I may sound like a broken record by now but…THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS!!

He! He! I know you're still angry with me for killing those adorable ferrets. Sorry. Hmmm, whose turn is it to get dead now?

"I cannot come with the three of you? Why?" Arwen asked indignantly, hands on her slim hips.

"Well…because you're…err…a female," Keldarion said lamely. The twins were snickering by now. They were immensely enjoying Keldarion's difficult plight.

"Female? What's that suppose to mean?" Arwen advanced towards the Mirkwood prince, her hips swayed provocatively. Keldarion gulped. "Err… no insult, Arwen, but I…we…Elladan! Elrohir! Say something!" Keldarion looked at the twins in desperation.

The twins burst up laughing then. "What he's trying to say, Arwen, is that he thinks females are weak," Elrohir said, a big goofy grin on his face.

"What?!" Keldarion was alarmed. "No! Arwen, it's not like that. Don't listen to him!" The twins were not helping any. Keldarion wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole! He was reluctant to have Arwen along in their search and rescue mission because they didn't know the extent of danger that Legolas had stumbled into. He didn't want her to be harmed. She's an elf princess, not a warrior, only a…well, female.

"Oh? And what do you really think of me, Kel?" Arwen came closer, looking at him eye to eye. Keldarion was actually sweating. He stared at Arwen's beautiful eyes and couldn't come out with the best excuses. "Arwen, I know you are well trained in sword play and very fast with your bow…"

"But?" She cut in, smiling sweetly. Keldarion got tongue-tied. The only thing that his mind could decipher was that Arwen was getting lovelier than ever. "You're too beautiful…"

"Excuse me?" Arwen raised her eyebrows.

"I didn't mean that! No! I meant it actually…well…"

"Why don't you just tell me that you are a male chauvinist pig? I will understand that much easier," said Arwen before she turned and moved back towards the palace grand entrance. She paused at the door. "Oh Kel, don't be surprise if this female come and rescue you one day." She then turned serious. "Be careful, all three of you. Bring back Legolas home safely."

Keldarion and the Rivendell twins got onto their mounts and headed for the woods. Keldarion can feel the twins' amused stares digging at his back. He whirled on his seat and snapped, "What?!!"

The two brothers were grinning. "We didn't say anything," Elladan replied innocently. Elrohir's lips were twitching, though. Keldarion sighed and turned to the front once more. "You better not. Not a word about her, you understand me?"

"Who? Arwen?" said Elladan.

"What is it about our sister that got you acting like a fool, Kel?" Elrohir added.

"Will you both shut up? We have Legolas to worry about, not my relationship with her!" Keldarion yelled. Then he closed his eyes, and sighed. "Forgive me. I know you were trying to distract me from my worries of my brother. I thank you both for coming with me."

Elladan reached out and patted Keldarion's shoulder. "It's all right, Kel. We understand. Your father still wants to go looking for Legolas himself, but at least Arwen will be there with the king to detain him."

"Yes. No one can get pass Arwen if she wouldn't let it. She's that intimidating, believe me," Elrohir said. The group moved on in companionable silence. Then Elrohir broke it when he said, "So, what kind of relationship you have with Arwen, hmm?"

Keldarion groaned.

*************

Legolas was dragged out of the dark abyss of unconsciousness by a big amount of pain; pain in his thigh, pain in his skull, and everywhere inside of him. When he tried to move, he found out that he couldn't. His arms were bound behind him, his legs immobile; and he was lying on the cold hard ground. He knew without looking that his bow, quiver of arrows and his blades were gone.

His blurry vision cleared then, and he saw that he was deep inside a cave of some sorts. He trembled. He hated caves! Caves brought back those dark memories of being Arulin's captive in the Mirkwood dungeons. I must get out of here! He pulled at his bonds. The coarse rope was too strong, though. And the dwarves know how to tie a knot! Ai!

While he was still struggling with the bonds, several dwarves appeared. Legolas looked up, showing no fear or terror. "What do you want with me, dwarves?"

One of the dwarves, the leader from the woods, came forward and backhanded the prince. Legolas's head snapped to the side. He started to taste blood on his lips. He carefully turned to glare at the dwarf.

"Silence!" The dwarf shouted. "Do not speak when you are not ask to!"

"Tarang, should I get Gloin now?" Another dwarf piped in. The dwarf called Tarang gritted his teeth. "I'll settle this myself."

"But Gloin is our chieftain. You've brought an elf to our cave. He must know about this!"

Tarang whirled towards the other dwarf and growled. "Fine! Bring him! Take your time, though. I want to have a little chat with pretty face here."

After the other dwarves had left, Tarang then knelt down near Legolas. "What are you called?" he demanded. "Speak quickly! Or you'll taste the sharp point of my axe!"

