Chapter 19: Hope Begins to Fade
 
 

Undomiel woke to hear rustling outside of her tent and peeked out cautiously, just in time to see Lizard disappear with Orli and Legolas. She frowned and followed, catching up quickly.

“What's going on? Liz, where are you taking Orli and Legolas?”

Lizard seemed to be writhing as she tried to tell Domie what exactly was going on, but Cletus made her respond, “Nowhere.”

Undomiel nodded and thought quickly. “Oh, no you don't. Something's not right here. Come here for a second,” she commanded. “Are you feeling o.k.?”

Lizard stood, for a moment paralyzed . . . then bolted off deeper into the woods.

“What in the . . . Orli, Legolas. Come on. After that Lizard.” Undomiel went around to every hunter tent, knocking on the doors. “Awake!!! We have a problem here people. Get up!!”

“What is going on, Undomiel?” Mariana jumped out and looked around at the summons. “What???!!!! Lizard is taking Orli and Legolas away!? Isn't this a bit too selfish? ... OK,, you think she's out of her mind. Right, let's just follow her then.”

Undomiel and Mariana jumped onto the nearest horses and rode off, the rest of the camp on their heels. Well, excepting the lost hunters…

(The camp now suddenly quiet, Nimrodel popped her head out of Figwit’s tent and blew kisses to Mariana. She noticed the new cricket, angry, bound, and gagged, hopping around camp in a fury. Nim shook her head and returned to Figwit.)

…And the ones who preferred not to stop tae bo and “science” lessons…

MeneeldaStar looked out from her tent, having noticed Orli and Legolas were missing. "Hey! Where are you going...!" She crawled out and searched for a horse. The only one left was a little pony. "This will do..." and she climbed up on the little pony. "Wait for me-e-e!" she called after Undomiel. And then she promptly got bucked off. That was one wild little pony.

.... Okay, so the mass counter attack running after Lizard consisted of.... Undomiel and Mariana. (Go Them!!!)

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An eerie cry echoed through the woods. Lizard was running, having been seen by a PEF. Somehow in the confusion, Orli and Legolas got away from her, but she thought they were still in her general vicinity somehow.

“AAARRGGGGH!”

Of course, this being Lizard, evil or no, she sustained another minor head injury within a matter of seconds, after running into something. In the ensuing pain, even Cletus was rattled, and just for a minute she found herself asking, "What am I doing? The PEFs are my friends! I can't take their elves! I'm going to yell for help... Someone will come. HEEE…"

“AAAH!”

"Silence, stupid girl. You really think ramming your head into a tree branch will get rid of me?" Cletus hissed. Well, she almost got that scream out. "I've been having to endure your clumsiness for years, fool. I'm almost used to it. Plus, I had the foresight to wear a helmet. Now move along. It is my understanding that ELF just got in a new shipment of purple peasant shirts. I imagine all it will take is draping one inside of our newly developed elf traps and we'll have Elrond back."

“Oh no... I don't want to do.. AH!”

"Stop trying to resist, you little idiot. Now keep moving. I'm sure your PEF friends are looking for you now. You have to find Orli and Legolas first and get back to ELF base."

Yes, oh great cricket. Lizard heard and obeying, resuming her running.

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“Wait!” Mariana called to Undomiel. “I stepped on something... what is this... OMG, Phil!!!!!!!!!! Sorry about that, are you OK?”

"Yeah, kinda..." he said.

“What happened? I thought you were supposed to be with Liz!”

"I was, but evil Cletus tossed me out and took over her mind. He's working for ELF and Christina Ricci now, and Lizard is doing everything he says."

“Oh, that's bad, that's bad... heard that, Domie? We HAVE to find Lizard, or we'll be in trouble!!!!!!!! Eat some athelas, Phil, you'll feel better...”

But Undomiel didn’t hear this, as she was riding too fast and was too far ahead.

“There she is!” Domie called, watching as Lizard hit her head on a low branch and wincing. “That’s got to hurt…” She leaped off her horse and landed right in the front of Lizard’s line of escape.

