(-)Chapter 8(-)

Aragorn pulled back and shook his head angrily, "How did he get away from the guards? He was sent to Mirkwood! He shouldn't be here, he was to be locked up!"

Menel glanced over at him, "What are you talking about?"

"Legolas, my brothers and I had been captured a little over a year ago and were sold to this man," he muttered, "we got free and ada sent some elves to get him and those working for him. They were sent to Mirkwood."

Elen frowned, "How could he have escaped the guards?"

"I don't know," the man sighed, "but I don't care how he escaped them, he has to be caught. He can't be allowed to do this again."

Menelür reached up to touch the mithril clasp and shuddered slightly, "I agree."

Elen nodded, "So how do we do it?"

Aragorn sighed, "It would be difficult to get at him out in the open, we'd have quite the battle on our hands if we tried that. We'd have to go after him while there are fewer of these creatures about."

"When is that though," Elen muttered in a way that didn't suggest it was a question.

Aragorn glanced out over the blackened ground, "We'll have to wait and see."

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"So my little slave, were you alone?" The dark voice questioned silkily.

"I... am not y-our slave."

"Of course not. You weren't alone were you? You were with someone," Venatral continued when he got no reply, "who were you with? You can tell me, after all, they didn't come to help you did they? They left you to your fate."

Legolas shuddered slightly at his voice but frowned at his words, "They ignored me... no! I never called for them! I didn't want them to come," he shook his head frantically, he made to leave but found he couldn't move despite being unbound.

"Do you think they would have come for you if they did? How do you know they didn't hear you? Do you think they never noticed you leaving?"

"He has sharp senses... he should have known I was there..."

"Exactly. He should have noticed you were in danger. If he cared enough about you he would have helped you."

"Yes... he left me. He doesn't care."

"You must avenge yourself."

"I will."

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Aragorn sat back with another frown, "They don't seem to leave... mayhap they will hide in the morn? They should try to escape the sunlight."

Menel nodded slowly, "But these don't seem to be normal at all. The fact that we haven't seen any of them attacking each other yet testifies to that."

"Indeed," the man muttered, "so then how do we get them out without being attacked?"

"Lead them into the trees," Elen said suddenly, "one of us can go in there and lead as many of the creatures as possible out into the trees. This breed of orc cannot climb. That person can hide in the densest tree they can find until that man is killed. Whatever hold he has on these creatures should be released then, since they're not wearing the collars, and the stupid things will probably be so confused as to how they got there the other person could walk past them if they wished."

Aragorn nodded slowly, "It could work. But if they're under his control who is to say they will follow in the first place?"

"We can hope."

Menel nodded again, "And who is to lead them away?"

"I will," Elen spoke up immediately, "You can both fight better than I can, I would probably only be in the way."

Aragorn frowned, "You're sure you shall be alright?"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay. We'll set it into action at daybreak. Until then we should get some rest, we will need it."

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Elen leaped out of the trees with a cry.

The orcs immediately looked to her.

That was all that happened though, the creatures stood, staring at her blankly, without even the normal sickening look of bloodlust in their eyes.

The dragon in disguise shifted her weight unhappily, -Well this isn't working,- she stepped forward and when nothing happened continued forward.

She leaped back again when the creatures began to shoot at her. Her eyes swept to where the other two were waiting and she shook her head, quickly averting the silver-blue orbs.

Aragorn frowned and turned to the elder dragon, "How did they know? They wouldn't allow a threat to remain nearby if they didn't know it were a trick."

"Perhaps they realize it isn't the norm for one to jump out and allow them to chase said one?"

"They're orcs."

"True."

"We'll have to come up with another plan."

"Obviously."

"Are you mocking me?"

"I only sigh upon your need to state the obvious."

Aragorn narrowed his eyes at the creature, "You can be incredibly irritating did you know that?"

"As I would know myself better than you I feel I have to say that I do know that."

Aragorn sighed, "Well, let's go, we can meet up with your sister and think of something else. Hopefully something that will work," he added in annoyance, jumping into a nearby tree.

