29. Serious Trouble

[The Pilot]

“HOUND![/i]” she shrieked into the late afternoon sky. Lauren struggled furiously against the Elf's attempts to restrain her.

“Perhaps we should have bound you!” he said poisonously.

Lauren was trying everything to free her from his grasp- she couldn't go with them! “You get your hands the fuck off me!” And suddenly, her mindless flailing accomplished something. Her elbow met with the softness of his gut, and with a groan, his guard was let down just long enough to let her push herself off the horse and tumble to the ground. It was a hard fall, but Lauren jumped up as fast as she could into the direction of the house once more, all the while calling for robotic companion.

The elf that she hadn't attacked was hot on her trail though, and was catching up rather quickly. She dodged into a thicket in attempts to lose him, but it only slowed the fearless horse the slightest bit. She kept running, and running, ducking out of the way when he tried to grab her hair or collar. Soon enough, there were two Elves, angry as hell, in pursuit.

Then suddenly, a giant wild cat leapt out from in front of them, roaring with such fierceness that the horses reared up and backed away.

“What is this, now!” one of the Elves said. The two of them stared at Hound in his animal form, eyes flaming, before drawing their swords. “We do not fear your pets, girl,” said one. “Come, Elladan, let us dispose of this poor beast.”

The twins dismounted their horses, and charged at the Autobot. He was ready.

Lauren backed away from the scene, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. “Don't kill them!” she shouted.

Elladan and Elrohir attacked Hound with masterful fervor, but it took them only a few hits to realize that their blows were doing nothing, and even seemed to be striking metal rather than flesh. Hound took that opportunity to knock them both the ground, pinning each one under a paw.

“What wizardry is this!” gasped Elrohir under the weight of the paw on his chest. Hound growled menacingly at him.

Then, much to everyone's surprise, Hound spoke, from somewhere in the depths of his chassis: “It's none of your concern.” She saw his eyes flicker a bright blue for just a moment, before he released them, beckoning for Lauren to get on his back. She did, albeit awkwardly, and watched as the twin sons of Elrond sprang to their feet, eyes and mouths wide in awe and fear, and mounted their horses once again before riding off.

“Come on, we need to go,”she said. The two of them disappeared into the trees. They went on for some time, heading north-east, before stopping on a grassy rise. Lauren slipped off him, and began to nervously pace. After a moment or so of watching, Hound transformed.

“What exactly happened?”

The girl stopped her movements, though her arms remained crossed. “Those two Elves are the sons of Elrond, the head of the organization that makes all the rules for the fans here. They got whiff that I'd been participating in some questionable activities and socializing with questionable individuals, and so thought it necessary to arrest me, since they knew where I was.”

“But why you? I thought your long-haired friend would be held more accountable for that than you. Now I'm not saying that this is all his fault, but, he's done more “wrong” by their standards than you have.” Hound's eyes flickered with concern.

“That's exactly what's going on here,” she sighed. “I'm guilty by association. I think they intended to use me to get to Narthas, which is who they really wanted, but they don't know where he is. I'm sure if they found out about all of these portals that he and Morithil made, they might put him away until the End of Days,” she chuckled, though the laugh was more out of stress than humor. She knew the consequences if a fan broke the rules, but... what would they do to an Elf? DERIF couldn't have him expelled from Middle-earth, could they? “And it doesn't help that he's got a bad rap with Elrond to begin with. Whatever punishment that he would have faced might be twice as bad because of it.”

She looked up and saw the bot wince. He was silent for a moment before speaking. “So what happens to you now?”

“Faramir doesn't want to see me again, so I can't return to Emyn Arnen. And then following Narthas and the other two Autobots would be far too risky at this point in time. I think our best bet is to go back to Minas Tirith.”

“But what about me? I can't be seen in either form.”

“I'm... not sure. I know that at certain points in Arda's history, large animals and stuff existed, but I don't know how they would react to you in this day and age. I think that the safest place for the two of us right now would be in the Underground while we wait for Narthas to get back. If we could somehow get past the guards at all of the gates, then we'll be alright.”

“Hmm...” he rubbed his chin, striking her as being a very human gesture. “I suppose we don't have a choice, do we? Now, where do you suppose those two Elves went?”

