Twisted Thought
Part 4
Chapter 11
"So, why do you think he wants us at the Council?" Kat asked, sitting down for a late breakfast.
"I have no idea. You know, we really should ask for rooms away from everyone. I'm getting tired of the staring. I swear if one more jocular elf looks at me like that, I will knock his block off," Shadow hissed, under her breath. The maid, Elise, obviously had a very big mouth because, by the morning of the Council, all of Rivendell knew that the Prince and Lord had ended up spending the night in Kat and Shadow's rooms.
Both girls were becoming annoyed with the stares and jests some of the Elves threw in their direction. Kat had had to talk Shadow down from killing several nobles, and vise versa. Legolas and Elrohir had apologized profusely for causing the girls any embarrassment, but they told them not to worry about it.
"Come on. This shebang starts at 11, it's 10:30 now," said Kat. Shadow snagged a piece of buttered toast off of the breakfast table, and followed Kat to where the meeting was to be held. Kat and Shadow received many strange looks or glares as they entered the room the meeting was to take place in.
Sitting at a circular table was Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, Aragorn, Arwen, Frodo, Glorfindel, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Gloin, Boromir, and a few other people neither girl knew. "Lady Shadow, Lady Kat. Please have a seat," said Elrond, motioning to two open seats to his right. Kat took a seat next to Elrond, and Shadow next to her.
"Now that everyone is here, we can begin," said Elrond standing up. "I'm sure you all know of the Ring of Power."
"Forever lost. What is known of it now is little more than a myth," said Boromir. He was a very forward person, and tended not to fool around. He also didn't like Shadow and Kat, which was fine with them, they didn't like him either.
"It is no longer a myth. Frodo, bring forth the ring," Gandalf commanded.
Somewhat reluctantly Frodo took a gold chain from around him neck, a gold ring dangling from the end. Shadow and Kat watched in mild amusement as the men in the room were practically ensnared by the ring, with the exception of Aragorn. Kat and Shadow had a lurking suspicion that he was at least a quarter Elf.
"This council is being held because someone must take the One Ring to the Great Mountain of Fire, where it was made," Elrond explained calmly.
"That is foolish talk Elrond. You would practically be putting the Ring on Sauron's hands," yelled Boromir.
"Not with a good distraction. It would be easy to slip in and out of Mordor unnoticed," said Shadow.
"And what would a lowly female like your self know about matters of war? From what I've heard you both are nothing but common sluts," Boromir said scathingly. Shadow probably would have jumped over the table and tackled him if it weren't for Kat.
Remember what I said about having battles of the wits with unarmed people Shadow? He isn't even worth your or my effort. Let it lie, said Kat. Shadow growled at Boromir, the feral like sound echoing in the distance. Boromir kept his mouth shut and Shadow sat back down.
"Lady Shadow is correct Boromir. With the right distraction one of us would have no problem slipping in and out of Mordor. The matter at hand is finding someone to do it," said Aragorn. The room was silent.
Kat and Shadow were ready to volunteer when Frodo stood up. "I will do it. I will take the ring to Mordor," he said, firm determination in his voice.
"I shall accompany you on this task so long as it is yours to bear Frodo Baggins," Gandalf said, placing a hand on Frodo's tiny shoulder. Aragorn was next to swear himself to Frodo, followed by Gimli, Legolas, Elrohir, Boromir, Pippin, Merry and Sam.
Shadow and Kat were listening, sort of. Both were thinking about what fun they would have stalking the group when Elrond spoke again. "I would also like Lady Shadow and Lady Kat to go with what is to be the Fellowship of the Ring," he said. That caught the girl's attention.
"WTF?" They both asked at once.
"I want you to accompany the Fellowship. You have already proven yourselves in the battle against the Orcs the day you arrived. If anything you will be able to protect the little ones should a situation arise where one of the others aren't able to," Elrond said.
Kat and Shadow rolled their eyes. Figures, they said in unison.
"Alright. We'll go, it's not like we didn't plan on stalking them through the trip anyway, but we have a few other issues that need to be addressed," Shadow started.
Chapter 12"What was the point in this again?" Kat asked, firing what must have been the thousandth arrow that day. Like the last 10 in the set, it landed on the bull's-eye, splitting the last used arrow in half.
"Practice Kat, dear. The boys already are not happy about us going on this mission, they said it's too dangerous. No need to fall out of practice and prove them right. We do have an ego to uphold," said Shadow.
"Okay, this tells me why I am practicing, not why you are sitting on your ass. Let's spar or something. I'm bored with the damn arrows," said Kat, shouldering her bow.
"Alrightey then. Lead the way," said Shadow. Kat grabbed her two Long Daggers, and started walking off of the arrow field when the sound of a whizzing arrow caught her ear. Faster than the eye could see Shadow plucked it out of the air, seconds before it would have struck her in the arm.
"Here we go again," Kat whispered under her breath. "You really should go to the beginner's range if you insist upon firing arrows in the wrong direction. That missed the target by what? 15 feet?" Kat asked.
