Chapter Seventeen

Two large yellow eyes turned down in Aragorn’s direction. “You have what?”

“A plan,” the ranger said triumphantly. At the look of curiosity on the dragon’s face, the ranger began to explain. “At first, I was worried that the guards would come and find the hole in the ceiling to my vault and me missing. But I realize now that would be a good thing.”

“How so?”

“When they come and find I’m gone, they’ll obviously see that the only place I could have gone is up here.”

Treco picked up on where the human was going with his idea. He quickly interrupted. “So you think they would then come up here.”

“Yes. That’s it exactly.” Aragorn was beaming.

“If you believe they would come in here to check for your whereabouts, do not bother. They would not come in here no matter what or who they were looking for. They are afraid of me, as well they should be,” the dragon was quick to point out, “so they just might decide to leave you up here, knowing there is no place else you can go.”

“Ah but would they? After all, I am wanted by Allaura.” The man stopped long enough to shutter at the thought, then continued. “They couldn’t afford to leave me here to be eaten by a fearsome dragon.”

“Eaten? I would not lower myself to eat a human. Flame one, yes. But eat one? Never!” The disgusting expression that Treco displayed almost made Aragorn laugh, despite the obvious insult that had just been voiced. But he certainly wasn’t about to try and convince this dragon that he would surely provide quite a tasty meal. No use tempting fate. Instead, he said, “But they don’t know that. They couldn’t take the chance of facing Allaura’s wrath. Cutting out their tongues would be minor compared to what she would probably do to them, if I...uh...disappeared.”

“I see your point,” the huge creature agreed. “They would come in here to at least have a look. Then I could flame them.” A very pleased look appeared on Treco’s face at the thought. “A nice pile of ashes they would make.” He’d really give them something to fear, as they watched his searing flame shooting toward them.

“No, Treco, you cannot flame them when they show up.”

The look in the dragon’s eyes turned dark. “And why not? If I do not kill them, they will run to Allaura, and we will never get out of here.”

“I agree, but first we have to get the keys to whatever doors we may encounter along our escape route. I doubt the ones on the lower level are the only ones. If you flame the guards before I obtain those keys, they would end up a melted mass among all those ashes and would be useless to us.”

The dragon’s only response was a snort of frustration accompanied by the all-too-familiar puff of smoke.

Aragorn looked up at Treco a little hesitant about what he was going to say next. Deciding that the only way was to just come out with it, he said, “You will have to play dead.”

“Play dead? What are you talking about?” the dragon questioned, clearly confused.

“My plan is to wait by the doors for the guards to come and see if I am still alive. The only problem is that all four of them will likely not come in here at the same time. Whenever they brought us food and a new torch, two of them always stayed out in the hall in case of trouble. There’s no reason to think they’ll do any different now.”

Aragorn took a deep breath before continuing his plan. “When the doors open, the two that come in must think you are dead. It’s the only way all four of them will venture inside to check. They’ll see one ‘dead’ dragon and no ranger."

Before Aragorn could finish, he heard Treco mutter, as if talking about something that might happened had he actually eaten the ranger, "I probably dropped dead of human poisoning."

Aragorn couldn't help but grin, even though it was another scathing insult, though he made no comment about it. Resuming as if there had been no interruption, he said, "I’ll then get the jump on them from behind and relieve them of their keys. Then you can ‘come alive’ and do what it is you dragons like to do. Once we get out of this dungeon we’ll go find Legolas.”

There was a look of determination in the ranger’s eyes that Treco suspected had nothing to do with the actual escape. “I will help you get out of this dungeon, if possible, but I will not stay around here while you go looking all over this very large house to find one elf.”

“I won’t leave him behind,” Aragorn stated with unmistakable firmness. “That is not an option, because that one elf is my brother. He also helped to mend your wing. I did not work alone, if you recall. But fear not. I won’t argue with you. Once we get out of here, you can go your own way, and I’ll go mine.” The ranger’s chin jutted out in a clear display of stubbornness.

“Fine,” the dragon declared.

“Fine,” the human echoed.

The two stubborn individuals just stood and stared at each other for a moment before Aragorn turned his back on the creature and crossed his arms over his chest.

