Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: OMG! I am sooooo soorrrrryyy for the long delay in updating but real life can be a pain in the you know what. English teachers need to die, now, and painfully. Quite painfully. I have had the two most sadistic papers and were not through yet! AHHHHH! Don't worry though, I'll try to update far more frequently. SORRY! Anyway, thank you all so much for your reviews, I loved them all! A huge thank you to my beta enb2004 who has some very awesome HP fanfics that you must read. As promised, here is Chapter 20. Enjoy!

Haldir grumbled as he trumped through the forest with Glorfindel, Thranduil, and Celeborn. The twins had taken off without him, leaving him stuck with the three very angry lords.

He had been supposed to go with the twins, but sometime in the night they had apparently taken off. More than likely when Celeborn, Thranduil, and Glorfindel had been conversing tersely and he himself was on the verge of sleep.

Oh the twins would pay for this later once Estel and Legolas had been found and cared for.

"What in the name of the Valar were they thinking!" Thranduil sputtered.

"Obviously, they weren't," Celeborn said dryly. He honestly wasn't surprised that the twins had taken off without informing them, but it was surprising that they hadn't taken Haldir with them as they had said they would earlier.

"Haldir! How could you just let them go!" Glorfindel exclaimed.

Haldir groaned. "Mellon nin, I told you before, I did not just let them go. They were supposed to go with me but they didn't even tell me that they were leaving. I do not know why, so do not ask again!" he said.

"Yes well, they should have taken you with them. Out of the three of you, you are the most level headed, though that's not saying much when compared to the twins," Glorfindel muttered.

Celeborn, Thranduil and Haldir could not help but agree. The twins were infamous for their recklessness with Estel and Legolas not all that far behind them.

"There is no point dwelling on it mellon nin. They are long gone already and we can not go back in time and change the past, no matter how much we may wish to," Thranduil said.

"You're right of course, but that won't stop me from wringing their necks when I get a hold of them," Glorfindel said.

Haldir shook his head in amusement. Soon enough, there would be a line waiting to inflict harm on the twins. That is, if Elrond didn't finish them off first. After all, parents did get first dibs, it was only fair.

"I would leave that to Elrond mellon nin," Celeborn said echoing Haldir's thoughts. "I do believe that he is the only person, save for their grandmother who can control them, and even that I have my doubts about."

"Estel is no better," Glorfindel scowled. "Only Elrond or possibly Arwen can control him. This time though it is through no fault of his own, so we don't have to kill him or Legolas, only the twins."

"For once I might add," Thranduil said. The amount of trouble those two always got into never ceased to amaze him.

"Yes, well, I do hope that wherever they are that they are not in any serious trouble," Haldir said.

"As do I Haldir, as do I," Celeborn said softly.

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Elladan took in the area that he and his twin were about to enter and felt his eyes widen with concern. "We are in very serious trouble gwador," he said.

"Aye, that we are," Elrohir said from his position in the tree next to Elladan. A while back they had been forced to dismount and follow the wargs on foot and by tree as the horses couldn't make their way through the thick foliage without causing a large amount of noise.

"The trees are too sparse, we would be seen," Elladan muttered looking at the very nearly bare trees.

"We will have to follow them by way of the ground then," Elrohir said grudgingly. There was a far larger chance of being discovered on the ground than there was in the trees but what option did they have?

Sighing together, the twins carefully climbed out of the trees and began to carefully track the wargs by way of the ground.

"I think that we may be getting near," Elladan whispered. "They're slowing down and I can hear noises that sound as though they are from an orc camp."

"Aye, I hear it as well. Should we continue to follow them?" Elrohir whispered back.

"Yes," Elladan said simply.

Elrohir nodded and continued to follow his brother until Elladan came to a sudden stop. He was about to question him when Elladan motioned for silence and pointed for him to look beyond the rock they were hiding behind.

Elrohir nodded and gasped silently as he took in the sight before him. There was indeed an orc camp, a very large orc camp. So it had been they who had called the wargs often. But why?

It was then he saw the tall elf, holding a whip, standing over one other elf and one human in the middle of the camp.

"By the Valar, no," he whispered. There were far to many orcs for he and Elladan to combat alone, not to mention Gorothdil.

"What, what is it?" Elladan asked confused by this twins suddenly pale features.

"They have prisoners," Elrohir whispered.

Elladan paled as well. The first thought that ran through his mind was that his grandfather, Thranduil, Glorfindel, and Haldir had been captured. Taking a careful look around the rock that hid him, he took in the sight Elrohir had seen.

He was not prepared for the sight that greeted him. In the middle of the camp was Gorothdil smirking evilly while he was bringing the whip down across Estel's back repeatedly with Legolas watching helplessly.

"He is working with the yrch," Elrohir hissed dangerously. He wanted nothing more than to barge into the camp and take out every yrch and help his little brother and friend.

Logic prevailed over his emotions though. They were far outnumbered and stood no chance of rescuing either the prince or their brother without help.

"We will need to go back for help," Elladan whispered, his thoughts having run the same way as his twins.

"I know, but how can we just leave them here at the mercy of that bastard and the yrch! They're whipping him Elladan," Elrohir cried out softly.

"We won't," Elladan said firmly, his silver eyes burning with intensity. "You will remain here and keep watch over them while I go back and find the others."

