Chapter Ten: Rescue

Sam slowed her run to a walk as she looked around at her scenery and realized that she had absolutely no clue as to where she was.

"Stupid Fred…" she grumbled as she ducked under a branch and tried to get her bearings. She groaned as she remembered she couldn't remember anything about compass work and using landmarks to figure out where she was. She did learn something about that, but it was a long time ago, when she had been a Junior in Girl Scouts. Which she wasn't even in anymore. "Ugh, stupid me. I should have stayed in my room and simply kicked Fred out…"

She let her voice trail off as she heard something rustle in the trees alongside her path. "Fred?" she called out carefully, feeling fear rise inside of her. "Is that you?" When there was no reply, she began walking faster, forgetting that she didn't know where she was.

"Fred?" she gasped. "Leo? The Twins? Anyone? Who is it?"

Suddenly, four or five of the ugliest creatures Sam had ever seen stepped out of the foliage, one of them pressing a dirty, rusty sword to her throat. "It's jus' us, pretty." The sword-bearing one said in a slimy voice. "Wha'? Were ya expectin' someone else?"

Sam nodded once, and they all laughed. It was a high, cold laugh, and it sent shivers down her spine. But she didn't dare move, for fear of having her throat slit.

"Well, tough luck!" he cried (She was pretty sure he sounded male). The creature turned to his companions. "Boys, she's yours."

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After a quick staring contest between the three of them, it was John who ended up opening the door. Rolling his eyes, he walked over and answered it.

"Uh, hi there…" he said slowly, trying to see if he should remember this Elf's name.

"Lord Erestor." The Elf-Lord supplied.

"Well, hi there, Lord Erestor." Beau replied, coming to stand next to John.

"Good evening, Master Beau." The Elf said. "I am here to take you two and the Lady Ginny to Lord Elrond's study. He is ready to meet with all of you now."

John glanced at Ginny, silently asking if he should mention the "horrible" thing that she had felt earlier, but she gave him a stern glare, and he quickly thought better of it.

"Are you all ready to go?" Erestor asked, arching an eyebrow at the exchange. "Or shall I wait awhile longer?"

"No, no." Ginny said quickly, leaving the balcony and coming to the door. "We are all ready. Let us go."

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Leo frowned as he glanced up at the sky, attempting to get his own bearings. But he didn't recognize the constellations at all, and he felt extremely lost, for the first time…in a long time.

"That bright star up there is Earendil." Elladan said, pointing. "If you can find him, you can find any place. Imladris, at the moment, is just south of the star."

Leo turned to face the direction the Elf was now pointing, and he was glad to see the glowing of tiny lights off in the distance that was Rivendell. Reassured, he continued following the path with Elladan, looking and listening for any sign of the missing Sam.

"She couldn't have gone far, could she?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"I do not know." Elladan admitted. "Hopefully, she has not left borders. She would have come to the Ford before then."

"How do you know she has come this way?" Leo pressed, suddenly feeling unsure again. What if they were looking in the completely wrong area?

"Because humans have this tendency to leave behind very obvious trails, even if they do not think they are doing so." He answered. "I could tell from the moment we stepped outside which way Sam had gone. It has only now been getting difficult, since the moon has clouded over, and it is darker under the trees. Other than that, I am sure we will find her soon. Can you not see the trail as well?"

The blonde-haired boy looked closely at the ground, and saw that he could just barely see the light imprint of footprints on the dry path. But there were many different ones, and so many different sizes. "How do you know which one is which?"

"Well, I know that the size is going to be somewhat small, seeing as Sam is a tad bit on the short side. And Elves are taller than humans, anyways." Said Elladan. "Then I look for ones that seem to be hurriedly placed on the ground, as though someone was running. These are the footprints," he bent down to the ground and pointed at a set of them. "That we have been following. Here I can see that she is slowing down, but still at a slight jog. She must have been running out of breath."

"Wow." Breathed Leo. "I would never have guessed that from just a bunch of footprints."

"That's alright." The Elf said with a laugh. "Perhaps, if we have time later on, I can teach you how."

