"Slave traders?" Pippin gasped.
"Pippin," Legolas gripped his shoulder and whispered urgently to him, "return to Alasse and Gimli as quickly and as quietly as you can. Tell them what we've discovered, and also not to move in until I give the signal. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Pippin gulped. He crawled away behind the elves and ran to do as he was told. Bellethiel's fair face was darkly clouded over, nearly enough to match her silky, raven black hair. Her knuckles curled in disgust around her sword.
"Hir nin?" She whispered impatiently.
"Cut off the lead and rear wagons." Legolas told her. "Protect the prisoners. Tell the guards to lay down their arms. If they refuse, give them a warning shot. If they do not surrender, arrest them!"
"With pleasure, my prince." Bellethiel nodded darkly. She stood up and gestured with her hand for several of her men to follow her. The Gondorian soldiers would follow Legolas and Elrond. Legolas glanced at Elrond who nodded. The two of them lept down from the ridge and Legolas drew his bow.
"Halt!" Legolas shouted. "You may go no further!" The wagon drivers, guards, and captives were astonished. Several of the captives shuddered with fear, but some smiled in relief as they recognized the Elven prince. The drivers were annoyed and the guards surprised.
"Here now! Just who are you to deny us passage?" A muscular man with brunette hair and a beard stood up from his cart seat. He was dressed in a dark coat, fancier than the others.
"What are you doing, taking these people as if they were...animals?" Legolas hissed.
"I asked first."
"I am a friend to Rohan." Legolas answered. "And I see people that I have made friends with there. Why are they fettered like cattle, and what gives you the right to treat them as such? Speak!"
"They are from Rohan, prissy elf master." The driver sneered. "They have been sold..." Legolas's skin crawled when he heard that word, "and we are transporting them to the coast."
"By whose orders?" Legolas asked.
"The Master."
"What master?" Elrond growled.
"Master Estel Bonwe, a squire of Gondor." The driver answered.
"You lie!" Legolas fixed his bow directly at the man's neck. "I am a close friend and ally to King Elessar of Gondor. And he never mentioned no such squire, neither have I met one with that comes by that name." The guards and drivers chuckled derisively.
"Where have you been for the passed month, master elf?" The scraggly man sneered. "Haven't you heard? There is no King Elessar of Gondor, not anymore." Elrond's heart lurched. Legolas gaped then narrowed his eyes.
"What are you talking about?" He asked flatly.
"Get back in line, you scum!" One of the overseers shouted at a small child, a little girl no more than 7-years-old. She looked completely exhausted, and she had dropped to her knees to give her feet a rest. "Get up!" The overseer snarled down at her, snatching her by her hair and raising his whip. Legolas fired and his arrow sent the whip flying out of the overseer's hand.
"Curse you, foul beast!" Elrond exclaimed. Normally calm and collected even under the most trying of circumstances, the elf lord had been appalled at this whole scenario and his composure snapped seeing the brute about to harm an innocent little girl. Legolas barked an order in Elvish and his men bound the overseer. Legolas glared ferociously at him. It was one thing for men to beat their own kin, but a child? The thought made Legolas feel physically sick.
"You been living under a rock, or what? King Elessar is gone. He just up and left. Ain't heard nothing from him. He has abandoned the people of Gondor."
"Never!" Elrond declared sharply. "Es...I personally know King Elessar. He would never leave his people, without justification."
"Apparently, you don't know him as good as you thought." The driver grinned. Elrond glowered dangerously but stood his ground.
"Who is this Master Estel Bonwe?" Legolas inquired darkly, stepping closer, till his bow was pinned right at the man's face. "Answer me!" Legolas demanded. "Who is he?"
"Estel means 'hope', elf. The people of Gondor are growing desperate without leadership. The squire has bravely stepped up to insure that anarchy does not take over. And he is ruling in the king's place. His first decree was that various villages, selected citizens are to be sold across the continent, to make profit to aid other settlements and kingdoms less fortunate."
Lies, lies, all lies! Elrond gritted his teeth. His chest burned like an angry fire and it was all he could do to remain calm. How dare this man slander Aragorn!
"King Elessar would never allow such a decree to pass." Legolas hissed. He's lying. The Gondorians love Aragorn. And even though he has vanished, they would never just hand over their own, as if they were livestock. They would hold up what he has stood for. "Who employed and paid you to oversee this 'statue'?"
"I told, Master Estel Bonwe."
"Did you ever meet him before King Elessar's disappearance?"
"Nah. He came to us and told us the news."
"Where do you make your home, sir?" Legolas asked.
"We come from all over. Do what we can to get by. Bonwe promised to pay us handsomely for our deeds for the greater good."
"What beastly bargains! And whose good might that be?" Elrond glared.
"We got youngin's to provide for. We downright poor, most of us." The driver sighed dramatically. Legolas arched his eyebrows skeptically. These captors were by no means wealthy, but their clothes were decent, clean, and the people wearing them looked well fed. Not to mention Legolas had picked up the scent of whiskey the man obviously carried. "You wouldn't deprive a man's family, his wee ones of their only daily meal, now would you?" The driver asked 'sadly'. "Surely you wouldn't be that cruel."
