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> Previous Story: "Betrayal"
> "Legolas' No Good Rotten Day"
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Stars of Harad"
G
Aragorn woke late, the sun already slatting through
the large windows
that let out on to the huge balcony just outside his room. He was
surprised that Legolas hadn’t woken him sooner. The ranger was spending
the summer in Mirkwood and had quickly discovered that no one slept
in late under Thranduil's roof.
So it was with mild consternation that he sleepily
swung his legs off
the bed and called out to the adjoining room to see if the prince were
already up.
Before he had finished speaking the door to his room
swung open,
slamming into the wall behind it and forcefully ricocheting back closed.
Aragorn stared wide-eyed at the being that stalked
towards him. He
flinched slightly and drew back as the elf threw himself into the large
overstuffed chair that sat next to his bed.
Angry blue eyes turned on the ranger and the scowl
that accompanied
them silenced the human's questions. Legolas looked awful: his hair was
disheveled and a bruise was forming across his fair cheek. It looked as
though he had dressed in a rush and in the dark at that.
The two sat in silence for several minutes before
Aragorn hazarded a
quiet question. "Are you okay?"
Legolas' eyes slitted even farther. "Do I look
okay?" he growled back
at his friend.
"Actually no," the ranger responded quietly. If the
elf weren’t
glowering so much he would have started laughing. Legolas' braids were
frayed and his normally perfect hair was sticking out at odd angles.
"What happened?" Aragorn sat back up and leaned
forward, trying to look
into his friend's eyes. The elf had dropped his gaze and was staring at
the floor.
Aragorn followed his gaze curiously, wondering if
the prince were
burning holes in the carpet. Gently he touched the elf's shoulder.
"Legolas?"
"It started this morning." The prince shook his
head. "Supply couriers
from Esgaroth down on Long Lake came this morning...early." He ground
out the word darkly. "Very
early. Of course the gate keepers came and
woke ME to take the seal off!" They knew better than to disturb his
father, the only other one who could do it. The elf prince glanced up
at the ranger sheepishly. "I was so tired it took me three tries to get
the gates to open."
Aragorn stifled a small laugh as Legolas frowned at
him.
"Oh go ahead
and laugh, the guards at the gates certainly did, although they thought
I never heard them. Idiots," he muttered softly.
"As if that weren’t enough, I tripped on a box of
furs in the storage
room and slammed my face against one of the wine kegs that the men had
brought up with the supplies because the light vent had been blocked by
debris outside and the room was nearly pitch black when the men left
the room before me with the torches! All that on my way just to see
them out." He rubbed his cheek gently. "Which wouldn’t have been a
problem had not the men decided to go ahead and try to leave the palace
on their own instead of waiting for me. They were a new group of humans
and they got lost and ended up upstairs in my father's private rooms!"
Legolas shook his head gently. "My father." The elf
prince sighed
before continuing. "He was infuriated. Of course his guards had left to
help me find the men, and by the time we caught up with them..." He
didn’t finish the sentence. "I don’t think they'll ever come back." He
smiled slightly. "Of course I had to suffer through my father's lecture
on 'when there are guests I fully expect to be informed and you are not
to let them roam the palace unattended'. As if I just LET them walk
through our house like that. Ever heard that one?"
When Aragorn shook his head silently Legolas
continued, "Well I am
surprised that you didn’t hear it through the very walls. I believe
every elf in Mirkwood knows now what happened." He grabbed the tip of
one of his frayed braids and twisted it ruefully in his fingers. "Not
to mention the fact that my brush is missing and my hair would not
cooperate. I half-way think the serving staff misplaced it and just
don’t want to tell me. This isn’t the first time that has happened."
He pressed his face into his hands and rested his
elbows on his knees,
murmuring quietly in elvish.
Aragorn leaned forward and tried to pry Legolas'
hands away. "What did
you say?" he asked softly.
