Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Authors Note: Thanks to all who reviewed!!!

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Chapter Two

"Legolas..no." Pippin whimpered, covering his eyes with his hands. Merry looked at the Elf, tears forming in his eyes.

"Say goodbye to your friend, hobbits." Ugluk said, the sword moving to impale Legolas.

"Ugluk!" A sudden cry came, stopping the leader in his tracks.

"What is it, Bishir?" Ugluk growled, lowering his sword. Bishir quickly dropped his eyes under the intense glare of his leader.

"Ugluk, Grishnakh stole the ring from the hobbit. He ran off into the woods and we gave chase but when we found him, he was dead. One of these creatures must have taken the ring."

Ugluk scowled. "Search them all. One of them must have it on them." Legolas was thrown to the ground as crude hands searched his body for the ring. When they had satisfied themselves that it was not on him, they searched each of the others in turn. Boromir struggled as they searched him, crying out as they disturbed the arrow still protruding from his side. Aragorn and Gimli, still unconscious, were blissfully unaware of the hands that groped them. Merry and Pippin squirmed and struggled under the grasp of the Orcs, but a search of them proved unfruitful as well.

"The Ring is on none of them, boss." Bishir said fearfully after completing his searches.

Ugluk turned his attentions back to Legolas, swinging his foot around until it connected sharply with the Elf's head. Legolas grunted under the impact, then fell into blissful oblivion. "Take them all. We will let Saruman deal with them." He growled.

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Sam watched the events unfold, despair in his heart, as he stood ground faithfully over his fallen master. He had been sure of Legolas's success in rescuing the others, there was nothing the Elf could not do, in Sam's mind, that to see him fail was too much for Sam to grasp. Holding his breath, he watched as Legolas was forced to his knees, the tip of a sword held at his heart. Sam felt a surge a pride coincide with his despair as Legolas bravely kneeled before the Orc, accepting death like the noble warrior he was. Closing his eyes, Sam waited for the horror to end. A loud rustling to his right caught his attention and he opened his eyes in time to see a breathless Orc rushing through the trees. Sinking lower into the bushes that concealed both him and Frodo, Sam saw the creature rush up to the Orc leader…and halt Legolas's execution! Sam could almost feel the relief enter his body as the frightful sword was lowered from Legolas's chest, the leader turning his evil glare on the other Orc. Though much of the words were lost from the distance, Sam could make out the word 'ring', followed by the search of his friends. The search appeared to be in vain, the Orcs gesturing and arguing loudly, apparently trying to figure out what to do next.

"I think they've lost the Ring, Mister Frodo." Sam whispered to his master, in wonder. He watched the leader Orc swing his foot out, connecting soundly with the Elf's head, Legolas falling to the ground into oblivion. The Orc issued an order loudly in a language Sam could not understand, causing the other Orcs to swing into action. The Fellowship members were gathered up and flung over the shoulders of the largest Orcs, Boromir crying out briefly as the gruesome arrow in his side was once again disturbed. The Orc holding him glanced at the human in irritation before taking hold of the arrow and ripping it from his flesh, earning yet another pained cry from the man before he gave in to the painless realm of unconsciousness.

With everyone gathered up, Sam watched helplessly as the Orc leader issued the command to move out and the army disappeared down the hill and away from the two hobbits. Fighting back tears, he leaned over his friend, wiping his brow with his shirt.

"It will be all right, Mister Frodo." Sam said, as much to assure his friend as to assure himself. "Everything will be all right." Listening to the eerie silence of the now empty forest, Sam couldn't help the powerless feeling that fought to overwhelm him.

