A/N: Sindarin words are in Italics.
Chapter 22
Mercenaries
The forest erupted with humans, all yelling at the top of their lungs and brandishing a variety of nasty looking weapons. Though the four first used their great longbows, and managed to bring down several of the charging humans, the mass was soon on their position and the twins, Legolas and Aragorn had to go to their long knives and swords.
In the midst of the battle, looking up from where he had just finished off one of his attackers, Legolas saw the leader of the mercenaries talking to one of his men and pointing towards where Aragorn was fighting. Nodding his head at his commander, the soldier started whirling something around his head and though Legolas did not recognize the weapon or know its capabilities at that moment, he knew something dangerous when he saw it and so tried to warn his human friend.
"Estel!" He yelled. Unfortunately by the time his warning reached the young ranger, it was too late.
He watched in horror as the device flew through the air and wrapped itself around Aragorn's ankles, immediately taking him to the ground.
The twins had also seen their brother being taken down and together with Legolas started to fight their way over to his position. But before they could reach his side, the leader of the mercenaries had reached the young man, grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and had placed a knife to his throat.
"I suggest that you all put down your weapons." He yelled at them over the din of the battle. When the three elves continued to fight, he yelled at them again.
"Unless you want to see your little human friend get his throat slit open right here, and right now, I suggest you put down your weapons."
Aragorn tried to shake his head but was rewarded for his effort when the man holding him suddenly reversed the dagger in his hand and slammed the hilt down on his head, just above his right ear. Aragorn slumped in his grip, only half-conscious.
The twins and Legolas, seeing that the man was indeed willing to kill his prisoner, carefully put their weapons down and surrendered. They quickly found their wrists and ankles manacled to large steel rings that had been previously sunk deep in the forest's floor. The leader, who all three elves were fast developing a strong dislike for, had hung Aragorn by his wrists in a tree just 15 feet beyond their reach. All they could do was watch, helplessly as the unconscious man hung there, his feet barely touching the ground.
While waiting for the young human to regain his senses, the rest of the mercenaries set up camp and disposed of their dead. Elladan, Elrohir and Legolas waited helplessly for whatever was going to happen next, and while doing so their elven hearing picked up a conversation between the leader and another man.
"Are you sure he's the one?" The subordinate asked the leader. "Ain't he supposed to be wearing a fancy ring or somethin'? Why don't we check just to make sure."
Nodding in agreement, both the leader and the soldier he had been talking with approached the tree where Aragorn was hanging.
"If they find Barahir on Aragorn's finger, he will be in big trouble!"
The others nodded in agreement for Elrohir had just stated what the rest of them had been thinking.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
As the horses of the six elves loped swiftly towards Rivendell, Anayah, who had been slipping in and out of sleep since leaving Nen, suddenly gasped and sat up straight. Rahan, sensing her distress, signaled for the others to stop. Placing a hand on her forehead he felt the heat of a returned fever.
"Let's make camp here." He told the others who immediately dismounted.
"Wait Rahan." She whispered.
Anayah closed her eyes and her Captain concluded that she was searching for whatever it was that had disturbed her rest.
"They are in trouble."
Keeping her eyes closed, she began to whisper words so quietly that even Rahan, sitting directly behind her had difficulty hearing them. O i lebed o muindor-nín an cam-nín, nalye band vi hebiel-nín. (From the finger of my brother to my hand thou art safe in my keeping.)
For a moment she held out her hand, then closed her hand into a fist. Moments later, she opened her eyes once more but said nothing of what she had done.
Semoro came over to his brother's horse and took the she-elf from him and carried her over to the bedroll that had been set up for her, then left to take care of the horses. Feeling herself falling asleep once more, she called Rahan to her and when he knelt beside her, she looked deeply into his eyes as if searching his character as well as his heart. Finally, satisfied with whatever it was she had found, she spoke to him.
"Rahan, can I trust you with my life?"
"You know you can, my Lady."
"Can I trust you with a family secret that could very well affect all of Middle Earth if the wrong people found out about it?"
"You know that I would take this secret to my grave so tell me what it is that is troubling you."
"Hold out your hand, Captain Rahan."
When he did so, she placed her closed fist over his and placed what she was holding into his then carefully and gently folded the elf's fingers over it.
"You must not even tell your brother of this! Do you understand?" She whispered fiercely.
