Disturbing sounds
by
Aranna Undomiel
The young boy listened intensely if the sound would be heard again. He looked at his brothers from under his eyelashes to see if they too had heard anything, but they appeared to be very relaxed, Elladan even softly humming a song to himself.
He smiled happily, he wanted to be the first one to have noticed it, and he wanted to tell them something was near…
He stared once again at his pony's neck, so he could focus on the sound, just like Glorfindel had taught him. He strained his ears, but all he heard was the soft thumping of the horse's hooves on the dry ground, their occasional snorts and tail sweeps, and off course, the normal forest sounds.
He kept focussing and almost started to think he actually had imagined hearing something, until…Yes, he had heard it once again. A rather loud crunching sound that ended abruptly to be followed by 4 or 5 slightly softer crunches, as if the culprit of the sound had stepped on some branches and then tried to softly step of off them without making a sound.
Well, he had definitely not counted on Estel's hearing abilities!
The boy nudged his pony forward to catch up with his twin brothers."'Dan, 'Ro!" he whispered, trying not to let their follower know he had been detected. His brothers swiftly turned around, visibly straightening at the sound of urge in their young brother's voice. "What's wrong, Estel?" Elladan asked, as he worriedly looked over at the boy to check for any injuries.
"I heard something; I heard branches breaking. I think someone is following us!"
Elladan looked at his twin, questioningly raising an eyebrow. Elrohir shook his head almost invisibly; they both hadn't heard anything. "We both haven't heard anything, gwador tithen, but let us ride on quietly and see if we can hear what you heard" Elrohir said. All three of them listened intensely, the twins sitting up straight, the rigidness in their movements betraying the air of casualty they tried to spread. The horses noticed their masters' alertness and started shaking their manes, only to be swiftly calmed by some soft Elvenwords.
The three rode like this for a while, but no sound could be heard. With every silent moment that passed Estel's face grew more glum. "I really heard something", the boy mumbled quietly, afraid his brothers would think he was making things up.
Elladan turned towards his youngest brother, "I believe you heard something Estel, but maybe you just heard a deer or something in the bushes, that now has gone another direction so it wouldn't encounter us".
Estel thought about that for a moment and then he nodded. "But you two didn't hear the animal, did you?" he asked, trying not to sound too excited about that, but failing miserably. "No we didn't" Elrohir confirmed, trying to hide his smile at the look of pride that appeared upon Estel's face. He had finally beaten his two older brothers at something, and this time it was not because they had let him win!
Estel almost bounced up and down on his horse, happy with the prospect of being able to tell his Ada about this. His twin brothers shared a wry grin as they thought about how badly they would be teased by their friends for being beaten in hearing by an Adan-child.
They calmly rode on on the path they had started on early, very early this morning. This was the boy's first trip alone with his brothers outside the safe borders of Imladris. Though they were only going to ride down the path that led past Imladris, the boy had been excited for days, telling everybody he was looking forward to the trip he and his brothers were going to make in the real world. His father and brothers enjoyed the child's enthusiasm, thought they weren't too thrilled when he jumped up and down on their beds at 4 in the morning.
The twins looked down fondly at their brother, who had even managed to get them as enthusiastic about this trip, even though they had taken this road, that led from North to South, outside the West Border of Imladris many times before.
Though they were still within earshot of Imladris' borderguards, the twins made sure Estel stayed in between them, Elladan on the left of him, Elrohir on the right; just in case...
And so they rode on calmly, enjoying the first rays of sun that managed to creep over the treetops. The sun's rays warmed their faces and relaxed their bodies. The warm summer sun and the lack of sleep combined, Estel got a bit sleepy and his pony, reacting to his master, started to walk more slowly, causing the pair of them to fall behind on the twins.
Estel blinked at the sun and yawned widely and audibly. The twins turned their heads around, grinning widely, and slowed down their horses too. And then, right at that moment, it happened! Estel yawned again, but mid-yawn the sound could be heard again; a lot closer and a lot louder. His jaws clapped shut and he turned to his right, towards the origin of the sound, where the same soft crunches could be heard, followed by another loud crunch and some more soft ones. He scanned the bushes, but did not see anything.
He tugged Elladan on his sleeve, trusting his eldest brother would know what to do. Without speaking he pointed to his right. Elladan didn't take long to understand the signing and he too scanned the bushes and trees, when another crunch was heard. "There it is again!" Estel screamed, immediately clapping his hand in front of his mouth, having momentarily forgotten that yelling could alert who ever was there. And it did, the soft crunches were abruptly cut short...
Elladan looked at his twin to plan their actions and then... burst out in laughter. Estel looked up at the eldest twin, surprised and a bit hurt, for he felt like being laughed at.
Elladan did his best to stop laughing, and finally managed partly, his mouth still twitching with the effort. That was, at least until he looked at his twin again, who stared back at him, dumbfounded.
Elladan broke out into another peel of laughter, while he barely managed to choke out the words: "I think I found the culprit, Estel". The boy looked over at Elrohir to ask if he too thought that Elladan had gone mental, but then started giggling too.
For the sight that greeted both was that of a bewildered looking Elrohir...with a half-eaten apple still in his mouth; frozen in the midst of a bite by Estel's shout.
"Didn't Ada teach us to eat with our mouths closed, gwador? Always knew you had no table-manners!" Elladan smirked. "Haha, really funny Dan" Elrohir replied, after biting off the last piece and trying to chew it away as silently as possible, earning him some giggles from Estel. "I thought it was an orc following us" the boy confessed with slight shame. "An orc!" Elladan snickered, shooting meaningful glances at his twin, who replied with a wry, not really meant grin.
"Well, what are we here for; making fun of me or taking a ride?" Elrohir asked, nudging his horse to move on, increasing the distance between him and his brothers, who were not in the least impressed by his deviation act. A little distance away from them Elrohir tossed the remainder of the apple into the bushes as casually as possible, only to be rewarded with more laughter from behind him.
Elladan shook his head, smiling at his twins antics and than looked over at Estel. They shared a smile and then too nudged their horses, to catch up with their brother; sharing a silent promise that their brother would not forget about this trip, not ever if it were for them...
The END
Gwador (tithen): (little) brother
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A/N: Yay, finally another story finished. I did write during all this time, but I only wrote starts of stories and never finished, but things are improving ;)
Came up with the idea for this story when I was taking the train to uni and I was sitting next to a woman who was eating an apple rather ...ahum...loudly. Had to listen to that for a while (so not pleasant!) and suddenly this idea sparked.
Hope you all liked it, so please leave a review, please please:)
Lots of thanks to my beta Natalie (aka GothVamp), glad you stuck with me!