Authors notes: - Thank you for all the reviews, they were all appreciated and gratefully received. A big thank you to Emily Brown (you can find the rest of this story under my pen name M.J.Emery on , if you still want to catch up :-) and siobhan (wow thank you so much for the review and your kind comments.). As you may notice the first part of this is the same as the last chapter. I have replaced the last chapter as I made a really dumb error; one person was in two places at once. That's what you get for being in a hurry to get a chapter up...sorry. I decided to combine the two chapters into one so the last part is new. I am sorry for the mix up. Also I am heading back to university next week so there could be a slight delay on the next chapter, not much though. Please leave some reviews as my day has sucked (car troubles meant that I had to run through town in the pouring rain at 7.30am to get to work 30 minutes away!, then it just went downhill!! Anyways enough from me. I hope you enjoy it!
OOO
Aragorn groaned as awareness slowly seeped back into his body. His head was causing him agonising pain and even the slightest movement resulted in nausea rising. For the moment he decided to keep movement to a minimum and settled for the time being on opening his eyes. With a hiss of pain at the glare of the light he narrowed his eyes and looked around. They were very close to the tower of Dol Guldur and that made him wonder how long he had been unconscious. The tower dominated the horizon and it sent shivers down his spine, he could feel the darkness flooding the area. Surrounding him were the stumps of trees, destroyed in the orcs pursuit for wood to fuel their fires. The orcs were a distance away clearly not concerned with the prisoners escaping probably because they were so close to the tower. The enemy were probably surrounding them in the trees, watching. Another groan reminded him that he was not alone and he shifted his eyes to see Gandalf suddenly alert.
"If one of those orcs hits me over the head again I will not be happy." He muttered.
"And you were happy the first few times?" Aragorn had to ask. Gandalf raised an eyebrow.
"Delighted. I have a new found sympathy for those who are repeated hit over the head! Now lets get out of here or you are going to have an angry wizard on your hands."
"What of the others?" Aragorn asked as his position meant that he could not see the any of them.
"All unconscious still. The fact that Eomer is too can only be a benefit, the poor man seems quite insane. That is why I wish not to be hit repeatedly over the head."
Aragorn rolled his eyes.
"So what is grand idea of escape?"
"Now that would be telling." Gandalf said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Just for once could you please share?" Aragorn asked his voice bordering on exasperation.
Gandalf just went 'tut' 'tut'. "You young things today lack so much patience!"
Aragorn sighed. "Give me strength." He muttered.
"I heard that King Elessar. You should respect your elders."
"Would you two shut up?" A new voice entered the conversation. Aeolian looked across at the two from where he had been tied up.
Gandalf just sighed.
"Well that's three!" Aragorn said.
"Four." Gimli said with a moan.
"A Nazgul approaches." Gandalf stated and everyone fell silent. It was a few seconds before the others heard the winged creature. The dull beating of wings announced its arrival and with a scream the creature landed.
"Something has upset it." Gandalf said. Aragorn wondered how you could tell an upset Nazgul from an angry Nazgul or even a normal acting Nazgul.
The Nazgul walked over to the orcs who backed away; very nervous as to why the creature was focusing their attention on them. After a few minutes half the orcs turned and ran into the forest on the creatures orders.
"Its coming this way." Gimli muttered.
The Nazgul stood over them. "Three white riders. Who are they?" it hissed. No one answered, the question itself coming as a surprise.
"Where do they come from?" it continued.
"We know nothing of these horsemen, where they are from or who they are." Gandalf stated.
The Nazgul screamed and turned back to its beast.
"Find me the answer." It hissed at the orcs. The orcs looked gleeful as the Nazgul took off; they turned their attention to the captives.
"Your friends are going to suffer for killing a Nazgul. As will you." One of the orcs sneered.
"A Nazgul was killed? Well isn't that interesting." Gandalf said.
O
"Why are we following them?" Eustace demanded as they trailed after the three horsemen.
"Any other ideas? They just killed a Nazgul and I would rather be with them than on our own." Aran replied.
"How do we know they aren't going to kill us?"
"I don't but they have had plenty of opportunity to kill us and they haven't."
"That doesn't mean they won't."
Aran sighed. "Were you always this cheerful and optimistic?" Aran walked quickly to join Feren at the front.
"They are leading us towards the tower." Feren stated quietly.
"And once we are there what do you plan to do?" Aran asked studying the man, Feren looked as exhausted and wounded as the rest of them but he seemed strained, the pressure of leading this group and make constant decisions trying to keep them alive was slowly wearing him down. At that moment Aran felt sympathy for the man and regretted his previous words.
