A.N: Hi everybody! This is my second story, so I am still getting used to writing and stuff. If you have any advice, I'm happy to hear it! ;-)

Disclaimer: Not mine - No Elladan, No Elrohir, no Elrond, Aragorn *sigh*, no Legolas *sniffle* no nobody! They all belong to Tolkien... (Well, all except the orcs)

Warnings: kinda AU, angsty bits, etc... NO SLASH.

Please R&R - Your comments are much appreciated! ;-)

Now, on with the tale!

Chapter 1; Journey's Beginning .

It was a pleasant morning and Elladan, his twin Elrohir and foster brother Aragorn were gathered in their father - Elrond's study. The lord of Rivendell sat in his oak chair, behind his large oak desk.
"My sons," Elrond began, "I have heard news of a large orc party at the very southern edge of Imladris Valley. It has been causing the inhabitants of many human villages and travellers much trouble and unrest."
"So you want us to go and hunt them down -"
" - Kill them off -"
" - And return here with -"
" - The minimum amount of injuries possible." Elladan and Elrohir completed their father's and each other's sentences. They had a knack of doing that; It was like they rehearsed it, Aragorn thought to himself.
"Yes, it seems we have had this conversation too many times. Do you wish to rest a while before you leave?" The lord of Imladris asked. Elrohir cast a side glance at Elladan and Aragorn, both of which nodded and said:
"We leave in half an hour. Meet each other at the stables then." With that, they asked leave of their father and went off to prepare.
"We have had that conversation far too many times." Elrond said to himself as he watched his sons file out of his study.

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Half an hour later - as arranged - the brothers met at Rivendell stables. Each was armed with a bow and a quiver filled with the blue fletched arrows of their home. They all also carried a sword in their belts. Elrond came to see them off - and to give them a bag of healing supplies.
"You can never be without one, especially with you three." He had said when he passed the bag to Aragorn, who slung it on his belt. After saying farewell and have a safe trip, the brothers mounted their steeds and rode out of Rivendell, leaving its Lord to wonder and worry.

It was a peacful ride to the south edge of Imladris Valley, so the twin sons and foster son of Elrond joked and laughed their way there. As the sun reached its mid-way point, the threesome halted next to a babbling stream and took a break, already being at the southern edge of the Valley. Aragorn thought about putting some water from the stream in his brothers' boots, but thought better of it. Instead he went over and sat underneath one of the large trees that stood along the water's edge. Elrohir watched his foster brother before turning to talk to Elladan, but froze with his mouth open, ready to form words. Elladan immedeately signaled to Aragorn. The ranger came over without second thought a drew his sword just as the twins had.
"Yrch!" Elladan whispered, now hearing the creatures' heavy footfalls. Standing, Aragorn looked around, spotting the orcs in the distance.
"It must be the party Adar was on about!" He stated, motioning to the other two to stand.
"They move fast for orcs!" Elrohir said, clenching his fists around his sword hilt. Elladan nodded and gripped his sword too. Moving into a defensive triangle as to protect eachother's back, the two elves and man prepared themselves for the oncoming fight.

Another ten minutes went by before the first of the orcs clashed blades with the brothers. Soon, a full fledged battle was taking place - three against roughly eighty. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, Aragorn and the twins were doing extremely well. But that was about to change. Suddenly, a black fletched arrow whizzed past Elladan's shoulder, imbeding itself into the tree behind him. The older twin looked up in the direction of the arrow's path and found himself dodging more missiles as they rained down from a tree right at the stream's side, its brances were hanging over the deepest part of the water. At first Elladan was gobsmacked. Orcs couldn't shoot that well! The arrows were barely missing him! After his intial shock had passed, the oldest son of Elrond whipped out his own bow and fired an arrow into the tree's canopy. A thud and a splash indicated that his arrow had found its target and said target had fallen into the stream. Unfortunately, because Elladan was occupied with the 'orc' archer in the tree, another orc was able to sneak up behind him and bash him around the head with a large tree branch, rendering him unconscious. The same thing happened to Elrohir and Aragorn as they looked over at the stream when they heard the splash. The orcs slung the three over their shoulders like sacks of potatoes and began to march off towards their camp. The leader of the orcs, however, stomped to the water's edge and waded in, shouting as he did so.
"Glob snaga! Stupid boy! Where are ya'? Come 'ere!" As the orc leader waded out so that the water reached his waist, a relatively soft object collided with his foot (or rather, his foot collided with the object). Grinning, the orc bent down and pulled the object out of the water and dumped it on the shore; kicking it to wake it. Coughing and gasping told the leader that his 'object' was awake. He turned around and dragged the gasping and coughing thing behind him as he also made for the orc camp, ignoring the fact that the object, or person, he was dragging had a blue fletched arrow protruding from its chest.

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There's the first cliffie! :-) (if you'd call it that). Thank-you for reading! I'll post the next chappie as soon as I can!

For now, farewell,

Hunter of Valar.