"That would be awesome." The boy said happily.

"Indeed." Elladan said. "But for now, we have a job to do. We need to find Sam before it's too la-"

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Hailey fell off of her bed as there was a knock on her door. "TELEPHONE!" she called, and then promptly laughed as her cousin jumped out of his chair, looking for it.

"Oh, can it, loser." Merry muttered unhappily.

The girl shot him a grin before skipping over to the door and answering it. "Hiya, Mr. Elf!"

The blonde Elf arched an eyebrow. "Hello, Miss Hailey. How are you?"

"Quite well." She replied, curtsying slightly. "And you?"

"Well enough, I suppose." He admitted.

"You know what, Mr. Elf?" asked Hailey.

"What, Miss Hailey?"

"I do not remember your name."

The Elf smiled. "It would be Glorfindel, Miss Hailey."

"Well then, Mr. Glorfindel," she said, returning the smile. "Wotcha doin' here?"

"I have come to take you to Lord Elrond's study now." Glorfindel replied. "He is ready to meet with all of you to discuss something very important."

"What would that be?" Merry asked as he arrived at the door.

"Good evening, Master Merry." The Elf said. "I am not at liberty to tell you, since it is Lord Elrond who has called the meeting. But surely you will still come?"

"Of course!" Hailey insisted. "Why wouldn't we?"

Glorfindel shrugged. "I do not know why, but there could always be some reason to stop you from coming."

"Oh, well, we don't have one." She promised. "Do we, Merry?"

"Nope." Agreed her cousin.

"Then shall we go?" the Elf-Lord asked.

"We shall!" Hailey said. "Do you think we can stop by Sam's room and see if she has been picked up yet?"

Glorfindel nodded. "I don't see why not. It is on our way back, after all."

"Goody." Hailey said happily. "Let us depart!"

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Elrond looked up as there was a knock on his door, and he let out a sigh before calling, "Come in!"

Erestor opened the door and walked in, followed closely by three of the teenagers. "Here are a few of them." He said to him.

Elrond nodded. "Very good. Thank you, Erestor. You may go, or stay if you will. It is entirely up to you."

"Is you daughter alright?" the advisor asked.

His liege lord frowned slightly, but it did not go unnoticed by him. "She is fine. Distraught and exhausted, but fine. I have sent her to bed."

Erestor nodded. "I hope she will be better in the morning."

"As do I." Elrond agreed.

"What was wrong with her?" Beau asked, his curiosity making him open his big mouth.

The Peredhil's frown deepened. "Something terrible had happened to a member of her family…of my family. So she came here to tell me." The boy opened his mouth to ask another question, but he cut him off. "It isn't so important that you cannot wait for me to share it with the others. They need to know, too, and I would rather share it once then several different times."

Beau lowered his head. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Do not apologize." Elrond insisted. "I was not scolding. I was merely telling. Patience is indeed a virtue."

"But your daughter will be alright?" he pressed.

"Yes." Elrond assured him. "She shall be better in the morning." But his eyes betrayed him. Although the kids didn't notice it, Erestor did. And he knew that he was worried for Arwen.

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There was a knock, and Fred opened the door, with Elrohir behind him, to see Hailey, Merry, and the Elf whose name began with a G standing there in the hallway. "Yes?" he asked.

"Is Sam here?" Hailey said, grinning. "I wanted to see if she wanted to walk to Elrond with us. You too, Fred."

The boy frowned. "Er, well, you see…" he trailed off.

"Sam's gone missing, Glorfindel." Elrohir said simply.

"Where is she?" Hailey asked, her smile sliding off of her face.

"If they knew," Merry said with a roll of his eyes. "Then they wouldn't have declared her missing, now would they?"

"No." said Hailey. "I guess not."

"How long has she been missing?" Glorfindel asked, his face serious.

Fred couldn't answer, he felt so guilty. So he left Elrohir to speak.

"Almost forty-five minutes ago." The Elf answered. "My brother and Leo went out to look for her nearly twenty minutes past."

Glorfindel nodded. "We must tell your father immediately."

