Lithmor’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He raised his eyes to his captors.

“Verily, Aragorn Elessar, there is nothing that you can do to me that would be worse than what I will face at the hands of the one I take my orders from,” the dishonored man stated wearily. “My life is measured in seconds now, and he can reach me even in your Citadel.” He rose to his feet, shaking the debris of the path from his clothing before favoring Faramir with a resigned look. “Guard yourself and your family well, my lord Steward. You were to be but a means to an end. You would have been ruling Steward only long enough to produce an heir, who would have followed you not long after. They feared your father far too much to move against him, and your brother also.”

“Why target Legolas?” Faramir asked, his eyes like flint.

“It is well known that he is as a brother to the king. They needed King Elessar off-balance and without as many of his allies as possible. That is why the Queen was targeted, as well as the fact that the one who is behind this desires her for his own. She was to be taken to him, had she been secured, despite what happened with the other elf-woman.”

“It would have been the death of her as well,” Elladan ground out, his fingers tightening on his sword.

“That would have mattered little to him, I assure you,” Lithmor said, meeting the enraged elf’s eyes calmly. “Once he was done with her.” He shifted slightly. “He wished to turn the elves against both the king and the steward, again to weaken their power base so that he might have an advantage. In truth, he told us to kill the dwarf if we could when we ambushed Lord Legolas, to anger the dwarves as well.”

“And who is ‘he’,” Elessar asked, his tone deadly calm.

“Why, my dearest uncle and your chief counselor,” Lithmor answered with a smirk. “For one who can supposedly see into men’s hearts, you are remarkably short-sighted, my lord king.” He grinned at all of them, and suddenly lunged forward, impaling himself on Eowyn’s sword before any of his captors could move to stop him. Elladan swore a blistering oath and grabbed the traitor’s shoulders, lowering him to the ground. The elder twin felt of the man’s neck briefly before swearing yet again.

“He is dead,” Elladan spat, rising to his feet again.

“He is also a liar,” Faramir stated flatly. “Lord Torbin is no traitor.”

“Nay, he is not,” Elessar agreed, running a hand through his hair. “I have looked long and well at all the members of my council, and replaced any in whom I saw deceit. No, the snake behind the worm is farther afield than my council, although he may well be using some of them without their knowledge.” He looked around at his companions. “We must be even more cautious now, my friends.” He heaved a great sigh. “Now I must go tell Legolas and Thranduil what has happened.”

                                                  ~

“So he is dead, and without providing any useful information,” Thranduil stated flatly, his hand absently smoothing his son’s hair while his eyes bored into those of Gondor’s king. The Elvenking sat propped with several pillows in his bed, the setting and his current infirmity in no way lessening the force of his personality. Legolas sat on the bed beside his father, his head resting on Thranduil’s shoulder and his unbound locks obscuring his face and hiding his expression from his friends. The tension in his too-thin frame betrayed his state of mind, however, and Thranduil broke off his staring-contest with Elessar to speak softly to his son in the Silvan tongue.  After a moment, he raised his head again. “What I wish to know, King of Gondor, is where you intend to go from here.”

“Because of Lithmor’s involvement, we at least have a starting point for our search,” Aragorn began, a frown of concentration creasing his brow. “Although I am certain that Torbin himself is no traitor, he may well be the tool of one. It is in his lands that we will begin to search, as well as in the lands of anyone that had dealings with Lithmor.”

“It’d be wise to take a look at Lithmor’s enemies as well,” Gimli put in from his position at Legolas’ side. “Even if they aren’t involved, they might well know more than they’ve said.”

“You should ask their household staff,” Sam put in with his typical level of hobbit-sense. “Servants see everything, and most quality-folk take no more notice of them than they would furniture.”

“That is an excellent suggestion, Master Samwise,” Thranduil commented, a faint smile gracing his face. His eyes moved over the assembled group, stopping on the young human girl in the corner. Elessar and the twins followed his gaze, their concern growing when they noted the pallor of Serai’s face. Elladan and Elrohir traded a look and moved to sit on either side of their young charge.

“Perhaps we should have waited until you left, little one. We none of us wish to add to your fears,” the elder twin said, enfolding Serai’s hand in his.

“No, I think it might be a good thing that I did hear this,” the girl said, a tremor moving through her body. “I’ve heard that name before, Lithmor I mean. A…friend.. of my father’s did business with a man named Lithmor. I always got the feeling that whatever the ‘business’ was that it wasn’t good. He was always trying to get my father involved.” She raised her head to look at Elessar. “I know he hated you, my lord king. He was always talking about how things were under Lord Denethor.”

“Serai, I can promise that I will spare your father’s life if he is involved, but I need to know who his friend is,” Elessar said softly, moving to squat down in front of the seated girl.

“It would be far kinder than he deserves,” she replied bitterly, her face twisting into an expression of mingled hurt and anger, her body shaking like a leaf in the wind. Elrohir’s hand enfolded the hand his twin was not already holding and she looked up at him with a tremulous smile. “He made his choice and I must make mine.” She looked up at her king and squared her shoulders. “Even if you had not shown me the kindness that you have, my lord king, I would choose to stand with you.” Elessar rose enough to place a fatherly kiss on the girl’s forehead and she visibly strengthened.  “His name is Durmir. He is a merchant.” She shuddered again as she spoke his name and the twins’ eyes met over her head, their expressions dark.

