Chapter 5

Elladan groaned as he opened his eyes. The back of his head throbbed painfully, and his arms and ankles burned. He blinked to clear his vision and looked around. It was still dark. He was tied to a giant boulder, ankles bound tightly, mouth gagged. His knife, quiver, and bow were all gone. On either side of him, Brethilorn and Thalion were bound to the boulder.

"Finally awake," Thalion commented wryly.

"Urgmph."

"You're gagged," Brethilorn pointed out.

Elladan rolled his eyes. "Mmph urghmph phmf?" He twisted his head as far as he could, looking at his tied up companions. "Mwrph urph urph phmfs?"

"Where are our gags?" repeated Thalion.

Suddenly, Elladan felt a claw-like hand grab him by the back of his head and tear the gag off unceremoniously. His head was shoved back, knocking against the rock. Elladan felt a hot, sticky fluid being forced down his throat. He coughed and spluttered, spitting out much of the liquid.

"Elfling doesn't want to take his medicine," the orc growled.

Elladan looked up. A large orc was standing over him, several others with him.

One of the smaller orcs licked his chops. "They look tasty…"

"No!" snapped the large one. "From what we heard them say, the little one could be useful with the Dark Lord."

"Then why keep these three?" the hungry one snapped back. "It's the little one He'll want…"

"You never know if He'll want them too. Better not find out the hard way."

The Hungry One gave up, and stalked away from the elves, muttering to himself. The other orcs followed.

"Estel na sí?" Elladan asked his two companions, speaking in their native tongue to keep the orcs from understanding.

"It seems so."

"And they overheard us in the forest?" asked Thalion incredulously.

"Damn right we did," came the voice of the orc leader. He shoved a chunk of rotting bread in each elf's mouth. "Dunno what all the stuff about rings and funny names and heirs were, but sounded important. No doubt the Dark will know though." He laughed. "Not as secretive or attentive as you'd like to think, eh?" and with that, he left the captives.

The elves spat out the bread contemptuously.

"So we were wrong. He doesn't know," said Elladan.

"He doesn't know yet," Brethilorn pointed out. "If we don't do something He will know."

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a familiar bell. Looking up, they saw an orc carrying a small, limp form towards them. The bell sounded with every step he took. The orc laid the form at the elves' feet. It was Estel.

The orc leader marched over and cuffed the orc viciously. "Fool," he snarled. "Didn't I tell you to take the bell off?"

The orc glared at his leader, then yanked the bell off Estel's neck and tossed it over the elves' heads. The bell clanged loudly as it landed on the stones. The orc received another cuff and scurried off.

The leader set up a guard of about twenty around the captives then turned to address the rest of his troop. There were far more orcs then they had originally thought there to be.

"Let's go get those elves fefore they get us." The orc troop ran out from the camp, back toward the forest.

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Estel na sí? = Estel is here?

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Amlee – Yes, evil of me, isn't it… :D dun dun dun…

Amthramiel – yeah. good point… oops.

Haldir's Heart and Soul – Yup. they sure did.

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