"Hey, neat!"

"What?"

"Over here! I found a shortcut."

Legolas turned around and saw Tatiana standing by the road.

"I don't see anything," he said cautiously.

"Oh come on, did you expect there to be a huge sign? Shortcut: This Way to the Shire! Come here and I'll show you!" replied Tatiana.

Legolas trudged back down the road and looked where Tatiana pointed. Sure enough, there was a path that he had missed before.

"I don't know, Tatiana. It might lead somewhere else. Somewhere we don't want to go right now."

Tatiana rolled her eyes and started walking down the narrow trail.

"Well, if it does... my brave prince can save me," she called back.

Legolas hesitated, looked down the road once more, then sighed and started after Tatiana.

"Looks to me like the brave prince has no choice," he muttered.

"I heard that!"

Several hours later, they were still walking. The landscape had become bare and rocky. The few trees around them were black and menacing.

Neither of them wanted to admit it, but in their minds both were thinking the same thing: we're lost.

Frustrated, Tatiana pushed further ahead and wandered down between two slopes. She stopped and waited for Legolas.

"Nice shortcut," he muttered. "While we're at it, let's tell Calen that is was nice knowing her, since she'll be dead by the time we get out!"

Tatiana stared at him.

"That. Wasn't. Funny," she said at last, pronouncing each word with fire. "Look, the trees on this slope aren't so black; and there's more of them. I think we're getting somewhere."

They continued walking in silence. Eventually, the trail thinned and became a ledge on the side of a heavily wooded slope. To their left, small trees jutted from the rock. To their right, the slope dropped away sharply, leaving only inches of hard packed soil between their feet and open air.

"I think we should turn around," Legolas said finally.

"No. We've come this far, we might as well go the rest of the way," Tatiana scolded.

"Look, baby. If we'd stayed on the road we would be to Bree by now. But I don't even see it," Legolas tried to persuade her.

"Get your eyes checked. I know where I'm going," Tatiana grumbled. "I wonder..."

She looked up the slope to her left and started climbing.

"Tatiana, no!" said Legolas, rushing to her side and grabbing her foot.

"Let go! If I can get up to the top I'll be able to see where we are. I have a feeling that Bree is on the other side of this hill thing."

She started climbing again, out of Legolas' reach. He watched her anxiously and glanced below them. A mist had gathered several yards below the drop; he couldn't see the ground.

"Be careful!" he yelled. "If you fall I will never forgive you."

Tatiana ignored him.

"Look! I can see a town!" she called down. "If I can just get a little higher..." she took a step up.

Her foot landed on a spot of muddy earth. Legolas watched as Tatiana struggled, slipped, and came tumbling down the slope.

"No!'" he cried.

At the last moment, he reached out and grabbed her waist as she cam crashing into him.

The force of their contact knocked Legolas backward a bit. One foot lost it's grip, and he was forced to balance on the other. The rock under his heel started to give way, and though he tried to move, he wasn't quick enough.

They flew off the side and careened down the rocky drop strewn with random sickly trees. Legolas accidentally released Tatiana from his grip; she rolled down faster and faster from him, screaming as her body slammed into the hard rocks.

Twisting, Legolas tried to slow his slide. The strap on his pack caught on a sharp, gnarled tree branch jutting out from the hill, nearly dislocating his shoulder. His bow and quiver tumbled from his grip to land next to Tatiana, who had come to a head over heels rolling stop at the bottom. He could barely make out her form through the heavy mist; crumpled, unmoving.

"Tatiana!'" he screamed, writhing to be free of the pack.

Just as he was about to pull one arm out, the branch snapped in half. Legolas bounced and twisted the rest of the way down, gasping as his shoulder slammed into the hard ground. At last he slid to a stop and lay for a moment, wincing as he caught his breath.

Gingerly, he removed the pack and half crawled, half stumbled the few feet to where Tatiana lay.