The wind whipped across the entrance to the shelter, tossing the feeble scrap of cloth they had fixed across it to and fro. Elden had tried pinning it down with rocks but it was no use. Even with the thick cluster of horses to lie against he shivered. He envied Nellas, who was sleeping, or at least, seemed to be sleeping. She had been doing it more often, for whatever reason, whereas when he had first traveled with her she was still awake by the time he collapsed and always up before he was in the morning. He wished sleep would come to him, but he was too uncomfortable with the constant chills racing up his blanket. Living the outdoor life could be a liberating experience, but most settled people did not realize how miserable it could be, leagues from the nearest bed and all alone with unseen enemies lurking.

Durus and Surad were crouched across the clearing by the steep edge of the hill. Their words were stolen by the wind, but Elden didn't care what they were discussing, he was long past the point of caring. Even if they were plotting to kill him, he doubted he could bring himself to get up and leave the shelter. In fact death didn't seem so bad compared to another few hours of this accursed cold.

Reflexively, his fingers reached up and clutched the ring. It was warm from his skin, and he thought he could feel a faint tapping coming from inside the thing, even though to his knowledge it was completely solid. Something about the rhythm of the tapping helped him drift off into oblivion. It was too restless to be sleep, but it was the best he was going to get.

That night the ring showed him some of Ferny's last memories. He watched through a doomed man's eyes as he circled the campfire, waiting for the moment to strike. At last Ferny thought he had found his opening. The elf and the human were too busy looking at one another to notice him sneaking up. Then they kissed, and for some reason he stopped. It reminded him of something... someone...

Sally... hissed the ring.

Shut up! Ferny screamed in his head. You're not supposed to know that name!

The next image was of a freshly severed stump clutched in a healthy hand. He looked up with eyes that didn't belong to him, and saw Elden's wrathful face as the head was cut from shoulders that were not his own.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"Of course it is. We will be set for life."

Durus looked back at the shelter where the elf and her companion were sleeping. They had spared their lives, but in the end it was not the same as saving them. It was always Surad the came up with the crazy ideas. Sometimes they panned out, sometimes they didn't. This one didn't sound like a plan, more like an impulse, but he had to admit that he too had felt the attraction of that ring. How many other times in their life would they be this close to something so powerful?

"Tomorrow night, then."

"Yes." Surad replied. "I'll volunteer for first watch again, and then we'll do it."

"Then give me your blanket and go get some sleep."

Surad draped the length of linen she had been wearing around Durus's shoulders and gave him a kiss. He lay awake for a while after she had gone to the shelter, thinking. On the one hand he wanted that ring, but on the other their traveling partners had treated them fairly and betraying them wouldn't sit right with him. As his eyes drooped, Elden's words a few days earlier ran once more through his mind:

"If that is indeed what you want, you should keep it to yourself, because if I hear the words "I want" and "that ring" in the same sentence, I will kill you and your female companion and leave your body here to be incorporated into the next glacier that comes along. Is that clear?"

A moment more and he too had fallen asleep.

In the stillness of night, the shadows moved. The night was alive. It watched them with hard, beady eyes, making sure that the human was truly asleep before skulking out from the boundaries of the forest and converging on the lonely encampment. Orcs had a deserved reputation for being thick and clumsy, but they could move silently when they wanted to. Freshly fallen snow muffled the sound of footfalls as they approached. Out came the putrid-smelling cloth, which was clamped across the human's face to ensure he stayed asleep and did not make noise. He was bound with black ropes like a spider's prey as the rest of them gathered around a large hole in a rock formation. The smell of horses and men was coming from it, but another smell as well, one that sent shivers down the spines of the more experienced orcs. The stench of elf.

Two orcs pulled aside the ragged fabric that was draped across the entrance to the cave and dragged a sleeping human female out. They managed to keep her from shouting with the cloth once again, but the struggle took several seconds. The chieftain waved his hand, indicating that they should speed it up. Two more orcs went in, but the next human that they dragged out was wide awake, and clutching a knife.

