Disclaimer: Full disclaimer on first page. Also, some paragraphs and
dialogue in this story were taken from R. A. Salvatore's "Forgotten Realms"
series, and I do not claim anything on them either.
Chapter Five
A nightmarish cacophony of howls and snarls burst out around Elladan and Tylendal.
Elladan immediately brought his dagger to bear, but against the wargs they didn't stand much of a chance. Tylendal also tensed, twirling his knife.
Elladan's pulse pounded in his head in a rough syncopation with the undulating sounds around them.
Two wargs, wary because of the weapons, crept closer. Elladan elbowed Tylendal, nodding up at the trees above them, indicating them to climb at the soonest chance.
Tylendal slashed at one, bobbed an ear, clipped the skull, and staggered the creature. The other leapt at Elladan, who side stepped quickly and stabbed as hard as he could.
The one-eared beast stumbled back, yipping and snarling.
Wargs rushed the two elves, howling and yipping, barking and yowling. Elladan stabbed indiscriminately, making up for in quantity what Tylendal did with quality. Elladan was better with a sword, not a knife.
One bared its fangs and approached the young elf. It lunged and knocked Elladan down before he could dodge. The dagger flew from his hand, and was lost in the roiling confusion.
The eldest son of Elrond grabbed the nearest object to him, a large stick, and thrust it between the warg's jaws. With a snap, the creature closed its maw and sank its teeth into the stick, worrying it back and forth.
Other wargs charged him, but they oriented immediately on Tylendal. The elf was creating havoc with two knives. He must have recovered Elladan's dropped one. He turned and threw himself upon the warg pinning Elladan, and they rolled onto the ground together, the beast snarling and trying to bite, the elf slashing with the knives, which looked tiny compared to the warg's teeth.
Elladan saw a clear path to a tree, and dashed towards it. He scrambled up the trunk into the lower branches, and climbed higher until he was sure he was out of their reach.
He looked down to see the wargs pacing below his tree; several bodies littered the ground beside them. Tylendal was no where to be seen.
"Elladan," a hissed whisper came from a tree nearby. Elladan turned to see Tylendal trying to find a way over to him, but foiled by the large gap between their trees.
Without a word, the two slid quietly through the dark branches of the trees, leaving the wargs below them.
Sidling up a little farther, Tylendal saw nothing but the wide expanse of tangled branches. What little light they had was dimming, meaning night was approaching.
Elladan sighed. He was worried sick about his brother, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. He ran a hand along the hilt of his small knife. It was truly pitiful to have such a small weapon in the dark forests of Mirkwood. If he had his sword, he would feel a lot more secure. He wondered if their absence had been noted yet, and sincerely hoped so.
Seeing what looked to be a path, Elladan motioned to Tylendal and dropped down. The other elf followed quickly, and they were alert to anything that might be near them. They glanced at each other, and silently agreed to continue on down the path.
Silent forms watched the two elves, and smiled evilly. At their sides, the remaining wargs that had first attacked the elves crouched, eager to fight them again.
~*~*~*
Elrohir gasped in shock and fear as something wound its way around him and pulled him under the dark waters. He kicked and struggled fiercely, but the creature was strong and continued to pull him deeper under the water. The river was deep, frightfully so, and the depths were inky black.
The creature's serpentine coils tightened, and Elrohir choked down a gasp that would have made him loose the breath he held.
Legolas shouted as Elrohir disappeared, and dove under the water trying to reach him. He saw a dim outline and reached for it.
His hands brushed cold scaly skin, and he recoiled from the touch. Drawing his knife, he lunged forwards with a slash, cutting into the creature.
Elrohir felt the coils surrounding him shudder as something hit them, and thrashed wildly trying to get loose.
Legolas slashed repeatedly, the knife doing little damage to the thick coil. Each cut deepened the wound, and finally it unwound itself from Elrohir to face the one who caused it pain.
Elrohir struck for the surface of the water as soon as the coils loosened and he was able to slip out. He sucked in deep breaths of air, and drew the fishing dagger he carried and dove under to help Legolas. It wouldn't do much good if Legolas's bigger knife did little to harm the creature.
