Title: Fallen Leafs
By: Areli
Rated: PG
Feedback: blessedbell64@hotmail.com

Disclaimer:  Middle-earth and its characters belong to J.R.R.Tolkien.

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Chapter Five

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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Chapter Six

Gimli was roughly awakened to the sounds of his name. 
"Huh?" he mumbled. 
"They have taken Legolas." he heard Aragorn state. 
"What?" Gimli forced himself to put the pain he felt aside and think about what he had 
just heard. 
"He still has the ring?" Gimli asked. 
For a moment Aragorn said nothing and stared at the ground. That was all the answer 
Gimli needed. 
"We must find him." Aragorn said after a moment. He nodded. 
"You can track them?" Aragorn nodded. 
"The earth cries with every hoofprint their horses make. They would be easy enough to 
track." 
"Then what are we waiting for?" 
"I wonder if the wraiths took him to Isengard or Mordor." 
The two companions stood in silence. 
"Why not just follow the trail and see?" 
"Well if we knew which one I could get us there faster through shortcuts I know of. Time 
is essential." 
"We are wasting time sitting here pondering. Let us follow the trail and see where it 
leads." 
"You are right." Aragorn said. He looked down the trail and broke out into a run. Gimli 
close behind. 
 
Legolas heard voices before his eyes would allow themselves to be opened. He felt the 
cold ground beneath him and was chilled to the core by it. 
"He has the ring." he heard a voice whisper. 
"You are sure of this?" Legolas heard an old voice say. The voice bothered Legolas for it 
sounded full of evil and hate. 
The moment Legolas' eyes snapped open he wished he could simply close them and fade 
away. 
Three wraiths loomed over him along with an old man cloaked in white with a iron staff. 
They all peered down at him in wonder. 
"Why do you not simply stab him?" he heard a new voice say. 
His eyes searched his view and found a small goblin looking down at him as well. 
"Fool! Get out of here!" he heard the old man yell. 
If the Nazguls stab me, I could heal myself... Legolas thought numbly. At least he felt 
safer that they could not attempt to turn him into one of them. 
"He...is...awake..." he heard a wraith state. 
The old man stared down at him. 
"Ah so he has indeed. Welcome elf to Isengard." he said. "I am Saruman." 
Legolas lept to his feet and instinctively reached for his bow and arrows but found that 
they were not there. His two swords were gone as well. Fear curled into his heart. 
"Where are the hobbits?" Legolas demanded. 
"Ah. They were most helpful in telling us where the other two halflings were. We had no 
more use for them and disposed of them." 
Legolas' eyes widened. Tears filled his eyes as he tried with all of his might to hide his 
mixed emotions of fear and anger. 
"And the other two halflings...?" Legolas said shakily. 
"Destroyed as well although I found it remarkable that the one Frodo managed to get rid 
of the ring before he died and before we suspected. I sent out the wraiths to find it yet you 
managed to pick it up before them." Saruman said in a light voice. 
Legolas could no longer hide his emotions and cried out in a mixture of anger and 
sadness. He longed for his weapons. The sight of the horrid creatures almost laughing at 
his sufferings was completley unbearable. 
"You long to destroy us." he heard Saruman say. "Why not use the ring?" 
The ring! Legolas had forgotten that he had it. Still he did not move. It was an obvious 
trap. 
Aragorn had been right all along. He could not weild it's power and would fall to the 
shadows. He was teetering above the shadows as it was. It would take the smallest tap to 
send him over. 
"What will you do with me?" Legolas asked. 
"What indeed..." Saruman mused. He whisked his hand and the threw wraiths left without 
a word. 
Saruman went to his grand chair and stared at Legolas. 
Meanwhile, Legolas looked around, surveying the dark area for a way to get out. He 
didn't have a prayer. 
 
"We will never reach him in time!" Gimli yelled to Aragorn who was running madly 
through the forest. The trail was growing cold. Time was running against them. 
"Save your breath Gimli!" Aragorn replied. 
They found that the trail led them away from Mordor. 
Ah hah! Aragorn exclaimed to himself. 
"They have taken him to Isengard!" Aragorn reported as Gimli caught up. 
The sun was rising over the mountains as they ran off towards Isengard. 
Aragorn prayed that Legolas hadn't fallen to them yet. He prayed that their struggles 
hadn't all been in vain... 
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Chapter Seven
Legolas was growing more and more nervous with each passing moment that Saruman 
simply sat and watched his every move. 
Voices began to whisper at him, telling him to put the ring on and taste it's power. 
Legolas could barely restrain himself. The temptation was simply becoming too great 
with each second that flied away. 
At last Legolas turned towards Saruman angrily. 
"Why did you not simply take the ring from me?" he demanded. 
Saruman laughed softly. His voice rang in the air, tainting it. 
"Legolas, that is a very odd question you ask me." 
"Yet one you can answer." Legolas retorted. His eyes searched the room in search of 
something he could use against Saruman. He found nothing. 
The whispers grew louder. They no longer told him to use the ring, they commanded him. 
"The silent whispers. You can hear them can't you?" Saruman said closing his eyes. "I 
can hear them as well. They call to you Legolas. Why do you not answer?" 
Legolas was uncertain of what to do. He could not simply toss the ring away for they 
would get it. But perhaps that had not been their intention in the first place since they 
hadn't simply killed him and taken it. 
"I don't understand." Legolas said, frowning. "Why am I alive?" 
Saruman's eyes opened as he grabbed his staff in an instant. 
"You would prefer to die?" He asked incredulously? 
He suddenly jabbed his staff at Legolas, smacking him against a wall before he could 
think. 
His head was spinning as he stood up shakily. 
"We have use for you still..." he heard Saruman say. 
 
