Nikandros stepped on it, and a loud snap echoed through the forest. He muttered a quick, "Blast." and kept running, hoping to get far from where the sound was. Unfortunately, he glanced back for a moment too long to see if the elves had followed him. When he returned his gaze to ahead of him, he barely had time to avoid the tree. He scraped against it and lost his balance, falling hard on his stomach. He groaned in agony.

Aratên had been listening for any noise and was quickly alerted to Nikandros' presence.

Before Nikandros could recover, Aratên had caught up to him and held out his elvish knife at the human's back.

"Stand up slowly." Aratên commanded.

Anger showing in his movement, he stood up, groaning softly at the effort. He was positive that tomorrow his stomach would be lovely shades of purple and black.

"Walk." Aratên uttered that one word with much anger and frustration.

When they arrived back at camp, all the other elves were already there. Thea frowned when she noticed Nikandros and  bit her lip.

The elves pushed Nikandros and Thea into the middle of camp just as the sun began to rise. Legolas approached the two and shook his head, "I thought I made it clear that attempting escape would not be tolerated. It was fruitless and only cost us extra time."

Nikandros glared at the elf Prince, "Tell me," he began, "If you were in our place, headed for certain torture and pain, would you just sit by and let yourself be taken there?" His tone had become angrier.

"I doubt that the King of Gondor would order something like that if you were undeserving." Legolas cocked an eyebrow.

"Ha." Nikandros spat out before he could help himself.

"Are you undeserving?"

Nikandros took a deep breath and let it out, "I believe we are now. We have changed much since we were sent out as assassins."

"I cannot judge your character, for I have only just met you, but you are a murderer." Legolas said the last word with distain lacing his voice.

"And you yourself aren't?"

Legolas looked taken back and for a few seconds, couldn't find his voice.

Instead, Aratên stepped up to Nikandros and smacked him across the face with the butt of his knife.

Nikandros flinched slightly, and took a deep breath, restraining his instincts that told him to retaliate.

"How dare you speak to the prince in that manner." Aratên hissed.

Legolas placed his hand on Aratên's shoulder, "Calm down, Mellon nin." He turned his crystalline eyes upon Nikandros, "I do not understand your accusation."

"You call me a murderer. But I have not actually ever finished my mission. I have killed, yes. But so have you." Nikandros met the prince's gaze, "I was trained in the arts of the sword and dagger, but you were as well."

"I kill orcs and scum that do not deserve life. Never would I kill my own kind." Legolas' gaze didn't waver as he answered.

"Tell me, when have I murdered my own kin, unless in self-defense?" Nikandros asked calmly.

"Only you can answer that question. But it matters not, because you are going to Gondor and nothing you do will change that." Legolas didn't look away from Nikandros when he barked out orders, "Bind them both tightly and separate them. Have a guard watching them at all times."

Nikandros clenched his jaw, and said one last thing to the prince, "You have no right to call us murderers then." He said in a low tone.

"Do you want me to hurt you? I never knew humans to be so incredibly foolish." Legolas retorted.

"And I never knew elves could be this foolish." Nikandros replied. Pain and death awaited him, and yet somehow he felt calm. Unexplainably calm.

Legolas narrowed his eyes and turned away, silently heading towards the edge of camp.

When Nikandros looked over to Thea, her face was filled with pure shock, her mouth hanging open.

The elves grabbed Nikandros' arms and wrenched them behind his back. He felt rope being wrapped tightly around his wrists until they were secured. Thea's had been done as well.

"Let's go." An elf hissed at Nikandros, clearly peeved at how he had been speaking to Legolas.

Nikandros walked forward, glancing over at Thea once. She sent him an apprehensive glance as she was pulled away into the darkness.

When the guard stopped Nikandros, he kicked the back of his legs to make Nikandros fall. Unable to stop himself, Nikandros did fall to the ground and the elvish guard smiled before he kicked Nikandros in the stomach.

Instincts took over, and Nikandros swept his leg, swiping the elf's feet out from under him.

The elf didn't expect that, and tripped while trying to recover. He fell onto the ground and cried out loudly, instantly gripping his leg.

Nikandros rolled his eyes and stood up. He strode over towards where the other elf had put Thea.

An elf on watch noticed him and stepped in his path, "Where do you think you are going?"

"I'm going over to be tied up with my wife." Nikandros said mildly, smiling a little.

"Yah...I don't think so. Prince Legolas specifically said for you to be separated."

Nikandros raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, knowing there was nothing he could do.

"Now turn around and walk." The guard ordered.

"Just wait a moment." Legolas said as he walked up to the group. Behind him, the guard that Nikandros tripped was lying on the grass, blood pouring from his leg. Another elf was quickly trying to staunch the flow of blood. He had fallen on his knife.

"You are really starting to become a nuisance, young one." Legolas said shortly, his face no longer impassive. His whole demeanor had changed as it clearly showed his annoyance and frustration.

Nikandros remained silent, meeting Legolas' gaze.

"I have tried to be patient and I have tried to be understanding, but your actions are making it hard. What do I need to say to get through to you?" Legolas continued.

Knowing there was nothing he could say, Nikandros remained silent still.

Legolas sighed, "Bring the girl over, please." Aratên did as he asked and went to fetch her.

When he returned, he fingers gripped Thea's forearm tightly. She tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but his fingers didn't budge. Thea huffed and gave up as they came to stand by Legolas and Nikandros.

"Please talk some sense into your husband." Legolas spoke crossly to Thea.

"Excuse me?" Thea asked incredulously.

"Your husband is being very uncooperative."

"Good."

Aratên squeezed Thea's arm tighter, in response to her sarcastic comment.

"I don't want to be harsh-"

"Well too late, Prince." Thea butted in, "You are taking us to our end. We will be tortured and killed in Gondor! There is no way you can avoid being harsh."

Legolas' eyes widened slightly, "I understand-"

Once again, Thea didn't let him finish, "No you don't! You have no idea what we've been through! You could never know! So get on with whatever you are going to do, because it won't change anything."

At the end of her rant, Legolas narrowed his eyes, "Fine. Have it your way." He spit out, "Aratên, take them away and bind their legs after they have been separated."

"It's gonna be okay, Thea." Nikandros managed to say, before being yanked away.

Thea wasn't able to answer before he was gone. She looked towards where he had gone, fear and uncertainty pulling at her gut.

Legolas grabbed her arm from Aratên and pulled her away. He walked briskly and Thea struggled to keep up.

Finally, he pulled her to a stop and ordered, "Sit down." When she hesitated, Legolas pushed her down and procured and length of rope. Kneeling, he wrapped it around her feet tightly and tied the ends.

Nikandros was roughly shoved away from Thea. Mentally, he tried to picture where Thea was in comparison to him, just in case. He was shoved down, and tied tightly with elvish rope. His ribs began to ache, and all of his other injuries seemed to choose to come out now as well. Things were starting to seem quite bleak.

Quite bleak indeed. Man...no hope. What are they gonna do?

Hehe...jk, I already know. But I can't tell you! You'll just have to wait and see:-D so in the meantime, why don't you vote, comment, or follow? It would be awesome if you could!!!!

Ithildae, Evara, and Aris

Writers:
Nikandros/Evara
Thea/Ithildae
Aratên/Evara
Legolas/Ithildae
Random elf/Ithildae