Buried

by Cheryl W

(Completed)Secrets of Aragorn’s family are revealed and they threaten to cost Aragorn, not only the relationship he has with all those he holds dear, but his very life. NO SLASH

5. Chapter 5

BURIED

By: Cheryl W

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lord of the Rings or anything in conjunction with the Lord of the Rings nor am I making a profit from this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

CHAPTER 5 (((((

Legolas could not keep the smile from his face as he made his way through the forest toward Rivendell. This night he would be sitting by the fireplace in Rivendell trading stories with his best friend. He could hardly wait to see Aragorn again for it had been entirely too long since he had see the man.

Unexpectedly, worry clenched Legolas' heart, worry that would not ease until he laid eyes on his friend. Long ago they had arranged this reunion but he had not heard from Aragorn since then. What if something had happened to his friend during their time apart? He knew, more than anyone else, the type of trouble that reckless human could get into within a blinking of an eye. As hard as he tried, Legolas could not quell the fear that seized him from time to time. The fear that Aragorn would one day not meet him, that he would leave the circles of this world as his kind was destined to do and no longer stand at Legolas's side. Suddenly, Legolas worried that today would be that day.

"Nay, not today," Legolas firmly refuted aloud, quickening his pace to Rivendell. But his heart whispered, 'But someday, someday he will die.' Bitterly he accepted the truth of his thoughts even as he silently countered, 'Yes, but not today, not for many long years.' Suddenly he halted his progress, smelling the faint presence of smoke in the forest. It was late afternoon but not yet time for anyone to be thinking of preparing a campfire for cooking. Cautiously, Legolas crept toward the source of the smoky smell, sensing that all was not well in the forest that bordered Rivendell. It took him but a few minutes of walking before he crouched down on the far outskirts of a seemingly deserted camp where the embers of a fire still smoldered. As he searched the camp from his vantage point, his breath caught. He would recognize that pack and bedroll anywhere: they were Aragorn's. Instantly, Legolas' bow and arrow were in his hands. Aragorn would not have left the bag behind, nor let the fire burn in his absence. Legolas' mouth went dry as he listened for sounds of his friend's presence in the forest but he detected only nature around him. Stepping from his cover, he crossed to the campfire, his eyes searching the perimeter with each step. Having reached Aragorn's belongings, Legolas knelt down and ran his hands over the bedroll and pack. His eyes had not cheated him, they were Aragorn's. Fear painfully tightened around his heart.

Seeing two letters lying on the ground by his friend's pack, Legolas picked them up and quickly scanned their contents. Harsh lines of anguish marked the elf's face and he closed his eyes a moment before brutally shoving the letters in the pack. He needed to find his friend. Aragorn should not be alone after reading those letters. Yet that was not the only reason he felt an urgently to find the man. It was also his instincts. They were clamoring inside him, screaming that something more sinister than the letters had caused his friend to abandon his possessions and camp.

Standing up, Legolas slung Aragorn's pack over his shoulder and began to inspect the camp in earnest. He could easily tell that another bedroll had been spread out on the other side of the fire, indicating that Aragorn had not been alone last night. Studying the patterns in the still moist ground, Legolas' eyes darkened with worry. The footprints spoke of a battle between two humans. Following the prints as they led further from the camp, Legolas stumbled to a stop and knelt down, reaching his fingers to the discolored dirt. He clenched his hand into a fist as his dreaded guess was confirmed. Dried blood had splattered the ground at that spot. Following the blood trail and the footprints, he found two more concentrated blood stains, indicating a successful attack which resulted in a wound upon the opponent. Within Legolas sprang the question he hated to contemplate. Whose blood littered the ground? Aragorn's or his opponent's? He felt sick as logic already told him the answer he did not truly seek.

The fight had been intense; he could tell that by the impression and patterns of the footprints. Taking a few more steps along the field of battle, he saw that one opponent had been brought to one knee, spilling more blood upon the ground at the action. Suddenly, Legolas collapsed to his own knees beside the ground where a man's body had clearly lain. With shaking fingers, he traced the impression in the dirt, letting his touch slim over the still sticky blood that pooled in the right side of the markings. "Aragorn", he breathed in anguish, all the while his heart was crying that it could not be, it could not be his friend's body that had lain here, defeated, mortally wounded, dead.

