nin." Legolas whispered tiredly, excepting Aragorn to lower him to the ground but the human did not. Instead he pulled the elf closer, hugging him close to his body until the elf's breathing had evened out slightly.
Gathering the elf up in his arms, he carried Legolas over to the clean side of the cave, away from the pool of blood. Laying the prince down, he gently cushioned his head with the cloak.
"Wake...first light." Legolas suddenly muttered. Aragorn froze, even holding his breath lest he wake the elf further.
Soon the elven prince calmed though and he covered the fair being up with what was left of both cloaks. The ranger needed to keep Legolas as warm as possible if he was to disperse of the shock.
Having done all that he could, Aragorn slowly rose to his feet. He would keep watch over his sleeping companion this night,.
TBC…
Aragorn discovered Legolas, does that make everyone fell better? No one's going to threaten me for this chapter, phew! Oh my gosh guys, I love you all!
Review Responses:
fe-chan13: sorry to disappoint you, it was just for lack of water, I almost passed out for dehydration once… One of these times I will write a story based on Aragorn angst! I hope you will keep reading anyway. Thanks for reviewing!
imaginariamente: opps, I did leave you hanging there didn't I? Good thing I got this chapter up before you did anything serious to me!Thanks!
alexiana75: I didn't leave him there THAT long ;) its good to see you back.
ElrondofImladris: Our elf and ranger are so fun to play with…one of this time they might not make it...though it won't happen this time, at least I don't think so lol! Hannon le for the review!
robinsmum: Oh, it wasn't THAT serious…was it! (I am not so sure Legolas would agree with me on that LOL!)I am so glad you loved it! I think we are both to evil for our own good! :0