A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short, I think I had a minor writers block. Anyways, for all of you who've been hinting at twin angst, here's a taste… finally! Yes this is the darkest chapter that's up so far, but there will be more in the story, you can count on that! Please R&R and thanks to those who have been with this story from the beginning!


Chapter Four

A Woven Prison

Stench. A horrible overpowering stench was the first thing that Elrohir was aware of. Then the grogginess that was cloaking his thoughts, making it difficult for him to decipher anything. "Typical, a black out drug" mused Elrohir, somewhat unworriedly; most of them didn't have any serious side effects. "But then what happened? I don't remember anything but orcs… lots and lots of orcs". But slowly images flickered in his mind like light bulbs that were burning out and he relived the knives slicing at his hand and the surge of orcs grasping at him with eager hands. "It could be worse; I have been in worse situations before. Besides, I'm not alone" he thought, glancing at Elladan who was still under the drug's power, "We'll make it through, like we always have". He grinned grimly as he stretched his memory to thousands of years ago, back when he and Elladan were born. Their births were widely celebrated as was any elven birth, seeing as there were few. He and Elladan hd been captured by orcs around the time they were ten, but there were only three of them that time and those ones were fairly dull. The orcs had found them playing outside with one of their mother's amulets that hung on a chain of mithril.

(flashback)

Elladan and Elrohir sat huddled at the base of a knarled tree, watching the spectacle before them. The largest orc held the amulet high in the air trying to keep it away from the other two orcs. "I found it on 'em first, s'mine!" argued the one who had current possession of it.

"But who was the one who found 'em? ME!" shouted another. The two gave each other death glares and the third, sensing a fight, intervened.

"Arh, c'mon! There's no sense in fightin' eachother! The enemy is 'em elves!" the third reasoned.

"Yer right," said the one with the amulet. He and the one who had prevented a potential blood bath walked away, which left the one standing there still with his mouth hanging open. Muttering, he suffered himself to keep watch over the twins. Plopping himself right beside Elladan, it was no wonder they stared.

"Watcha lookin' at!" he spat contemptuously at them.

"I was just wondering why you let them take Nana's necklace" Elladan began, not all that shyly.

"Why not? I wouldn' have given' it to you anyhow" the orc replied.

"Well then why didn't you take it for yourself? Are you not as strong as the others?" Elldan reasoned daringly.

"What!" the orc shouted, "I'm stronger than both 'o 'em rats put together!" he claimed.

"Then why didn't you take it?" Elladan questioned, once again trying his luck. The orc looked livid and Elrohir feared he might strike his brother for a moment, but luckily he started laughing, somewhat good naturedly. Elrohir was extremely suspicious and feared the worse.

"What do I hafta explain to you kids? But it's good yeh have brains, we'll get lots for yeh! Not tha' those who are lookin' to buy would want yeh fer yer brains…" he finished. He smiled maliciously and ran his tongue against razorblade teeth.

"Well since we have more brains than you," Elladan began, but was cut off by a withering death glare from the orc. Elladan waved his hand at him to tell him that he wasn't finished. "SINCE we're smart, you should listen to my advice" Elladan finished.

"Well what is it then?" the orc growled, put off by the elfling's presumptions.

"That necklace is worth much, much more than we are. Much more. It was my Nana's most valuable necklace. Elrohir marvelled at the mind game Elladan had conjured.

"He'll get us out of this yet!" he thought, squeezing his brother's arm that he still clung to. The orc seemed to ponder this, for his face seemed to appear almost thoughtful.

"But there are two of 'em… that suckup is just pretendin' to help the 'boss' but he jus' wants to get his filthy paws on it fer 'imself!" he muttered.

"We could make a distraction to bring one of them to us" Elrohir piped up. The orc stared at him, as if seeing him for the first time.

"Heh, didn' see yeh there, you bein' so quiet! I'd trust you more than this smart mouth" he said jerking his thumb towards Elladan, "even though his plan is good".

"I'll let you get positioned, then I'll start yelling and one will come to see what's happening while the other will protect the necklace. The you can get him" Elrohir reasoned. The orc grinned, which just looked like he was baring his teeth at them.

