Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: As in Chapter 1

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Chapter 31 – They All Fall Down

Aragorn and Legolas limped slowly out of the room completely unaware of the figure lingering a few feet behind them. When Legolas felt the presence, it was already too late.

With lightning speed, Elladan grabbed the figure closer to him and yanked the person against his body. The fingers on his other hand locked themselves tightly around his hostage’s throat. Legolas gasped when his friend was wrenched rudely away from him and his eyes widened with shock when the assailant was none other than Elladan.

"What are you doing?!" the elf prince shouted at the older twin before realizing that the dark haired elf that stood in front of him was not Elladan. The twin’s eyes were misted over by a black film that swam maliciously inside his once gray eyes.

Aragorn struggled frantically against his brother but the elf was strong and his fingers dug painfully into his neck, choking the young ranger. He tried to speak but couldn’t seem to find his voice. The Elladan-creature advanced towards Legolas placing Aragorn in front of him as a shield forcing the prince to retreat backwards towards the stairs.

"W-Who are you?" Legolas stammered when he failed to keep his voice from trembling. He did not expect an answer but was surprised when Elladan spoke.

"Morion." The voice was deep and scratchy, much different from the light musical tone that used to be Elladan’s.

The wood-elf could see that Aragorn’s face was starting to turn red from the lack of air and the human was gasping, struggling to draw breath but the fingers around his windpipe prevented him from doing so. He began to feel light-headed and his head swam from the dizziness. Black and green spots flashed across his vision and he knew that the darkness would soon engulf him if he did not get air into his lungs in the next few seconds. The human’s eyes rolled back into his head and he slowly sank towards the floor.

"There’s no use having a dead hostage!" Legolas blurted out as he took in Aragorn’s appearance, his hands outstretched trying to calm the elf whom he had known for many millennia.

"Get out of the way or I will kill him!" Elladan threatened the helpless prince.

Legolas took a few more steps back but maintain eye contact with Elladan all the while, keeping several feet away from the demon. As he neared the stairs, Elladan’s grip around Aragorn’s neck loosened and the ranger inhaled a deep wheezing breath, choking and coughing as he fought for breath. While the ranger was busy catching his breath, Elladan stretched out his hand, palm out and aimed it directly at Legolas’ chest. A burst of energy surged out and rammed into the young prince, propelling him backwards and sending him tumbling down the stairs.

Legolas felt himself being thrown backwards by an invisible force and groped blindly at the railing trying to stop his fall but his fingers found empty space. The first impact sent white-hot agony up his back as he landed hard on the marble stairs. He bounced once and rolled head over heel down the remaining steps, crashing into a table which was placed beside the stairs. The large vase wobbled dangerously on its base as Legolas collided into it and eventually toppled over, crashing onto the floor. Bits of glass shards flew in all directions as the vase shattered on impact.

Legolas laid at the bottom of the stairs. His wrist now hung limply at his side. The gash on his head was pouring blood into his eyes and he prayed for the unconsciousness which would not come. As he rolled over to get up, he moaned. His body protested this action and he felt the dizziness reel in his mind and fought the urge to heave the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

Having heard the commotion, Elrond, Glorfindel and several other elves converged upon the scene and utter horror broke out on their fair faces at the sight that met their eyes. The battered and bruised elf prince writhed miserably on the floor trying to push himself up to no avail. Old injuries combined with new ones pained him immensely and Legolas whimpered softly despite his efforts to suppress them.

Elrond dropped down onto his knees beside the blond elf while Glorfindel dispersed the crowd and instructed one of the servants to retrieve Elrond’s healing pack. Hundreds of questions flooded through the elf lord’s mind as he checked on the prince. Aragorn’s absence was one of his greater concerns but right now he needed to concentrate on the injured elf. He feared that Legolas might have broken his back or neck during the fall but was relieved that he had only obtained a broken wrist and a deep gash at his preliminary inspection. But he would need to perform a more detailed examination to determine the extent of his internal injuries if any.

Legolas continued his struggle to sit up despite the pain and was promptly restrained by Glorfindel.

"Don’t move," the elf lord said sternly but gently.

"Estel..." the prince spoke through the haze of pain that fogged his mind, "he’s in danger..."

Elrond’s heart went cold at his words. "What’s happened?" he asked with anticipation but before Legolas could answer, heavy footsteps could be heard descending the marble stairs. The two elf lords shifted their gaze from Legolas to the stairs and they saw something that they were both unable to accept and comprehend.