“Alright, Liz. This has gone far enough. I know something is up . . .”

Lizard tried to flee again, and Undomiel tackled her before the Lizard got too far. The jolt from hitting the ground shocked Cletus again and gave Liz just enough time to mention something about the Cricket.

“Oh, so that's it? Cletus, eh. Alright then.” Undomiel pinned the Lizard and thought for a moment.  “Well, then, Cletus. What would you say if I told you that right now, a group of DWARFs knows exactly where you and your Ms. Ricci are, and are heading in that direction to take them out?”

"I wouldn't believe you," he responded from Liz.

“Oh, really? Well, then, you may want to look at this!” Domie pulled out a purple poet shirt that she had swiped from Liz's shop a couple of nights ago. (Sorry Liz. I'll give it back as soon as we get rid of the Cricket.)

“What do you say now?” Undomiel asked. “I would run if I were you!”

Cletus screamed and ran out of Liz's head. Domie grabbed him and stuffed him in a drool cup that she had with her. (She had been with Glorfindel after all.)

“Now . . . one last thing,” she demanded. “And I expect an honest answer, or your precious Ms. Ricci is going to get it. Where is Phil?”

Then Domie noticed the small cricket squirming on the ground.

“There you are! Alright Phil. Back to where you belong.” Phil jumped up inside Lizard’s head again.

“Hurrah!!!” Lizard jumped up and down and did the Happy Lizard Dance (of which only the Lizard herself has perfected yet.)

“Undomiel SAVED me! Wow, that's so nice! Thanks, Undomiel! My, it's good to have Phil back again.” She turned serious. “The bad news is, though, that the ELF elves have found a way to undo the power of Tae Bo. I don't know how, but I know they're dying to get their hands on Legolas and Elrond, and Orli just for good measure (and for Christina Ricci). And Legolas and Orli are out there somewhere! I hope they stuck together! Shall we go find them? And what, pray tell, do we do with Cletus? I have a good mind to squish him, but I just can't be that mean.”

Mariana ran in just then, panting and gasping for air. “Wow, Undomiel, you can really run fast, can't you?? I couldn't run as fast as you, but I let Phil go right behind you. So is everything alright now?? Oh no, so Leggykins and Orli are lost and Cletus, Christina and ELF are out there! I brought hairdryers, let's go and do something about it!”

She threw a hairdryer to each hunter, raised hers in the air, and cried “STILL THE PRETTIEST, GO US!”

"You know, girls, after being bossed around by that stupid cricket for so long, I am more than ready to kick butt and take names!” Lizard shook her hairdryer for emphasis. “Especially for Orli and Legolas!"

And the ground headed off into the woods, tracking Orli and Legolas.

“I hope El luitha and co. find Junipur!” Lizard told Mariana and Undomiel as they marched off. “Maybe we'll stumble across her in our own hunt!”

Undomiel held up her cup and checked to see that the evil cricket was still inside. “Great! But what about Cletus?” she said. “We can't have him wandering about. Maybe we'll just keep him in the drool cup with us. He may come in handy once we get to the ELF camp. And he may help us find it, right, Cletus.” She smiled.

From the cup could be heard, “Why you! You lied to me. You don't know where the camp is! I'll never tell!”

Domie held the hairdryer to the cup’s opening and pointed down into it. “You want to get baked in there, Cricket?”

All that emitted back to her was the tiny squeak of “no!”

“Alright then. Tell us where the camp is.”

Cletus did not answer, and Domie toggled the button on the dryer. Cletus shrieked like… well… a dying cricket and rapidly relayed instructions on how to get to the new ELF camp.

“Well, It sounds like we need to head towards Rivendell again.” Undomiel turned the dryer off and sighed. “But before we do, I would suggest waiting for the others. What do you say?”

“That sounds like sense to Phil!” Lizard relayed. “Since he's my common sense, I feel inclined to agree. So when we find the others, we can proceed en masse to the camp. Although, we could look for Junipur, maybe, and meet up with Luitha’s bunch.

“Where do you think Luitha is? Was she with Aragorn?” Mariana asked.

