My Brother's Keeper
In Middle Earth it is widely accepted that the fairest of creatures to grace its multi-faceted
lands are the first-born. The Elven. A proud people they were content to keep with their
own, while holding a gentle and somewhat indulgent disdain for other races. Aloof,
mysterious and wise, they went about their daily lives content with the knowledge that
they were beloved by the earth and heavens to a greater degree. Were they not fairer,
more graceful, and longer of life? Their kind blended and harmonized with nature in a
pact that no Dwarf, Human, Hobbit and certainly not Orc, could ever hope to achieve.
Indeed, it was this assured knowledge of superiority that was forefront in Elrohir's mind
as he studied his twin in stupefaction.

"How did you do THIS?" Planting his hands on his narrow hips, he addressed his brother
with a smugness that only cats and children verging on adulthood can achieve. Granted,
his twin was younger but by moments, but it still gave Elrohir that slight advantage to act
the elder when it suited him to be so. Before him, or more accurately below him, the
scowling face covered in mud, was barely visible through the tangle-weed that had
wrapped itself firmly around the slender body. Long black hair poked through the
suffocating foliage and the occasional bit of clothing attested to the obvious fact that this
was indeed his twin.

Elladan had really fallen into it this time. Literally. Right in a patch of Tangle-weed root.

The merrier of the two, and eternal prankster, Elladan was forever getting his sibling in
trouble. Elrohir found it very difficult to separate his brothers pranks from his own rather
bland doings, and in the end, he would never have let him face chastisement on his own.
More than once Elrohir found himself scrubbing the tiles in the west hall side by side
with Elladan not quite knowing what "they" had done this time.

In truth it did cause Elrohir no small amount of glee that the mischievous imp had finally
gotten himself in trouble with one of his own jokes. There was little doubt in Elrohir's
mind that his brother had been harvesting the plant to visit upon some hapless victim. Just
a bit of that vine on someone's pillow would tangle the unfortunate's hair into a wild
mess by morning. And he would wager his new bow that, one way or another, he would
have ended up in trouble, AGAIN.

" I have a mind to leave you here. Father is always saying that one of us would have
been enough!" He teased his struggling counterpart. "And this was intended for..?"
Elrohir gestured at the plant in a knowing tone.

"Arwen." Elladan replied sheepishly.

"Arwen?" Elrohir whistled with no little awe "You are LUCKY you fell into the plant, or
it would have been worse for you." He clasped his long fingers behind his back and
assumed a lecturing stance. "And when what was left of you after Arwen figured it out
was turned over to father, you would end up with kitchen duties for the next thousand
years. Elladan, you KNOW I hate the kitchen duties."

"Aw, he wouldn't be THAT mad, maybe only 500 years."

In truth, Elrond was a doting father and could not have been more proud of his 25-year-
old sons. Identical in appearance, they were handsome boys that entertained the
inhabitants of Rivendell with their quit wit and enchanting personalities. Bearing a
graceful stature with their long thin limbs and angular faces- like all Elven children -they
grew slower than the other races of Middle Earth and in truth appeared around the same
age as a 13-year-old human. Albeit the pair were thinner and just a touch taller. The
brother's warm brown eyes were set above high cheekbones and generous smiles. And
for certain, like most of their kind, the long silky black hair that fell to their respective
wastes enhanced their beauty. It was only last year that they had been allowed to adopt
the large braid that signified their status as accepted hunters of their people, and both
wore it with pride and care. Of course Elrohir's was in slightly better shape at the current
moment.

"I would have done the dishes part." Elladan offered with a plaintive tone hoping to
appease his twin. "Can we get me out of here before it decides to crush me to death?"

It didn't really hurt- it was more a matter of pride than anything. The obnoxious weeds
had managed to pull his clothing and hair into uncomfortable contortions, but it was not
chocking his air supply. His discomfiture stemmed from a darker source, for hours he had
felt a shadow loom over about the forest. The collective entity that was the woodland was
discontent. He could do nothing about it, entangled as he was. Elladan had tried many
times in the long afternoon to wheedle and cajole the vines into letting him free, but they
were not susceptible to his charm this day.

"You certainly took your time coming to find me. I know you felt me calling, and I
already apologized for the glue thing"
"Funny, had I not been doing all of OUR chores in the stables this morning alone, I
might have arrived sooner." Elrohir scolded the general pile of vines that was his twin.
He had sensed his brother's frustration all morning but attributed it to an un-successful
suit rather than falling in a very obvious cluster of Tangleweed. Elladan fancied himself a
charmer of the fairer sex and oft times his random disappearances could be accounted to
that. So it was with no great alarm on Elrohir's part that he noted his brother, once again,
shirked responsibility by not making an appearance at the stables. For several hours, he
did not look for his identical partner annoyed with his latest indiscretion, but finally
boredom overtook him and he went to hunt down the missing twin.

"For pity sake," he sighed exasperated. " Hurry up. There is something not right in the
woods this day. We should go back." The dark presence that had been sniffing about the
forest suddenly made itself known to him once more. The anticipated arrival of his
brother had done a great deal to ease his own immediate fears, however he could still feel
the edginess of the living things around him.

Elrohir tugged a bit harder at the thick arms of the vine alarmed with his brother having
any kind of emotion that was not gleeful.

"What do you mean Elladan?"

Careful not to step to close lest he join his brother in the serpentine embrace of weed, his
nimble feet barely graced the woodland floor as he began the arduous task of freeing the
captive elf. Elladan had not only be entangled in the arms of the plant, but rolled around
in the damp mud as well and it clung in clumps to his long hair. Elrohir took much
caution in discerning said earth from his brother's locks, making the task slower than it
should have been.

" I don't know, I don't know what it is. Something I've never sensed before that does not
belong here naturally. We must tell father and Glorfindel."

"Maybe it is one of the Dwarves or perhaps even a human. Slow-minded creatures that
are not to be feared." Elrohir reassured his brother with confidence. Though he had never
encountered anything other than an elf, he knew it to be fact that no other Middle Earth
dezian was comparable to their own kind and therefore pitiable. " I will simply thrust my
sword into their heart, like so." Elrohir took a quick stab in the air with his light weapon.
A cheeky smile lit his face as he addressed his brother between jabs at the mock
opponent. "I shall save you from all evil creatures, oh, and this plant of course."

"Elrohir, listen."

Alarmed Elrohir ceased his childish play and whipped around to confront the grating
noise. " I hear it too."

"It's coming this way. My thoughts were true. You must go get father and Glorfindel!"

"I'm not going to leave you here Elladan. I'm not afraid." Elrohir tried his best to
compose his face into the contemptuous look he so often saw his elders adopt. He even
managed to raise one slender eyebrow, imitating his father, before the calm façade was
ruined when his keen eyes finally sourced the cause for such commotion.

For any child, whether human or elf, the site that met him was the accumulation of
nightmarish stories told about the evening fires in jest. Elrohir gasped audibly.

Three twisted beings emerged from a far off vantage point, breaking into a meadow
clearing. Their bodies were hunched into un-naturally, lumpish forms that seemed to
scamper more than walk- sometimes using their legs but more often all four limbs. Their
heavy footing crushed the delicate plants below them and their greenish-gray skin marked
them as non-human. They lumbered slowly to the east, lifting their flattened noses
occasionally to the wind as if searching for …something…