Frantically his eyes sought to make out the impressions in the dirt that indicated that the downed man had climbed to his feet, had engage his opponent in battle again. But he could find no such markings, instead he saw deeper footprints beside where he knelt, indicating the standing man had carried a heavy burden...like a corpse. Surging to his feet, the prince followed the deeper prints. He cursed as the prints halted where hoof prints marred the ground. The victor had put the body of his opponent on his horse and ridden off. With surprise, Legolas saw that the horse tracks led in the direction he had been heading himself, toward Rivendell. He was about to follow the tracks when something in the woods to his left caught the sun's rays and sent a glimmer of light onto his cheek. Following the glare with his eyes, Legolas's heart stop. The sun was refracted upon the blade of a sword. With suddenly heavy legs, Legolas walked toward the weapon. When he saw the sword fully, he found his legs would no longer hold his weight and he crumbled to the ground softly crying, "Valar, No!" Tenderly he picked up the sword, Aragorn's sword. All hope he had harbored that the victor in the battle was Aragorn instantly died. His friend would not have willingly left his sword behind.

He noted that a thin layer of blood coated the steel, indicating that Aragorn had scored a strike against his opponent but not a grievous one, not one that would account for all the blood Legolas had found staining the ground. With deepening certainty, Legolas knew in his heart that it was Aragorn who had lain on the ground, Aragorn's blood that he had found pooled in the dirt and mostly Aragorn's blood that had been scattered about the area.

Grief overwhelmed Legolas and he clamped his eyes shut and hung his head, clutching his friend's sword tightly in his right hand as it rested on his lap. The warrior in him said that his best friend was dead, that he'd never again feel that sense of contentment he always felt in Aragorn's presence, that he would never again laugh with the man, or walk the paths of this life at his side. Memories of Aragorn swamped Legolas and he could no longer hold back the choked sob or check the tears that streamed down his cheek. When Legolas reigned in his emotions, he lifted his head, swiped at the tears on his face and came determinedly to his feet. Deftly he put Aragorn's sword beside his own swords secured upon his back. He stalked back to the place where he had first spotted the horse tracks. He had not been able to save his friend's life, but he would avenge his death...even if it cost him all he possessed.

Tracking the horse was easy, even for one not as skilled as Aragorn. Legolas broke into a run, keeping the horse tracks always in sight and his thoughts firmly fixed on his task of revenge.
The closer the tracks led to Rivendell, the more uncertain Legolas grew of his notion of the quarry he sought. Why would the man take Aragorn's body toward Rivendell? If he were to meet up with a Rivendell patrol, it would signal his death! But no matter the illogic of the choice, the horse did not break from it's path to Rivendell.

Legolas did not know how long he had followed the tracks but suddenly he halted when he saw the horse tracks indicated that the horse had been tied to a nearby tree. For the first time, Legolas looked up from the tracks to take note of his surroundings. He drew in a sharp breath as he saw the tomb off to his right. Unmistakably he knew where he stood for he and Aragorn had passed this way many a time and the man had told him the tale of the tomb.

Footprints marred the dirt and again the impression of a body could be seen on the ground. He followed a set of the footsteps ...right to the tomb. Dread built in Legolas as he saw that the ground seemingly was brushed aside by the door. Someone had opened the tomb and, knowing the tomb's history, Legolas feared he knew why. Horror and hope surged through him in equal parts as he reached for the tomb's door handle. If Aragorn's opponent knew the tale as Legolas did, trapping an alive Aragorn in the tomb would be a fitting action. Finding a metal link chain sealing the door closed, Legolas swiftly pulled Aragorn's sword and brought it's blade swiftly upon the chain, cutting through it with ease.

Before the chain could stop swinging, Legolas was pulling open the door. He barely jumped to the side in time to miss being buried under a wall of dirt that tumbled from the tomb. Immediately, Legolas began to dig through the dirt, "Aragorn! Aragorn!" he called as he waded into the tomb and desperately clawed at the dirt that filled the room halfway to the top. "Aragorn!" he called frantically, his hands finding only more dirt. Crawling upon the dirt, Legolas crossed to the right side of the tomb and began to reach down into the depths of the dirt, searching for his friend. Then his hand hit something and after a moment he got a good grip on it and pulled it to the surface. Immediately, Legolas released his hold as he saw that he had the leg of the skeleton in his grip. Making his way to the other side of the tomb, Legolas again plunged his hands into the dirt but they did not come into contact with anything. Aragorn was not in the tomb. Kneeling on top of the dirt, Legolas's eyes drifted overhead and he saw that the entire roof had collapsed into the tomb leaving the darkening sky open to his sight. Hope sprang into him. Scrambling from the tomb, he climbed to the top of the hill that housed the tomb. Disappointment surged in him. Aragorn was not there...maybe had never been there. Walking as close to the edge of the caved in section as he dared, Legolas once again read the markings in the dirt. Someone had clawed at the dirt and dragged themselves from the section of the cave in.

