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A Small Adventure

He ran. He was faster than the orcs that followed him; however, the orcs were also gaining ground. Which wasn't good, actually, none of this was good and it had started out like any other normal night. Strider snorted as he ran for cover, the woods of Rivendell was close and the Ranger knew that he would have the advantage if he could only make it there. Rivendell was his home, and the Ranger knew the area about the Elven haven just as well as he knew the back of his own hand.

He felt, rather than heard, the breath of the Orc behind him. The leader of the band, for some bloody reason that Strider could not fathom at that moment, wanted the human alive. For torture or to bring to his Master was not know to the Ranger, and so it was impertinent that the Ranger get to cover as fast as possible.

Strider threw himself into the woods, the sound of thunder came to him then and he smiled. It would be harder for the orcs to find him a thunderstorm. Strider thanked the Valor for this turn of events. Sure he would be uncomfortable for a time, but he would probably be able to even sneak off and make it to Rivendell while the orcs searched these woods for him. Then in the morning he and his brothers and a contingent of warrior Elves could waltz in and kill them all!

Just at that moment; an evil black arrow landed in his thigh. It made Strider fall to the muddy ground, the thunder covered up any sound that the man had made and Strider was glad of that. He gasped in pain as he tried to get to his feet. But it wasn't working and he quickly felt despaired over his current situation. However, if it wasn't for the knowledge that he was in Rivendell woods, and closer to his family than he had a month before, well, that spurned on the mans will to live. Strider gripped the arrow and pulled it out of his thigh. He could hear the orcs now, he had to find a place to hid, and quickly if he were to stay alive.

Strider got to his feet painfully, he limped into the forest as fast as he could, he was glad that the orcs were as stupid as they were, they didn't have the brains for tracking, but if they caught his smell…Strider pushed that thought away from him. He wouldn't give up hope now. What a cheesy thought! Strider sighed to himself. Just before him was an out cropping of rocks. It was covered by vegetation and made for the perfect hiding spot. Strider had hidden here plenty of times when he wanted to be alone and contemplate that which was the universe, or he hid here when his Brothers and he had been playing Trackers when he was little.

Strider climbed into the cave and sighed in relief. He didn't know how close the orcs were to him, but he hoped they would never think of looking behind the curtain of ivy that hid this cave. The cave itself was big; it could hold a small hunting party of five comfortably. In the middle was an impression where one could make a fire, and in the back were some supplies.

Strider loved this cave as a child, and so he had spent some time in outfitting the cave for such emergencies as he was in. He went to the back and rummaged through the pack. He brought out bandages and healing herbs; he had to see to his leg before he did anything else to night.

The wound was deep, and as Strider inspected it, he saw that the tip of the arrow shaft had not broken to imbed itself in the wound. For that he was happy, he couldn't count the number of times that seemed to happen to him. Strider decided that he couldn't risk making a fire right now, it was cold, but the orcs were near, he could felt he vibrations of their feet through the ground he sat upon. He had to be quiet and hope that they gave up their search for him, and soon.

Strider went about healing his wound as much as he could. He made a poultice of the herbs he had secreted away in the cave and packed his wound. He would stitch it up when he would be able to make a fire, but for now Strider decided to chew on some atheleas. If there was any poison in his system, the herb would take care of it.

Strider found the blanket (which he had also hidden. It was big and soft and comfortable) he wrapped himself in it and leaned against the back wall of the cave. If the orcs found his hiding spot, he would have to slaughter them as quickly as he could with a wounded leg.

In moments, Strider was dozing.

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Elladan looked towards the gate that led into the courtyard of his father's home. The sun had set a while ago, Elendil's and other stars shone bright in the sky, as did the moon; but the soft glowing did not lift his heart like it normally would. Estel had been gone for a long time, and with each passing day, Elladan felt more and more worried.

Of course, he laughed like usual, he and Elrohir went hunting orcs, and other prey. They went riding with the Rangers just last week in (secret) hopes of accidentally finding their little brother. But the Rangers hadn't seen hide nor hair of him.

Estel was just too YOUNG to stay out in the wilds of Arda alone! What had they been thinking? Letting him go to Rohan in the first place!

"Are you all right?" Elrohir asked, coming up behind his brother.

"I feel old," Elladan said.

"You are old!"

"Not in that way! I feel old because I am overly worrying about Estel, who happens to be an adult but never will be to us because we are several millennia older than he is!"

