Disclaimer: For full disclaimer, please see chapter 1.
A/N:
*whispers* Shhh, I shouldn't even BE here ... I have so much work to do for college right now that I should be studying instead of writing this "weird story", as my mother so eloquently put it ... What the heck, it's only college... *g*
*shoots FF.net suspicious looks* Still here? It has not been deleted? Well, we'll see how long that lasts... *dark look*
Well, here is chapter 4, I did the best I could with the 'medical' scenes, the problem is, I have never been injured worse than a broken finger, which is nothing in comparison to three wargs on top of you! At least I think so ... *g*
I will try and update again on Saturday or Sunday, althought I don't think I will have much time till February 15th, that's when our term ends.
But reviews MIGHT help. If I get a lot of reviews, I will post faster, they tend to motivate me - a lot. *g*
(Yes, I KNOW this is blackmail! *evil grin*)
Chapter 4
Aragorn didn't know how long he had been standing thus. To him, it seemed like hours, while in truth probably only a few seconds had gone by. Finally, the world seemed to speed up again to its usual pace, bringing the young ranger out of the numbness that had gripped his body and mind.
Willing his shaking legs to obey him, he raced across the clearing and fell to his knees alongside Elrohir, who was frantically trying to push the heavy bodies of the wargs aside to free his twin.
In a combined effort, they were finally able to drag the corpses to the side, exposing Elladan's body. The older twin was lying on his left side, his left arm trapped under his body, his right stretched out close to his bloodstained sword.
Deep gashes where the claws of a warg had scratched him ran over his back, deep purple blood slowly oozing from them, colouring his light shirt a horrible crimson.
All over his upper body the two brothers could see marks where the claws and teeth of the beasts had bit into Elladan's flesh, leaving bleeding wounds that seemed to cover every visible inch of his body.
A set of scratches or bites decorated his throat, emphasizing the unnatural paleness of his face and the blackness of the eyelashes against the tightly closed eyelids.
Elrohir was the first one to react. With a cry of dismay he gathered the limp form of his twin in his arms, bedding Elladan's head on his chest, stroking his hair gently and muttering softly to him in Elvish, telling him over and over again that everything would be alright.
His mind spinning sickeningly, Aragorn tried to figure out what to do. These scratches were ugly, and a lot were very deep, but on their own they were not serious enough to really harm an elf. The thing that really bothered him was poisoning from the wargs' dirty claws and teeth. Grimacing he looked Elladan over; there was also a good amount of warg blood on him.
'Not good. Not good at all,' he thought wincing inwardly, scrambling to his feet as fast as the wound in his side would allow.
Pushing the pain aside and carefully stepping over the scattered bodies of dead wargs, he made his way over to Elrohir's horse which was still standing at the other side of the clearing, snorting softly and looking at the approaching human with big, reproachful eyes.
The young ranger reached out and patted the horse's neck softly, speaking in Elvish to calm the frightened animal. Satisfied it would not try and lash out at him, he opened the leather saddle bags and searched them frantically for the medical supplies he hoped Elrohir had remembered to pack earlier this morning.
'Was it really this morning? It feels like a lifetime,' Estel mused just as his fingers found a grey sack and yanked it out so hard that the rest of the supplies landed on the forest floor in a heap.
Quickly opening the bag, he scanned its contents and breathed a silent thanks to Elbereth when he saw the assortment of herbs and bandages that someone – probably Elrohir, a small part of his mind noted – had stuffed into it rather carelessly.
He gripped the bag tightly with both hands and positively flew across the clearing to the side of his brothers, neither of which had moved since he had left them.
Aragorn took one look at Elrohir's face and decided that the younger twin probably was in no condition to think clearly right now.
Crouching down behind his elven brother, he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Elrohir? Elrohir, we need to get him away from here, we cannot tend properly to his wounds in this place. I seem to remember a smaller clearing before this one just a few minutes away, can you carry him there?"
There was no sign that Elrohir had heard his word, he just kept whispering meaningless elvish words of comfort to his twin.
Shaking Elrohir's shoulder slightly, Aragorn switched his speech to Elvish, repeating himself.
"Elrohir, you must listen to me! Elladan will be fine, we just need to clean his wounds and get him to father as quickly as possible! Can you carry him to the clearing or not?! Answer me!!"
When he heard Aragorn's sharp voice, Elrohir seemed to regain some of his usual composure. Turning his tearstained face towards that of his human brother, he nodded firmly, clutching Elladan's body even tighter to his chest.
"I can, Estel," he stated, his voice shaking just a little.
The human smiled as encouragingly as he could at his older brother, and, after giving Elrohir's shoulder another comforting squeeze, he got up and looked for the way they had come.
Pointing it out to his elven brother, who was standing up now, the seemingly lifeless body of his twin in his arms, he told him quickly,
"I will get our weapons. There have to be at least five daggers here somewhere and we might need them. I will follow as quickly as I can."
Nodding, Elrohir began to pick his way through the chaos on the clearing, passing his horse and ordering it softly to follow him, which it did, looking very happy to escape from the field of battle.
Estel looked into the direction his brothers had just disappeared in and shook his head as if to chase away the dark memories of Elladan's bloody wounds that still played back time and again in front of his eyes.
'He will be alright. Father will be able to help him. No problem. He will be alright,' he kept repeating in his head, like a mantra to keep him from going insane with worry, while he wandered from body to body, collecting the weapons they had abandoned during the fight.
Wrenching the last dagger from the corpse of an especially big warg, he turned to follow his brothers, when a sudden feeling of unease swept over his senses. Putting one bloody hand to the hilt of his sword, he scanned the silent woods around him for any sign of danger. It almost felt as if something … hostile … was watching his every move, biding its time to act.
When the young ranger could see nothing out of the ordinary, he shrugged slightly and began moving down the path his brother had taken a few minutes earlier. He was probably just nervous and exhausted, he decided and, trying to ignore the discomfort his side was causing him, quickened his pace to catch up with his brothers.
The elf who had watched the whole fight with a keen interest relaxed a bit and lowered the bow that had been pointed unwaveringly at the human for the past minutes.
Slipping the arrow back into his quiver and sitting down on the branch, he cursed himself again for his carelessness. He should never have followed the wargs as far as he had, he should have known they would spot him or at the very least sense his presence.
