Disclaimer: I don't own them, just wish that I did… sigh. They belong to the wonderful professor named J.R.R Tolkien…

~~~

Chapter 2

Estel withdrew his hand and immediately, two orcs grabbed his arms tight, bruising the soft flesh. The orc that had spoken to him growled something in the dark tongue and another orc came with a pair of iron shackles. With a malicious sneer on its ugly face, the orc went behind the ranger and put them on the man's wrists, pinning his arms behind his back. Estel winced as they bit into his flesh, being too tight.

The orc came closer and breathed in his face. "Too bad we haven't got time to finish you properly as we would want." It said. "Lugburtz wants something else done and soon! We're preparing an attack on the elven refuge nearby and we can't let you warn them. We still have much to plan, traps to set up, but within a week we'll attack and kill them all. We'll just dispose of you somewhere." Then it turned back and shouted some orders.

The orcs holding his arms forced him to move along. A warg was on each side of him, growling at him and showing off their sharp teeth. Estel was beginning to panic inside, what were they going to do? His panic grew as the sound of the waterfall was becoming louder. He refused to move any further when he realized this.

The orcs shouted at the lead orc, who turned around and walked back to their prisoner. He looked into Estel's eyes and saw fear there. It smiled and trailed one sharp nail across the ranger's cheek.

"Afraid of the water, are we?" It snarled. "Then I have just the thing for you." It said something to the two orcs holding him and turned in the direction of the waterfall.

Still, Estel refused to move and the lead orc came back. It hit the man with a great force in the face and nodded to the orcs holding him. All of a sudden they changed their grips to one of his legs; one holding his upper leg and the other holding him near the ankle. Then in one great move, one gave a great jerk at the leg causing it to bend in a way a leg is not meant to be. There was a sickening crunch and Estel's pain filled cry rang through the night. The same process was repeated with his other leg.  After that they dropped him on the floor and kicked him several times in his ribs.

The lead orc had enough – this was fun, but taking too much time! He shouted for the others to stop. They seemed disappointed, but did as was told.

Estel panted when they were done with him. His legs caused him unbearable pain and he was sure that several of his ribs were broken.

Legolas, I could really use your help. He was sure that Legolas had heard his cries when the orcs had broken his legs. Be careful, my friend. I would not see you in the hands of these fell creatures…

Then the two orcs grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him between them, seemingly making it a game to cause as much pain as possible as their prisoner's useless legs bumped against all in their way.

Estel silently begged for the blessed darkness to take him, but it did not…

~~~

It was all too soon when they stopped moving. Estel looked up from his slumped position and saw that they were at the top of the waterfall. The lead orc was nowhere in sight.

Estel frowned, where was it? His question was soon answered as from out of the rock they were standing on, the creature came.

"This is where we part." It said to him, taking him by one arm and dragging him to a hole in the rock. Once the black dots in front of his vision disappeared, Estel looked inside and noticed that it was a cave of some sort. The lead orc slung him over one shoulder and went inside the cave. Estel could see that there was a pool, constantly being filled by some of the water of the waterfall and leaving the cave through a relatively small opening.

The lead orc dropped him roughly to the ground and held one of his arms. Not having the strength or the will to fight, Estel slumped. The orc released one of his wrists, using a key that had been at his belt. Then the orc roughly jerked Estel in a sitting position. The human sat with his back against a stalactite that ran from the top to the bottom of the cave. The orc wrenched his arms backwards and fastened the shackle back in place.

The hideous creature sneered and walked to where the water left the cave. There was a huge boulder lying near which the orc moved in front of the water's exit. This blocked the exit and would slowly cause the filling of the cave and its captive to be drowned.

"Farwell, human." It sneered back at Estel. "May you suffer before you die!" It turned around and started climbing out of the cave.

Panic setting in and forgetting about dignity, Estel pleaded with the orc. "No, don't leave me here!" The orc smiled cruelly back at him and was soon out of the cave. Estel shouted after him, desperate: "Don't leave me alone… Don't leave me! Please!" But it was of no use – the orc was gone.

Estel looked at the rising water; it already covered half of his legs. At this rate, he would be dead within the hour. Estel fought hard to get loose, but didn't make any progress; the only thing he did was aggravating his injuries. He slumped in his bindings, biting his lip to keep from crying out as he tried to control the pain.

"I'm all alone…" He whispered, panic clouding his memories. He looked at the cave's exit. "Come back…"

~~~

TBC