AN: Hey, guys...wow, I didn't think I'd actually get this chapter up tonight. I've been fighting a pesky bug of some sort (sore throat and stuffy head) and network/server problems all day (we're online...no, now we're off...okay we're back on, but slow as molasses...and it's off again. Unplug the network cable and plug it back in...repair the network connection...still not working...FINE! Let it sit for a while and come back later, only to find it all miraculously fixed! ARGH!). Anyway, here it is...chapter nineteen
Chapter Nineteen: The Last Straw
"Do you hear that, 'Ro?"
Elrohir nodded, breaking into a run. The twins had stopped to visit the elves who had traveled with them to Mirkwood, and were going back to their own room now when they heard footsteps running down the hall.
"Legolas?" Elrohir called, grabbing the elf prince as he tried to push past him. To his concern Legolas fought against him, pulling to get away. "Legolas, it's Elrohir."
The prince collapsed against the dark-haired elf, shaking like a leaf. Elrohir gently put his arms around Legolas, casting a concerned glance at Elladan. "Do you smell that?" he asked quietly, noticing a strong, sickly-sweet smell that seemed to be coming from the prince's clothes.
The older twin nodded. "Go back to our room, I'll find out."
Elrohir agreed, gently pulling Legolas down the hall to the guest wing. "What happened?" he asked, keeping a tight hold on the prince. The smell disturbed him—it was of a particular herb, one that had some medicinal uses but the smoke from burning it strengthened emotional reactions, like turning a hint of fear into full-blown terror.
He waved away the elves who came to question him about Legolas' well-being, knowing that a crowd would only heighten the herb's lingering effect.
"She's coming."
The whisper was so faint he almost missed it, but he looked over in surprise. "What?"
Legolas looked up, and for the first time Elrohir saw a pair of bloodied gashes on the prince's cheek.
His concern mounting, Elrohir ushered his friend down the hall into the guestroom he and Elladan had been assigned. "Legolas, who is coming?"
The prince shook his head, sinking down on one of the beds when Elrohir released him. With a sigh, Elrohir pulled some clean clothes out of one of their bags, knowing that anything from Legolas' room had likely been exposed to the smoke for too long and would need a heavy laundering.
"Legolas?" Elrohir knelt in front of the bed, wiping at the blood on his friend's face with a clean cloth. "You need to change...the smoke in your clothes will make you ill if you don't." It was true. More than a minute or two of exposure to the smoke from this herb could cause a bad reaction, and the dark-haired elf wondered how long his friend had been breathing in the smoke.
Legolas nodded mutely, and while he changed into what Elrohir had given him, the older elf filled a bowl with water and grabbed another clean cloth—the blood on Legolas' face had dried.
"What happened?" Elrohir asked, wiping away the dried blood and examining the wounds. The gashes were sharp, but shallow and would heal without stitches.
The blond elf was still trembling, his hands clenched tightly together as though to still their shaking. "S-she..." he swallowed, eyes wide in his pale face.
Elrohir sighed, sitting up on the bed beside Legolas, and put an arm around his friend. "It was your old nurse, wasn't it?"
He felt the younger elf stiffen, and didn't need to look over to see the fear in his eyes. What other she could it be?
"Legolas, just tell me," he said quietly. "I know you're afraid, but Elladan and I can help you."
Silence filled the room, but Elrohir just waited. He could hear footsteps running up the hall as other elves went to investigate what had happened, but hoped Elladan would be able to keep them from finding Legolas.
"Yes," Legolas finally said, so softly that Elrohir nearly thought he'd imagined it.
He could feel Legolas shaking again, but knew that this time it wasn't from fear. "I'm sorry," he said, his words sounding hollow to his own ears. He wrapped both arms around the prince, pulling him tightly against his shoulder.
Elrohir glanced up as the door opened, relieved to see Elladan enter. "Did you find anything?"
The older twin shook his head. "Just the leaves in the fire...no sign of anyone else."
"Th-they left first."
Elladan raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why? What happened?"