All through this time, the current was pulling them on, and a distant light appeared in front of them, showing that the river came out on the surface again.
Legolas had a lock around the creature's neck, unsure on how he found it, and struggled to hold on despite the fact that the thing was stronger, larger, and deadlier than the elf. Its coils thrashed, speeding it deeper in the river, and Legolas was running out of air.
~*~*~*
Elladan could only stare as he saw the sunlight streaming from between the trees. They had followed the river until it went underground, then the wargs had chased them farther into the forest, where they escaped into the trees and proceeded from there until they found this strange path. Now they were at the forest edge, with no idea how they got there, or how to get back to the Palace.
Tylendal was wide-eyed. He had never been out of Mirkwood before, and he was not sure he like the look of the rolling, treeless ground. Mountains were in the distance, and one mountain north of them was nearest.
"The Lonely Mountain." Tylendal whispered, and Elladan looked at him in blank confusion.
"What?" He asked, eyeing the other elf. The stain from the ink Elladan and Elrohir had poured over him had about worn off, as had the dye that colored Elladan. They were both close to their natural colors.
"The Lonely Mountain, that is. The East Side of Mirkwood we are at." The other replied.
"But you don't know the way back?" Elladan hazarded a guess. When Tylendal nodded, he sighed and slumped against the broad trunk of a tree behind him.
Tylendal turned to say something to him, but his eyes widened in shock as he stared at something beyond Elladan's shoulder. Spinning around, Elladan whipped his dagger out instinctively and slashed.
The orc staggered back, but others behind him rushed forwards. Tylendal shouted something, but Elladan could not hear. Wargs pounced into the area as well, and one that was missing an ear dove immediately at Tylendal.
The elf recognized the warg as the one he had wounded the other day, he was the reason it was missing an ear, and it was obviously not happy about it. With a savage growl, it launched itself at the smaller elf.
~*~*~*
Legolas blinked in shock as his head cleared the water and dawn's light hit his face. Elrohir surfaced next to him, and both looked at the bloodied water around them. They had wounded the creature, nothing very serious, but they had hurt it. Both immediately swam for shore, ignoring aches from strained and exhausted muscles.
Grabbing handfuls of grass and pulling themselves up, they looked back to see something break the surface of the water, a long back cutting through the water and sliding back under. Dark brown scales glimmered like bronze in the new morning's light, and they could see darker stripes barring across them.
The head was diamond shaped, with evil yellow eyes that were slitted down the center. The neck branched off, growing thicker as it proceeded down the entire length. It tapered off into a point as the tail slid behind it.
What truly horrified the two elflings was the fact that the wounds they had made, which they thought to have been near the head, were really farther down near the middle, and looked as if they were mere scratches on the impossible length of the giant snake.
The river was unbelievably deep. The bottom was lost in murky depths, and the snake had no trouble diving down and turning around to raise its head up to gaze at the elves.
Legolas shuddered at the wicked look, and drew back farther away from the river as the snake opened its maw to hiss menacingly, pearly fangs heightening the savage look.
With a shiver, Elladan took off into the forest, Legolas not far behind.
The river had been completely surrounded by trees, and the two elves did not know how far into Mirkwood they were, or where they were running.
~*~*~*
"Are they not back yet?" Thranduil asked Galion anxiously. The butler shook his head sadly, the patrol sent to find the four missing elflings had not returned yet.
Elrond stood nearby, also worried. Glorfindel (An: thanks for correcting me, Alia!) stood just behind the elf lord. Five patrols had been sent out, one had gone North, two South, and one each West and East. The one from the North, having a shorter space to cover, found nothing.
With a sigh, the elf King leaned back to await the arrival of the other patrols.
~*~*~*
The dwarf let out a shrill whistle, looking over his shoulder as he did. A loud grumble came out of the shadows of the trees behind him a moment later.
"What?" came a call a moment later, and a second dwarf came stumping out of the bushes. He was dressed all in brown, with a large axe slung over his broad shoulders. He was followed by a third.
