Please Read: Hey all! Another short update. I'll do my best to update again tomorrow and I'm sorry I haven't responded to all of your reviews, but I thank you very very much! I love to open my e-mail and see all those review alerts! Thanks again. Oh, and one more thing, I know I really haven't been all that clear on how much time there is before the fellowship arrives to the woods. Once I had it set fifty years, then I had it five, then two, and now I think I'm down to about a year, just because I've got a bunch of things swimming around in my head that I'm trying to make sense.

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.

Chapter 19: Safe Again

Haldir quickly gathered those he needed to follow the trail left behind by those foolish enough to take her. Rumil was sent back to the city and gave the message of what happened on the border to the Lady and others that needed to be informed. The trail was easy to follow and as the night began to fall and they were a great distance from the city, his worry began to grow. They were moving much faster than he thought they would with the baggage of a woman, until in the distance he saw the light of a fire burning. He smirked and spoke quietly to the twelve elves around him who nodded and they moved silently through the darkness.

Ana's hands were bound and her body trembled, not with cold, but with fear as she sat next to the fire. They had bound her feet to her wrists so she couldn't escape even if she wanted to. They ate and talked while Ana watched them from behind her hair. They smelled even worse than the orcs and when one of them threw a moldy piece of bread at her she flinched.

"Eat wench. We won't get our payment if we bring you back dead," one of them slurred at her. She didn't touch the bread that laid in the dirt; she couldn't anyway. He started laughing. "You think the elves are going to come for you?" he asked and she looked up at him. "You should know the elves care nothing for those not of their race. Mortals are below them, they will let you rot with us before they send any of their guards to look for you." Ana stiffed and glared at him, and before she could stop it her tongue went away with her.

"You know nothing. They'll come for me," she hissed. The man raised an eyebrow at her.

"She speaks," he said, and Ana Just glared at him. "I wouldn't count on them." Ana felt something was coming close and her posture stiffened, however, she winced when her bindings tightened. She heard a soft whizzing sound and suddenly the two men that sat on either side of the man that had been speaking with her fell dead with three arrows piercing their chests. Ana gasped and the man quickly stood only to be grabbed from behind by two elves Ana had never seen before. However, the one that stepped before him she recognized without having to see his face.

"Who do you work for?" Haldir's voice echoed in the darkness and an ellon kneeled down next to Ana and began to unbind her hands. She smiled at him and returned her smile before he helped her to her feet. She looked back at Haldir and the man that had held her captive for the entire day and part of the night. "Answer me and I may spare you life," he hissed so dangerously low that Ana even became slightly frightened of him. The man just chuckled.

"Why should I tell you?" the man said. Haldir stepped closer and glared down at him. The man's smile faltered and Ana could see it clearly in the firelight. Haldir looked down at the man and wanted to run him through right then, but waited to see if he would change his answer. "Saruman," the man hissed. Haldir was surprised by the man's answer, but kept his face neutral.

"What would the White Wizard need of a mortal woman?" Haldir asked. The man smirked.

"Don't pretend you do not know, or you would not have tracked us as far as you have without that knowledge elf. You know as much as I do and the little wench is worth more to one other," the man said. Haldir growled and brought his sword through the man. Ana gasped and the two elves let go of his limp body. Haldir wiped his blade and turned to face Ana while the other elves looked over the three men and prepared to dispose of them. Ana looked at him with wide eyes as he sheathed his sword, and when he did so she ran over to him. Ana threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. Haldir sighed and wrapped his arms around her firmly. Morcion looked at Haldir as three others destroyed the remains of the men; however, they pulled a few items from them.

"Marchwarden, are we to return to the city tonight, or wait until the dawn?" he asked. Haldir looked down at Ana continued to cry quietly against him. He easily picked her up and looked at Morcion.

"We shall return to the city," he said and Morcion nodded his head. Soon, the small party of elves were on their way back to the border of Lothlorien.

Ana had fallen asleep in Haldir's arms half way to the city. They needed to rest so Morcion laid his cloak down on the ground and Haldir laid Ana upon it before he took the offered water skin and took a deep drink. "Is she alright?" Morcion asked. Haldir nodded.

"I believe she is. If anything she was more frightened," he replied as he handed the ellon back the water skin. He looked at Ana and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. He worried that she had once again been brought back to the time where she was held captive. Thankfully, their track was easy to follow and something told him that they did not believe they would come looking for her and what puzzled him even more was how the white wizard had sent those men to capture her.

"May I ask you a question, Marchwarden?" Morcion asked. Haldir looked up from Ana and at the guard and nodded. Morcion looked at the others who sat talking quietly. "Who is she to you?" he asked and Haldir frowned. "Many of us know that she is in the graces of the Lady and she is your charge, but what I have seen today leads me to believe something else."

"What do you mean?" Haldir stood then and matched Morcion's gaze and he understood. "She is important to me, Morcion, that is all I will tell you." Morcion nodded and Haldir lifted Ana from the ground. "We move!" he said and felt Ana stir. He looked down at her as her eyes opened slightly and she looked up at him briefly with a small smile. She moved closer to him and pressed her head into his shoulder with a quiet sigh. He smiled before he turned his eyes ahead and moved to the middle of the group before they made their way back to the border.