Galion and his close companion Elros surveyed the large bottles of wine in front of them. Earlier that day, Galion had been given the tedious job of emptying out these wine bottles, for the king had discovered much to his dismay he did not care for the bitter taste of this particular wine. As a replacement, Thranduil ordered Galion to replace the wine with a new shipment of Dorwinion, however, with all this wine there was not enough room, so the current wine had to go.
As there was too much to toss Galion asked Elros if he would please aid him in getting rid of the wine since he had learned his friend was given the afternoon off. Elros never one to pass up an opportunity to help his friend out had kindly accepted the offer and followed him to the wine cellar. With a bottle in each hand, the two started on the long, tedious task of emptying out each of the bottles.
It was during the third bottle Elros started chuckling mischievously. Galion knowing all too well when Elros laughed in that manner, nothing good would come of it. "Elros, I know that laugh all too well. Whatever it is you have planned I want no part in it."
Elros nudged Galion playfully in the ribs. "Oh Galion, I was only thinking this is an awful lot of good wine just to be throwing out. Just because the king does not like it does not mean we can't enjoy it."
Galion stopped in the middle of pouring one of his bottles down the sink. Elros did have a point. A lot of coins did go into buying this, and it was just plain wasteful dumping it out like this. Elros saw the look in Galion's eyes and knew he had him thinking. "So Elros," Galion started slowly, "what you are suggesting is we help ourselves to some of this wine?"
Elros smiled even bigger. "Yes, my friend, that is exactly what I am suggesting. I mean the king did not tell us how we were to get rid of it, only we were to dispose of it. And by drinking some of it, we are still disposing of it, just in a different manner. So, what say you, shall we help ourselves to a few bottles? We might as well enjoy ourselves."
The butler carefully thought about his friend's proposal. On the one hand, he was right – King Thranduil did not specify how they were to get rid of the old wine and just to pour it out was wasting a lot of precious resources. On the other hand, if they were to drink too much then they would more than likely become drunk, and that could spell disaster for them, and facing an angry Thranduil was not exactly something anyone wanted to do.
Finally, after carefully weighing the options, he made up his mind. "Very well Elros, I accept your offer. However, we must be careful not to consume too much or else the king will not be happy with us at all."
Clapping Galion on the back, Elros took up a bottle of wine. "That's the spirit! Let the fun begin," he chortled and took a large gulp.
Several hours and bottles of wine later found two very boisterous and drunk ellyn laughing and stumbling around as they had just finished downing the last bottle of the wine Thranduil had intended to be discarded. "What did I tell you Galion? This is much better than just throwing away," Elros slurred as he hiccupped.
Galion only nodded as he tried to find his way back to his chair without falling over. He had just about made it over when the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. "Elros, someone is coming, quick hide the evidence!" Galion cried trying to kick a bunch of empty wine bottles under the table almost falling over in the process.
Laughing at the sight of his friend's panicky behavior, Galion just rolled his eyes to the heavens as he realized he would be no help. Galion had just finished hiding a flask when Feren entered. Galion shot straight up. "Feren, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you down here?" he asked trying to sound as normal as possible.
Staring at the two elves, Feren noticed the state of the cellar. Despite Galion's best attempts to hide the evidence many empty wine bottles could be seen strewn all over the place, and if that wasn't enough, Elros was slumped over the table hardly able to stay in his chair. "I have come to inform you King Thranduil is on his way down right now to check on the state of the cellar. He wishes to have a sample of his new shipment of Dorwinion before having some brought up to the throne room."
As if a band of orcs had barged through the door, both Galion and Elros sobered up quick. "The king is on his way here right now?" Galion asked paling.
Feren thought Galion was going to faint on him at that moment. "Yes, he will be here in a few minutes, so I suggest you two get yourselves together and get this room cleaned up."
At that moment, Elros fell out of his seat and trying to stand toppled over again. "Please Feren, you must stall the king. Even for five minutes! I beg you!"
Feren smiled faintly in spite of himself at the amusing sight before him. "I will do my best, but I cannot promise you anything."
"Thank you Feren; we owe you," Galion said helping Elros to his feet.
"Indeed, you do," Feren said before leaving to try and give his two very scared friends some borrowed time.