"I telled ye I'd help ye!" the second dwarf roared. "But ye promised me sleep time!" Then the dwarf noticed the activity that had attracted his companion's attention, and he stopped his tirade immediately.
"Stinkin' elves!" he roared, charging down the path and tearing his axe off his back as he came.
The third dwarf grabbed him and held him back.
"Steady on there, Marin! There are orcs down there too!" The dwarf said, trying to calm the black bearded dwarf.
"Ye can't be thinkin' what I'm thinkin' ye're thinkin'!" Marin Sandbrow bellowed at the other two dwarves.
Varin, the dwarf holding Marin, and Farin watched their brother with amusement.
He was tough looking, a short and exceedingly stout dwarf whose nasty attitude was always clearly shown on his rough face. His black beard heightened the fact that he was missing an eye, which he covered with an eye patch.
"Well, I'm thinkin' what I'm thinkin'," Varin replied, "and I'm not knowin' what ye're thinkin' I'm thinkin'."
"Bah, what do you know other than which drink yer drinkin'?" Farin added.
"I'm knowin'!" Shouted Varin, matching the other's smile. "So I'm thinkin' that I'm not drinkin' enough o' what I'm drinkin'!"
Marin roared at his two brothers, irritated with their joking around. They could not be thinking on helping elves. Sure, elves did not deserve to die at the hands of disgusting orcs, but why should they help them?
Varin released his brother when he saw that he would not charge down there and slaughter all.
Marin watched the battle, and when one of the elves came into view, he started in shock. They were young! Barely old enough to be considered warriors! What were the elves thinking to send young ones out into the wild?
With a dwarven shout, he charged, followed by his two brothers. It was obvious to them that Marin was not going to harm to elves.
Marin didn't have the coordination of the two elves, and in truth, their deadly grace impressed the dwarf. Amusing, but impressive none the less.
What he lacked in grace, the tough dwarf made up in for sheer ferocity. Rushing past an orc he just chopped down, he ran into an orc who had his shield extended to knock the dwarf down. The dwarf locked his legs and didn't move. The orc bounced back, unable to move the sturdy dwarf, and Marin took the moment to hack its legs out from under it.
He turned to pursue another, catching it with the blunt side of his axe in the side of the head. It fell to the ground, and Marin turned at a noise behind him.
Standing side by side, the two elves watched him warily, and he did the same. The light of the sun shone on the rich brown hair of one, and on the ebony black of the other. Both stood taller than the dwarf, which was no surprise, and both had the feeling of youthfulness around them.
His brothers came up, and he turned to face them.
"Got meself eight." He proclaimed. A groan at his side alerted him to the orc he had hit with his axe, and before he could move the brown haired elf slit its throat.
"Alright then, seven and half." He said with a shrug. The black haired elf looked at him with curiosity underscored with suspicion, while the other watched him with a distrustful and threatening gaze.
Marin, Varin, and Farin were unsure of what to do now. The two elves had minor wounds, and a dagger each. Nothing that would help them in any upcoming battles.
"Lake Town would be our best bet, they look tired and I doubt they would agree to go to our home." Farin stated in a low voice. Marin snorted in amusement.
Tylendal and Elladan could not have been more surprised if Elrond and Thranduil themselves had come charging into the middle of the battle. Dwarves coming to the aide of elves! Imagine it! Elladan was confused, but willing to be friendly, while Tylendal was feeling the same to a slighter degree, but suspicious at the same time.
"We'll take you to Lake Town, if you wish. I don't know what yer doin' out here, but you can come with us." Marin said gruffly, not enjoying the prospect of taking the elves along.
The elves conferred together in their musical language, which none of the dwarves understood, and at length nodded. With a sigh, Marin gestured for them to follow. It would probably take most of the day to get to Lake Town, and though he disliked the idea of taking elves with him, his conscience demanded he do so.
~*~*~*
Owlknight: Thank you for your review. I can't believe you reviewed every chapter though. I'm glad you like my spider battle; I had trouble trying to do it.
Alia: Alright, I fixed Glorfindel's name. Thanks for telling me that!
Coolio02: Thank you for your review! Here is another chapter!
