A/N: Reviews inspire me, so here's another chapter!!!

"Legolas?"

"Yes?"

"Are we lost?"

"Of course not."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're too ashamed to admit that we're lost."

"Elves do not get lost!"

"Sure they don't.........." Disbelief.

"You don't believe me?"

"Oh, of course I do!" Sarcastically.

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?!"

"I would never!" Fake astonishment.

"I should throw you in the lake!"

"There's a lake?" Surprise.

"I could find one!"

"Mmm Hmm." Raising of the eyebrows.

"You are being sarcastic again!"

"..........."

Erin and Legolas stopped at the foot of a tree, pulling their lunch out of their bags. They sat down and began to eat what they had packed, looking around at the woods surrounding them.

"It's nice to get away from your father," Erin said, sighing.

"I know how you feel, but just imagine this, I've had to put up with him for over two thousand years!" Legolas cried, smiling.

"Every time he sees me he gives me this horrible look," Erin mock shuddered and chuckled. She took another bite of her food, thinking. There was a moment of silence before she finally spoke.

"Hey, Legolas?"

"Yes?"

"What did that messenger want with your father?"

Legolas looked thoughtful for a moment, as though deciding whether or not he should tell her. "There have been attacks amongst many villages. Men have called for our aid. It seems that the attacks are almost random, as though someone is searching for something."

Erin's brow furrowed. "Efalu," she muttered. Legolas looked up at her sharply.

"Efalu? What is that?"

"I encountered a woman on my way here. She- she's the one who killed Shinta's mother. She was asking her about something called Efalu."

Legolas seemed to consider this for a moment. "Worry not, for today we will not think of such things. Today we must merely have fun."

Erin smiled at him. As she took another bite of her food a song began in her head.

"Hope is your survival," she began. Legolas looked up at her, curious. He had never heard her sing before, and this was a strange song that he did not recognize. He swallowed his food and listened intently.

She started again. "A captive path I lead." The song was a high, pure pitched one that carried into the trees. "No matter where you go, I will find you. If it takes a long, long time. No matter where you go I will find you. If it takes a thousand years............"

Erin stopped singing, as though just realizing what she had done. She looked down, blushing brightly.

"Sorry, don't know why I sang that."

Legolas continued to stare at her, then finally he spoke. "That is a beautiful song. What is its name?"

"I cannot remember it. For some reason I just thought of it though." She shrugged it off and continued to eat. Legolas returned to his own food and after a few moments they were finished and back on their journey.

"So where is it that we're going?" Erin asked.

"It is a surprise."

Erin crossed her arms and followed him. Legolas took a sharp right just ahead of her and Erin turned to follow him. Just as she had walked around the tree a pair of hands grabbed her tightly. Erin gasped and tensed, ready to fight her attack, but before she got the chance to lash out a pair of lips landed on hers.

Her mind raced, and she was just about to panic before a thought struck her. 'I recognize these lips!' She leaned into it and after a moment pulled back. Legolas smiled down at her. She punched his arm playfully.

"You scared me half to death!"

"Well, then I suppose it is a good thing that I didn't jump out of the tree as I had originally planned.

"I would have killed you!"

Legolas smiled. "You would have tried........"

Erin narrowed her eyes at him. "What? You don't think that I could take you?"

Legolas laughed. "No, I do not think that."

Erin smiled triumphantly.

"I KNOW that you can't take me," Legolas said, laughing. He turned on his heel and ran just as Erin realized what he'd said. She smiled at his retreating form; after all, she was always up for a good chase.

A figure smiled evilly at the pair from the bushes. 'So, that is where they are headed. I will have my revenge.'

A yelp echoed through the forest as a young woman was thrown into a lake. She surfaced a few moments later, gasping for breath.

"Legolas!"

"Yes?" he asked, crossing his arms, an amused smile on his face.

"It's cold!"

"Yes, I know, that is why I threw you in. You seemed like you needed some cooling down."

Erin walked carefully out of the lake, water sloshing in her shoes. "You're right," she said. "I did need some cooling down."

Legolas raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Erin walked behind him, wringing out her shirt while Legolas continued to look at the lake. "Yes, Legolas, REALLY." Before Legolas could do anything Erin ran and football tackled him into the lake. They both sunk deep below the surface, bubbles escaping from their mouths. Erin smiled mischievously at him under water. Legolas smiled back at her. This was some much needed stress relief.

A figure watched them from the trees as the two surfaced and splashed each other, laughing loudly. It smiled evilly, lifting up the object it held and aiming carefully. Oh yes, they would pay.

A noise caught Legolas's ears and he ducked immediately, yelling "Watch out!"

Erin turned in the direction that he had looked. "Wha-?" SMACK! Erin froze. She lifted up wet fingers to wipe away the mud ball that covered her faze, blinding her. Someone was going to hurt for that.

She dunked her head into the water and lifted it back out, the mud clear from her face. Just as she was slicking her hair back so that she could see, another mud ball hit her in almost the exact same place. Erin sighed and tapped her foot on the lake floor, not that anyone could see it....

Legolas pointed at Erin's face and laughed loudly, clutching his sides after a moment.

