The quiet sounds of a day well begun woke Aragorn with a terrible headache. He moaned in spite of himself, surprised that the sound came from him. Slowly, achingly he rolled over on the thin blanket and stared at Legolas.
The elf sat cross-legged, his head bowed down between his shoulders as Mambre gently rubbed aerovala ointment on his bare back and neck. He laughed softly at something the female Haradrim had said, their voices too low for Aragorn to quite catch. The tent was empty except for the three of them as the others had left for their daily chores.
Mambre glanced over the prince's shoulders and smiled at the young northerner.
"Well look who is with the living once more." She teased gently as her dark eyes watched her adopted son.
Aragorn squinted at the two; yawning from where he lay, unwilling to move and unsure if he could answer.
Legolas glanced up at him and smiled but Mambre gently tapped his head, pressing it back down so his chin rested against his chest as she moved his long blonde hair out of the way and spread the cooling green liquid across the burns on his shoulders and neck.
"You feeling better?" She asked quietly.
Aragorn nodded, adjusting his body to a more comfortable position. His skin, though more used to the intensity of the sun here in the south, had not escaped the heat's wrath and his back ached with a slight sunburn where the low neckline of his shirt had not protected him. The ranger rolled onto his stomach with a soft grunt to alleviate the pain.
Not satisfied with the younger man's lack of response Mambre pressed him. The time she had spent that morning talking with Legolas had left her with questions that she found unsettling.
"Your friend says you have a family. This is true?" She glanced quickly at the ranger before concentrating on the elf once more. She was not sure she wanted to hear the truth but she knew she must. It was hard somehow, to imagine Adrar with another family. Hard to admit that he wasn't really theirs.
Again the northerner nodded. It hurt to think and his mind was fuzzy and worn as though he had been awake for a very long time. Legolas looked up at the human trying to gauge how his friend was doing.
"Strider are you in pain?"
At the elf's soft questioning the young man swallowed hard, his throat thick and tight and answered quietly, "I am fine. I am just very tired and I ache."
Legolas smiled and nodded, "Mambre was worried about you."
"And you weren't?" The Haradrim snorted at the prince, garnering a soft chuckle from Legolas. Moving around the elf she sat between the two and proceeded to methodically work over the burns on his arms.
"I will be fine Mambre." Aragorn whispered, reaching out to touch the woman who had been his mother for the past six months or more.
"When we are free you will leave." She glanced behind her at the young man, hating the sadness in her own heart. She knew she should be happy for him. She wanted to be happy for him.
He simply nodded, his glance flitting quickly to Legolas, who shook his head slightly, the touch of sorrow in his eyes alerting the ranger.
"And you think I will forget you?" Aragorn asked quietly.
"You have a mother." She stated simply. "I will be nothing to you."
"I had a mother. I loved her very much, but I barely remember her."
Mambre stopped her ministrations and looked at her hands before turning around and facing the northerner she had accepted into her clan.
"Of course I loved her, and her memory... it will never leave me. But I never really knew her. She died when I was very young. I was raised by two brothers and a father." He continued to explain. Slowly he wrapped her slender, sun-wrinkled hand with his own fingers, "You are the first mother I have truly known." He laughed as he thought on his family for moment, "Except my brother Elladan, but he hates it when I call him that."
Mambre laughed and swatted at the boy, "Adrar. I just hate to see you go. You have brought such joy and happiness. We never laughed so much as when you joined our clan."
"Yes well that's what happens when you let a northerner loose in the mûmakil fields." He smiled, the laughter catching in his swollen throat and turning into a painful coughing fit.
Legolas grabbed a gourd of water near his bedroll and scooted closer to the human, helping Aragorn as he tried to sit up and still his breathing. Tipping the water flask to the ranger's lips, the elf carefully meted out the refreshing liquid, limiting the amount that flowed through the neck of the slender gourd so that Aragorn would not choke. The elf's skin was still flushed a bright red and the burn seemed concentrated on his back, shoulders and the tops of his forearms and hands.
