AN: I know, it's been a while. I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime this week, but I don't know if I can, honestly. Sorry.


Chapter Twenty-Eight: Trapped

Estel slowly blinked his eyes open, staring for a moment at the pattern of sunlight on the ceiling. He could tell by the angle that it was not too late in the morning, though late enough that he was surprised no one had roused him sooner.

He climbed out of bed, stopping to stretch sleepily. He caught sight of the pack near the door and broke out into a grin—he'd nearly forgotten that they were going hunting today.

Dressing quickly and double-checking his pack to ensure that he had everything he needed, Estel slipped out of his room and made his way down to the dining hall for breakfast.

He spotted his brothers and Legolas at one end of the table and hastened to join them, gathering up a plate of food on his way.

The three elves seemed deep in conversation when he arrived, barely noticing when he sat down. Estel looked them over carefully, worried to see concerned expressions on his brothers' faces.

"Good morning Estel," Elrohir said with a sigh, shooting his twin a strange look.

Estel barely managed to return the greeting. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No...nothing really," Elladan sighed. "A man arrived this morning asking for help. The people in his village have been falling ill, and Ada has asked us to deliver medicine to them."

"Us?" Estel frowned. He would gladly accompany his brothers and Legolas to the village, but it would be surprising if Lord Elrond yet the young human along, particularly with an illness running through the village.

"Forgive me...I meant Elrohir and I," Elladan explained. "We shall have to postpone our hunting trip until tomorrow."

Estel nodded in understanding. One day's delay wouldn't be much, after all. "When are you leaving?"

"Soon," Elrohir replied. "The village is several hours away...we should return before nightfall, though."

"But we need to speak with Ada again first," Elladan commented, rising from the table. "I am sorry for the delay Estel, Legolas."

Legolas waved off his friend's apology. "It's not as if you planned this, Elladan."

The dark-haired elf smiled. "Oh? And how do you know?"

"A little elaborate for a ruse, isn't it?" Elrohir countered with a frown. "I doubt even Elladan and I would concoct an illness-stricken village as an excuse."

"I don't know," Estel hedged, spoon poised in midair. "I have seen many more elaborate ruses from the two of you."

Elrohir pretended to smack the back of Estel's head. "Be sure to mind Legolas while we're gone," he said sweetly, as though Estel were a small child.

"Yes, and Legolas, mind Estel," Elladan interjected in a playful tone. "I'm hard pressed to determine which among them is the elder," he mused thoughtfully, glancing at Elrohir.

The younger twin schooled his features to remain expressionless. "Aye...it seems every time I see the prince I am reminded of a rather precocious elfling who gave us many a scare."

Legolas huffed out a sigh. "Shouldn't you be going?" he asked. "I do not know that I can stand many more remembrances from the two of you."

"Ah, the prince is right," Elladan commented. "Come, Elrohir...I am sure the journey will provide with ample opportunity to remember more tales about our dear friend."

Estel chuckled as the twins left the room and Legolas simply groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sure they won't," he said, scooting down to the place Elrohir had vacated.

"I know," Legolas replied with a sigh. "It is the curse of the elves, I suppose," he added, a hand over his heart as though reciting some great tragedy. "To forever live with those who remembered you as an infant."

The young human tried to keep his face straight as he nodded, but burst into laughter. "I cannot imagine being thought of as an infant at five hundred years old," he teased.

"Wait until you're an adult, Estel," Legolas said, shaking a finger at his friend. "Then you will understand...when you're grown and have children of your own and your brothers are still reminding you of your childhood antics."

Estel grinned, turning back to his breakfast. He felt a slight twinge, as he always did, thinking of his own future compared to that of an immortal elf, but even the shadow of his eventual separation from his family and friends could not depress him now. "Is there something else you would like to do today?" he asked politely.

Legolas glanced up from his study of one of the knotholes on the table. "I don't suppose your father would let us go hunting alone."

