Chapter 1

Missed by a Few

A/N: Hello! This precautionary for some blood, gore, and character death (NOT LEGOLAS, BECAUSE HE'S TOO HOT!). More Lord of the Rings characters will be added soon in upcoming chapters, so in the meantime…enjoy! :D

"Legolas?" Gimli calls his friend with an edgy voice for the fifth time. "Where could that stubborn elf be?" Legolas had told him he would be gone for to pick up something he had hidden in the forest to show him, but after three more had slipped by the dwarf began to feel uneasy.

"Perhaps he was merely caught up in the foul weather," Gimli muses, glancing at the clouds with an ash-like hue above right outside the cave's mouth, where the rain is coming down in torrents. The dwarf shields his eyes, scanning the forest around him for any signs of his friend. "Bother with meeting him in the cave!" Gimli huffs, picking up his ax, "Legolas, if you make me search for you one more time…"

A shudder runs through the huddled figure on the ground. It's been long enough of lying in the rain, waiting for someone to find him here, alone, unable to move due to the wretched net in which his body is entangled. The rocks are boring into his entire right side and one beneath his head is a bit crimson from his recent fall. A brown steed lies next to him, breathing shallowly. Its right foreleg is pierced by a piece of sharpened wood protruding from the ground where many others are covered. Neither moves. Both merely wait, hoping no dreadful creatures come by and see them as an easy meal.

Rustling in the bushes causes the figure to lift his head warily. His deep, blue eyes scan the area as his golden hair falls down from being bunched up, landing gracefully on his shoulders and a little beyond. Nothing. His throbbing head gives him enough trouble so that he lies down again, still waiting. He rubs two sweaty palms together, occasionally getting pieces of rope along with it.

"I think we caught something," a female voice speaks from somewhere to the left of the figure's head.

"It better not be another warg or else I'll make a whole new army of traps, unlike this useless one," a snarling, softer voice responds, though certainly not a woman or elf-maiden's. More rustling and the figure is now instantly struggling to get on his knees, but finds his body quite bound by the coils that he so carelessly fell on.

"My, oh my!" the woman exclaims. "We caught something far better than a warg, Fangadon!"

"What is it?" Fangadon inquires, ambling over and stooping over the figure. He gasps in surprise, delight, and disgust at the same moment. "Oh, by Sauron, my master! An elf!"

"Well, we certainly have a stroke of luck now!" the woman, Elaine sneers.

Fangadon draws a black knife, like all the other orcs have, from his belt while approaching the motionless elf that currently has both eyes shut. He pulls a rope out as well and ever so slightly lifts the net. There's still no movement. He throws the entire thing off the elf and uncoils the rope while saying to Elaine, "Here, hold this." He hands her the knife.

She takes it. "Be careful," she warns, "Elves possess a sort of magic-"

"I know!" the orc hisses, grabbing the elf's elegant hands and beginning to wrap the rope around them. Elaine mutters something about how he didn't know and crosses her arms, avoiding the blade.

The elf's eyes shoot open and he grasps the wrist of the foul being, and snatches the rope too quickly to notice. Before the orc knows what is going on the, what was his captor has the rope wrapped around his throat, squeezing tightly. Fangadon snarls and flips the elf forward, but the graceful being lands on both feet, now with his back to the creature.

The figure whirls around, grabbing two white knives that he had dropped during the fall, and swings both at his assailant simultaneously. The orc dodges both with ease. The elf then redirects both weapons downward as the former knocks him off his feet. Both land on the ground, bereft of any weapons save a quiver with two arrows on the elf's back.

Elaine cannot determine what to do. Oughtn't she stab the being her companion is struggling with or… "Belshazzar!" she yelps as the elf draws out an arrow and drives it into the orc's ghastly throat, squirting black blood on both of them.

The figure pushes his limp body off and gets up, grabbing his knives. "Who are you?" he demands.

Elaine drops the knife with trembling hands, smoothing out her black, calf-length dress nervously, in hopes of convincing him of being innocent. "Sir, I was taken captive by the orcs. He made help! Please!" she pleads, getting on both knees with moist, amber eyes. "Don't kill! I have a family!"