"Well yes, that is true, but we know things that Estel does not and even when he reaches two-hundred, he would still be as a child to us," Elrohir replied.

"But, I am worried as well,"

"I hope he comes home soon, I have this feeling that he is near,"

"As do I, we will wait here and see what has happened to him,"

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The sun making its way into the cave woke him with a start; Strider went for his dagger that he had clutched during the night. When his vision focused, he relaxed, there was no threat as of now, but there would be sooner or later. Strider stood, he gasped as pain ran up his leg. He had forgotten about his wound, but he need to scout the area out to know where the orcs had gone and if he needed to stay about to take care of a few or to go on to Rivendell with the news.

He folded up the blanket and made sure that the bandage about his wound was tight. He then carefully walked to the entrance; he listened for anything that would tell him if any foe was waiting for him outside his secret spot. When he was sure that nothing would hurt him right this very moment, Strider went out.

His grey eyes scanned the area, the birds were singing and chipmunks ran about looking for food. A doe and her fawn were quietly eating in the glen just outside the cave, but bolted when Strider made an appearance. Strider smiled to himself, this was why he liked this glen, it gave him a sense of belonging.

He shook himself from his thoughts; he quickly ducked into the tree line and set about looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. Several tracks in the mud under bushes lead Strider to believe that the orcs had been very near last night. The Valor must have been watching over him since the orcs hadn't seen fit to enter into the glen and have a look about.

Strider followed these tracks for a ways till he came upon another set of rocky out cropping. This set held another set of caves that were separate from the one Strider had hidden in, but it was no less known to the Ranger. Strider kept to the greenery as he circled and quietly found the entrance to the cave. On Orc guard sat in the shadow, well away from any sun light. Strider could see a fire had been started up in the cave and that several orcs were taking rest.

The orcs would not venture out in the day light, Strider knew, which meant that he had not enough time to get ready for them. He was only three days from Rivendell, but he would rather make sure this threat was taken care of instead of leaving it for later. Besides, with his wound, his father wouldn't let him out of bed in order to go with his brothers to hunt down these foul creatures. No, it was best to take care of it while he could.

Strider carefully went back the way he had come, making sure not to leave anything in his wake that would hint to the orcs that he had been there. He was also glad that he had come from down wind of them. If the orcs had caught his sent, he would have been hunted down. Strider's mind turned to various ways he could crush the evil creatures. Getting a group at the same time was the most logical thing that the Ranger could come up with. Suddenly, he was glad that he had been taught various pranks by his Elven brothers. Some of their string tricks would come in handy.

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The day wore on, and so did Strider, he found himself not feeling all that well and chewed on more atheleas as he worked his string traps. Strider had also gathered up various huge logs and had them stationed at the top of the ravine that was perfect for his plan. He covered the logs up with various plant life in order to make it look natural. This was an old gorilla tactic that Strider had picked up from the Western Rangers, Rhûndal and Lómgrad. Those two had helped Strider on more than one occasion and Strider was glad to call them friends. Strider also had various other traps hidden in the woods. He was quickly running out of rope, but he would manage.

Strider went back to his own cave once he saw that evening was coming on. He would have to go back out again once it became dark, but he had to see to his wound. It was hurting him gravely and he did not want infection to set in.

Strider made up a fire; he placed a pot of water over the embers and went about gathering other things that he would need. Once the water was boiling, he sprinkled some freshly picked Atheleas into the pot and soon the aroma of the weed took over the small cave. Strider dipped a clean cloth in the water and set about cleaning his wound. He hadn't been able to do a very good job of it the night before and so made to do so now. Once the wound was clean, strider heated up a needle. The needle had to be sterilized before he could use it; he threaded the needle and then took a deep breath.

The wound was only about two inches in length, but he had to sew it up or risk bleeding to death. The first few stitches were the hardest to take, the pain was immense and Strider had had to gag himself in order to not make any sound. After that though, he began to numb to the pain and the rest of the procedure went with out a hitch. Strider still lathered on a poultice to help in the healing, and then bandaged his wound with clean cloth.

By then, the sun had set and now Strider had to put his plan into action. He ate a supper of left over bread and some cheese he had been saving from the day before, and then put his fire out, he made sure that some embers were still alight though, and then he went out into the fading twilight. He had some Orc to hunt.

