In his mind, Legolas was raging but the toxin being fed into his arm prevented him from doing anything with his rage. It took what strength he had left to keep his head up and his mind thinking. He'd seen Seren and Tal, they'd come for him but it had been too late. He cursed inwardly for allowing himself to be captured. He was restrained like the others and when the automobile arrived, they'd all been struck with a sleeping dart. When he woke, there was a sore spot in his right arm and a strange apparatus fastened to him by a long clear tube that led to a pouch of liquid. It looked like water but he could feel the foul concoction that slipped into his blood from it. It muffled his senses, turned his stomach and made him feel weak.

Seren and Tal had been right: these humans would never have accepted his help or let him leave. The black clad men weren't shy about discussing what was to be done with them, confident the sedatives would keep the elves immobile and helpless so they spoke with excitement of the scientific breakthroughs their captives could unlock for them. They showed little care when Haavelas began to shiver from the poison in the clears bags. What was the loss of one when they had so many? Looks like we won't have to put one of them down to do an autopsy…

Legolas felt his anger rise, burning away some of the fog in his brain and he fed it. He dwelled on the fact that the agents had planned to kill Seren and Tal and that an innocent man had been tortured by the orcs. He made himself think about everything he knew had been done and was planned to be done to his kin and it gave him strength. With effort, he reached over to Caireann's arm and took hold of the device taped to it. With every ounce of will he had, he pulled it free. He glanced at the bloody plastic cannula that had been inside her and dropped it with disgust.

Caireann yelped, in pain at the rough treatment and startled awake. She focused golden eyes on him and saw what he had done, gratitude overcoming her features.

Legolas blinked once and let his head fell back on the wall behind him as the vehicle rumbled along. Now, he had to wait and think of what to do next.

Tal managed to catch up with Seren when she stopped on a rocky peak to watch the truck as it wound its way down the mountain.

"We need to go east and head them off before the road reaches town," Tal said breathlessly.

Seren looked at him, a tiny smile twitched on the corners of her mouth and she nodded. "There's an ore chute east of here. We can make good time if we take it down to the road."

"But what are we going to do when we get there, Seren? The Suits had Legolas and the others drugged. They won't be any help until we get them off those IVs."

"I'm still thinking."

There was a path that led east between the rocky hilltops before opening to a vast clearing that ended with a wall of trees and soil where an earthquake had cracked the ground. The chute lay beyond that. She pointed it out to Tal and then began making her way down the boulder.

Thranduil raised his hand, calling a halt and gesturing for silence. He heard voices not far from their location. A large rise of stone offered a better view and he carefully strode up the steep surface. Many yards away, on another hill, he saw two humans; one a tall man and the other a woman with a dark red plait hanging down her back.

They seemed to be on a task of some urgency as they spoke for their words sounded rushed and labored. He couldn't pick up everything they said but his son's name reached his ears clearly. He clenched his jaw. These humans know of Legolas! But what were they in a hurry about?

The woman turned east and pointed and Thranduil saw the traverse-able path over these rocks to reach the grass beyond.

The two started down the mound of shale and Thranduil half slid from his.

He glanced at Nuinethir. "There are humans just over there and they know of Legolas. We will have answers at last," he said darkly, leading his people through the maze of stone.

Seren landed on the ground and pivoted, already angling around the boulder for the eastern path and ran into a wall of warm black metal.

Strong hands on her shoulders kept her from tumbling and her nose was filled with a woodsy and floral scent from long strands of pale hair. She pushed back and looked up, eyes widening in shock when they met an inhumanly bright ice blue gaze. Immediately she knew who this was, though nothing she had imagined prepared her for the reality looming in front of her.

Suddenly she felt quite small. All composure fled her for a moment and she muttered on a breath, "King Thranduil…"

Tal joined them, almost careening into the new arrivals as well but stopped when Seren spoke.

Thranduil felt his gaze widen in surprise. "You know of me, human."

Seren blinked once or twice, getting her voice back. "Legolas speaks of you and the family resemblance is obvious. You can be no one else."

When she mentioned the prince's name, so familiar so casual, he felt his irritation grow and stepped up to her, glaring from under pinched dark brows. "Where is my son?"

The aggression irritated Seren in kind and she stepped back again, flinching when several bows were drawn at once. "He's been taken. We were just on our way to try and get him back, along with Haavelas and the rest. You're welcome to join us."

She turned from Thranduil then and made for the gap between boulders but he stopped her with a hand around her arm. "You expect me to simply follow you?"

Seren pulled her arm free, green eyes glinting in the sun. "Follow us or don't. There's no time for questions now. Every moment we stand here,the further from us they take him."

