Chapter Six, What does he have?
The orcs were lessening, many killed, many fled. Somehow, Isildur was not paying much attention to it. Many men were working on it, killing whatever that was left behind of their enemies. He only had one thing in his mind, and until he had the one thing safe within his sight, he will never feel peace.
" My Lord?"
Isildur turned around, Javas had gathered a few men, all wanted to help Isildur to save the fallen elf. " We are ready to set off."
Isildur smiled, touched by such act. " You? Nay." he chuckled. " there is too many people, I need to go in alone so whoever took him would not notice anything, a big group of me could cause unnecessary attention."
But one of the men called out, " but we want to help! He helped us through this war, it would be immoral if we did not give him a hand when he needs it!"
" Yea! I want to help too!"
Soon enough all of the men were starting to argue with Isildur. Javas looked at him with a wary grin. He walked up to him and said, " These men are determined, Isildur, I do not think anything that you say will change their minds."
Isildur sighed and waved his hand, " So be it, we shall all go together."
All the men cheered and went off to prepare. They wanted to kill the mastermind of all this, they wanted to end this war and take back what is theirs rightly.
Isildur stood at the edge of the hill, looking down where Elrond was abducted, a shadow hovered over the lands, the land where the Dark Lord dominated, thinking all will surrender to him. * Well, this is a war I will make sure you will not win." Isildur thought.
Javas had all the horses ready, waiting for Isildur's command. He looked at the strong steeds then to the men. He shook his head and said, " We cannot travel by horse, they will not be able to keep discreet." His eyes gazed at each and everyone of them, " we will have to travel by foot."
Javas signaled a man to come over and he took away the horses.
" There you go."
" Get up you filthy elf."
Elrond groaned slightly as he was forced to stand up. Aglar had returned and had his hands on his shoulder. The wound had never closed and was starting to bleed freely again. His head was spinning furiously and every moment he makes he had to bit his lip to stop himself from giving what Aglar and Valion wanted.
Aglar sneered and said, " We thought we come back a bit early to visit you."
" How considerate of you." Elrond smirked. The remark caused him to receive and slash down his side. He winced, but still did not change his stance. Then lash came after lash, Aglar showed no sign of stopping. His strong arms held onto the whip tightly and slashed the elf with pleasure. Elrond showed no sign of weakness, and this angered the guard.
" Hmm, still no? I will have to say, you are one of the most stubborn prisoner I had ever seen."
" I take that as a compliment." Elrond retorted. His head was throbbing, as much as he did not want to provoke him, he had to say that.
" Compliment eh? We shall see about that." The cold voice appeared once again. The guard snarled slightly as he stepped aside, letting Valion in. Elrond narrowed his eyes, he felt a chill went down his spine. This man must be close in league with the Dark Lord. Valion lifted up his face with his cold hands, his dull black eyes met Elrond's bright gray ones. He saw the light was not diminished, and was infuriated by it, he send a sharp slap across his face. Elrond tasted blood by his lips, he reached and felt a cut on his lip, fresh new blood running with his old ones. Valion pulled Elrond up by his injured arm and pushed him against the stone wall. This time he could not help but cry out in pain. The slam against the wall was too much, his back was covered with welts and cuts while his arm was still very sore from the cruel needles. Tears started to form in his eyes but he blinked them back furiously.
Valion smiled a mirthless smile, as his Lord had done. " For one so young, you seem to be very stubborn." He hissed, " There must be something helping you, something..of value."
" What.are you talking about?" Elrond said slowly, he once again had trouble breathing, cold sweat was pouring down his face, his hair clung onto his skin lifelessly, he needs to get out.
" Haha, you act though I am a fool." Valion hissed into his ear.
* You are a fool. Elrond thought. * No need to mention that.
Hot pain seared through his skin. He bit his lip hard at this sudden action. The dark man had pressed a needle through his arm again.
" You seem to have a knack of silly remarks." Valion said unpleasantly, " you gave me no choice but to discipline you further." As he was talking he pushed the needle further in and twisted it. Elrond squirmed but Aglar held him tight, his large hands felt like huge stones crushed against his shoulder, how long can he endure this?
Valion showed no mercy, he continued to twist and turn.
" So now, are you going to tell me?"
Breathing hard Elrond managed to ask, " tell you what?"
