Chapter Fifteen

Aragorn woke up just as the first rays of the rising sun peeped over the far garden wall. The golden light shone into the room through the balcony doorway. It was faint at first but it quickly grew in intensity. The man was in shadow, and it took a moment for him to get his bearings.

His first cognizant thought was that he was not in a bed. He glanced around him and saw that he was slumped down in a green and white brocade chair. It was one of the chairs in Legolas's room. He had obviously never made it to his own room last night.

His next realization was that he ached. He shook his head and laughed softly. He was a ranger, used to spending the night in conditions far worse than a soft chair, yet his body ached all over. He decided it was because he hadn’t been able to really lay out flat. Sitting up on the edge of the chair, he now languidly stretched his muscles out, arms, legs, and back, groaning as he did so. He even stretched the fingers on both hands. All of this was accompanied by several huge yawns.

Looking toward the large bed, he was fully expecting to see Legolas, lying where he had last seen him. The bed was empty, which brought a frown to the man’s face. The elf should have still been sound asleep, considering how exhausted, both physically and emotionally, he had been the night before.

Aragorn decided that his friend must have gone down for an early breakfast and hadn’t wanted to disturb him. *Ever the considerate elf,* Aragorn mused. *I’ll go join him.* He briefly wondered if Thranduil would be there. He decided to hurry, in case Legolas needed him for moral support, though he knew he really needed to let the father and son work out their problem in private. That last thought didn’t slow him down any, though. Besides, breakfast in the dining hall could hardly be considered private.

Aragorn headed for the door. When he pushed down on the handle, he was expecting the door to open and himself to continue on through. Instead, he slammed up against the hard wood, causing a painful surprise. The door hadn’t budged. He rubbed his throbbing nose, as he found that the the door was still bolted. Even a clever elf like Legolas couldn’t bolt a door front he outside. Turning back around, he now made his way to the balcony. That was the only other place the elf could be.

As he emerged onto the balcony, now drenched in early morning sunshine, he saw no evidence of Legolas's presence there. He turned and looked to the left where the wooden flower box, containing Legolas's favorite blue flowers, stood. No elf there. He then looked to his right. No elf there, either.

Puzzled he walked to the edge of the balcony, placed his hands down on the stone railing and stared down into the garden. He was standing a good thirty feet off the hard ground below. No elf would risk injury by attempting a jump that far, unless it was an act of pure desperation. He didn’t think that could be the case here. However, he couldn’t keep a feeling of concern from entering his mind.

Aragorn decided that standing there wasn’t going to find his friend. As he turned to go and see if he could locate the missing archer, his vision swept past the right side of the balcony. He had already looked there, but now his eyes came to rest on a figure huddled down in the back corner. It was Legolas, and Aragorn had almost missed seeing him.

The elf had his legs pulled up tight against his chest with his arms wrapped around them. The right side of his head was resting on his knees, and he was staring across the balcony toward the flower box. His loose hair hid most of his face, as it fell like a golden curtain down to his ankles. Only his eyes were visible, and they were unfocused. He didn’t appear to see Aragorn, who at first thought the elf was asleep. This conclusion soon changed, when he noticed that the elf’s whole body was shaking uncontrollably.

Aragorn rushed over and knelt beside his friend. He reached out and took a handful of sunlight-colored hair and put it behind the elf‘s left ear, the same way Thranduil had done the day before. “Legolas. What is it? What’s wrong?”

Slowly Legolas's eyes focused, but he didn’t move his head or look up. “I...I know what happened, Estel.” He looked to be in shock, and his soft voice quavered, reinforcing that notion.

Estel thought that he was referring to him learning what had happened to his mother. He quickly shook off that idea. This reaction was far too intense to be a continuation of that occurrence. “What do you mean?” When the elf didn’t answer, he said more softly. “Please tell me what happened.”

Aragorn put his hand on the elf’s back and felt the trembling body. Quivering was the word that came to the ranger’s mind.

It was then Legolas looked up at the man, who almost jerked back at the horror he saw reflected there. His friend looked haunted...and frightened. Estel waited patiently, feeling that pushing too hard now might drive the elf’s obviously tenuous hold on his self-control over the edge.

Aragorn sat down beside Legolas, though facing him rather than sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Legolas lifted his head and stared straight out in front of him. “I had two dreams last night. One was of a time from my childhood while my Naneth was still alive. It was a happy dream.” There was a tiny smile at the memory. “The other was...“ He paused, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and continuing. “The other was a dream I did not bring forth deliberately. It began with the two of us on the ridge overlooking that valley forest.”

He looked at Aragorn and saw a frown cross the ranger’s face but could only guess at what his feelings were. He did see concern, but there was something else, as well. Was it anger?

Aragorn knew now what it was that Legolas had dreamed about. He had no idea what the details were, but he was sure it was about whatever Mordraug had done to him to cause first his deep coma and now the reaction he was witnessing. He became angry at the thought of what horrors that dark monster might have done to this gentle, ethereal soul beside him.

The man knew how hard it would be for Legolas to retell the story, but he also knew that it would be necessary to help him deal with it, just as he had needed to unburden himself the night before. Aragorn saw by the look on Legolas's face that he also understood the need to do so. Yet. it was clear he was reluctant to speak of something that was obviously so terrible.

Aragorn waited.

With a voice that trembled slightly, almost matching the tremors in his body, Legolas began. The story tumbled out, and Estel listened, becoming more and more shocked, as the tale unfolded. To the surprise of both, Legolas's voice, which had begun so softly and tentative, had become stronger as he talked. When he finished his story, he said, “That horrible snake licked my face and then bit me in my mouth, Estel. Can you imagine how terrifying that was?”

