Eldarion felt frustration with his own helplessness while he was being chained to the wall. The rough manacles were hurting his wrists, but he didn't care. Another worry was tearing his heart apart, blocking away the world around him. He had to get away before it was too late. Before the traitor has succeeded.

"Why do you serve him?" he asked the pirate, who was making sure the boy was secured to the wall. "Is it greed for wealth? Or simply fear?" The man ignored his question and proceeded with his work. "If it is wealth that you want, you are on the wrong side," the child continued. "My father is a king, if you let me go, I'll make sure you are properly rewarded. You will have all the gold you want."

The man stared at Eldarion and backhanded him, still unable to believe that the child had just attempted to bribe him. Of course, he would never let the boy go although the offer tempted him. He was too afraid what Dargmor would do to him. "Maybe my Captain would like to know what you're trying to do, boy," he hissed. "I'll make sure he knows, so that he'll send to you only the ones loyal to him."

"Loyal?" the child raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe afraid. Have you any idea what loyalty is? Have you ever had a ruler who inspired loyalty? A ruler you followed because of love, rather than fear? I'm giving you the chance to have such a ruler. Help me. Join my side."

The Corsair shook his head. "This will never work, kid. Give this up before you get yourself into more trouble than you already are. If this is possible at all."

Eldarion shut his eyes as he felt the whip on his back. But he wasn't thinking about the pain. He was worried. And he had a good reason.

Unfortunately, the prince didn't know that Bogomil's treachery was already discovered.

Fortunately, he didn't know that his father was about to be made into soup.

---

He was freefalling. The boiling water was getting closer, and he could already feel the heat. He knew that once he touched it, his skin would be permanently damaged, and he wouldn't survive in it for more than a minute. All these thoughts passed through his mind in less than a second.

When he had almost reached the surface, Aragorn grabbed the edge of the cauldron and pushed his feet against the other edge, barely managing to keep his balance. He could hardly reach the opposite edge since the cauldron was too big. His hands were burned by the heated metal, but he didn't let go. The hot vapor engulfed him, stealing his breath.

Aragorn ventured to look up, only to see the troll's enormous fist coming down, ready to send him into the cauldron. But she suddenly stopped as something diverted her attention.

The troll looked curiously at the elf who had just thrown a stone at her. It failed to cause any pain and barely alerted the troll that something had hit her. The creature's limited mind didn't even wonder how the golden-haired being had escaped his bonds. But she could deal with that later. She had to finish the soup first.

Legolas wished he had his bow now although his arrows would do little against the troll. Her thick skin protected the huge creature better than any armor. Gimli handed him another rock. The elf decided to use the opportunity that the troll was facing him, and threw the stone, aiming carefully. And his projectiles always reached their aim, no matter if they were arrows or stones.

The troll cried in pain as the stone struck her eye. She blinked instinctively, her thick eyelid absorbing most of the impact and preventing any real damage, but it was still painful. Completely forgetting about her cooking, she focused all her attention on the despicable creature that had hurt her.

In the meantime, Aragorn managed to roll down the cauldron. He looked in shock as the troll focused on the elf. "Legolas, Gimli, run!" he shouted. His friends seemed hesitant. "Run and separate!" he shouted again. "We are three, and they are two. This will confuse them."

Legolas was unwilling to run away, but he had to admit Aragorn's words made sense, much unlike the human's recent actions. Besides, the two trolls were already running towards them, and they had nothing to fight them with. Finally, the elf reasoned, if they ran, the trolls would follow them, giving Aragorn a chance to escape. "Run!" he shouted to the dwarf and pushed him towards the opening, following right after him. The dwarf didn't need a second order and quickly rushed forward.

