Part Two: By the Moonlight

Written by Jazie

Woo, hoo! Second story in the series, and my personal fav. So far, at least. My first story was dumb but necessary. YOU REALLY NEED TO READ ADVENTURES HERE AND THERE TO UNDERSTAND THIS, THOUGH. This continues my favorite plot. Okay, credits and crap come first.

Reviews: Okay, I love reviews. Just please be nice!

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Um. none that I can think of. Well, there are quite a few for my first story, AHAT. Read that first.

Disclaimer: I do not own JRR Tolkien's works. I'm just borrowing Middle- earth for a while. I do not make any money for this, it's all simply for my enjoyment and for those who read this. Legolas, Aragorn, Thranduil, Elladan, Elrohir, etc. don't belong to me. However, Torrain, Araraug, Rada, Luinithil, Míriel, Lûtharas, the Striker, Abel, the two useless henchmen- and woman-and the sorceress and Eluross do belong to me, and you cannot use them without my permission. Thanks so much. Also, I'm not exactly an expert on Middle-earth, so if there are any mistakes, I'm sorry in advance. That also goes for spelling/grammar mistakes, as well.

Author's Note:

Oh, I'm so happy! I love this one story so much, maybe because this is where the story starts to get soooo cool. If you haven't started banging your head against the screen of your computer after the last story. don't worry, here's the light at the end of my long tunnel. In other words, if you thought my first story, stunk, I agree with you. Well, chapter one did, at least. But it was important to this plot. The second chapter. I laughed so hard I could barely type. That was all humor and the result of my over creative mood. This one still has some humor (HELLO, Rada is in this one! Duh, there will be humor!) but it's also the beginning of my serious faze. Anyways, ignore my ramblings and continue the story! Oh, and this is SLASH-FREE. Always will be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part Two of the Tales Untold:

By the Moonlight

"Are you an idiot? Or are you just defying me?"

The cry was filled with anger, frustration and carefully concealed fear. The woman stood there, fist gripped. Her brown eyes had darkened and her gaze stared at the wall of the inn, as if she could burn it just by looking at it. "You will not fail again," she said finally. "We have been looking for months and the night is approaching. We cannot let this pass us by. Time is our enemy and it is staring you in the face now. You have one last chance to find the key, and then time will strike. Find the owner of that key. It was not is Strayton, it was not in any other town near it. I wonder where its owner could have gotten to." She smiled, showing very white, worn teeth. "They must be terrified by now. You used up all the orcs in our last attempt, remember? You will have to do this with simply your men. I cannot hand you an army each time you fail."

"Understood, mistress." The second woman bowed. "I will not fail. It is Alarim's fault that news of our attack leaked out."

"Do not place blame on me," the only man in the room retorted.

"Who else was it then?"

"Your bickering is what is to blame," the woman in charge finally yelled. "You two make me wonder why good help is so hard to find. Tear every place in Eriador apart, I don't care where. You must find that key!"

***

Legolas Greenleaf lifted a hand to his eyes and scanned the horizon. "I don't see anything," he called downwards.

"That proves nothing." A head popped out of the branches to his left. Rada peered in every direction. "I heard a scream, that I am certain of."

"I didn't." Legolas threw her another doubtful glance.

"When you see a deer while hunting, you focus on nothing else," Rada replied loftily. "That's why you jumped a foot into the air when I tapped you on the shoulder."

"I thought you were still back in the tree, sleeping."

Rada continued to stare southward. "I heard a scream. Come, let's continue searching." Legolas swung down and let himself drop to the ground. Rada stayed in the tree. Feeling his patience was being tried one too many times Legolas frowned up at her.

"I thought you said we were going to continue searching."

"I see something," Rada called excitedly. "Come."

With the nimbleness of a deer she dropped and landed and without even stopping flew off into the bushes. Only Legolas's quick reflexes kicked in and he followed without a word. The forest was light, alive with all the sounds of life. The elves ran swiftly disturbing nothing. "Faster," Rada called over her shoulder.

After running for a good half an hour Rada slowed. They were beginning to leave the woods behind. "I see nothing." Legolas pointed out.

"I hear something," Rada said quietly, motion for silence. "Listen."

Softly, the sound of running feet caught his attention. "Ah."

"A child, or either a very short human, or a dwarf," Rada closed her eyes. "Coming straight at us. Ten, nine, eight, seven."

"He's frightened, whoever he is," Legolas agreed.

".five, four, three, two."

A human child ran out of the tall grass and saw the elves. She stopped so fast that she left skid marks in the grass. "Don't hurt me," she pleaded.

".one," Rada finished with a triumphant manner. She switched to the common tongue. "Child, we will not harm you."

The girl fell to her knees. Light brown hair fell forward and covered a dirty face. Her bare arms were tan from the bright sun and her brown eyes were filled with tears. "They are going to catch me," she said, her voice trembling.

"Who?" Legolas asked gently.

"The hunters, they have been chasing me all night and today."

"Hunters?" Rada shot Legolas a surprised glance. "No one would venture so close to Mirkwood. Our home's reputation has spread too far, only the reckless return."

"Are they human?" Legolas knelt next to the girl.

"Yes, of course." She looked up and her eyes grew wide. "No, you are not human!"

"Humph," Rada muttered. "I'm insulted. I've been mistaken for a human."

The girl got to her feet and turned to run. "Oh, no," the female elf said grimly. She grabbed the human by the hood of her cloak. "You're going to stay right her."

"Let go! Get off!" The girl was desperate. She whirled and sunk her teeth into Rada's hand.

The elf yelled a curse and let go. "Why that little human!" She straightened up as the girl ran back through the grass. "Legolas, I'm letting you handle this one."

"Why me?" he responded mildly, jogging through the grass.

"You're the one with the diplomatic skills and better you than me."

Sending her a disbelieving expression, Legolas swerved to the right. "I'll cut her off." The girl was quick by tiring so he was able to jump out in front of her with ease. The girl stopped in her tracks. She looked around trying to find another route of escape. Legolas reached for her arm while Rada darted out of the grass on the opposite side. She took the other arm. The human was pinned.

"They'll catch me! I have to run!"

"You are not running anywhere for now," Rada told her firmly. "Promise you won't run or bite and we'll let go."

A glower was the response to this decision. Finally she saw there was no point to struggling. "Let me go."

"No biting," Rada released her arm.

"Who is chasing you?" Legolas inquired curiously.

"A few goons," the girl replied sullenly. "A man and a woman. The woman has light hair, and so does the man. They are pathetic hunters, but they have hired an elf to track me."

"Hire? An elf?" Rada exchanged a look with Legolas.

No elf would sell their tracking skills to a human. Only a rogue.

"Yes, and she has been on my heels for days. I can't let them catch me."

"Why?" Rada seemed to be losing her patience. "Tell us now-why are two goons and a rogue elf chasing you?"

"I have a key that will open a gate."

"So? Most keys open a gate of some kind." Rada's temper was slipping.

"It will open a cave on a certain night. The cave is in the mountains. There is rumored to be an ancient weapon within it, powerful and old. My family has kept this key hidden for centuries, but it was found out. I am the guardian of the key, so I ran away when they stormed our house."

"You're the guardian of this, key?" Rada asked skeptically.

"The youngest member of the family always is," the girl replied angrily, matching fire with fire.

TBC.

Okay, that's it for now! Check back soon to see if I got my act together and updated.