Chapter Fifty Two

As Elrond had realized what was happening, he had reached out to grab Legolas’s hand, as it slipped off the railing. All he managed to do was graze the young elf’s fingers with his own an instant before they were pulled away from him. Legolas had been too fast, the move too sudden and the reaction too slow.

Elrond’s face reflected the horror of watching Legolas’s body fall away from him. When it struck the ground, he winced and drew in his breath. The impact was a hard one, and the healer in him knew that if such a fall did not kill him outright, it would have done serious damage to the wood elf‘s body.

With no thought other than to reach Legolas as soon as possible, the dark-haired elf lord turned and began running out of the room and down the hall. He didn’t notice his youngest son, sitting on a wooden bench that was set against the wall on the other side of the wide corridor.

“Ada?” Aragorn said, completely startled. “What’s wrong?” If his father answered, the man never heard it. He was momentarily puzzled. If anything had happened to Legolas, his father surely wouldn’t have left. Yet, Aragorn had a sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong.

He peered into Legolas’s room, but it looked to be empty. He knew his friend had been out on the balcony earlier, so that was the logical place to look. With only a quick glance back at his rapidly disappearing father, he ran into Legolas’s room.

Rushing out onto the balcony, the ranger was baffled to find himself alone. He stood in the center and looked in both of the back corners, remembering that he had almost missed Legolas sitting in one of them the morning after a dream had revealed what Mordraug had done to him. Legolas was not there.

It made no sense to the ranger. He had been waiting outside of Legolas’s room the whole time his father had talked to the Mirkwood elf. No one but Elrond had left, so where in Arda was Legolas now, and why had his father run out of here so fast?

Aragorn walked over to the railing, a frown on his face. He looked out over the garden, half expecting to see Legolas heading toward it, though how he would have gotten there was a mystery. There were no tree branches or vines near the balcony that he could’ve used to climb down. Even had the elf been in the garden, that still did not explain why Elrond had left in such a hurry.

Mulling this puzzle over, Aragorn idly looked down. What the ranger saw froze his blood, as a knot of panic instantly formed in his stomach. Legolas’s crumpled body lay on the grass almost thirty feet below the balcony. “LEGOLAS! “ the man screamed. Like Elrond moments ago, Aragorn whirled around and ran as fast as he could out of the room, frantic to reach his friend.

Elrond reached the first floor in record time. He was heading for the nearest rear door, when Elladan and Elrohir emerged from the corridor that led down to the dining hall. “Come quickly,” Elrond said urgently. His pace never slowed.

The twins looked at each other, but did not even attempt to question their father. Instead, they simply fell in behind him and ran outside. They continued to follow, as Elrond turned left and ran along the grassy area next to the building. Neither brother saw Legolas until Elrond abruptly stopped and dropped down to his knees.

“By the Valar,” Elladan breathed, when he moved around his father and saw Legolas lying motionless. “What has happened?”

Elrond shook his head, not wanting to take the time to explain. “Later,” was his only reply. He put his fingers against Legolas’s neck. “His heart is beating.” *But, does he breathe?* he wondered to himself.

The young elf’s chest was not moving, so Elrond put his ear next to Legolas’s mouth, which was partly open. Elrond closed his eyes in relief, as he heard a faint whisper of sound and felt the barest touch of air against his ear.

Legolas was lying partly on his right side and partly on his back. Landing that way instead of fully on his back was the only thing that had kept all the air from being forced from his lungs. It also was probably the only thing that saved his life.

Elrond did not have to tell either of his sons not to try and move Legolas even the tiniest bit, which could easily cause more damage. He had to be checked over first, and as Elladan and Elrohir held firm to the younger elf, Elrond wasted no time in doing just that.

“Leoglas!” Aragorn yelled out just then, as he came rushing up and dropped down to his knees by Legolas’s head. “What...?”

Elladan shook his head. “Let Ada examine him first.”

Though anxious to know what had happened, the man just nodded. He would have to wait to find out what he wanted to know. Seeing to Legolas was the most important thing right now.

Elrond ran his hands over Legolas’s entire body, feeling of each area of his anatomy, trying to ascertain the extent of the injuries the young warrior had surely sustained.

“What did you find?” Elladan asked, when it was obvious his father‘s exam had ended.

“He has a broken right shoulder, and several broken ribs on the same side. I believe he probably has a concussion, as well.” He paused and sighed. “But, that is not the worst of it.”