Queen Elizabeth: They will definitely have plenty to do before they reach their home!
Thanks to all reviewers, and sorry if I forgot any!
Chapter Five
A nightmarish cacophony of howls and snarls burst out around Elladan and Tylendal.
Elladan immediately brought his dagger to bear, but against the wargs they didn't stand much of a chance. Tylendal also tensed, twirling his knife.
Elladan's pulse pounded in his head in a rough syncopation with the undulating sounds around them.
Two wargs, wary because of the weapons, crept closer. Elladan elbowed Tylendal, nodding up at the trees above them, indicating them to climb at the soonest chance.
Tylendal slashed at one, bobbed an ear, clipped the skull, and staggered the creature. The other leapt at Elladan, who side stepped quickly and stabbed as hard as he could.
The one-eared beast stumbled back, yipping and snarling.
Wargs rushed the two elves, howling and yipping, barking and yowling. Elladan stabbed indiscriminately, making up for in quantity what Tylendal did with quality. Elladan was better with a sword, not a knife.
One bared its fangs and approached the young elf. It lunged and knocked Elladan down before he could dodge. The dagger flew from his hand, and was lost in the roiling confusion.
The eldest son of Elrond grabbed the nearest object to him, a large stick, and thrust it between the warg's jaws. With a snap, the creature closed its maw and sank its teeth into the stick, worrying it back and forth.
Other wargs charged him, but they oriented immediately on Tylendal. The elf was creating havoc with two knives. He must have recovered Elladan's dropped one. He turned and threw himself upon the warg pinning Elladan, and they rolled onto the ground together, the beast snarling and trying to bite, the elf slashing with the knives, which looked tiny compared to the warg's teeth.
Elladan saw a clear path to a tree, and dashed towards it. He scrambled up the trunk into the lower branches, and climbed higher until he was sure he was out of their reach.
He looked down to see the wargs pacing below his tree; several bodies littered the ground beside them. Tylendal was no where to be seen.
"Elladan," a hissed whisper came from a tree nearby. Elladan turned to see Tylendal trying to find a way over to him, but foiled by the large gap between their trees.
Without a word, the two slid quietly through the dark branches of the trees, leaving the wargs below them.
Sidling up a little farther, Tylendal saw nothing but the wide expanse of tangled branches. What little light they had was dimming, meaning night was approaching.
Elladan sighed. He was worried sick about his brother, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. He ran a hand along the hilt of his small knife. It was truly pitiful to have such a small weapon in the dark forests of Mirkwood. If he had his sword, he would feel a lot more secure. He wondered if their absence had been noted yet, and sincerely hoped so.
Seeing what looked to be a path, Elladan motioned to Tylendal and dropped down. The other elf followed quickly, and they were alert to anything that might be near them. They glanced at each other, and silently agreed to continue on down the path.
Silent forms watched the two elves, and smiled evilly. At their sides, the remaining wargs that had first attacked the elves crouched, eager to fight them again.
~*~*~*
Elrohir gasped in shock and fear as something wound its way around him and pulled him under the dark waters. He kicked and struggled fiercely, but the creature was strong and continued to pull him deeper under the water. The river was deep, frightfully so, and the depths were inky black.
The creature's serpentine coils tightened, and Elrohir choked down a gasp that would have made him loose the breath he held.
Legolas shouted as Elrohir disappeared, and dove under the water trying to reach him. He saw a dim outline and reached for it.
His hands brushed cold scaly skin, and he recoiled from the touch. Drawing his knife, he lunged forwards with a slash, cutting into the creature.
Elrohir felt the coils surrounding him shudder as something hit them, and thrashed wildly trying to get loose.
Legolas slashed repeatedly, the knife doing little damage to the thick coil. Each cut deepened the wound, and finally it unwound itself from Elrohir to face the one who caused it pain.
Elrohir struck for the surface of the water as soon as the coils loosened and he was able to slip out. He sucked in deep breaths of air, and drew the fishing dagger he carried and dove under to help Legolas. It wouldn't do much good if Legolas's bigger knife did little to harm the creature.
All through this time, the current was pulling them on, and a distant light appeared in front of them, showing that the river came out on the surface again.
