A/N: Thank you for the wonderful reviews. They made a bad day good :)

Also, I was just thinking that I should point out that if this is going to be book or movie verse, it would probably end up being movie verse with some book elements. Not that it would matter that much, since it is pre-LOTR.

X X X X

Aragorn woke up next morning to see a smirking wood elf perched on the wood at the end of his bed, fully dressed and bow in hand. He groaned. This was going to e one of those days.

"Good afternoon!" said Legolas brightly.

Aragorn sat up fast, panicking slightly. "What do you mean, afternoon?"

"Well, you see, some people are awake before midday. We call that morning, and whatever is after midday is afternoon."

"It's after midday?"

"Yes. But don't worry, the tree says there's no hurry."

"Tree?" Aragorn asked. He got up and walked over to the window. A great oak tree was planted right outside the window, in what looked like the village square. "Well, what do you know?" he muttered. "So, how long have you been up?"

"Since sunrise," said Legolas, finished with his teasing. He bent down and began to pack Aragorn's bag for him.

The ranger paused in pulling on his still slightly damp clothes. "You mean you've been sitting at the end of my bed for, what, eight hours?"

"Yes," said Legolas, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. "To be honest with you, I wanted to sit there because there was a very nice sunbeam there this morning, and I really wanted some dry clothes."

"I hope you got them," muttered Aragorn darkly. His own clothes didn't feel much better than they had last night.

"Oh, I did!" said the elf happily, smirking at the man's attempts to dry his cloak in the window. "You do realize that the sun has now moved? No sunbeam anymore."

Aragorn glared at him but abandoned his efforts. He moved over to his bags and pulled out a map from where Legolas had very carefully packed it. The elf grimaced.

"So, the village is here" – he pointed out a tiny dot on the map a couple of hundred miles east of Mirkwood – "and that man, whatever his name was, said that the patrols vanished when they left Gintrea. Where do the patrols go from here?"

"They continue east," said Legolas. "Not for too much further, though. The only reason my father sends them any further out from here is to make sure the people are kept safe from anyone who may be over there."

"Does your father really have the soldiers to do this?"

"Not really," admitted Legolas slowly. "The mayor of the town did something for my father a few hundred years ago, probably nearing on a thousand, actually, and he still feels the need to protect them. They don't have any soldiers of their own."

"I saw that last night," Aragorn said. "I think your father needs to realize that they have to train their own men. He can't afford these troops anymore, not with the advancement of the Shadow –" He stopped himself; at the mention of the Shadow, Legolas had stiffened visibly. Aragorn mentally berated himself, he knew how much Legolas despised what the Shadow was doing to his home. He'd feel the same way if it were Imladris. "So, we should continue east, I think," Aragorn finished lamely.

Legolas nodded. "We can pick up a couple of horses somewhere, perhaps," he mused. "I mean, I don't want your filthy human feet getting stuck in the mud and slowing us down."

"Good idea," said Aragorn. Secretly, he was relieved, he knew he would only slow them down if the mud to the west of the city was anything like the mud to the east. "Shall we go, then?"

X X X X

The two friends found two old horses that would – hopefully – carry them a far distance. One was jet black all over and the other was a stormy gray. They bought them from an old man who obviously needed the money.

"I think that when I get back I'll tell my father to get these people jobs rather than sending out troops that they don't really need," said Legolas to Aragorn quietly as he mounted the gray. He was a little superstitious about the black horse from experiences with the horses that the Nazgul rode.

Aragorn completely understood his friend's unease, though Legolas never voiced it, and took the black without complaint. It seemed to be a fine horse, very strong and very patient. He nodded in agreement with what Legolas had said. "I wonder if there are people living out there," he said, looking east.

"There must be," answered Legolas. "It's liars we're looking for. Who can lie other than people? We'll just have to be on our guard."

"But what if it's someone in the town that's lying?" said Aragorn reasonably. "What if they lied to us, and then we'll only realize once we get out there, and by then it will be too late?"