They stared at one another for a moment before Thranduil nodded.

Seren took a steadying breath, "This way."

With that she leaped into a sprint, slipping between rocks and running across the terrain. Tal, Thranduil and the other elves followed but Tal was quickly outpaced by rest. An elf woman stayed back with him, however and they navigated the terrain together.

A fallen log loomed in their path but Seren poured on the speed and vaulted it. Now confident of the ground on the other side, Thranduil did the same and his kin followed. The human was faster than he would have expected but she was no elf and Nuinethir ran ahead of her.

They soon reached kinder ground but the ridge of soil and trees loomed ahead. Seren arced southward and ran at a section where roots were exposed, using them to land and leap again as she made her way fifteen feet up to the next plateau. She temporarily gained a lead over Nuinethir but he soon passed her again. Then he pulled back and fell into place behind her, mimicking her steps and finding sure footing without error.

Tal slowed to gawk at Seren as she led the elves, drawing a smile from the elf woman next to him. Clearly he hadn't been paying attention to his sister and needn't have worried she'd break her ankle jumping rocks and tree roots.

One of the last elves to go before him scrunched his nose and suddenly shouted, "Orcs!" and hastily made his way up the ridge.

When Tal finally reached the top, he saw Seren dodging the creatures and weaving around trees. Thranduil and his kin were fending them off as she continued running.

The elvenking gestured to his runners, "Nuinethir! Go!" They joined Seren, staying close.

Thranduil, resigned to having to stay back for the moment, plunged into the battle with the rest of the elves, a sword in each hand. When Seren looked back, Tal was waving her on, telling her to go. She cast her brother a brief look of worry and continued her mad dash to the ore chute.

A single orc came out from behind a stone in front of them. Seren shrieked in surprise, her stomach dropping to her feet and she jumped reflexively, rolling around him. He turned after her, surprise making him focus on the wrong adversary and Nuinethir's knife appeared through his chest from behind. The elf kicked the orc off of his blade, vaulting over him in the same smooth motion and caught up with the others.

After cresting another hill, a little metal frame embedded in the mountain's peak came into view. A track curved out of it and stopped at a platform that sat on the mountain's edge overlooking the pulleys and buckets used to drag up raw ore. A couple of carts were still standing there just barely big enough for two.

After Seren explained where the carts would lead and what they'd be encountering, she claimed the first cart and Nuinethir slipped in behind her. The other runners filled the second cart and Seren released the handbrake keeping them from rolling.

Their speed was slow at first and they had to hunch down when they entered the chute, knees and elbows banging into knees and elbows.

It was a straight descent at a steep angle and the cart wobbled and jumped, bouncing them around, jarring them as they rattled along and picked up speed. A pinprick of light ahead of them grew alarmingly fast and again they all ducked their heads as they came out at the bottom.

The day was almost blinding and the trees passed in a blur. The road came into view as the track leveled off and they began to slow. Seren looked to see the white truck coming around the bend. The cart stopped at the end cap and she climbed out, racing to the pavement and standing in the middle of the road. Her heart thumped madly in her chest and no clever idea would come to her.

The agent behind the wheel watched her uncertainly for a moment before continuing his speed. As it drew closer, Seren began to think she'd have to jump out of the way. Nuinethir joined her in the street and nocked an arrow, pointing it at the truck. The sight of another elf took the agents by surprise and the tires squealed, hissing white smoke as they came to a hard stop.

"Miss Evans," the driver said when he emerged. It was the leader. The other one remained seated on the passenger side but the runners kept arrows trained on him as well.

"Release them now!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Now Miss Evans; would you really risk their deaths?" the leader said smoothly.

"Yes," Nuinethir hissed. "I know they would rather be dead if they could not be free."

"I see…" The agent looked down at something they couldn't see through the door but Seren felt a warning tension winding in her belly.

The agent in the passenger seat abruptly raised his head through his window and aimed a gun at Nuinethir but an arrow whizzed through the air and embedded into the agent's hand. He dropped the gun screaming and another elf approached pointing an arrow at his throat.

Nuinethir, never taking his gaze or arrow off of the leader, repeated Seren's command. "Release them. Now."

The agent inclined his head and headed for the back of the truck. Seren watched every move, every muscle twitch; sure that he'd try something else. When they reached the doors, the agent slowly produced the keys and unlocked them.

As soon as the lock clicked, the doors flung outward and the agent was kicked squarely in the chest and knocked flat to the ground, his head thumping on the pavement.

