To the Reviewers:

Karine - You are so nice to us. We only write to please our readers. Ok, maybe not. But if you enjoy it also, that is great. Keep reading!

leggylover03 - *Looks at Cube* Another one who has said evil. Hmmmmmm, I'll give you another if you quit saying evil. Deal? LOL

Sparx - Yep, sure hate to be you right now. LOL Get back soon and let us know what you think.

Cathy - *Looks at Cube* *Looks at Cathy* *Looks back at Cube* She called us nasty. Maybe we shouldn't give her any more. *Evil glare* LOL

Chapter 16

Selinde entered the tent and started to prepare Noor's meal. She was thinking of her friends however and not Noor. That was a mistake she wouldn't forget again. He crept up behind her and put a knife to her throat. Pressing just enough to form a thin line of blood from left to right.

"Next time you don't respond on my first call," he threatened. "It will be much worse then this. I have many extreme ways to humiliate you in front of your friends."

"Yes my master, I will not let it happen again." She didn't move, less the knife cut deeper into her skin.

"Fine then. Let's eat." Selinde brought the meal to the table and stood in her appointed spot. She knew he was in a foul mood and that the evening would soon get more violent.

Noor finished his meal and Selinde cleaned up. She then waited for her orders. When they were given, her humiliation was complete, for her friends would soon know what took place in the tent.

The others had settled in as best they could for another night. They were soon glad that Kao had yet to awake, for the sounds coming from the tent could not be mistaken. And all of the captured males would have given their lives to rescue Selinde from that situation.

Selinde however had learned many years ago how to separate herself from her body. And was shocked when she realized that he no longer held control over her. She no longer cared what happened to her, as long as Kao was safe. That was all that mattered. So she let him take her body, all the while thinking of how she would kill him.

It was early in the morning when the guards began to break down the camp, leaving behind no trace that anyone had camped there in a long time. Aragorn was the only one awake, leaning against one of the old pines, listening to Kaolith sleep, and staring at the tent in their midst. He saw what the guards were doing and grimly noted that even he couldn't tell that they had stayed there. He turned his attention to his charge, watching as she shifted unconsciously, trying to alleviate some of the pain that plagued her. He gently eased her onto her side once more, and stopped as his hand caught on a chain around her neck.

Smiling, he remembered the day she had shown it to him for the first time, and thinking of the small charm that he had fashioned and added to it. It had been a gift from her mother, and, she told him, if you took the charm off, it would always point north when resting in water. Kaolith had told him that it was so she would never get lost, but that it would never lead her home. He hadn't fully understood that, even then, but he did now. Sometime after she told him, he added his charm, telling her that it would always lead her to a safe place. Seeing that the guards were almost done, he made a quick decision that he hoped he wouldn't regret later. He slipped the chain off and hid it in the grasses, just visible enough for an Elf to see.

"Oh please Ada, find that if nothing else," was all he could mutter before Noor emerged from his haven. Stomping over to the prisoners, he kicked Kaolith, and then asked if she had awoken yet.

"No, she hasn't, and you kicking her like that isn't going to help."

"Mind your tongue, you filthy Ranger, I still have plans for you." He reached to pick up the child, intent on giving her to Fynn for the ride, when he met opposition.

"Leave her to me, I will carry her. You will not touch her again." This woke his brothers and Tanad, and they quickly moved to protect the young Ranger as well. The glares of three Elves, each intent on murdering him painfully, silenced his rebuke.

"Fine then, I care not, she is no good to me anyway. Your friend, on the other hand…" he laughed as the youngest leapt forward, only to be held back by the twins. "I told you before, she is my property, was mine before you were even born. Keep your hands off, and do not concern yourself over her anymore. She is not yours."

"She never was. She is my friend, and she is free. I do not claim ownership over her, I claim her friendship, and they her love. She will never be yours again." They were all surprised at the authority in Tanad's voice, none more so than the she-Elf that was being discussed.

She came up behind the Man, and grabbed his fist before it could connect with the boy's temple. "Noor, come back to the tent." She looked at her friends, begging them to see the act she was putting on, and making an attempt to reach his knife. He turned too quickly though, and she had to pull him close to mask her pickpocket attempt.

"Fine, and your little friend will be riding in the carts today. I do hope that doesn't hurt her back too much." He sneered and ambled back to the tent, pulling Selinde with him. He called out to his men, "be ready to leave in twenty minutes."

The days wore on and Kao had yet to awaken. Her friends were getting worried. Strider knew that if Elrond were only there, things would probably be better.

So it was after weeks of traveling, they approached the River Carnen. Strider knew they needed to cross it before it met with the Celduin. But once they were across, they would be in the territory of evil. He never understood why the Bethunian Elves had stayed when the evil moved in. But it had been their home.

It was getting late, but Noor decided to cross before morning. It looked as if a storm was brewing, and he didn't want to be caught on this side should the river rise. So cross they did, and he ordered the guards to set the camp up. They would be staying here for a few days.

After camp was set, Selinde was given her half hour with her friends. She was having a harder and harder time looking into the eyes of her friends, knowing they knew what happened every night in the tent.

"Has she gotten any better?" She asked Strider as she went to her friends.

