(-)Chapter 3(-)

Aragorn listened wide-eyed to the story Kelanus was telling. The men had been bored so their leader had gotten into another one of his tales about his encounters with evil elves.

Nathil squirmed in his bonds, glaring at the man. The gag had been removed over a month ago but the boy refused to speak to anyone other than Aragorn and Sardyn when there was no one else around. He had been beaten. Not badly, fortunetly, but bad enough so even the smallest movements could cause a fair amount of pain.

The teenager glanced over at Rohan's old captain. He seemed to hang onto every word the traitor spoke.

"It's not true," he said suddenly.

Kelanus froze and turned to stare at him, "What is not true?"

"Elves are not evil, soldier, they are a kind people. You do not like them because you can not break them when you try to enslave them," he hissed, glaring at him.

Kelanus walked over to him and stared down at them, "I can break them. I'm sure I could prove this, if I had an elf."

Kelanus was about to shove the boy down when he heard the slight murmers behind him.

Sardyn hid a smirk, the murmers had been caused by him. He had turned to the man next to him, asking if he had ever seen Kelanus break an elf.

"We have never seen you break an elf, sir," Sardyn said with a shrug, "now that he mentions it, are you sure you could?"

"Of course I could!" Kelanus narrowed his eyes, "I need not prove myself to you."

One of the other men spoke up, "We are not too far from the elven realm of... what was it called?"

Sardyn rolled his eyes slightly, "Rivendell?"

"Aye! If we caught an elf, then you could break it."

Kelanus crossed his arms, "I'd like to see you catch an elf," inside he was nervous, he knew he couldn't break an elf, he had tried, but had always failed.

"We have time," the same man muttered, "to at least try."

"Fine," Kelanus grumbled irritably.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Legolas groaned, "I know Elrohir! I'm never going to live this down am I?"

"How could it have taken you so long?" Elladan laughed.

Elrohir snickered, "He took the thing off every night and didn't notice until we pointed it out after the orc attack we found them in!"

Legolas sighed and pressed his face into his palms.

"The orcs were laughing at you Legolas!" Elladan burst out laughing.

"I noticed..."

"I can't believe ada didn't tell you!" Elrohir snickered.

"Hey, you two started it!"

"What's your point?" Elrohir smirked.

"Legolas... your observation skills are failing you my friend, you didn't notice bright pink and yellow on the back of the cloak Estel gave you?"

"..."

The twins both started laughing at the wood elf.

Legolas sighed then froze and frowned, "Quiet you two, something is coming."

The two seemed to turn their laughter off with a switch, they were quiet so quickly, "From the south," they muttered in unison.

Legolas nodded, "Men."

Elladan nodded as well, "Six of them... give or take a couple," he smirked.

Elorhir shook his head, "I think it's seven."

"It's six."

"Seven."

"Si-"

"Not now..."

"..."

"..."

"How many do you think it is Legolas?"

"It doesn't matter what I think," he refused to be sucked into their game.

"Hostile?" Elrohir asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Legolas grumbled.

The twins shrugged, "You seem to think you're all-knowing."

"Will you two just be quiet?"

"You're boring Legolas," Elrohir grumbled mockingly.

The archer just sighed.

Six men suddenly entered the tiny clearing the three elves found themselves in.

Elrohir was about to give his brother a look of victory when another man stumbled into the clearing, looking slightly distressed.

Elladan smirked and drew his sword, "I win!" he called before swiftly parrying a blow.

Elrohir ducked a shot and shook his head, blocking the next, "That's not very polite you know! You'll have to explain why you decided we deserve such terrible treatment and so much of your time!"

The man just gave him an odd look before twitching as he was hit with the flat of the elf's blade and fell to the ground unconscious.

"It's nothing personal," the elf smiled at the man at his feet before parrying a blow from behind.

"Yes it is!" Elladan put in.

"Aye... I suppose it would be huh?"

Legolas sighed and rolled his eyes.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Sardyn glanced up sharply as three unconscious elves were dragged into their camp. His eyes widened and he bowed his head.

Aragorn glanced up and gasped, one of fear, and oddly... one of pain as well. His hands flew to his head and he grit his teeth.

Sardyn glanced over at the noise and his eyes widened, "Ruith?" the man had resorted to shortening the name for reasons he told no one.

He shook his head, "Hurts... seeing them... it hurts," he muttered.

Immediately hope gathered in the hooded man's eyes, maybe these three elves were the key to the other man's memories!

"Your head hurts?"

Aragorn nodded, "Why do they make it hurt?"

"Maybe you knew them from before you lost your memories. Try to remember," he said quietly, hopefully.

