Okay. I finally have my computer back. But there is one bad thing. I don't have anything on it. My hard drive got fried and I lost everything. It may take a couple more days to get all of my notes and stuff back on here. But once I do I will be updating as quickly as I can. I'm eager to finish this story so that I can start on its sequel. I keep having all these really neat ideas for it but I can't do anything with them until I get this done. So I hope to wrap this one up soon and to start on the next one.

**************************************************************************** ********* Elrond watched sadly as his son admitted to Arwen that he was lost and had no idea what to do. Elrond knew that it had hurt Elrohir very, very deeply to say that to his sister. After all he was the person she looked up to and all the time declared that he was the best and she wanted to be just like him. No amount of persuade or bribing could get her to say other

Elrond scooted over towards his children and laid a hand on Elrohir's shoulder.

"Ada, are you alright? Is Glorfindel okay?" Elrohir asked as he turned to look at his father.

"Yes, we are all fine. But how are you? How did you get here?" elrond asked "where is your other half?"

"I don't know where he is and my memory is a little fuzzy at the moment. They must have given me a drug or something" Elrohir said

"I thought I saw them put something down your throat but I couldn't see. Are you okay? Feel dizzy or anything?" elrond asked as he looked closely at his son's eyes for any sing that something was wrong.

"My head just hurt and I'm a little sore that's it" Elrohir said as he pushed his father's worried face away.

Elrond sighed.

"I'm fine Ada, really" Elrohir said

"I know Ro....I know" elrond said softly as he gently rubbed his sons cheek.

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Valandil got up off the forest floor and looked around at his men. They had rested for about 20 minutes and all were eager to start up again. The only problem was that Valandil was sure that Vero hadn't expected for them to get this far {that tended to be his weakness. He underestimated people. Especially the king's warriors} so his hide out had to be near. Valandil had to know what all was going on there. The location, and most importantly of all, what sort of state the captives were in.

"Ruviel, Aldarion... come here" Valandil said as he walked over to the other side of the clearing where Vero had to have gone.

"Uma?" Ruviel said as she and Aldarion came up behind their captain.

"I want for you two go on ahead while we wait here. See this trail?" Valandil said while pointing down at an almost invisible trail.

"Yes" Aldarion said

"It problely means that Vero wasn't so sure weather we would be able to get this far or not. I want for you two to be careful and follow this trail. If you find his hide out see what all he has there. Once you're done hurry back here. And don't get caught." Valandil explained. "Yes sir" Ruviel and Aldarion said as they moved closer to the edge of the trail.

"Hurry there and hurry back" Valandil said.

"Don't worry we will. Ladies first..." Aldarion said with a bow to Ruviel.

"Finally you learn how to be a proper gentleman" Ruviel said as she quickly disappeared into the sea of trees, Aldarion following just was quickly behind her. **************************************************************************** *********

Ruviel and Aldarion looked at each other in silent agreement. They quickly turned to their left and silently climbed up a tree and cautiously headed toward the sound of arguing and drunken laughing. Heading towards the sounds they slowly and silently make they're way from tree branch to tree branch. The closer they got they got to the noises the more eager they got to finish what they had been sent out to do. Spy.

Soon they had what looked to be a hideout in their view. Using a complex system of hand signals they decided they would split. Ruviel taking the left side {the side that they had approached from} and Aldarion would move to the right side. They would spend about twenty minutes taking inventory of everything. Then Aldarion would come back over and they could compare their findings.

Ruviel positioned herself so that she had a clear view of the entrance and the side of it. The hideout looked to be a cave that moss, dirt, and plants had covered it. Making it look like a small hill. The entrance was partially covered in vines. It wasn't like you could just walk past it and not notice it. But with a little work you could. That seemed to be a plan to complete sometime soon. For supplies of cut vines {the kind that if you just stick them in the ground they grow} and several other plants of the same nature.

From her position, Ruviel couldn't see much of the elves in front of the cave. But she wasn't worried about that. Aldarion would take numbers. He always did. Her job was observing everything else. And listening in on conversations. For some reason she was always stuck with that job. Not that she was complaining mind you. But it did get rather tiring to hear the other people talk about what they had for dinner.

Looking around for any other plant or any thing else that could be used for the concealment of the cave. Finding nothing else Ruviel turned her attention to the large stacks of crates that stood off to the side of the entrance. What could be in there? Food? Weapons? Or even...bodies. They looked big enough to put the body of a small child in them. Not an adult though. At least not without manipulating the body first. Ruviel would have to tell Aldarion when he came back. They would have to decide how to handle things once they had a better idea of what all was going on.

