[Nerindel]

Taurëwen cringed as the half orc, half man abomination paced up and down eyeing them up and down, as if trying to decide what to do with them, if only she had her sword she would know what to do with him. The repulsion and hatred she felt towards Rhtalk frightened her a little, but the sight of the captive elves, and the thought that her brother could be among them, had filled her with rage.


"Looks like we have found some help...."

"Help, we will never help you!" she spat defiantly, lifting her head to look the halforc in the eye, the repulsion she felt dripping from her words. Her eyes remained unwavering as Rhtalk shot her a stare, suddenly she felt her head snap back as her hair was grabbed from behind,

"spirited eh, elf witch we wills have fun watching im breaks it, now bes silent else we sends you piece by piece to the wolfses!" he whispered in her ear, She shuddered not at his threat but at the repulsion of his closeness and was relieved when he pushed her forwards but as he did her foot moved slightly and it hit something, 'in the folds of her skirt' she thought, she remained defiant as she rose but kept silent. If she was right Reynions knife lay in the lining of her skirt, hidden from her captors. She had completely forgotten about it, 'it must have cut through the material of her skirt when they fought the troll and slipped into the lining'.

As she fought to suppress the grin that threatened to give her away, she saw Rhtalk point to her, Eruwen, Ihwesta and Arië, he told them that they would assist in building, building what she could not imagine. Then he told the males that they would be drafted to some sort of army, Taurëwen's then turned her head to look at Reyn, what would they do with him, she panicked, he can hardly walk let alone fight. But her panic turned to anger as the Goblin behind Reyn kicked him forwards, "ey, what 'bout this one? "it said gruffly. As she stiffened she felt her goblin guard rest a heavy black blade at her throat, "Just tries it!" it sneered baring it's yellow teeth at her as she slowly turned to eye him.

After Rhtalk ordered the goblins to take them to their cages, she felt her guard grab her up by her hair and push her forwards, 'he will be the first one I kill !' she promised silently as he grabbed her arm and pulled her on.

"We are here to rescue the Elves you have taken and we are here to bring you down!" she heard Ceros shout back to Rhtalk , Taurëwen fumed as the goblins laughed at his words.

"well you are doing well so far!" Rhtalk shouted back mockingly, Taurëwen again remembered the knife in her skirt,lowered her head so none could see the satisfied grin on her face, 'yes we are!' she thought to herself. Her guard then sharply pulled her forwards until they reached a large iron and wooden structure 'no a cage!' she thought as she and the others were pushed inside.

Taurëwen was horrified at what she saw, at lest two dozen elves were housed in this prison many of them suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion, luckily the orcs had not seen fit to remove her herb satchel, but as she started to help the elves she noted a blank emptiness in their eyes, that unnerved her. "What is it?" Arië asked, "I don't know, she said waving her hand infront of a she-elf before her, the elf seemed not to even register her presence, she glanced round to see if the guards where watching, they seemed to be watching something else, so she placed her bare hand on the she elfs skin and using her healing skills tried to see if the elf was injured. Almost at once she jumped back letting go of the elf, "Ungol! Ungol!" she whispered to the others as they stared at her, for a while this is all they could get out of her, there was no other way she could describe it, it was like a Darkness had infected the elfs mind and was slowly poisoning her free will.

As she went around the others she found this darkness in all of them, but some not as much as others, but these elves were to afraid to speak to them and some even believed they were not elves, just some kind of trick to torment them further.

"Taurëwen!" she heard Ceros call from the other side of the cage, as she reached him she gasped, sat on the floor staring at nothing was her brother, "Talas!" she cried flinging her arms around him, but when he did not respond she fearfully pulled back to look at him, he looked at her but there seemed to be no recognition, infact there was no emotion at all. "No!" she cried shaking him gently, until Reynion put a gentle hand on her shoulder, he said nothing but she welcomed his silent gesture, it gave her pause to think.

She reached in her pack and took out three small vials of Miruvore, she tucked one into her tunic, then gave one to Reynion and the other to Ceros, "use it sparingly and keep it out of sight, it is all I have left!" She then took out the small supply of Lembas she kept in her herb satchel and divided it between the seven of them. As they split up to help the weak and exhausted, Taurëwen grabbed Reynion's arm "Reyn could you help me" she asked softly, her sad green eyes pleading with him, "what do you wish me to do?" he replied lowering his head , as if afraid she would ask something he would not be able to do in his crippled state. "Just stay and watch" she said gesturing to the guards, then to her brother,.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, concern tracing his brow, "That which I am trained to do!" she answered, though her voice wavered as doubt crossed her mind, but looking at the blank shell that was once her brother she steeled herself and went to his side. As Reynion watched the guards she placed her hand on his forehead and whispered "Talas it is I, Elle-Taur'othar!" She went on talking softly to him reminding him of things they had done together, of their mother and father and of the great realm they lived in, but nothing seem to work, so she used her healing gift to try to drive out the darkness as she would a disease.