"Like I said, we'll just have to be on our guard," said Legolas, starting forward. Aragorn followed him, still slightly worried.

They continued east for the rest of the day, but the land seemed to be as devoid of life as the west of the city, though on this side there were lots of trees. Aragorn was secretly pleased; he wouldn't have been happy if they were forced to take another huge detour because of Legolas's tree obsession.

Finally, ten minutes after sundown and with no more leads, the companions decided to stop for the night. They found a spot with several tall trees that spread their boughs across the clearing, shielding those on the ground from wind and rain.

Aragorn started a campfire and Legolas shot an unlucky rabbit that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They speculated on who or what a Liar could be over a delicious meal prepared by Aragorn. They had lembas bread in their bags, but they preferred to keep that for emergencies.

At last, with Legolas' suggestion of a Liar being his father for saying there was anything wrong out here at all, they decided they were getting nowhere. Aragorn lay down where he was next to the fire and Legolas rolled over to lie next to a tree, and within minutes they were both fast asleep.

X X X X

Aragorn was woken in the middle of the night by a scuffling in the bushes. Rolling over silently, he drew his knife, hoping desperately that whatever making the noise was nothing more than a bird. He looked over at Legolas to make sure he was safe, and saw the archer asleep.

That confused him. If the scuffling in the bushes had been loud enough to wake him, surely it should have woken a sharp-eared elf?

But there was no time to think about that now. The scuffling was growing louder and nearer. Aragorn held his knife steadily, pointed directly at the bushes.

A figure appeared. It looked tall, though he walked slightly stooped, and he was limping. Aragorn wasn't taking any chances.

"Don't move!" he cried. "I'm armed!"

The figure stopped and raised his hands slightly. He was breathing very noisily, more of a wheeze than a breath.

Aragorn studied his face closely. He could not see any distinctive features; the firelight had dimmed down substantially overnight. "Come closer – slowly!"

Legolas made a noise of displeasure at being woken. He looked up to see Aragorn crouched on the ground with a knife pointed at one of his father's captains.

"Estel, no!" he cried. He stood up quickly and went to help the elf.

Aragorn was shocked when Legolas helped the figure, but was more shocked when he came into the slowly dwindling light and he saw his face.

"Imrathon!" he cried.

Imrathon had been working for Thranduil for most of his life, and for Oropher before him. He had fought in the Last Alliance, and was a highly skilled and highly respected soldier. Now, however, he looked deathly pale, and he collapsed into Legolas's arms before they reached the fire.

Legolas helped him lie on the ground and pulled some lembas out of his pocket to give him. Imrathon accepted gratefully.

"I wondered where you had been," Legolas said quietly. "You haven't been in any of the patrols recently… this is why."

"Yes," the old elf said quietly. "I was sent here to help four months ago. But what on Arda are you doing here, Prince Legolas? You have to go!"

Aragorn raised his eyebrows slightly. Well, it was lovely to know the elves of Mirkwood cared so much about his safety…

"My father sent Estel and I to see what was happening here," said Legolas. "Why nobody's been returning."

"But why did he send the prince?" Imrathon pressed.

This irked Legolas a little. Imrathon had always been a little protective of him because of his lineage. "I am a warrior of the realm, Imrathon," he said. "I just happened to be the best man for the job."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Aragorn asked as he fished around in his pack for his healing supplies. "What made you like this?"

Imrathon's face seemed to fall. He seemed very upset at something. "I was betrayed," he whispered. Then, his eyes fixed, unfocussed, on a spot above Legolas's head.

"Captain Imrathon?" Legolas whispered, hoping that he had only fallen asleep. "Captain?"

The elf remained unmoving.

Aragorn looked up from his pack and saw what had happened. "No!" he cried. He searched desperately for a pulse.

Legolas could tell by the ranger's expression that his father's best captain was dead.

A/N: Hm, the plot thickens…

Drop me a review and let me know what you thought. It really does mean a lot to me, especially since I've had a really bad day today… but you don't want to hear about that. Au revoir!