DISCLAIMER: I do not earn anything from the writing of this story. I do not own lotr, only my "OC"s.

.oOo.

Chapter V

One Step Forward & Two Steps Back

Strange how the mind can hold onto an idea as a truth,

while in fact, it's just a roadblock,

keeping you from moving forward.

~Renate Vullings

.oOo.

"Darcy! I found someone that speaks my language!" I exclaimed as I ran through the front door of her house to find the whole family was gathered in the kitchen.

"Really? Who?" She eagerly questioned.

"One of the Darali. He wrote me a note in English!" her face immediately fell along with both of her parents', "I have to go talk to him."

"That won't be possible, Elanor." Kelvin stated sympathetically.

My brows scrunched together in confusion, "Why?"

He sighed, "The Darali only stay for two days at a time."

"But I can find them. If they left today they couldn't have gotten far." I supplied.

He stood from his seat and began a brisk walk out of the house, "No one knows where they go and I am not going to lead a search party into that forest to find out." He stopped by my side and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, "The best thing you can do is wait. They should be back within a month."

"A month! I can't wait that long!" I whirled to face him as he stepped out of the house.

"I have spoken." he said before shutting the door in my face.

"Well, there's nothing you can do now, so you might as well sit down and eat your supper." I heard Cardia say after a moment in silence.

My soul was totally crushed, 'A whole month? I can't wait that long!' I felt like my heart had been shattered all over again. Any ounce of hope I had left drifted away from my mind. Who knows what could happen in a month? Mom and Dad might be gone by then!

"Elanor?" Cardia's gentle hand on my shoulder broke me out of my thoughts, "You need to eat."

I brushed it off and walked over to the ladder, "Thank you, but I'm not hungry." I quickly climbed into the loft and stayed there lying on my bed, staring at the wall and clutching my journal to my chest. Darcy had climbed into the loft soon after me but didn't say a word; only cast a sympathizing glance my way. Kelvin came back shortly after and spoke in hushed words to his wife before settling down for the night.

It was in the quietness of the midnight hour when all but slow breathing could be heard, that I made my choice. I had overstayed my welcome here, and now I had no reason to stay. The Darali couldn't be that far off since they just left. I needed to know my parents were safe. 'I need to go.'

So I quietly gathered up all of my stuff and bound it up in my hoodie. I cast one last lingering glance at Darcy's sleeping form before climbing down to the main floor where I slipped on my socks and shoes. I looked behind the ladder to see the sleeping forms of Darcy's parents. I quietly sighed and turned towards the door but stopped short when I remembered the pouch of coins I had placed in my pocket. 'These people have done so much for me.' I reasoned, 'Why not leave them a parting gift.' I smiled as I left the entire pouch of money on the kitchen table, and snuck out through the front door.

I shouldered my makeshift pack and started down the field path to the forest. The stars glistened above and the moon was full and bright so I had no need of any lantern. It wasn't long before I found myself at the forest's edge. I took a deep breath, shifted my pack a bit, and stepped into the shadows of the ancient trees. I decided to start my search first at the old ruin since that was the last place the Darali might have been.

I found the old road fairly easily and followed it to the ruins where I quickly began seeing an approaching light. It was the light of a campfire.

Hoping against hope that it was the Darali, I began to jog towards the light but quickly halted in my steps when I heard rough and calloused voices coming from inside the main hall. I knew that the Darali's voice was deep and smooth, and that's what frightened me most, the people in the castle were not the Darali. There was no telling who was in that ruin and I had just ran within a hundred yards of it. I quickly hid behind a tree when I saw the shadow of a figure stand and start moving around the room. He then sat down in a different place and the chatting resumed as normal.

Moving against my gut and letting my curiosity take over, I decided to venture closer and quietly made my way up the stairs and behind a large piece of unfallen wall beside the entrance. I peek around the side to get a good view of the men in the hall. There were six of them in total, and I felt a sinking dread start to grow in my stomach when I realized that these were the mercenaries from town. Their fire cast ominous shadows across their faces and lit up the white walls in orange and red. My hands grew hot and sweaty as I realized my mistake.