A tall, platinum blond woman appeared, wearing a very fancy tunic and leggings appeared. Kat rolled her eyes. Cyril, one of the noble's daughters, had been giving Kat and Shadow problems since the day after the banquet. Shadow and Kat took turns on who dealt with the annoying she-elf, making a sort of game out of it. It was Kat's turn this time.
"Look who is talking human," Cyril sneered. Did anyone mention the girl had a superiority complex? It was getting really annoying really fast. Kat rolled her eyes, the girl was horrible at comebacks.
"Look Cyril. You're really starting to get on my nerves. What do you say we call it even and save you the embarrassment of loosing a battle of the wits? I really don't like fighting unarmed people," said Kat. Cyril glared and Kat turned to leave.
Smack! Cyril had just made the biggest, and most likely last mistake in her life. Kat had always been very sensitive about her shoulders, the worst thing a person could do to her was punch her between the shoulder blades. The last person to do that had been in a hospital bed, unconscious, for a week. Kat growled and her eyes took over an inhuman silvery blue color as she turned to face Cyril.
Cyril's eyes widened at the look on Kat's face. Kat didn't hesitate to pull back her fist and let it connect with the she-elves' face, giving her a broken nose, and likely two black eyes in one shot, and knocking her to the ground. Kat was ready to unleash hell in all its glory on the she-elf but Shadow stopped her.
"I hate to turn your words around on you cousin, but remember the unarmed people?" Shadow asked. Kat nodded and took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again they were back to their normal forest green. "Come on, it's time to work off some of your extra energy." Kat nodded and followed Shadow out to the sparing field.
Chapter 13"Alison Katherine!" a voice echoed. Shadow didn't stir, but Kat did.
"Damn it all," she groaned, crawling out of her bed. Elrond had agreed to the girls's request of their own Talon and the two girls had moved in right after the Council. Kat walked out to the balcony and looked down to see a very angry Glorfindel. "What?"
"Lord Elrond wishes to speak with you, now!" yelled Glorfindel.
"I'm comin," said Kat. "Oi! Shadow! Elrond's calling, be back later," Kat yelled. Shadow muttered something incoherent and turned to return to sleep. Kat rolled her eyes.
Kat dropped out of the Talon, and landed feet first. "Lead the way," she yawned. Glorfindel didn't look happy with the teenager's lack of etiquette when speaking to elders, but didn't comment. A few minutes later they arrived at the same place the council had been held, but Kat was too drowsy to wonder why.
Upon entering the room, Kat knew why. Sitting in a chair next to Elrond was none other than Cyril. Her nose was discolored and crooked, and her two black eyes were full of what could only be Crocodile tears. Sitting next to Cyril was her father Kieran, and to Elrond's other side was Arwen, Elladan, Elrohir, Aragorn and Legolas.
"You rang?" asked Kat, her voice full of sarcasm.
"Were you the one to hit Cyril?" Elrond demanded, cutting to the chase.
"Who wants to know?" asked Kat. It was a well known that Kat was a bitch in the morning, not to mention very stubborn, but Elrond would have none of it.
"You will tell me whether or not you hit her, now!" yelled Elrond. Several people in the room flinched, but Kat just looked bored.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Though it would be perfectly possible that she ran into a pole, her IQ is low enough," said Kat.
Elrond nearly turned purple in rage. "You are bound to your rooms until further notice. Glorfindel will escort you," Elrond growled. Kat had a passing thought of growling back, but thought better of it.
"Whatever Elrond. It's not like I expected to be able to tell my side of the story anyway," said Kat turning and walking out of the room. Getting grounded was nothing new for Kat. On Earth she had a terribly annoying little brother that always caused trouble, then blamed it on her. Of course no one thought her brother, at the ripe age of 7, knew how to lie and Kat always got blamed, and never got to tell her side of the story.
Kat arrived back at Shadow and her Talon to find that Shadow was already gone. 'O'well. Someone will tell her what happened eventually,' thought Kat, flopping back onto the bed. Without another thought, she drifted back to sleep.
Chapter 14"Hey Arwen, have you seen Kat? I can't find her. She said Elrond called for her before she left this morning," said Shadow. Shadow had been looking all over Rivendell for Kat for almost two hours and was starting to worry.
"Has no one told you? Elrond bound Lady Kat to your Talon this morning," said Arwen.
"Nani?" Shadow asked, confused. From what she knew, being bound was a punishment used on insubordinate elflings.
"For attacking Cyril. I honestly never took Lady Kat for being one to attack people unprovoked. However, the say she spoke to Ada makes me think otherwise," said Arwen.
"WTF? Who told you that? Cyril threw the first punch, when Kat's back was turned no less!" Shadow shouted, not happy with what she was hearing.
"How would you know? There were no witnesses," said Arwen, staring strangely and Shadow.
"Bullshit! I was there. Stupid wench tried to shoot me with an arrow," Shadow growled. She was still mad about that. No one tried to injure her or her cousin and got away with it.
"Come, we need to speak with my father about this," said Arwen, her eyes flashing in anger. No Elf liked being lied to, especially by another Elf. As insanely weird and violent the two girls could be, neither had any reason to lie to any of the Elves, and hadn't.
