-Slides in, holding black box in front of her- nobody move and the elf in the big black box won't get hurt!

So, I'm terribly sorry about how late this chapter is, I was going to post it yesterday but ff. net had other plans. How unusual! –grumbles- anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Aragorn felt anger unlike any other welling up in his heart. Elladan was in that box. Elladan had been crying out for help. His brother had been in that box! He stood up quickly, his face darkening as he walked to the bars of the cell.

Aragorn felt anger unlike any other welling up in his heart. Elladan was in that box. Elladan had been crying out for help. had been in that He stood up quickly, his face darkening as he walked to the bars of the cell.

"Cairdor!" he roared into the hallway. The man in question appeared a moment later, eyeing Aragorn with something akin to contempt.

"What is it, overseer?" he questioned, his voice chillingly dark.

"Take me to Godéad," his voice was calm, but commanding, it left no room for argument. Cairdor found himself opening the door and pulling the ranger into the hall. He led him out of the dark dungeon.

Aragorn was determinately ignoring Legolas' shouts that he needed to come back and not go and do something stupid.

The go and do something stupid point was inevitable as far as he was concerned.

He blinked in the bright light (so it wasn't bright, but it was brighter) as they reached the door to the office he had been in earlier. Cairdor pushed it open and shoved Aragorn inside, following him more quietly.

"My Lord? The ranger wishes to speak with you," the man said softly, his eyes down.

"Ah yes, what can I do for you, Thorongil?" Godéad asked; the sound of his oily voice making Aragorn feel dirty.

"Let the elf in the black box outside out," Aragorn hissed, his voice icy in its anger.

"Now, why would I do that?" the lord of the palace asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"That is my brother in that box. I suggest you let him out, now," Aragorn replied, his eyes growing darker by the second.

"Oh dear, that is just simply horrid, of course I shall have him brought down!" Godéad said with a smile on his face. "But if I do that, you are in my debt. And any…disturbances and I will put him and both of those blonde elves in that box and make you hear their pleas. Is that understood?"

"It is," Aragorn said hurriedly. Anything to get his brother out of that box.

Godéad rose and said something softly to Cairdor that Aragorn couldn't hear, the red-headed man bowed and left, his shoulders squared.

"Whilst we wait for him to return with your brother, why don't we talk? I didn't get much of a chance to explain to you what your duties entailed. Please, sit down," he said, his voice and smile chilling.

Aragorn sat his eyes wary, "why do you need me so badly?"

"My dear boy, surely you have come to that conclusion on your own! I run an elven slave trade, and I do not speak elvish! How to I give them orders?"

"You don't," Aragorn replied flatly, his eyes narrowed. "You let them free, as they should be. You don't keep them in this dark dank whole of a home, and you do not keep them in black boxes!"

"It is an effective manner of punishment; tell me, what had the elf been saying?"

"I will never tell you what my brother said, I wouldn't do it if my life depended on it!" Aragorn snapped angrily.

"Would you do it if your little blonde friend's life did?" Godéad asked conversationally.

Aragorn was spared the need to answer when the door opened and Cairdor returned, pushing in front of him the large black box. The elf inside was silent, and Aragorn's hair stood on end. Godéad smiled and handed him the keys.

"Go ahead, open it up!" the lord said calmly, his eyes glowing with…amusement?

With trembling hands Aragorn opened the box, his heart in his throat. The large black door swung open and the elf inside was revealed.

Elladan sat in the corner farthest from the door, his knees drawn up to his chest and his head on his knees, he did not move nor show any reaction to the door swinging open.

"It is so dark…so empty. Do not leave me here alone, Elrohir! Elrohir, help!"

"Elladan, Elladan it is I, shh, come here, come here," Aragorn whispered, his heart constricting. He felt tears gather in his eyes as his brother looked up with a pale face and large eyes.

Deciding that he didn't need to wait outside the box he moved as far in as the small space would allow. He leaned forward and pulled the shaking form of his brother into his arms, his eyes wide with anger.

Elladan buried his face in his little brother's tunic, shame flooding his features, then fear. Were they locking Estel up as well?

"Estel! You must get out…" he breathed, his voice full of pain. "You must…"

"Hush, shh, it is all right Elladan, you are safe, I am here," Aragorn replied. He wanted nothing more than to take his brother outside to see the stars, but that would not be allowed. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on the frightened elf's forehead, then pulled him gently out.

"Breathe Elladan, breathe the fresh air," he said soothingly. His brother's bleary eyes met his own, and he gave the elf's hand an encouraging squeeze.