Elrohir shook his head, his friend was still trembling and he knew it was too soon for him explain the attack. "We can talk about it in the morning...but you'll be safe with us tonight."
The prince nodded tiredly. Elrohir gently climbed off the bed, tucking Legolas in as though he were an elfling. "If anything happens, Elladan and I will be right here."
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Elladan woke with a groan, bending his neck to one side to ease the stiffness he felt. He looked up, startled to see the early-morning sun barely peeking into the room. He made a mental note to thank his father for getting comfortable armchairs, the ones in the palace were not easy to sleep in.
He glanced over at the beds, seeing his brother and the prince still asleep. It had been a long night for all three of them. Legolas had been sick a couple of times, and it was only Elrohir's assurances that it was just because he'd been exposed to the smoke from the herb for too long that kept them from going to the healers. He had been right, and Legolas had started feeling better a few hours after midnight.
With a wince, Elladan stood up, stretching the kinks out of his back. He thought about going out to see if the palace guards had made any progress tracking whoever had left the herb burning in Legolas' room—for the life of him he couldn't remember the herb's name, all he knew was that it had red flowers and the leaves had spiny edges—but decided against it.
Instead he leaned against the wall, his gaze unfocused. Elrohir had told him Amarthwen was behind this attack...what possible motive could she have? He had heard suspicions about her before, but after a while no one had said anything else, and in all honesty it had slipped his mind. He couldn't help but feel that this was partly his fault—it had been too easy over the years to forget why Legolas had been sent to Rivendell. Maybe if he had focused more on the reasons they could have found something out about this before.
One of the things that concerned him the most, though, were the two gashes in the prince's face. Why two? They were side-by-side, and almost identical. Did they represent something? The number two? A date, or a year?
He suddenly straightened up as another idea snagged his attention. Tally marks? Had the attacker—Amarthwen, he reminded himself—left those to brag that this was the second time she'd been able to attack the prince and no one had stopped her?
"We'll stop her," he growled aloud, accidentally waking his brother.
Elrohir looked up sleepily. "What?" he asked. "What time is it?"
"It's morning, barely," Elladan replied. "I've been thinking—and don't even say it," he warned, knowing that Elrohir would normally make a comment about Elladan's tendency to act before thinking (and Elladan's usual retort was that Elrohir thought without acting, and so they made a good team). "Do you think this attack is connected to the one years ago?"
The younger twin sat up, scooting to the edge of the bed. "I was wondering the same thing. He said 'she' was coming, and when I asked if he meant his old nurse he said yes. Remember what we overheard?"
"Yeah, now," Elladan shook his head. "How could I have forgotten something like that?"
Elrohir threw his brother a sympathetic smile. "Because it's been at least sixty years since Legolas was afraid of the cellar?"
Elladan grunted. That was no excuse, in his mind, but the knowledge that his brother had not remembered a half-heard rumor did make him feel a little better. Just a little. So much had happened in the years after Legolas' arrival...it had been easier to simply forget the bad things, particularly after the years they spent hunting out the orcs that had tortured their mother, and concentrate on happier things. "Who was it? One of the princesses and Captain Brithdil, wasn't it?"
"Meluial," Elrohir supplied. "She was the one who swore she would hunt the nurse down as soon as they returned."
"I wonder why she didn't," Elladan mused as his brother stood up, walking over to look out the window.
"Maybe Amarthwen covered her tracks...she did say she left the palace and only returned a few days ago."
The twins turned as Legolas began to stir. Elladan knelt beside the bed, Elrohir on his side, as the prince awoke. "Legolas?"
The younger elf's gaze was slightly confused as it fastened on the twins. Then realization came rushing in, and he pushed himself up, eyes wide and slightly confused. "What happened to me?" he asked, one hand flying to his face to cover the cuts in his cheek.
Elladan and Elrohir exchanged glances. "You were drugged," the younger twin finally said, simply. "Do you remember what happened?"