“They probably are headed back to Rivendell to report to Elrond what happened here,” she sighed. “Christ, this situation is getting worse and worse. The very people we're trying to protect want us out of their lives, and they'll use just about any reason to expel us.”

“I'm sure things'll work themselves out, right?”

Lauren laughed darkly. “You're such an Autobot.”

“And proud of it!”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on, we need to make it back to the city. If we walk at a good pace, we'll get there after the street traffic dies down and hopefully you'll draw as little attention as possible.”

They started to walk along in a northerly direction, and Hound was noticeably quiet. Then she caught him making a “hm” noise.

“What?” she inquired, looking up at him as they walked.

“I wonder...” he continued rather vaguely.

“What!”

“I was just wondering if I could use my holographic projectors to cloak myself.”

“Oh my god, that's right! You can cast holograms!” The girl exclaimed. “Why the hell haven't you used it before?”

“Well, I either wanted to conserve energy, or I didn't think it would've been appropriate for the challenge at hand...”

“Try it!” she barked. “What sorts of things can you disguise yourself as?”

“Anything I've got solid image memories of,” he replied. He thought for a moment, before an 'aha!' expression crossed his robotic face. “How about your friend, Narthas?”

The two of them stopped walking, and Lauren eagerly beckoned him to continue. “Try it, dude. We've got nothing to lose, really.”

“Alright,” said Hound. He stood perfectly still, when a small device mounted to his shoulder began to move. His form started to fizzle with scanlines, a much smaller one flickering in his place here and there. It was like she was watching an old TV not fully tuned to a channel, or a tape that had shitty tracking. A few moments later, the 15 foot robot was replaced by a 6 foot, one inch Elf with brown hair and dressed in an assortment of greens. He grinned and gestured to himself. “Not bad, huh?”

Lauren's mouth fell open and she walked up to touch him. This hologram of Narthas had Hound's voice, but she wanted to see if it was more than just an image. Much to her disappointment, however, she was not 2 feet from him when she collided with something big and solid, resulting in a disruption of the image.

“Hey, hey! Careful, there,” 'Narthas' said. “I may look smaller now, but it's just a form of cloaking. The real me is still here, it's just not visible.” And to prove it, an invisible hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet while the hologram of Narthas remained standing still.

“Ugh, I'm going to have a bruise from that,” she mumbled, feeling her face, dully surprised when she found her nose wasn't bleeding. “You know,” Lauren said, looking from the hologram to where she tried to espy the real form of Hound. “This idea seemed much cooler a few minutes ago. Try walking?”

The image of Narthas strode around, but he was accompanied by low, heavy footfalls and indentations in the soil from the robot's real feet.

“Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if we might be better off trying to sneak you in with your puma form.”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, allowing the hologram of Narthas to disappear. “Let me try disguising myself in my alternate form.”

That, as Lauren imagined, would be a far better idea. It was a much more manageable dimension than the one he was currently at. And so, with little ado, Hound folded himself up like origami paper and turned into a wildcat the size of a rhinoceros. His eyes flickered a daring shade of blue.

“You know,” Lauren said, interrupting his concentration. “I was wondering. If you're from the first generation of Transformers, then how come you can turn into an animal at all? I thought all you guys could scan were machines and vehicles, and the animals were left up to Transformers from the Beast Machines era.”

Hound laughed. “I don't really know what you're talking about, but I can say that adopting organic shells is Pretender technology. It's just a different kind of disguise, really. And it adds some armor and stuff like that, but it mainly serves as a defense against more minor organic threats.”

“OH!” she burst out, making a wild gesture. “I remember reading about Pretender technology on the internet somewhere. Didn't some Decepticon invent it, and then Megatron thought that the process was disgusting and unnatural and all that, so the project was dropped?”

“Hmm,” the robot said, searching the ground as he thought. “Not that I know of. To the best of my knowledge, us Autobots came up with it as yet another means if disguise. Some of the more advanced versions even allow us to take on human forms, and even shrink down to your size too!”

Lauren let her head fall back and shoulders slump. “Why the hell didn't you kids bring that technology with you when you came here! That would have made things so much frakkin' easier.”

“Hey, it's not my fault that the Pretenders were busy, trying to figure out the importance of that one planet.. what's it called... Coruscant. Look, if worse comes to worse, I'll ask Prime that he send us Sky High and Waverider, maybe. At any rate, I'm gunna see if this idea works if you don't mind?”

