AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
By : mirkwood-elf-2931 & Thala


CHAPTER 3


Many days south, and after meeting Landailyn, they were upon the Gladden Fields. The location where they had last seen one another, parting in their separate ways for their own homes. The flat prairie grassland was beautiful in this time of year; the long grass shoots blew and arced into the shape of s's in the wind. Trees and small forests were scattered few and far between, but in this open field laughter could be heard, ringing out, the sound traveling farther than it should have.

"And then Arwen looks back at me to laugh, for I could not make that damnable horse stand still. Unbeknownst to her that a low branch was coming and WHAP!" Thalawen slapped her hands together for emphasis and guffawed even louder, making her next words hard to understand. "Off she flew from her horse's back! Hit the ground like a sack of potatoes! Believe you me that was one of the more un-Elf-like moments I've ever seen!"

Landailyn was hunched over, slapping her knee in a fit of laughter, as Thalawen stiffly fell to the ground, proclaiming she couldn't breathe.

Hand on her hip, Arwen had had just about enough of hearing Thalawen spill her guts about their childhood 'embarrassments.' "Are you quite finished?" she asked coolly.

"Oh, c'mon, Arwen. You know that was funny!" exclaimed Thalawen.

A dimple showed in Arwen's cheek, but quickly vanished. "No it wasn't, Thala!"

Landailyn could tell quite a few of her own comical tales with Legolas, but chose not to bring up the prince in Thalawen's presence for fear of hurtful memories re-surfacing. "Did you hear that?" She stopped where she was and looked slowly to the right, scanning the oncoming woodland in what light was left.

"Hear what?" Thalawen asked. She and Arwen hadn't really been paying much attention, but to the subject they were arguing about. Their voices too loud for hearing much of anything, especially a sound in the woods.

Landailyn had been listening to them with a smile, but now shook her head, not hearing the sound again. But not liking the thought of stumbling into trouble when it could be helped. "I'm going ahead. Be careful."

"You too." Said Arwen, as both sisters nodded and watched as the Elf cautiously disappeared among the trees, bow tightly clutched in her hand.


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


Landailyn jogged within the midst of the little forest, but slowed to a complete stop when she'd made an important discovery.

Down around her feet, tracks in the mud of the clearing circled her and went outward in all directions. They were tracks like her own, Humans most likely, or Orcs, for these went deep, where Elves hardly made a print at all.

Snap. She jerked at detecting the soft noise, which was followed by a crunch of leaves under heavy feet and she dared move no more. Now what in Middle-earth was this? Could it be Orcs? But she could hear no Orchish cries, nor smell the foul beasts. So, what then?

She felt no evil. Something was just not right, especially after being accompanied by noises. Whatever, she could feel it all around her now, almost suffocating her senses with a strong warning of danger.


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


A clear whistle broke shrilly on the evening wind.

The two she-Elves stopped talking and were immediately on alert. It had sounded natural and casual enough, like it could have come from some large bird close by, but from what they had been taught by their friend of the different meanings of whistles, they knew it had come from her and something was very wrong. Especially since this particular whistle meant to either run, or hide.

"Nor, Asfaloth!" [Run, Asfaloth!] Arwen whispered fiercely to her horse. "Nor!" [Run!] The great beast did as told and dashed into the night, leaving the two standing there to themselves.

Thalawen was torn at what to do; her friend could need help if there had been an attack, but at the same time she also needed to protect her sister.

She reached down for the hilt of her sword, but found she only grabbed the air. Almost cursing aloud, she perceived that all their weapons had been left strapped to Asfaloth's saddle. Stunned by the whistle's meaning, she hadn't thought about them. She and Arwen had nothing to defend themselves if needed and they could not call Asfaloth back, it would give their position away for sure.

Arwen must have also realized this, for she suggested what they should now do. "We must hide, Thala!" She continued to whisper.

"But Landy, should I not go...!"

"If she is in trouble and we too are caught, what good will it do her?"

Even if she didn't feel right about it, Thalawen swiftly followed Arwen to find a decent hiding place.


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


Enclosing on her from all sides were the same men who'd made the tracks surrounding her. They had seen her coming and had been waiting to catch her in this spot.

She watched the group carefully, letting them get as close as possible; making it look as though she was afraid of them, then let them have it.

