Strider woke up when he heard something slam. He thought it was the storm outside, but when he opened his eyes and sat up quietly, so not to wake Legolas, he saw Celva. He looked out the window and saw it was lighter, even with the dark clouds. It was morning.

"Everyone wake up," Celva said. He waited fore everyone to look at him before continuing. "I want all of you outside in an hour. Dress and ready for work." He looked at Legolas, who was waking up just then, and smiled. He walked out of the room, leaving them to get ready.

"What do you think this is about?" Madilen asked.

"I don't know." Strider stood up. He walked on the other side of the bed and helped Legolas stand up. He had to hold his waist so he could get his balance. His ankle was still hurting, so Strider had to be a crutch for him. They all walked outside, and stood in front of five poles. They didn't remember those being there. They all got worried and wondered what Celva was going to do to them.

"Strider, what's going on?" Legoals asked. He looked up at the poles. This didn't look good. He looked to his right when he heard a nose. He gasped when he saw four servents walking towards them, their wrists and ankles were chained together, and Celva was walking in front of them. He watched as the servents walked pass them and they all stopped in front of the poles. One was missing.

"Slaves. Who you see before you are the slaves who thought it would be clever to escape from me. Now, we only have four, one more is still missing, but these four will get their punishment. Death!" He turned around and called on his guards. He had the servents tied to the poles, one rope tied around their necks. "You all shall watch and learn."

Legolas gasped so no one heard him, but he felt Striders grip on his waist. He watched as Celva walked up to one of the servents, a woman, and laughed. He brought his dagger up to her throat, laughing more as her breathing was getting harder. He placed the dagger at one end of her throat and slid it across. Blood gushed threw the wound, and she died in minutes. Legolas felt like he was going to be sick.

"This is mad," one man said. "He never did this before."

"None of us were crazy to escape," one added. They watched as he moved from person to person, laughing, talking to them about what their death will bring, and then slit their throats.

Celva looked at the group of servents when the blood shed was done. His front body was covered in blood and he didn't mind it one bit. "Now, let that be a lesson to ya. I want you all to dig them graves right here. I will be watching from my window, so no one better escape or I will have you killed on sight." He walked towards Legolas and Strider and smiled. "Come, Legolas. There is much we need to talk about."

Legolas felt Strider's grip on his waist tighten, not letting go. He knew his friend was trying to protect him, but he wouldn't let Strider get beat, worst off killed, just for protecting him. He looked at Strider in the eyes. 'Please. He won't hurt me. As long as I know I have friends and family, he will not break me.' He had said it in elvish, knowing Celva didn't understand him.

'If he hurts you like he did last time, you better tell me.' Strider let his grip go and Celva grabbed Legolas by the arm and dragged him away, servents watched the whole thing and felt sorry for the elf. They knew he was in for a rough beating. Strider just watched them disappear and he turned to the servents, his friends, his family. "Alright, lets dig our friends a grave. If you do not want to bury a friend, do not escape like they did. They tried to be free, probably get us free, and this is what happened. They will not die in vain, I will see to that. Right now, we need to do what King Celva says."

"If you say so Strider," Dogoto said. "I will follow you until the day I die."

"Hopefully that won't be soon," Strider said with a smile. That got them all laughing. When the laughing was done, the digging began. Tears were shed when they laid the bodies in the graves and covered them with dirt. Madilen and some of her friends made small headstones for them. Strider looked up at Celva's window, wishing Legolas was watching him, instead of waiting for the beating to start.

"Now, my pet. Please, tell me how you feel," Celva asked with a smile. He watched Legolas sit on his bed like he was told to. "Well?"

"I'm a little sore, King Celva." Legolas kept his eyes down. He would not look this monster in the eye. He then saw the room spin as Celva slapped him across the face. He felt Celva grab his head and then he kissed him, like he was the kings property.

"You will look me in the eye when I ask you a question," Celva said. He pushed Legoals on his back, listening to the elf hiss in pain. He ripped his shirt and ran his hands on the smooth chest. He watched as Legolas breathed harder. He was enjoying this. "Listen to me, my pet. I'm a little stress right now, so I want you to see something before I let my stress out." Celva got up from the bed and walked to his closet. He opened it up and moved so Legoals could see.

Legolas looked and his eyes went wide. In the closet was whips and chains. He heard Celva laugh as he picked up a whip. The whip had a spike ball at the end. He jumped up from the bed, forgetting his injured ankle. He took five steps before he collapsed as pain shot threw his leg. He looked up and saw Celva sowly approach him. He started to craw away, but a heavy boot landed on his back, pushing him down on the floor. Legolas had to bit his lip from crying out. He was under the window and could hear his friends outside.

