Nattle and Sage: Hello everybody! This is my first fanfiction in English, so sorry for mistakes! It is supposed to be Aragorn/OC and Legolas/OC fic. But the main characters will appear in two more chapters. Sooooooooo please review!

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own characters from Lord of the Rings. (How very depressing!)

Chapter 1 "Lost treasure"

Aurelia woke up with a start. She thought she heard a scream. "It was just a bad dream, nothing more", she told herself soothingly. It was a middle of the night, the room was dark, even moonlight didn't break through the window. She was lying in her huge bed under the rich covers, trying to calm down. Somehow, she knew there was something wrong. Then she heard it again. A deafening, high-pitched scream that froze blood in her veins, making her unable to move. Her heart washed with dread. She definitely heard swords clanging and then an awful noise that made her cover her ears. She was lying wide-eyed, trembling with fear, wincing with every new scream heard.

Princess lost the track of time; she thought the eternity had passed, before she snapped out of her unconscious state. Now all she could here was dreadful quietness. Million thoughts rushed through her head immediately.

"Stay where you are, fool! Don't you dare to leave this room!", she screamed to herself, but something, that she'd never thought existed, compelled her to stand up, put a coat on her night-gone and tip-toe to the door. "I just look what happened out of tail of my eye", Aurelia told herself. Princess put her ear to the door and listened: everything was quiet. With a trembling hand she reached the doorknob and pushed the door open. She stepped into the dark unlit stone corridor. The warning hang in the air, but Aurelia tried to ignore it. Summoning all her ever existing courage, she started to walk down to the Throne Hall.

She was already near the next turn, when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Her stomach made a great somersault and at the same time she cried out of fright. Next second a hard hand landed on her mouth, preventing from making noise, and a voice whispered into her ear:

"Ts, Lia, you'll wake the dead! It's just me. Stop screaming, O.K.?" She gave a nod to the darkness and when the hand released her, Aurelia spun to meet her enemy face to face. When she finally realized, who it was Princess took a breath and tried to smile, though it looked like a grimace of pain.

"Edmond! For Valar's sake, you scared me out of my wits!" she threw herself on his neck, happy it was no other, but her beloved brother. Somehow she could tell he acted strangely, something was in his eyes, something she'd never seen before, a kind of uncertainty and maybe even fear.

"Edmond, what happened? I heard screams and…" Aurelia stopped upon seeing his pained expression.

"Lia, you'd better go to your room," his voice was hard and commanding. Not so fast, I have to know what happened! Never before had he spoken to me in such a way!

"Look, Edmond, I want to know what's wrong! And I don't think you can just send me away, 'cause I won't go, until I know everything! See?" She tried to sound confident, though her heart skipped a beat. For some seconds her brother's eyes doubted, but then he nodded slowly, took her hand in his and led her towards the Throne Hall.

"Lia, you should know that it's quiet serious. We were attacked and…"

"Attacked? By whom? Is it really bad?" Aurelia couldn't hide her true emotions anymore. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"Don't be so afraid, dear. It's all over now", Edmond put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I, Father and Desmond fought like mad. And King's Regiment, of course. Though the enemy outnumbered us. Many our people are dead…"

"But who, who will attack us? It's impossible! I mean our people…"

"They weren't from Audox, Lia. In fact, Father says they came from far away, from Middle Earth".

From Middle Earth? Impossible! It's a legendary land, I'm even not sure it exists! Then, if it's true, what did they need? Never before had any man from Middle Earth sat his foot on our land!

Meanwhile, they came to the massive wooden doors and Edmond opened them for Aurelia to come in. She entered the Throne Hall, once rich and beautifully decorated, now it was ruined. When Aurelia saw this complete disorder, her heart sank. There on the throne sat once great and proud King, now bended and twisted man with a deep wrinkle on high royal forehead. In his eyes were so many emotions the Princess had never seen before. Behind the throne stood his elder son, Desmond, with the same grave expression. Upon seeing his daughter Deimon stood up and frantically neared her:

"Aurelia, my daughter, my blooming flower, thanks Valar you're safe!" the King took her arms in his. "They didn't touch you, did they?"

"Oh no, Father. I am all right", mumbled the Princess, trying to ignore puddles of red liquid on the floor. The thought that it was blood made her sick. "Please tell me, who were the intruders?"

"They…Oh…" Deimon went quiet for a moment, weighting the decision to tell her. Finally he spoke, his voice full of hatred:

"I don't know for sure, but I have one guess. I know only one name for this Evil. Sauron. It was he, who sent orcs here, he, who stole the precious thing, the only one our kingdom value."

"Sauron? Who's Sauron, Father?" Cautiously asked Princess. She was no fool to understand, that her father was in a state, when he had forgotten about prudence. He actually can tell me everything! Just don't push him, Lia.

"Sauron…" Deimon responded deep in thought. "Well, Sauron was the only Evil we knew here in Audox. Many centuries ago, when our kingdom just appeared, his evil befalls on Middle earth. But never before had he set his sight on our lands. Never until now."

"You'd said he appeared long ago. How could he still be alive?" Aurelia asked puzzled.

"Because Evil cannot be killed or vanished, my daughter. It's everlasting."

"If he'd never been here, how d'you know about him?"

"Marlond, the first king of Audox, traveled to Middle Earth once, in times of great battle. He was the one who wrote down everything he saw and heard. Only because of him we know it", responded Desmond, coming close to the fire that brightly sparkled in the fireplace – the only evidence of life in this destroyed world of a shadow.

"So… It is lost… Father we should do something about it!" Exclaimed Edmond.

"What's lost?" Aurelia looked each man in the eye. It seemed they almost forgot about her presence.

"The Scepter of Fate", Desmond answered, still not turning around. "It's…"

"It's not a mere scepter", interrupted the King passionately. "It is the thing we value most. It's the symbol of our free land, our kingdom. Marlond the Great brought it from one of his traveling. It's priceless! It passed from father to son for so many centuries. And now it's lost. There's no hope for us now, not without it. We are doomed."

Now Aurelia was really scared. Scared to hear such words from her brave and mighty father. It's not only relic, there's something more. It's very important, if the enemy came from so far. But what is it, then? Questions, questions and no answers. Damn!

"We can't give up! We should send our people after it. And go to Middle Earth!" Cried out Edmond.

"Go to Sauron!" The King raised his voice angrily. "To be killed immediately! No, fools, you don't have any idea with what power we are playing! I will not sacrifice my people, all the more my sons!" He stopped to take a breath. "No… the Scepter of Fate is lost, once and forever".

Nattle and Sage: Hope you like it! Everything in italic is Aurelia's thoughts.

I'll update soon. Promise!