Aragorn awoke slowly. Darkness surrounded him, and for a long moment, he was unsure if his eyes were open or closed. He blinked. They were open, then. The darkness around him was absolute, impenetrable. Had he gone blind? What had happened to him? He couldn't remember. He didn't know where he was, what had happened, or why he was unable to see. Taking a quick panicked breath, agony exploded through his being as he choked on the thick, dust-filled air. It was a struggle to control his breathing. Each cough sent daggers of pain stabbing through him. He knew that pain. In the part of his mind that was still capable of rational thought, he diagnosed his condition as broken ribs. Nothing else felt quite like that pain. After a seeming eternity, he managed to stop the coughs that wracked his body. Once he was able to breathe, he tried to force his sluggish mind to think clearly. How had his ribs been broken and why was the air so thick? He had so many questions and no answers. He had to think; to remember.

Before he did that, however, he should determine how badly he was hurt. If he had broken ribs, he may have other injuries. Knowing that sitting up with broken ribs would be extremely painful, he first tried to move his arms and legs, one by one. Panic shot through him again when he found he was unable to move. He was paralyzed! Before the panic could set in, he forced himself to calm down. He counted each shallow breath. One, breathe in, let it slowly out. Two, repeat the breath in, then out. Three…four…five.

* All right now. Think. Why can't I move? *

He concentrated, and after a moment of effort, he felt the fingers on his left hand move. With a little more effort, he moved the fingers on his right hand and all of his toes. He gave a sigh of relief when he determined that he wasn't paralyzed after all. Still, if he could move his fingers and toes, why not his arms and legs? Tensing the muscles in his arms, he made another attempt to move. He groaned aloud as pain swept over him, leaving him gasping for breath. Now that he was able to feel his body once more, he wished he couldn't. Everything hurt. Throbbing, stabbing, aching and shooting; it was hard to believe that there were so many ways to hurt. Gritting his teeth, he tried to ride out the pain. It had to end sometime, did it not? Surely it could not continue indefinitely. Time lost all meaning as he waited for the pain to end. After endless moments, it began to fade. Eventually, it receded enough for him to push it to the back of his mind.

"Very well," he whispered to himself. "Trying to move is not a good idea." Closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind. It was easy to sense that he was in a tight space. Without moving, he tried to get a clearer sense of his surroundings. He seemed to be lying on his side, with one arm up over his head. There were rocks underneath him, and some poking him in the back. They were surrounding him, pressing down upon him. Only one explanation made sense, he must have been in a cave-in. The thought triggered his memory.

He was heading home to Imladris after nearly a year's absence. He had been busy with the Rangers, patrolling the lands east of the valley he still called home. A rainstorm had prompted him to take refuge in a cave. Sounds of an anxious horse had woken him. Aráto had been neighing and stamping his feet just outside the entrance of the cave. Thinking that Aráto was warning him of wolves or other enemies approaching, Aragorn began to get to his feet. Before he was able to do that, the ground began to shake beneath him.

*Earthquake! * Aragorn barely had time for this thought before the ceiling of the cave came crashing down upon him. He had automatically curled up and thrown an arm protectively over his head. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up in darkness. Judging by the sluggishness of his thoughts and the throbbing in his head, he had taken a blow to the head in the cave-in. It felt like every inch of his body had taken a horrible beating. It was impossible to tell what was broken and what was merely bruised without moving, but he knew he wasn't in very good shape. He needed help. Unfortunately, he knew that no help would be forthcoming. None knew to expect him. When he left the Rangers, he had told them that he would be gone for weeks, perhaps months, and no one in Imladris knew he was coming. It was to have been a surprise. If no one knew he was here, there would be no rescue. It was not in his nature to simply give up, to lie here and wait to die, but he did not see that he had any choice in the matter. He was unable to move. Even had he not been injured, he still would have been completely stuck. Though he fought it, he could feel the darkness creeping into his mind, insistently tugging him away from the waking world. Closing his eyes, he relaxed back into his prison.

//"Aragorn? What are you doing just lying there on the ground?"

"Legolas?" Aragorn asked in amazement. "What are you doing here?" The unexpected voice had snapped his eyes open immediately. He had closed them for some rest after all his struggles proved futile.

"I was on my way to visit you. Now, if you will get up, we can go find a more comfortable place to finish our conversation."

Aragorn gave Legolas a wry look. "Believe me, Legolas, if I could get up, I would. I have been trying to do just that for some time now."

"You cannot move at all?" Legolas asked.

"No, Legolas. I am well and truly stuck. If you would care to lend a hand, I would greatly appreciate it."

Legolas walked around Aragorn, studying his situation with more than a little amusement. "And just how did you happen to find yourself flat on your back beneath a fallen tree?"

Aragorn's face reddened slightly. "How do you think I ended up here?"

The tone of Aragorn's voice and his sheepish expression gave Legolas his answer. "The twins?" Legolas asked, not bothering to hide his grin. Aragorn nodded. "What did they do this time?" Legolas questioned.

"It was a wager. They marked a specific path and left several hidden markers along the path. I was to follow the signs, retrieve the markers, and return within a set time. One of the markers was on the underside of this tree. I had to crawl under here to retrieve it. When I pulled it free, the tree shifted, trapping me. I am quite sure this was exactly what they intended. They knew I could easily track their trail, so they cheated in order to win the wager."

"I do not know why you took their wager, Aragorn. You are their favorite victim. You should have expected something like this." He walked over and took a seat near Aragorn's head.

"They claimed that their ability to conceal their trail was greater than my tracking ability. I challenged them, and they accepted." He paused. "Do you intend to get me out of here?"

Legolas looked askance at him. "That tree is rather large, Aragorn. I doubt I could move it without help."

"They would not have set a trap that they could not get me out of. There must be a way to easily move this log. If I get out of here quickly, I still have time to win the wager."

"What was the wager?" Legolas asked in interest, getting slowly to his feet.

"Three days of servitude. If you help me win the wager, I will let you have one of them for your personal servant. I do know how to share with my friends."

Legolas grinned at the thought. In answer, he walked carefully around the log, inspecting it from all angles. At one end, he found the log resting on the ground beside a pile of rocks. He pushed on the log, and found that it rolled easily. Aragorn would not have been able to move the log because he was at the wrong angle. For one who was standing, though, it was easily pushed up the ramp made by the rocks, which allowed Aragorn to wriggle out from underneath it.

"Hannon le," Aragorn said, rising to his feet. "Now, let us run. We have a wager to win, and not much time left." He grinned at Legolas, and they took off running for Imladris. They arrived with ten minutes to spare, and the twins did not dare protest Legolas helping Aragorn win. For the next three days, Aragorn and Legolas enjoyed the mostly uncomplaining servitude of the twins. Of course, once the three days were up, they had to put up with the twins playing many pranks on them for payback. //