"This is all your fault, Elros! I told you this would be a bad idea, but you just had to do it!" Galion snapped letting go of Elros as he hastily started picking up the empty wine bottles and putting them in the barrels to toss down the shoot.
"My fault? Hey, I didn't hear you say no either, 'Mister I accept your offer.' You are just as much to blame as me," Elros retorted back as he began to stumble around the room trying desperately to help Galion pick up.
"If you hadn't of kept nagging I wouldn't have accepted. Quick put these barrels over there while I unload the Dorwinion from the trap door."
"Well, it doesn't matter whose fault it is now, the king is on his way here now, and if we are seen like this, it will be the end for both of us," Elros barked as he started to stack the barrels up where Galion told him to.
"That was what I was trying to say from the beginning! I swear if we are disposed of ourselves, I am whacking you all the way to Mandos Halls and back!" Galion glared at Elros as he finished unloading the last of the Dorwinion.
Elros only shot daggers at Galion as he helped bring over the full barrels. The two were so busy arguing back and forth about whose fault it was they had failed to realize they stacked the barrels full of Dorwinion next to the barrels containing all the empty bottles.
It wasn't until they had finished loading and stacking all of the barrels and making sure everything was as it should be that they realized they had mixed up the casks. "Elros! Do you remember which barrels have the Dorwinion in them?" Galion asked frantically.
"No, I thought you were paying attention to which barrel was which," Elros said hysterically as he heard the voice of Thranduil approaching the cellar entrance.
Galion started hyperventilating as he realized the seriousness of their situation. "What are we going to do now? If he sees the state of this room, we are done for," he shrieked.
"Calm down. Now, try and remember, were the new containers closer to the chute or the empty ones?"
Galion strained to remember, but he was so frantic he couldn't think straight. "I… uh…" he stammered.
"Galion, quick which ones? The king will be here any minute!" Elros shouted causing Galion to jump.
"The empty barrels were closer to the chute," Galion finally stated.
"Are you sure?" Elros asked not exactly certain. He was about to open one up to check, but the sound of Feren trying to keep Thranduil away caused him to change his mind real fast. "Well there is no time to check now, the king is just about here so help me carry these barrels over to the chute," Elros ordered.
Not wasting any time, Galion helped Elros pick up one of the barrels. "This barrel feels a bit heavy for one that is supposed to be empty."
Elros agreed but as his mind was not entirely clear and the fact the king was going to be here in less than a minute he was not going to risk checking and being caught. After the third trip, they had managed to stack up the last barrel and pulled the lever causing the chute to open. As soon as the last barrel went down and the door was closed the two still very drunk elves barely managed to make it to their seats in time and feigned playing cards just as the king entered.
Galion looked up as the king entered, his steel eyes looking around the room suspiciously. "My king, this is an unexpected surprise. How may I assist you?" he asked hoping he didn't sound nervous.
"Have you emptied those bottles of wine I told you to hours ago, Galion?" Thranduil asked still surveying the room. He knew Feren was stalling for time but why he was not certain yet.
"Yes, my lord we did. The new shipment of your prized Dorwinion is in its place," Galion said pointing to the barrels where they had just been seconds before.
Elros bowed avoiding eye contact with his king as Thranduil walked over to one of the barrels. Both Galion and Elros glanced over holding their breath as the king opened one of the lids. A few seconds later they heard the king close the lid. "Tell me Galion. Where did you say my wine was again?"
Galion gulped hard. "Is it not there my king?" he squeaked.
Thranduil turned and stared at the two now extremely scared ellyn. "No, it isn't. The only thing here are the empty bottles of wine I asked you to dispose of earlier. So, I am asking you again. Where… is… my… wine…?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Elros wanted to run. He didn't know where but anywhere else was better than facing a very fuming Thranduil.
Galion could barely answer, and he felt his knees beginning to give out on him. "I guess we must have sent it down the chute instead of the empty barrels… my king."
Feren slowly backed out of the room as he saw his king's face turn the same color as the berries on his crown. He did not want to be here when Thranduil exploded. Perhaps Elrond would let me stay for a while? he thought to himself as he quickly made his way up the stairs. Just as he got to the top step, a resounding boom could be heard below causing him to stop dead in his tracks.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"