Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that belong to the great J.R.R Tolkien.

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We walk the narrow path,

Beneath the smoking skies.

Do we have faith,

In what we believe?

The truest test,

Is when we cannot see.

Sometimes we can barely tell the difference,

Between darkness and light.

Chapter 16: Between darkness and light.

A part of Morion's castle was cut right out of the mountain, which they were now standing in front of.

Every fiber of Aerin's being told her this is it, this is her destiny.

"There is not a single guard in sight," Alderon told the others.

"He is expecting us," Aerin replied.

They dismounted their horses. Aerin walked in front of the others to the entrance of the castle, an icy cold wind swept past her face and an eerie feeling took hold of her.

They walked through what looked like a big hallway, it was quite dark and the only light seemed to be coming from big torches that hung on the rock walls. The foul stench of evil filled the air and the tension within the group was building up rapidly.

Suddenly, without any explanation Aerin stopped.

"Mani naa taa?, what is it," Haldir asked.

"Which way now?" she asked him, her voice merely a whisper.

Haldir saw the problem, one way seemed to lead further into the mountain and the other was leading up the mountain.

"If I might make a suggestion?" Ronyo stepped forward, this was the moment he'd been waiting for.

"We could split up into two groups, that way we can cover more ground," he looked a bit nervous at his companions.

"Yes, I think that is a good idea," Alderon agreed instantly.

"I do not know. Are we not stronger as a group?" Aerin protested, she didn't trust Ronyo.

The others seemed to be agreeing with Aerin and it was making Ronyo even more nervous, he unconciously started to wrung his hands.

"Yes, but by splitting up we will have a better chance finding Aranwe before it is to late," Ronyo contradicted her, cursing the day that stupid she-elf was born and was determined not to let her ruin his plan.

"Yes, I guess you are right, we should split up," Haldir agreed.

"But-but..," she stammered, not believing her ears

"It is the only way, mellonamin," Haldir said, seeing the distress on her face.

"I do not trust him, we should not put our faith in his hands," she spoke softly, hoping Ronyo couldn't overhear their conversation.

"I feel the same. But he is right, it is our only option," Haldir replied even softer.

So it was done. The fellowship was split up into two groups;

Ravion, Ronyo and Alderon (with some protest, for he wanted to stay with Aerin) would follow the stone stairs up the mountain.

Haldir, Legolas and Aerin would go the other way further into the mountain.

They wished each other good luck and went on their way.

Haldir, Legolas and Aerin went deeper and deeper into the mountain. It seemed like they were walking for hours at an end, after some twists and turns, they ended up in a big round room. It looked more like a big underground cavern.

At the other end of the room stood a large, stone throne, decorated with what looked like skulls.

Aerin held in her breath, because next to the throne hung an iron cage and in it Aranwe.

"Aranwe!" Aerin cried and wanted to run to the cage.

Aranwe looked at her with glassy eyes.

"No Aerin!" Legolas caught her arm.

She gave him an icy stare and then she saw why he had stopped her.

A dark figure walked from behind the cage.

Aerin could see the fear on Aranwe's face, she felt the anger rising inside of her.

"I see you have already met," Morion smirked and took place on his throne.

Aerin had drawn her sword in an instant. "Let her go or I swear I will kill you."

"There will be no need for that. I will gladly let her go, after you have joined me," he told them.

"Join you? Why in the Valar's name would I, join such a horrible, despicable Drow like you?" she spat out.

Morion carelessly flung his legs over the armrest of his throne. His eyes seemed to flicker in the light of the torch and an evil grin rested on his face.

"You sure know how to flatter me, my dear, did your mother not warn you never to flirt with danger?" he taunted her.

"O, I forgot, I killed your mother," he continued, laughing.

"Amin deloth lle, I hate you," Aerin said through clenched teeth, she could feel tears prickling behind her eyes.

"Come, come, no more sweet talk, let us just come to the point," Morion said calmly.

"What do you want from her?" Legolas' question echoed through the room.

Morion turned his attention towards Legolas for the first time.

"The lover has a tongue? Yes, what do I want with her?" Morion seemed to reflect upon his words.

He shifted his attention to Aerin again, examining her from behind his long, greasy, black hair.

"What I want is to rule over the entire elven realm, what I want is to posses all the power of the Galadhrim and I want you, my precious, to help me become the most powerful elf in all Middle- Earth," Morion locked her eyes with his.

He rose up from his throne and walked closer to her, never losing eye- contact.