“No, Legolas, I truly can’t. I’d be lying to you if I said I did. It’s beyond any experience I’ve ever had or even heard of.” Then, Aragorn’s eyes went wide in realization. “So, that’s what you were doing that day out here on the balcony.”

Legolas looked at the ranger with a puzzled frown. “What are you talking about?”

When Estel explained the incident when Legolas had clawed in his mouth, the elf shuttered. “I must have been reliving that moment in the forest. It was worse than any nightmare you can imagine.”

Aragorn was horrified at the story Legolas had just told him, but he knew it best not to react too strongly. He didn’t want to add to the elf’s obvious pain and fear. He was sure that Legolas understood that. Instead he put a reassuring hand on the elf’s forearm, squeezed it gently, and said softly , “I wish I had been there to help you.”

Legolas shook his head. “You would have been a hindrance to Mordraug, and he would have killed you outright. I am glad you were not there.”

“I’m not so easy to kill.”

The elf gave Aragorn a small smile. “I am certainly glad for that.” But, he knew the ranger was aware of the truth of his previous words. The smile lasted only a second before his countenance changed, and he continued. “I thought I was going to die, when that snake bit me. I knew it was poisonous. I know now the kind of death I would have suffered.”

Again, he looked Estel in the eye. “I was poisoned the same way as all those others that Elrond told us about.” He couldn’t bring himself to mention that it was also the same way his mother had died. He still hadn’t come to terms with that. “So, if I was bitten by the same snake as the others, why did I not die, too?”

Aragorn thought about it for a moment. He had no idea how the poison could kill the others and not Legolas, though he was certainly happy that it hadn‘t. “I guess Mordraug can somehow control the poison. My father did say that the snake would do whatever Mordraug wanted him to do. With you still alive, he could threaten Thranduil with your death, if he didn’t do as he said. Dead you were no real use to him, because Thranduil wouldn‘t give up Mirkwood, if you were beyond rescuing. You were merely a hostage to get what he wanted.”

Legolas nodded. “But, he left me in the woods for you to find, and I am safe now. So, what Mordraug did to me has gone for naught. Letting me go does not make sense, Estel. There has to be more here than we know. I am sure of it.”

This time Aragorn had to agree with the elf. He was safe now, so how could that benefit Mordraug? It occurred to him that Elrond, Glorfindel and probably even Thranduil had the answer. As soon as Legolas got his emotions under control, Aragorn intended that they would find out.

“There is one thing that Mordraug either does not know or does not believe.”

“What’s that?”

“My father may want revenge, but he will not risk my life nor his own just for that. More than that, he would never turn his kingdom and all the elves that live there over to someone so evil, even if it meant the sacrifice of one of his children.” Legolas knew this for certain, though in that forest with Mordraug, he had been fearful that his father would stop at nothing to rescue him. As King, Thranduil was well aware that personal feelings to the side, Mirkwood had to come first. All his children had grown up with this knowledge.

It was after a few moments of silence that Aragorn told what he had done in the forest after Legolas had left the camp. “When it started getting late, and you hadn’t returned, I began to get very concerned. I tried to tell myself that it was just that you hadn’t caught anything and with your pride, you weren’t about to come back empty-handed. As time passed, though, I knew something was wrong, so I started searching. It took me hours in that dark place.”

He paused, thinking back on that night. “I finally found you, lying motionless in a small clearing. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t rouse you at all. I also couldn’t find any evidence of a wound or other injury. I carried you back to the campsite and continued to try and wake you. But, I never could get you to stir or even make a sound. I have to admit it scared me. I wanted to leave right then but knew that would be a bad move, and I would have to wait. So, at daybreak, I got you on your horse and brought you here to Rivendell, totally convinced my father could fix whatever was wrong. I’m so sorry. Legolas. This was all my fault.”

Legolas turned a bewildered gaze on his friend. “How is any of this your fault?”

Aragorn looked at the elf. “I was the one that made us go down that path. You were the one that wanted to go the other way. Remember?”

“And you think that was what caused Mordraug to find and attack me?”

“Yes.” The entire weight of all his guilt was evident in the ranger’s voice.

“You have been feeling this guilt the whole time I was unconscious.” Legolas's own voice held disbelief.

“Of course, I have. You just told me the horrors you endured. It was my fault, Legolas. I should have listened to you and taken the other path the way you wanted us to.”

Legolas shook his head and put his right hand over Estel’s hand that was still on his arm. “No, Estel. You are not to blame for any of this. Mordraug wanted me. He would have found me no matter where we went. Whichever path we took, even it we had not entered the forest at all and gone instead around the cliffs, he would have been waiting for me. Do you not see that?”

Aragorn had not considered this line of reasoning at all. He had known nothing of Mordraug until Elrond had informed them all of the dark elf’s presence the night before, so the man had just assumed that taking the right hand path in the forest had led to whatever had happened to his friend. Even after learning of Mordraug’s existence, he had not thought there was reason to alter his feelings of self-blame.

Legolas saw that Aragorn was struggling to come to terms with what he had just learned. When their eyes met, the elf said, “You have no blame in this, Estel, I promise you. It was Mordraug‘s doing and none other.”

Aragorn nodded, but Legolas had a feeling that the man had been so long in the throes of guilt that the elf would need to say it several more times before Estel completely accepted that fact. Legolas fully expected him to say. ‘I know you’re right, but...’

So, when Aragorn said, “I know you’re right, but...” Legolas couldn’t hold back a laugh. It was a small sound, hardly the volume or musical quality of the elf’s usual laughter, but it warmed the ranger’s heart nonetheless.

That warmth lasted mere seconds, as the haunted look soon returned to Legolas's eyes.

TBC