Note: Hi just thought I should mention that I am assuming an elven majority at 50. So at 14 Athriel would be about the equivalent of 5yrs old. When she arrived in Rivendell at 4 she would have been about 18months old.

Also just a small side note. When I wrote chapter 2 I suddenly had a supernatural quote running through my head. As I wrote it I heard the ghost in the first episode. "I can never go home". When it came to this chapter I kept hearing Jessica Rabbit "I hit him over the head with a frying pan and put him in the trunk of my car, so he wouldn't get hurt"

Athrana (Wandering Shadow)

Chapter 8- The Shadow

TA3018, September

Athrana rushed through the tree-tops. She hadn't wanted to let the twins get too far ahead of her, but she had had to explain herself to Estel. At least long enough to make him promise not to reveal her presence. Now she had to make up the distance between herself and her old friends. Luckily as they had been on horseback they had not been difficult to track. And unlike her they had been stopping at night to rest. One advantage Athrana had found she possessed in her new life was her incredible endurance.

Elladan and Elrohir stopped and checked their map. All day they had been riding around the lands between Bree and the Misty mountains. "This looks like a good place to stop Elladan" Elrohir said as he retrieved his bags to make camp. Elladan nodded still looking at the map. "This has been happening for 80yrs now. Why does Ada want to look into this now?" Elrond had sent them to investigate the orc massacres occurring closer and closer to the borders of Rivendell. Elrohir shrugged. "There have been more and more of them recently. Maybe he's worried they are getting too close."

Athrana watched as they spoke to one another in their minds. She could always tell when they were doing that, but it didn't help her figure out what they were doing. They had been travelling around the wilderness for days now and she had no idea what they were doing. Elladan finally put the map down and she grinned. That was it. The map. He had been referring to it as they went along.

TA145

Athriel crept through the trees towards the balcony. She was 14yrs old and had been in Rivendell for a decade now. She loved it here. She spent her days in lessons with her best friends, the twins Elladan and Elrohir. Now it was the middle of the night and she had snuck out her room to torment them. Quietly she climbed onto the balcony and snuck into the room. She walked past the bed and smiled at the sight. The twins were lying in their bed curled around each other. Once she had made her way through to the sitting room she closed the door quietly. Now she just had to find them. Luckily the twins weren't usually very organised. So sitting on the coffee table between the two sofas sat their circlets. Their mother had sat them out somewhere obvious so that they would not forget to put them on for their birthday. Athriel picked up the elaborate mithril decorations and put them into the bag over her shoulder and left the way she had come.

The next morning Athriel woke to Erestor's screaming voice. "Athriel! Athriel get in here now!" Wiping the rest of the sleep from her eyes she shuffled through the connecting door. "Morning Erestor" she said yawning. But her brother just stood there with his arms crossed and his foot tapping on the floor. "Where are they?" Athriel tried to look as innocent as possible. "Where are what?" Erestor sighed and turned his attention to the door of his rooms. Athriel followed his line of sight and smiled sweetly. "Good morning Lady Celebrian" The lady laughed and turned to the young elf. "The twins need their circlets Athriel. They can't go to the party if they aren't properly dressed" The elfling laughed. "And if they don't go to the party there won't be a party." Athriel's face dropped. "Alright she sighed and went to retrieve them. She had only meant it as a joke. They had been bragging about their party for weeks so she had wanted to play a trick on them.

Athrana unrolled the map up in the trees and tried to shake off her memories of the past. Looking at the map did that instantly. Each spot the twins had visited in the past few days was marked clearly with a red dot, a date and a number. On the bottom of the map was a short note from Elrond instructing them to look out for whatever was causing these unusual deaths. Athrana closed her eyes. Elrond knew. Of course he knew. She should have known he would. Elrond was the lord of the elven valley. He knew what happened throughout his land. He must have known something was wrong the first time she crossed the borders. And now he had sent them to go and look for her. Well she wasn't going to let that happen.

There was only one problem, already she could feel the orcs approaching. Ever since she had become what she was she had been able to feel them whenever they were close. She could feel them now; they would be here within a few hours. From experience she knew that as soon as she saw them the poison in her blood would take over. Then she would have very little control over what she did. It was a compulsion ripping them apart. She couldn't help it. But this time the twins were sitting a few feet away. They would spot her, and they would recognise her no matter how much she had changed.

She could leave. They were phenomenal warriors, they always had been. But that would go against every instinct in her body. No she couldn't leave them, but she could stop them getting in the way. Silently she crept round behind them as they sat looking into the fire and knocked them out.

Elladan woke first. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying across the back of his brother in a heap of their bags. Slowly he sat up rubbing his head. "Roh?" Elrohir stirred and sat up. "What happened?" Elrohir shrugged. "I don't know Dan. What are we doing here?" Looking around Elladan realised that they were in a small cavern he knew to be not far from where they had made camp. Together they made their way out into the open air to look around. Their horses were huddled next to the cave entrance but that wasn't what they saw first. Littered all over the ground were the corpses of what looked to be hundreds of orcs in thousands of pieces.