An- Hey everyone! Just in case it's been such a long time that you've forgotten to hate Lillianna, here's a reminder. I actually had written a first version of this for the original story, but we just couldn't find a place to make it work, so we scrapped it. I'm happy I was able to find a place to make it see the light.

Lillianna's Betrayal

She rode into the enemy camp in the dead of night, and if she felt any fear, she did not show it. When the Elf first rode up, arrogant and unconcerned, to the fireside where the sentries sat, they were too dumbfounded to respond at first. After a moment of staring, they jumped to their feet, screaming at her and grabbing their weapons. She only looked down at them from the saddle of her horse, un-phased.

"I'll see your king," she told them coldly. They didn't understand her words, but they knew what she asked by her tone.

Lillianna dismounted, and barely glanced at the men who held weapons levelled at her as they guided her through the camp. They were of no concern to her. She was there for one reason, and that was not to deal with worthless underlings.

They led her to a small building, no different from the rest. One of them entered, and she heard a conversation that she didn't understand. The Elf didn't have time for this, not when she had to be back by dawn or be missed. Ignoring the second man and his weapon, Lillianna pushed her way into the building. The conversation died when she entered. The first man looked at her in blatant shock, while the other, the man she assumed was king, just raked his eyes over her. It was a disgusting look, but she did not let it make her falter.

"I have no time for you to argue. We will speak now."

His eyebrows rose, and his looked turned to one amusement, "Well then my Lady Elf, let us talk," he said something to the other man, in his own language, and he left. Then they were alone.

He gestured for her to start, and Lillianna did so confidently, "You've been unable to find our location," she said it bluntly, and anger flashed across his face at the reminder of the failure. It didn't stop her next words, but it told Lillianna that she needed to tread carefully, "I can give you that."

He paused at her declaration, and his face now betrayed nothing. He didn't show anything of what he felt, good or bad. Lillianna didn't like being unable to read hi, so all she could do was push on.

"If this is not information that you are interested in, then I will of course leave," it was bait, and he took it.

"I'm merely wondering why you would offer it. You do not look like a traitor, She-Elf."

"You will not win," Lillianna told him matter of factly, completely confident in her opinion, "every time an enemy has risen, we have beaten them back. We have defeated foes far worse than you, and we will do so again. Yet for all that you will lose, you can take care of a problem before you do."

Instead of being angry, Aras only smirked at her. It was a condescending, cruel look, like he considered her a foolish child. It infuriated her, and Lillianna wanted to strike the Human down for presuming to look at her like that. She held her tongue, because she still needed him to deal with the bane of her existence.

"And what, pray tell, is this problem you come running to the enemy for?"

"There is one that covets what is mine," even now, speaking of that woman made rage boil in her, "and I want her gone."

"Then why not kill her yourself? You do not seem like a maiden who would shy from spilling blood when it suited her."

"My hands must be clean of this. I will never be forgiven and will lose it all anyway," she emphasised the next part carefully, "her fate cannot be traced back to me."

Aras's smirk only grew, "Ah, it is a man whom you fight over."

"Yes," Lillianna did not care what he thought, only that he would take her deal, "and I will not let a little whore from another world take the future that's been promised to me."

This time, Aras didn't conceal the excitement in his eyes, "Another world?"

Lillianna took a sharp intake of breath, and cursed in her mind. She had not meant to reveal that. It was an advantage that he didn't know of their return. In her anger, she had given it away. Lillianna couldn't take it back, so all she could do was carry on as though she had meant to all along, "You would have been only a child in the last war, but surely the survivors of your people brought back tales when they crawled back to the east in defeat."

"Yes, they did," Aras's eyes were alight now, and Lillianna would name the emotion hunger, "among them tales of warriors from another world. Three women who fought on the battlefield like men, whom our people fought against, and another who followed a ring bearer into the very heart of Mordor. The tales also say there returned to their world once the war was won."

"Well it seems they've come back," Lillianna didn't hide the hatred in her voice.

"There was one who was said to be one of the rare mortals gifted with the love of an Elf," Aras said, voice almost gleeful, "one of the three warriors...the one called Niori."

"Yes," Lillianna got out through clenched teeth.

"What would you have me do to this woman?"

"I'd have you come and take her, and then I'd have you kill her," she replied viciously.

"And what if I had no wish to kill her?"

Lillianna knew what that meant, could tell it from his leer, but pushed away any revulsion or pause she felt because of it, "Then I want you to keep her far away."

Aras's smile was a cruel thing, that of a satisfied predator, "Very well. I will take your trade. The woman for the location of the camp."

Vicious satisfaction ran through Lillianna, and she smiled. With this, she was so close to victory.

"I've agreed, now you need to give me my reward. I cannot take the woman if I do now know where she is."

"Do you not need to know what she looks like? There are three others like her, and other women besides," Lillianna guarded her words, and was careful to give nothing about their true number away.

"She is beautiful, with eyes the colour of the southern seas and hair a plan brown but shorter than a woman would wear. Her smile is a fierce thing, but it is the most memorable part of her," Aras recited these things, and Lillianna stared at him in blatant shock. He chuckled at her expression, "As I've said, tales have been told of them all, but most are of her. Of the three who fought in battle, she was the one to face my people. Her courage, her skill, her fairness...the warriors who made it back described her as a war god encased in female form. I know it all. My uncle fell on her sword, and my father lost an eye to one of her arrows. If not for her, my father would not have come to his throne, and myself after him. She's fascinated me, and I've always longed to...meet her."

His delight was almost tangible, and this time it made Lillianna hesitate. If she agreed, then she'd be delivering her into the hands of this man, who would not treat her well. A quick death was one thing, but what the girl would come to was utter torment. Lillianna would be damning her to pain and suffering.

The Elf steeled herself against pity, and buried it deep. The deal was done, and she was too close to winning to turn back now, "Then to answer your question, I will tell you...but not yet. If I were to tell you now, there would be nothing to stop you from killing me where I stand. No, I will call back the answer as I ride away from the camp."

The king did not seem surprised, nor did he refute her claim, "How am I to know this is not a play to have my army turned in the wrong direction? Or one to lead me into a trap?"

"You have only my hate as a guide, and that will have to do. If I have lied to you, then you will know who to seek out on the day our armies meet," she dared him to come for her, because she would gladly destroy him.

Aras gave her a full belly laugh, "Yes, I think that will do."

Their business was nearly concluded, and all that was left was the name that Lillianna would not say here. She walked out of the building without another word. A crowd had gathered outside, but she walked past them as though they were below her notice. Whispers followed her, but Aras, who walked in step with her, did not address them. When she reached her horse, Lillianna mounted in a fluid movement and then looked down at the enemy king. He inclined his head gracefully and then stepped aside, letting her horse go.

Once she was far enough away that they had no hope of catching her even if they tried to peruse, Lillianna stopped and looked back over her shoulder. Aras was standing there, looking bemused. In a clear voice, she called back one word.

"Isengard."

l.l.l.

An- I'm actually much happier with Lillianna's characterization now, because if there's one thing that Desolation of Samug taught me, it's that Mirkwood Elves can be real jerks (seriously, the best way to describe Legolas in one word? Dick).