A/N1: Warning for suggestive situations – very mild.

A/N2: Anayah's horse is a Mearas stallion and can sometimes communicate with his rider. When he does, this communication will be in italics.

A/N3: Warning for mild language.

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Knowledge is power.
-Hobbes, Leviathan-

Chapter 24

Greyfell

Neither twin spoke as the Captain of the slave compound approached them and when the human finally stopped in front of the two, he looked them up and down, first one, then the other. Then leaning slightly to his right, then repeating the move to the left, he examined their ears, for although he had heard many stories about the race called Eldar, he had never before seen an elf.

Without another word to either of them, he turned and walked back to the other compound guards and after retrieving his club, once more turned to the twins.

"Double trouble and freaks of nature as well."

He shook his head then gazed off into the distance for a moment before once more turning his attention back to the tall elves standing in front of him. The man tapped his club on the chest of each of the twins.

"I want to know what you were doing talking to the Ranger? Why would elves be so interested in a Ranger slave?"

Elrohir locked eyes with the Captain.

"What Ranger? I don't know what you are talking about, Master Human, for in truth, we were out taking a walk and accidentally found our way in here."

Without warning, the guard drove the end of his club into the youngest twin's chest, driving the air from his body and sending him to his knees, gasping for breath. Elladan shifted his weight toward his gasping brother, wanting desperately to go to his aid even though the sensible part of his mind was trying to tell him that no matter how badly he wanted to retaliate against the human for abusing Elrohir, that particular course of action would only make matters worse. Seeing the oldest twin move and correctly reading the rage in his eyes, the nine remaining human guards took a step towards Elladan who looked at them and smiled malevolently.

The Captain's eyes narrowed as he witnessed the elf's reaction to his brother's treatment and subsequent distress and realized at that moment that the worst thing he could do to the standing twin was make him witness what was going to be done to his brother. He nodded to himself – it would be more effective as well as interesting. Resting the end of his club on Elrohir's shoulder, he turned his head to Elladan.

"Perhaps you would like to answer my question since it seems your brother is a little out of breath at the moment."

He started to tap Elrohir's shoulder with the club as he looked into his brother's eyes.

"Why were the two of you talking to the Ranger?"

When his question was met with only a defiant glare, the human shrugged his shoulders then without further words or warning, swung his club and connected with Elrohir's ribcage, knocking him over onto his back on the ground where he lay groaning, hands covering his hurting side.

Seeing his twin being abused was more than Elladan could handle and he moved towards the one responsible for his brother's pain. A furious melee followed and it ended up taking all nine humans to subdue the raging elf. Finally, the job was done and after tying his hands behind him, the Captain had two of his men put ropes around Elladan's neck then stood on either side of him keeping the ropes taught and effectively preventing the elf from making any further attempts to go to his brother's aid. The human then smiled and patted Elladan's cheek.

"Now isn't this so much better? If you are going to act like a wild beast, Mr. Elf, we would be more than willing to treat you like one. Now, tell me what I want to know and we will all get along just fine."

Elrohir was once more kneeling and looking at Elladan with tears in his eyes, mentally begging him not to fight the humans and get himself hurt worse than he already was. He tore his gaze away from his brother and glared at the human Captain, trying to redirect the human's attention back on himself. Seeing that the elf was still proudly defiant, the human nodded to two of his men who jerked Elrohir to his feet and made him stand while he paced back and forth in front of him.

"I have heard that twins share a special bond. Why, I've even heard it said that one twin can often feel the pain of the other."

He stopped in front of Elrohir and looked at him questioningly.

"I have often wondered if this is true."

Suddenly, he swung his club hard into Elrohir's chest and the resulting dull thud as well as the small cry that escaped the elf tore at Elladan's heart. Briefly he closed his eyes as he tried desperately to bring his emotions and concerns for his brother under control.

The Captain smiled at the eldest twin's reaction.

"Now, how about this?"