"We're going the wrong way!" Gimli shouted angrily. They had not stopped for the past 
six hours and despite how strong dwarves were, the tiredness and pain that Gimli had 
hidden was become more and more visable. Aragorn was beyond pain. Still, he also hid 
his pain. Legolas would destroy them all if he could not stop him. All of his thoughts 
were of Legolas and the cursed ring. 
Aragorn suddenly stopped in his tracks. There was something ahead of them. He could 
hear high shrieks in the air. 
"Get down!" he yelled. Gimli muttered a tad but didn't ask questions. 
That was when the sound of horses galloping filled the air and rattled the ground. 
"The wraiths?" Gimli hissed. "But why are they still after us?" 
"Probably to destroy us." Aragorn answered. "We are in their way." 
"Let them come and taste my axe!" Gimli shouted. 
All nine Nazguls sped past them, completely ignoring them. 
"Where are they headed?" Gimli wondered when they had passed. 
"I am uncertain. We have no time to question their moves. Legolas will not be able to 
survive much longer if they have already started to torture him." 
"If they haven't killed him already." Gimli mumbled. 
They got to their feet and continued their run. Isengard's lonely tower in plain view. 
 
Legolas lied on the ground. He could not ignore the voices that fiercly ordered him to use 
the ring. 
"Try the ring on...it suits you..." Saruman said. "Join with Sauron. Nothing can exceed his 
powers..." 
Perhaps he is right... Legolas thought over the voices that wrapped themselves around 
him. 
Perhaps there was no hope. 
  
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Chapter Eight
The wraiths rode for several days without stopping. 
At last they reached their goal. Mirkwood. 
Arrows flew at them before they even entered yet the wraiths merely shrieked and rode 
straight through amongst the silent murmers of "Nazguls? Here?" 
They rode up to the throne room, dismounted and walked up the steps to the king. 
Thranduil looked up from his seat to find himself staring at nine Nazguls. 
"How dare you enter this sacred place!" he thundered. The wraiths said nothing for a 
moment. "State the meaning of this!" 
"Legolas..." he heard one of the riders in black whisper. His eyes widened. 
"What of Legolas?" he demanded. 
"Give us your alliegence and we give you your son..." they whispered. Thranduil stared at 
them angrily. 
"What proof have you that you do indeed hold my son?" 
One of the wraiths pulled out Legolas' bow from underneath his robes. Thranduil stood 
up from his seat. He sat back down after a moment, a look of defeat gracing his worried 
face. 
"And if I do not agree to these terms?" he said softly, his voice filled with hate. 
"Legolas will join with us." 
Thranduil laughed at this. 
"My son is loyal. We agree to nothing." he said and stood up again. He waved his hand. 
"Be gone!" 
"So be it..." the nine said at once. With a shriek they left. 
Thranduil fell to his knees. 
"My son..." 
One of the servants went up to Thranduil. 
"What do you wish us to do my lord?" she asked slowly. She put hher hand on his 
shoulder for comfort. 
"Send our warriors to follow the wraiths and save Legolas." Thranduil ordered. The 
servant bowed and left. 
 
"You must join us..." Saruman chanted slowly. Legolas' laid on the floor drenched in 
sweat. 
Legolas was growing far too tired to resist any longer. His thoughts became completely 
focused on the ring that called to him from his pocket. He longed to touch it, more than 
anything in the world. He forgot that Saruman was even there after a while. 
Saruman smiled twistedly down at Legolas when he noticed that one of Legolas' hands 
was reaching for the ring. Legolas would make an excellent servant of Sauron. Mirkwood 
would fall to the darkness and the elves save from Lothlorien would become servants to 
Sauron. It would work perfectly. 
"My ring..." he heard Legolas mutter. 
"Yes Legolas. Take your ring." Saruman said kneeling down besides Legolas. "You 
desire it do you not?" 
Legolas faintly nodded. 
"Then what is preventing you from taking what is rightfully yours? It is your fate to 
become a servant of Sauron as was mine. One cannot deny fate." Saruman said. 
Legolas reached for his ring. 
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