Landailyn shot two arrows at once, three separate times. Making sure that whoever they hit stayed down. Drawing a knife, she fought one handed. The small blade was a winning match, even against their full swords. She had killed several, but a hopeful dent in number was going nowhere. There were many and she couldn't quite keep track of every single one.

The she-Elf worked quickly. But while occupied with one man, who would not let her do anything but block, her bow was roughly ripped from her right hand. She finally threw her attacker backward, but this new move had startled her beyond anything, to just have her weapon taken from her grip in the blink of an eye.

She turned her head in the thief's direction. A big mistake on her part, for the one she had just gotten rid of came back for more and simply knocked her other weapon from her left loosened hand. With a swishing through the air, the knife went sailing out of sight.

Time was not on her side. She could make no reaction and would have to surrender. As it was, an arrow tip stared her in the face. She glared darkly around at those in view, as two others reached around and brought her wrists behind her back binding them with stiff biting rope.

One pulled a large dagger, cutting the leather straps of her quiver so she could do nothing further with the weapons she still held. He threw it carelessly to the ground and what was left of her arrows spilled out.

The group turned her southwards, the way she and her friends had originally been heading, but stopped after a few yards, as more came to join them, followed by a last significant looking man.

"We got one, Captain!" An elderly Human with a full beard called from the back, as those in front brought their catch forth.

"Good job." He congratulated his men at the news of a new prisoner. Then took a good look in the twilight, as they stood the person before him. "Oh, but what do we have here?" He asked with a slight smirk, getting a closer look at the young looking blonde. "An Elf." Simply answering himself, with wondering eyes glued to Landailyn. "We'll certainly have fun with this one." Faeroth almost whispered, though it had had the hint of a sarcastic tone.

He'd dealt with a few of her kind in the past, who had been deliberately captured because the Elves were known for their excellent work in forging metal items and could withstand the harshness of the labors they put their slaves through much longer than any Human ever had. But it seemed that every one of them just could not behave and learn from their mistakes.

But then, that was the best part, he much enjoyed trying to discipline them.

Faeroth looked over their current area and saw that several of the party of men lay dead. He sighed and back handed the restrained girl. "Don't try anything, if you know what's good for you." He spoke to her low and warningly, then looked up and addressed his crew. "Let's go ahead and load her with the rest."

They walked along at a steady pace for sometime with Landailyn continually looking for a chance to escape. The opportunity did not present itself until they were nearly to the shores of the Great River and the man following her stumbled on a unnoticed upturned root.

Catching him off guard in his state of unbalance, she whirled around to ram him in the chest with her shoulder.

"Get her!"

She could clearly hear the captain yelling, as she started off in a jog and sped it up into a run, dodging the thickening trees around her. But too soon for her liking the chase had ended.

There were too many trees for one to send an arrow to do the job, so one of the two chasing her snaked a long whip around her right ankle and with a hard jerk, pulled her leg out from under her, her body hitting the grassy ground with a loud thud, nearly knocking all air from her lungs. Her chest ached from the plunge and she gasped and coughed, as they picked up her limp form from the forest floor and drug her back to the waiting group.

Faeroth's patients always had been short and grew shorter still with these intolerable prisoners. He nodded for them to bring her more to his level. Without difficulty, the same two men bent to grab her arms and stand her up on her own.

Without hesitation, the captain raised his hand to slap her, much harder than before and on the opposite cheek. So hard, it spun her to face the opposite direction, bringing her to her knees. And she felt the familiar stinging of a cut lip, as warm blood oozed from the left corner of her mouth.

She turned back slowly, her piercing eyes glaring up at him, seeming to burn a hole right through the man.

"I told you not to try anything! You will calm down, Elf!" He yelled. "If I have to beat it into you! Now get up!" He jerked her bound hands upward and shoved her into one of the men, who pointed his blade at her in warning.

The rest of the way, she obeyed the captain's words, though she hated to and there were many unseen attempts at desperately trying to loosen her ropes, but they only proved to tighten, the rough fibers digging deeper into her skin. And she still did not bother struggle when they chained her to a wall in a darkened room on the bottom deck.

And here it was she sat for two solid, very uneventful hours.


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


Faeroth raised his brows. "Two more, you say?"

"Aye, Captain." Reported the scout, who had come to tell him of their newest capture. "They're coming with them soon. They led us on quite a chase and one of them put up a good fight too. Wouldn't settle down."