Elladan was shielding himself behind Aragorn, the fingers of his right hand wrapped around the human’s throat and his left hand holding his hostage’s hands behind his back. Pushing the young ranger forward, the duo made their way cautiously down the stairs.

The servant that had been sent to retrieve the healing pack returned at that moment and gasped at the sight, dropping the bundle that he was carrying with a loud thud. The sound snapped the two elf lords out of their stupor and they stood up slowly, stepping in front of the injured elf.

"Elladan! What in the name of Valar…" but before Elrond could finish his question, Elladan sneered at him.

"He’s not Elladan," Legolas said weakly from the floor. "Morion has taken over his body."

"Son of the dark," Glorfindel translated the name into Common.

"What do you want?" Elrond demanded forcefully trying to mask the slight tremor in his voice, not wanting to give the demon the satisfaction of seeing him crumble. Fear gripped at his heart as the creature maintained his silence and proceeded down the remaining steps until they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

Aragorn was in a daze, his eyes cloudy and unfocused as if trapped in a dream state and was unaware of the happenings in his surrounding.

"Let me go or this one dies," the Elladan-creature made his demands, stressing his point by tightening his grip around the human’s throat making him gasp and wheeze. "And if I see anyone following us, I will kill him!" Backing away slowly from the two agitated elf lords, Elladan dragged the ranger out of the house.

Elrond started to follow but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Give him some time to move out of the house my friend. If you follow now, you’ll only force him to hurt Estel."

The dark haired elf sighed agitatedly. "I need to contain him inside Rivendell. I don’t understand how he managed to get pass the magic protecting our borders but I can’t allow him to leave and do further damage to other innocent people."

Glorfindel nodded knowing that Elrond would need to strengthen the magic around their home by summoning the powers of Vilya. "I will care for Legolas. Do whatever you must and bring them home safely." With that, Glorfindel picked up the discarded healing pack and went to work on the elven prince as Elrond made his way out into the garden.

Legolas winced as Glorfindel pressed a bandage onto the deep cut and squirmed uncomfortably under the elf lord’s scrutiny.

"I’m a little tired of asking this but... what happened?" The warrior removed the cloth as he waited for an explanation and peered at the seeping wound. The cut was long and rather deep. It would definitely need stitches.

Elrohir and Celboril chose this moment to dash into the hallway and Legolas was thankful for their intrusion because he really did not want to talk about what happened especially when the one who pushed him off the stairs was Elladan. The younger twin skidded to a stop on the bits of glass shards on the floor seconds before he rammed into the mighty elf lord. Celboril came crashing into him almost sending him sprawling onto the floor but the nimble servant caught hold of Elrohir’s tunic and yanked him back onto his feet.

"Careful Celboril! I have no intention of being a pin cushion today," the dark haired elf joked and the elf gave him a sheepish grin in return but both of them became serious again when they saw the mess the young prince was in... again.

"We heard the crash. What did you do this time Legolas?" the younger twin dropped down beside Glorfindel as Celboril hurried off to the kitchen and inspected the prince immediately noting the broken wrist. Pulling out another bandage, Elrohir proceeded to bind the limb and the wood-elf hissed as he set the bones. "I thought you were with Estel?" he asked as tied the knot on the bandage. "What happened? Where is he?"

The question he dreaded had finally resurfaced again but there was no escape this time. Glorfindel had managed to slow the bleeding enough for him to stitch up the gash. Both the elf lord and Elrohir were in no hurry in going anywhere so there was no way he could delay the tale any longer. As Glorfindel took out the needle, Celboril returned with a basin of warm water and a small bowl of hot boiling water. Setting the two items down, he made the short trip back to the kitchen leaving his lords to the grilling. Washing his hands in the warm water and sterilizing the needle in the boiling one, the blond elf lord began his task.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Elrohir glared at Legolas and he flinched at ‘the look’.

Relenting eventually, Legolas recounted the tale deliberately leaving out the part where Elladan had pushed him off the stairs. Instead he told them that he had slipped and fell. Glorfindel raised his brow at the elfling. He knew that Legolas did not fall for he was far too graceful. Throwing the young prince his infamous scowl, Legolas finally admitted ruefully that the elder twin had blasted him with an energy burst and threw him off his feet. Elrohir gasped out loud at the revelation but before he could say anything, a blinding flash of light flooded into the house.

"What was that?!" Elrohir jumped onto his feet in a split second and ran towards the window. He craned his neck and peeped through the window but no one was there. Elves flocked slowly into the garden wondering what had happened but they found no answers.

*****

 To Be Continued...