Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings does not belong to me.

*This chapter is dedicated to the Astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. May their spirits shine on as journeyers of the depths of space forever.*

*****************

The morning light did not reach here, and that was simply it. The deeper that Arwen and Estel stumbled into the tangled darkness that was, or was formerly, Greenwood, the blacker it got.

It might have even been noontide sun out upon the plain that stretched from Lothlorien to Greenwood, Estel reflected. How long they had been travelling, he did not know.

He needed something to occupy his mind, else he would lose it. Over the past few days, Estel had come to recognize more and more clearly his limitations.

"Umm, Arwen," the boy ventured shyly, peering up at the tall, dark elf maiden ahead of him, and running his fingers along the trees they passed.

"Yes, Estel?" she answered after the silence had gone on too long, turning and giving him and encouraging smile before stooping before a fork in the road, tracing her fingers lightly upon the ground.

Estel turned and studied the path behind them for any approaching danger, as was custom between them now. For a moment he pictured that Legolas was running towards them, dressed the same way he had been when the two had spent happier days in Greenwood. "Estel!" he would cry, "Estel! What are you doing here? I've been searching for you for days…Gorthaur? What do you mean? No, he has not taken me captive…he doesn't even exist!"

"Estel? Did you hear me? I said that we were close now," Arwen said, studying him with concern. "Maybe we should rest for a bit before we continue…"

"No! No, I am fine, really. I was just thinking."

"Of what?" she asked, standing and continuing down the left way, her eyes intent upon the trail.

"Well, nothing, really," Estel said, jogging a little to catch up with her long strides.

"Mmmm," Arwen hummed, glancing sideways at him for a split second with a look of disbelief.

"I was thinking of Legolas," admitted the boy. "I was going to ask you…why. Why do you love him so much that you are willing to sacrifice your life for him?"

"Why is the sky blue? Why do fish thrive in the sea? I cannot answer that question," Arwen smiled, ruffling the prince's hair playfully. "Love is a very elusive sprite. Sometimes it is hard to explain exactly why you are attracted to a person, or why you are in love. Or why you love a person so much that you are willing to perish for them. One day, you will understand."

Estel's tiny mouth formed a frown as he tried to process what the elf had said, and a silence stretched between them.

"We have known each other since we were very little, so there was the trust and understanding needed for a relationship," Arwen continued as she fondled a few broken twigs that were found upon a tree. "But I did not truly feel my heart move until the day we met upon the lake. There he was, grown, the moonlight brilliant against his hair, and so beautiful…so free, he was. Lovely and free as the summer's wind that ruffles the oak leaves in Rivendell. So unlike any of the elves in Rivendell. I wanted…I want…to always protect that free spirit of his, to protect his kind nature. And…if…anything should happen to him…"

"You have gotten better, Estel…" Legolas's voice echoed in his mind, and he was smiling again at Estel, the sword that they had always used to spar with flashing in his hand.

"Yes…he was always kind. Legolas…" Estel whispered. A drop of water brushed against his face, and that was when he realized that the lady was crying, her head bent in grief. Estel reached up and held her hand. "But he was always strong, too. I'm sure he'll be fine. I know it. There is no way that an elf such as he could be harmed. We both love him too much for that…"

Arwen smiled at Estel through her tears. "Thank you, little one. You are right," and gratefully, she bent to kiss the top of his head, as a mother or a sister would. "Do you love him too?"

"Yes…"

Her smile broadened, and her tears stopped. "The trees tell me Dol Guldur is right ahead. You can turn back now…"

Estel shook his head firmly. "No. I will go on." For although he had come to recognize his weaknesses, he had also come to recognize his strengths, and he knew that they would see him through.

Hand in hand, the elf and the boy continued onward to whatever fate would have in store for them, and the wheels of destiny moved one turn closer toward the future.

*****************

"All of my own shall be shared with you, my elven servant," Gorthaur, who sat beside Legolas, whispered into his ear, playing with the other's blond hair. "Such power; such wealth; all that you name, it will be given to you, now that you have joined me, and no longer defy me."

Legolas nodded numbly, and for a moment this offer tempted him. After all, why should he not take it? Those whom he had left behind, banished from his memory, they had not even come to save him. Isilya had told him to hold on; but why, why should he contend with the will of the sorcerer, when all that he was offering Legolas was so good?