The hope that Aragorn had indeed escaped the tomb resurfaced again in Legolas. One thing that Aragorn was, was a survivor. No matter the odds. 'And these odds were the worst,' Legolas could not help thinking as he recalled all that the ranger had endured at the brutal hands of his opponent this day. Though hope had been renewed, Legolas could not forget the fact that his friend had been grievously wounded before he had been sealed in a tomb, survived a cave in and made his escape. Again fear settled in Legolas' heart as he knew with sharp clarity that Aragorn's life still hung in the balance between life and death. His friend needed his wounds tended to and fast if he were to continue to cling to this life. Coming to his feet, Legolas took up pursuit of the staggering footsteps of his friend at a dead run. He had been too late to aid his friend against his foe but he would not be too late to save his life. He would not mourn his friend's death twice in one day, once falsely and once earnestly. No, this time he would be there for to save his best friend.

LOTRLOTR

Aragorn's body wanted to sink to the ground in either collapse or death, but the man's unrelenting need for the truth pushed him forward. Step after step. He needed to hear the truth from Elrond, needed to know the extent of the elf's betrayal, of his own folly. And he would not succumb to weakness until that task was complete. He did not know how many times he stumbled to his knees but forced himself to again climb to his feet and continue to Rivendell. Nor did he know how many times he had leaned heavily against a tree, bracing his wounds and panting hard before he pressed forward. It was all a blur. Only his objective occupied his mind. And then Rivendell came into sight and all his pain and weariness fell away under his rage at Elrond's betrayal. Foolishly he had thought of Rivendell as his home, as his haven from the world. Now he knew it had been an illusion...just like Elrond's love. Crossing the distance to the great house's door, Aragorn leaned on the doorframe a moment, marshalling his strength. He would not let his weakness rob him of this moment. He would face Elrond unflinchingly and demand the truth of the elf lord's letters, of his actions.

Standing up straight, Aragorn pulled open the door of the Last Homely House and entered the hall. Elladan and Elrohir almost plowed right into him. Their surprise morphed quickly into joy at seeing their brother but that emotion was swiftly overshadowed by their concern at his dirt covered appearance.

"Estel, what has happened to you?" Elladan greeted, grabbing Aragorn's shoulders.

But Aragorn pulled from his older brother's grasp, brushed by Elrohir and entered the great hall. "I want to speak to Elrond."

The twins stiffened at Aragorn's reference to his father as "Elrond". "Elrond?" Elrohir incredulously repeated, "You mean you need to speak to your father. Why are you acting so peculiar?"

The eyes Aragorn settled on the twins turned almost black with his brother's words. "Is he home or not?"

"He is home," Elladan replied. "I will tell him you have matters to discuss with him," adopting the tone he would use upon his father's proper visitors. He and Elrohir exchanged concerned and confused looks before Elladan left the room.

Elrohir nervously studied Estel, taking in his brother's appearance with an accessing look. Dirt hung to the man's hair, face and his clothing from head to foot but even more alarming was the pain he saw clearly in his brother's eyes, which gave Elrohir a fear that it was not dirt alone that darkened his brother's travel worn clothing.

"Estel, come take a seat." Elrohir approached his brother ready to guide him to a seat but Estel took a step back and his eyes held a warning.

"Be reasonable, Estel!" Elrohir implored. "You look like you've just crawled out of the Halls of Mandos."

"I have," Aragorn mumbled lower than a human could hear but when his brother's look darkened, Aragorn fought down a curse. His time with the rangers had dulled his memory on elven hearing.

"Please sit down and tell me why you look as ill used as you do," Elrohir gently requested, again reaching out for his brother.

Aragorn retreated back again and raised a hand to halt his brother's advance and warned in a voice filled with barely leashed anger. "Don't push me. You will not like my response today."

"I don't like your response right now," Elrohir replied but his quiet concern seeped through every word, dulling the bite of the words. "I am on your side, Estel, as I always am."

