Title: Hunter and Prey, 6/7
Author: Rune Dancer, runedancer@hotmail.com
Rating: R
Pairing: That would be telling.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Tolkien is God, yadda, yadda.
Warnings: Slash.
Archiving: Anyone who wants it, just let me know.
A/N: This has nothing to do with my previous Unspoken story arc, although
some of the characterizations are eerily similar. Updates will be
haphazard, but I promise to finish it.
* * *
Legolas watched as Elrohir and Glorfindel set yet another trap for the hapless Hunters. He rather liked the alliteration of that, and decided it must be true when you considered how many tokens the Imladris' twosome had amassed in just the hour that he'd been watching. As it had taken him almost that long to find them in the first place, he could only imagine what their combined total must be at this point.
He stifled a giggle as Glorfindel paused to help Elrohir up a tree with a hand to the younger elf's backside. It was odd, Legolas thought in considerable amusement, that the healthy young acrobat he'd seen besting half a dozen Hunters on his own, suddenly needed as much assistance as a tiny elfling. And it wasn't even that tall of a tree! Glorfindel didn't seem to mind giving the aid, however, and indeed took rather a long time about it. It appeared Elladan had been right about the attraction on both their parts.
Legolas wondered what they were doing, and watched with interest as the two settled into the arms of several evergreens that grew near one of the main paths. It took him a while to figure it out, but, as a nervous looking, lone Hunter came by and unwittingly stopped almost immediately under their hiding spot, he was given a demonstration. It seemed that, instead of hunting down their prey as they'd been doing so far, they had decided to take it easy and let the players come to them. A couple of hooks made out of shirt fastenings and a few bits of thread set them up as fishermen, allowing them to snag passing tokens with a deftness that insured that their owners never missed them. The jumpy young silvan, who started at every bird call and cracking leaf, didn't notice when his golden token was lifted right over his head and disappeared into the greenery above.
Legolas settled down to watch the proceedings with a grin on his face--that was one tactic he was ashamed he'd never thought of--but although he was enjoying himself, something about all this worried him. It just didn't make sense that Elrohir was making no effort whatsoever to lead Glorfindel towards the trap Erestor had set for him. They were, in fact, on the other side of the grounds completely, which was why it had taken Legolas so long to find them. Well, that and the fact that he had to insure that no one saw him, for otherwise there'd be a serious dust up as he wasn't signed up to participate in the Hunt and had no right to be there. His father might even hear that he'd taken part after all, which would definitely not be good. Thranduil was actually quite lenient with his youngest son, but when he gave a direct command he expected it to be obeyed.
Legolas pondered Elrohir's inexplicable behavior while idly observing two of his fellow Mirkwood warriors be relieved of their tokens without either noticing what had happened. On the one hand, he had no desire to interfere if Elrohir had decided not to go through with his part of the scheme; on a level playing field, Legolas was confident of Glorfindel's ability to manage a win. That was especially the case as Elrond had hidden the standard himself this year and had assured him that no one was likely to find it. That meant that tokens would probably decide the winner, and Glorfindel was well ahead of the field there. On the other hand, Elladan had seemed quite sure that Elrohir would do what he viewed as his duty and follow the plan, and he should know his brother. And seeing the complete trust Glorfindel obviously had in his young helper, that could spell disaster. Legolas didn't want to cause any trouble between them, as they seemed to be getting on so well, but he also REALLY wanted Elrond to win his bet. As much as he hated to do it, then, it didn't seem that he could avoid interfering. He only hoped Glorfindel wasn't going to take it too badly.
* * *
Elladan and Haldir expertly stalked the two Galadrim through the woods. They had been helped in the task of catching them up by the fact that Rumil and Orophin were being very careful not to be seen by other Hunters and thus possibly relieved of their prize. They had gone slowly, thinking their captives still safely bound in the cave, and had jumped off the path whenever they so much as heard a twig break. Yet Haldir's knowledge of his brothers' abilities and Elladan's acquaintance with these woods insured that the two thieves never heard their pursuit.
Haldir caught his companion's eye and gestured towards the left. His eyes gleamed with excitement, and Elladan felt an answering power thrumming through his own veins. He nodded and silently slipped around to the far side of the path along which the brothers had just passed. Using grassy knolls, a few protruding rocks and the roots of trees as stepping-stones, he managed to traverse the leaf-strewn forest without the faintest noise to give him away. He listened carefully, but to his surprise heard no sound from Haldir who was presumably matching him on the other side of the road. By the time Elladan was in position several dozen yards ahead of the brothers, he had begun to worry that Haldir had been accosted by some other Hunters and taken out of the game, leaving him to manage as best he could on his own. Just as he was becoming seriously concerned, however, his searching eyes caught a glimpse of silver-gilt hair in a tree overhead that indicated Haldir's presence.