He nodded. Looking around and seeing the others occupied with the horses, he opened his hand to see what it held and gasped then looked into Anayah's eyes questioningly.
"You are correct, Captain Rahan, for that is indeed the ring of Barahir, from off my brother's hand. I can call it to me only when Estel is in great need. Lord Elrond does not know that I am capable of doing this, nor does my Grandmother - well maybe she does because she pretty much knows everything, so she probably knows about this. Anyway, since I am not completely healthy, I am entrusting the ring to you until I am again well enough to take back my charge. If something happens to me - if the worst should happen - get the ring back to my brother but if we should both die - the ring goes to Lord Elrond - he will know what to do with it. Do you understand?"
Rahan nodded. "I promise that I will protect this ring as well as your secret, Lady Anayah but right now, I want you to get some rest so that you may wake and take up your duties once more." He smiled as he saw her eyes drift shut. Then being extremely careful as well as respectful, he placed the heirloom of the line of Elendil into a leather pouch that hung around his neck then went to help the others finish setting up their camp.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
The leader, walked to where Aragorn was hanging and stood for a moment, silently staring into the glazed eyes of the Ranger then, grabbing his left hand, he raised it and examined it carefully. Behind him, the three elves closed their eyes, thinking they knew what was going to happen next.
Then apparently unsatisfied with what he saw, the Leader backhanded the ranger so severely that his whole body bounced backward and hit the tree before swinging forward once more.
"Where is the ring, Ranger?"
"What ring?" The leader might have been able to pass up a denial coming from the man hanging in front of him and was, in fact, expecting it, but what he could not pass up was the small smirk that the young man sent his way.
"Ok. If this is the way you want to play this - I can well oblige you. Remember that all you have to do to stop this is to tell me where the ring is."
He signaled to a very large soldier with very broad shoulders and a little tiny ... whip, who immediately began walking in the direction of the tree the ranger was hanging in. When Aragorn looked at the whip in the man's hand, and saw the short lashes with knotted leather at the end of each, he groaned, because he knew that what was going to happen next was not going to be any fun at all.
The big solder, a man who, judging by the smile on his face, obviously enjoyed his work, ripped the Ranger's tunic off his body, baring the young man's back for maximum damage. When the lashes fell the first time, Aragorn closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to control the pain. Again and again the lash fell on his bare back, with a force that effectively cut into his skin baring the muscle and bone beneath. After a while, as Aragorn felt the blood flowing down his now numb back, he lost his ability to care, for a sense of euphoria induced by shock and blood loss was setting in. Locking eyes with Legolas, he tried to draw on his friend's strength to get him through his present torment.
Finally, whether it was because his tormentor was getting no response from him or because he was just getting bored the lash ceased to fall. Aragorn opened his eyes when he felt someone grab him by the hair and raise his head.
"I've got a couple of questions for you Ranger. My boss, see, well he is not going to be very happy with me if I do not bring back the guy who wears this certain ring I am looking for or unless I bring back a certain she-elf who has been making things a little bit difficult for the boss. Now, you can either tell me where either of these two are - and just between you and me I think it would be pretty easy for you to tell me where the ranger is who wears the ring, OR you can tell me where I can find the she-elf." For some moments he stared into Aragorn's silver eyes and when he did not get a response, backhanded the man, whipping his head to one side and leaving him with a cut lip and a bleeding mouth.
With hands on hips, the leader looked away from Aragorn and took some deep breaths, trying to get his temper under control. Finally he turned to his second-in-command and spoke.
"Cut him down and throw him over with the others. Oh - don't let him trip and hurt himself on his way to his friends." Winking at his second, he strode off.
If the twins and Legolas had thought the leader was bad, the man in charge of Aragorn now was a vindictive, pain-loving guttersnipe. Brothers and friend had tried to keep silent for Aragorn's sake in the hopes that their silence might lessen the severity of what the young human was going through. But after the humans cut Aragorn down and were walking him towards where the three of them were chained, they had to say something when they saw the Second stick his foot directly into the hurting young man's path.
"Leave him alone!" Elladan yelled at them as he fought fiercely against his manacles trying desperately to get to the man who was hurting his little brother. "If you want someone to pick on, why don't you try it with me?"
The Second looked at the enraged Elladan and smiled then drew back his foot and kicked Aragorn in the ribs so hard that his body was raised off the ground by the force of the blow.
