Riding With the Elves // Legolas x OC

29. Orc Medicine

"Spill it out. We have no time for this!"

"We want freedom. Freedom to go out without being hunted by the first man or elf to lay eyes on us. Freedom to grow food and not fear the crops would give us away. We want peace."

"It is not fair," Thranduil almost growled. "You cannot expect me to promise this when I have not even met the rest of you. And I can obviously not speak for the human kings or presume to tell them what to do."

"You can promise us peace with you, and you can plead our case to the humans. I am sure they will listen to Thranduil, King of Greenwood."

"To use a father's desperation..." He clenched his fists and his ice blue eyes had a furious glint. "It is cruel – beyond cruel – to demand this of someone in such dire need."

"Well? What's your answer?" The orc seemed completely unaffected by his intimidating stare.

A short silence followed and the tension was almost palpable.

"You know I cannot refuse," Thranduil said at last. He sounded tired, his anger gone and replaced with resignation. "If my son lives you have my word I shall not harm you or your people, neither shall any elf under my command do so. Furthermore, I will speak to King Elessar of Gondor and King Éomer of Rohan and plead your case." He pulled himself up straighter, adding with a little more sharpness: "Should you, however, commit any act of unprovoked violence against elves, men, dwarves, hobbits or other creatures of the light, I shall consider the treaty broken. And then there will be retribution."

"Agreed. But I shall need this in writing too." The orc spitted in his wrinkled hand, holding it out to the elf who took it with a look of disgust.

"That's all sorted then, time to check on this poor lad." The healer rubbed his hands in a businesslike manner. "I'll take over now so you can wait outside."

"Absolutely not. I shall stay by my son's side."

"Suit yourself then. But I warn you, it will probably be messy and not very pleasant for the patient to have an audience witness everything. And I don't work well in a crowd, either."

Thranduil blanched at that but didn't move.

"The rest of us shall stand guard outside," said Galion. "Just call if you need us."

"We shall be off too," said Sidra, still in the doorway. "The little ones need to sleep and Nugu must explain your presence to the others when they wake up. We'll come back later to see how you do."

Wynne mutely pressed her back to the wall, hoping nobody would notice her and tell her to leave. She had to stay, she just had to.

When the door closed behind the others she breathed out in relief.

"Let's have a look at the wound, shall we?" The healer uncovered Legolas' blood-stained bandages and pulled out a small, very sharp looking knife from a leather bag.

"Put that down!" Thranduil's voice was intimidating and he rested one hand on his sword pommel.

"Easy now, Mister King, easy! You want me to fix him, don't you?" The orc bore his amber eyes into him.

Reluctantly Thranduil dropped his hand.

"No more interruptions then." The orc returned his attention to the bandages and swiftly cut them off.

When he carefully peeled them open, Legolas made a sharp intake of breath between clenched teeth. New blood welled out of the hole and Wynne had to avert her eyes, feeling the faintness return.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the orc answered, though none of them had said anything.

He put the bandages back and rummaged through his bag again, fishing out two glass bottles, one small, the other bigger. "Seeing as you are a suspicious one I shall explain what I do," he told Thranduil. "This we call 'seed of the poppy'. It's a tincture to take away pain." He measured out half a spoonful of a brownish liquid from the smaller bottle. "Open up, elf."