Chapter FOUR
Estel was shaking as the Rivendell elves hoisted him to his feet. Elrond sat the young man on a vacant seat nearby and wrapped a warm cloak around him. He was in shock, still trying to throw off the fog of waking.
"I almost thought we'd lost you." Elrohir spoke gently still holding on to his young brother's hand. All Estel could do was tremble as his eyes fixed on Elladan wrapping cloth over the prince's wound. He could vaguely hear Lord Elrond chanting some old high-elvish as the healer lay his hands on Estel's head. The young man blinked once more. Something calm settled over him, he was sure it didn't come from his own being. Elrond knelt in front of his human son, blocking his view of the prince. Estel's eyes fixed upon serious deep brown pools.
"Tell us ion-nin, where did you go?" Elrond beckoned gently.
Estel felt a slight squeeze as Elrohir tried to comfort him. The young man stared down at the grip on his hand. Looking up into his brother's eyes he said,
"It was you hurting my hand.".
The elf immediately let go, he hadn't meant to cause discomfort. Elrond gently placed his hand under the young man's chin and brought his focus back to the older elf.
"What happened?"
"It was dark, deep underground and…" he tried to concentrate, the images which were so vivid were starting to slip away, "There were these monsters. They were awful things, worse than orcs."
Elrohir scrunched up his nose, he found it difficult to believe anything was worse than orcs. The Eldar elf nodded as he listened, carefully contemplating every word that was spoken.
"What else?" he questioned.
Estel frowned a moment, "I don't know, Legolas was there." He thought for another moment, "He was so scared… and alone."
He grabbed onto the sleeves of the Lord of Rivendell's clothes as his last memory of that terrible place raced across his mind.
"We were just going to be attacked by those monsters when…" he gazed over the elf's shoulder at the bleeding prince.
Elrond looked over to the blonde wood-elf then back at his human son. He instructed Elrohir to take care of Estel as he stood, releasing the young man's grip on his sleeves. Estel was too deep in shock to refuse the twin elf's commands and allowed himself be led off. They were escorted by a band of elves from Rivendell, Elrond had brought a great company with him to aid the woodland realm. Many had joined up with the Mirkwood Captain's people to assist in searching the palace, others stood guard in the passageways as they passed by on their way to the main rooms of Legolas' home.
Lord Elrond joined Elladan's side as he tended to the Mirkwood prince, Dagien's eyes were full of alarm and questions as she gazed at the wise elf before her.
"You can call your troops in, they will not find any creature in this realm." Elrond stated to the elven guard as he studied Thranduil's son.
Dagien frowned, not understanding what he meant. Elladan too looked confused by his father's statement.
"I will not allow my people to be hunted down while they cannot protect themselves" Dagien commanded fiercely to the older elf, she would not easily back down from defending her lords.
"Indeed not" Elrond agreed to her shock, "but there is little you can do here."
Elladan stood trying to read his father's thoughts, the Lord of Imladris looked disturbed by whatever revelation had come to him about the wood-elves predicament.
"There is a powerful spell at work in this place, strong enough to pull the people here into a potent trance state." Elrond looked the Mirkwood Captain square in the eyes as he spoke, "The danger they face is not physically here."
Suddenly feeling helpless she glared absently at the bandage around her prince's forearm. She nodded, reluctantly accepting the older elf's judgment and signalled for their troops to call off the hunt.
A thought crossed Elladan's mind as he considered his father's words, turning to the older elf he began,
"Adar, Estel cannot stay, we may not wake him again if he falls asleep and returns to…"
"No" Elrond interupted his son, "I don't believe simply sleeping can give one access to that realm. This magic goes deeper than that."
Frowning Elladan responded, "Then how did Estel manage to appear in Legolas'… 'dream'?"
It wasn't quite the right word to use for a sleeping elf but he wasn't sure how else to define the vision described by his young human brother. This seemed to be the question that Elrond was mulling over himself. The Eldar elf began carefully examining the elf-King, checking over his arms, around his face and neck.
"Adar?"
The elf-lord looked up at his son and explained, "A magic this potent would need some sort of sigil to bind the spell." He contemplated for a moment upon finding no mark, "or maybe a charm?"
He turned to Dagien, who had begun to look over her prince as Elrond had spoken, "Are there any unusual objects here that you are not familiar with?"
She looked up and all along the great hall and gestured to the many feast decorations adorning the large room. "What exactly am I looking for?"
"I don't know," Elrond sighed with frustration, "but if we can destroy it, it may release the spell's hold on your people."
"Who would do this?" Elladan asked as he looked over the hall of entranced elves.
A chilling scream reverberated down the passages at the end of the grand hall. The three elves stood disheartened as a few of the captain's men rushed passed to investigate, they already knew another victim had been claimed.
"Whoever it is, they will pay dearly." Dagien replied darkly.
Storming down the central walkway between the dining tables she called for her troop to gather with a number of the Rivendell company and ordered every embellishment in the palace to be stripped down and destroyed immediately. She ordered some to scour the main halls to find abnormal markings that may be this sigil, although none knew exactly what they were looking for. Elrond and Elladan watched as the guards began collecting the fair decorations and piling them in the main hearth, they would burn every last flower and leaf in a bid to release their kin from this malevolent slumber.
Elrond was lost in deep thought as he turned and considered the blonde Sindar elf, his wound was not fatal so long as the bleeding stopped soon. In fact, compared to the fallen victims the prince seemed to have gotten off lightly with his injuries. Then again, Legolas was a capable warrior, the others were not, perhaps he was able to fend off these dream creatures? But many of the wood-elves were not fighters, why had they not yet fallen victim to their savagery? There appeared to be no pattern to who was attacked in this 'dream-realm' next. All he knew for sure was Legolas' was fighting for his life, alone and in the dark. He considered his options carefully, he didn't like the idea but he didn't know what else would work.
Elrond turned on his heel and left the great hall, Elladan followed his father down the passages to meet up with Elrohir. As they opened the door Elladan could see his twin sat in the window with his little brother leaning against him. Elrohir had his arm wrapped securely around the training ranger to comfort and keep safe. They both looked up as the two dark-haired elves entered the room. Estel's face was red and blotchy, it was clear he had been crying.
Elrond knelt in front of his adopted son, swept back his tangled dark locks with care and smiled painfully at the young man. Elrohir subconsciously tightened his hug around Estel as he saw the look in his father's eyes.
"I'm sorry Estel" Elrond spoke softly.
The young man frowned with confusion, "Why, adar?"
"I need your help" Elrond stated, still softly.
Confused about his foster-father being apologetic about asking his help he responded with a nod. Elrond closed his eyes and sighed,
"I need you to go back in to Legolas' dream."
Estel's eyes widened with horror, his heart felt still and his body became numb.