~*~

Legolas was awoke the next morning to find his clothing outside of his cell door, and the door wide open. Anadon stood next to it, and instructed him to dress, which he gladly did. The man then told Legolas to follow him.

Anadon led Legolas to the outdoors, and turned away and left. Legolas was more confused than he had been at any other part of his ordeal, but he did what his heart dictated: he ran for home. His Elvish feet carried him at a run over fields and mountains and through woods for many days without stopping until he reached his home. Those who saw him on his path wondered at the speed of the Prince. He never told anyone of the events that had passed, and from those events he learned one thing: not to trust thoughts of love. The Elf, who was always fawned over by some maid, Elvish or human, never paid heed to a woman's affections again.

Cadewyn, however, reacted much differently to the news that Legolas was gone than her father had expected. She came to him in a fury.

"Father, you should not have let him go!"

He was not taken aback at all. "Well, I know that you would have preferred more torture, but this shall serve to torture his mind even more!"

Anadon stood next to her, reinforcing her father's words. "Yes, Cadewyn, he will feel so much pain. You can torture me a bit if you'd like, tonight..." She grimaced at his coarseness.

"No," she replied, her usually stony face softening, "I don't want to torture anyone. I wanted to apologize to him." Now she cried. "I did not want to hurt him so. I can act no more, father. I do not love seeing others in pain, I do not love evil, I do not love you, Anadon...this has all been a show to make you happy, father. Know that I do not love Legolas, either; but I had no reason to hate him."

"The Dark Lord does not take well to being lied to."

She said softly, "I know," and with those words she drew a blade and sliced her pale wrists. Anadon gasped, surprised at her actions, but suddenly he was paralyzed and could not move towards her. Sauron's will controlled him. Anadon's eyes watched along helplessly with Sauron's one as Cadewyn then drove the dagger deep within her heart. From Mirkwood Legolas felt a sharp pain and knew that Cadewyn was dead, but declined to show that he was hurting at all, for if he let his sorrows show, then the whole tale would unfold, and it would be the end of respect for the Prince of Mirkwood.

Anadon screamed. "You evil...you have just let your daughter die! I hope that the Valar smile upon the good, and allow you to be defeated; for you are worth nothing!" the man said in anguish, for he, though he was no angel, truly loved Cadewyn.

Sauron laughed in his deep and hurtful tone. "You are a stupid man. How could I have a child if I have no body? She was not mine. She thought that she was, that somehow I had spiritually impregnated a woman, but she was wrong in that. Cadewyn had no blood ties to me, I had her stolen her from a woman in Gondor when she was a babe, and had a slave woman of mine raise her. So your love was a lie, you knew not her real origin, and she is now dead, never knowing that she was not really mine. She could never have had to act for me, but that is the life that I made her. I have that power, to twist lives, mutilate them, put them to my own purposes. For I have caused both you and Legolas pain through my little vessel."

Anadon's eyes blazed with rage as he cried. As a man, he was a vile one, but he was still capable of emotion. Unfortunately, this would not save him. For at the next moment two Orcs burst into the room, grabbed Anadon, and dragged him to the water room. He was left inside as the room filled, completely this time, and none came to help the man as he drowned. The room was drained, and the body was taken out and thrown into the fires with Cadewyn's.