"Ha ha," Erin said. "Yeah, let's everybody pick on the human."

Erin dunked her head again and slicked her hair back just in time to see Legolas get hit in the face with a mud ball. Now it was Erin's turn to laugh hysterically. Legolas mirrored Erin's previous expression almost perfectly. He wiped the mud from his eyes and looked around in the forest.

"All right, who's out there!" he called. There was no reply.

Meanwhile, in the branch, an Elf was trying not to fall out of the tree with his laughter. A little boy looked up at him.

"Esgalan?" he whispered. "Are you sure we should be doing this to Muinthel and Prince Legolas? Won't they get mad?"

"Shhh, Shinta. They left us behind, so now we must have our fun."

Shinta shrugged and handed him another mud ball out of a bag. Esgalan was just readying it when a mud ball, that was not his own, smacked him in the face. He smeared the mud out of his eyes and saw Legolas looking up at him. Erin followed the path of Legolas's shot with her eyes and frowned.

"Esgalan! You wretch!" She ran out of the lake as fast as she could, having to use a great amount of effort to pull each foot out of the sucking mud. Esgalan looked to Shinta.

"Shinta?"

"Yes?"

"Remember that plan I told you about running?"

"Yes......."

"It is time for that plan now."

Esgalan climbed quickly out of the tree, Shinta following him. He waited for Shinta to get down to the ground while he watched Erin battle with some mud that didn't seem to want to let her foot go. When Shinta reached the ground Esgalan picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and ran for his dear life.

"Esgalan! You chicken shit!" Erin screamed, looking down into the murky water and grabbing her leg just above her knee, tugging insistently. "God damn mud......" She grumbled. Her foot pulled out with a sloughing sound and Erin fell over in the water, landing on her butt with her hands behind her.

"Oooooh, I'll get him....." she murmured, narrowing her eyes.

Esgalan ran for all he was worth. It would be bad when Erin caught up with him. The green from the last time had just recently left his hair after all..... Shinta, slung over his shoulder, rested his elbows on Esgalan's back, putting his head in his hands, and sighed.

Erin and Legolas wrung out their clothes on the shore next to the lake. It was a good thing that it was sunny out or they'd never get dry.

"Come on," Erin said, waving to Legolas. "We have to catch up to him."

"I'm not sure that we'll be able to," Legolas said, lowering his head and furrowing his eyebrows. "He has quite the head start on us."

Legolas looked up just in time to see Erin disappear before him into the thick woods. He sighed and ran after her. She would never learn.........

Erin ran through the dense underbrush. Esgalan's path was easy enough to follow since he been in such a clumsy hurry. Not only that, but he hadn't cleaned the mud off his face properly and there were little pieces that fell off and created a path for her to follow.

Erin halted as she came to a fork in the path. She looked between the two just as Legolas caught up with her, then she ran left on the path that went downhill. Legolas jogged beside her. She turned to him.

"Legolas, must you act as though it is so easy to keep up with me?" she asked, pretending to be offended.

Legolas looked at her in mock shock, then slouched over, grabbed at his chest, and made his breathing sound labored. Erin smacked his arm playfully and he straightened up, smiling at her. She was just about to say something when she turned to look in front of her. They were about to break through a wall of bushes and Esgalan could be hiding behind them.

She jumped through the bushes and when her feet hit the ground she stopped so suddenly that she continued to skid across the dirt for a couple of feet. Legolas stopped beside her as they both stared, wide eyed, at the scene before them.

There was a village engulfed in flames. The strangest part about it, though, was that there were no people running screaming from it, trying to get things out of their houses, or even trying to put the fires out. All the people, it seemed, were in the town. Their dead bodies were strewn across the ground. There was so much blood that Erin wondered if perhaps the dirt was just red in this region, for surely there could not have been that much blood shed.

Legolas moved first and walked forward, checking the first body that he came across for a pulse. He looked up at Erin and his eyes told her the answer. The person was dead. Erin walked forward and checked another one, a woman, but her flesh was cold and she drew no breath.

As Erin stood on shaking legs her eyes fell upon a body nearby. Involuntarily, she began to walk towards the person, her legs taking her there without her wanting to do so. She looked down at the figure. It was a little girl, her eyes wide open in terror, a gaping hole in her stomach, blood pooled around her.

Erin turned away from the body and ran to the edge of the woods, retching into the bushes. She was aware of the presence of Legolas behind her as he knelt down beside her and rubbed her back.

"Calm yourself, Erin, it is okay. Shhhh." Erin cried as she huddled, holding her sides. Legolas looked at her, his eyes full of sadness. Erin had never before seen such carnage.

Legolas slipped his arms under her and lifted her into his arms. She tucked her head against his chest and continued to cry while Legolas carried her back through the woods.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

Esgalan stopped and set Shinta on the ground. "That's strange," he said. "I would have thought that she'd have caught up with us by now......... Oh well, she probably got confused by that fork and went left instead of right....." He laughed.

Esgalan walked forward, pushing bushes away from his face and stopped. He was at the edge of a cliff, but that was not what had caused him to stop. Below, he could see a burning village, a village that had fire running through it in the shape of an open eye.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------