Aragorn watched in horror as the mother troll almost caught Legolas. He had to do something. He tried to push the cauldron and send the boiling water after the troll, but it was too heavy and he properly burned his hands in his fruitless attempts. He looked desperately around the cave, trying to find something he could use as a lever. The floor was covered with bones. There was still some meat on some of them, its rotting filling the air with foul stench. Aragorn pushed away the sickening thought that some of those bones were probably human. He picked one of them, and leaned it over one of the stones around the fire, using it as a lever. The cauldron turned over and let a river of boiling water run across the stone cave floor.

Legolas turned as his friend shouted a warning. He jumped to the right, climbing a bigger rock and escaping the water. The troll, however, wasn't fast enough. The water burned her feet, causing great pain despite her thick skin.

The water flowed out of the cave and was finally absorbed into the earth. Gimli was already out, trying to escape the smaller troll.

The troll turned around with an angry cry, staring in rage at the man who had caused her injury. This annoying little human was going to pay for this.

Legolas frantically looked around, trying to find something to attack the orc with. Clearly, throwing stones at her wouldn't do much good. He spotted the bag with their weapons, hanging above, close to the top of the cave. The elf jumped nimbly and pushed it down. A sword, bow and quiver, twin knives, a dagger and an axe fell to the floor with a jingling sound. The troll turned immediately.

Legolas instantly grabbed his bow and quiver, but before he could fire an arrow, the air was violently pushed out of his lungs as a strong troll hand grabbed him and squeezed him. She took his weapons and threw them backwards.

"I'll squeeze you to death, little elfling," she spoke. "I usually like to keep the food alive until I cook it, so that it's fresher, but you are too much trouble."

Legolas gasped desperately, but he couldn't breathe. His chest was pressed too hard. Yellow spots danced in front of his eyes and the world seemed to grow dimmer. Just when he was sure he was going to pass out, the troll suddenly dropped him.

The huge creature dispassionately removed the arrow stuck in her thick neck. She seemed to be getting bored of all this. The troll turned to face Aragorn, who fired a second arrow with the elven bow. But it was nearly impossible to cause any real damage.

"So you can also shoot with a bow, little food?" she turned towards the man. "Too bad. Then I need to kill you first."

Aragorn sent an arrow flying towards her face, but she just raised her hand to protect it. The projectile stuck in her palm, but she didn't seem to care and took another step towards the human.

Then she suddenly dropped to her knees with a soft moan. Someone had cut her leg from behind. Aragorn looked in surprise at the elf, who was now holding his sword. They had unintentionally changed their weapons. And it seemed to work just perfect.

The man used the troll's initial shock and sent another arrow, this time piercing her left eye. The creature cried out in pain, lunging at his attacker with pure, animal rage. But she was already too furious to think clearly and did nothing to stop the next arrow, which stuck in her right eye.

The troll felt something she had never experienced before. Fear. She was blind.

The desperate creature did everything possible to fight the agile being that easily climbed her back. But she could do nothing to push him away. Before the troll could realize the true hopelessness of her situation, a long sword was stuck in her neck with elven strength.

The troll was dead.

Legolas nimbly jumped and avoided the huge falling body. "Well done, my friend," Aragorn approached him with a smile and handed him his weapons.

But the elf's face was deadly serious. "Do you realize, insane human, that this is the most foolish idea you have ever had?!" he hissed. "I never thought I would say that. I never thought that you could ever come up with anything worse than you brilliant escape plan when the orcs captured us the first time you visited Mirkwood, but obviously I was wrong. You can always come up with something more reckless!" Legolas was almost yelling. The image of his human friend being dropped over the boiling water was still fresh in his mind, and fear made his words sound harsher than they were intended.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Aragorn grinned innocently.

The elf didn't return the smile. "This is no excuse. Don't dare do this again, I am not going to save you!" He glared at the human again, but soon his relief gave way to a slight smile. "You look terrible," he whispered.

Aragorn laughed with relief when he felt the tension dissipate. "Prissy Elf," he snorted. "We barely survived and still outer appearance is your first priority."

The elf shoved him aside, eliciting a soft gasp. "How do you feel?" he asked immediately, concern quickly replacing anger. "Any broken bones?"

