Mirkwood's Ring: Chapter 3. 

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"Do you get the impression that we occasionally get on Adar's nerves 'Dan?" 
Elrohir laughingly asked his brother from the back of his large bay mare. 
The twins were dressed in regal red and blue respectively, with silver 
trimmings on their tunics and sun-glinted mithril and leather amour 
protecting their bodies from the inevitable skirmishes they always stumbled 
into. Their weapons shone well polished and tenderly cared for on their 
backs and at their hips as they rode confidentially on their way to visit 
the prince of the woods at their father's bidding. 

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Elladan answered with a grin, "We were home 
for all of, what, two months this time before he found us an "urgent" errand 
that needed running?" He expertly guided his golden horse around a fallen 
limb along the broad path through Mirkwood's forest and took a silent moment 
to be a bit disturbed over the lack of care the road had seen. It was the 
only safe thoroughfare through the huge dark forest and usually the land's 
inhabitants kept it in good repair. 

His twin snickered, and then grew a bit more serious as if sensing his 
companion's change sudden shift in mood. "True, but Father needs our 
light-heartedness. He's grown so lonely and dour of late. I worry for him." 


The older brother nodded, "I as well, but at least this time he's come up 
with a plausible adventure for us, and it will be good to see Legolas again. 


"Aye, the last time he 'suggested' something for us to do, we had to travel 
half-way across the continent for that weird flower Grandmother supposedly 
needed for whatever she was working on. It took us nearly a year to find 
the stupid thing and it turned out she'd found a substitute for it by the 
time we'd gotten back." 

"Yes, but we did get to kill a lot of orc that time out." the smirk was 
definitely back on Elladan's face. "I think I doubled my total from the 
year before." 

"--not that, that is incredibly impressive from you." His younger brother 
teased, "I kill twice as many as you on a bad day." 

"HEY! That is blatantly not true! Besides, I could kill many more if I didn 
t have to patch you up quite so often!" 

The normal friendly sibling bickering would have continued if Elrohir hadn't 
sobered once again, "What do you think is causing this weirdness in 
Mirkwood? Do you think Legolas is alright?" 

"Adar said the evil had been driven back, and he seems to be right. We 
haven't seen a single sign of orc since we entered the forest. Whatever's 
happened can't be all bad." Indeed, the only annoyances they'd face since 
their arrival were the pestering bugs. One would think the buggers had 
somehow developed the ability to sense the small portion of human blood each 
twin carried. They'd been absolutely relentless for the entire journey. 

"True, but we haven't seen any elves either." Elrohir absently swatted at a 
mosquito and frowned at the mess it made of his glove. 

That statement put a pall over the conversation for the rest of the day's 
journey to the gates of Eryn Lasgalen. 
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The stars had begun to shine brightly in the velvet night sky as the 
travelers made their approach towards the massive doors into the elven 
capital. The branches and leaves were not so thick here that the pricks of 
light, so soothing to any elven soul could not be seen through gaps in the 
beautifully and lovingly tended tree's boughs. The giant enchanted wooden 
gates towered over the half-elves who did not fail to notice the alert 
guards hidden in a large, well concealed nook above the swinging portal. 
The soldiers were weary and had obviously taken note of them from a distance 
as they stood clad in their traditional browns and greens with bows drawn, 
but no arrows nocked. 

"Hold! Who seeks entrance into King Thranduil's woodland palace?" The guard 
on the right's voice rang strong and true but with an odd monotone which the 
peredhel could not place. The twins exchanged glances and frowned. They 
had never been challenged at the gates of Legolas's home before. They 
thought themselves rather easily recognizable and hardly ever had problems 
getting into anywhere in elven or human lands with their obvious parentage 
written so easily in their features and their rather expansive reputation. 
Besides, long and many were the times they had spent in these halls as one 
or the other recuperated from an injury achieved in their relentless battle 
against the orcs who had so cruelly treated their mother. Evil had not been 
in short supply beneath these trees since the coming of the necromancer into 
Dol Guldur; their paths often lead them here to help in its eradication. On 
top of that, Legolas was their long time deepest and truest friend. Even if 
they didn't have their oath to eradicate the yrch they would have traveled 
here often to visit the reclusive prince. 

Elladan cleared his throat and called up to the top of the gates, "We are 
the twin sons of Elrond Peredhel, Lord of Imladris. I am Elladan, and this 
wastrel beside me is my brother Elrohir. We have ridden long from our 
father's realms to meet with Legolas, our good friend and brother in arms." 
Elrohir shot his brother an annoyed glance and rolled his eyes, but did not 
comment as they awaited their reply. 

The two guards exchanged uneasy glances and words whispered too quietly for 
the two half-elves to hear. "Forgive us my lords, but we cannot allow you 
entrance. No one may leave our lands now, once they have stepped past our 
gates. I doubt that is a fate you would enjoy. Return to your father and 
tell him all is well with us." The last spoken words were oddly scathing, 
as if the speaker thought them here with dishonorable intentions. 

"We did not come to research the well-being of your land, or pass along 
information of you to our father. We are not spies or informants. We 
sought only to see your Prince who we have fought beside in many battles 
against evil, often saving each other's lives. Please allow us at least to 
speak with him before we depart." Elladan perplexedly tried to soothe 
whatever bad feeling had grown up in the hearts of this soldier. 

