Couldn't be bothered to wait for 6 reviews. Well, we managed to get halfway there! Well done everybody, a grand total of 3 reviews! Better than none I suppose. So I have updated. And I'm going to update this story regularly, to get it up and finished. It doesn't seem as popular as its prequel - Sleeping Dangerously.

My friend just gave a new, random idea for a new story – an Orc that falls in love. And I have actually started writing it! No, it is not a humour. I said all this on my 5th chapter of Runaways, but not all of you read that one. I shall put a brief description of it at the end of this chapter, but for now, on with Demons of the Heart.

Faerlain

And yes, my name is now Faerlain. See chapter 6 of Runaways for more details.

Faerlain.

Espel – I updated, ok? Lol. Thanks for reviewing.

Elerrina – You'll see what Thrálindë is up to in later chapters, promise! Force your friends to review? Go ahead! Thanks for reviewing.

Rayame325 – Teehee, killer suspense. Here you are; I'm putting you out of your misery. Slightly. Lol. Thanks for reviewing.

Chapter 9: The Pain Inside.

Legolas charged head-on into the mass of Orcs attacking Lady Celebríans' party. Unsheathing his twin knives, he deftly felled many Orcs with just a few quick swipes, slashing and cutting his way through the crowd.

"Arwen" he bellowed over the noise. "Arwen!"

"Legolas!"

He heard her reply, distant, yet not so far. He urged Galu on, trampling as many Orcs as possible to clear a path to the Princess.

"Arwen!" he called again, standing in his stirrups to search over the heads of Elves and Orcs.

"Legolas, over here!"

He whipped his head to the right. Arwen was still mounted upon her horse, Miriel at her side, both trying desperately to fend off the hundreds of Orcs that seemed to be surrounding them.

Legolas turned Galu into that direction, and pushed her as hard as she could go. She could sense the distress of Arwen's' stallion as more Orcs clawed their way to him, and she knew her master was trying to get to him and his mistress.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Legolas reached the two girls and helped them slay the Orcs around them. The Mirkwood Elves were now well into the fight, and the amount of enemies was dwindling a little.

"Stay near me," Legolas told them. "Whatever you do, don't get separated."

The rain was pouring down now, the light drizzle having turned into fully-fledged droplets. Large droplets that hurt when they pelted down onto their skin, soaking through the thin material of the tunics and leggings of the Elves. Their hair clung to their faces in clumps, the water running down their backs, mud being kicked up by the horses onto their bodies.

"Bloody rain!" Miriel yelled, anger taking over her fear. "Why must it always rain in these situations?"

"Where's Celebrían?" Legolas asked when he got close enough to Arwen.

"She got taken, by the Orcs. I saw her get hit round the head, she fell, and that was the last I saw of her. Oh Legolas, what if she's really badly hurt? What if she's dead?"

"She won't be," he assured her, neatly decapitating an advancing Orc with one swish of his knife. He moved closer to her. "She's strong. She won't let those bastards get her, I promise." He threw his knife in front of her as an Orc brought up his scimitar to bring it down onto Arwen.

"Thanks," she said, recovering after his excellent quick reaction.

"Keep your eyes open," he warned her.

The fight did not last much longer. The rain continued to hammer down, affecting everyone's vision. The Orcs, soon realising they were getting out-numbered, turned and ran.

Scouts were sent after them, finishing off as many as they could so they couldn't come back for a second ambush. The wounded were all gathered up and put together, and the uninjured Elves started tending to them straight away.

Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir were in charge now that Celebrían was gone. They had to push their true emotions back into the furthest compartment of their minds, and shut and lock the door. Their main problem was getting everyone back together again, and sorting out who was hurt and who wasn't.

Celeblaith wandered round, looking for her brother. She had been de-horsed after Orcs had surrounded her and cut her horse down. She had fallen, and she was sure she had fractured her right wrist. Luckily, Legolas had trained her to fight with both hands, and she had been able to defend herself just using her left arm. She had a cut on her right collarbone, and her left ankle was slightly swollen after she had twisted it when struggling to her feet. She was covered in mud, and couldn't find Legolas anywhere. It was afternoon already. During the fight, the hours had flown by. She did not know how long it had lasted exactly, but it was now well past noon.

"S'cuse me, do you know where Prince Legolas is?"

"Have you seen my brother anywhere?"

"Have you seen Legolas around?"

"Any idea where Legolas might be?"

No one seemed to know. Her hair was so matted, and her face so dirty, she doubted that even any of the Mirkwood Elves could identify her. Suddenly, she heard a voice she recognised. She looked around, and found she had wandered over to where the wounded were being treated. She saw Dolenmíl, walking round, checking various people, and telling others what to do. She hobbled over.