"You are going to have to speak a little louder Master Elf because I don't think I quite heard what you had to say." Walking over to the gasping young man on the ground he kicked him so hard again that he was flipped onto his back. Aragorn lay where he was and curled in on himself as he tried to work past the pain to catch his breath.
It took the combined strengths of Legolas and Elrohir to control the enraged older twin as he strained to reach his little brother, to comfort him, to fulfill the promise he had made at his father's grave to always protect his son. His actions, however, only made the Second laugh louder.
"Aw, did I make the little elfling angry. What? Doesn't the little elfling have any more smart remarks to make? No?"
Then the sadistic human said four words to the elves, punctuating each word with a kick from his heavy boots, the last kick connecting with the Ranger's head.
"I - didn't - think - so!"
He stopped just out of reach of the enraged elves and looked into their eyes, grinning at their anger. He was about to say something to them when a movement to his right caught his eye. The young man he had been abusing was feebly trying to pull himself towards his friends with one hand.
Striding over to the bloody mass that used to be a young man, he stomped on his wrist and hand as hard as he could grinding down hard with his boot heel when he heard the ranger scream. Even his own men cringed as they heard the wrist then the delicate bones in the hand pop and crack as they broke. Silence fell over the glade as the men stopped laughing, for the incident was no longer fun - or funny. Everyone knew that the sadistic little human had gone too far with his little game although none of those watching had the courage to explain things to him. He was not entirely stupid, however, and sensing that he was losing the good will of his audience, the Second grabbed Aragorn by his wounded arm and drug him in the direction of his friends, throwing him to within their reach. Muttering to himself under his breath, the Second then turned towards the warm campfire where good stories and stout ale waited to ease the tensions of the day.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
As gently as they could, Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir eased Aragorn's battered body closer to them then while Legolas gently stroked his friend's head, Elladan checked his little brother's injuries. When he was through, he sat back, one hand over his mouth and tears welling in his eyes.
"I do not think there is too much from the waist on up that is not either injured or broken." Elrohir put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "We have no water, no herbs to treat any of his injuries with so all we can do is bind the worst of his wounds and try to soothe him with our presence."
Elrohir could see that his twin was getting pretty close to losing what calm he had left and so he gathered him into his arms and tried to comfort him. Finally after some moments, Elladan gently pushed himself away from his twin then after taking a deep breath, looked both Legolas and Elrohir in the eye.
"I would be very much surprised if he lives until morning."
There was no elf in Middle Earth who could have been happier about being wrong than Elladan when he woke the next morning and saw his little brother looking at him. Legolas smiled at the elder twin tiredly, letting him know that he was, indeed, not seeing things.
Around them, the camp was beginning to wake up. The Leader and his Second were arguing and only because of their sharp hearing were the three elves able to hear what the two were arguing about.
"Why me? Why do I have to go?"
"Because, you cannot seem to be able to control yourself you stupid idiot - that is why! I told you that you could have a little fun with the ranger and by fun I did not mean you could half kill him! Now you put your sorry butt on that sorry excuse for a horse and you go see the boss and find out what he wants to do about this mess. It will take you about a day to get there and back so we will wait here until you return." When his second hesitated for a moment, the leader turned the man around and with his foot gave him a shove in the direction of the horses.
It was not but a few minutes later that everyone, prisoner and soldier alike, heard the cry of a bird of prey from high overhead. The mercenaries, not having cause to be concerned, ignored the bird and continued on with what they were doing. To the three elves and the human, the call was one that was familiar to them all and even without opening his eyes, Aragorn knew who it was that called to them. Legolas could see a slight smile on the wounded human's face when he spoke.
"You're all in trouble now."
TBC
COMING NEXT: Warg's Tooth: When her nose was attacked a third time she opened her eyes, getting ready to angrily rebuke her Guards and explain to them that those who wakened her before the noon hour usually suffered her wrath. She was not prepared, however, to come face to face with a huge golden eye about five inches away from her own.
THECheeseTurkey: Thanks for the review and I do hope you enjoy this chapter.
grumpy(): Thanks for the review. Hey ... the black eye was an accident! LOL! The elf that woke screaming is the elf from the prologue who also happened to be one of the first to meet the demon. Because of the physical contact he experienced with the creature, the elf now shares an empathic link. Its like a nightmare he can't wake up from. And yes ... the demon is on his way.
