"You allowed him to go down there alone with only Sauros?"

            Elladan shot his brother a glare as he pulled out the pack of herbs from his pack. Elrohir and Glorfindel had not taken kindly to the information that Aragorn and Sauros had continued alone down the passageway. Elrohir was surprised that Elladan allowed them to continue while Glorfindel didn't seem surprised; perhaps the Balrog slayer was used to the sons of Elrond's stupid ideas. Lina just remained at the back of the group listening to the four discuss everything that happened. Elladan grabbed a water flask and gently cleaned Legolas' small wounds on his palms while Elrohir continued to ramble about the stupidity of their human brother. Legolas was looking much better since they had gotten above ground and under the sun. The Mirkwood elf was angered that his weakness had become such a hindrance to prevent him from following his friend and protecting him. He barely remembered anything after going down a few of the steps until the memory of Aragorn talking to him surfaced. Other than that, his memory was blank. He flinched as Elladan spread a healing paste over the small wounds and bound each of his hands with a strip of linen.

            "Estel will be fine. Sauros will protect him in anything occurs," Elladan replied as his brother threw his hands up.

            "We are talking about the same person, you know, your little brother. The one that always seems to get into trouble with anything and everything that he sees. Who can turn a perfectly harmless trip into a complete and total fiasco?"

            Elladan thought about his brother's statement and realized that Elrohir was correct. Aragorn did have an amazing ability to get himself in trouble; he had it from the time when he came to Imladris to live there. The twins, Glorfindel, and Elrond hoped that he would grow out of it when he grew up but it was an empty hope. Aragorn attracted danger from miles away. It was inevitable; some warriors had it down to a precise moment. Elladan sometimes believed that they set bets on it and Glorfindel participated in it, not that the Balrog slayer would admit to it.

            "Aragorn is an adult and can take care of himself."

            Elrohir released a bark of laughter, "Do you really believe that? After all of his adventures that we have participated in and heard of, do you really believe that?"

            "Does it matter if I do or not? We can not always be there to protect him," Elladan snapped before standing up and held out a hand to help Legolas up.

            His temporary time in that cave served to make him more irritable than normal and he was snapping at his twin. Sighing deeply, he rubbed his brow and felt a warm breeze blow up and sweep his hair to the side. He was angered that he couldn't be with Aragorn and protect him. He did not doubt Sauros' abilities but he felt that no one could protect Aragorn better than himself. It was a stupid belief but it came from watching the human grow up and being a protective brother and all big brothers felt this.

            "I am sorry, brother. I did not mean to snap at you. I worry for Estel," he murmured as Elrohir moved up to stand next to his twin.

            "I also worry for him but we can not always be there to help him. It pains me also but it cannot be ignored as much as we wish to ignore it. Estel is the hope and king of men; he needs us to stand behind him and lend him support, not protect him from all the evils that roam these lands," Elrohir said quietly.

            "He is correct, Elladan. You must allow the baby bird to fly away from the nest and grow up," Glorfindel added and the twins turned to notice that the others were listening the two brothers' conversation.

            Elladan knew that they were right but it didn't make it any less hard for him. Looking at his brother, he tightly hugged his twin and smiled weakly.

