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Legolas and the Blue Kingdom, Chapters 20 and 21

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Post subject: Legolas and the Blue Kingdom, Chapters 20 and 21
Posted: Sat 11 Mar , 2006 4:05 am
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Legolas Chapter 20…………

………during the small, small hours of April 16………Legolas………

“So,” Legolas, he said.

He held the Staff in his right hand and the blue Orb radiated its cold light around his figure. He smiled sardonically and lifted the Staff and struck the floor with it and said, “Is this what you are looking for?”

I said nothing. What could I say? At my side the dog Plato growled again, and I put my hand on his head. Glancing down I could see his Hackles were up, and his powerful body was tense.

Luinil looked at the Dog and laughed. “That beast does not like me,” he said. “Methinks I should turn him into Something. A Man, maybe?” Then he laughed again. “Come, Legolas, let us go through that door into my Study. We might as well be comfortable, and I have never found this Tunnel to be a pleasant place.”

He pushed at the door and it opened. The noise of it was the grinding sound we had heard in Roland’s room, as the chain-driven mechanism moved the heavy Door. It was not louder here than it had been in the next room and I guessed it was because the sound was carried in the very material of the Wall.

“Seat yourself, Legolas,” Luinil said. He gestured to an armchair near the hearth, and lay the Staff across a table, then leaned against the table himself. “Now what are we going to do, Legolas?” he asked.

Still I said nothing, as I could think of nothing to say. I shook my head and waited for him to speak again. The door was still open and I wondered where Plato was. I hoped he would stay out of Luinil’s way, the jest about turning him into something was a jest, but the Lord could strike the Dog dead as easily as swatting a fly. A little thing, perhaps, but the Dog had shown itself to be my Friend, and I would be sorry to have it suffer on my Account.

“Speak, Legolas! Tell me what I should do!”

His voice was a little slurred, and his eyes were red-rimmed. His Elvish beauty was dimmed and ragged at the edges. I had hoped to drive him into Panic, but I had miscalculated. He watched me, and as I continued to stay Silent, he became angrier.

“See what your Curiosity has led to? You are that Cat, Legolas, that was killed by Curiosity. You and your stupid Men!” His voice was thick with contempt, and very loud. “Answer me!”

“What shall I say?” I said, at last.

He shook his head. “You are right, he said. "There is nothing you can say. You have forced my Hand, Legolas, and now I must deal with you. I am sorry it has come to this.”

“So am I, Lord Luinil,” I said.

“You cannot leave, you know. I cannot allow you to leave,” he said. He drew several long, ragged breaths, and wiped his Forehead with his hand. “I do not know,” he said, “how it ever came to this……but you cannot leave. Legolas! Say you will stay! Marry my daughter, and stay….this Blue Kingdom of mine, you could be happy here….”

“No,” I said. “I will not.”

“No,” he said. “I did not think you would. So now, what am I to do? You force me to do what I hate to do!”

“Then do not do it,” I said.

He laughed again. “So easily said, Legolas. No, no, I must deal with you.”

“You mean you must kill me,” I said. “That is what dealing with me means. You cannot compel me, as you compel Men, so I must be killed.”

“Because you are an Elf, like me?” he asked, his mouth twisted into the semblance of a smile.

“I am an Elf, yes. But I am not an Elf like you,” I said.

“There are other Elves here, Legolas. They do as I wish.”

“Yes, so I have seen. I do not understand that, I confess,” I said. “But you know you cannot Enthrall me, Luinil. Your powers are not sufficient.”

“Shall we test them?” He sneered at me, and picking up the Staff, he struck the floor hard and blue flames burst into life in the hearth, then faded.

“Can you do that?” He shouted, and struck the floor as he did so, pointing at a table, “Rise!”

The table rose, spinning, then crashed to the Floor. “Can you do that?” he shouted again.

“No, I cannot do Tricks,” I said. “Such things have not been my study, Lord Luinil.”

“Tricks!” He looked as though he would strike me with his hand. “Tricks!”

“What do you call it, Luinil?” I asked. “I have known Elves and Wizards with very great Power. I never saw them do such things.”

“Ah, yes, I was forgetting. Galadriel, and Mithrandir, and such! Well, their time is over, Legolas, you told me that yourself!” His voice became a sing-song. “Gone to the Havens, gone over the Sea…..well, I will not. I will not seek the Havens……….”

“No,” Lady Nienna said. “No, for they who are over the Sea would not now receive you, Luinil.”

Neither the Lord nor I had heard her come in, so intent on each other were we. I stood, involuntarily.

