8 Years later...I'm back! I am determined to finish this story. Thank you for anyone who picks this up again.

Aragorn watched as Teren shut the door abruptly behind him. No one spoke for a few moments, each reflecting on their own emotions of the situation. Boromir watched as Aragorn grounded his teeth in thought. Gimli stroked his beard, eyes focusing on the floor. Pippin looked at Merry, who in turn was studying the four warriors.

Gimli grunted loudly showing his discontent. ''Well, this is just marvellous. We are to become slaves, Gimli son of Gloin a slave''.

''We are not slaves Master Dwarf'' retorted Aragorn.

''Then what are we Aragorn?''

Aragorn looked into the dwarf's small brown eyes and searched for some sort of answer to reply with, but nothing came. Aragorn was reluctant to show any emotion, not wishing for any indication of fear or uncertainty to be recognised.

''We are prisoners Gimli, nothing more. Though rather unfortunately, it seems that this Yorik has the authority and desire to carry out any of his wishes and demands'', Legolas' soft, calm voice carried itself across the cell, oddly easing the others.

Gimli shook his head; 'How can you this be settled, given our situation Legolas?'

Legolas frowned at his dwarven companion, 'What do you mean Gimli?'

'Did you not hear what those men said of you? They mean to harm you! They said that you are going to be a great payment, for what? I cannot be the only one who is slightly concerned about this?''

'Gimli….' Legolas began,

'He is right you know…...' Legolas' eyes turned to the curly haired hobbit sitting opposite him on the floor. Merry cleared his throat, suddenly feeling embarrassed for speaking out, 'Those men mean to harm you, can you not see that?'

Legolas smiled at Merry, which confused the Hobbit. Legolas looked at his friends before turning back to Merry. 'My little Hobbit, I may look young, but I am not. I have lived many, many years, more than those men could ever comprehend. During my lifetime I have faced many prejudices from men like that, I do not fear them. Nor do I fear what they may do to me.''

Merry frowned at his answer, 'Are you not scared of being harmed?'

Legolas shook his head from side to side, 'No Merry, I am not scared of being harmed. The only thing that I fear is seeing any of you harmed and being helpless to stop it. For elves are made of sturdy things and can endure much torment, but for the rest of you, it may not be the same.'

'I must also agree with your words, Legolas' added Boromir firmly, ''I have experienced pain and death. I do not fear these men.''

'I fear the fate of Sam and Frodo.'

All eyes turned to Aragorn as his face looked heavily down at the floor. He could feel his friend's eyes fixed on him, so he lifted his head to meet them.

'I know I am not the only one who has thought about Sam and Frodo, but for myself that is what I fear the most. Our objective was to protect Frodo and destroy the ring, by being here we have failed him, this saddens me more than I can bare.'

'I know Frodo, and I know Sam. They won't give up', replied the youngest Hobbit.

Aragorn look dejectedly at the youngest member of the group, 'I hope you are right Pippin. I told them to make travel to Lothlorien. I pray that they have made it safely to their borders.'

'I can't imagine they would have failed in that task Aragorn,' Legolas replied calmly, 'We were near to their borders before our capture, it wouldn't have been long before they found the protection of the woods and the call of the elves.'

Gimli rolled his eyes and quietly under his breath, muttered an insult towards Legolas' words. Boromir watched the dwarf as he did so, and laughed quietly, he was still pleased that despite their dire situation, the elf and dwarf were still well enough to throw a jibed remark from time to time.

Loud voices were suddenly heard from outside.

'They are back' Boromir stated.

'It would appear that way' added Aragorn.

The screeching of the door yet again pierced through the room, making both Merry and Pippin cover their ears. As before, heavy footsteps were heard approaching, but this time, they were quickly paced. Teren and three other men stood before the group. They were holding weapons; Teren carried a long sword, the man to his right appeared to carry a rusty axe and the other two men carried long daggers. Aragorn looked into the eyes of Teren and scowled, Teren smiled and laughed.

'It's time to move you all outside. My master has jobs for you to do. We will do this quietly and without any fuss, do you understand? Because if I have any trouble from any of you; I will not hesitate to kill this little one here.'

The tip of Teren's sword pointed at Pippin's ches,t however Pippin stood tall and strong, looking directly back into the grotesque man's eyes with determination.

