Well, here is the very late next chapter. I have plenty of reasons for the delay but I will not bore you with the list, suffice to say Chapter 11 should be out within a day or two.

Fate or Chance

The sun was nearing the horizon by the time that Legolas had finished the history of the missing ring with many a side-story or comment from the twins.

It would have been the most pleasant afternoon yet if so much was not at stake both for themselves and for the Breeman they were trying to help.

The more the three Elves had dwelt upon recent events the more they had begun to suspect that horse-stealing and a little petty robbery on the side were not the extent of their quarries' activities.

It had been more than mere greed that had driven Ferny to steal the prince's ring Legolas decided as he reflected. There had been an unwholesome gleam in his eyes that went beyond his being a rogue and scoundrel.

And none of the three were pleased that Estel was now with them. Their eyes met silently as they reached their decision. If things became too violent, Estel was going straight back to Imladris with at least one of them to guard him. Hopefully it would not come to that but that was out of their hands.

Estel all-unknowing of this determination glared unhappily at the three Elves. One of the most irritating habits of being a lone mortal among immortals that had known each other for thousands of years and were the sons of Kings and Lords was their uncanny habit of conversing with their eyes.

Not all the Elves could, Lindir for instance was no more capable of such things than Estel himself, but then he was a young Elf and hardily the descendent of the last royal bloodlines in Ennor.

The fact remained that these cheery companions and brothers seemed as remote as distant kings when they chose to employ this method of communication. It also usually meant they were discussing something they wanted to keep from their young friend.

Estel coughed loudly in the silence hoping to attract the errant attention of his protectors.

Their reaction startled him, Elladan and Elrohir fixed him with their stern gaze effectively rendering him mute while Legolas sprang to his feet and strode soundlessly to the attic window.

He turned a frown marring his countenance as he belted on his long white knife and quiver and drew his cloak over his fair hair.

It was lucky indeed that the slow-witted sheriff had not thought to search their room for weapons until after the twins retrieved them. His bow he held in his hand.

"They are heading towards us, put on your cloaks" he ordered softly though the twins were already following his example. There was no need to ask who they were.

Elladan took up the post at the window as his brother and friend fussed over Estel. A most unnecessary waste of energy in Estel's opinion.

All three Elves heard the soft click of the old door being drawn open and many booted feet filing in. Estel shivered slightly in anticipation, what an adventure this had turned out to be.

The fight in the inn, Legolas' capture and rescue (well self-rescue) their escape and now a desperate stand in the old house.

It was everything he could have dreamed of, for the Elves were right. He had been reading far too many heroic old stories between weapons training and lessons and they had gone to his head.

His ears, far keener than an ordinary mortal's though he knew it not strained waiting for the sound of a rush upon the stairs.

None came.

Legolas lowered his bow first listening intently as the sound of scraping wood and the general noise and bustle that accompanies an impatient group of robbers.

Bits and pieces of conversation floated up to the unseen listeners.

"…should have finished him off when we had the chance!"

"Sheriff e'll ought t'be the first to go."

"…ol' fool sticking his nose in where it's not wanted…"

"…wouldn't know a bribe if you served em it for dinner!"

"What's that you got there Ferny? Pretty trinket you have…"

The four looked at each other, the voices below were just loud enough for even Estel to make them out. There was a fierce gleam in the prince's eyes at the mention of the trinket, all four had a good guess at what that might be.

The voices dropped suddenly leaving even the Elves only indistinct snags and snippets, a word here and there.

"…silver…"

"…apple farms…"

"the old one…"

"…what's t'you"

"fool…"

"Spying Elves…."

Legolas reached his hand up to ease the door open. Elladan grabbed his wrists and tried unsuccessfully to spin him around.

"We have to find out what they are up to" whispered Legolas, pulling away from Elladan, "We will never have another chance like this again."

"Let one of us go" suggested Elrohir mildly, "You are already hurt, we are both old enough to take care of ourselves."

Legolas winced, "I promised your father…"

Elladan cut him off, "Adar knows that we have survived plenty of battles without you saving us…"

"And what about all the times I have had to save you?"

Elrohir snorted softly, "I recall us playing the rescuer on occasion ourselves…"

Estel said nothing. If Legolas didn't even want the twins to go there wasn't a chance in Ennor that anyone would think of sending him.

"It is not just your safety" explained the prince, "He has the corfionnath of my House, I must take it back, it should not be soiled by his touch."

"It is no more soiled by his touch than you are by that wicked rascal that stabbed you…"

"Well he did ruin my tunic, it is covered in bloodstains." Legolas retorted his humor returning.

Elladan and Elrohir ignored him.

"We are just as determined to retrieve it as you."

"You are not Woodelves"

"We are not in a forest…"

"The rafters will be tricky to maneuver on."

"We are not likely to fall. Have we ever fallen off of rafters?"

"Very well, off with you" sighed the prince, "Who is staying to help keep an eye on Estel."

Elladan won after a brief argument with Elrohir.

"Hurry" urged Legolas, "We don't want miss anything that they are saying."

"I won't be my fault if we already did" retorted Elladan before vanishing into the darkness.

Its sad, I had to go back and reread my own story to get into the right feel of things again... And yes I did sort of steal the bad-guys-meeting-below-hiding-place idea from Tom Sawyer...

I hope you all like this chapter, I am answering the questions/comments from your reviews in general due to time constraints. Thank you to everyone that reviewed Chapter 9: WoodElfJedi, Guest, bettsam0731, Just A Reviewer and J. Salus.

I am currently trying to stay away from the general trend of having Legolas tumble from frying pan into fire again and again but he will have plenty of action of course, I am just trying to spread the fun evenly. I am glad at least some of you like the corfionnath idea, I was rather proud of it :) And of course thanks for the continued encouragement from all of you, I would never give up on a story but this chapter would have been much later if I hadn't had that extra push.

Shire Rose