I am in shock. I can't move or process what I'm seeing, I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I close my eyes, willing her to go away, but when I open them again she's still there.

How?
Why?
How?!

Darovel and Ramben are confused but those two are the least of my concerns at the moment. I finally snap out of my initial shock and manage to speak.
"Morwen?" 
She blinks once, then runs.
"Oh no you don't!" Before anyone can stop me I'm on my feet and running. I chase after her ignoring Darovel's protests. Morwen looks over her shoulder at me, I glare at her. How is she even alive?! I thought she was killed with Sauron! How is this possible?!

I forget my injuries, I forget Ramben and Darovel, all I can focus on is the Elf from my past, the one who betrayed me. Anger courses through me as I recall that night. When she said she loved me, when she kissed me, then let Sauron's orcs take me to Mordor. I start to run faster, gaining on her. She was the reason I let the darkness take me, her betrayal was what pushed me over the edge.

And for that I will never forgive her.

My hand shoots out and grabs her by the arm, jerking her backwards. Unfortunately when Morwen tries to keep herself upright she ends up pulling us both down. We both land unceremoniously on the ground, where we roll around in the dirt like children while trying to get up. Finally, I manage to pin her on her back, holding her down by her wrists. I manage to smirk while catching my breath, Morwen tries to wrench her arms free. 

"Interesting," I say, "fancy meeting you here."
Morwen glares at me, that one strand of hair covering her face, I missed that.
I shake my head. Focus Amarth! Now is not the time to dwell on the past. Morwen takes advantage of my brief moment of distraction yanks her arm free, then punches me in the chest where I'm injured.

I yelp and release her, she scrambles back to her feet. By the time I manage to stand pain explodes throughout my body and I collapse, wheezing while curling in on myself. S-she punched me again! Where I am wounded! Why?
"What? Can't handle a bit of pain? I thought you were tougher than this." Morwen growls in disgust. 
"H-have y-you no re-respect for the-for the injured?" I gasp glaring up at her.

"Do you?" She snarls. What is wrong with her? Why is she mad at me? She's the one who manipulated me! If anyone has a right to be angry it's this Elf laying in pain on the ground. 
"Amarth!" Ramben runs up to me and kneels down beside me, "Are you alright?" He places his hands on my arm and I can't help but smile. He is such a kindhearted soul.
"Would you care to explain what's going on Amarth?" Darovel's words are directed towards me but his gaze is locked on Morwen. 

I glance over at Morwen who is calmly meeting Darovel's gaze, I notice that the man has a throwing knife ready, nice to know that everyone's on my side.
"Ramben, Darovel, this is Morwen. The bane of my existance. Morwen these are Ramben and Darovel, one of them I don't mind having around and the other who is unfortunately starting to grow on me."

"The pleasure is all mine." Morwen says her voice dripping with sarcasm. 
"Why did you lie about who you were?" Darovel questions suspiciously. He's smart to be suspicious. 
"I thought it would be unwise for a solitary Elf to wander the earth alone," she narrows her eyes at Darovel, "you never know what men will do to an Elf if they see one."

"Hey!" I exclaim from where I'm slowly rising to my feet. "No one is allowed to be rude to Darovel except for me."
Morwen scoffs and rolls her eyes.
"Keep your human, and your little Elf. I'm leaving." Morwen storms past us and heads back to where I'm guessing they made camp.
"You're not going anywhere Morwen." I quickly catch up to her but she keeps walking, ignoring me. 

I grab her arm and she stops.
"I thought you were dead Morwen, but here you are alive and well. I think some answers are in order."
"What about you Amarth? I thought you were just as dead as Sauron. I've been alone all this time only to find you again being attacked by some beast." She finally faces me and I can see the faintest traces of tears in her eyes. 
I realize that it would probably be best if we talked alone for awhile. There seems to be a lot we need to talk about, right after I find my shirt...

/\\//\\/

We leave Darovel and Ramben back at the camp and go off by ourselves. There are no trees around here so we settle for being out of hearing distance. Once we stop Morwen crosses her arms and gives me a cold stare.
"Explanation, now." 

I sigh and run my hand through my hair.
"What do you want to know exactly?" I ask.
"Everything! How you escaped Mordor, where you have been what you are doing, I want to know all of it!"
"And in return?"
"I'll tell you everything you want to know." Morwen crosses her arms and I concede. Looking at her now after all these years is strange, she hasn't seemed to have changed at all. Sighing again, I tell her what happened after Sauron fell.