When he had slaked his thirst for the moment, Aragorn pushed the gourd back and gently pressed his fingers to Legolas' hand, feeling the slight heat that the sunburn gave off.
"Are you all right?" Correcting himself quickly the ranger held up his hand to stall the elf's answer and turned to Mambre who had slowly gained her feet and was getting ready to exit the tent. "Mambre, is Legolas all right?" He knew better than to hope for a useful answer from his friend.
She walked stiffly back to the two and stood behind Aragorn. He glanced up at her from where he sat a smile on his tanned face.
Her dark eyes twinkled as she returned the smile and nodded her head, "He'll live." Bending over she took the younger man's head in her hands and kissed the top of his hair, "And so will you my son."
Aragorn grasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Thanks to you mother."
"Ah," She brushed the compliment aside lightly, "There was someone looking after you other than I."
"Yes, Ilúvatar," Legolas muttered under his breath, "He always keeps the foolhardy and the trouble prone alive."
"Something you should be very familiar with by now." Aragorn smiled wickedly at the elf.
"Only since I've met you young human."
"Oh please don't start the 'my life was normal', lecture," Aragorn moaned rolling his eyes, "I think I have heard that one a thousand times."
"And if we live through this I imagine you will hear it a thousand more. Get used to it!"
Mambre stood shaking her head as the two bickered back and forth. She stepped in between them and thrust a handful of aerovala leaves at Legolas, pointing at Aragorn and instructed them both, "I have to go now and see to the others. You," she glared playfully at the elf, "put that on Adrar, his burns will ache soon. There is plenty of water for the both of you." Pointing at a small stack of corked gourds she turned towards her adopted son, "I expect you to drink it all your bodies need it. Now behave and don't argue while I am gone. All I need is for you two to be attracting the guards with your nonsense."
She left the tent with their laughter hanging in the air. Closing the flap on the sleeping room she headed out to the fields. Her other children and her husband would be gathering for mid-day break and she wanted to be there to collect the nandani they had harvested during their morning's work. It would need to be prepared for tomorrow. The thick root when crushed formed a tasteless odorless toxin, which in the right doses would knock an oliphaunt out for hours. They were going to be busy. She sighed deeply fearing the relentless passage of the day. If only she could stop time and let it sit here for a while, sometimes change even good change was difficult to face.
"Is anyone awake in here?" Sircyn's accented voice called out as he threw the flap to the tent aside and bent to pass into the low opening.
"Well we were asleep until you woke us. I hope it's important." Aragorn replied sarcastically from the corner where he and Legolas sat.
The fire had been started some time earlier in the late evening but the two friends had moved from the perimeter of the ring. Aragorn was fully dressed, his tunic laced up the front concealing the sunburn that was quickly fading to tan. Legolas however had not replaced his shirt and although his elven skin was healing swiftly, the burn still chaffed and pained him when clothing touched it. He smiled brightly as he gazed up at the family that entered.
"Pray tell your day went well and you were able to find all that you sought." He commented cryptically knowing the guards could still be milling about.
Sircyn quirked his lips in a semi-grimace and shook his head, stepping over the spread out sleeping pallets until he reached the two friends and dropped heavily down beside them.
Aragorn took Legolas' hand in his own and stretched the prince's arm out, lathing the pinked skin with the soothing green gel that had been aiding his healing. The elf concentrated on the Haradrim and his quiet words as the cool ointment reduced the ache to a dull roar that he could ignore.
Sircyn glanced back to the tent entrance, his eyes mere slits as he spoke quietly, "They would not let us bring any wood or the nandani with us. They forced us to leave everything in the woodsheds. Most likely to stoke their own fires through the night tomorrow."
"Then we'll need to steal out and retrieve it tonight. They'll never notice it is gone in the morning. I doubt even Talft and Lur are that observant." Aragorn shook his head in disgust. The small hitch in their plan could be easily remedied. At Sircyn's nod the ranger stood swiftly to his feet only to weave unsteadily as the room spun around him crazily. He crashed back to the floor landing on one knee.