"Dolenmíl! Dolenmíl!"

Dolenmíl turned at the sound of her name being called. She had a rough bandage round her left forearm, already stained dark with blood. Her eyes widened as the young Princess ran over to her, and fell sobbing into her arms.

"Shh, Celeblaith, its ok. You're safe now, don't worry."

"I want Legolas."

"Alright, we'll find him. He's here somewhere. Come on." She helped the distraught Elf-maiden to her feet, and took her hand. Even though Celeblaith was over five hundred years old now, she was still very young, and still small. She only reached Dolenmíl's' shoulder, and could only just nestle her head against Legolas' chest when standing against him.

Dolenmíl gave orders to another Elf to take over, and led Celeblaith through the crowd. She asked various people if they had seen the Mirkwood Prince, and they eventually directed her over to the edge of the main battle area. She soon spotted him, still mounted upon Galu, talking earnestly to Heledir and Thilio. She hurried over, pulling the Princess with her.

"Legolas!"

He looked round, and quickly leapt down to the ground when he saw Celeblaith. She let go of Dolenmíl's' hand as they drew nearer, and ran to him, literally collapsing into his arms. The throbbing in her ankle had worsened considerably, but she ignored it.

"Oh Celeblaith, thank God," he whispered in her ear, sinking to his knees with her still in his arms. "I was so worried."

"I'm fine," she assured him through her tears, gripping him as hard as she could.

"I was so scared I'd lost you." He pulled back and looked her up and down. "You're injured." He brushed his fingers over the cut on her collarbone. "Where's Hortho?"

"The Orcs killed her. They cut her down, and I fell. I think I've broken my wrist."

"Alright, we'll get it sorted, come on." He pulled her gently to her feet, and held her protectively against him. He looked at Dolenmíl. "Thank you," he whispered, smiling.

She smiled back. "She found me. I heard someone calling my name, and suddenly, a small blonde Princess lunged at me, crying her eyes out, asking for you."

"She was at the back when we were at the front. I lost her during all the confusion."

"I tried to stay as close as I could to Elladan, but the rain made it so much harder." She shivered, and Legolas slipped his arm further round her slender shoulders. "He told me to stay out of it, and only defend, not attack, but the Orcs just completely surrounded me. I had no choice but to go onwards."

"Any news on Celebrían?" Dolenmíl asked.

Legolas shook his head, small droplets flying everywhere. "No, nothing. The twins are heartbroken, and I have no idea what Arwen will do if anything happens to her mother. She was so close to her. Just metres away."

"Imagine the guilt she must feel." Dolenmíl shuddered. "Seeing your mother get taken away like that…it doesn't bear thinking about."

"What? What's happened to Lady Celebrían?" Celeblaith piped up.

"She got taken away by Orcs," Legolas told her softly.

She gasped. "But…she will be alright, won't she? What will they do to her? Legolas? Dolenmíl?" She looked between the two of them, both their faces grave. "Please, tell me!"

"I don't Cel," Legolas replied, looking down at her.

"I just don't know."

Elrond sat bolt upright, pain shooting all through his chest. He gripped the material of his robe, breathing heavily. What on Middle-Earth was that?

He had been sitting at his desk, trying to work out something to write in his letter to Thranduil. He had abandoned it the night before, preferring his bed to his chair.

It was mid-morning. The Sun was shining, but the air was cold. There had been a storm in the Mountain Pass recently, and the cold wind had made its way to travel over the valley.

He stood, doing so a little too quickly, which made him feel dizzy and staggered over to the window to get some fresh air. The pain subsided a little, and he relaxed. He leant against the window frame, waiting until the dizziness had passed. He took a few more deep breaths, trying to relax himself.

That pain had come out nowhere. Like a hand, as cold as ice, gripping round his heart, squeezing all the life out of it. Breaking it two, tearing it apart.

Something had happened. Something had happened to his wife, or his children. And he was powerless to do anything.

A knock at the door startled him. He stood up straight and smoothed his robes down. "Enter."

Glorfindel poked his head round the door. "Just going out on border pat…Elrond, are you ok?"

"Yes, why?"

"You're as white as a sheet! Sit down; I'll get you a drink." He went right in and fetched a glass of water from a jug on a nearby table. He handed it to the Lord, who sipped it gratefully.

"Thank you Glorfindel. I just feel a little…dizzy, is all."

"Are you sure it's nothing else? Honestly, I've never seen you so pale."

"I'm fine. A little light-headed perhaps."

"You worry too much, that's your trouble. Look, why don't you have the whole day off? An afternoon clearly wasn't enough. Erestor and I can manage."