I tell her about going after Alatar, how he died, traveling alone until I found Pallando, our ill-fated trip to Mirkwood, meeting Ramben, Thilan, Darovel, the beast, and of course the amulet. During my story she remains silent, taking in everything I say with an unreadable expression. Finally I come to a close, "I'm on my way to Harad now, to find this person Pallando said knows about the amulet."  

"And after you do that?" She asks.
I shrug in response. For a moment we stand there in silence, until it gets awkward. I clear my throat. "Alright, I told you my story, now I'm ready for yours."
Morwen looks down and closes her eyes. I tap my foot impatiently. Finally she opens her eyes and begins.

"After my-after Sauron got his Ring back I asked for permission to leave Mordor, to oversee operations going on in other parts of Middle Earth. Sauron was so engrossed with his Ring that he did not give my request a second thought. I went as far as I could go from Mordor, doing everything in my power to stay away. When I learned the Free Peoples were marching to do battle with Sauron I fled into the wilds. If the battle was lost and Sauron emerged victorious I did not want to be around, I could not stand to be in his presence any longer. When I heard that he had been slain I remained in hiding. Watching as the world slowly came under the rule of men."

Morwen pauses to take a breath before finishing, "I was traveling in these lands when I came across the village where you were being attacked. I didn't know it was you at the time, I was only trying to help."
She goes silent for a moment and that's when I notice her arm, there's a cloth wrapped around it. How did I not see that earlier?
"You're hurt." I say bluntly.
"Thanks for noticing, and I hope you're grateful because I gave Darovel the rest of my bandages in order for him to treat you. Although now I wish I had just left the moment I learned that it was you I helped saved."

"If you hate me so much why didn't you just leave?" I snap. "You could have left whenever you wished and yet you remained. Why is that Morwen?"
"Because I foolishly believed that there was a chance you had changed! But it seems as though you are the exact same as when I left you in that cell!"
"Why are you angry at me?! You're the reason I ended up in that cell!"
"I didn't want you to be taken to Mordor Amarth! I tried to get you away from the orcs but no matter where I went they followed!"
"Then why didn't you tell me that we were being hunted?!"
"I was trying to warn you without them knowing! That's why I kissed you!"

My heart skips a beat and Morwen's face turns ashen. I blink once, did I hear her right? 
"What do you mean?" I ask quietly. Morwen opens her mouth, then closes it again. Softly she murmurs, "I needed a way to warn you without the orcs overhearing, they'd been following us for days. That night, I knew they were about to attack, so I kissed you. But you pulled away before I could say anything."

She lowers her head while I stare straight ahead.
"You were trying to warn me." I murmur. Morwen nods and looks down at her feet, I can almost feel her guilt. 
"All that talk about you loving me, it was just a way to get me to trust you, so you could get close enough to warn me." My hands curl into fists, but I'm not angry.
"Did you really love me, the way you claimed to?" I have to know, I don't know why but I have to know.

"Maybe I did once," Morwen mutters, "but after what you became I realized that I'd made the biggest mistake of my life." Her head snaps up, anger and tears are in her eyes. Without warning she slaps me across the face. I stumble backwards in shock and pain, but this pain is nothing compared to damage her next words inflict.

"I spent days, months in Barad-dur, watching and listening for any word about you! I was so scared that you had been killed! Until Sauron brought me to see how his latest "project" was coming along. When I saw you Amarth it was like looking into the eyes of a snake! The way you stared at me was-it was terrible! And then you began to follow me, shadowing my every footstep until one day you cornered me and tried to-tried to-" Suddenly she falls to her knees, burying her face into her hands, sobbing into them. 

A wave of horror washes over me. I couldn't have done that, not to her, the very thought makes me sick. What scares me is that I have no memory of that, most of my time in Barad-dur is unknown to me, who knows what I could have done? But if I did what Morwen says I tried to do...
Oh please Valar kill me where I stand. If I did that to her I would never be able to forgive myself.

"Morwen did I- I didn't actually- please tell me I didn't." I beg.
She looks up, her eyes red and her skin streaked with tears.
"No, I got away before you could. But as long as you remained in Barad-dur I knew that I wasn't safe. That's when I asked to leave, and I never came back."
Morwen stands up wiping tears from her eyes.
"Well," she growls, "are you going to finish what you started? Or should we wait until you have healed?"