            "We had better get all the herbs and bandages ready. I assume that Aragorn and Sauros will come out of there needing some kind of healing," he joked causing everyone to groan and laugh at the same time.

~~~~~~~~~

            "Now remember, human. No touching…touch nothing. Do you hear me?"

            "Yes, Sauros, no more touching for me; I have learned my lesson," Aragorn muttered and rolled his eyes.

            Like he would do that again and almost get himself cleaved in half by a massive axe, shot at by arrows older than Elrond, and leap across a huge pit. He kept his hands by his sides and watched out for any more trip wires or triggers that could set something else off to try and kill them. He still looked for them even though they were walking in the dark. He had dropped the torch when they had made the death-defying leap over the pit and now were walking down the hallway without a light into a place that they can't see. Oh, yeah, this was going great.

            Sauros was starting to mutter things under his breath and Aragorn worried that he may have set off someone else to get the eye twitch that seemed to infect everyone he interacted with. Could he actually drive a dragon to insanity? Apparently so, he thought as he slowly walked down the dark hallway. The dragon held the back of Aragorn's coat as they moved down the hallway to prevent from getting separated.

            "Are we having fun yet?" Aragorn asked quietly off the top of his head.

            "Do you want the real answer or do you want me to blow smoke up your ass?"

            Aragorn stopped and debated which way the dragon wanted that statement to be taken. Sauros wouldn't set him on fire…would he? Before the race down the pathway, Aragorn would have said no to the idea that Sauros would set him on fire but now it might have changed. Or was the dragon being overly sarcastic? That was the problem with dragons, Aragorn thought. You can never tell when a dragon was being serious or not.

            "There is a wall or door ahead of us. I can hear our steps echoing off the object," Sauros said and Aragorn reluctantly stretched out his arm.

            Several more steps forward and Aragorn's hand felt rough wood as he stopped in front of the barrier. Running his hands over the wood, he felt for the edges and eventually found the handles. Glancing over his shoulder to Sauros, he leaned his weight into the doors and felt them slowly move inwards. The room that the doors opened up too was pitch black as the two tried to see anything in the darkness. Aragorn started to pat his pockets to double-check that he did indeed not have his flint to start a torch or some kind of lighting. Sauros rolled his eyes at the human and reached out to pluck an unlit torch from the wall.

            "You know, there are some advantages to having a dragon around," he muttered and brought the torch up to his face.

            Sauros' eyes darkened and his skin took on a slight scaly complex as he blew on the torch. The torch was soon ignited and Sauros' forked tongue flicked out while a puff of sulfurous smoke expelled from his nostrils. His slight dragon qualities faded until his human face was revealed and again and Aragorn glared at him.

            "You could have done that earlier when we were going down the darkened hallway. It would have been useful you know."

            "I know but then the journey would not have been so suspenseful. I was waiting to see how many more traps you would set off in the dark without a light to show you things that you have to touch and put us in danger," Sauros smiled and held the torch ahead of him as he stepped past Aragorn to investigate the room.

            Aragorn raised an eyebrow and watched the dragon walk away. He never knew that dragons could so damn sarcastic when they actually tried to be. It was almost bordering on insanely sarcastic and unbearable. Sauros lighted the other torches around the room until the entire room was lit and they could finally see what was actually in the room. In a chair at the table in the center of the room was a skeleton collapsed over the table with cobwebs stretching between its bones and to the table. On the table was four thickly bound books layered with dust from years untouched in the vault under the earth. Scattered around the room were relics from the past also covered with dust. It was obvious that none had been down there in many ages save the last whose skeletal remains resided at the table. Gently nudging the chair with the toe of his boot, Sauros jumped back when the mandible fell from the skeleton's skull and clattered to the ground at his feet. Aragorn glanced over at him before turning his gaze back to the wall that the skeleton faced and the etchings on the stonewall. The etchings seemed to start at the far left side of the wall and extended outward to the right and branching off several times, but usually keeping a thick line through it all. At the endings of the branches there were words written in the Adûnaic language of which Aragorn was only vaguely familiar. He knew that Westron derived from it and he could see the differences between the two languages but that was the extent of his knowledge of the language.