She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. “Go right ahead.”

She watched as Hound proceeded to cloak himself as a quadruped. His form, just as it did before, fizzled in and out, slowly being replaced by an image of a horse. And not just any horse, but Elladan's horse. Complete with tack and all. Lauren grinned and nodded her head in approval.

“Now that's what I'm talking about. This is FAR more convincing, and frankly, far less creepy too.” She took a few steps closer to inspect the authenticity of the hologram. So long as no one reached out to touch him, Hound had turned himself into a bona-fide warhorse. “You know, it's a shame that I can't hold onto the reigns. People might think I'm weird with a horse following me around, but oh well. I've done more outlandish things in public before.”

“Oh, thank Primus,” he sighed, shaking off the hologram. “I can't let my concentration break while doing it this way, but it's going to be better than what we had before.”

“You can't break your concentration?”

“When I stop thinking about it, the hologram will disappear. Just a precaution my system takes so I don't go using energy when I don't need to.”

“Ah. Alright then. Well, getting to the fifth tier of the city takes a while. I just hope you don't have ADD, because if you're suddenly not a horse anymore on the main street of Minas Tirith, then... we'll get run through or something. And getting run through is never fun, no matter what anyone has told you.”

“Haha! You can certainly attest to that, can't you?” He gestured with his head at Lauren's midsection, where Narthas' stitches were still holding in what remained of her vital organs.

“Well, the way I see it, I've lost a few inches around the waistline, and that's never a bad thing,” she laughed. “But in all seriousness, we should get a move on. I don't want to stick around in any one place for too long.”

Hound nodded. “Of course. Come on, get on,” he said, gesturing to his back. “You know, transporting the two of us would be so much easier if I had my proper vehicle alt mode.”

“Well,” she said, clambering up the wild cat with no more grace than any horse she had to ride along the journey. “Beggars can't be choosers. Or something.”

“One in the hand is better than two in the smelting pool?”

“A watched pot never boils?”

“If it ain't damaged, don't repair it?”

“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade?”

“Primus helps those who help themselves?”

“Hahaha, sure. Let's go.”

“That's what I was waiting for.”

[The Pilot]

And with that, Hound bounded off through the trees in a northerly direction. Lauren kept a lookout for anything and everything along their short journey, wanting to make absolutely sure no one saw them, or that the twins weren't following them. To her great relief, however, neither of those things happened, and they came to the last bit of wilderness before Harlond just as the last bit of sun sunk below the horizon.

“Alright Hound,” Lauren said, standing on her own two feet again. She gazed through the trees, past the road, and at the harbor district of the city. “This is where you gotta work your magic. And it's gotta work until we get to the fifth level.” She pointed at the massive tiers of Minas Tirith a few miles away.

Hound followed her gaze in silence, she assumed, to try and assess the difficulty of his task.

“It's gonna take almost two hours to get there from here, so all you have to worry about is following me. I'll do the thinking, kay?”

The robot nodded his furry head and stood still as he concentrated on the cloaking hologram. Just as in the same manner as before, and a few moments of time, Hound successfully concealed himself in the guise of Elladan's horse.

“Ready?” she asked.

The voice came seemingly out of nowhere. “Ready as I'll ever be!” The horse shook its head and stamped at the ground. He was surprisingly good at this.

Lauren's heart was in her throat and blood pumped in her ears as they stepped out of the foliage and onto the road. There were few people out now, most likely returning to whatever little town they lived from the big city. The girl fought hard to keep her face from turning a beet red in anxiety. It was extremely similar to their situation on the road from Edoras, except it wasn't just one band of people, it was a gazillion of them for the next two hours.

“Stay close,” she said in a low voice, constantly glancing about to make sure that no one was looking too long and close at them. But as she began to nervously reason with herself... why should they? It was just a young woman and her horse (...somehowequippedwithelvishridinggear...?) after all. They'd been walking for a few minutes, and downtown Harlond was nearing. The streets were slowly becoming more populated, but Lauren was easing up a bit as no one really seemed to take too much notice of her so far. She did glance over her shoulder every once and a while to make sure Hound was keeping up, as she could only imagine what it took to maintain such a complicated disguise. Her only real fear was that the hologram would flicker; even for just a split second. Such a thing would indeed merit many looks and perhaps action against them?