Valion's face contorted to rage. " Do not play games with me you filthy elf!" He yelled, pressing another needle into his skin. Elrond cried out with pain and started to sink to the ground. Aglar held onto him roughly but Elrond's legs gave way, he had lost too much blood, there was nothing left to keep him standing. Valion looked disgusted, he took out the needles and gave Elrond a kick. He did not respond.
" Release him."
Aglar let go of his shoulders. The elf sunk to the ground. Everything was spinning and whirling, he tried to clear his vision by blinking many times, but it was naught.
Valion pulled him up by his collar and asked roughly, " Let me ask you just one last time. Where is it!"
Elrond is definitely confused now. All this questions of something he did not have. " I really do not understand what you are talking about." He managed to say clearly, his lungs were hurting, breathing was simply becoming a chore. What did they want?
" You lier!" Valion screamed and smacked Elrond again. " You filthy lier!" He pulled Elrond close to his face and whispered deadly, " I know you have it! I know you do. Just give it to me, then I will end all suffering."
*End all suffering, equivalent in killing me. Elrond thought groggily. Nothing in his mind was clear, he did not understand, what is it that they want? He had nothing valuable with him.
" Think you are so strong are you?" Valion spat. " Think you will never break? Let me tell you this, elf." He unsheathed his dagger and ran its cold tip across Elrond's neck, a small red line of blood appeared, Elrond winced at such touch, feeling more blood shedding down. " I will break you, I will break you hard." Purposely he grabbed Elrond by the shoulder, this time getting something in return. Elrond gasped in pain, hot tears poured down his face, mixing with the blood, Valion grinned with glee, feeling victorious towards his prisoner, again he took out a long sharp needle, already stained with the elf's blood, and brought it towards the flesh of his neck. Elrond caught sight of it and cried out.
" Isildur!"
Isildur jerked his head at the direction the wind was blowing. Ashes were gliding with the wind, his sudden stop of movement nearly caused Javas to run into him.
" Isildur?"
Isildur silenced him with a wave of his hand, " Did you hear that?" He asked in a whisper.
" Hear what?"
" A voice...his voice."
Javas looked worried, " Whose voice?" he asked, for he had heard nothing,
" Elrond, I heard Elrond calling my name."
Javas shook his head and replied, " It is impossible, we do not even know where he is, how far he is from us."
Isildur said angrily, " Precisely, he could be right under our noses and we still would not know."
It was true. He had not know where Elrond was taken to. Only by his instincts was leading him to where it had happened. He just, vanished. Not a trace was left behind. Elrond had been there when he needed help, if it were not for the elf, they would have never gotten this far. There would be no army without the Halfelven's strong desire for allegiance between men and elves. Now where is he Isildur did not even know. How could he have let the enemy take him right in front of his eyes? He was just within his grasp, wounded but alive. By the valar, who knows what they could have done to him by now?
" Isildur?" Javas asked quietly again, he knew how much Elrond meant to his lord, how much Elrond meant to everyone, he too wanted to slaughter whoever took his new friend.
Isildur turned and was about to keep walking when he stopped his tracks again. Something caught his attention. Before Javas could speak, Isildur said simply, " The wind."
The wind was blowing still. Steady and calmer then before.
" The path of the winds had changed."
" What has that got to do with our path?" Javas asked. The men were looking at Isildur curiously, wondering if it was a good idea for him to not be resting but out here in the cold wind.
" Elrond once told me, " he said slowly, " a couple days ago, when the elves were lost, they look to the wind, the wind would show them the right way to proceed."
The wind had indeed changed its course. It was blowing towards the east, now it was towards the west, the opposite direction they were in.
Javas looked surprised for he had never heard such a thing. " But he is an elf! Of course he would know the wind to guide him, but we are men, and men are not so close to the nature as those beings are."
" You forgotten.Elrond is HalfElven. He has the blood of the first born, but he also shares the blood of Numenor." He felt the wind tug against his body, leading him to the west, where the darkest of the shadows lay.
" We turn to West." Not waiting for their response, he started to run towards it. The others had no reason to argue but to run; their master knew best, it was not a good time to argue. All they wanted to was to get their friend back safely.
The closer they got to the shadow, the more fouler the air felt. It was getting hard to breath in fresh air while they ran. They can see Mount Doom so closely from where they are. That was where Sauron resides.
" That is where Elrond is." Isildur pointed, " We will have to get pass the gates and find out where he is." He asked one of the men to scout ahead.
" How is that possible? There must be thousands of those foul creatures guarding there." A man name Denthor questioned, they have not reached the gates, but was close enough to see the outlines of the structure.
