I'm sooooo sorry I haven't posted lately!! I've been so busy lately! But here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

Rules are made to be broken

Aragorn's head felt like it had been split in two.

He had no idea where he was or why he was there, all he knew was that his current position was not the most comfortable one he could think of.

His arms and legs felt stiff and his head was pounding.

He tried to stretch but found he was tied hand and foot and almost everywhere in between.

All this time he had refused to open his eyes for fear of what he would see, for he had seen Legolas fall just after himself and knew not what had happened to his friend.

He was amazed that he himself was alive, though he knew the reason could not possibly be good and he feared that Legolas may not have fared as well as himself.

Willing himself not to give in to the darkness that threatened to overcome him again, Aragorn slowly opened his eyes so as not to draw attention to himself, and looked straight into the silvery blue eyes of his friend.

Aragorn was so relieved that he almost pasted out there and then, but forced himself to stay focused.

Seeing that Aragorn was awake, Legolas edged closer to him.

He had woken an hour ago and had so far managed to gather enough information from scattered conversations overheard to know that there was a reason he and Aragorn had been kept alive.

"Nae saian luume', mellonin."

"Have you any idea where we are or why we're here?"

"Yes, from what I have heard I can tell you that we are somewhere under Caradhras."

"Under?"

"Yes, under. And keep your voice down! It seems the dwarves built a maze of tunnels down here, but then were driven out by these orcs."

"How do you know all this?"

"I have been awake for about an hour now, or at least it seems like an hour, and I gathered information from conversations I overheard."

At this point one of the orcs sitting nearby heard them talking. Swiftly he stood and walked towards them.

With a sharp backhand, he rendered Legolas senseless on the floor, but left Aragorn fully aware of what was happening around them.

Having done this, the guard left, presumably to report on what had just happened.

As soon as he turned the corner, Aragorn started pulling against his bonds, desperately wanting to make sure his friend was alright, but he daren't call out to him, for fear of alerting his guard.

But his attempts only served to tighten them and he had to give up and content himself with waiting for Legolas to wake on his own.

What he didn't notice was that Legolas was already awake.

The blow to his head had not been nearly enough to knock him out, he Legolas knew the orcs would be less likely to notice him if he were unconscious. And this was precisely what he wanted.

As soon as he had hit the floor, he had started working at his bonds, trying to pick the knots, but he had had no luck.

Ever since he had been working his bonds against a sharp rock he had found.

He could hear Aragorn's frantic attempts to reach him, but could not risk communicating with him be cause he had no idea who was in the room with them.

Silently testing the ropes, he found that he could easily pull them apart.

Now he took the opportunity to look around the cave and found that the only other occupant was Aragorn, who had now stopped struggling and was staring at him as if willing him to awaken.

Aragorn got quite a shock when Legolas suddenly opened his eyes and stared straight at him.

Quickly pulling himself together, Aragorn leant forward and asked:

"Lle tyava quell?"

"Aye, I'm almost free."

With a quick tug, Legolas pulled the ropes and sat up to unite his ankles.

At this moment he heard the chatter of the guard returning, presumably with his superior.

"Quick!" called Aragorn.

Hastily, Legolas untied his ankles and turned to release Aragorn, but he knew that he would never be able to in time. With all his struggling, Aragorn's ropes had tightened and now it was impossible for Legolas to untie them.

Quickly he grabbed the jagged stone he had found and moved to cut Aragorn's bonds, but he moved away.

"If you don't go now, you won't get out!"

"What about you?" should Legolas, refusing to leave his friends side.

"Please, Legolas, better to have one in here and one out there, than both in here."

Seeing the logic in this, Legolas pressed the rock into his friends hand and turned to leave.

As he reached the door, Legolas turned back to his friend

"Estel, I-"

"GO!"

With a last nod and an encouraging smile, Legolas turned the corner and ran…

…and not a moment to soon.

It took the twins about an hour to reach the Misty Mountains.

Unfortunately, once they got their, they realised it would be a bit harder for them to trace the path of their friends captors over solid wrong.

The journey so far had been over soft, muddy ground; easy for following footprints, but now the trail all but disappeared.

"Now what?" asked Elrohir.

"There must be a trail here somewhere!"

"But there isn't, gwanur."

"Isn't it a bit strange though?"

"What?"

"Well, look. The trail leads right up to the wall and stops."

It was true. They were facing a sheer rock face, which they both knew even they would have difficulty climbing it.

The tracks they were following went right up to the wall and stopped, as if cut of by the mountain.

Elrohir dismounted and went to inspect the tracks.

"They must have climbed up."

"With 2 unconscious captives? Look at the tracks, 'Ro, even Estel would see that there are no signs of any other creatures than orcs. And look at that rock face. Even we would have trouble climbing it."

"Well, where can they have gone?"

"I don't know." Said Elladan, also dismounting and going to stand by his brother. "I just don't know."

Thank you again to all by faithful reviewers!!!

Thank you to: LegolasGreenleafGil-Estel, JenniferG, Gozilla, jacquelinestel, Star-Stallion, ancalimawen, Elemental flair, DreaminofLorien, Magickalstar135, cknightofni.

Please keep reviewing, I will update soon!!

Nae saian luume', mellonin – it has been to long, my friend

Lle tyava quell? – are you well?

Gwanur - brother