Legolas leapt to his feet and steadied his friend, easing him gently back down on the mats. Aragorn held his head gingerly in his hands as things slowly stopped their circling and his vision returned to normal. "You are not yet able to be about. Rest some more, tomorrow will be tiring enough. I will go with Sircyn to help retrieve the herbs." The elf cautioned him softly, laying his hand on the top of his friend's head.
"We will not be caught." Legolas glanced at Caleb who was protesting their leaving. "I will see to it."
The Haradrim was shaking his head; "There are guard patrols and even wild taergs that sometimes come into the compound. No, being that far from the tents and the others is not good."
Aragorn grabbed Legolas' wrist gently with his hand, raising his voice above the commotion in the tent, "They will be safe Cabed. You can trust Legolas." Carefully he turned and glanced up at his elder.
Knowing he was fighting a loosing battle Cabed pierced his eldest son with a stern look. Sircyn glanced away from his father and faced Legolas; "Then we both go, come." He stepped to the tent flap and listened carefully before easing the canvas away from the entry.
Aragorn tightened his grip on the elf's wrist and glanced up at the prince, "You be careful I don't want to have to come rescue you." A lopsided smile decorated his tanned face.
Ruffling the human's hair, Legolas gave a small laugh and stepped close to Sircyn, "Not to worry human." The elf glanced at Mambre and she nodded moving to the ranger's side a flask of water in her hands.
Legolas followed Sircyn down the path that led to the oliphaunt pens. The Haradrim knew the way even in the dark and easily sidestepped the pits and rocks that dotted their way. The elf had no trouble following the slave, his eyes easily adapted to the bright nights. Roots from a manga tree crossed their trail and Sircyn turned to warn the prince. The young Haradrim stopped in his tracks his eyes wide as he stared at the elf in the shadow of the large fruit tree. Here the branches blocked the light of the moon and the faint glow that accompanied the elf shimmered in the darkness.
"What! What is it?" Legolas crouched and looked about them, his senses thrown outward ready for whatever had startled his companion.
"What *are* you?!" Sircyn whispered fiercely, stepping back from the elf.
"What?" Legolas was confused and shook his head, glancing about them.
"There is a light about you." The slave stepped back nearer and touched the elf cautiously.
"Oh..." The prince tried to hide his amusement, he had not given his appearance a second thought. But these people had never seen his kind and there was much about elves that even the northerners did not know. "Yes, my people are people of light. Do not worry it will not draw attention to us, the moon is full tonight and the stars are bright, they will shield my light."
Sircyn nodded slowly, trying to come to terms with the new information.
"Are we close?" Legolas whispered, trying once more to get the youth's attention focused on the task at hand.
With a quick glance around them, Sircyn nodded once, turning and heading stealthily out towards the plains, "We are nearly there. Follow me."
The moon was indeed high and full as they slipped out from under the cover of the master's shade trees. In the open they were vulnerable should anyone be watching. For the most part the guards never watched the pastures at night. The taergs were no match for the oliphaunts. It was only when the humans were present did the wild predators attempt to attack, hoping to drag off a slave. At such times the herds were vulnerable and the young at risk from the large felines.
Legolas could see the mûmaskil huddled together on the field. Their quiet shufflings and guttural speech soft in the night, reached his sensitive ears and he turned and gazed out over the pasture lands. The moon cast a blue silver glow upon the grassy tundra; the effect of the soft light was not lost on the elf who smiled contentedly as he watched the herd. Movement on the edge of the field to their right alerted him and he tensed slightly even as Sircyn called out to him.
"Over here, the wood and nandani weeds are over here." The slave unlatched a low wooden shed and swung the short door open. He glanced inside unaware of Legolas' over attentiveness. "They always let us take back to our tents the herbs and wood we have collected. It never even occurred to me that they would want it all for their own with the master leaving. You don't know what it's like when he is gone. The master is a fair man for the most part, but some of his guards are ruthless and cruel and they do not care what they do to us."
Legolas backed slowly towards the shed, glancing quickly back toward Sircyn. In the shadows, a deeper shadow moved and the glint of black eyes alerted the elf. He spoke calmly to the slave, not wanting to alarm the human if it were unnecessary. He hoped the creature that advanced slowly on them was not what he feared, "Does no one inform your master?" His quiet voice questioned.
