Chapter Two

"You will never possess the key, wizard." There was a hint of a warning and a threat in Altimir's voice.

Just then, a stairway appeared to their left, forming itself from the wall, just as Quintella had done. The steps rose all the way to the top of the building. It looked solid.

Deciding that the stairway wouldn't have appeared unless it was meant to be used, Gandalf asked, "What is up there?" He and the others looked up to the top of the stairway but saw nothing there.

"What you seek," the Lord of Pantos answered. "Recover it, and it is yours."

"You just said I would never possess it" Gandalf said.

"I changed my mind. It might prove to be great entertainment, watching you try."

"Do we just go up and get it?" Legolas said in a raised voice. There was no answer. "Altimir?" Still nothing.

"I do not think he is going to talk to us anymore," Elladan said, as he looked at the stairs.

Aragorn's expression was one of pure suspicion . "Altimir must be hiding the key at the top of the stairs. He would never let us just go up there and retrieve it. He has something evil in mind whether we get the key or not." That made perfect sense to the ranger.

"Is it really up there?" Elrohir asked. "You can see all the way to the ceiling. The stairs just end at the top. Are we meant somehow to go out on the roof." His keen eyes inspected the stairs to see if he had missed anything.

"Perhaps, it is just sitting on the top step," Elladan offered. Getting up there might be relatively easy, but he didn't think getting back down with the key would most likely be much more difficult, if not impossible.

"I do not think Altimir lied to us," Gandalf said. "We will know more when we reach the top of those steps. I will lead the way." The Grey Wizard moved toward the staiarway before anyone else could volunteer.

The twins just shrugged at each other and let him go. He was an Istar, after all.

Aragorn fell in behind the twins, as Legolas brought up the rear.

The stairway was steep, but Gandalf was in better shape than most people would believe for someone his age, so he had no trouble negotiating the steps.

They all climbed steadily upward until they finally reached the top.

Gandalf stopped when his head was nearly touching the ceiling. Close inspection showed that there was no evidence of any way out onto the roof.

Elladan noted that there was no key on the top step, nor had there been one anywhere along the way up.

"Now what?" Legolas asked. He looked around at the wall to his left but saw only the same shimmering obsidian found all around them.

"Look!"

They turned to look at Elrohir, who was pointing toward the middle of the room. There was a gold key, suspended from a fine thread, which was anchored in the center of the ceiling. It was at least forty-five or fifty feet from where they stood.

Gandalf swung his staff toward the key, but before he could utter a single magical word to bring the object to him, the whole building began to shake.

Elladan had to grab the wizard by the back of his robe to keep him from falling headlong to the floor far below.

Aragorn lost his footing and sat down hard on the stairway.

"No magic!" Altimir screamed, the sound assaulting their ears, as it reverberated from every direction. "The first one to use magic dies instantly. You must retrieve the key by your own devices."

"You forgot to mention that little detail," Legolas said icily. This time it was demonic laughter that assaulted them. "Sensitive, is he not?"

Aragorn gave Legolas a warning look. It wouldn't do to antagonize the Lord of Pantos while they were in such a precarious position. Falling a hundred feet down to the floor would mean instant death.

Aragorn looked at the others. "How can we get the key hanging out in the center like that without using magic?" He stood up and gingerly rubbed his sore backside.

"No elf can jump that far, that's for sure," Elrohir said. "And even if one of us could, that thread would never hold even an elf's light weight."

Legolas had been studying the situation. "I think I know how we can do it."

"Jump out there!" Aragorn gasped in horror. "Even you are not that crazy, Legolas." The situation was too scary for the statement to hold even a hint of humor.

"No, Estel. I would not try it, even if I thought I could make it that far." He smiled at the ranger. "However, I might be able to lasso it and pull it over here to us."

The elf reached into an inner pocket in his tunic and pulled out a circle of fine braided, elven cord. He began unwinding it until he reached the end. It was about twenty feet long.

"It's not half long enough," Aragorn observed. "My cord is the same length. I think we will still be short, but we can try it."

The ranger took Legolas's cord and tied the two together with double square knots. He then made a lasso at one end. Aragorn handed the finished cord back to Legolas, who shook his head.

The archer held up his hand and waved it toward the key. "Go for it, ranger."

Aragorn let out the cord's length until he held one end, securely wrapping it around his left hand.

There wasn't much room to swing, even after everyone moved down a few steps to give him more space. He launched the lasso, and the cord flew straight for the key. It came to the end and fell limply down beside the stairway.

"Good eye," Gandalf complimented, while regretting that the cord had indeed fallen short.

"Does anyone have anything we can use to tie on to give us more length?" Aragorn asked, as he pulled the cord to him.

"We have rope in our packs, but..." Elladan started to explain, but since everyone knew where their packs were, there was no need to complete the statement.

"I have something that might work," Gandalf said. He reached down and began tearing the hem out of his long robe. He would have preferred to use the gold cord tied around his waist, but it possessed magic properties, and that fact disqualified it.

The wizard handed the length of cloth to Aragorn, who added it to the cord. He then held the fabric in his left hand and again swung the lasso out toward the key.

A smile spread among the group when the loop caught the gold metal object. It looked like Legolas's plan was going to work.

The ranger pulled the cord very gently to secure it around the key before trying to loosen it from the ceiling. Once he was sure he had it, he jerked to free the thread the key was suspended on.

The key came loose and swung down until it hit the stairs fifty feet below the gathered group. Somehow, and none of them had a clue how it happened, the key broke free of the cord and fell.