'We will abide by your rules, we will not attack' Aragorn stated firmly.

'Good, that is a wise decision. Boruk get the keys and unchain them.'

Boruk,the man with the rusty axe, something in which Gimli did not take kindly too, stepped forward. He was the most maintained of the men, he was clearly the youngest with his full head of bright blonde curly locks. Boruk dropped his axe and walked into the cell, and slowly one by one released the Fellowship of their chains. Teren stood at the open doorway watching each member. Aragorn took no notice of Teren's beady eyes and instead turned his attention to the two men behind Teren. Aragorn noted that the two men were tall and lean. It was hard to distinguish between the two, given their matching dirty and worn faces, but the man on the left appeared to have three fingers missing. Aragorn noticed that the man was fixating on something, he followed his gaze and saw that his eyes were locked on to the Hobbits. Aragorn felt uncomfortable at the attention the man was giving them. Unsurprisingly Aragorn turned to the other man, interested to see if he too, was fixated on the Hobbits but his gaze was instead, locked onto Legolas. Aragorn didn't fail to note the possessive desire in the man's eyes, whilst staring at Legolas. Aragorn turned to his friend and felt an uncomfortable feeling, a feeling of dread in his stomach. The motion of his chains being released startled him out of his worrying thoughts. Aragorn instinctively rubbed his sore wrists in comfort and was then was made to stand in line with the others. The hobbits were at the front, Gimli behind them, then followed Legolas with Boromir and Aragorn at the back. They walked slowly out of the cell toward the open door, leading to the outside. Teren and his men kept a close and watchful eye on the group as they walked by their side. It was not long before the crisp and fresh air hit them. The hobbits shielded their eyes from the bright light, before taking in a deep breath.

'Fresh air Merry, it feels so good.'

'Never realised how underrated it could be' Merry responded.

'Silence!' ordered Teren, 'My master is sleeping, you would not want to wake him up, he is not as considerate as I.'

'What will you do with us now we are here?' asked Legolas softly.

It was not Teren that responded but the man who had watched him back in the cell. He stepped forward to meet the elf who was lined up against the buildings outer wall. He was the same height as the elf, so his dark, soulless eyes were able to meet his.

'You will see elf. We have lots of things for you to do.' The man answered.

There was something so dead about the man's tone that even Legolas was unsure on how to respond. Legolas did not have time to ponder on the matter for long, as they were once again led off. They did not have to walk very far, after a few minutes they arrived at what appeared to be their campsite. A large fire was centred in the middle with long logs surrounding it, making for seats. A little further back towards the forest were some tents, small and dirty, but big enough to fit the men inside. To the left of the fire stood an area where food and weapons were kept. Aragorn instantly took note of a further two men keeping guard. Teren pushed Aragorn to walk faster, bumping into the back of Boromir in the process. The Fellowship were taken to an area, close to the tents, where three tall trees stood.

'This is where you will be staying. Boruk tie the dwarf and the larger man to that one'. Teren pointed to the furthest tree.

Boromir frowned, 'Larger man?' before being pushed down onto the floor and having himself tied against the base of the tree with Gimli next to him.

Teren pointed to the middle tree, 'Vallen, I want the elf and the smaller hobbit in the middle.'

'Vallen, so that is his name' thought Legolas, he was sure to remember it. Vallen smiled at Legolas as he forced him down to the floor and tied him against the tree. Pippin let out a small yelp at the tightness of the rope but after wriggling to loosen it slightly he settled down. Finally, Aragorn and Merry were tied against the tree, closest to the tents. The trees were big enough that they were all able to face the same direction, looking into the camp. Aragorn noted that there were at least eight men in the camp, not including Yorik, who was apparently asleep. If I could just find a way to get to that weapons table, he thought.

''Well, this couldn't get any worse' Pippin said in a hushed voice so only Legolas could hear.

Terek stepped forward, 'Good, now that you are all settled you can relax. My men will bring you food and water in the morning. You will stay quiet. Any noise from any of you, then I will hurt the little one. When my master awakes, he will deal with you personally.'

Teren showed off his vile teeth with his smile before taking off and walking to the campfire to sit and eat with the other men.

'No Pippin, I think things are about to become a lot worse' Merry responded dejectedly.