By: Gwen

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: alilacia@hotmail.com or koneko16uk@yahoo.co.uk

Spoilers: None that I can think of.

I do not own the Lord of the Rings, or anything to do with the film or books. That honour goes to Peter Jackson (et all) and J.R.R Tolkien. I have no permission what so ever to use these characters, will not receive any money for this, and am doing this for my own enjoyment. And to get away from doing my college assignments ^_^*

Aragorn’s planned journey to Lothlórien lead the ranger to Mirkwood where he struck up a tentative friendship with Legolas, elven prince of Mirkwood.

Now Aragorn desires to return to his home, and Legolas decides to take the journey with him.

But the journey the two princes take is anything but a quiet one…..

CHAPTER 1 - Sight and Sense

The slender form of the elf disappeared behind the trees, and Aragorn sighed, increasing his speed so not to lose sight of the elf. When he rounded the tree, he saw that Legolas had stopped, a small grin stretching the corner of his lips. Aragorn scowled half-heartedly and moved to cuff the elf around the head as he passed.

Legolas laughed, and dodged the intended blow, his blond hair moving lightly in the breeze as he easily kept pace with his companion.

"It will take about a day to journey to the edge of these woods Aragorn." Legolas muttered softly, "if we do not take a rest that is."

Aragorn nodded and looked at the trees around him. With the elf by his side, Aragorn felt that the shroud of darkness didn't cling so closely to the trunks. The elven prince seemed to bring a light all his own to the woods, and Aragorn wouldn't have walked these paths with any one else.

The laughing face that had been in front of him when he had found out that Legolas was actually an elven prince came back to him, and Aragorn smiled. Aragorn hadn't thought for a moment that Legolas was anything more than a normal elf and so to find out he was actually a prince had shocked the man.

Aragorn glanced at his companion. To the world Legolas appeared aloof, distant, but to his friends (and Aragorn was honoured that he was now considered to be as such) a new side of Legolas seemed to emerge. And the quiet seriousness was replaced by a refreshing, light-hearted attitude that set Aragorn's heart at ease.

Legolas turned back to look at Aragorn and smiled a reassuring smile. The slim elven hands pointed at something only the sharp elven eyes could see. "Look Aragorn. The edge of Mirkwood is near."

Aragorn rolled his eyes, and followed the elf. Aragorn could only see trees, and that meant they had several hours more of walking ahead of them.

*~*~*~*

Legolas smiled as the red rays of the setting sun fell upon his fair face. The sunsets in Mirkwood were sight to see, and Legolas' heart brightened at the playing of colours over the trees. This sight was one the elven prince liked to look upon each night, and would often be found standing in front of the window in his room, simply staring at the fading light.

Legolas turned to look at his companion and smiled at the look of awe on his face. It looked as though Aragorn hadn't seen a Mirkwood sunset either.

The slight weariness written in the human's gaze caught the elf attention and he stopped. The red light from the setting sun played across the lines of fatigue, and Legolas shook his head.

He had almost forgotten that humans needed a lot more rest than the elves did.

Ignoring the confused expression that crossed the humans face for a moment, Legolas led Aragorn to a clearing just off the path they had been walking. The ground was covered in pine needles, and Legolas pressed Aragorn down. Aragorn frowned and tried to rise, but Legolas tightened his grip and forced the ranger back to the ground again.

"Just lie down Aragorn. You need your rest as do I. The wilds will not mind if we rest for one more night."

Aragorn frowned up at the elf, and pushed himself up onto his elbows. "I don't need any rest, and I know that you could very well walk on for hours yet. I did grow up with the elves."

"And I have known humans for longer than you have been alive. And I know when they need rest." A stubborn look was on the fair elven face, and the slim arms were crossed across his chest. "And I can see that you need to rest."

Aragorn rolled his eyes and considered continuing the argument with the elf. He was feeling a little tired, they had been walking all day, but he could go on for a little longer. Legolas raised his eyebrow and pointed to the ground with his hand. With a barely audible sigh, Aragorn let himself drop to the ground and he pulled his travelling cloak over his body. "Fine, stubborn elf. But wake me at dawn."

Legolas nodded and sat on the edge of the clearing. His blue eyes scanning the woods for anything that should not be. Aragorn felt his eyes drift shut, and the quiet breathing of his friend, and the nocturnal sounds of the wood lulled the ranger to sleep.

*~*~*~*

The elf stood and let his hand rest on a tree as the sun grew in intensity. Dawn had fallen hours ago, and Legolas could not bring himself to wake the ranger. He knew that Aragorn would not be happy with the fact that he did not wake him and the elf smiled. It shouldn't be long now until Aragorn awoke.

As if on cue, the ranger groaned softly as awareness returned to him, and his eyes blinked owl-like in the morning light.

"Good morning Aragorn."

Aragorn pushed himself up onto his elbows, and noted the sunlight with narrowed eyes. "What happened to 'wake me at dawn'?"

"As I said before, humans need so much more rest than we do." Legolas shrugged but couldn't stop the smile that pulled at his lips. Aragorn glared at his elven companion and this only served to send Legolas into a fit of laughter.

His friends mirth was proving to be contagious, and an answering smile tugged at the rangers lips. With a sigh, Aragorn used his hands to push himself off the ground. "Well then my friend, since you saw fit to let me sleep for so long. I think it is about time we got moving don't you?"

A smile was the only answer the ranger garnered, and he shook his head before following the elf out of the clearing.

*~*~*~*

"I would there was another path to walk.." the ranger muttered. Legolas looked at Aragorn with a confused expression written over his face.

"This is the quickest path up to Caradhras' peaks."

"And I know that as well as you. It's just...." Aragorn shuddered slightly, his silver eyes constantly moving, "this was where the battle between the orcs and the dwarves took place."

Legolas suddenly recalled what he had been told by Aragorn on the last night they had talked in the palace, and it was then the elf remembered that Aragorn had told him what had happened here.

"We could turn back Aragorn, but the only other path to take is far from here, and not as easy to walk as this one."

Aragorn took Legolas for his word, and a sigh passed his lips. "I know that Legolas, let's just keep on walking so nothing else happens to us here."

Legolas nodded and turned his gaze back to the mountain they were heading towards. The peaks of Caradhras were tall, and the path was getting closer.

The ranger tensed as something evil brushed against the very edges of his awareness. The trees back over the Great River seemed to be whispering darkly amongst themselves and Aragorn turned to Legolas to see if the elf had noticed anything.

Legolas' blue eyes were staring straight ahead, and if Legolas had sensed any danger, he was hiding it well.

The elf and the ranger had set out just as the sunlight reached the tops of the trees, and had made good time as they walked the Old Forest Road. Aragorn couldn't help the shudders that ran though him as he heard the soft brushing of feet in the trees above them. Legolas had muttered something about the spiders being back, and Aragorn decided that he really didn't want to know what his new-found friend was talking about.

Aragorn didn't notice when Legolas suddenly drew to halt and he slammed into the elf's back. Legolas turned to glance sharply at the ranger before turning his gaze to the wilderness around them.

Whatever had caught Aragorn's attention earlier had made itself known to the elf, and Aragorn felt his ire rise as the slender elven hands slowly drifted back to the bow.

It was decided, lest they take a trip to see the Goblins, that it would be best to head down over the Glädden Fields, and then to walk up the peaks of Caradhras. The memories of what had happened the last time that Aragorn had walked along these soils came back to him again, and Aragorn couldn't stop the chill that ran up his spine as he glanced nervously around them. The chill had nothing to do with the cool air, and Aragorn tensed. Something was out there, and Aragorn sighed, his own hands falling slowly down towards his sword.

Aragorn jumped as Legolas suddenly frowned and notched an arrow. The speed at which Legolas had done this was quicker than Aragorn had ever seen before, and he found himself wondering just how talented the elf in front of him was.

All thought fled his mind as he saw what had made the prince draw. Swallowing deeply, Aragorn didn't dare move.

This was not good. This was not good at all.

*~*~*~*

CHAPTER 2 - Head or heart?

Hungry eyes were fixed on the pair, and the predatory gleam made Aragorn shudder. The hair on the creatures back rippled as it growled. The rest of the pack moved forward, each one baring their teeth.

Aragorn felt the elf tense by his side. All hope that they would not be attacked had long left the young human, and he waited for the first attack. He knew that if Legolas fired the arrow that was fixed unwaveringly on the wolves heart, the other wolves would retaliate.

Just as it appeared that they would forever be locked in this standoff, one of the growling wolves to Aragorn's right jumped for the rangers throat. The attack caught Aragorn by surprise, and a long gash was gouged into his arm as he threw it up to protect his face. Legolas reacted seconds later, and the wolf was dead before it hit the ground.

An arrow went sailing past Aragorn's ear, straight into the heart of the wolf that was about to bite into the rangers head. Aragorn turned and stabbed the wolf behind it, before turning to nod his thanks.

"Legolas!" Aragorn's eyes widened as one of the last remaining wolves leaped for the elf's throat. Legolas reacted quicker than Aragorn would have thought possible, and Legolas was forced to the ground. His slender hands were gripping the head of the wolf tightly, and he was keeping the snarling teeth away from his face by centimetres only.

Aragorn was kept from helping his friend by three other wolves. Aragorn was beginning to hate the fact that this pack was bigger than any he had seen previously, and cursed his luck. He had to help his friend, and he had to help him now.

Taking a chance, the ranger ran towards the nearest wolf, and drove his sword into the creatures abdomen. The momentum he had created propelled him over the creature as he used his sword to help push him over. He pulled the sword out of the cooling body, and pulled out one of his elven daggers. Taking only the time to determine the wolves position, he threw the elven blade. With his attention now focussed on the wolves before him, he held out his sword in front of him.

He raised his arm to parry the wolf that jumped, but the wolf was knocked out of the way by another. The two bodies continued flying through the air for several feet before they hit the ground with a thud. Aragorn glanced over his shoulder and saw Legolas rising from the ground. He was favouring his left leg slightly, but the fiery determination in his eyes was not quelled by the minor injury.

An elven arrow found the heart of the wolf as it tried to rise from the ground, and the broadsword finished the last.

Legolas limped slightly up to the ranger and laid his hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked, gesturing to the bleeding gash on the rangers arm.

Aragorn nodded, and moved the arm out of Legolas' sight. "I'm fine. I'll put a bandage on that as soon as we get out of here."

