Chapter Twenty Three

Aragorn had decided to go outside and see if Legolas had indeed tried to reach the trees. Hoping to catch the swift elf before he disappeared into the forest, Aragorn increased his pace through the halls of Ravenlore.

Aragorn needn’t have worried for Legolas had stopped and stood still, training his senses back toward the house, though he kept his back to it. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be joined by the one he waited for.

Treco could not hear the elf’s silent movements. However, he did hear the ranger, when the man ran out of a small door at the rear of the house. He opened his eyes and looked down with interest at the scene that was about to unfold before him.

Soon finding himself outside, Aragorn saw Legolas several yards off to his right, and he wasted no time getting to his friend.

There was no outward sign from the elf that he had been heard, but Aragorn knew his footsteps were clearly being tracked by the elf’s keen hearing, but that was all right, since he wasn’t trying to be stealthy.

The ranger wasted no time before saying, "Legolas, please let me help you."

The elf turned slowly and looked at Aragorn. He was willing to give the man one last chance - but only one. "If you truly want to help me, then you know what you must do."

"I know what you think I must do, but I cannot do it. Besides, I told you I hid the necklace. It’s still in the dungeon."

Legolas’s eyes narrowed. "Liar." The word was almost a snarl.

That one accusatory word hurt Aragorn to the core. Yet he knew that hurt feelings meant nothing in the face of what had befallen his friend. He also had to remind himself that it was the power of the obsession speaking, not the elf that had been his closest friend for most of his life.

"Please, Legolas..." Words suddenly failed the man. He didn’t know how many times he could keep begging the elf to listen to him. To his surprise, it worked.

Legolas’s expression softened, and a look of helplessness crossed his face. He lowered his head. "I am sorry, Estel. I do not mean to hurt you. I know that the stone is evil and that I am helpless in its power." Legolas looked up, and his eye’s met the ranger’s. "I want - need - your help."

With a huge smile of relief, Aragorn said, "I will always help you however I can, mellon nin. You know that."

Legolas nodded. "Yes, I do know that."

Aragorn was so happy that Legolas was finally willing to accept his aid, he could hardly contain his emotions, and his body almost went limp from sheer relief. His smile widening, Aragorn stepped close and wrapped his arms around the elf.

Suddenly, Aragorn felt a hand inside his tunic. He didn’t understand what was happening at first. Then he felt the necklace being pulled out of his pocket.

He quickly disentangled himself from Legolas, and once again grabbed the elf’s wrist to keep him from extracting the necklace. Pulling Legolas’s hand free, Aragorn grabbed the elf’s shoulder with his free hand. There was anger in the ranger’s eyes now. "You only pretended to accept my help. It was just a trick to get your hands on the necklace. Now who’s the liar?"

Legolas stared evenly at Aragorn. "You are an intelligent human and a wily ranger, and I knew you would never leave it behind for me to double back and find. You had to have it on you, so you lied first." He sounded like a petulant child. "I wanted it back."

"And you would even trick a friend to get it."

With a cold voice, Legolas said, "Lying to you is easy, because you want so much to believe that I would not do so. You should know by now that I will do anything to get the necklace back."

"So you’ve demonstrated. You’ve tried to punch me, then choke me and now you’ve tricked me. Does our friendship mean nothing to you?" The feelings that were warring inside of Aragron right now were blinding him to the facts of Legolas’s mental condition, something he had just reminded himself of.

"You still do not understand, and I am no longer interested in trying to make you," came the terse reply.

Legolas’s betrayal and the fact that Aragorn had been so easily tricked both angered and pained the man beyond reasoning. The greater pain, though, was that Legolas was not interested in being saved.

"The time for talk has ended," the elf declared. "Give me the necklace." With those words, the elf jerked free of Aragorn’s grip.

Sudden though the elf’s move had been, the ranger’s muscles tensed in preparation for the fight he was sure was coming. However, he wasn’t quite ready when Legolas suddenly launched himself at the man, sending them both to the ground, Legolas on top.

Once again the wood-elf reached into the ranger’s tunic , now knowing exactly in which pocket his prize was to be found.