Legolas watched in shock as the gold key hit the floor. Instead of bouncing, as he expected it to do, the floor opened up and completely swallowed it up. Even from where he stood, his keen sight allowed him to see the tiny gold sparkle right below the surface of the floor. His heart sank in utter disbelief.

Altimir's evil laugh echoed around the temple. Gandalf sat down on the step and hung his head. They had come all this way and come so close, and now it was all for naught.

"I am sorry, Gandalf," Aragorn said, placing his hand on the Istar's shoulder. He felt almost as bad for the old wizard as he did about losing the key.

"Gandalf, Altimir never intended for us to recover the key," Legolas reasoned. "He indicated this was just a game to him."

Gandalf only shook his head.

After a few moments, Gandalf got to his feet, and the companions started down the stairway.

"Very amusing, Altimir," Aragorn grumbled.

"No, human. This is amusing." The demon shook the building violently.

Not expecting such a reaction, Elladan and Elrohir were knocked off balance. Both were then thrown into the wall, half disappearing into the black surface, just as Gandalf's hand had done earlier.

Legolas grabbed Elladan's arm, while Aragorn grabbed Elrohir. Both elves were pulled back out of the wall.

After a quick survey of his brothers, a shaken Aragorn asked, "Are you two all right?"

The half-elven brothers nodded, but it was clear that they were also shaken.

After taking a moment to collect himself, Elrohir said, "Gandalf, now I know how your hand felt."

They had not been inside the wall long enough to suffer any damage, but it was a frightening experience for all of them, nonetheless.

"If it were not for you two," he indicated Legolas and Aragorn, "we would have gone right through that wall," Elladan said. He shivered and not entirely from the cold. "So, for your quick thinking - and quick action - we owe you our lives."

Aragorn finally found his voice. "I'm just glad we were close enough to grab both of you." He gave each of them a hug. Then he gave Legolas a hug, as well, for saving one of his brothers.

Gandalf was greatly relieved. He knew from his experience with the wall that Elladan was right. His hand had met little resistance, so he was certain the two elves wouldn't have either, and they would have fallen to their deaths outside the temple.

"That was a close call, little beings," the Lord of Pantos said.

Aragorn quickly checked his urge to lash out at the demon, but he knew there was nothing he could do. Saying anything to upset Altimir would only put them all in more danger of retaliation.

Legolas helped Gandalf to his feet, and they all started down the stairs, not sure what their next move - or Altimir's - would be.

When they reached the bottom, they all went over to the spot where Legolas indicated the key had disappeared into the floor. It was plainly visible about six inches below the surface.

Aragorn had been hoping that it had somehow popped out by itself from the shaking of the temple. No such luck.

Altimir laughed. "I quite enjoyed your performance up there and your ingenuity in retrieving the key. I want to see if you can still recover it. Remember - no magic."

"If we do get the key, can we leave peacefully?" Aragorn asked.

"Of course," Altimir said much too quickly. "The key means nothing to me," he lied. "One thing I should mention. If you fail to recover the key, you will not leave at all. There are no choices to be made. Obtain the key or die. All of you."

Altimir then fell silent, and Candalf knew he would not speak to them again until they either recovered the key, or he killed them. He also knew that Alimir had no intention of letting them leave, with or without the key.

They all turned their attention away from Altimir and looked at the floor.

Legolas got down on his hands and knees and closely examined the floor. The key was firmly encased in the solid material. It sparkled invitingly. Try as he might, the elf couldn't figure out how they were going to reach the metallic object.

When he finally looked up, Legolas found that he was totally alone. He jumped up and frantically looked around. Everything appeared to be the way it had been except that all of his friends were gone. "What's going on?" he said aloud.

The archer yelled their names but received no reply. He yelled Altimir's name and, likewise, received only silence. Maybe the others were there, only somehow invisible to him. Had he disappeared or had they? He couldn't tell.

After several minutes of extending his senses outward to try and detect the presence of the others, he realized the effort was futile. He'd have to think of something else. But what? He was no match for Altimir.

Legolas heard a whispering sound behind him and when he turned, he saw Quintella, as beautiful as ever standing right behind him. She was smiling alluringly.

"Before you ask, your friends are all right. I just wanted to get you alone," she purred. Her implication was that she had the power to do this without needing Altimir to do it for her. Somehow that thought frightened him, but he tried not to let his fear show.

"And why is that? I do not trust you, you know," Legolas said coolly. His words belied his feelings, though, because he found his resolve blurring as he thought, 'She is so beautiful and so physically perfect'. He gazed at her longingly. He was unable to pull his eyes away and more frightening than anything, he realized that he didn't want to.

The shimmering gown Quintella wore clung to her form. 'She is a demon', he reminded himself without much conviction. 'All she wants to do is get me in her clutches.'

As if to confirm Legolas's thoughts, Quintella reached up to caress his face. With all the will-power he still possessed, he managed to pull back.

"You really do not trust me, do you?" Her smile broadened. "I have never seen anyone like you before, with those delicately pointed ears. Not like a human, at all," Quintella said softly. "Such flawless skin, you have, and eyes bluer than the sky in summer. And that silky, golden hair." She sighed, the sound saying more of her desire than any words could have conveyed.

Legolas tried to scoff, but nothing came out.

Quintella reached up and tried again to touch Legolas's face.

"No," he whispered. It was getting harder to resist those hypnotic brown eyes. Brown? They had been gray before, had they not? He couldn't quite remember. It didn't really matter, did it?

TBC