But we're almost there! Three or four more chapters, and we'll be home free!
Chapter Forty: The Journey Home
"Legolas?" Estel reached out with a trembling hand to feel for his friend's heartbeat. He sighed in relief when he found it, faint though it was.
"Estel?" Elladan dropped to his knees beside the young human. "Are you all right?"
Estel nodded, glancing up to see Elrohir and Palandil were subduing the last of the humans. "The men..."
"We will take care of them."
"Let them go."
Elladan shot a startled glance at his brother. "Let them go? Estel, they took you prisoner."
"Thilator is dead."
The dark-haired elf looked over to Thilator's body, shaking his head quietly.
"There were others, Elladan. Thilator had many followers."
Elladan turned back to Estel, his eyes frowning in disagreement. "Estel..."
"If you take them with us, we might all be in greater danger. Thilator had many followers, and we do not know if he planned on meeting up with them again at trail's end."
The elf nodded in comprehension. "You are wise beyond your years, Estel," he commented, tousling his brother's hair. "Very well...but we will not be so merciful should we meet them again."
Estel nodded, then turned his attention back to Legolas as Elladan stood to address the bandits. He barely heard Elladan speaking to the men.
Then Legolas moaned and Estel hunched over his friend, searching his face for any signs of awareness. The elf's eyes flickered, and Estel caught a glimpse of blue before the elf stilled.
He jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder, and looked up to see Elladan carefully spreading his cloak on the ground. "Help me move him," the elf asked in a soft voice. Estel nodded, and together they rolled Legolas onto the cloak.
"Will he be all right?"
Elladan glanced up to offer a smile to his brother. "I do not know...but I do not believe he will die."
Estel swallowed in apprehension, and turned his focus back to his injured friend. Elladan had cut away the last of the filthy, bloodied scraps of the blond elf's tunic and was studying the wound in his shoulder. "My pack?"
The human scrambled to his feet, hobbling over to where Elladan had left his pack in the underbrush. At his brother's request, he dug out a waterskin and a length of clean bandage, then set out most of Elladan's healing supplies.
"Let me see your leg, Estel," Elrohir called, fetching his own pack.
"The humans?"
"They are leaving without their weapons," Elrohir replied. "Though doubtless they will attack again once they find reinforcements."
"Then we must hurry," Palandil added, dropping a handful of branches near Thilator's body. "I will carry the traitor back to Imladris. You must take the prince and make the best time you can."
"No, we know the area better than you," Elrohir argued. "One of us will take Thilator's body."
"But that is why both of you should go ahead. I will find my way. He will need both your strength," Palandil continued when the twins hesitated.
Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other for a moment, then Elladan slowly nodded. "Be careful."
"You as well," Palandil gave a short bow, then crossed to the other side of the path and began lacing branches together."
Estel winced as Elrohir prodded his wounded leg, his attention focused on Legolas as Elladan examined the prince's injuries. "Will he be all right?"
"You asked me that before, Estel," Elladan replied without looking up. "Infection is setting in...Elrohir?"
Elrohir nodded in reply to his brother's unspoken question. "You are lucky, Estel. Walking has not helped your injury, but it has not made it much worse either. I believe Ada will lock you in your room for two weeks instead of three."
Estel grimaced in exasperation. "Elrohir."
"Peace," the elf held one hand up. "I am finished. Rest for a moment, Estel."
The young human scooted back, but kept watching his brothers tend to Legolas. Elladan had cleaned the wound on the blond elf's shoulder and was stitching it closed while Elrohir gently probed his bruises for further injuries.
"There is not much else we can do here," Elladan sighed, rocking back on his heels and wiping his hands on a piece of rag.
"We must get him home as quickly as possible," Elrohir agreed.
"Not to the village?" Estel broke in. The village was closer...they could be there in a matter of hours.
"No. His wounds require more aid...and I believe we will need Ada's help."
Elladan nodded. "Help me wrap up his back," he asked, pulling the unconscious elf up to a sitting position.
Estel nearly turned away, sickened at the sight of his friend's wounds. Legolas' back was a mess of bruises, blood, and broken skin...inflamed and painful-looking. He swallowed, and forced himself to study more closely.
It was bad...but not as bad as he had imagined it. The wounds themselves would heal quickly once free of infection, but he knew his brothers' concern was that the infection would worsen the longer they were from home.
Elrohir gently applied some healing salve to their friend's wounds and wrapped Legolas in several layers of bandages. "His back is hot to the touch," he murmured, a note of concern in his voice.
"We must hurry," Elladan replied, wrapping his cloak around Legolas and lifting him easily. "Can you walk, Estel?" he asked, shifting the prince until the blond elf's head rested against his shoulder.
"I will manage."