'The only thing,' he mused darkly, 'that has saved me from detection is the fact that one of them was wounded. If his brother hadn't been so worried, he would have discovered my presence long ago.'
But that the human had very nearly caught him was a bit of a surprise for the dark haired elf.
For one long moment he had really thought the human had made out his hiding spot in one of the treetop, his silver eyes seemingly piercing the reddish foliage he had used for cover.
That one was extremely resourceful and observant for an edan, he had already seen that much during the fight. He was happy the boy hadn't discovered him; it would have been a shame if he would have had to kill him like that, he mused.
He truly holds the potential for a lot of more … interesting things, he thought, smiling darkly and trying to decide what to do now.
There was no real reason to follow them now, he knew where they were going and all he had wanted to learn about them he had found out during the fight and its aftermath.
'No,' he decided, 'I will return to the woods surrounding Imladris and try and gather as much information as possible until it is time for me to meet with Nólad and the others. The way I see it, the sons of Elrond won't go anywhere in the near future.'
Adjusting his quiver, the dark haired elf began to make his way back northwards, moving stealthily through the colourful treetops.
'And they really care about him,' he mused, 'A behaviour truly befitting the sons of Lord Elrond Peredhil. He is still putting the safety of humans before the safety of his own people.'
A grin slowly spread across his face, making the eyes gleam with a cold, hard light.
'Soon we will see just how much he cares for any of them. I can hardly wait.'
When Aragorn arrived in the small glade, he saw that his younger elven brother had already put the time he had had to good use.
Elladan lay next to a fire Elrohir had lighted, wrapped in one of his brother's spare cloaks the younger twin had found in the other saddle bag.
'The one,' the young human thought guiltily, 'Whose contents I did not scatter all over the forest floor.'
Elrohir looked up when he heard Aragorn enter the clearing, positioning a small bowl of water over the fire.
Relief shining in his eyes, he rose to take the bag with the herbs from his brother.
"Thank you, Estel," he said softly and opened the bag to search for athelas.
"Did you find the daggers? I think there were two of Elladan's knifes as well, and you know how he is with his things: He would hate to lose them to a bunch of overgrown dogs," he added, his voice thick with emotion.
Estel smiled at him and plopped down next to his older brother, pushing the edges of the cloak aside to get better access to his wounds.
"Is there any water left? We need to clean these before we can use the athelas on them."
Elrohir nodded, and passed his brother a water-skin without taking his eyes off the small bowl, trying to determine the right moment to drop the herbs into it.
Aragorn took the offered water and began to clean his brother's chest and throat of blood and dirt. After he had washed away the top layer of dirt and dark warg blood, he found that it wasn't as bad as he had initially thought: There were a lot of scratch and teeth marks, but they were not too deep and a lot of skin had remained undamaged. While this could be dangerous or even deadly to a human, for an elf's superior healing powers it shouldn't be a problem.
Gently wiping the water away from the wounds with a shred of cloth he had ripped from his brother's already ruined shirt, he smiled in relief when he noticed a new scent in the air: Aromatic and fresh, it seemed to chase away all doubts from Aragorn's troubled mind and fill him with a renewed resolve and strength.
He looked over to Elrohir, who just dropped the last sprig of athelas into the bowl and stirred it with one of his now clean knifes.
His elven brother smiled at him, worry still shining in his eyes.
"It will be ready in a second now. How bad is it?"
Estel returned his attention to the body of his oldest foster brother.
"His chest is not too bad, I think. One of them seemed to have come quite close to latching onto his throat, and I guess his voice will be quite hoarse for a while, but it's nothing father cannot heal. What really worries me is his back, and I think two of his ribs might be cracked or even broken. With three wargs on top of him, it's a miracle any of them remained undamaged!"
He moved over when Elrohir closed the distance between them, the bowl of still steaming water gripped tightly in both hand.
With an inward apology to his unconscious brother, Aragorn ripped two more pieces out of Elladan's shirt, making a mental note to tell him that the wargs had torn it to pieces when he awoke.
Handing Elrohir one of them, they both began the unpleasant task of cleaning the older twins numerous wounds.
When they were finished with his chest, Elrohir turned his brother onto his stomach as gently as he could, preparing to hold him down should he awake while Estel cleaned the deeper scratches on his back.
Cursing softly under his breath, Aragorn took up the water skin, and with a moment's hesitation and an apologetic glance at the unconscious elf, poured the rest of the water over his brother's back.
Even in his unconscious state, Elladan's body jerked and tried to escape from what it mistakenly perceived to be further harm being done to it. Elrohir had to grab his brother's forearms tightly to hold him still and allow his human brother to clean Elladan's back.
Brushing errant strands of dark hair away from his elven brother's face, he tried to soothe the fighting elf, speaking softly to him in Elvish to calm him down.
Aragorn worked as quickly as he could, trying not to shake with anger and worry when he saw torn muscles and every so often the white bone of a rib shine through the tears that decorated his oldest brother's back.
Dropping the cloth which was now tinged an ominously reddish colour, he pulled the small bowl closer and began to spread its contents over Elladan's back.
Trying to ignore his elven brother's soft sounds of distress, he finished his work and began to wrap long white straps of bandages round his brother's ribcage and throat, taking care not to hinder his breathing more than it already was due to his broken ribs.
Sitting back on his haunches, the young human ran a shaking hand through his dark hair and turned wide, serious eyes onto his younger elven brother.
"These scratches are deep. They will need stitches, a lot of them. Father is going to have a field day with him, I'm afraid. It's getting dark; we need to get him back to Rivendell as quickly as possible."
His brother nodded stony-faced, bedding Elladan's head in his lap.
Aragorn got back to his feet, staggering slightly and wondering for an irrational moment if night had already fallen and the stars had decided to pay them a visit and dance around the dark trunks of the trees.
"I will go and look for our horses. The forelegs of yours are quite badly scratched, you will need a healthy horse to carry the two of you back home," he added, knowing full well that there was no way Elrohir was letting go of his brother in the near future.
Making his way slowly down the path he thought the horses would have taken, he whistled loudly and called out the horses' names, begging them in Elvish to return to them and help.