After about and hour, Reynion turned just in time to catch Taurëwen as she collapsed exhausted to the floor, and there she lay asleep in his lap, he could she her breathing and he gently brushed aside a stray golden lock and took the vial she had given him, unstopped the top and let a few drops fall onto her lips and into her mouth, then he too leaned back to sleep.

Taurëwen was awakened by rough orc hands as they pulled at her, "gets up! gets up!" it shouted in her ear, she had barely got up when she was being dragged through the cage door, She saw Rhtalk watching them as they were given a meagre breakfast, was it breakfast she wasn't sure it was still dark, it tasted foul, but she ate trying not to think on what it was she was eating.

Then they were separated from the males and lead off towards a building area, Taurëwen was lead to a dry stony area full of large rocks, on one of the rocks sat a chisel and hammer, she was told that she was to cut the stone, when she refused she heard the crack of a whip and felt a sharp pain down her back, but she refused to wince, 'No! she thought, I cannot help the others if I am injured or weak' she thought to herself, then slowly she lifted the Chisel and hammer and began cutting the stone, But the overseers where brutal and punished any they thought was not pulling their weight, or any that tried to help another as she soon found out, she had instinctively went to aid one of her kin who had fallen and for this he had slapped here hard across the face and ordered that she was to have no supper.

Everyday Taurëwen worked the rough stone, and every night she would return her hands blistered and share her supper with those weaker than herself, then she would go to her brother and continue to try to heal him, from what ever ailed him and each night she would fall asleep in Reynion's lap.

On the sixth day Rhtalk was overseeing their work and he noticed that Taurëwen was cutting blocks for the others as well as herself, she lowered her head as he walked towards them, one of the women that worked with her had been struggling so she cut extra bricks and put them in her pile, Rhatalk throw one of the bricks to her feet, "You did this!" he bellowed and as she defiantly looked up she saw had he had the elf woman that she had tried to help stood infront of him and had a black blade held to her throat, "No!" she cried seeing the elf woman's terrified eyes, "It was me, punish me!" she pleaded.

"She can't do the work she is of no further use!" he sneered as he cut the elf woman's throat.

"No!" she screamed through her tears and raising her chisel and hammer she charged at Rhtalk, he dropped the elf corpse and grabbed Taurëwen by the wrists, spinning her round and pulling her tight into his chest, "Now how are you keeping so strong, my spirited filly?" he whispered in her ear pressing one of his black hands over her body until he found the bulge in her tunic, ripping the material away he held the small glass vial in his hands, "well, well, well what have we here?" he said removing the stopper with his teeth and giving it a sniff.

"Why don't you give it a taste she spat knowing full well that it would burn the foul half-breed. But he just grinned and threw the bottle to the floor she winced as the vial smashed and the clear liquid seeped into the dry ground.

"You are spirited" he laughed "I like that" he whispered pulling her tighter and moving closer to her face that she could feel his foul breath on her cheek, she shuddered as he licked her cheek, but this only made him laugh as he threw her to the goblin guard, "put her back in her cage and see that she does not eat unless I say so!"

Once back in the cage Taurëwen went to her brother, after six days she seemed no closer to freeing him than she had been on the first day and she could see that this darkness was slowly starting to spread to her companions.

"It was time you and the others were leaving, I have a knife that was missed by the goblins, "Tearing the lining of her skirt she slipped the knife to Ceros,

"Here use it to pick the lock when the guards fall asleep, then just sneak away!"

"No! we all go or none go!" he said slipping the knife back to her, "We will think of some other way?" he gently reassured her. She nodded and went back to her brother, but she was not sure there was a way out, would she have to watch as the others slowly became mindless servant like her brother. For some reason she remained unaffected by this strange darkness, although she felt it in her mind, it never took hold, 'something to do with her gift' she assumed. She grew concerned when she noticed that Reynion had not yet returned and as she looked around she noticed that Gil too was not back, but she did not wait for him instead she placed her hands on Talas' forehead and began again trying to heal him, little knowing that she was being watched.......

[ October 01, 2003: Message edited by: Nerindel ]