Farflung: Ai! It will be someone other than Anomen who at last catches Estel!
Karri: Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—Anomen does not catch on. By the way, you were no more confused than Anomen over the matter of his disappearing supper, flask, and bedroll!
Dragonfly: Maybe in the future I will compose a story that stretches Estel's tracking and hiding ability to the limit. In this tale, however, Estel's tracking will come to an abrupt halt.
Shortly after Estel had climbed—or fallen—from his room, Glorfindel came strolling into the garden. Balrog-slayer though he was, Glorfindel was in fact a gentle soul who liked nothing better than to spend his spare moments enjoying the beauty of the verdant walkways that wended through the grounds of Rivendell. Of course, this predilection of his explains why in the past he had so often been the first to realize that Anomen and the twins had absconded via the trellis.
Today he saw with great satisfaction that said trellis lay in a jumbled heap. He had been begging Elrond for centuries to take down that Mordor-cursed ladder. Now age and use had done the job at last. He thought with triumph of the expression that would cross Elrond's face when the elf-lord heard of its demise. Then he suddenly realized that perhaps he ought not to tell Elrond. It had been Celebrían who had supervised the erection of the various trellises. Glorfindel suspected that this was the reason Elrond hesitated to order the removal of any of them.
"I will simply instruct the gardeners to construct a new trellis, but to the left or right of the old one so that it cannot be reached from that window. For good measure, I will ask them not to build it quite so high. I need not trouble Elrond over this matter."
Glorfindel stopped at the shed of the Head Gardener before entering the Hall for breakfast. He thus did not arrive at the head table in time to overhear a conversation between Elrond and the Door Warden, who had entered to report on the night's comings and goings. Elrond noticed that Estel was not at the table.
"Has the human child left the Hall?" he asked the Door Warden.
"No, my Lord. The only one who passed the door was a messenger from Lothlórien bearing a letter from the Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel. He has been assigned a guest room and awaits your reply."
The Door Warden bowed slightly and proffered a scroll to the elf-lord. Pleased, Elrond accepted it. No doubt it would contain news of Arwen.
"Well," said Elrond, preoccupied with thoughts of his daughter, "Estel must be hiding somewhere within the Hall, sulking no doubt. Erestor, please see to it."
With that Elrond arose and hastened to his chamber to peruse his letter. Behind him he left a very unhappy Erestor.
"It will take hours for me to find that urchin, by which time it will be too late for lessons anyway. I shall simply go to the library and pursue my own studies. Estel will surface eventually, no doubt when he becomes hungry."
Erestor knew that, given Estel's penchant for purloining bread and cheese, not to mention pastries, it might be awhile before the child was indeed driven out of hiding. Nevertheless, it seemed to Erestor that he could waste his time on a fruitless search for the imp, or he could spend his time profitably immersed in one of his beloved tomes. He arose and followed Elrond from the room.
Glorfindel was disappointed when he arrived at the breakfast table to find it deserted. He did not wish to tell Elrond about the trellis, but he had been intending to pass on the reports of Berenmaethor's patrol, which had returned the previous evening. He grabbed a hasty bite and hurried to Elrond's chamber, where he found the elf-lord composing a reply to the letter he had just received. He did not wish to put it aside but promised Glorfindel that he would lunch with him privately so that he would have his full attention. Satisfied, Glorfindel proceeded to the training fields to supervise an archery class.
It was evening before all three elf-lords gathered in the same room at the same time. As they took their places at the head table, Elrond looked about and realized that Estel was once again missing.
"Erestor, did you not find Estel?"
Erestor had to confess that he had not in fact searched for the urchin.
"I did not think it likely that I would find him, so I did not try."
Glorfindel cleared his throat. "Elrond, the trellis fell down sometime during the night."
"Yes, yes," said Elrond dismissively, his mind now on Estel.
"Ah, Elrond," Glorfindel continued doggedly, "mayhap something, or someone, caused the trellis to fall. I don't believe I have mentioned to you that one night Anomen showed Estel how to climb out the window."
Elrond looked at him. "Oh," he said faintly. Then he sighed.
"Erestor, you are, as ever, in charge here. Glorfindel—"
"I will, of course, assemble a patrol, Elrond."
"Thank you. Oh, and Erestor," he added turning to his other friend, "please tell the Head Gardener that it will not be necessary to replace the—"
"That has already been seen to," Glorfindel interrupted hastily.
"Oh, indeed," said Elrond, raising his eyebrows quizzically.
"Your pardon, Elrond. It did not seem worth troubling you—at the time."
Elrond nodded. "Think nothing further of it, mellon-nîn."
The child whose absence had just been noticed, had, like Glorfindel, been up well before dawn that morning. The night had not proven to be particularly cold, so he decided that he didn't wish to take the trouble of lugging Anomen's blanket. After carefully rerolling and retying it, he tossed it into the edge of the campsite. Shortly thereafter, Elladan arose and went to step briefly behind a tree. As he did so, he stumbled over Anomen's bedroll. He kicked it toward his friend.