            "Sauros, could you come over here and take a look at this?" he called to the dragon as his hands gently traced the etchings.

            "What is it?"

            "These etchings are in a language that I am not well versed in. Can you read it? It is in Adûnaic," Aragorn said as Sauros leaned closer to the wall and scanned the etchings.

            "I have not seen this language in quite some time. You wish to know what it reads?" he asked and glanced over at the human.

            "I would not have called you over to read it if I did not want to know what it reads," Aragorn said sarcastically as the dragon narrowed his eyes at the human.

            "There is no need to be sarcastic, human. If I had known that the majority of all humans were like you then I would have chosen another form to take. Your manners are absolutely atrocious," Sauros said before moving down the wall to follow the branches.

            "My manners? You set people on fire for fun and you call my manners atrocious?"

            "Well, I do normally apologize to them before I do it and ask them if they would like regular or extra crispy. It is always the polite way of going about it," Sauros replied without turning away from the wall.

            "Polite way…of course, how could I forget that it is polite," Aragorn muttered and moved towards the table where the skeleton and books were.

            Standing on the opposite side of the table from the skeleton, Aragorn pulled the thickly bound books towards him and wiped away the layer of dust with his forearm. The title meant nothing to him as he carefully opened the cover and heard the old leather cracking and chipping in certain places. Beautiful script flowed across the pages along with detailed sketches of people, weapons, and places. The book was written in Westron thankfully and it was easy for him to read as he quickly scanned the text for any hints of what to do next or any mentions of a dragon named Glaurung.

            "Aragorn, come over here, I think that I have found something interesting," Sauros called as Aragorn turned away from the books.

            He walked over to the far wall to his left where the dragon was scanning the wall. The branching seemed to end where Sauros stood and the rest of the wall was bare of etchings.

            "What is it Sauros?"

            "You are Aragorn the second, correct?"

            "Yes, I am."

            "And your father was Arathorn the second. And your grandfather was Arador."

            "Yes. How do you know all of this?" Aragorn asked as Sauros slowly turned to face him.

            "It is all here on the wall. It is a family tree originating from Elendil himself. Annúminas was once a part of the kingdom of Arthedain, which was ruled over by your ancestors. The Witch-king of Angmar overran Arthedain, but the king and his son escaped. The king eventually died a few weeks later, so his son, Aranarth, inherited the leadership of the scattered and diminished northern Dúnedain. Except he did not take the title of King, instead taking the title of Chieftain since his father's realm was lost. That is where the line of the Chieftains of the Dúnedain began. This is your bloodline, Aragorn and you are etched in the wall in your rightful place. Here," Sauros said and pointed to the last name on the branches of the bloodline.

            "But that is impossible. Who would know? I have remained hidden for years and no one is down here to etch these names here," Aragorn said shocked as he glanced down to where Sauros pointed before looking back to the dragon.

            Both stared at each other before slowly turning and looking over at the skeleton resting in the chair. The eyeless holes in the skeleton's skull stared emptily back at them but seemed to be watching their every move around the room. The skeleton's hand was curled around an old quill pen next to a small ink jar. Aragorn slowly walked towards the table again and pulled away book that rested under the skeleton's body as slowly as he could. The skeletal frame shifted and finally released its hold upon the book as Aragorn pulled it in front of himself and carefully opened the book to the last entry in the book. Sauros moved to stand behind him as the Ranger found the last written entry and pushed it over to Sauros.

            "You read it. I can not bear to," he mumbled and moved away slowly.

            Sauros looked at the flowing script and took a deep breath before starting.

            "'It is the first of March of the Third Age. A son has been born to Arathorn, son of Arador, and to Gilraen, daughter of Dírhael. He is named Aragorn, Kingly Valour; and he is set to accomplish many things in his life. He has his father's strength and courage and his mother's compassion. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.'"