"Take them back to their cell. Ranger you are to start your duties in the morning," he spoke slowly and deliberately, Godéad did not want them to see that he was affected by their show of emotion. He closed his eyes and walked to the window. As he stood there he could almost see the snow falling softly, just as it had almost 10 years ago. As he watched the ground below he could almost see her, a woman in a pale pink dress walking below, her head of dark curls held high, her laugh piercing the silence of the freshly falling snow. Her eyes, he could not see them, but he knew them to be green. He saw her stumble, the shaft of an arrow protruding through her chest. He watched her fall.

Saw her die.

Godéad's eyes closed in pain, his wife. His beautiful wife. How he missed her.

"I am sorry, Baisael, I am so sorry, my love," he whispered to the empty room.

---&---

"It would never have been this hard to sneak out were I in Gondor!" Morwen grumbled as she avoided her fifth contingent of that night.

"Ah, but my Lady Steelsheen, you are not in Gondor," a voice spoke from the shadows. Morwen spun around, her sword drawn.

"Randir!" she breathed, "I could have…oh never mind," she finished, seeing the elf's amused expression.

"My Lady, why would you be trying to sneak away from these fine warriors?" the elf asked with an amused sparkle in his eyes.

"I received your message, Thorongil sent you. I have promised him my help, and my help he will receive."

"Then it is good to know I shall have a traveling companion, Lady Steelsheen," the elf replied.

Morwen nodded, she supposed she had known the elf would come. His Prince and friend were out there, after all. She reached behind her head and swiftly braided her dark locks away from her face. With a soft smile at the elf she mounted her horse.

"Come, elf, and see if you can keep up with the Mearas, fly Blanca, fly!" the queen called, charging across the plains.

Randir shook his head and smiled as he followed the queen. Mortals are funny like that, he decided as he urged his horse on, one second they are horribly solemn, and the next they are like children. It was a comforting thought; he hoped the Queen would stay that way.

---&---

The next morning they were woken crudely from their sleep by a loud noise outside their cell.

"It is time to get up," snapped Cairdor. Aragorn rose to his feet, pulling Elladan up with him. The dark haired elf smiled encouragingly to let his little brother know that he was all right. Aragorn nodded and then helped Legolas up; the prince's bound hands made it difficult to move around.

"Thank you, naneth," Legolas said with a soft smile. Aragorn chuckled softly, watching the Prince for any signs of infection of fever. "I am fine, Estel, I promise," the elf assured the ranger.

"This is all very touching, but it is time to get to work. Ranger, come with me, now. Thank you. Elves, an experienced overseer will come to gather you and bring you to your work station."

Cairdor led him down the hall and out of the dungeons. They went through a door he hadn't seen before and entered a towering room. Aragorn guessed it was the entire height of the palace from top to bottom, and it was very long. Elves stood in groups, some with their heads held high, some with them drooping so that they nearly touched their chests.

Aragorn closed his eyes momentarily, trying to block out the sight. Cairdor led him to a group of men, some young, some old, who were standing in a corner.

"This is…" Cairdor broke of, not sure what Aragorn was calling himself.

"Strider," the ranger said, glaring at Cairdor.

"This is Strider, he is our new overseer. He'll be given orders to each of your elves, as he can speak their foul tongue, and then he'll join Ambyre and Naerdor in the mines."

There were some muttered greetings from the younger ones. But the older ones mostly nodded, not bothering to say anything to the new comer. He would have to prove himself to them first.

"Here come them elves," a burly man who looked to be about 50 said.

Aragorn turned around, and sure enough the elves were being herded towards them, the ones in front being pushed by the ones in back, and the ones in back being prodded forward by spears.

The ranger anxiously scanned the faces of the elves for Legolas, Glorfindel, and his brother. He couldn't see them. As he scanned he saw some faces he knew, either from his journeys to Lorien and Mirkwood, or elves he had lived with since he had come to Rivendell. It made him sick to his stomach to see them all herded like cattle.

How did they catch them all, there must be at least one hundred elves here! he thought to himself. But even as he asked the question he knew the answer, it wasn't uncommon for elves to go visit other elves for an extended period of time, while it would be odd that they had left with no notice, it would not be considered suspicious.

The elves were then shoved into separate groups, and Aragorn was finally able to spot his friends and brother. They were in a group with two Mirkwood elves, a Lorien elf, and a particularly strict healer from Imladris. He resisted the urge to chuckle as she glared angrily at the man who had just prodded Elladan with his spear. He couldn't hear what she had said, but he could only guess it was something like "do you know how many times I have had to patch him up! I refuse to let you make more work for me!" her response earned her a sharp slap across the face, but it didn't seem to faze her. Aragorn shook his head, that healer had more guts in her than all the overseer's combined.

"Follow me," Cairdor snapped, dragging him to first one group of elves, than another. The last group he was brought to was the one with Legolas, Elladan, Glorfindel, and the healer in it.

