Elrohir hurried through the forest as quickly and as quietly as possibly could, in search for any men or elves that might be looking for them.

'This war has definitely been an interesting one, with both Legolas and Nanaylia being captured and injured,' he thought to himself as he soon came to a clearing. 'I just hope I don't meet up with those men again. They are the last thing we need right now. The two need to heal.'

He looked around and seeing no one, he sighed.

"I am half expecting to see someone anytime now and that's what worries me. I don't know whether to expect the men we encountered earlier or the elven guards that Thranduil might have sent out looking for his children," Elrohir said, slumping his shoulders a bit.

He walked over to a tree and leaned against it, wondering which direction to go: whether to head back to the others or continue on in search of help but hopefully not run into the men either way.

Soon, he heard something in the air. He stepped forward, wondering what it was. He was paying attention to the noise in the air and suddenly ducked. When he looked back up, he saw an arrow sticking out of the tree.

"Looks like I got out of the way just in time," Elrohir gasped as he turned around.

He was met with were faces. He was surprised to see them so he jumped away from them and fell to the ground.

"Elrohir, we are very sorry about that. We saw movement and I guess we decided to ask questions later," the elf said, reaching a hand out to the dark haired elf. "We could expect someone out here who could have easily taken Legolas and Nanaylia captive."

"I am so glad to see the lot of you," Elrohir said as he took the hand.

"Why? Is there something wrong with the king's children?" the elven guard demanded to know.

"Well, they're both hurt and we've got a group of men on our tail. They did take the two captive for a few hours before Elladan and I got them out of their camp," Elrohir explained.

"Men? This far into Mirkwood? How can that be possible? There are no men settlements around here for leagues!" asked one of the guards, none of them believing what they were hearing.

"Well, they're here and we have to get these men out of Mirkwood and on their way back to wherever they came from," the one facing Elrohir said. "Depends on what the king decides to do with any prisoners we happen to take. Some are going to be killed and others will escape."

Elrohir nodded as he looked over the small group of elves.

"When did you come searching for us?" Elrohir had to ask.

"This morning, at dawn," replied one of them.

"That means Thranduil knew where to look for us! Come on! The others are this way!" Elrohir told them before heading into the direction he came from.

The guards followed him, knowing they had to make sure Legolas and Nanaylia were alright.

The trio looked over the group of men surrounding them. Althar soon stepped out from behind them and up to the elves. Both Legolas and Elladan were upset with this and they showed it.

"You prevented me from doing something and I want to do it," the man said as he reached out for Nanaylia.

She began to back away as both her brother and Elladan stepped in between her and Althar. The man growled at this scene.

"Restrain them!" he ordered.

Men quickly hurried up behind the elves and held onto Elladan and Legolas. The two were pulled out of the way, leaving Nanaylia in a very vunerable position. She continued to back away from Althar until she felt her back hit a wall of the cave. The man walked up to her and began to stroke her cheek. She felt disgusted by his touch.

"You will submit to me," he whispered to her.

"I will not submit to you or anyone," she quietly replied, anger present in her voice.

Elladan struggled in his captor's arms, ever wanting to stop the man from doing what he was about to do to Nanaylia. He knew what condition she was in when it came to that sort of thing and so did Legolas. Neither of them wanted to see it taken like this.

"Stop this!" cried Elladan, continuing his quest to free himself.

Althar walked over to the elf and stared at him.

"You can't stop me. Neither of you can," Althar told him before raising a hand.

Althar slapped Elladan across the face, making the elf's head snap to the side. The man soon pulled out a dagger. Nanaylia cried out and attacked the man from behind. Althar quickly responded to the female elf and he pushed her to the ground. She cringed in pain before watching Althar quickly pin the elf to the cave wall. He soon ordered that Nanaylia be restrained as well and she was.

"You can't stop me from doing this," Alther said as he plunged the dagger into Elladan's right shoulder.

