Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I make no money from this writing.

(Back to Estel)

I am going to be brave. I am going to remember everything I have been taught and I am going to be brave. If I take a deep breath, I can concentrate on what this man is telling me.

"Be quiet, you little brat. Stop snivelling," he says, but I am not snivelling. It's raining and my face is wet. I can't help that.

"Why have you tied me up?" My voice sounds a bit quiet but he still heard me. It is hard keeping up with them because they are running very fast but I know Papa and my brothers can run much faster. "I can't run fast with my hands tied."

The man, the fierce, strong man who is holding the rope tied to my wrists grins at me. "Tied nice and tight, you are. I know you. We should have grabbed you last time. If that cursed Elf wants you back, he'll have to pay for you. I have just the place to hide a little rabbit like you. Run!"

I am running, as fast as I can, until I can hardly breath. I didn't know I could run this far. Every bit of me is tired but still I am dragged on until it's too dark to see where we are any more.

Papa. Where are you?

I hope Hú is all right. He's too little to be on his own and I heard him whimpering when they dragged me away. We shouldn't have taken him from his mother but I thought we'd only be a minute or two. Halbarad didn't have a chance to shout or anything. They hit him and then I had a hand over my mouth and though I bit him and kicked him he was too bit for me to fight and he didn't fight fairly anyway.

Halbarad will wake up quickly, or one of my brothers will find him and they will take Hú back his mother. Yes, I am sure that is so. I am going to remember that my name is Estel and I'm going to hope.

At least now I am on a horse and my legs don't hurt so much. But we have come so far. I had something to eat but I don't know what it was. How Papa is going to find us. He is a very good tracker, like me, and he'll do that I'm sure but it has to be light for him to find the tracks and we have been travelling a road and there were lots of tracks for a while. If I could just get my hands a bit loose maybe I could knock this man off the horse somehow and then I could go straight back to Papa and tell him all about my adventure.

I must have been asleep for a minute or two. I can hear a river and now there's a moon, and I can see the light shining on the water. Just over the mountains there's a little bit of light. If Papa was here we could sing the morning song.

We've stopped. That's what woke me up.

"Come on," the man says and he pulls me off the horse. My foot gets stuck in the stirrup and I sort of twist round and he can't pull me off. It hurts, a bit, when he pulls my foot free and then he starts dragging me to the bank of the river. I try to keep quiet but I can't.

"No! Where are we going? We can't go on the river! How will Papa find me?" I shout though my head tells me I need to stop.

He laughs and I don't think I can be brave much longer. I bite my lip and that helps me stop saying stupid things.

"We're not going down that filthy river! I'm going to use it to protect my property, and that's you, maggot. And don't worry about Papa. He's too high and mighty to come chasing after you. Easier for him to pay over some of those jewels he keeps in that big house of his. Go on – over there!"

He pushes me hard and I can't stop myself. I fall on my knees and that really does hurt. But he grabs the back of my coat and pulls me up and then we're headed for the river.

There's a little boat there. It's got some sacks and stuff in it and he drags me on board. It nearly tipples over and while I'm catching my balance he's telling me something.

"You're staying here. Get under there – I put some food and water and a couple of blankets. Don't make a sound and stay out of view. There's no one for miles to help. If your Papa does decide to follow you here and you make a sound, I'll kill him."

I don't understand what he means. If I'm in a boat I can escape! How are they going to stop me if they're not in the boat? And how are they going to kill Papa? I don't believe they can do that.

Then I understand. There is a chain and a circle thing and he is fastening that round my ankle. I try to fight him but he just knocks me down and the next thing I know he's jumping up onto the shore. I shout at him but he's laughing. Then the boat begins to move. He is holding on to another chain and he lets it run through his hands and because of the current and the bend just there, the boat goes out into the middle of the river. It's a fast current and I think it's very deep and I know it's very cold, because the air gets much colder suddenly.

So then I have to sit down. And then I see how they will catch Papa, because one of them is hiding himself and if anyone comes to see about the boat they'll be killed because he has a bow. I can't do anything about it. I'm not big enough yet. Then the shadows get darker and I know I am going to see things that aren't there in a minute and I can't stop it.

I wish and wish for it to go away but then I look at the skin of the river and see things there, people, and animals and – creatures. They are sliding past the boat and looking at me, or looking for me, I don't know which. I reach out to see if they're really there and the water is so cold it burns my hands.

The people there are so odd. They are dressed in armour and they have swords and there are horses too. I want to speak to one and I reach out further and stare down until my eyes start to feel too big in my head. Then I can hear them, and they are shouting and screaming and filling me with all sorts of feelings. I know I am going to fall in but the people begin to fade again and I start to hear the river and the man shouting at me.

I feel ill. The boat moves and shivers when the water moves it and so I lie back and stare up at the stars and wait for my stomach to settle. But I am so tired, after what I saw in the water, and I keep thinking about the vision and hoping that I can fall asleep.

Then I can dream that when I wake up, Hú will be there, or he will have grown up and I'll have to call him Huan. If I think myself away from here now, I can be in a better place. So I am going to try.

It is getting very cold but a little bit lighter. I will not hide. I am going to sit here and wait for Papa.

I am sitting on a blanket and I have wrapped one round me but it is hard to keep from shivering. If Papa started out last night he might find me today. But he can't have followed me all night. Perhaps by the end of the day.

The sound of the water running is good to hear. I have always loved the music of water and I begin to hum to it. Hú will be with his mother and perhaps she is licking him or something. I wonder when I'll see Mother again.

The last star still shows in the sky. I'm not really scared any more. I'm going to wait here and when Papa comes, I'm going to shout out and save him, and no man is going to stop me.