"Legolas?"
"Aye?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Never mind."
"All right," Legolas looked over his shoulder at his friend and arched an elegant eyebrow. Aragorn had seemed unusually skittish since they had left the human town. Legolas was too glad to just be back in the woods to feel anything but relieved. It was still early in the morning and the forest was just coming awake. Suddenly the wind shifted and Legolas came to an alert stand-still. Every sense was straining in concentration.
"Something is amiss here," he whispered.
He turned to ask Aragorn if he had heard the sudden change, but felt his words die on his perfectly shaped lips. The young man was not behind him and only his scent hung faintly in the air. The elf frowned in concern and leapt into a nearby tree. The woods rumbled with a strange rumor. Legolas listened hard, he heard of himself and Aragorn, but there was something more ominous lurking in the message too.
"Pirates? In this place?" he murmured to himself.
"Aragorn," he whispered. He took out his long knife and took off in the trees, back toward the town. How did they catch him without my knowing?
He stopped and crouched low on the branch he was on. He gripped the wood with a free hand and tightened his eyes at the new information pulling at his senses. The wind changed again and blew long strands of blond across his line of vision. The elf prince didn't move, every muscle tensed.
Aragorn's presence was old, he had not come back this way and there were no signs that he had gone off the path they had taken earlier that morning.
"Where are you?"
Panic was beginning to worm it's way into Legolas' chest.