Ok…so far I have nothing terribly important to write…and absolutely no idea how to continue the story… hmmm this could be interesting…I keep changing my mind about things so please bear with me, I'm not very good at decision making and once I've made the decision I normally find out later that I made the wrong one. I've done that already in this story…I think.

Disclaimer: Don't own Aragorn, Legolas, Faramir, Boromir, Ēomir or any of the other hot men in lotr, I don't own any of the other characters in lotr either…so please don't sue me. But I own Serafina so please don't steal her from me…she's mine, my own…u get the drift

Oh and if I get the time sequencing wrong please bear with me…it is for the benefit of the story.

This chappie has turned out to be quite the marathon…Enjoy!

Chapter 12

After the conclusion of the council Elladan and Elrohir retreated to the archery fields to unwind and to prepare their gear for the morning. For when dawn arrived they, and the rest of the skilled hunters, trackers and ranger, were to depart in search of the Nazgul in order to determine when it would be safe for the fellowship to depart.

Talking happily to each other and discussing the success of the council they retrieved their bows, and quivers. However when they went to string their bows, instead of bowstrings they found pale pink wool. When they aimed and fired their arrows at the targets, instead of the arrows imbedding themselves into the target they hit it and fell to the ground. On closer inspection the twins found both quivers held arrows that had had the tips cut off with a sharp knife.

Elladan was not impressed. Elrohir had a habit of setting up pranks that really got to him, but this time he had gone too far. Elladan needed to rest tonight, not spent the entirety of it carving sticks into arrows. "By Eru! Elrohir? Did you do this? This is not funny; I just carved this quiver-full. Now I have to re-carve them all."

"Elladan! Why are you accusing me? Did you not notice brother; I too have wool for a bowstring and tipless arrows. And I too must carve another quiver-full of arrows." Elrohir was appalled his brother would accuse him of this. True, they did occasionally play pranks on each other, but why would he play one on himself as well?

"Then who did it if not you?" Elladan asked accusingly.

"You." Elrohir provided.

Elladan retorted sharply, "Now you're being daft. Why would I do something like this? I want some rest tonight!"

Elrohir responded adamantly, "There is as much chance of you doing it to me as there is of me doing it to you! And I didn't do it. That leaves you."

"But I didn't do it. How can I believe you didn't do it?"

"And how can I believe you didn't do it?"

"Because I didn't do it!"

"I didn't do it either!"

"I don't believe you!"

"Neither do I!"

"You don't believe yourself?"

"I don't believe you, you idiot."

"Elladan! Elrohir!"

The twins turned to face their long time friend, whom they thought of as a brother. Aragorn continued speaking, "I think you may be leaving a likely candidate out of the equation."

The twins looked at each other then back at Aragorn and asked in complete unison, "Who?"

"Just think. Who may have a distinct dislike for you two? Who has visited Rivendell quite recently that may have dislike for archery and a complete lack of respect for elves? Who swore that they would equal the score?" Aragorn smiled at his friends as he watched the penny drop slowly. "Do you understand who I am talking about? Or do I need to go into further detail?"

Elladan spoke up first, "No Aragorn, further detail will not be necessary. Damn that girl!"

"I swear that thief was more trouble than she's worth." Elrohir stated bitterly. The three of them would meet again, he would make sure of that. 'And next time' he thought, 'she will not get away on top.'

…………………………

Serafina chuckled to herself. The only regret she had was not seeing the faces of the twins when they realised what she had done. She thought that perhaps when they figured out that it was her that did it, it would be worth seeing even more.

"Actually" she said to herself, "I have one more regret." She paused to frown at her stupidity, "I should have stolen a horse. And a map! And some more food!" suddenly her spirits dropped considerably. She definitely had not stolen enough food, and the quick study she'd had of Elrond's map would not suffice.

Sighing to herself, she realise she had no other real choice other than to keep walking in the direction she thought Gondor was in. "Or Rohan. I could go to Rohan." She said to herself.

Serafina kept walking until well after the sun had laid itself to rest for the day.

…………………………

After a week of walking, Serafina was becoming extremely bitter. She had no company, no food, no horse, no map, and no water. The fact that she had no company didn't really bother her, mostly she didn't like people - they aggravated her with their stupidity and sickly sweet kindness. However having no food, horse, map or water didn't sit well with the thief.

Serafina wasn't accustomed to fending for herself in the wild. In cities she could survive by herself tremendously well. Really, she was no good at hunting or foraging – stealing was a different story, however in the wilderness there was no one to steal from, hence her sticky predicament and the foul mood.

Finally the night became so dark Serafina could not walk without tripping. The thief decided that it was time to sleep until dawn when she would continue her trek.

It wasn't long until she stumbled on a tree with roots that would be a good shelter from the wind through the night. She pulled out the remainders of the stale bread she had stolen from the kitchens back in Imladris, there was barely more than two good mouthfuls left. She ate it all, and wished fervently for some water to wash it down with.