"Anomen, why did you sleep wrapped up in your cloak last night when you have a perfectly good bedroll?"
"Um," said Anomen, thinking quickly, "I am trying to toughen myself. Some day we may face circumstances that will require us to do without all but the absolute necessities. I am training myself against that day."
"Oh," teased Elrohir, "and is that why you neglected to carry a water flask? Are you trying to inure yourself to thirst? Well, if that is the case, you won't be wanting to share my flask anymore, will you?"
Anomen grinned sheepishly. "Alright! I admit it! I couldn't find my bedroll last night."
Elladan and Elrohir laughed.
"Well, you may keep the flask," offered Elrohir generously. "Elladan and I can share."
"Thank you, Elrohir."
The previous day, they had seen no Orc signs. Today, however, after about two hours travel, they found the unmistakable tracks of the repulsive creatures. They dismounted and, leaving their horses to browse in a clearing, they began to travel even more slowly than before.
"There are many of them," said Anomen somberly after some time. "And the trees warn that this is not the only band in the forest."
"Where are the other bands?" asked Elladan anxiously.
"That's the trouble. They are on at least three sides—to the south, the east, and the west. The trees can give us no warning more specific than that, for the Orcs have crept in on nearly every side."
"We had best retreat before we are cut off," said Elrohir. "Ada and Glorfindel will want to be informed at once."
Anomen and Elladan nodded. This was good advice, worthy of a mature leader of Elves. There was nothing to be gained in advancing needlessly against such superior numbers.
Unfortunately, these enemy marauders were superior to the usual Orc band in more than numbers. They were led by half-goblins, bred for intelligence. The trap was soon sprung, for the half-goblins quickly sent some of the Orcs to the north. Escape by land would now be difficult, perhaps impossible.
"Look," whispered Anomen, gesturing to the north.
"Aye, I see them," answered Elrohir softly.
"Should we loose our arrows?" asked Elladan.
"Nay, 'twill only bring more down upon us," said Elrohir. "We must try to evade detection. Pull up your hoods! Our hair will be the death of us!"
In truth, it was too late to cover up their hair. A half-goblin spy had spotted them almost as soon as they had departed the valley of Rivendell. The general word had gone round that any Elf with unusual hair was to be captured forthwith and that a great reward would be forthcoming to whomever brought in the exotic Elf. Here were three Elves with unusual hair. The half-goblin spy hastily carried word back to his commander, and all Orcs and half-goblins within reach had been set the task of entrapping the Elves. Unbeknownst to them, in the space of a day Elrohir, Elladan, and Anomen had been transformed from hunters to hunted.
Also unbeknownst to them, half-goblins had swarmed into the trees about them. In the experience of Anomen and the twins, Orcs did not climb. True, in some realms it was reported that Orcs did creep up rocks and into trees, but none had been known to do so in the lands around Imladris. But these half-goblins were both cleverer and more agile than the Orcs in these parts. Looking down upon the Elves at this very minute were scores of half-goblins, and these creatures were about to make their presence known.
Anomen ducked as he heard the whir of an arrow. The projectile embedded itself in the soil at his feet. From the angle, Anomen could tell that the arrow had been shot from above. Astonished, he looked up and was met with the leering face of a half-goblin.
"Ye pointy-ears had best yield," said the half-goblin in crude but recognizable Common Speech.
Surrendering, the Elves knew, was out of the question. Better to die quickly in battle than to suffer torment at the hands and for the pleasure of Orcs. Anomen replied by shooting the half-goblin between the eyes. Elladan and Elrohir followed suit, loosing arrows rapidly but accurately. But no matter how many arrows the Elves shot off, more Orcs and half-goblins sprang into view. Oddly, no further arrows were shot by their enemies.
"They mean to take us alive," gasped Elladan.
"Aye," said Elrohir grimly, "but we will make them fight."
Their arrows exhausted, they drew their swords. Fighting back to back they parried the half-hearted blows of their enemies, severing many a limb in the process. But for every maimed foe, another stepped into the breach. At last one Orc managed to knock aside Elladan's sword. In a trice a half-goblin had tackled him around the knees and brought him down. With Elladan out of the fight, Elrohir and Anomen were that much more vulnerable. Anomen's sword was shortly wrested from his hand when he ran it through a half-goblin who promptly sprang back, bearing away the sword with him. Anomen whipped out his two knives, but one of them was almost immediately knocked from his grasp by a mighty blow from an Orc scimitar. He thrust the other through the hand of an Orc, who, laughing closed his hand about the blade. With his free hand, the Orc made a fist and brought it down upon Anomen's head. The last thing he saw was Elrohir, still brandishing his sword but completely surrounded by hooting and jeering Orcs and half-goblins.