Aragorn looked back up at the elf and saw Legolas frown. He looked like he was going to argue with him about a minor injury. Aragorn was about to speak and tell the elf not to when something heavy hit him from the side. A gasp of pain followed shortly, and Aragorn blinked. Blond strands of hair were falling into his face, and Aragorn felt a pang of fear surge through him as Legolas did not rise from where he had pushed him down. A low snarling reached his ears, and he slowly turned his gaze to the side.

Another wolf had appeared out of nowhere, and this one was a lot bigger than the ones before.

Aragorn gently wrapped his hands around the elf's waist, and slowly lifted both of them into a sitting position. Blood dripped down onto his fingers, and it appeared as though the wolf had caught Legolas' head as it attacked. The elf's eyes were closed, and this worried Aragorn immensely.

The wolf charged again, and brought Aragorn to the ground. Legolas fell out of his grip, and rolled a little to the side. Steeling his jaw, Aragorn knew he had to kill this one before its attention was drawn to the unconscious elf. But that was easier said than done. The strength of this one was incredible, and Aragorn was only just able to keep the jaws away from his face. His sword had been knocked away from him when he was knocked to the ground, and Aragorn blindly reached for a weapon. The snarling jaws were kept back with one hand and relief rushed through the human when his fingers found the handle of Legolas' elven daggers.

A piercing cry of pain sounded from the wolf on top of him as the dagger slid firmly in between the ribs. The harsh breathing of the wolf eventually died away to nothing, and Aragorn pushed the wolf off of him and pulled the elven dagger out of the bleeding body.

The human lay for a minute and did not move. His breath came in gasps, and his heart rate slowly returned to normal. He pushed himself up sharply from the ground as he remembered Legolas. The elf still had not awoken, and the ground under his body was turning a deep shade of red. Aragorn crawled over to the elf's prone form, and turned the elf over onto his stomach.

The wolf's claws had dug in deep, and the cuts to Legolas' back were what caused the heavy amount of blood on the ground. Aragorn glanced around them one more time before he reached into his pack and pulled out some bandages. Taking care not to jostle the elf more than was necessary, the ranger wound the bandages tightly around the cuts. The gash to the elf's head did worry the ranger, but he knew that it would not be long before those wounds would start to heal on their own. All he had to do now was get them to some shelter.

And Aragorn couldn't see any caves within his eyeshot. The ranger sighed and gently pulled the elf into his arms. Aragorn stood and started walking south. There had to be a cave along here somewhere, and walking to find one was a lot better than just sitting still and waiting for another wolf pack to find them.

About 1/4 of a mile of cliff-face later, Aragorn found what he was looking for. A small cave had been hollowed out of the rock and Aragorn rushed inside. Worry for the elf in his arms sped up his steps, and he gently placed the elf on the ground. The wound he had quickly bound earlier was starting to bleed through the bandage, and Aragorn once again retreated to his bag.

His fingers found the healing herbs that the ranger carried where ever he went, and he sifted through the contents before picking some out. He gently undid the bandage, and placed the herbs in the healing wound. Already the bleeding was starting to slow, and Aragorn smiled in relief as he wound another bandage around the elf's back. Next on his list of concerns was the cut to the elf's head. More herbs were packed into the gash, and another bandage wrapped around the elf's head.

Experienced eyes scanned the elf's body, and could see no other major injuries. Bruises marred the elven body (the biggest being a collection around Legolas’ left ankle), but Aragorn had faith that Legolas would be able to deal with them on his own. With one last look over his friend, Aragorn settled down near the opening to the cave.

If anything happened upon them, Aragorn wanted to be the first to know.

The ranger felt his eyes fall shut and he slipped into a weary sleep.

*~*~*~*

The sensation of something being draped across his shoulders was dimly registered by the weary ranger, and he shifted in his resting spot on the cave wall. He felt hands gently tucking the blanket around the edges of his prone form, and Aragorn frowned as he tried to press his mind into waking.

Strands of blond hair fell onto his shoulders, and Aragorn reached out with his hands to grasp one of the hands that were resting just next to his head, disturbing the blanket draped over him.

"I'm sorry." It was Legolas, "I did not want to wake you."

Aragorn shook his head, and pushed the elf back gently. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine Aragorn. Do not worry about me." Legolas stepped back, and sat down on the cave floor.

"You were badly wounded by that wolf, a lot of your wounds concerned me for a while." Aragorn admitted, "and you would not be injured if I had only paid attention." Aragorn raised his eyes at the gentle touch on his arm. Legolas was looking at him, his blue eyes shining softly in the moonlight.

"Do not blame yourself for this Aragorn. I only noticed the wolf at the last minute. So if I did not know 'till just before it struck, how could you?"

Aragorn's lips curled in a small smile at the gentle reminder that elves had better senses than humans, and allowed himself to trust Legolas' words. He was right after all, and Aragorn had not known anything was amiss until he had been pushed out of the way.

"Besides," Legolas added and turned to look at the moonlight outside the cave. "You were trained by Lord Elrond were you not." without getting an answer, Legolas turned back to Aragorn and stared evenly into the silver eyes. "You were trained by one of the best elven healers in this age. Do not put yourself down so easily my friend. Rest, and let sleep come to you my friend." Legolas reached over and let his hand rest over Aragorn's eyes. "There is not long left of the night, and it would be better that we spent it resting. We should leave at first light. I would not wish to spend any longer in here than I have to."

The last sentence was muttered, but Aragorn still picked it up and opened a sleep-leadened eye to glance at the elf. "What do you mean by that?"

Legolas started slightly, and a chagrined expression crossed his face. Clearly the elf hadn't meant for the human to hear that. "It was nothing Aragorn. Sleep."

Aragorn ignored the words, and the signals his body was sending him and straightened. "It wasn't 'nothing' or you wouldn't have said it. What did you mean?"

"Exactly that... nothing."

"Legolas...." Aragorn rested his head back on the wall, and fixed the elf with a small glare. If Legolas wanted him to sleep then he was going to have to tell him what he meant.

Legolas rolled his eyes and turned to look back at the mouth of the cave, his eyes seeking out the stars in the cloudless sky. "You are a stubborn human you know that." Legolas sighed as he turned back to the human and saw the expression on Aragorn's face. "Fine.... I simply am not too fond of caves...... that's all."

"See, was that so hard?" Aragorn chuckled, and let sleep over take him.

Legolas' glare was his answer, and a smile stayed on the rangers lips as he drifted off to sleep.

*~*~*~*

Something else intruded on his sleep, and Aragorn shifted against the gentle shaking of his shoulders. An annoyed sigh was breathed near to his head, and the shaking increased slightly. And was accompanied by a voice.

"Aragorn...... Aragorn....."

The ranger shifted again under the touch and willed his brain not to resist the voice.

"Estel..."

His body finally obeyed his commands to open his eyes, and they opened enough to see Legolas kneeling next to him, a rather annoyed look on his face.

"Are you awake?"

Aragorn sighed and opened his eyes fully. The light was almost blinding to his eyes, and Aragorn knew that there was no way he would be going back to sleep now.

"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't and had tried sleeping with my eyes open?"

A small chuckle spilled past Legolas' lips, and he gently shoved Aragorn's shoulder against the wall. Legolas pressed himself up from the human's side, and moved to the edge of the cave. He turned back to the human with a smirk and said, "the day you sleep with your eyes open is the day wargs learn to fly."

Aragorn rolled his eyes, and gathered his belongings from the floor. Elven senses of humour sometimes took a little getting used to.

With a final check that nothing had been forgotten, Aragorn followed his elven companion out of the cave. A smirk tugging at the corner of his lips at the relief on Legolas' face. Aragorn had not forgotten that Legolas had admitted that even an elven prince had dislikes. And Aragorn was not going to let him forget it. At least now there was something that Aragorn could bring up if Legolas had the compulsion to tease him rotten about something that the ranger had said or done.

Both man and elf stopped to properly check their surroundings this time. After being caught almost by surprise by the wolves the day before neither elf nor man had any desire to see the same happen again.

A sudden jarring of his arm brought Aragorn's attention to his injury that he had sustained the day before, and he looked down to his arm. The cuts had been cleaned and bandaged, sometime during the night as Aragorn had no recollection of being tended to.

"Thank you Legolas."

Legolas turned back to look at Aragorn, and raised his eyebrow. Aragorn lifted his arm slightly and smiled. The eyebrow fell and Legolas returned the smile with a nod.

A slender finger pointed at the nearing path, and Aragorn felt his trepidation growing as it came into sight. Luck it appeared was on their side, and the two companions started walking up the mountain path with no sign of any wolves.

The air was cool against his skin and face, and the light was warming. The sun shone brightly down on the peaks, and Aragorn once again felt himself be swept away by the majestic sight in front of him. A large smile was tugging at Legolas' lips as his keen eyes swept over the vast woods of Mirkwood, and Aragorn's gaze strayed from the golden woods of Lórien, to the green sea that was Mirkwood. Looking at the forests from this height, Aragorn could certainly see how they earned the name Greenwood the Great.

With a small smile, and a slight inclination of his head, Legolas motioned to the path ahead of them. A path that the two travellers soon found themselves walking down as they lost themselves in the serenity of Caradhras.

Aragorn heard the elf sigh, and moved next to him. It swiftly became apparent what had caused the elf to sigh, and Aragorn shook his head. There was no way they were going to get past this.

The human turned his back on the landslide that blocked their path, and scanned for another path. His silver eyes found a path just to the left of the one that they would have walked, and this one also seemed to travel down the slopes of Caradhras. Aragorn tugged on the elf's sleeves and re-directed his attention to the new path.

Legolas nodded in agreement, and turned away from the landslide with a small sigh. With their new path set, the elf and the ranger once again made their way down the mountain.

Hours later the pair felt the ground evening out, and the grassy plains at the bottom of Caradhras appeared in front of them. Lone towns could be seen on the horizon, and Aragorn found himself wishing that he did not have to make that journey again for a while.

Sporadic arrangements of rocks littered the lands, and occasionally Legolas would jump up onto one and walk along its weathered edge. Each time the elf did this it brought a smile to Aragorn's face, and he shook his head.

"Do you hear running water Legolas?"

Legolas paused for a moment, and tilted his head to the side. After a little while the elf turned to the human and nodded, unsure as to why the question was asked. Aragorn nodded back and turned to face the Trollshaws. "Then we are nearing the Bruinen. Come Legolas, it will not be long now before we reach Imladris."

