The darkness of the room did not cease even during the light of the day. The small windows provided just enough indication to let the remaining members of the Fellowship to establish the time of day. Aragorn calculated that they had been stuck in the cell for almost 6 hours judging by the amount of light that came through the window, and still they had not encountered their captors. Pippin sighed with frustration as he turned to his cousin.

''Merry, do you think they have forgotten about us?''

Merry turned to the younger Hobbit, 'What do you mean Pip?'

'Surely they would've come for us now. They wouldn't capture us only to leave us here. What would the point in that?'

Merry shrugged his shoulders, 'I don't know Pippin' he responded with a sombre tone, 'Truth be told, I'm still feeling groggy from whatever they put in those darts.'

Boromir was leant up against the adjacent wall, his head titled back, arms crossed in his lap and his eyes closed. He listened in to the hobbit's conversation and slowly raised one eye open. He noted the fear and confusion on the hobbit's faces. He cleared his throat ready to speak.

'They will most likely keep us waiting for as long as possible. Perhaps they expect us to escape.'

The hobbits turned to the man, 'But what if they have left us, should we not try to find a way out?' asked Merry.

Boromir moved his head from side to side slowly, 'Nay young Hobbit. We must not; it would most likely be a trap. We do not know what game we are involved with.'

'But we cannot simply wait here, what about food and water. We won't last for very long with neither!' protested Pippin.

'Shhhhhhh!' said Merry, trying to calm down Pippin. 'Sit back down Pip, we still have to be quiet!'

'You should listen to your cousin Pippin, he is right. We must stay quiet until we know for certain what dangers we may face.'

Merry nodded at Boromir's words, 'See Pip, just stay calm. There is no need to worry.'

'Yet….'

Boromir, Pippin and Merry met the Dwarf's eyes. Hunched in the corner sat Gimli, his arms limp in his lap. It was easy to identify the worried emotion in Gimli's eyes, something that took the three of them by surprise. Boromir leant forward to address Gimli.

'Please Gimli, I beg of you, this is no time to be negative.'

'I am not being negative son of Denethor, I am just stating that we may be in danger and we must be realistic about the situation we find ourselves in.''

Boromir edged closer to the dwarf and whispered as quietly as he could, 'Gimli, not in front of Merry and Pippin, they are scared.'

'We can hear you' stated Pippin bluntly.

Boromir sighed and moved back against the wall while Gimli said some muffled words under his breath.

'All I'm saying Boromir is that despite your best efforts to keep morale high we need to face the facts. We have no idea where we are, other than being in a dark cell, we have no food nor water, we have no idea what has happened to Frodo and of Sam, Aragorn has not spoken for at least two hours and Legolas has yet to awake from unconsciousness.'

'What do you fear Gimli?'

Aragorn's voice echoed smoothly across the cell.

'Oh, so you have finally decided to speak Aragorn!'

'I asked you a question Gimli, what do you fear?'

Gimli's eyes squinted in anger at the man, 'I do not fear for myself.' Gimli's eyes suddenly fell to the floor. His chest raised up, inhaling a deep breath. Slowly, he let out the air from his lungs, composing himself and looked back at Aragorn directly. ''I fear for those who our captors may target.''

The two hobbits leant forward, 'What do you mean?'

Gimli sighed and lowered his head once more. Aragorn moved away from Legolas' sleeping form and came closer to the others, 'Gimli would you like me to explain?'

'Yes' he replied quietly.

Aragorn sighed heavily, 'Hobbits, when our captors make themselves known to us, it is most likely that they may interrogate you, maybe even harm you. They may ask about the whereabouts of Sam and Frodo…'

'…..We do not care how much pain they may cause us, we will never bring harm to Sam or Frodo!' stated Merry.

'Yes! We stick together! We won't give in to anything. Just because we are small does not mean we are weak!' added Pippin.

Aragorn smiled, 'Forgive me if you thought I was suggesting such a thing. For in my experience, I have come to realise that hobbits are the most valiant creatures of them all. However, our captors will not know this, and they may target you, so we must stay vigilant and we must stay strong together.'

'Aragorn?' said Gimli slightly worried.

'Yes Gimli?'

'And what of the elf?'

There was a tense silence, only Aragorn truly knew what Gimli was implying and it made Aragorn's heart drop with fear, anger, and sadness.

'What of Legolas? What is it?' Pippin demanded.

Aragorn turned to Legolas and back to his friends, 'There is also a very high chance that Legolas will be targeted along with you two. Wild men, mercenaries and Saruman's forces would pay a high price to have a captured elf, particularly one of Legolas' stature. You must not, under any circumstances reveal that he is the son of the Elven King, do you all understand?

They all nodded in unison.

'Good' Aragorn responded, 'I do not know what faces us, I do not know what will happen to us all, but whatever happens we must stay together, for one another. I can't promise that we will be safe, but I can promise that by staying true, we have a greater chance of surviving this ordeal.

Aragorn paused for a moment and stared at the night sky through the windows, 'We should get some rest, perhaps we will have some more answers in the morning.'

Boromir nodded and motioned the Hobbits to rest. It was not long before they all fell, silently asleep.

Sorry for the shorter chapter. Was going to extend it but I found finishing it here opens it up nicely for the next chapter.