Legolas drew his knees up to his chest, resting his arms across them as he stared off at the opposite wall. "I think so," he said faintly. "I remember the smoke...it smelled odd, and it made me dizzy. The next thing I remember," he shook his head. "It's all fuzzy."
"Legolas, we know," Elladan spoke up gently. "You told us last night, Amarthwen attacked you."
The prince's head dropped, and he rested it against his arms. "I did?"
"Yes," Elrohir nodded. "You didn't say what happened, but you told us it was her."
Legolas sighed. "I didn't want anyone else to get hurt," he finally said. "It seemed it would be better if I just kept it a secret."
"Well, you can't now," Elladan said. "Legolas, we know she used an herb to subdue you or else she wouldn't have been able to do that," he explained, gesturing to the cuts on his friend's face. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Promise me one thing," the prince said, raising his head to meet the twins' eyes. "Promise me you won't go after her...she's more dangerous than you know."
Elladan and Elrohir exchanged glances. This was easier than they'd thought it would be—all too easy. "We promise," Elladan finally said. He wasn't entirely sure they would keep that promise if something else happened, but for now he would be content with taking the truth to Thranduil and letting the royal guards handle it.
Legolas sighed again, dropping his head against his arms. The twins waited—this was part of a secret their friend had been keeping almost all of his life, what could a few minutes hurt? "I just don't want to be afraid anymore," he said quietly. "Last night...when I saw her I was so terrified I couldn't move. The other one was holding me, and I couldn't break away—maybe if I hadn't been so scared I could have."
"Wait...what other one?" Elrohir asked anxiously.
"There were two. Amarthwen," Legolas shuddered at saying her name, "and another elf. I never saw his face, not even enough to know if I would recognize him. But I was so scared, I probably wouldn't have recognized either of you," he added, shame coloring his voice.
"It was the herb, Legolas," Elrohir explained quietly. "The herb they put in your fire...it could turn a little fear into terror, that's why you were so afraid last night."
The prince turned his head, laying it sideways against his arms so he could see the twins. "But I was still afraid," he replied. "I'm so tired of being afraid every time I hear her name, or see her."
"Then tell us," Elladan said encouragingly. "Tell us what happened."
Legolas shuddered one last time, closing his eyes. "I walked into my room. It was dark, and the fire was smoking. The smoke smelled odd...sort of sweet. I opened the window to get some air when he—the other elf—grabbed me from behind. I think he left a bruise on my neck," the prince added wryly, rubbing the back of his neck tenderly. "Then I heard her...and my mind just went blank. All I knew was I was afraid, I couldn't remember anything you'd taught me, anything about unarmed combat. She had a knife," he swallowed, eyes closing a little tighter. "I don't remember what she said after that, but then she cut me, on the cheek...said it was a sign, that the third time would pay for all?"
Elladan nodded. He'd heard the saying among mortals before. "Last night, you said they'd left first. What do you mean?"
"She made me kneel on the floor," Legolas continued, "with her knife to my throat, and told me that they were going to leave, but that I had to count to two hundred slowly before leaving myself. She told me she would know if I left any sooner, and that I would...would pay for it."
Elrohir met his twin's eye. "She wanted to make sure he'd breathed in enough smoke to be sick last night," he murmured.
The older twin grunted in agreement. "And then you ran into Elrohir," he surmised.
Legolas nodded in reply. "I don't remember much else...I don't even know if I made it to two hundred," he added sheepishly.
"Legolas," Elrohir leaned up on his knees, catching the younger elf's eyes with a serious gaze. "Was Amarthwen the one who locked you in the dungeons when you were an elfling?"
The prince quieted, a shiver running down his spine. For a moment, Elladan didn't think he was going to answer. Then Legolas straightened, just slightly, and the older twin could see his friend steeling his resolve.
"Yes," he said quietly.
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AN: The rest of the story comes out in the next chapter...which will probably be up Monday.
The saying "third time pays for all" is found in The Hobbit...Bilbo says his father used to say it, so I might be fudging a little to say it was around at this time.