Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: As in Chapter 1

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Chapter 27 – Sleepless Nights, Bitter Truth

"There was something," the elf prince started slowly. "I felt the chill again when I was gazing at the stars. I thought it was just my imagination but the night fell dead when the draft brushed past me. Everything had gone quiet for a moment but returned to normal shortly after." Legolas paused to gather his strength. "And when I returned to the hut, Estel was gone. I should have heard him leave but I didn’t..."

"Sleeping..." Elrond muttered under his breath. "You were asleep before Glorfindel was attacked..." the elf lord tried to tie the events together and make some sense out of them and his head snapped up. "It possessed a person in their sleep!"

Elrohir looked up at his father with bleary eyes. "So what do you suggest, Ada? That we don’t sleep?"

"Yes, we have to try to stay awake until the crisis is over. I will have Celboril brew some strong tea and I want everyone to be with someone at all times. No one is to be left alone."

Elrohir nodded and stood up from the chair, ready to carry out his father’s orders but Elrond placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him from leaving.

"Stay here with Legolas. I will inform the others and transfer Estel over. I want to keep an eye on both of them."

Obediently, Elrohir sat down on the bed beside the elven prince as he watched his father leave the room. Turning to Legolas, he searched the prince’s eyes, checking for remnants of the dark mist just to make sure that the demon had really left his body.

Legolas averted his gaze looked down on his hands guiltily as the younger twin turned his attention on him. "I’m so sorry Elrohir," the prince apologized profusely. "I didn’t mean to hurt you." He reached out and touched the bruises on the twin’s wrist. Guilt ate at his heart and he swallowed back a choking sob that threatened to rise from his throat. Tears welled up in his silver-blue eyes and spilled down his face.

"No need to blame yourself Legolas, it’s not your fault," Elrohir comforted the young elf and pulled him into a gentle embrace. "We will defeat this demon," he stated confidently.

"I must apologize to Glorfindel too," the wood-elf muttered after pulling away from the embrace and attempted to push himself off the pillows but stopped when the blond elf lord’s voice drifted through the door.

"It’s alright Legolas, I know what happened." Glorfindel leaned heavily on Celboril as the two elves made their way into Elrond’s bedchamber. Pulling the chair closer to the bed, Celboril helped Glorfindel settled down into it.

The elf lord was pale and still a little shaky, his hands trembled ever so slightly as he tugged a lock of his long blond hair behind his ears. "Elrond told us everything. The most important thing now is to stay alert and watch out for each other."

Celboril nodded in complete agreement. "Lord Elrond and Erestor are going around warning the others of this situation. I will be brewing some strong tea and hopefully it will be able to keep us awake until the crisis is neutralized."

"Then you better get going," Elrohir prompted Celboril. "It will take hours for you to brew that much tea." Sliding off the bed, the twin touched the other elf’s arm lightly. "Come, I will help you." Turning back to Glorfindel and Legolas, the dark haired elf gave them an encouraging smile before ushering Celboril out of the room.

*****

Elrond treaded lightly into Aragorn’s room out of habit. He knew that he was to wake his sleeping son yet he wanted him to have the extra few seconds of rest. Sitting down gingerly on the side of the bed, he looked apologetically at his sleeping child. "Estel," he called out softly, "wake up my son." If his calculation were correct, the effect of the sleeping draught would be wearing off soon.

Aragorn moaned and his eyes fluttered open. "What is it Ada?" the human rubbed his eyes trying to work the sleep out of them.

Elrond gazed down at his son and for a moment he was speechless, not sure how to break the news to him.

"Ada?" Aragorn sat up in bed, the blanket slipped from his shoulder, pooling at his waist. "Is something wrong?" The human seldom saw his father at a loss of words and was immensely worried not sure what had happened. "Did something happen to Legolas?!" the young man pushed his father for an answer.

"No," the elf lord answered a little too quickly and let out a frustrated sigh. "Well... yes" he admitted eventually, "but not what you think happened," he cut in before his son started panicking. Elrond rubbed his face tiredly and continued. "Legolas told me that you found a mithril box." It was a statement rather than a question.

Aragorn nodded slowly, not sure what his father was up to.

"Estel…" the elf lord placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder before he spoke again, his voice heavy with trepidation. "When you lifted the lid, something that was trapped inside was released."

Aragorn looked at his father, confusion written all over his face. "What was released?"

"A great evil that was buried for many millennia. A demon that takes possession of a physical body to feed on another’s essence."

The ranger blinked hard trying to digest what his father had just told him.

"It took control of Legolas and attacked Glorfindel. When Elrohir cornered him my bedchamber, he attacked him."

Having heard that, the human’s jaw dropped and he stared unbelievingly at his father. "Are they..." his heart hammered furiously against his ribcage and he thought it would pound it’s way out of his chest. His knuckles had turned white from his death grip on the blanket.

"They are fine," the elf lord clarified hurriedly before his son suffered a panic attack.

Aragorn relaxed immediately and let out the breath that he didn’t realize that he was holding. Then his eyes went wide. "Legolas?!"

"He is well. The demon fled when Elladan and I entered the room. Elrohir was being pinned against the wall by his wrist when we found them. Fortunately no permanent damage was done but the bruises on the wrist will take some time to heal."

Aragorn nodded numbly and suddenly he gasped. The bruises on the wrist! Dergth told him about the bruises on Medovir’s wrists! His mind reeled and his heart went cold. It was him! It must be! The demon took possession of his body and attacked the Chief! Cold sweat broke out on his brow and neck and he felt sick to his stomach.

"Oh Valar! I killed him!!" Aragorn’s hands flew to the side of his head and he pressed his palm into his temples and screamed.

*****

To Be Continued...