She had finally settled down and closed her eyes to sleep when she heard a blood-curdling howl.

Her eyes flew open and she lay very still, hardly daring to breathe. After she was satisfied that the howl had been nothing more then her imagination she snuggled closer to the tree root. Slowly she closed her eyes. Immediately she regretted it. The howl came again, closer, more threatening and hair-raising than before.

Wide-eyed and sitting up Serafina tried desperately to see around her. She praised the gods when the clouds uncovered the moon. Though the moonlight gave little light and less comfort. It bathed her surroundings in an eerie glow, and made each shadow seem deeper than before.

Suddenly the howl came again, but this time it was answered. At least five more howls came after the first, each hitting a different note making a blood-chilling harmony of terror. Serafina froze. She quickly glanced around for a weapon. She carried nothing on her other than her treasured daggers, and they would be no use to her against a pack of wolves.

Her eyes fell on a fallen branch the length of a walking stick but the width of her thigh – silently she sent up a prayer of thanks. Then she saw it.

The wolf was enormous. The leader of the pack came up to her waist. If her brain had of been working she would have cursed Eru for her luck. But as it was Serafina's brain was in shutdown mode. The only thing she saw was the size of its jaws. The leader of the pack started running towards her and suddenly her brain went into overdrive. She didn't know whether to run, hide, fight or charge. Eventually she didn't end up moving, she stood there gripping the branch in her hands – it was her lifeline.

The wolf was very close; he was a mere second away from ploughing her down and sinking in his teeth. As he leapt at her she swung the branch. Serafina was a little late in hitting him but she managed to knock his hip before his fangs sunk into her skin. Unfortunately his claws had come into contact with her face extremely close to her eyes on her left side. The wolf fell down to her right not very far from her and did not take very long to recover. He was readying himself to lunge at her again but Serafina reacted quicker and swung at his head. To her dismay he caught the branch in his mouth as if it were a mere twig floating through the air. Serafina cried out in desperation. She was petrified. Suddenly the rest of the wolves came into her vision. There were about 30 seconds away from her.

Desperately she wrestled with the wolf to retain hold of the branch. It was the only buffer between it and her. She had to keep it. Serafina gave an extra hard yank at the branch and it slipped out of her grasp, leaving bits of splinters in her palms. She cried out again, this time in pain and backed away slowly from the wolf. The leader of the pack wasted no time. He lunged at Serafina. She screamed as his teeth embedded themselves into her wrist. By this stage she was crying in desperation, she was completely alone. The thief panicked as she noticed the rest of the pack was nearly upon her. With her left hand she groped for one of her daggers. Finding her prize she desperately plunged it into the wolves neck. The wolf chocked a snarl and bit harder. Serafina withdrew the dagger and aimed lower this time, towards the heart. This time the wolf snarled and his grip lessened. Taking the opportunity she yanked her wrist from his jaws and sprinted as fast as she could cradling her right wrist.

By now the pack had caught up with the leader and his quarry. They were in hot pursuit. Serafina did not have much of a lead, and she new she was no match for the over sized wolves. About twenty metres away she saw a tree. She ran with all her might, willing her legs to turn over faster. The wolves were snapping at her heals and she was beginning to stumble. By some kind of miracle she reached the tree. Well it was mire like she lunged at the tree's first branch, and held on for dear life. Serafina didn't trust trees – trees broke, their branches fell, they just weren't stable. But at that very second she had not other choice. The wolves were snapping at her dangling heals. She swung her legs up to grab the branch and – with great difficulty - positioned herself so that she was balancing on the branch.

Serafina was hoping dreadfully that wolves could not climb trees. She knew that generally they could not, but these wolves were not so normal in size, maybe they did climb trees.

Not trusting the branch she was on and thinking she was far too close to the wolves below Serafina started to climb upwards and towards the centre. She eventually settled on a sturdy branch close to the trunk where she had an excellent view of the wolves below.

They were jumping at the tree and howling at the base, willing the tree to fall. After watching them for several minutes in sheer panic, Serafina realised they could not in fact limb trees and she was safe as long as she was in the tree, which to Serafina was a complete contradiction as in her opinion trees were not safe places.

She stole a moment to inspect her wrist and palms. Her hands were fine. Nothing daylight and a bit of pulling wouldn't fix. As for her wrist, that was a different story. It was bleeding quite terribly, and the use of it while climbing had not helped the situation. It needed to be bound immediately – she knew that. Normally she would wait until she was safe on solid ground, but right now she didn't have that luxury; the wolves did not look to be leaving any time soon. After making sure she was indeed stable she tore some pieces of cloth from her tunic and bound her wrist tightly cringing with pain. She wished also that she had water to wash the wound, but she had to make do without. Sighing at the predicament she was in, and the relief of the safety she had found in an unlikely place, she held on tightly to the trunk with her left hand and waited for the wolves to leave and for morning to come, then she would be truly safe again in daylight.