Hell, Lauren didn't know what people would do if they found her giant can friend was projecting holograms around himself, so perhaps that's what made her most nervous. Fear of the unknown, sure whatever.

Things were going rather well, actually, and Lauren allowed a small, brief smirk to cross her jerky face at their progress.

Unfortunately, just as they crossed the bridge, all had managed to go to hell in a hand basket.

A horrible terror momentarily incapacitated her when she saw a small group congregated on the far end of the bridge. There seemed to be five soldiers, and two men with two black horses, discussing something very important. Lauren froze in her tracks, and Hound pumped into her.

“Shit, Hound, we've got to turn around.” She must've looked terribly conspicuous just standing there, staring in the middle of the bridge.

“Hunh?”

“Go. Back.” The girl meant to turn right back around and dash in the other direction, but voices caught her attention. “Run!” And with that, she broke into a jog. “Forget about your disguise if you need to!”

“There she is, men!” came an uncomfortably familiar voice, and all seven members of the group gave chase. “Arrest her!”

Oh yes, now people were looking. She didn't look back at Hound, who she wouldn't have been surprised to find flickering between appearing as a horse and a cougar as he attempted to both follow her and maintain his guise.

“Don't let her escape!”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she hissed to herself as she neared the south end of the bridge. The men were definitely gaining on her, and before she knew it, the twin sons of Elrond had her. One had caught and twisted her arm in an incredibly painful manner that wouldn't allow her to move without white hot pain to shoot through her shoulder. She yelled curses at him. “Let me go! You have no idea what's going on!”

“Oh, we do know!” he spat, still holding fast to the girl's arm while remaining mounted on his horse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hound hesitate as the Gondorian soldiers approached him, before deciding it would be beneficial to shake off his disguise and fight back. Cries of awe and fear bubbled up when Hound revealed his true alt form. But a barking order from one of the elves brought them back to their task.

“Your tricks will do nothing this time, you poor wretch,” snapped her captor as he watched one of the soldiers brandish a thick line of rope and skillfully lasso the giant creature tightly around the neck as the other five distracted him. Hound roared in anger as the thing strangled him, knocking one of the soldiers off the bridge and into the water.

“Hound!” she shouted from her awkward position, quite afraid to move. “Don't transform, Hound! Just... just don't fight them!”

The crowd that had gathered was watching in shock. Some people were shouting angrily at the girl and her strange pet, some were talking to each other in hushed voices. Some were simply staring, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. She craned her neck to make visual contact with her friend, who was looking at her with sad eyes as he was leashed with another rope. He was no longer fighting them. Other soldiers ran to the aid of the group, spears held offensively at the Autobot.

“You shall not escape again, girl.” The elf let her go for the sole purpose of shoving her at two soldiers. She stumbled forward into their cold armor, clutching her arm. They caught her, none-too-kindly, however, and whirled her around so that she might be bound too. The twine they used was thin and sharp against the delicate skin of her wrists, and she suddenly found herself hating these people. As they were being led away towards Minas Tirith, one of the twins turned and addressed the awe-struck crowd. “If any of you good people of Gondor should happen upon another one of these foul, soulless beasts, call for aid from the Guard, and it shall be disposed of!” He pointed with his sword at the slumped form of Hound as he made his way across the bridge, and the people burst out in angry shouts. Some of them followed the group, and as they passed through Harlond, a small mob amassed behind them through the Rammas gate. Lauren found herself being the target of several foul foodstuffs, but unfortunately her captors didn't seem to care. She heard some of the words that these people were calling her, and among them were “witch” and “devil” and “herald of evil”. Where in the hell were they getting these names! Did they know anything of the situation at hand at all? Even the false one crafted by Elladan and Elrohir?

Fortunately, the mob was not allowed to enter the city gate, and Lauren was able to trudge along in anxious peace. Up, up, up they went. The first gate passed, and the second. Lauren was consumed in thought that make her hands shaky and clammy. What exactly was in store for her? Were Elladan and Elrohir going to tell Aragorn the situation, and deal with her after? Why wasn't she being taken to Elrond like originally planned?