"Join me, combine your powers with mine and we will be the most powerful force that has ever existed in the entire history of Ambarenya, think of the possibilities," he tried to persuade her.

"I ask for so little, just let me rule you, become my dark queen and you can have everything that you want," Morion stretched out his hand.

Is this my destiny, becomming his dark queen? Aerin asked herself.

No, this isn't right. I can't or can I? Why, Why me? She felt desperate.

What would become of my loved ones and kindred if I would refuse his offer? If I would join his side, maybe, just maybe I can save my people.

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave," Morion sensed her doubt and a sly smile crept on his face.

"Do not listen to him, Aerin," Haldir whispered.

Aerin placed her sword back into the scabbard, without breaking eye- contact with Morion.

"You are highly overrating my gift, I have the ability to heal not to kill or destroy, my gift is useless to you."

Morion shook his head.

"You posses the most powerful magic of all the Galadhrim descendents, my little ignorant one, with your help I can raise an army of undead warriors, unstoppable and invincible,"

Aerin looked appalled, she felt nauseous and suppressed the urge to throw up.

"I refuse to join you, I refuse to watch everything I love and cherish be destroyed by you, I would rather die than take part in your insanity."

For a short moment Morion seemed to have been startled by her words, he had not anticipated this reaction from her, a malicious smile appeared on his evil face and his black eyes sparkled dangerously.

"I have been generous up until now."

Aerin raised her eyebrow at his use of the word 'generous'.

"Generous? What have you done that was generous?" she asked mocking.

"Just look at what I have offered you. I could have given you everything. Unlimited power, riches beyond your wildest imagination, my love and adoration. Is that not generous?" he replied, indignant.

"Love? Adoration? I think you are incapable of such feelings. I could never love you. I loathe and despise you," Aerin taunted him.

"Fine, I see that I have to persuade you in some other manner. It is your choice," Morion sneered.

He snapped his fingers.

An orc appeared in the room, opened the cage in which Aranwe was held and dragged her out by her hair, Aranwe screamed, but was too weak to protest any further.

As if that wasn't enough, to Aerin's astonishment, Ronyo entered the room through the same door as the orc had done. She quickly glanced at Haldir and Legolas, who seemed to be just as astonished as she was.

Ronyo smiled wickedly when he caught sight of them, then he kneeled in front of Morion.

"My Lord."

"Have you done as I have instructed you?" Morion asked him.

Ronyo nodded.

"Good, Good, so you have managed to do something right for once, you never stop to amaze me," he mocked and sniggered at his own joke.

"Thank you, my lord," Ronyo replied, humbly.

"Where are my brother and lord Ravion?" Legolas asked, angrily, his eyes flaming.

"They were a nuisance, I disposed of them accordingly," Ronyo said grinning.

"Utinu en lokirim! Son of snakes," Legolas burst out in anger.

"You see my dear what happens when you try to cross me? Now do you want your other friends to end up the same way," again Morion snapped his fingers.

The orc dragged Aranwe somewhat closer, holding a big knife to her throat.

"Shall we begin with her?" Morion asked her.

Tears welled up in Aerin's eyes, when she saw the horrible state her friend was in.

"I will do your bidding," Aerin lowered her eyes, ashamed to look at the others.

"What did you say, I did not hear you?" Morion asked, enjoying every minute of her humiliation.

"I will do your bidding. But you have to promise to let my friends go," she looked him straight in the eye.

Morion smiled and stretched out his hand. "I promise, cross my heart,"

Aerin felt a bit relieved and with some hesitation, placed her hand in his.

The very second she did so; Morion took her by the wrist firmly.

"Take them!" he commanded.

As soon as he said this, a dozen orcs attacked Haldir and Legolas. They fought bravely, but orcs kept coming, there were just too many and soon enough both Legolas and Haldir were disarmed.

"You promised!" Aerin shouted.

"I should have told you, I never keep a promise," he smirked.

"Come my dear, we have much to do and such little time to do it," he told her.

"No, No!" Aerin cried.

"You want to stay and see my minions finish off your friends, that is fine by me," he told her dryly.

Then he turned to the orcs. "They are insignificant, finish them!"

Aerin struggled to break free from his grasp, but his grip on her wrist was too tight.

"Any last words?" he mocked and grinned savagely.

All seemed lost and in vain then, suddenly Aerin remembered something that lady Galadriel had said to her back at Mirkwood, it didn't make sense then, but now the meaning of those words became crystal clear to her.

