Unlikely Rescue

Chapter 10 - Running for the Trees

Thank you to everyone who has read this and commented and voted on it! I'm sorry this chapter's a bit late but I've been kind of busy...

Guilt shot through Aragorn. He still didn't know what crime this child had committed and was having doubts about whether rescuing a criminal without knowing why he was imprisoned was reasonable.

But his treatment... surely nothing deserved that. Perhaps he could, at least, be imprisoned somewhere where he wouldn't be beaten? That, Aragorn decided, was reasonable. Anyway, it wasn't as if the child was a murderer...

The human glanced down at the broken body in his arms. He couldn't leave him here to die.

No, he couldn't. He'd been through this. He was getting the boy out, and this was his only chance to do so. So he had to take it. He had to.

Glancing up and down the cold stone corridor, Aragorn crept stealthily back up towards the main passageway. He knew he didn't have long, and he knew that Thranduil was probably on his way even now.

Each foot was placed lightly, especially as he passed the other cells. Most were empty, and cold anger flooded him when he crept by. These cells were... well lit, spacious, clean. The cell this elfling was in was the opposite. Small, dark and dirty. Disgusting.

Glad that he'd seen no signs of life all the way up the passage, Aragorn paused when he recognised the corner he was about to turn. Around that corner was the main corridor.

Dread. Dread and worry filled Aragorn's thoughts and he contemplated exactly how he was going to get out unnoticed. How could he ever get all the way to the gates and, then, out of them? Surely they would be sealed and he couldn't exactly walk out carrying an unconscious elfling, could he?

No. He would have to disguise himself and, most importantly, his young companion.

But how? First of all, they would have to blend in. Aragorn was allowed to come and go as he pleased, and he could always say he was just going hunting. He knew he could get out alone, but...

There was the much more difficult matter of disguising the young elf in his company. He couldn't exactly go about carrying an elfling in his arms; it would give him away completely! So he would have to make it seem as though either he was carrying something else, or the elfling wasn't there at all. He decided the former was easier. Perhaps he was just carrying gear...

✧ ★ ✧

A few minutes later, the moment the main corridor was clear, Aragorn darted out of a side corridor and started at a confident walk down the passage, arms full of riding gear and weapons. A few servants turned to stare at him as he made his way out, but the many things he'd collected from the store room he'd discovered earlier completely covered the elfling and were cleverly arranged to fit with his body shape and not look unnatural.

As he headed towards the gate, his nerves began to kick in and he felt slightly nauseous at the prospect of trying to hide his real purpose from inquisitive guards. He had never broken the rules this badly before. Sure, he and his brothers had played a few unruly pranks upon the occupants of Imladris, usually Glorfindel and Elrond, but never anything like this. Never.

As Aragorn and, unknown to the inhabitants of Mirkwood, Legolas, approached the guards at the gate, Aragorn forced a neutral expression onto his face. It was well that he did, as the guards immediately stood to attention at his approach and the huge gate remained firmly closed.

He continued to walk in a confident and relaxed way, as though this was completely normal, and stopped only when he was right before the tall guards. They were tall, but Aragorn was taller, though not by much. He wondered if he would be taller than Thranduil?