Feud

Feud
http://feud.shadowess.com
By erobey: robey61@yahoo.com
Disclaimers: see initial chapter
Thanks:all all the readers and especially to Sarah for her beta work. Any remaining errors are only mine!

Chapter 48: Gwaedh o Gwenyr [Bond of Brothers] Part Two

He watched Legolas sleep and it was all he could do to keep from gathering the recovering warrior up into his arms again. It was difficult to reconcile the tales of the fearless Tawarwaith's recent battles with the diminished figure supine on the mattress. It scarcely seemed real and he feared if he looked away but a moment Legolas would be gone. Just seeing the wild elf's respiration lift and lower the leanly muscled ribs was like a mesmerising talisman swaying in a conjurer's fingers and Fearfaron could not tear his eyes away. Did he delude himself, or was each breath drawn easier, each exhale less a fretful complaint and more a regular exchange of the lung's airs?

No tension marred Legolas' fair countenance and his body was as limp and boneless as a coil of elven rope. Even his lips fell slightly open, childlike, as his head rested upon the softness of the pillows. He had turned on his side, assuming his normal posture in repose, yet his wrist did not rest in its accustomed place against upon his waist, for the injury there was too tender to bear even so slight a contact. The archer had his hands tucked under the pillow, elfling fashion, and the carpenter smiled as he cautiously smoothed back the unruly tresses.

{Would that he were but Lindalcon's age, before all this transpired! Then could I see to his future properly!}

The soft-hearted craftsman silently took the Powers to task for keeping him from Legolas until all the damage was done and he could only seek some means to halt further injury. Yet, deep in his soul he knew this was a false charge, for he had raised Annaldír with love and care, and still lost him. With determined fortitude he shoved such a morbid thought from his mind. If he failed to believe that Legolas could have some semblance of normalcy in his life to come, how would he ever convince the archer?

{Indeed, Annaldír recovered from his grief; I have recovered from mine. This hope I must share with Legolas!}

As Fearfaron considered things, he had only a day or two to act before the King would descend from the euphoric heights of proud fatherhood and leave his new-born son's side to give thought once more to the problem of his rejected child. The carpenter hoped the arrival of an uncontested heir might soften the Sinda's loathing for Legolas, but that was far too improbable to be depended upon. He needed to confer with the three counsellors who oversaw adherence to the Law and Customs and determine a way to forestall any charges of treasonous activity Thranduil hoped to level against the outcast.

Yet, the gentle elf could not bear to leave Legolas alone. As the hours passed and the day grew toward the brighter dappled dim of noon, he virtually willed the woodland warrior a peaceful respite, neither speaking nor singing, not even making much movement that might result in any disturbance.

{Long overdue is this abeyance of the archer's Tasks, and may it be a lengthy one, that he may regain all he has lost and recover fully! Valar willing, let an end to this injustice be found and this truly lost warrior be released from his torments!} Fearfaron prayed fervently.

Too long had the forest champion been parted from him, and to have the Tawarwaith returned alive only due to drastic action by the wizard was a relief bearing a bitter aftertaste. Fearfaron sighed and allowed his fingers to trail across his adopted child's cheek with feather-light contact. Legolas' eyes were still closed; a disturbingly persistent status for his foster son, and the carpenter wondered when was the last time true reverie had graced this elf's mind.

"Fearfaron? Will he be truly well someday? It is so unnatural to see him sleep like that!" Lindalcon had likewise kept wordless vigil through the morning and now voiced the carpenter's very thoughts. With tender hands the young elf readjusted the pillow under his friend's wounded leg, but Legolas did not stir.

"I pray it will be so, Lindalcon! Legolas is very strong and it is indisputable that Mithrandir has helped him. We must ensure he is never left alone so that any changes may be noted at once. I will not have him sink back into that state of torture that claimed him yesterday nor tormented by night terrors!"

"Aye! I will help guard him!" the youth offered. "And I am sure Aragorn will, also! He is nearly as fond of Legolas as I, though he has known him but days. Perhaps it is the way of mortals, for there is so little time for all the friendships they will ever have!"

"That is an astute observation for one so young!" remarked the subject of the elf's words. Aragorn stood just inside the doorway watching the scene. "However, it is solely Legolas' noble spirit and forthright bravery that has won my admiration! Seldom do I choose a friend so quickly!"

