Friends are for Such a Time as This – Part IV
By Vikki
* * *
"How could I have missed his going?" Elrohir cried, his fists curled at his sides. "Estel is but a child! How could I have not heard him stalking off into the woods? How could I have not seen him?"
"Do not blame yourself, Elrohir!" exclaimed Novhoth, grasping the Elven lord by the shoulders. "We all missed his going. I am just as much to blame as you."
"He is my responsibility," sighed Elrohir, but his features grew less distraught as he raised his eyes to the trees and stars above.
"All hope is not lost, my lord," said Morereg. "He cannot have gone far."
"Aye," agreed Elrohir, his voice a lament. "He must be close." He drew himself up and stood with a forlorn look. "Let us go into the woods and seek him out. He does not yet know how to hide his trail. Let us hope we find him before the Orcs do."
Novhoth looked upon his lord and he perceived the pain with which Elrohir spoke those last few words. "He will not be taken by the Orcs," he said with quiet conviction, forgetting the doubts of his own mind. "Have courage, my lord."
Elrohir briefly raised his eyes to the sky before he closed them firmly. "I have courage. It is hope I lack." But when his eyes opened again, they held a new determination, and the Elf picked up his bow and arrow from where they lay on the ground. "Let us make haste!"
"Aye," agreed Novhoth and Morereg as one, following their superior away from camp and beyond the line of trees.
* * *
We have found friends, sang Airelond's trill, and three short songbird whistles informed all who understood that the message had been received.
The Orc below Legolas looked up at the song, but he was dead before he could say a word.
Legolas drew another arrow and notched it to his bow, drawing it slightly taut as he waited expectantly. But no other Orcs appeared, and the Elven prince relaxed after a time.
He and Glirhuin were now less than a league from the Rivendell camp, but Legolas had surpassed Airelond to the south, and he saw more Orcs here. Glirhuin was further west than he; Legolas could no longer hear him passing through the trees. Indeed, he could hear very little but the sound of squabbling Orcs, for a group not far away was snarling at one another in the foul Black Language of Mordor. Legolas grimaced and wished to stop his ears, but he could not for carrying his weapons; instead he fled into the trees, away from the fell sound and towards allies.
The Elven prince leapt from tree to tree with nearly silent catlike grace, only a slight swaying of the branches and a rustling of autumn leaves betraying his passing. Soon he would be upon the Elven camp; perhaps there he could meet with the Imladris party and discuss a strategy, for his arrows were running low, and he knew his companions would be faring much the same.
* * *
"Gromthak! Ufzag is dead!" cried Bashnag as he clanked forward in his heavy armor.
Gromthak curled his lip. "Good riddance."
"But it was an Elf!"
Gromthak took no measures to resist the urge to do violence and wrapped his fingers around Bashnag's ugly throat. "Of course it was an Elf! We do not drop dead suddenly for no reason, and these woods are crawling with them! Or haven't you noticed, you dimwitted fool!" He dropped the Orc unceremoniously and left him there to cough and choke. "Come on, the Elf can't be far away from that camp Knashkom told us about. Get up, you lazy louts!" He snapped at the others when they looked away in disinterest. "We go to the camp!"
* * *
Estel gripped the sword in his hands so tightly that his fingers began to ache. He closed his eyes briefly and drew a long, slow breath, for that was how Elladan had taught him to calm himself before he fired an arrow. The exercise helped, and his heart stopped racing in his chest. However, Estel remained faced with the same problem; he knew not where he was, or how to return to camp.
"Perhaps someone has noticed I am missing," he whispered into the silence of the forest, and his voice seemed unnaturally loud. "Elrohir will come for me. He could always find me, no matter where I hid." He smiled, pretending to be brave, but it was impossible to imagine that this dark forest was the halls of Imladris, where he hid in jest from his long-lived Elven brother. This was no game, and Estel was very frightened.
He had two choices before him; to continue to crouch here on the forest floor, hoping to be seen by an Elf, or to begin again to walk, in hopes he would find camp on his own. However, it seemed equally likely to Estel that he should walk away from camp as towards it, and if his brothers were indeed looking for him, he did not want to make it any more difficult to find him than he already had. In the end, because he could not decide which was better, he stayed where he was in a quandary of indecision.
He heard something stepping upon the leaves. Startled, Estel brought his sword to bear again, rising halfway to his feet and looking about wildly, attempting to pinpoint the sound.
Something snarled behind him, and the terrifying sound was accompanied by crunching leaves. Estel spun about, his sword held out before him as Elladan had taught him, but he was completely unprepared for the attack, for a large gray wolf leapt upon him, its paws landing on Estel's chest, its teeth bared and snapping. The momentum of the wolf carried them both to the forest floor.
Estel let out a startled shout and thrust his sword forward with abandon.