Third gate, fourth gate, fifth gate. Lauren's heart skipped a beat when they marched passed the Underground. She couldn't tear her eyes from the red door, closed and silent, and in fact wanted to shout out to the fans inside for help. But she couldn't. She didn't dare hint that that building, so unassuming with its red door and three cyprus trees out front, was the Minas Tirith fan HQ and home to the region's very own portal. Lauren quickly averted her gaze once more to the ground beneath her feet for fear of directing attention to the building. She refused to betray that last bastion of hope for Middle-earth.

Sixth gate.

Were they headed for the citadel? Was she to be brought before the king? Lauren paled even further when more thoughts invaded her brain, involving images of pyres, and stewards leaping off the end of the rock precipice dividing the city in half. She must have been so engrossed in these however, that she didn't notice where she was going until a single step almost tripped her. The twine cut into her wrists as she stumbled, a quaint little “fuck” escaping her mouth.

“Keep walking,” ordered one of her Gondorian captors. He pushed her forward a bit more to somehow improve her footing, but the basic idea of the motion was understood by the receiving party. Lauren looked up at her surroundings as the group entered a long, flat building. It was dark inside, and didn't take her long to figure out that it was a jail. She was led down a corridor lined with cells. Some of them were occupied, some weren't. The inmates were either sleeping, or pacing, or brooding in the corner; not at all like how she would have imagined medieval prisons to look. Unfortunately for her, they weren't done yet. At the end of the dim hall was a staircase, and down they descended, into an even dimmer and fouler space. The cells here were slightly bigger and separated. They didn't share a wall like the others did, and she noticed no one was down here, leading her to believe that this level of the jail was meant for prisoners with longer sentences, or who were just more dangerous. Lauren didn't like the looks of it.

The Gondorians halted her in front of the first cell, and abruptly cut her bonds before shoving her inside. She saw Hound being brought in, neck suspended in an uneasy balance between two competing leads. “Tie him up in the far cell,” ordered one of the twins. “We shall occupy ourselves with the beast later. Now, our chief concern is this villainous imp. Please, if two of you should keep vigil over them while my brother and I go to speak with your King Thorongil.”

The two who had manhandled Lauren in the first place offered. “Of course, Lords.” They bowed low.

“Your service is greatly appreciated, Gedhorn and Avrinod, though hopefully we shall have her in our custody and out of your hands before long.”

Lauren rushed up to the bars and grabbed hold of them, as if they would somehow yield to her grip. “You don't know what you're doing!” she yelled after the elves, her voice echoing in the dank space. “You have to let me go!” Unfortunately, her cries went unheeded by everyone except the two men guarding her.

“Shut your mouth girl, or we shall silence you ourselves,” the man named Avrinod grumbled as he took a rather lazy seat on a bench near the staircase. Gedhorn paced back and forth in front of her cell before remembering about Hound, keeping still, silent, and wary in his. Lauren was about to sit on the floor against the wall and shut up, but she rushed over to the bars again when she saw the man approach her friend and brandish a knife.

“You leave him the fuck alone!” she roared, straining through the bars. She knew very well that the knife would do little to no damage at all to Hound, but it was the very idea of this guy trying to abuse the robot that did not sit well with her.

“Oh, shut up,” Avrinod snapped from where he sat, picking at his nails with his own knife.

Lauren watched as Gedhorn walked back and forth around Hound's cage, smirking to himself. He was thumbing the edge of his knife. “Where'd you find such a fine beast?” he asked Lauren in a dark tone. “Biggest one I've yet seen was half his size. I reckon he's tough.. likes to fight at any rate.” Here he jerked the knife out at Hound to make him jump, but the robot did no such thing. Keep your cool,she thought to herself. Please, for the love of god keep your cool, Hound.. Gedhorn continued. “He sure does like to fight. Mauled those elves on the wayside, and tried to maul us too. He got Ethron at any rate, though he should be alright. Valiant lad... fought 'longside me in the war, he did.” He paused here and stopped walking, instead approached the bars of the cage and looked down at the giant wildcat for a few moments. “He reminds me very much of those foul creatures of the battle of Pelennor that we slew one by one...” His tone was angry now, vengeful. Lauren saw his grip on the hilt of the knife tighten. “Monsters in the service of the Enemy, they were. Created for the sole purpose of destroying every last man of this country, burning every last city to the ground.” He was roiling now. “How dare you charm such a demon and bring him to our lands? How dare you attempt to bring shadows back into Gondor now that we have had a little peace!”

“Gedhorn,” Avrinod was standing now.

