Dorlarth's people could not have seen Eregdos's approach. So after the situation had been explained to him, the captain deployed his hunters and some of the search party about the perimeter of the area, out of view of the stronghold. Meanwhile, the rest of the search party began to light their arrows.
"Aim for the upper windows," Elrohir ordered his archers. "We want them to be able to flee out the ground floor doors."
At the command ("Hado i philinn!"), the archers fired their lit arrows intot he second storey windows of the stronghold. They came as a surprise to Dorlarth's elves, who began shouting. "Put them out!"
Elrohir's archers quickly lit more arrows. "Fire at will!" the twin ordered.
The arrows came too fast for those inside to put them out, and smoke began to billow out of the windows of the upper floor as things began to catch on fire. The shouts grew more frantic, and finallyt he doors opened and Dorlarth's elves began to run out, thinking they could escape the small search party. But as they split up and ran into the trees, they were easily caught and overpowered by Eregdos's party. Estel could hear cries of anger around the area as their enemies were surprised and captured. He watche dthe door and was finally gratified by the sight of Dorlarth himself fleeing the burning building. They started forward to intercept him. He carried a long knife, but Elrohir was the more accomplished fighter adn quickly disarmed him.
Even when Legolas and Estel tied his hands behind his back, Dorlarth's expression was haughty and unconcerned.
They brought all the bound insurgents intot he clearing. They had taken care to disarm all of them, and to tie their hands tightly behidn them so that they could not escpae. Most of them looked nearly as defiant as Dorlarth.
"It amazes me that such a small band could build this place and wreak such havoc," Legolas commented.
Estel wasn't listening. He was watching Dorlarth and Glawar. They had kept Glawar witht eh archers, just in case. Now that Dorlarth was brought over, his glance fell on his former follower. He looked surprised for a moment, then strangely triumphant. Glawar met his gaze only for a moment, then looked away. Estle couldnt' quite decipher his expression, but he thought he looked a little guilty.
"Estel," Legolas said, breaking his concentration. The blond elf nodded toward Elrohir, who was going forward to meet Eregdos. Leaving the rest of the archers to help with the prisoners, Estel and Legolas went to join them.
Elrohir and Eregdos were clasping each others' shoulders as they reached them. "Hannon le, mellon-nín," Elrohir said. "It is amazing luck that you happened to come upon us in our hour of need!"
"Actually, I believe the luck was in running across your brother and his companion," Eregdos said.
"Ah! Did he direct you hither?"
"No, Katie Johnason told us all that had happened." Elrohir frowned in confusion, and the captian continued. "We had been tracking two bands of orcs from Dol Guldor. One, I believe your party slew by Dorlarth's cells. The other band happened upon Lord Elladan and Katie Johanson." Elrohir's expression hardened. "My Lord Elladan slew the entire troop single-handedly. He was wounded int he process."
Elrohir blanched, but Estle beat him to speech. "Wounded! How badly?"
"'Twould have been quite serious had we not come upon him and the girl when we did. But our healers saw to hi, and he will be well. He and I were able to exchange words before my hunters departed."
Elladan's brothers breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. They all stood in silence for a moment.
"We need to take these insurrectionists to my fathe for justice," Elrohir finally said. "We will repair to the cells to meet with Katie and Elladan and collect the two guards imprisoned there."
"And we shall accompany you," Eregdos replied; "two of our number remained behind with them."
Elrohir nodde dihs thanks. "We should probably start moving." He smiled. "I would like to see how many orcs my brother slew!"
000
The healer allowed Elladan to sit up, and he was currently leaning agaisnt a tree, with Katie sitting next to him. She sat cross-legged with her hands in her lap. Her head was bent, and she stared at her hands, unseeing.
Elladan watched her with some concern. She had been so cheerful and animated before Dorlarth had struck. Now she was so quiet and sorrowful.
