Chapter 2

Holly awoke in small room with wide wooden floor boards and paneled walls. She was laying on a thin mattress, a soft grey pillow under her head. There was little else in the room. A small basin sat in the corner, and beside that, her book and thermos. She propped herself up on her elbows and felt a slight sting as she moved her leg. There was the scrape from yesterday. It was still red and raw, but she could see that a thin layer of ointment had been applied to it. She sniffed it but could not quite make out its scent, unusual for one of her profession.

Slowly she came to her feet and made her way over to the door. As she took her first step forward, the door swung open and two of the strange men walked in hurriedly. She looked at them expectantly. They both had the same long, silver hair as the men she had seen yesterday. At first, she could hardly tell them apart. Both were fair and tall, with fine features as though they had been hewn from alabaster. As one came closer to her, she could see that while he had blue eyes, his companion had grey-green eyes. Again, she noticed their pointed ears and grew nervous.

"Le nathlof hi, hiril vuin." said one of the men, approaching Holly slowly. He put his hand over his heart and bowed his head slightly. His green-eyed companion mimicked his action and looked expectantly at her.

Although not understanding their strange language, Holly recognized the bow of their heads and and smiled cautiously at them. The man that spoke furrowed a brow at her lack of response but continued to speak,

"Im Rùmil. Alphado nin." he gestured to himself and made to move back toward the door. Holly jumped at his quick movement.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak your language. Do you speak English?"

The man stared at her, confused. His companion spoke quietly in his ear and the other man nodded slowly, realization adorning his handsome features. Suddenly, the man furthest from her made his way toward the door and down what sounded to Holly to be steps. She clasped her hands in front of her, wringing them nervously. The man who had stayed in the room smiled a small smile at her in what she believed was an attempt to be comforting. He put his hands out in front of him,

Wait. She understood and nodded at him. He turned toward the door. Holly could hear a third set of footsteps climbing the stairs. The door swung open and in walked the man from before, and another familiar face. It was the man that had attacked her last night. She must have looked panicked because he quickly put his hands in front of him in a sign of caution,

"Please, I mean you no harm." he spoke. Glad she could understand someone, Holly breathed a sigh of relief. Half a second later, the panic had set back in,

"Who are you? Why are you keeping me here? How come they don't understand me?" she demanded in succession. The man's eyes hardened at her questions,

"Who are you?" he asked pointedly. "We are not keeping you here, you collapsed before me. And as for why they do not understand you, how is it that you do not understand them? Never have I met an elf who did not speak Sindarin."

Holly stared at him as though he had grown a second head. "Sinda...what? What are you talking about? Elf? What is this, some kind of joke? Did Heather put you up to this?"

He stared at her incredulously, "You are of the Eldar, are you not? I can sense that you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Elves are made-up, they don't exist." she waved her hand dismissively at his comment and demanded again to know where she was and what they wanted with her. His eyes grew instantly very dark and he took two long, measured paces toward her until he was looking down at her from a formidable height.

"You are a stranger in our wood. We followed you for several miles before we stopped you entering the city. You dare to command me when you are the trespasser in these lands? Nay, I demand to know who you are, what you are doing here and where you hail from. Speak quickly!"

Holly stared up at him with wide hazel eyes. She was frightened of him. He was intimidatingly tall and clearly incensed by her impetuous questions. Realizing that she was vastly outnumbered and would probably do well to cooperate, she chose her next words rather carefully, "My name is Holly. I am from Shipton, down the road I was trying to get back to. I was walking in the wood last evening to read on the hill. I got lost in the forest, though I'm not sure how, before you...happened upon me."

The man before her considered her response before answering, "Where is Shipton? We do not know of such a place, and you are far into our borders. There are no towns by that name nearby. From where do your people hail? Are you of Imladris? Eryn Galen? Or do you come from the North?"

Holly bit her lip, realizing that her answer would not be helpful, "I don't know where any of those places are, I am sorry."

He looked utterly exasperated, "You would have me believe that you, an elf, does not know the home of Elrond, lord of Rivendell, or of the Greenwood, or that they, at this very moment, are but miles away from Caras Galadhon?"