“We do we not slay this deceptive monster now?” Lauren saw Hound visibly flinch when the guard mentioned the word 'deceptive'. “Do away with this beast, and this girl, so that they may not bother us again?”

“Gedhorn!”

Many things happened at just that moment. For one, Gedhorn dropped his knife and unsheathed his sword, pulling his arm back like a spring ready to leap at the robot with tremendous force. Avrinod, seeing this, darted at his fellow soldier, filling the air with commands begging him to stop.

And Hound, seeing this, transformed.

The cell was nowhere near large enough for the robot, as the cougar's head split down the middle and shifted to the side, snapping the rope. The back cracked open and the legs too, shifting out of the way in many intricate pieces. This happened so quickly that Gedhorn struck Hound's humanoid knee without being able to stop himself. When the blade struck metal, sending sparks flying, Avrinod collided with him, slamming them both into a wall. By that time, the Autobot was finished with his transformation and peered down at them, crouched in his cell, with bright blue optics blazing. The two soldiers were white as a sheet, trembling, and silent.

“If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone,” the robot snorted (as best a robot could snort, anyhow).

“By the gods...” they breathed. Avrinod took a step closer to the large humanoid, drawing his sword. “By what name are you called, be you foul or be you honorable?”

“I'm Hound,” he said, transforming back into his slightly more compact alternate mode. “And don't you be mistaking me for one o' those damn Decepticons!”

Lauren, in shock, managed to find her voice, seeing as this was a good opportunity to butt in. “Neither of us mean any Gondorian harm!” she called out, trying to merit herself attention. “Nor did we ever want to disrupt the peace, especially now, after the war. But you have to promise to tell no one of what you just saw, or else we will find ourselves in considerable danger over nothing.”

Gedhorn seemed to have sobered up quite a bit and rather quickly, remaining silent in what appeared to be shame while his friend did all the talking now.

“Then enlighten me as to why you are here, and why Elrond's sons sought to arrest you, because I am loth to now believe their tale of a stolen horse.”

The girl froze up again. She saw Hound jerk his head in her direction, waiting for her new story. After a few uneasy moments, she spoke. “No, they were right. It was technically a stolen horse, and then when they arrested me for that crime, I attacked them and escaped. So I think that this is more for the latter offense than the horse...”

Avrinod looked thoroughly perplexed. But he shook his black-haired head after a moment. “Whatever your crime may have been, it is certain now that you face a trial for it. I do not wish to assume you are either innocent or guilty of whatever charges are against you, but we will observe your request and leave the both of you be for now, and neither will we speak of what has transpired here lest I discover that your motives are indeed dishonorable.”

Lauren bowed her head. “Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Hound said.

The two guards returned to the bench, then. Gedhorn sat down and Avrinod paced in front of him. No one spoke.

After what must have been close to an hour later, Lauren's ears perked up from where she sat on the ground, and Avrinod stopped his nervous pacing when footsteps were heard descending the stairs, followed by two angry, identical voices.

“So we will have to stay in the city then,” one said bitterly.

“Yes, brother, we must, until the girl is in our custody...”

Ah, Lauren thought. Of course. Elladan and Elrohir. She remained sitting on the floor, picking at her nails and the grime in the grout of the stones under her feet.

“Good evening, Lords,” Avrinod said solemnly. His partner rose from where he sat, merely nodding in acknowledgment.

“We have returned to inform you that we are fighting for her return to Rivendell so that she may be tried by our people, but your King maintains that because the crime occurred on his land, her trial will be held here.” One of the twins shot a nasty look at her through the bars of the cell. “We do not agree with this decision, so we will fight it as long as it is appropriate to do so. Meanwhile, she will remain here.”

The guards nodded. “Yes, Lords.”

“Thank you. We shall perhaps return tomorrow?” said one of the elves. “But that is no matter.”

“Oh!” The other brother broke in here. “And also. Should a man by the name of Narthas Randomië come here, you have our permission to imprison him as well. He is a wanted man among the Elves at this time. His hair is of a brown dark enough to be mistaken for black, and his eyes are of a most peculiar green. You will know him when you see him. Good night, men.”

As the two sons of Elrond turned to leave, Avrinod looked Lauren's way: the gaze was both a warning and a threat, and it spoke volumes.

She just swallowed sharply and averted her eyes in the direction of a wall.