"No, not again. I can't keep having an afternoon off here, a day there. I have so much to catch up on."

"Look, we can deal with it. Please, if only to set my mind at rest."

"Something's happened to them Glorfindel," he said slowly, setting the empty glass down on his desk.

"What?" He crouched down beside his Lord. "What are you talking about?"

"Celebrían, the twins, and Arwen. Something terrible has happened, and I don't know what."

"How do you know something has happened to them?"

"I can feel it. Just now, a great pain shot all through me, my chest mostly. My heart felt as if it was being squeezed to death. A great vice, clamping down on it, killing it."

"I'm sure they are perfectly ok…"

"No Glorfindel, I know they're not!" He stood and returned to the window, Glorfindel beside him. "They're out there, and I'm back here. It happened during the storm, whatever happened. They've been hurt, or at least one of them has, and badly. I can always feel when they're in trouble, any of them, but never this much, not so vividly. It must be serious. Oh Glorfindel, what am I to do?"

"Calm down for a start. You're no good to anyone in this state. Look, just sit down, and we'll talk it over." He helped the Lord back into his chair and sat on the table, moving papers, and things out of the way. "Now, tell me right from the beginning, what happened?"

"I was sat right here, trying to work out what to reply to Thranduil."

"Just like that?"

"In this position exactly. Suddenly, my whole chest became crippled with pain, and I had to double up. Breathing became almost impossible. A great excruciating pain, wrenching through me. I stood, and walked to the window, trying to get some air. The pain wore off a bit then, but even now it still hurts. Throbbing, as if my heart is working overtime. My whole body just kind of…seized up I guess. It was so weird."

"And you've never experienced this before?"

"No, never. It has to be something to do with my family though. It wasn't your usual chest pains. It was definitely something else. And in my heart, I just know that something has happened. Like I said before, father's intuition. Haven't you ever felt it?"

"Yes. During the battle at Gondolin. I knew in my heart that my friends and family were dead or injured, but I tried to ignore it. I just had to get everyone out of there. I went through exactly what you just described to me. The pain, shooting through me from head to toe." He shuddered at the memories he would clearly rather forget.

"See! You do know what I'm going on about! Something has happened to them! Oh what am I going to do?" He held his head in his hands.

"Please Elrond, just calm down." Glorfindel slid off the table to place an arm round the Elf Lords shoulders. "This isn't going to help anybody."

"I know, I know it isn't, but…oh…" he trailed off, not being able to find the words.

"I'll organise scouts to go out and search. If anything has happened, they'll find out."

"Thank you Glorfindel." Elrond raised his face to smile weakly at the golden haired Lord.

"Just doing my duty my Lord."

"Don't go all formal on me again, please."

"Sorry…Elrond. Better?"

"Yes. Go on then, go and organise these scouts."

"Certainly." He bowed and swiftly left.

The Lord of Rivendell sighed and slumped back in his chair, looking out of the window to his left. His wife and children were out there somewhere, as well as Thranduil's' two, in trouble, and there was nothing he could do.

He just had to sit tight, and wait.

Fighting and feelings. Hmm, good mixture. And Celeblaith got hurt. At least she finally found Leggy again. Anyway, as promised, the preview of my latest project about an Orc falling in love.

Many, many years ago, I was captured. Tortured, beaten, raped…you name it; it was done to me. They turned me into one of them. A monster, an ugly beast. Slowly, I lost my beauty. My fair skin became black and wrinkled. My once crystalline eyes turned red and yellow like dragon eyes. I grew fatter, broader, and some of my strength dwindled.

Yes, I used to be an Elf. Then the Orcs imprisoned me and turned me into one of their own. I don't think they meant to though. I was just holding on for so long that I changed. I refused to die.

I thought someone would find me, rescue me, but no. No one came; no one saved me from my hell. I was alone to live with my pain. My mind and soul were twisted; my spirit became one of evil and darkness, no longer joy and light. I lost my lovely, long dark hair. You could never see it beneath the helmet anyway.

I do not know how many years I had been there, but it seemed an eternity. It wasn't fair. I wanted to go home, I wanted to live again, but these creatures had taken that away from me. I could never return to Rivendell like this. I would be shot on sight.

Throughout all this, my heart was the only part of me that stayed truly Elven. I was holding onto what I had once been. I would never be completely Orc. I could not fall that far. I would not let my heart be taken as well.

I think that'll do for now. Get the basics? An Elf, who was captured years and years ago, tortured so much she became an Orc, and will one day fall in love. But I'm not sure who or what with yet. Sound good? Tell me in a review please. Until next time…

Faerlain.