Knowing that if I stayed any longer I would eventually be seen, and who knows what they would do to me if they caught me, so I slipped away from the wall and started down the stairs but when I turned I saw two approaching figures coming through the front gate of the mansion. I immediately ducked behind a large boulder and prayed that I wouldn't be seen. As they passed I noticed that one man was upright while the other was held from behind with a large dagger at his throat. When he entered within the circle of the fires light a man in the hall exclaimed, "Well look what you've found!"

I stood from my crouching position and walked back behind the wall as quietly as possible. I looked around the corner to see the man forced onto his knees with the blade still under his chin as his hands were bound behind him. A mercenary in the group strung his bow and place an arrow on the string, pulling at the string in a silent warning.

My eyes widened and my heart began to beat faster as I recognized the captive to be the Darali that I had been searching for. Another mercenary who showed himself to be their leader ordered his hood to be removed. One of his men obliged and long glossy silver locks fell out of the Darali's hood when it was forced from his head. My jaw dropped in complete shock when the leader pulled out his sword and used it to brush aside the hair from his prisoner's ear revealing its pointy structure.

He smirked, "Just as I thought. A Darali." he shifted the sword tip and rested it under the Derali's chin, "My my. Won't the Master be happy with you." I barely registered his voice nor the Darali's sneer. My mind was trying to make sense of the situation, 'An elf. He's an elf. Elves aren't real. How can this be? Are his ears a product of some sort of surgery? That has to be it. But how does he look so perfect? He doesn't look young, and he doesn't look old. He doesn't hardly look human.'

I was jerked out of my thoughts however when I was jumped from behind. An arm wrapped around my waist and a hand clamped over my mouth. I was easily lifted off the ground and thrown into the hall next to the Darali. Pain shot through my shoulder and down from my head straight to the soles of my feet upon impact with the stone floor; the wind was completely knocked out of my lungs. As I tried to regain my bearings I heard laughing from above.

"Looks like we've had a big haul tonight!" someone said.

"And what a beautiful one at that." their leader said as he lifted my chin with his hand. When I saw the intent in his eyes I wanted to puke but I only had enough wind to jerk my face away from his touch.

"Feisty are we?" he chuckled before he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to my feet. I saw the Darali being dragged over to the side and tied to the piano before I felt the warm and sour breath of my captor brush over my neck, "We'll soon break that out of you." The whisper alone was enough to shake me out of my stupor to the realization of the situation. I immediately pushed out against his chest and managed to shove him a good bit away. I quickly lowered myself into a defense stance and raised my fists out of instinct.

They laughed at me, "Well isn't this cute. She wants to fight." Then their leader smirked while cracking his knuckles, "Well, beautiful, what are you waiting for? Come on." but I knew that would be a mistake I couldn't afford to make. It's true that he doesn't know my fighting style but I don't know his either. My stature is small so he could easily overpower me, and without the element of surprise I would never have a chance against any of them, let alone all of them at once. After that split second I knew there was only one thing that I could do. I looked at the Darali and tried to show as much apology as possible through my gaze then turned on my heel and ran. I heard the outraged shouts follow me as I fled down the stairs and onto the forest, but I kept running until their voices faded all together.

I stopped and leaned back against a tree. 'Breath.' I chanted to myself, 'In through the nose, out through the mouth.' But my breathing stopped along with my heart when I heard a voice call out softly from a short distance away, "I know where you are. You might as well show yourself now and save us all the trouble of having to drag you back."

My blood ran cold and I covered my mouth to silence my breathing which had become shallow and fast when I heard a twig snap to my right. Another mercenary was standing about tent feet away from me, but the one on my left was slowly getting closer.

He got within four feet from the tree I was hiding behind as I looked around in panic for anything I might use as a weapon. Luck found me in the way of a thick branch lying to my right. I silently wrapped my hand around the makeshift club and waited for the man on my left to come within three feet before I revealed myself and dealt him a heavy blow to the temple. I gripped the branch tighter and ran as silently as I could to a new hiding place several yards away from the tree as the others came to investigate the sound of my unconscious victim falling to the ground. I knelt behind a bush and watched as the others came to the sound only to find one of their own out cold on the forest floor. Only five had shown up so I assumed that the other two had stayed back to guard the Darali. My mind went back to him, 'I can't just leave him there.' I thought. 'Elf look-alike or not, I have to do something.' I numbly resolved.

