Title: The Drums in the Trees
By: Elvensong
Rated: G
Feedback:  europa494@yahoo.com I love feedback, let me know what you thought of the 
story.  
Scenario: This is an AU where after the destruction of the ring a new evil grows and 
attacks Mirkwood.  The Fellowship reunites as best they can to take on this new foe.  I 
have not read all three books yet, so this is definitely not in the continuity of the books. 
(I'm working on reading them, but I work as well, makes it tougher) I hope you enjoy 
this one!  Please review!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own this, if you sue me you'll get maybe 10 bucks, so let's save our 
precious lawyers from any boring suits.
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Chapter 3 – Never Ending Sea of Mystery

 The being only moved slowly and did not rise from its point in the sea of ash.  It 
appeared to the travelers to be weak or injured. An Ork left over from the great battle 
which must have raged here perhaps. 
            As Gimli and Aragorn got closer to their target they realized it was too slender to 
be an Ork.  When everything gave into the dusty light they realized what the being was.  
An Elf!
            Gimli cried out and ran towards the Firstborn, but a mixture of feelings 
overwhelmed him as he got closer. 
 
An Elf, yes: Legolas, no. 
 
"Master Elf, awaken! Please, speak to me of what has happened here!" Gimli 
gently shook the Elf and tried to help him into a sitting position.  The Elf obviously had 
been through a lot and was nearly delirious. 
Aragorn did not recognize the Elf, but he did notice that this Elf wore the uniform 
of the guardian forces of Mirkwood.  Suddenly, the mysterious stranger began to stir and 
come back into reality. 
"What has happened?" Aragorn knelt down as the Elf slowly sat up.
"I am not sure. There were Orks everywhere, unlike any we had fought before. 
They seemed to appear out of the darkness and the very light retreated. We were being 
overtaken.  Everything was ablaze and collapsing. They focused their attacks on the 
palace and the royal family.  We could not protect them.  The palace collapsed under the 
weight of this evil.  Then the light, this magnificent light! I can't remember fully, all I 
remember is a light, then nothing more. What followed was a quiet to disturb to deepest 
places of Middle Earth."
Gimli was quite upset by this tale. "The royal family?"
"Killed, I believe. I did not see them die, but I cannot think of anyway they could 
have survived this onslaught."
Aragorn had one final pressing question. "Legolas?"
The Elf tried to rise, burns covered a great deal of its body.
"The Prince was not in the palace, for he fights with the guard. The last I saw of 
the Prince he was leading an attack forward as a desperate try to gain an advantage." The 
Elven warrior broke eye contact and looked at the ground.
"Is there something you're not telling us?" Aragorn was concerned, but at least 
Legolas was not in that charred remnant of the palace.  Only his entire family, a wound 
he may never be able to recover from.
Finally he spoke, "I know you are his friends, so it is difficult to speak of such 
terrors."
"Please," Gimli begged, "please, we must know the truth."
 
            "You must understand Prince Legolas led this charge as a last cry against evil. He 
was using his last bit of strength left to rise up, for he had already been shot with an Ork 
arrow.  I saw him initially fall, then rise to go down fighting.  I can't imagine he could 
survive this long with that injury. I'm sorry."
            Their hearts fell; it could not be true.  Their friend could not have died in this 
attack.  However, one thing was true, the actions told to them by this guard did match 
what Legolas would do in that situation.  The Elf was stubborn and we would have made 
every attempt to keep fighting, no matter what the odds. 
            Aragorn decided there were more mysteries to be solved here. 
            "What was this light you speak of?"
            "It came suddenly. When all seemed lost, and then the evil was gone.  There has 
been no sign of it.  This area was littered with Ork corpses before this power came.  Now 
they are all gone.  Everything is gone."
            
            Gimli and Aragorn kept searching and found many more survivors coming back 
to their wits.  All of them spoke of this power that was used and it seemed all of them had 
blacked out when it hit them.  None of them had any clue to its origins and why it had 
saved them.
            The pair of travelers were relieved to see that so many Elves had survived this 
great attack.  Their joy was very short lived when they took a view of their surroundings.  
This forest had been dark, but beautiful.  A home to the Wood-Elves for as long as time 
was recorded.  Now it was destroyed, some people may have been saved, but the woods 
were left to death.  
            The numbers of the survivors was disturbing as well.  This was the home of a 
civilization, and for every Elf they found they knew many, many more were gone.  None 
of the royal family could be seen, not even distant relations.  Aragorn began to believe 
that Legolas was killed in this attack.  That he had died defending his lands, his kingdom. 
 
            They had gathered the Elves they had found into a large open area.  Many had 
moments of great joy when a loved one was found to have survived, but there more many 
more disappointments as some searched for loved ones in vain.  
            They formed a strong band and together decided to make for Rivendell.  They 
could not remain here, for there was nothing to shelter and protect them from harm from 
anything that may come near.  The group of Elves left Mirkwood, and for the first time 
the woods were without the presence of the Elvish race.  Something most thought was 
impossible occurred, the woods seemed even blacker without their light.  
 
            "Gimli." Aragorn stayed behind with the Dwarf, in case something was missed.  
They thought it best to get the Elves out of there before grief began to seep into their 
souls, slowly destroying them.
            "We must get on our way, we cannot linger here forever."  Their search of the 
once beautiful Elven retreat was completed.
            "I cannot leave.  If we leave, then we believe he is dead.  I will not give up so 
easily."
            "Nor I! I wish to keep on searching, to find him alive, but we have looked this 
whole area over and have found no sign of him. How long would you have us remain? It 
is obvious they targeted all the royalty of this realm."
            "Listen, Aragorn.  Many of the Elves said they last saw him charging that way." 
Gimli pointed to a trail through the stumps of burned out trees. "We did not search that 
way very far because there was no sign of anything.  What if he got farther then we 
suspected? You know how stubborn that Elf can be when in battle? You remember seeing 
him jump onto that cave trolls back?  I had never seen anything so bold in all my days of 
battle."
            Aragorn smiled slightly on that memory. "Yes, that was something to behold. 
Very well, friend Dwarf, we shall continue down the road Legolas took.  Let us prey we 
find something to bring a small amount of hope to Mirkwood."
 