"No, not unless we promised to be back by nightfall," Estel agreed. He did not know that his father would agree even then, as he never had let Estel go out alone even for the day. But perhaps he would let the two of them go together. "We could ask him, even if we just go riding."

The elf winced a bit. Estel grinned quietly—he'd forgotten that Legolas had spent the last several days riding. "Or we could spend the day here," he suggested, though he knew his tone betrayed that he'd rather go hunting.

Legolas shook his head, standing up. "No, Estel...you are right. We should ask your father if he would let us go."

Estel beamed, quickly finishing his breakfast. In the back of his mind he knew the elf was only saying that because Estel wanted to go hunting, but he ignored the tiny voice that said he should reject his friend's concession. After all, once the twins returned he wouldn't have much time to spend alone with Legolas.

The elf waited patiently by the door while Estel cleaned his plate. The young human finally pushed the empty dish aside, sighing in contentment. "He should be in his study," he said cheerfully. "Come with me."

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Legolas followed the human, staying behind him just a pace. He smothered a grin as Estel explained the directions to Lord Elrond's study, never minding that Legolas had been there many times before.

The young human's chatter was cheering, though in his heart Legolas was still a bit concerned about the stranger that had followed him from Mirkwood. His heart was heavy, as though warning him against something—but what he could not say.

He glanced up as Estel suddenly stopped, knocking lightly on a door and peeking in. "Ada?"

Legolas waited for a moment until Estel leaned back around and motioned him forward. He met the elf-lord's eyes with a smile as Estel asked, rather animatedly, if he and Legolas could go hunting.

Elrond held up one hand, silencing the young man. "Alone?"

The blond elf could see Estel's face falling. "We would not go far," he spoke up, stepping forward to stand beside Estel. "Just a few hours out or so."

Lord Elrond still seemed a bit hesitant. "You brothers ill be returning tomorrow," he said to Estel. "Perhaps you should wait for them."

"We'd be back by nightfall," Estel pleaded, sounding less than his fourteen years. "We won't even hunt, we'll just go riding."

Legolas started to agree to his friend's plea, but saw the smile the elf-lord was trying to hide and remained silent. He could well remember moments like this from his years in Rivendell. Lord Elrond had just about given his permission, but was waiting to see if Estel offered more restrictions on their activity.

Sure enough, the young human took the bait.

"We'll only go out three hours," Estel added. "We'll be back in time for supper, even."

The elf-lord met Legolas' eyes for a moment with a small smile. "Will you promise to stay with Legolas and follow his instructions?"

"Of course," Estel nodded.

"Then you may go."

Legolas hid his grin as his friend bowed, and followed him out. He could tell that Estel was holding in some cheer of joy, either from wanting to appear less childish in front of the elf or because he thought he was too old for such things.

A knot of unease settled in his stomach, but he tried to push it back. After all, what could possibly happen three hours out from Imladris?

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The fall colors in the forest surrounding the valley of Rivendell were breathtaking, as always.Estel and Legolas rode out at a leisurely pace, armed to hunt but not really focusing on tracking.

But Legolas could not shake the feeling of unease. Ever since his arrival the day before, he'd had the strange feeling that someone was watching him. Someone familiar...but he did not know who or why.

He was barely listening to his friend as Estel pointed out some of the changes that had happened in the last few years. Every sense was screaming that they should turn back, though he could not see any danger around them.

Legolas could hear the trees crying out to him, but above the churning in his mind he could not understand them. He reigned his horse in, patting the good beast to quiet it and opening his mouth to call to Estel.

A whisper of warning, the faintest disturbance in the forest to his left, was all he heard. "Estel! Down!" the elf threw himself off his horse, landing in a crouch as an arrow thunked into the tree behind him, flying through the air where his body had just been.

The young human joined him, eyes wide with fear and disbelief. "Who's shooting at us?" Estel whispered, his voice shocked.

Legolas shook his head. "Stay down...try to go back the way we came."

Leading his friend, Legolas crept down the dusty path, hoping their horses' confusion would help mask their actions.

