Elladan and Mel flew over the mountain terrain, not pausing for anything. Though it was nighttime, Elladan merely concentrated to strengthen his glow and rode on and none of the goblins even bothered trying to attack, for he was going much too fast. As it drew near dawn, he heard the rattle of hooves of some other horse and caught the merest glimpse of an elf on a horse before he was past and far beyond the other.

That brief sight was enough for recognition, though. And Elladan was greatly surprised at the sight of Legolas, but refused to be distracted from his current mission. What had surprised him the most, though, was the look on the Woodelf's face, or rather the lack of any *look.* That disturbed him, because it meant he had fallen back in memory to the time before healing and the poison was taking strong effect.

A several hours later as the hour approached noon, he thundered up to the place his youngest brother lay. He glanced around for a second before hurling himself off his horse and saw from a distance as cloud of dust signaling another horse from the south. On a hunch he felt his bond with his twin and was very relieved that it was Elrohir coming.

Then he went to examine Aragorn. The man was in a deep trance beyond pain though he wasn't unconscious. Recognizing his father's work, he gave a sigh of relief and then reached along his own bond with Lord Elrond to assure him that he had reached his foster brother.

Glancing behind him again, he saw that Elrohir was almost there even in so short a time. Deciding that a minute would not hurt, he waited until his twin came running up before reaching down to pull out the dagger lodged in the man's shoulder, just too high to hit the heart, though near enough that it could be fatal from shock and bloodloss. As Elladan brought it out gently, Elrohir clamped his hands over the wide wound to staunch the bleeding.

The older twin let out a hiss of disgust and horror as he really looked at the dagger for the first time. "It is Legolas's. I rode past him on my way here and now I am sure it was Aragorn's horse he was riding. He stabbed him and then stole his horse. And this blade has traces of orc blood on it so we also have to counter poisoning." He threw it to the side and got out his own pouch of herbs, rummaging through for a few particular ones.

He stopped as Elrohir let out a cry. "The bloodflow has not slowed at all! Quick El, stop that and lend me your power!"

Elladan dropped to his knees beside his two brothers and put his hands on them. Then he sent out another pulse to his father, which he hoped could be understood before summoning his healing powers.

~+~

Glorfindel sat beside Elrond wishing he could be of some help. The Peredhil had been in a trance all night, speaking out loud only rarely, mainly to protest when his advisor wanted him to eat. Elrond spoke again now, though. "Glor, grab my hand. Help us!" Rather confused, he obeyed and immediately saw the task. He began channeling strength into the family links he sensed.

As an outsider, he could *see* what was happening to some extent, and it amazed him since he normally did not help the healers. Elrond and his sons were pouring power into Aragorn, whose physiology he could now sense. There were streaks of darkness invading his body as the poison tried to take hold. The three healing elves were flooding him with light, though, and gradually driving out the dark. Their light began to fade before they could succeed, though, so Glorfindel risked thumping his foot on the floor three times on a prearranged signal.

The door flew open and Erestor rushed in, followed by two of the healers. Glorfindel reached out and touched one, drawing him into the link. The healer immediately understood and began adding his own strength, soon joined by the other two. With that help, the three main fighters finished off the last of the darkness.

~+~

Aragorn drifted in an empty darkness. He had been hanging on to his body with his father's help, but suddenly his father wasn't holding on to him anymore. He felt detachedly betrayed by this, but wasn't able to actually feel any emotion or anything else. He couldn't tell if time actually passed but he started seeing things. The first thing he noticed were four thick white ropes holding him to something.

Testing them idly, he realized that only one of them actually belonged to him. Touching another one in growing curiosity, he heard/felt a wordless cry from his ada. He experimentally pulled himself down it, and found himself in Elrond's bedroom. His adar was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, four other elves surrounding him, of which two did not look to be in much better shape.

Then he heard one of them, *Glorfindel,* he remembered, say, "He's been holding on to Estel ever since. I don't know where he got the strength but I can say this, if Aragorn doesn't survive, neither will he."

With a gasp, Aragorn was back in the dark. This time he followed another rope and found himself standing by his brothers. Neither was in much better shape than Elrond, but they were conscious, at least. He overheard yet another twin conversation.

"Did we succeed?"

"I don't know."

"Aragorn, Estel, please, muindor, wake up!"

"He's got to, he can't just die after all of this."

"And at Legolas's hand."

"Valar, I'm going to make that elf pay for this."

"I'll help."

"By Eru, what will happen to adar if Estel dies?"

"He'll die, that's what, and the rest of us will follow."

"I should have gotten here earlier."

"It's too late to blame ourselves now, we just have to get him back."

"Come on, Estel, wake up!"

Aragorn found himself reentering his body with a wrench. There was a brief pain through his entire body and then it was gone. He felt better than he had in a long time. He opened his eyes. "You'd better not die." He said.

A/N Just so you know, I know diddly about medicine. I made up all the procedures I used so if I got any of them right, it's probably a miracle.