At this, the guard who had spoken looked pained and his companion could no 
longer meet the twin's eyes. "Forgive us lords, but it would be impossible 
for you to speak with the Prince at this time. Please be on your way." 
There was an odd note of pleading in the soldier's voice that gave the 
peredhel a moment of clear certainty that something was deeply wrong here. 

"Has he been wounded? I confess, we had thought to find him among the 
border patrols seeing to the routing of spiders or orcs. We thought it odd 
that he did not come to meet us. Indeed, we have seen none of your people 
on our entire journey here!" Elladan's voice was filled with worry for his 
friend and he felt the anxiety radiating from his twin as well. 

"He is not wounded sirs! No, please do not fear for his health." Both 
guards were quick to reassure them. "He is only--" they glanced at each 
other oddly once more, "Um, indisposed." the other soldier finished for his 
comrade. 

The twins frowned. The love of their prince had always been very obvious in 
Mirkwood's people and these were clearly not comfortable with whatever 
position he had currently found himself, yet it was also equally obvious to 
the grandsons of Galadriel that there were no blatant lies in their words. 
Legolas was surely not injured seriously, or at least, it was not an injury 
that kept him from seeing them. 

"If he is busy, we can wait." Elrohir finally said. "I'm sure he will make 
time for us as soon as he can, and a small wait is nothing compared to the 
time it took us to ride here." Elladan nodded in agreement with his other 
half. 

The agitation of the gatemen grew even further and the spokesman shook his 
head empathetically. "I'm afraid that will not be possible. Please return 
home." With eerie simultaneousness both elves turned and disappeared from 
their sight behind the gate. 

The matching frowns worn by the visitors bore a very distinct resemblance to 
their father's "thinking face" as they had dubbed it when they were much 
younger. They rode a few paces away from the wall so as not to be overheard 
and quietly held conference between them. 

"Adar was right 'Ro. Something is wrong here and it is obvious they will 
not allow us to see Legolas and ask him what that is." 

"I concur. We cannot leave things as they are. Some madness has befallen 
Mirkwood in the strange absence of the dark forces, and it has obviously 
adversely affected our friend." 

"Dare we risk Legolas's secret entrance?" Elrohir frowned in concern even as 
he mentioned it. They had been shown the hidden gate that could only be 
opened by elven royalty on one of their first visits to the palace after 
they had saved Legolas's life for the first time. The act had been 
reciprocated many times over, but the mysterious doorway had been the prince 
s gift of trust to them. He'd said he'd had an odd feeling that they would 
need it someday, and they had sworn everlasting friendship and brotherhood 
the afternoon before. He had wanted to give them something to prove his 
devotion and assurance of them. A present of trust was considered the 
highest boon a silivan elf could grant another being as they were 
notoriously a withdrawn and paranoid race when not amongst their own. The 
twins had become practically honorary sons of Thranduil since that night and 
had never faced the seclusion of other outsiders under these leaves. Among 
their own people, there was never a race so giving and generous as Mirkwood 
s countrymen. Though Legolas did not share the prejudices of his fellows, 
the sons of Elrond had no misconceptions about the value of their gift and 
were loath to abuse its knowledge. 

"I don't think we have any choice." Elladan sighed. "I cannot even begin to 
fathom what could be making the normally so temperate elves of this realm 
act so strangely, and we cannot leave Legolas to whatever it is. We are 
sworn to his aide and my heart aches even now to think of him in peril." 

His brother nodded in agreement, but then his brow furrowed as a thought 
occurred to him. "What of the guard's warning? Those who enter the gates 
cannot leave this land again." 

"It is probably just a decree of the King's, made in this craziness. We 
cannot be held to it. Our station should protect us. He daren't restrain 
us for fear of our father." 

"But 'Dan, what could have come over Thranduil to make him act this way? 
What if he holds Legolas prisoner within his own palace and that is why our 
brother could not meet us here?" A sick feeling of dread crept up the 
half-elven brother's spines. 

"Thranduil loves his son 'Ro! You've seen how he dotes on him when no one 
else is looking. He could never harm him anymore than our father would harm 
us." 

"He's obviously under some kind of wicked spell, and he's always been cold 
Dan--" 

"--but not cruel. You cannot seriously think he'd harm Legolas!" 

"...no...no of course not...it's just a bad feeling I suddenly have..." 

Elladan nodded in agreement and leaned over his horse to pat his brother 
reassuringly on the shoulder. "The sooner we get inside, the sooner we can 
discover the secrets here and help to fix them. If we cannot, I'm sure we 
can get Adar or even Grandmother to help. They hold little love for 
Thranduil, but they would not let the Great Wood fall." 

Elrohir looked at his brother for a moment, and then sighed, "Yes, of course 
you're right, and I'm sure Legolas is fine." He covered his brother's hand 
on his shoulder with his own for several moments, then they nodded to each 
other and without word or indication of readiness, both turned their horses 
at once and set off for the hidden gate. They would not allow further harm 
to befall Legolas or his kingdom. 

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Elvish and notes: 
Adar: Father 
Peredhel: half-elf 
Yrch: Orc 
Dol Guldur: Evil citadel in southern Mirkwood. 

Please review *L* o.O I've never had this poor of a response 
to anything before. Do you guys *want* more of the story?