"Please Lairiel...Let us tend to your wound." He pleaded with her. "You will be in no state to help Holly if you leave that wound as it is..." Morohtar lowered his head, weighed down by the guilt he was carrying. "Holly is going to need all the help she can get..." Morohtar shuddered violently. "Durion has a deep seated rage at his very core. He does not see others around him as people, but as targets and opportunities. The end always justifies his means and he will not let anyone stand in the way of his goals. We are going to need to come up with a plan. We will get ourselves killed if we go in their guns blazing."

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She suddenly stopped. "That's it!" she planted her fist in her palm. She turned. "A bargain. We shall bargain with him. Give him an offer he can't resist." the only thing he would take is a life for a life. If she could replace Holly at his dwelling, then Holly and Morohtar would be able to go free. She swayed and leaned against a tree with a grimace.

Lairelosse frowned, knowing what Lairiel was thinking. "But are you sure? Why would you give up your lif--" she stopped as Lairiel sent her a warning look. Lairiel would not have Morohtar knowing yet.

"What is it?" Morohtar asked, worriedly. He watched Lairiel's triumphant actions curiously.

"But are you sure? Why would you give up your lif--" Lairelosse said.

Morohtar's brow raised. "Sure about what?" His eyes widened with alarm. "No! You cannot be serious. That is suicide. I will not have it. There has to be a better way. Holly will never forgive me if I let you do that. You know Holly cannot survive without you..." He began to pace nervously. "There must be another way...Goheno nin...I cannot let you risk your life."

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"Holly won't survive at all if we don't do this!" she cried, then gasped and slid down the tree as pain took her. "Don't you see? Can't you see this is the only way to save her."

Morohtar suddenly became angry. "And just how do you expect me to live with look on Holly's face? The look of deep sorrow no amount of love and care from me could soothe or erase? How do you expect me to explain to Holly that he life meant more than yours when to her there is no life more important than yours? There is another way and Alar help me I shall find it. The only life that shall be lost shall be her uncles. Do you understand me?" He knelt down beside her and tended to her wound quickly, silently.

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She flinched slightly "a ranger can be replaced, Morohtar, by love." but then she fell silent, her face paling at the pain. Perhaps he was right, but Holly would grow to understand in time why Lairiel would do this.

Morohtar groaned. "Listen Lairiel I will not allow you to forfeit yourself. There has got to be another way. Beside what good will it do to swap the both of you? It still means a life is being tortured. Perhaps our best bet is to actually destroy Durion. Make it so he can never harm anyone ever again." He finished tending to her wound. "We will rest for now. You need time to gather your strength. You need not worry about Holly. Durion wants to keep her alive or he would have killed her here. I just wish I knew why he needed her..." His voice trailed off as his mind filled in with possible answers. He shuddered, a sudden desire to wretch building up in him.

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Lairiel watched Morohtar's distress, and laid a calming hand on his shoulder. "We'll get her out before he has the chance." she said quietly, her voice sounding feminine for the first time. "We'll get her out, Morohtar."

"We best start moving. Durion has taken over Osgiliath. At least that is the last I heard. We shall make for Osgiliath nonetheless. We're bound to find something out there. Find out what Durion is up to." He stood up slowly. He looked to Lairiel, a sudden thought springing to his mind. "That is if you're up to walking. How is your wound now?"

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"My wound is fine." she lied, but she showed no signs of it. He was right, they needed to keep moving in order to get there in time. She slowly rose and stood. "Let's go."

Morohtar slung both his and Holly's back over his shoulder and began walking. He took the most direct route he knew, moving quickly, his elven feet light on the ground. He peered over at Lairiel and Lairelosse. "We shall need to come up with a plan of attack. I am not a fool. I know Durion will have many servants, and many of them will be on strict guard duty now. Be warned they are trained killers. The shoot first and ask questions later. Therefore our attack will need to be swift and hard, unrelenting. I aim to have all four of us back on the road. Do not be silly and risk your lives." He frowned. "Please," he added as an afterthought. His mind began turning over strategies on how to breach Osgiliath relatively unscathed. It's outerwall was the least of their problems.

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Lairiel nodded, and Lairelosse grinned behind her bandana. "Pirates are good at attacking. I am good at finding weaknesses in any fortress." Lairelosse was ready. She practically trotted beside Morohtar, eager to fight.

(Want to skip ahead a bit or keep travelling for now? Sorry I haven't been as frequent with posting as of late. Life is starting to get more busy than I bargained for hehe x)

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(haha I understand! We can skip forward! Want to start us off?)

(Sure! )

Time had began to lose all meaning for Morohtar. Time just seemed to blend into endless travel and sleepless nights. Somehow they managed to make it to Osgiliath. They had came over the mountains, which fortunately, gave them a better vantage point. Morohtar, Lairiel and Lairelosse were ducked behind a boulder on the hilltop. He peered down at the entrance of Osgiliath. Men in black armour patrolled the entrance and the outskirts of Osgiliath. It became clear that Durion had been expecting them to come for Holly. He peered at the buildings. There was a tower amongst the buildings. "That," Morohtar, jabbed a finger, "...is Durion's lair. The place is crawling with his servants!" He hissed sharply, his eyes burning. "If he lays a finger on Holly...." he shuddered as murderous thoughts entered his mind.

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Meanwhile inside the tower Holly sat at the dining table with her uncle and silently ate her dinner. She tugged on the chains holding her feet to the legs of the chair experiemently. No human force could break them. It was clear to her that Durion did not trust her yet. She had done her very best to convince him that she could see Durion's point of view. Not only that she could see it, but she wanted to join his side. Durion must have believed her partially because he had been training her to use her magic. "You see," he had said to her, after success with one of her spells. "I only treated you that way to mold you into the incredible Maia you were born to be. It is your destiny, Holly. You will help the dark lord Sauron in his quest. He needs you." Holly had nodded her head and pressed on with her teachings.

Durion looked up at the sound of the metal clinks. "Holly," he said tensely. "Eat your dinner." He looked away from her and ate his own food. Holly lowered her head, one hand under the table, moving in an intricate pattern. Bit, by bit the chain began to break.

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~Is this alright? If not I can repost and go with a different story.

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(that's good!)

Lairiel crouched tensely behind the boulder, then crept silently and invisibly to the next one as she tried to get a handle on how strong the tower's defenses were. She could see a break in the servants and guards. She motioned for Morohtar and pointed silently.