'For with you is the fountain of life: In darkness you shall see the light,

For those who dwell in love, dwell in light, When light fills the darkness our foe meets defeated.'

The flame of hope burned inside of her, stronger than ever before, Aerin quickly took hold of Morion's wrist with her free hand.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked in surprise.

"You are right, my gift is meant to destroy," she told him, firmly.

"So you have come to your senses?" he asked hopefully, raising an eyebrow.

Aerin ignored him. "I will not let you destroy everyone I love," she continued, holding on tightly to his wrist.

Morion looked at her as if she spoke some sort of strange language he didn't understand, then he started to feel a strange burning sensation on the skin of his wrist, the one she was holding, the burn spread rapidly throughout his arm.

Morion stared at his wrist in disbelief, as he saw that this burning feeling came from a strange glow that seemed to radiate from Aerin's hand.

"What do you think you are doing, she- elf?" he hissed.

"For with me is the fountain of life," she spoke as if in a trance.

The glow turned into a brilliant, bright light illuminating her whole body within seconds.

Morion started to panic and tried to free himself frantically from her grasp. But it almost seemed like his wrist was glued to her hand.

"Let go of me, wench!" he yelled.

"I am the giver of life and the holder of death," she continued, undisturbed by Morion's screams.

Morion could feel his entire body burning from the inside, the pain was almost unbearable.

The orcs, whom had been watching the whole time, dropped their weapons and ran, fearing for their own lives.

Now both Aerin and Morion were covered in bright, white light.

Legolas and Haldir, whom were now freed of the orcs, covered their eyes. They could hear Morion's screams, out of pain or fear or maybe both, they did not know.

Suddenly the light vanished.

Haldir saw Aerin crumble to her knees, her hand still clenched to Morion's burned wrist, his body was almost unrecognizable from the burns, it was almost too hideous to look at.

He heard Aerin whimpering and approached her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

She turned her head and looked up at him, her vision blurred by the constant stream of tears.

"Light will prevail over darkness," she muttered, then collapsed to the ground.

Aranwe came from behind the throne, were she had been hiding. "Alderon and Ravion are alive, I heard the elf, Ronyo, telling one of the orcs,"

Aranwe tried to take a step forward, but was still a bit unsteady, Legolas caught her just before she would fall, she gave him a grateful smile in return.

"Find my brother and Ravion. I will stay here and watch over them," Legolas told Haldir, looking at Aranwe and Aerin.

Haldir nodded and left the room.

After what seemed like an eternity, Haldir finally returned with Alderon and Ravion right by his side.

"They were locked up in one of the towers," Haldir explained.

"Ronyo thought starvation would be a proper death for us," Ravion added.

Haldir noticed that Aerin was conscious again, she tried to stand up, but was still too weak to do so, he gently picked her up and carried her out of the castle.

"It is over now, all will be well," he comforted her, while placing her on his horse.

Aerin felt exhausted and rested her head against Haldir's chest, immediately after she did so, she fell into a deep slumber.

The road home took less time then they had expected, soon enough they'd reached the familiar surroundings of Mirkwood forest.

Elven warriors, whom guarded the borders, welcomed them and guided them home.

Aerin felt relieved, her destiny was fulfilled or wasn't it?

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Disclaimer: I am sorry that I haven't updated my story for a while. I am very busy planning my wedding!

Anyway, the song lyric at the beginning of this chapter iis taken from 'It can't rain all the time' by Jane Sibbery from the movie 'The Crow'. I just love that movie! I also borrowed some dialogue from 'The Labyrinth' and some Bible phrases.

I am not sure if I will update the next chapter in time, because I am going on holiday to Egypt and won't be back until the end of November.

Until the next chapter!

Breanna: Thank you so much for your support! I've send Katie a nice little e-mail **has evil grin on face**.

Legolas19: Thank you for your review! Hope you like this chapter!

Mickeywizard: You're still making me blush, but I am sorry to disappoint you, because I am still going to let you hang on a bit longer! What do you say about this chapter?

Rae37: Hope you are still reading my chapters!

Emily: When this story is finished, I am going to make it into a book, just for the fun of it and because I am proud of my story.

Katie: Thank you for reading the first chapter of my story and for giving me your version of constructive criticism. And to tell you the truth, your stories don't appeal to me either.

Idril Miriel: Congratulations you are my 60th reviewer and thank you so much for you review!!! Keep reading!

Special thanks to Aramis for helping me with my story!