"No, save your strength," Elrohir shook his head. "I can carry you."
"I do not wish to be a burden," Estel protested. "I will manage."
"You are no burden," Elrohir replied, crouching down to let Estel climb onto his back. "It will be faster this way."
Estel sighed, looping his arms around his brother's neck. There were times he hated being reminded that he was only human among his brothers. He winced as Elrohir shifted him higher, struggling to keep hold of his brother's pack as Palandil helped him pull it on.
"Let me know if I hurt you," Elrohir asked as he followed Elladan down the trail.
The young man twisted back for a moment to watch Palandil's tall figure, then turned his focus back to the dark-haired elf before him.
They would make it. They had to.
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Palandil watched the others leave, hesitating for a moment alone in the path. Then he turned, striding swiftly to Thilator's body and rolling the traitor over.
He stared into the vacant eyes of the elf who had caused the royal family so much trouble. "Whose hand pushed you to this?"
No one had forgotten the twins and Brithdil's supposition that there had to be a third member of the conspiracy...his king had hoped for centuries that perhaps Thilator could be taken alive and the root of this treachery unearthed.
"We will find him," he said aloud, though none alive could hear him. "I swear it. I will not let this happen a third time."
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The steady beat of a heart was the first thing Legolas heard as his mind struggled back to consciousness even as he wished he could sink back into the darkness. Burning pain lanced across his back, and the world seemed to swirl and rock beneath him.
He could vaguely hear voices, and tried to press them out of his mind as the rocking stopped.
"Legolas?"
Someone was calling him...someone was turning his head, trying to force him to open his eyes.
The tip of a waterskin touched his lips, and one of the voices called to him to drink. He could barely hear the words, could only catch some of what the voice was saying
"It will help you...you remember my brother? He made it for you...drink, Legolas..."
My brother's own homemade brew. He used to say it would make any boy into a man...let's see if it will keep you on your feet.
Legolas cried out and struggled against the hands holding him. He did not know if Corben's voice was merely within his head or if the man had gotten hold of him again, but he would not drink.
The waterskin fell away, and the voices changed to alarm and surprise. They were trying to subdue him, and he was weakening under their attack. He flailed out, managing to hit one of his captors.
Someone grabbed his wrists to hold his arms down. A pain-filled scream pushed itself out of his throat, though he tried to hold it in.
"Let him go! Please, can't you see he doesn't know you?" The third voice was clear and familiar somehow. Comforting, almost.
The hands holding his wrists fell away. He fought against the arms holding him, feeling inexplicably trapped.
"Let him down, Elladan...let him go."
Elladan?
Legolas stilled as he felt himself lowered, the odd restriction around his body falling away as he lay on rough ground. He fought for breath, jolting in surprise when someone gently took his hand.
"Legolas?"
He forced his eyes open, squinting against the rising son. Worried gray eyes, oddly old in a young face, studied him. "E-estel?"
"You're safe. Elladan and Elrohir are here. We're only trying to help you."
Of course. Elladan and Elrohir. "Corben?"
"He is gone. We're going home."
He relaxed against the path, closing his eyes in relief. "Forgive me."
"No, forgive me, my friend," Elrohir knelt before him, tenderly brushing a strand of hair away from his face. "I should not have tried to make you drink before you were fully awake."
Legolas nodded, gasping a little in pain as someone helped him sit up. Elladan, he realized. "Where is Palandil?"
The three dark-haired beings hesitated. "He is following a little behind," Elrohir finally answered.
He could tell the brothers were hiding something from him, but had not the strength to answer. "How much farther?"
"We should be there before dawn tomorrow," Elladan said as Elrohir held up the waterskin for Legolas to drink. "Unless we are found by some of Ada's scouts, which is likely as we were only supposed to be gone for three hours."
Legolas nodded, resting back against Elladan in an effort to rally his strength.
"How long have we been gone?" he heard Estel ask.
"By your own story, you were taken captive yesterday morning."
Estel huffed out a sigh. "Only one day? It seems as though we have been gone nearly a year."
Legolas had to smile at his friend's comment. He was exhausted, though, and felt sleep beckoning even as Elladan gently lifted him up again. Now the sound of his friend's heartbeat was comforting, and even the pain dancing through his back was bearable.
Something was bothering him in the back of his mind, but it slipped away before he could grasp it. It did not matter. If it was important, he would remember it when he awoke.
Reviews? Flames? Tar and Feathers?
Trivia time! Estel's comment: "Only a day? It seems as though we have been gone nearly a year" is in reference to my recent lack of updates...the chapter in which Estel and Legolas were captured was posted last May. Yikes.
Don't worry (or maybe you should), we haven't seen the last of Corben. This would be too anticlimactic for me...but his main part in this story's over. His future importance will make sense soon, though.