Lord Of The Rings Fan Fiction ❯ Legolas and the Rangers ❯ Despair ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10

 

Despair

 

Blaen regained consciousness slowly. His head ached and the pains in his body were readily making themselves known. He moaned softly and tried to straighten his body out a little more so that the welts on his back weren't stretched so tightly.

 

The blanket placed over him slipped a little and he shivered in the cool air. This was strange though; why was he warm? Where had the blanket come from? Surely the orcs hadn't given it to him.

 

He heard movement nearby and flinched away as a hand closed around his arm. `Easy,' soothed a voice. He opened his eyes and blinked blurrily, trying to discover who had spoken to him so softly and gently.

 

Someone hunched before him, blocking his view from the fire. `Another prisoner?' he wondered to himself.

 

`You've been through a lot Blaen,' continued the same voice gently. `Just rest a little.'

 

Finally Blaen's vision cleared and he recognised one of the Peredhil brothers leaning over him.

 

`Elladan?' he asked his voice husky with thirst. `Yes,' answered the eldest son of Elrond. `What are you doing here?' asked Blaen struggling to sit up a little. His body protested and he groaned. Calmly Elladan pushed him back down and reached over to retrieve a water bottle. He unscrewed the lid and carefully offered Blaen a drink.

 

Blaen drank the offered amount and then returned his attention to the elf next to him. `How did you get here?' Elladan smiled softly, `If you mean the orc camp then no, we are not there but several miles away from it and dusk is beginning to close in. You have been here all day and sleeping peacefully while Elrohir and I tended to your wounds. It is a miracle that infection had not set in.'

 

Blaen stared aghast. `You mean that they no longer have me? That I am free?' he asked with disbelief. `Yes,' answered Elladan.

 

Blaen swallowed and leaned back, closing his eyes as emotion thudded through him. A soft noise reached his ears and he opened his eyes to see Elrohir beside his brother, his sleeves rolled up and looking rather grubby in the twilight of the evening.

 

He smiled at Blaen and bent to softly speak to Elladan. The elder twin nodded his assent before turning back to the young ranger.

 

`I thought I would die there,' said Blaen hollowly, his moments of pain and terror coming back. `Hush,' replied Elladan smoothing back his hair. Blaen closed his eyes again as the tears finally slid down his cheeks.

 

`You are safe now and if I can help it, will never have to endure such again.' The elf's touch was strangely comforting.

 

`Drink some of this,' ordered Elladan passing the ranger a small cup. Blaen nodded and grudgingly allowed Elladan to raise his head and tip the contents into his mouth. The liquid within tasted strange and bitter but at least had a pleasant after taste.

 

Gradually the pain faded somewhat and Blaen felt sleep steel over him. He struggled somewhat but eventually conceded after a hard reprimand not to fight it from Elladan.

 

Elladan watched the young ranger finally settle into a deep and dreamless sleep which would hopefully give Blaen a good rest.

 

Carefully he then picked Blaen up and went back to the litter Elrohir had informed him he'd just finished. He set the ranger down gently and moved back to pick up and pack his things.

 

He frowned however, when he noted they were not where he had left them, in fact, he could not see them anywhere. Laughter reached his ears and Elladan whirled to face his brother, standing innocently beside Blaen's stretcher, Elladan's pack in hand.

 

`That was not funny,' glowered Elladan stalking over and snatching his pack out of his brother's grasp. `Yes it was,' shot back Elrohir but Elladan refused to be goaded into a fight. Instead, he picked up his end of the stretcher and waited for Elrohir to do the same.

 

With a sigh Elrohir complied. `I suppose we better hurry then if you truly intend to leave Blaen with the border patrol and return to search for Legolas.' `Aye I do gwador,' answered Elladan grimly.

 

* * *

 

The sun was just slipping beneath the horizon in a glorious show of colour and light when Elrond heard the distinct sounds of the border patrols returning after being relieved. With a sigh, he departed the comfortable balcony he had been standing on and slipped into the warm and comforting presence of his study.

 

His papers lay where he had left them and the fire still burned gently in the grate casting a soothing glow over the room.

 

The peace was interrupted before Elrond could slip back into his chair by an urgent knock at the door.

 

`Come in,' called Elrond.

 

The door opened quickly as Erestor moved into the room. The councillor looked slightly flustered but excited.