Chapter 22
Mercenaries
The forest erupted with humans, all yelling at the top of their lungs and brandishing a variety of nasty looking weapons. Though the four first used their great longbows, and managed to bring down several of the charging humans, the mass was soon on their position and the twins, Legolas and Aragorn had to go to their long knives and swords.
In the midst of the battle, looking up from where he had just finished off one of his attackers, Legolas saw the leader of the mercenaries talking to one of his men and pointing towards where Aragorn was fighting. Nodding his head at his commander, the soldier started whirling something around his head and though Legolas did not recognize the weapon or know its capabilities at that moment, he knew something dangerous when he saw it and so tried to warn his human friend.
"Estel!" He yelled. Unfortunately by the time his warning reached the young ranger, it was too late.
He watched in horror as the device flew through the air and wrapped itself around Aragorn's ankles, immediately taking him to the ground.
The twins had also seen their brother being taken down and together with Legolas started to fight their way over to his position. But before they could reach his side, the leader of the mercenaries had reached the young man, grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and had placed a knife to his throat.
"I suggest that you all put down your weapons." He yelled at them over the din of the battle. When the three elves continued to fight, he yelled at them again.
"Unless you want to see your little human friend get his throat slit open right here, and right now, I suggest you put down your weapons."
Aragorn tried to shake his head but was rewarded for his effort when the man holding him suddenly reversed the dagger in his hand and slammed the hilt down on his head, just above his right ear. Aragorn slumped in his grip, only half-conscious.
The twins and Legolas, seeing that the man was indeed willing to kill his prisoner, carefully put their weapons down and surrendered. They quickly found their wrists and ankles manacled to large steel rings that had been previously sunk deep in the forest's floor. The leader, who all three elves were fast developing a strong dislike for, had hung Aragorn by his wrists in a tree just 15 feet beyond their reach. All they could do was watch, helplessly as the unconscious man hung there, his feet barely touching the ground.
While waiting for the young human to regain his senses, the rest of the mercenaries set up camp and disposed of their dead. Elladan, Elrohir and Legolas waited helplessly for whatever was going to happen next, and while doing so their elven hearing picked up a conversation between the leader and another man.
"Are you sure he's the one?" The subordinate asked the leader. "Ain't he supposed to be wearing a fancy ring or somethin'? Why don't we check just to make sure."
Nodding in agreement, both the leader and the soldier he had been talking with approached the tree where Aragorn was hanging.
"If they find Barahir on Aragorn's finger, he will be in big trouble!"
The others nodded in agreement for Elrohir had just stated what the rest of them had been thinking.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
As the horses of the six elves loped swiftly towards Rivendell, Anayah, who had been slipping in and out of sleep since leaving Nen, suddenly gasped and sat up straight. Rahan, sensing her distress, signaled for the others to stop. Placing a hand on her forehead he felt the heat of a returned fever.
"Let's make camp here." He told the others who immediately dismounted.
"Wait Rahan." She whispered.
Anayah closed her eyes and her Captain concluded that she was searching for whatever it was that had disturbed her rest.
"They are in trouble."
Keeping her eyes closed, she began to whisper words so quietly that even Rahan, sitting directly behind her had difficulty hearing them. O i lebed o muindor-nín an cam-nín, nalye band vi hebiel-nín. (From the finger of my brother to my hand thou art safe in my keeping.)
For a moment she held out her hand, then closed her hand into a fist. Moments later, she opened her eyes once more but said nothing of what she had done.
Semoro came over to his brother's horse and took the she-elf from him and carried her over to the bedroll that had been set up for her, then left to take care of the horses. Feeling herself falling asleep once more, she called Rahan to her and when he knelt beside her, she looked deeply into his eyes as if searching his character as well as his heart. Finally, satisfied with whatever it was she had found, she spoke to him.
"Rahan, can I trust you with my life?"
"You know you can, my Lady."
"Can I trust you with a family secret that could very well affect all of Middle Earth if the wrong people found out about it?"
"You know that I would take this secret to my grave so tell me what it is that is troubling you."
"Hold out your hand, Captain Rahan."
When he did so, she placed her closed fist over his and placed what she was holding into his then carefully and gently folded the elf's fingers over it.
"You must not even tell your brother of this! Do you understand?" She whispered fiercely.