Gorthaur must have been following the elf's thoughts, for he smiled. "Yes, think of it…all this could be yours…." And he waved out over the room.

They were in a large, echoing hall, seemingly impossible in size for the materials of the fortress. The walls were of the familiar packed dirt, crude and unadorned, aside from the food and blood smeared there from the various Orc skirmishes. Long, stone- hewn tables lined the floor in the shape of a horseshoe, and he himself was upon a dais in the middle, along with Sauron and a few others, not Orcs. There were plenty enough of them swarming the tables; and as Legolas gazed out upon them, his heart left him, for he was certain there was no means of escape with their numbers. And the offer tempted him even more, and his mind was thrown into turmoil…

Again, as ever, he reached to the necklace for comfort; but he was in such a state now that it soothed him not.

He thought of the woman, his mother, and of the conversation that he had had with her.

"I would take you all the way to Valinor if such power was granted to me….you will not flee broken to the Havens as Celebrian had…"

"What?!" Sauron's voice, sharp with anger, replaced the warm tone of his mother.

While Legolas had not been paying attention, one of the servants of Sauron had approached the dais and was conversing secretly with his master.

"Bring them here, immediately!" Sauron commanded, eyes bright with deadly fury. The servant bowed and left, scurrying out of the rounded carved entranceway before the dais.

All of the attention in the hall was now upon Legolas and Gorthaur, as the spell- bound creatures of Sauron cowered in front of his will, which rose like a breaking wave in the silence.

"It seems, my young one, that an envoy was sent here to save you," Sauron growled in disgust. "But do not worry; we shall dispose of them immediately." And laughing, he made a cutting gesture across his throat.

Then it seemed as if a thought occurred to Gorthaur, and he turned his bright eyes upon Legolas. "To prove your loyalty, my servant, why do not you be the one to do it?"

The laughter of Sauron sent chills down Legolas's spine, as it always had. Kill his friends? who had come to save him?

"No," he whispered, quick and barely audible; but Sauron caught the one word, and he cried out in rage.

"No? No!"

His eyes were now bearing upon Legolas, and his voice no longer musical. It seemed to the lone elf that Sauron grew larger and blacker within the room, as a storm cloud might, and his borrowed form was shrouded in a fog of dusk.

Legolas knew than why it would be impossible for him to take Sauron's favors as well, as he gazed upon him. Because Sauron was evil, and all that he had created and all that he had come upon would be evil, too. Legolas was not. Their natures were profoundly different; even if he knew nothing about himself he knew that.

And then the sorcerer began to speak in a tongue that Legolas had never heard before, grating and unpleasant, and Legolas clutched at his ears in an effort to block it from himself; but it was to no avail…and darkness descended upon him. He reflected sadly, just before the last of his consciousness left him, that he would not be able to look upon those who had risked all to come and save him, and wished he could have been stronger, for them….

But the world was cruel and spiteful, and such wishes are nary often granted. So it was that Legolas succumbed to Sauron's will just as an elf woman, beautiful even in desperation, and a child were escorted to the dais.

Their hands were bound, and their eyes desperate as they beheld the wrath of Sauron and the number of his minions.

"How dare thee try and contend with the will of Gorthaur!" the dark one roared at them.

The child, our Estel, shrank before the sorcerer, but Arwen noticed him not. She saw only the one by his side, Legolas, whose eyes were blank and who was clothed all in black…and at that moment her despair overcame her, and she wept, for she could tell that her lover knew her not. She had come too late…and all was lost, and her grandmother's prophecy was to come true. They had been so close…

She and Estel had found a secret entranceway into the fortified hill, a tunnel that led to the River. Both had been full of confidence; for it had been an easy entrance.

They found Isilya waiting for them by the end of the tunnel, and as she beheld them she smiled "I knew that you would come. But we must act now; for Sauron has claimed the elf prince as his own, and soon he shall make a true slave of him."

So into the pits of the sorcerer she led them; but none of them had noticed the lone Orc that was watching them.

And soon after the march of the Orcs could be heard echoing down the hallway, and they knew then that they were discovered.

"Go, my lady: I will fight them off," whispered Isilya, revealing from her cloak a sword wrapped in cloth.

"No," she had answered, "you must not let yourself be discovered, for we may yet need your disguise."

And she pulled Isilya close and embraced her; and then Isilya bound both she and Estel and presented them to the Orcs, though it was clear the elf woman was full of doubt and remorse.