"Your chief would not be too happy if you kill me, wouldn't he?" Legolas quipped. Tarang went ballistic. He shoved the wooden handle of his axe into Legolas's stomach. The elf lay gasping for breath, writhing in agony on the ground. Tarang grabbed his hair and yanked him forward. "Don't play smart with me! Tell me who you are or I'll cut your throat!"

"Hey, go easy on my hair, will you? Why must everyone grab my hair? I swear I'm going to chop it off when I got home!" Legolas was unusually flippant, provoking Tarang to lost control. The dwarf cried out in rage and started to swing his axe down. Now Legolas was afraid that he'd gone too far.

"Tarang!" Someone roared. Tarang reluctantly lowered his axe, his face still tight with fury. He turned to face his leader. "Gloin."

The chieftain of the mountain dwarves came forward and stared at Legolas. "An elf? Where did you find him?"

"We found him deep in the woods, destroying our traps. All of them!" Tarang was still simmering in anger.  He didn't like to be questioned by his superior over his deeds.

"And you brought him here?"

"What else do you want me to do? Kill him?" Tarang was known to be quite a rebel to the dwarves. He liked to take matters into his own hands without consulting the others' opinion. Gloin stared at him. "You shouldn't have disclosed our cave to him. He might tell his people and they would come here and kill us all in our sleep!"

"Then we will make sure he would never escape, won't we?" Tarang raised his axe again.

Gloin grabbed his arm. "No! Now that he's here, I want to know why he destroyed our traps." He stood over Legolas, his beefy arms crossed over his massive chest. "Who are you? What are you doing in my territory?"

Legolas scoffed. "Your territory? What are you doing setting up traps in my father's woods?"

Gloin frowned. "Your father's? Who is your father? Who are you anyway?"

"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil," Legolas said with all the dignity he could muster while lying bound on the ground.

"The King of Mirkwood?" Gloin's eyes widened. "Of all the…!" He turned to Tarang. "You captured an elf prince of all people! Do you know what his father will do when he find out about this?!"

Tarang was staring at Legolas calculatingly. "If he is what he said he is, we are going to get such a grand ransom for his pretty head!"

"Enough!" Gloin cried out, telling Tarang to snap his mouth shut. Kneeling near Legolas, he asked, "Why did you destroy our traps?"

"It had caused the death of my friends, that's why!" Legolas snapped back. Gloin frowned. "Never had any elf got killed by our trap. What friends are you talking about?"

"A pair of ferrets. They are my pets. They stumbled into your traps two days ago."

"The high prince and his playmates. So pathetic," Tarang chimed in. Gloin glared at him. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Tarang smirked but said no more words. Gloin turned back to Legolas. "Our traps are set for bigger creatures, Prince Legolas. Not for small animals like those ferrets."

"Then who set up those traps in the woods that had killed them? We elves never use traps in our lives." Legolas was angry now. Before Gloin managed to reply, Tarang said, "I did."

Gloin stared at his kin in disbelief. "You? What ever for? I only told you to set the bigger traps for the spiders, not other creatures."

Tarang laughed. "Come on, Gloin. You know we need meat for our food. What better place to hunt other then the Mirkwood forest. Deer and rabbits are in abundance there!"

Gloin got to his feet and grabbed the collar of Tarang's shirt. "How dare you! Can't you see what you'll drag us into? This elf here is a prince, for crying out loud! We are lucky if his father does not declare war upon our heads. We are no match against their army!"

Tarang looked away from Gloin's furious face, understanding their situation finally. "So what do we do now?"

"Why don't you just release me and we can forget this whole thing?" Legolas said, getting more nervous by the minute. Spiders? What spiders?

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Prince Legolas. We need to keep you here until we come out with the right decision," Gloin said, walking away.

"What else do you want to decide? Hey, get back here! You can't keep me here!" Legolas struggled against the bonds hopelessly. "Let me go, damn it!"

Tarang crouched down next to him. "Be quiet! We have enough problems right now, we don't need you to add to it with your complaints!"

"Go to hell!" Legolas yelled.

"That's it!" Tarang grabbed a dirty rag hanging by a hook at the wall and tied it over Legolas's mouth, gagging him. Legolas's curses were muffled by the cloth. He glared at Tarang, promising retribution.

Tarang kicked Legolas's ribs for good measure. "Now stay there quietly or I will knock you out!" He warned before he strode away, followed by his friends.

A dwarf lagged behind though, staring at Legolas in awe, amazed at the elf's glow that penetrated the darkness of the cave. He looked in wonder at Legolas's shining golden hair and his fine porcelain skin. Obviously he never saw an elf before for he was still young by dwarf's standard.

Legolas stared deeply into the dwarf's eyes, hoping that the dwarf was sympathetic enough to set him free. But the dwarf whirled and ran after the others. Legolas was left alone in his misery.

TBC…