Meeting hope

By: Eressie

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Chapter four

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Elladan and Elrohir crept silently but swiftly through the trees. Closing in on the trolls that they expected to find.
They did not often see trolls, only a few times before had they come across and fought trolls. Such huge beast is no easy thing to slay, and the twins knew that if the trolls were many, they might have to run instead of fight this time.
They climbed into the trees when they were close enough. The twins were not quite at home in the trees like Legolas was, but they could handle themselves up there fairly well.

A huge fire was burning and around it sat four trolls arguing, although only three of them were speaking; the last one was just grunting and waving his huge arms around. The twins could see a nasty scar on his throat and they guessed the troll had been in battle before and had his throat cut up, he obviously survived but he seemed to have lost his ability to speak.
The twins sat silent and looked down on the beasts below and listened.

"I'm tellin' you we should go more east!" one of them stated.

"Are ye stupid or somethin'?" the largest one bellowed and hit the other on the head. "Elves are there!"

"I've never tasted elf before, Dave!" the third one said with excitement.

"Well, I have and there is no meat on them anyhow!" the largest troll, Dave, said spat into the fire. "What good are they for if ye can't eat 'em?"

The mute one waved at the big troll and tried to say something. "What are ye dancing about there for?" he yelled and pushed the mute one away from him so he hit the tree behind him.

The tree's trunk broke at impact and fell to the ground together with the troll, landing with a loud thud. The mute troll rolled around a bit before getting up. He glared at the one that pushed him when he once again stood up as tall as his bad posture could hold him, but the others ignored him.

"Well, I need me some meat!" the first one growled.

"Jerry, ye're as fat as an Oliphant!" the second one said with a belch.

"No, I ain't!"

Dave roared. "Where are those two bastards that were going to find food?!"

Elladan and Elrohir frowned at each other when they heard that. They were two more trolls out there. They looked away from the trolls below them tried to focus on their surroundings. But they could not hear anymore trolls, at least not now. They hoped that they were no were near their brothers.

The mute one came closer to the fire again and sneered at them. He pointed at them and then he pointed out into the forest.

The first one, Jerry, narrowed his eyes. "Oi, I think Dumby is trying to say… that we all should look for food and not just them? I'm I right, Bart?"

The second troll did not have the chance to answer because Dave growled again and he reached out to hit the mute one. "He ain't saying anythin'! He can't speak, that one! He is too dumb!" he yelled.

The mute one, Dumby as they called him, stepped aside and attacked the large one first with a tackle, before the other had the chance to strike him first. The two of them fell to the ground and started pounding on each other and Dave swore and shouted at the other. Jerry and Bart cheered and shouted at the fighting trolls, laughing and clapping their massive hands together.

The fight lasted a while and Elladan and Elrohir rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the dim-witted trolls. They had discussed by signs if they should take the trolls out, they probably could if they were fast enough. The dumb trolls would probably not know what hit them before they would be dead. But they both agreed that coming back with more warriors would be the safest bet.

Their attention was directed elsewhere with the sound of a new violent fight. The twins' eyes widened as they heard Estel's shout.
Elrohir almost made a drastic move by jumping down from the tree right there to rush to Estel and Legolas, but Elladan stopped him. The trolls could not know they were there! What use would they be to their brothers if the trolls captured them?
They started to climb across the tree and reaching the next one as fast as they could without being seen. The trolls were still fighting somewhat but Jerry and Bart were now silent and looked away from their two other companions.

"Oi! Lads," Bart bellowed, "it sounds like Carl and Brock found us some meat after all! This place is not as deserted as we thought."

"What are ye blabbing about?" Dave growled and gave Dumby one last hit and pushed him away from him as he walked closer to Bart with blood gushing down his nose.

"Listen." Jerry said with an ugly grin. Dave heard and started to laugh and the other trolls joined in.

Meanwhile; Elladan and Elrohir did not get very far. They had to halt as they saw two huge trolls stomping towards them. They got out of the way and hid as the trolls walked past but to the twins horror they saw Estel and Legolas being held in their tight grasp.

The twins gritted their teeth in anger and drew their bow and arrow. But just as they were to hit the two trolls; the other four joined them. Elladan and Elrohir lowered their bows but held them in a tight grip so their knuckled whitened.