Celva looked down at the shivering elf he had trapped under his foot. He smiled and started to grind his foot harder and deeper into his back. He brought the whip up over his head and brought it down on Legolas's back with force. He saw the spike ball go deep into the skin, blood starting to come out of old wounds, and the new wounds. He smiled and brought the whip up once more.

Legolas jumped as the whip made conntact with his bare skin. He felt tears in his eyes, but refused to show pain. He thought of Strider. When they were younger, causing trouble for the twins. If he was not in so much pain, he would have laughed. The only way to get away from the pain was to ignore the whip and focuse on the good times.

Celva looked down at the bloody back, mad because Legolas never made a sound as the spike ball hit him over and over for about ten minutes. He knelt down and grabbed the short blond hair, making Legolas wince. "Why have you not yelled in pain?"

"I do not feel nothing, King Celva," Legolas said. In truth, he was right. His back was so numb, he couldn't tell if the ball was still in his back or not. His head hit the floor once more, and Celva stood up. He wondered what was going to happen now. He looked up to see Celva start a nice warm fire. He decided to rest till Celva came back for him.

Celva walked to his closet and pulled out a long metel pole, the tip of it would cut skin if not careful. He walked over to the fire and placed the tip into the flames. He looked down at Legoals and smiled. "I will be back for you." He opened his door, and closed it, locking it as it clicked shut. He walked down the hall and headed outside. He saw Strider helping a man lift wood and set it up so he could hammer it down. "Strider, come here."

Strider looked up as his name was called. He walked towards Celva and bowed a little. "Yes, King Celva."

"Come with me." Celva didn't let him ask questions. He just turned and walked away, Strider following him. He smiled as his plan was going so well. He stopped at his door and unlocked it, and shoved Strider in, locking the door once more. He smiled as Strider ran to his friends side, helping Legolas sit up.

"What did you do to him?" he asked, wincing as he touched the new wounds. He looked up and saw Celva taking a metel pole from the fire, and walking towards them. Strider stood up and stood in front of Legolas. He wasn't going to let his friend get hurt as long as he there. "Why are you doing this? Elves do not need this."

"I thought you would say that Strider. Or should I say, Estel." Celva smiled as he saw fear in the mans eyes. "Yes. I know who you are. When I took you from Rivendell that day, I didn't, but then I realized that one man, one human was taken in by elves. He knew how to speak elvish, he knew all their tricks and secrets. You are that man."

"Why did you take me from my home?" Strider demanded.

"Humans do not belong among elves. I rescued you from them. I found you and took you away to save you. You belong here, with the other humans. Not immortal elves that think their perfect."

"You took me from my family and you just now insulted them," Strider said. This was going to far. "The elves took me in when I was alone with no family. They loved me even though I was a human. They cared for me like I was their own."

"You are not one of them. Don't you see, elves brainwash humans. They want you to think they are your family, your friend. When they know you would believe them, they will stab you in the back!"

Now it was time for Legolas to tell his side. Sitting where he was he looked at Celva, anger in his eyes. "Elves would never do that. They would not kill an innocent people, unlike you!"

Celva looked down at the hurt elf and laughed. "You are in no position to saying anything like that, elf. Elves are evil, just like you."

"Why do you hate them so?" Legolas asked.

Celva looked at Legolas and went to the fire to pull out the metel. He held it up and just stared at it, as if it brough back memories long forgotten. "When I was young boy, my parents were friends with the elves. Everyone in the village loved the elves. I thought they were the prettiest creatures in all of Middle-Earth. One day, our village was attacked by Orcs. Those disgusting creatures destroyed our village. While the fight was starting, I was looking for my parents and I saw, I saw with my own two eyes an ELF KILLING MY PARENTS! They missed an Orc and hit my father. My mother ran out and an arrow hit her in the heart. Elves are known for their perfect aim, so why did they kill my parents?!" He pointed the metel at Legolas, making Strider standed in front of it.

"I can assure you, they did not mean it," Strider said. "Elves are known for their perfect aim, yes, but maybe they were attacked behind and their aim was off."

"NO! I saw it and I want this...this elf to know the pain I felt when I saw what happened." He thrust the metel towards Legolas, but Strider blocked it and got hit in the side.