"Offer ourselves as sacrifices to Sauron." Feren snapped bitterly. "I don't know but they just defeated one of the most powerful creatures of darkness, I'd say that our chances of survival are probably better with them than on our own."
"I agree but there are grumblings amongst the others particularly Eustace."
"Eustace is young and probably terrified. We are heading deeper into danger rather than away from it, he doesn't understand why we would do that. Self – preservation is all his mind can think of."
"What about our minds? I would like to live."
"So would I. I want to see my son take his first steps and my wife laughing so hard that tears roll down her face...but I have a duty to perform. I do not wish to die in a foreign land but these are our allies, their prince has put his life on the line many times for us. Middle – Earth needs to be united. For my family to be safe we need to do this. That is why I do not question our orders and what we are doing."
"Fine then let us try and talk to these knights and get some answers." Aran announced before hurrying forward, Feren followed him slightly doubtful that these creatures would speak to them.
"Excuse me." He called. The horses kept going with no indication that they had heard.
"Who are you?" Aran asked. Nothing.
"Are you going to kill us?" Aran demanded. The horses stopped.
"I hope you haven't just insulted them." Feren whispered. As one the horses turned to face them. Feren, Aran and the others took a step backwards. The lead rider lifted a hand and removed his hood.
"Legolas?" Feren stuttered. The elf showed no response to his name. It wasn't Legolas who spoke to answer the question.
"We are the Poikaerea (Pure ones). We will not harm those who have no darkness within their souls."
"I've never heard of the Poikaerea nor that Lord Legolas was one?" Aran whispered to Feren.
"Prince Legolas summoned us and he has bound himself to us." The horseman said hearing them despite the fact they were whispering.
"We are an ancient power and it will do you good to keep out of our way."
"I thought you wouldn't kill us." Feren said suddenly looking nervous.
"We will not but neither will we protect you. We act alone." The three turned as one, Legolas replacing his hood. They continued into the forest."
"What now?" Aran asked.
"Well I would still rather stick with them. They might not protect us but still it is probably safer with them than on our own."
"I hope you are right. Lord Legolas didn't seem that welcoming." Aran said as they followed them.
"I wonder what it means when he has bound himself to them?" Feren pondered.
"No idea but it sounded kind of ominous. I hope he knows what he is doing."
OO
"So what are we going to do now?" Azian demanded for what seemed the hundredth time. Elrond swore that his grinding teeth could be heard for miles around. In the space of an hour Azian had turned into the living embodiment of an imprudent brat of an elfling that had possessed a normally perfectly mannered elf. Every change of direction, halt or even discussion on the slightest thing had resulted in Azian demanding what was going on and butting in at every opportunity. He was sure that the strange feeling that had woken the young elf concerning Legolas had something to do with his recent personality change. This alone alerted Elrond to the fact that it was serious and Azian was greatly upset at whatever it was.
"Stick your mouth together so you will finally shut up." One of the dwarfs grumbled.
"Pardon me?" Azian started towards the dwarf. Elrond grabbed the elf's arm as he went past, pulling him away.
"Listen to me. This is a very trying time for all involved and your newly found attitude problem needs to stop now." Azian opened his mouth to protest but Elrond hushed him.
"No. We are your only hope at the moment so we need to work together and be civil towards each other."
"Fine." Azian said after a time. Elrond let go of his arm; the elf moved away from the group and gazed moodily into the distance. The elf lord decided that asking Azian to apologise for his behaviour would be a step to far.
"Something's coming!" one of the elf's cried. The group turned, weapons raised. The trees parted and three white horses with riders appeared.
"No!" Both Elrond and Azian whispered. Azian rushed forward. Behind the horsemen a small weary group appeared. Another motley group of survivors he thought as he took in the men and dwarfs. Azian meanwhile had grabbed one of the figures on the horse nearest to them. The other two withdrew their swords and held them to the elf's throat. Elrond jumped forward hoping to stop any bloodshed. Azian mindless of the swords at his throat pulled off the hood of the horse he had practically scaled.
"Legolas!" he gasped and he slumped back to the ground. The swords were removed.
"What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Azian demanded.
"He has done what he needed to safeguard this forest as his position states that he was meant to. I can tell you are also of Mirkwood royal blood, you should come with us."
"You stupid idiot! Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have done is dangerous! Lord Elrond says that..." Elrond grabbed Azian and hushed him with a look that said not now.
"I have done what is best." Legolas stated no emotion in his voice, his eyes blank almost cold.
"What you thought was best? Do you understand the consequences? I have always been able to sense my brothers. You have just been returned to me after a year of silence and now I can no longer feel you again. Why do you think that is?"