"Carl an' me found these not far away!" one of the new trolls laughed, Brock apparently. "Put up a fight they did! Look at my poor self!" he said and spun around where he stood; he had some wounds on him and a few arrows sticking out here and there. The other one, called Carl, looked the same if not worse.

Estel looked with fear in his eyes at the other trolls who leered at him. He squirmed, trying to get loose, resulting in Brock holding him tighter. Estel grimaced in pain, making the other trolls laugh.

"Aye, the elf was a feisty one!" Carl said and shook the unconscious prince that he held. "But he calmed down when Brock got 'old of the tiny boy!" he roared with laughter. "I made the little elf go nighty-night, and then it was easy to bring them both."

Dave huffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Only two? And one is a nasty elf?" he snarled. "You might as well have brought no food at all! We, need more!"

"Can't find more, Dave." Brock mumbled. "They 'ad four horses but they ran away too quickly."

Jerry groaned. "I like horses!"

Bart pushed at him. "Ye like everything."

"Dunno if I like little elves yet!" he said and ogled the still unconscious prince, who fell to the ground when Brock let him go. Jerry went over to the elf on the ground and lifted him up by one of his arms. "He look tasty."

Dave hit him so Jerry lost the grip on the elf. "Get ye hands off him!" he yelled. "You ain't getting first bites!"

"Aye," Bart agreed, "who's getting the good parts?"

"Brock and I should be the ones that choose first! We found them!" Carl yelled.

"But I'm hungrier than the rest of ye!" Jerry growled.

Dumby pushed himself into the circle that the trolls had formed automatically around the fallen elf. I raised his hand and pointed at the fire.

"Ye're not getting anythin' but the scraps, Dumby!" Dave sneered.

"Oh, but it would be lovely to cook 'em though, like Dumby said!" Jerry said and licked his lips. "I ain't had hot food since forever!"

"That's 'cus you can't wait that long for meat to cook!" Brock laughed.

Estel's breathe quickened. What was he to do? Where were the twins? As the trolls bickered and was uncopied; he tried to look around as well as he could with the huge trolls surrounding him. He saw movement in one of the trees and he sighed in relief as he spotted his brothers, bows in their hands. But the spark of hope did not last long. 'How will two elves win against six huge trolls on their own?' he thought in despair. He guessed the twins had had similar thoughts because they looked almost as helpless as he felt.

He looked down at Legolas on the ground; he was still not showing any signs of awakening. Estel was beginning to panic. Was his friend even alive? He so desperately wanted to get out of the stinky troll's grasp and help the prince, but he thought that the troll would probably snap his neck if he tried to escape again, and it made him more still than ever.

He glanced at the troll beside him, Brock, the one that had held Legolas. His and Legolas weapons were on the trolls back, the beast had kept them since 'they would be nice toothpicks' after they ate the two of them. Estel pressed his jaws together. If only he had his arms free and he could reach… he furrowed his brow and sighed in despair.

He looked up at his brothers again; who were his and Legolas' only hope. His eyes pleading for help. To his surprise he now saw two determined faces. They no longer hid as they were waiting; now they looked ready for battle. Both had their bows drawn and ready to fire. Estel widened his eyes for just a second, but then he bit together his yaws again, and with one last glance at Legolas, he gave a small nod to the twins.

They fired without hesitation and when the first arrows hit; all hell broke loose. The trolls roared in anger and pain. The one holding Estel was hit with the second set of arrows and Brock screamed, he threw Estel to the side and charged off towards the trees together with the other trolls.

Estel skidded across the ground and then come to a stop as he hit a tree; hard. He panted after air and managed to lift his aching head; trying to see what was happening. But his sight was blurred and he could only see fuzzy shapes. He ground was shaking under him as the trolls dashed towards the elves as fast as their big bodies could carry them.
They smashed and tore at the trees, tearing some up from the ground with the roots. The twins had no choice but to flee from tree to tree and firing arrows as best as they could. But soon enough they were forced to the forest floor and then they drew their swords. The trolls laughed but the twins stood their ground.

Estel tried to get up but as soon as he did the world spun and he fell back down again. He tried to look towards the fight before him but his vision got dark and the last thing he heard was his brother's scream before darkness took him completely.

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You like it? Hate it? Review please! My writing is more or less dependent on your reviews :)

/Eressie