"I hope you kids aren't sold to someone too nasty!" he guffawed and slunk away with greed in his eyes. The two brothers promptly ran away.

(end flashback)

Elrohir was suddenly jerked from his reverie as a clawed hand grabbed a portion of the net and started prodding him, along with Elladan. Elrohir instinctively feigned unconciousness and the foul orc who was doing the searching was none the wiser and soon left. For Elrohir was tangled in a net with his brother. Not a very good one at that, but there were so many layers to it that he could hardly see the light through the small holes. He quietly took in his surroundings, noting that they were unguarded for the moment; the orcs seemed to be distracted with the issue of who should be first in the line for a meal. He could hear water nearby and it sounded as if it were fast moving. "It must be a river" he decided. Next he tugged at the thick netting and realised that it would be a lost cause to try to rip it. It was stronger than it looked.

A soft moaning suddenly cut off his thoughts and he searched for the cause. But he didn't have to look far, it was right next to him; it was Elladan. "Good, he's waking up" Elrohir thought. But moaning quickly changed to sudden coughing. When his coughing didn't subside and only grew louder, he became alarmed. Elrohir quickly rolled over and shook Elladan who had his eyes closed. That was not good. Mild drugs didn't cause elves to close their eyes, they should have been open, like he was in his dream state. Only drugs that seriously affected you or caused you to have a bad reaction would result in closed eyes. Panicked Elrohir shook Elladan by his shoulders, trying to wake him, while also trying to cover his mouth to smother his coughs. But Elladan pitched forward, smashing his head into his own due to the fact he could not breathe. "On the plus side, he's awake" Elrohir thought as he grimaced and rubbed his head. Elladan was looked wildly around and was breathing heavily when he made his first attempt to speak.

"Where… are we?" he gasped, still trying to catch his breath.

"Captured by orcs… do you not remember?" Elrohir replied, grasping his shoulder. Elladan shook his head slightly, but the motion was too much and he fell backwards.

"Uh… I'm so dizzy… and it feels like… someone's stepping on my chest" Elladan moaned. Elrohir was really worried now.

"You're having a bad reaction to the drug - " Elrohir began.

"Drug?"

"Yes, I'm guessing we were drugged when the orcs captured us, they wanted to make sure we stayed unconscious for a long time."

"I… remember now. The one with… the throwing knives…" Elladan suddenly sat up and grasped Elrohir's hand, remembering his wounds.

"It's fine, really…" Elrohir began. But Elladan had caught sight of it and held onto it tighter. Through the caked blood he could tell that it was bad. The lacerations sliced deep and long, the mark of a fair marksman.

"How is… this fine?" he gasped, partially from his lack of breath and partially from the sight of the telltale green discolouration that was forming in the cuts. "It's getting infected… and… swollen… we have to… get some kind of herb for it... unless you want to be short…. A hand" he breathed. Apparently the explaination was too much for his already labouring lungs and he burst into a fit of dry coughs. Elrohir quickly grabbed him and tried soothing the coughs by rubbing his back in large circles and leaning him against himself. If the orcs heard they were awake, who knew what would happen. But it was too late. Elrohir pushed Elladan's head down as a knife came stabbing though the thick net and sawed its way through.

"Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauties!" an orc chortled at them. "Now we know how your kind are, with your pride and all, but we jus' got 'special orders' from Sharkey himself to break tha' pride! So who's first? Arr c'mon! Who's the one who was makin' at tha' noise? Yew righ'?" he said,grabbing Elladan. But that was a mistake and he was quickly rewarded with an elbow in the ribs. But again this was too much for Elladan and he doubled over coughing. Several orcs took advantage of this opportunity and piled on him. Elladan knew this was not going to be good, when he could literally feel all the air crushed out of his lungs, along with a rib. If he could have screamed he would have. Elrohir thrashed out at the orcs holding and jabbing at him while yelling to Elladan. He watched in horror as they dragged his semi-limp body to a nearby tree that has small but sharp nails embedded in it. He spotted the whip at the trunk.


A/N: Once again… dun dun duuuun…