But Aragorn's eyes darkened in denial. "In this you may not side with me, Elrohir."

LOTRLOTR

Elrond looked up form the herbs he was mixing at Elladan's entrance into the room. Easily reading the worry in his son's face, he abandon his work and demanded "What's wrong?"

"Estel just arrived..."

Before Elladan could finish his sentence, Elrond began to head for the door, guessing the cause of his son's worry, "Estel's hurt."

But Elladan stepped into his father's path, halting the elven lord's dash. Meeting his father's surprised gaze, Elladan tied to prepare his father for the reception he was bound to receive by Estel. "Maybe, I can not tell for certain but there is more you must know."

Stilling, Elrond looked into Elladan's eyes and wondered what ill news his son was bracing him for. "Tell me," he begged.

"He will not let Elrohir or I touch him, though he looks as if he will crumble to the ground any moment...and he requested to speak to "Elrond."

Elrond stiffened at that. "Elrond?" he repeated painfully, "Is someone accompanying him...someone that he does not want to know of our relationship?" hope gleaming in his eyes.

Elladan shook his head and quietly answered, "No. He is alone and very earnest in his address of you. And he is angry...more angry then I have ever seen him. Do not expect a warm greeting, Ada," purposefully calling Elrond ada to soften the blow of Estel's apparent rejection.

Now girded with Elladan's warning, Elrond clasp his son on the shoulder to reassure the shaken elf as much as to amplify his own strength. "Come, we will learn what troubles your brother.

When Elrond first saw his youngest son, disheveled and covered in dirt, all of Elladan's warnings fled his mind. With a cry of "Estel" he crossed over to the ranger and seized his shoulders before Aragorn could prevent the contact. Immediately, the ranger tried to step away from the elven lord's touch.

The instant Elrond touched Estel, he could feel his son's emotional turmoil and physical weakness. He was surprised and hurt when Estel attempted to pull away from his touch but he did not give the young one his way and instead tightened his grip on his son, halting Aragorn's attempts to escape.

"Release me!" Aragorn demanded a moment before he uncharacteristically shoved Elrond's hands off his shoulders. Having gained his freedom, he stepped back even as Elrond stepped forward. "Let us not continue the lie between us any longer," he growled.

"What lie?" Elrond questioned, his own confusion and concern matching his elven sons.

Aragorn eyes bore into Elrond's. "I read the letters you sent to my father. I know you bitterly refused his request," his words vague enough to elude his brothers's understanding but straightforward enough to pierce Elrond with their true meaning.

All color drained from Elrond's face, proving to Aragorn, more unshakably than any confession the elf would have uttered, that the letters had not been false. Anger and gut wrenching sorrow warred within Aragorn. His life, his family, their love ..it had been a lie. All of it. Turning swiftly on his heels, he stormed for the door, all fatigue and wounds forgotten.

Elladan and Elrohir swung their looks between their father and their departing brother. Instinctively, they knew that their family would never be whole ever again if Aragorn walked out of the door now.

Elrond wanted to deny Aragorn's assumption or at least justify his actions. But he found he could do neither. He had been wrong to deny Arathorn's request. Horribly wrong. How could Arathorn's son forgive him that decision!

"Ada, stop him!" Elrohir demanded, seizing onto his father's arm to break the older elf from the stupor that left him immobile. But when his father's eyes turned to him, Elrohir's breath caught at the despair in the depths of the eyes that met his.

Seeing that Elrond was unable or unwilling to stop Aragorn's departure, Elladan, taking the responsibility into his own hands, ran after Aragorn. "Estel, wait!" he called as he reached his brother's side and grabbed the man's wrist.

But Aragorn's reign on his emotions finally deserted him and he aimed a punch at his brother's jaw. A punch that never landed as the agile elf ducked the blow and instead grabbed Estel's other wrist and twisted the man around. Finding his arms criss crossed in front of his chest and his brother behind him, Aragorn gave a grunt of pain and anger and tried to jerk from his brother's hold.

"Be still!" Elladan ordered as he pulled Aragorn back against his chest and slid his grip up to his brother's forearm, effectively trapping his brother in his hold.