"Damn straight," Shadow muttered. If it was anything Shadow hated more that stupid blondes, it was people that pass unjust punishments. Kat and Shadow often joked about going back in time and blowing up people like Hitler for some of the injustices they had done in their lifetime. Shadow had every intention on giving Elrond a piece of her mind.
Arwen quickly led Shadow towards Elrond's privet office, where, unsurprisingly, he was talking with Cyril and her father. "Ada, we have some issues that need to be discussed," Arwen said formally, not looking in Cyril's direction.
"You need to came back later Iel. I really must finish this meeting," Elrond said, giving Shadow a cold look.
"No Elrond. We will talk about it right now, as the center of the whole thing is sitting in this room with us anyway," Shadow hissed, her eyes turning a demonic shade of yellow. Cyril paled.
"What, may I ask, is this about then?" Elrond asked, turning to Arwen.
"It seems that we have been lied to by one of our own Ada. It would seem Lady Shadow was present for the events that transpired yesterday afternoon," Arwen stated calmly. Elrond stared and Cyril paled some more.
"What happened then?" Elrond asked, looking at Shadow.
"Cyril fired and arrow at Kat and myself. I caught it before it could do any harm. Cyril and Kat through a few insults back and forth and Kat stated that having a verbal battle with Cyril wasn't worth her time. Kat and I turned to leave and Cyril hit Kat in the back, between the shoulder blades. Kat's shoulder blades are sensitive from a very old injury, so Kat turned around and hit Cyril, once in the nose," said Shadow.
Elrond's dark eyes flared in anger. Apparently he had an issue with lying as well. "We will discuss this later," he spat, eyes on Cyril, before stalking out of the office with Shadow and Arwen in toe.
"What are you up to?" Shadow demanded.
"It seems I have lost another 'battle of the wits' to your cousin. Best go apologize now before she figures that out." Elrond cursed something under his breath, but Shadow didn't catch it.
As they turned another corner they came face to face with Elladan. "Ada, there's a fire! You must come now! Lady Kat can't get out," Elladan said frantically, grabbing Elrond by the arm and pulling him towards Kat and Shadow's talon. Shadow, however, had already taken off.
She reached her and Kat's talon to see that it was indeed ablaze. Kat! The bond is down! GET OUT! Shadow yelled. A piece of wood cracking was her only reply. A hand on Shadow's shoulder alerted her of Legolas's presents.
"She'll be fine," Legolas whispered.
"It's not her I'm worried about. It's the health of whoever did this," Shadow growled. She had a small suspicion of who it was. The sound of a window breaking caught Shadow's attention and she saw a large back fly out of one of the windows of the talon. Seconds later another window broke and Kat came flying out, avoiding being hurt in the jump by doing a front hand spring.
Kat dropped to the ground and started coughing and sputtering, trying to clear her lungs. Shadow was kneeling next to her before anyone else had time to contemplate what had just happened. "I'm going to fucking kill her," Kat coughed.
"Who?" Shadow asked pulling Kat's hair away from her face.
"Cyril," was Kat's one word answer.
"I hope you plan on enlisting me," Shadow practically growled. In Shadow's eyes someone had messed with her family, which meant death. There were no 'If' 'Ands' or 'buts' about it, Cyril was mince meat.
"Of course dear cousin. Think Elrond will stop us if we take of now?" Kat asked.
"I doubt it. Everyone still seems to be processing what happened," Shadow answered, throwing a glance over at the forming group of people. The whole Fellowship, Arwen, Elrond, Elladan, and Glorfindel all stood looking concerned but confused.
"On your mark, get set, GO!" yelled Kat, jumping to her feet and taking off towards Elrond's office, where she guessed Cyril would be. Shadow didn't object so Kat guessed she was right.
The group of people just stared at the girls retreating forms before snapping out of their trance like states. Elrohir, Legolas, Elrond and Aragorn took off after the girls, leaving the rest to continue staring.
Kat and Shadow tore through the halls, making their way to Elrond's office at nearly inhuman speed. Even Legolas and Elrohir were having trouble keeping the girls in sight. Shadow slammed into the door, knocking it open, to find the office empty. "She ran," Shadow explained simply.
"Smart thing to do, for a blond," Kat said, slight disappointment on her face. The butterfly knife Kat had pulled out of her pocket sometime during the run was closed and slipped back into Kat's pocket completely unnoticed.
A few seconds later Elrohir, Legolas, Elrond and Aragorn came tearing down the hall. "Elf-girl ran. Smartest thing I've seen her do yet," said Shadow. The four of them seemed to breath a sigh of relief, and Elrond was getting ready to start making orders.
"Don't bother calling out a search party Elrond. She's long gone. You would need an expert tracker and several weeks to find so much as a footprint. People do strange things when scared or desperate," said Kat, taking a deep breath.
In seconds Kat turned back into her calm, composed self. Shadow, even if she was a bit calmer, still had a wild demon look to her. "You sure we can't have a short hunting season Kat?" she asked sweetly.
"No," was Kat's answer. "And the next person that tries to kill me I'm directing to you."
Review responses:
Ninieletha: Thanks. Nice to know some people appreciate our work.
Crazy-haldir-fancier: Once again, thanks.