"Who do you think he would believe his trusted guards or a his slaves?" Sircyn replied sarcastically with more bite than he intended. He was moving the wood around seeking the small bag of nandani roots that they had gathered throughout the day. It was secreted against the wall of the shed, protected by a pocket of timber. With a smile he pulled the cache out and stuffed it inside his vest.
"I found it." Sircyn sighed in relief as he stood up and grasped the edge of the shed door.
"Shhhh..." Legolas backed slowly towards him; "We are not alone. Do not move." The elf whispered fiercely, his eyes locked onto the feral ones that watched the two beings intently.
Sircyn turned towards the prince and followed his gaze into the dark shadows beneath the shade trees that bracketed the oliphaunt fields. Shifting red eyes caught the light of the full moon and a low growl caused the slave to freeze in place.
"A taerg." The Haradrim breathed quietly, his fear palpable.
Legolas simply nodded as the creature stepped out into the light of the moon. The huge predator stalked slowly forward, the hair on the back of its neck standing on end, edged silver in the moonlight. It bared its fangs, revealing a mouth full of sharp pointed teeth, its growl low and deep in its chest rumbled menacingly in the still night air.
Legolas crouched down, reaching for a thick branch from the woodpile, his movements slow and measured as the taerg bared its long fangs and unsheathed claws the length of the elf's fingers. The beast hissed at the being before it and its thin whip like tail thrashed the air as Legolas stood slowly once more a piece of wood clutched tightly in his hands.
Sircyn could contain his fear no longer and turned and ran behind the wood shed. The taerg thinking its prey was fleeing rushed them, leaping mid-stride and landing on the top of shed, glancing between the elf and the slave. Sircyn fell back with a cry as Legolas taunted the predator, jabbing the piece of wood at the creature to take its attention off of the other slave.
Loosing a fierce roar, the taerg leapt at the elf, intending to take down the being. But Legolas ducked under the animal's advance, falling to one knee and ramming the end of the wooden limb up underneath the creature's ribs. He half stood to his feet pressing into the animal's belly with his weapon and threw the taerg over his head into the wooden fencing behind him.
"Run Sircyn!" Legolas yelled at the Haradrim who had gained his feet and fled to the other side of the shed. He had watched the fight from his sheltered position opposite Legolas over the small wood storage bin. Legolas had fought these great cats before, but never unarmed.
The taerg had been dealt a serious blow and it staggered unsteadily to its feet hissing at Legolas. Before the creature could attack again the elf caught the large feline along side the head with the timber he held, smashing the taerg with the wood and sending the animal crashing heavily to the ground.
"Go!" Legolas turned and fled, pushing the young slave ahead of him back towards the tents. All pretense at stealth was lost as the sounds of the scuffle having attracted the attention of the guards brought the distinct shouts and cries of the overseers, the light from their torches weaving through the night towards the two slaves location.
The large cat behind them crept unsteadily away, its prey forgotten, its only wish to escape.
The Haradrim guards skidded to a stop near the wood shed. The door to the small covered enclosure was open and one of the men spotted the faint black outline of a large cat limping slowly off out onto the fields retreating from the compound. Further investigation was unwarranted as the guards mistakenly assumed that a small animal must have taken shelter in the shed and the taerg had followed it. Talft stepped up and kicked a loose piece of wood back into the dark interior. Closing the door he locked it and looked back for the feline, the taerg had disappeared into the night.
With the attention off themselves and the guards congregated near the woodpile, the elf and the Haradrim blended once more into the shadows and quickly reached the tents with no further delays.
Sircyn stumbled into the tent first, tumbling onto the floor near Mambre as Legolas backed in slowly, listening and watching to see if their flight had been discovered.
He turned as Sircyn fished the small bag of herbal roots from his vest and handed them over to Mambre. Without another word she and the other females removed themselves from the fire and moved to the back of the tent to begin crushing the roots into powder for the following day.