The elf followed the ranger as he started heading towards the river. The ranger could not see the river yet, nor could he hear it, but he walked with a confidence that spoke of a certain degree of familiarity with the land. As they walked the sounds of the rushing river became apparent to the human's ears, and the air was filled with the refreshing spray of water as is only found around rivers.

Smoke rising into the sky caused concern to spike through the pair, as they exchanged a puzzled look and increased their pace. As the pair got closer, they saw that the smoke was in fact only faintly lingering in the air, and the smell of burning wood was only just apparent in the air.

Aragorn moved amongst the burning buildings, and shook his head. There was nothing left of this village, no bodies, no buildings. Whoever had attacked had been very thorough. That was assuming that the city had been attacked in the first place.

Legolas was kneeling down by the entrance to the ruined village and his hands were moving gently over the dirt. A frown marred the elven face, and his words carried easily to Aragorn across the wind.

"This village was attacked."

Aragorn looked up from where he had been glancing into one of the burning buildings. "Are you sure?"

Legolas nodded and rose to his feet. He pointed to the ground as Aragorn neared his side. "There are many tracks leading both in and out of the village, so many that it makes it hard to distinguish even one. But," Legolas knelt back down and motioned for Aragorn to do the same, "these tracks here were not made by humans. They are much bigger, and the depth at which they were forced into the ground says that whoever it was that made these footprints were very heavy." Legolas raised his eyes, and met Aragorn with a steady stare. Both knew what he wasn't saying with words. Orcs. Legolas dropped his eyes back to the ground and pointed to barely visible tracks that lead to one of the buildings. "They came in and stayed here for some time. The tracks leading into the village are much fainter than the ones that left it, so it must have taken some time to do all this damage."

Aragorn stood from Legolas' side, a grim expression on his face. "The men fought back." His own eyes had caught the heavy footprints in the ground mingled with that of the small footprints of men. The dirt lay in odd patterns, showing that many bodies had fallen. Trails lead to the buildings, and it was clear that once all the killing had been done, the bodies had been thrown into the burning buildings, and left to die. The scuffling increased the nearer you got to the buildings, and that meant some of the inhabitants of this village had been alive when they had been thrown in.

Even smaller footprints were faintly clear in the debris, and a shadow descended over Aragorn's heart when he realised that women and children had been pulled into the fight as well.

A slender hand rested on his shoulder, and Aragorn glanced back to see Legolas' concerned blue eyes looking into his own. A wordless question was in his eyes and Aragorn nodded. With one last look at the ruined buildings, Aragorn walked out of the village, Legolas on his heels.

Not a word was exchanged between the two as the journey to Rivendell was once again recommenced. Legolas didn't know what to say, didn't know what he could say. From what he had been able to gather about Aragorn, Legolas knew that the last thing Aragorn wanted was to step onto the path that destiny had set out for him, but Aragorn had a kind heart. And to see people hurt, it went against everything the ranger had ever been taught.

Something on the very distant horizon caught Legolas' attention, and his worry for Aragorn was halted in its tracks for a brief moment. Aragorn stopped as he saw that Legolas was no longer walking beside him. The elf's eyes were fixed on something far away, and Aragorn turned to look. The human could see nothing, but the grim expression on Legolas' face told Aragorn that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"What do you see Legolas?"

Legolas eyes were haunted as he turned to look Aragorn in the eyes. "Another village is burning."

Aragorn closed his eyes before opening them again, and turning to look in the direction Legolas' eyes had once looked.

"The buildings are all made of wood and the fire is spreading." Legolas had turned to look at the far-off village again. "People are running, and if the things that did this are still there, I cannot see them."

Aragorn's mind was running a mile a minute, and he didn't notice when Legolas turned to look at him. The village that Legolas had described was all to familiar to him, even though the ranger had never set foot inside its gates. During one of the history lessons Elrond held for his youngest son, he began to tell Aragorn about the village of Bree. One of the villages closest to Rivendell with the largest population of men. There were others, but Bree was the largest.

Aragorn had also been told that many rangers frequented Bree from time to time. And it was they who had given Aragorn's elven family most of the information they knew about Bree. At least Aragorn would be able to walk in there, and hopefully get some information from the people there. They should answer him since he was a ranger. Although, a small smile quirked at the corner of his lips, he would have to think up a better name for himself in the wilds. Nesseer, ranger of the North hardly struck fear into peoples hearts.

The smile soon faded as indecision gripped him. Aragorn turned to Legolas. The question he dearly wanted the answer to was written in his eyes, and Legolas shook his head, an apologetic look in the blue eyes.

The rangers head turned to look at Rivendell, at his home, and he shook his head. Rivendell was not going to go anywhere, not for another day or so, and after much deliberation, Aragorn decided to head to Bree. As soon as Aragorn's body turned in the direction of the village and didn't turn back, Legolas knew that Aragorn had decided to go to Bree and fell in step next to the young human.

If Bree had been attacked, then any number of places could be next and Aragorn feared that Rivendell would be among them. Bree was close enough to Imladris for it to be in danger, and Aragorn was not going to see his home attacked. He would never forgive himself if he turned for home and it was attacked without warning simply because he didn't want to be away from his home for one more day.

*~*~*~*

CHAPTER 3 - The Village of Men

The trip to Bree added near to seven days to their journey. While the distance between the Bruinen and Bree was quite vast, the elf and the ranger had marched from dawn till well into nightfall, only stopping when they needed. Many hours had been cut off the journey time, and it wasn't long before they saw the village appear ahead of them.

Aragorn stopped walking, and ignored Legolas' confused expression as he took off his cloak. The confused expression changed to annoyance and then defiance as Legolas realised what Aragorn was asking him to do, and he shook his head.

"I am not wearing that Aragorn."

"Have you ever been to Bree before?" Legolas shook his head and moved away from the hands that held out the cloak. "Then you do not know what the people are like." During their journey to the village, Aragorn had started to tell Legolas the history behind the village. "Despite the fairly close proximity to Rivendell, some of the inhabitants of Bree still hold a high dislike for elves. It is usually only men and hobbits that frequent that village, and it is practically unheard of for an elf to walk in through the gates. Although most in Bree will treat the elves with the kindness and courtesy they deserve, some of the men here do not hold the elves with such high regard. Please Legolas." Aragorn held out the cloak again. "Some of the men in Bree will not treat you well if they find out you are an elf. Why do you think none of my family have ever set foot in Bree."

Something in Legolas' eyes changed at the last sentence, and Aragorn almost thought the elf was going to take the cloak. Aragorn resisted the desire to roll his eyes, and stared the elf down. He was not going to set foot in Bree unless the elf was wearing that cloak, and he wasted no time in letting Legolas know that. Legolas rolled his eyes but saw that this was one argument the ranger was not going to be swayed on. Reluctant hands took the cloak and Legolas slipped it on over his head.

The hood of the cloak hid all of his features, and if you looked at Legolas you would not have been able to see that he was an elf. All you would see was a man who had more of a slender form than most.

Aragorn stopped only once before they walked in the gate and told Legolas to let him do all the talking. Aragorn feared that some would recognise his voice as being lighter, and more musical sounding than the race of men.

The scene that greeted the pair as they walked in the gate was similar to the scene at the last village. Many of the buildings had been burned to the ground, and the only difference here was that most of the villagers had survived this encounter. Although not without injury. A guard was ushering a injured soldier past the pair, heavy cuts marred the man's face and neck. From Aragorn's point of view, the man was lucky to be alive.

Legolas let his gaze follow the man from under his hood. All they had gotten from the people here so far were glares, and the obvious fact that this village had been attacked. With the number of footprints stamped into the debris, Legolas was not able to distinguish just who had done the attacking, but he feared that it was the same creatures that had attacked the village on the banks of the Bruinen.

Legolas grabbed hold of Aragorn's arm, and redirected his attention to a building on the left. It appeared to be the only building that had survived unscathed. The soldier that had passed them earlier disappeared inside the door, leading the injured man in before him. Aragorn nodded as the elf inclined his head in question. Legolas followed Aragorn's lead as he led them into the Prancing Pony.

The sight in here wasn't much better, and many of the wounded were sitting in haphazard places on the floor. Aragorn knew that many people, men and hobbit alike, lived in this village but he hadn't expected there to be so many. A chubby man was walking around the wounded, a worried look on his face. Occasionally he would direct some of the soldiers up the stairs, handing out room numbers and directions.

The man noticed Aragorn and Legolas standing in the doorway, and with one final direction given to the soldier who just walked in, he walked over to the pair.

"Greetings. I'm Barliman Butterbur. You wouldn't be injured would you?"

Aragorn shook his head and gestured to all the people around them. "We're fine. We just arrived here, you wouldn't happen to have any rooms would you?"

Butterbur looked curiously at Legolas, whose gaze was hidden by the cloak, and turned back to Aragorn.

"I'm afraid not, mister....?"

Aragorn found himself back in the situation he had been dreading ever since he decided to travel here. Butterbur was waiting for an answer that he did not have.

"Strider. His name is Strider."

Aragorn turned to look at Legolas. He couldn't be sure but he was sure that Legolas was smiling under that cloak. Butterbur had turned to look at the elf as well, and seemed confused that the hooded figure had answered for him.

"My name is Strider." The name was unfamiliar on his tongue, but to say something different now would only seem suspicious. "Ranger of the North."

Butterbur lost all interest in Legolas, and paled slightly when Aragorn told him that he was a ranger. This caught Aragorn's attention. So, Butterbur wasn't fond of rangers.

"Well, Mr Strider, with all the wounded I'm afraid we don't have many rooms to spare. Most of the rooms here are being used to treat the wounded. But room 5 is available at the moment. If you just go up the stairs and through the first door on your right you'll find it." Butterbur swung his hand back and gestured to the stairs. As Legolas turned to look Butterbur handed Aragorn a single brass key. "But, might I enquire as to who your friend is Mr Strider...." Butterbur had no time to say any more as his attention was requested by one of the people in the far corner. With one last glance at Legolas, Butterbur moved to see what he was wanted for.

With a nod to Legolas, Aragorn tilted his head in the direction of the stairs. Legolas went first, and Aragorn followed. The journey had been a long one, and all Aragorn wanted to do now was get some rest.

