A CONSPIRACY UNMASKED
By : mirkwood-elf-2931


CHAPTER 8


"Captain? What are we going to do?" Nylaro broke the dead silence, after Wingdun and Rembaryn had left the dark storage room.

Landailyn looked between her two anxious companions that were stuck in this with her. It reminded her much of being captured by the corsairs with Arwen and Thalawen. "Either find a secret passage way...or yell until we have no voices left."

And they all knew that neither would work.

The corners of the male Elf's mouth turned up briefly. "Thanks for the warning, by the way." He meant it sincerely, for even if he was now trapped, he could have been killed instead. "You bought me the few seconds I didn't know I needed."

Evanyne looked down at her knees that were up against her chest. "Mine too. Even though I didn't understand it at the time."

"Aye, sorry they were not better ones."

For a long while, the three sat in more silence; ideas running through Landailyn's mind the whole time, as she worked hard to bring her tied hands in front of her. Sliding them down the back of her legs and shoving her bound feet between her arms, her work was finally done and rewarded, for now she could untie her feet.

In fact, she could untie the two warriors' hands as well.

All of them free again, they began to search the entire room, careful not to miss a thing that could aid in any way. There were many items and supplies strewn throughout the chamber, but the results of their long scouring brought them nothing; though there was one last resort.

Landailyn, who had been eyeing the door, now made for it, only to pull the handle with all her weight and strength behind it and find it did not budge a single inch. It had been expected of course, but it also had certainly been worth a try, since nothing else so far had been of help. And with that, yet another possibility that had to be dropped, for she knew it would be so thick that not even three bodies could break through it.

At this, she couldn't help feeling completely hopeless, even as much as she loathed it. Very close to sobbing, she slid down against the door, her head making a resigned thump against its wood.

The King of Mirkwood and his only son, the Prince, were both going to die and not she, nor anyone else could do a thing to prevent it. As well, there came many people she would be letting down. Mainly Thalawen; her friend will have died for naught if she could not stop this. An involuntary shudder racked her body. She let her emotions play aloud; her tears eventually falling freely, as she now didn't care or feel ashamed at who was watching. From her personal view, she could see no way out of this. "I'm sorry, Thala..."

Nylaro and Evanyne helplessly hung their heads. They may have known nothing of she and her friends' past predicaments, but they did at least know the captain and prince were good friends. They were new to being around the palace everyday, only having met Legolas and his father a few times before, but they certainly would not see their respected rulers brought down; they were in the woodland city's army to protect them and its people.

But it was apparent that it was something the three could no longer do.

Landailyn painfully felt a full force of failure. They had been there overnight, she knew, for the two servants wore different clothing for the new day.

Thranduil and Legolas could already be dead.

She couldn't take it anymore, even if her shouts didn't help with the situation, she had to get her anger out somehow. "Let us out!" She pounded the locked door so hard with her left hand, the knuckle of her little finger split, blood seeping down to her wrist. But its stinging did not register. "You cannot keep us here! Please! I'll do anything! Anything! I swear!" Yes, she was ready and willing to do anything for the two traitors, if it meant the two royals stayed alive. "Legolas..." She whimpered, her yelling dying down.

Both warriors sat down upon the flat surface of a wide, vacant table; their feet hanging a few inches above the floor and their backs resting against the cool, stone wall it was scooted up to. They were prepared to be in this 'prison' for a long, long while. They spoke not a word to their superior; just let her be. Besides, what could they have said or done? Certainly nothing that would make her or even themselves feel better.

"We have to do something, Ny."

"Like what? I think we've done all we can. There's just no way out of this place..."

Evanyne took in a shaking deep breath. "Well, I don't know, but...look at her!"

The male warrior traced his friend's gaze, frowning. "At least we can count on people looking for us. Ech and Alathyn, ya know?"

"Yeah," She continued to eye the form still on the floor. "If everyone isn't already captured…or…"

"Oh...yeah, true." Nylaro gulped quietly, at the thought of their friends enduring the wrath of the 'servants' and their lives possibly being taken for opposing them.


~*~*~~*~~*~*~


After identifying three white horses in the stables as definitely belonging to the captain and two young warriors, a search began immediately. For fear of spreading any alarm to the rest of the community, only Deyinar and a few soldiers that had been sworn to secrecy were allowed with Legolas, Echorren and Alathyn to look for their missing friends.

But everyone else would soon have to know, for if they didn't find them many more would need to be sent out looking.

Today, the second day, the little group set out into woods in hopes of finding clues to track them with. No one was certain where the trio were before they were assumingly kidnapped, or where they had disappeared to after that, but it was the only place anyone could think of after searching the palace the day before and coming up with disappointing results.