"I have been worse," the human muttered.

Legolas laughed. "So true, you have been worse indeed. Can you walk?"

Aragorn nodded. "We must find Gimli."

"Yes," the elf's voice was grim. "The little troll was chasing him when he got out. He is unarmed and I'm worried about him."

"Little?" Aragorn stared at him incredulously. "You call that thing 'little'?!"

Legolas chuckled. "Alright then. The 'not that big' troll, if you prefer it this way."

"Much better," Aragorn smiled and walked out of the cave. "Let's go find Gimli."

The sun was up already and the tracks were easy to follow. Aragorn crouched from time to time to get a better look. "Gimli was running faster," he observed. "Maybe he was able to escape." He got up and ran several more steps before crouching again. "Good news," he announced. "Their tracks separate. Obviously Gimli was much faster, and the troll couldn't read tracks and lost him." He looked up and noticed that Legolas was smiling.

"What?" he asked confused. "What is it?"

"Nothing," the elf replied softly. "It's just that I … well, I've missed Strider."

Aragorn returned the smile. "He is back," he said and looked at his friend. Legolas' gaze was lost somewhere at the distance.

"When I was coming to Minas Tirith, I was afraid," the elf admitted. "I was afraid that after you've become a king, you might have changed. You might have become a different man. But I was wrong," he smiled again. "Your heart will always wander, mellon-nin. And you will be the ranger I have always known."

"Well, actually I'm not sure that this is a good thing," Aragorn chuckled.

Legolas looked at him. "It is a good thing," he replied seriously.

"You are alive!" Elf and human gasped as they were both crushed in a painfully tight embrace. Gimli had noticed that the troll wasn't following him any more, and had ventured to come back and see if he could help his friends.

"Yes, we are alive … still." Legolas whispered, as he was doing his best to keep breathing. The dwarf released him with a smile. "Elves are sturdier than I thought," he commented. "You must have picked it up from me."

"The only thing I could pick up from you is dwarvish stubbornness," Legolas replied. "Fortunately, I haven't done this yet."

"How could you?" Aragorn smiled. "You are more stubborn than him."

"Thank you for you loyal support, my friend," Legolas glared at him.

"Well, I'm just supporting the truth, Legolas," the man smiled and ducked to avoid the elf's blow.

"How did the two of you get out of there?" Gimli asked. "And what happened to mommy-troll?"

"She is dead," Legolas answered and started telling his friend how they had escaped. "This was a good shot, mellon-nin," he turned towards Aragorn as he reached that point of the story. "You are a decent archer. Anyway, much better than before I taught you how to shoot."

"You were also pretty good with the sword," the man admitted.

"Oh, you say this only because you've never seen him with an axe." Gimli said enthusiastically. "You missed such a sight. But I can say for sure – this is his weapon. He's just born for it."

"It's not!" Legolas protested, "But, unlike you, clumsy Dwarf, I am able to fight with any weapon, even with an axe."

"It's not just that," Gimli disagreed. "You are born for this, Legolas. Next time we meet orcs, we should both fight with axes and see who kills more. That way we'll find out for sure who the best dwarf is."

"But Gimli, I've always wanted to be the best dwarf," the elf smiled. "If you beat me, it will break my heart."

"If that's the case, I'll let you win," the dwarf winked. "I don't want to kill your dreams."

Legolas was about to reply, when he noticed that Aragorn was examining some old tracks. His face looked troubled.

"What is it?" the elf asked.

Worried gray eyes turned to him. "It is as I feared," the man spoke. "The entire forest is troll territory. The mother and the child are not the only inhabitants."

But Legolas wasn't listening to him anymore. He was concentrated on a soft distant sound. Or maybe not that distant.

The elf's face was pale as he turned towards his friends.

"We are not alone."

---

"The Corsair army is expected to be here tomorrow," Faramir reported. "But don't worry, my Queen, we are ready to meet them."