            Sauros looked up and at Aragorn as the human stared at his name on the wall. He was suddenly worried about the human and what was running through his head at the moment. It must be shocking to read something about oneself in a book that no one else knew about and really shouldn't physically be there seeing how a skeleton was the only person or thing that could write it. The etchings on the wall weren't easily explained either. Flipping through some of the other books, Sauros found that all of the books had accounts of people on the entire bloodline and one book consisted of the entire bloodline like it was on the wall. Sauros piled all the books together and cast one more glance at the skeleton, saying a small prayer for his spirit before turning to Aragorn.

            "Aragorn, we must be going. The others will start to worry," he said softly as the Ranger turned his head to look at him over his shoulder.

            "Aye, they will start to worry," he murmured and turned back to the wall before reached out to carefully drag the tips of his fingers across the etched name of his father.

            Locking away his emotions for the moment, Aragorn turned and helped Sauros pick up the heavy books from the table. Just before following Sauros out, something caught Aragorn's eye at the corner of the table and he stopped to look closer at it. Shifting the books to one arm, he wiped away the dust to get a better look at it.

            "Aragorn, are you coming?" Sauros asked, realizing that the human was not behind him when he reached the door.

            "Hold on a moment; I think I found something else," he muttered and ran his fingers across the fine etching in the wood.

            A few lines in Adûnaic were carved into the wooden table and there was a small, carved square next to the lines with a design in the center of it. His thumb went across the cut out square and his eyes widened as the square slowly sunk about an inch into the table. Looking at Sauros quickly to see if the dragon was watching, he tired to pull the square back up before it started something. Sauros suddenly felt a slight trembling under his feet as he looked down at the stone floor before slowly looking up and at Aragorn.

            "What did you touch, human?"

            "I just lightly touched it. I did not mean to," Aragorn yelped as Sauros hurried to his side.

            "What did you touch?"

            "That," he answered and pointed to the square as the trembling in the floor became more violent.

            Sauros leaned over the table and quickly translated the inscription as best as he could under the circumstances.

            "What does it read?"

            "Uh…the secrets of Elendil's line must be hidden till time to reveal…one must always be wary of those that serve the dark lord…press this in case of infiltration. You set off another booby trap, you prat!" Sauros snapped once he figured out the gist of the inscription. "I told you not to touch anything!"

            "Well, what is the trap?" Aragorn yelled and gripped the edge of the table to stay on his feet.

            "I'm not going to wait and find out."

            Sauros yanked off his coat and wrapped the books tightly in the bundle and motioned for Aragorn to do the same with his coat and books. Just when the finished in bundling the books, small chunks of the floor started to fall away to leave gaping holes in their place. The two of them started to back away while clutching the bundles to their chests and watching the floor disintegrate under their very feet.

            "I will have you know, human, that if we survive this then I will personally make sure that you never touch another thing in your long life. This is the third or fourth time that you have almost gotten me killed and I will exact my revenge," Sauros snapped just before the floor under him gave away and plunged him into the darkness.

            Aragorn soon followed with a yell as he plunged downwards into only Valar knows what after Sauros.

//////////////////

I must say that I was rolling on the floor laughing my ass off when I finished writing this chapter. It is Indian Jones/Ranger to the rescue! *laughing hysterically* Oh my, this is just too funny. I am having way too much fun with Aragorn and Sauros, it must be illegal too have this much fun with those two. Heehee, I am so dangerous with a laptop and my stories.

Lauren- Girl, I was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically when I read your responses in the betaed chapter. I had the reread the funny lines and make sure that I had actually written them. Their relationship is just so hilarious, I swear, it is the comic relief of the story. It is, Heehee. So tell me something. I learned from your comments in the story that you are 19, so I assume you are either at college or working. Where? Just curious really; want to learn where my favorite beta people are.

Roccovende- You are my official elvish speaking translator. Whenever I need something translated, I will call you. Coolio with you? Coolio with me. My plot bunnies are twisted little creatures in their own rights. Poppy was having way too much fun with this chapter; I think he put in all those sarcastic comments from Sauros for Twitch. Poppy has become the big protective big brother to Twitch. It is frightening.

SilverKnight7- I just love one-word reviews. So too the point. Updated!

Ringmarciel- You have????? Eh gads, the world as we know it will come to an end! Heehee, do not mind me. I will go and check it out whenever I have time to just plain ole surf and not actually have to write anything.

