No, unfortunately, neither lily7707 nor I own Lord of the Rings or anything to do with it… Cause if we did, then we'd be rolling in money… Which we're not…
Hey guys, sorry this took sooooo long! Life got in the way…
Soon, Lana and Legolas were returned to their cell, Legolas's back burning with the fresh cuts from Lana's whipping session. Before Legolas had a chance to stride to the other side of the room, Lana was already introducing him to the other slaves.
"Leggy, this is Sherryl and Johnny. Johnny, Sherryl, this Leggy, a.k.a. Legolas," Lana finished with a flourish. Legolas nodded to the two of them before he sank to the floor and leaned against the wall opposite the wall with the door in it. As soon as he had done so, the little boy, Johnny, jumped up and started towards Legolas with a warm smile on his face.
"Actually my name's Johntavius, but Lana shortened it to 'Johnny'. Kinda like she did to your name, huh, Mr. Legolas?" He said in the sweet, innocent way that only human children could achieve.
"Yeah, it's not like I had any say in the matter. But you can call me Legolas or, if you want, you can call me Leggy," Legolas said as Johnny sat down next to him. That was, however, the extent of their conversation as the door had opened revealing the first woman that Legolas had seen in this retched place that was not a slave. She had the look of someone who had just got off of a horse after riding it for days on end. Her eyes were a deep, mucky brown color, her hair, a dirty blonde color, was pulled back in to a messy ponytail. She was dressed in boots, riding pants (which Legolas found quite amusing), and a simple white shirt with several stains on it. Her thin lips did not seem to match her almost overlarge nose that kept drawing Legolas's attention. She also seemed very familiar, but Legolas couldn't place where he could've seen her before.
"So... You're the new slave?" her voice was harsh, not a very pleasant thing to listen to. She threw a pail in to the cell, nearly tipping it over while most of its contense sloshed out. After she threw in to the cell a few pieces of something unrecognizable, she gave Legolas another look. "You don't know who I am, do you?"
Legolas shook his head.
"I'm the reason you're in here," she said with a cold, hard laugh and she shut the door. And suddenly Legolas realized why she was so familiar. She was the one that had hit him with the frying pan!
"You know her?" Sherryl asked softly, her fear obvious.
"She was the one to knock me out when I was captured," Legolas elected to leave the frying pan out of the equation, there was no need for anyone else to know about that.
"Oh, ok then," and without another word, Sherryl scrambled to the lumps of what Legolas could only assume were supposed to be bread and started dividing it. Then, she lifted the pail and took a dainty sip from, trying to be as polite as possible.
"She thought you were one of 'em slave juicers," Johnny answered Legolas's unspoken question.
"Johnny! I did not! And the proper term is 'buyer', not 'juicer'," Sherryl hazarded a glance at the door as if in fear that it would open and that woman would return again.
"We're just one, big, happy family, now aren't we?" Lanna said with a smile.
"I thought you said it was every slave for themself," Legolas accused.
"Out there it is. In here, we can be nice, we can be friends. But out there, all the rules go out the window," Lanna explained.
Legolas wasn't quite sure he agreed with her but said nothing and started to pick to most edible parts off of the chunk of supposed bread. But when he reached for the pail, he stopped.
"Is this some sort of soup?" he asked in disgust.
"It's water," Lanna said as she popped her lump in to her mouth.
"But, you can't see anything!" It was true, Legolas could only see about a millimeter in to the water before it clouded up.
"Leggy, this is a good batch of water. Usually you can't see past the surface," Lanna said as she took a swig of it. Legolas looked at her in horror. "What? If you get thirsty enough, you can almost pretend it's stream fresh! Same goes for the food," she said as she reached for the lump of moldy bread that Legolas had discarded.
"Why are they so cruel to us? It's not like I did anything to them," Legolas asked, quickly changing the topic.
"Well first of all, Leggy, they're humans. They're naturally cruel," Lanna started.
"But you're all human, too!" Legolas said in surprise.
"Perhaps in appearance, but the truth is we've all been through so much that we don't really count as human... We're like superhumans. Now, second of all, they're slavers. It's their job. And finally, you have heart Legolas. They're used to capturing slaves who, as soon as they see the hulking guards and locked doors, give up hope. You have a spark in you and they want to quench that, to prevent a possible escape of uprising," Lanna said. "I used to be like that, but the truth is, the only way you're getting out of here is if you're sold or if you're dead."
"So that's what they're going to do with us? Sell us?" Legolas asked quietly.
"That, or send us to the mines. But that won't get you out of here, either. The mines are directly below us, farther down," Lanna gestured to the floor to emphasize. Everyone sat there in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Mr. Legolas? What's it like outside?" Johnny said suddenly.
"What?" Legolas looked up in surprise.
"Is it winter, Mr. Legolas? Is the snow piled as high as my head?" Jonny jumped up in excitement to demonstrate.
"No, it's summer, almost fall. The leaves are just beginning to change..." and as Legolas's description of the world outside continued, Johnny back to the ground, completely fascinated by Legolas's words, drinking in every syllable that Legolas uttered. Legolas noticed as he continued speaking, that Lanna couldn't help but listen in, that Sherryl, who was now holding Johnny, was listening almost as intently as Johnny was. Legolas realized that these people had scarce seen the light of day, other than through a barred window, since their capture. It was this realization that kept Legolas speaking long passed the point in which he had answered Johnny's question. Legolas started describing his people, the deep greens of the forest, the sound of a trickling stream, anything to keep this small moment of peace going. However, Legolas ran out of things to describe, but not before his voice grew hoarse from talking without a pause for so long. Then, too soon, Legolas's voice drifted off in to silence. The four of them sat there in the silence for what seemed like hours but could have been only a few seconds at the same time. Slowly everyone came back to their senses, first Lanna, then Sherryl, next Legolas, and lastly, no matter how hard he tried to hold on to the remnants of the descriptions, Johnny. With a sigh, he looked at Legolas with a smile of thanks that melted his heart.
That night, Legolas promised himself that he would get these people of this hell.
The next day Legolas started up another conversation with Lanna, once more.
"So you've tried to escape?" Legolas asked, pretending nonchalance.
"Yes..." Lanna answered, trying to calculate how Legolas would take her answer. "But I never managed to actually get outside. That's obvious enough, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Legolas answered vaguely, knowing what she really wanted to hear.
"Leggy, don't try it. Please, it'll only make things worse, trust me," she said in alarm.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," and with that, Legolas stood and crossed the room to see what Johnny was trying to do with two threads that he'd pulled off his clothes, earlier. Legolas could still feel Lanna gazing nervously at him across the cell.
Lily: Crapola now I'm gonna have to write a longer chapter
Voice: this was surprisingly nice? of smiley.
Lily: I did notice that. It's okay I'll make my next chapter evil enough for both of us :D
Voice: One of these days I'm just going to give up
Lily: Good. Review?