"You are as quiet as an elf, human!" Lindalcon noted in amazement, for he had not discerned the Man's approach.

"That is because I was raised among the Firstborn!"

"And because you have removed those hard-soled boots!" retorted Fearfaron, pointing to the stockinged feet of their mortal friend.

"Perhaps!" Aragorn chuckled. "My purpose was not to sneak up on you however, I merely needed to ease the discomfort that comes from wearing such gear for days on end! Mithrandir sent me hither; he wishes to speak with you and asked me to watch over our injured friend until your return."

"That is well; I have matters to discuss with him also. Please do not leave Legolas alone, come for me should you both be called away!" Fearfaron admonished and, when this was agreed, bent to give his adopted child a quick kiss on his forehead before rising and leaving the room. He had almost shut the door when a sudden thought halted him on the threshold. "Not that I truly expect him to arrive, but do not allow Thranduil in here without me!"

"Worry not! I will not let him near Legolas!" said Lindalcon fiercely and Fearfaron nodded.

Once the door had shut, Aragorn eased into the leather armchair and raised his feet upon the ottoman. He sighed contentedly and watched as Lindalcon climbed onto the bed and took Fearfaron's place next to the sleeping patient. The young elf even continued the steady stroke of fingers through the wild elf's hair in which the carpenter's hands had been engaged.

"I wish I had asked Gladhadithen how long he should sleep," Lindalcon said with a slight frown. "I know not when to make him wake if he fails to do so on his own. It has been nearly six hours now!"

Aragorn instantly became concerned, for he was unaware that the healer had added a sleeping draught to Legolas' drink. Lindalcon had returned his little sister to their mother's room before fetching the carpenter's request, and the mortal had already made his way back to Mithrandir by then.

"Do you mean to say the healer drugged him?" he asked in alarm. He had no wish to witness another of the warrior's depraved nightmares, nor for the young one to behold such a sight.

"Aye, he would not be sleeping so well otherwise," answered Lindalcon. He gazed at Aragorn appraisingly, observing his new friend's worried countenance. "You know about the dreams, then," he stated, for the look on the Man's face was much as Fearfaron's appeared after one of Legolas' visions of darkness.

"I had the unfortunate experience of causing one!" the human exclaimed. "And it was brought on by this very thing! Legolas should not be given anything to force his rest!" The mortal's eyes widened. "You have seen him… his reactions?" Aragorn could not quite bring himself to name the act and his shocked disgust was evident.

"I have," the young elf tossed back his chestnut waves indignantly. "Tell me you did not look at him thus! Legolas can not help what he dreams, nor whom he loves! The healer says it is because of all the stress associated with his lover leaving him and the tortures of Ailinyéro's chastisement.

"How could you hurt him so? Do you not think it is difficult enough for him to endure such torments without bearing that scornful reprisal in your eyes?" he fumed, angry at this mortal's demeanour. "I thought you were his friend!"

"Peace! I am his friend! I was just surprised that you would understand such matters; I did not mean to imply anything wrong on Legolas' part!" Aragorn said as much to convince himself as the glaring elf tensely drawn and ready to spring upon him at any moment. The Man could not help being thoroughly scandalised that the adults had let this youth witness the archer's graphic sexual re-enactments. "How do you know of the chastisement?"

"Everyone knows," Lindalcon shrugged. "I once heard the tortures with my own ears, for my rooms overlook the barracks courtyard. That night when Ailinyéro was sent away, I was awakened by the commotion and saw Fearfaron bring him out of there. I did not understand then what those elves did to him in that room, but I do now."

"How old are you?" the human demanded.

"Old enough!" retorted Lindalcon hotly. "I will have my Coming of Age in three more years. I was behind in development but I am all caught up again now. Gladhadithen says it was due to grieving over Adar's death. Naneth worried I was going to fade, but Legolas turned that around. I knew after Annaldír's Release that Legolas would never forget my father or abandon him to eternal Wandering. He is the only one, besides Fearfaron, who does not behave as though Valtamar never existed!

"And there is Gwilith! I could never leave my little sister, and now I am a big brother, too!" A brilliant light shown in Lindalcon's warm brown eyes as his love for his siblings filled his soul and brimmed upon the moistly gleaming gaze.

