A/N: In Saruman's mad lust for the ring, he will do anything to discover it's location. By holding nobles captive, he thinks he will draw out other nobles who will be sure to be involved with the ring. And what if the captives were elves?

Just to let you know, this happens after Pippin looks in the palantir in Rohan and Legolas steadies a thrashing Aragorn who grabbed the palantir from Pippin. The eye beholds Aragorn and Legolas. The story starts when Pippin, Gandalf are fighting for their lives (literally) in Minas Tirith.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tolkien's characters, plots or any other works. This applies for the entire story.

Chapter One

It Begins

The city was bustling with frenzied activity; Minas Tirith was under attack. Pippin was roughly bustled about by much larger bodies which were fleeing every which way either to get to safety or to help in the reinforcing of the gate. But they were mostly peasants, not knowing where to flee after already fleeing their scorching homes.

"Gandalf? Gandalf!" Pippin said to no one really, and a little reluctantly at first seeing as he had only caught the wizard's staff flying through the fray. Pippin shoved his way through the crush towards gandalf. But even though his gaze was fixedly on the white robed figure, he caught something from the corner of his eye - a rather large creature of some sort hurtling purposely towards Pippin's own goal, weilding an axe. Pippin gasped and doubled his efforts to get through. Pippin clumsily drew his sword. The orc swung his axe. Gandalf continued hacking away at the foes in front of him.

SHING!

The sound of steel on steel sliced through the air diverting Gandalf's attention to the struggle behind him just in time to see Pippin's sword slash the fell creature.

"That was some blow! Continue like that and you shall rise through Gondor's ranks!" Gandalf declared, his bushy eyebrows raising.

"Than I shall do the opposite... I thought this was a ceremonial position of sorts..." Pippin muttered.

"I did tell you to hold your tongue in the presence of Denethor, you fool of a Took! But this is no such place to sit down and have a nice little chat about one's rank in society" Gandalf stated, "I hope you've noticed that there's a battle about!".

"I wish I hadn't noticed" Pippin said and sighed as he thought once more of what Merry must be doing. He and Gandalf were the only ones in this cursed city, which was an irony considering he had heard it was the greatest city of men. Merry was in the care of Theoden and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli had apparently gone to a place called "the paths of the dead". And Frodo and Sam... Pippin grimaced thinking of their position and actually felt himself lucky to be where he was.

"Come," Gandalf announced as he mounted his horse, "aid is needed near the gate."

Pippin felt himself being swung up onto the pristine white horse's back. Not for the last time.

Gorlak's grin looked more like a grimace and revealed mossy teeth in the process. What didn't he have to grin about? He was the captain of Dol Guldur, the seemingly dormant fortress located in south Mirkwood, and took orders from no one - except for Sharkey. But hey, he was thousands of miles away, what was he going to do? Cast some bewitchment upon him from his little tower? Gorlak gave a croaking laugh at the thought. Although Gorlak deemed himself more cunning than the average Orc, he knew very little of Sharkey. But he didn't know "Sharkey" wasn't the old man's real name; it was Saruman. He had heard rumours that he used to be a great sorcerer in the older ages but his power fell and now he was looking for minions to do his bidding. Gorlak and a few other orcs had been the only occupants of Dol Guldur for a while, laying low until some word was heard about the doings of the world. Eventually the enchanting voice of Sharkey reached his ears and Gorlak took command of the small band he had been with. Before he had known it there were many more orcs occupying the foul underground hovels of Dol Guldur. This is what Gorlak had wanted: power and command over others. He had lain restless for far too long. Besides, Sharkey promised that he would reap the benefits of his employment.

For a while his band had increased their strength and honed their long rusted weapons. But it was now time for action. Sharkey had sent word of nearby elves - elves. The very word stirred a deep unrelenting hatred for the race. For all orcs had once been elves, fair and immune to the weaknesses they sufferred. But this anger had lain dormant for so long, Gorlak was surprised when he heard the word, for there were few left and those mentioned took refuge in their precious forests and valleys. Gorlak sneered, just as cowardly as ever, leaving everyone else to do the grunt work. Sharkey said that he knew of those that would sorely miss any elf's presence... especially high ranking ones.

Another piece of information that Gorlak was unaware of was the battle of Pelennor fields which was yet brewing in the deep earth, trembling beneath the pounding claws of Saruman's vast army that was heading towards Minas Tirith. Saruman planned to use any means he could to find the ring and his chief plan at the moment was to use noble hostages to draw out other nobles who would sureley be deeply involved with the whereabouts of the ring.

Gorlak glanced down at the cracked parchment he had recieved by crebain earlier. On it was instructions on how to find the hostages Sharkey wanted and their descriptions. He sneered and spat on the paper.

Legolas Greenleaf. Son of Lord Thranduil of the Mirkwood Realm. Blonde hair, usually dressed in green and brown, carries a bow, quiver and a white knife. Quiver is of brown leather embossed with the mirkwood's royal family emblem.

Elladan. Son of Lord Elrond of Rivendell. Dark hair, usually dressed in dark blues, carries bow and quiver.

Elrohir. Son of Lord Elrond of Rivendell. Exact description as above, Elladan and Elrohir are twins. To tell them apart, note thier weapons. Elladan carries a bow while Elrohir carries a sword.

That was easy enough for Gorlak. He had already heard rumours of these scum, seeing as he lived in an area which was close to lands populated by elves. Sharkey planned on sending him crebain with messages often, to inform him of the movements of the aforementioned scum. Again, Sharkey was very much a mystery to Gorlak and he did not know he posessed the power of a palantir.

"Move out you dregs of the earth!" Gorlaked roared to his motley bunch "Let's hunt some elf!".

A/N: Yay first chapter done! Alright, Saruman still has his palantir and did not throw it out the window of Orthanc, okay? Okay. Also, Saruman was actually called Sharkey by his affiliates who corrupted the Shire and so that's where it comes from.

"Crebain" are large black birds of crow-kind that have some intelligence, and were apparently used as spies by Saruman during the War of the Ring.

By the way... this story is set in the War of the Ring if you haven't noticed yet ;)

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