Author's Note: I do not own anything Lord of The Rings! This is my first story and any flames will be fed to my pet dragon. I was planning to let it sit and wait a little longer but I was just so excited and on a roll. Thank you to anyone who has reviewed (you know who you are), and sorry, in truth I was planning to upload two days ago but work and life tend to get in the way of things. Anyways, here you go!
Chapter 2
It happened in slow motion. The dust, the arrows, the fall; it seemed to take an eternity between the fist and second hit. I watched the widening of his eyes, the registering of pain on his features before beginning his elegant descent.
"Legolas!" I scream to him at the top of my lungs. He tilts his head to look over at me, surprised fear spread across his expression like mud on a window. His eyes have a slight glaze over them, as if he is aware of me but not focused on me.
In the distance, I can hear the sound of horse hoofs pounding the earth. I look over to the sound. After a few seconds, I can see Legolas's horse followed by my brothers and a group of five elvin warriors coming our way.
My brothers look like birds, their cloaks flowing in the wind and billowing out behind them. Elladan reaches us first; his eyes are taking in the situation, fear blooming on his face. Elrohir soon joins him, coming up on his right side, and as a group we kneel down next to Legolas.
"Oh valar." Elladan whipers under his breathe, the calm quickly melting off of his face and replaced with a vivid panic.
"We need to work fast. Estel, give me your cloak." Elrohir says without looking up at us. Legolas's eyes are closing.
"No! Legolas open them for me. They cannot be closed. Legolas!" He says with strength. I know that he is faking. Elladan starts tapping Legolas's cheek, trying to get him to open his eyes as I pass my cloak to Elrohir. He grabs it like a lie line.
"I need water! Haldir!" yells Elrohir while checking the arrow wounds. "They are shallow enough to pull out, Estel."
Haldir returns with three water skins and a bag of healing herbs that Ada makes the twins carry for moments like this.
"Elladan, hold down his arms, Haldir, his legs. Estel, you are going to keep his head on your lap. This is going to hurt him, and he doesn't need a concussion to go along with the wounds. Got it?" Elrohir barks out the orders like a professional- Ada has taught him well. "On the count of three we will pull the shoulder." I braced myself for the torment of what was to come.
"One. Two" he says as his hand tightens around the shaft protruding from my best friend. "Three," he says quietly as he begins to pull the arrow. Legolas's body tenses in the arms of Elladan and Haldir as he fights to flee the pain. Even in unconsciousness he cannot escape, most likely he was still partially aware of his body, if not his surroundings. I looked at the sweaty face in my lap, eyebrows furrowed in unimaginable pain. Without anything else to do, I try to smooth the hair on his forehead as a way to calm him, even though it doesn't do much.
And just as I thought it couldn't get any worse, Legolas goes limp again and I see the arrow in Elrohir's bloody hands. Legolas is panting hard and sweating profusely, but at least he unfurled his eyebrows a little.
"Water, Estel, can you please pass me the water?" And I do, if only to do something helpful. He grabs it quickly and pours it onto the wound, then covers it with the cloak and presses down hard. Legolas whimpers and I gently brush his sweaty hair out of his face.
"You are alright, my friend. Peace, Legolas, you are with friends." I coo to him as Erohir bandages his shoulder.
"Estel," he sighs, but does not open his eyes.
"Legolas," I say loudly and clearly. "Do you hear me?" He does not respond verbally but moves his head to the side. By now, all eyes are turned to him.
"Legolas, you have been hit twice. I have removed the first arrow but I must remove the second." Elrohir says slowly and with a clear voice. "Estel, we are going to lean him up on you. I need you to support him while we work on his leg."
Elladan puts his arms under legolas's shoulders while haldir get his legs and together they gently lean legolas against Aragorn.
"No" Legolas breathes out.
"Legolas, we have to do this. There is no other way." Haldir says to him softly.
"No" Legolas responds as he begins to thrash in Aragorn's arms.
"Please Legolas. Don't make this difficult" I beg. Legolas has always had this terrible habbit of being painfully stubborn at the worst of times. Especially during medical emergencies, always insisting that he is "fine."
"We don't have time for this. Legolas is delirious with pain and he will thank us for this later." Elrohir says as he soaks a rag in a potion from his medical bag. "Elladan, hold this to his nose and mouth. His fighting will injure him worse and he cannot afford to lose anymore blood." The rag is slapped into Elladan's hand quickly and he goes to do as Elrohir instructed while I grab Legolas's arms to prevent him from moving.
"Please forgive me," Elladan says before putting the cloth over Legolas's face. At first nothing happens and Legolas continues to thrash his head back and forth but after a few moments, the movement slows to a stop and Legolas goes limp as his eyes close.
"Leave the cloth there for a few more seconds, just while I am getting myself in order," Elrohir says. There is a collective relieved sigh among the group, as if we were all holding our breath in fear of the worst.
When Elrohir is ready, Haldir cuts away the fabric of Legolas's leggings from the wound. The cloth is removed from Legolas's face and the arrow is removed in one smooth pull. Before the bandage is applied, Elrohir checks the wound one more time.
"What should we do now Elrohir?" I ask as we carefully lay Legolas down.
"I don't know…We need to get him to Ada," he says as we all look towards our ailing friend.