With the plan of attacking the guards by surprise, I left the confused and angered mercenaries, and crept my way back to the mansion. Just as I had surmised, two of the men were stationed by the Darali. They were both armed and looking out at the forest. Thinking fast I picked up a rock and threw it as far away from my hiding place as possible then hid while one of the two rushed out after the decoy. After he was out of sight I turned back to see the other mercenary had his back to me. Completely unaware of my movements the man continued to look into the woods on the opposite side of the entrance. From his position on the floor, the Darali immediately saw me creep out of my hiding place, tree branch in hand, and tiptoe up behind the guard. I reached back and swung the branch as hard as I could at the back of his head but he saw me out of corner of his eye and blocked the club with his hand. He immediately twisted the branch out of my grasp and grabbed me by the collar and held his dagger to my throat. I was quick to retaliate, however, and hit him between the legs. He let go of my neck and the knife slipped from his fingers as he collapsed to the ground shouting curses at me. I ran forward and grabbed the dagger from the ground then rushed over to the Darali and cut his bonds.

I barely got his hands untied before he took the dagger from me and blocked the slash from a sword the now recovered guard was wielding. The Darali shoved me behind him and I could only look on in horror as he parried the sword once more, twisted in, and stabbed his opponent in the stomach. Images of William flashed back to life in my mind and I stumbled back as the mercenary collapsed to the ground where his life's blood flowed out of his stomach and stained the white tile.

The Darali turned back to me with a wild look in his eyes, "You foolish girl! Why did you come back?" I looked at him and his expression softened when he saw my fear, but that did not console me as the victim's blood dripped off of the dagger the Darali had gripped in his hand. I looked from him to the lifeless body then back to him. The memories of the night of Will's death coming back more clearly than ever. A tear slipped down my cheek as I tried to speak, "Y... you... killed..." I choked and putting a hand over my mouth, stepped back from him. He tried to come near me but I turned and ran down the steps and into the forest ignoring his shouts for me to stop and wait.

I didn't stop. I ran. I ran, even though my lungs were screaming at me to stop; to rest. My cheek stung as a hanging briar tore my skin. My legs felt like they were on fire, but I had to get away.

I had to get away from him.

That murderer.

That monster.

I soon burst out of the trees and collapsed onto the ground sobbing. I hugged my arms to my chest and rocked back and forth as I tried to regain control of my mind, 'This can't be happening. He just killed someone! Why did I ever think I could trust him? I don't even know his name. He had pointy ears; he didn't look human, and yet, he did. He looked like an elf, but he can't be one! Derali. What does that even mean? Why did this have to happen to me? Why did Mom and Dad send me away?' "Why?" I cried into my hands.

It took me several minutes before I calmed myself enough to sit up and look around. The forest behind me was quiet except the occasional tweet of an early bird. The tall grass gave me a little comfort because it was high enough to cover the lower half of my face; shielding me from unfriendly eyes. I looked up at the night sky praying for an answer to my confusion, but as I searched he heavens I realized that no constellation that I knew of were in the sky. I had studied astronomy in school during the tenth grade and even before that I had read every book that I could find on the subject of the heavens. I knew every constellation on sight by name and star, but I still couldn't find a single one. Even the full moon had lost his smiling face.

A cold stone of dread formed in the depths of my gut as I began putting together the clues that suddenly flooded my mind. The Eastrons, Braric, the Elf, and the missing constellations all pointed to one solution. A solution that I refused to accept. How could I have not seen it before? The Sea of Rhun had been mentioned in the town and elvish script was carved into the walls of the ruins of the forest, but my subconscious, hopeful mind refused to accept the solution. Now the proof was there; lying before me.

I looked up to stars once more where my vision soon faded to black as I fainted from shock.

My last thought shook me to the core, 'I've gone insane.'