Looking around for more crates or anything else that might require her attention. Upon finding nothing Ruviel turned her attention back to the structure of the cave. It didn't look to deep. It might go under ground some. By the looks of it, it did but only a little. If Vero had wanted to he could have dug farther. He would have to have support beams but, if he wanted to Ruviel was sure that he could. The cave had that kind of stable foundation, by the looks of it. But what would he hide there? He could put Legolas and there others there. Or bodies of missing people that the royal guard and the G.M.P.P. {greenwood missing persons program} couldn't find. He could also put extra men, weapons, food, and any other type of supplies in there.

Ruviel sighed as she sat back and rested against another branch. There was nothing else she could do until Aldarion came back and told her of his observations. In the meantime she would just do what eavesdropping she could from where she rested.

Ruviel quickly picked two voices that seemed to be closer to her. Concentrating on only the two voices {and for any sense of danger or Aldarion, of course} she blocked out everything else and listened to the conversation.

"I don't know..." a female voice said

"What don't you know? Don't you trust Vero?" a harsh voice said. He was obviously someone who was in charge. Maybe Vero's captain, his right-hand man.

"It's not that... what if Vero gets killed in the attack? Who would lead us then? I think that it is too risky to just charge in there and start killing. And what if the king isn't there? What if he hadn't of gave up? He could be very well still out there searching. I don't think we left enough fake trails for him to follow." The female voice said uncertainly. Like she was afraid of not only the risks but also of the male elf.

"I'm Vero's right hand man. I know exactly what he wants, what we all want. Even if he is killed we can still go on. We have all the resources to do so. The only reason he is head is because Thranduil will most likely only search for his background, his men, his patterns. It leaves us in the clear. Most of us don't even have a criminal's record. In fact G.M.P.P. has problely given up on finding you already. And as far as Thranduil not being there. We'll find him. Don't worry about him." The male voice said.

"I .... Vero hasn't been keeping all of his promises either." The she elf said

"Like what?"

"Like he promised me that my children would be placed with someone who was inside the group. My children never made it there. No, instead, they're with their grandparents. The exact people I told him I didn't want them with. I despise those people. I-"

"I know" the man cut her off. "I'm trying to get your brats out of their custody. It just may take a while. You'll see them again. As soon as I can manage it."

"Fine. But there is one more thing."

"Like?" the voice snapped.

"Like, what reason does he have not to kill the prisoners? Especially the prince. I mean, it's not like we are going to give them back. What does he want to do with them?"

"I think he wants to make the princes death public. We haven't really decided what to do with the Rivendell elves yet."

"Fine."

"All right then. Will you be here when the others get here or are you going scouting?"

"I'll be here"

"Good"

And with that the conversation ended and Ruviel turned to face Aldarion who was just starting to reach her tree.

"Hear anything interesting?" Aldarion asked as he sat down next to his partner.

"Yes" Ruviel said "but it doesn't make too much sense. But I do know that we are going to have to strike tonight. Legolas and the others seem to be alive."

"Well, at least we can tell Valandil that. What have you here?" Aldarion asked

"Well, some vines, problely for the concealment of the cave, what looks to be supply boxes, and a conversation about Vero. Their planning an attack of something. Talking about how Legolas will die publicly and that Thranduil would have to be there because they don't think he would have kept searching. And they also talked about how Vero might die. Which says that they don't really care and that they can manage on their own? I don't think Vero really cares about what happens to him. I think that he just wants to get revenge." Ruviel said.

"Sounds like Vero's work to me. Conniving everyone that they can manage without him and then disappearing. That's how he wormed his way out of guard duties." Aldarion said. "Valandil will have to settle with that. Now, what did you say about the cave and vines."

"The vines over there..." Ruviel pointed out the said plant "they are often used for concealment."

"Ah. I know those. Their nasty to remove." Aldarion said "anything else?"

"Look at the cave. What's your view? Could it be expanded manually or...?" Ruviel said

"It's being expanded. They have of the equipment to do it. It looked like they were pulling out old rotten ones and replacing them. Where all the dirt is I have no idea. Their being awfully tidy. That worries me. Vero was never tidy before—"

"That's it!" Ruviel cut Aldarion off "that's what their doing!"

"What?" Aldarion said kind of annoyed that Ruviel had figured it out first. Even he even got to tell her what he had seen. But there would be another time to brood. Many lives are at stake and Aldarion was a seasoned warrior who knew when to let his feelings out. This was not that time.

"This isn't Vero's usual group! It's just a bunch of skilled people, problely warriors and ex-councilors, they all pull their resources together and let Vero lead them. Its problely just a front." Ruviel said in one breath.

"Or he forced his way up there" Aldarion said catching on. By the Valar! Why hadn't he seen that!

"Yes! Come on! Their going to do something tonight! We have to get back!" Ruviel said as she dropped to the ground and took off like a frightened deer, darting though the thick trees with ever growing speed.

With a sigh Aldarion followed.

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