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The relative silence of the Greenwood was broken by the soft plopping of horse hooves and a low teasing voice.

"Daro, Elladan!" came a mirthful cry. "Do not tell her of that story! It was your idea to go over the mountain pass that day!" Three horses came into view, trotting along the Old Forest Road. Two bore tall elven males, alike in appearance. Both were slender and fair-faced, with dark hair flowing over their shoulders and down to their waists; and twinkling grey eyes. The other horse had a young elleth seated on it, her light carrot hair swept back in a long braid. She was regarding both of her companions with grey eyes stern, but holding a small bit of mirth. That was what kept the two going

"Must you speak so much? The whispers of the trees are enough for me. I do not need to be regaled with your adventures and foolish tales." Her horse snorted, seeming to agree with her.

"You wound me, my lady," said one of the male elves, pressing a hand over his heart. "We wish only to keep you from becoming bored."

The maiden shook her head. "We are not a dozen leagues from my King Thranduil's halls, and yet you have exhausted my patience. I wish to listen to the trees; they will warn me of any danger approaching, unlike you two!"

"We are not that loud!" exclaimed the other elf. He shook his head mock ruefully. "You are lucky to have us, Lady Ioreth. The path to Imladris is wrought with danger of many sorts. If not for us, you could find yourself trapped in a deep hole with no way out!"

"I find that hard to believe," the aforementioned elf snorted, very un-ladylike. They rode in silence for a minute more, then she glanced over at the pair with a slightly confused look. "I am embarrassed to say, but I have forgotten who is who. Will you kindly reintroduce yourselves?"

They exchanged an amused look. "Fear not, lady," said one. "Even our father cannot tell us apart when we wear matching tunics, which we only do when we want to confuse others. This only happened to be a day we did that."

"You can differentiate us by our weapons," the other ellon suggested. "I am Elrohir, and I have the twin swords besides my bow."

"I am Elladan, and I have the single sword," said the first. He patted the unstrung bow strapped to his saddlebags. "I also have a bow, but I'm not as good with it.

"Ah," said Ioreth, nodding. "Thank you; that will help." They lapsed into silence again, the two ellons occasionally looking at each other and seeming to have silent conversations. After another league or so had been traversed, Elladan leaned over to his brother and whispered, "I will tell her of the time you tangled yourself in a harness the first time Ada got you to hook up a horse to a wagon."

Elrohir smirked. "If you do, I will tell of your little 'adventure' after your horse ran away when the yrch attacked us in Emyn Muil."

The older twin frowned and sat back on his horse in defeat. "Fine. What to break the tedium then?"

"A horse race?" his brother suggested mischievously.

"Absolutely not," Elladan said firmly. "The last time we did that, I 'mysteriously' was dumped into the Enchanted River and slept for three days."

"Ah, ah," Elrohir protested, releasing his loose grip on the horse's reins to waggle a finger, "now that was an accident."

"I have only your word for that."

"As you keep reminding me."

"What are you talking about now?" sighed Ioreth, reluctantly breaking her whispered monologue with her dun mare, and glancing up at the twins.

"Us?" asked the sons of Elrond in unison.

"We were talking about -"

"What to talk about," Elrohir interrupted, finishing his brother's sentence.

The elleth shook her head. "You need not talk of anything. I am quite happy listening to the sound of nature around us."

"So are we," said Elladan impishly, "but we find our voices much more interesting."

"You can listen to the trees anytime," Elrohir added. "But you cannot listen to us whenever you wish. Only on a journey when -"

"I should have waited to travel to Imladris," Ioreth muttered, tuning them out. "I knew it would be a bad idea to travel with the twin troublemakers. Never should have listened to Ada. 'It will be fun,' he said! 'And you will get to see your sister sooner. Does she not need help with her new elfling?'" She made a face. Though the twins were somewhat annoying, she had to admit they had a certain . . . appeal to them. They were certainly entertaining.

"Don't you think we should speed it up a little?" She heard Elrohir ask. "We would get home sooner."

"No dirweg!" Elladan suddenly exclaimed, flinging a hand up. "I hear something from afar," he added in a lower voice.

The other two strained their ears, and Ioreth looked to the trees. They were whispering in unease; she should have been listening to them earlier. "Something is coming," she warned, repeating what the trees were telling her.

"Yrch," Elrohir snarled. "They are coming this way."

"We are still in Greenwood!" Ioreth exclaimed. "How did they get here without the Guard being alerted?"

"Times are changing," Elladan said, readying his weapons. His twin did the same.

"Will we attack them?" came Ioreth's anxious voice again. The brothers stopped and looked at her.

Elrohir had paused the stringing of his bow. "How are we to keep her safe?" he inquired of Elladan in a low voice so the elleth could not hear him. "She is not a warrior, and does not even know how to wield a bow."

"I shall hide in the trees," Ioreth said, over-hearing them. He hadn't been quiet enough. "They will keep me safe."

"There are not very many orcs," Elladan said. "We will keep them from getting to you." He glanced up into the overhanging branches. "Yes, they will protect you. Climb quickly. Send your horse into the forest, away from the orcs."

"Brother," Elrohir cried, spinning his horse at the sight of something crashing through the trees. "Alae!"

"Climb!" Elladan barked. "Drego!"

Ioreth obeyed immediately, scrambling up the branches with the litheness of a Woodland elf. The tree she chose whispered comfort to her while adjusting its branches for her. Her horse, obeying a former hissed command from Elladan, spun and cantered into the trees.

"Orc-filth!" Elladan spat as three of the yrch lurched into the clearing; their grotesque faces were matted with filth and dried blood. Their beady red eyes caught sight of the elves preparing to fight and they sneered.