"I did not say I was gong to kill you," the elf says, sheathing the blades in his quiver and gently taking her petite, white hands in his and bringing her to her feet. "I am Legolas. What is your name?"

At the mention of it, Elaine twitches at the realization that she has fooled the elven prince of Mirkwood. "Lilac."

"I shall take you to my father so we can find your family," Legolas smiles grimly, releasing her and retrieving his bow.

"What about your horse?" Elaine inquires.

"My father will send men for it," the elf says, stooping next to the elegant steed and whispering something elvish in its ear. The breathing rate of the horse increases significantly, and the poor beast seems stronger. As he moves to stand, a stone hits the back of his head, causing him to drop with a splash into the mud and he remembers no more.

"Drat the elf!" Gimli mutters as he stalks close by a few bushes, still searching for Legolas out in the miserable weather.

Something next to him rustles and he abruptly halts, turning with his ax ready in hand. A voice curses approximately ten feet away. "Looks like old Fang isn't getting up again. 'Don't mess with them,' my leader said to me, and now we know why."

"Well, do we turn him in?" a woman asks.

"No. Keep him and see if we can get some information out of him first."

More shuffling. Gimli gets on his toes to see over the bushes, but cannot, being a little too short. Frustrated, he pushes right through them and stumbles upon a not quite explainable sight. His friend's brown steed is lying motionless on the ground, with its leg impaled by a wooden spike. Blood is right next to its head as well as on a rock. Carrion is on the ground also, a foul orc, being pecked by vultures, with an arrow imbedded in his forehead. Gimli cautiously approaches the scene, stopping right in from of several bushes by the horse's head.

Legolas stirs from the world of the unconscious, his blue eyes flying open and he attempts to sit up, yet finds himself pushed up against a warm body, with one hand clamped over his mouth, the other tightly wrapped around his mid-section. A pair of clammy hands is gripping his legs. His throbbing head brushes against the leaves of a bush, covered in little berries. Each is two thirds red and one third black. It's a rosary pea bush, a deadly one.

The elf pulls, but he feels cold metal on his throat and moisture on his pointy ear. "Don't move, or else I'll tickle you with this," Belshazzar whispers fiercely, his hot breath having a foul, carnivorous stench that makes Legolas wrinkle his nose in distain.

Shuffles. Then a blunt noise follows. "Legolas?" Gimli's voice calls, quite close by. The call was loud enough that the elf nearly moved to cover his sensitive ears. "I better get Aragorn. Only he can make out these tracks." The heavy footsteps of the elf's friend make his heart sink, realizing he is currently in this predicament…alone, with help only several feet away.

He once again attempts to move yet just now realizes he is bound with both hands behind his back. Perhaps he ought to make some sort of noise to alert him, though the rain may drown out any sounds. "What do we do with him?" Elaine whispers.

"Since he's the elven prince, we could get a ransom," Belshazzar whispers back.

Legolas squirms, but only manages to nick he side of his neck. Blood tricks down his tunic and he kicks yet no one stirs. After quite some time the orc grabs a fistful of the elf's blond hair and yanks him to his feet, snarling.

The trio emerges from the bush and the Legolas realizes Belshazzar is an Uruk Hai, which is far more perilous. "Night is drawing nigh," he growls. "Let's get him to the hut and interrogate him; then take him back to the camp tomorrow."

Legolas pulls away again, breaking free of Belshazzar's grip, and bolts for the direction he believe Gimli headed only mere minutes ago. Before he can move more than five feet, the Uruk has his arm again, and throws him on the ground. The elf notices Elaine coming up behind him, holding his weapons. "You will pay for that you miserable elf! You don't seem to need those legs, do you?" Belshazzar snarls shoving his blade up to Legolas's throat again and eyes the elf's thin legs before turning the knife and aiming for the upper thigh.

A/N: Cliffhanger! Yes, it's my favorite thing, and maybe plot twists, but these I do more often. XD Let me know if I put excessive angst. Have a good day/night!

Zane's Girlfriend