Elladan cried out in pain before he slid down the cave wall. He clutched onto his shoulder. Althar snickered as he watched the scene. He quickly pulled the dagger out, causing the elf to cry out more in pain.

"This dagger really comes in handy sometimes," Althar mused, looking at the blood on the blade.

He glanced between Elladan and the blade before plunging it into the elf's left thigh. The elf cried out again and the men laughed.

"No!" cried Nanaylia. "Stop it!"

"Oh, I will stop it," Althar told her before turning to face her.

He glanced at Legolas and punched him in the face again. Nanaylia looked at the black eye sporting her brother's face as a result from the day before and she cringed.

"On what account will you stop?" she asked, believing she already knew the answer.

She hung her head as he walked over to her, now wanting to look at her brother when the man said what he wanted. He lifted her head back up and she watched him laugh.

"Make love to me. If you do that, I will stop and no longer harm them," Althar told her, looking into her eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Legolas shaking his head and mouthing 'no'.

"Alright, I will. If it will save my friends," she reluctantly said, turning her stare away from the man standing before her.

Legolas couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Keep guard outside! I don't want any interruptions! But I want someone to chain that elf!" Althar ordered, pointing at Legolas. "And chain him up in here. I want him to witness this."

Legolas gasped as he was chained again before the other men left the cave. He figured he could escape again but he he knew he wouldn't get far and he wouldn't want to leave without his sister and Elladan. He looked over the wound on Elladan's shoulder and it didn't look good. Legolas glanced over to where Althar and Nanaylia were. He seemed to be lustful than ever and more determined he would take the female elf.

'Why does she have to lose her innocence this way?' Legolas asked himself. 'Why?'

Elrohir carefully walked up to the clearing where the cave was only to sense that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

'What is going on here?' he asked himself as he stared at the empty clearing. 'They should be here. Where are they?'

The elf stepped forward to the edge of the clearing. He had sense there was trouble several feet from the cave so he suggested that he go alone. The guards protested to this but Elrohir insisted.

"If there is trouble, I will let you know by going in alone and you watching me. No sense risking all of us getting captured when you could easily surprise them yourselves and get the others out of there," Elrohir reasoned.

It didn't make total sense but the elven guards understood it made more sense than going in all at once. Elrohir cautiously stepped into the clearing. He glanced over at the treeline to see men moving in the woods. and they didn't see him... yet.

'What have I done? They're going to get captured and the men must have managed to take them prisoner!' Elrohir said before remembering something. "Nanaylia."

He ran into the cave to see Althar hovering over his female friend. Legolas was nearby, forcing to watch. Elrohir noticed that his brother had a dagger sticking out of his thigh and he gasped.

"What have you done to them?" demanded Elrohir as he faced the man.

The man did some scrambling with his clothing before facing the elf.

"The same thing I'm going to do with you," the man replied.

The two were soon in hand to hand combat but Elrohir was doing more blocking than anything. When he did throw a punch, it landed square with the man's jaw. Althar wipe away some blood that was coming from his mouth and stared at the elf with determined eyes.

"I will get what I want with the female elf, I will claim her!" Althar yelled at Elrohir.

"Not if I can help it," Elrohir replied, prepared for the next attack.

A groan soon came from the floor. Elrohir looked to see that his brother was stirring slightly.

"Elladan?" Elrohir called to him, letting his guard down.

He had felt his brother dying a bit but he didn't know if it would decline or not. That was just the distraction that Althar needed. He ran towards Elrohir and pushed him into the wall. The elf was caught off guard and he felt his head connect with the rocky surface. Elrohir fell to the floor of the cave in a heap, greatly stunned because of the hard blow to his head and Althar snickered.

"That takes care of your three protectors. No one can save you now," Althar told Nanaylia as he headed back to her.

She gulped as she watched him walk towards her again. She looked over at Legolas, who was trying to avert his stare but couldn't help but watch out of the corner of his eye.

'Lego, I am so sorry,' she said to herself as she closed her eyes and turned her stare to the ground. 'I really do wish it didn't have to be this way.'

TBC...