'Elbereth, father will be angry! Why does this kind of thing always happen to us? It is as if every foul beast is waiting in line to have a try at killing all of us!' he mused stunned, disappearing slowly between the trees.
Legolas returned from gathering an armload of dry wood for their camp fire and, not making a sound and grinning wickedly, moved quietly next to Celylith, who sat on a log next to the fire staring into the flames, and dropped it with a loud crash.
His silver headed friend jumped noticeably and gave him a dark glare.
"That was not a very wise course of action, mellonamin. I could have believed you to be a threat and shot you where you stand."
Legolas' grin only broadened at that and he let himself drop down next to his friend.
"Ah, my dear Celylith, but we both know that by the time you finally would have drawn that bow, I would already have slit your throat two times over," he taunted, eyes dancing with silent laughter.
Before Celylith had time to come up with a proper response, for he thought that strangling his own prince might be considered a bit excessive, a glum voice interrupted their playful banter.
"Yes, you are right there, Legolas. Even that ranger you insist on dragging around with you could have done that."
The fair haired prince took a deep breath and decided, protective instincts towards his human friend flaring to life, to sort out this thing once and for all. He had endured Glónduil's teasing and degrading comments about Strider for the whole day, if his friend continued like this, he would end up slitting his throat before the three days were over.
"What do you mean by that, mellonamin?" he asked the dark haired elf in a dangerously low voice, rising to meet his companion's gaze.
Glónduil clearly recognized by Legolas' tone of voice that he had finally gone too far, and dropped his eyes, mumbling, "Nothing, my lord"
Legolas felt his temper flare up.
"Don't you dare hide behind my title, Glónduil! I am not only your prince, I also am your friend, and in my capacity of both I order you to tell me, now, what it is that has been irking you for the whole day!"
The dark haired elf lifted his head, his green eyes flashing angrily.
"Well, if you insist, your highness," he stressed the title mockingly, "It is you."
That took Legolas by total surprise.
"Me?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, you, Legolas. What has happened to you? When did you change so much that I cannot even recognize you anymore? I have known you for the best part of our lives and yet you are riding along grinning happily because you get to visit your precious little human friend who will be dead in less than a century! Have you already forgotten what humans are like, prince?" Glónduil spat venomously.
Celylith opened his mouth to intervene, but Legolas raised his hand.
"No, let him speak," he said coldly, fighting for control over his emotions. This obviously was something their dark haired companion had wanted to say for a long time.
"You cannot trust them, Legolas! They are weak and greedy and will turn on you the second your back is turned! Have you grown so blind that you cannot see who truly is your friend and who isn't?"
Legolas breathed deeply and tried very hard not to let his fury overwhelm him, unconsciously clenching his hands into fists.
"No, my friend," he replied sarcastically in an even voice, "I have not. In fact, I think my eyes see a lot of things in a clear light for the first time. Strider has been the truest, most loyal friend I have ever possessed during the short time I have known him. I will not allow anyone to talk about him like this, do you understand?"
He glared at the other elf, who couldn't help but avert his eyes from the look of pure fury Legolas shot him.
"Not all humans are alike! He has saved my life more times than I can recall, and his mind is not clouded by ill-founded prejudices. He would never have said the things you just did about any other being, not even about the likes of you.
I have to thank you, Glónduil. I think now I truly know who my friends are."
He turned abruptly and left the small camp behind, ignoring Celylith's pleas for him to wait.
Quickly jumping into a tree, he leaned the back of his head against a thick branch and waited for the turmoil of emotions that raged in his heart to die down.
'Valar, I didn't know he felt so strongly about our friendship. It is almost like a wound in his heart that has been festering for a long time,' he thought, gently running his fingers over the bark of the branches that surrounded him. The tree seemed to shiver in response, as if to try and bring its branches closer to the elf.
The fair haired prince felt how his swirling emotions slowly came to rest; only the anger he felt at Glónduil's word wouldn't diminish.
Sighing he decided that it probably would be best if he didn't return to camp this night, he should still be close enough to his companions to be reasonably safe.
'I wouldn't want to be accountable for my actions if he opens his mouth one more time,' he thought grimly, leaning back and slowly relaxing his muscles that were still tense with anger.
He was still sadly musing over the lifelong friend he had just lost, when he felt the now familiar dread sweep over him. This time however, it felt different, more intensive and urgent.
Shaking his head helplessly, Legolas thought of his friends that were far out of his reach.
As he knew them, they were probably already in trouble, especially Estel. There seemed to be few enough moments to count them on one hand when he had not been in one kind of trouble or other.
He could not travel any faster than he already was, and while Celylith and even Glónduil would obey him, however unwillingly, if he ordered them to press on, only an insane person journeyed through this part of Mirkwood at night.
Looking at the starry sky, he rubbed his forehead in frustration. There was something wrong, seriously wrong, and he could do nothing to help.
"May Elbereth protect you, my friends, for I can not," he whispered softly.
Elrond stood just outside the main doors, watching the last light of the day die far in the west. To a casual observer, he seemed the perfect picture of the calm, dignified elven lord, but to those who knew him better the worry that showed in his eyes and very stance was clearly visible.
He sighed and stopped himself again from pacing back and forth.
'I knew something would happen to them. I just knew it. I should never have allowed them to leave,' he thought furiously, running a hand over his grey eyes.
Just when he was about to launch another mental sermon about what else he could have done differently, he heard the faint sounds of approaching horses.
Smiling in relief, he turned to face the main gates, just to very nearly lose his composure again when he looked upon the sight that greeted him.
Riding through the gates at full speed were two riders with a riderless horse close behind them. He frowned when he saw his youngest son's far too pale face; the other rider was holding something in his arms, something big and unmoving…
"Elladan!" Elrond breathed horrified, rushing forward to meet his sons.
"My sons, what has happened?" he asked as calmly as he could when Elrohir lowered his brother into the waiting arms of his father, taking in his pale features and bandaged chest.
"Wargs, ada, about three hours from here," Elrohir replied quickly, jumped off his horse and followed his father into the house, an unsteady Estel on his heels.
Elrond carefully positioned his oldest on one of the beds in the hospital wing, issuing orders to several servants who rushed out of the room, and let his gaze wander over his other two sons, wrinkling his forehead in concern when he saw their blood-stained appearances.
"What about you? Are you hurt?"