“The last I heard from them, they were at the clearing sleeping. That was when Liz got taken over by Cletus.” Undomiel answered, glaring into her cup. “Elfcat went following them . . . I hope she's still with them. They were going after Junipur, but they may have headed back to camp once Liz disappeared.

“So . . . why don't we head back to camp, collect everyone, then go find Junipur (if Luitha and Aragorn haven't already) and then proceed to the ELF camp? They probably don't know that Cletus has been captured yet, so we might have time.” Undomiel looked at the other two and they nodded.

“Good thinking, Undomiel. Let's head back.” Lizard did an about face where she stood. “I just hope Legolas and Orli are there. I don't know where they went.”

“Sounds good to me.” Mariana said. “Back to the camp, but keep your hairdryers ready!”

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"Isn't it kind of odd that no one is in the camp? Or even around it?" Tadan watched the empty camp with a worried look and turned to Elrond.

Elrond considered for a moment. Then he answered, "There is someone around it. In fact, we are surrounded."

"Right. And I suppose it is ELF, trying to get you back."

"Although you said that very sarcastically, I fear you are correct."

Tadan stared at him in shock for a moment, then at the ELFs who were stepping out of the woods on all sides, bows aimed at the two half-elves. Tadan gulped. "Greetings, Elves, I..."

The foremost one raised his helmet off. It was Haldir! "Okay. It's time for a little revenge. You were the one that dubbed me the 'practice Elf'. So now I'll practice with you. Run, fast."

Tadan almost did, and then realized that she didn't really want to leave Elrond. And there was the fact that she knew she wouldn't get far anyway.

But she did have one trick up her sleeve still. She whipped out a Lembas Launcher and took him right between the eyes. And then everything went black as two Elves fired their bows. Her last thought was that it really wasn't fair. At least she wasn’t using what could be deemed lethal force!

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Half a mile away from camp, Mariana, Undomiel and Lizard froze.

“Ssshhh... silence! Do you hear anything?” She asked.

"Sounds like bows being fired" said Undomiel.

There was an evil laugh from the drool cup.

“Oh no!!! ELF must be at our camp! Let's run!” Mariana took off, and the rest pelted to catch up.

“Wait,” Lizard panted. “Didn't Undomiel have a horse? What are we doing?” She stopped to whistle for Bill as Undomiel and Mariana leapt up onto Domie’s horse.
 

They continued, hurrying with all the haste one could muster in the thickest part of the woods, where riding a horse too fast and too recklessly could be fatal.

“Arrows... Oh no, I hope no one got hurt.” Lizard’s eyes widened.

"Arrows usually don't hurt people," Phil told her snidely. "Don't worry, I'm sure the elves, who are expert marksmen, missed by a mile."

“You are so not helping, Phil.”

Directly in front of the three charging hunters, a figure climbed out of the bushes and brushed leaves out of her hair. She could be heard muttering, “stupid evil pony had to throw me off… AHHHH!” She dove to one side as she was nearly ridden down.

“Meneelda Star! Hurry!” Mariana called from ahead.

The four hunters burst through the brush into the clearing and find the place ringed round with elves. Elrond was in the center, having been knocked out from behind where he had been stooping to tend to…

“TADAN!!!!!!!!” Lizard screamed

Tadan was lying on the ground. One arrow had gotten her, but the other one seemed to have missed because of Elrond pushing her out of the way.

“Ok, that's it. Nobody hurts our Tadan.” Lizard growled. The other three hunters looked at their companion in horror. A MAD Liz!?

The Lizard pulled out her elf whacker. "Who's first?"

Haldir stepped up, raising bow as he prepared to shoot Liz too. "How about me?" he sneered.

Now in control, Liz backed away nervously. "No, really, I was thinking of someone with a different sort of weapon... Does anyone in this circle happen to fight with a stick like me? You there, you don't look ready to shoot. Shall we have a go?"

The elves sneered. They had their arrows trained on the four arrivals and the two half-elves on the ground.

“Any bright ideas, people?” Meenelda Star asked.

