A/N haha, I enjoyed writing this chapter, and the next few, a little too much...:) Thank You once again to all my readers for taking the time!
Disclaimer:not mine.
Chapter Three
A loud, firm knock resounded though out the small room and Legolas looked up, releasing both Aragorn's hand and the cooling cloth he had been holding and heading to the door. Pulling it open he wasn't surprised to see the healer there, Gerda, by name.
The old women, with fizzy grey hair and more wrinkles lines one could count, pushed past him and headed straight for the bed.
"How is he today?" she asked without preamble, a frown ceasing her brow as she looked down at her patient. "Not well, I see." She sighed, before beginning to work.
Legolas hovered over her shoulder, watching her like a mother would watch her young ones, and twisting his hands anxiously together when Aragorn stirred at her touch.
"Please, just stop!" Aragorn mumbled in fevered delirium, twisting under the healer's hands. Legolas instinctively leaned forward, but backed off when the healer slapped him lightly to get him out of her way.
"Stay back." She demanded, glaring intensely at the cloaked being and waiting for him to back up a good distance before continuing. After what seemed like quite a while to Legolas, she moved away, cleaning off her hands.
Legolas was just about to slip back into his place next to the bed where her hand flew out, latching firmly around his wrist.
"Now it is your turn." She said with finality, raising her eyebrows emphatically.
"Excuses me!" Legolas blurted out, disbelief dripping thickly from his voice.
"The sickness that your friend has can be quite infections, I just want to make sure that you don't have it as well." She explained, moving forward and reaching for the clasp on Legolas' cloak.
"I don't have it!" Legolas shot back, back peddling so fast that he cracked the back of his head against the wall. Gerda continued to advance, a frustrated look on her face.
"How can you be sure?"
"I just — I just know!" Legolas barked, rather more harshly than the situation called for.
"You can't 'just know' something like that!" the healer said with a roll of her brown eyes, hands bracing her hips as she boxed the elf in. "Now let me have a look at you!"
"NO!" Legolas growled, crossing his arms so tightly across his chest that the women would have never been able to pry them apart. The healer narrowed her eyes so that they became slits and poked her finger at him.
"If you become sicker than a dog, it won't be my fault!" she grumbled in frustration, not lowering her glare.
"I'll take my chances." Legolas said firmly, watching with visibly relief as the women backed away and headed back towards Aragorn with a snort. Packing up her healing supplies she turned and pulled the door open. "Call for me if his fever rises again." She stated with stiffness in her voice that indicated that she was angry with Legolas, and then she was gone.
Legolas sucked in a huge sigh of relief, slumping back against the wall, letting his arms fall limply back to his side and leaning his head against the wall, eyes closed. That has been close…to close.
Heading back to Aragorn's beside he planted himself in the chair, trying to calm his nerves. Picking up his friend's hand he continued where he had left off, telling the sleeping man a story to pass the time.
If he would have glanced outside the window the prince would have noticed the healer heading down the busy road with who appeared to be Damrod. He would have noticed them turn into a house and close the door, so that no ears besides their own could hear what they were saying.
Locking the door, Damrod turned to face Gerda.
"So," he asked impatiently.
"He's defiantly hiding something." Gerda said wearily, sitting down at her scrubbed clean table and motioning Damrod to do the same.
"But you don't know what, do you?" Damrod said shrewdly, not attempting to hide the disappointment written on his face.
"He wouldn't let me get near enough to discover anything." The women retorted, resting her elbows on the wood and raising her eyebrows when the man gave a disgruntled snot. "It's something physical, I would beat." The healer said after a moment, a thoughtful look on her face.
Damrod looked up, a look of great dissatisfaction in his eyes. "So you are telling me that all he is hiding his a scar!?"
"I never said that." Gerda said calmly. "I said it was something physical. Damrod, you are jumping to conclusions too quickly."
"What else could it be?" Damrod asked, getting to his feet and pacing in front of her door.
"I will tell you when I know more." Gerda said firmly, her face not betraying anything to the younger man.
"I can help." He offered, not wanting the old women to mess anything up.
"I have a plan. Let me do it, Damrod." Gerda instructed, standing and crossing over to the door and holding it open. "I will meet with you back here later this afternoon."
Nodding in agreement, Damrod strode though the piece of wood she held for him and into the bright morning sunlight, the storm from yesterday gone. Stopping he turned back and offered a parting word.
"Be careful, you never know what rangers will stoop too!"
THEWORTHOFAFRIEND
Legolas sighed in clear frustration, gazing at the healer who had returned only a few minutes before.
"I would have called for you if I needed you." He stated, sighing once again when he was ignored. "Besides, is that really necessary? He is already asleep." He pointed out, indicating the mixture she was creating in a small bottle. He had seen Elrond mix some of those ingredients together often enough to know what it did. Drunken it too many times as well…
"Don't question a healer." The old women snapped, holding the bottle up to the small amount of light that filtered into the room so that she could see it clearly. "Here, hold this for me." She directed, handing the bottle off after uncorking it.
Turning to face Aragorn's sleeping form she bent over him, hiding her face from Legolas as she pressed a handkerchief over her mouth and nose.
"What did you put in there?" Legolas asked after a few moments, unsuccessfully holding off a cough as the strong fumes from the bottle filled the air. Lord Elrond's had never, never, smelled as bad or as powerful as this one did…The healer didn't answer, still bending over Aragorn to conceal her face.
Legolas blinked drowsily his brain becoming foggy and unclear. The room began to double in front of his vision and the elf fought a wave of panic, realizing to late that this was all horribly wrong. Gagging desperately on the toxic air, Legolas lurched forward. The bottle fell from limp fingers and smashed into a thousand pieces.
