I think that Tauriel deserves another update. Even though we haven't been with Eowyn in a while, I don't really have any good plot elements for her yet.

Tauriel knew she was getting weaker. She could feel the fire in her get weaker with every injury she sustained. She had lost too much blood. The whip wounds had healed, and she was left with silver lines on her back. It still ached at times, but the pain was becoming more bearable by each passing day. Any time she moved her wrist she could feel a bolt of fire shoot up her arm. Tauriel was beginning to lose her hope that someone would save her. There were no guards in the room, but there were also no windows. There was no way out, and no way of knowing how high up she was.

Tauriel grabbed a long stick from the ground. She weighed it in her right hand. Pain shot up it immediately as she tried to spin it. She switched to her left hand. It didn't feel right to her. She was a right handed elf, as most are. There were very few naturally left handed elves. The left handed elves were not generally used in the elven battle lines. There would be gaps.

There was a creaking noise and Tauriel spun around. She flicked the wooden stick into a dark corner of the room. She missed her target and it skidded so it was parallel to a wall.

"Tauriel?" a voice said skeptically. Tauriel moved so that the table was lying in between her and the newly arrived guest. "What are you doing here?" Tauriel's eyes roamed the new arrival. It was another elf.

"Nera?" Tauriel asked. The brunette elf smiled and nodded. "We thought you were dead. You disappeared during the battle of the five armies and we assumed you'd been killed." Nera shook her head.

"I was taken captive by a couple orcs and taken here. I've been here for sixty years, but there has never been any other elves here." Nera answered. "They asked me a couple questions about the Lonely Mountain and then left me alone. I eventually was able to pick the lock on the door a year ago. I've explored ever since. I don't think they've discovered that I've left my room yet. What are you doing here, Tauriel?"

"I was taking a hobbit to Rivendell." Tauriel replied. She was aware how awful she must have looked. She had tried to clean up her hair and her back with a bucket of water they left her every day, but it was difficult. Her hand was still streaked with blood. "The Nazgul caught me midway. Legolas took the hobbit to Rivendell."

"He didn't come after you?" Nera asked skeptically.

"I didn't expect him to." Tauriel answered.

"Anyway. We need to stop talking and get to work." Nera said finally. "I've arrived to spring you out." Tauriel raised her eyebrows. If Nera had been out for a year, why had she waited for Tauriel to escape? "Got any weapons?"

"I lost my bow and arrow." Tauriel replied sheepishly. "And I doubt that I could shoot it anyway."

"You're a fantastic shooter, Tauriel. I'm sure if we find it you'll do fine." Nera said confidently. Tauriel felt a little less sure. Obviously Nera hadn't noticed her wrist yet. Tauriel was still uncomfortable with her injuries.

"Do you know how to get weapons?" Tauriel asked.

"I've got your knives back, and I hid my own, so we've got them, at least." Nera answered. "I didn't find your bow and arrows." Tauriel nodded.

"What's the escape route?"

"We run down the stairs and through the front door as quickly as we can. We run to the stables and steal a horse and ride away as fast as possible." Nera said. Tauriel raised her eyebrows. That was not a good plan, in her opinion.

"That's just asking to be killed." she replied.

"I've scouted this whole place, Tauriel." Nera snapped. "There is only one way out, and that's the front door. The stables are around the corner from that."

"Where are the guards?" Tauriel continued. "What rotations do they have? Are there any weak points in the guards? Are they wearing armor?"

"Calm down, Tauriel. It's not going to be that hard." Nera said confidently. "I know that night is the worst time. They can see better at night, and besides, we're going to do it so quickly that they don't even know we're gone until we're off in the distance."

"We're not going to barge through the guards." Tauriel insisted. "It causes more trouble than we need. The trick is to do it when they're changing guards. Do you know when they do that? Would it be possible to slip through?"

"Tauriel, you have no idea when your guards are going to come back. They could arrive any second." Nera shot back. "We need to leave when we still have the element of surprise." She threw a bundle of green clothes at Tauriel. "They're yours. Put them on."

Tauriel felt better in her old clothes. They were soft and velvety, and they felt more like her. The thought of bursting through the doors and attacking at random still bothered Tauriel, and she knew that Nera was not very aware of the consequences if they were caught. They could both be tortured or killed. Tauriel would have preferred being killed. She would rather die than give away information on Legolas's quest.

"Ready?" Nera asked.

"About as ready as I can get." Tauriel replied wryly.

They stepped out of Tauriel's room. She had been in there for so long that she blinked. The inner halls of Angmar were bending to fit the triangular shape that she had seen from a distance with Legolas. It was a network of weaving stairs, ending on the bottom, where the gates were closed. Nera searched every hall they went down. Tauriel's eyes caught a glimmer from a dark corner of the stairs on the fourth level. She went over to it.

"It's my bow." Tauriel said, surprised.

"Of course it is." Nera responded. Tauriel put a finger to her lips. Nera was being to casual, which was starting to make Tauriel nervous. They had been childhood friends for a long time, but now Nera seemed to have gone slightly odd while she was trapped in Angmar.

They tiptoed down to the main floor, where twelve guards stood at the gate. Tauriel assumed there would also be archers on the outside, too. Nera drew her knife and motioned Tauriel forward. Nera held up three fingers, and mouthed 'Three, two...'

Tauriel launched herself out from behind a pillar and drew her knife in the same motion. Out of habit, she had drawn it with her right hand. It immediately protested. Tauriel tossed it fluidly into the air and caught it with her left hand. She felt the survival instinct kick in and she fought with the same grace that she had on the river long before that. Nera, too, was fighting, but her skills were no longer as sharp as they had been sixty years ago. She was floundering under the pressure of six of the guards, while Tauriel battled three of her six. Soon after, all the orcs were dead.

"I'm out of practice." Nera said breathlessly. "Ready to open the gate?" Tauriel nodded. They both turned to the two levers that would open the solid iron gate. Tauriel eyed it nervously. She could feel the muscle in her arms, but the right was at a severe disadvantage with the arrow through her wrist. It had severed some nerves and Tauriel struggled to move her ring finger. Tauriel stood under the lever and waited for Nera.

"Ready?" Nera asked. Tauriel nodded, her eyes fixed on the lever. "Go!" Tauriel leaped. She caught the lever, her arms stopping her downward motion with a sharp jerk that made her gasp in pain as her wrist was jarred. The door creaked open.

Nera dashed out the door, not even bothering to see if Tauriel was following behind her. The redheaded elf had paused at one of the dead orcs and donned its armor and helmet. Tauriel tucked her long red hair up into the metal cap. She followed after Nera quickly, pretending that she was chasing Nera down.

Too late, Tauriel heard the whistling of an arrow and she instinctively ducked. It went over her head and immbedded itself in Nera's brain. Tauriel choked back a scream as her friend slipped to the rocky ground. Blood was oozing out of the wound. Tauriel felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and scooped Nera back up. She trotted quickly to the stables and dumped Nera unceremoniously to the straw.

"Nera!" she gasped. She took the helmet off and leaned over her friend. Nera didn't stir. Tauriel blinked back tears and stood back up. She located a brown horse and saddled it, pulling herself up and over the saddle with her left hand. She took one glance back at Nera and then rode away, behind rocks and out of sight of the archers that had killed her friend.

Sorry for the delay! Thanks for the answers on the food thing- I realize now that the elves in Rivendell did eat salad and stuff.