Setbacks

But right before he fell unconscious, he saw a huge creature rise up at the edge of the lip ahead of him: a great wolf.

'Adar!' he screamed, surprised at the volume of his voice.

The camp went silent at the sound of the terrified shout. Elrond spun around and found Asfaloth skittering back a few steps, as startled at the shout as the Elves had been. Finally his legs began to move and Elrond ran across the dell towards his son.

Falling to his knees beside Elladan, he saw Elladan's eyes were trained straight ahead of him, staring at the lip of the dell. Following his gaze, he saw nothing, but it was clear that Elladan was another matter completely. Fear flooded his eyes, darkening them, while his mouth moved soundlessly.

'Elladan!' he called. 'Elladan, wake up! There is nothing there!'

He turned Elladan's face towards him, but Elladan's eyes did not move. Instead he jerked his face out of Elrond's grasp and turned back to the bank. 'Adar, you promised me you would not let it come back for me!' he cried, struggling to rise.

'Elladan, no!' Elrond cried desperately. 'Wake up! The wolf is gone!'

The younger Elf paid no heed to the frantic words. Rolling over, he managed to escape from Elrond's grasp and sat up, nearly keeling over again as dizziness assaulted his head.

Nonetheless, he managed to steady himself and slowly rose to his feet, his hands held out on either side as though for balance. Tottering forward, he took three or four hesitant steps before collapsing to the ground, exhausted and completely terrified.

Elrond and the other Elves remained motionless. Two of the patrol members had, in obedience to their captain, gone to the edge of the dell, hoping that the distraught Elf would see that they were seemingly checking for any wolf that may be standing there. Elladan appeared to take no notice.

He lay writhing in the grass, reliving his nightmare, as Asfaloth pranced nervously around him, allowing no one – not even Elrond – to come near to Elladan.

'Asfaloth!' Elrond ordered at last when Asfaloth nipped at his shoulder. 'Stop that! Elladan needs help!'

The ring of command in Elrond's voice seemed to penetrate the horse's anxiety, for he slowly back away, rolling his eyes threateningly at the other Elves.

'Elladan, hear my voice!' Elrond whispered softly, hoping that a low tone would reap better results than shouting and ordering. 'You are safe. We will go home tomorrow. There is no need for this fear. Look! Have you not seen how we have extra warriors here to protect us? There is no way any creature, wolf or otherwise, could get to you. Calm down.'

Seconds passed, or it may have been moments. Finally Elladan's movements became mere twitches, only showing if Elrond moved too suddenly. Gently, Elrond unwrapped the now-bloodstained bandages and sighed at the sight of reopened wounds oozing blood. If the patrol had not come with more bandages and more potent healing herbs than athelas, he hated to think of what may have happened.

The healer in the patrol slowly came forward to offer his services. Together, he and Elrond removed the soiled bandages, cleaned and packed the abrasions, and wrapped clean linen around Elladan's torso.

As Elrond was carrying his son back to the cloak by the fire, Elladan's eyes flickered open. At first all was a grey blur but by and by his vision cleared and he could make out several shapes hurrying around him. Squinting at the forms, his eyes widened slightly as he recognised them: Elves?

He raised confused eyes to his father's face who did not appear to notice that he was awake. 'A-adar?'

Elrond glanced down at him, relieved to see his son's eyes open. 'What happened, Elladan? You gave us quite a fright!'

Elladan closed his eyes, trying to forget that which he had seen – or thought he'd seen. 'The wolf came again,' he said by way of explanation. 'I did not have my sword, and he was coming nearer.'

They reached the cloak and and Elrond tried to lay Elladan down on it, but Elladan only slipped an arm around his father's back and shook his head. 'It told me to come, Adar,' he whispered, his voice breaking. 'It said it would forever hunt me if I did not, and...'

'Do not believe such words, Elladan,' Elrond murmured. 'It was your mind playing tricks on you. You are in shock from your experience, and it is no surprise. Your imagination conjured up an image of the wolf and put the words into your mind, but it is all meaningless. Taurnil will accompany us, and it was he who shot the wolf when they tracked it through the woods. The wolf is no more.'

'Taurnil is here?' Elladan asked, his features betraying his confused emotions. Again he looked around, and saw that there were indeed several more Elves preparing for the evening. 'Did they come looking for you?'

'No,' Elrond answered. 'It is the southern patrol. They found the tracks of the wolves and followed them here. We will part from them in the morning, except for Taurnil, who will come to assist me with stubborn you!'

He bit his tongue as soon as the words left his mouth. He watched as memory of the arguments returned to Elladan, slowly causing his face to fall in despair and mortification.