He reached over and brushed her chin with his finger. She looked up. "So quiet, Penneth?" he asked with a small smile. "Where is that vivacity that so delights your friends?"
Katie smiled sadly. "I'm just sorry all this has happened," she said quietly. "Rivendell and its people are too beautiful to have all this stuff happen to them."
"And your laugh is too beautiful to not be heard again," Elladan countered gently. "There is much ill in this world, but you need not let your spirit be borne down by it. Besides," he added in a lighter tone, "I have no doubt that they will capture Dorlarth and put an end to all this. So there is no reason to worry. Come; talk and jest as you used to. I could use a little cheering up." He put a hand over his side ruefully.
Katie grinned, then put on her most innocent expression. "Laughing might pull at your stitches," she argued piously.
"So? They need loosened anyway," Elladan answered flippantly.
The healer stood nearby and overheard this last comment. "Are you criticizing my handiwork, my lord?" he asked, with a barely repressed smile.
"Yes," Elladan answered, grinning widely. "Whatever you have done to me, it feels like you tried to sew me back together!"
The healer laughed and went back to his conversation with the other hunter.
Elladan turned back to Katie, who had a rather dangerous-looking smile on her face. "I am almost afraid to ask what you are plotting," Elladan said, raising one brow.
"Oh, I just had an idea of what we can do to pass the time," Katie said with a false air of innocence.
"Oh? And what is that?"
"It's a game called Truth or Dare," Katie explained, smiling from ear to ear.
000
Eregdos and Elrohir's troops left their captives' weapons by the burned-out building and led them back toward the cells. Some looked sullen, but Dorlarth's expression was unconcerned, and he marched with his head held high, despite the fact of his having his hands tied behind his back and a rope looped from them to the pommel of Elrohir's saddle. His expression bothered Elrohir. Either he was prideful (or unbalanced) enough to not be bothered by his captivity, or he had some hope that he would escape his fate—or worse, a plan for achieving that end.
They eventually reached the clearing, where all the orc corpses had been deposited. Elrohir shook his head in amazement when he saw the number of bodies that had been added to the heap. "Your brother is indeed a great warrior," Eregdos said respectfully.
Elrohir nodded. "He is that. I will go retrieve the keys to the cells from him, and then we may take out those imprisoned there and have the captives pile the bodies in the cells and burn the whole."
Eregdos agreed, and ordered his second-in-command to keep watch over the prisoners while he accompanied Elrohir, Estel and Legolas. They rode toward the place he had left Elladan and the others.
Before they could see their companions, they could hear them. There was quite a lot of laughter from all four, and Katie singing, "I took a sip…"
"I took a sip…" Elladan repeated dutifully, singing around his laughter.
"And he went down."
"And he went down."
"Right through my pipes!"
"Right through my pipes!"
"He must have drowned!"
"He must have drowned!"
Then they sang the entire part together. "I took a sip and he went down; right through my pipes, he must have drowned!" Eregdos's two elves were laughing helplessly, and Katie and Elladan were trying hard not to join in as they began on the next verse.
"I coughed him up…" Katie warbled.
"What are they doing?" Eregdos asked in some bewilderment. The other three were grinning from ear to ear.
"It sounds like they're playing a game," Estel laughed.
They rode into the clearing. Eregdos's elves were practically doubled over with laughter. Katie and Elladan, who was laughing self-deprecatingly, sat on the ground singing the silly song. "I coughed him up, but he was dead; so I buried him in my flower bed!"
They didn't know the others had arrived until Elrohir's shout of laughter rang through the trees. Katie hailed them gleefully, while Elladan laughed helplessly at being caught in mid-song.
Elrohir dismounted and strode over to kneel beside his brother and embrace him. "I am glad to see you in good spirits, muindor-nín," he said with a chuckle.
Elladan kept his arm about his younger brother's shoulder. "I swear, little brother, the song was not my idea!"
Estel and Legolas joined them. "Then whose idea was it?" the human asked.