Holly just about lost it, "I am not an elf! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't know where I am! I told you where I'm from! Elves don't exist, stop messing about!" She threw her hands in the air and he caught one deftly. His grip tightened and Holly could see a flash in his eyes as he winced in pain. She looked to his arm and blood was seeping through the light grey fabric of his tunic.

Still holding her arm in the air, he stared at her with a mixture of amusement and frustration. Slowly, though Holly fought him, he brought her hand down to the side of her head and to her own ear. He pushed her long dark hair away with her own hand and rested her fingertips on her pointed ear. He released her arm. Holly's other hand flew up and she grasped her ears lightly, feeling the soft points. She looked back to the man – no, elf – in front of her and stared at his own ears, while feeling her own. She began to grow faint again when a soft voice spoke to her,

Do not fear Haldir, Ercassiel. He does not understand you. I will speak to him. Come to me, Ercassiel. Haldir will show you the way.

"Who said that?!" Holly yelped quietly. She fell slowly to the floor in a pile of limbs, her hands still clutching her ears. The other two elves looked at her with concern, then to their captain. Haldir paused for a moment as though listening. He nodded silently and looked to Holly again. He extended a hand and she took it robotically, slowly coming back to her feet with Haldir's aid.

"I apologize for my shortness with you, Holly." he said, tightly. "The Lady Galadriel, whose voice you now heard, has explained to me that you are new to our lands and I am to bring you to her. You are in my charge."

Holly blinked at him slowly, trying to understand his words. "Who is the Lady Galadriel?"

"She is the leader of our people. She is wise and will understand how to help you. Are you able to walk?" he asked, still holding her up by the crook of her arm. Holly nodded and pulled her arm away. She walked to the corner and picked up her thermos. Curiously it was empty. One of the other elves coughed and spoke quietly to her in their melodious language. Haldir rolled his eyes,

"Rùmil wishes for me to tell you that he drank it and that he is sorry." he paused for a minute while Rùmil spoke again, "He would also like to know what type of tea – Rùmil, enough of this! We must depart. We have no time for your pleasantries."

With that, the elf captain walked off and out of the room. The nameless elf followed suit. The last one, presumably Rùmil, gesticulated wildly at her, pointing to her thermos and pointing at his stomach, then rubbing his stomach with apparent satisfaction. Holly smiled at him and nodded. He liked her tea. Too bad she had none left to offer him. She looked at the thermos in her hand and her book on the floor. If they were to walk, she would not want to take them with her. Her thermos was empty and she had read that book a thousand times. She left them behind beside the wash basin and followed Rùmil out of the room.

As she stepped out of the room, her heart nearly stopped. She had stepped out onto a small balcony that overlooked what seemed to be an infinite expanse of forest. The sun shone through the canopy of trees and shot down to the forest floor in bright streams of pale gold. To her right, there was a staircase that wound itself around the trunk of the tree. She looked down- the staircase seemed to go down for a while and then stop abruptly. Haldir was already halfway down the staircase as she followed Rùmil, watching her footing at they descended the enormous tree. Suddenly Haldir jumped off the landing at the bottom of the stairs and landed softly on the forest floor. Holly's eyes widened as she then saw the other elf do the same, and then Rùmil. The forest floor looked to be a hundred feet away from her. Haldir looked up at her impatiently. Holly gulped and looked down hesitantly. She heard Haldir call to her,

"Make haste!"

Holly rolled her eyes. Make haste, he says. Speak quickly, he says. Who are you? Where are you from? Tell me now, blah blah blah. How irritating he was. Holly sat on the edge of the landing, letting her boot-clad feet dangle off the edge. She could hear Haldir sigh audibly with expasperation. Rùmil snickered pointed up at her, speaking quietly in their language to the other elf. The other elf laughed. Haldir shot them a glare,

"Holly we are but miles from Caras Galadhon. The quicker you get down, the quicker we shall all have some answers."

"How on earth did I get up here in the first place?" Holly yelled down. Her own voice sounded loud and harsh to even her own ears. Haldir winced at her words,

"I carried you up the rope. If you do not wish to jump there is a rope there, to your right. Take it and climb down."

Holly found the rope and held it in her hand. This hardly helped, she thought. Still, there was no way down but...down. She wrapped it around her boot and slowly shimmied down. After what seemed like an eternity, her boots hit the forest floor.

