When Elrohir awoke he was aware of a figure looming over him.

Shaking the sleep from his eyes, he saw that it was Legolas, facing down the imperious shape of the Dyrian.

"Now then, silly Elf, move aside or you shall suffer very much indeed."

When Legolas spoke, Elrohir almost jumped from how different he sounded.

"No, you listen, you stupid fool! This is a servant who belongs to me, and it should be me who has a say in what happens to him! My father gave him to me, and he told me I could do whatever I wanted to with him! And right now I want him -- no, them -- to be left in this tower to die of starvation!"

The Dyrian seemed to pause for thought before he took another step closer.

"But I do think they shall have their uses with us after all," the Dyrian said.

"No, I am utterly sick of them and wish to leave them here!" Legolas cried, stomping his foot on the ground for good measure.

The truth of what Legolas was trying to do hit Elrohir all of a sudden, and he cried, "Legolas!"

"Prince Legolas to you, good sir," Legolas said coldly. "Now pray be quiet, will you?"

Surprised, Elrohir fell silent,

The Dyrian let out a bemused laugh. "What has gotten into you, prince? Power addled your brains?"

"I am sick of this pretending to be great and strong. I never had to do so in my father's kingdom and I hate having to do so now! If you take them along, I shall only get bored and annoyed, and there will be no telling how successful I shall be when I am annoyed."

Spitting at Legolas's feet, the Dyrian allowed a mask of fury to pass his face.

"You gave me a bond --"

Legolas looked bored. "Yes, yes. I know. I covenanted to try my best, but what if it is not good enough?"

The Dyrian screamed with anger and hit Legolas hard across the face, sending him reeling.

"Do you want me to start work on you now?"

Looking up at the twisted being, steel seemed to glint in Legolas's eyes.

"I will risk death and more if you do not do as I say. And you can take my word for it."

His sudden chilly determination seemed to cause a reaction in the Dyrian, who took a step back.

"Leave them."

The Dyrian waved his hand and Legolas was flung against the wall with an invisible force. The impact was so loud that Elrohir had to bite his lip to prevent himself from crying out at the sound. Still, Legolas did not flinch and picked himself off the ground.

"You will not get your precious gem if you persist in this ridiculous manner," he said.

"Legolas!" Esendri flew into the tower, his face panic-stricken as he saw the situation before them.

"You stay with him in here, runt," Legolas said, his pallid face taking on a more contemptuous sneer. And then his face softened a fraction. "And may you get what you deserve."

"No!" Elrohir cried, but suddenly found that an invisible force was holding both him and Esendri still and silent. Only his eyes rose to meet Legolas's, and he shuddered when he saw what was in them.

You cannot come with me, Legolas's thoughts brushed against theirs, strained from the effort of communicating in this way.

No, Legolas, Elrohir pleaded, do not do this. Let me go with you.

Good bye, Elmaethor.

Legolas turned to the Dyrian.

"Shall we?" he said.

Elrohir and Esendri could only look on with increasingly frantic eyes as the Dyrian swung around, seized Legolas by the collar and marched him away from the tower, through the field of swords and finally out of their chilled, horrified sights.

A/N:Thanks for reading this far, and I hope you don't get too annoyed by the cliff-hanger. I will be working on a 3rd story in this series eventually, but am currently focussing on another set in Elessar's Gondor. In the meantime, stay smiling and I hope to be back really soon.