Nodding to three of his men, they began to methodically beat Elrohir, two of the humans kicking and punching him while the third used his club. The Captain just sat on his heels in front of Elladan, and smiled while he watched the elf's reaction to his brother's distress. Finally, the sadistic human held up his hand and turned to his men.

"That's enough for now. Let's save enough of him to go to work in the quarry tomorrow."

He walked over to where the injured twin was struggling to get himself to his knees. One of the other nine humans stepped toward the Captain.

"Hey boss?"

The Captain turned to the man.

"Yes?"

With a slight wink at his boss, the man stepped forward and lifted Elrohir to his feet by the front of his tunic then traced the edges of the elf's sensitive ear with his finger tip.

"Boss, I ain't had me a woman in a few days now. Let me have this elf for tonight."

When Elrohir ducked his head away from the man's lewd touch, the human roughly grabbed his chin and forcefully turned Elrohir's face back toward him. Holding the youngest twin's face tightly with one hand, he ran the forefinger of his free hand lightly over the elf's lips.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to have some fun with an elf."

Before the Captain could even reply to his subordinate's request, Elladan went berserk. Fearing that any reaction from him might have made the humans hurt Elrohir worse; he had tried to control the rage he had been feeling building up in his chest. In the end, however, it was the mere suggestion of someone abusing Elrohir in that fashion that finally managed to set him off.

He pulled both humans holding the ropes around his neck completely off their feet and did his best to shrug off the hands that tried to stop him as he madly tried to force his way to his twin's side and to his defense.

Elladan saw the club coming at his head but was powerless to evade it. There was a single moment of blinding white light and bone numbing pain … just before everything went black.

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The Captain felt for a pulse on the unconscious being's neck and when he found one he stood up shaking his head and turned to his men.

"Take these two idiots over to barracks two and throw them in the cage with the newbies."

Still shaking his head, he walked away, leaving the guard who had been so suggestive, looking at the elf in front of him and noting the effort the bruised and beaten being was making just to stay on his feet and not fall down again – or over - the guard leaned close and winked at him.

"I was just kidding about what I said earlier. I'll take me a good woman over a prissy little elf any day, although," the guard caressed the elf's face lewdly, "I could change my mind and make an exception – if you want."

As he grabbed Elrohir's arm and jerked him toward the gate leading to the next compound, the other men laughed. Two guards each grabbed the unconscious Elladan by his legs and unceremoniously drug him along behind them, with total disregard for the unconscious being's injuries. Upon reaching the adjacent slave compound, they unlocked the cage where the new slaves were kept for the first few days and threw both twins inside, locking the door after them. Then showing the two no further attention, the nine compound guards turned and walked away.

As soon as the guards had left them, Elrohir crawled over to his unconscious twin and after untying his hands, gently and carefully turned him over onto his back. Tearing two strips of cloth off his tunic, he used one to clean away the dirt and the other strip to try to stop the bleeding from his head wound.

"Elladan? Elladan, please wake up. Please."

Elrohir's attempts to get his brother to wake failed and at that particular moment he was in too much pain to try and figure a way out of their present situation. Finally Elrohir gave up and laid down beside his brother and after wrapping an arm around his shoulders, gave in to his own weakness and fell asleep.

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In the fruit orchard, across the road from the first slave compound and just a few yards from where the two battered twins now slept, a rather large shadow detached itself from the limb of the tree it had been sitting on and slowly and quietly lowered itself to the ground. Súrion, the Silvan, Thurin Tirith Guard, was furious at what he had just witnessed and would have wanted nothing more than to take the sadistic humans apart, which he was very capable of actually doing.

He did, however, understand the logic behind his Commander's order that if something did happen that there was still to be absolutely no contact, but knowing his Commander's mind as well as he did, he also knew that there would be plenty of time for contact, as well as retribution, later. He knew his Commander would make the humans pay dearly for what they had done to her brothers, and this knowledge made him smile. After taking one more look at the area around the compound where the twins were being kept, he turned and disappeared into the surrounding shadows.

