It's me (again). Sorry, I thought that the next chapter would be up yesterday, but my computer is being wacky, and the file wouldn't upload. Wow, that last chapter was short, but I still got lots of feedback. Thanks! Hopefully, it will snow again tonight and we won't have school tomorrow, so I can start working on chapter 13. If some of you think I am crazy, I just feel really bad for missing so many updates. I died last night because I was up till one a.m. babysitting (but I got better!). I think I know now where I am going with all of this (of course, I will not tell you. Mwahaha!) But I still need your help. So, drop me a review (I read all of them), and tell me what you want to see happen. In the meantime, here's chapter eleven.

Disclaimer: All this stuff belongs to Tolkien. This makes me feel insignificant. Maybe some day when I become a writer, I can be a genius like him. But I doubt it.

Rebellion

"Now, can you tell me what has become of my daughter?" Gandalf had never seen Elrond's avert his eyes before. For most it was a gesture of weakness. For the elf, however, it was a sign of the deepest sadness. An inaudible sigh passed around the room, touching each individually and bringing a sense of foreboding to all. No one spoke, as there was nothing to say. They all knew what the others were thinking, but they simply could not put it into words. Pippin, Bilbo, and Gandalf sat in silence, all three silent and brooding. Aragorn could not talk of Arwen; her passing had been too recent. Finally, a small voice spoke out.

"Arwen is dead. She was killed by the Dark Lord, we all felt it. I am sorry, my Lord." Pippin could think of nothing else to say, so he just stared at the wall. Silent tears flowed from Elrond's eyes, eyes that had recently taken on a mortal look of old age.

"I had feared this. I too felt her death, though not as strong. I was not sure what it was that I felt, but now you have come to bear the news of my child's dying." He looked up slowly, and though his hands shook, his voice was steady. "All power, other than that of the elves, is hard pressed to enter into Rivendel. This is why I could not be sure of what had happened to any of you. You saw evidence of the battle of the very forest when you entered here." Sudden recognition dawned on Pippin's face. The trees, the trees had been growing into the wasteland, and then dying back. A fight between the power that has seeped into the earth from the elven magic and the dark forces. Elrond nodded, as though he had read the hobbit's thoughts. "Yes, even the forest now fights the murderous tide of Sauron's forces." A sudden chill seemed to fill the room as the name was mentioned, and Aragorn drew his cloak tightly around him. "Our numbers are dwindling, every day the forest forces the power out of us, the power that is the only thing which keeps Rivendel hidden from the eye."

"Making it a base for our attack superior to all other locations." Gandalf spoke with confidence, but Elrond looked at him as though he were mad.

"And risk death to all of the races of Middle Earth? We cannot fight a rebellion, not against his forces. We have planned to wait until we can make a swift escape to the harbor, where the boats of our ancestors may bear away what is left of the elves. My friends, I invite you to journey with us to the Grey Havens. There is no hope for you here; he has the ring. I have long wondered what he has been waiting for, what will be the signal for taking all of Middle Earth into his grasp. A few strongholds still stand fast, but not for long. I ask, no, I be that you give up such a suicidal attempt." Elrond sank back into his chair, waiting for a reply. Once again, it was Pippin who found his voice.

"We cannot leave, not while our friends are still slaves to him. We cannot abandon all hope, not while we still have a chance. Sauron" his voice trembled as he spoke the name, but he ploughed on. "Sauron will not dare move ahead until all who are bound to the ring are dead. There must be more of us in the capital, he dare not kill all of them. Don't you see? He is trying to lure us to them, to him, or have them betray us and tell him where we are. But if we go away to the Undying Lands, we will be as good as dead to the others. He could conquer the whole world in one night. I do not know about the rest of you, but I refuse to leave Legolas, Gimli, Faramir, and" he faltered "Merry alone. We must help them." The words settled on the others like cold rain, while Pippin stood, not sure of what to do after such a speech. He sat down, sinking back into being the shy and unnoticed hobbit that he was used to being.

"Peregrin is right. We cannot abandon the others. Elrond, we must try and retrieve the ring."

"Are you mad?! We cannot accomplish such a thing. They are lost to us, al that is left is to save ourselves." He swept from the chamber angrily, leaving the travelers to themselves. Aragorn resolved to see Eowyn, who was being cared for by a healer. Slowly, they left one by one, accompanied by an elf who showed them to their rooms. Not another word was said.