* * *
Legolas paused in the trees when he heard a wolfish snarl, and he held his breath. Were there wolves as well as Orcs about? He had little to fear from either, but in his mind a shadow seemed to grow. Danger was close, but he knew not who was fallen victim. "Glirhuin?" he mused aloud in a whisper , drawing a short breath.
He was prepared to signal to his companion and inquire about his wellbeing when a childish shout echoed in the woods. Legolas lifted his head and looked about, for the sound was not far off. "What would a child be doing in these woods?" he asked himself in a voice too low to be heard, and he wondered briefly if he had only imagined the sound. But again there was snarling and snapping teeth, and Legolas dared no longer tarry; he followed the sound to the south and east, seeking out the distressed child and begging the Valar for mercy upon the young soul.
* * *
A childish shout echoed in the woods.
"Hear you that?" asked Elrohir sharply.
"Aye, I heard it," nodded Novhoth, "But I know not where the sound came from." He kept his arrow notched and at the ready, for he was not comfortable standing on the forest floor. He would have felt better in the trees, where he and his lord would not be easily seen by the Enemy, but from the trees Elrohir could not properly track his brother. Morereg had gone some way ahead in the treetops, prepared to lay waste to any approaching Orcs, but Novhoth could not stifle his uneasiness, for the Orcs brought with them evil, which cast a shadow upon the Elf's mind.
Elrohir had drawn his sword, but he crouched in the leaves, examining them for signs of a small child passing. However, he had found nothing; the leaves were too fresh fallen, and the small breezes that interrupted the stifling calm had removed all traces of footfalls. "He knew it not, but Estel chose well his timing if he wishes to remain unfound," Elrohir observed grimly. "There is no way for me to track him, for he knows enough to not leave a trail of broken twigs and bent branches behind him, and the leaves have entirely hidden any passing. See, even our tracks are hidden from us!" He gestured to the path behind them, and indeed, the leaves had covered up the path.
The Elven lord straightened and gazed piercingly into the trees, as if he could see through them straight to Estel. "That shout was his; of that I have no doubt," he said. "I cannot tell for certain where it came from, but certainly it was to our north at least. Come! Perhaps he will cry out again! And may we find him before he is killed, for Estel would not cry out unless in distress."
* * *
A child's cry echoed through the woods.
Gromthak lifted his head, a malicious gleam in his green eyes. "There is a child in these woods!"
Grimmazh licked his curved blade and laughed with a rasp. "Let us find him! Surely he will make good sport."
"But do we not seek out the Elves?" asked Bashnag pitifully, his voice still broken from Gromthak's grip.
"Shut up, you fool," snarled Gromthak smartly, and the smaller Orc whimpered in fear. "Of course we seek Elves, and we shall continue to do so! But if we happen on a child along the way, what is the harm? If you say one more word upon this journey, I shall kill you, and no mistake! Do not speak to me again!"
"Yes sir," mumbled Bashnag, following behind.
* * *
Estel's sword cut into the wolf by pure chance, and with a snarl and a whimper the creature fell back, off of Estel's chest. Breathing hard and fast, the child scrambled to his feet, holding his sword before him in trembling hands, keeping it between himself and the wolf as the wolf stalked around him, limping, yellow eyes filled with malice.
Estel again took deep breaths, trying very hard to remain calm as he had been taught. Elladan's lessons came back to him, and he changed his grip on his sword to a one-handed one, moving his feet so he remained balanced as he turned, always facing the wolf.
It took but a few moments before the wolf again leapt forward, jaws wide. Estel cried out again, but his voice was full of determination as he stepped forward, pointing his sword at the leaping wolf's chest.
The wolf whimpered and keened as the blade sunk point-first into its chest, its body falling upon Estel and covering his clothes with dark blood. Estel landed on his back in the leaves, the wolf laying upon him. It weakly keened again, and with that it died.
With trembling hands, Estel pushed the body off himself and sat upon his knees, breathing fast and shallowly. He felt weak at the knees, and he did not know if he felt so from fright or shock. Never before had he killed a creature larger than a beetle; he could not look upon the body, for it made him feel ill. He could not even muster the courage to draw his sword from the wolf.
So it was that he almost did not hear the bushes to his left shaking as creatures approached, but in the end his ears attuned to the sound. Estel looked up suddenly, and his throat went dry. He could not even cry out.
Orcs.
"What is this?" hissed one of them in Westron, his twisted features reflecting a parody of a grin. "A child with no guard?"
"Elbereth save me!" Estel breathed in horror.
* * *
Legolas heard Glirhuin's whistle, asking if he had heard the second cry. Legolas replied he had, and hurried yet faster through the treetops, abandoning soundlessness in favor of speed. If any Orc heard him, they looked too late to see his passing.
