Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.
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Chapter 7
The Fifth Night
Elladan finished tying the knot between the last two sheets; tugging on it to make sure it would hold. He then went to tie one end of their rope of sheets around a bedpost. Meanwhile, Elrohir tossed the other end out the window, and soon they were scaling out of their bedroom; down to the ground two stories below. Hoping no one was watching, they sprinted off towards the caves.
When they got there, they found that Haldir and Legolas had arrived, and it wasn't long before Lindir showed up.
"So," Elladan began, "Can anyone think of where the last three barrels might be?"
The elflings thought hard, but nothing came to mind.
Sighing, Legolas got to his feet and began pacing, only to nearly trip over a barrel in the darkness. He gave it an annoyed look. Why did it have to be so dark? It was nearly as bad as the wine cellars; you couldn't see anything down there.
Couldn't see anything…
"You don't think we might have missed something?" Legolas asked, and idea forming in his mind.
"Missed something?" Elrohir asked.
"In the wine cellars," Legolas explained, "It was so dark down there and I think we might have missed something."
"That's a good point," Elladan agreed after a moment's thought.
"You mean we're going to go back down there?" Lindir sounded horrified, "Do you not remember what happened last time? We don't even have the key anymore…"
"Of course I remember!" Elrohir responded indignantly, "I'm not going to forget that so easily, but we need to find the last barrels tonight. As for the key, we can get that back easily enough."
"How?" Legolas asked suspiciously, "Because if it involves pickpocketing lord Elrond again…"
Elladan snorted softly, "Do think we're really going to attempt that again? Of course not. Ada keeps his keys in his bed side table at night; we should be able to get to them easily enough."
Lindir groaned, "But that still means we have to steal from lord Elrond."
Elrohir rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on Lindir, it's not that bad."
Through the darkness some muttering about 'no respect' could be heard.
As they were about to leave, Elrohir suddenly had another idea, "What if we replace the barrels of wine we found earlier in the cellar with the barrels of flour? That way, even if there are no other barrels of wine down there, we still have something to do, and if someone comes to check on the barrels of wine before the festival, at least there will be some Greenwood barrels there."
"That's a good idea," agreed Legolas, and preceding this statement, Legolas, Elrohir and Lindir picked up the barrels of flour before heading towards the exit.
The five elflings slowly walked through the dark woods and towards Rivendell. The only noise to be heard was the chirping of crickets and the occasional yawn. Suddenly however, Legolas froze; peering into moonlit forest, "Did you see that?!"
"See what?" asked Elrohir, looking about wildly.
"There was something gold over there and it moved!" exclaimed Legolas, pointing towards a thicket of bushes.
Elladan rolled his eyes, "And, let me guess: it turned into a bat and flew off."
Legolas glared at him, "I'm not seeing things Elladan! There was something over there!"
Elladan let out an exasperated sigh and began to make his way towards the bushes.
"Elladan!" Elrohir shouted after his twin, "What are you doing? What if it is Thuringwethil?!"
"Seriously Elrohir? Thuringwethil is dead!"
Just as Elladan said this however, there was a crack of a branch from behind a nearby tree, causing the elfling to freeze in his tracks. However, he began to slowly edge his way towards the tree after a moment, much to Elrohir's dismay. Once near enough, Elladan took a deep breath, and peered behind the tree.
After a moments silence, which was nearly enough to make Elrohir's heart stop beating, Elladan spoke up, "There's nothing here."
Elrohir sighed in relief and Lindir rolled his eyes, "Of course there isn't. Who is going to out here this late at night?"
Behind him, Haldir muttered something about someone watching, causing Lindir to give him a glare, "Really! Didn't you hear Haldir? There is no one here besides us."
Haldir just gave him a questioning look that caused Legolas to roll his eyes, "Oh, come on. Let's get back to Rivendell before we all turn into terrified fools."
The elflings made it back to the Last Homely House and manage to get back in through Legolas window, which was on the ground floor. They dragged the barrels of flour in after them; trying not to make too much noise. Panting slightly, the elflings left the barrels of flour there before tiredly making their way towards Elrond and Celebrian's rooms. There they paused however, unsure of how to continue.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lindir whispered.
"No," Elrohir answered, but silently opened the door anyways.
All five elflings peered inside the room. The moonlight lit the room to reveal two figures asleep on the bed; eyes open in elvish dreams. The elflings quietly tiptoed into the room, and carefully made their way towards Elrond's side of the bed, and his bedside table.
