Falls of Rauros, 3019 TA, April 6th

Elladan and Elrohir were four days ahead of Xena and Legolas with the rangers of the north, and they were now returning to the spoken path they originally meant to travel. A group of Haradrims was assaulting a neighboring village, and the rangers halted to assist them. After Sauron's defeat, several Haradrims persisted in a few locations, terrifying anyone who crossed their paths. However, the bulk of Haradrims were returning to Harad because they hoped for peace and had nothing to do with the conflict.

They had reached the Field of Celebrant when they noticed two familiar horses. They smiled as the horses got closer, moving at a fairly quick pace. They then noticed something that wiped the smile from their face. It was replaced with a frown of concern. There was no one sitting on the horses that followed. The twins were just about to turn away when they realized that and stared a moment longer to confirm that fact.

"I know those horses," the elder son of Elrond spoke as he rode after the horses and his brother followed. It did not take long to reach the horses and stop them from the horrifying encounter they had. Both twins unmounted their horses and walked over to Argo and Arod. They whispered to them words of comfort in elvish and waited until the horses slowly calmed down to show them where they have lost their masters.

After a little respite, the horses galloped back to the incident site. They would need two days to reach the Falls of Rauros. When they arrived, they would discover several orc and goblin corpses, but neither Legolas nor Xena. And after much discussion and investigation, they would discover that they had fallen into the depths of Rauros.

Fortunately, the twins were aware of what lay under the Falls of Rauros. They did not leap after Legolas and Xena, although they were familiar with the cave openings. The assignment to ride to Imladris had been neglected, and it was now necessary to pursue them. They could not predict what they would encounter in the forgotten caverns' darkness, but they would be there if they were able to find their way out.

Meanwhile, in the growing darkness of the unnamed caverns, the pair was still hiding from their attackers. Legolas appeared to be haunted by the knew of his mother's death, and his misfortune was not able to remember anything. No one should ever suffer the pain of such memory, and the elf as well, it felt wrong for a being as pure and beautiful to be haunted by such thoughts. And the awareness of the loss of his mother was always there, like the darkness, but the elf always managed to cope with his emotions. But not today, his old age, experience, and wisdom, could not make him withhold his despair of the loss of his mother.

Next to him sat Xena, trying to eye who was attacking them, she was still angry with the annoying elf. His previous words had hurt the warrior princess, and although she could understand why Legolas was drawn in despair, she would not go easy on him. But for now, they had to find a way to defend themselves, from the unknown source. The pair shared a serious glance before they drew their blades and decided to face their doom.

The perfect moment was when the shooting of arrows ceased and Xena with Legolas had only managed to grab their swords and leaped from their hiding place. It did not take long to acknowledge their attackers, it was orcs. But orcs that were forgotten in time, were very skinny and almost dying creatures. For a moment Legolas paused thinking it would be any threat as they were starving. Though if those were starving orcs, then Xena and Legolas were meat. And the thought was ignored.

The orcs seemed in shock as well, it was centuries since any soul had fallen in those caves, and most of them were already dead. And those that remained were not able to fight. The only one who seemed to have the will to threaten but not fight was their leader. The fight was hardly a fair one. The human and the elf were enough to take care of that group of dying orcs.

Metal clashed against metal frequently after they have revealed themselves. Xena used mostly her double chakram since was of the orcs were at a distance. Each of the splitting parts of the chakram found its target and was slain by the orcs. Most of them did not even fight back, they were too exhausted to even try to defend themselves. Legolas took care of those that were at the nearest distance. His double knives stroke orc after orc, as he leaped with difficulty causing his major injury.

The elf was a keen fighter and even wounded he would move with grace and his strikes were accurate. The leader of the orcs was gazing at his men getting slain and he had frozen. The last orc was killed and Legolas landed in front of the leader. Legolas glared at the orc, there were no emotions left in the elf's eyes, only coldness. He had crossed both of his blades against the orc's neck "I will not escape," Legolas scoffed in a deep and dark tone "I will end you!" And without a second thought, both knives cut through his neck and the elf decapitate the leader.

Now the only ones alive were Legolas and Xena, they both took a deep breath and searched around for any remaining orcs. All of them were killed, and the pair shared a victorious glance before they would look away. Xena started cleaning her chakram from the blood by using a ripped part of the already ruined gown. Legolas leaned against the nearest rocky wall and did the same.