"Look," said the elder elven woman, "I have captured the spies…"

Arwen stared desperately at Legolas, as the weight of their fate finally bore down upon her shoulders. Gorthaur noticed Arwen's glance, and he smiled, a parody of a smile full with evil and malice. For he knew then that she loved Legolas, and he knew also the best way to dispose of the elf woman.

"Legolas; my servant, hear my command; kill these traitors."

Legolas was now fully under Gorthaur's spell, and no conscious thought was left in him to contest the dark one's orders. In a flash, the elf had leapt over the table, his dark robes swirling about him as Gorthaur laughed.

"See now how fruitless your efforts have been, you of the elf kind? You have attempted to challenge my power by withholding my sword, and now you shall pay for it, with the young blood of these three captives."

Legolas landed lithely upon his feet in front of Arwen and took from her side the elf- sword she carried, in one slow and measured movement. As the horrible laughter of Gorthaur filled the chamber, he brought the tip of the blade to her throat, and his face was blank and devoid of emotion as one of those walking in dream.

Estel struggled against his bonds and cursed, thrashing about violently in an effort to save the girl, but it seemed to no avail. She was going to be slain, and by the one whom they both loved…it seemed too cruel to be true.

Arwen wept harder as she beheld the countenance of he whom she loved so dearly, Legolas; close enough to touch, and yet, as far away from her as he had ever been. She pleaded with him to awaken, but he heard her not, still beneath the spell of Sauron. The tip of the sword was biting into her skin, and she could do nothing but weep.

But just as everything seemed hopeless, the she- elf caught the glimmer of a necklace around Legolas's neck, shimmering like a chain of stars against the black of his robes, the necklace that was the symbol of their love.

"Even in the darkest of night there is still light," she whispered, and began to sing, and elven song of old praising Elbereth, the Lady of Light.

Arwen's song filled the room, strong and bright and shining, fighting back the black presence of Gorthaur. As she did so, the necklace began to resonate in response, and it took on a light of its own, flashing blindingly and engulfing Legolas in radiance.

And as Estel looked on in amazement, Legolas was freed from the spell, and he came back to himself.

With a gasp, the elf dropped his sword, and it clattered noisily to the ground. He stood eerily still for a moment, as if frozen, and then he bounded forward and freed Arwen and Estel from the bonds that held them.

All this was happening as Arwen continued her song, and Gorthaur, finding his plans interrupted, began to howl in rage.

But Legolas and Arwen ignored him, and in joy they held each other close, reveling in the power of light and love. They broke from the embrace only as they realized that the Orcs were now descending upon them.

Estel was already fighting, moving with an almost elven speed as he took down one enemy after another. He had defended the two elves from harm for a while now, and not in vain. Although he knew it not, he held within him at that very moment the will befit of the kings of old, and it too was a threatening light in the darkness.

Arwen bent and retrieved her fallen sword in order to join him; but Legolas stayed her hand and begged her to continue to sing.

Legolas, moving almost without thought, as if another was guiding his hand again, drew the necklace over his head; and clutching it in a fist high in the air, he joined her song.

As the voices of the two elves wove and blended together, the necklace began to generate a light and wind in the darkness. The hand of Legolas, held into the air, was like to a torch. The light enveloped them, and the wind drew the skirts of Arwen out behind her as if to form the wings of a bird, and teased both of their hair out to a halo about their head.

Still they continued to sing, eyes closed in reverence, faces clear.

Estel, still in a flurry of motion, could catch only glimpses of the two elves, and wonder at their majesty. It seemed to him that any Orc attempting to come near them was disintegrated, and that the will of Sauron, although he was in a wrath upon the dais, could not contend with their light.

The many Orcs were now descending upon the three like a tide of the ocean, and although they could hold them off for now, their strength was wavering and the defense could not last long.

Sauron saw this and laughed, reveling in triumph despite the nuisance they had caused him.

Estel stumbled in his slay of the Orcs, as more and more of them came to attack him. Panting, he retreated to the side of his companions, where they, too, were wavering in their efforts. The song was ending, and the light failing as the last of their magic was spent.

Orcs surrounded them, and Sauron's dark laugh hovered above all of the noise in the room.

But just as all seemed hopeless, just as the song of the elves had ended, then from the necklace, from its light, or maybe even of the necklace itself, a woman came.

