Camping with trolls

Approx.. III 2944, close to the borders of Rivendell

Darkness was falling over their camp, but their little fire burned brightly and did its best to keep the lengthening shadows at bay. Despite the valiant light the youngest of their company kept glancing at the dense underbrush around him, whenever he thought his brothers might not notice. It was a vain hope, of course, for little escaped their elven eyes.

"I wonder what is bothering our little brother", Elrohir whispered to his brother, quiet enough to make sure mortal ears wouldn't overhear the question.

Estel had long been looking forward to this trip. It was his first venture outside the borders of Rivendell and it had taken him ages to convince his father to let him go. It was only when Elladan and Elrohir had supported his request and promised to look after their little brother themselves, that the elven lord had relented.

The twins had understood Estel's desire to see the world outside of his elven home. The world was vast and full of wondrous mysteries to the little adan. And yet, now that he was here, there was no sign of excitement or lust for adventure in his big grey eyes.

Elladan simply shrugged his shoulders, not sure of the answer to his brother's question. "I assume it might have been Adar's warnings," he offered.

His younger brother barely refrained from rolling his eyes at the mention of Lord Elrond's never-ending list of dangerous creatures that he had told Estel to be aware of. The impressive directory of dangerous beings had been long and thorough, spanning from wolves and bears to orcs, wargs and spiders.

"What was he thinking? Half of the beasts he mentioned have not been seen close to our borders in centuries." There was a clear note of exasperation in Elrohir's voice and it became increasingly difficult to keep his voice low enough that their human brother would not notice their discussion. "He even mentioned dragons!"

Estel had, however, noticed his brothers' discussion by now and was mustering them with a distinctly uneasy expression on his young face.

'He is probably wondering if we have heard something out in the forest that he has not', Elladan mused, inwardly cursing their father's over-protectiveness. His well-meant warning had likely tripled Estel's list of known dangers (which was already extensive, thanks to Erestor who was equally inclined to worry about the little human) and now their youngest brother assumed those perils lurked everywhere.

It was time, the oldest of the brothers decided, for a distraction.

"Would you like to hear a story Estel?"

The tension left the adan's shoulders at the question – surely his brother would not be telling him a story if their camp was surrounded by warg riders. He tore his gaze away from the lengthening shadows and fixed it instead on the older twin's face.

The sparkle of excitement wasn't quite back in his eyes, but Elladan was sure he would be able to tell his brother a story that would put his worried mind at ease.

"It was during a cold winter many years ago when Elrohir and I were returning to Rivendell. We had spent most of that year with the rangers and had planned to return to Imladris for the Winter Solstice. But the winter had come early that year and with unusual force and we were stuck in a snow storm for several days.

Elladan halted his story as much to stir the pot of rabbit stew that was simmering over the fire as for dramatic effect. The forest had fallen silent, seemingly as intent to listen to the story as Estel.

"Once the snow fall finally subsided we set out once more," Elladan continued, "only to stumble upon an unusual amount of warg prints in the fresh snow."

Next to his twin Elrohir suddenly groaned audibly as he realized just which story Elladan was about to tell. He chose not to dwell on the fact that they had clearly travelled through too many snow storms under similar circumstances or else he might have recognized the story earlier.

"Do you really plan on telling him that story?", the younger twin asked disbelievingly, increasing Estel's desire to hear the story even more: "The story about how you fell into a frozen lake?"

Elladan looked at his brother with an unreadable expression: "No gwador, I was going to skip that part and tell Estel instead how I saved you from that big warg with a perfect shot between its eyes. Legolas would have been proud."

"Aye, he would have been", Elrohir admitted: "of course you would not have had to save me had I not lost my sword while trying to fish you out of the freezing waters."

"Exactly," Elladan declared with finality, "I was going to tell Estel the story of how we found a band of wargs in the snow-covered wilderness and how I saved my foolish little brother who tried to face them unarmed."

Across from them Estel had a hard time stifling his laughter. He had always enjoyed the twin's playful bickering, and this time, like often before, it had helped to erase all troubles from his mind.

"Next time remind me to use your sword to try and rescue...", Elrohir muttered under his breath, but broke off abruptly as his sharp ears picked up a deep rumble. One look at his twin was enough to convince him that he wasn't mistaken – Elladan had heard it, too.

"What is happening?", Estel had clearly felt the shift in the mood and was anxious to find out what his brothers had heard that had escaped his human senses. He did not need to wait for answers though, as the next rumble was close enough for even him to hear. It was like thunder in the distance, but it travelled along the ground and seemed to be nearing their position, and quickly.

There was only one creature capable of making noises like a rockslide in slow motion: mountain trolls.

A/N: The first chapter is a bit short but this seemed like the perfect spot to stop. (yes, I'm evil like that) Please tell me what you think and if you would like to read more. Thank you.