The whole idea of Treco not wanting to help find Legolas was actually a ridiculous one and quite moot. The dragon would not fit in any of the upstairs corridors of Ravenlore. But, to the ranger’s way of thinking, Treco should have at least been willing to make the offer.

Staring a the man’s back, Treco was tempted to knock him to the floor in a fit of anger, but his ire soon dissipated. Much as he hated to admit it, he needed the human as much as the human needed him. They had to cooperate, for the time being anyway.

There was nothing for either of them to do now but wait until the guards came to the ranger’s vault to bring him his next meal. Once he heard them leave there to come up here, he would take up his position beside the double doors until they arrived. Everything after that he would have to play by ear.

There was no time to contemplate the odds of success, because in less than a minute, there was the clear sound of a metal door opening, and it didn’t take much conjecture to know which door it was. Aragorn put his finger to his lips for silence.

Under ordinary circumstances, there would have been a lot of shouting tinged with panic, when the ranger was found to be missing. However, since Aragorn couldn’t poke his head through the hole to see what was happening, and the guards had no tongues to form any words, the sound of their feet rapidly moving across the stone was the only clue the ranger had that they were leaving the vault.

Aragorn quickly motioned for the dragon to lie down and look dead.

Groaning inwardly that he was even considering doing this, Treco settled down onto his stomach, lay his head down on the floor and closed one eye.

“Both eyes, Treco. You are supposed to be dead,” the ranger admonished.

Treco protested. “I want to see.”

“You’ll see us fail to escape, if you don’t look properly dead,” the man hissed.

Another snort of frustration left the dragon’s mouth, but he soon complied and closed both eyes. Much as he wanted to see what was going to happen with the human and the guards, he wanted to be free a whole lot more.

Aragorn quickly ran across the large chamber and stood with his back to the wall next to the door on the right.

It wasn’t long before he heard a key turning in the lock. His muscles tensed, ready for action, and his heart pounded in anticipation. It would be only seconds before, for good or ill, the wisdom of his plan would be revealed.

*~*~*~*

Allaura stood and stared up into the scowling face of the elf. She had had no experience with elves, but she didn’t think the dark look she saw there meant anything other than what the same look meant on any other creature. The elf was angry.

She could give in, thus giving her time to think of some way to regain control of Legolas. Or she could defy him. She shook her head. The necklace might take control of him so firmly this time, she might never be able to get him back. Besides, her need for that control didn’t allow her to even attempt the former. It was perhaps the smarter thing to do, but she was prepared to show this elf who was in charge.

The woman was aware that Legolas had not lessened his grip on her arms. She chose to ignore the pain his fingers were causing.

“I will not give you the key, and if you try to hurt me further, you will never get it.”

“I will tear this place apart stone by stone, if I must, but I will find the necklace.” Legolas left no doubt that he was prepared to do exactly as he said.

Allaura jerked her head back and glared. “You seem to think that my only power comes from the blue stone. You are making a grave mistake, if that is what you believe.”

She saw the flicker of doubt in the elf’s eyes and pressed on. “I have used the necklace for many centuries, and it has infused me with much of its power.”

Legolas’s eyes hardened again. “Then why do you require its possession to do your bidding?”

A small smile appeared on Allaura’s face. “That is what you believe. I never said that. However, I will admit I need the necklace to get what I want from you, but I do not need it to cause you a great deal of harm.”

“You need me.”

“No, I want you. That is a big difference. Do not forget, I still have the ranger. He is a Dúnadan and will satisfy me for a long time to come.”

Another emotion flickered in the elf’s blue-gray eyes. It wasn’t quite recognition, but it showed that there was a memory that was trying to push itself to the forefront. It quickly disappeared in a renewal of the dark look Legolas gave the woman.

Allaura started to yell out for her guards. She needed to have this elf constrained while she retrieved her necklace. Allaura had told an outright lie when she had said the necklace had infused some of its power into her. She had none.

Once the guards had the elf in their grasp, she could get the necklace and then gain control over him and muddle his mind so that he was compliant to her will.

Before she could utter a single word, she remembered that it was time for the guards to take food to the ranger deep below Ravenlore. She had never before met resistance to her will, so she had never felt the need to leave one of them up here to stand guard.

“Having trouble, my dear?” came a cool voice from the direction of the doorway.

