Author's Note: Hey everybody! I'm writing this in the shadow of my very first martial arts competition on Saturday. Good lord above, I am so jittery and nervous, I can barely write. I hope this chapter is good!
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Disclaimer: Nope don't own nothin'.
Childhood Curiosity
Ch. 10 (yaaaaaaayy!!!!) Meetings And A Splash Of Future
~*_~*_~*_ Foresight _*~_*~_*~
"Thalia!" Screamed a green-eyed mortal, "Get the child out of here!"
Around him the bloodshed raged as orcs invaded the large cave, the dull light of a yellow waterfall flashing menacingly off of their red tinged weapons. As the green-eyed man slew another orc with a clean stroke of his sword, a very pretty woman screamed back to him. With a thin but curvy figure, she stayed in a corner, fighting in front of a small mass that was huddled beneath her legs.
"What about the others, you fool?" She cried, her twin blades flashing this way and that as orc after orc fell.
"They will get out, just take the child and run!" He cried back, turning for the briefest second to face her. His youthful face was framed by dark brown peach fuzz, but his pale cheeks were smeared with dirt and pasty black blood. For a spilt second they met eyes, and she nodded reluctantly. It was an instant too long. With a horrible cry, and orc lunged from behind the green-eyed man and ran the length of it's blade, clean through his chest.
The young woman froze, looking terrified as the green-eyed man fell onto the ground without so much as a sigh, his eyes shock open and his mouth ajar. "RATHUE!!!!!!! NO!! GET UP!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTHHHHUUUUUUUEEEEEEE!!" She screamed in anguish. Turning around an kneeling to the mass behind her, she spoke quickly with tears spilling out of her eyes. The mass shook, but seemed to nod. Standing up, the young woman gripped her blades, and charged into the frenzy of battle, her cries echoing even louder than the rest off of the thick stone walls. As she disappeared into the crowd of blades, the small mass in the corner stood up amongst the corpses to reveal itself as a small child. With frightened silver eyes and long black hair, the child looked around, pulled out a small sword from his side, and dashed off to the left. He seemed to run faster with every second, nearing the opening of the cave through which the orcs had poured in like black syrup........running.........faster and faster.........And then he stopped abruptly as something grabbed him around the waist, and he screamed.
" NOOOO!!"
~*_~*_~*_~ End Foreisight~*_~*_~*_~
Looking up from his conversation with Erestor, Glorfindel's dark eyes darted to the closed door of Elrond, Lord of Imladres, as a cry erupted from the room within. It had been a very rough past few days, with search parties and tracking scouts coming and going around the clock. From the shimmering rays of the sun to the misty beams of moonlight, Glorfindel had been receiving reports from his soldiers about the possible whereabouts of the young Dunedain child, Estel. And from the slightly mussed hairstyle to the slight shadows forming under the ancient elf's face, any could see that the hours were beginning to take the slightest toll upon the mighty Balrog Slayer.
Glorfindel and the twins had craftily spiked Elrond's tea several hours ago with a sleeping herb to help him finally get some rest. After all, the elven lord had not slept in days, and he was beginning to show it worse than Glorfindel himself. The dark haired elf would take to long hours of staring off into the calm sky as if waiting for a sign, and fits of sulleness. It seemed that Elrond took the loss of Estel very personally indeed.
Looking to Erestor, Glorfindel nodded silently as the two set off towards the carved wooden door, letting a deep silence hang between them as they knocked on the door of their friend and leader. "Elrond? My friend, is anything the matter?" Erestor called gently, taking Glorfindel by surprise with his calm tone of voice. Since when had Erestor ever been calm? At first, there was no answer to their calls, but suddenly the door flew open, and standing before them was a very angry looking Elrond.
The elven lord was in a new set of dark red robes, that billowed loosely about him with gentle grace. However his set face was one to be feared as he stared his two advisors into a hole in the floor. Dark eyes flashing, Elrond spoke calmly, speaking each word with distinct power.
"Has there been any news? Since my MYSTERIOUS bout of sleep?"
Glorfindel watched his lord stare him down, finding the words only after a few seconds of silence. "Well, my lord, our reports have been rather.......scattered, since the weather has died down. It seems that........."
" Lord GLorfindel, Erestor!"