Elladan waited with bated breath until Rumil, who was now carrying the standard, was within three feet of him, then leapt from his hiding place and tackled him around the legs, knocking the slightly built elf completely off his feet. They careened into Orophin, who danced back out of the way, but the force of his assault knocked the standard out of Rumil's grasp and it skidded up the path a few yards. Before either brother could react, Haldir dropped out of the tree, grabbed it, and with a laugh of pure enjoyment, ran full out up the path towards the house.
Elladan tripped up Orophin as he made to follow, buying Haldir a few extra seconds before the Galadrim regained his footing, then jumped up after Rumil clawed his way free of his hold and ran after them. The Galadrim could run like the wind, but Haldir was only a silver blur as he tore towards the finish line. Expecting his next sight of Haldir to be his triumphant face as he was congratulated for a second win, Elladan was understandably surprised to find himself tripping over him a few seconds later. And not only Haldir--for Rumil and Orophin lay in the path, too, having stumbled over a vine that had been stretched across the pathway by some enterprising Imladris guards. One of them picked up the standard, looked at it in disbelief for a second, then turned to run, a huge grin breaking out over his features. Elladan, who had vaulted back to his feet by then, thwarted this intention by grabbing the end of the pole and hanging on. After a brief tug of war, during which the others regained their footing, he wrenched it from the guard's grasp and ran like hell.
"Elladan!," he heard Haldir's enraged tones echo behind him, while an even more ominous silence came from the others whose footsteps he could hear gaining on him; they obviously weren't going to waste breath telling him off. He didn't care, however--the fever of the Hunt, which he'd heard about so often but never before understood, pounded through his veins and all he wanted was to WIN. They'll never catch me, he crowed to himself, for no one knew these woods like he did, and he knew a way to lose them after the next turning . . .
All of a sudden, Elladan felt the standard soar away from him. As he watched in disbelief, it was caught up into the trees as if by magic and disappeared. What the . . .
"Where is it, what did you do with it you little . . . ," Haldir had reached him and seized the front of his robes, lifting him completely off the ground as he shook him furiously.
"There it is!," Rumil pointed skyward, "Glorfindel has it!" Haldir dropped Elladan with a thump as they all gazed up at Glorfindel, who was standing on a tree limb far above their heads and looking at the prize in his hand in a bemused sort of way. A split second later, Rumil was halfway up the tree with Orophin only inches behind him.
Glorfindel watched them come with a smile of delight spreading across his handsome features. "Elrohir, catch!," he sang out, as Rumil came within feet of him. As Elladan watched in stunned incredulity, the standard sailed over all their heads to be deftly caught by his younger brother, who for some reason was also standing in the branches of a nearby tree. Elrohir glanced down at him, winked, and then he was off. Rumil catapulted from Glorfindel's tree and he and Orophin sprinted after him, with Haldir and the guards hard on their heels. The sound of their combined footsteps must have alerted everyone in the vicinity that something important was happening, for shouts rang out immediately from all sides as others scrambled to join in the final race.
Elladan didn't bother, knowing full well that there was no way any of them would catch Elrohir in these woods. His brother easily knew them as well as he did and, while Elrohir might not have much in the way of brawn to his credit, he was as fast as lightening in a race. If they wanted to exhaust themselves, fine, but Elladan couldn't be bothered. Besides, he suddenly felt very tired. The manic excitement that had filled him just seconds before drained away, and he sighed. Elrohir was even now insuring that Haldir would lose his bet, thereby technically giving Elladan what he had craved for so long. But after the events of the day, Elladan had no hopes left of claiming the only prize in all this craziness that he'd ever wanted. He fell back against the carpet of leaves and flung a hand over his bruised eyes. What a perfectly lousy day it had been.
"Glorfindel, hurry!" Elladan removed the arm to see that Legolas had emerged from the nearby woods and was looking anxiously at the seneschal, who dropped lightly from the tree at the sound of his name.
"Legolas! You aren't supposed to be here! What if someone sees? We'll be accused of all kinds of treachery." Glorfindel retained his beaming smile, however, and looked at the two of them kindly. He had apparently had a good time.