"She is resting much better," he answered his troubled friend. "I just wish she would wake up."

"As do I." Selinde replied. She paused for just a moment before she tuned to the males. "Why have you not left yet? I know it won't be easy, but you must get her out of here. And Strider, you must go also. He plans to kill you."

"We will not leave without you," Elrohir hissed back. "That is final, don't ask us to do it again."

"Damn you all then." Selinde was getting angrier every minute. "I can take care of myself. I've spent enough time in his company, and that of his family to know what to do."

"Selinde, we won't go."

"Do any of you know the pain of being someone's slave?" She looked at all the faces and saw the pain she was looking for in only one. "Legolas, you must convince them to go. You know what I am saying."

Legolas looked at the she-Elf and nodded. "Yes, I know what you are saying. But they cannot be convinced. For I have tried."

The conversation was cut short, when Kao called out.

"Kao, Kao, it's all right. Wake up sweetie, come on, you can do it little one." Selinde was the first to reach the Ranger, and hoped that if she could get her to wake up, then her friends would finally listen and get her out of there, before Fynn got too bored. "That's a girl, come on, open those eyes. Little one, I know it hurts, but you've got to wake up now." Just as Kaolith finally made her way back to the land of the living, the sky opened up, and drenched them all.

"Oh sure, wake me up just so I can get wet. I hate water." She looked up wryly at her friends as they eased her up. "What's going on?"

Aragorn and Elladan sat on either side of her, giving her something to lean on so as not to sap her little strength, and at the same time not putting pressure on her back. "Selinde here is trying to convince us to escape with you and leave her. We're trying to tell her that there is no way it is going to happen."

"Oh great, Strider, go and tell her that why don't you." She looked at Kaolith, suddenly seeing anger. "Kao, what's wrong?"

"You didn't honestly think that we would leave you with…with…with him, did you? Would you leave me if we were in switched positions? No, Selinde, you would do whatever you could to escape, but only with all of us. It's not going to happen, you go, we go, remember? The same goes for staying. We won't abandon you, and that's final."

Elrohir looked at Legolas, "and you wanted to tell her that we had left Selinde behind?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. She probably would have up and marched right back into camp. Stubborn humans." He too grimaced when Kaolith's wrath was turned to him.

"Like you would have left if it had been Strider stuck here?" The look in her face proved that Legolas was not supposed to answer, and he stuck his tongue out, knowing that she had won.

"So Selinde, are you all right?"

"I am well, mellon nin, just annoyed. I am trying to look out for you, and you seek to thwart me at every turn. I cannot protect you if you insist on countering everything I do. Wait, and hear me out as I did you. I know what he is like, and what he is capable of, you do not. He plans on killing Strider, and selling you once we reach home. I can't stand by and watch that happen…" she trailed off as they all heard Noor call. "I will continue this tomorrow, I must go." She stood up.

"So you've just given in, and submitted yourself to his every beck and call? I thought you were stronger than that." She did not mean for her words to cut through the Elf's heart like they did, and soon found herself pulled up so that only her calves were resting on the ground. Selinde had caught her tunic at the collar, and it was pulling painfully at her back, ripping stitches and opening scar tissue.

"Do not seek to condemn what you do not know, Kaolith. Don't berate me for things that you could not understand." The vehemence in her voice proved to the Ranger that Selinde blamed her for their predicament, and all she could do was nod. Dropped onto her back, she held back a cry as the she-Elf ran back to her master. Tears were falling from the eyes of both, and neither really understood what had happened.

"Kao? Are you all right?" Elladan gently turned her onto her stomach, and grimaced as the blood had already started to seep through the bandages.

Resting her head on her folded arms, Kaolith didn't answer, the only thought running through her head being "what did I do wrong?"

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

Selinde returned to Noor and went through the routine that she had fallen back into. Though unlike what her friends seemed to think, she had not accepted this, and was working on a way out. If only the others would cooperate. It was as she was cleaning, and not really paying attention to what she was doing, that caused the trouble that night. Noor had a favorite glass that he always drank from. He almost considered it lucky. It was just Selinde's luck that she would break it.

For she had tripped over her own feet and as soon as it had slipped from her hands, she froze. She watched as if in slow motion how it spun and then shattered as it hit the ground. Noor was on his feet in seconds.

"Damn clumsy Elf," he snarled as he backhanded her. She landed right in the middle of the broken glass and gasped as many pieces imbedded themselves into her skin. He reached down, grabbed the hurting Elf and threw her across the tent. Noor was not one to do without his comforts and she landed against the footboard of the bed.

Noor spent the next two hours venting his frustrations out on the she-Elf. He had received word that an Elven Army was looking for them. And he refused to move on until the rain stopped. The only blessing of this was that the river would be too high to cross for quite sometime. All of this compiled with the fact that he knew she was planning something against him.

He continued to beat her until she stopped begging for him to stop. He then again raped the helpless form and threw her naked from the tent into the rain.

Kao had been about to fall asleep again when they all heard him yell. Her friends felt each blow they could hear. They paled at every plea from her mouth. The guards soon surrounded them two deep. They did not want any interference. They only parted, when the Elf was thrown from the tent.