Stopping abruptly as identical voice broke into his sentence, Glorfindel barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It seemed the twins had returned with another report after going on patrol. Honestly, if one more elf interrupted him, he would pray to the valar for patience. Turning to find a very dirty, haggard pair of Elrondian twins rushing up to him, Glorfindel nodded to them as they bowed courtesy and stopped with open mouths at the sight of their father staring expectantly at them both. Turning their identically dirt smudge faces to one another in shock, Elledan was the first to look his father in the eye and speak in the most business like manner he could.
"Ah, father. I am glad to see that you are well rested. It was very fortunate indeed that you fell asleep like......you......did." Tapering off as Elrond stared daggers at his eldest son, Elledan gulped and looked down at the floor as Elrond spoke.
"Yes. Fell asleep. Now, I believe that you two were going to say something?" Elrond asked pointedly. Looking up in surprise, both the twins began to blurt out their story at once.
"We found pieces of Estel's clothes downstream and....."
" I swear the wagon tracks ran right through our forest!"
" Estel's blood was also found on top of a surfaced rock on the banks some ways down, but..."
" It could only have been thieves, Ada! We think that they found Estel! The dirty....."
" He must have been very badly wounded, you know, and..."
Blinking against the tirade of the twins and their information that already seemed to be leading nowhere, Elrond raised up his hands and bellowed "SILENCE!!!!!" At once the twin's mouths snapped shut and they looked confusedly at their father who was rubbing his temples with an already tired look upon his ageless face. Looking into the weary expression upon his lord, Glorfindel frowned and began thinking quickly on another way to slip sedatives into his foods. This whole situation was quickly going from bad to worse, and Glorfindel's concern for Estel was growing with every moment. The calm voice of Elrond snapped the Balrog Slayer out of his thoughts quickly, and he focused his clear blue eyes onto Elrond as he spoke a startling revelation.
"I have seen my youngest, the Dunedain child whom I raised with my own hands." Elrond spoke at first, his voice not even masking the well of sorrow that was spilling into his soft tones. "Estel indeed," He began, nodding at the silent twins, "was dragged by the mighty Brunien out of Imladres. He is ver far now, exactly where I am not sure. Yet he was picked up by.........thieves." Uttering the last word softly, both Elrond and Glorfindel watched the mixed horror that appeared on everyone's faces. Thieves?
Speaking quickly, Glorfindel found his own voice to ask what seemed obvious. "So you have had a foresight then, my lord?"
Nodding mutely, Elrond's infinite brown eyes glazed over as he spoke again, this time softer than before. "We must send soldiers and scouts..........out near the misty mountains, and the plains of Rohan. We are looking for a cave..........with a waterfall of great size and yellow hue."
"Yellow, My lord?" Erestor chimed in uncertainly. "In all of my days, I have never heard of such a wonder."
Turning his misty eyes to Erestor, Elrond nodded again. " Aye, yellow. And we must hurry, for there is little time. The danger Estel is in is very great indeed. Now if you will all excuse me, I must collect some things. I have not Left Imladres in many thousands of years, however now the need is dire. Thither I shall ride."
There was a collective gasp around the group, and before Glorfindel could protest, Elrond had gone with a swish of his robes.
~*_~*_~*_~*_
Estel's POV
It was all coming back slowly, that was for sure. The pain and soreness of his small body were returning to Estel in small doses as he awakened with the speed of an eternity. Allowing a small moan to escape his dry lips and cracked throat, he found the energy to open one blurry eye. All around him, Estel could feel warmth and soft things. Yet all he could make out with his hazy vision were fuzzy blobs of color here and there. Strangely, he couldn't shake the feeling of another presence in the room. Shrugging it off and closing his eye, Estel shifted his aching body to the side, trying to get some feeling of mobility back into his anchor heavy limbs. Indeed, he hated staying in one place enough, but to feel intense pain and numbness all in one dose while sitting still was unbearable.
*Gasp!* "Oh, are you awake little one?"
