Elrohir
He was frozen on the spot as he watched, horrified, his little brother kneel bleeding in front of Legolas, his lover. He knew he should do something but he could not force his muscles to move him from where he stood. Elladan went to Aragorns aid when he could not. The scene played out in front of him as if he was watching a play. Gimli attempting to disarm Legolas, Aragorn slumped on the ground and at the back of his mind a voice whispered, "this is all your fault." For if he had not argued with Legolas, if he had not let him leave them they would not be here. He could not find a way to accept what he was seeing. It was wrong, so very wrong and his mind rejected it. This would not happen.
Finally when Legolas darted away from a distracted Gimli the spell was lifted and his legs allowed him to move forward. He sprinted after him calling out his name,
"Legolas!"
for he did not want to lose him again to the woods. He heard Gimli close behind him. Gimli was not the quietest and branches cracked loudly as he followed in his wake. They were too slow though, far too slow and Legolas vanished early on their pursuit, swinging up into the trees and away from them. The two of them searched for some time more until he admitted defeat. Legolas would not show himself, wherever he was.
"We have lost him," he sighed. "We have no hope of finding him again here." His shoulders slumped in dejection and his misery was mind numbing.
"All is not lost." Gimli replied, " He will return."
He turned to stare at the dwarf sharply.
"How can you say that? He is damaged, broken, we may never..."
He broke off abruptly not wishing to put his thoughts into words, for he feared Legolas would not return to them, to him. He was not himself, would he ever be again?
"I say it because I know it," the dwarf said with certainty. "I do not pretend not to see the damage done to his mind. How can I avoid that for it is plain to see but he has harmed Aragorn and he loves him. That will eat at him. He will come back to us, and soon, if only because he will need to ensure himself of Aragorn's wellbeing."
What the dwarf said made sense.
"As a rule I would agree with you," he admitted " But that was not Legolas, in the clearing. It was not the Legolas I know for I would have sworn he would never hurt my brother."
Gimli nodded in agreement,
"I would have sworn it too. He told me it was not Aragorn he was fighting, he believed someone else was here, someone he thought I could see."
He turned to Gimli in horror.
"There was no one there! No one but us. He is seeing things now? Ay Legolas, if only I could have helped you!"
Gimli quietly placed a firm hand on his arm.
"You have helped him, as much as any of us. Do not think otherwise."
It was with dejection and hopelessness he returned to the clearing. Aragorn raised his head when they entered, his face tense with an unspoken hope.
"Did you find him?"
He shook his head.
"He eluded us."
"He will come back Aragorn, Don't you worry." The dwarf remained firm in his belief Legolas would need to see his friend was well.
Elrohir walked over to where his brother sat holding his injured arm and knelt beside him.
"What happened?" He asked for he needed to know it badly.
Aragorn held out his hands in a gesture of confusion.
"I do not know, he was here, he was distraught. I should have taken more care, been more gentle. I surprised him and then he..." He turned to face him.
"I do not think he saw me. I cannot believe he knew I was there."
He was filled with a sudden compassion for his brother, for whatever the grief he suffered with Aragorn's was so much more. What Legolas had done to him was unthinkable.
He was engulfed by a need to protect him and bent closer, wrapping him in his arms as he had not for years. Memories rushed back of the small child that once was, the times he had given comfort over the years and the love he still felt.
"I am sure he did not my Brother. He would never hurt you. His love goes too deep. It will take more than this to eclipse it."
They were not just trite words of comfort, he meant it. Well he knew of Legolas's devotion to Aragorn and how he had resented it. For that love Legolas had followed his friend to the gulls, for that love did he abide so near to Aragorn and so far away from him, or so he had thought.
He remembered back years before when he had arrived with the Grey Company to accompany what remained of the Fellowship, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. How shocked he had been too meet Legolas for he was not the Elf who had left him in Imladris all those months before. The change in what had been a long but casual friendship with Aragorn to something deeper, for they had seemed as close as brothers, had rankled and he felt Aragorn was taking yet another thing most precious to his heart. How many hours had he wasted raging against it, blaming his brother. How wrong he had been, for Aragorn was not a threat to him and he had always known that.