Fury swept through Aragorn as the feeling of helplessness again assaulted him for the second time that day. "No!" he yelled and he tried to pitch forward enough to unbalance the elf and send him toppling over him. But again the other's elven strength and balance prevailed. Applying more force than he had ever used on his human brother, Elladan jerked Aragorn back against his chest and strengthened his biting grip on the man's arms, increasing the pressure he placed on the man's crisscrossed limbs. "Stop, Estel! Stop!" he commanded sternly in his brother's ear, though his twin and father could detect the desperate plea that also laced the words.

Agony and anger surged through Aragorn. "Let me go!" he ground out between clenched teeth and tried again to loosen his brother's hold but to no avail.

"No, I will not let you go," Elladan quietly but firmly answered Aragorn's demand. "Not until you promise me that you will not head for the door."

"I will give no such promise," and still he tried to wrench himself from his brother's steely hold.

"Then I will hold you in my arms until you see reason."

"I know reason," Aragorn growled. "I have no place here, so stop detaining me."

"No place here," Elrohir repeated in disbelief. "What has muddled your mind, Estel! This is your home..forever, it does not matter how long you stay absent."

But Estel raised his eyes to Elrond, who stood horrified at the sight of his two sons engaged in such a struggle of strength. "This was never my home...I was never truly welcome...only my destiny bought me my place in your world."

Elrond drew in a sharp breath at his human son's words, at the anger and pain he saw in the silver depths of Aragorn's eyes. "No, do not say that," Elrond begged closing the distance between himself and his son. He reached his hand out to touch Aragorn's face but Aragorn jerked his head away and let his defiance blaze in his searing look to Elrond. "I was wrong, Estel," Elrond fervently confessed. "I should have agreed to your father's request."

Unwilling to accept Elrond's words as truth, Aragorn demanded, "You no longer bear the responsibility of protecting Isildur's heir so tell your son to release me so I can take my leave."

Shock and hurt jolted through Elladan at Aragorn callous reference to him. Whatever perceived harm Elrond had inflicted on Aragorn, it was deep enough to cause Aragorn to forsake even his elven brothers. Desperation sparked Elladan's words, "You go too far, Estel. I do not understand your anger, but I know that it burns brightly within you but so does our love for you."

Aragorn drew in a breath to refute Elladan's words but his brother tightened his hold on his arms, effectively making his breath leave him in a painful rush.

"I will hear no protests on that matter, Estel, for you know your heart can not deny our love for you, nor even the great depths of our love. Now speak plainly. Who has filled you with these preposterous doubts."

"Him," Aragorn accused, jerking his head to his elven father.

Elrond flinched at Estel's charge and the look all three of his sons now bestowed on him. "I have done wrong. I can not deny that. But will you judge my love for you based on a decision I made before I laid eyes upon you?! Do not the many happy years we have between us as father and son prove my love for you?"

Aragorn contemplated Elrond's words, the sweet memories they evoked of his time with the elf. "I would know why you refused to shelter my mother and I."

At their brother's words, shock tore through Elladan and Elrohir.
"Ada?" Elrohir questioned warily, "Is this true?"

Meeting not Elrohir's gaze but Estel's, Elrond confessed, "Yes."

The one simple word was like a shout of doom in the room. Numbly, Aragorn realized that Elladan had freed him of his hold but Aragorn did not move away from his brother's presence, a presence that gave him comfort now even as his world crumbled. This was a betrayal he could not have fathomed. Ever.

"Estel!" Elladan cried out as his brother swayed on his feet.

Arms wrapped around Aragorn, their intentions now not of restraint but aid. Again he felt himself pulled back again his brother's chest and he offered no protests. Valar he was tired, and hurt and lost. His eyes fixed on the only father he knew. He wanted Elrond to undo the harm that lay between them, to say that he did not mean what he had said...what he had written to Arathorn. But most of all he wanted Elrond to say he wanted him...had always wanted him.

For the first time, Elrond wanted to offer up a lie to his son. A lie would not bring devastation to his family. A lie would not steal his youngest son's love from him nor would it break the elf's heart to speak. But his honor and his love for Aragorn would not allow the lie to slip past his lips. He instead choked out the truth, "When your ...father" his voice cracked upon the word but he pressed forward, "made his entreaty...I no longer wanted any mortals in my house... or in my life."

The breath left Aragorn. 'He did not want me' reverberated through his mind even as another part of him berated himself for not accepting that truth a long time ago. Suddenly it was all too overwhelming. Breaking free from Elladan's grasp, he took but three steps before he fell victim to his abused body's revolt. He barely had time to offer up a silent curse at his body's betrayal before his mind deftly slipped into a black void.