Menel followed him with a sigh of his own.

Aragorn paused just as he reached the younger dragon, his eyes narrowed and he swiftly pushed himself against the tree, begging it in near silent elvish to hide him and the two dragons.

The big tree was hesitant but complied, sensing the goodness in the man and calmed slightly by the oddly elvish aura he held.

The ranger frowned, his gaze unfocused as he quickly searched for what had suddenly made him so nervous. The evil he felt had strenghtened. He realized this quickly and shifted slightly, his grip on a nearby treebranch tightening, the rough bark dug into his palm but he didn't notice. He glanced at the other two and found that they had gone silent and were watching him uneasily. He shook his head slightly in confusion.

"I feel as though I should recognize this new presence, but I can't get past the evil surrounding it," he muttered quietly, "it is gone now, we are safe for the time being."

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"So we all just run for the castle. Our main objective here is to keep that man from doing this again. If he won't be captured then we must kill him."

Elen nodded in agreement, -So we all come out at the same time, if your theory is correct and they do have someone spying on us they should all go to protect the castle, yes? But how does this help us?-

Aragorn smiled, -It's easier to burn them if they're all in a big group instead of having to catch them one by one.-

-Ah, that makes sense.-

"So that's it then?" Menel muttered, having caught the conversation but realized that they had been silent too long, "We just rush in and get ourselves killed?"

"We have to do something," Aragorn muttered.

"It is agreed then, give us fifteen minutes to make our peace," Elen said.

Aragorn nodded and turned away, -Ai, ada is not going to like this,- he thought to himself, but fought the urge to smirk when the wicked presence dissapeared, -here we go.-

The ranger turned his gaze to the two dragons and nodded, "Right, fifteen minutes," he muttered before turning and climbing into the nearest tree.

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The three rushed into the clearing and swiftly ran over the dead ground towards the large building in the middle.

The orcs quickly gathered in the centre around the castle.

The two dragons quickly began shooting their flames at the creatures while Aragorn hung back to pick off the ones that hadn't moved to the centre of the dead clearing.

Aragorn swiftly began killing those few. He found himself in a harder battle than he'd expected, the creatures seemed stronger and smarter than they had been, though the ranger was still able to hack them down fairly easily. After a few moments though he lurched forwards, the effects of an arrow hitting him in the shoulder as he ducked one of the ugly blades. He cried out in shock and stumbled before regaining his balance and turning to find who had shot him. He froze in something that hung between shock and horror. Perhaps both. The man found himself standing face to face with his friend.

Legolas' eyes narrowed, ignoring the flames that had spread swiftly among the dead wood and such that littered the black clearing.

Aragorn stepped back, his gaze fixed on the mithril collar and glowing red stone, "Legolas..." he jumped back just in time to avoid an unexpected attack.

The elf wasn't even thrown off by his miss and closed the gap between them again in the blink of an eye, bringing one of his knives down towards the startled human.

Aragorn managed to bring his sword up in front of him to block the attack, his eyes widening, he knew immediately he had no chance against the elf, he wasn't worn out at all, but the elf had an advantage; he was aiming to kill, Aragorn was aiming to disarm.

-If it were only that,- the human thought desperately.

He was wounded and with each move he made the arrow dug deeper, the ranger knew he was in trouble and if the projectile went any further it could pierce his lung. Ultimately it would become a fatal shot.

The human turned his gaze up to the elf and slowly dropped his defensive position, he simply could not fight his friend. He lowered his sword to his side and stared at the elf sadly.

"I can't do this Legolas. No matter what happens you will win, how this ends is up to you."

A/N

Elven Kitten: Hey everyone, I hope this chapter turned out better than the last few. I warn you now; the next chapter starts some weirdness... so yeah. Thank you flamesofthemo0n, sielge, Name, IwishChan, invisigoth3, Elentariel, and Aranna Undomiel for the great reviews. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last few. Namarie!