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Anayah left Hoth at a gallop, heading in an easterly direction so that if anyone did happen to see her heading in that direction and followed her that they would have no idea that her destination was, in fact, in the opposite direction. Normally, she left the city by one of its northern streets but on this day, she had felt the presence of another and not wanting to lead the stranger to her camp, had traveled east in an attempt to throw the person off her trail. After some time of traveling and she had still not been able to lose her "tag-along," Anayah finally decided to force the issue. Turning Elias west, she headed for the forest.

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The moment Súrion rode into their camp, Rahan knew that something had happened to the twins. The big Captain waited patiently and silently as the Silvan Guard took care of his mare and got her settled down for a rest. Finally, when he had calmed himself to a certain extent and had given some order to his thoughts, he turned to his Captain.

"They were discovered when they were trying to exit the compound. I am sure that there was somebody on the inside who was not sympathetic to their cause for the incident was just too organized to have happened by accident."

Rahan just nodded his head and waited for Súrion to continue.

"They were not treated kindly, Rahan – and you know how Anayah is going to feel about that fact."

"And your recommendations?"

"I am going to recommend an immediate extraction for more than one reason. The first is that they are kin to Anayah as well as our friends, but the second reason is that we will probably want to handle business before this city's leader finds out that there are more elves about."

Súrion spun and threw the brush he had been using on his mare, Gaya, up against a nearby tree where it shattered. Rahan put a calming hand on the angry elf's shoulder.

"Peace, Súrion. We cannot do anything until Anayah returns, which I am hoping will be sometime tonight. I am sure that she will want any physical information about that area that you saw or sensed while you were there for there is always a chance that there is something new that she can use to our own advantage."

He turned his Guard toward the inviting camp fire.

"Come. Let us do some planning."

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She patted her stallion's large neck then made a show of adjusting the stirrup as she "stole" a glance behind her.

"Do you still sense that he is following, mellon-nín?"

"Aye, my Lady. He is back some distance, but still close enough to track us. He is not a bad tracker, this one." Elias thought to her.

Anayah entered the forest and after telling Elias to hide himself but be ready to come to her at need, she climbed a tree. Taking a deep breath, she silenced her breathing, lowered her natural glow to almost nothing and started her wait.

She didn't have long to wait before her pursuer came into view. Anayah frowned, for she recognized the man as the one everybody at the Palace called Greyfell, the man every slave respected and also the man every jailer feared almost as much as they feared Ostara.

Greyfell had always intrigued her, for every time she had encountered him at the palace, she would feel him watching her but when she would turn towards him, he would be looking somewhere else. If the times and circumstances had been different, she might have wanted to get to know him. The times and circumstances were not different, however, and because they were not, she had to deal with this problem now, for she couldn't risk accidentally leading him back to the others. She crouched on the branch of the tree and waited for him to come nearer.

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The bay mare Greyfell was riding was getting nervous and he absently reached out and patted her neck while scanning the trees for any sign of the woman he had been following. His instincts had told him that she was different the first time he had seen her the night of the victory feast and it was not just the way she had been dancing that had drawn his attention to her. The way she moved, with such a natural, physical grace was something that he seldom, if ever had seen in a slave and when he witnessed some of the other male guests leering at her, some illogical part of him had wanted to physically beat those that had been doing the leering.

He chided himself for even considering such things for his first duty was to Hoth and he must see his duty met and to that end, he must discover the true intentions of a certain blonde dancer. When he had seen the way she had protected Ostara's new elvish slave then saw her take on palace guards that were twice her size, he had come to realize that she was unique and was more than likely not a slave – and if she was not a slave, then he needed to know why she was there.

He realized that his thoughts had distracted him about five seconds too late. All he saw was a dark blur before something hit him so hard that it not only knocked him off his horse but made him turn a complete somersault before he finally ended up on the ground, flat on his back and breathless. Quickly regaining his feet, he scanned the trees but could neither see, hear or feel anything or anybody.

"I mean you no harm." He called out to the now-silent forest.

