The afternoon was warm and sunny, a perfect day for a swim in the lake at the waterfall. Legolas had extended the invitation to his friend but Aragorn politely declined claiming that he had to help his father with some chores. Elladan and Elrohir had been sent out on a scouting trip that morning and had not returned yet. The wood-elf contemplated whether to go alone and almost changed his mind but Aragorn promised that he would join him as soon as his job was finished. The ranger asked him to wait at the lake.

Legolas reached the waterfall and settled down on a large rock near the shore. He removed his clothing and tossed them carelessly onto the grass. His boots soon joined the rest of his belongings. Clad only in his underwear, the fair being dove into the lake in one swift motion. The water was cool against his skin as he surfaced for air. Flinging the water out of his hair, he swam out towards the middle of the lake, enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

Aragorn followed Legolas to the lake, tailing him from a distance. Today would be the day. He had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. He needed to catch the elf prince alone in the lake. Sneaking out from behind some trees, the ranger observed the graceful being as he dove into the pool. The ranger’s gaze fell on the bundle of brown and green lying beside the large rock and grinned. Spying from behind the trees, he watched as the elf swam towards the middle of the lake, his back facing the ranger, unaware of his presence. Taking the perfect chance, Aragorn made a beeline for the bundle, scooping it up and turned his direction towards the north side of the lake. The ranger left an easy trail for the prince to follow on purpose, leading him to his next prank. When he neared the location, the young man changed course and headed towards home, carefully covering up all his tracks. To the elf, the trail would have appeared to end in the middle of nowhere.

"Aragorn, is that you?" the elf turned around and swam back towards shore as his elven senses picked up a presence behind him. "Strider?" the elf called out again but the field was empty. Empty! His clothes were gone! "Aragorn!! Give me back my clothes!!" the elf yelled frantically for his friend knowing very well that the man was long gone. "Human scum!!" he shouted. Scanning the area with his keen elven eyes, he saw the trail that Aragorn had left for him. "You’re a dead man, Strider!"

The elf pushed himself out of the water after looking around nervously making sure that the area was secure. The last thing he needed was to be caught standing in the middle of the field half-naked and dripping wet. He crossed his legs and bent his knees, trying to minimise the exposure. The afternoon wind made his bare skin tingle uncomfortably and he shivered slightly more out of embarrassment than cold. Hugging himself tightly across the chest, Legolas followed the trail awkwardly, constantly scanning the area for any unwelcome visitors.

The ranger’s tracks ended abruptly among the dense trees. The tall grass tickled Legolas’ fair skin sending goosebumps through his entire body. The elf wandered around aimlessly wondering why the ranger had led him here. Then he saw it. A piece of cloth hung loosely on the edge of a long fragile-looking branch. A thicker branch ran parallel below the thinner branch several feet above his head. The branch extended away from him over a patch of thick undergrowth but looked sturdy enough to hold his weight. After all, elves were light-weighted beings. Legolas scaled up the tree with ease reaching the lower branch quickly. Balancing himself well on the thick branch, the elf inched out towards the edge and stretched out for the cloth above his head. But before his fingertips could brush the soft material, the branch under him shifted. A small creak alerted the elf and he froze.

*He rigged the branch!*

Legolas swore silently. He surveyed the situation and decided that he could handle the fall. If only he could snag the cloth before he fell. Calculating the distance, the nimble elf leapt and closed his fingers around the cloth. He landed back lightly on the branch but the rigged branch snapped under his weight nevertheless sending him tumbling down into a pile of leaves.

Pushing himself up from the ground into a sitting position, Legolas spat out a mouthful of grass and plucked twigs and dry leaves out of his wet hair. But a smile spread out on his face as he saw the object of interest lying a few inches beside him. Picking up the cloth quickly, he unfolded it and his jaw dropped. The so-called cloth was in shreds. It was folded carefully to fool the elf into believing that the material was large enough to cover him. Legolas flung the piece of offending cloth away disgustedly and stomped across the thick undergrowth, cursing under his breath. The human was good, too good for his liking. He was certain that the young ranger was hiding up some tree silently laughing his head off.

"Okay Strider! You win!" the elf yelled throwing his hands into the air to indicate defeat and waited for his friend to scamper down some tree. Nothing happened. "I’m sorry about what happened to your hair!" the elf shouted. "And the eyebrow…" he added softly.

Still nothing.

"Fine! Hide and laugh!" Legolas treaded through the thick bushes, his mind searching for ways to return to the house without being detected. Realization hit him suddenly, "that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?! Have me trod into the house half-naked!" Muttering more curses, Legolas made his way across the field unaware of the trip-wire that he was about to trigger.

A soft click caught the elf’s attention and he twirled around not expecting any danger so close to home. But before he came fully about, a sharp pain exploded in his right thigh. Legolas cried out in shock and pain as he fell to his knees, a bolt embedded deeply in the soft flesh. The throbbing pain quickly turned into a dull numbing pain and he knew that the bolt had been poisoned. It had to be removed before more poison entered his system. Grabbing the shaft, the elf prince ripped the bolt out but he was surprised that there wasn’t much pain although he was bleeding rather heavily. The numbness began to spread out from the point of impact to the rest of his leg. Having nothing to staunch the bleeding, the woodland being regretted throwing the cloth so far out of reach.

Clutching the bleeding wound tightly, Legolas tried to pull himself up but the numbness had rendered his right leg useless. Ignoring the panic that rose within him, the prince inched forward with the aid of his left hand and leg, intending to get out of the area as soon as possible. He knew that Aragorn did not set the traps and that his friend would never hurt him. The traps must have been meant for some other purposes for the aim was low, too low to do serious damage to a humanoid but just nice to strike an animal. And the poison was meant to put the animal out of its misery painlessly, working quickly to numb the senses and shutdown the autonomic functions. Fortunately, the dose was not high enough to kill an elf although it would probably render him unconscious and give him a terrible headache after the effect wore off.

Legolas pulled himself forward slowly inching towards the open field. His arms and other leg had begun to feel the effect of the poison making his movement painstakingly slow. Suddenly, without warning, the ground below him disappeared and he plunged into emptiness. He hit the bottom, face down, with a sickening crack, the impact knocking the wind out of him momentarily. Legolas gasped for breath and tried to sit up but his body seemed to have taken a life of its own and refused to do what his mind commanded. All that he could do was roll over onto his back, staring up from the bottom of a seven-foot deep hole.

The fall had aggravated his leg wound, causing it to bleed again. Dry dirt clung at his smooth skin and matted into the open wound in this thigh. He tried to assess for other injuries but could not seem to do it when he couldn’t feel any pain.

"Thrider!" the elf called out as loud as his body allowed him to. "Thid id not phunny anymoore!" the words slurred, his tongue felt like a chunk of lead in his mouth.

For a moment, he thought Aragorn would pop his head over the opening and grin down at him but all was quiet outside. He started to feel dizzy. His vision blurred and his breathing started to come in short rasps making him wonder if he had given himself a concussion when he fell and had broken some ribs. On the other hand, maybe it was just the poison wreaking havoc within his system. Closing his eyes against the bright afternoon sunlight, the elf lay at the bottom of the pit helplessly and waited, hoping that someone would discover him before dark. He hated the idea of spending the night in the pit especially when half-naked and without knowing the extent of his injuries.

To Be Continued...