Elden reached up and embedded the blade deep into the foul creature's neck, somewhere between the fourth and fifth vertebrae. The other orc released him immediately, and he rolled over to avoid a blow from a club that whistled just inches from his face, impacting the snow with a crunch. He stood and tried to run back to the shelter just in time to see Nellas emerging from it. They shared a brief look of panic, and then another club knocked him senseless.

After that he only remembered bits and pieces. There was a terrible ringing in his ears, and even when his eyes were open there were times when he couldn't see. He tried to crawl, to find Nellas somehow, but his feet were picked up and slung over the shoulder of a goblin. As he dangled upside-down, his hands dragging through the snow, he wondered vaguely why they were not all dead already. This feeling passed quickly however, as all the blood rushed to his head and he passed out.

Time passed. It could have been a few hours, or a few months. There were no dreams, only an exhausted feeling of surrender, waiting for death.

Yet, once again, death did not come.

He came to slowly. It was dark, his head was pounding, and there was something cold clutching at his wrists. When at last he gathered the strength to roll over, he discovered that they were manacles bolted to a damp stone wall.

This feeling brought with it the realization of his capture. He had lost. This was it.

The cell was almost pitch black, but by the light of a torch flickering outside he could make out the bars, and the outline of the chains that bound him. His pack and bow were lying on the ground near the door along with his sword. He even still had the ring, but the familiar pressure against his chest was small comfort, considering his fingers could not reach it, and it would not do much good if they could. Several more hours passed in solitude. He wondered what had happened to the others. In all likelihood they had come to a similar fate, and it was all because of him.

Elden didn't struggle when the orcs came in and unchained him, but he did wince when one of the orcs dropped his pack and his bow shattered. Despite the fact that he was about to die, the sound of that carefully hewn and rosined wood breaking like a twig hurt even more than the lump on the back of his head. They passed other cells as he was escorted deeper into the bowels of the mountain, for that was where he guessed they were. Which mountain was anyone's guess, and it was almost irrelevant at this juncture anyway, save as a passing, morbid curiosity.

At last the tunnel spat them out in a large, open room. Stalactites dangled from the ceiling, and the soft, regular drip of water was the only noise. The orcs pushed him roughly to his knees, and then took a few steps back.

Mrs. Bones appeared out of thin air.

He was struck by her appearance. Her skin was as white as pearl, save for the smudges of gray dust. She wore a thin, tattered robe that fell to her knees and nothing else. A strange light enervated her blue eyes, but she was indeed real and indeed human. As a matter of fact, she seemed awfully familiar, but he couldn't quite place where...

She looked at him closely, grasping his chin in her icy-cold grip.

"So it is you. Strange, how the world turns..."

"Is it?" Elden said, nonplussed.

If he hadn't been anticipating death, he would have been a little annoyed. A violent kidnapping culminating in some foul dungeon beneath the earth, and that was the best this famous "Mrs. Bones" wench could come up with? Another, subtler annoyance that was driven away by fear. This cheeky, murderous tart definitely reminded him of someone...

She snatched at his wrist, turning it over and exposing the mark of Mandos.

"So the rumors are true. What did you do with Bill Ferny?"

"Cut his head off." Elden responded, dispassionately.

"I suspected as much."

She let the wrist slide through her fingers and fixed him with a searching look.

"You know who I am, don't you?"

"Mrs Bones?"

"No, not the name the orcs have for me. You know my real name. I know yours as well. Elden, son of Ceorl."

Terrible realization slashed through his mind like a stroke of lightning. He shook his head. His mind recoiled at the very thought of it, but the fact that the thought existed was now irreversible, and that fact overwhelmed his defenses. The reasonable, sensible voice in his head that was telling him this was some kind of trick or spell was similarly overwhelmed by another voice that screamed "ITS HER".