"Get away from him!" Legolas snarled, or at least attempted too, but slurred it almost too much to be understood. The fumes from the bottle where now allowed to float freely around the room and Legolas felt like he was going to ill as he tried desperately to get to Aragorn's side.
He didn't get very far. His legs felt like jelly and his mind was turning into mush. A second later his knees gave out and he crumpled to the ground with a loud thud. Still, he attempted to reach his friend, inching forward. But it was all for nothing.
A strange buzzing noise filled his ears and the floor was moving of its own according. The next thing he knew his head had hit the floor and all he could see was the healer women's shoes along with the dirt and dust under Aragorn's bed. Then all went black.
Gerda waited until the sounds of struggling behind her faded, and then turned, the cloth still pressed securely against her face. Sprawled ungraceful on the floor was the ranger. His cloak which had been knocked assque, reveled strands of bright, golden hair, hair of which she had never seen the like of before.
Reaching out uncertainly she touched the silky strands, holding her to breath to see if he would move. When he didn't, her eyes took on a daring glint and she reaching out took hold of the hood still hiding his face and bunched it up in her fist.
With an air of defiance, she flipped the hood back.
She froze, sucking in a breathe as she gazed won at the now unconscious man. He was the most beautiful creature that she had ever laid eyes on. His face was perfectly chiseled, with high cheekbones and porcelain skin. Lifting an semi-closed eyelid she stared into the deep, crystal blue eyes.
Entranced, she brushed back the golden strands of hair, admiring the way it had been pulled back into strange braids, and tucked it behind an ear.
That's when she let out a muffled scream, snatching her hand away from the hair as if it burned her. The ear was pointed!
Scrambling back on the floor she pressed herself against the wall, gazing at the thing on the floor, because humans didn't have ears like that.
Breathing heavily through her cloth, Gerda pulled herself up using the wall for support Her face was white with fear, and for a moment she thought she might pass out.
Running for the door, she yanked it open and raced as fast as her weary, old legs could towards her house and Damrod. The people of the town gave her strange looks as she flashed past, but she paid them no head for there was much more serious matters had hand.
Crashing through the door she slammed it shut, gasping for breath and trembling. Damrod looked up from where he was sitting at the table, visibly startled.
"Gerda!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet."What is wrong?" Still shaking, Gerda clasped into a chair and covered her face with a shaking hand.
"It's not human…" she whispered, voice terrified. Damrod gazed at her, confusion evident as he sat slowly back down.
"What do you mean 'it's not human'?" he asked, leaning forward and bracing his hands against the rough wood of the table. Gerda lowered her hands, raising her head to meet his dark stare.
"It is not anything like I have ever seen before. It was definitely the most handsome man that I have ever laid eyes on. Now I realize that his handsomeness is all a trick, too good to be true." She said in a hushed tone with several deep breathes in between words. Her eyes where somber and serious and Damrod felt a cold chill run up the back of his spine. "But his ears, his ears where pointed!"
"Pointed?" Damrod repeated, eyes widening with surprise at the news.
"Yes, pointed. Like the peak of a mountain." Gerda answered, nodding her head emphatically. Damrod just stared at her for a minute, dumbstruck.
"There is only one thing that I can think of that fits that description…but it couldn't be." Damrod breathed out. Suddenly he pushed away from the table and took off for the door, not stopping to pick up his chair as it went clattering to the floor.
"Damrod! Damrod! Wait!" Gerda cried, also jumping to her feet and chasing down the road after the young man. Dam didn't pay her any attention, just kept right on running. Gerda sighed exasperatedly, a curse on the tip of her tongue, and picked up her skirts so that she could run even faster.
Damrod meanwhile raced through the inn's door, ignoring the inn keeper's wife's startled shriek, and bounded up the wooden stairs two at a time. Gerda was just slipping through the door, but once again he didn't wait for her.
Reaching the room he wanted, the man hurtled in. Almost instantly he gagged on the still toxic air and ducked out, coughing and swearing. By this time, Gerda had reached the top of the stairs, holding a stitch in her side.
"Use this." She said in an annoyed voice, holding out a second handkerchief. Damrod took the proffered material and bowed back into the room with Gerda at his side.
There, slumped awkwardly on the hard wooden floor, lay the elf, his blonde hair spilling across the floor and his cloak twisted about his body. Damrod stepped over the body and knelt on the floor. Reaching out he pushed the elf's head roughly to the side, examining closely the strangely pointed ears.
Gerda hovered over him, much like Legolas had done to her only hours early, and cast a fearful look down at the creature.
"It's definitely an elf." Damrod muttered in shock, sitting back on his heels with disgust and fear radiating off his face. Gerda gasped, hand flying to her mouth at the confirmation.
"What do we do with it?" she whispered, face pale with fear.
"How long will it take for him to wake up?" Damrod asked, a cunning look now mingling with the other emotions.
"Unit this evening, I think, if it works the same on the elf as a human." Gerda answered, standing and backing towards the hallway. Damrod nodded curtly, rubbing at his short bread thoughtfully as he also got to his feet.
"Right, we will head back to your house, make a plan, then —then we will tell everyone else." He planned, kicking the elf sharply in the side as he turned to leave. "Just you wait, elf, just you wait." He hissed with a hatred that scared Gerda slightly.
TBC...
Well, what you all knew was going to happen happened. Legolas, my poor child, you may be in for a rough time. :)
Review Replies:
Nameless: Oh, that is no problem, especially now that you have found it! You where right, Legolas didn't go undiscovered for very long. :( Thanks! :)
Saphira: Bad things, that is what will happen to that poor elf! :) haha, I have a feeling that your indications right, very right! Thanks! :D