"Yes, yes, but you have to get going! Elrohir is going to ruin everything!" Before Elladan could open his mouth to say a word, Legolas continued, "He's going to betray you!" Elladan looked in horror at his friend, who was trying to pull Glorfindel down the path in the direction of the madcap parade, which had by now receded into the distance. "Come on!"
"Legolas, shut up." Elladan put as much force into his words as he could, for he saw the happy light begin to fade from Glorfindel's face as he started to understand.
Legolas ignored him. "Come with me! There's still time if we hurry!"
Glorfindel refused to be shifted, however, but crossed his arms and looked stubbornly at Legolas. "He'll circle back 'round, once he's lost the others. You don't understand--we're partners."
"No, it's you who doesn't understand!" Legolas nudged Elladan with his shoe. "Go on, El, tell him!"
Glorfindel looked down at where Elladan lay, still sprawled in the dust, and grimaced. "I might have known. What have you two been up to, then?"
Elladan looked from Legolas' frantic face to Glorfindel's steadily darkening one and sighed. It didn't look like any of his plans for today were going to work out. "He, er . . . that is, I . . . you see, Erestor . . . "
"That's enough." Glorfindel held up a hand and his face looked suddenly tired. "You don't need to say any more. He isn't coming back, is he?"
Elladan sighed again as Legolas gave a disgusted snort and ran up the path, obviously intent on trying something himself. Gods but he wished he'd stayed in bed today! "No." He wanted to explain, desperately wanted Glorfindel to understand that this whole stupid plan had not been Elrohir's idea. He wanted to tell him how his brother's eyes followed him about Imladris as if he could see nothing else; wanted to describe how, when Glorfindel entered a room, Elrohir looked as if the sun had just come out. But he didn't, seeing from the expression his old tutor wore that this was definitely not a good time for explanations. "I'm sorry, Glorfindel."
His father's seneschal shrugged, his pale face now wearing no expression at all. "No matter. It's all a part of the Hunt, isn't it?"
Elladan felt miserable, and for a moment cursed his brother's stupidity. Ok, yes, keeping one's word was an important thing, but how blind was he not to see that some other things are far more so? Please come back, Elrohir, he begged silently; you may just be running away from your best chance at what you've always wanted. But the woods stayed silent, until, a few moments later, an immense shout echoed from the direction of the Last Homely House. A moment after that, three trumpet blasts rang out, signaling the end of that years' Hunt. "Elrohir, you're an idiot," Elladan murmured, as he watched Glorfindel walk slowly up the pathway towards the house. "And for that matter, so am I."
TBC
* * *
Legolas watched as Elrohir and Glorfindel set yet another trap for the hapless Hunters. He rather liked the alliteration of that, and decided it must be true when you considered how many tokens the Imladris' twosome had amassed in just the hour that he'd been watching. As it had taken him almost that long to find them in the first place, he could only imagine what their combined total must be at this point.
He stifled a giggle as Glorfindel paused to help Elrohir up a tree with a hand to the younger elf's backside. It was odd, Legolas thought in considerable amusement, that the healthy young acrobat he'd seen besting half a dozen Hunters on his own, suddenly needed as much assistance as a tiny elfling. And it wasn't even that tall of a tree! Glorfindel didn't seem to mind giving the aid, however, and indeed took rather a long time about it. It appeared Elladan had been right about the attraction on both their parts.
Legolas wondered what they were doing, and watched with interest as the two settled into the arms of several evergreens that grew near one of the main paths. It took him a while to figure it out, but, as a nervous looking, lone Hunter came by and unwittingly stopped almost immediately under their hiding spot, he was given a demonstration. It seemed that, instead of hunting down their prey as they'd been doing so far, they had decided to take it easy and let the players come to them. A couple of hooks made out of shirt fastenings and a few bits of thread set them up as fishermen, allowing them to snag passing tokens with a deftness that insured that their owners never missed them. The jumpy young silvan, who started at every bird call and cracking leaf, didn't notice when his golden token was lifted right over his head and disappeared into the greenery above.
Legolas settled down to watch the proceedings with a grin on his face--that was one tactic he was ashamed he'd never thought of--but although he was enjoying himself, something about all this worried him. It just didn't make sense that Elrohir was making no effort whatsoever to lead Glorfindel towards the trap Erestor had set for him. They were, in fact, on the other side of the grounds completely, which was why it had taken Legolas so long to find them. Well, that and the fact that he had to insure that no one saw him, for otherwise there'd be a serious dust up as he wasn't signed up to participate in the Hunt and had no right to be there. His father might even hear that he'd taken part after all, which would definitely not be good. Thranduil was actually quite lenient with his youngest son, but when he gave a direct command he expected it to be obeyed.