Greyfell put his horse behind him, an act which should give him a small measure of protection as well as personal security. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he spun, but after he did, saw nothing. Then he saw movement in the opposite direction and after spinning to his right saw exactly what he had seen the first time – nothing.

"I just want to talk to you – that is all. You have my word that my intentions are honorable."

"What do you want to talk about, human?"

Greyfell spun in a complete circle but still couldn't see the woman.

"Where are you? I cannot talk to the air so please show yourself. You need not approach me – only talk to me. I give you my word that I will not draw arms against you."

Without warning, something suddenly came at him from the overhead branches of the nearest tree. He saw the blur again, just before something once more hit him and knocked him to the ground, this time stunning him and driving the air from his lungs. When he was finally able to breath again, he opened his eyes, then froze as he felt the cold steel of the blade being pressed against his throat. As he looked up into the serious green eyes of the woman whose hand held the blade he saw her smile at him but also noticed the total lack of humor in that smile.

"But I do not give you my word that I will not draw arms against you."

Greyfell was careful to hold his hands where the woman could see them.

"I think our conversation might go better if you weren't sitting on me." He tried to smile at her and put her at ease.

He felt the increased pressure on the blade and knew that something had to happen – and quickly – before the woman killed him which he was quite sure she was extremely capable of doing. His left hand swept outward, driving the blade away from his throat while he twisted his body in the same direction. Greyfell fully expected to roll the woman onto her back where he could at least get her to sit still until he could convince her of his intentions. He was not prepared for her to use his own momentum against him, however, and found himself once more out of control and on his back with the cold steel of a dagger at his throat.

Suddenly the ground fell out from underneath both of them and they started rolling down a steep embankment. When he saw the woman rolling towards the tree and even though he made a grab for her, he was unable to stop her forward motion and when her head hit the tree, she went limp. When they both came to a stop at the bottom of the embankment, only one of them was moving.

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Quickly crawling to where the woman lay, he first felt for a pulse then gave a sigh of relief when he found it and it was strong and regular. When he was saw the blood trickling down the side of her face, he was immediately concerned and removed the scarf she was wearing so he could see the wound better. He froze for a moment, for he was not prepared for what he saw. Greyfell knew the woman had been different but he was not prepared for the kind of different he was now looking at.

Again he chided himself for not keeping his mind on business and after carefully picking her up he began the short climb back to the pathway. He stopped one time to pick up the beautiful curved dagger that had so recently been at his throat then again continued his climb.

Sitting the woman against a tree for a moment, he removed his cloak and laid it on the ground then laid the woman down on top of it. When he stood then turned to walk to his horse and get his water flask, he almost suffered a quick and painful death – from heart failure. There was a giant black stallion standing directly behind him. Greyfell had not heard the animal approach and he could have sworn that as he stood there with one hand over his madly beating heart that the horse actually had a twinkle in his eyes.

After he got over his initial shock, the man noticed the healer's kit hanging from the saddle horn. After gently patting the horse's shoulder, he took the kit and turned back to the unconscious woman.

The cut on her head was not large or even deep and even though he had just begun to clean it, the woman was already beginning to stir. When she finally opened her eyes, she glared at him even though he was doing his best to put her at ease. When she tried to rise, he put a gentle hand on her shoulder and made her lay back down.

"So now that you have captured me, what are your intentions? Are you going to take me back to that freak show where you work?"

Greyfell remained silent for a moment as he continued to clean the small cut.

"I don't think this is even going to require stitches."

"You didn't answer me human." She growled at him.

He sighed in frustration before he answered her.

"The only intention I had in mind when I followed you was to speak to you and try and determine your intentions – that is all – no more and no less."

He started to put the unused healing supplies back in Anayah's kit which caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to try and put a huge bandage on my head?"

For the first time, Greyfell laughed, and for a moment, it surprised even him.

"Not unless you want to look silly, although if it would make you feel better then I would be happy to do so."

