Thanks for the reviews.  Shewhodares, Nieriel means honeybee in quenya it is a literal translation.  Kitten thanks for the profile pointer.  I even put up a bio.  Panneth thanks for pointing out the horse thing it made me do research.  Silent Wanderer, Cherryfizz and Cylent Wind thanks for enjoying the story and taking the time to let me know.

Chapter Three                                                                 Dark Water

Aragorn and Elrond were the first to Arwen's tent but they could not discover what was causing her such panic.  So fast and jumbled were the words that she spoke not choosing the tongue of the elves or the western men but using both in unison creating a garble of words and then collapsing in tears again.  Never had Elrond seen his daughter in such distress and her anguish made him fearful.  She seemed like mad woman in her grief. He searched his thoughts for someone to calm her as Aragorn cradled her on the floor and he held her trembling hand.  Looking toward the door he shouted, "Someone find the Lady Nieriel."

Sobs that seemed to grow quieter in Aragorn's arms as she rested her head on his chest were renewed with vigor.  "Please, Undomiel cease your weeping lest you sicken your self.  Tell us what has hurt you that you would become so uncontrolled."

With tears running down her face and speech coming in halted sentences broken by sobs she told Aragorn of the disappearance of Nieriel.  She pointed to the necklace now laying on the floor and how Nieriel had admired it touching it before she was engulfed in dark blue-black flame.

 Elrond placed his hand before his eyes and thought of all that he had wanted to protect Nieriel from and how he had indeed been selfish now Gandalf's words made sense to him; he could never hold sway over the heart or life of another.  He had been wrong and was sorry that he had quarreled with her and Legolas and saw now that if her destiny was to perish in middle earth there was naught he could do to change it.  An hour had passed with the three sitting on the floor in shock and disbelief when Legolas entered the tent.  A look of concern crossed his face for his friends and he could not imagine what had saddened them.

" I looked over the camp and I could not find Lady Nieriel."  Arwen started to softly cry and Elrond and Aragorn looked like two men with news they did not wish to bear.  "We are still looking, I know how her free spirit likes to wander in the night.  I there anything that I might do to aid you?"

Aragorn bade him to sit.  "Legolas, Nieriel has disappeared from this place.  Arwen was speaking with her when she touched an item on the bridal table and was consumed in flame.  We do not know if she is living or dead."

Long minuets passed and Aragorn started to worry that his friend would not breath again.  Then he saw Legolas's jaw clench and his eyes grow dark he sprang to the table and started handling everything on it.  When he had come to the end of the table he sat on the floor just feet away from the discarded necklace and put his head between his knees and sobbed, "Why did it not take me too?  Why can I not share in her fate?"

"This was aimed at me Legolas and it will not go unanswered.  We will find her and we will bring whoever did this to justice."

Elrond became ashamed and ashen aware of how he had judged Legolas wrongly.  Aragorn, lead Arwen to my tent and I will take Legolas they both need time for this shock to wear from their minds and seal this tent until we can consult with Gandalf.

Hot mist hung in the eyes of Legolas, "I cannot wait in my tent.  Please give me something to do, some errand or I will go mad with waiting." 

"Very well, go and get Gandalf and meet us back here perhaps he has some knowledge of what evil has befallen Nieriel."

~*~

Legolas felt as though something were being pulled tight around his chest his heart ached and beat loudly.  His breath was ragged and he could not focus well through this torrent of grief.  As Legolas turned he spotted Whit and picked him up feeling his soft warm fur and thinking how Nieriel would want someone to look after him.  Gandalf saw him long before he saw Gandalf.  It was the first time that Gandalf had ever seen Legolas truly shaken.  He walked aimlessly around the camp with Nieriel's puppy speaking to no one. 

"Legolas.  Legolas."  Legolas looked up at Gandalf.  "Where are you going?  Did you find the lady?"

"She is gone.  I came to find you.  Arwen said she was consumed in fire by something bewitched in her tent."

"Were there ashes?"

"No.  Everything looked as it should nothing was in disarray."

"A foul wind is blowing in from the north and I sense ill tidings of remaining darkness."  With that said Gandalf stood and took long hurried strides to the tent that Arwen had occupied.