Elrohir shook his head.
"No, ada, just a few scratches. I'm fine."
"What about you, Estel? Estel?"
Aragorn lifted his eyes to meet his father's, which suddenly felt very heavy, as if someone had placed leaden weights on them. Now that he knew his elven brother would be safe, the adrenaline that had kept him going faded into nothing and his body started to betray him.
The room seemed to spin around him at an incredible pace and the pain in his side seemed to multiply tenfold.
Leaning against one of the door's wooden pillars for support, he noticed that somehow the faces of his brother and father became blurred in front of his very eyes, and their voices seemed to come from a long distance away.
"Estel?" he heard a worried voice ask over the sound of rushing blood in his ears, but he didn't have enough strength to answer.
Giving the shape he believed to be Elrond a comforting smile, he finally gave in to the darkness he had been fighting off for the past hour and collapsed into the arms of his shocked foster father.
TBC...
edan - human, man (sg.)
mellonamin - my friend
ada - father (daddy)
I don't think I need to stress how much I LOVE reviews, so if you just drop me a line or two, I'll be very very happy!! But if you insist, I will even resort to begging: Please! PLEASE! PLEASE!! *g*
Additional A/N:
Lievre - Lievre!! I know you!! *huggles her* I'm soo glad you like it! Yes, the age thing is a bit difficult, I said it takes place about 2953 (TA), that would make Aragorn about 22 or 23. I know Tolkien always said he turned from child to adult real quick, but I always thought that to be a bit strange. I mean, I look at my older brother, who is 22 years old as well, and, let's just say, at times he behaves _really_ childish. Okay, he is not the heir of Isildur either (at least I hope so! *g*), but boys just don't mature as quickly as girls do. And in combination with mischivous elves (and Tolkien expressly said that they are!), I think, he could behave like that! Ah well, it's only my interpretation. And it fits my storyline! *g* Thanks for your review!!
Alilacia/Sailor G - That's you, isn't it? Yes, you are right, they are all exceptionally good at getting hurt! *evil grin* Poor babies... And don't worry about Estel, he will be fine - in the end... *g* And I'm truly sorry about not bringing Legolas into this more, but in the beginning I thought it to be a clever idea *hits herself* to let him start the whole thing in Mirkwood. That was, of course, before I realized how long it would take him to get over those blasted mountains! But I'm working on it, don't worry... Thanks a lot for all your compliments! *blushes* And of course you can save it, no problem! Although you might want to think about that printing bit again, I have just finished chapter 6 and there are over 50 pages now! And there will be a lot more than 6!
Alexa - Thanks a lot for your review! I try to update every three or four days, but reviews always help me to post faster! *g*
Mouse - *bows low* Thank you! And because you liked the last cliffy so much, here's another one for you! And our dark haired elf will remain mysterious and in the shadows for quite some time... So, more tension! Mhahahaha!
Amber - I'm glad you like it! Thanks a lot for reviewing, it really encourages me!
Carrie - *huggles Elladan* I would never try to actually _kill_ you! I mean, come on, there are Estel and Elrond, what could go wrong with your wounds? Hm, perhaps you shouldn't answer that, if it really was _you_ who deleted my story, I will think of something... *evil grin* *huggles Carrie* Thank you sooooo much for your great reviews! They always make me laugh! Although *waggles her finger* I think you should go easy on Elrond. He will be in a whole lot of trouble soon, he will need all the help he can possibly get... *evil cackle* And don't worry, I will update on Saturday IF I get some reviews... *g*
Lina - *huggles Éomer* Thank you for taking her away! She is really SCARY sometimes ... Perhaps I shouldn't tell her what will happen to our baby in the future... *g* Lina, how many times have I told you, _don't_ scare my chracters?! Even if they're wargs? Now I will have to get new ones, these here are too frightened of you and your newspaper to be big and mean and evil! *shakes head* *thinks about what Lina will say about _this_ cliffy* Uhm, I gotta go, I have ... things ... to do ... very important ... *runs and hides*
ThE iNsAnE oNe - *tries to imagine a warg ten times the size of a normal warg* Ooops, that's ... interesting ... what do you feed it? And don't worry, Elladan will be fine, he's an elf, after all - but will Estel? Mhahahahaha! *runs away cackling evilly*
Mia - Yes, I will! *g* I will finish it, in time... Thanks a lot for reviewing! It really helps!
Jenny - Stop camparing this to C&S! I will turn into a megalomaniac! But thank you! *hugs her* I'm glad you like it, and really hope you don't mind cliffhangers, because I think I have developed a certain ... fondness for them! *g*
Zam - *hands Zam a 2 litre bottle coke* Calm down, breathe .... that's it ... *sweat drops* PLEASE tell me you don't plan to slaughter the teachers with the help of your orc horde?! And thanks a lot for your idea, I never even thought of Glónduil turning on Legolas ... but it's a great idea, thanks! *evil grin*
Christy - Oh, you will see A LOT more of our least favourite elf ... 'purity minded', that's a good term, he certainly is ... and he has a lot of suppressed anger ... God, I'm turning into a psychiatrist here! Thanks for the review!
MegumiFuu - No, you didn't sound nit-picky, really! It helps when somebody actually tells you what you're doing wrong. Now I'm paying a lot more attention to the tenses! No, don't worry, Elladan hasn't been injured too badly, Estel is another story... *evil grin*
Reginabean - *looks down at Reginabean* Well, if I pull you up, you will fall down again ... and again ... and again ... So I think I will just let you hang there! Bye! *walks away whistling* LOL, thanks for the review!
Vana Burke - Well, I have to admit, I don't understand Spanish, and the translation program said it meant "It was eaten". So I assume it means "He was bitten" or something like that? *g* I would never let Elladan die! What would my other babies say! They would be sooo sad! *g*
Hwoarang Girl - *mock look of surprise* How did you KNOW that? Weird... *shakes head* LOL, don't worry, Elladan will get him back, in time, he's a bit busy being unconscious right now, but after that... *g*
Ting - How dare you! That is my pet balrog Stan! You cannot slay him! He protects me from angry reviewers and other evil creatures! *g* Well, I'm glad you like it! And don't even think about touching Stan one more time... *dark look*
Thank you for your wonderful reviews! I love every single one of them! *hugs them*
A/N:
*whispers* Shhh, I shouldn't even BE here ... I have so much work to do for college right now that I should be studying instead of writing this "weird story", as my mother so eloquently put it ... What the heck, it's only college... *g*
*shoots FF.net suspicious looks* Still here? It has not been deleted? Well, we'll see how long that lasts... *dark look*
Well, here is chapter 4, I did the best I could with the 'medical' scenes, the problem is, I have never been injured worse than a broken finger, which is nothing in comparison to three wargs on top of you! At least I think so ... *g*
I will try and update again on Saturday or Sunday, althought I don't think I will have much time till February 15th, that's when our term ends.