" We will have to go in separately." Isildur said, " there is too much of us at one time we cannot all go in at the same time, it will create much chaos if found." He paced slightly, " we need to know first how to get in unnoticed, that should not be very hard." He looked up at his men, " the hard part would be how to find where they took Elrond."
The scout that he had sent out returned shortly. He was a boy no older then twenty, by the name of Romes, edger to fight and had much will. " My lord! I had found something that might be very interesting." He stopped to catch his breath and spoke directly at Isildur, " the gates are heavily guarded by orcs but there is another way to get in."
Isildur raised his eyebrows, " where" He asked.
Romes eyes lit up and whispered quietly, as if afraid someone will hear them from such a distance. " There is a small cave by the side of the mountain, there is nothing inside, above it there is a bigger cave but I believe it is not safe to cross that path."
Isildur asked with cautious, " You are sure this cave is safe for us to enter?" Romes replied firmly, " Yes, milord, there is not a single orc that was even near there. We can easily get in unnoticed."
Isildur nodded and said, " Alright then it is settled, Romes, " nodding towards the boy, " will lead us to the cave tonight. By then, I will want two groups to be formed. One to stay outside posting, and other will go in to look for Elrond." He gave them no space to argue or anything, he picked out the people quickly. Not wanting to lose another minute they set off. It was a small walk, but dangerous. They treaded the sand softy for they did not want anything that can give attention to them. Soon enough they got to the entrance of the cave Romes spoke of. Isildur did a quick check of it, seemly to be as what the boy had said, it was safe enough.
" This is it, " Isildur addressed his men, " I will take Javas and the three other men with me. The rest of you, stay here quietly and keep alert, if they find out you are here, get out as fast as possible. They need not to know we entered. "
Everyone nodded in understanding. Isildur took a deep breath and walked in. Javas followed along with the other men, eyeing the darkness inside. They could not risk lighting any torches, they would have to rely on their natural given sight.
" Now I wish I were an elf." Muttered Javas, staying closely with Isildur.
The comment caused Isildur to smile, hoping this will succeed. He felt his courage gaining as the thought of seeing Elrond soon cheered him up. He held onto his sword tightly.
* We are coming Elrond.
The orcs were lessening, many killed, many fled. Somehow, Isildur was not paying much attention to it. Many men were working on it, killing whatever that was left behind of their enemies. He only had one thing in his mind, and until he had the one thing safe within his sight, he will never feel peace.
" My Lord?"
Isildur turned around, Javas had gathered a few men, all wanted to help Isildur to save the fallen elf. " We are ready to set off."
Isildur smiled, touched by such act. " You? Nay." he chuckled. " there is too many people, I need to go in alone so whoever took him would not notice anything, a big group of me could cause unnecessary attention."
But one of the men called out, " but we want to help! He helped us through this war, it would be immoral if we did not give him a hand when he needs it!"
" Yea! I want to help too!"
Soon enough all of the men were starting to argue with Isildur. Javas looked at him with a wary grin. He walked up to him and said, " These men are determined, Isildur, I do not think anything that you say will change their minds."
Isildur sighed and waved his hand, " So be it, we shall all go together."
All the men cheered and went off to prepare. They wanted to kill the mastermind of all this, they wanted to end this war and take back what is theirs rightly.
Isildur stood at the edge of the hill, looking down where Elrond was abducted, a shadow hovered over the lands, the land where the Dark Lord dominated, thinking all will surrender to him. * Well, this is a war I will make sure you will not win." Isildur thought.
Javas had all the horses ready, waiting for Isildur's command. He looked at the strong steeds then to the men. He shook his head and said, " We cannot travel by horse, they will not be able to keep discreet." His eyes gazed at each and everyone of them, " we will have to travel by foot."
Javas signaled a man to come over and he took away the horses.
" There you go."
" Get up you filthy elf."
Elrond groaned slightly as he was forced to stand up. Aglar had returned and had his hands on his shoulder. The wound had never closed and was starting to bleed freely again. His head was spinning furiously and every moment he makes he had to bit his lip to stop himself from giving what Aglar and Valion wanted.
Aglar sneered and said, " We thought we come back a bit early to visit you."
" How considerate of you." Elrond smirked. The remark caused him to receive and slash down his side. He winced, but still did not change his stance. Then lash came after lash, Aglar showed no sign of stopping. His strong arms held onto the whip tightly and slashed the elf with pleasure. Elrond showed no sign of weakness, and this angered the guard.