Legolas had a lock around the creature's neck, unsure on how he found it, and struggled to hold on despite the fact that the thing was stronger, larger, and deadlier than the elf. Its coils thrashed, speeding it deeper in the river, and Legolas was running out of air.
~*~*~*
Elladan could only stare as he saw the sunlight streaming from between the trees. They had followed the river until it went underground, then the wargs had chased them farther into the forest, where they escaped into the trees and proceeded from there until they found this strange path. Now they were at the forest edge, with no idea how they got there, or how to get back to the Palace.
Tylendal was wide-eyed. He had never been out of Mirkwood before, and he was not sure he like the look of the rolling, treeless ground. Mountains were in the distance, and one mountain north of them was nearest.
"The Lonely Mountain." Tylendal whispered, and Elladan looked at him in blank confusion.
"What?" He asked, eyeing the other elf. The stain from the ink Elladan and Elrohir had poured over him had about worn off, as had the dye that colored Elladan. They were both close to their natural colors.
"The Lonely Mountain, that is. The East Side of Mirkwood we are at." The other replied.
"But you don't know the way back?" Elladan hazarded a guess. When Tylendal nodded, he sighed and slumped against the broad trunk of a tree behind him.
Tylendal turned to say something to him, but his eyes widened in shock as he stared at something beyond Elladan's shoulder. Spinning around, Elladan whipped his dagger out instinctively and slashed.
The orc staggered back, but others behind him rushed forwards. Tylendal shouted something, but Elladan could not hear. Wargs pounced into the area as well, and one that was missing an ear dove immediately at Tylendal.
The elf recognized the warg as the one he had wounded the other day, he was the reason it was missing an ear, and it was obviously not happy about it. With a savage growl, it launched itself at the smaller elf.
~*~*~*
Legolas blinked in shock as his head cleared the water and dawn's light hit his face. Elrohir surfaced next to him, and both looked at the bloodied water around them. They had wounded the creature, nothing very serious, but they had hurt it. Both immediately swam for shore, ignoring aches from strained and exhausted muscles.
Grabbing handfuls of grass and pulling themselves up, they looked back to see something break the surface of the water, a long back cutting through the water and sliding back under. Dark brown scales glimmered like bronze in the new morning's light, and they could see darker stripes barring across them.
The head was diamond shaped, with evil yellow eyes that were slitted down the center. The neck branched off, growing thicker as it proceeded down the entire length. It tapered off into a point as the tail slid behind it.
What truly horrified the two elflings was the fact that the wounds they had made, which they thought to have been near the head, were really farther down near the middle, and looked as if they were mere scratches on the impossible length of the giant snake.
The river was unbelievably deep. The bottom was lost in murky depths, and the snake had no trouble diving down and turning around to raise its head up to gaze at the elves.
Legolas shuddered at the wicked look, and drew back farther away from the river as the snake opened its maw to hiss menacingly, pearly fangs heightening the savage look.
With a shiver, Elladan took off into the forest, Legolas not far behind.
The river had been completely surrounded by trees, and the two elves did not know how far into Mirkwood they were, or where they were running.
~*~*~*
"Are they not back yet?" Thranduil asked Galion anxiously. The butler shook his head sadly, the patrol sent to find the four missing elflings had not returned yet.
Elrond stood nearby, also worried. Glorfindel (An: thanks for correcting me, Alia!) stood just behind the elf lord. Five patrols had been sent out, one had gone North, two South, and one each West and East. The one from the North, having a shorter space to cover, found nothing.
With a sigh, the elf King leaned back to await the arrival of the other patrols.
~*~*~*
The dwarf let out a shrill whistle, looking over his shoulder as he did. A loud grumble came out of the shadows of the trees behind him a moment later.
"What?" came a call a moment later, and a second dwarf came stumping out of the bushes. He was dressed all in brown, with a large axe slung over his broad shoulders. He was followed by a third.
"I telled ye I'd help ye!" the second dwarf roared. "But ye promised me sleep time!" Then the dwarf noticed the activity that had attracted his companion's attention, and he stopped his tirade immediately.