Dropping the tent flap quietly down Legolas left the doorway and stalked back to where Sircyn was recounting the taerg attack for his father. The elf sat down wearily on the mat next to Aragorn and gently touched his friend. The ranger had fallen back asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly with the depth of his rest. Wayward strands of the human's dark hair covered his eyes and the elf carefully brushed the hair back, laying his hand gently on the man's head. "Sleep Estel, tomorrow will be a long hard day I think." He spoke softly in Elvish.
As if knowing his words Cabed glanced up, "He fell to sleep after you had left. We let him rest. Tomorrow we will all need to be rested, it is a big day."
Legolas nodded slowly, glancing to the far side of the tent where the women were preparing the drug. He only hoped they had enough of the thick nodular roots to cover all of Rhuddryn's guards. Sircyn had been very sure, reassuring the elf that it took very little of the potent herb to drug a full grown human. Tomorrow would tell them.
Tomorrow...
With a deep sigh Legolas laid down next to Aragorn. Tomorrow would bring them one day closer to going home.
Aragorn sat quietly in the predawn, listening to the muted sounds of the bugs that buzzed and chirped outside the tent. Even the Olybryn had yet to waken.
Glancing down at the form of the elf asleep next to him, he smiled softly. There was so much on his mind, so many thoughts and memories. The memories...
All of his anxieties were coupled with the day that faced them. Today they would take the guards out and secure the house after Rhuddryn left. Once that was done they would be able to procure weapons and then go after Seobryn and stop the crossbreeding that he was performing to create this new army that had been ordered by... by whom? The mystery behind the question still bothered him, but he let it go for the present. Today had enough troubles of its own and he wanted to make sure that that trouble was visited on the guards only and not on the Olybryn.
It would be tricky. Nenil, one of the household servants would tend to the wine vats kept in the cellar by Rhuddryn. If all had gone as planned the serving staff already had the nandani drug in their possession; Sircyn should have taken it to them during the night while Aragorn slept. If the guards stayed true to their routines, as the Haradrim were adamant that they would, then by midday they would be lax and Rhuddryn's main sentries that watched the house would begin to help themselves to their master's draughts. Then came the tricky part, drugging the rest of the guards in the fields and the groves without anyone catching on. But then what if...
"We have been over it many times. It will all work out well." Legolas' soft voice interrupted the ranger's thoughts and he glanced quickly down at his friend.
The surprise of being caught in the act of worrying shown easily in the young man's eyes and the elf smiled as his friend quirked a questioning eyebrow, the lopsided smile that crossed his face caused the prince to laugh lightly.
"Yes my friend, you are that easy to read." Legolas sat up and smoothed the hair out of his eyes, "I know you too well. You worry that something will happen to these people and it will be somehow your fault for suggesting they could be free."
"Am I truly *that* easy to read?"
The elf snickered lightly, "Yes you are. And I have been in your company long enough to know how you think." He laid his hand gently on the human's shoulder and easily changed the subject, "How feel you this morning?"
"Well enough." Aragorn moved closer to the elf and lowered his voice so as not to wake anyone else. He switched effortlessly into the Elvish tongue and continued speaking. "I slept hard, I did not hear you return. In fact I had not realized that I had fallen sleep. I take it all went well last night."
"We retrieved the nandani and Mambre and the women crushed it into fine powder. All is ready. It will be well. Trust me." Legolas gave the ranger a gentle shake.
"As always my friend." Aragorn whispered back.
"What are you whispering about?" Sircyn's quiet voice broke into their conversation.
"Sircyn?"
"Yes."
"Why are you awake?" Aragorn questioned.
"It is time to be awake." The answer came back through the inky darkness.
Legolas laughed, "So it is. Then let us begin the day." He smiled at the ranger and stood nimbly to his feet. His eyes, easily adjusted to the morning gloom, allowed him to step lightly over the still sleeping slaves to the fire ring.
Kneeling next to the well-used pit in the center of the tent he quickly started a fire with the smoldering coals in the bed of the ring. Turning a brilliant smile on the ranger he nodded as the room lit with the warm glow of fire, their day had begun.