They both had fallen into deep silence not wanting to face each other. Her chakram was cleaned, and she was still facing away from Legolas deep in thought. Her first thought was how they would escape and what else lay ahead. Her second thought was Legolas. The elf was still driven by anger and despair, and although it seemed he had calmed a little bit, those emotions were still noticeable.

Suddenly something heavy was dropped down on the stoned ground that made Xena turn and find the elf fallen on his knees breathing heavily. He was clinching against his side, trying hard to breathe. He had just secured his long knives against their leather cases and made a sudden move that caused his wound to open. And this time pain overtook him, and he ended up falling on his knees. He beat himself to stand but could not, to his surprise his body was not obeying.

The human felt like a fool, her anger was forgotten and she was now worrying again. She leaped next to Legolas softy wrapping her hand around him and trying to pull him into a sitting position. "This is completely unhelpful," Xena said as she started checking his wound that had already started bleeding again "If you keep acting so stubborn, elf, you will never make it outside."

Legolas lifted his gaze and glared at her, he wished to curse the human, but he could hardly breathe, so speaking was not an option. Xena ignored his angry gaze and started working on the wound, trying once more to stop the bleeding. "Leave it," Legolas managed to whisper between his gasps of pain, only to earn a fake punch on the arm by the human.

"Listen," Xena argued finally reaching her breaking point "I will get you out of here alive. You are not the only one who has lost family. I have lost both of my children, so do not preach to me about loss and despair, elf! I made it through, you will as well or I will kick your sorry ass until it bleeds. Are we clear?"

His chest hurt and his throat was dry, but oddly enough the elf gazed at the human. Ice grey eyes locked with blue, and her words made his mind find its way out of the undying loop. He recalled that the human had lost family as well and that he was unfair to her. Her words did not ease his pain or his anger, but they made the elf obey. He leaned back and allowed her to fix his bandages one more.

"We can't linger here, will you be able to move?" she asked him after she was done taking care of the injury. She stood up and offered him her hand waiting for his response.

Legolas took a deep breath and bit his lips, he nodded at her and grabbed her hand, and stood up. He could not yet balance himself, but she pulled his weight against her body and the elf found a way to balance. A moment later they both started walking once more in the unknown tunnels of the caverns. Legolas was following now the flow of the water hoping it would lead them to an exit.

They walked through the dark corridors, turning in every corner, slipping and sliding whenever they stepped into small pools of water. Everything was becoming darker, they would gain more cuts as they fell against the rocks and mud, it was only making this worse. Xena's gown was ripped, mostly gone, just one layer was left from the once graceful fabric. Legolas tunic and shirts were not in any better condition. It was the first time that the elf felt so dirty in his life.

However, a familiar sense of warmth and belonging reached out to him, it was endless, and there he felt his connections with Xena, like a shield protecting him. The human had wrapped her arm around him aiding him to continue inside the unending tunnels. Inside the growing darkness, they only had each other, and as time passed they started leaning on each other.

It was them against the world.

Light shone through the forsaken caverns hours after their ongoing journey. The sun was finally rising and the place around them started to brighten. They had reached hold to rest, and in front of them were no longer corridors but a great opening. At first, they had not noticed what was hidden in front of them until the light shone on the wintry branches, shadowy arms stretching across the ancient ruins.

What was left of an old kingdom stood despite itself, defying gravity in its precarious way. Yet, this place kept so many secrets forgotten through time. It had faced ancient destructive touch and so had become a sanctuary of ruins. The Palace was bold on the black beyond. It stood there as if conjured from the storybook of a forgotten history book. It was perfect. Every stone was even and square as if those who built were set on perfection as if they loved what they made. They were walls constructed to protect a community, to echo with laughter, and to be the shelter they needed for the millennia to come.

It was a perfection lost in time and darkness.

It was hidden a previous glory, and on top of the entrance lay broken a stone sign that was written 'Erin's folk'. The pair gazed at the lost kingdom in awe, and with only Legolas to recall that this was the lost Kingdom of the dwarves of Erins.

"The curse of Erin!" Legolas managed to say before the ground started to trample and the ruins shuttered in front of them bringing everything down to an ongoing fall to their doom.

((Upcoming Chapter Eighty))

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