'Adar, I am sorry... I am so sorry. I did not mean to overstep my boundaries.' Shame and heat radiated from his fevered body, and he resumed trembling with a vengeance.

With an effort, Elrond bit back a frustrated curse. 'The time for apologies will come later, Elladan,' he said firmly, trying to calm the Elf down somewhat at the same time. 'Both of us forgot ourselves, and we both said regrettable things to each other. Now you must concentrate on healing. The hallucination came as a result of your exhausted state and the knowledge that you were almost completely vulnerable – I was unable to guard your thoughts for you while you slept.'

Elladan took several deep breaths and managed to contain his bout of chills somewhat. 'Then stay with me,' he pleaded. 'It was huge, Adar, and its eyes were red and crazed. I could see the lust for blood in them, and it seemed to steal my will from me. I did not want to go when it called me, but somehow my legs would not obey my mind and they started moving anyways.'

'There was nothing there in the first place, Elladan,' Elrond assured him. 'You must believe me.'

Elladan nodded, his eyelids beginning to droop. 'I do,' he muttered. 'Of course I do.'

As Elladan slept, Elrond refused to move more than a few steps from his side, fearing that another nightmare or hallucination would come upon his son. Nightfall came and, excepting the six Elves who had volunteered to take watch, everyone slept soundly, walking their paths of dreams untroubled.

The next morning, everyone rose early, for Elrond was eager to be off. Elrond persuaded Elladan to try to eat part of a wafer of lembas and drink the willow bark tea he made for him. This time, Elladan managed to keep the little he ate down, though his stomach churned dangerously if he tried to move too quickly.

Camp was swiftly broken and before long, Asfaloth was cantering smoothly back towards Imladris, with Taurnil and his steed close behind. They had not been very far from the border of Imladris to begin with: only a day and a half's ride. Nonetheless, Elrond knew that the return journey would not be much shorter, since they often had to stop to make sure Elladan's wounds were not re-opening from the slight jolting of the canter.

Despite all this, they moved at an easy but steady pace, and two hours before dusk, they came upon the place where Tinnuroch lay. The wolves and the horse alike were, by this time, picked almost clean of meat, and little remained other than piles of bones. The air reeked of rotting flesh, and it was for this reason that the sleeping Elladan again retched over the side of Asfaloth.

Stopping slightly uphill from the unpleasant scene, Elrond and Taurnil took care of Elladan while Asfaloth made use of the stream a ways away to clean himself off.

Elladan woke with a start as Taurnil ran a dampened cloth gently over the wounded Elf's face, removing the last of the contents of Elladan's stomach as well as the sweat that now lay in a light sheen over his face.

Gagging slightly at the sour taste in his mouth, he winced as the cloth brushed over his healing temple. 'Ai!' he exclaimed weakly. He glanced at Elrond, who was kneeling down beside him with a cup of water. 'I am sorry, Adar. I have been nothing but a burden ever since you found me.'

'Nonsense,' Elrond countered, tipping some of the cool liquid into Elladan's mouth. 'You are badly injured, in constant pain and no doubt you are confused. Luck has not been kind to you, and you are quite entitled to a rest before we move on.

Elladan shook his head, sending spasms of pain shooting his whole body. 'You do not understand,' he said urgently, struggling weakly to rise to his feet. 'Elrohir! You know, Adar.'

Elrond sighed, rubbing at his forehead. He did indeed know, since he himself had had the feeling several times after a particularly violent quarrel with Elros. 'Aye, I know,' he finally conceded. 'Elrohir is doing well, and he would be much happier if we took our time returning home than if we hurried and you were further injured in our haste.'

Elladan sank slowly down to the ground again, realising the wisdom behind his father's words. 'Truly, Adar, here is no need for us to tarry here,' he begged. 'At the least, let us continue on slowly. This place has an evil feel to it, and I will not get any rest here.'

Elrond glanced at Taurnil, who shrugged his shoulders. 'I will follow where you go, when you go,' he said impassively. 'But if you would have my thoughts, I would advise you to listen to your son. He senses evil – perhaps from an unwelcome memory – and what he says is true: he can come to little harm if we travel at a gentle pace.'

Elrond looked from Elladan to Taurnil and back, then nodded his head briskly. 'Very well; we shall leave now.' He held up his hand when Elladan opened his mouth. 'There is one condition: if you feel any more discomfort than is necessary, then you will tell me at once. Understood?'

Elladan nodded.

'Then let us be off.'

A/N: I'm not sure: does this count as a cliffhanger? Please read and review!