“I have heard of him,” Elladan said quietly. “His reputation is not one of honesty in his dealings.”

“Thank you, child,” Aragorn Elessar said, his expression warm with approval. “And now I think you should have something warm to eat and drink before you take to your bed. It is far beyond the hour that you should have been in it.” Serai gave a strangled sob and the king gathered her gently against his chest, rocking her like a small child.

Legolas raised his head from his father’s shoulder, pushing his hair back from his face. Sparing Thranduil a quick glance, he rose shakily to his feet and crossed the space between the bed and the kneeling Dunadan, Gimli close behind him ready to lend a steadying hand to  the elven prince if necessary. Reaching his friend and the girl, he stopped, raising his hand slowly and laying it on Serai’s head in a gesture of comfort.  She lifted her head, looking up at him with tears still running down her face.

“Do not despair for what has happened in the past, Serai. It cannot be changed, no matter how we wish it could be. Instead, think on the now and the future. Nothing erases the pain caused by memories of the wrongs done to us, but looking ahead and thinking of the blessings you have now can ease the pain somewhat. Actually, that is good advice for the both of us.” He leaned down to kiss her brow as Aragorn had done, smiling as she straightened and rubbed her sleeve across her eyes. Gimli snorted and handed her a handkerchief, earning a raised eyebrow from his dearest friend.

“It was a gift from Sam,” he said gruffly. “I thought you might need it sometime.”

“Of course,” Legolas replied, the corners of his mouth twitching suspiciously.  Serai gave a watery chuckle and he winked at her.

“I will be all right now,” she said, sitting back in her chair.

“Of course you will,” Elrohir replied, taking the handkerchief from her and drying her cheeks. “Have I not told you that you are stronger than you realize?”

“I would agree,” Legolas said, his mouth curving into a gentle smile that widened as Serai smiled in return. “And now, I think Estel is correct. It is time for most of us to be abed and resting.” He held his hand up where Serai could see it shake. “Will we see you later in the morning, little one?”

“I think so. Lorran would very much like to visit you,” the girl said shyly.

“Of course! I wish to thank him for his care of me.” Legolas swayed and Gimli wrapped a supportive arm around him.

“It’s bed now for you, laddie, before you fall on your face,” the dwarf said, leading the archer to his bed. The elf gave Serai a sheepish grin and went quietly, allowing his friend to help him. She grinned back, being led away herself by Elladan and Elrohir.

Elessar moved to Thranduil’s side, assessing the Elvenking’s condition and nodding approvingly.

“You are looking better,” he said, laying a hand on the woodland king’s forehead. “And your fever is gone, but you must still allow yourself more time to rest and recover.”

“I make no promises, Estel. Well you should remember that I do not easily take to convalescence,” Thranduil replied, his heavy eyelids belying his bravado.

“Then we shall have to see what we can do to make your recovery less tedious,” Aragorn replied as he moved to the table between the two beds to mix both father and son another dose of medicinal tea. “Perhaps Arwen will have some suggestions.”

“Estel,” Thranduil waited until the Dunadan met his eyes, “Do not neglect to look in unlikely places for these traitors. I have found that to be the best practice for discovering them.”

“As always, your advice is much valued, and I will heed it, but at the moment I want you to drink this tea and concentrate on mending your body.” He handed the cup to the frowning elf. Thranduil’s assistant immediately stepped forward, supporting the tilting cup and helping his king raise it to his lips. “However, I may wish to utilize Luinloth’s considerable talents in the days to come.” The dark haired Sindar looked to his king, who nodded briefly before grimacing at the bitterness of the tea.

“Of course I am at your service, as my king allows,” Luinloth said, his dark grey eyes glittering with curiosity.

“Good. We will meet here and lay out our plans after the mid day meal,” Aragorn replied with satisfaction. He glanced over at the other bed to see Gimli setting aside Legolas’ now-empty cup. The dwarf tucked the covers around the barely awake elven prince and Gondor’s king hid a fond grin. “I will see you after mid day.”

                                                    ~

The cloaked figure moved quietly through the alleyways, careful not to be seen from the few windows that were still alight. Reaching it’s destination, the figure raised it’s hand to scratch at the door softly. When the door opened fractionally, the figure removed a rolled scroll from it’s sleeve and passed it to the one opening the door. The figure then vanished into the night.

Durmir shut the door and unrolled the scroll, reading quickly. He swore, crumpling the scroll and casting it into the fire on the hearth. He spared a glance to the man slumped and snoring drunkenly in the corner before pacing the length of the small room. His master was not going to be pleased at the latest development. The merchant spared himself a smirk, he had advised the master against utilizing that lackwit Lithmor in such a pivitol role and it was grim satisfaction to have been proved right. The imbecile had managed to jeopardize the entire plot. They would have to escalate their efforts if they were to succeed.

TBC