She was the same woman who had visited the jail cell of Legolas; she was his mother.

And this time, she was even more magnificent; she was a woman made of light, in need of no clothing. And she grew in the room, grew to the size of Sauron, and in a final motion she waved her hand over the masses.

Orcs were thrown everywhere; some, those closest, even just exploded as her will cast them aside. Blood and light filled the chamber and the woman laughed as Sauron cowered.

But her energy was expended in the slaying of the thousands of Orcs, and her light began to fade away.

"Mandos calls to me. Finally, I am free," she said, and she rose through the ceiling of the chamber and across the sea. She left in her wake a massacre, for all of the thousands of Orcs that had once been there were now dead.

As Gorthaur gazed out upon the ruin of his servants, Arwen, Legolas, and Estel fled, having no strength or will left to challenge the Sorcerer.

Through the pits of fire that he worked his magick in they fled, through dark, winding tunnels and finally out of the river entrance, away from Dol Guldur.

"Thank the Valar," breathed Arwen as the three collapsed in a clearing in front of the mound of fire.

All were breathless and speechless as they wondered over the magick that had been worked only minutes before to save them.

But their peace was only momentary; for Sauron had come after them, and was determined to have his prey despite the ruin of his Orcs.

He stood in front of the mound of fire and his spirit, black as night, rose to towering heights above them. "Did you believe you could escape me?" he roared, angrier than ever before.

He brought one long, dark, huge hand down upon them, like a storm cloud that has fallen from the sky. And the three could do nothing but watch as their doom came upon them, for they had expended all of their energy within his chamber; no defense was left to them.

Then, as if from nowhere, Isilya appeared, her long dark cloak flashing wildly around her and her silver hair freed and glowing in the light. Within her grip she held a sword of obsidian, and she raised it against Sauron's hand and caught the blow that would have fallen upon them.

Her eyes shining, she held her sword against him, sharp metal against dark smoke.

Gorthaur had now found his plans thwarted for the third time that day, and his wrath was terrible to behold. His spirit burst into flame, dancing madly about the sky, his laugh deepening and darkening.

"Go!" cried Isilya, her sword still in the air; the sword of Sauron. "Flee; I will hold him off!"

"No! Isilya!" Arwen screamed. "Don't do this!"

But Legolas had taken Arwen into his grip and was tugging her away from the clearing, as Estel darted ahead of them. Isilya was their only chance, he knew.

The elf woman of ages old turned back to the spirit; but she did not cower before it, despite its wrath. Instead, she listened again to the speech of the trees, urging her on, and she tapped in to the will of the forest. She could see all at once; she could see Thranduil's kingdom miles away, the birds building their nests, the rabbit drinking from a stream, the deer flying from its predator. She could see Arwen's despair and feel the weariness of the three behind her. And finally, she beheld the wrath of Gorthaur before her.

"You shall die, elf woman!" he declared, voice deep as the thunder of the night.

"I do not fear you," she answered him slowly.

Then quick as a flash, she leapt into the air, the sword poised before her. Sauron had no time to react before he found the instrument buried in his chest, dark blood like smoke seeping from the wound as the fire still burned.

Sauron, in fury, smote down the elf woman; but the wound she had given him was too much, and he had no choice but to retreat into his home. His spirit shrank, the fire extinguished, and in his elven form he staggered backwards, into Dol Guldur.

Isilya had died upon impact with the ground, charred with the fires of Sauron. As Arwen looked on in horror, her spirit fled the world, and the brave elf woman lay dead.

So this is death? Wondered Isilya as her soul journeyed from her body, becoming one with the earth. Strange it is, this gift of the race of men.

"No!" she sobbed, as Legolas pulled her away, back in the direction of the elven kingdom. She struggled against his grip, trying in vain to reach again her former nursemaid. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Arwen; we must keep moving, else Sauron attack us again!" Legolas hissed, numb with shock but continuing to pull forward.

Arwen gave in and staggered behind him, her face wet with tears, her clothing torn and stained with the blood of Orcs, and her shoes soggy from their escape through the river. Though they had escaped, though they had won, it was most certainly a hollow victory.

*****************

A/N: Well, this has turned out to be a rather dark chapter, hasn't it? But don't worry, friends, it's not over yet. Though I haven't much time nowadays, I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience, and feedback would be appreciated!