But this desire left him as soon as the next injured person was carried in through the doors. Aragorn stopped in his tracks, and turned to see a small child being carried in by a soldier. Legolas stopped when he noticed that Aragorn was not following him, and he tilted his head in question. Soon though, he saw what had made Aragorn stop, and an angry look crossed the elven princes face under the cloak. No-one should attack children, or do anything that should cause them harm. It was at that moment that Legolas promised to himself that he was going to make those who did this pay if he ever met up with them.

Movement to his right caught Legolas' attention, and his hand shot out just in time to grip Strider's arm as he moved to go to the child. Legolas shook his head in warning and tried to convey through his eyes what words could not. A look familiar to Legolas crossed Aragorn's eyes, and Legolas pulled the man in close, lowering his voice so that only the ranger could hear him.

"I know you want to help them Strider, but...." Legolas got no further as Aragorn pulled his arm out of Legolas' arm and muttered steely under his breath, "I am going to help them Legolas. I have been trained as a healer, and to not help them goes against all that ada told me."

Legolas didn't raise his hand again, and watched with sorrowful eyes as Aragorn walked up to the child. So much for laying low.....

As Strider got closer he saw that extensive burns spread up the child's arms, and tears had left faint tracks on the boy's flushed face. Butterbur moved to their side swiftly as he saw Aragorn move near the child. "What are you doing Mr Strider?"

"First of all, it's just Strider, and second I have some skills as a healer." Aragorn glanced over the child's injuries before looking up at Butterbur. "I do not see many healers around here." In fact there were only one or two that were trying to deal with the vast numbers of injured men and hobbits, "and I only wish to help."

Butterbur looked conflicted for a few moments, and Aragorn feared that he would not let him help. Aragorn nodded this thanks when Butterbur nodded, and asked if Strider would be treating the child here. Aragorn thought about this for a moment, and looked around at the vast number of people sitting on the floor. Although the bar of the Prancing Pony was larger than most, Aragorn did not wish to work in such cramped conditions.

Strider shook his head. "I would like to work in the room that me and my friend have just been assigned if you do not mind."

Butterbur was slightly hesitant about this, but when Strider glared at him he nodded and moved out of the way. He didn't like to cross the rangers. And this one seemed more fierce and stubborn than most.

*~*~*~*

Legolas watched in silence as Aragorn carried the child into the room and gently sat him down on the bed. The child had been unconscious from the moment the soldier had brought him into the Prancing Pony, and for that Aragorn was thankful. Some of these burns were bad, and it would be easier on the child if he were not awake for it.

Sandy blond hair fell into the boy's eyes, and Aragorn gently brushed it out of the way before turning his attention to the burns. If he remembered correctly then he had some salve in his bag that should help these heal a lot quicker than they would on their own.

As Aragorn moved to his pack that he placed in the corner of the on arrival, he could feel the full weight of Legolas' stare on his back. "I can tell you have many questions Legolas. And to tell you the truth, I do not know fully why I am doing this either." Aragorn ignored Legolas' surprised look that he was sure was there. "I know I cautioned you to lie low, and not do anything that could draw attention to us, but I could not just sit here and let these people go without help." Aragorn sighed and pulled out two salves, staring at them with a critical eye, "the loss and pain of a loved one impresses heavily on a mortal heart. I know that only too well Legolas. And I would not wish for this ones parents to be without their son."

Legolas swallowed hard at the look of pain in his friends eyes, but could not stop the words that came out of his mouth.

"The boys parents could be dead."

Aragorn glared at Legolas as he stood and moved back over to the boys side. He held the salves up to light and stared at them for a moment before picking the lighter one on the right. "I refuse to believe that Legolas. The boy's parents are alive. And I will see them reunited." Without another word the ranger opened up the bottle and poured some of the salve onto his hands.

The elf was stunned and shocked by the fierce expression in the rangers silver eyes as he worked to help the little boy. And it was in that moment that Legolas realised that what Aragorn had told him in the woods was true.

He truly was deserving of the name Estel.

Legolas was brought of his thoughts by the shifting of the boy on the bed. Blue eyes fluttered open and stared at Aragorn in shock. Tears started to pool at the corner of his eyes, and Aragorn laid a gentle hand on the boys fingers.

"Welcome back little one, I am Strider, and the man over there is my friend." Strider lifted his hand and gestured to Legolas. The slight stiffness of his gesture said that he still wasn't totally happy with Legolas' words earlier. The boy raised watery eyes to look at Legolas, and he raised a hand in greeting, not knowing what else to do. "So tell me little one, what is your name?"

The child redirected his gaze to Strider and some of his sandy blond hair fell into his face. The small hands automatically moved to brush it out of the way, and Aragorn pulled the child's hands back down as he winced from the pain the movement causes.

"My.... m- my name is Darcyn sir." Aragorn smiled warmly at Darcyn and resumed spreading the salve over the childs burns.

"And how old are you little one?"

"Eight sir."

Aragorn shook his head at the child's words. Only eight years old and already stood a chance of loosing his family.

"Where are your parents?" Aragorn knew that this could very well make the child more upset, but he had to know. Just as Aragorn thought they would, tears started to well in the child's eyes, and Aragorn pulled the child into his arms. The small hands gripped his tunic loosely, and tears started to roll down his face. Aragorn looked down at the newly bandaged arms to make sure they had not come loose before wrapping his arms more lightly around the crying child. Through sobs and flowing tears Darcyn told Strider what little he knew.

His parents had told him to hide in the building, and then suddenly everything was on fire. He had tried to get out of the building, but hadn't been able to. After a while the smoke had become too much and he had collapsed. The next thing Darcyn knew, he was waking up here. He didn't know where his parents were, or what had happened to them.

Darcyn's sobs become too frequent for him to speak and Aragorn shushed the child. Sobs wracked the tiny frame, and Aragorn was surprised to see Legolas move to their side. One of his slender hands came to rest on the child's sandy hair, and he muttered softly to the child in elvish. The child was not listening to what Legolas was saying, but the comforting voice rose over the volume of his sobs, and he felt himself calmed by the voice. Aragorn was pleased to see that the child's sobs were stopping, and he looked to Legolas in slight surprise and thanks. Legolas nodded back, and retreated back to the corner of the room, his hand brushing the child's head as he stood.

Darcyn pulled away from Aragorn's strong, protective grip and looked embarrassed at the fact that he had broken down like that in front of two people he didn't even know. Slender hands wiped away his tears, and Darcyn turned to see the slender figure in a cloak kneeling in front of him. Darcyn could not see into the cloak properly, but he could see the kind blue eyes that stared out. Darcyn felt no ill-will from this person, and so he let the figure wipe away the traces of his sorrow.

"We will find your parents Darcyn." Aragorn spoke quietly, and strongly. "Now, can you tell me what they look like?"

Darcyn nodded, and told them both what his parents looked like. While Legolas was talking to the child, Aragorn checked over Darcyn's wounds again. The burns were looking better now that the salve was on them, and all he would need to do was rest for a while.

With a small tug on the child's hand, Aragorn gestured to the door. "Your injuries are looking much better Darcyn. All you have to do is rest."

Legolas took the child's other hand and gently pulled him to his feet. And together they walked out of the room, hand in hand.

*~*~*~*

Aragorn and Legolas stopped as they reached the top of the stairs. Darcyn looked with up at the pair curiously, and then back at the room.

A lot more people had arrived while Aragorn had been treating Darcyn's wounds, and now there was hardly any space for anyone to walk at all. Aragorn turned to look at Legolas, and asked him if he would go with Darcyn to help him find his parents. Legolas nodded and walked Darcyn down the stairs.

While Legolas was gone with Darcyn, Aragorn surveyed the room from his vantage point on the stairs. It was going to take a while to work through all these and Aragorn wondered where he should start.

Legolas stepped neatly over the many wounded and led Darcyn to a quiet corner. The elf knelt down next to Darcyn and whispered in his ear.

"Do you see your parents little one?"

Darcyn chewed on his lower lip as his blue eyes started to scan the faces in the room. No sound came from the boy for quite some time, and Legolas found himself thinking that this might actually take a while. People were constantly walking and limping in through the doors of the inn, and Legolas was just about to ask Darcyn if he wanted to sit down when a huge smile broke out over the boy's face. His gaze was locked on the door, and Legolas turned to look at the people that had just walked in.

Matching smiles were on the faces of two of the people, and Legolas watched with a smile as Darcyn ran into the arms of his parents. Both were looking a little charred around the edges, but otherwise they looked fine. The mother looked up at Legolas as he moved to stand behind Darcyn.

Darcyn pulled out of the embrace, and looked up at Legolas. "Mother, this is Strider's friend. He helped me out earlier."

"Thank you so much for helping our son."

"You are welcome my lady." Legolas smiled, and bowed slightly.

"Please, call me Ethiwen, and this is my husband Owec." Owec nodded, and held his hand out to Legolas. This was one gesture that Legolas had not seen in a while, but understood what it represented. His own hand came out, and the man and elf shook hands.

"Your son is fine. The burns he sustained have been treated by my friend." Legolas turned and pointed to where Strider was helping out one of the soldiers. "Strider treated your sons injuries, not I."

"Say you'll tell Strider our thanks then won't you please." Legolas nodded, and was slightly surprised when Ethiwen grabbed one of Legolas hands with her own. "You will always be welcome in our house sir, you and your friend deserve no less for helping our son."

Owec nodded in agreement and placed his arm over his wife's shoulders. "It would be an honour for us to have you come and pay us a visit. If you are ever in Bree again, don't hesitate to call on us."

Legolas wasn't sure that either he or Aragorn would be in Bree again, but he nodded his thanks. It would be good to know someone friendly here. Legolas then knelt down in front of Darcyn and laid his hand on the child's shoulder. Their eyes met and Legolas smiled. Darcyn returned the smile and as Legolas was just about to stand he felt two small arms gently encircle him around the waist. The action shocked the elf, and he was slow to return the hug. After a while though, he tightened his arms around the small boy before pulling away. Legolas looked up at his parents and relaxed. They were smiling, so they didn't mind him hugging their son.

Legolas smiled as the family walked out of the doors of the Prancing Pony, hand in hand. The elf shook his head and slowly stood from his position on the floor. The motion upset the hood on his head, and it slowly fell backwards, revealing his blond hair and pointed ears for all those who happened to be looking. Legolas felt the weight of the hood around his neck and quickly pulled it back up to cover his hair and ears. The elf dearly hoped that no-one saw that, and decided that it was a good idea to head over to where Aragorn was working. He had to tell him what Darcyn's parents told him.