Strider yelled in pain as the hot metel hit his side. He felt the tip going deeper in his side. He grabbed the pole and pulled out the tip and collasped next to Legolas. He felt his friend wrap his hand around the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. He could smell burnt flesh, but not bad. He tried to sit up, but Legolas wouldn't let him. He knew Celva was walking towards them.

"Why did you do it? Why are you helping this elf?"

"This elf as a name. Legolas is my friend and I swore to protect him and that's what I'm going to do," he hissed out between clenched teeth. "You are making a mistake on hurting my friend."

"This elf? A friend? I won't let that happen." Celva stood up and grabbed Strider from Legolas. He pushed Strider to the ground and grabbed Legolas by the hair and lifted him up. He dragged Legolas to his door, when Strider go up.

"Where are you taking him?"

"To the dungen. I'm tired of this elf already." He opened the door and walked out, still dragging Legolas down the hall. He heard Strider get up and cry out for him to stop.

"You are not going to take him anywhere that might kill him!" Strider brought his hand up to strike Celva, but his arm was caught by a guard. He felt both hid arms being pinned behind his back and then a sharp hit to the head knocked him out.

"Take him back to the slave quarters." He looked down at Legolas and saw anger in his eyes. "What's wrong? Don't like what I did? To bad."

Legolas punched Celva in the face and jumped up, almost falling down. He got his balance and kicked Celva with his good foot. "You will not blame everything on us. We did nothing to you."

Celva stood up and looked at Legolas. "You will pay for everything. Just because you were not there, doesn't mean I can't punish you." He kicked Legolas in the leg, bring him down. He felt punches hitting his sore back. Kicks to his ribs, sides, and head.

Legolas was fighting to stay conscious. He saw black spots before his eyes as he felt a foot smash his back. He couldn't hold back a cry of pain and then, everything went black.

*Mirkwood*

Elladan and Feaelen looked up from their spot in the tree when they heard a sound like crying. They looked at each other and stood up, their bows ready. They lowered their bows when they saw a woman stopped under their tree, tears running down her face. She had mud all over her dress, face, and hair. Elladan jumped from the tree and stood in front of her, a smile on his face to show he was a friend.

Elizabeth looked up from her spot on the ground, staring at the black hair elf. She was running for nearly a day or two. She escaped with four of her friends from the top floor. No one knew the escaped till late at night. Sheets tied together made a rop for them to climb down. When she though they were free, they heard yelling and knew guards found them. SHe ran and ran until she found a tree and started to climb. She went to help her friends, but they told her no. At lest one of them had to escape and get help. She watched as the guards took her friends, not knowing what was to come of them. When the guards left she jumped down from the tree and just ran in any direction. This is where she is now, sitting on the ground in front of an elf.

"If you don't mind me asking, and I'm not being rude," Elladan said, "but why are you running in Mirkwood forest?"

She looked at him like she saw a ghost. He was handsome and she jumped when another elf landed right next to him. This one had blond hair, just like Legolas.

"You look just like him," she said, pointing to Feaelen. She got up and just looked at them." Just like him. Blond hair, blue eyes. Yes, you must be a friend of his."

"You mean Legolas?" Feaelen asked hopefully. Could this person help them find his brother and Estel? "Please, are you talking about Legolas? My brother."

"Your brother? His name is Legolas, but he never said anything about a brother. He never really talked to us, only Strider."

"Strider?"

"Yes. A man Celva took not to long ago. Though, Legolas called him Es...Estl?"

"Estel," Elladan corrected. His face lit up with happiness. They finally found them. "Please, will you follow us? We will take you to our fathers so you can tell them everything. They will be so happy by the news you bring."

"I will come, but it might be happy news. I know somethings about elves, and some of it, is not pretty." She followed the two elves without a word, taking in the trees, letting the rain fall on her. She finally found help, but will they be in time?

Reviewers:

Earendistar: I like the twins, so I guess I can add them in. Maybe getting caught so they could help, torture them, who knows. Thanks for reading.

lothlorien leaf: I swear, I am re-reading my writing, and I had an english book, something that tells you which words can work in writing, but I can't find it, so I'm relying on my wordmaster to tell me if anything's wrong. I swear I'm trying to catch my mistakes. Thank you for still reading and reviewing.

Alida-Fruit: Well, I can do the torture and everything else. Don't count on the sun coming up any time soon. Sun is evil, it hurts when you're marching in for about two three hours, so no sun just yet.

MoroTheWolfGod: *Takes Mountain Dew with thanks* Everyone loves Mountain Dew.

Something to say. I don't know if the elves knew him by Strider, but in here, they don't know Strider. (Confuse yet?)