            Together they started down the darkened road of ash and demise of a great 
culture.  The road that their friend had blazed in front of them.  Their only hope was to 
find an answer.  Any answer to the question of the fate of the Prince of Mirkwood.  
            Aragorn humored the Dwarf after a while of journeying, he did not believe they 
would find anything this far away.  They had traveled for a great deal of time, and it was 
the same bleak scene mile after mile.  
 
            Gimli kept going. 'Just a bit farther, he would not give up so easily, just a bit 
farther.' His thoughts kept replaying in his mind.  Finally, his thoughts were answered as 
they entered a clearing. 
            
            It was an open place where there were weapons laying around.  Some of them still 
having blood on them.  It appeared that this is where the final battle between the Orks and 
the attack party led by Legolas was concluded.
 
            The pair stood silently, listening for any signs of any moment.  Any life, either 
friend or foe.  There were only answered by the sounds of the wind through the ashes.  As 
they searched, Gimli found a sign from the terror which had descended Mirkwood into 
hell.  Among the ashes of the trees lay a two large war drums.  Drums in the trees. 
 
               Along with the dust and ash in the air flew their hopes. 
*********************************************
Chapter 4 – Among the Ashes
"Shall we leave this place of hopelessness now, Gimli?" Aragorn looked away 
from the scene, for he was now certain that Legolas was dead.  
            "I shall not argue for I cannot bear this scene a moment longer."
 
            The pair turned away and headed back from where they started near the palace.  It 
was then that Aragorn heard something, something that was not there when they started 
on their path.  Noises from inside the burnt shell which was the home of the royal family 
of Mirkwood.
 
            "You do not possibly think someone could be alive in there? Do you?"
            "I am not sure, Gimli, but it seems something is left.  Friend or foe one cannot be 
certain."
            They slowly entered the structure, hoping that it would not collapse on them 
before they found whatever it was remained in this forest of ash.
 
            They made their way as softly as possible into what was a main hall in the palace.  
A large table miraculously still stood in the middle of the long room.  From what was 
left, it gave all appearances of being a lovely room that would strike awe into all who saw 
it.  
            After they passed through this room, they came into an area which looked to be 
reserved for the family only for it had a great deal of personal items therein.  The noise 
was getting stronger as they came into a room in the very back of the palace. A large 
metal door stood slightly ajar.  The pair readied their weapons, hoping to finally find 
some answers.  They slid through the crack on the door and saw a figure sitting low on 
the ground, attempting to walk. 
 
            As they neared, recognition was finally made.
 
            "Legolas!"
 
            The Elf sat on the ground, giving no sign of seeing or hearing them.  Usually the 
Elf was the first to notice something amiss, now he just sat there will eyes vacant and 
distant.  His glow, which kept the others spirits up was gone, replaced with a darkness 
that penetrated into his eyes, through to his soul.  
 
            "Legolas?" Aragorn spoke gently to the Elf in his native tongue, trying to coax 
him back to reality, "Hear my voice, come back to the light." The Prince still did not 
move. The few lessons Lord Elrond had taught him having no ability to cut through the 
dark gasp, which held his friend.
 
            "What can we do?" The Dwarf felt fortunate to be able to call this Elf a friend and 
was deeply hurt by the suffering brought down upon this gentle creature of nature. 
            "He has fallen into grief.  If we do not reach him soon, he will die.  I am truly 
surprised he has not already fallen with his family.  I cannot explain how he is still alive, 
or how he got here."
            Aragorn sat across from the Elf and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.  The future 
king of Gondor could not believe that this beautiful being could look so lost, so utterly in 
darkness.  He feared that they would have to sit here and watch him die, watch another 
immortal fall from grace.  They were a fading race, like stars in the riding sun.  The loss 
or each one depleted Middle Earth of a little of its beauty.  For much of the natural beauty 
of the world was housed in and protected by these beings, the firstborn.  
            "Legolas, do not descent into the abyss.  You need to be strong, you need to 
endure, you need to live."
 
            They sat together, the two travelers with the comatose Elf.  So many questions 
needed to be answered and if Legolas' labored, uneven breathing were to stop, then 
everything they would have tried to learn would be lost.  The evil would be allowed to 
continue, to strike somewhere else.  
 
            Night slowly fell, and the stars came out.  Oddly enough, it was the brightest 
Mirkwood had ever seen the stars, and they seemed to reach down to the shattered, 
broken lands, trying to give some semblance of hope.  They shone through the broken 
ceiling of the palace right into the chamber where the companions stay still.  
 
            A quiet voice broke the silence of Mirkwood. 
            "Aragorn?" Legolas finally began to move, to stir towards the ranger in an 
attempt to reach out.
            "Legolas! Yes, I am here! Gimli and I are here for you, please, say you are 
alright."
            "I remember the attack.  I remember the flame." Legolas shook, not from fear or 
from cold, but from devastation.  
            "The last hope of my family, something only to be used when all hope fades.  A 
way to protect our people, our home. Our home, our beautiful, living home." 
            Gimli did not understand the Elf's words.  He knew nothing of which he spoke.  
            
            "My family is dead, my home destroyed, my power spent, my only choice is to 
fall with them."
 
            The Elf finally fell completely from the light, his eyes closed.