Quicker than even elven eyes could follow the three knights drew their bows and an arrow, firing it into the trees. An orc fell out of a tree onto the ground, three arrows in a triangle through his heart. Then without further words the horses turned and moved swiftly into gallop, heading south.
"LEGOLAS!" Azian yelled and then let loose with a barrage of curses in every language he knew.
"What has happened to him?" Azian demanded. "What has he become?"
"I do not know but due to his injuries I fear that he cannot control his own mind, he is more in their power than he was designed to be."
"So what are you going to do?"
"What will you have me do? Fly through the air to stop them and force them into submission until they hand over Legolas? It will not work. This is an ancient power that I do not fully understand and any attempt by myself to do anything may worsen the situation. When we find Gandalf I shall discuss the situation with him, he knows more of wizard powers than I do."
Azian's face crumpled. "I can't keep doing this. I am so tired." Elrond watched with tremendous pity as Azian wondered over to one of the trees and sat on the ground, resting his head in his hands and his shoulders slumped. Deciding that Azian needed a few minutes alone to compose himself he turned to greet the newcomers. One of the men stepped forward.
"Lord Elrond I have never been more grateful to see someone in my whole life." The man said with a tired smile. "I am Feren a lieutenant in the Royal Guards of Gondor."
"Well met Feren. How fares your party?"
"Walking wounded all of us. We came from the caves, there are some more seriously wounded that we had to leave behind."
"Is this all of you?" Elrond said a little despondent.
"The caves are large there could be many more. The Nazgul were hunting, we divided ourselves up and ran. What you see here are some of those who made it to our particular cave. Have you been moving through the forest my Lord?" Feren asked.
"We came from the Citadel. There was a Nazgul inside so we couldn't seek sanctuary. Somehow Legolas managed to command it to leave. Unfortunately we were then attacked and hostages were taken, including the kings of Mirkwood, Gondor and Rohan."
"Maybe we should consider a new policy of not keeping all the leaders in one area." Feren said pinching the bridge of his nose, as the situation appeared to continue its slope into hopelessness.
Elrond chuckled tiredly. "I will suggest that at our next council meeting."
"So do we follow Prince Legolas and the Poikaerea or do you have any other ideas?" Feren asked.
"How do you know of them?" Elrond asked
"They told us when we asked if they were to kill us." Feren replied. Elrond frowned in thought.
"We follow them. They were going the same direction we were going in. The tracks lead in the same direction. Hopefully we can find everybody and start sorting the situation out now."
"Do you believe we can win this?" Feren asked curious as to the elf lord's train of thought.
Elrond turned to look at Azian. Feren followed his gaze.
"Do we have a choice? Defeat would mean their slaughter and if this line of defence falls then so would Middle Earth. These elves have been keeping the darkness of Dol Guldur at bay for millennia; their continuous fight has kept us for the most part safe from this part of the world. We cannot afford to lose this forest."
"I know but do we have the strength to repel them?"
"I don't know but those three took down a Nazgul, I would say we have a much better chance now with them than before." Aran said as he approached the pair repeating the argument he had used earlier with Eustace.
"I agree. Azian we should be going." Elrond called. The elf wearily rose to his feet looking much younger now that everything had come to the settle heavily on his shoulders.
OO
crack Aragorn cried out as he felt a punch land hard on his chest.
"Excuse me. I believe that the Nazgul wished for you to interrogate us as to the whereabouts of the three mysterious white riders not to beat us senseless. So far you have not asked us one question." Gandalf chatted quite cheerfully despite the fact the orcs were beating those who were not already unconscious.
"Quiet wizard. You'll be next." One of the orcs snarled.
"Now now that is not the way to conduct a conversation. I am just pointing out your incompetence."
With furious expressions they turned their attention to the wizard.
"I do wonder how he has lived so long with an attitude like that." Aragorn murmured as he tried to move to see what was going on. Pain was now a constant companion and he longed to be at home with Arwen, lying in their soft bed as the first rays of sun entered their window.
"Lay one hand on me and I will turn you into toads." The orcs backed away nervously, except for the supposed leader who gazed at him with a sceptical expression.
"If you could turn us into toads why did you not do it before?" it asked.
"Because I did not feel so inclined. Now I am hungry, tired and quite uncomfortable. All bad things when dealing with wizards."
"Well we do not care do we boys?" the orc sneered.
"That's too bad because it was your last chance. Now I am really mad." Gandalf said simply and his eyes went a steel grey, the sky began to darken and the air seemed to crackle.
The orcs never had time to even process his words.
OO