So it was that he came upon the boy, a child of Man, his shirt blood-spattered and his features pale, gazing down upon a wolf whose chest was pierced through by a dagger. "The child did this?" he breathed wonderingly, amazed that one so young could defend himself so. But his amazement did not last long, for he was concerned that the child was hurt, and he prepared to leap down and come to his aid.
It was then he heard the approaching creatures, and with a swift movement he notched an arrow to his bow and pointed it at the source of the sound, becoming an Elven statue poised to attack.
Orcs.
They stepped into the clearing, and the boy looked up, his eyes wide with unhidden fear. The largest Orc snarled something in Westron, but what Legolas cared not; he released his arrow and it passed through the Orc's head, killing him instantly.
The boy gasped aloud as Legolas notched two more arrows in quick succession, killing the dead Orc's companions with the efficiency of an assassin in the dark. He took a moment to wait for any more approaching enemies; when none came, he leapt from the tree where he hid and landed lightly on the ground, no more than ten feet from the shaken child. The boy made a stifled, wordless noise, spinning about to face him even as he scrambled back through the leaves.
"Fear not," Legolas said in Westron, for he knew not where the boy came from. "I am an Elf, and I mean you no harm. Be still, child, and let me see that you are not hurt."
The boy looked at him cautiously, the fear fading from his eyes, but his wariness persisted. "You are not from Rivendell," said he.
Legolas raised his eyebrows at the child, coming forward to kneel before him. "That is true," he agreed, surprised by the child's knowledge, but he did not press the matter. "Let me see to you and ascertain you are not hurt."
"I am well," the boy protested, but he allowed Legolas to examine him for injury. He still trembled slightly, and his breath was labored.
As Legolas checked the child over, he realized then how the boy had known Legolas was not from Imladris; his clothes were unmistakably of Elven make, and the patterns thereof the signature of Rivendell. "You are from Rivendell, child?" he asked as he looked up, attempting by his own calmness to relax the boy, although the Elven prince was surprised by his discovery.
* * *
"You are from Rivendell, child?"
Estel nodded slowly, watching the Elf that aided him warily, although his fear was largely assuaged. It was this Elf that had felled the Orcs with a speed Estel had not seen even Elladan match. He looked upon the clothes of his savior and was reminded of the Elven messengers from the East that came on occasion to Imladris. "I am. You are from Mirkwood?"
The Elf's lips quirked slightly, his bright eyes gazing into the dark woods to their east. "You know much, child," he said, "and there is much I would ask you, but more Orcs come. Is this your dagger?" the Elf indicated the corpse of the wolf, and Estel grimaced slightly as he nodded. "Very good." The Elf freed the sword-dagger from the body with one swift movement and wiped the blade upon a cloth. "Take it and put it away. The Valar willing, it will be no more use to you tonight."
Even as Estel slid the blade back into its scabbard, the Mirkwood Elf stood straight and still, eyes still fixed upon the eastern trees. He murmured to himself in a form of Elvish unknown to Estel before he spoke again. "They are too close for comfort. We go south and west, as quickly and silently as possible."
"What is south and west of us?" Estel could not help inquiring.
Again the Elf's mouth quirked, his eyes full of amusement. "The Rivendell camp. Surely you know of it?"
Estel felt heat rush to his cheeks, and he bowed his head. "I was completely lost," he murmured.
"And now you are not," said the Elf, the mirth in his voice cloaking the iron. "Let us hurry!"
* * *
Author's Notes: Sorry this section took so long! I had a lot to think about – mostly about how Legolas would interact with a child, and how Estel would act with someone he doesn't know.
I think it's very likely that Estel is 1)fairly mature for someone his age, and 2)eager to grow up as fast as possible. I think this because Estel is a nine-year-old surrounded by beings hundreds and thousands of years older than him. Witness my little brother, who acts like he's at least three years older than he is because he's determined to be just like his older brother. Hence, I make Estel mature in speech and reasoning skills, but a bit on the childish side in his eagerness to fight and rush into things he doesn't truly understand.
Legolas is a little harder, I think, because as far as I can tell he's a younger Elf, and he's probably had little or no dealings with beings significantly younger than him. I'll bet Legolas has never seen an Elven child. He thus is a bit self-contradictory: he didn't expect Estel to know how to defend himself, but he seems to expect the child to be able to sneak around easily. Truth is, he doesn't know *what* to expect; he doesn't know the limitations of humans or children. That will play into the next and (hopefully) final chapter. ^___^x
Thanks for all the reviews! I love them – they're so helpful, especially the reviews that tell me what you like and what you want next. This is the sort of thing authors like me are always looking for. ^____^x
Next chapter, Legolas tries to get Estel back to camp safely, Encirith encounters Elladan, and Legolas meets with Elrohir! Thanks for reading, and please keep reviewing!
~~Vikki