" Hmm, still no? I will have to say, you are one of the most stubborn prisoner I had ever seen."
" I take that as a compliment." Elrond retorted. His head was throbbing, as much as he did not want to provoke him, he had to say that.
" Compliment eh? We shall see about that." The cold voice appeared once again. The guard snarled slightly as he stepped aside, letting Valion in. Elrond narrowed his eyes, he felt a chill went down his spine. This man must be close in league with the Dark Lord. Valion lifted up his face with his cold hands, his dull black eyes met Elrond's bright gray ones. He saw the light was not diminished, and was infuriated by it, he send a sharp slap across his face. Elrond tasted blood by his lips, he reached and felt a cut on his lip, fresh new blood running with his old ones. Valion pulled Elrond up by his injured arm and pushed him against the stone wall. This time he could not help but cry out in pain. The slam against the wall was too much, his back was covered with welts and cuts while his arm was still very sore from the cruel needles. Tears started to form in his eyes but he blinked them back furiously.
Valion smiled a mirthless smile, as his Lord had done. " For one so young, you seem to be very stubborn." He hissed, " There must be something helping you, something..of value."
" What.are you talking about?" Elrond said slowly, he once again had trouble breathing, cold sweat was pouring down his face, his hair clung onto his skin lifelessly, he needs to get out.
" Haha, you act though I am a fool." Valion hissed into his ear.
* You are a fool. Elrond thought. * No need to mention that.
Hot pain seared through his skin. He bit his lip hard at this sudden action. The dark man had pressed a needle through his arm again.
" You seem to have a knack of silly remarks." Valion said unpleasantly, " you gave me no choice but to discipline you further." As he was talking he pushed the needle further in and twisted it. Elrond squirmed but Aglar held him tight, his large hands felt like huge stones crushed against his shoulder, how long can he endure this?
Valion showed no mercy, he continued to twist and turn.
" So now, are you going to tell me?"
Breathing hard Elrond managed to ask, " tell you what?"
Valion's face contorted to rage. " Do not play games with me you filthy elf!" He yelled, pressing another needle into his skin. Elrond cried out with pain and started to sink to the ground. Aglar held onto him roughly but Elrond's legs gave way, he had lost too much blood, there was nothing left to keep him standing. Valion looked disgusted, he took out the needles and gave Elrond a kick. He did not respond.
" Release him."
Aglar let go of his shoulders. The elf sunk to the ground. Everything was spinning and whirling, he tried to clear his vision by blinking many times, but it was naught.
Valion pulled him up by his collar and asked roughly, " Let me ask you just one last time. Where is it!"
Elrond is definitely confused now. All this questions of something he did not have. " I really do not understand what you are talking about." He managed to say clearly, his lungs were hurting, breathing was simply becoming a chore. What did they want?
" You lier!" Valion screamed and smacked Elrond again. " You filthy lier!" He pulled Elrond close to his face and whispered deadly, " I know you have it! I know you do. Just give it to me, then I will end all suffering."
*End all suffering, equivalent in killing me. Elrond thought groggily. Nothing in his mind was clear, he did not understand, what is it that they want? He had nothing valuable with him.
" Think you are so strong are you?" Valion spat. " Think you will never break? Let me tell you this, elf." He unsheathed his dagger and ran its cold tip across Elrond's neck, a small red line of blood appeared, Elrond winced at such touch, feeling more blood shedding down. " I will break you, I will break you hard." Purposely he grabbed Elrond by the shoulder, this time getting something in return. Elrond gasped in pain, hot tears poured down his face, mixing with the blood, Valion grinned with glee, feeling victorious towards his prisoner, again he took out a long sharp needle, already stained with the elf's blood, and brought it towards the flesh of his neck. Elrond caught sight of it and cried out.
" Isildur!"
Isildur jerked his head at the direction the wind was blowing. Ashes were gliding with the wind, his sudden stop of movement nearly caused Javas to run into him.
" Isildur?"
Isildur silenced him with a wave of his hand, " Did you hear that?" He asked in a whisper.
" Hear what?"
" A voice...his voice."
Javas looked worried, " Whose voice?" he asked, for he had heard nothing,
" Elrond, I heard Elrond calling my name."
Javas shook his head and replied, " It is impossible, we do not even know where he is, how far he is from us."
Isildur said angrily, " Precisely, he could be right under our noses and we still would not know."