Beorna.

"You can't have remembered me, of course, or our mother since you were the miserable wretch that killed her with the very act of coming into the world. She was a beautiful woman, Elden, almost as beautiful as I am now. And you! You didn't turn out as ugly as you looked at three months old. I hope you enjoy being a strapping young lad, what little time you have left in that body. I know I will."

Something else appeared out of the quivering gloom, a figure being dragged forward by two orcs. It was Nellas. A thin trickle of blood was running down the side of her face.

"You and I are going to have a lot of fun later, but for now I'd like a word with this little elf in private."

She waved her hand dismissively and the orcs clapped a hand under each armpit and hauled him upright. Now he was struggling, and cursing as well. The sight of Nellas looking up towards those blue eyes made him burn with fury. Dying was one injustice, but being a plaything in some sick game was quite another.

Fortunately, this was where his luck began to improve.

The orcs escorting him had turned the corner and gone about a dozen paces from the entrance when two shadows reached out from the wall and planted their blades in the necks of his captors. Surad and Durus stepped into the light, both of them with angry red marks on their wrists where the chains had dug in. Each of them had stolen an orcish weapon.

"I owe you one." was all he could think to say.

"No kidding." Durus said.

"How did you..."

"We'll tell the story later. Your girlfriend is in trouble."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Uh-huh. We believe you." Surad said in a sarcastic tone.

Without any kind of prearranged signal, the three of them sprinted into the room. They were at the end of their rope, literally and figuratively. It was time to throw the fat in the fire and see where it got them.

Nellas had not moved, and neither had Mrs. Bones.

The latter turned to regard them with a look of supreme annoyance.

"Kill them."

She said calmly, raising a pale finger in their direction.

The orcs that had been standing along the wall watching at once dashed toward them, and more came from the tunnel behind them, but there was a desperate rage in Elden's muscles now. He dived underneath a wild swing from the lead orc of the pack, and Durus followed soon after, cutting him down before he could react. He dove to the floor and grabbed his pack, slinging it over his back and snatching up his sword. There was barely time to wedge the scabbard haphazardly into his belt before two orcs were almost upon him. He strafed sideways with the intention of fighting one at a time for as long as he could manage it. It worked. One after another, they ventured within reach of his sword and he dispatched them.

At the far end of the room, Nellas burst into flame. It was an intense blaze, more yellow than orange, and all the air in the room seemed to flow towards it. The fire raged, swirling around her like a tornado as it grew to a peak. The shackles bent and snapped, falling to the floor as she took a step towards Mrs. Bones. The fire retreated from her body, leaving it unscathed, but it remained in her hands... and her eyes.

The pale woman took one look at this and thrust her hands into the folds of her robes. Mrs. Bones vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared. Elden saw this out of the corner of his eye and disengaged from his current opponent, sprinting towards the tunnel on the opposite side of the room.

"Come on, she's getting away!"

Surad and Durus also tore after him, and the remaining orcs either pursued them or peeled off into other tunnels, likely to call for backup. As the last of their number passed into the passageway, Nellas turned and clenched her fist, as though threatening someone. A line of fire winked to life, blocking the orcs from coming any closer.

"Move quickly. That will not hold them for long." Nellas said. "Elden, put your ring on."

"What?" Elden said, panting heavily.

"Put your ring on. She has one as well."

"What?!" Elden said again, almost indignantly. "How do you know that?"

"There is no other explanation. If she was powerful enough to hide herself from vision without one, she would have killed us all instantly. Instead she ran."

"How are we supposed to fight something we can't see?" said Surad.

"Hang back, then." Elden replied. "Keep the orcs off of our backs."

As though the very mention of their name had summoned them, the crazed, hooting cries of the goblin-folk echoed through the tunnel.

"The air is moving faster here. This tunnel leads to the surface." Nellas said.

