CO-Written with Aranel Laerien

Disclaimer: The Tolkien estate owns the characters. Unfortunately, we can't. Well, we get to own the plot bunny.

4.

The king had returned, Arwen could hear her husband's voice barking out orders. That did not sound too promising. She followed the voice and was surprised to see only Aragorn. There was no sign of the boy.

She hurried close to him. "Has something happened to our son?" she asked at once.

Aragorn shook his head, embracing her before he replied, "On the contrary, Legolas got himself injured, and I entrusted Eldarion with the task of staying with him. I thought they could have some time together."

Arwen gave a hint of a smile and nodded. "Are you certain that Eldarion will be all right?" she asked, looked concerned.

"Of course. Our son is almost a man," the king replied.

They turned, looking as the guards secured a cart to the horse. Aragorn walked over, checking the supplies that they had prepared. Satisfied, he mounted the horse.

"I will bring them home soon," he promised his queen.

"You'd better, my king." Arwen grinned.

Aragorn nodded and rode off, the guards following him into the woods this time.

Arwen watched them leave. Aragorn was right. Their boy was growing up well, whatever Legolas had thought. She had never thought he would have agreed to stay in the forest but he had. Their boy was almost a man already. He was no longer a child. She wiped a tear that had fallen from those blue eyes.

Eldarion had not moved from his spot. Through the bushes, he glanced at the two men, each of them tied to a tree. They were trying to get at the knots without much success. They certainly did not look too happy. And meanwhile, Eldarion was learning some new ways to curse.

Uncle Legolas was still sleeping. He was also still breathing. Eldarion would have sighed. He was too young for this sort of thing. It had been a while since he had checked if there were insects coming near him but somehow that did not bother him so much now. He probably had not even checked if the ground was clean before sitting down.

"I'd told you this would happen!"

"You wanted the money."

"My wife wanted it! The baby was crying all day."

"So? Give him some food."

"Let me know when you find something actually affordable."

"The merchants are hiding them to sell."

"How'd you know?"

"Saw them last night."

"Where?"

"That bloody hut. They were moving it when that bloody elf was there."

"But there's nothing inside!"

"There's a trapdoor."

Eldarion was not too sure what everything was about, but he was starting to get a bit tired himself. He shifted a little. The two men were ignoring him, which was just as well.

There was nothing but greenery around here. He wondered if he could manage to climb a tree without his ada helping him. But mostly, he wondered where exactly he was. They had headed towards the mountains he had seen from the tree. The mountains did not look that far back then and surely they were closer now. Some part of him dreaded them but he promised himself that one day, he would return and enter the dirty hidden cave that Uncle Legolas had dared him to go.

It was getting colder and he wrapped his arms around himself tighter. The wind was growing stronger and it had seemed darker than it was before.

"Uncle Legolas," he whispered.

The elf seemed to have frowned slightly.

Eldarion looked up at the sky. The view was hampered by the trees but he was sure that it was going to rain. He crawled over to the elf.

"Uncle Legolas, wake up," he said, shaking him. "Wake up, it's going to rain."

The elf stirred and Eldarion tried harder. He leaned right to his ear.

"Uncle Legolas!" he hissed.

The elf blinked rapidly a few times.

"Ah, Eldarion," he said, his voice still tired.

"Wake up, Uncle Legolas!" Eldarion persisted. "It's going to rain."

"It's just a little rain," the elf replied. "Don't worry about it."

Eldarion glanced at the sky again. The wind was beginning to howl at him and he was convinced that it would be more than a little rain. The woods were far too dark and he knew that the downpour would last a good hour at least. They had to find shelter right away, even if a torrent would not bother the elf.

They could run to that cave. Eldarion knew he would remember where it was as soon as he reached the mountains, and he knew that if he kept going on in the same direction, he would get to the mountains.

Perhaps he could run there in five or ten minutes? But Uncle Legolas was injured and he would not be able to run. And Eldarion could not leave him alone.

"Uncle Legolas, there's a storm coming," he said.

"That's all right." The elf's voice was slurred. Any moment now he would be back asleep.

"No, don't sleep!" Eldarion shook the elf. "You're not supposed to sleep!"

End of Chapter 4.