 

`My lord, I think you had better come to the eastern wing.' Elrond frowned but followed Erestor, knowing that details could be explained later. `What could possibly have happened?' thought Elrond moving quickly through the richly decorated corridors. `Was it possibly news from the twins concerning Legolas and Blaen?' That seemed the most likely cause of Erestor's excitement. Never the less, the eastern wing was where the sick and injured were taken and that in itself worried Elrond.

 

The clamour could be heard long before Elrond arrived and it rose to fever pitch as he swept into the room followed by Erestor.

 

Soldiers were milling about talking excitedly with their families and friends. `Please my friends! Quiet!' ordered Elrond struggling to be heard above the racket.

 

The elves quickly quietened. Elrond's gaze swept across the room and he spotted one bed that was occupied on the far side of the room. `Now I don't know what all the fuss is about but we obviously have one injured or sick person here and they need quiet in order to rest. Reunions are for in the courtyard only,' said Elrond sternly. `Take your family and friends outside and report back to the barracks to be signed in before you return to your homes.'

 

Quickly soldiers and their families left leaving Elrond breathing with relief when only he, Erestor and the healers remained.

 

`Honestly,' mused Elrond moving over to the bed. `This must be a very important guest to have everybody rushing inside with him.' `Well I believe everyone felt very strongly about protecting him when he was brought to them,' answered Erestor secretively.

 

Elrond spared his friend a brief questioning look before he moved over to the bed. He was quite surprised to recognise Blaen's bruised and battered face. The ranger was unconscious but someone had thoughtfully tried to secure his hair though much of it still spilled across the pillows in all directions.

 

`What happened?' demanded Elrond pulling back the sheets. He recognised the tunic Blaen wore as one of Elrohir's and he gently began to remove it.

 

`The twins brought him to the border patrol last night. They found him held captive by a small band of yrch,' explained Erestor. `They believed him to have been held captive by them for at least a month before they tracked him down. It was a miracle that infection hadn't set in but they've had him drugged up to block any infection until they could get him back to Imladris and placed in your care to have his wounds properly cleaned and dressed.'

 

`The captain of the patrol reported that they left him with the border patrol before turning back into the mountain pass to look for Legolas,' continued Erestor. `Once Blaen is awake they have requested that a messenger be sent to them with any information Blaen may have concerning Legolas. They would have waited longer but they know time may be running out or might already have done so and they wanted to get back on his trail before too much more time passed.'

 

Elrond nodded, heaving a sigh of relief to hear that the twins were hale.

 

The next several hours were spent cleaning and dressing wounds before Elrond eventually sank into a chair placed thoughtfully beside the bed, satisfied with his work.

 

The arrow wound to Blaen's leg had been the worst injury to deal with because splinters of the bolt still remained locked in the wound and had to be painstakingly removed. The task was now complete though and all that Elrond could do was wait for Blaen to wake.

 

* * *

 

The darkness slipped from Blaen slowly and left in its wake a peaceful warmth and the comfortable feel of a warm bed and freshly dressed wounds. Blaen knew no fear, remembering the fair elven faces of Elladan and Elrohir right before the darkness. And yet…something was not right.

 

Something was niggling at the back of his consciousness, something that was dangerously important. He frowned trying to remember the details, not even aware of the shadow that suddenly loomed above him.

 

With frightening clarity, it came back to him, the very reason he had been captured in the first place, the thing that had caused him to stray right into the path of orcs and so willingly embrace the despair that they brought with them. The prince…

 

`Legolas!'

 

Blaen sat up and yelled, falling back as the pain of the whip beatings to his back and the tender ribs in his chest protested under the sharp movement. The shadow jerked away at the last possible moment.

 

Elrond had come over once he sensed the young ranger waking and it had been pure reflex that had saved the both of them from the head ache that was sure to have ensured later. Now he stood calmly, waiting for Blaen to compose himself and notice him.

 

When Blaen did, Elrond felt his heart sink as he recognised the terrible guilt and despair there. Yet Elrond had to know, he had to ask. `Blaen, what happened to Legolas?'

 

The ranger was silent a moment and Elrond was almost ready to ask again, thinking the human had been too caught up in his memories to hear him, when he suddenly answered.

 

`He is gone,' said Blaen softly. `He saved my life at the cost of his own.'