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An Orc looked up at the night sky, they were going to rest tonight and then look for that dratted human on the morrow. The human couldn't have gotten far. It was then that a rock hit him squarely between the eyes.

The Orc stood and grabbed up his scimitar. Searching the inky blackness for whatever (or whoever) had thrown the stone at him.

"Grug, what is it?" another Orc, smaller in stature but just as…ugly, asked.

"I don't know," Grug barked. Just then two more rocks came sailing through the air and knocked them both in the head.

Just then a strong, clear voice rose into the air…

"Away, orcs, away,

take a little and leave a little,
And do not come again;
For if you do,
I will shoot you through,
And there will be an end of you…"

The orcs, by this time, had all jumped to their feet and had their weapons in their hands, and as they followed the laughter of someone, they all swore to kill it. Painfully; they added as an after thought.

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Strider notched an arrow an let it fly; it took down one small goblin and that was what gave his hiding place away. He leapt down the rock face and dashed into the forest towards his traps. He could hear the orcs and goblins on his trail again. At least he was ready for them. Strider jumped over a thin string and climbed a tree; he whacked his injured leg but kept on going.

Below him, a group of four orcs stopped; they sniffed the air and then began to prowl the area. It took only two minutes before the trap sprang. A home made net captured the orcs, Strider let fly several arrows, which killed the orcs in no time flat.

A howl went up into the night sky; Strider leapt from the tree, jarring his leg. He cringed but went on again. Not far away was the ravine he had set his bigger trap in. He had left a pretty decent trail to be followed and obviously, these orcs (and a few goblins) fell for it. At the bottom was the pile of dead logs, and underneath, dead enemies. Strider felt proud of himself. He didn't always need his brothers to look after him!

A snapping twig alerted Strider to the attack from behind. He pulled out his sword and took off the head of the goblin before its scimitar could do any damage to him. He was faced with four more orcs, but the one goblin of the group was dead at his feet.

"We're going to have fun with this one," one of the orcs said, obviously the leader.

"Ranger Scum! You will die painfully!" a second Orc said.

"Not this day," came Strider's strong words, and into battle he went.

Years after this small adventure, Strider could never properly re-tell it; all he knew was that he killed the band of orcs (twenty strong) and that he had gathered up their smelly carcasses and set fire to them. He used the ravine as the fire pit, for he knew that the fire wouldn't go anywhere because the ravine was devoid of plant life.

However, he could remember the painful three day journey back to Rivendell; he remembered that his leg burned in that time and that he had suddenly realized that the arrow which had shot him had not been poisoned. He also realized that his father would never, ever let him go out alone again….for a very long time….

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"What is that?" an Elf with long brown hair asked his brother, of which looked just like the first. These Elves were the twin son's of Lord Elrond of Imaldres. They had taken to watching the front gates of their home for they expected someone to arrive very soon. What they saw with their powerful eye site, was a human, with a very bad limp.

"It must be Estel," Elladan replied.

"Good, he's in trouble now! When I get my hands on him I am going to give him a lecture to last a life time and then he'll still have to deal with Ada!" Elrohir jumped up excitedly.

"Let us go and meet him at the gate!" Elladan said, and the two took off. Estel was happy to his see his brothers come and meet him; but once they saw the exact form he was in, well…they weren't too happy.

Estel's leg was bleeding once again from the hard journey home after his run in with the orcs and Goblins. He was dirty, and he was smelly and he was tired and hungry. The two Elven brothers glared at him.

"What happened to you?" Elladan asked with a glare.

"Orcs," Estel shrugged, the two brothers flanked their younger sibling and led him into the house. There they met Lord Elrond.

"Do I even want to know?" Elrond asked.

"Orcs," Elrohir gave as way of reply and explanation for Estel's injuries.

"Take Estel to the healing wing, I shall be there presently," Elrond said.

The twins nodded and Elladan picked Estel up; "Keep off the grass!" Estel Muttered tiredly.

"What did he just say?" Elladan asked.

"He must be delusional from the injury," Elrohir looked almost horrified.

Elladan and Elrohir decided to laugh about it later; right now, they had a little brother to see too.

THE END

A/N – I took out the Elvish because it was still Grelvish – I wish I didn't get so confused! So, if you lot want elvish…they'd be speaking in Sindarin anyway cause the live in Rivendell!

Ta,

Poppy