It was no use. Another arrow hit a tree, embedding in the trunk a few inches above the elf's head.

It had come from in front of them, though.

"We're surrounded," Legolas whispered. He sat back on his heels for a moment, fully aware that they had no cover. So far their mysterious attackers didn't seem to want them dead, merely trapped.

"What do we do?" Estel asked. Legolas was surprised to find that his friend's voice was rather calm, that he'd been able to put aside his fear of the situation and look for a rational solution.

"I will try to create a diversion," Legolas suggested. "You run as soon as I give the signal." His eyes fixed on the point where he thought the last arrow had come from.

"No," Estel grabbed his arm. "There has to be another way."

"There isn't," he said, shaking his head and pushing the human's hands away.

"Wait!" Estel hissed, grabbing his arm again. "You don't need a diversion...we don't know what they want, we should just split up. You run up the path, and I'll run back down the way they came. They can only chase one of us—the other can go back toward the house."

Legolas nodded. He noticed the forest around them had fallen eerily silent, and no more arrows challenged them. "Ready?"

"Now," Estel called, springing up and sprinting down the path. Legolas followed his lead, albeit a bit slower, in the opposite direction.

He heard movement through the brush on either side and smiled to himself. Good, so they had followed him.

Abruptly, he was pulled up short as a cloaked figure stepped into his path, arrow drawn and ready to fire. Legolas backed away instinctively, noticing other cloaked figures coming out on either side from the trees.

He heard a gasp, and half-turned to see Estel facing the same down the path, being backed toward Legolas.

The elf-prince swallowed in apprehension. They were trapped.

"Surrender."

Legolas blinked in shock. The word had been spoken not in an elvish language, but in the tongue of men. Are they human?

He felt Estel back nearly into him, and reached back to grip his friend's arm encouragingly. "The trees," he whispered in elvish, hoping their attackers were unfamiliar with the language.

Keeping Estel behind him, he backed toward and older tree with a few low-hanging branches. Legolas hoped the twins had taught Estel to climb, as that seemed to be their only option for escape.

"Surrender!"

Their attacker was growing impatient. The cloaked figures to either side tensed uneasily, and Legolas froze for a moment. He slowed, bowing his head as though conceding. The bow to his right relaxed slightly, and he whirled around. "Up, Estel!" he shouted, levering his friend up into the branches.

He scrambled up behind the young human, clutching at the bark as someone below grabbed his leg.

Legolas tried to hold on, to pull himself free, but the grip was too strong. He was being pulled back down, and could do nothing to prevent it.

A sharp cry of pain pulled his attention up, and his eyes widened in horror as he saw the arrow that had been shot into Estel's leg. "Estel?"

The young human was barely hanging on, face taught with pain.

"Surrender, Prince, or we'll kill your friend."

Legolas froze, not quite realizing that his attackers had pulled him out of the tree. How did they know who he was?

One cloaked figure shoved Legolas to the ground, an arrow drawn and pointed at his throat. "Call your friend down, Prince."

He stared at the bow, tightening his resolve. They had done so much to take him alive...they weren't about to kill him now, and he was not about to take away Estel's chance to possibly escape.

But it was too late. The young human had heard, and was slowly climbing down the rest of the tree.

Estel landed in a painful heap, shaking from pain or fear, the arrow sunk in to his leg just above the knee.

One of the cloaked men pulled Legolas up to his feet, twisting his wrists behind him and binding them with a length of rough rope. The elf seethed as his friend received the same treatment, though one of the figures did stop to look at the wound on the young human's leg.

"What do you want with us?" he snarled.

The man binding his wrists chuckled darkly. "That's for the master to know, Prince. But he told me to tell you...this is a bit of repayment from an old friend."

Before Legolas could question his captor's words, sharp pain flooded his senses as something came down across the back of his head. He stumbled to his knees, ears ringing from the blow.

A second blow sent him into unconsciousness, and he collapsed senseless to the dusty path.


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Oh, um...I guess I should have warned you about that one.