The struggle was intense, as the elf fought to retrieve what he believed was his, and the ranger fought just as hard to retain possession of the object of their battle.

First one and then the other seemed to gain the upper hand, effectively neutralizing a lasting advantage to either.

From his vantage point on the roof, Treco stared at the two beings below him. He was shocked, to say the least. Why were the human and the elf fighting each other?

It didn’t take him long to figure out that Allaura was involved somehow. What had that evil witch done to turn these two close friends into battling enemies?

The dragon’s suspicion was confirmed in his mind, when he heard a door slam and looked to find Allaura walking toward the two beings rolling in the grass.

The dragon had resolved to wait and find out the outcome of the encounter between the elf and the human before revealing himself, but at the sight of the hated woman, he changed his mind.

Just as Allaura reached Legolas and Aragorn, Treco lifted off from the roof and landed beside the three.

Incredibly, neither elf nor ranger had noticed Allaura, even when she yelled at them to stop, however, there was no way they could not notice the arrival of a huge red dragon in their midst.

The two separated and rolled apart, getting to their feet quickly before the other could take advantage. And once standing, each kept a wary eye on the other. It wasn’t surprising that most of their attention was aimed at Allaura and the red dragon.

Aragorn recovered first. "Treco. I thought you were going to leave and return to your home."

"So did I," the dragon replied glumly. "But it seems I have unfinished business here."

Allaura didn’t like the look of hatred in the huge creature’s yellow eyes, as he turned them squarely in her direction. However, she had no intention of letting him know that, so she masked her fear of him with a scowl.

Treco looked as if he was about ready to tear her limb from limb or better yet flame her. He had tried the latter choice once before, and it hadn’t worked. Maybe, she thought, he wouldn’t realize that it was the necklace that had protected her then and not any magic of her own. Just to reinforce the notion that she could not be harmed by anything he tried, she said threateningly, "You cannot kill me, dragon, so do not even try. It will gain you only pain, I assure you." The words were accompanied by a look that, if possible, would have killed the creature where he stood.

Allaura then turned her attention to Legolas and Aragorn. "Well, it seems the only one missing is my dear husband." When she saw Aragorn look toward the house, she smiled. "Do not worry, ranger, Ricard will not be coming to your aid this time."

"You killed him?" Aragorn asked, dreading to hear the answer.

"Not yet, but that will change shortly. Right now, I want the necklace."

She was looking directly at Aragorn, as she spoke, because it was obvious to her that the elf didn’t have it, or he would be staring into the stone’s depths and completely oblivious to everything else. "I want it now, ranger."

Aragorn was getting very tired of hearing that. He wanted nothing more than to take that accursed necklace and stomp it into oblivion. If only he could.

The ranger glanced at Legolas and saw the rage in his blue-gray eyes. It looked to be a reaction to the fact that someone else was claiming his property. He wondered briefly if the archer would attack her just to eliminate the competition.

Allaura must have also seen the look for she suddenly said, "Grab the ranger, elf, and I will share the necklace with you. We can live here together forever and each get what we want."

A stab of fear ran through Aragorn’s heart. What if she was able to sway Legolas to her side? He stopped that thought, because he was the one that had the necklace, not her. But he knew he couldn’t counter her offer, because Legolas was well aware that Aragorn would never let him have it. There had to be a way to resolve this, but he was at a loss as to how.

Did he dare take the necklace out in front of both of them? He concluded that it hardly seemed to matter, since they both knew he had it in his possession. He could fight off Allaura, but not Legolas with his superior elven strength.

Aragorn reached into his pocket and pulled the necklace out. It was time to get this whole mess settled once and for all.

Both Legolas and Allaura, who were both about the same distance from the ranger, grabbed for the chain now dangling from Aragorn’s hand.

The archer, with his longer arms, managed to get it between two of his fingers. He pulled on the chain, hoping to get it loose from Aragorn’s hand and then secure it in his hand before Allaura could do anything to get it away from him.

Feeling the pull, Aragorn jerked hard to dislodge the chain from the elf’s grasp. When he did so, the weight of the pendant pulled it out of his own hand.