With a weary sigh Legolas lifted his head. "I said I
can’t believe this
morning and it’s not even close to midday. I very much fear what the
rest of the day holds. I am not leaving this room; I am staying in here
with you. You seem to be having a very nice morning. Slept well did
we?" He smiled wickedly at the human.
Aragorn glanced around him suddenly self-conscious
and slowly drew his
feet off the floor and back under the thick warm blankets, wondering
uneasily what would happen next. Before he could speak a loud crash
resounded from the downstairs entry and the king's voice bellowed up
the staircase, overriding the chaos that echoed up to the quiet room,
"LEGOLAS!"
The prince vaulted from his seat and rounded the
other side of
Aragorn's bed pressing back into the darkness of the still room.
"Valar! Quick bolt the door, you haven’t seen me!"
Jumping from his seated position Aragorn barely got
the door to his
chamber locked when a heavy fist pounded on the wooden entrance to his
room. "Aragorn!" the deep, irritated voice of the king called through
to
him.
"Y-Yes sir?" The ranger responded hesitantly,
rolling his eyes at the
sound of his own voice.
"Open the door."
Aragorn glanced back at Legolas who had crept around
the corner and was
vehemently shaking his head no. The ranger implored the elf silently,
raising his hands palm up and shrugging his shoulders. But the elf only
continued to respond to the negative.
"Uh...uhm, my Lord, I am afraid I cannot do
that...Uh...I...uh I haven’t
dressed yet." He winced even as he spoke the lame excuse.
"You what?"
"Well see..."
"Never mind!" The king cut off his response angrily.
"Have you seen my
son this morning?" the timber of Thranduil's voice changed slightly.
"No," Aragorn lied, hoping he sounded honest.
"I see." It was silent for a few moments and the
ranger turned back to
glance at his friend who was walking cautiously towards the door.
Legolas leaned against the wooden entryway and pressed his ear to it,
listening hard for any proof that his father was indeed gone.
Just when they thought they were safe, Thranduil's
voice sounded in the
chamber low and dark, "Fine. Legolas, I know you are in there, hiding.
You left the door ajar this morning and your pet ketrals found their
way into the house. That specially made Beorning platter that was a
gift
from the regent is in pieces. How many times have I told you..."
Legolas jumped back from the door, grabbed Aragorn
by the sleeve of his
sleeping tunic and drug the human with him to the balcony, snatching
the ranger's satchel off the dresser as he retreated.
"Legolas, what are you doing?"
"You have a brush in here don’t you?"
"I think so. Elladan usually packs one for me even
though I rarely use
it...why?" Aragorn tried to wriggle out of the elf's grip.
"And a change of clothing as well, correct?" Legolas
asked as he leaned
over the balustrade and looked to the grounds below them before
glancing back at the ranger and finally realizing that the man still
wore his sleeping clothes.
"Legolas?!?!"
The elf turned and pierced the man with a desperate
gaze. "I am leaving
the palace and you are coming with me! We need to get as far away from
here as possible. My father loved that plate and he hates my ketrals."
Legolas leapt lightly into the branches of the tree that stretched out
towards the balcony, reaching back as Aragorn shook his head and threw
his overnight bag at the elf. "There is no telling what else will
happen if we stay here. Now come on, Strider, jump!"
The lock to the door behind them was thrown and the
human leapt into
the tree after his friend who had already shimmied to the floor of the
forest and was impatiently motioning the ranger down. Without another
thought Aragorn dropped to the ground hard as Thranduil stormed into
his chamber. The human chased the elf into the cover of the trees and
did not look back.
Whatever the day had started out being, it was only
going to get more
interesting from here, he thought darkly as he ran through the forest
barefoot in his sleeping tunic and leggings. They were never going to
live
this down!
The End
Stories > Series
> Previous Story: "Betrayal"
> "Legolas' No Good Rotten Day"
> Next story: "The
Stars of Harad"
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