"Eru, had I been mortal I would have died in the time it took you to do that." Haldir muttered to himself, though Holly could not hear. He set off an set a quick pace for them. Haldir took the lead, the other elf followed him, and Rùmil walked behind her, ever pushing her forward at a quick pace.

Back in Shipton, it was morning and Heather was out of her mind with worry. It had been Holly's turn to open the shop that morning, but when Heather arrived the doors were still locked and the heavy shades pulled shut. She had called Holly numerous times with no answer. By eleven in the morning, Heather was in what could only be described as 'quite a state'. She called her husband Jared who was working from home and watching the kids,

"You haven't heard from Holly, have you?"

"No, why? She's not with you?" he asked, unphased. Heather sighed,

"No, she's not. I don't know where she is. I tried calling her but she's not answering. I'm worried about her. Can you stop by her place quickly? You can ask Mrs. MacCall to watch the kids." When she did not hear an immediate answer she added, "Please, Jared?"

"Yeah, alright. I'll go check on her. You wait there."

Heather waited impatiently, checking her watch every thirty seconds, waiting for Jared to call her back with news that Holly has slept in accidentally or lost her phone, or broke it, or had it set to silent. She busied herself with tidying the shop. After about half an hour, her cellphone rang.

"Jared? Is she there?"

It was quiet for a moment, then he answered, "I don't think so. It's hard to tell but I nearly broke her door down pounding on it. If she was in there she would have answered. Where do you think she is?"

"I don't know, Jared! If I knew where she was I wouldn't be freaking out, would I?!" Heather dropped her head into her hands. Jared knew her well enough than to respond to a comment that was clearly spoken out of frustration on her part. Heather racked her brain trying to think of where Holly would be.

Heather and Jared got out of the car, parked on the edge of the motorway. "It's through here," Heather said. "She comes here sometimes to read. I've only been once before but it's easy to find. The woods aren't deep."

Jared followed her through the thickets and down the path. Somehow Heather could feel her sister's presence there, but she also felt very far away. Like a memory, or a ghost. The feeling gave Heather goosebumps. Moments later they broke through the trees on the other side, and Holly's small hill came into view.

There was no one there. Heather immediately felt cold and scared. Jared came up beside her,

"We should check on the other side of the hill, just in case." Heather nodded mutely and followed her husband up the small hill until they were standing atop it, overlooking the sea of grass before them. Heather began to cry,

"Where is she Jared?! When I find her I'm going to kill her." she sobbed into his chest. He held her close and drew soft circles with the palm of his hand on her back, kissing her dark hair.

"Don't worry, we'll call the police when we get back. She has to be around somewhere."

Jared, still with his arm around his wife's shoulders, led her down the hill and back into the woods. Heather cried softly as they walked back to the car, scanning the forest floor for any sign of her sister. When they returned to the car, Heather stared back at the forest with a sense of unease. Something was not right about that place.

They drove in silence down the road, both deep in thought. Jared thinking of the next place to look and who to call, Heather thinking about how scared Holly must be. The pulled up in front of the shop and unlocked the front door. Jared bid her goodbye at the door, needing to return to the kids. He said he would call the police and she should focus on asking around to see if anyone had seen her after she left the shop that night.

As Heather closed the door behind her, she heard the unmistakeable sounds of a vial of essential oil breaking on the stone floor of the shop. She heard a deep voice mutter, "Oh dear." and then the pungent scent of oregano hit her hard. She spun around quickly and looked to the backroom. There was someone there.

"Who's there?" she called out loudly. "Come out! I'm calling the police!" She fumbled for her phone in her purse. She heard soft footsteps from the storeroom, a large shadow beginning to block the light from behind the door. Slowly the door opened wider. Heather struggled to find her phone in the deep, messy pockets of her purse. The figure moved into the light of the shop. Heather had to blink several times to clear her vision and believe what she was seeing. A tall, positively ancient-looking man stood in the doorway to her storeroom. He was dressed in long grey robes. A staff rested against the counter in the centre of the store, and a large, worn, pointed hat sat right on top of her cash register.

"There is no need, Lainiel. I've come to talk to you about Holly."

A/N: Please review :) Three guesses who the intruder is... ;)