Legolas didn't get very far as a hand slammed down into his shoulder, stopping him where he stood. The hand gripped his shoulder tightly and Legolas tensed. The elf wanted nothing more than to remove the hand from his shoulder, and resisted the urge to throw the man that it belonged to over his shoulder. Feeling certain that his features were hidden by the hood, Legolas slowly turned around to face the man in front of him. Legolas glared at the man from under the hood, and shook the hand off his shoulder.

"That wasn't very nice now was it. You gonna tell me your name?" The look on the man's face was anything but friendly, and Legolas chose to ignore the question. He turned away from the human and started walking towards Aragorn again.

Legolas had only walked forward a few steps when he felt something grab the back of Aragorn's cloak. Thinking quickly he spun back around, but the damage had already been done. The hood fell around his neck, and everyone around them saw his elven heritage.

"Well, lookie here lads. There's an elf in our midst." The man smirked and moved towards Legolas who refused to let himself be intimidated by this human.

Legolas stared the man straight in the eyes and folded his arms casually across his chest. His entire poise screamed that he was not quite at ease, but not tensed enough to consider these men a threat.

The scene, and the shouted words, had caught the attention of every individual in the pub, and Butterbur was wringing his hands nervously on the towel he held in his hands. Most of the people, especially the children, were looking in awe at the sight of a first born standing amongst them. But some of the people looked angry, and Legolas wondered for a brief moment what could have happened to cause them to hate the elves so much.

In the darkened corner of the Prancing Pony Aragorn had watched all that had transpired. Worry for his friend had been growing since the man laid his hand on Legolas' shoulder, and he excused himself from the soldier he was treating. These people were one of the ones that he warned Legolas about before they walked into Bree, and Aragorn was not about to see something happen to his friend by some bigoted humans.

Just as Aragorn stood to make his way over to Legolas, things got a whole lot worse.

*~*~*~*

CHAPTER 4 - Confrontation

Legolas' face spun sharply to the side, and the man in front of him massaged his knuckles briefly with a smirk. Legolas hardly felt the blow, it would take a lot more than that to stun him, and Legolas narrowed his eyes at the smirking human. His eyes darkened to a dark blue, and the full force of his annoyance was clear in their depths. Out of the corner of his eyes, Legolas saw Aragorn walking towards him and smiled grimly. He had no desire to hurt these men, but if they did anything more or hurt Aragorn, he would not hold himself back.

Legolas was forced to duck another punch, and raised his head as the man glared and spoke to the crowd.

"Looks like this one doesn't want to fight. Whoever heard of an elf who didn't fight." The man turned back and glared at Legolas. "Leave this place *elf*" he spat the words out like a curse, "your kind aren't welcome here."

Legolas eyes darkened further at the insults thrown at him and his race. And the annoyance rushed back as the man glared at his silence and threw another punch. It didn't even reach his face as Aragorn stepped in front of Legolas and stopped the punch with his hand. Aragorn's eyes glared at the man, and he scowled. He held little love for those who threatened the elves, even if they were of his own race.

Legolas cast a side glance at Aragorn, before turning back to the men. Flickers of light off metal had been catching the elf's attention ever since he had turned around, and he edged closer to Aragorn and tensed slightly when he caught the edges of several sharp knives. Each of the men had one, and Legolas wasn’t about to let them actually use them. On him or his friend.

"Well, well, well, this one has a friend. And a ranger at that. You look a bit young to be a ranger." The man scowled and looked him over. "Besides.... I thought rangers kept to themselves. Why did you stop me?"

Aragorn's scowl hadn't left his face, and he slowly let his hand fall from the man's fist.

"Because this one is my friend. And I do not take kindly to those who harm my friends."

Aragorn's fists clenched by his side, and Legolas turned slightly. He reached over and dropped his fingers over Aragorn's closed fingers. Legolas deliberately tipped his head down, forcing the long blond strands of his hair into his face. For all those who were watching with rapt attention in the room it looked as though the elf was telling his human friend to calm down.

Aragorn dropped his head as well, so that his own hair obstructed the view of the men, and looked up into Legolas' eyes and saw them drift downward towards the mans hands. Legolas applied a bit more pressure, and gently forced Aragorn's hands downward. All eyes were on their hands, and Aragorn made a show of scowling and slowly brought his eyes back up to face the angry human in front of them. In the moment that all had looked away from Aragorn's eyes, the ranger had quickly scanned the room. The knives that had caught Legolas' attention were barely visible, but the flickering light from the fire betrayed their position. Legolas relaxed slightly as Aragorn nodded a barely perceptible nod. Surprise was one thing the men no longer had on their side.

"You're of the race of men. What you doing making friends with the likes of him?" The man jerked his thumb at Legolas. "The elves don't mingle with us and that's how it should stay."

"I would rather it was that way too human, but there's too many of you to simply avoid you all." Legolas words were scathing, and the dislike the elf had for the race of men was imprinted on every single word. Although he had come to care for Aragorn, there was still a long way to go before he would trust them all. Especially one who insulted him.

Aragorn felt the anger around the men increase sharply at Legolas comment and almost shook his head. Legolas had a very barbed tongue when he felt he had been slighted or insulted, and was not one to hold back for anything. Further action by Aragorn or the men was stopped when Butterbur ran and faced the seething man.

"Now you listen to me Geddyn. That elf has just as much right to be here as the rest of you." Butterbur looked nervous despite his strong words, and he didn't look too pleased that the fact Legolas was an elf had been kept from him. "I'm not saying that I agree with you, I just don't want any fighting in my bar."

While this was going on, Aragorn grasped Legolas' arm and lead him away from the man. But Geddyn didn't seem to appreciate Butterbur's words, nor did he acknowledge them, and he swung for Legolas again. This time the rest of the men in the bar tried as well, and both Aragorn and Legolas had to duck punches aimed for their heads.

Legolas' eyes darkened so much they looked black, and he didn't hold back as he dodged the next fist and brought his own fist up to impact sharply with the man's nose. The man dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and didn't bother to rise again, groaning in pain about his broken nose. The knife fell out of his hand and clattered into a darkened corner.

Legolas rounded a table, and stopped a wayward hit from reaching one of the wounded. The injured man crawled away as quickly as he could, and Legolas turned back to face the man. Geddyn stepped up beside the man and indicated the elf and then the ranger. Legolas' eyes narrowed as the man nodded, and moved to join those who were rounding on his friend.

Legolas stood still, his eyes narrowed and posture alert, as Geddyn started to circle him. Anger, and a certain amount of cocky attitude that Legolas had come to expect from the race of men, was stirring in the humans eyes; and Legolas would have sighed had the situation not been what it was.

Here was another man who had never fought against an elf before, and obviously thought that because of his slender build, Legolas would be an easy win.

Legolas couldn't wait to prove him wrong.

Calloused hands tightened around glinting steel, and Geddyn smirked as he brought the knife up to his chest. There was no outward sign of any panic from the elf, but Geddyn was going to change all that. With a slight narrowing of his eyes, Geddyn charged towards the elf.

And was startled as strong hands gripped his wrist. Geddyn struggled against the iron grip on his hands, and looked up. Fear suddenly lanced through him as the eyes that looked into his own had darkened to almost black, and Geddyn swallowed deeply. Inwardly berating himself for allowing himself to feel fear, and towards an elf no less, he struggled in the grip and tried to get his hands free.

"You'd better let go of me elf." Geddyn threatened and tried to kick the feet of the elf that has holding him.

Legolas smoothly switched his grip of the man's wrists into one hand, and easily sidestepped the intended blow. This only served to anger the man whose wrists Legolas was holding, and the elf was forced to grip tighter when the humans struggle increased.

A short cry of pain distracted Legolas' attention for a minute, and he turned to see another couple of men had been drawn into the fight as well. Fury towards the men and worry for his friend overwhelmed the elf, and he decided to end this now.

Geddyn didn't know what hit him as his wrists were suddenly released, and a sudden burst of pain spread from a single point on the side of his head. Stars rapidly span over his vision, and the man staggered before falling in a heap in the corner. With blurred vision Geddyn looked up to see the elf glancing down at him before moving off to help his friend.

Aragorn was swiftly growing tired of this and his silver eyes once again assessed the weaknesses of his opponents. The men had been constantly attacking under the impression that he had no skills what so ever, and that it would be a quick defeat. That would have been true, had Aragorn not been raised by the elves. They had taught him to fight stronger opponents than these men.

A grin quirked his lips as a slender hand landed on the shoulder of one of the men. The man spun around, an insult on his lips, and found himself face to face with Legolas' fist. The man crumpled to the floor and uncertainty shone in the eyes of those that were left. Strider move closer to Legolas and looked the men in the eyes. Bravado soon outweighed the fear and they charged. Aragorn braced himself, but was knocked back slightly as the full weight of one of the stockier men hit him.

The meaty fist came up again, and Aragorn ducked. The force of the blow glanced off his head, and was enough to throw his balance off. It took mere seconds for the ranger to collect his senses and he blinked. He saw that Legolas was managing well against the men, but more were moving to join. Apparently Geddyn had a lot of friends. The sliding of steel under his chin stopped the ranger cold and he cursed under his breath. He was supposed to be a ranger, he was supposed to notice everything that went on around him.

"I'd stop unless you want me to kill your friend." Geddyn warned as he tightened his hold on the ranger. Legolas stopped where he was, and he tensed when he saw who Geddyn was holding.

"Now then, drop your weapons." Legolas made no move to adhere to the request, and Geddyn scowled. The hand around Aragorn's neck tightened and a thin line of blood trailed down the rangers skin. "Next time I will not stop at a superficial cut." Legolas' eyes narrowed, and he wondered how it had come to this.

Aragorn glanced down at the hands that held the knife to his throat and saw that they were trembling slightly. This worried him more than the knife at his throat, and was afraid that Geddyn's hand would slip. Geddyn's breath was ragged against his neck, and he tugged on the knife again. The blade slid a little further into his neck and Aragorn hissed slightly in pain.

Legolas quickly brought his weapons out and moved to place them on the floor when he heard the slight hiss of pain. He would play along so long as Geddyn held Strider in his grasp. Geddyn nodded in approval as the elven daggers were placed in the floor. He motioned with his free hand for his men to grab Legolas. The elf put up no resistance, knowing that he could easily throw them off if he tried. All he had to do was wait.

