Courting Death

Legolas sat quietly in the forest away from the fellowship. He could see
them with his keen elvsighsight. He knew they could not see him and that
is exactly what he wanted. He slowly unlaced the leather bracing on his
left arm. He rolled up the sleeve of his silver undertunic. He stared at the
smooth flesh. Then he unlaced the bracing on his right arm and rolled up
his other sleeve. He stared at the mass of scars that ran from his elbow to
his wrist. Thin lines some were white and years old. Some were red and
were only days or hours old. *How long had he been doing this? How
many years had he been taking pleasure in the mortification of his flesh?*
he thought to himself. He pulled out his dagger and gazed back at his left
arm. He placed the tip of the dagger at his wrist and prepared to pull up.
As he started to cut he heard a noise and he cut deeper then he had
intended. Much deeper. Gasping in pain he realised he had cut down to the
main vein in his arm. He laid back on the forest floor as the blood poured
out of his arm.
*Soon it would be over. Soon the pain would stop. Soon.* he thought as
tears slipped down his face.

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Aragorn sat listening to the hobbits tell jokes when a sense of dread hit
him. Something was not right. He looked around the campfire to see who
was missing. Gimli was polishing his axe, Boromir sat thinking, and the
hobbits were telling jokes. But where was Legolas? *He had been gone far
to long.* Aragorn thought as he stood up. He walked in the direction he
had seen Legolas go. He walked swiftly through the forest calling his
friends name. He saw a figure laying on the ground, blood pooling under
him. A deep, vicious cut ran from his wrist to his elbow. Blood poured out
of it at a alarming rate. With a strangled moan Aragorn knelt next to his
friend. His knee brushed something cold and hard. He reached down and
picked it up. It was an elvish dagger and it was smeared with blood.
Aragorn tore a strip of cloth from his cloak and tied it tightly around
Legolas left arm, slightly above his elbow. The flow of blood slowed
considerably but did not stop. He tucked the dagger away before he picked
up Legolas. *Why would he do this? Why? Why? Why?* ran through his
mind as he raced back to camp.
The rest of the fellowship looked up as Aragorn came running back. Frodo
gasped when he saw the vicious cut on Legolas' arm.
"What happened to Legolas?" Frodo asked worried.
Aragorn laid Legolas down next to the fire and rummaged around in his
pack. Aragorn pulled out a needle, bandages, healing herbs, and some
horse hair.
"Sam boil some water. Boromir as soon as I start stitching him together he
will wake I will need your help to restrain him. Frodo hold his arm I need
it to be straight and flat." he said as he threaded the needle with the horse
hair. Kneeling next to Legolas he began to stitch the cut flesh together
again. As Aragorn predicted when the needle pierced his skin Legolas'
eyes flewn. Cn. Crying out Legolas tried to shake them off. Aragorn
cursed under his breath. If he didn't stop he would only aggravate his
injuries.
"Boromir sedate him!" Aragorn snapped as he struggled to finish suturing.
Boromir struck Legolas' face hard enough to render the elf unconscious.
Finishing he tied off the hairs.
"Sam is the water ready?"
Sam nodded and handed Aragorn a cup of water. Aragorn softly washed
the cut to prevent infection. He swiftly wrapped bandages around the arm.
He then removed the cloth from his upper arm. He watched intently to see
if any blood seeped from the wound. When none did he wrapped Legolas
up in a blanket and left him to sleep.

Aragorn sat next to the elf his mind racing. *Why had he done this?* He
then noticed that the right bracing was removed as well. He rolled up the
sleeve and gasped at the myriad scars and welts. He realised that Merry
was talking to him.
"I'm sorry Merry can you repeat what you said?"
Merry nodded "Who did this to him?"
The rest of the fellowship nodded they were all wondering the same thing.
Aragorn silently pulled the dagger out and placed it in front of everybody.
They all looked at it comprehension slowly dawning on them.

An elvish dagger smeared with elvish blood. The same dagger they had all
seen Legolas use in the mines.
"He.........he did this to himself?" Frodo whispered disbelief evident in his
tone.
Aragorn held out Legolas right arm so they all could see the old scars.
"It seems he has been doing this for awhile......only this time he went to
far." Aragorn whispered "Rest everybody I will take first watch."

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To be continued..........................