Fallen Leafs, Part V
by Areli

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Aragorn woke with a start from a cold sleep. His hand instinctively checked for the ring and found it to be missing. 

"Legolas!" he yelled. He rolled over when he was answered by silence and found that Legolas was not there.  

"Gimli! Wake up! Legolas has taken the ring!" he bellowed. Gimli stirred from his sleep, grumbeling.  

"What?" he muttered.  

"The ring! Legolas has it! We must hurry, master dwarf, before he takes it to Mordor!"  

"The traitor!" Gimli roared.  

They both quickly packed up their camp and set out to find Legolas.  

"We will never be able to find an elf in the forest!" Gimli called to Aragorn, who was much farther ahead than him.  

"Hopefully my skills of a ranger will be of some use!" Aragorn answered.  

 

Meanwhile Legolas was wandering blindly through the forest clutching the ring. He wanted to find his companions yet at the same time, wanted to run from them. They would take his ring from him.  

He did not know what to do.  

The ring was his. It was his own.  

His hand grew tighter on the ring as he put it to his chest lovingly.  

"Legolas!" he jerked his head up at the sound of his name.  

It was Aragorn.  

He wanted to call to them. He wanted to run from them. Instead, Legolas stood there completely frozen.  

"Legolas!" he heard his name called again. Aragorn had spotted him. His limbs stood perfectly still, unable to decide exactly what to do.  

Aragorn ran up to him and angrily yelled, 

"Where's the ring?!"  

Legolas shakily moved his palm towards Aragorn and showed him the ring.  

"How could you steal it Legolas? It is NOT yours!" Aragorn yelled, infuriated. Legolas was angered by his words. 

"The ring IS mine! It came to ME! Not you!" he yelled. His eyes flared as he spoke, causing Aragorn to recoil a tad in surprise.  

"Legolas!" he heard Gimli yell as he caught up. "Give us back the ring traitor!"  

"A traitor to what? It is as Borormir said at the council! It is a gift that we possess it yet we shrink from it in fear! We should use this ring!"  

"You. Cannot. Weild. It!" Aragorn seethed. "Give me the ring!"  

Legolas stepped back from Aragorn and pulled the ring towards his body.  

"It is mine! You simply want it for your own personal desires! With it I shall save Middle Earth."  

"With it you shall destroy us all..." Aragorn said softly. Legolas glared at him.  

"Give us the ring." Gimli repeated, more quietly.  

Aragorn reached for his sword, Gimli held up his axe.  

"Give us the ring or we shall have to destroy you." Aragorn said, regretting his words.  

Legolas put the ring in his pocket and instantly withdrew his bow and an arrow. He pointed it at Aragorn. 

"You shall die twice over before you can touch me." he said.  

Before the battle could progress, the sounds of shrieking filled the air. 

"The ringwraiths!" Aragorn hissed. "Come, we must hide!" He put his sword back to it's holder, turned, and ran.  

Legolas stood perfectly still. His arrow was still pointed at Aragorn, following his every move.  

He restrained himself from killing him. Every inch of his body wanted to stop it, yet the will of the ring told him to kill Aragorn.  

"Legolas! Put the bow and arrow away. There is no time for this now!" Gimli yelled. He ran up to Legolas who had still not moved. He was afraid that if he so much as blinked, the arrow would be sent.  

Gimli smacked the bow out of his hand, causing Legolas to let go of the arrow which sent it flying towards Aragorn. 

"Aragorn!" Legolas yelled.  

The wraiths were visable by that time and rushing towards Legolas, their swords drawn. Within seconds Legolas would be killed or worse.  

Aragorn, meanwhile had looked back towards the sound of his name just as an arrow came flying at him. He managed to dodge it and glared at Legolas angrily.  

His eyes widened when he saw all nine Nazguls closing in on Gimli and Legolas.  

As if out of reaction he ran towards them in rapid speed.  

Legolas grabbed his fallen bow and quickly shot arrows at the ringwraiths.  

Gimli had managed to slice some of the riders as they passed by.  

Still, there were three left still on their horses.  

One distracted Legolas, the other smacked Gimli into a tree, and the third came from behind Legolas.  

The third simply ran up and scooped Legolas into the saddle.  

Legolas was hit by the hilt of the wraiths sword before he could even react. The movement was far quicker than even the quickest elf to have detected.  

"Legolas!" Aragorn yelled as he flat out ran towards the wraith holding the unconsious Legolas.  

The other two ringwraiths prevented Aragorn from getting too close to the third. Aragorn dismounted both of them and sent them running yet by this time, Legolas and the rider were out of sight.

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