He nodded. Looking around and seeing the others occupied with the horses, he opened his hand to see what it held and gasped then looked into Anayah's eyes questioningly.
"You are correct, Captain Rahan, for that is indeed the ring of Barahir, from off my brother's hand. I can call it to me only when Estel is in great need. Lord Elrond does not know that I am capable of doing this, nor does my Grandmother - well maybe she does because she pretty much knows everything, so she probably knows about this. Anyway, since I am not completely healthy, I am entrusting the ring to you until I am again well enough to take back my charge. If something happens to me - if the worst should happen - get the ring back to my brother but if we should both die - the ring goes to Lord Elrond - he will know what to do with it. Do you understand?"
Rahan nodded. "I promise that I will protect this ring as well as your secret, Lady Anayah but right now, I want you to get some rest so that you may wake and take up your duties once more." He smiled as he saw her eyes drift shut. Then being extremely careful as well as respectful, he placed the heirloom of the line of Elendil into a leather pouch that hung around his neck then went to help the others finish setting up their camp.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
The leader, walked to where Aragorn was hanging and stood for a moment, silently staring into the glazed eyes of the Ranger then, grabbing his left hand, he raised it and examined it carefully. Behind him, the three elves closed their eyes, thinking they knew what was going to happen next.
Then apparently unsatisfied with what he saw, the Leader backhanded the ranger so severely that his whole body bounced backward and hit the tree before swinging forward once more.
"Where is the ring, Ranger?"
"What ring?" The leader might have been able to pass up a denial coming from the man hanging in front of him and was, in fact, expecting it, but what he could not pass up was the small smirk that the young man sent his way.
"Ok. If this is the way you want to play this - I can well oblige you. Remember that all you have to do to stop this is to tell me where the ring is."
He signaled to a very large soldier with very broad shoulders and a little tiny ... whip, who immediately began walking in the direction of the tree the ranger was hanging in. When Aragorn looked at the whip in the man's hand, and saw the short lashes with knotted leather at the end of each, he groaned, because he knew that what was going to happen next was not going to be any fun at all.
The big solder, a man who, judging by the smile on his face, obviously enjoyed his work, ripped the Ranger's tunic off his body, baring the young man's back for maximum damage. When the lashes fell the first time, Aragorn closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to control the pain. Again and again the lash fell on his bare back, with a force that effectively cut into his skin baring the muscle and bone beneath. After a while, as Aragorn felt the blood flowing down his now numb back, he lost his ability to care, for a sense of euphoria induced by shock and blood loss was setting in. Locking eyes with Legolas, he tried to draw on his friend's strength to get him through his present torment.
Finally, whether it was because his tormentor was getting no response from him or because he was just getting bored the lash ceased to fall. Aragorn opened his eyes when he felt someone grab him by the hair and raise his head.
"I've got a couple of questions for you Ranger. My boss, see, well he is not going to be very happy with me if I do not bring back the guy who wears this certain ring I am looking for or unless I bring back a certain she-elf who has been making things a little bit difficult for the boss. Now, you can either tell me where either of these two are - and just between you and me I think it would be pretty easy for you to tell me where the ranger is who wears the ring, OR you can tell me where I can find the she-elf." For some moments he stared into Aragorn's silver eyes and when he did not get a response, backhanded the man, whipping his head to one side and leaving him with a cut lip and a bleeding mouth.
With hands on hips, the leader looked away from Aragorn and took some deep breaths, trying to get his temper under control. Finally he turned to his second-in-command and spoke.
"Cut him down and throw him over with the others. Oh - don't let him trip and hurt himself on his way to his friends." Winking at his second, he strode off.
If the twins and Legolas had thought the leader was bad, the man in charge of Aragorn now was a vindictive, pain-loving guttersnipe. Brothers and friend had tried to keep silent for Aragorn's sake in the hopes that their silence might lessen the severity of what the young human was going through. But after the humans cut Aragorn down and were walking him towards where the three of them were chained, they had to say something when they saw the Second stick his foot directly into the hurting young man's path.
"Leave him alone!" Elladan yelled at them as he fought fiercely against his manacles trying desperately to get to the man who was hurting his little brother. "If you want someone to pick on, why don't you try it with me?"
The Second looked at the enraged Elladan and smiled then drew back his foot and kicked Aragorn in the ribs so hard that his body was raised off the ground by the force of the blow.