But reviews MIGHT help. If I get a lot of reviews, I will post faster, they tend to motivate me - a lot. *g*
(Yes, I KNOW this is blackmail! *evil grin*)
Chapter 4
Aragorn didn't know how long he had been standing thus. To him, it seemed like hours, while in truth probably only a few seconds had gone by. Finally, the world seemed to speed up again to its usual pace, bringing the young ranger out of the numbness that had gripped his body and mind.
Willing his shaking legs to obey him, he raced across the clearing and fell to his knees alongside Elrohir, who was frantically trying to push the heavy bodies of the wargs aside to free his twin.
In a combined effort, they were finally able to drag the corpses to the side, exposing Elladan's body. The older twin was lying on his left side, his left arm trapped under his body, his right stretched out close to his bloodstained sword.
Deep gashes where the claws of a warg had scratched him ran over his back, deep purple blood slowly oozing from them, colouring his light shirt a horrible crimson.
All over his upper body the two brothers could see marks where the claws and teeth of the beasts had bit into Elladan's flesh, leaving bleeding wounds that seemed to cover every visible inch of his body.
A set of scratches or bites decorated his throat, emphasizing the unnatural paleness of his face and the blackness of the eyelashes against the tightly closed eyelids.
Elrohir was the first one to react. With a cry of dismay he gathered the limp form of his twin in his arms, bedding Elladan's head on his chest, stroking his hair gently and muttering softly to him in Elvish, telling him over and over again that everything would be alright.
His mind spinning sickeningly, Aragorn tried to figure out what to do. These scratches were ugly, and a lot were very deep, but on their own they were not serious enough to really harm an elf. The thing that really bothered him was poisoning from the wargs' dirty claws and teeth. Grimacing he looked Elladan over; there was also a good amount of warg blood on him.
'Not good. Not good at all,' he thought wincing inwardly, scrambling to his feet as fast as the wound in his side would allow.
Pushing the pain aside and carefully stepping over the scattered bodies of dead wargs, he made his way over to Elrohir's horse which was still standing at the other side of the clearing, snorting softly and looking at the approaching human with big, reproachful eyes.
The young ranger reached out and patted the horse's neck softly, speaking in Elvish to calm the frightened animal. Satisfied it would not try and lash out at him, he opened the leather saddle bags and searched them frantically for the medical supplies he hoped Elrohir had remembered to pack earlier this morning.
'Was it really this morning? It feels like a lifetime,' Estel mused just as his fingers found a grey sack and yanked it out so hard that the rest of the supplies landed on the forest floor in a heap.
Quickly opening the bag, he scanned its contents and breathed a silent thanks to Elbereth when he saw the assortment of herbs and bandages that someone – probably Elrohir, a small part of his mind noted – had stuffed into it rather carelessly.
He gripped the bag tightly with both hands and positively flew across the clearing to the side of his brothers, neither of which had moved since he had left them.
Aragorn took one look at Elrohir's face and decided that the younger twin probably was in no condition to think clearly right now.
Crouching down behind his elven brother, he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Elrohir? Elrohir, we need to get him away from here, we cannot tend properly to his wounds in this place. I seem to remember a smaller clearing before this one just a few minutes away, can you carry him there?"
There was no sign that Elrohir had heard his word, he just kept whispering meaningless elvish words of comfort to his twin.
Shaking Elrohir's shoulder slightly, Aragorn switched his speech to Elvish, repeating himself.
"Elrohir, you must listen to me! Elladan will be fine, we just need to clean his wounds and get him to father as quickly as possible! Can you carry him to the clearing or not?! Answer me!!"
When he heard Aragorn's sharp voice, Elrohir seemed to regain some of his usual composure. Turning his tearstained face towards that of his human brother, he nodded firmly, clutching Elladan's body even tighter to his chest.
"I can, Estel," he stated, his voice shaking just a little.
The human smiled as encouragingly as he could at his older brother, and, after giving Elrohir's shoulder another comforting squeeze, he got up and looked for the way they had come.
Pointing it out to his elven brother, who was standing up now, the seemingly lifeless body of his twin in his arms, he told him quickly,
"I will get our weapons. There have to be at least five daggers here somewhere and we might need them. I will follow as quickly as I can."
Nodding, Elrohir began to pick his way through the chaos on the clearing, passing his horse and ordering it softly to follow him, which it did, looking very happy to escape from the field of battle.
Estel looked into the direction his brothers had just disappeared in and shook his head as if to chase away the dark memories of Elladan's bloody wounds that still played back time and again in front of his eyes.
'He will be alright. Father will be able to help him. No problem. He will be alright,' he kept repeating in his head, like a mantra to keep him from going insane with worry, while he wandered from body to body, collecting the weapons they had abandoned during the fight.
Wrenching the last dagger from the corpse of an especially big warg, he turned to follow his brothers, when a sudden feeling of unease swept over his senses. Putting one bloody hand to the hilt of his sword, he scanned the silent woods around him for any sign of danger. It almost felt as if something … hostile … was watching his every move, biding its time to act.
When the young ranger could see nothing out of the ordinary, he shrugged slightly and began moving down the path his brother had taken a few minutes earlier. He was probably just nervous and exhausted, he decided and, trying to ignore the discomfort his side was causing him, quickened his pace to catch up with his brothers.
The elf who had watched the whole fight with a keen interest relaxed a bit and lowered the bow that had been pointed unwaveringly at the human for the past minutes.
Slipping the arrow back into his quiver and sitting down on the branch, he cursed himself again for his carelessness. He should never have followed the wargs as far as he had, he should have known they would spot him or at the very least sense his presence.
