CHAPTER 2

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, two of the four young hobbits, were busy gathering wood the next morning, all while worried about their two missing companions.

"Wonder where that sneaky Elf and Dwarf ran off too," Merry thought aloud. "Where could they have gone?"

"Why are you so worried, Merry? You know they can take care of themselves, right?" Pippin assured his friend. "They can also take care of each other, right?"

"We may be near Leggy's homeland but they have been gone for too long, Pippin. Something is wrong!" Merry strode towards their camp and violently drops the wood in the fireplace.

Pippin shurgged. "Oh well, we can always have Aragorn track them down."

"That would be a good idea right about now, wouldn't it? If worse comes to worst, he'd only find their dead bodies!" Merry took a deep breath when he realized what he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let it off like that. It's just not like Legolas and Gimli to be out this late. How do you supposed the others would feel?"

"I think you're just getting it way over your head, Merry. You should get some rest. Something will turn up." Pippin starts sipping on his tea that had just been made from Sam's pot after putting his stack of wood on the pile.

Merry sighed as he reluctantly lied down on his sleeping bag. "Those two were always the invincible ones, you know. Legolas would strike every orc with those arrows of his, and it'll make more than the horde of them to bring down Gimli. Wonder if they somehow finally found their weak points..." His voiced trailed off.

Where am I? Legolas woke up in a dark room and found his hands and feet tied. He glanced around him and saw Gimli tied up in the same way beside him. "Gimli?" Legolas attempted to wake his compnaion up but there was no response. "Gimli!"

Gimli sturred when Legolas shouted his name the second time and looked at their surroundings. "Huh? Where in Durin's name are we?"

"I don't know," Legolas replied. "But I do know we are both captured."

"Ah," Gimli realized what his friend said was true. "That explains a lot."

"The Cult of the Lidless Eye... I've never heard of their like before," Legolas thought aloud. "The only things we've ever fought were orcs, trolls, Easterlings, the man who ride the Mumakil..."

"Yep," Gimli agreed. "Heard sorcery was only working behind the front lines. I'm betting right now the others are looking for us."

"We'd better get out of here while it's daybreak," Legolas said looking at the room's only window, where it was raining outside. "But unfortunately were quite tied up at the moment."

"And it's cold out," Gimli grumbled.

Just then Wulfrun and two of his sorceror followers arrive.

"I trust you two rested soundly," Wulfrun said.

"Quite." Legolas gave him a cold store.

"I suppose you don't want to tell us where we are," Gimli spoke up.

"What do you want?" Legolas also spoke.

"Just one thing," Wulfrun answered with his ever pure shadow.

"And what might that be?" Gimli asked.

"Why? The location of your Ranger friend, of course! If I'm lucky, I could get my hands on those pitiful halflings as well," Wulfrun replied.

"No idea what you're talking about, lad." Gimli glared at the lead sorceror.

Wulfrun slapped Legolas' face, which angered Gimli. "Don't play coy with me, Dwarf. You and your friend are from the same fellowship. I can tell just by looking at your cloaks. Aragorn wears the same one, does he not? Doesn't take much to put them together, is it? Now answer my question. Where is Aragorn?"

Both prisoners frowned at the amount of information Wulfrun seemed to have.

"Go to hell!" Gimli replied, only to receive a punch to the jaw. "What do you want with a mere Ranger anyway?"

"Let's just say we have some... unfinished business," Wulfrun answered. "He should come and face me himself, but instead sent three of his 'henchmen' and their Eagle friend. Now he's going to pay."

"Eh, that's Aragorn for you," Gimli grinned a little weakly.

Legolas, however, remained indifferent. "We won't tell you anything!"

Wulfrun laughed unkindly. "A noble sentiment, but I think you'll change your minds eventually. We can be very... persuasive. I know all about both of your kinds." He snapped his fingers, summoning two big brutish orcs.

"Heh, and I thought the Olag-hai were worse," Gimli commented.

One orc smashed Legolas in the eye, while the other hit him in the nose. Gimli tried crawling after the goons but was once again immobilized. As Wulfrun wrote words of black speech into the scrolls, Gimli found himself burning from his insides. The beatings and the chanting continued until the Elf's entire body was bruised and battered. The chanting ceased and Gimli felt like he could have been burned to a crisp.

"Where is Aragorn?" Wilfrun asked once again.

"You're wasting your time!" Legolas hissed through his pain.

"This will only get worse for the two of you," Wulfrun said. "You will break eventually."