Legolas hit the water with a blow that knocked the breath out of him.

He struggled to swim towards the surface, but the water kept dragging him down.

His body twisted in the water, his lungs were screaming for air.
He couldn't last much longer.

He needed air.

Black began to consume him.
This was it.
He was going to die.

Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to the surface.
Legolas gasped, trying to take air into his lungs.

Another pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him out of the water.

He lay down on his stomach, coughing up water and fighting to breath.

"Legolas!"
Haldir rolled him onto his side.
"Are you alright?"

Legolas struggled to speak.
"I- I'm fine."
He managed to get out.

He took in his suroundings.
Haldir knelt in front of him, they were on a stone ledge on the other side of the river.

Amarth was pulling Gimli out of the water. But something was wrong.

Where is Aragorn?

Legolas searched frantically for his friend.
He stoood to his feet and tried to catch sight of him.

"Aragorn!"
He shouted desperately.
Amarth suddenly ran past him and dove into the water.
Legolas was about to follow when Haldir grabbed him.

"Let go of me!"
Legolas struggled against him.
"You'll get yourself killed!"
Haldir pulled him back away from the water.

The three of them searched for any sign of Aragorn or Amarth.

"There he is!"
Gimli shouted.
They saw Amarth's head appear out of the water.
He had Aragorn with him, he was awake but both were struggling to fight the current.

Legolas tried to get into the water but Haldir stopped him again.
"Haldir!"
Legolas shouted.

"You are too weak! Stay here!"
Haldir carefully lowered himself into the water, he firmly grasped the side of the ledge, he almost lost his grip and Legolas grabbed him.

Haldir was halfway in the water, Legolas was holding onto one arm while the other reached towards Amarth.

The dark elf was struggling towards him, Aragorn was doing what he could to help but it was no use.

Amarth reached for Haldir's hand, his other hand held onto Aragorn.

Haldir finally managed to grab Amarth.
Legolas tried to pull them back onto the ledge.

But now Legolas was slipping.
Gimli grabbed Haldir and pulled.
Haldir grabbed the ledge and pulled Amarth and Aragorn up to it.

Legolas held onto Haldir while Gimli helped Amarth and Aragorn up.

Once they were safe Amarth helped Legolas pull Haldir to safety.

All of them lay on the stone ledge, gasping for breath.

Legolas closed his eyes.
They had made it.
Then he heard laughing.

He opened his eyes again and looked in disbelief at Amarth.

He was laughing.

"Do you think this is funny?"
Gimli glared at him.
"Yes! We almost died!"
Amarth said while struggling to contain his laughter.

"How is that funny?"
Gimli shouted.
"Because; of all the possible ways we could have died, we were almost killed by water!"

Amarth continued to laugh while the others stared at him in disbelief.

Legolas looked at where they had jumped off.
Falling from that hight should have killed them!

"How did we survive the fall?"
Legolas asked.
Amarth finally quit laughing and answered his question.

"Before we jumped I remembered that it was only an illusion."
"What do you mean?"
"Alatar makes it look like the ravine is deeper than it actually is. To keep intruders like ourselves out."

"What were those creatures?"
Aragorn asked.
Amarth's face darkened.
"Creatures of Alatar, and only a shadow of what he is fully capable of."

"So how do we get out of here?"
Haldir asked.
Amarth turned around and faced the cliffside.
He walked over and placed his hands on the wall.

"If I remember correctly, there should be an entrance right
here."
Aragorn was growing skeptical.
Why would there be a way in down here?

As if reading his thoughts Amarth explained.
"When I escaped from here, I created this exit. Now, it should serve as a way in. If I can find it."

"Escaped?"
Legolas asked.
Amarth turned to him.
"Did you honestly think that I willingly served that monster?"
Amarth went back to finding the entrance.

"You of all people should understand."
Amarth's hand slipped over a smooth rock, he pressed it firmly into the cliffside.

A small opening appeared, barely big enough for them to slip through.
Amarth turned to them.
"Are you ready?"

They stood up, Aragorn nodded.
Amarth faced the entrance.
"Then let's go."

()()()

So you have entered my lair.

Alatar sat on his throne with his hands folded in front of him.

You will try to find me, and kill me. But you will fail.

He stood up and walked towards a black table that lay in the center of the room.

He ran his along the side of it.

Don't worry my friends, I have plans for all of you.

He looked up and smiled.

You will not leave here unharmed.

()()()

The inside of the cave was dark.
They had no torches, they had to rely completely on Amarth to guide them.

Aragorn ran his hand up against the wall, it was the only thing that assured him that he wasn't lost in the darkness.

"How much farther Amarth?"
Legolas asked.
"I don't know."
He replied.
"That's comforting."
Aragorn muttered.

They were going along a narrow tunnel, Aragorn didn't mind it much.
But he could tell that Legolas and Haldir were getting restless.

Neither liked being underground, and the darkness was unsettling.

Finally they left the tunner and entered a larger cave.
Aragorn was surprised to find that he could see, just a little.

He could see the faint outline of the cave wall, as well as rocks that lay on the ground.

"We will rest here for a while."
Amarth announced.
"I will take first watch."
Aragorn was grateful for the elf's offer.

Usually it was him who had to make all the decisions. It was nice to not be the one responsivle for everyone's safety.

He remembered a time when it was just him. Alone with no one to worry about but himself.