Aragorn's eyes met him from across the room. There was a small amount of fear in them, but Legolas could see that Aragorn was not totally worried.

The glazing of Geddyn's eyes told Legolas that he was still stunned from the blow that he himself had given the human earlier. But Legolas also knew that Aragorn would have to find some way of getting himself out of Geddyn's grip. Although the elf could quite easily get out of the hands of the men that were holding him, Legolas feared that by the time he got to Aragorn, Geddyn would have attacked.

Wordless conversations flashed between the two as Geddyn started speaking to his men. Legolas nodded as he hit his elbow back into the stomach of the man holding his as fast as he could. The man groaned and doubled over, and Legolas wrenched his grip out of the other mans and neatly punched him in the stomach as well.

Geddyn turned an angry gaze onto Legolas, and his hand loosened slightly. This was all the opening Aragorn needed, and he started to lean back. Geddyn was forced to lower the knife as his balance was upset. Aragorn quickly grabbed the knife and wrenched it out of Geddyn's grip. Geddyn froze as the knife slid under his chin this time, and his eyes met Aragorn's. Annoyance, frustration, and anger were simmering under their silver depths, and Geddyn had to really work hard not to look away. Geddyn didn’t know what was worse, the piercing stare of the elf, or the angry stare of the ranger.

The elf blocked several swings at his face with his arms, and gracefully ducked under each attacking man, dropped to his knees and grinned thinly as his fingers closed around the hilts to his elven daggers. Without glancing back, the elf spun the handles around in his grip, and in a single fluid move his hands returned the knives to their sheaths, before they fell to the floor and the elf swung his feet out in a low arc. The move took a matter of seconds, and caught the men by surprise. Two of the men hit the ground, and Legolas jumped cat-like to his feet.

The pair were locked in a stand-off, and the only sound was that of a body hitting the ground behind him. Unlike Geddyn, Aragorn had no desire to kill anyone, and he found himself wondering what to do. Aragorn sighed and with a final warning glance to Geddyn he motioned to Barliman. Barliman hesitated before slowly moving out of the bar, and Aragorn looked away from Geddyn to motion Barliman forward faster.

Geddyn moved quicker than Strider thought he would have been able to, and knocked the knife clean out of Aragorn's hands. It went clattering under one of the tables, and Butterbur darted back behind the bar.

Aragorn dodged Geddyn's next punch and pushed him back with his hands. The ranger had had enough of this man trying to hurt his friend simply for being an elf, and wasn't going to stand for it any more. The fact that Geddyn has also tried to kill him wasn't something the ranger had forgotten, and the anger and frustration Aragorn was feeling added weight to his blows. Ducking down and to the side to avoid Geddyn's next swing, Aragorn balled his hand into a fist and quickly struck the side of Geddyn's head. The blow dazed the man, and the next blow to his head left the man unconscious. The other men that were left didn't take kindly to the attack on Geddyn, and rounded on Aragorn. The men made one fatal mistake in that moment though. They turned their back on an annoyed elf.

A few well place hits later all the attacking men were lying in various heaps on the floor. Legolas' eyes were slowly lightening, but the fact that they hadn't returned to their normal shade of blue told Aragorn that Legolas still wasn't in the best of moods.

Butterbur sighed from where he had ducked behind the bar during the fight and gestured to some soldiers to take the men out. Ignoring the stare that Butterbur directed at them, Aragorn grabbed Legolas' arm and pulled him towards the corner where he had been working. Many of the people had gotten back to what they were doing, and some looked afraid of the skill and ease at which the ranger and the elf took down Geddyn and his friends.

Legolas and Aragorn were not worried about what Geddyn might decide to do. Aragorn knew that men were particularly bad for holding grudges, but didn't bother reflecting on it much as he started to help the soldier sitting on one of the tables. Compared to some of the things that Aragorn and Legolas had fought before, Geddyn was easy.

*~*~*~*

Aragorn ran his hand over his face and pressed his hands into his eyes. He had been working for hours now to treat all the wounded, and Aragorn was reaching the edges of his endurance. Thankfully, the steady flow of wounded had begun to ease a few hours ago, and Aragorn was relieved to see that there were very few people left to be seen to now.

That was just as well, for the ranger was starting to feel the need to sleep, and more than once Legolas had to reach out and steady the ranger when he nearly fell over. A tired healer was not a good one, and Aragorn hoped it would be over soon. He had no intention of making somebody's injuries worse because he was fatigued.

During a brief moment when there had been a welcome lull, Legolas had pulled Aragorn to the side and made him sit down for a moment. Aragorn had gotten to work right after the fight was over, and had not taken the time to see to his own injury. Legolas had glared at Aragorn until he had sat down in the chair, and got to work on bandaging the injury. As with all blades, it was a clean cut but Legolas feared that the knife might have been a dirty one. Gentle hands had cleaned the wound, and wrapped a bandage around the mans neck. Aragorn stayed still long enough for Legolas to step away, and then stared helping one of the people on the adjoining table. Legolas sighed and followed Aragorn to the new lot of wounded. That man never thought of himself…

The last of Aragorn's herbs had been used up long ago. The pair had decided not to use the herbs that Legolas carried with him in case they needed them later on. So they were forced to rely on the herbs kept here in Bree. Legolas was not familiar with most of these, but thankfully Aragorn was. A lot of the herbs that were used by the healers at Bree had been mentioned in passing during one of Elrond's lessons, and Aragorn remembered those well.

What surprised Aragorn the most was that, despite the fact that this attack was over a week ago, there were still so many people that needed to be treated. Aragorn supposed that it was purely bad timing. He had found out from one of the healers that on the week before the attack there had been a rise in the number of people staying at the Prancing Pony. Whether the attackers knew this or not, she did not know.

Another thing that hindered the treating of the injured was the sparse number of healers. Bree was very rarely attacked, and so did not see the need for healers. Luck must have been with Bree for amongst the groups choosing to stay here, there were a few healers. And with Aragorn and Legolas helping, they were making good, but arduously slow, progress.

The last person, a man with a nasty cut down his arm from one of the enemies weapons, was soon treated and Aragorn collapsed back into the chair. The urge to sleep came back stronger than ever, and it took all of his strength to open his eyes again when Legolas tugged at his arm.

"Come on human. You have been working all day." He inclined his head towards the stairs, "let's go and retire for the night."

Aragorn nodded in agreement of the elf's assessment, and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. As soon as Aragorn walked in through the door he collapsed onto the bed that Darcyn had been lying on earlier. Legolas grinned and laid back on his own bed. The beds here, while not quite so good as the ones they remembered at home, were good enough to get a fairly decent nights sleep on. Legolas didn't bother to change his clothes, as he had no other pairs with him, and pulled the comforter over his body. He was just about to fall asleep when Strider's spoke from the bed next to him.

"I found out who attacked this village Legolas." Legolas turned in his bed, and fixed his gaze on Strider. "It was orcs. That soldier I was treating told me. Either he's just friendlier than most, or was a little afraid of me, but he answered every single question I asked him. Or, he might have been afraid of you." Aragorn sent Legolas a side-long glance and grinned. Legolas chuckled and turned back over to face the ceiling again.

"A little fear isn't always a bad thing my friend. And if it was indeed orcs like your soldier friend said, then they are probably long gone by now. But what I don't get, is why a band of orcs would attack a village, any village. It's not like it has any kind of strategic position that would be beneficial to them. It's almost like they did it for one reason. The simple joy of destruction. Senseless violence." Aragorn glanced at Legolas' troubled face before turning his own gaze to the ceiling. Like Legolas, Aragorn too was thinking about why Bree had been attacked. It was a lone village of men and hobbits, what could it serve to attack such a defenceless village?

"Let us not worry about that my friend." Aragorn grabbed the comforter as he spoke and pulled it over his body. "Such thoughts can be dwelled on in the morning with a clear head."

"That would be the best thing to do." Legolas spoke from across the room. "Good night Strider."

Aragorn chuckled and said, "Good night Legolas."

*~*~*~*

Muffled sounds of people milling about in the street below made themselves known to Aragorn's weary head and he slitted open his eyes. The thin streams of light through his comforter showed the ranger that dawn was up and he sighed quietly. He would not be going back to sleep now.

The ranger sat up in bed, and ran his hand though his hair. Legolas was still sleeping, and this surprised Aragorn. Usually Legolas was awake before the dawn.

With a quick check of the room Aragorn reattached his sword to his belt and walked almost silently out the door. It would be his turn to let Legolas sleep in now.

The first person that Aragorn saw when he walked down the stairs was Barliman Butterbur. The man was flitting around as usual, and trying to see as many people as possible in the space of a few short minutes.

Aragorn ignored him for a moment and stood by the stairs. He knew that Butterbur would get around to seeing him in a little while.

As the last of the people sat down at some tables, Butterbur finally noticed Aragorn's presence by the stairs. Butterbur sighed before walking up to the ranger.

"Good morning Strider." his eyes darted around the room one more time before settling on Strider. "Thank you for your assistance last night. It was needed greatly, and we were lucky you arrived when you did I suppose."

"That is not necessary Barliman. I was trained to help others like them, and I would do it again without hesitation if I had to." Barliman nodded and motioned to the kitchen with one of his beefy hands.

"The cooks will be serving breakfast momentarily. Would you like some?"

"That would be greatly appreciated Barliman. Thank you."

Barliman nodded and went to head for the kitchen when Strider called him back. "Yes?"

"My companion is weary and is sleeping upstairs. I would appreciate it if you would not wake him."

"Of course Strider, of course." Strider nodded and moved to sit down, "but Strider.... could you and your companion please not get in any more bar fights?"

Aragorn nodded, and smirked when Barliman turned away. He could never promise that, not with the views Legolas held of some men, and the tempers of the men he saw here so far meant that blows could probably be traded again.

Aragorn retreated to a dark corner of the bar and nodded his thanks to the lady who brought out his food. From this vantage point, Aragorn could see every single person that had walked into the Prancing Pony before he had been awake, and every person who might yet walk in through the doors. All the conversations rode over each other, and Aragorn let his hearing drift over each one, listening for anything of importance. His gaze and hearing noted a small group of people in the corner. They were talking in hushed voices about a land far from here, and Aragorn could only just make out the words they were saying. Aragorn's attention was caught as soon as one of them mentioned two words.

The Shire.