“I hope Tadan's ok... I mean, Boromir took three arrows or so before he keeled over... You can survive just the one, right?” Lizard fidgeted and watched her friend lay on the ground.

“If we can get free and revive Elrond, he can heal her. So somebody do something FAST!!” Mariana said.

Meeneldastar sat down and cried, feeling totally useless. “Where are Legolas and Orli and everybody else?”

Hope was starting to fade. Tadan was looking very pale and still, and none of the hunters could move to try and help her with these arrows trained on them. Then Meneelda Star's cry seemed to conjure up a vision.

Two arrows came whizzing through the air. Two elves fell, to the hunter’s  mingled horror and relief. Even though they came here with bad intentions, it was disturbing to see them hurt, somehow.

Two more arrows flew and two more elves fell. Legolas came walking from behind, his bow at the ready and aimed at Haldir.

"These humans are mine," he said coolly. "Harm them at your peril."

Lizard looked around at all the ELFs. “Er, he does know he is outnumbered, doesn't he?” She whispered.

Haldir gave Legolas a long look. "You're quite interested in their welfare. If you like them so much, turn yourself in. We will take you and Elrond back to our camp and leave the rest of them be. I swear this by the gods."

Elrond, who was just now beginning to stir, looked at Tadan with grieving eyes. "I would go with you to save her... If you will let me heal her first."

Haldir frowned. "Very well, then. What of you, Legolas?"

Legolas wavered, looking to the group. He looked terribly torn, but they knew what he would say before he said it. He lowered his bow and sighed. "I'll go with you. I have your word that you and yours will leave these hunters unharmed, then." He came forth and allowed them to tie his hands behind his back.

Elrond leaned over Tadan. Expertly, he removed the arrow. The hunters’ eyes widened at the extent of his abilities as the wound slowly closed. Leaning back, he looked tired and drained, but he rose willingly and went to the ELF elves. They bound him as well.

The four hunters ran to Tadan as the ELF members lead their captives away. She was starting to regain color, stirring wakefully. She would be so upset when she found Elrond gone, they knew. But how much he must care for her to go back to them for her!

“What will we do now? No Legolas, no Elrond... They will turn them back if we don't find them!” Lizard sat down dejectedly by her fallen friend.

Meneelda Star sat as well and began to cry again. “Nooo! Not Legolas, not Elrond! Why does this have to happen to us?!" She dried her tears, trying to restrain herself. "We have to get them back!"

Tinuviel crawled out of her tent, where she and the other huntresses had been locked in, and approached the waking Tadan.

"You alright? Though we had lost you for a second, all those ELF's everywhere and the dreaded twang of a bow." She looked to Undomiel. “What's in the drool cup?” An echoed evil cackle from inside is her response.
 
Lizard, Mariana and Undomiel explained the events that had occurred that morning as the other huntresses were let out and gathered to listen.

"Ohhh... So Cletus came back working for Ricci who is in league with ELF, and booted Phil out, possessed Lizard, stole Orli and Legolas through Lizard, and then was later captured by Undomiel and Mariana, and he's in that drool cup right now?" Tinuviel summed up. Everyone nodded. "Oh I get it... well not really..."

Slowly, consciousness returned to Tadan. “Where am....” she mumbled. “Oh. Camp. What happened? I seem to...wait! ELFs found our camp! They shot me! Elrond shoved me out of the path of the first one, but the other hit!” She sat up and looked around wildly. “Where is he? He saved me! He healed me too, didn't he? The ELFs want to take us all captive, and Haldir is their leader!” She looked pleadingly into the eyes of the other hunters. Lizard began tearing up.

“Lizard?” Tadan asked. Carefully, Liz explained again what had happened. Mariana chose that moment to burst into tears, Tinuviel began sobbing a la I Love Lucy before managing to compose herself. For a moment, Tadan looked like she was going to burst into tears. Then her face clouded over and her eyes glowed with anger.

“We need a plan to get them back,” she said simply.
 
 
 

El Luitha 'uren
August 2002
Elluitha@rivendell.zzn.com