Aragorn: 17 years old

Water flowed into the barrel Aragorn was in, but at least it was still floating. All the barrels around him were all upright as they floated down a river!

A River!

Aragorn looked up and saw that the trap door that had dropped the barrels into the water had gone back up. He was alone in the dark with only the river and nature surrounding him. He paddled with his hands until he heard a loud gushing noise. He didn't realize what it was until it was too late. A waterfall.

He, inside the barrel, plunged down the waterfall. It wasn't too tall, only about five feet, but the water was rushing fast. Too fast for Aragorn's liking. A barrel from above bonked into his head making him yelp and duck down into the barrel he was in.

When he lifted his head again, he saw the sun coming up from above. He knew Legolas would not see him in the room and get either worried or upset. He kept going downstream, already soaked and coughing.

The river was long and foreboding. His barrel threatened to turn upside down multiple times, but Aragorn always would lean the other way.

Aragorn was just happy to get back to Elrond and Rivendell and get home safely. That's all he wanted at the moment.

Suddenly from behind, Aragorn shrunk down as a loud horn blew. He figured an Elf other than Legolas found out that he was gone. The river was going very fast and Aragorn thought he could get away in time for the Elves to search properly, but then again, he had no idea how far the river went on for.

Looking behind him, Aragorn could see the Realm still and wished he could not. Up ahead there was a bridge going above the water, but underneath the bridge were gates blocking the way. He saw a lever above on top of the bridge. He thought that the lever could open the gates.

Either way, he didn't care. All he wanted to do was get away. Although he thought the river would be a lot faster than him running. As the barrel, he was in drifted on and on, it soon came to the gates and he was trapped along with the other barrels as he had expected. He decided he would run instead of go down the river more.

He was afraid if he kept going inside the barrel, it would flip and he would fall out and possibly drown. Elladan and Elrohir had taught him how to swim after the one incident so long ago, but he was still not the best fish in the water.

He splashed out of his barrel and into the water. It was a lot colder as his whole body was in it. He made his way to the land and climbed onto the grass. Squeezing out his cloak and hair, Aragorn looked behind him to see if he could see any Elves. He didn't, not yet anyway.

Then he coughed and followed the river fast. He ran and ran for about five minutes until he looked behind him again and to his horror, saw Elves coming fast. Running even faster know, Aragorn zoomed through the grass and dirt along the river.

From behind, he could hear the Elves gaining on him. He had the disadvantage of being soaking wet. The water collected on his clothes was a heavy weight on him as he ran. He was tempted to throw of his boots.

"Asca!" (Hurry!) Aragorn heard someone shout from behind him.

"En!" (Look!) Aragorn heard another Elf shout.

Aragorn turned around and saw about ten Elves after him, only they were still a good thirty feet away from him. From in front of him, he ran straight into something, or someone. He turned as somebody grabbed his wrists and pulled him to the ground. His face hit the ground and he moaned, but fought back.

His legs kicked and he pulled away. Then he stopped as he realized who he was fighting. It was Legolas.

"Keep fighting me, it's part of the plan," Legolas whispered.

"Plan?" Aragorn asked.

"Do as I say, I am trying to help you," Legolas said sounding panicked, "Remember?"

Aragorn kicked Legolas in the knees and stood fast. Then he started running again. Legolas reached him again fast and tugged him down again. Aragorn punched the Elf in the stomach and twisted his hand away from him as he ran again.

He heard Legolas stop and yell orders to the Elves gaining on them, although he did not hear what he said. Aragorn was running along the river again. He saw a log that went over the river and knew he should take a chance. He ran to it and balanced on the log as he walked over the river.

Turning around, Aragorn saw the Elves still coming and they were really close now. Legolas was nowhere in sight. He turned back around and saw Legolas in front of him.

How in Middle Earth did he do that?!

Aragorn jumped off the log and Legolas caught him, but Aragorn twisted out of his grasp and rolled to the ground. As he rolled, he went straight into the river. He decided to let the river take him to his destination. He went under and swam as fast as he could.

The river was so fast Aragorn could barely keep his head above the water. Eventually Legolas caught up to Aragorn again and wrenched him out of the river. Aragorn coughed and water poured off him.

"Don't try that again," Legolas said viciously.

Aragorn realized that the Elves had caught up and Legolas was acting rude on purpose. Aragorn twisted away from the prince and backed up. His heel slipped and he turned to see where his feet where. He was on the edge of a cliff.

"Don't move, king Thranduil's orders," one Elf said behind Legolas.

Aragorn looked behind him and it was dead cliff. There was a waterfall next to him as well and he wondered if he would survive if he flung himself off it. He thought quickly back to what Greakth had done to him in Rivendell. The Elf had pushed him off a bridge and he had survived.

"What's down there?" Aragorn asked pointing down the waterfall.

"The end of the river," Legolas said with a trusting twinkle in his eyes, "Now come to me and we will bring you back safe and sound to the Woodland Realm," Legolas held out his arms.

As Legolas said this, Aragorn watched the Elves eyes closely. He could tell the Elf didn't not want him to come to him, but to get away somehow. Aragorn took a glance over his shoulder and saw that the waterfall was about a thirty-foot drop.

"Don't think about it," Legolas said and took a cautious step forward.

Aragorn could tell he didn't mean that either. Then something went off in his head. The last thing Elrond had told him before they were separated. He had said,

Uuma quena en'mani lle ume, ri'mani lle umaya. Uma ta ar'lava ta quena ten'irste'," (Don't talk about what you have done, or what you are going to do. Do it and let it speak for itself).

Aragorn knew he must follow his father's words of wisdom. He looked up to Legolas for the last time seeing the Elf's lips mouth something,

"We will meet again,"

Aragorn wasn't sure what he meant by that, but he knew he had to do something now or the other Elves would wonder why Legolas wouldn't just grab him. So, he did what he must. He turned around and threw himself off the cliff. The last thing he heard was the Elves above shouting. Thankfully not at Legolas, but at him.

A/N: OOOO, mysterious! And we all know when they will meet again :D