Katie raised her hand with an impish smile. "Mine! We were playing Truth or Dare, and Dan picked dare. And with the shape he's in, I couldn't dare him to jump up and down on one leg and squawk like a chicken, like I was tempted to. So I settled for making him sing a silly song." She turned to Elladan. "And don't tell me you didn't enjoy it!"
"Remind me never to play that game with you," Legolas commented shaking his head. But he was smiling, as well.
"How went the attack?" Elladan asked, getting down to business.
"We smoked them out," Elrohir answered. "With the help of Eregdos and his hunters, we captured them all, along with Dorlarth. They are even now in the clearing by the cells. Might we have the keys to fetch the two guards there?"
Katie went to Elladan's pack and brought him the keys. "Ask them for me if their noses are sore," she said sweetly.
Legolas grinned. "I should think they are," he threw over his shoulder as they departed.
000
They retrieved the two sorry-looking guards and then had their captives toss the orc bodies down the stairs before tightly retying their hands.
"We will wait until you are a little way off before burning it, out of courtesy for the lady," Eregdos told Elrohir.
He nodded in understanding. The smell of burning orc flesh was far from pleasant.
"Would you like some of my people to ride with the captives back to Imladris?" he asked.
"No, thank you," Elrohir responded. "I believe we can handle them, now they are all bound. Thank you again for your service to us and to my brother," he continued, clasping the captain's shoulder in farewell. "You will always be welcome in our father's hall."
"Go well," the captain answered with a smile, then turned and bowed to Legolas. "Go well, Your Highness," he added to his prince.
"Stay well, Captain." Legolas returned the salute. "Carry my greetings to my father."
Estel sent a rider to take a message to Lord Elrond, saying that they had captured Dorlarth and his followers, and also telling of Elladan's skirmish. Then they moved some distance away from the clearing to camp.
Katie tried to stay away from Dorlarth and the other captives, but she couldn't help passing them a few times. Once, Dorlarth spoke up.
"That was very clever of you, to take the antidote," he said, almost sincerely. "But the prince would have lasted a couple days more. He would not have been comfortable, but he would have lived."
Katie tried to ignore him and walked on. She didn't know what he was leading up to, and she didn't want to know. She managed to avoid his vicinity for the rest of the evening.
The next morning, they cleaned up camp in preparation to depart for Rivendell. Elladan managed to convince Elrohir that he was well enough to ride at a slow walk. Elrohir finally agreed, with misgivings.
"Don't worry," Elladan said, "I won't break!"
Legolas had mounted up already. He offered his hand to Katie. "You can ride with me," he offered. She accepted, and he pulled her up. Not ten minutes into the ride, the horse started at something, and just as she had done with Elrohir, Katie held on a little tighter.
"You really aren't used to horses, are you?" Legolas said with a sly grin.
"Shaddup, Blondie," Katie said with a chuckle, smacking his arm. Legolas laughed.
TBC
AN: Alright, so maybe that was kind of a funny place to stop. Ah well.
It ain't over yet…:)
Sorry for any typos you may have encountered. My computer is possessed, and it wouldn't spellcheck the first half of the chapter... It also wouldn't makestart quotation marks. Somebody get me an exorcist...
crazycatluver: Yup! Evil! That's me:)
Fk306: You're right! It's much easier to type:)
EresseElrondiel: Yeah, what if they're not alright… mmmha ha ha… —imagines crying on Elrohir's shoulder— mmmm…
RenegadeKitsune: Thanks!
Saltwater: Turning into a unicorn… —snickers— Actually, when I was in about third grade, I used to pretend I could do that… But yeah, Mary-Sues need to die. :) Glad I've managed to avoid the dreaded Suedom! —grins— Evil wombats! –snicker snicker— Thanks!
Wow, where is everybody? —pouts, lower lip trembles— They don't like me anymore!
Please review! Things should pick up quite a bit in the next chapter…