Welcome back to A Shadow and a Thought!

Sorry it took so long to get up and posted. But my stupid teachers decided that STAR testing meant that we get tons of HW. Which was not fun.

But writing this was! Yes, we have some answers and angst for poor Aragorn!

Answers to reviews at the bottom. Oh, and sorry for that chapter mess!

And here we go!

Aragorn slowly drifted back to consciousness. His first thought was an intense pain in the back of his head. He moaned and opened his eyes.

He found himself in a small dark room that appeared to be made of stone. There was no one else there, and to Aragorn's dismay, he was tightly and securely bound.

'How did I get here?' he asked himself. But then he remembered.

'Well, it seems we have a king in our hands. We can't have that, now can we?'

And then the world had gone black, and he remembered no more.

Aragorn struggled against his bonds in sheer frustration. Who had brought him here?

"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?' he cried aloud to the empty chamber. Then, to his surprise, he got an answer.

Eowyn crept past the doorway that the men had passed through just a minute ago. She could still hear their heavy breathing, but it was getting farther away. She wished that Aragorn would wake up. She was sure that he wasn't dead. The men had bound him, and her healer's experience knew something. Dead men don't bleed. Eowyn picked up her pace. The man's breathing had disappeared altogether. Then, to her surprise, she came upon a very solid looking stone wall, the corner of the Throne Room. She whirled around, expecting the men to be launching a surprise attack from behind. But there was no one. She was alone.

A panicky feeling started inside her heart. She was sure the men had come here, but where did they go?

"There must be a secret passage of some kind." She murmured to herself. Eowyn bit her lip and looked closer at the wall. There was no latching mechanism, as far as she could see. And she couldn't distinguish any secret panels, either. She groaned and began feeling the wall, starting at the top. This could take hours, and she couldn't help but feel that Aragorn didn't have much time to wait.

"If you wish to know, my name is Harnad, Second-in-command of the Faithful."

Aragorn rolled over and saw the tall, heavy door opening. A man with two guards had entered, and it was he who had spoken.

"Faithful?" Aragorn answered, rage building. "How faithful is one who attacks a man alone and unaware? Release me!" Harnad only laughed.

"Ah, well met, I must say. Anyway, you know who I am. As to why you are here, I would expect you to know that."

"Enlighten me." Aragorn hissed through his teeth. Harnad laughed again.

"You are a hasty one, aren't you? Well, you are here because of your murder of the Lord Denethor." Aragorn gaped.

"I did no such thing! I know nothing of his death, save only what Gandalf told me, which was that he had burned himself alive!"

"Yes!" Harnad suddenly shouted. "It is true what you say, but you know that you are the one who drove him to do this! You had in your possession the cursed seeing-stone, the palantir! You are the one who broke down his faith and heart. It was you who drove him into utter despair and turned his heart to stone! And now you, and your friends, will die for it!"

Harnad stopped, with wild anger in his eyes, and signaled the guards forward. They roughly grabbed Aragorn by his upper arms and forced him to his knees.

"Stop!" Aragorn cried. "I did nothing of the sort and the palantir I have was discovered in Orthanc, by a hobbit! I always greatly respected Denethor, and I certainly didn't want to kill him!"

"So your friends did assist you! I thought as much. So the hobbit Peregrin brought you your chief tool. Or was it the other one, who came from Rohan? No matter. All of them will suffer for the torment you unleashed on our just Lord!"

"No!" Aragorn shouted. He began struggling as hard as he could, but to no avail. One of the guards simply kicked him in the chest. Aragorn bent over, the breath knocked out of him. He was sure at least one rib had been broken by the man's metal clad foot. "Please! If you must take revenge, do so, but leave my friends alone! They did nothing to you!"

"Oh, it is too late for that! What would you say if you knew that some of your friends have already been brought to us, hmm?" Harnad said, a wicked smirk on his face.

Aragorn lifted his head, a fierce light in his eyes.

"You lie." He spat, despite the pain in his head that had again flared up.

"Do I then? Well, no matter. It is time to pay! But what shall we use…ah, here it is." Harnad fished around in his pocket, at last dragging out a knife. A long, curved white knife with a bone handle. Legolas's knife. Aragorn stopped struggling and stared in shock.

"No…" he whispered softly. Harnad grinned.

"What did I tell you? Now, it is time for the ceremony to begin." With that he again dug around in his pocket, and discovered a small vial of clear liquid. Aragorn started and realized that it was some kind of poison and that it was going on the blade. He mentally began going through all of the poisons he knew, and their antidotes. But his thoughts were cut short when Harnad lunged forward, blade dripping with the poison, and made a deep slash on the left side of his torso.

Aragorn writhed in agony, fighting back the urge to scream. He had been cut before, but nothing like this. It felt as if his very skin was being repeatedly stabbed by sharp torches. And before he had a chance to recover, it came again, this time on his right side. The pain, if possible, doubled and Aragorn struggled in vain, his mind bent only on escaping his torment. And Harnad's voice again ripped through his thoughts.

"Do you feel it? This is what you put our lord against when you condemned him to the flames of death. Beg for mercy and perhaps it will end!"

Aragorn somehow mustered the strength to look his tormenter straight in the eye. He still had his pride, if nothing else.

"Never." He whispered. But the knife returned, this time to his right arm, his sword arm. A deep gash now decorated the upper half. But he hardly noticed the damage, so great was his pain. And before he could somewhat regain himself, the blade struck multiple parts at once, his upper left arm, and the tops of both his legs. Aragorn could control himself no longer and struggled as hard as he could, which was still surprisingly effective, considering his current state.

"Hold him, you fools! Put him on his back. There is one cut left to make." Aragorn, hearing this, fought even harder, until one of the knights punched him directly on the cut on his right arm. The iron gauntlets only increased the fresh wave of agony and he remained still for all of two seconds. But it was enough. The knife came down across the left side of his face, creating a gash from forehead to chin. But Aragorn could hold on no longer. He began to slip into unconsciousness, which he blissfully welcomed as an escape from the pain of living. His last sight was of Harnad's monstrous, leering face saying,

"Long live the king."

Well there you go! Personally, I had all the fun in the world writing it and loved it, but how about you? Tell me in a REVIEW!

Next update in about a week, once again depending on REVIEWS! (and how much homework I get)

-QueenofFlarmphgal

Answers to reviews:

viggomaniac: Thanks for the awesome encouragement! Your review brought a huge smile to my face. Enjoy the new chappie!

FlamesofthemoOn: Thanks for that! I know I screwed up the chapters that time. But I fixed it! Enjoy the new update!

lindahoyland: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Ainu Laire: No, it won't be a romance story, but there will be some (more) angst for Aragorn!

Red Minerva: Thanks for the encouragement! And the chappie glitch has been repaired!

Brego Beauty: Here's your update! Thanx for reviewing!

Thanks to all of my reviewers! Keep it up!

-QueenofFlarmphgal