"Elf-scum," the one in the lead snarled, fangs protruding.

"Charge!" Elrohir cried, and his horse leapt forward without urging. Elladan's stallion thundered forward too, his rider swinging a long slender elven blade. Elrohir fired a single arrow, catching one of the orcs in the forehead, then swung the bow over his shoulder, whipping out his double swords. In a smooth motion, he swept the sharp blades across another orc's chest, bringing foul black blood bubbling across the creature's breastplate. Elladan had already disposed of the remaining orc, and the twins pulled their horses up sharply.

"Are there more?" Elrohir asked, glancing into the trees.

"Ego!" They heard from behind them.

"Lady Ioreth!" Elladan exclaimed, spinning his horse. The twins caught sight of the elleth being pulled from the frantic grasps of the tree by two leering orcs. She was struggling futilely, her strawberry blond hair in disarray. Another orc had a loaded crossbow and was starting for the twins.

"Leithio nín!" Ioreth shrieked, kicking at the two orcs that were yanking her from the tree. The tree she had been abiding in was frenzied, flailing its limbs to try and help the Woodland elf.

"Stay still, pushdug," snarled one in Black Speech. The other pulled her up against its revolting chest and pressed a dagger to her white throat. Elladan and Elrohir, who had started their horses forward to help the elleth, pulled back on their reins.

"Stop, elves," the third one, holding a crossbow, ordered the twins. They pulled their horses to a halt and exchanged glances that would have seemed emotionless to anyone else, but were full of worry, particularly Elrohir's. How could they kill the orcs without getting Ioreth hurt?

"Av-'osto," Elrohir reassured the wide-eyed elleth, keeping his swords pointed at the three orcs.

"Edraith enni," she pleaded, visibly trembling.

"Shut your filthy ilid mouth," the orc holding her growled.

Somewhere deep in Ioreth's heart, she found a small flame of courage. Her captor's words lit it higher, and her eyes flashed angrily. "Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathagir," she snapped, lifting her right foot and slamming it down fiercely on the orc's foot. At the same time, the enraged tree above them slammed a low-hanging branch into its forehead, knocking the orc backward as it released its grasp on the elleth's slender neck. She gasped for air and lunged forward immediately, rolling so the other two orcs couldn't get her.

"Ha!" cried Elladan, urging his horse forward toward the orc with the crossbow. Elrohir was right beside him, spinning his twin swords with a fierce yell. Fear flashed in the third orc's eyes, but he raised his crossbow and fired off the single bolt. The sharp arrow flew through the air and pierced Elladan's left shoulder. He let out a cry of pain, but still hit the orc with the sword in his right hand, decapitating it.

"El!" called Elrohir, feeling a stab of pain in his shoulder and hearing his twin's cry. With a spin of his left sword, he killed the remaining orc and sent his corpse spinning to join his dead comrades. He made sure there were no more orcs in the surrounding trees, and then rushed to Elladan, who had stopped his horse and was clutching his shoulder with a grimace. Ioreth was helping him down from his horse, a worried look on her face. "The trees sense no more yrch around," she told them both.

"A crossbow bolt?" Elrohir inquired, rubbing his own shoulder as his twin's pain echoed through their shared fae.

"Yes." Elladan's voice was tight with pain, but he had forced his face into an impassive look. "Do not worry, this has happened many times before," he assured Ioreth, whose face had paled upon seeing the bloody wound in his shoulder when Elrohir carefully pulled his brother's tunic down.

She just nodded, wincing in sympathy. "I should go fetch my horse."

"You do that," Elrohir said, concentrating on his brother's wound. As the elleth hurried away, Elrohir tugged the rest of the tunic out of the way. "Hold still!" he scolded when Elladan flinched at his prodding of the wound.

"Nîdh!" complained Elladan.

"I know it hurts," said Elrohir. "I'm going to have to pull the arrow out. Just be glad it wasn't a longbow arrow, or the barbed edges would rip the skin when I pull it out."

"Ugh," Elladan muttered. "Will you just get it out?"

His twin raised dark eyebrows. "Be still, this is going to hurt," he said, grasping the tip of the bolt protruding out of his shoulder. His fingers slipped for a moment on the bloody metal, then he gave a swift yank and the arrow slid free. Elladan hissed in a breath, then sighed. "That hurt less than I thought it would."

"You've probably gotten used to all the wounds inflicted on you over the years," Elrohir said wryly, tossing the bloody crossbow bolt to the side and examining the wound again. "We'll need to wrap it. Luckily Ada has gotten used to us being hurt, and insists on packing bandages with us whenever we go anywhere."

"Yes, lucky indeed," Elladan snorted.

Elrohir retrieved the bandages from his horse's pack and wrapped them tightly around his twin's shoulder, tucking a few athelas leaves over the wound. "I certainly hope the arrow was not poisoned."

"As do I." Elladan rubbed his shoulder gingerly, then dropped his hand. "Ada would have a fit if we rode into Imladris and I had poison running through my veins. I suppose it is a good thing we hadn't promised not to get hurt on this trip."

"It was you that said, 'After all, what harm could come just of a visit to the Greenwood?'" Elrohir reminded his brother, repacking the medical supplies. He had just finished when Ioreth came back into the clearing, her horse walking behind her. She studiously ignored the dead orcs lying in a heap and went over to the twins. "Will your shoulder be well?" she asked anxiously of Elladan.

"Of course," he said, but she noticed that he avoided moving the said shoulder. "I've sustained many worse wounds. It will heal within a few days -"

"As long as it is not poisoned," Elrohir added, leading his and his twin's horse over to the two. "If it is, we will find out soon, but the athelas leaves should help it." He shot the orc corpses a look full of loathing. "We'll have to burn the bodies."