Folks, I'm trying to get the directions right. I know that in the previous story I said the elflings planned to flee 'north'. I should have typed 'west'. Anyway, when I went to correct and upload the new version, I ended up typing 'east' instead! Don't ask me why! Just careless haste, I guess. So I corrected and uploaded all over again. At some point, the right version should show up. Just keep in mind as you read this installment that initially Anomen and the twins were heading west. Otherwise their change of direction in this part of the story won't make sense.
Anomen and the twins did not appear for dinner that night, but Elrond had not expected that they would. He informed the Head Cook that the elflings were likely to pay a surreptitious visit to the kitchen that night, and he ordered that this one time they be allowed to scavenge something to eat without retribution on the part of the kitchen staff. Elrond preferred never to put a punishment into effect until he had had a chance to talk with the offender, so depriving the elflings of dinner was not on the menu, so to speak.
After the elflings had crept out of the garden, Elladan and Elrohir were all for heading straight to the stable and taking their horses.
"'Twouldn't be stealing," declared Elrohir. "They're our horses."
"Besides," added Elladan, "we can't be punished for taking them—we won't be here!"
"That's not the point," argued Anomen. "Horses leave tracks. We must take to the tree canopy. If we do not, we'll be dragged back to Rivendell before morn."
"Well," said Elladan thoughtfully, "Anomen is the expert at running away. I suppose we had better listen to him."
"But we'd be able to move faster on horses," objected Elrohir.
"Not as fast as a troop of elven scouts in hot pursuit on a trail plain to see," declared Anomen.
Elrohir had to reluctantly concede that Anomen was probably right.
"But we do need to go by the stable," added Anomen.
"Why?" asked Elladan, puzzled.
"Yes," said Elrohir. "If we are not taking the horses, why waste time going to the stable?"
"Because," Anomen explained patiently, "we are going to loose the horses and send them toward Eregion. That will buy us some extra time. First the scouts will have to trail the horses south. Then they'll have to retrace their steps to Rivendell before they will have any chance of picking up our tracks."
Elladan and Elrohir looked respectfully at their friend.
"Anomen," exclaimed Elladan, "however did you get to be so clever at absconding!?"
"Oh," said Anomen loftily, "once you've eluded an Orc or two, running away from home is really nothing—nothing at all."
With that the elflings hurried to the stable, which was deserted since all were at dinner. They led their horses out of their stalls and through the gates of Rivendell. Once beyond the wall, the elflings whispered elvish instructions into the ears of their erstwhile steeds and had the satisfaction of seeing them trot off obediently toward Eregion.
"Now," declared Anomen, "into the trees!"
The agile elflings sprang into the nearest tree. From there they nimbly leaped onto branches in an adjacent tree, and on to the next tree, and the next. Anomen was better at this form of locomotion than Elladan and Elrohir, but the twins did well enough for the trio to make steady progress. Throughout the night they traveled in this fashion. As the sun arose, they stopped and listened intently.
"I do not hear anything," said Elladan hopefully. "Do you?" he asked his brother.
"No. Anomen, do you hear anything."
Anomen stood quite still, brow furrowed, head cocked to one side as if he did indeed hear something.
"Anomen?" repeated Elrohir, beginning to be worried at the intensity of his friend's expression.
"Hush!" Anomen continued to listen. At last he shook his head, bewildered. "Nothing is near, although I hear the murmuring of distant trees. But I cannot make out what they are saying."
"Distant trees? To the south or the west?" asked Elladan.
"To the west."
This was bad. They may very well be heading toward danger.
"Perhaps," suggested Elrohir, "we should go east."
"Or north!" cried Elladan.
Anomen shook his head. "To the north lies the Northern Waste; to the east lies the Misty Mountains."
Elrohir had a sudden inspiration. "Does no one live in the Northern Waste?"
"Of course, you Troll-brain!" scoffed Elladan. "Why do you think it is called that in the first place!?"
Elrohir glared at Elladan but did not deign to answer. "Anomen," he said, turning instead to his friend, "if no one lives in the Northern Waste, then that would be the perfect place for us!"
Anomen looked doubtful. "I do not believe that we could survive on our own."
"Oh, and why not!?" asked Elrohir haughtily. "Do you doubt your skills as a hunter?"
Anomen gave him a freezing glance. "Do not forget," he said icily, "that I know what it is to be an exile. It is not an experience that I would recommend. No," he continued, "we must dwell amongst folk, be they Men, Dwarves, or Elves."
The three stood silent for a while, pondering their options, which seemed few.
"I think," Anomen at last said slowly, "that we should cross the Misty Mountains and so on to Lothlórien"
"Lothlórien!" cried the twins in unison. "But we are known there!"
"Aye," said Anomen. "The Lord Celeborn is your grandfather, and the Lady Galadriel your grandmother. If we were to journey there, surely they would intercede with your father on our behalf. We will tell them about the strap, and they would not send us back to Imladris without first extracting a promise from Elrond that he reconsider our punishment."
"Anomen, you are brilliant!" exclaimed Elladan. "Elrohir and I should have thought of this in the first place. Of course our grandmother and grandfather will give us sanctuary."
With renewed hope, the three elflings turned east and made for the Misty Mountains.
As they were reaching this fateful decision, Elrond was sending a servant to summon them to breakfast.
"Well," he said to Glorfindel, "they must be dreadfully frightened. They hid during dinner, and now they have not appeared for the morning meal."
"They should be frightened," smirked Glorfindel.
"You have settled upon their punishment?"
"Oh, yes. They will be responsible for fletching all shafts until the turn of the moon, and they will be in charge of the littlest elflings until the turn of two moons."
Elrond nodded gravely. "A most appropriate punishment, my friend, involving as it does arrows and elfling archers."
"Yes, I thought you would find it suitable," chortled Glorfindel. At that moment the servant returned.
"My Lord, your sons are not in their chamber."
Elrond smiled. "They are terrified. No doubt they spent the night in their favorite refuge, the stable. Pray fetch them from whatever stall they have hidden themselves in."
The servant bowed and did as he was commanded. Before too long he was back again. Elrond raised an eyebrow when he saw that the servant returned alone.
"My Lord, your sons are not at the stable. Nor are their horses in their stalls."
Elrond's other eyebrow shot up. "Not in their stalls?"
"No, my Lord," the servant repeated patiently. "Neither horses nor elflings are in the stalls."
Glorfindel groaned. "And I cannot ride. I am so sorry, my friend!"
"Sorry? Why should you be sorry? 'Twas my sons who fixed matters so that you cannot ride." Elrond sighed. "I will see to this myself. They should be easy to track."
The Lord of Imladris arose from the breakfast board wondering what he had ever done for the Valar to afflict him so. It would not be the last time that he would ask this question!