Deana- Thank you so very much mellonin. I am glad that you enjoyed the chapter so much. Here is the Chapter 14 and I hope you enjoy it.

Leggylover03- Aragorn got himself into a lot of trouble underground. I thought it was quite hilarious actually. Sauros and he are just having so much fun together, in the words of Lauren: One of them is going to kill the other one, my money is on the dragon.

Roz- I have the movie somewhere in my collection. Eh, I will find it later on and watch it. You work at a vet clinic? Cool! I thought that line was just hilarious; I just had to put it in there.

HaloGatomon- Well thank you very much for your enthusiasm. I am having way too much fun with Aragorn and this whole story and his antics. Having this much fun just has to be illegal, I swear it must.

Cloud-123- Thank you for the compliment. I will update as soon as I possibly can.

Isadora2- Guten Tag, Frau Isadora2. I am very glad that I made through my writer's block also. I always hate running into those; it is like running into a brick wall at full speed. Quite painful actually. *blushing* Well, Sauros thanks you for you enthusiasm and promises to stick around for a while. I will work as much as I can to quickly put up the next chapter but I am intending to post the next chapter to 'An Ancient Bond' after I post this chapter.

Grumpy- Thank you for the compliment. The next chapter will absolutely hilarious between Aragorn and Estel; I have the entire scene planned in my mind and I just fall over laughing every time I think about it and expand it. Heehee *snicker*, oh I am so bad.

Star-Stallion- I intended for people to laugh or at least chuckle when they read it. I know that I did. I have checked out your site and I would be honored to have my stories hosted there. You do me a great honor by offering and I respectfully accept if the offer is still on the table, Arwenamin (my lady) *holds hand over heart and bows while sweeping arm out to the side*. I would have emailed you a response earlier, but you have no email address on your author profile. You may choose which stories to post there, it is your site. I have no objections. If you do wish to post 'An Ancient Bond' then I wish to touch up small parts before you post it.

Catmint- I hope you enjoyed the story that I sent you too. I find it quite hilarious.

XxgemxX- *blushing* I thank you for the compliment and I still say that I am an average writer. Oh, and the question that no woman really wants to hear, LOL. How old are you? Heehee, well I have nothing to hide and am quite proud of myself. I am twenty years old and will turn 21 in October, whenever that month decides to hurry up and get here. How old are you?

Inu lover- Yes, this story is set before any of the movies or books. I am glad that you enjoy this story so much.

Elven Kitten- Yes, my poor little penguin. I think that I will name him 'Frosty', what do you think? Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others.

Legalady- During the movie, I think that I only got teary eyed a few times. Just at the really emotional parts. Started cheering when Eowyn killed the Witch-king *as did the other females in the theater*.

Lina Skye- Computers can be such a pain in the ass at times if they are not working correctly. Myrtle Beach in the house! *mutters to self: Holy shit, where did that come from?* Anyway, beachgoers are the best. Especially the men, very nice bodies, yummy. It is okay; I figured that probably happened to my email. I am guilty of it too, if I do not recognize the address or there is nothing noticeable in the subject bar, I usually delete it.

Lydia2- Elrond did? *grabs books and starts flipping through everything* Damn, where did I miss that? Ah, oh well, it is there somewhere I assume. I just knew that Elrond had them at Imladris for safekeeping. I do not remember him telling Aragorn about them but I could have totally forgotten about it. I am prone to things like that. Aragorn the first was a Ranger like Aragorn Elessar and if you look back in the chapter, I did not say that he was a king, it was just a statue (this is not being said evilly believe me, upon rereading the chapter, I could see how you could see it as him being a king). And have no fear; you did not offend me in the least.

Astievia- Oh, that is freaky. Get out of my head!

Frodo16424- You love Sauros? I love Sauros too! Heehee, oh I need some sleep.

Andunea the Shapeshifter- I have a lot of comic relief in this chapter mixed with a bunch of fun exciting stuff. Dangit, I screwed up the dragon's color! I was writing this without having searched for a lot of the dragon's physical characteristics intending to search for it after I had the chapter written and I completely forgot. *slaps forehead* I am such a dip at times, I swear.

Snow-Glory- Aragorn got into a lot of trouble in this chapter. I thought it was hilarious actually.

Elvendancer- I know, I know, I should not be skipping classes. But when I skip, I can usually be found writing. Does that make up for it? I hope it does. Writer's block is conquered and I hope that you had a marvelous vacation. Where did you go?