**********

After only one day after being released from the dungeons, Faramir had located his allies. He had previously me only Sam when he had captured him and the ring-bearer so long ago, but he could tell that the group he sat with were the conspirators as soon as he had walked into supper that evening. There were many sitting with them, and though they tried to look normal to the Orc captains who watched over the slaves at mealtime, they had the look about them of a secret in the way they glanced around every few seconds and jumped every time someone neared their table. He had immediately walked towards the group, careful to look casual and as normal as possible, but inside he was hoping against hope that they were part of the legendary Fellowship.

During his days in the dungeons, Faramir had regained much of his memory of The Time Before. Eowyn, who had lost nothing from the star, had helped him by speaking about the different races and lands of Middle Earth, almost re-teaching him all that he had known since the time he had been a young child. But when she had spoken of the quest to destroy the ring, something inside his head had stirred, and with a rush, all had come back to him. So now he sought the only people he knew could help him.

As he approached the table, Sam looked up from his bowl and almost knocked it over in surprise. I didn't think he would recognize me. The hobbit motioned for Faramir to come sit next to him, and he had not been there for more than a second when he was bombarded with questions

"Where have you been all this time? We could have used the help of a man when it came to recruiting people; no one believes us three." Faramir answered eagerly, having not spoken to another since Arwen had been killed.

"The Dark Lord has been questioning me as to the whereabouts of the rest of the Fellowship. That is why he killed Arwen, to try and make me talk." There was a few moments of silence." But of course, I know nothing of where they were, or are." He looked to Sam for an explanation, but he was almost as surprised as Faramir. Almost.

"Perhaps," he said slowly, weighing his words carefully, "the Dark Lord knows of our ability to communicate." This earned him a blank look from the man, so he tried to show him how he could mind-speak to him. With a start, Faramir realized that Sam's voice was sounding inside his head. "He knows of this, yet he doesn't know. Some things he underestimates, others, he thinks he knows about." Faramir continued to look utterly confused. Sam tried again. "He knows we are connected by our allegiance to each other and our wish to see the ring destroyed. But he does not know that we can communicate like this. He thinks we know the location of the others at all times, and yet we don't. Not enough information, too much guessing on his part."

"So, he has been trying to use me as a way to find them. He does not know that you three are here, or that you are even connected to this at all. And he killed Arwen as a way to have them feel her death and come rushing to our aid in case he tried to kill us."

"But he won't. He cannot afford to lose any more of our alliance, even if he did discover me and Legolas and Gimli. Right now, we are trying to keep a low profile until we can gather enough of the slaves together to start a revolt and maybe buy us some time." Faramir nodded. It all was starting to make sense. He offered his help in their cause, and talked a while with Gimli, who had overheard and shifted his attention from the whispers of the conspirators to the mind conversation. After a few minutes, Faramir asked where he could find Legolas. From Gimli's talk, the elf seemed to be the unofficial leader of the group. But as he asked the question, a look was exchanged between Sam and the dwarf.

"He has been sitting with that girl lately, that table, over there." He pointed a finger at what was unmistakably an elf and a woman sitting apart from the rest of the slaves. From the tone of Gimli's voice, Faramir gathered much.

"So you don't like her then?" She looked quite harmless, laughing quietly at something the elf had said. But he had to admit, there was something different about her.

"Don't trust her is more like. I've never seen an elf act like a complete fool, and there he is bumbling and blushing over a plain country girl. Something isn't right." The bell signaling the end of supper rang, and the slaves reluctantly picked up their dishes and headed for the door. Faramir, looking forward to anything except the cold, stone floor of the dungeon to sleep on, eagerly headed for his assigned shelter. He resolved to seek out Legolas in the morning.

**********

Eowyn lay sleeping peacefully, and as Aragorn entered her room, he was struck by how young she looked. So innocent. I have been using her, he thought sadly. Trying to replace what was lost. He knew, deep in his heart, that he could never love again, that hewould die a lonely man. But still, he had convinced himself that he had loved her, maybe only because she had loved him. Once. He realized he did not even know how she felt now, after that day that he had told her he could not return her love. I can no longer do this to her. Sighing, he pulled the blankets up to her chin and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her eyelids fluttered open, and they looked at each other for a long moment. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It was nothing but a dream." Those same words he had uttered to Arwen so long ago. Arwen, now lost to shadow. But to his surprise, Eowyn answered him.

"It was good while it lasted." She closed her eyes. "Everything must pass." And she sank once again into sleep as the wind whispered through the trees of the forest.