"You are going to have to speak a little louder Master Elf because I don't think I quite heard what you had to say." Walking over to the gasping young man on the ground he kicked him so hard again that he was flipped onto his back. Aragorn lay where he was and curled in on himself as he tried to work past the pain to catch his breath.
It took the combined strengths of Legolas and Elrohir to control the enraged older twin as he strained to reach his little brother, to comfort him, to fulfill the promise he had made at his father's grave to always protect his son. His actions, however, only made the Second laugh louder.
"Aw, did I make the little elfling angry. What? Doesn't the little elfling have any more smart remarks to make? No?"
Then the sadistic human said four words to the elves, punctuating each word with a kick from his heavy boots, the last kick connecting with the Ranger's head.
"I - didn't - think - so!"
He stopped just out of reach of the enraged elves and looked into their eyes, grinning at their anger. He was about to say something to them when a movement to his right caught his eye. The young man he had been abusing was feebly trying to pull himself towards his friends with one hand.
Striding over to the bloody mass that used to be a young man, he stomped on his wrist and hand as hard as he could grinding down hard with his boot heel when he heard the ranger scream. Even his own men cringed as they heard the wrist then the delicate bones in the hand pop and crack as they broke. Silence fell over the glade as the men stopped laughing, for the incident was no longer fun - or funny. Everyone knew that the sadistic little human had gone too far with his little game although none of those watching had the courage to explain things to him. He was not entirely stupid, however, and sensing that he was losing the good will of his audience, the Second grabbed Aragorn by his wounded arm and drug him in the direction of his friends, throwing him to within their reach. Muttering to himself under his breath, the Second then turned towards the warm campfire where good stories and stout ale waited to ease the tensions of the day.
8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
As gently as they could, Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir eased Aragorn's battered body closer to them then while Legolas gently stroked his friend's head, Elladan checked his little brother's injuries. When he was through, he sat back, one hand over his mouth and tears welling in his eyes.
"I do not think there is too much from the waist on up that is not either injured or broken." Elrohir put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "We have no water, no herbs to treat any of his injuries with so all we can do is bind the worst of his wounds and try to soothe him with our presence."
Elrohir could see that his twin was getting pretty close to losing what calm he had left and so he gathered him into his arms and tried to comfort him. Finally after some moments, Elladan gently pushed himself away from his twin then after taking a deep breath, looked both Legolas and Elrohir in the eye.
"I would be very much surprised if he lives until morning."
There was no elf in Middle Earth who could have been happier about being wrong than Elladan when he woke the next morning and saw his little brother looking at him. Legolas smiled at the elder twin tiredly, letting him know that he was, indeed, not seeing things.
Around them, the camp was beginning to wake up. The Leader and his Second were arguing and only because of their sharp hearing were the three elves able to hear what the two were arguing about.
"Why me? Why do I have to go?"
"Because, you cannot seem to be able to control yourself you stupid idiot - that is why! I told you that you could have a little fun with the ranger and by fun I did not mean you could half kill him! Now you put your sorry butt on that sorry excuse for a horse and you go see the boss and find out what he wants to do about this mess. It will take you about a day to get there and back so we will wait here until you return." When his second hesitated for a moment, the leader turned the man around and with his foot gave him a shove in the direction of the horses.
It was not but a few minutes later that everyone, prisoner and soldier alike, heard the cry of a bird of prey from high overhead. The mercenaries, not having cause to be concerned, ignored the bird and continued on with what they were doing. To the three elves and the human, the call was one that was familiar to them all and even without opening his eyes, Aragorn knew who it was that called to them. Legolas could see a slight smile on the wounded human's face when he spoke.
"You're all in trouble now."
TBC
COMING NEXT: Warg's Tooth: When her nose was attacked a third time she opened her eyes, getting ready to angrily rebuke her Guards and explain to them that those who wakened her before the noon hour usually suffered her wrath. She was not prepared, however, to come face to face with a huge golden eye about five inches away from her own.
THECheeseTurkey: Thanks for the review and I do hope you enjoy this chapter.
grumpy(): Thanks for the review. Hey ... the black eye was an accident! LOL! The elf that woke screaming is the elf from the prologue who also happened to be one of the first to meet the demon. Because of the physical contact he experienced with the creature, the elf now shares an empathic link. Its like a nightmare he can't wake up from. And yes ... the demon is on his way.