It was true. He had not know where Elrond was taken to. Only by his instincts was leading him to where it had happened. He just, vanished. Not a trace was left behind. Elrond had been there when he needed help, if it were not for the elf, they would have never gotten this far. There would be no army without the Halfelven's strong desire for allegiance between men and elves. Now where is he Isildur did not even know. How could he have let the enemy take him right in front of his eyes? He was just within his grasp, wounded but alive. By the valar, who knows what they could have done to him by now?
" Isildur?" Javas asked quietly again, he knew how much Elrond meant to his lord, how much Elrond meant to everyone, he too wanted to slaughter whoever took his new friend.
Isildur turned and was about to keep walking when he stopped his tracks again. Something caught his attention. Before Javas could speak, Isildur said simply, " The wind."
The wind was blowing still. Steady and calmer then before.
" The path of the winds had changed."
" What has that got to do with our path?" Javas asked. The men were looking at Isildur curiously, wondering if it was a good idea for him to not be resting but out here in the cold wind.
" Elrond once told me, " he said slowly, " a couple days ago, when the elves were lost, they look to the wind, the wind would show them the right way to proceed."
The wind had indeed changed its course. It was blowing towards the east, now it was towards the west, the opposite direction they were in.
Javas looked surprised for he had never heard such a thing. " But he is an elf! Of course he would know the wind to guide him, but we are men, and men are not so close to the nature as those beings are."
" You forgotten.Elrond is HalfElven. He has the blood of the first born, but he also shares the blood of Numenor." He felt the wind tug against his body, leading him to the west, where the darkest of the shadows lay.
" We turn to West." Not waiting for their response, he started to run towards it. The others had no reason to argue but to run; their master knew best, it was not a good time to argue. All they wanted to was to get their friend back safely.
The closer they got to the shadow, the more fouler the air felt. It was getting hard to breath in fresh air while they ran. They can see Mount Doom so closely from where they are. That was where Sauron resides.
" That is where Elrond is." Isildur pointed, " We will have to get pass the gates and find out where he is." He asked one of the men to scout ahead.
" How is that possible? There must be thousands of those foul creatures guarding there." A man name Denthor questioned, they have not reached the gates, but was close enough to see the outlines of the structure.
" We will have to go in separately." Isildur said, " there is too much of us at one time we cannot all go in at the same time, it will create much chaos if found." He paced slightly, " we need to know first how to get in unnoticed, that should not be very hard." He looked up at his men, " the hard part would be how to find where they took Elrond."
The scout that he had sent out returned shortly. He was a boy no older then twenty, by the name of Romes, edger to fight and had much will. " My lord! I had found something that might be very interesting." He stopped to catch his breath and spoke directly at Isildur, " the gates are heavily guarded by orcs but there is another way to get in."
Isildur raised his eyebrows, " where" He asked.
Romes eyes lit up and whispered quietly, as if afraid someone will hear them from such a distance. " There is a small cave by the side of the mountain, there is nothing inside, above it there is a bigger cave but I believe it is not safe to cross that path."
Isildur asked with cautious, " You are sure this cave is safe for us to enter?" Romes replied firmly, " Yes, milord, there is not a single orc that was even near there. We can easily get in unnoticed."
Isildur nodded and said, " Alright then it is settled, Romes, " nodding towards the boy, " will lead us to the cave tonight. By then, I will want two groups to be formed. One to stay outside posting, and other will go in to look for Elrond." He gave them no space to argue or anything, he picked out the people quickly. Not wanting to lose another minute they set off. It was a small walk, but dangerous. They treaded the sand softy for they did not want anything that can give attention to them. Soon enough they got to the entrance of the cave Romes spoke of. Isildur did a quick check of it, seemly to be as what the boy had said, it was safe enough.
" This is it, " Isildur addressed his men, " I will take Javas and the three other men with me. The rest of you, stay here quietly and keep alert, if they find out you are here, get out as fast as possible. They need not to know we entered. "
Everyone nodded in understanding. Isildur took a deep breath and walked in. Javas followed along with the other men, eyeing the darkness inside. They could not risk lighting any torches, they would have to rely on their natural given sight.
" Now I wish I were an elf." Muttered Javas, staying closely with Isildur.
The comment caused Isildur to smile, hoping this will succeed. He felt his courage gaining as the thought of seeing Elrond soon cheered him up. He held onto his sword tightly.
* We are coming Elrond.