Chapter 37

After an hour of some pretty tough walking, the site of the murders was reached. The whole trip nearly everybody in the group had a feeling of being watched, but the elves and rangers scoffed at Rory's suggestion that maybe they were being followed, for it was felt if men from Rory's time were in Rivendell they would not stay hidden for long, they would not have the skills to avoid elves and rangers, even when Rory pointed out that she could stay hidden if she wished.

'Three of them', remarked Elrohir after examining the tracks left behind in the ground.

'Where are they now', growled Gloin the Dwarf, eager to find these people and deal with them, preferably using the sharp end of his axe.

'Down in the cave system', Eli the Dwarf said

Gloin smiled at Rory, 'so that's why you wanted us to come along lass. To scout the caves?'

'Yep. I had a feeling they'd have gone to ground, and who better see what's going on underground then three Dwarves' she said.

After a quick consultation with everyone, it was decided the Dwarves would carefully explore the cave system, and try to find where the mysterious men went, if they were still in the caves, etc.

'Do not do anything rash', said Elrond to Gloin, 'if you see these men, please do not undertake battle unless you are attacked. We want to capture these men, and question them as to why they are here, and for what reason they killed two rangers'.

'You have known me for many years, Elrond, and you can trust that I'll stop these two young fools doing anything rash, as you put it', the old Dwarf said as the three of them disappeared into the cave.

'I too know Gloin well, and it is he I worry will be foolish,' said Glorfindel.

No one replied to Glorfindel's comment, they were all too busy looking around. The area was declared free of both intruders, and anything more in the way of clues as to what was going on here. Everyone settled down to be comfortable waiting for the Dwarves, and it was some time later that one of the rangers sitting near the cave entrance mentioned that he had heard the Dwarves coming back out of the caves.

'What did you find?' asked Elrond.

'No one is there, but you can see they have been there. They have made some very sloppy alterations to some of the cave walls, and left a cache of food, they mean to come back', said Gloin.

'There is one strange thing', said one of the younger Dwarves, Rory thought it might be Brin, 'their footprints stop in the floor, as if they had flown away!'

'What!' said Elrond. 'We had best see this for ourselves'.

'We thought you so we left our ropes for an easy descent again', said Gloin.

Everyone headed down into the caves, the Dwarves happy and at home underground showing all they found, the rangers and Rory and the Rivendell elves comfortable enough, but Jessryn was very unhappy, in fact positively frightened, although he was trying hard to cover up his unease.

'It is because he is part wood-elf,' Glorfinded murmured to Rory'. They cannot bear to be confined, particularly underground.

'Why are you telling me this', she whispered back.

'He would feel more comfortable if you walked beside him, see how he looks at you?'

'I'm not Jessryn's keeper', she hissed.

'No, but I think you could give him so confidence, is he sees you are unafraid, he will cope much better'.

'Ok, but only because you won't let up'.

By now they reached the area where the footprints really did vanish into thin air as the Dwarves said. Rory had moved to stand near Jessryn, and she was astonished to find Glorfindel was right; Jessryn did seem to settle a lot once she was near him.

'I wonder', said Elrohir. He bent, and picked up a small rock, and his twin copied him, both elves threw their rocks together across the cave, past the point where the footprints vanished.

Both rocks completely disappeared. 'So, what should we make of that', said Rory to no one in particular.

'It must be a portal to your time, like the one you were transported here through', said Elrond.

'Right, well I'll just pop through and have a look on the other side', she said to Elrond, but as she started to move, Jessryn, who was standing behind her, grabbed her by the upper arms, and would not let her move, no matter how hard she wriggled, and because she had shown him all her 'moves' when did the Fellowship, she was unable to use he martial arts skills to make him let her go.

Two of the rangers volunteered to walk through the portal, and come straight back and report. They stepped through, and vanished. Five minutes went by, then ten. 'It is too long, something has happened', Glorfindel stated.

'Agreed', said Elrond. 'So shall we all step through, and see what has happened?'

This was agreed to, the twins insisting on leading the way. Rory was intensely embarrassed and very angry because Jessryn would not let go of her hand.

Rory gasped as they emerged into a different landscape. The two rangers greeted the, unaware of how much time had passed. Rory's mind registered a sound, a helicopter? Here! Where was here? Looked like somewhere back home in Australia. Suddenly a black hawk chopper swung into sight, and landed. Everyone but Rory panicked, the Elves covering their sensitive ears against the sound, men leapt out, and pushed through the group, shooting a couple of people as they went. It became clear to Rory who their target was, it was Elrond, but by the time Rory had forced her way through the panicked people, it was too late, Elrond had been forced on board the helicopter, it had taken off again and everyone was left staring helplessly at the helicopter vanishing into the distance.