They all fervently hoped she was right as they sprinted down the passageway into oblivion. Sure enough, the darkness began to lift as they continued to turn corners, winding their way left and right, but always slightly upwards. At last they rounded the final bend and the chamber grew much wider, terminating in a doorway through which the wonderful smell of clean air blew, dispelling the dankness of the caverns. The orcs also rounded the bend at about the same time, and a fight ensued. Nellas continued to run, as did Elden, but Surad was forced to turn and swipe at their pursuers to keep them back. As she did so, an orcish blade reached beyond the melee and sliced her arm.

She screamed and fell backwards, and as Elden looked over his shoulder in horror, he saw Durus turn and sprint back towards the mob of orcs that were already descending on her, a look of utter fury in his eyes. As he passed into the snow and the sunshine, he saw Nellas waving at him to get out of the way. He did so, and she unleashed a torrent of flame at the mouth of the tunnel. The orcs had completely surrounded Durus, but he was still fighting when the ice that restrained the boulders melted, and the tunnel was buried in a rock slide.

Elden grasped at his knees, panting a bleary-eyed. The deaths had been so sudden, so needless...

"Elden!" Nellas barked, and the urgency in her voice made him look up. "I told you to put your ring on -"

Instead of finishing that thought, she turned and brought her sword up across her face, and something slammed hard into it. Elden quickly jammed his hand down his tunic and slipped the ring on.

The sunshine went grey. The sky got much closer, and the mountains, much farther away. Time slowed ever so slightly. Beorna drew the crude orcish cleaver back above her head and brought it down again with terrible force, knocking Nellas' sword from her grasp. Nellas skirted around the next blow and retrieved her sword. Elden dashed in and swung, but Beorna saw him coming and deflected it.

He stumbled, and she struck him across the face with the flat of the blade. Nellas stepped into his place as he fell onto his back and struggled to regain his feet, holding in place the blow that would have otherwise killed him. Digging in her foot, she smashed back in a display of the brute force elves were capable of. It was Mrs. Bones' turn to stumble. Elden rolled, regained his feet, and rushed in again, only to be parried once, twice, three times. Something was happening, though. Each time her blade was brought to the angle required to keep his at bay, it did so more slowly, and with less vigor. A look was coming into her eyes that was not hate or rage.

It was fear.

They met again for the fourth time, and her guard wavered. A voice hissed in his ear.

KILL

He obeyed. It felt as though she was already dead, and the careful sidestep and swift down-stroke that slashed her neck open was merely a formality on his part. A ritual that had to take place. Two swords fell to the ground. His in disgust, hers in panic. As she desperately clutched at her throat, he turned away, squeezing his eyes shut as though the memory of that betrayed face could be removed by pressure.

When the choking had stopped, he and Nellas looked at one another.

Once again, each knew what the other was thinking. They shouldn't be alive. They had cheated somehow. It was a feeling like slime that could not be washed off. Both of them stood in silence for several minutes. Elden removed the ring, and placed it back in his pocket.

Tentatively, Nellas went over to the corpse and pried the hands away from her throat. From the left hand she retrieved a ring. Like Elden's it was without marking or inscription, the only difference being that this one was silver.

Elden retrieved his sword from the snowbank and wiped it clean on the branches of an evergreen tree. Both of them surveyed their surroundings, trying to get some sense of where they were, and trying hard not to look at the corpse in the snow, or think about the ones they had left behind inside that lonely mountain.

It was snowing harder. They had gone some ways from the mountains and made camp underneath the shelter of a cluster of evergreens just off from the precarious mountain road. An ancient stone bridge over a steep ravine was the only evidence that the hands of man had ever ventured out this way.

Nellas watched Elden as he sat on the edge of this precipice, leaning over and looking down to the bottom. There was a pipe in his mouth, and that same strange, far-off look in his eyes. After a time, she came to sit down beside him. Something had to be said. They couldn't simply pretend none of this had happened, although some days that seemed like the most logical course of action.