~*~

Images flitted through Nieriel's mind like wordless pictures.  Legolas was running ahead of her they were children again she reached for his hand and felt hard stone.  Confused she tried to make sense of her surroundings.  The image from her childhood faded the stench of mold and rotting flesh filled her nose and she retched.  Water dripped in the distance only blackness filled her eyes.  She lifted her head and tried to look for any light and was knocked into unconsciousness by an unseen hand.

~*~

Gandalf squatted to look at the fallen necklace on the floor not daring to touch it.  Gimli squinted and assessed the stones.

"This is not the work of a Dwarf even if they did try to mimic the style of the my people. The stones look like small palantiri."

"I agree Gimli and the enchantment is too sinister for any other than a true lord of darkness."

"You cannot mean Sauron."  Gimli's eyes went wide.

"No, this is not his work.  This is the work of an ancient evil the evil that Sauron served.  This could only come from Melkor."

Legolas felt sudden panic rising from the pit of his stomach. "Where would he take her?"

"Carn Dum that lies near the old remains of his ruined stronghold Utumno which was destroyed by the Valar.  We have long felt his presence in the abandoned mines and I can only guess that is where she is."

"That is five hundred leagues away we will never reach her in time to save her not with the swiftest horses."

"Calm yourself Legolas, Nieriel is stronger than you give her credit for."

"She is no soldier."

"No she is far stronger than that do you not know her mother?  Did your father never tell you who she was?  Were there no whispers in the court?"

"Gandalf please.  Tell me what it is I should know."

"She is a child of the Maia.  There are so few of them I thought you knew.  Her father like you is a full-blooded Sindarin elf but her mother is the child of Uinen, Lady of the Seas and her husband Ulmo.  This is why she is so attracted to water why she does not have mastery over land animals why she rides with a saddle like a child.  She can call the Lady and the Lord of the Sea to her with just a thought for in her the light of Iluvatar burns brightly.  Did not Galadriel tell you that your heart would be lost to the sea?  Now go and ask Arwen for the most recent thing Nieriel wore"

"I have the shoes that she had on this morning."  Bewildered stares passed between friends as Legolas put down Whit and pulled two small shoes from his quiver.

"This will be fine."  The corners of Gandalf's mouth pulled upward momentarily thinking about the circumstances surrounding the shoes.  He was sure that when this was finished he would like to hear the story.

Placing one shoe on each side of the fallen necklace and pouring water into the middle he began to an ancient chant and Nieriel's image shimmered into view.  There was blood streaked across her face and her arms were covered with bruises but they could see the steady rise and fall of breathing.  The cavern that surrounded her was dark and filthy. Frodo who had been standing quietly said, "I know this place, it is one of the caves near the secret tunnel into Mordor."

Gandalf looked momentarily surprised and then he raised his staff and the picture widened to show the black hills of Mordor and then widened again to show the mountain range of North Ithilien.

"Well it seems that we are at least traveling in the right direction." Arargorn strode to a valet and ordered, "Ready our horses."  Then he turned to Legolas and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I cannot wait for you Aragorn.  I will ride ahead."

"Legolas do not let your emotions get in the way of common sense.  Mordor is a barren wasteland and the bog is treacherous, only the hobbits can tell us the way they can show us where we should go."

~*~

Consciousness came to Nieriel slowly.  As the haze lifted around her she remembered to lie still until she was sure she was alone.  Her arms ached and as she felt her throbbing forehead she became aware of the gash that had recently stopped bleeding.  She looked around the cavern and could not see much beyond a single beam of light coming through a crack in the rocks. She heard a faint trickle of water and felt her way along the wall until she found a small rivulet running down the wall and disappearing into a crack in the floor.  She cupped her hands and drank some of the oily water.  "I need more clean water."  As if to answer her desires the crack widened and fresh water poured forth in a small jet.  Nieriel thanked the Valar and drank deeply.  She then washed the blood from her face as well as she could and began feeling her way around the room.  There was one door and beyond the door was a stench that she could only assume was from the guard.  She went back to the middle of the room where the light was and felt in the little pocket in her boot to see if her herb knife was still there.  Nieriel had no idea how she planned to escape with a four-inch knife but she had to think that it was possible.  She thought of Arwen and hoped that she could escape before they came looking for her.

~*~

Legolas sat outside he did not look at the stars his soul was rent and he could find no rest.  Without hesitation he tied Whit to a stake strode back into the tent and before Aragorn or Gandalf could stop him thrust his hand around the beads and was gone.