Chapter Seventeen

It was the dawn of the third day of Daralis' imprisonment. She was becoming worried, not for herself, but for her father and friends. She had realized that she had no idea what went on in Imladris- they had access to the wing of Lord Elrond, Elrohir Elladan. Anything could have happened. Tears began streaming down her face, leaving a clean track mark in the grime from the cave.

'If anything happens to him,' she thought, 'It will be my fault. And I'll never forgive myself.'

She became overcome with her worry as the day progressed. Eventually, her worry became grief at her certainty that her father, Elladan, and everyone else she loved were dead and gone.

She stopped crying suddenly. Reviewing her thoughts, she was devastated to realize that she was in love with Elladan. She had been stupid, she concluded, and held back, and now she would never get to tell him.

Her weeping began anew.

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Legolas and Elladan waited, separately, for the others to wake up so they could continue searching. Their horses stood ready to leave. Aragorn understood their impatience, but was annoyed by it. From his standpoint he realized the importance of rest.

He knew neither of them had gotten much, if any.

"We will head southwest from here to reach the caves. At some point, we will lose all cover, and the horses shall have to be abandoned, and we shall continue on foot. This will make our journey longer." He watched Legolas' jaw twitch, and was grateful that he stayed silent. "Alright. Let us depart."

The group continued through that day, tracking the Orcs. In the afternoon, they sent their horses back in the direction of Mirkwood. They continued on until nightfall, at which time they stopped again to rest, at the protest of Legolas and Elladan.

"We cannot rest again!" Legolas exclaimed, horrified. "We have no idea where she is, o how she is being treated!" he approached Aragorn, appealing to Aragorn's own sense of family. "What if it were Eldarion, Aragorn? Would you rest?"

"If it were Eldarion, the guards would have kept him from harm." Legolas' eyes flared, and his fist clenched. He turned quickly from Aragorn before his violence got the best of him, and headed for a small grove of trees nearby.

Later that night, Elladan paced, wide-awake. The thought of Daralis imprisoned gave him nothing but uneasiness, and he could not understand how the others could rest at a time like this. His chest felt like it was being compressed. Desperate to speak to someone, he went to Elrohir's bedroll, but his brother's eyes were glazed over in a trance, and Elladan knew he shouldn't disturb him. He then went to Glorfindel, who was also in a sleeping state. With a start, he went silently to Legolas' side, but saw that he not only was asleep, but that his eyes were closed. He turned back to himself. He thought he may have to do something soon if Daralis wasn't found.

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Daralis sat rocking and holding her knees. All she could think about was her fallen father, and Elladan, and the idea that she was at fault. Silent tears streamed down her face. She was racked with unbearable pain, knowing that Elladan would never hear her words, and imagining his face as he was taken into the catacombs of his family. Her entire body was tingling and shaking. She hadn't eaten in days and wasn't sure of how much longer she could take it. She has hungry, and felt lighter that she had when she'd arrived in her stone prison.

It infuriated her that all she could do was sit there and wait - either to be rescued miraculously, or killed without mercy. She was used to being in control of her own destiny. And this current situation was both annoying and unsettling to her.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered into the darkness.

I know, I know. Waaay short. I'm sorry! But I know you want more chapters out, and plus I kinda felt as if a new day needed to begin in this whole beat sitch. So yeah. Going to write 18 now!

P.S. Spread "beat". It's like gross, ugly, or just not cool.