Author's Notes at the end

Chapter 19

For the Cause of War

Estellia sat in a dark room, upon a soft elegant bed. No windows were there to give light to the stone circular chamber. The room was bare of furnishings, save for the bed.

She was scared beyond belief. Her hands shook as they tucked a stray piece of hair away form her eyes. She wanted her father badly... The orcs had frightened her so much - and even handled her roughly. She had cuts and bruises over her fair skin.

Tears stung her eyes, but she forced them away. Crying will do you no good, Estellia, she thought to herself.

She thought back to what had happened that day she had been taken... Elrohir and Elladan were just finishing packing up camp, and getting the horses ready... She was rolling up her blanket, when an arrow flew over her head, and lodged itself into one of the horse's necks. Orcs poured around them from all sides, climbing down from the trees, and emerging from thick brambles and bushes. "Run!" Elrohir had shouted to her, "Run Estellia! Do not look back!" drawing his sword and lunging at an approaching orc...

And she did run. She ran as hard and as fast as she could toward the direction she knew Rivendell was in. But it was too many miles away, and there were at least half-a-dozen orcs on her tail. She had no weapons, and no skill to even use them. She ran to a tall tree, and began to scale it, when a pair of hands yanked her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. Orcs leered down at her, hissing in the Black Speech. Estellia had struggled to get away, kicking and screaming, but to no avail. The orcs had hit her, and bound her into submission, before throwing her unceremoniously over their shoulders, and taking off at a run.

They ran back through camp, and Estellia's scream had been muffled by the cloth tied around her mouth. Elrohir and Elladan were lying in pools of blood, their swords shattered. An arrow was protruding from Elladan's stomach. Both of them had their eyes closed... She thought them to be dead...

Estellia could do nothing to quell her tears now... She was alone, and scared. Afraid for her life...

She stopped crying instantly as she heard the door to the chamber open, and the same lady from the garden's in Valinor walked through the door.

"Let me go!" Estellia shouted at her. "Let me go back home!"

Arya only smirked, walking serenely over to the child. "Let you go? My dear, you are my bargaining tool. If I let you go, I have nothing to hold against your retched race."

"But you are of our race!" Estellia screeched, knowing of her pointed ears.

"I am a race apart, foolish girl." Arya spat, resisting the urge to smack her.

"What do you want with me? Why am I so important?" Estellia asked, her eyes flaming.

"I told you. You are my bargaining chip. If I have you, I can keep the elves from doing anything in the war, by threatening your life."

"My father will come for me. He'll defeat you." Estellia said, surprised by the courage in her voice.

"If he so comes within five miles of here, I'll slit your pretty little throat, and send him your body." Arya sneered, enjoying the flash of fear in the elfling's eyes.

Estellia was doing some very quick thinking... "Tari is back, witch! She'll defeat you! Just like she killed your father!"

SMACK!

Arya had hit the girl right across the face. Estellia felt searing pain in her cheek, but she did not shed a tear.

"Tari, is nothing compared to me..." Arya hissed, "Your mother does not hold an ounce of magic inside of her. She is nothing but a lowly elf among many."

"The elves will fight against you. They'll win."

"If they fight, you will die."

"I would rather die then see you rule Middle-Earth!" Estellia shouted.

Arya sneered again, her black eyes glittering. "You may just get your wish, little one..."

Legolas held the piece of parchment in his hands, reading it over and over, not comprehending what he was reading. Arya, had Estellia. And she would kill her if the elves fought in the war...

"What do we do?" the prince asked of the people present; Gandalf, Elrond, Thranduil, and Celeborn.

Everyone was silent.

"We fight." Elrond said at last.

"I am not going to give up my daughter, Elrond!" Legolas shouted, "I will not let her die in the cause of war!"

"And you are foolish enough to think that I wish to lose a grand-daughter?" he retorted, anger evident in his stern voice.

"Enough!" Gandalf shouted above both of them. Once again, the room was permeated by silence. "I will go." Gandalf said. "She spoke nothing about wizards in that letter. I will go to Minas Tirith, and raise up the armies. We will engage Durthang in battle. We either win the fortress, or die trying."

Everyone present nodded slowly in agreement with the wizard, before turning to leave.

"Gandalf..." Legolas said softly, from where he sat with his head buried in his hands.

The white wizard turned to the distressed prince.

"Gandalf... Bring my daughter back..."

Outside of the room, someone had heard the entire conversation, and had just fled down the corridor to their room...

I am SOOOOO sorry for not updating frequently! Don't worry though! I'm going back home in a few days, so I can update more. Thank you to those who wished me luck for my horse show. I only had two classes that I could enter in, but I placed third in both of them outta' about 20 other people (most of them were adults, so I was scared outta' my mind!). I had never met the horse I had to ride, and only had two days to get to know her. Turns out she doesn't have a slow canter worth a dang, which meant that my classes were VERY limited. Enough rambling. REVIEW PLEASE!