"Are you all right?" was the first thing he said in elvish, careful to keep his voice even, so it didn't sound like a question.

"As well as we can be, do not get yourself in trouble Estel," both Elladan and Legolas answered.

"Goheno nin," he said softly. "Your place of work is…in the…mines," he almost couldn't say it. He watched as Legolas' eyes widened briefly before his face became impassive.

"You are a traitor, you foolish human! A traitor! How could you do this!" one of the Mirkwood elves, whose name Aragorn couldn't remember, snapped.

"He does it to keep me alive, hold your tongue!" Legolas said angrily, spinning around.

"Saes daro!" Aragorn barked, attempting to sound stern, "saes, I do not want to have to cause any of you harm. Try to keep your tempers in check," he said softly, almost pleading with the elves. They all nodded, the healer watching him with an approving eye.

"You are to soft with them, Strider," the burly man, who Aragorn now knew as Ambyre said. "Take a firm hand with them elves you need to! They're nothing but trouble; it's foolish to try to reason with him. Be silent scum!" Ambyre snapped, smacking the Mirkwood elf across the face with his whip. And ugly red welt appearing on his face. The elf spun around, his temper hot, but the healer put a hand on his shoulder and said something harshly in elvish.

"What'd she say boy?" the man asked, glaring at Aragorn.

"She told him to mind his tongue," Aragorn said truthfully. The man nodded.

"Smart girl," he said, giving the she-elf's hair a brief tug, watching the fury flash across her face.

"If you are done handling the el-slaves, I would suggest we go to the mines," Aragorn said swiftly, not liking the way the man watched them all.

They walked down several sets of stairs before reaching a cave-like hole. The man tried to shove the slaves in, but Legolas had stopped at the entrance, clearly fighting himself. Aragorn stepped quickly next to him and began whispering softly in elvish.

"I am right here, mellon nin, do not fear. Come, we shall do it together." The ranger put his hand on the elf's shoulder, and they stepped inside.

Two hours later Aragorn could see his brother was stumbling, the dark was doing him no good, and after being locked in that box it was probably causing him harm. He saw him stumble and fall, scattering dirt and rocks over the path.

Aragorn had been staying close to Legolas, and was to far away to stop the whip that was snaking through the air towards his brother's back.

Glorfindel wasn't.

The golden haired elf grabbed the overseer's wrist and punched him soundly in the jaw. The overseer stumbled backwards, a scowl on his face.

"Naerdor, go and get Cairdor, this elf needs to be taken to the punishment room. And you thought you'd have to wait to get the satisfaction of beating one of the whelps!" the man said, directing the last part at Aragorn. The ranger's face paled considerably.

Cairdor came down shortly after, four men behind them. He snapped something at them, and they went forward to grab Glorfindel. The golden hair elf dodged them time and again, carefully landing blows. But he didn't see the cart behind him, and stumbled, falling to the floor. The four men were on him instantly and his hands were bound.

Cairdor walked up to him, a smile twisted on his face as he gripped the Balrog slayer's chin.

"Did you think you could escape, oh you foolish elf, you will pay for each bruise upon my men's back," he stopped and smiled devilishly at Aragorn, "Well come along, Strider," he then switched his eyes to Ambyre, "grab the blonde haired elf as well. Move along! We don't want Strider to refuse, now do we?"

Aragorn followed the men up the stairs, keeping one eye on the ones who were very nearly dragging Glorfindel, and one eye on the one's who had Legolas.

The "punishment room" as Ambyre had called it was a small room. Several whips of different sizes lined the walls, and one wall had shackles of different heights on it. Aragorn paled even more if possible. Glorfindel was secured firmly to the wall, his face facing it so that his back was facing the center of the room. Aragorn's eyes darkened when he realized what they were asking him to do.

"15 lashes for interfering with punishment, 20 lashes for striking your betters, and 15 more for evading punishment. Lashes will be delivered with this whip," Cairdor said, holding up a thick whip with pieces of metal all over it. "Total lashes with whip, 50. Strider, here you go!" he smiled, his eyes glowing with amusement.

Aragorn took the whip and moved behind Glorfindel, he could see the men who held Legolas out of the corner of his eyes.

"One wrong move, Strider, and your elf friend will be killed," Cairdor said slowly, as if talking to a child.

Aragorn drew a shuddering breath, "Goheno nin, Glorfindel," he said softly, closing his eyes as he raised the whip.

Mwhahahaha! A cliffy! A fun cliffy at that. Really, in all honesty this chapter was a lot of fun to write. And it was about a page longer than I expected it to be, which is great. Anyways, review! And look, I even remembered translations!

Naneth-mother

Goheno nin- forgive me

Saes daro- please stop

Saes- please