'The only thing,' he mused darkly, 'that has saved me from detection is the fact that one of them was wounded. If his brother hadn't been so worried, he would have discovered my presence long ago.'
But that the human had very nearly caught him was a bit of a surprise for the dark haired elf.
For one long moment he had really thought the human had made out his hiding spot in one of the treetop, his silver eyes seemingly piercing the reddish foliage he had used for cover.
That one was extremely resourceful and observant for an edan, he had already seen that much during the fight. He was happy the boy hadn't discovered him; it would have been a shame if he would have had to kill him like that, he mused.
He truly holds the potential for a lot of more … interesting things, he thought, smiling darkly and trying to decide what to do now.
There was no real reason to follow them now, he knew where they were going and all he had wanted to learn about them he had found out during the fight and its aftermath.
'No,' he decided, 'I will return to the woods surrounding Imladris and try and gather as much information as possible until it is time for me to meet with Nólad and the others. The way I see it, the sons of Elrond won't go anywhere in the near future.'
Adjusting his quiver, the dark haired elf began to make his way back northwards, moving stealthily through the colourful treetops.
'And they really care about him,' he mused, 'A behaviour truly befitting the sons of Lord Elrond Peredhil. He is still putting the safety of humans before the safety of his own people.'
A grin slowly spread across his face, making the eyes gleam with a cold, hard light.
'Soon we will see just how much he cares for any of them. I can hardly wait.'
When Aragorn arrived in the small glade, he saw that his younger elven brother had already put the time he had had to good use.
Elladan lay next to a fire Elrohir had lighted, wrapped in one of his brother's spare cloaks the younger twin had found in the other saddle bag.
'The one,' the young human thought guiltily, 'Whose contents I did not scatter all over the forest floor.'
Elrohir looked up when he heard Aragorn enter the clearing, positioning a small bowl of water over the fire.
Relief shining in his eyes, he rose to take the bag with the herbs from his brother.
"Thank you, Estel," he said softly and opened the bag to search for athelas.
"Did you find the daggers? I think there were two of Elladan's knifes as well, and you know how he is with his things: He would hate to lose them to a bunch of overgrown dogs," he added, his voice thick with emotion.
Estel smiled at him and plopped down next to his older brother, pushing the edges of the cloak aside to get better access to his wounds.
"Is there any water left? We need to clean these before we can use the athelas on them."
Elrohir nodded, and passed his brother a water-skin without taking his eyes off the small bowl, trying to determine the right moment to drop the herbs into it.
Aragorn took the offered water and began to clean his brother's chest and throat of blood and dirt. After he had washed away the top layer of dirt and dark warg blood, he found that it wasn't as bad as he had initially thought: There were a lot of scratch and teeth marks, but they were not too deep and a lot of skin had remained undamaged. While this could be dangerous or even deadly to a human, for an elf's superior healing powers it shouldn't be a problem.
Gently wiping the water away from the wounds with a shred of cloth he had ripped from his brother's already ruined shirt, he smiled in relief when he noticed a new scent in the air: Aromatic and fresh, it seemed to chase away all doubts from Aragorn's troubled mind and fill him with a renewed resolve and strength.
He looked over to Elrohir, who just dropped the last sprig of athelas into the bowl and stirred it with one of his now clean knifes.
His elven brother smiled at him, worry still shining in his eyes.
"It will be ready in a second now. How bad is it?"
Estel returned his attention to the body of his oldest foster brother.
"His chest is not too bad, I think. One of them seemed to have come quite close to latching onto his throat, and I guess his voice will be quite hoarse for a while, but it's nothing father cannot heal. What really worries me is his back, and I think two of his ribs might be cracked or even broken. With three wargs on top of him, it's a miracle any of them remained undamaged!"
He moved over when Elrohir closed the distance between them, the bowl of still steaming water gripped tightly in both hand.
With an inward apology to his unconscious brother, Aragorn ripped two more pieces out of Elladan's shirt, making a mental note to tell him that the wargs had torn it to pieces when he awoke.
Handing Elrohir one of them, they both began the unpleasant task of cleaning the older twins numerous wounds.
When they were finished with his chest, Elrohir turned his brother onto his stomach as gently as he could, preparing to hold him down should he awake while Estel cleaned the deeper scratches on his back.
Cursing softly under his breath, Aragorn took up the water skin, and with a moment's hesitation and an apologetic glance at the unconscious elf, poured the rest of the water over his brother's back.
Even in his unconscious state, Elladan's body jerked and tried to escape from what it mistakenly perceived to be further harm being done to it. Elrohir had to grab his brother's forearms tightly to hold him still and allow his human brother to clean Elladan's back.
Brushing errant strands of dark hair away from his elven brother's face, he tried to soothe the fighting elf, speaking softly to him in Elvish to calm him down.
Aragorn worked as quickly as he could, trying not to shake with anger and worry when he saw torn muscles and every so often the white bone of a rib shine through the tears that decorated his oldest brother's back.
Dropping the cloth which was now tinged an ominously reddish colour, he pulled the small bowl closer and began to spread its contents over Elladan's back.
Trying to ignore his elven brother's soft sounds of distress, he finished his work and began to wrap long white straps of bandages round his brother's ribcage and throat, taking care not to hinder his breathing more than it already was due to his broken ribs.
Sitting back on his haunches, the young human ran a shaking hand through his dark hair and turned wide, serious eyes onto his younger elven brother.
"These scratches are deep. They will need stitches, a lot of them. Father is going to have a field day with him, I'm afraid. It's getting dark; we need to get him back to Rivendell as quickly as possible."
His brother nodded stony-faced, bedding Elladan's head in his lap.
Aragorn got back to his feet, staggering slightly and wondering for an irrational moment if night had already fallen and the stars had decided to pay them a visit and dance around the dark trunks of the trees.
"I will go and look for our horses. The forelegs of yours are quite badly scratched, you will need a healthy horse to carry the two of you back home," he added, knowing full well that there was no way Elrohir was letting go of his brother in the near future.
Making his way slowly down the path he thought the horses would have taken, he whistled loudly and called out the horses' names, begging them in Elvish to return to them and help.
'Elbereth, father will be angry! Why does this kind of thing always happen to us? It is as if every foul beast is waiting in line to have a try at killing all of us!' he mused stunned, disappearing slowly between the trees.