Allaura’s head spun around at the sound of the voice. “Ricard.” There was no way to tell by that one word whether she was glad to see this man or not.

The newcomer was tall, about the same height as Legolas. He had black hair and brown eyes and would have been considered handsome by most moral standards. However, there was a haggard look to his pale face and a haunted look in the dark eyes. His once muscular body was more than a little wasted, as if he hadn’t eaten or done anything strenuous in a long time.

The man took a step into the room before stopping and taking stock of the scene before him. His eyes immediately went to the elf, and then to the elf’s hands that were holding Allaura’s arms. He stifled a grin of satisfaction.

“Ricard, I need your help.” It was a simple statement of fact with no emotion behind it. It almost brought a groan of dismay that she had found it necessary to make that request.

The least she could do was sound a little bit needy, the man thought, though he was sure Allaura would never have said that, if she wasn’t desperate. She just wasn’t about to show it. “And what is it you require?” he asked calmly.

Allaura glanced at Legolas, who looked toward Ricard, as if he had just realized there was someone else in the room. His expression didn’t change.

“Get his hands off of me.”

Ricard moved toward the elf and hated himself for being so weak-willed. She had done that to him. She was destroying his spirit just as surely as she was destroying his body. Even if he could fight her, the way this elf was evidently doing, he knew he couldn’t overcome the power of the necklace, which he was sure she would use on him at the first opportunity. He had tried and tired over the years to fight against it but to no avail.

“Elves are immortal, Allaura. Do not destroy his life. Let him go.” The plea sounded pathetic, but it was all the man had left.

Allaura scoffed, “Do not be an idiot, Ricard, and do not presume that I am one. Ii is precisely because he is immortal that I will never let him go. You should be happy. That means I will not need you anymore.”

That statement led to two different conclusions: being left alone or death. Under the current circumstances, Ricard wasn’t sure which one was more appealing.

In Legolas’s single-minded determination to get the necklace back, he asked Ricard, “Will you get the key for me?” His tone was flat, lacking the passion he felt deep inside.

Ricard frowned. “What key is he talking about?” He knew that Allaura kept the wooden box containing the jewels locked, but he didn’t make the connection.

“I want the necklace,” the elf declared, indicating with those words what key he was referring to.

It wasn’t until then that Ricard noticed that Allaura wasn’t wearing the jewelry. Since she needed the blue stone in the necklace to obtain the life force she had to have to survive, he couldn’t understand why she didn’t have them on. In as steady a voice as he could muster, he told the elf, “I do not have the key.”

Legolas made a low growl deep in his throat and shook Allaura again, her long, black hair shimmering in the light at the movement.

Allaura’s look turned dark, and she snapped out an order. “Ricard, get hold of him!”

By that time, Ricard, who had stopped, took several more steps and reached the two. He stepped behind Legolas and wrapped his arms around the elf, pulling him back and allowing Allaura to twist loose.

Ordinarily, Legolas could have easily broken the man’s clasping arms, even had Ricard been in good health. But he himself was greatly weakened by what the blue stone had done to him. He struggled but could not break free from the hold that was stronger than looked possible.

Ricard held on for all he was worth, knowing that Allaura would be furious beyond reason, if the elf somehow got loose.

Not sparing the time to look at the struggle between elf and man, she turned and pulled the key out of the bodice of her dress. She quickly ran to the dressing table that held the wooden box.

Fumbling slightly in her haste, Allaura finally managed to get the key turned in the lock. She reached in and grabbed the necklace, slipping it over her head and settling it around her neck, as a deep sigh of relief escaped her.

When she turned back around to face Legolas and Ricard, a look of total triumph spread across her face. She had all the power now.

Her hand covered the blue stone, as she approached the elf and her husband. “Do as I say or you will both pay the price.”

Legolas had no idea what that meant nor did he care. His eyes lighted on the woman’s hand where he knew the jewel was secured, and that was all that mattered to him.

Ricard continued to keep his arms tightly around the elf. He cursed himself. He had had the opportunity not only to help this elf but to possibly end Allaura’s reign of terror. His fear of her had let that opportunity die before even giving it a chance. He knew his wife, so what would happen next was all too easy to predict.

TBC