Arwen was too lost in her own thoughts to answer him. They had been away for so long. They should have been back by now. She didn't want to imagine her little son in the hands of those pirates. What would they do to him? Was he even still alive? Was she going to see him again? Don't worry about Eldarion, my love. I won't come back without him. I swear. Those words still echoed in her ears. She knew that her husband meant it. If Eldarion died, she was not going to see Aragorn again. Then she would have no choice but to follow them and pass into the shadows.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. "Come in," she called.

Arwen gasped as she recognized the man standing at the door. This was the Captain of the royal escort.

"What happened?" she jumped to her feet and rushed towards the man. "Where is King Elessar?" The fact that the escort was back, and Aragorn hadn't come to her yet worried her immeasurably.

The man looked aside guiltily. He struggled to find the right answer. But no answer seemed to be right. "Don't be troubled, my Lady," he finally murmured. "The King was alright when we left him."

"When you left him!" Arwen was incredulous. "What do you mean you left him?!"
"He ordered us to leave," the warrior explained. "We discovered that Captain Bogomil betrayed us. He joined us with a small party of men and he claimed that you've sent him. King Elessar ordered me to take the entire escort and take them back."

Arwen was shocked by the news. She had always trusted Bogomil. The traitor would be punished. But she had other concerns right now.

"You didn't need all men to escort the traitor back," she spoke softly and accusingly. "Did you at least learn anything about Eldarion?"

"Yes, my Queen. The Prince was saved, but then we were attacked and he was recaptured. He was unharmed the last time we saw him. King Elessar wanted to go and look for him by himself." The man flinched under Arwen's glare. "We were just following orders, my Lady."

"Orders! Your first and sacred duty is to protect your King! How could you leave him alone?" her voice was dangerous.

"But he is not alone," the man retorted.

"Not alone?" Arwen was confused. "But you said all men came back."

"All Men, yes," he explained. "But we met a Dwarf and an Elf on the way, and they stayed with him. They seemed to know the King quite well. Gimli and Legolas are their names, if I remember correctly."

"Legolas and Gimli are with him!" Arwen almost shouted with joy. "You should have stared with this." Then she turned her bright smile towards Faramir. "I don't know if to be relieved or worried." She admitted. "They are very good friends and I can completely rely on them, but …, well, every time my husband gets together with that Elf, they somehow get into trouble."

Faramir smiled. To him it was evident that in spite of her last words, the Queen was very relieved and happy.

But maybe it was a wiser choice to be worried.

---

Soon no one needed an elvish sight to see the approaching trolls. The moving pack looked like an evil mountain, sliding their way. They were so many.

The three friends ran desperately. They knew that if the trolls got them, they wouldn't survive recapture. Zigzagging between the trees as fast as they could, they finally reached a river.

It was shallow, but fast, and was too wide to jump over. Legolas stepped first, careful of his footing. "The rocks are slippery," he whispered and cautiously walked forward. The water was running around his legs, doing everything possible to knock him down.

Aragorn and Gimli followed. Progress was very slow. No one dared run over the slippery floor. But they had to. The trolls were almost upon the river bank.

Gimli saw the approaching creatures and took a quicker step. It was a mistake. The dwarf fell down in the water with a cry. Aragorn immediately grabbed him, but it was hard for him to maintain his own balance, so he also slipped and found himself under water.

Legolas rushed towards his friends, but it was impossible to run over the wet stones, so he tried swimming downstream instead. But he had almost no control over his movements and had to leave the water carry him.

Finally, he managed to grab Gimli's sleeve, and the three of them tried to swim together towards the shore. It wasn't an easy task. The river was constantly pushing them towards the bottom, not letting them breathe. Finally, gasping and coughing, the three friends reached the shore.

But there was no time to relax. The trolls were crossing the river with annoying ease.

They ran on, feeling that their pursuers were too close.