She came farther in, and pushed the door closed behind her. “You always shout, Luinil. You can be heard all over the House.”

“Get back to your room,” he shouted, his face a mask of Anger. “This does not concern you!”

“I will not, Luinil. I will not leave you. This must end,” she said. “Let Legolas go, let them all go.”

“You are Mad,” he said. “You have lost your Senses! We cannot let them go!” He grabbed her by the arm and shook her. “Why have you turned against me?”

She gasped in pain as he wrenched her arm so hard she fell to her knees. “Luinil!” she cried.

Then there was a blur of Golden fury as the dog Plato burst from the secret passage and clamped his powerful jaws on Luinil’s arm………..

Legolas Chapter 21……….

…….Captain Roland is not sleeping……..

Legolas has gone on his quest for the Staff of Pallando, by first opening the secret Door that Trooper Anborn has discovered. Sergeant Daeron is with me, sitting by the window with his sword drawn and laid across his knees. And here I am in bed, weak as a kitten, and of no use to Anyone.

What will Legolas find? I am not sure what he thinks he will come upon, if he creeps along some secret Way to Lord Luinil’s house. This Blue Lord is not likely to have left this Staff lying about, but I have come to think him Mad, and perhaps with Madness comes carelessness.

And our comrades that we left beside the Chasm? Where are they? Why are they here? Well, the answer to that is pretty plain, I guess. Lord Luinil would want to keep them from talking, if nothing else.

This Blue Kingdom is a Puzzle, beyond doubt. What does he think of, the Blue Lord? It seems that Madness can be the only answer—Madness and the lust for Power. Such a beautiful place, Elvish in its beauty, and poisoned by his Evil. For it is Evil. He has enslaved Men, and killed them. He has used the stolen Power of a Wizard to twist and pollute his Elvish being, to become something Other. What of the other Elves? I will leave the Lady Nienna aside, I cannot bear to put her in this Equation. But the others? Her brother and her sister? The servants? Lady Alanta? Can they not see what this Place is? Can he have Enthralled them, as he does with Men? Was it always so? Was he always so? Lying here in the dark I am tormented by these questions.

It must be Worse for Legolas. These are, if not his Kin, his Kind. I recall enough of Old Lore to know that Elves are not exempt from Wickedness and Evil, but in my time and the time just Past, Elves were and are always the friends and allies of my King, and of Gondor. Even my Queen is an Elf woman, as good as she is beautiful. As a boy I saw the riding of Elrond and Galadriel and the others, when they brought Arwen Evenstar to Minas Tirith—such a sight will never be seen again in Middle Earth. Ronceval, my brother, I recall you sighing with delight, to see such Beauty. It put you on your path of Learning, your longing to dwell, at least in imagination, in Elder Days.

Legolas talks at times of his friend Gimli Gloin’s son, the Lord of the Glittering Caves of Aglarond. When we came through the Passage, he said it must be the work of Dwarves—that Gimli would know at once that it was so. If so, where are they? Did Luinil allow them to leave? When we were riding in the Foothills on our journey here we heard stories of Dwarves dwelling deep in the Mountains, but always these stories seemed to hearken back to a time long past. I know Gimli Gloin’s son, he and his folk went with us to Sardara. They do not seem like the sort of beings who would wear the yoke of Servitude.

Daeron stands there at the open window. "Hark!" he said. "I hear something……a dog howling……….there….it has stopped."

He swore under his breath. "Curse this place," he said. "I am as nervous as an old woman…..Captain! There is the Owl! He is sitting there—on the porch railing…."

I got out of bed and went to where Daeron stood looking into the darkness. I saw the Owl, he spread his wings, then folded them. There was the faintest possible Blue radiance in his eyes. Suddenly the Owl swooped away, toward the Lord’s house, calling as Owls do.

"Captain, something goes forward! We cannot just sit here and wait—Legolas may need us," Sergeant Daeron said.

I put my hand on his arm, saying, "We must wait, Sergeant. What could we do? There is Sorcery at work."

"But never before has this Owl appeared to us Men, Captain. It must mean something!" Sergeant Daeron insisted.

Just then the others came into my room. The moonlight was bright enough that I could see they all bore drawn swords. My heart sank, and I stumbled back to the bed and sat down. "You men," I said, "you must obey Legolas….you cannot go after him!"

Sergeant Axelder spoke up. "Did you hear that Dog? That was an unnatural sound…."

"I think it was Plato," Trooper Gardaz said. His voice trembled. "I think he was howling in Pain---"

"It is no use, Captain. Look, Axelder and I will just go out there, just creep a little closer to the Lord’s house," Daeron said. "We must try to learn what is happening. What if that Cursed Luinil has got Legolas?"