Aragorn bit his lip and nodded slowly and tried, but it only caused the pain to increase and he whimpered, "Hurts..."

Sardyn sighed, "Maybe some other time, try some other time."

"Maybe they were my masters before?"

Sardyn flinched, "No, I don't think so."

"Oh... well they're elf's... maybe they're making it hurt."

Sardyn sighed and shook his head, "Nay, they wouldn't, they can't do that and even if they could they're unconscious."

Aragorn frowned but nodded.

"Trust me Ruith," he smiled.

Aragorn stared at him before giving him a small smile and a nod.

Sardyn smiled sadly, he trusted too easily.

"What will Master do with them?"

Sardyn flinched inwardly at the word, "He will try to break them."

"He will whip them?"

The hooded man sighed, "Yes."

"Elf's are evil though, do they deserve it then?"

"No. Listen to me Ruith," the man muttered quietly, "do not listen to him, not all elves are evil. Just as not all men are evil," he smiled and ruffled the human's hair.

Aragorn blinked and pushed his hair out of his face and cocked his head to the side, "Where is he taking the elf's?"

Sardyn sighed, "To be chained to a post. So they can not escape."

"Why does he not chain me?"

The hooded man turned to stare at him sadly, "Because he knows you will not try to escape. The elves will go with Vandorin."

"Will Vandorin try to run? He is not an elf."

"But he does not wish to be enslaved."

Aragorn nodded slightly and turned to stare at his feet, "Is it better not to be a slave to Master?"

Sardyn squeezed his eyes shut, "Aye Ruith, it is better... it is better to be far, far away from that man," he spat, suddenly seeming angry.

Aragorn shrunk back slightly and quieted, not wishing to anger the man.

Sardyn cursed himself quietly and smiled over at the other man, "I'm sorry Ruith, worry not, but Kelanus is not a good man. Just... know that. Never look up to a person like that."

Aragorn paused a moment, "I don't. I'd rather be a slave than be like him."

Sardyn smiled at him, "Go to sleep, you need the rest."

A/N

Elf Side: Hello everyone. We hope you all enjoyed the chapter, Elven would tell you herself but... says flatly she's a bit tied up...

E.K.: Mmph... Glares

E.S.: And gagged...

E.K.: ... Shakes fist as best as is possible

E.S.: Smirks Anyhow, our new chapter with MicroChips is up, it's still under Agent Elf, would love it if you could take a look! It's called LMITS (l/mits) well... she said she was putting it up... not sure if it's up yet... but it would be appreciated if you go and check out what is actually there!

horsiegurl - Glad you liked it!

Jocelyn Elrondion - I'm glad you liked it! Sardyn's going to become a major character in this story so you'll find out all about him soon... enough... lol. And we'll be seeing all three of them in a little while. :) Hope you liked the chapter:)

marbienl - XP I wish I could have seen said scene... (lol) but I still haven't seen the EE... any of them... cry soon hopefully... but not likely... :( lol, ebil people always do mean things for stupid reasons... lol, yes... but evil is fun! In this case anyhow... XP but yeah, heading towards Rivendell, very good thing. XP

IwishChan - Lol, well if it wasn't cruel it wouldn't be fun... :P but I don't think the Riders of Rohan are going to show up any time soon... :P

Aranna Undomiel - I'm glad you liked that one, lol, midterms... sounds fun... Is so glad we don't have them lol. Lol, I never actually noticed that... poor Kelanus/tetanus... lol, we're all suspicious at times... :P

Kalayna - Lol! Well, unfortunetly... I think there are some pretty nasty ones to come... :P smiles innocently lol! You want Kelanus to die? But why:P lol, you'll have to wait and see if he dies... I don't know if I can do it... snorts yeah... right... I'd be happy to kill him! Eventually... :P

Nessa Ar-Feiniel - Yes, well, he was in the end given over twice the doseage a normal human would be given so yeah... Shrugs Poor 'Stel... :P

MicroCHips - Lol, oh yes. Gorey scene... will be a little while for that... a little in the end of chapter 6 and some at the beginning of 7... lol, I've already written... wanders off to check 16 and a half chapters. :) And it's got a little ways to go before being done... I'm hoping for it to be my longest one yet. :P lol, I'll be posting quite often until Monday... what else do I have to do? lol.

Sardyn: Well... this is nice and all... but... can I go now?

E.S.: Sigh Unfortunetly there is no escape from this place...

S: ... groan

E.S.: I hear you...

E.K.: Evil grin through gag mmph...

E.S.: Well, Namarie!

Elenmeoi