A/N: One last loose end to tie up... *g* Again, thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed and encouraged me with this fic. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. (Thank you guests Lord Illyren and Rob!)

Epilogue: Don't Mess with a Wizard

Cain tripped and tumbled into a brier bush. Thorns scored across his flesh and dug barbs into his clothes. Swatting at them furiously, he tried to crawl away, but the vines seemed to cling to him like leeches. He finally wrenched free and stumbled over to a pile of boulders to collapse against them. How could he have gotten so turned around? He'd been hunting and trapping in Mirkwood for months, and he had an innate sense of direction. But it was as though the forest itself had conspired against his every turn. Which was ridiculous.

Cain thudded his head back against the rock wearily. Every venture since he'd allied himself with Mornince had gone horribly wrong. He was glad to be rid of the sorceress, and he hoped she'd met an unfavorable end back at the elves' palace. Things certainly seemed to not be going her way, but Cain had taken the first opportunity he saw to bolt out of there and hadn't looked back.

Except to shake the very annoying tiny fox that had chased him. The little wretch had nipped at his ankles for a good mile, and no amount of kicking had successfully struck the agile miniature demon. It'd finally gotten tired or run off, Cain didn't care, and he was left alone. But then things started shifting—an exposed root would suddenly trip him when the path had been clear a moment before; rotted branches would inexplicably break off their boughs on top of his head. If he didn't know better, Cain would think the trees had been aiming at him.

He let out a long groan. He wanted nothing more than to get out of this loathsome forest.

A twig snapped, and Cain leaped to his feet, whipping out his hunting knife. He dearly hoped there wasn't a Giant Spider out there. What he was about to realize, however, was it was something much worse.

One of the wizards stepped out from behind an oak. He leaned on his walking stick, bits of sprigs sticking out from his brown beard, looking for all the world like a harmless old man. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other. Cain was trying to determine if he stood a chance against the elderly wizard. He was loony, after all, and despite his threats earlier, it was the grey cloaked one who seemed more dangerous.

Cain relaxed a fraction, his usual cocky manner giving lift to his shoulders. "Well, I'm sure Mornince was livid that you escaped her trap. Nothing personal, by the way. Like I said, she would've killed me if I didn't help her."

"She's dead now."

Cain's brows shot up. "Oh, that's good news. For everyone."

"Hm."

Cain shifted his weight. "I seem to be a bit…lost. If you could direct me east, I will leave these woods as quickly as possible and never return. You have my word."

The wizard's eyes flashed darkly in the gloom of the forest. "Your word as a poacher, kidnapper, or conspirator?"

"As a man," he replied staunchly.

"Ah, well that's no good either, since you won't be a man for much longer."

Cain frowned, and a prickle of anxiety raced up his spine. "Please, just let me go, and I'll never trouble these parts again." He took a step back, deciding flight would probably be better than fighting the wizard, even if he looked old and feeble.

"You're right, you won't." The wizard extended his staff and began to mumble a litany of words Cain didn't understand. It reminded him of Mornince casting a spell, and so he turned to run. Yet before he could, he felt a gut-wrenching twist deep inside his stomach, and suddenly air was rushing up around him as he seemed to be falling into a black abyss.

A moment later, he felt himself on solid ground, and could feel his heart beating erratically, could smell the mustiness in the heavy darkness. Then it was pulled away like a curtain, and Cain found himself staring up at the wizard, who now towered over him like a mountain. In fact, everything seemed incredibly large.

The ground shook as the wizard stepped closer, and his throaty chuckle echoed like thunder in Cain's ears. A giant hand loomed toward him, and he tried to run, but a smaller mountain of something soft and plush blocked his path. He felt a pinch, and then it was as though someone had yanked him up by his tailbone.

The wizard's upside-down face appeared inches from his own, and a terrified squeak escaped Cain's throat. Wait…did he just make that sound? He opened his mouth to yell and curse, but all that came out were garbled squeals. No, this couldn't be real. He flailed and thrashed, heart rate kicking into overdrive as the wizard dangled him in the air.

"Norman," the old man whistled. "I have a toy for you."

What? Who was—

The wizard flicked his wrist, and then Cain was flung end-over-end through the air. He landed with a plop on the ground that left him dazed. When his vision cleared, he found himself face to face with that same little fox devil. Only now the tiny fox was bigger than him.

Huge, bat-like ears flicked, and then a paw blindsided him, knocking him into another roll. He tried to gain his feet and flee, but the fox pounced on him. Something pinched his tail again—oh gods, he had a tail—and he was flung up into the air again. The fox gave a delighted yip. Each toss and bat of a paw left him more and more dizzy, until at long last his head descended into the madness of a mouse, and Cain the man knew no more.

A few days later when a tiny fennec fox appeared in Thranduil's bedchamber to deposit a dead rodent at his feet, the Elvenking was bewildered to say the least, and a little put out. Yet there was something about the way the fox sat on the floor with his chest puffed out proudly, coupled with the echoes of a conversation he had dismissed as foolish, that gave Thranduil pause. So he didn't toss the creature out the window it'd come through, nor did he tell anyone of its strange visit and gift, lest he be considered as addled as a certain Brown Wizard.

The End