Aragorn had been told extensively about The Shire during his history lessons. The Hobbits, or Periannath in the elvish tongue, were a race that Aragorn had never met before, aside from his brief encounters with some of the wounded hobbits here in Bree, Aragorn had never conversed in length with one.

This largely stemmed from their distrust of the big-folk, and very few hobbits actually left the Shire. But if they did, they usually travelled here. Although.... Aragorn remembered that Elrond had once told him that a hobbit frequented Rivendell from time to time. The name of this hobbit had totally left Aragorn, and he could not recall ever seeing him at Rivendell.

When the conversation suddenly turned to the orcs Aragorn started to listen again. The topic started to alarm Aragorn and he shifted forward slightly, attempting to hear what they were saying more easily. The last thing he heard before his attention was drawn to something else was that a group of orcs had been seen heading towards The Shire.

Legolas stepped lightly into the shadowy booth where Aragorn was sitting and raised his eyebrow in question. As the elf walked in he had seen the intent look on Aragorn's face, and wondered what could have caught his attention.

Another plate of food was placed on the table and Legolas nodded his thanks before turning to look at Aragorn.

Aragorn nodded in greeting as the elf sat down next to him but held his hand up to indicate silence, his gaze falling back to the group in the corner. Legolas nodded, and followed Aragorn's gaze. Legolas' elven hearing picked up each hushed word between the men. It was just as well that Aragorn had a set of elven ears listening into the conversation across the room because most of what was said was drowned out by a wave of raucous laughter from across the room. Aragorn sighed and sat back. With any luck, Legolas still heard every single word.

The pair sat in silence for the next few minutes, until the group stood from the table and made to leave. As soon as the group started to rise, Aragorn and Legolas dropped their heads, and they both started to eat again.

Not a word was exchanged as the pair finished the meal, and Legolas turned to look at Aragorn again. Curiosity shining in their blue depths. Aragorn shook his head and stood from his seat. Legolas took the hint and rose as well, following Strider out of the Prancing Pony. Strider reached into his pocket and pulled out some gold coins. They dropped onto the counter in front of Barliman's relieved face as the two strode out of the inn.

"What was that about Strider?"

Legolas was more comfortable with his new alias than Aragorn was at the moment. He made a mental note to ask Legolas just why he had been called that anyway.

"I heard them talking about The Shire." Aragorn lowered his voice, and leaned in closer to Legolas. "Apparently a group of orcs have been seen heading there. I managed to get that much just before you walked in. Then I didn't hear much due to the laughter from the other table. What did you hear?"

"There wasn't much more after that. The men said some of their scouts followed the orcs for a while and only just got back last night. That must have been several days ago Strider."

Aragorn knew that with the time it took most scouts to return, then the orc group must be further ahead. "I know, and that is what concerns me. Do you know anything about The Shire?" Aragorn asked when he saw Legolas glance at him. When Legolas shook his head he continued. "The Shire is the home of the hobbits Legolas. The Periannath."

When Legolas heard this he became shocked and concerned. Although the common name for the periannath was not known to the elven prince before now, Legolas knew that The Shire was a peaceful place. And, although the hobbits were a fierce race by nature when it was required of them, there was no way that they would be able to fight off a large group of orcs.

Turning to look Aragorn in the eyes, Legolas could see the decision written in the silver depths. Just like Aragorn helped out those people in Bree, Aragorn was not going to sit back and let some orcs attack The Shire. And neither was Legolas.

The two travellers sped up their pace, and hurried to the gates of Bree. As it was daylight they are open, and Aragorn and Legolas wasted no time in walking through them. Both were hoping that they would get to The Shire before the orcs did, but despite the speed at which they had elected to travel, the journey was taking a long time.

Time which they did not really have.

*~*~*~*

CHAPTER 5 - Long road to walk

The pair decided to walk down the main road out of Bree, and did not leave the path. From what little Aragorn remembered of this area the road should lead straight to the borders of The Shire. As they walked Legolas saw a large forest in the distance, and even at this distance, something about its age screamed at Legolas. The forest seemed old, very old, but Legolas could not figure out what was giving him that impression.

Legolas' gaze was brought away from the woods in the distance by an oily sounding voice. Aragorn turned to look as well, and both saw a man leaning against the walls of his house. Legolas was wary of the men around Bree, and didn't say a word.

That wouldn't have mattered anyway, for this one had not given either the elf or the ranger a moment to speak since he'd opened his mouth. Legolas stared at the man as he turned to address Strider. Heavy black eyebrows were drawn in a frown over a pair of dark eyes. He didn't look too pleased to see either of them, and his lips were curled into a sneer around the small black pipe at his lips. Legolas recognised the smell as that of what most of the men is Bree had been smoking all morning.

"Morning travellers! You wouldn't be interested in buying these two fine horses now would you?"

Legolas turned to look at the 'fine horses'. They didn't look that bad, the elf supposed, but they could really do with some good food. Both of them looked too thin.

Aragorn thought about the offer for a minute and turned to Legolas. The elf was looking at the horses, an unreadable expression on his face. Aragorn shook his head and turned away. He wasn't going to get anything out of Legolas when he had that look on his face. Aragorn glanced at the direction of The Shire. It was a long way to walk, and their journey would definitely be quicker on horseback.

Aragorn turned back to the man and nodded. A greasy smile spread over his face, and he pushed himself away from the wall.

"Good to hear. Names Bill Ferny. You won't find a better horse merchant in these parts." Somehow looking at him, Aragorn didn't really believe that, but didn't say anything. "You gonna tell me your name, stranger?"

Aragorn stared evenly at Bill for a moment before turning away to look at the horses again. "I'm Strider, ranger of the north. And how much are you charging for these?"

The smile spread and Bill sucked at his pipe. "24 silver pennies."

Both Legolas and Aragorn were stunned at the high price, and Legolas tuned both of them out as Strider started to haggle with the man. Bill didn't look to happy, and told them that he was not going to go lower than 24 silver pennies. An outraged look crossed Aragorn's face and he turned to leave. Legolas was still looking at the horses when Aragorn strode past him. He quickly reached out with his hand and grabbed Aragorn's arm, drawing him in close.

"I think you should buy these ones Aragorn." Legolas spoke quietly in elvish, and glanced back at Ferny who was staring closely a them. "The horses are not looking so well, and it would be better for them of they were out of Ferny's possession."

Aragorn glanced back at the horses and saw that Legolas was right. With a small sigh the ranger reached into his pocket and drew out the 24 pieces of silver. Bill snatched the coins out of Strider's hands with a smirk, and untethered the two horses. Aragorn and Legolas each stepped up next to a horse and smoothly swung into the saddle.

Aragorn tensed his legs and bade his horse move into a steady trot.

"See you round, Longshanks!"

Aragorn rolled his eyes, and urged the horse faster. If he ever met Bill Ferny again, the human hoped it wasn't for a while.

The pair found that the horses were actually quicker than they looked, and certainly a lot fitter. Thanks to this both man and elf made good time and arrived at the borders of The Shire.

Dismounting from his horse, Legolas glanced around. He could hear and see nothing that indicated that the orcs had walked this path before they arrived.

Just to the south of the pair was a large hill. Neither Aragorn nor Legolas knew the name of the hill, but the slopes would offer protection from the harsh winds should storm suddenly arise.

Legolas moved towards the slopes, and set his pack down against the gently sloping hill. The elf turned back, and his blue eyes sought out the ranger who was lifting his pack from the horse.

"This spot would be the best place to set up camp Strider. And I cannot see any damage to The Shire. It appears that we did indeed arrive first."

Aragorn nodded, and turned to face The Shire. Although Aragorn's sight was not as good as his elven companion's, he could still see that there was very little damage to the grassland. And the orcs were not known for their love of nature.

Despite their elven beginnings, they still did not share the same love of nature.

"Let's set up camp then, and wait for them to get here." Aragorn pulled his pack onto his shoulders and moved to stand next to Legolas. Together the pair soon had a camp set up. They elected not to light a fire because it would point them out from miles way.

Legolas requested to go on watch first, and Aragorn didn't argue. The ranger was more weary than he cared to admit, and he knew he would need to be alert for his own watch.

The ranger allowed himself to drift into sleep, content in the knowledge that he was safe with his friend watching over him.

*~*~*~*

The moon was high in the sky, and Aragorn walked up to Legolas. A touch on the elf's arm turned Legolas’ head towards him, but the elf did nothing more than nod. He had been aware of the moment that Aragorn first woke up, and he relinquished his spot on the slopes of the hills behind them.

Footsteps echoed faintly in the ground, and Aragorn quickly looked around to see where they were coming from. His silver eyes caught a group of people walking in the direction of The Shire. They looked too small to be orcs, and the ground did not groan under their feet. Aragorn breathed a sigh of relief and wondered if the group would notice their camp.

Swords scraped against sheathes as the figures walked towards their camp. Moonlight glinted off the blades, and Aragorn rested his hand on the hilt of his broadsword.

A slight shifting behind him let Aragorn know that Legolas was awake, and although the elf hadn't made a move, Legolas was only seconds away from drawing his bow and arrow if the people even so much as breathed threateningly.

The men stepped into the moonlight, and Aragorn relaxed. The garb that these men were wearing was the same as his own.

They were rangers.

The light in the rangers eyes showed that they too recognised Aragorn for what he was, but that vital trust between the men was not there, and so the swords were not lowered.

Aragorn saw that he would have to be the one to make the first move, and so he removed his hand from the hilt of his sword. With a small motion of his hand, he gestured for Legolas to relax. The narrowed eyes showed that Legolas was not too happy with the turning of the situation, but he did let his hands rest on the ground.

"Greetings Rangers. I am Strider. Might I have the pleasure of learning your names?"

Aragorn's tone was light and friendly. But inside the ranger was nervous. This was his first encounter with the rangers when he could actually speak their language, and the human had no desire to make enemies of these men.

"I am Halbarad. I lead these men." The man called Halbarad gestured with a large fist back to the other rangers behind him. "And these are Geomyr, Yricyn, Gaenry and Roryn. What is the name of your friend ranger?"

Aragorn cast a glance back at Legolas who was watching the men with a steely expression. Trust was still something that Legolas handed out to very few men.

"This is Legolas of the woodland realm." Strider kept the introductions brief and turned back to face the other rangers. "Will you put away your weapons now, or will you keep them out all night. You are among friends here."