Holding his breath, and keeping one eye on his Adar's sleeping form, Elrohir began to carefully open the bedside table's drawer without making a sound. However, even though he was being as quiet as possible, Lord Elrond shifted slightly in his sleep; causing all the elflings eyes to go wide in fright.
Biting his lip, Elrohir continued to pull out the drawer, and managed to get it open wide enough for a hand to be inserted. He then carefully reached inside and began feeling around for the keys. Within seconds, he had found them, but as he began to draw them out, they jingled slightly; the metal clanging together and sounding overly loud in the quiet room. This time, Elrond rolled over, away from the noise, causing all the elflings hearts to begin beating rapidly in fear and for Lindir to press a hand over his mouth to keep from whimpering in terror.
Now somewhat panicky, Elrohir began to bring the keys out of drawer too fast and his hand hit against the wood of the drawer with a loud thud. This time, Elrond's deep breathing stopped and his head rose off his pillow. The elflings were lucky he hadn't been facing them, or they would have been caught for sure. As it was, they were barely able to duck below the edge of the bed and begin to hide underneath it before Elrond rolled over to face where they had just been standing.
Under the bed, all the elflings held their breath and Lindir was biting down on his hand now to keep from making any noise. Their horror only grew as they heard Elrond shifting slightly on the bed and his feet suddenly came into view; causing Elrohir's heart skipped a few beats. The elflings watched as Elrond stood up and walked across the floor to look out the window as if searching for what had made the noise. After what seemed like an eternity, Elrond turned and made his way back. However, he paused at the edge of the bed, causing all the elflings' hearts to beat rapidly. Was he going to look beneath the bed? Had he heard them? Suddenly, Elrond's bedside table's drawer was shut, causing all of the elflings to flinch slightly.
Finally, much to the elflings relief, Elrond climbed back into bed and only a minute later his breathing evened out. Quietly, the elflings began to carefully crawl out from beneath the bed and make their way towards the door. Elladan closed it softly behind them, all the elflings all paused there for a moment; staring at each other with wide eyes. They then rushed towards Legolas's room, the key clutched tightly in Elrohir's hand.
Once they had made it there, they finally breathed freely, shuddering in terror at their narrow escape.
"Let's never do that again," Elrohir decided; fist still clenched tightly around the key.
"Agreed, I think I nearly died," added Elladan; clutching at his heart.
The other elflings nodded in agreement, their eyes still wide with fear.
After a few minutes, which was how long it took for the elflings to calm down somewhat, it was back to work. Lindir, Haldir, and Legolas each picked up a barrel of flour while Elladan carried a candle to help them search for the barrels in the cellar. Elrohir carried their prize; the key.
They made their way to the wine cellar and carefully descended the steep set of stairs. Elrohir inserted the key into the lock of the door at the bottom of the stairs and turned it. He then pushed against the door, but it didn't open. Frowning slightly, he turned the key and tried again. This time it swung open, much to the elflings' surprise.
"It wasn't locked?!" Lindir exclaimed.
Elrohir nodded, looking just as shocked.
"How's that possible?!" Elladan asked.
Legolas thought about it for a moment, "Perhaps no one has been down here to lock it since we were last in here?"
Elrohir looked doubtful, but nodded, "Perhaps, but anyways, we should go search for the barrels."
The elflings enter the cellar, Elladan's candle providing barley enough light for them to begin searching. From the darkness of a corner, where the light did not reach, blue eyes surveyed the elflings as they studied each barrel, looking for the Greenwood insignia. The bearer of the blue eyes had a slight frown upon their face, not that anyone could see it, as he watched this; he clearly disapproved. The elflings however, continued searching, completely oblivious to their onlooker.
"Hey! Isn't that one of the barrels on that shelf?!" Elrohir exclaimed, looking excited.
Legolas peered in the direction Elrohir was pointing, "Possibly," he agreed, "Elladan, bring the candle closer."
Elladan did as the other elfling asked, and as he did so, the light revealed something better than all the elflings had imagined; the last three barrels of the enchanted water.
Unable to help themselves, the five elflings let out a cheer and Haldir did a little impromptu dance. They gathered around the barrels and began to remove them from the shelves; replacing them with the barrels of flour.
From the corner, their onlooker watched this, now extremely disapproving and frowning severely. However, a smile slowly began to creep across his face and a mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes. Grinning, the onlooker suddenly let out a low, frightening growl. The effect was quite spectacular. The elflings all froze, staring at each other in horror, and then Elrohir let out a panicked shout of, "THURINGWETHIL!"