The three stood mesmerized, watching the necklace sail through the air, casting off sparkles of gold, as it moved in the sunlight.

Then, in an instant, Treco was there, mouth open, and the necklace flew into it. The dragon gulped. A look of utter surprise appeared on his face. "Did I just swallow that?" he asked in disbelief.

Allaura and Legolas both screamed.

It was Allaura, though, who reacted the most violently. She ran at the dragon with her fists in the air. "Give it back to me!" The ridiculousness of the request didn’t dawn on her. "Give it back," she wailed again.

Legolas’s reaction was jus the opposite. He sank down onto the ground, his legs folding up under him. Shoulders slumped, he hung his head and covered his face with his hands. Every line of his body reflected his despair and defeat. It contrasted starkly with Allaura’s rage.

The woman advanced on the dragon, as if she intended on beating the necklace out of him.

Treco backed up, though certainly not from fear. He turned slightly, so that Allaura would have to come at him from a different direction. It wasn’t clear yet exactly what he was doing.

Aragorn stared at the two individuals. He knew he should be trying to comfort Legolas, but he had to know what was going to happen next.

"Give it back!" Allaura screamed for the third time.

When Treco judged he was in position, he stopped. "You will never get anything from me but this!" A searing white-hot flame suddenly roared from his open mouth.

Aragorn watched in fascination, as Allaura was engulfed in the fire. Treco had told him that he had tried once before to flame her, but it hadn’t worked, so the ranger was curious to see what would happen this time. He half expected to see a raging woman standing in front of the dragon and continuing to demand the necklace, when the flame died out. What he did see almost caused him to collapse on the ground next to Legolas.

At first, the ranger, still wide-eyed, thought Allaura had disappeared. He began to walk forward, and when he reached the place where Allaura had been standing, he stopped and stared.

Sitting upright on a burned patchof grass was a small black statue, arms raised in the air, mouth wide open but whether in rage or pain no one would ever know. Yet instead of being a representation of the beautiful woman Allaura truly had been, the statue showed her to be twisted and grotesque.

"It’s just like the statues in the hall upstairs," Aragon remaked to Treco, knowing the dragon had never seen them.

"There are statues like this in the house?" the dragon asked.

"Yes. The hall on the top floor is lined with them. They are each different but yet very similar."

"Those were real people," announced a voice from behind Aragorn.

The ranger turned to see Ricard limping up on his crutch to join them. ‘That’s why she needed a dragon," the man began to explain, giving the huge red creature a sympathetic look. "I do not know exactly how she managed it before I met her, but she brought all those statues upstairs with her. I do know that whenever one of her victims was no longer useful to her, she had that done to them. I know, because she threatened me often enough." His voice lowered when he said, "I would have been one of them before very long."

"Well, it looks like she finally got what she deserved." Aragorn couldn’t help but feel a little bit bad for Ricard. "I’m sorry it ended this way."

"I am not," Ricard declared firmly. "My dream of happiness with her died a long time ago. She did nothing but torture innocent souls, you and Legolas included."

"What will you do with those other statues?"

"There is a cemetery in the woods over there." He indicated the line of trees across the lawn. "Family members have been buried there since Ravenlore was built centuries ago. There is also a section for those that served the family. I will bury each of Allaura’s victims in the servants section. It is the least I can do for what my wife did to them, even before I met her."

"What will you do with her?" Aragorn asked, pointing to the black object on the ground and finding it hard to refer to the grotesque black stature as being feminine.

"As for Allaura, I will bury the statue of her face down in a deep hole far from here where no one will ever find her." The idea made Ricard smile.

Aragorn nodded, not surprised at all at the other man’s feelings. He felt the same way.

All during the conversation with Treco and Ricard, Aragorn had been making quick surreptitious glances over Ricard’s shoulder at Legolas.

The glances were not missed by the other man.

Understanding, Ricard turned and looked at the elf. "What will happen to him now that the necklace is...uh...no longer available?" He had witnessed what had happened to it.

Aragorn then turned and looked back at Legolas, who had not moved and seemingly hadn’t seen Allaura’s demise. "I have no idea." It was a hard admission to make but an honest one.

TBC