The elflings had left the forest behind and were ascending one of the Misty Mountains. This was not an environment to which they were accustomed, but could scaling a mountain be that much different from climbing a tree? True, sometimes the stones rolled under their feet, but trees presented their own set of perils. A branch might be rotten, for example, and break under one's weight, and a limb might be further away than it had first seemed. The elflings had never had difficulty dealing with the unexpected in the canopy, and they were thus confident that climbing a mountain would not in itself be an obstacle. They did fear lest they encounter Orcs or Trolls, but Trolls would surely not come out in daylight, and Orcs were unlikely to do so. If they were careful to hide during the nighttime hours, they would have nothing to fear.
Of course, climbing the mountain was proving to be unexpectedly tiring. They found themselves backtracking quite often. A promising route would peter out, leaving them gazing with frustration at an insurmountable overhang or at a smooth rock face that provided no purchase for their hands and feet. Back they would clamber to start over on another path.
Anomen seemed to have encountered just such a dead end. He was in the lead and had been inching up a narrow shelf for a good hour. Now the ledge had come to an end. Dismayed, he looked about for any alternative to retracing their steps and losing a good two hour's effort—one hour up, one hour down.
"We had best go back," called Elrohir. "It will soon be dark."
"No," Anomen called back, not yet willing to concede defeat. "This shelf ends, but I see where it picks up again. There is only a little gap, and I can leap across it as easily as I leap from limb to limb in the canopy."
"Are you sure?" Elladan asked doubtfully. "There is no moss below for you to land upon if you are wrong!"
Anomen laughed. "Yes, I am quite sure." With that he did indeed spring across the gap with ease. Smiling, he turned to beckon to Elladan and Elrohir.
Ai! The distance was indeed short, but the shelf was but weakly attached to the rock face. Even as Anomen raised his hand to wave on his friends, the ledge gave way. A look of surprise on his face, the elfling fell backward in a shower of dust and rock and plummeted from view.
"Anomen!" shrieked the twins simultaneously. Silence.
"We have got to find him!" cried Elladan. Half climbing, half sliding, the twins descended as quickly as they could until they reached the side of their friend. He had fallen no less than thirty feet and landed on his back. Luckily, he had just missing two jagged boulders, one of which lay to his right, the other his left. But he was obviously hurt. His eyes were closed, and he was moaning.
"Anomen! Please open your eyes!" Elrohir begged. "Saes! Saes!"
Anomen struggled to look up at his friends and succeeded in partially opening his eyes.
"Can you speak, Anomen?" asked Elladan.
"Yes!" gasped Anomen.
"Praise the Valar," breathed Elladan. "He is conscious, and he can speak. Tell us where you hurt, Anomen."
"My legs," moaned Anomen.
"Your legs hurt?" said Elrohir. "Perhaps they are broken. We must splint them."
"No," whimpered Anomen. "They don't hurt."
"Oh, good," sighed Elrohir in relief. "Then they must not be broken after all."
"I can't feel them!" cried Anomen. "And I can't move them!"
Appalled, Elrohir stared across Anomen at his brother Elladan for a long moment. At last Elladan broke the silence.
"We dare not move him."
Elrohir nodded.
"One of us must go for help. The other must stay with Anomen and see that he drinks plenty of water and stays warm."
Still unable to speak, Elrohir again nodded.
"Elrohir, I won our last footrace. I will go for help."
Elrohir at last spoke, although so softly that Elladan had to strain to hear him.
"Very well, Elladan. Go as swiftly as you can."
"I will, brother."
Elladan shrugged off his pack. "I will leave everything with you save my weapons."
"Nay, brother, you must at least take a water flask."
Elladan shook his head. "In the lowlands we passed many creeks. I will not want for water once I have descended this mountain. You, however, will have no means of refilling your flasks—and Anomen must not be allowed to suffer thirst."
"That is true. How much water is in your flask?"
"It is nearly full."
"Good. Between our three flasks, I should be able to keep him comfortable for two days, if not three."