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Legolas growled in frustration, spitting dirt from his mouth as he struggled to stand up yet again. The hot sun beat down mercilessly as morning turned to afternoon and Legolas blinked rapidly, a stream of hot sweat running down his forehead and into his eyes. He longed to wipe the burning liquid away, but realized the futility of the desire, looking in disgust as his bound hands. He had awoken to a splitting headache hours before to find that the group had traveled quite a distance from where the battle of that morning had taken place. As soon as he had gained consciousness, the Orc that had been carrying him had dropped him to the ground and was now firmly holding unto the rope that bound his hands, leading him along like a dog.

'And taking delight in yanking me to the ground every ten minutes!' Legolas fumed, glaring at his captor as he picked himself up from the dirt for what seemed the hundreth time. The Orcs surrounding him laughed, their eyes daring him to retaliate. Clenching his jaw, Legolas willed himself to calm down. Attacking the Orc was at present a battle that he could not hope to win and would only result in his meeting the business end of a club or whip…neither of which he felt inclined to encounter. Sighing under his breath, he managed a sarcastic smirk for his captors before turning his attention to his fellow prisoners. The two hobbits, though conscious, were still being carried by the Orcs, so as not to slow the party down with their small strides. Legolas could tell by the looks of disgust on their faces that they were less than pleased with their current situation. Aragorn, Boromir and Gimli were being dragged by their own Orc tormentors, though they were at present being ignored by the surrounding Orcs, who seemed intent on coaxing Legolas into a fight.

Legolas felt yet another tug on his rope to knock him to the ground, yet this time he refused to give his captors satisfaction. Planting his feet, he tugged the rope back his way, putting his full weight behind the maneuver, and the Orc fell to the ground with a loud, bewildered grunt. Legolas allowed himself a triumphant smile as the bordering Orcs reacted swiftly, grabbing his arms and holding him tightly in place as the fuming Orc lifted himself off the ground, hate burning in his eyes.

"You will regret doing that, Elf." The Orc growled, his hand reaching down to grab a whip hanging at his side while the other Orcs quickly surrounded the pair, excitement evident on their faces. Legolas briefly allowed his eyes to wander over the whip, noting the jagged spikes that adorned the three leather prongs, before returning his gaze to the enraged creature before him. Forcing his face to remain impassive, he willed himself to stand up straighter, an act that only seemed to anger the Orc more.

"You will scream before I am done with you." It snarled, uncoiling the whip and letting it drag across the ground. Closing his eyes, Legolas focused on keeping his breathing even as he waited for the painful kiss of the switch on his skin.

"Trion!" The harsh voice was dripping with authority, causing Legolas to open his eyes to see who had spoken. Pushing his way through the crowd of Orcs was Ugluk and he was not looking happy. Trion allowed his arm to lower, earning a small sigh of relief from the trapped elf, as he turned to face his chief.

"What are you doing?" Ugluk demanded, his eyes taking in the whip and the immobile elf.

"I was just teaching this elf a lesson, boss." Trion stammered, looking uncomfortable under the intense stare of his leader.

"We do not have time for that now Trion." Ugluk snapped. "Put your whip away."

"But he…" Trion began to argue, before Ugluk stayed him with a glare.

"You can play with him later. Right now we must move quickly." The debate over, Ugluk stormed back to the front of the pack, leaving an enraged Trion in his wake. Re-coiling his whip, Trion shoved the handle up under Legolas's chin, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"This isn't over." He promised, spitting on the elf's face. "We will play later and it will be much worse for you when we do." Taking hold of the rope once again, he dragged Legolas after him as the group returned to its column and began to move.

Legolas kept his face impassive, ignoring the sneers and glares the other Orcs threw his way as he walked behind Trion. He saw Aragorn and the others looking at him with concern and smiled briefly to let them know that he was all right. Trion saw the smile out of the corner of his eye and tugged hard on the rope, causing the elf to tumble to the ground yet again. Rolling his eyes, Legolas quickly got to his feet and trudged along, while the blistering sun continued to burn high in the sky.

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Well??? What did you think? I know it's a short chapter, but it was the best place to stop. I will post another chapter tomorrow. Please be good little readers and leave me a review.