Alone –Elven Jedi Knight

Chapter 5- Run!

Hullo all! I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. High School is really time consuming therefore I have almost no time to work on my stories and do the stuff that I love. I will update as often as I can, but I cannot make any promises as to how fast I can complete each chapter. Well, on with the story!

Disclaimer: Me: Tolkien, can I own Lord of the Rings. Tolkien: No.

Me: PLEASE!

Tolkien: No.

Me: Just the elves then?

Tolkien: No.

Me: Fine, the twins and Legolas, please?

Tolkien: No.

Me: But…but…please?

Tolkien: No! It's mine! walks away

Me: Damn! Well, u heard the guy, I DON'T OWN LORD OF THE RINGS! No good Preciouss!

(DanElladan and RoElrohir, but I think you guys knew that already…oh well)

Julie and the twins hurried down out of the tree and down to the ground. The elves got to the bottom in almost no time, but Julie was much slower. She was halfway down when she froze.

"Julie! Hurry up!" Ro called up to her. She just remained still.

"What is wrong? Come on, we must get clear before he wakes up!" Dan called up to her.

"Oh. My. God." She said.

"What?" the twins asked in unison.

"I left my sweatshirt up there!" Julie exclaimed as she started back up the tree. The twins exchanged worried looks, and then followed her up. The three raced through the branches and made good time to the roof. Ro held the trapdoor open as Julie dropped down and hurried into the talan. Julie raced into the room and grabbed her sweatshirt.

As she was leaving the room, Julie tripped over a chest of clothes, knocking its contents onto the floor with a loud crash. "Shit!" she said under her breath. Julie dashed up the stairs and was pulled through the trapdoor by strong arms. They closed and hid the trapdoor, then started down the tree. Elrohir stopped for a moment and tied a rope to a branch.

"Here, this will be faster seeing as our cover is blown." Ro said, then slid down the rope. Julie and Elladan exchanged a glance, shrugged and followed Ro down.

"Where did the rope come from?" Julie inquired as they slid to the base of the tree.

"I brought it with me…in case of an emergency." He replied.

"Oh…I didn't see it earlier."

"It was beneath my cloak. Now get ready, we need to run when we hit the bottom." Elrohir replied. The twins jumped off the rope several feet from the ground and urged Julie to run as fast as she could. Dan followed close after her, followed, but then surpassed by Ro after he pulled the rope free.

"Run faster or he will catch us for sure!" Elrohir called from ahead of them.

Haldir had been sleeping peacefully in ignorant bliss after a long tiring training session for new elven warriors. He had no dreams, but enjoyed a deep and refreshing sleep.

CRASH!

Haldir sat up fully awake in an instant. He quickly glanced around his room. His sword was on the ground next to an upturned clothing chest with its contents scattered, his cloak hanging on a hook on the side of his wardrobe, a strange elf reflected in the mirror, the window slightly ajar like always and…A STRANGE ELF REFLECTED IN THE MIRROR! Haldir stared in horror for a minute at his hair. His beautiful light blond hair was now a deep blood red with black streaks and the last few inches of his hair was a bright neon green. Haldir let out a roar of anger then dashed down stairs to catch the one that ruined his hair.

Julie turned in horror as she heard the roar behind them. "Ok guys, what's the plan to escape the pissed off Balrog?" she shouted to Dan and Ro who were much farther ahead of her.

"Escape plan?" Ro called back to Julie.

"You mean we don't have one?"

"We do. Run." Dan replied. A sound of thundering feet and something crashing through the leaves behind them caused Julie to take half a second to look over her shoulder. The sight of Haldir in the distance, running fast to catch up, eyes blazing, sent a chill down her spine.

"Uh what do when do when Escape Plan A fails?" Julie said with a bit of panic crawling into her voice.

"Escape Plan B: Run faster, then hide." Ro shouted. "Now hurry up! Just a little farther ahead Dan and I have a hideout." The elves shot ahead with renewed speed and energy as Julie struggled to just keep getting air into her lungs while forcing her legs to move. After a few feet Julie tripped and caught her foot in a tree root.

"Shit!" she swore as she tumbled to the ground and pulled her foot free. When the elves noticed that Julie had stopped, Dan doubled back and grabbed her wrist and charged ahead even faster than before, dragging Julie along behind him. Even being dragged by Elladan did not much help Julie. The only thing that kept her moving was the memory of the murderous look in Haldir's eyes. Elrohir was out of sight and Julie became worried.

"Where… is…Ro?" she gasped out between breaths. But at the moment the words left her lips, a hand snapped out, tightly gripped her arm and pulled Julie and Dan around a tree trunk.

"Quickly, in here!" Ro said as he opened a hidden door in the tree. He shoved them in and pulled the door shut after they were all inside. A light flickered on into a soft luminous glow. "Come on, up the stairs! We may have Haldir for a while, but he will literally tear up the city until he finds us. We can hide in Legolas's talan for a while, he is out for the day." Still breathing hard, Julie climbed up the spiral stairs after Ro, followed closely by Dan.

"Are you sure gasp that Haldir gasp doesn't know that gasp this is here?" Julie asked.

"Positive…well, almost sure…well…uh…" Dan replied

"WHAT? Are you saying that he knows about this hidden staircase?"

"He might know, but the chances are so small…we have only used it once before to escape Haldir about…oh…a hundred years ago…"

"But he still might remember?"

