Chapter 6

Galadriel awaited as her soldiers brought a prisoner before her. Rivendell had fallen and the majority of the elves had joined Galadriel. A few however, had not, and they had faced the judgement of Galadriel. A few had agreed to submit to her will. Those that did not were executed. This was the final prisoner and the most important of them all, the former Lord of Rivendell, Elrond.

"Why are you wasting time with this?" Elrond asked as he was brought before Galadriel, his hands bound behind his back. "My daughter may have succumbed to your wishes. But you know that I, like my sons, will never submit to your will."

"If it is your wish to die in vain, than so be it," Galadriel said drawing her sword.

Elrond was shoved roughly to his knees. He glared back angrily at his captors. He then lowered his head exposing his neck as he accepted his fate. With one swift stroke it was over. Galadriel kicked Elrond's now separated head aside. She reached out and grabbed the ring that was still on his hand and removed it. The ring was slightly stained with Elrond's blood. Galadriel wiped the blood off with her fingers and turned to the elf standing beside her.

"It is good that you have chosen to fully accept your elven heritage. With this, your father's ring, you shall assist in returning our race to its former glory," Galadriel said as she held forth the ring.

Arwen accepted the ring from Galadriel. Its sapphire stone had changed and was now a black onyx that seemed to absorb all light that touched it. Arwen slid the ring onto her finger and felt the ring's power flow through her.

"Thank you my Queen," Arwen said kneeling before Galadriel. "I am yours to command. What are your orders?"

"My spies have told me that Mirkwood has sent a diplomatic envoy to Gondor offering an alliance against us." Galadriel explained. "I want you and Haldir to find them, and kill them."

"As you wish my Queen," Arwen said as she bowed and then left.

Galadriel then turned and looked upon her realm of Isengard. She had rebuilt the fortress to produce elven weapons and armour. Massive siege weapons like trebuchet, ballista, and mangonels were constructed. Remembering the great power that of the Ents; Galadriel had created her own sect of evil Huorons from the mightiest trees of Fangorn Forest to serve her as elite troops. However the most disturbing creation of them all was the elf pits. Female Elves were sacrificed into these pits and their blood was mixed with clay to give birth to elves. These new elves were very similar to normal elves. However they tended to be larger and had a much more destructive demeanour.

The entire process was working around the clock non-stop creating an impressive army the likes of which had never before been seen. Soon they would be ready to rid Middle Earth of the greatest threat to elves, men.

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The last of the Rohirrim, Gandalf and the elves of Mirkwood had just crossed the Great River. They were travelling by foot to make themselves less noticeable and less likely to be heard by any of Galadriel's evil elves. One of the elves, Eärendur, suddenly motioned for the group to stop.

"Something approaches," he announced to the group in a whisper.

"It sounds like horses about a half-mile west of here," Dínendal, another elf agreed.

"Do you think we've been discovered?" Eomer asked.

"It is doubtful," Gandalf said. "Galadriel may be extremely powerful, but as we have not done anything warranting her attention yet we should be safe. However, we should find cover just in case."

Elrohir and Maeglin, two of the other elves drew their swords just in case. The sound of the horses was now close enough that even the humans could hear it faintly.

"We should move quickly," Elrohir suggested.

The group quickly ran across the plains as fast their legs would carry them.

"There's a set of caves up ahead," Anaranë Míriel, the only female elf in the group said.

However as they approached the caves they realized that it was a Warg den. The demonic wolves, smelling fresh meat, began to come out of their cave. In total there were twelve Wargs. All the elves drew their bows and prepared to fire. The Wargs charged the group thirsting for blood. The elves unleashed their arrows upon the Wargs and three of them fell. However, the Wargs were upon them quickly. Eomer slashed with his sword and severed the head of the Warg that was attacking him.

Gandalf then raised his staff and utter some words that were unintelligible to everyone else. A ray of light came from his staff and all the Wargs howled as they were blinded. Eomer, Eowyn and the elves took this opportunity to attack the Wargs. Their swords flashed and soon the ground was bathed in the blood of the Wargs.

They quickly ran into the caves hoping that the commotion had not attracted the horse riders. As they listened the sounds of the pounding hooves came and went. It seemed as though they had passed by with out paying any heed to the Warg den whatsoever.

"They have passed," Anaranë Míriel stated. "We are safe for now."

"Let us rest here for now," Gandalf said. "These caves shall keep us safe and we shall continue our journey tomorrow."

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The party left the Warg caves early the next morning just before dawn broke. If any of Galadriel's followers had gone into the caves after they had left they would have been none the wiser that the people they were hunting for had passed through this area.

However they did not know that the horses they had heard yesterday were those of Haldir's and his elves. Haldir had overheard the brief battle between the party and the Wargs and had travelled to a point between them and Gondor to lay an ambush. However there were several possible routes to take so Haldir had been forced to spread his soldier thinner than he would have liked. They were hidden amongst a series of low hills in small caves and holes.

As the party neared Haldir's ambush spot Gandalf raised a hand motioning for them to stop.

"We must tread carefully," Gandalf whispered. "This is an excellent place to lay an ambush."

The elves all drew their bows readied arrows as they cautiously approached the area. At the sound of a bow snapping Eärendur dropped to the ground. An arrow flew past over him and landed in the ground. Dínendal spotted the elf that had fired the arrow and quickly put his own arrow through the elf's head. At that a multitude of elves appeared out of seemingly nowhere all over the hills. Dínendal, Eärendur, Elrohir, Maeglin and Anaranë Míriel all began launching arrows at the elves. Eowyn and Eomer looked around in confusion unsure of what to do.

"Come," Gandalf said drawing his sword. "We must take the fight to them!"

They charged up the hills at the enemy, with the elves providing cover fire as they followed behind. Soon Eomer found himself engaged in hand to hand combat with a bloodthirsty male elf. The elf fought Eomer with ferocious strength. However the elf seemed much to focused upon dealing a powerful killing blow, which allowed Eomer to strike quickly and wound it several times dropping it to the ground. Eowyn likewise found herself engaged against an elf that was attacking with extreme strength. However unlike Eomer, Eowyn was not able to defend well against the elf's strength.

Just when it seemed as though Eowyn were to be struck down Gandalf was able to behead the elf before quickly turning and engaging two more elves. The battle was raging wildly. All around the elves of Galadriel were dropping to the ground. However, suddenly the combat came to a stop. An elf dressed in very fine armour brandishing an exquisitely forged sword appeared atop one of the hills. He surveyed the carnage below and when he realized that his forces had taken severe casualties while the party had taken none he let out a blood curdling roar and charged at Eowyn. Eowyn was barely able to defend against his fist blow, which knocked her hard to the ground.

The elf stood over her his sword raised ready to split Eowyn clean in half. Before he could five arrows hit him in the chest. He staggered backwards but raised his sword once again. Eomer then stepped in and blocked the blow. He was then able to cut off the elf's right arm causing him to drop his sword. The elf knocked Eomer to the ground with his other arm and lunged at him his teeth becoming flesh ripping fangs. Before he could bite however he stopped and fell to the ground beside Eomer. Eowyn stood in front of her brother, her sword stained with blood.

The dark elves seeing their leader defeated retreated leaving the party relatively safe.

"Is everyone alright?" Gandalf asked.

Everyone affirmed that they were alright.

"Then we should keep moving," Gandalf suggested. "The enemy knows where we are and they'll be coming after us in greater number next time I expect. We must hurry or we shall surely be killed."