Northern Secrets (A Legolas/ LOTR novel)

Chapter 19

My whole body is weighted and lethargic as I wake up, and my head throbs in tandem with the slow beating of my heart.

Cracking my eyes open a sliver, I see sunlight streaming in the open windows of an unfamiliar room. Someone must have moved me after healing King Thranduil; had I passed out again?

I attempt to drag myself to a seated position, but two hands gently push my shoulders back down.

"You need rest." I start, noticing Legolas sitting comfortably in a chair just to the side of where I lie.

"I did not wish to startle you. I apologize." he says softly.

I shake my head, making my vision spin a bit. "It is alright."

"You have been unconscious for two days; I worried you would not wake again."

"Did it work though? Did I heal him?"

"Yes," Legolas starts, "but I must ask you never to do that again."

"Why not? You said yourself that it worked."

"I am worried about you. You couldexhaust your strength to the point of dying, and I could not bear it if that happened."

And then, he kissed me. Out of nowhere, he just leans in and presses his lips to mine, and I am so startled by it that I freeze up. He pulls away all too soon though, leaving me wanting more.  That is, until I see his eyes, which are coal black.  Something is very wrong with him.  

I flip out of the bed, moving as far away from Legolas as the room allows.  My back presses into a cold stone wall, causing another shock.  I was in what looked like a room made entirely of woven wood, but it must be a glamour. The room looks as though it has been built right into the tree and there is no stone in sight, yet I can feel the grittiness of a rough-cut rock digging into my left palm.

"What is wrong, Spirit Healer?" Legolas asks.  "You really should lie down.  You do not want to strain yourself."

The concern in his voice sounds false to me now, deceptively sweet.  There is a malicious glint in his eye that does not belong to the true Legolas.

"I am perfectly fine over here." I speak up, wishing I had the ability to walk through walls more than anything as Legolas steps towards me, closing the distance quickly.

"Oh, but I am afraid I must insist." he whispers, standing directly in front of me.  He brushes a strand of hair from my face and I cringe, unable to stop looking at his horrible black eyes.

I muster all of the courage and anger that I can.  "I do not take orders from you, Witch King." My voice is laced with venom, biting at him.

"Legolas" disappears in an instant to be replaced by the cloaked Witch King in his natural form.  I narrow my eyes.  "Let me wake up.  You have lost, I arrived in time to heal King Thranduil."

His dark laugh echo throughout the room, reverberating off the walls and bouncing back to me. "For one so powerful, you are not very smart.  Do you really think I cared about the King?  He was merely a tool to arrive at the end I desired."

"And what might that be?"

"You, Spirit Healer.  I could not reach you in the North, not where you are most powerful.  But you are weaker here, and much easier to poison."

"Well you have yet to succeed in killing me." I reply, still defiant.

"Oh no my dear. I have already told you I do not wish to kill you.  That would be a terrible waste.  I want you to join me; to be my ally." he takes my hand in both of his long, gloved ones. "Just think of how powerful we could be together; we would be unstoppable.  Everyone would bow at our feet."

I know he is lying.  He would kill me as soon as I was no longer of use to him, or became too powerful.

"That is too much power for one person to have; there would be too little good in the world.  I refuse to help you tip the balance of light and darkness." I state tiredly.

"Are you sure you do not wish to reconsider?  I can be very persuasive."

The room that looked to be in Mirkwood fades away and is replaced by a cold, dank cellar.  The air feels like it is weighing down on me, trying to pull me farther into the earth.  As my eyes adjust to this sudden darkness, I realize that we are not in a cellar, but an iron jail cell.

The sound of clinking shackles causes me to spin on my heel, and chained to the wall is my father. His face is battered and bloody, and his white hair is matted to his skull.  I rush to his side, trying to take his hand, but mine just slips through.

"Why can I not touch him?" I demand, glaring at the Witch King.

"I am able only to show you this.  It is like looking at a reflection in a pool of water; there, but not.  You are still safe in Mirkwood for now, at least in body.  You have two days to greet me in my domain, or I kill him without a second thought."

I am violently thrown from the dream, and my eyes shoot open as I truly wake up for. I peel the covers off myself in a hurry.  Although it is the middle of the night, I need to find Legolas now.  This cannot wait until morning.