Halbarad thought about this for a minute before sheathing his own sword. The other rangers followed their captains example and soon no sword was drawn.

"'Tis rare that an elf is seen this far from the woodland realm." Halbarad commented casually.

"We are travellers my friend. We decided that it was about time to see the world." Aragorn replied for Legolas, and pointed at the rangers sitting in a circle around Halbarad. "I heard that you were amongst the rangers that had chosen exile in the north. What are you doing this far south?"

Aragorn neatly intercepted the conversation, and turned it back on the rangers. Halbarad didn’t see anything wrong with the small change in topic, and thought about this for a minute.

"We were travelling like you, and caught sight of a band of orcs pillaging one of the villages near the Bruinen." Halbarad didn’t catch the look Aragorn and Legolas exchanged as he was looking at the wilderness around them. "We got to the village just as the orcs were leaving and followed them. We were held up a little bit getting over the plains when a sudden storm hit. The orcs continued regardless, and we were forced to take shelter. When the storm passed the orcs were a few hours ahead of us, and we followed them to Bree. The orcs were attacking the village. We joined the battle to help fight them off but were forced to leave after to follow the group as they headed west. Another storm in the plains held us off for a few more hours, and we headed here as soon as we could."

"We too heard of a band of orcs heading this way, but we have not seen any sign of tracks leading here. In fact, you are the first people that we have seen since we arrived in these parts." Said Aragorn. He was going to say more, but Legolas suddenly stood, his eyes darting about in the moonlight.

"What do you see Legolas?"

"I see naught Strider. But the earth groans under heavy footsteps. They are coming." Legolas warned as he pulled out his bow and arrow. "The earth screams and trembles in their wake."

Aragorn nodded at his friend's words, and turned to look at the rangers. Halbarad nodded back and motioned to his men to draw their swords.

Steel scraped across metal as swords were pulled from their sheaths. The men stood nervously, waiting for some sign of what the elf could sense. Legolas suddenly turned his body so it faced the corner of the hill they were camped next to. Aragorn noted this change and turned to follow his friends wordless warning. Seconds later heavy footfalls echoed in the air around them, and black hulking figures rounded the corner.

Time seemed to almost stand still as the orcs caught sight of the group standing in its way. A guttural growl moved its way through the group, and neither group made an effort to attack first.

Legolas' fingers tightened on the bow, and his eyes narrowed. This was the only sign that the elf was ready to attack. Legolas gave the group no time to react, and one of his elven arrows sung through the air. It speared straight through the chest of one to land in the chest of the orc behind it.

The arrow that Strider had notched into his own bow followed soon after, and another orc fell to the ground dead. The orc in front snarled at the men and charged. With a cry, Aragorn slung his bow over his shoulder and pulled out his broadsword. The metal arched a deadly path through the air, and an armoured arm fell to the ground by his feet. The orc cried in pain, and pulled the ranger close with his free hand. Aragorn felt his sword fall to the ground as the hand on his wrist tightened and he twisted his wrist painfully in the orcs grip; and grabbed the orcs wrist with his right hand. The weight of the orc suddenly pressed into his own, and gravity worked against the human. The pair fell to the ground, and Aragorn gasped briefly as the air was forced from his lungs. Strider forced his body to take a breath, and putting all his weight onto his feet, Aragorn swung backwards, and brought his feet up to rest on the orcs legs. The motion propelled the orc off his feet, and over Aragorn's head. The grip on his wrist loosened and Aragorn let go himself. The orc sailed through the air and landed with a thump near the slopes. With another deep breath, Aragorn staggered to his feet.

Both the man and elf were determined not to let the orcs get any closer to The Shire, or to the Hobbits.

Aragorn gasped in pain as the sharp edge of the orcish broad sword bit into his skin, and he pushed away from the ranger he had taken the cut for. With a fierce look in his eyes, Aragorn ignored the blood dripping down his arm, and the pain lancing up his nerves, and turned to face the orc. It snarled menacingly in his face, and raised the sword again. Aragorn brought his own sword up to block, and used his free hand to grab the elven dagger he kept at his waist, and slid it into the unprotected thigh. The orc snarled in pain, and Aragorn swiftly pulled the dagger out. The orc had no time to even move as he quickly brought the dagger up and slammed it with all the force his injured arms could muster in the muscled chest.

Aragorn felt a wave of despair wash over him as the orc continued to growl and pulled out the dagger with his remaining hand. Time seemed to almost slow as the orc raised the dagger and turned it in his hand. Black blood was dripping sluggishly down the blade, and Aragorn tried to move out of the way of the blade. It was then that Aragorn realised that he wasn't going to be able to get out of the way in time, and a sense of irony struck him as he realised he was about to be killed by his own dagger.

*~*~*~*

CHAPTER 6 - Plans

Pain shot up his entire body as he landed hard on the ground. His breath was coming in gasps, and he found it hard to breath. A heavy weight was pressing on his chest, and Aragorn risked opening his eyes. Out of the corner of his vision he could see people and orcs running about. If this was the misty halls of waiting, it was a busy place. Aragorn blinked when he heard someone shouting his name, and it sounded oddly like Legolas. A spike of fear ran through him as the thought that Legolas might actually be dead suddenly occurred to the young human and he struggled against the weight on his chest. He forced the orc that was lying on top of him to the side and saw an elven arrow sticking out of the orcs back.

His name was called out again and Aragorn glanced around the battle. Legolas was looking at him from across the grassland, and stared into his eyes. Legolas turned away as one of the orcs swung their sword at him, and turned back to Aragorn.

"Strider! Get up Strider!"

Aragorn struggled to his feet and dodged an arrow from one of the saner orcs that had stayed near the sidelines. Aragorn ran to the slopes of the hill, and ducked around the corner. The ranger pulled out his bow despite the pain it caused him to notch the arrow and pulled it back, and sighted on the orc. It was pointing its arrow at Legolas who had not yet noticed it, and was busy with two orcs of his own. Grimacing as the pain started getting worse, Aragorn took a deep breath to steady his hand. Just as the orc loosened his fingers slightly in preparation for release, Aragorn pulled his fingers away from the string. The loss of an anchor point forced the arrow through the air and the orc was dead before it hit the ground.

The pressing of one of the other rangers away from the group pulled Strider from his vantage point behind the hill and he advanced on the orc, his elven dagger held loosely in his grip. The pain in his sword arm was making it difficult to hold any kind of weapon now, but he was not going to stop fighting until each and every orc was dead.

Across from where Strider and Geomyr were fighting three orcs, Legolas was growing frustrated. The numbers of this band of orcs seemed to be almost endless. Almost, because the numbers were thinning, and the pile of bodies on the ground was growing with each stroke that was dealt. Out of the corner of his eyes Legolas saw Strider and Geomyr were out-numbered. Although ordinarily the elf knew that Strider would have been able to take care of himself, but the bleeding gash gave Legolas cause to worry, and he sped up his attack. No orc was spared from the brunt of the force behind the elven knives, and Legolas began to work his way over to the ranger.

The last body hit the ground and Aragorn felt the adrenaline that had been keeping him going through the fight start to dissipate. His body started to tremble from blood loss and exertion, and he stumbled on his feet. Strong, slender arms caught him before he could hit the ground and Aragorn looked up to stare into concerned elven eyes.

Legolas gently sat Strider down onto the ground and glanced around them. No more orcs were coming around the corner, and the ragged breathing of the man next to him was not getting much better. Legolas feared that he could be poisoned, as the orcs had the tendency to coat their blades with poisons of varying potency. While the other men were gathering around and checking their own injuries, Legolas rested his hand on the rangers forehead and was pleased to find that Aragorn's skin felt only just above his normal temperature. Legolas looked down into Aragorn's weary eyes when the rangers hand gripped his tunic.

"Are you alright?"

Legolas looked down at his arms and saw that Aragorn was looking at the small scratches that criss-crossed along his arms. Legolas nodded, and smiled down at the human. "I am just fine human, but it is your injuries that are concerning me at the moment." Aragorn opened his mouth, probably to say that they were nothing and Legolas glared at him. Aragorn sighed and shut his mouth when Legolas narrowed his eyes. It was true, he was feeling a little weary. But is was nothing to be so concerned over.

"Just sit down Estel and let me look at your wounds." Legolas spoke quietly, and in elvish. His voice lowered so only Aragorn could hear him. Aragorn sighed and helped Legolas move the tunic from his shoulders. The breath passed his lips in an agonised hiss as the fabric caught on blood and skin, and Legolas moved even more slowly.

"How is he?"

Halbarad moved up from Legolas' left, and knelt down next to the elf.

"He will be fine. So long as he doesn't over exert himself. Got that Strider?" Aragorn chuckled and then winced at the pain that movement caused. "Don't think I won't force you to stay here until you are fully healed Estel." The threat was spoken quietly in elvish and Aragorn nodded. The look in Legolas' eyes told the human that Legolas was perfectly serious. *Oh Valar. Not another Elladan.*

"Don't worry Legolas. I will rest until I am healed." Legolas nodded in satisfaction at the elvish reply, and asked one of the men to bring over Strider's pack for him. As Legolas rifled through the pack and pulled out some bandages Aragorn noticed Halbarad looking at them with a curious gaze on his face. It occurred to Aragorn then that Halbarad might not have met any rangers that spoke elvish before. Aragorn internally winced, and hoped that the elder ranger was not going to question them on it.

Strider glanced around the band of rangers, and noted that one of them was starting a fire. While Aragorn was a little hesitant about this he realised that some of the men had pretty serious wounds, and would need to be cleaned out with hot water. Strider turned to address Halbarad as Legolas started to place some herbs into the jagged cut on his arm.

"Tell me Halbarad. Why do you think the orcs would want to attack The Shire? I have thought about this for a while now and I can see no logical reason for it." Halbarad looked pensive for a moment, and glanced at The Shire in the distance before answering.

"I'm not sure myself Strider. The mind of an orc is not an easy thing to get into, and they find pleasure in the most barbaric of things. To be perfectly honest, it would not surprise me if the beasts simply wanted some new sport to hunt. Poor little hobbits. It's a shame they are not strong enough to defend themselves against those who would seek to do them harm."

"Are there any steps that can be taken to ensure that no-one sets foot in The Shire that came with ill-will towards the people there?"

"What do you mean Strider?" asked Halbarad.

"The hobbits are not strong enough to defend themselves against a great enemy. Are there any measures of protection for them?"

"No, there are none."