TBC ))))))))))))))

Replies to Reviews:

Sielge: Thanks for your compliment and I'm flattered that you want more. (Besides I understand because I'm insatiable myself when it comes to fanfic/angst!) Hope to hear from you this chapter!

BabeyRachey: Glad you "Loved" last chapter! I wasn't sure if it was boring reading poor Aragorn trapped in the tomb so I tried to make it as "real" as I could. Hope you liked Elrohir and Elladan in chapter and they will be in the rest of the story. After all it's going to take some time to knock some sense into their little brother and force him to see that they love him as does Elrond. Thanks for your wonderful review!

Tychen: Aragorn the human mole?! I LOVED that! And I agree, handing Barion over to the Twins sounds deliciously evil. But I'm thinking Elrond might want his pound of flesh too...and then there's Legolas and of course Aragorn. I can't quite decide who should get to punish Barion or exactly how. But I'm thinking about it! It's always a pleasure to read your review!

Athelassa: You've got a heart of gold! You Still like Barion! I gotta say I admire your understanding. And see, I let the ranger live. So glad you liked that I expressed Aragorn's fear. I wanted him to come across as real, not some superhero like you said. Glad I accomplished my mission. Thanks for taking the time and effort to give me such well thought our reviews!

Ymmas Sirron: You had me laughing over your review! I almost would feel sorry for Barion if I gave him up to your "mercies"...well almost. This chapter got some answers from Elrond but not nearly enough I know. Thank you for continuing to read and review this story!

Someone Reading: In truth, I couldn't wait to hear what you thought of this chapter! And I wasn't disappointed! I know you liked the intenseness of chapter 3 but I worried what you would think of chapter 4's descriptions. Thank you so much for your wonderful compliments on Chapter 4! Glad I was able to make Aragorn's time in the tomb seem realistic not only in his thoughts but his actions. (Glad I had you desperate enough to suggest Aragorn use the bones as digging tools! ) So how'd you like the initial confrontation between Elrond and Aragorn!? Love to hear what you think.

Grumpy: Thank you for your compliments! I wanted to write Aragorn's time in the tomb as real as I could, glad you liked my efforts! I felt kinda ashamed of myself for having Aragorn ram the door with his injuries but the man wanted out and wanted out badly, wounds be darned. Love to know how you like the family "reunion" so far.

Aebbook: Yes, Elrond has a LOT of explaining to do! Doesn't he know you never write down mean sentiments ...cause they always come back to haunt you! Thank for reviewing!

Sirith: Thank you for wanting to read another one of my stories and your compliments! Hope to hear what you think of this chapter!

Luinthien: Your Arathorn guess wasn't wrong, I kinda misled you but thanks for letting me get away with it! I'm relieved that you liked Aragorn's escape...I was worried it was too hokey to be believed. As for a revenge on Barion, I'm still planning that one. And you're right, Elrond is not going to have a picnic in this story and I wouldn't advise swapping places with him. Thanks so much for your wonderful reviews full of wonderful insight!

Tailspin: It's nice to hear from you again! And I know, the stories been a tiney bit harsh on Aragorn but see now he's with his family and ...ok, now it's time for angst. It that better than making you endure another skeleton scene! (Sickly, I loved that you "barely made it though the skeleton scenes" cause that means I did a half decent job of describing Aragorn's horrible tomb experience. Hope to hear from you again!

Elven Kitten: Sorry that I made you go to the effort of "borrowing" that forklift but blame it on Aragorn. He just refused to wait in the tomb for your arrival. Men are so impatient! Thanks for your hilarious reviews!

Marbienl: Please don't tell Aragorn that he can die of fright...that's knowledge he doesn't need to know especially since he's always getting into the most terrifying situations! And yes, our ranger was way beyond desperate and may have abandoned the slamming oneself into the door and indeed "borrowed" a bone of two for digging if he hadn't found that other way out of the tomb. This chapter gave you Aragorn's initial reunion with Elrond and Elrond wasn't denying a thing. (I think he shoulda slipped in a fib or two myself). As for whether this story is finished...sorry to say no. I'm trying hard to stay a chapter ahead but it's getting rougher each week between getting them to my beta and making changes and coming up with ingenious tortures for Aragorn. Real hard work let me tell you and I'm having the BEST time! I love writing! And I will check out your stories when I get a chance! Can't wait for your email!

Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!
Cheryl W