Caireann looked up at them sheepishly and straightened her posture. "I'm glad it wasn't one of you who opened the door!" She got up and pulled the IVs from three of her kin. The others, she had already done, including Legolas and Haavelas, though they were slow to respond since the poison's flow had been stopped. She went back to Haavelas and checked him, casting a worried look to them. "He needs a healer and soon!"

"There's no magic here," Seren said awkwardly. It was strange to say such a thing in all seriousness.

Caireann looked at her for the first time. "I know. We have to return to the portal we came through. There we can tend to him."

The rest of the elves started shaking off their stupor and greeted them in a tipsy like fashion. Seren watched Legolas sway as he tried to ask questions. Under different circumstances, she might have been amused.

Helping him out of the truck, she walked him across the road and set him on the grass. She straightened to go help another when a hand clumsily found her coat sleeve and gripped it. Legolas was pale and his lips were dry as he croaked.

"Here, let me get you some water." Shrugging off her pack, she dug out one of her water bottles and cracked it open before handing it to him. He drank half of it greedily before lowering it.

She checked again to see that his color was better and his eyes more focused before leaving him there to scowl dangerously at the agent on the ground who was just coming to.

Caireann was dragging Haavelas out with the help of another from her team as she passed and they laid him next to Legolas. The rest of the elves were more alert and ambulatory, if a bit weak. Seren supported the next elf as they crossed the road and sat on the slope. By the time everyone was out of the truck, Legolas was doing better but Haavelas hadn't yet come to.

Seren gave her other bottle of water to Caireann, not sure what good it would do but the elf accepted it.

"I'm Caireann."

"Seren."

"Thank you, Seren."

She nodded and went to Nuinethir. "We can't stay but they're in no shape to move yet."

The quickstrider nodded, not turning from his study of the slope they had to trek over.

"Where did you arrive when you came to this world?"

Now Nuinethir did look at her. "The doorway opens in a wide chasm in the stone, shaped like a crescent moon. Do you know it?"

"I do." Seren sighed, dismayed. "I had hoped it would be closer – much closer. What's more is that gorge lies within the boundaries of the Serrano territories. They may not let so many of us travel through their land."

She left Nuinethir to think on that and went to the agent lying in the road. She watched him nervously and looked at the elf still pointing an arrow at the man.

"I… need to check his pockets. He probably has the keys for those shackles."

The elf prodded the agent with a foot. "Move your hands above your head and keep them there. Another elf bent down and started turning out the suit, rather than let Seren risk it; showing everything to her before tossing it aside when she shook her head. Finally he pulled a set of handcuff keys free and she took them, taking one off the ring and handing it to another elf.

They went to Haavelas first and opened the metal circlets and then did the same with everyone else. Once free, they rose and Legolas declared that they had to move. He was still a little slow but seemed otherwise recovered.

"But Haavelas won't wake up!" Caireann cried. "We can't leave him!"

The suggestion mildly offended him. "We won't. He will have to be carried."

The group rose and those who felt able, helped secure the agents with their own cuffs and destroyed the vials of blood that had been taken from them. Seren removed their phones and weapons, tossing them into the water filled ditch by the road.

She turned to Nuinethir and Legolas. "Just around that bend," she pointed in the direction from which the truck had come, "there's a ravine that leads back up to the clearing where we left the others. It's very rocky and covered in moss but it's the nearest shortcut. It's part of the shift that split the ground into two levels and created that ledge we had to climb."

"Then let us be going," Nuinethir said. "We shouldn't keep the king waiting."

Legolas's eyes widened to saucers. "My father is here?"

"Well yes," Nuinethir answered as if this was a silly question.

The three of them started crossing the road to join the others, when the leader of the F.B.I. agents spoke suddenly. "You'll never get them back, Miss Evans. This is only a temporary victory."

When Seren looked at him, he grinned and she scrunched her nose at the strange sight.

"We know you've been using the mine to remain unseen. We have all of its entrances guarded now and soon our black bird will find you. You cannot hide. It's only a matter of time, Seren."

A chill went up her spine at the use of her name, carrying promises of horror and something within snapped. A strange calm settled over her.

"So you know one of my secrets. This mountain ridge has been my backyard for over two decades. I have run over its hills and valleys every single morning since I could walk."

The agent's smug expression began to drop into an angry frown and Seren smiled, wide and feral. She stepped toward him, voice dropping in tone with each word until it sound almost as though two voices came from her and the air seemed to grow heavier and darker.

"I run with the deer, I chase the bears, I sit where the eagles nest and I know every rock and tree and stream. This is my home, agent. You will never find us."

Legolas and Nuinethir exchanged uncertain glances behind her before she turned away from the Suit and marched past them. The others fell into step behind her as she led the way up the ravine and into the trees.