Hearing a strange, lyrical float into his ears, Estel felt his body come alive all at once. There IS someone here! He thought in a panic. Throwing his eyes shock open, Estel did not even wait for his vision to come into focus before throwing himself out of the warmth he felt, despite the scream of protest from his body. I have to get away! Desperately flailing himself forward onto the floor that he now felt quite certain was swaying, Estel suddenly found his vision flood back to him in crystal clarity. He was still in the wagon, with the rough, cream canvas top over him filtering the obvious sunshine outside. He was now much higher up, laying on top of many different baskets and things like that. The mass of blankets that he was now trying to escape were very colorful, made of many different materials and fashioned into bright hues of every kind. But all of that didn't matter to him now, as Estel refocused on escaping the confusion that he was in. Valar only knew where he was, who the people were that were talking to him, and what his Ada was going through back at home.
" Wait, little one! You must not move yet, you are still quite fragile!"
Breaking into his frantic thoughts again, Estel heard the garbled voice directly behind him. Crying out, he tried to fight the prickling burn of unwanted tears welling up in his eyes. His whole body was in pain, he was far from home, and now he was being attacked again. With one last sudden burst of energy, little six year old Estel turned to face his attacker, his silver eyes burning with defiance. Findy and the twins hadn't trained him for nothing! He had to be brave, that was what an elf would do! Rotating his tired body around fiercely, Estel suddenly found himself face to face with someone he had not expected. Sitting on the floor before him was the young woman from the last time he was awake. She was young, and Estel almost mistook her for an elf at first. She had dark brown hair that hung loosely past her shoulders like a curtain of velvet, framing her young face perfectly. She was smaller in body size, but Estel could tell right away that she was a fighter. She had limber, defined limbs, and a gleam in her blue eyes that held a note of wisdom yet ferocity.
Allowing himself to slowly calm down, Estel couldn't help but feel that this girl was no threat to him, unlike the man that had attacked him earlier. Sitting down gingerly without ever taking his gaze from the girl, Estel began to think out his situation in a very un-six-year-old fashion. She must be the one that comforted me then, he thought logically. But the if she is so nice, why was she with that man, and where is she taking me? Does she know I'm lost? Perhaps she found me once I fell into the Brunien........ She doesn't speak elvish, I really don't understand anything she is saying.......Erestor would have a fit if he knew I was in such a situation. Honestly, I told him that all of those language lessons wouldn't help!! After pondering his thoughts in the silence between the two, Estel finally raised his eyes to meet hers. Ignoring his pain-ridden body, he began to speak in very slow elvish. Perhaps then she might understand.
~ My name is Estel. I am lost, and feel like I am hurt very badly. Do you know where I am? ~
Cursing the feeling of the words upon his dry, cracked throat, Estel tried his best to swallow quietly so as to wait for her answer. For a few long moments, the girl said nothing. Her face was an unreadable mask of emotion, however with slow movements, she made an odd gesture. Reaching her slender fingers up to her ears, she covered the whole of her ear with her palm, and nodded. Pulling his face into a confused expression, Estel felt immediately baffled. Was this a language? What was she saying? Seeing his obvious confusion, the girl repeated her motion, nodded again and pointed to him with a smile. Doing the only thing he could think of, Estel raised up his hands in front of his face. Finding his flesh palms bearing a few small cuts and little bit of bloodstain, he moved them on until he was covering his ears firmly with palms. I can barely hear a thing, he thought confusedly as he watched the girl who smiled at him and nodded.
With a sudden movement, the girl reached into her shirt, pulled out what looked like a tiny, silver flute and put it to her lips. With a deep breath, the instrument began to scream shrilly, making positively the worst noise Estel had ever heard. It was bloodcurdling, high-pitched and wretched. Suddenly understanding her action, Estel crammed his palms into his ears trying stop the horrible noise from attacking him anymore. It was so auwful......he couldn't help his eyes from tearing up. It stopped with the suddenness of a knife through hot bread, and then the floor stopped swaying. Cautiously taking his hands form his ears, Estel watched with a sudden pang of fear as the door flap of the wagon lifted, and two man looked in. One of whom was the least wanted person Estel wished to see right now.
~*_~*_~*_~*_~
Author's Note: Hehe! Yeah, I'm cuttin' it short here, but in the next chapter, I promise to give ya these things. A little bit of Estel, the Elves and their strategy, and the madness of the twins! All in the nest exciting episode of Childhood Curiosity! Yay!!!!! Anyway, please leave me a review on your way out, and thanks for reading my latest chappie! Please, review review review!!!