My mouth drops open in shock and my entire body goes rigid. How dare she think that I would ever do that to her?! To anyone for that matter?! I wasn't angry before but now I'm furious. Without warning I grab her by the shoulders, my eyes blazing with anger.
"Listen to me Morwen! Whatever you saw me do in Barad-dur, I swear that it wasn't me! If you think that I would even dream of harming someone that way, especially if it was you, than you are worse than Sauron! You hurt me Morwen don't you realize that?! After meeting you I thought that there was a chance that my heart could be healed, that the scar would fade and I could feel again. But after your "kiss" and the orc attack that immediately followed, how could I not believe that you had betrayed me?! Then you came crawling back, trying to convince me that you truly did love me, how was I supposed to believe that?! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I BECAME A MONSTER! DO YOU HEAR ME?! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WAS YOUR FAULT!"

I shove her backwards, not caring that she falls on her injured arm. That is, until I see the fear in her eyes. My breathing slows as I look down at her, tears are falling freely from her eyes and her body is shaking. What have I done? I move to help her up then freeze. Why should I be feeling remorse? She's spent all this time believing that I was the one who wronged her, when she herself was the one to blame for it.

Without a second thought I walk around her and start towards the camp-no-I head in another direction. I don't want to be with anyone right now, I just need to be alone for awhile.

/\\//\\/

Darovel's POV

Ramben absently played with a blade of grass, using his small hands and nimble fingers he tied several small knots in the blade he held before grabbing another one and tying the two together. He then proceeded to tie more knots into the second blade of grass while Darovel looked on in amusement.

Tying knots with grass, what an odd pastime. Darovel looked down and returned to sharpening his knives. He'd managed to retrieve five of them from the village as well as his bow and arrows, his dagger had been lost. Amarth's weapons had been left behind, leaving Darovel the only one with weapons. If more creatures like the one who attacked Amarth were to appear, they'd be in trouble.

Thinking of the beast caused Darovel to think about what Ramben did, he'd killed the monster with a single, lethal throw to its head. How did the young Elf manage to do that? It certainly wasn't luck, Darovel had watched as Ramben stood himself in the correct position, adjust the knife in his hand, all with his eyes closed. Then after he'd killed the beast he had fainted and Darovel still didn't know why.

What puzzled him the most was why striking the beast in the neck with knife didn't kill it, but Ramben's throw to the head did. The body had vanished soon after the creature died so Darovel hadn't been able to inspect it. Then as if things couldn't get any more complicated, a mysterious woman appeared out of nowhere and offered them help, that woman turned out to be an Elf named Morwen whom Amarth was familiar with.

Although he seems to have a grudge against her, I wonder what happened between them?
Darovel glanced in the direction the two Elves had gone. Hoping that nothing bad was transpiring. Turning his attention over to Ramben, he was even more amused to see that the young Elf now had a fairly long strand of grass blades tied together, all covered with knots he had tied.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish there Ramben?" He asked jokingly. Ramben met his gaze and shrugged.
"I don't know, I just started and couldn't stop. Is that bad?"
Darovel chuckled, "Of course not, if you want to tie grass blades together than be my guest."
Ramben's face lit up and he resumed his work. Darovel's smile faded slightly as he watched him. After Ramben had regained consciousness he had been scared out of his wits. It took ages for Darovel to finally calm him down, he'd spent several minutes simply holding the Elf close and assuring him that he was safe.

However it was what Ramben had kept whispering that filled Darovel's heart with concern.
I hurt people, I hurt people and I don't know why.
He had repeated that over and over again before finally falling asleep again. When he awoke again the first thing he said to Darovel was, "Don't tell Amarth what I did, I don't want him to be mad."

Darovel didn't have a clue as to what the young Elf meant, but he assumed that he was talking about what happened with the beast, and what followed. So Darovel had kept silent and did as Ramben asked. Still, he knew that sooner or later he'd have to tell Amarth the truth about what really happened.

Suddenly Ramben stiffened, his hands ripped the blade of grass he had been holding in half. Darovel's brow furrowed and he moved to crouch down beside the Elf.
"Ramben? What's wrong?"
"There's something coming Darovel," Ramben whispered looking around nervously.
"What do you mean? What's coming?"

All of a sudden Ramben sprang to his feet, reminding Darovel of a startled deer.
"We have to run! We have to find Amarth and Morwen and run!"
He tried to move but Darovel kept him from fleeing.
"Calm yourself Ramben! Tell me what is coming?"

But he never got a chance to answer, because just when the elfling was going to reply something rammed into him, yanking him from Darovel's arms. Immediately he reached for a knife only to drop it uselessly onto the ground. He screamed in pain as something seemed to stab him in the back. Pain flared throughout his entire body as shadows began to close in around him, trapping him in darkness.