He nodded. "Well, put them in the cell downstairs with the Elf. I don't want them stirring up the other prisoners."

The man confirmed he understood the order and left to wait for his companions.


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


"Captain says to put them in the cell with the Elf down below." They overheard the scout telling his friend.

Elf? Thalawen and Arwen realized what it was that he meant by this, as they glanced over at one another for a few seconds. Could the 'Elf' be Landailyn? If so, they must think that the 'Elf' and the two weren't traveling together. Apparently, they mistook them for Human women, for both wore long, closed cloaks with sleeves, concealing their Elven clothing beneath and their thick hair hung down freely, hiding their pointed ears.

For in truth, these men had never seen an Elf with dark hair before and for all they knew they didn't exist. But for Landailyn, her looks could not have been helped even if she had tried. No matter what, they would have found her out an Elf.

They were taken down through a trap door into the bottom of the ship and lead to another full sized door, where inside they were shackled beside one another along the left wall. After the guards left, they took a look around.

Across the shadowy space of the room, they realized what, or rather whom the other wall literally held. Both of their thoughts had proved correct.

"Are you two alright?!" The person asked, not entirely surprised to see her friends. The men must have been watching from somewhere around them, she thought. "I'm sorry. Obviously my warning to you was not soon enough."

"It's okay, Landy, we're fine. Listen, they think we don't know you! They don't even know we're Elves! They only put us in here because they think us trouble makers!" Explained Arwen.

Landailyn nodded, smiling slightly. "Same here. Stubborn Elf that cannot seem to learn."

Small smiles also broke on their serious faces.

"We can only hope they never find you out. They seem to have a certain 'disliking' for our kind. And we'll have to continue 'not knowing one another'."

They didn't like the thought of being treated so differently from her, but the two agreed with this. Of course Thalawen didn't want Arwen getting hurt and if they found out she too was an Elf, the princess would be discovered along with her. And she knew Landailyn would not want this just the same.

Landailyn, whose eyes had adjusted long ago to the darkness, saw that Thalawen bled a little at the nose. "Put up a good fight too?" She asked.

Thalawen snickered, soon seeing on Landailyn what she apparently saw on her. "Yeah. And a good chase."

"Well," Arwen began. "How are we going to get out of this one? Except for Father, Elladan and Elrohir, no one knows we're on our way to Minas Tirith."

"You sent Asfaloth away, did you not?"

Arwen nodded, understanding where Thalawen was going.

"He'll go home once you don't come back for him and he'll tell them for us." She said, wanting to give her younger sibling and friend some hope. "They'll know something is wrong. They know you meant to take Asfaloth with you and he has all our weapons and supplies as well."

"But it's days back to Imladris from where I let him go. We'll have a good wait for that and then another one as soon as someone figures out what must have happened and sets out to find us."

"Arwen...you did tell them which...?"

"Which way we were going? Yes, I told all three of them."

Thalawen let out a small, relieved sigh, which Arwen chuckled at. "So who are these men anyway?" Thalawen asked to neither specific Elf.

"Unfortunately and definitely corsairs." Landailyn sighed. "They come from a vast land south of Gondor, called Umbar. They are known for capturing people like this to enslave them."

"Slaves?" Thalawen asked, eyes growing a little.

"Slaves." Landailyn confirmed. "Usually in metal work. Or even to be sold to other people that are in this 'business'. They know Elves do better in slavery than other races and since they rarely catch any of us...we are invaluable."


*~ *~ * ~ * ~* ~*


"Good morning, Estel. What is that?" Legolas' curiosity got the better of him, when Aragorn came into his throne room, concentrating down on a piece of parchment in his hands. The king stopped and looked up at him. Studying the man for mere seconds, the prince could immediately read a great happiness, yet hints of worry among his features.

Aragorn smiled at his friend. "It's a letter from my father. He says they received my message and now Arwen and Thalawen are on their way here."

"Oh?" Legolas smiled, almost amusingly. "Then why do you look so worried along with your happiness?"

Aragorn raised his brows as if to think about it, before replying. Of course, his friend always noticed these little things. "Well with what's been going on lately, apparently danger is around every corner. I'm just concerned with what will happen along their way."

Legolas nodded in understanding. "Aye, I hope it is a safe journey for them both."

Aragorn's smile returned. "As do I."


TBC ...