Chapter 3

Legolas stared at what he could see of the orc that had captured him. He couldn't believe they were caught now, so close to the exit, after walking through the entire prison without being seen. He looked around as far as the knife on his throat allowed him to, and saw that his brother was also being restrained by an orc. Legolas couldn't see Limloeth or Lainfea anywhere, and it greatly worried him. Because of the knife on his neck he couldn't see the ground, and could only hope they didn't lay dead somewhere.

The orc pulled the knife tighter. Tight enough to draw blood. Legolas restisted the urge to gulp, knowing that it would only make more blood flow.
"I asked you what you were doing, and when one of your masters asks you a question, you will anwser, SLAVE," the orc spat at him.
"We were just…we were..."Legolas fumbled to find some kind of excuse, ignoring the fact there were very few legitimate reasons to be out of a cell and trying to pick the lock of a possible escape-route.

Before he could find an excuse the orc answered his own question.
"You were trying to escape," the vile creature rasped as he smiled wickedly. "And do you know the punishment is for an escape attempt?"

Legolas knew. All slaves did. The punishment for escaping was worse than death. Far worse. Legolas saw the fear in his brother's eyes, and knew that Lanthir was thinking the same thoughts.

Legolas was trying to decide whether he should force the orcs to kill him now, or hold onto the sliver of hope that he would escape later, when that hope threw herself at the orc holding Lanthir.

Little Lainfea had been huddled silently in a corner, waiting for the orcs to go away. All her life the same thing happened over and over: someone did something, the orcs would come, scare the slaves, hurt a few and then go away again. But then she saw the orc hurt Legolas' neck. She had seen the blood. Lainfea had very little medical knowledge, but she knew one thing. Slaves that bled from their necks died soon. The orcs would not leave them alone until they did.

The elfling looked around. In a dark corner on the opposite wall, close to where Legolas stood, her eyes found her sister sitting stock still against the wall. Lainfea smiled. Her sister would make everything right. She was holding a knife. Lainfea had learned a long time ago that knives could be used to hurt people. Any minute now her sister would jump up and hurt the orcs. Any minute now. Only Limloeth didn't move. She just sat there, her eyes wide, her face pale.

Lainfea concluded after a while that Limloeth was sleeping. She looked around for something to wake her, when her gaze was drawn to the body of the dead orc that Legolas and Lanthir had been dragging. Lanthir's knife was still embedded deep in its chest.

Lainfea reached out her arm and tried to pull it out. The knife did not cooperate. On
hands and knees she moved a little closer to the dead orc and placed one of her knees on its belly. With both hands she pulled at the knife, almost falling backwards when it gave way. Lainfea smiled. Now she could hurt orcs by herself.

She crawled towards the orc holding Lanthir. They didn't notice her.
Both of them were looking at Legolas and had their back turned to her. She stabbed the creature that was holding Lanthir, plunging the knife into the first bodypart she could reach, which turned out to be the hollow of its knee. The orc screeched and fell to its knees, turning towards Lainfea and pointing his knife at her. Before it could do anything Lanthir, now free, drove a sharp kick to its head, and the orc fell hard to the ground.

"Lainfea!" He yelled. "Lainfea, the knife! Stab him! Stab
him!"
Lainfea nodded and raised the knife with both hands. With all her strength she pushed it into the orcs open mouth.

"Well, well, well," the orc still holding Legolas said, merely glancing at his fallen comrade.
"Killer-infants. Very impressive, but what have you gained, little one? You could have stayed hidden. That would have been smart thing to do. We probably wouldn't have found you for a few more days. Do you think you have saved these two now? I'm still here." Legolas felt the knife on his throat apply more pressure, and the orc's hands were soaked with the fair being's blood. This time, he knew it was for real. This time the orc wouldn't just draw blood. This time it would kill him.

But suddenly the knife stopped. Limloeth, who had been paralized at the sight of the orcs, had seen little Lainfea take out an orc and it had brought her out of her stupor with a feeling of guilt. Her little sister, a young child, had saved her brother, while she had been cowering against a wall. Limloeth thought about what her brother had said when he had handed her the knife. "Think about what they've done to us." So thought she did. Galvanized into action, Limloeth gripped her knife tighter and leapt forward, stabbing the back of the orc holding Legolas. She felt the life flowing out of the creature. She felt its blood flow over her hands and onto the ground. She felt sick.

Lanthir looked at his blood-covered siblings and the dead orcs.
"Well,not that this wasn't fun, or anything, but I think we should get out of here before the next party of orcs decide to catch us." Legolas nodded, but he didn't start on the lock right away. First he kneeled next to Limloeth.
"Are you alright?" Limloeth was still shaking.

"I didn't….. I couldn't…. I was so scared, and Lainfea.. Lainfea.. And I didn't. " Legoals hugged his sister and rocked her back and forth.

"Shhh, it's alright. We can't all be warriors. You did fine. Shhh... " he soothed her.
"You don't understand! I wasn't going to do anything! If Lainfea hadn't…. If she didn't...I would have let you die!" Limloeth protested.
"But she did, and you didn't let us die. It's alright," Legolas insisted.
"I killed someone," she said in a semi-shocked voice.

"You killed an orc. That means you haven't really killed anyone. You released the wisted soul of an old elf from the prison of his own body and sent him to the Halls of Mandos were he can heal. You did him a favor. Not to mention saved me in the process!" Legolas smiled as he spoke.
Limloeth gave him a weak smile in return. "Well, if you look at it that way..."
" I do. Everytime I kill an orc." Legolas got up and offered his hand to Limloeth. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled up.

As Legolas walked past Lanthir, his brother whispered, "There's no way you think that everytime you kill an orc."
Legolas gave his brother a glare. "Don't I?"
"No, you don't. There just isn't enough time. Come on, brother. You think 'Die, ugly!' just like I do," Lanthir replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I can think fast."
"Then you just think 'Die ugly' a million times." Lanthir smiled.
"Be quiet and go check Lainfea."
"She's fine," he protested.
"Go check Lainfea and leave me alone. I need to concentrate on opening the lock." "Alright, muindor nin, but just remember…. You are now one kill behind on all of us."

Legolas took a moment to figure out his priorities; opening the door, or smacking his annoying younger brother in the head. He decided to open the door first. Once they would be out of the prison, there would enough time for headsmacking.

Nessa Ar-Feiniel: (I didn't realize the queen had died. That is so sad.) Yes it is. She was a very brave women , but she died somewhere after ten years of captivity, leaving the little elves behind all alone.

sam611
(Oh!! 20 chaps?? thas good!! for me, muha, any way, -. Here Im, wainting...)

Well here is chapter 3.. And I just finished writing chapter 31 (the 20 was a typo.. it was suppossed to be 30.. )