Legolas pondered Elrohir's inexplicable behavior while idly observing two of his fellow Mirkwood warriors be relieved of their tokens without either noticing what had happened. On the one hand, he had no desire to interfere if Elrohir had decided not to go through with his part of the scheme; on a level playing field, Legolas was confident of Glorfindel's ability to manage a win. That was especially the case as Elrond had hidden the standard himself this year and had assured him that no one was likely to find it. That meant that tokens would probably decide the winner, and Glorfindel was well ahead of the field there. On the other hand, Elladan had seemed quite sure that Elrohir would do what he viewed as his duty and follow the plan, and he should know his brother. And seeing the complete trust Glorfindel obviously had in his young helper, that could spell disaster. Legolas didn't want to cause any trouble between them, as they seemed to be getting on so well, but he also REALLY wanted Elrond to win his bet. As much as he hated to do it, then, it didn't seem that he could avoid interfering. He only hoped Glorfindel wasn't going to take it too badly.
* * *
Elladan and Haldir expertly stalked the two Galadrim through the woods. They had been helped in the task of catching them up by the fact that Rumil and Orophin were being very careful not to be seen by other Hunters and thus possibly relieved of their prize. They had gone slowly, thinking their captives still safely bound in the cave, and had jumped off the path whenever they so much as heard a twig break. Yet Haldir's knowledge of his brothers' abilities and Elladan's acquaintance with these woods insured that the two thieves never heard their pursuit.
Haldir caught his companion's eye and gestured towards the left. His eyes gleamed with excitement, and Elladan felt an answering power thrumming through his own veins. He nodded and silently slipped around to the far side of the path along which the brothers had just passed. Using grassy knolls, a few protruding rocks and the roots of trees as stepping-stones, he managed to traverse the leaf-strewn forest without the faintest noise to give him away. He listened carefully, but to his surprise heard no sound from Haldir who was presumably matching him on the other side of the road. By the time Elladan was in position several dozen yards ahead of the brothers, he had begun to worry that Haldir had been accosted by some other Hunters and taken out of the game, leaving him to manage as best he could on his own. Just as he was becoming seriously concerned, however, his searching eyes caught a glimpse of silver-gilt hair in a tree overhead that indicated Haldir's presence.
Elladan waited with bated breath until Rumil, who was now carrying the standard, was within three feet of him, then leapt from his hiding place and tackled him around the legs, knocking the slightly built elf completely off his feet. They careened into Orophin, who danced back out of the way, but the force of his assault knocked the standard out of Rumil's grasp and it skidded up the path a few yards. Before either brother could react, Haldir dropped out of the tree, grabbed it, and with a laugh of pure enjoyment, ran full out up the path towards the house.
Elladan tripped up Orophin as he made to follow, buying Haldir a few extra seconds before the Galadrim regained his footing, then jumped up after Rumil clawed his way free of his hold and ran after them. The Galadrim could run like the wind, but Haldir was only a silver blur as he tore towards the finish line. Expecting his next sight of Haldir to be his triumphant face as he was congratulated for a second win, Elladan was understandably surprised to find himself tripping over him a few seconds later. And not only Haldir--for Rumil and Orophin lay in the path, too, having stumbled over a vine that had been stretched across the pathway by some enterprising Imladris guards. One of them picked up the standard, looked at it in disbelief for a second, then turned to run, a huge grin breaking out over his features. Elladan, who had vaulted back to his feet by then, thwarted this intention by grabbing the end of the pole and hanging on. After a brief tug of war, during which the others regained their footing, he wrenched it from the guard's grasp and ran like hell.
"Elladan!," he heard Haldir's enraged tones echo behind him, while an even more ominous silence came from the others whose footsteps he could hear gaining on him; they obviously weren't going to waste breath telling him off. He didn't care, however--the fever of the Hunt, which he'd heard about so often but never before understood, pounded through his veins and all he wanted was to WIN. They'll never catch me, he crowed to himself, for no one knew these woods like he did, and he knew a way to lose them after the next turning . . .
All of a sudden, Elladan felt the standard soar away from him. As he watched in disbelief, it was caught up into the trees as if by magic and disappeared. What the . . .
"Where is it, what did you do with it you little . . . ," Haldir had reached him and seized the front of his robes, lifting him completely off the ground as he shook him furiously.