After many years of working with Elrond, both twins and their human brother were able to read their father pretty well. They had seen the same look he had on his face now many times in the past. It frightened them all.

Elrohir frowned. “Ada, what is it?”

“I felt a slight bulge in the back of his neck. It may be broken.”

“No!” came the sound of a strangled cry from Aragorn. “Legolas cannot have a broken neck.” The ring of denial was evident in the young man’s distraught voice.

“I do not know that for sure, Estel. There is obviously some function below his neck, since he is able to breathe on his own, though his breaths are quite shallow. However, there may be partial paralysis...”

Elrond did not get the chance to finish his prognosis. “He is not paralyzed.” If the man’s will alone could make that statement true, it would be so. In fact, if his will alone could dictate the outcome, Legolas would stand up right then and smile at them all.

All three of the elves knew that Estel was not speaking from any kind of healer’s assessment. His declaration was purely from the heart, a result of the fact he would not accept such a fate for his best friend.

This was not the time to argue the fine points of accepting what could be a correct diagnosis. Now, was the time to aid the young archer as best they could. The sooner he was stabilized, the better the outcome might be.

“Elrohir,” said Elrond, “go and get a neck brace and a litter.”

The youngest twin eased his hands away from Legolas, making sure that Aragorn took his place, before he let go completely. He then jumped up and sprinted back into the house.

Elrohir quickly returned with a litter and a preformed brace made of two pieces of polished steel, resembling a cage. The top part of the front piece fit snugly under Leoglas’s chin to the back of his jaws. Several curved bars fit lightly against his neck and were attached to another bar that crossed below his throat. The end of the lower cross piece on each side formed a solid curved bar that fit over the tops of each shoulder and extended down front and back for several inches.

The bars on the back piece of the brace were only slightly curved and reached from the middle of his head down between his shoulder blades and were also attached top and bottom with cross pieces. The two sections of the brace were fastened with leather straps and buckles to hold them together and at the same time, allow the brace to fit various sized people. Elrond was very careful not to move Legolas’s head, as he put the back piece in place and then buckled the straps for the snuggest fit.

Once the brace was securely in place, Elrond was able to relax a little. His main concern had been to try to keep Legolas’s head from moving, when he was transported. There was also the chance he could awaken and would jerk his head before he could be stopped. The result of either possibility could well seal his fate, whether that fate was death or complete, permanent paralysis. Unfortunately, there was no way to know that either of those possibilities might not still occur.

“We will lift him very gently onto the litter and take him to one of the private rooms in the House of Healing.”

Each of the four took hold of Legolas in such as way that there was little chance of him moving. Carefully, they lifted him up and set him on the litter. Each then took a firm hold of one end of the two poles and raised it, as they stood up. They matched steps to keep the litter from bouncing, as they walked slowly into the building.

It took a little less than five minutes to reach the room Elrond had selected to put Legolas in. It was the largest of the private rooms, though as rooms go, it could only be considered on the smallish side.

Elladan used his free hand to pull the pillow from the bed, tossing it onto a chair. Now, Legolas could lie flat.

The first thing that was done was to cut Legolas’s shirt off of him. The back was left in place, so he would not have to be moved to reach it. The front was cut and removed. The parts of the shirt that were under the brace were left as a cushion, so the steel was not against his bare skin.

Once the shirt was gone, the first thing that was revealed was severe bruising all along Legolas’s right side, particularly his hip. Elrond carefully examined the elf’s hip but felt no obvious break. However, swelling there had limited his ability to feel the bone properly. He could not see any deformity in the curve of Legolas’s hip, so perhaps bruising was all that had occurred. He prayed that was so. This possible injury would have to be dealt with later, when the swelling went down.

Elrond next set to work making a closer examination of the archer’s ribs. Two of them were merely cracked. That would be most painful, if the elf had any feeling there at all, but would in no way cause further damage, if Legolas did not exert too much pressure on them. Two other ribs, however, had been snapped in two. It felt to Elrond that one of them was lying against Legolas’s right lung and could easily puncture it, with a twist or jerk of his body. It was a miracle that that had not happened in the fall itself.

All the while, Elrond was telling his sons exactly what he was finding. He did not try to hold anything back from them.

Aragorn accepted everything his father said, except for the part about Legolas maybe not having any feeling in his body. He still steadfastly refused to let the idea of his friend being paralyzed settle into his mind. ‘Don’t acknowledge it, and it won’t be true’ was his thinking on the subject, unrealistic though that thought was.