Suddenly Aragorn stopped. "What is it?" Legolas asked, but got his answer as he looked around.

They were in a cliff, completely surrounded by tall rocks.. The only way out was blocked by the trolls. They were trapped.

There was nowhere to go. Except …

"This way!" Aragorn shouted and grabbed Legolas' arm. When the elf saw where they were headed, he pulled back and tried to resist.

"This is a cave!" he stated the obvious.

"I know," the man replied. "I'm really sorry, mellon-nin, but there is no other way."

"Don't you see that we'll be trapped there as well? It will be even worse. If we are going to die, I personally prefer to die outside."

"We have a chance to survive if we go," Aragorn reasoned. "Please, my friend, trust me."

Legolas followed but shook his head in dismay. "Why do I always trust you? Every time I do it, I regret it afterwards. And I always swear I'll never trust you again."

Something tells me this will be the case again, Aragorn thought, but decided not to share his thoughts with Legolas. Something about this cave just didn't seem right.

The three friends entered the dark passage. They could easily hear the trolls' steps. They would be upon them in seconds.

Aragorn quickly looked around, trying to think of something they could do to stop the trolls. Suddenly, he noticed something peculiar about this cave.

Obviously, it had experienced a cave-in in the past. Piles of rocks were leaning above the entrance, ready to fall any minute. They were all supported by a bigger rock, which looked highly unstable. It just needed a slight push to fall and let the entrance collapse on itself.

He immediately shared his plan with his friends.

"Aragorn, did I get this correctly?" the elf's voice was stained with disbelief. "You want to cause a cave-in?!"

"Not the entire cave will collapse," the man explained. "It's just the entrance. The trolls won't be able to get in. Besides, it is quite possible that not the entire entrance will be blocked. It will be enough so that a troll won't be able to get in, but when they leave us, we'll be able to get out."

"Brilliant idea, like always, but it has a slight weak point. If the cave-in does block the entire entrance, which, I believe, is very highly probable, then the trolls won't get in, but how exactly are we supposed to get out?!"

"There might be another exit of this cave," Aragorn reasoned. "Besides, if we don't do it, we die for sure, and if we do it we have a slight chance to survive."

"Very slight." The elf retorted. "I don't want to be buried alive. And if you think there might be another exit, isn't it wiser to search for it, before we bring the mountain on top of ourselves?"

"We don't have time," the man's voice was urgent. "They are coming!"

Legolas sighed in defeat. "Why do I always trust you?" he asked in desperation.

Aragorn smiled, "Thank you, my friend. I hope you won't regret it this time."

"I doubt it," the elf snorted. "I already regret it."

"Get away from the entrance!" Aragorn commanded, and the elf and the dwarf immediately obeyed.

He kicked the big rock and ran towards the inside. The ground shook. Stones were falling from everywhere. Aragorn shielded his head with his hands to protect himself from the falling debris. A hand quickly grabbed him and pulled him out of the way of a particularly big stone.

"You plan looks great so far," the elf hissed. "Let me just point out that the entire entrance is indeed blocked."

Aragorn looked back and saw that this was true. "Well, at least the trolls can't get in," he observed calmly. "Everything is going according to the plan so far. We just need to find a way out."

"Well, I hope we do. I told you that the troll distraction plan was the worst idea you've ever had, but this is even worse. I was right to say that you can always come up something more reckless."

"The good thing is that you still trust me," the man smiled.

"I know." The elf sighed. "And this makes me twice the fool you are."

They walked around the entire cave, carefully fingering every point on the wall. There was no other exit.

They had a little amount of food and no water. There were rivers everywhere, and they never expected to need water supplies.

But they wouldn't live long enough to thirst to death. There was no way fresh air could get inside the cave. They would soon run out of air.

---

The pirate lowered his whip. He couldn't go on.

He was used to attacking villages, robbing, and even killing, but at least he knew why he was doing it. But this cruel beating of a chained, helpless child seemed totally pointless.