"Stinkin' elves!" he roared, charging down the path and tearing his axe off his back as he came.
The third dwarf grabbed him and held him back.
"Steady on there, Marin! There are orcs down there too!" The dwarf said, trying to calm the black bearded dwarf.
"Ye can't be thinkin' what I'm thinkin' ye're thinkin'!" Marin Sandbrow bellowed at the other two dwarves.
Varin, the dwarf holding Marin, and Farin watched their brother with amusement.
He was tough looking, a short and exceedingly stout dwarf whose nasty attitude was always clearly shown on his rough face. His black beard heightened the fact that he was missing an eye, which he covered with an eye patch.
"Well, I'm thinkin' what I'm thinkin'," Varin replied, "and I'm not knowin' what ye're thinkin' I'm thinkin'."
"Bah, what do you know other than which drink yer drinkin'?" Farin added.
"I'm knowin'!" Shouted Varin, matching the other's smile. "So I'm thinkin' that I'm not drinkin' enough o' what I'm drinkin'!"
Marin roared at his two brothers, irritated with their joking around. They could not be thinking on helping elves. Sure, elves did not deserve to die at the hands of disgusting orcs, but why should they help them?
Varin released his brother when he saw that he would not charge down there and slaughter all.
Marin watched the battle, and when one of the elves came into view, he started in shock. They were young! Barely old enough to be considered warriors! What were the elves thinking to send young ones out into the wild?
With a dwarven shout, he charged, followed by his two brothers. It was obvious to them that Marin was not going to harm to elves.
Marin didn't have the coordination of the two elves, and in truth, their deadly grace impressed the dwarf. Amusing, but impressive none the less.
What he lacked in grace, the tough dwarf made up in for sheer ferocity. Rushing past an orc he just chopped down, he ran into an orc who had his shield extended to knock the dwarf down. The dwarf locked his legs and didn't move. The orc bounced back, unable to move the sturdy dwarf, and Marin took the moment to hack its legs out from under it.
He turned to pursue another, catching it with the blunt side of his axe in the side of the head. It fell to the ground, and Marin turned at a noise behind him.
Standing side by side, the two elves watched him warily, and he did the same. The light of the sun shone on the rich brown hair of one, and on the ebony black of the other. Both stood taller than the dwarf, which was no surprise, and both had the feeling of youthfulness around them.
His brothers came up, and he turned to face them.
"Got meself eight." He proclaimed. A groan at his side alerted him to the orc he had hit with his axe, and before he could move the brown haired elf slit its throat.
"Alright then, seven and half." He said with a shrug. The black haired elf looked at him with curiosity underscored with suspicion, while the other watched him with a distrustful and threatening gaze.
Marin, Varin, and Farin were unsure of what to do now. The two elves had minor wounds, and a dagger each. Nothing that would help them in any upcoming battles.
"Lake Town would be our best bet, they look tired and I doubt they would agree to go to our home." Farin stated in a low voice. Marin snorted in amusement.
Tylendal and Elladan could not have been more surprised if Elrond and Thranduil themselves had come charging into the middle of the battle. Dwarves coming to the aide of elves! Imagine it! Elladan was confused, but willing to be friendly, while Tylendal was feeling the same to a slighter degree, but suspicious at the same time.
"We'll take you to Lake Town, if you wish. I don't know what yer doin' out here, but you can come with us." Marin said gruffly, not enjoying the prospect of taking the elves along.
The elves conferred together in their musical language, which none of the dwarves understood, and at length nodded. With a sigh, Marin gestured for them to follow. It would probably take most of the day to get to Lake Town, and though he disliked the idea of taking elves with him, his conscience demanded he do so.
~*~*~*
Owlknight: Thank you for your review. I can't believe you reviewed every chapter though. I'm glad you like my spider battle; I had trouble trying to do it.
Alia: Alright, I fixed Glorfindel's name. Thanks for telling me that!
Coolio02: Thank you for your review! Here is another chapter!
Queen Elizabeth: They will definitely have plenty to do before they reach their home!
Thanks to all reviewers, and sorry if I forgot any!