When Anayah started to stand, Greyfell extended his hand to help her rise but withdrew it when he saw the ice in the look she favored him with for his efforts. He did, however, reach out and grab her when she started to stagger sideways then carefully helped her sit back down on the ground. Pouring some water on the scarf Anayah had been wearing, he folded it into a rectangle and after getting her to rest her forehead on her knees, he put the cool, wet cloth on the back of her neck.

"My ears are still ringing." She said in a quiet voice.

He sat on his heels in front of her but did not touch her further.

"It is no wonder, for that was an awfully hard hit you took. I think that the dizziness should pass in a few more moments, however."

Putting a hand on the back of her neck to keep the cloth in place, she raised her head and looked at the man sitting in front of her.

"Why are you being so nice to me? Why aren't you tying me up and taking me back to that bitch you work for?"

She saw a look of sadness pass over the man's face before he spoke. He couldn't meet her gaze and looked off into the forest for a moment before he finally looked down at his hands.

"Because it has been too long."

The man's answer was softly spoken but his intentions were then made plain to Anayah – or so she thought. She tried getting to her feet and after two attempts, finally managed to grab the stirrups of her saddle and pulled herself erect. She swayed and almost fell but when Greyfell reached for her, her hand went to her dagger which the man had put back in the sheath she wore, and she once more drew it and held it out in front of her.

"Now you just back off, Master Human, for I will not allow you to touch me and will have no sympathy for you just because it has been a long time for you. If you take one more step towards me I will do my best to hurt you in ways that you will long remember – if you live, that is."

She almost fell again and this time, Greyfell grabbed her wrist and after gently removing the dagger from it, helped her to once more sit on the ground. He looked at her and smiled.

"You misinterpreted my statement for I would never dishonor you in that fashion. I was sincere when I said that it had been too long, only I meant it was too long since I have been among my own kind – and now I will show you the reason why I said what I did."

The man took two steps backward and stopped. As Anayah watched, her eyes widened and for once found herself speechless at what she was witnessing. When she once more found her voice, she could only say two words and they both expressed exactly what she felt.

"Oh, my!"

TBC

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kukumalu: The update … oh yes. I have an Author Alert set up for myself and if I don't get the alert I know that there is something wrong. However, it didn't occur to me that I hadn't gotten the alert until the next morning. I sent an email to Fanfiction and about an hour later I got author alerts for three days including three of mine! I think fanfic was constipated and needed an enema!

Thank you for your kind words about the uniqueness of my OCs. I have written full character-profiles for each one, including the horse and the falcon. I have pictures of different men that help me put a picture in my mind of my Thurin Tirith Guards so when I write, I look at the pictures and it helps me give depth to the characters (hopefully).

I am sure you can write as I am one who believes that a writer lives inside of each of us … it's just that some people don't know how to tap into that talent. I see how you write and know that you can put a sentence together and I bet you could write if you really wanted to!

You have written scientific essays? About what? I am a technical writer as well. Sounds cool!

Nah … I wouldn't tsk, tsk you about asking any questions about age … I may not answer you, but I wouldn't tsk, tsk. (Heeheehee!)

No, Secret Agent Man doesn't wear a tux but, man oh man, but does he ever have a secret, part of which will be revealed in this chapter! Can you guess what it is?

The Wainrider people were not made up and even though they belong to Tolkien, he didn't say that much about them. I thought that somebody would have questioned them … and yes, they really did use chariots in battle.

Yes, poor Elladan and Elrohir. They are going to have a hard time of it for a bit.

I can almost picture you "zooming into the distance, leaving behind a cloud of dust" with an angry mother chasing you while waving the phone bill! LOL!

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horsiegurl: Yes, he is relieved that Legolas is alive although he is still sad about how many people are kept as slaves. But then that is part of what the character of Aragorn is all about - he always did have a big heart. It was a part of the code of the Rangers to help those who couldn't help themselves and that is almost where he is "coming" from in regards to his feelings about the slaves. Thanks for the review! 8-)

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CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: I am glad that you enjoyed the chapter and solemnly promise that I will do my best to not behave myself in the future! LOL! Thank you very much for the review.