Legolas returned from gathering an armload of dry wood for their camp fire and, not making a sound and grinning wickedly, moved quietly next to Celylith, who sat on a log next to the fire staring into the flames, and dropped it with a loud crash.
His silver headed friend jumped noticeably and gave him a dark glare.
"That was not a very wise course of action, mellonamin. I could have believed you to be a threat and shot you where you stand."
Legolas' grin only broadened at that and he let himself drop down next to his friend.
"Ah, my dear Celylith, but we both know that by the time you finally would have drawn that bow, I would already have slit your throat two times over," he taunted, eyes dancing with silent laughter.
Before Celylith had time to come up with a proper response, for he thought that strangling his own prince might be considered a bit excessive, a glum voice interrupted their playful banter.
"Yes, you are right there, Legolas. Even that ranger you insist on dragging around with you could have done that."
The fair haired prince took a deep breath and decided, protective instincts towards his human friend flaring to life, to sort out this thing once and for all. He had endured Glónduil's teasing and degrading comments about Strider for the whole day, if his friend continued like this, he would end up slitting his throat before the three days were over.
"What do you mean by that, mellonamin?" he asked the dark haired elf in a dangerously low voice, rising to meet his companion's gaze.
Glónduil clearly recognized by Legolas' tone of voice that he had finally gone too far, and dropped his eyes, mumbling, "Nothing, my lord"
Legolas felt his temper flare up.
"Don't you dare hide behind my title, Glónduil! I am not only your prince, I also am your friend, and in my capacity of both I order you to tell me, now, what it is that has been irking you for the whole day!"
The dark haired elf lifted his head, his green eyes flashing angrily.
"Well, if you insist, your highness," he stressed the title mockingly, "It is you."
That took Legolas by total surprise.
"Me?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, you, Legolas. What has happened to you? When did you change so much that I cannot even recognize you anymore? I have known you for the best part of our lives and yet you are riding along grinning happily because you get to visit your precious little human friend who will be dead in less than a century! Have you already forgotten what humans are like, prince?" Glónduil spat venomously.
Celylith opened his mouth to intervene, but Legolas raised his hand.
"No, let him speak," he said coldly, fighting for control over his emotions. This obviously was something their dark haired companion had wanted to say for a long time.
"You cannot trust them, Legolas! They are weak and greedy and will turn on you the second your back is turned! Have you grown so blind that you cannot see who truly is your friend and who isn't?"
Legolas breathed deeply and tried very hard not to let his fury overwhelm him, unconsciously clenching his hands into fists.
"No, my friend," he replied sarcastically in an even voice, "I have not. In fact, I think my eyes see a lot of things in a clear light for the first time. Strider has been the truest, most loyal friend I have ever possessed during the short time I have known him. I will not allow anyone to talk about him like this, do you understand?"
He glared at the other elf, who couldn't help but avert his eyes from the look of pure fury Legolas shot him.
"Not all humans are alike! He has saved my life more times than I can recall, and his mind is not clouded by ill-founded prejudices. He would never have said the things you just did about any other being, not even about the likes of you.
I have to thank you, Glónduil. I think now I truly know who my friends are."
He turned abruptly and left the small camp behind, ignoring Celylith's pleas for him to wait.
Quickly jumping into a tree, he leaned the back of his head against a thick branch and waited for the turmoil of emotions that raged in his heart to die down.
'Valar, I didn't know he felt so strongly about our friendship. It is almost like a wound in his heart that has been festering for a long time,' he thought, gently running his fingers over the bark of the branches that surrounded him. The tree seemed to shiver in response, as if to try and bring its branches closer to the elf.
The fair haired prince felt how his swirling emotions slowly came to rest; only the anger he felt at Glónduil's word wouldn't diminish.
Sighing he decided that it probably would be best if he didn't return to camp this night, he should still be close enough to his companions to be reasonably safe.
'I wouldn't want to be accountable for my actions if he opens his mouth one more time,' he thought grimly, leaning back and slowly relaxing his muscles that were still tense with anger.
He was still sadly musing over the lifelong friend he had just lost, when he felt the now familiar dread sweep over him. This time however, it felt different, more intensive and urgent.
Shaking his head helplessly, Legolas thought of his friends that were far out of his reach.
As he knew them, they were probably already in trouble, especially Estel. There seemed to be few enough moments to count them on one hand when he had not been in one kind of trouble or other.
He could not travel any faster than he already was, and while Celylith and even Glónduil would obey him, however unwillingly, if he ordered them to press on, only an insane person journeyed through this part of Mirkwood at night.
Looking at the starry sky, he rubbed his forehead in frustration. There was something wrong, seriously wrong, and he could do nothing to help.
"May Elbereth protect you, my friends, for I can not," he whispered softly.
Elrond stood just outside the main doors, watching the last light of the day die far in the west. To a casual observer, he seemed the perfect picture of the calm, dignified elven lord, but to those who knew him better the worry that showed in his eyes and very stance was clearly visible.
He sighed and stopped himself again from pacing back and forth.
'I knew something would happen to them. I just knew it. I should never have allowed them to leave,' he thought furiously, running a hand over his grey eyes.
Just when he was about to launch another mental sermon about what else he could have done differently, he heard the faint sounds of approaching horses.
Smiling in relief, he turned to face the main gates, just to very nearly lose his composure again when he looked upon the sight that greeted him.
Riding through the gates at full speed were two riders with a riderless horse close behind them. He frowned when he saw his youngest son's far too pale face; the other rider was holding something in his arms, something big and unmoving…
"Elladan!" Elrond breathed horrified, rushing forward to meet his sons.
"My sons, what has happened?" he asked as calmly as he could when Elrohir lowered his brother into the waiting arms of his father, taking in his pale features and bandaged chest.
"Wargs, ada, about three hours from here," Elrohir replied quickly, jumped off his horse and followed his father into the house, an unsteady Estel on his heels.
Elrond carefully positioned his oldest on one of the beds in the hospital wing, issuing orders to several servants who rushed out of the room, and let his gaze wander over his other two sons, wrinkling his forehead in concern when he saw their blood-stained appearances.
"What about you? Are you hurt?"
Elrohir shook his head.