But then I met Gandalf.
He thought.
And he pushed me into joining with the other Rangers.

Aragorn paused. Even after he joined the rest of the Rangers he still prefered to be on his own.

That was the way he had been familiar with.
The way he had wanted it to be.

Until a certain elf showed up.
He glanced at Legolas.
He hadn't wanted the elf tagging along with him, he hadn't wanted to deal with him.

Who would have thought that he would become your closest friend?

Aragorn remembered everything he had learned about Legolas' past. What he had seen him do.

He almost killed me, Faramir, and Haldir. He tortured Rilath into letting us go, and he never denied that he enjoys killing.

Aragorn tried to remove these thoughts out of his mind.
Why did they keep returning to him?

Legolas wasn't a monster.
He wasn't a killer.
He was his friend.

Or was he?
Aragorn sighed.

He convinced himself that the only reason he was thinking these things was because he was tired.

He laid down on the cave floor and tried to fell into a restless sleep.

()()()

Legolas tried to sleep, but everytime he closed his eyes his vision became flooded with nightmares.

Legolas sighed.
There had been a time where he hadn't had to fall into an actual sleep.

He missed the feeling of being between sleep and awareness.

But he had been weary ever sense his second captivity in Mordor.

Ever sense then he had always fallen into a deep sleep.
He sighed, it wasn't natural for an elf.

Legolas tried to fall asleep, for once his mind was empty.
He was about to finally drift off to sleep when he felt something.

Something was crawling on him, no it wasn't crawling....
He couldn't name what it felt like.

He remained still, he didn't know what it was and he didn't want to startle it.

Whatever it was, it was wrapping itself around his arm.
He decided to throw off whatever it was, he was about to use his other arm to grab it when he felt something else wrapping around his leg.

Legolas kept himself calm panicking wouldn't help him at all.

He tried not to move.
He felt another one sliding across his chest.

The ones that were wrapped around his arm and leg didn't move, but the one that had been on his chest was now making its way towards his head.

He felt something cold on his neck. It started to wrap around his throat.

There were more coming, he could feel them moving all over him.

But the one around his throat concerned him the most.
It wasn't choking him, but it was just knowing that it was there is what made him uneasy.

He risked opening his eyes.
Without moving his head his eyes searched for whatever was on him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a small black head rise up.

He watched as it began to move across his face.
He stiffened and tried not to move.

He knew what they were, snakes.
Dozens of small black snakes were slithering all over him, wrapping around him and not doing anything.

And that's what scared him.

The one snake moved slowly across his face.
He closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.

He wanted to grab it and yank it off him, but he was afraid of what would happen if he startled the snakes.

The snake finally slithered off his face.
He sighed in relief, but now he had a bigger problem.

All the snakes had stopped moving, they had just wrapped themselves around him and didn't move.

Except for the one around his neck. He could feel its head moving up the side of his face, its forked toungue flickering in amd out of its mouth.

Legolas couldn't take it anymore.
He yanked his arm up and wrapped his hand around the snake's small, but thick body.

He sat up and tried to rip the snake off, it hissed and began to tighten its grip around Legolas' throat.

Legolas' other hand reached towards his neck and tried to rip the snake off but it was no use.

The snakes that had wrapped themselves around his arms began to hiss and tighten themselves around him.

The same thing happened with the rest of the snakes, they all hissed and tightened their grips.

The ones around Legolas' chest and throat caused him the most worry.

He couldn't breath, he had to breath.
Suddenly he felt a searing pain in his arm.
One of the snakes had bitten him.

Then another one, and another.
They all sank their fangs into him.
He wanted to scream, cry out for his friends to help him, but he couldn't.

The snake around his chest had also sunken its fangs into him, the only one that hadn't was the one around his neck, the one that was inches from biting his face.

Legolas couldn't hold out much longer, stars exploded in his head, the pain that overtook his body was unbearable.

He was about to slip out of conciousness.
Someone grabbed the snake that had wrapped itself around his chest.

They yanked it off and Legolas could feel the fangs ripping out of him.

Haldir threw the snake to the ground and ignored the ones that began to wrap around his legs.

He wrapped his hands around the snake that was around Legolas' neck and tried to pull it off but the snake refused to let go.

Legolas' eyes began to roll back into his head.
His grip on the snake weakened.
Haldir drew his knife and hacked the snake's head off.

Legolas fell onto his back, gasping for air.
Haldir desperately ripped off the snakes that still had their fangs in him.

Every snake he ripped off he sliced its head off with his knife but more snakes were coming, they started crawling up his legs and biting him.

Haldir ignored them and focused on Legolas.
Around him the others were struggling against the snakes that continued to surround them.

Everyone was fighting for their lives, they struggled to stay on their feet.
If they fell, they would die.

Suddenly the snakes began to retreat.
The slithered off of them and disappeared into the darkness.

Haldir sighed in relief.
But during the struggle he had lost sight of Legolas.

He searched frantically for him.

Oh Eru please, don't let him be dead.

Amarth and Gimli were recovering, Gimli noticed that something else was amiss.

Haldir couldn't find Legolas anywhere. He was gone.
But how?

"Haldir..."
Gimli said slowly.
The elf turned to him.
"What?"

The dwarf's face was filled with fear.
"Where's Aragorn?"

()()()

Get ready cause in the next chapter they're gonna meet Alatar...