Thank you too all my reviewers!!! I feel so loved. Chocolate chip cookies for all of you!!! *Authoress thinks…should she actually give away chocolate?…hmmmm* No, on second thought, you can have the peanut butter cookies!

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Chapter 3: A Secret Revealed

… Nevaraniel glared at him. "Fine," she said, standing up, "May I have everyone's attention please! I have something important to tell you all, because Mr. Royalty over there thinks I should," Nevi waited for Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, and Gimli to get assembled (Boromir is not in this fic because I don't like him, and Gandalf is gone because he is "dead"). The elvish assassin stood before them, and began:

"As you know, I am an assassin. What you probably didn't realize is that I am one of the Five Elves of the Ruby Tigress, and no, that has nothing to do with the rings of power," Nevi said, glancing at Frodo, who looked very paranoid. She pushed up the sleeve of her cloak, revealing an elaborately decorated bracelet in the shape of a tiger. It was set with many rubies, but had emeralds for eyes. "The Five are the most skilled, the most powerful of all elvish assassins," she continued. "We are always sought out by others to do their killing. You all have no idea how lucky you were to get me, because it is near impossible to get anyone in the Five. Anyway, your assignment for me to kill Saruman is not the only one I am on," Nevi took a deep breath, "I was also hired by someone else to kill one of you, but Legolas stopped me last night. None of you heard us…arguing…because I slipped some herbs in your water that caused you to sleep very deeply," Sam stepped protectively in front of Frodo. Nevi sighed, "Don't worry- I've already told you, I am NOT after the damn Ring! …I didn't know who my target really was until I came with you, but I was hired to kill you, Strider."

Strider rushed forward in rage, drawing his sword. Nevi instinctively ran at the Ranger, and flipped over him, drawing her own sword. (A/N-I'm sorry, I'll try not to be too Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon here.) She kicked the sword from his hand, and Aragorn quickly bent to pick it up. Simultaneously, Nevaraniel drew an arrow with a leaf covering on the point, dipped the tip in the campfire, and set the flaming arrow on her bow.

"Aragorn, I would not move if I were you!" Legolas warned, his blue eyes wide.

"Why? I am going to kill that assassin NOW!"

Legolas whipped out his bow and stood beside the elven assassin. "You have no idea of how skilled the Five are," he said, "Nevi, would you care to tell Aragorn what the weapon is that you are holding?"

"Legolas, put down your bow, I don't need your help. This is not a normal arrow I am holding," Nevaraniel began, "These are specially made for the Five- they are lighter but do much more damage. This one is a Flaming Dragon. Do any of you know what a Flaming Dragon is?"

"Sounds like a cocktail!" Pippin exclaimed, "Does it come in pints?"

"Um, no," Nevi replied, "A Flaming Dragon is one of our arrows with dragon blood on the tip. We cover them in leaves to keep the poison active, and ignite the leaf. The heat makes the poison about ten times more deadly, so if you do not wish to die now, Ranger, I suggest you drop your sword."

"Ha! Only if you swear not to kill me while I sleep!"

"I don't know what I am going to do, I've never refused a job, but I promise on my rank as one of the Five that I will not attack you if you don't have a fighting chance. Agreed?"

Aragorn looked doubtful, but finally he spoke, "Agreed."

* * * * *

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the Fellowship had finally made the decision to go north to Isengard. Aragorn was still angry with Nevaraniel for trying to kill him, Nevi was mad at Legolas for making her tell everyone what she tried to do the previous night, and Legolas was upset because he had to keep the two apart. They were getting along a little better than in the morning, but there was still tension.

"So, how do we get to Isengard?" Frodo asked, "It will take a long time to walk all the way…"

Nevi laughed, "Walk? I am not walking all the way!" She let out a loud whistle, like the call of a starling. The hobbits looked at her strangely. Soon the sound of hoof beats was audible, and a jet black horse galloped into the clearing.

"Where did THAT come from?!" asked Gimli incredulously.

"THAT is my horse, and he has been following us the entire time, I just told him to wait until I need him."

The horse came up to Nevaraniel, and she climbed up on its back.

"Do you all mind if I go on ahead, or do I need to find more horses?" inquired the assassin. Before anyone could answer, a group of about ten orcs came crashing into the clearing. Nevi swore, setting two arrows on her bow. She sent them flying, killing two orcs. The rest of the Fellowship drew their weapons, and joined the fight. Leaping off of her horse and toward the campfire, Nevi took out one of her Flaming Dragon arrows and lit it. She shot it at the most heavily armored orc, and it fell immediately. Legolas was busy with his own bow, the others doing the same with their own weapons, and, of course, Aragorn looked overjoyed to be killing something.

"Look out!" yelled Pippin to Nevaraniel.

"Whoa!" An arrow was speeding towards her, and as she dodged it Nevi drew a knife and threw it at the orc who had the nerve to attack her. The knife hit its target, and the one remaining orc that was still alive had decided to run. Legolas let one last arrow fly, and the orcs were no more.

"Well," said Nevi, cheeks flushed from the battle, "as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, do I need to find more horses?"

Nevaraniel sent off her horse to bring back five more for the Fellowship (A/N- yes, the horse is capable of bringing more horses, it's a SPECIAL horse, okay?).

"I wonder what the orcs were looking for?" Merry said.

"Oh, I'm sure they were just on a scavenger hunt," replied Frodo sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"They were Uruk-hai, didn't you see the white hand on them?" asked Nevaraniel, "They were either after me or the Ring-bearer."

"Uruk-whatsa?" asked Gimli.

"Uruk-hai. They're Saruman's orcs. They can go out in broad daylight and not be bothered," answered Aragorn.

"There will be more," Nevi stated flatly, "We must leave as soon as the horses come."

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Ok, I know that wasn't the most exciting chapter, but the next chapter should be pretty good! Please go review! The review button is your friend. And keep those Elf names coming! I need one male and one female elven name.