"What if he has? What can we do?" I sighed. "Yet—if I could go," I said, "I would. Go, then, and be careful! Anborn, bring me my sword. I will not lie here, unarmed."

The two Sergeants left, and Gardaz and Anborn and Darsat and I sat waiting in the Dark. We heard nothing. I felt my heart pounding, and the sweat standing on my face.

"If I ever get out of here," Trooper Darsat murmured, "I am never leaving home again. I will marry the Innkeeper’s daughter and spend the rest of my life pouring Ale…….."

"And I will be your best customer," Gardaz said. "I will take up Blacksmithing like my father, and make my mother happy by settling down with my cousin Bathsheba. What about you, Captain? And you, Anborn?"

Anborn laughed softly. "Well," he said, "I am an orphan. No mother to care whether I marry or not, no father to give me a Trade. So it’s the Army for me. But a nice soft post somewhere. Maybe with Prince Faramir in Ithilien…..Captain? What about you?"

"I have always hankered to see the Sea," I said. "When I get back to Minas Tirith, I may just go North to that Shire place where the Havens are. I am no Elf, but I would like to see the Grey ships sailing."

We heard the Owl again. Darsat stared into the moonlighted Garden. "Nothing," he said. "Nothing. Wait! Someone is running on the Path……………"

……….Legolas……in Lord Luinil’s study………

Plato growled ferociously, and shook the Blue Lord like a rat. The Lady cried out again, and struggled to her feet, while Luinil, with a dreadful Curse, pulled a long knife from his belt and stabbed the Dog’s chest. Plato screamed, if a Dog can be said to scream, a long ululating cry that made the hair on the back of my Neck stand up, then he fell, tearing the flesh of the Lord’s arm as he collapsed without loosing his Grip.

For a moment I was frozen with Horror, then I leaped to the Table and grasped the Staff in both hands. It was as if I had taken hold of a great Serpent, the thing was alive in my hands; the Orb flared into an intense Cobalt Blue that seemed as bright as the Sun in that room.

All was Pandemonium, with the Lady sobbing and Luinil cursing and the Dog howling in agony. Lady Alanta burst into the room, followed by Arwela and several other Servants. Alanta rushed to her mother’s side and cried out as she saw all the blood, and her father kneeling and holding his torn arm to himself and crying out with great, gasping breaths, "Seize him! Seize Legolas!"

They stood stunned, and the Blue Lord screamed again, "Seize him!"

I lifted the Staff and brought it down hard onto the Floor. Gouts of Blue Flame shot from it, and the servants cowered away. Lady Alanta stared at me, then at her father. She helped him to his feet, her face white with shock, but her eyes never left my face.

"Stand back!" I shouted. "Luinil is not the lawful Master of this Device!"

"Damn you all!" Luinil screamed. "He is going to Destroy us! Seize him!" He staggered toward me, his arm raised, still holding the long,sharp knife.

The Lady caught at his arm. "Luinil! Luinil! It is over!"

Luinil flung her away, and stood reeling. "You are not the lawful Master of that Thing either, Legolas. And you lack the Will, and the Knowledge to use it……"

He came at me again, and again he ordered his people to seize me. They seemed to gain renewed purpose, and there were six of them, and the Lady Alanta. I struck the Floor again, and again Blue flames spewed forth, but Luinil only laughed.

"A little Fire? Legolas, Legolas," he mocked. "I am not afraid of a little Blue fire!"

I was cornered, surrounded. Even with the Staff, I could do little. I did not understand its Powers, or how to use them. Then I saw that the Window was open and I leaped onto the Sill and, holding the Staff high, jumped into the Night. It was perhaps three fathoms to the ground, and it seemed to take forever to fall. I saw that there were Archers there, and they had their Arrows set, and I was the Target.

Then I saw and heard the great Owl, swooping toward me, and I tossed the Staff upward and he caught it and I tumbled to the ground and had the breath knocked out of me.

Luinil was screaming out the window, "The Owl! Shoot the Owl!"

But it was too late. He was gone. I could see the Blue light as he soared over the Trees of the Lady’s garden, and I laughed aloud.

The Archers sent foolish arrow after foolish arrow into the Night air, but the Owl was long out of their Range. Doors slammed, and I heard shouting and screaming. I drew a deep, long breath and leaped over the Wall, and set out running………….

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LalaithUrwen
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Posted: Sat 11 Mar , 2006 4:35 am
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Printing as I type! :)

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