It was his fear of the sea longing that had bought him to this he decided. His terror that Legolas would leave him for he could not go with him if he did, he could not leave Arwen ...or Aragorn for that matter. He had been so afraid he had never spoken with Legolas as he should have, frightened of what he might say. He had offered him no comfort and no support, the Dwarf had done that. How ashamed he was now. He had buried his head in the sand and run, holding old resentments close to his heart and for no reason, no reason!
And now it was Aragorn and Legolas who paid the price.
He stood suddenly, he needed space to think, and moved away from them all to the other side of the clearing. He foot caught in something lying hidden in the grass and he stumbled, almost falling catching himself just in time. He bent down and inspected it, raising it to the light. It was a thin length of chain glinting silver in his hand but covered in rust he thought and yet...he looked closer, wiping it with his hand and gasped for it was not rust but blood that came off it. He looked closer at the ground near his feet, dropping to his knees and pushing the grass aside and there at the base of the tree were ragged pieces of rope, bindings obviously and they too were blood stained. He felt his stomach heave as the icy cold and terrible thought crept into his mind. It could not be, this was miles from where Legolas had been found. He raised his head and saw on the bark of the tree in front of him dark, dark bloodstains the rain had not yet reached to wash away and in the dirt at the base of it, more blood, much more blood. This was the reason for Legolas's violence and his distress.
He staggered to his feet as images crowded into his mind of Legolas as they had found him prone and bleeding, his back torn to shreds, maybe by the very chain he now held. And then Erynion...he remembered the first sight of him as he turned over his body, the head lolling to the side, the gash across the neck, had he died here? He stumbled away from the blood and horror and doubled over as his stomach emptied what was left of his lunch on the ground.
" Elrohir!"
Elladan cried his name and was at his side even before the vomiting had ended.
" What ails you? Are you ill?"
His brother supported him as he stood upright.
"This!" He said, "It is this!"
He pushed the chain into his brothers hand for he did not want to look at it, could not bear to think of what it symbolised.
Elladan was confused,
"It is just an old length of chain Elrohir." and he peered at him,
"Are you injured? Fevered?" and he reached out to feel his forehead.
"No!" he cried, "Can you not see the blood? Do you not understand, Legolas was held here, that is why he attacked Aragorn so. Over there are bindings, blood..." He trailed off, he could not finish for bile rose in his throat once more.
Elladan looked concerned and steadied him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Elrohir, you jump to conclusions for we have no proof this is anything to do with Legolas. It is a simple chain, that is all. Calm yourself. I know today has distressed you."
Gimli the Dwarf came up to them listening closely, his face tense and stern.
"You think Legolas was kept here?" He asked him and he reached out to see the chain in Elladans hand. but stopped short of touching it.
"Yes!" He gasped for he was sure of it. It made sense of it all, what other explanation could there be?
"Then we shall search this place and find the answer. Where did you find this?"
and when he indicated vaguely towards the nearby trees Gimli was off foraging through the grass in front of them.
"I think you are overwrought Elrohir, I know you have been suffering, you should sit."
His brother did still not believe him and looked at him with caution and concern.
He moved back, away from him for he would not allow his concerns to be brushed aside and stumbled into Aragorn who had come up behind him to grasp him by the shoulders.
"Elrohir? Is all well?"
He turned and wordlessly he snatched the chain from Elladan's hand holding it up to his younger brothers eyes.
"Chains covered in blood," he said slowly, "bindings of rope and blood stains all around. This is why Legolas attacked you, this is where the damage was done."
And Aragorn took the chain from him, his face as white as Elrohir knew his own was.
"Can it be?" He wondered aloud and he gazed at him,
"Elrohir, it is so far from where we found him. Perhaps someone else...and he...it confused him..."
"Aragorn!"
The cry was Gimli's and they all turned to see him not far away holding an object aloft in the air.
Elrohir felt sick to his stomach and thought for a moment he would vomit again. He swayed and it was only Elladan's arms which kept him upright. Beside him Aragorn gasped and let go of the chain as if it burned him, scorching into the skin on his hands.
For it was unmistakeable,what Gimli held for them all to see, it was one end of Legolas's lost bow, and it was broken, the wood shattered and splintered and he felt his heart splinter along with it as the reality of what had been done here to his beloved came crashing down upon him.