HP timeline: Oliver's seventh year.
LOTR timeline: After the Lord Of The Rings. Descendents of Orc warriors
slain seek revenge (my own plot)
Oliver Wood (etc.) is the property of Rowling. Legolas (etc.) is the
property of Tolkien. Only the plot after LOTR is mine. Oh, and a few original
characters. ^_^0
~Far Deeper Than Skin~
**LEGOLAS**
This was a peace that closed my eyes, almost put me into what Humans called "sleep." The willow I was perched on sang silent whispers through her slender leaves. Her large, knotted limbs protected me from a sheet of rain that thundered outside. I could just see the drops through the willow's branches. They consumed every part of Rivendell. Every part but me.
I sighed contentedly, removed my pack of arrows from my back. It felt good to be back with my own kind, back in my own land. I let the bag drop to the ground, send a small puddle of mud into a pathetic explosion. There had been enough war in my heart, I no longer needed my weapons.
Outside the thick wood I could hear festive laugher, small lights danced in the gloom of the rain. I could almost hear Gimli's bass laugh, followed closely what I knew to be Elrond's. I smiled. Elrond had never laughed in his life, or in the two thousand years I had known him. Perhaps there was laughter before, but none in my lifetime.
I closed my eyes. I knew it was almost uncivilized for an Elf to fall to a Human level of rest, but I had to admit that it felt good. I was still young, yes, but it many ways my body had aged faster than any Elf. I hurt to my bones, and the rough surface of my willow soothed the cramps I hadn't been able to shake off since the Fellowship began. For the first time in what felt like eternity, I began to feel relaxed.
A subtle thump opened my eyes. The willow had stopped her singing, yet the rejoicing in the city continued. I allowed my ears to prick forward, let my eyes scan over what I could see beyond the willow's leaves. The willow moved her branches, her slender arms, parted, poured in a sheet of cold rain. Shocked, I leapt to my feet, nimbly took to a higher branch. With a soaked sleeve I brushed the water from my face.
The wind began to howl, the willow moved her leaves aside again, pelted me. I took to branch after branch, shivering. The willow began to speak, slowly, softly.
" Young one...."
Her whisper echoed softly in the wood.
" Open are my doors. Flee, flee from Rivendell...."
She let the rain fall on me.
" They will find you, they will seek you....."
" Who?" I sputtered, wiping my face again.
" They are already here. Run, run my child!"
With a sudden gust of wind, she pushed me from her branches. I tumbled in the air, twisted to regain my balance, reached out for the next tree. The willow's urgent whispers echoed behind me.
" Run! They cannot catch you! Run!"
I jumped to the ground, began to sprint. The wind ran with me, the willow's wind. Her voice was lost before long as her wind guided me through bushes. As my breathing quickened, I made to silence it, fell into the Elf I was. My footsteps became lighter, I left not a footprint behind, not a bend grass blade or crumpled leaf. The bushes refused to rustle as I passed.
" You're not safe."
I looked towards a wise, old maple. His leaves were waving in the same breeze that was guiding me.
" She speaks true. You are no longer safe."
" Nay!" I whispered under my breath. But in my heart, deep in my heart, I knew they spoke the truth. The trees of Rivendell never lied.
An arrow sliced the air just in front of my eyes. I barely ducked it, fell to the ground in a rough, unplanned roll, then took to my feet. I murmered prays beneath my breath as another arrow flew behind me. I could hear breath, loud breath, in my ears. And it wasn't the trees' breath.
I jumped over another flying air, ducked a low-hanging branch. Anxiety caught up with me, made me clumsy, and though I saw the arrow, saw it plain and clear, it hit me. The shoulder, it dug into my shoulder. The sudden pain sent me reeling, my step faltered. My arm grew hot, the blood drenched the sleeve of my outfit. My uniform. My warrior uniform.
Another arrow hit me, from the front, dug into my stomach. I stopped as the point pierced me, ripped me. My breath was gone from me in an instant. I choked, struggled to breathe. My knees shook, a hot, seering pain took my stomach, grabbed my chest. I could feel my heart twisting under the sudden agony. Choking in one breath, one breath, I sank to my knees. Swallow after swallow shook me. Another breath took my body over. Exhale, I couldn't exhale.
" Elf," a voice sneered. " Elf prince, Elf warrior." The voice was followed by a deep, roaring laughter.
I swallowed again, brought my hands to my stomach. Thick blood coated my fingers in seconds. I had never seen my own blood in my life.
" Son of Thranduil, so easy to catch." A hot breath reached my neck. " Do you know what it's like to die, Legolas?"
My name, he knew my name. Breath was slowly running back into me, ragged gasps, long silences of eternity and pain interupting each swallow for air. I shook helplessly.
The voice laughed again. " I can't believe it's done. Do you know how
long I've been looking for you, Son of Thranduil?" The laughter disappeared
suddenly and a foot connected with my stomach. I tried to grunt as I doubled
over, the breath I had worked to gain gone. The world around me, dark blue,
began to swirl. I could just feel the wind through my long hair. " Had
you known that it was you who killed my father? Had you known what it was
like for me to hear he was never going to return to me, because of an Elven
prince named Legolas?" The foot caught my stomach again. I collapsed on
my side, curled into a ball around the arrow in me.
" Do you know what it's like to have a father taken from you, Son of
Thranduil? No, no you didn't." A rough hand grabbed my hair, lifted my
head. I was looking at a fowl Orc's face, covered in blood and sweat over
what could have been a graceful Elf. " But now you do."
Realization took me, almost choked the life out of me more efficiently than the Orc's beatings. My father.....Thranduil.....
I found it in me to yell. " You lie!" I screamed. The pain in my chest tightened and I gasped sharply.
The Orc laughed, tightened his grip on my hair, then pulled me to my feet. Grimacing in pain, I obeyed him. He did not release me when I finally stood, though. Only grinned at me with a mouth lacking many teeth, teeth replaced by insects I had never seen.
" Thranduil, in his old age....he was so easy." The smile on the Orc's face reached his eyes. He was proud. " But you want to know something? I found my revenge didn't quench my thirst. You have torn me deeply, and the only thing that can make me happy is to watch you suffer." He laughed, brought his fist to my cheekbone. I felt my cheekbone shatter on contact and I dropped to the ground. The Orc let me fall, let go of my hair.
" Suffer now, Legolas, Son of Thranduil, and I shall be forever at peace." He roared, brought his foot into my stomach again.
The world around me dimmed quickly, darkness overtook my eyes. A small trickle of blood entered my eye, stung with rain water. I couldn't see.
" Please," I whispered. With ever word I uttered, my chest knotted more. " Father....stop...please..." Blood filled my mouth, it ran freely down my face now. The pain in my chest burned, my heart struggled to beat through it. " Please!"
Everything went black.
A/N: This chapter is utterly short, and the next with be probably just as short. These are only the openings! I will be writing longer, more intense chapters! ^_^ Promise.