"Shh…quiet for a minute…" Ro hissed at them. The three of them froze and Julie tried to quiet her breathing. The sound of footsteps came, slowed, then halted. Ro beckoned to Julie and Dan to follow him up a few steps to a knot hole and gestured that they should look. Julie put her eye against the hole and gazed out at the ground beneath them.

Dan leaned close to Julie and she could feel his breath on her cheek as he spoke quietly into her ear, "Do you see him?" For fear of making too much noise Julie simply nodded her head and continued to watch Haldir walk around searching the area around the tree. After a few minutes Haldir walked away from the base of the tree and out of view.

"Phew! He's gone." Julie said quietly.

"Are you certain?" Ro asked.

"Yes, he walked away." Julie said, no longer speaking softly. Dan clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Shh, elves have extremely good hearing, he may still be in the area." Dan said quietly. Julie rolled her eyes as Ro motioned for them to follow, and they started climbing up again. After a few minutes they stopped.

"We are almost at the top now. It is likely that Haldir knows we are near this area. He may be waiting outside somewhere. Here Julie, put on my cloak so you won't stand out as much. When we get outside try to act normal, as if nothing happened; but be ready to run if we see Haldir." Ro said, then rounded the next turn on the spiral, reached up, undid a latch and pushed open a trapdoor. After sticking his head up and determining that no one was in the immediate area, Elrohir pulled himself up through the hole, followed by Elladan, who helped Julie up through. After adjusting the cloak and pulling up the hood Julie followed Elladan and Elrohir away from the tree onto one of the many bridges between the trees. They walked among the many trees, bridges, platforms, and talans in a long winding path.

"Oh no, keep your heads down. Haldir is over there, one platform to the right." Dan warned. "Start walking a little faster, try to get over to that staircase ahead on the left, Legolas's temporary talan is three levels up and two platforms away."

As they walked towards the staircase, Julie looked back over her shoulder and looked for Haldir. Her eyes swept over the crowd of elves, but she did not see him. "You sure Haldir is over there? I don't see him."

"Stop looking! He has his hood up. Just keep walking." Dan snapped at her. But Julie continued her search Haldir as she walked. Her eyes swept over the crowd and then she saw him, his hood was up covering most of his red and black hair, but a strand of it had gotten loose and Haldir was quickly tucking it back under his hood. Julie continued to watch him, waiting to see if he knew they were there. Suddenly, Haldir looked up and his eyes met hers. For a second it seemed that Haldir did not recognize her, but when his eyes seemed to glow with suppressed rage, Julie knew he saw them.

"Damn. Uh, guys…he sees us…" Julie said. Ro swore in Elvish, and Dan muttered something beneath his breath.

"Alright, change in plan, run." Dan said and took off, followed closely by Ro and Julie. Julie's hood flew back and she spared half a second to look back and see that Haldir was chasing them, his hood back and his red and black hair visible to all. The three ran up the stairs and rushed across the platform to the next staircase.

"This is a marketplace, stay close or you'll get lost in the crowd!" Ro called back to Julie. Julie managed to keep up with them for a while, but of course, being a human, (and a clumsy one too…) Julie was quickly separated from the twins. She saw them just a little ahead, but soon she lost them in the crowd.

Great job Julie, the first thing you manage to do right after they tell you to stay close is get lost. Wonderful. Now you have no clue where you are, but if you stop running Haldir will catch you…hmm…where is Legolas's talan? Was it three levels up and two platforms away? I dunno…I think that's it…I'll just go there and hope I remembered right…but two platforms away in which direction? I'll just keep running in the direction Dan and Ro left in.

Julie kept running, but soon became helplessly lost. She ran out of the market place and went up the staircase, but after she crossed the second, relatively empty platform, there were three sets of stairs going up.

"Shit…which one? Urgh! Why did I have to get lost? Where are Dan and Ro when I need them?" Julie stopped running and stared at the three stair cases for a few moments.

"Julie! Hurry! Up here!" A voice came from above her.

"Dan! Yes, finally! I got lost!" Julie cried out as she started up the stairs

"It does not matter! Just come up here quickly. We might have thrown Haldir off track, but we're not sure!" Ro called to her. When she go to the top of the stairs, they quickly walked over to Legolas's empty talan. Julie sighed in relief as Dan closed the door behind them.

"Not such a good idea, hiding in Legolas's talan." a voice behind them said. The three spun around and stared in horror for a second at the source of the voice. Haldir stood in the first room of the talan, arms crossed, with a mixed expression of amusement at their surprise, and furry at what they had done to his hair.

"Uh…Haldir we can explain…uh…well…you see…" Julie trailed off still quite shocked. Haldir glared, then grabbed Julie's arm.

"I order you two to follow me, if you don't, you will face severe punishment." Haldir said coldly to the twins, then marched out the door.

Julie stood in front of the sink, up to her elbows with soap bubbles, muttering various curses, and debating what to do when they finished the enormous stack of dishes. Elladan and Elrohir were nearby rinsing and drying each dish after Julie had scrubbed them clean.

"I thought that you said it would be safe to hide in Legolas's room!" Julie exclaimed as she scrubbed yet another dirty dish.

"How were we supposed to know Haldir would figure out where we were going to hide?" Dan said defensively.

"Less talking, more working. And don't forget, you all have to wash the dishes for a week." Haldir said somewhat smugly as he sat in a chair in one corner of the room reading a book. Julie turned and glared daggers at Haldir and muttered something beneath her breath about 101 ways to kill Haldir.