"Of course." Elrohir insisted. "But someone must stay here incase she returns."

"Then you both stay here." The blonde Elf-Lord commanded. "I will go with Hailey and Merry to your father to inform him of what has happened. If...When she is found, I will tell your brother to contact you and let you know to come to your father's study. Does that sound alright to you?"

"It sounds perfect." The twin promised. "Go and tell my father."

With a swish of his robes, Glorfindel did just that, and Hailey and Merry hurried along behind him.

"What do you think your father will do?" Fred asked as he closed the door and they returned to their seats in the room.

"Nothing yet." Elrohir replied. "Elladan and Leo are out there. Only if they cannot find her will he send out soldiers to help search for her. And we better not hope that it comes down to that."

"Why not?"

"Because that would mean we'd have some Orcs to kill."

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"Did you hear that?"

"The scream?"

"Aye."

"Yeah, I heard it. Do you think it was Sam?"

"Aye."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Leo asked impatiently. He wanted nothing more right now then to find the missing girl. "Let's go get her!"

"Wait." Elladan insisted, pulling a sheathed dagger out from underneath his sleeve.

"Why?"

"We must be careful." The twin said. "If she was screaming, there most likely were Orcs somewhere nearby, or she has already been attacked by them."

Leo's face paled. "Attacked?" he whispered. "But-"

"Do not worry." Elladan said gently. "We shall get to her in time, I promise."

With that, the two of them broke into a jog, the Elven dagger glinting in the moonlight as it was freed from the clouds, only to be covered up again. Leo found himself adjusting his ears to the night, listening closely for anything from the girl again. But the next thing he heard wasn't human. And it most definitely wasn't Elven.

"Orcs." Elladan said, his face dark. "I knew it."

"Do they have Sam?" Leo asked, dreading the answer.

"By the sound of it…yes." Elladan answered. "But not to worry," he said quickly. "There are only three or four of them. We should be able to defeat them easily."

"But I don't have a weapon." Leo pointed out.

With a SHRING, Elladan unsheathed his other dagger and handed the hilt to the boy. "Now you do." He said. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." The boy admitted.

"Let's go."

And with a cry, the two of them ran around the turn in the path to see...

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"Elynora!" a voice echoed through the Healing Ward. "Elynora!"

"Quiet, Lord Glorfindel!" a female healer hissed as she came to the door. "What is it that is so important that you must wake the other patients?"

"Elynora, you must prepare a bed!" he said hastily.

The healer looked at the Elf, and then at the two humans next to him. "Is it for one of them?"

"No." he said quickly. "One of their group has gone missing, and I have a nasty feeling she might have come into contact with some Orcs, if you follow me."

"Oh!" Elynora gasped, her eyes wide. "Of course I'll set up a bed! Right away!" And without another second's hesitation, she hurried off, her dark hair flying in her wake.

"And now to Lord Elrond." Glorfindel muttered, and he quietly closed the door before leading Merry and Hailey down the hall.

Oooookay then. My butt hurts. It's 11:13 pm, and I need to get up extra early tomorrow to pack for my soccer trip to Baumholder, Germany. We leave at 7:30 pm, but I won't be able to go home between after practice and then. So I am leaving you all a bunch of lovely cliffies…okay, really one. Mostly because I need some opinions. Involving Sam. If any of you have an idea of what you think will happen to her, or want to happen…please drop me a review….I need multiple ideas so I can pick. I have one myself, but I need to think of more…and I need help…you can prolly tell, but I have a small writer's block right now…so drop me a review with any ideas, please.

Speaking of reviews, please try to do so. I looked at my stats today at lunch for this story when I was updating When It's The End, and I saw that I had 1739 hits for this story, and only 68 reviews. Come on, guys, if you're reading this story, let me know you are! I hope I get some reviews by the time I check up on this again on Monday. crosses fingers

Wish me luck at Baumholder…I'm the girl's team's only goalie….yay me. I hurt so much…stupid Yul, making me dive….

So, to end this annoyingly long author's note

REVIEW! With any comments, questions, or concerns! Lol.

PHE