"I am sorry," the Man said. He had not asked much about this young one's life, and suddenly perceived how difficult his position must be within Thranduil's household. "Still, I am not accustomed to children observing the acts that Legolas imagines in his slumber, and I do not agree with it!"

"What are you talking about?" Now Lindalcon's face contorted in confused repugnance. "There are no 'acts' to watch! When the dreaming begins, we wake Legolas up and try to calm downdown without embarrassing him overly much, nothing more!

"And I am hardly a child; I have been told of the body's functions and reactions! Indeed, I think I understand it all better than Legolas does! I have experienced such dreams myself, as I am sure you have, without the unpleasant terrors that render Legolas' fantasies into horrific nightmares!"

"Alright! Say no more, again I meant no offence to you or to Legolas!" Aragorn said and held up a hand to halt Lindalcon's increasingly personal explanations. What he had seen drastically differed from what Aragorn had observed and for that the mortal was relieved.

"He should never sleep by himself, for even without drugs such urges will intrude into his rest." Lindalcon was staring at his friend sadly, still gently stroking the golden head of hair. "I hate to think of the years he has spent alone, enduring those fearsome experiences without assistance or comfort, unable to wake until the end.

"Why can he not just take a different lover, if that is what he needs? Fearfaron says it is not as simple as that, yet surely we could find someone for him," Lindalcon stated the obvious solution, not accepting just how unlikely such an outcome was.

{Now does his lack of years show through!} thought Aragorn with a grim smile and a solemn shake of his head.

"Fearfaron is right; Legolas is under the most dire Judgement known to elf-kind! Who would seekjoinjoin with such an individual? Even in the best of conditions there is no guarantee that every elf will be blessed with love! Legolas would have to be more than the heart and soul of such a lover! And even if this spirit-bride could be found, perhaps Legolas' heart is already claimed."

Lindalcon was quiet as he considered this. He had heard tales of unrequited lovers withering away in grief but refused to believe this was what ailed his friend. He shook his head emphatically and scowled at the Man.

"Nay! If he truly lost the one he loved, Legolas would already have faded! There has been too much happening to him; no matter how great his endurance, he could not have withstood all of this with a heart already broken!" he reasoned.

Aragorn raised his brows, clearly surprised by this statement from one so young, and found there to be some logic in it. Had he not himself been amazed at the length of years Legolas had borne his grief alone he whe wilds? Yet, what was the explanation for the elf's state if not some unbeatable sorrow?

"Then what, Lindalcon? For here he lies, surely broken in spirit if ever an elf was!" the mortal softly queried. He had some vague hope that this child would know the answer, something so unbelievably simple that the adults, in their haste to assign complexity to any quandary not immediately solvable, had overlooked.

"I do not know! He believes that he is in love and yet alone! Legolas does not think anyone loves him. Why can he not see that he is no longer shunned? To Fearfaron he is as a second son; he is like an older brother to me, Aiwendil saved his life once, and Mithrandir has done everything but bind his very soul to Legolas! All of us love him!" Lindalcon was frustrated and struggled to hold back tears.

"Aye, Lindalcon, he does not doubt any of what you have spoken! But you know that this is not the same as being in love with someone. If he loves and has given over his heart, then that being holds his life hostage. This is what has happened to Legolas. This is what Malthen has done to him," Aragorn concluded as gently as he could.

"Malthen?" the young elf's eyes narrowed; this was news indeed! "He loves Malthen, but he is not in love with him! You have to be mistaken!"

"Nay, I am not; that is the name he cries during his dreams! Surely you have witnessed that!" Aragorn was alarmed at Lindalcon's response, for he never considered the youth might not be aware of this. If he had seen the nightmares, he must have heard this name fall from Legolas' lips.

Too late, Aragorn considered that the young elf had exaggerated exactly how much of Legolas' distressing illusions he had observed. With dismay the Man realised Lindalcon had more than likely repeated things he had overheard between the healer and the carpenter, without ever actually being present during one of the episodes. He sighed.

"Why is this so unlikely? You know of this elf?"

"Of course I know him! He served with Legolas and my father! He was Legolas' personal guard from the time he was born."

The two stared at one another in the silence that followed, simultaneously realising the depth of such a betrayal, watching the comprehension slowly taking shape within each other's minds.
Tbc