Of course, Dargmor was quite angry at the boy for attacking him. But he didn't really pity his Captain. Eldarion had spoken true – Dargmor was ensuring loyalty by fear, and not by love.

He stared at the trembling form in front of him. It was evident that the child was suffering. He didn't know, however, that Eldarion didn't suffer so much from the beating, in fact he wasn't beaten that much, but from fears much stronger and deeper.

"That's enough," the pirate spoke. "My Captain insisted on a much harsher punishment, but I think this is enough for now. I just need you to do something. When my Lord comes to see you, you must pretend that you were beaten much harder, and you are feeling really bad."

The prince was surprised at this unexpected mercy and wasn't sure how to react. He turned towards the man to thank him, but instead his gaze focused somewhere behind his tormentor, his eyes widening with horror.

The pirate froze, apprehension gripping his heart. He turned slowly around and winced under Dargmor's glare.

"That is an unusual display of loyalty," the Captain's voice was dry and unamused.

"My Lord –"

"You don't need to explain. Get out, I'll deal with you later." Then he turned toward Eldarion. "Obviously, I need to punish you myself."

Dargmor took a step towards the boy, holding an evil-looking device in his hand.

---

Legolas was sitting on the ground, his face buried in his hands. He had been like this since they discovered that there was no way out.

Aragorn knew very well how the elf felt about caves, and felt extremely guilty for his decision. It was really better to die outside, fighting trolls, than wait for a slow death in a cave. He gently laid an arm on Legolas' shoulder.

"Forgive me, mellon-nin."

"Ú-moe edaved, Estel. There is nothing to forgive," He tried to force a smile, although he knew that his friend couldn't see his face in the darkness. "Besides, this is no surprise to me. I've always known that I would die in a cave with you by my side, and that it would be entirely your fault."

Gimli was walking around, unwilling to accept the situation. Suddenly a splashing sound echoed inside the cave and the surprised dwarf pulled his foot out of the water.

Water?!

Aragorn and Legolas rushed towards him and inspected the discovery. There was a small pond in the middle of the cave. They haven't seen it due to the impenetrable darkness. It wasn't close to the walls, so they hadn't found it while looking for an exit.

Legolas carefully got inside the pond, noticing that he couldn't reach the bottom. "Wait here," he whispered and dived.

Soon he came out again. "There is an underwater tunnel!" His voice was exited. "It might be going out!"

"We don't know how long it is and if we can survive that long without air," Gimli pointed out.

"I can hold my breath the longest," Legolas said. "I can go down the tunnel and see how long it is. If I reach an open space, I'll immediately come back and tell you. If it's too long, and I see I won't make it, I'll just return."

Aragorn didn't like the suggestion. "I think we should all go. If we stay here, we are dying anyway. It's better to take the risk and go. If you go alone, we don't know what you'll find and what dangers you will face. But whatever they are, I think it would be better to face them together."

"What can happen, it's just a water tunnel?" Legolas asked. "I'm just going to investigate, after I come back will hopefully all go. Besides," he added with a smile, "we all know that if I am with you, the chances that something bad will happen increase considerably."

"Alright," the man conceded, "but be careful. You know how long you can hold your breath under water. When half of this time passes, come back. Don't take any unnecessary risk."

"Of course," the elf smiled and started to go under the water.

"Wait!" Aragorn stopped him. A sudden fear gripped his heart. "You must promise me that you'll come back if you don't discover anything soon. Please, mellon-nin, promise me."

"I promise," Legolas whispered and disappeared under the surface.

Man and dwarf sat by the pond and waited. Time was mercilessly passing, and there was no sign from their fair friend.

"How long can Elves hold their breath under water?" Gimli asked, not at all sure he wanted to know the answer.

"About ten minutes," Aragorn said softly, his voice shaking and thick with tears. "At most fifteen."

Gimli shuddered. Legolas had been under water for more than three hours.

TBC