The result of this outdid the onlooker's growl by far; the elflings all screamed and the barrels of flour, and multiple bottles of wine that had been at hand, were thrown towards where the growl had come from. The elflings then grabbed the barrels of enchanted water and sprinted out of the cellar as fast as their legs would carry them.
The elflings didn't stop running until they reached the doors that led outside. Here they hesitated, for a storm had sprung up and it was now pouring, but soon they were off again; racing through the rain and mud and towards the caves. They were only halfway there when a huge clap of thunder shook the ground and lightning lit the cloudy night sky. Now positively terrified, the elflings all ran even faster, sliding down the muddy hills, and crying out in relief when they reached the caves.
Placing the barrels with the others, the elflings huddled together as another boom of thunder shook the cave and small pieces of rock rained down from the ceiling.
"We need to get out of here," Legolas whimpered, "It might cave in."
As if in answer to this statement, another clap of thunder rang out and larger pieces of rock began to fall.
The elflings all let out a scream, which was barely heard above the loud rumbling, and raced towards the exit, but another boom of thunder caused the rock walls of the cave to begin shifting slightly. Before the elflings knew what was happening, the walls began falling apart, and large boulders and massive chunks of rock fell and blocked their escape. Now, nearly hysterical, the elflings all shrieked at the top of their lungs and ran in the opposite direction; away from the crumbling rock and clouds of dust that were filling air.
Eventually, when the chaos had died down somewhat, and only small pieces of rock rained down with each muffled boom of thunder, the elflings found themselves all huddled closely together near the barrels of enchanted water. Most of them were close to tears and the ones that weren't were whimpering uncontrollably.
"H-how are we g-going to get o-out?" Elrohir stuttered, looking fearfully towards the large pile of rock that now blocked their exit.
"Is there no other way out of here?" Legolas asked in a high pitched voice, wiping tears away from his eyes.
"A water fall comes through a hole in the ceiling, and creates a pool below, but unless you have some rope, we can't get out that way," Elladan answered, wrapping a comforting arm around his twin.
"A pool," Legolas said blankly, a look of fear appearing upon his face.
"The pool!" Lindir exclaimed, the same thought that Legolas had occurring to him as well.
"What's wrong with a pool?" Haldir asked, not sounding dreamy at all anymore and looking very serious.
Legolas didn't answer him, "Where is it, Elladan?"
"It's just down that way," Elladan answered, pointing, "But why…" Elladan didn't bother to finish his question as Legolas and Lindir had already sprinted off in the direction he had pointed.
The three remaining elflings glanced at each other before racing after them.
Soon they had caught up and Elrohir shouted, "What is this all-," he suddenly broke off as he suddenly registered the reason for which he had needed to shout.
The waterfall was a murky brown color and had turned from a calmly trickling stream into a raging torrent. It roared loudly as it fell into the pool of water below it, which was also muddy, and had risen significantly.
"Oh no," Elrohir stated in a whisper that went unheard.
How long had it been raining for? Elrohir thought, well, it certainly hadn't been raining when they had come to the caves earlier that night or when they had been stealing the keys, so that meant that it could have only been raining for twenty minutes at most. A look of terror appeared on Elrohir's face as he realized the implications of this; at this rate, the water would soon be overflowing from the pool and into the caves.
A hand was suddenly pulling Elrohir away from the edge of the pool, and he realized that the water had nearly reached where he was standing. Terrified, the elflings all turned and raced back to where the barrels were.
"What are we going to do?!" Legolas shrieked in a panic.
Unfortunately, none of the elflings had any ideas, or at least any ideas that worked. They tried screaming for help, but their pleas went unheard by those still asleep in the Last Homely House. They also tried digging their way out, but none of them had a hope of moving the large boulders, and they were soon exhausted.
Panting, the elflings sat down and eyed the steadily approaching water warily; it had nearly reached where they were sitting and they hadn't even been in the caves for an hour. With no way of escape, all the elflings could do was wait and hope for rescue before they were drowned.
~.-.~
Thuringwethil: a Middle Earth vampire.
Ada/Adar: Dad/Father
Oooo, they're in trouble now aren't they?
Still, don't know who the mysterious blue-eyed elf is? Send me a review and tell me your guesses! Or just review, they're all appreciated. :D