"Gildan, your group goes west. Senfilir, take yours north. And Echorren and Alathyn take east. Prince Legolas and I will head south. Search your areas thoroughly then report back to this very spot. Please be careful, all of you." Deyinar finished, as he knew how the younger ones could be and there were two of them along that had been paired up.

"Well, my lord, what do you say happened to her this time?" Inquired the temporary captain lightheartedly, after he and the younger Elf had split up from the rest of the group to take on their chosen direction.

Legolas sighed, swallowing hard. What Deyinar had just said made him think of Landailyn's recent past with Arwen and Thalawen. Could it have happened again? If it indeed had, she could be anywhere by now. "I wish I knew. I just have a feeling we're not going to find anything helpful out here..."

"What? In the forest?"

"Aye," He answered quietly, keeping watch around them.

They searched their area widely, over and over until it was clear nothing had taken place in that particular direction. No sign of a struggle, no lost items belonging to any of the missing three, not even a disturbance of any surrounding obstacle that any other had been out there besides those of their own race. The Elves were good trackers, but the prince still wished he had Aragorn there to aid them.

Finally they headed back to where everyone had been told to meet.


~*~*~~*~~*~*~


"Finding anything, Ech?"

"For the last time, no! Nothing!"

Alathyn shifted her wide, saddened eyes to stare at the leaves covering the lush, green grass beneath her feet. Sinking down onto a large rock that sat directly behind her, she looked as though she was simply giving up on their search.

Echorren closed his eyes, putting a hand on his right hip and the other on his forehead. "I'm sorry, Alathyn. I know you're worried. We all are, but we can't give up...they could be counting on us!" With this thought aloud, he didn't know how right he really was.

"Who said anything about giving up?" She sighed, rising to meet her 5'9 height once more. "I would never give up on friends. Come on, let's go ahead and report back."

Rolling his eyes, Echorren took a last visual scan across their spot, before moving to follow her.

Apparently, he hadn't taken full realization to what she had really meant when she said she would never give up on friends. The captain wasn't really their friend as of yet, so far she was only an authority figure.


~*~*~~*~~*~*~


"You certainly love to waste my time." Wingdun turned to his companion. "So they are searching for them. So what? Did I really need to be shown this?"

From a distant tree-top, the two had been watching and listening to the worrisome friends of their prisoners.

Slowy, Rembaryn shrugged his shoulders, the smile disappearing off his face from the young Elves' exchange of words and actions. "I thought maybe you would want to hear what..."

"Has anyone said they suspect us?"

"No, I..."

"Well then! That and only that would be all I myself would be concerned with! So please, if you hear anyone with that suspicion, then by all means tell me! But for now, we have more important things to do!" Wingdun let out through clenched teeth, starting down the trunk branch by branch. "Tomorrow evening can't come soon enough."


TBC ...

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mirkwood-elf-2931 :
Well, another reviewer gone…please no more of you leave me! LOL Hope MC does okay though!
And OMG, I can't believe it! Return of the King won all 11 Oscars they were nominated for! Woohoo!!! I'm just sad that Johnny Depp didn't win Best Actor for Pirates of the Caribbean. However, I guess I can see why Sean Penn won, since he apparently played a very emotional part in Mystic River.
Hmmm, so Rembaryn sounds hott, eh? Cool, I didn't know I could write a guy to sound that way! I'm not sure how I picture him or Wingdun, but if they're bad, then they're probably hott like Legolas! ;) And when I think about Wing and Rem and what they're doing...I think about Star Wars for some reason! Cuz' they were loyal once and giving into their anger led them to be power hungry, therefore they turned to the Dark Side...hahaha! Perhaps I've just been playing too much of the Jedi Knight series on my Xbox!
*sigh* I can't wait for Episode 3! And for Christmas, I might get the Special Edition 4 disc DVD set that's coming out in September for the first trilogy: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! Any of you reviewers like Star Wars? Of course I loved it long before Lord of the Rings, cuz' I grew up with it...watching the movies a lot (the Ewok movies too) and playing with my bro's Star Wars toys, cuz' he has several of the original action figures and ships...and we even have lightsabers and Darth Maul's staff…and a lazer tag set that are the blaster pistols! haha
I wish I could do a Star Wars fanfic...I would love to author one, but I fear I wouldn't quite know what I was talking about like I do in Lord of the Rings! I mean, I would and I wouldn't...we'll just have to see sometime I guess! Of course you all know that if I did write one, it would have girl characters for Thala and I, don't you? hehehe I like putting myself and my friends in stories, that seems to be the only way I can write a fic that has to do with a theme that I didn't make up!