"Get down from there! All of you! Lay down your arms." Legolas bellowed. "You are in no position to speak the word cruel."
"Oui, now! Just see here, you…
"Do not test the prince." Elrond warned the guards and drivers.
"Prince?"
"This is Prince Legolas of the Woodland Realm, and he is indeed an ally to Rohan, as well as Gondor. As am I." Elrond said.
"All right, all right." The driver rolled his eyes. "Just take it easy." He slowly shifted down from the wagon, as did his men.
"Put your hands behind your backs." Legolas ordered. A few guards did, but with a signal from the ringleader, the others retrieved their weapons and charged at the elves and men from Gondor. Taken aback, but already braced for protest, Legolas and Elrond fought them off, only enough to render them weaponless. Legolas whistled loudly, after one of Mirkwood's native birds. He knew who would hear it.
The prisoners were both frightened and fascinated. They cheered loudly for the elves and soldiers. With everything chaotic, a child-sized redhead tackled the ringleader to the ground and hit him across the face with the butt of his small blade. "Sorry, but you didn't leave me much option." Pippin sighed.
Alasse and Gimli charged into the fight. "Free the prisoners!" Legolas shouted to her when he noticed. She and Gimli raced to the wagons.
"Don't worry, we're here to help." Alasse assured the captives.
"We'll get ye out of here." Gimli boasted. He and Alasse jerked with all their strength at the chains but could not jam them loose from the vehicles. "Where are the blasted keys?!" Gimli growled.
Legolas knocked one of the guards off his feet and his sword was flung several feet away. Legolas pointed his bow down straight at the man's chest. "Surrender peacefully, and I will show you mercy." He said firmly. The man looked petrified and blew his horn. The scuffling guards, drivers and other overseers all dropped to their knees, with their hands behind their heads. "Bind them!" Legolas ordered. "Get up." He told the man who shakily obeyed.
"Well met, penneth." Elrond sighed with relief. At that moment, Bellethiel and her company arrived with a procession of their own captives and the previous prisoners walking or hobbling freely behind the elves.
"Bellethiel, report." Legolas said.
"All accounted for, my lord. And all prisoners released." Bellethiel smirked. "We did have to crack a few hard-heads, but I think they got the message."
"Excellent work, Bellethiel." Legolas approved.
"Legolas! We cannot find the keys." Alasse told him. "They must be retrieved."
"Who holds the keys?" Legolas asked the new prisoners.
"Might you be looking for these, Mr. Legolas?" Pippin spoke up eagerly, dangling a set of keys in his left hand for all to see. Everyone gaped at him.
"How did you-" Legolas sputtered.
"Afraid I had to get a little brutal." Pippin said sheepishly, tilting his head toward his victim. He still wasn't used to being violent.
"You did fine, young one." Elrond praised the hobbit.
"Well done, Master Took." Legolas smiled proudly, taking the keys and tossing them to Gimli.
"You're free, my friends." Alasse happily told the people. They bowed, cheered, and cried, thanking their rescue party over and over again.
"We have many injuries to treat, and ailments to tend to." Elrond declared, the healer side of him taking over. His heart sank as he counted how many young children had been captured.
"We'll move on while there is still daylight." Legolas said. "The wounded, sick, and weary will ride in the wagons. Any are strong enough will walk, or ride." He ordered. He walked up to some people he recognized, a young man of thirty and two ladies with him, one his wife and the other his sister,
"My lord Legolas!" The man breathed.
"Master Andrew." Legolas bowed his head.
"We are eternally grateful to you, Your Highness!" Rose, Andrew's wife wept.
"Glad we could help." Legolas said meekly.
"We will never forget what you have done for us." Sapphire, Andrew's sister added.
"How did this happen?" Legolas asked seriously.
"The man you were talking to, Master Gromwelle," Andrew scowled, "he was the head of the council in Rohan. One day, a man claiming to be from Gondor, Bonwe, rode into our city of Edoras. He told us that King Elessar had vanished and he was to rule in his stead as his trusted adviser. And that new laws had been issued, concerning all of Gondor and her allies. Next thing we knew, we were plucked from our homes and put up for sale, like animals!"
"What of Lord Eomer?" Alasse asked.
"He has been thrown in his own dungeons for resisting the order!" Rose snapped. Legolas, Alasse, and Gimli glanced horrified at each other. How could this have happened?
"There are many expecting mothers back in Edoras, who have had their husbands stolen from them, and some of them with little children already." Sapphire added.
"Gromwelle. Betraying his own kin!" Legolas seethed. "Easy money to fill his own pockets. Well, I can assure you, he will pay dearly for this treason!"
"Lord Elrond can see to you wounds and illnesses. Then we shall personally escort you back to your home." Alasse smiled warmly.
"Thank you, my lord, my lady!" Andrew bit his lip.
"Just two more questions." Legolas spoke up. "This Bonwe, have you ever seen him before or heard of him in your travels?"
"No."
"Can you describe him?"
"Tall, quite well-built and able-bodied. Blue eyes and short cut dark hair. Has a serene but smug air about him. And a man, not an elf, dwarf, or halfling."
Well, that narrows it down, Legolas fought the urge to roll his eyes.