"No, ada, just a few scratches. I'm fine."
"What about you, Estel? Estel?"
Aragorn lifted his eyes to meet his father's, which suddenly felt very heavy, as if someone had placed leaden weights on them. Now that he knew his elven brother would be safe, the adrenaline that had kept him going faded into nothing and his body started to betray him.
The room seemed to spin around him at an incredible pace and the pain in his side seemed to multiply tenfold.
Leaning against one of the door's wooden pillars for support, he noticed that somehow the faces of his brother and father became blurred in front of his very eyes, and their voices seemed to come from a long distance away.
"Estel?" he heard a worried voice ask over the sound of rushing blood in his ears, but he didn't have enough strength to answer.
Giving the shape he believed to be Elrond a comforting smile, he finally gave in to the darkness he had been fighting off for the past hour and collapsed into the arms of his shocked foster father.
TBC...
edan - human, man (sg.)
mellonamin - my friend
ada - father (daddy)
I don't think I need to stress how much I LOVE reviews, so if you just drop me a line or two, I'll be very very happy!! But if you insist, I will even resort to begging: Please! PLEASE! PLEASE!! *g*
Additional A/N:
Lievre - Lievre!! I know you!! *huggles her* I'm soo glad you like it! Yes, the age thing is a bit difficult, I said it takes place about 2953 (TA), that would make Aragorn about 22 or 23. I know Tolkien always said he turned from child to adult real quick, but I always thought that to be a bit strange. I mean, I look at my older brother, who is 22 years old as well, and, let's just say, at times he behaves _really_ childish. Okay, he is not the heir of Isildur either (at least I hope so! *g*), but boys just don't mature as quickly as girls do. And in combination with mischivous elves (and Tolkien expressly said that they are!), I think, he could behave like that! Ah well, it's only my interpretation. And it fits my storyline! *g* Thanks for your review!!
Alilacia/Sailor G - That's you, isn't it? Yes, you are right, they are all exceptionally good at getting hurt! *evil grin* Poor babies... And don't worry about Estel, he will be fine - in the end... *g* And I'm truly sorry about not bringing Legolas into this more, but in the beginning I thought it to be a clever idea *hits herself* to let him start the whole thing in Mirkwood. That was, of course, before I realized how long it would take him to get over those blasted mountains! But I'm working on it, don't worry... Thanks a lot for all your compliments! *blushes* And of course you can save it, no problem! Although you might want to think about that printing bit again, I have just finished chapter 6 and there are over 50 pages now! And there will be a lot more than 6!
Alexa - Thanks a lot for your review! I try to update every three or four days, but reviews always help me to post faster! *g*
Mouse - *bows low* Thank you! And because you liked the last cliffy so much, here's another one for you! And our dark haired elf will remain mysterious and in the shadows for quite some time... So, more tension! Mhahahaha!
Amber - I'm glad you like it! Thanks a lot for reviewing, it really encourages me!
Carrie - *huggles Elladan* I would never try to actually _kill_ you! I mean, come on, there are Estel and Elrond, what could go wrong with your wounds? Hm, perhaps you shouldn't answer that, if it really was _you_ who deleted my story, I will think of something... *evil grin* *huggles Carrie* Thank you sooooo much for your great reviews! They always make me laugh! Although *waggles her finger* I think you should go easy on Elrond. He will be in a whole lot of trouble soon, he will need all the help he can possibly get... *evil cackle* And don't worry, I will update on Saturday IF I get some reviews... *g*
Lina - *huggles Éomer* Thank you for taking her away! She is really SCARY sometimes ... Perhaps I shouldn't tell her what will happen to our baby in the future... *g* Lina, how many times have I told you, _don't_ scare my chracters?! Even if they're wargs? Now I will have to get new ones, these here are too frightened of you and your newspaper to be big and mean and evil! *shakes head* *thinks about what Lina will say about _this_ cliffy* Uhm, I gotta go, I have ... things ... to do ... very important ... *runs and hides*
ThE iNsAnE oNe - *tries to imagine a warg ten times the size of a normal warg* Ooops, that's ... interesting ... what do you feed it? And don't worry, Elladan will be fine, he's an elf, after all - but will Estel? Mhahahahaha! *runs away cackling evilly*
Mia - Yes, I will! *g* I will finish it, in time... Thanks a lot for reviewing! It really helps!
Jenny - Stop camparing this to C&S! I will turn into a megalomaniac! But thank you! *hugs her* I'm glad you like it, and really hope you don't mind cliffhangers, because I think I have developed a certain ... fondness for them! *g*
Zam - *hands Zam a 2 litre bottle coke* Calm down, breathe .... that's it ... *sweat drops* PLEASE tell me you don't plan to slaughter the teachers with the help of your orc horde?! And thanks a lot for your idea, I never even thought of Glónduil turning on Legolas ... but it's a great idea, thanks! *evil grin*
Christy - Oh, you will see A LOT more of our least favourite elf ... 'purity minded', that's a good term, he certainly is ... and he has a lot of suppressed anger ... God, I'm turning into a psychiatrist here! Thanks for the review!
MegumiFuu - No, you didn't sound nit-picky, really! It helps when somebody actually tells you what you're doing wrong. Now I'm paying a lot more attention to the tenses! No, don't worry, Elladan hasn't been injured too badly, Estel is another story... *evil grin*
Reginabean - *looks down at Reginabean* Well, if I pull you up, you will fall down again ... and again ... and again ... So I think I will just let you hang there! Bye! *walks away whistling* LOL, thanks for the review!
Vana Burke - Well, I have to admit, I don't understand Spanish, and the translation program said it meant "It was eaten". So I assume it means "He was bitten" or something like that? *g* I would never let Elladan die! What would my other babies say! They would be sooo sad! *g*
Hwoarang Girl - *mock look of surprise* How did you KNOW that? Weird... *shakes head* LOL, don't worry, Elladan will get him back, in time, he's a bit busy being unconscious right now, but after that... *g*
Ting - How dare you! That is my pet balrog Stan! You cannot slay him! He protects me from angry reviewers and other evil creatures! *g* Well, I'm glad you like it! And don't even think about touching Stan one more time... *dark look*
Thank you for your wonderful reviews! I love every single one of them! *hugs them*