"Do not forget to take a little water yourself from time to time!"
"Oh, I will, brother."
Elladan looked at him doubtfully. "You will do no good for Anomen if you fall ill from thirst!" He arose. "Farewell, Elrohir. I will soon return with Ada."
"We will be here waiting, Elladan—you may be sure of it!"
Elladan allowed himself a small smile and began to scramble down toward the base of the mountain. Once he was out of sight, Elrohir turned his attention toward making Anomen as comfortable as possible. He wondered if he should slip anything under Anomen's head as a pillow, but then he realized that he dared not do anything that might jostle the elfling's spine. The sun was falling, and it was cold in the mountains at night. Elrohir knew that he could not light a fire because it might be spotted by an Orc or Troll. He unpacked all their blankets and carefully covered his friend, whose eyes were again closed. Then he wrapped his arms around himself and prepared to keep vigil.
"Elrohir?"
He jumped. He had not realized that Anomen was awake.
"Do you need anything, Anomen? Are you thirsty?"
"Nay. I just wanted to make sure that you were there."
"I will not leave you, my friend. Be sure of that."
Anomen sighed and then, to Elrohir's surprise, he laughed a little.
"You can laugh?"
"I was just thinking, Elrohir, that now Elrond will be unlikely to hit me on the backside with a strap."
"Well, that is no doubt true," agreed Elrohir. "But once we get you safely back to Rivendell, I would be more than happy to take on your share in addition to mine!" He shivered a little as the last light of the sun waned but comforted himself with the thought that Anomen was warm.
As the sun set upon the Misty Mountains, it likewise set upon Rivendell, where a crestfallen Elrond was passing through the gates with a line of three horses in tow. He had pursued—or so he had thought—the elflings into Eregion only to come upon riderless horses trotting steadily southward. There had been no sign of a struggle along the way, and so he instantly divined the nature of the trick that had been played upon him. "That will have been Anomen," he mused, his frustration tempered by his respect for the cleverness of the elfling. "Someday that young one will truly be a most cunning warrior. This shrewdness must be nurtured—but under more appropriate circumstances!"
The elf-lord handed over the horses to the care of a stable hand and went off in search of Glorfindel. He found him with Erestor sitting in companionable silence in the Hall of Fire.
"You have found Anomen and the twins?"
"No, but I have found their horses."
Glorfindel sat erect, alarm upon his face. Elrond laughed. "Do not fear, my friend. They were not separated unwillingly from their horses." Quickly he explained to Glorfindel the trick he believed to have been played upon him.
"Hmm," said Glorfindel. "Not a bad piece of work for ones so young. Then they did not go south?"
"No, I do not believe that they did."
"Which only leaves," Erestor said sardonically, "north, east, and west."
Elrond sighed. "Aye, but even if we had only one direction to consider, I doubt if we would be able to pick up their trail. Anomen's footprints are all over this successful flight from Rivendell—or rather I should say that his footprints are not all over it. I have no doubt that Anomen led our little band into the tree canopy. We cannot track them."
"So we will—?"
"Wait. Send out word of course, but we can do little until news filters back of three feral elves roaming the wilderness."
Erestor looked horrified.
"I only jest. They will not turn feral. They will fend for themselves well enough for the time being—there are three of them, after all, and young as they are they have some skill as scouts and hunters. At last someone will stumble across them, or they will tire of the game and return of their own accord." Elrond reached for a wine glass. "Perhaps," he said wryly, "we should view this time as a well-deserved rest from the demands placed upon us by our responsibility for the young."
"I will drink to that," declared Glorfindel vehemently.
"I as well," said Erestor with equal vehemence.
The three friends drank their toast, and then Elrond, tired from his futile pursuit of the elflings, declared his intention to turn in for the night. Erestor and Glorfindel soon followed his example. For Elladan and Elrohir, however, there would be no rest that night. Elrohir continued to keep vigil by the side of his friend, and Elladan trotted with dogged determination toward Rivendell.