With deft fingers, Elrond manipulated both ribs back into position. While both Aragorn and Elrohir put their hands under Legolas’s back and kept it straight, Elladan pressed down firmly on the mattress, creating a small hollow space, which was just large enough to allow Elrond to pass the bandage under Legolas’s body. After wrapping the cloth around the elf’s midsection several times, Elrond tied it off.

The curved bar of the brace that went over Legolas’s right shoulder did double duty: to secure the neck brace and to keep the break in his shoulder from separating. Elrond was very happy that the break there was a simple fracture and would not need setting. If it had, he would have had to leave it to possibly mend crookedly. That was not a very pleasant thought, but there was no way he could set a complex break without causing the young elf’s neck tp twist, brace or no brace. If the shoulder was kept immobile, it would heal correctly. Elrond bound Legolas’s right arm to his side to further ensure this.

Everything Elrond had just done was with the assumption that Legolas was not paralyzed. He had to prepare for the possibility that the wood elf might be able to move and further injure himself. Such a prospect had to be eliminated first. When Legolas woke up, they would know the full extend of the damage.

The brunt of the fall had been taken on Legolas’s ribs and shoulder, and probably his head. As a result, there had been no broken bones in his legs or feet. *Thank the Valar for small favors,* Elrond thought. In truth, he was grateful for that. The elven prince had enough problems as it was. He needed no more. And, Elrond had to admit that, considering the fall the young archer had taken, he could have sustained far worse damage. Of course, if he was paralyzed, that would make all the other injuries seem trivial.

When the elf lord finished, he stood up and allowed himself a deep breath. Elrond knew that the elf’s lighter weight had played a large part in him not sustaining more injuries. Legolas was in bad enough shape, as it was. Elrond also knew that if Estel, with his heavier human weight, had been the one to experience such a fall, it would have most likely killed him outright.

“I have done all I can for now. We must wait until Legolas wakes up to know, if he has any feeling below his neck. If he does, he can consider himself extremely lucky.”

“Or blessed.” Elrohir added to his father‘s statement. “Eru would not have brought him back from death only to condemn him to a life as...”

“Don’t say it, Elrohir,” his human brother warned. “He will be all right.” In a much softer voice, he added, “He has to be.”

Elrond regarded his youngest son. “If I have taught you anything, Estel, it is to face facts no matter how painful they may be to you personally.”

“I know that, Ada, but we do not know that paralysis is a fact in this case. I have to believe that Legolas will recover.”

“We all hope so, Estel,” Elladan said, as he put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Elrond nodded. “I do not wish to squash your hope---any of you. I hold to hope myself. However, even if Legolas comes out of this perfectly fine physically, there is still the problem of what caused all of this to begin with.”

“Mordraug,” Aragorn spat out bitterly.

It wasn’t until the ranger said that disgusting name that all three of Elrond’s sons remembered they still didn’t know what had actually happened. It had been obvious to them that Legolas had fallen from his balcony, but the exact circumstances were unknown to them.

“You were with Legolas, Ada. What happened?” Aragorn asked simply.

Elrond explained the entire scene between him and the elven prince, culminating in the sudden leap fromt he balcony. “I am sure he felt there was no other recourse for him.” A twinge of guilt had been growing in the elf lord since Legolas had fallen.

His original argument before going to talk to Legolas had been that Mordraug had to be blindisded with whatever plan he had come up with. If he had mentioned the basics of his plan to Legolas, Mordraug would then have been aware of it, too, and would have somehow stopped it. Elrond had felt, at the time, that that would have doomed Legolas and perhaps his family, as well. If Mordraug had taken complete control of Legolas‘s mind, Elrond might have been forced to lock Legolas up, despite the fact that he had told him he wouldn‘t. It was a thought that sent a shudder through the normally confident elf lord.

Yet now, in the aftermath of what Legolas had done and the permanent damage it may have caused, Elrond wondered if he should have told the young elf what he was thinking regarding a plan of action against the dark elf. Perhaps, together they could have still thwarted Mordraug. Revealing the plan certainly would have given Legolas enough hope to keep him from resorting to such a desperate measure as trying to leap to his death. Elrond looked down at the blond elf. *If I did you a disservice, Legolas, I am sorry.*

Elrond shook his head. There was no use worrying about past events. He hadn’t said anything, and Legolas had jumped. Those two things couldn’t be changed, so whatever was done from now on would have to start from this point in time.

TBC