"There it is!," Rumil pointed skyward, "Glorfindel has it!" Haldir dropped Elladan with a thump as they all gazed up at Glorfindel, who was standing on a tree limb far above their heads and looking at the prize in his hand in a bemused sort of way. A split second later, Rumil was halfway up the tree with Orophin only inches behind him.
Glorfindel watched them come with a smile of delight spreading across his handsome features. "Elrohir, catch!," he sang out, as Rumil came within feet of him. As Elladan watched in stunned incredulity, the standard sailed over all their heads to be deftly caught by his younger brother, who for some reason was also standing in the branches of a nearby tree. Elrohir glanced down at him, winked, and then he was off. Rumil catapulted from Glorfindel's tree and he and Orophin sprinted after him, with Haldir and the guards hard on their heels. The sound of their combined footsteps must have alerted everyone in the vicinity that something important was happening, for shouts rang out immediately from all sides as others scrambled to join in the final race.
Elladan didn't bother, knowing full well that there was no way any of them would catch Elrohir in these woods. His brother easily knew them as well as he did and, while Elrohir might not have much in the way of brawn to his credit, he was as fast as lightening in a race. If they wanted to exhaust themselves, fine, but Elladan couldn't be bothered. Besides, he suddenly felt very tired. The manic excitement that had filled him just seconds before drained away, and he sighed. Elrohir was even now insuring that Haldir would lose his bet, thereby technically giving Elladan what he had craved for so long. But after the events of the day, Elladan had no hopes left of claiming the only prize in all this craziness that he'd ever wanted. He fell back against the carpet of leaves and flung a hand over his bruised eyes. What a perfectly lousy day it had been.
"Glorfindel, hurry!" Elladan removed the arm to see that Legolas had emerged from the nearby woods and was looking anxiously at the seneschal, who dropped lightly from the tree at the sound of his name.
"Legolas! You aren't supposed to be here! What if someone sees? We'll be accused of all kinds of treachery." Glorfindel retained his beaming smile, however, and looked at the two of them kindly. He had apparently had a good time.
"Yes, yes, but you have to get going! Elrohir is going to ruin everything!" Before Elladan could open his mouth to say a word, Legolas continued, "He's going to betray you!" Elladan looked in horror at his friend, who was trying to pull Glorfindel down the path in the direction of the madcap parade, which had by now receded into the distance. "Come on!"
"Legolas, shut up." Elladan put as much force into his words as he could, for he saw the happy light begin to fade from Glorfindel's face as he started to understand.
Legolas ignored him. "Come with me! There's still time if we hurry!"
Glorfindel refused to be shifted, however, but crossed his arms and looked stubbornly at Legolas. "He'll circle back 'round, once he's lost the others. You don't understand--we're partners."
"No, it's you who doesn't understand!" Legolas nudged Elladan with his shoe. "Go on, El, tell him!"
Glorfindel looked down at where Elladan lay, still sprawled in the dust, and grimaced. "I might have known. What have you two been up to, then?"
Elladan looked from Legolas' frantic face to Glorfindel's steadily darkening one and sighed. It didn't look like any of his plans for today were going to work out. "He, er . . . that is, I . . . you see, Erestor . . . "
"That's enough." Glorfindel held up a hand and his face looked suddenly tired. "You don't need to say any more. He isn't coming back, is he?"
Elladan sighed again as Legolas gave a disgusted snort and ran up the path, obviously intent on trying something himself. Gods but he wished he'd stayed in bed today! "No." He wanted to explain, desperately wanted Glorfindel to understand that this whole stupid plan had not been Elrohir's idea. He wanted to tell him how his brother's eyes followed him about Imladris as if he could see nothing else; wanted to describe how, when Glorfindel entered a room, Elrohir looked as if the sun had just come out. But he didn't, seeing from the expression his old tutor wore that this was definitely not a good time for explanations. "I'm sorry, Glorfindel."
His father's seneschal shrugged, his pale face now wearing no expression at all. "No matter. It's all a part of the Hunt, isn't it?"
Elladan felt miserable, and for a moment cursed his brother's stupidity. Ok, yes, keeping one's word was an important thing, but how blind was he not to see that some other things are far more so? Please come back, Elrohir, he begged silently; you may just be running away from your best chance at what you've always wanted. But the woods stayed silent, until, a few moments later, an immense shout echoed from the direction of the Last Homely House. A moment after that, three trumpet blasts rang out, signaling the end of that years' Hunt. "Elrohir, you're an idiot," Elladan murmured, as he watched Glorfindel walk slowly up the pathway towards the house. "And for that matter, so am I."
TBC