"She was your sister, wasn't she?"

Elden nodded.

"She was. Once."

"At least now you know."

Elden emptied his pipe and put it away.

"That's one way of looking at it."

He glanced over at her finger, where the silver ring was perched, gleaming as if it had just come out of the fire minutes ago.

"How can you do that?"

"What?"

"Wear the ring without turning invisible."

Nellas removed the object and held it in her palm, examining it closely.

"Celebrimbor made several rings to test his skill before he committed to making the rings of power." She said. "They are neither wholly good nor evil, simply tools, but tools that reflect the owner and magnify their most prominent traits."

"Then how does it make humans invisible?" Elden asked.

"It was a tool designed for use by the elves. When a human puts one on, even the mightiest king, the power of the ring overshadows them entirely, and they vanish from sight."

She put the ring back on, to no visible effect, just as before. There was a long pause as both of them considered what to say next.

"We should talk." Nellas said, finally.

"About what?" Elden replied, but his tone suggested that he could already guess.

"About us."

"What about us?"

Nellas fixed him with a steady gaze, which he returned. Those blue eyes still made her shiver, even now.

"I-" she began, and then stopped.

She couldn't believe she was having difficulty with this. If Elrond could see his star pupil stuttering now, he would have laughed heartily.

"I've never felt the same way about any other person." She said, finally.

"Neither have I."

"I know. I am sorry I have been so... evasive about it, but there is very large decision for me to make, in acknowledging my feelings."

"Of course." Elden said.

He did not, of course, realize what she was talking about, so she simply came out and said it.

"Either I will stay with you for the rest of our days together, or I will sail over the sea. It cannot be both."

There was another pause, this one more tense. Elden seemed to be processing the information.

"The rest of our days might be a pretty short span of time if we can't make the rest of the food last."

"We have at least two weeks worth of meals if we ration carefully."

Elden nodded.

"You know what gets me the most?"

"What?"

"The horses are probably dead."

"Probably. Did you consider what I said?"

"I did. ...I wouldn't presume to tell you to hurry a decision like that, but-"

He turned and met her gaze.

"-I look forward to hearing your answer."

Nellas grinned. She couldn't help it. Despite the gravity of the choice she had made and the consequences it bore, to have it over and done with was a huge relief.

"Actually, I brought it up because I already have an answer."

The words stopped him cold. High above, the moon was almost full and casting a gleaming silver light down onto their ad-hoc wooden shelter. She took his hand in hers, because it seemed the right thing to do at this point. They stood up, and together retired to their bedspread.

He had always thought that elves would feel as cold as the marble floors in Rivendell, but Nellas was actually quite warm. Suddenly he was acutely aware of how close they were. How comfortable they had become in each others personal space.

Her eyes met his, and he knew that she was thinking the same thing.

The kiss was more than warm, it was incredible. An explosion. She didn't stop there either, but instead pressed her body against his and continued to kiss him. Elden couldn't have let go if he wanted to. Small branches cracked underneath the quilt as they rolled over. Somehow she ended up on top of him, even as her nimble fingers unbuttoned his tunic. The magelight flared beside the entrance to the shelter, but Nellas made no move to keep it in check. The warmth was all around him, and inside of him too, it felt.

They had one chance of survival, and that was to cross the Misty Mountains at the Hoarwell river and make a break for greener pastures and sunlit uplands. The thought of those things made him realize how distant they were, and how far they had still to go, but as he and Nellas embraced one another with reckless abandon, he thought he had found a slice of those heavenly climes right here inside their meager lean-to.

(A/N: I'm sorry about the delay in updating. My life is in a state of upheaval right now, lots of things to focus on and I've had to scale back on other projects, including my beta reading. I won't be abandoning this story, however. I've got the last four chapters all plotted out, and it should be finished within the next month or so. Every time I find a space in my schedule, I'll work on the next bit. Thanks for sticking with me, and as always, reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated.)