"I don't like the thought of us splitting up, but I don't see that we have any other choice. Go, and hurry Elladan, Estel doesn't look that good," Elrohir pleaded.

"I promise I'll be quick. Just promise me that you won't get yourself captured by them as well," Elladan said.

Elrohir nodded but could not bring himself to say anything.

"I'll be back with reinforcements before you know it," Elladan said before he disappeared into the depths of the woods.

"Hurry Elladan," Elrohir whispered to the thin air. All he could do now was wait and pray that a miracle would be forthcoming.

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Legolas could not help but shiver when he saw that Gorothdil was coming directly towards him and Estel. He did not fear for himself but for Estel. Estel had been through far too much already and Legolas feared that any further brutalization would do permanent harm.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? An elfling and an urchin caught all snug in my little trap," Gorothdil sing sang.

Estel shuddered and Legolas glanced unbelievingly at Gorothdil. The elf truly was insane, not to mention incredibly dangerous.

"We never got to start our little game did we? What do you say we start now?" Gorothdil said smiling as he lovingly caressed a nasty looking whip.

"Gorothdil, we have done nothing to you. If you let us go now, Lord Elrond and my father may be more forgiving," Legolas pleaded desperately. He knew what he said was an outright lie and that Gorothdil would never fall for it, but he had to try.

"I have just gotten you back in my clutches, do you honestly think that I am going to let you go after all the trouble I went through to capture him? I think not. Come my little urchin, it's play time," Gorothdil said as he seized Estel by the hair and dragged him away from the tree which Legolas was bound to.

"I will not be your plaything nor will I submit to you," Estel said even as he was dragged on the ground which caused him even more pain from his injuries.

"You will urchin, you will," Gorothdil promised.

Before Estel could respond, the sharp crack of a whip was heard and landed hard on Estel's back. He arched in pain but did not cry out. He would not allow Gorothdil to see the pain he was causing him.

The whipping continued on for some time but Estel still never cried out. He would not allow Gorothdil that pleasure no matter how much pain he was in. After the first 20 lashes though, he was beyond pain and beyond screaming even had he wanted to. The pain was so intense and he didn't know how much longer he would last.

As Estel was beaten, Legolas was forced to watch on with horror as the lashes came again and again and still Estel did not cry out. Estel's back was soon no longer visible through all the blood and welts that the whip left. How his friend kept from crying out, he did not know.

Frantically, while he was watching Estel being whipped, he tried to work his way out of his bonds but could not. They were far to tight and he had no weapon that he could grasp to saw through them.

His hope was beginning to abandon him. No one knew where they were. He wondered if they even knew that he and Estel were missing it. It didn't seem likely that he and Estel would escape with their lives this time.

Legolas's despair was interrupted when he heard the soft falling of pebbles from behind him. Keeping a careful eye on the orcs, least they see that he was looking at something other than Estel and Gorothdil, he turned his head around and saw one of the most beautiful sights he had seen in many days.

There, behind one of the large rocks some ways back was Elrohir. Legolas smiled as he felt tears of joy come to his eyes. The twins knew where he and Estel were. Seeing that Elrohir was alone, Legolas knew that Elladan had to have gone back for help. The twins never seperated from one another unless absolutely necessary. Elladan was coming for them with reinforcement and hopefully soon. Hope was not lost after all.

Legolas turned his thoughts back to the situation at hand just in time to see Gorothdil dragging Estel back over to the tree. Mercifully, Estel seemed to have lost conscious and was not aware of the pain that his body was in.

Legolas glared at Gorothdil as he secured Estel to the tree. "You are just going to leave him tied to the tree without any medical attention!"

"Yes," Gorothdil said. "Don't worry though, once he regains consciousness I'll make sure to prevent infection."

Legolas paled as he saw Gorothdil pour salt into a bag of water. "This should do nicely, don't you think?" Gorothdil said while smirking before walking away.

"Please hurry Elladan, I don't know how much more Estel can take," Legolas pleaded silently as he watched over his unconscious friend.

"Oh, and by the way my little princeling. I promised the yrch that they could have some fun with the two of you once I was through. I now grant them my permission. Yrch, the elf and urchin are all yours, just make sure that you don't kill them," Gorothdil said as he continued to walk away.

Legolas glared fiercely at the yrch who were know smiling viscously. "Time to play little elfie," one of them cackled. Legolas knew there was nothing he could do to protect himself or Estel from the oncoming beating. That didn't stop him from trying though.

As one of the yrch came to near, he lashed out with his legs and toppled the yrch over causing a minor domino effect. "Son of a..." the yrch cried out. "You'll pay for that one elf," he hissed.

"Fine with me," Legolas said coldly. It hadn't escaped his attention that the yrch were also heading for Estel's prone form with some malicious kind of torture device. Perhaps if he was able to keep their attention on him, they would leave Estel alone.

Eagerly, the yrch circled around Legolas and drew various weapons and whips. "We are going to have some fun tonight boys!" the leader cackled. Legolas flinched as he saw the leader draw back his whip and crack it through the air. He closed his eyes and waited for the sting of pain to come, but it never did.

"I don't think so," Elrohir's familiar voice came from in front of Legolas. "If you want to harm them, you'll have to come through me first."

Translations:

Mellon nin: My friend

Gwador: Brother