Rules are Made to be Broken

Elrond hurried through the house as the horns of the sentries signalled the return of his sons.

He had been reluctant to let the twins join the hunting party in the first place and had been worrying about them ever since they left.

Now they had returned and he rushed into the courtyard to greet them.

Each twin was riding his own horse unaided and they were actually supporting another elf between them, showing that they must be perfectly alright if they were able to look after themselves and another at the same time.

Even so, as soon as he saw them, Elrond hurried over and, almost before the twins had dismounted, was insisting they both accompany him at once to their chambers so that he could check them over himself.

Elladan seemed to be slightly favouring his left leg and Elrohir had a large gash down the side of his neck, but other than these and a few minor cuts and bruises, both twins were fit healthy.

"My sons, are you both alright?"

"Yes, father," replied Elrohir, helping his brother dismount, "we are fine, though I am sure there are many others who need your attention."

"I know, but first I want a full report in my study, now"

Meekly, the twins followed their father into the house, pausing now and then to check on their injured comrades.

Once inside his study, Elrond closed the door behind his sons and sat done behind his desk.

Both Elves stood silent for a moment, before a cold stare from their fathers loosened their tongues.

"We found the orcs up near the north of the forest," explained Elladan

"Yes," agreed Elrohir, "and we managed to drive them away."

This was a very sketchy report of what happened but I told Elrond that his people were safe, for the moment. He only had one question,

"Where did you drive them to?"

"Towards the ruins."

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The twins were a little disappointed that their younger brother had not come to meet them but they guessed that he was probably sulking in his room after his last lecture from Elrond. So, after reporting to their father and checking that everyone who need it was being taken care of, they went up to see him, only Aragorn wasn't there.

What was, however, was Legolas letter to him.

As they entered the chamber, both elves knew immediately that it was empty, but they still search all over just to make sure he wasn't hiding.

Having checked everywhere they could possibly think of in the chamber, Elrohir went to the balcony to see if Aragorn was in the garden, which of course he wasn't.

Elladan, however, knew that something was wrong.

Aragorn would defiantly have come down to meet them once they returned, as he had always done, and if not he would certainly have been in his room.

Elrond had forbidden him to leave Rivendell and he didn't much care fore the barracks without his brothers.

Things really were not adding up.

Aragorn had to be in Rivendell, but if he were not in his room, and not in the garden, then where was he?

Then he saw it, a letter lying on the bed. Why they had not seen it before, Elladan did not know, but there it was, and he knew it would be the answer to Aragorn location.

Quickly he picked it up and began to read.

He stiffened.

Elrohir turned around to ask his brother where they should look next, but the words died on his lips as he saw the expression on Elladan's face.

"What is it?" Elrohir asked, worried by his brother's silence.

"He's gone to the ruins!"

"How do you know?"

"Because Legolas invited him!"

"What?!"

Elladan showed him the letter.

When he finished Elrohir turned to look at his brother, then without a word, they both turned and ran from the room, heading for Elrond's study.

Elrond looked up as his sons burst through the door, wearing identical expressions on their identical faces. Both looked incredibly worried and Elrond immediately felt fear growing in his heart as he asked:

"What's the matter?"

"It's Estel," explained Elladan, his voice slightly shaking as he said it, "We found this in his room."

He handed the letter to his father.

Elrond almost didn't want to take the letter and certainly didn't want to read it, but he did and as he did the feeling of fear group in his heart.

When he had finished he looked up at his sons and said:

"We have to act fast."

"But what can we do, father? We don't even know when he left." Asked Elrohir

"Well, it must have been some time just before you arrived because he was at supper and I saw him go up to his chamber afterwards."

"He probably left as we arrived, using us as a cover, I did think I saw something slip out as we left," said Elladan

"Whenever he left, he can't have reached the ruins yet, so I want you both to go after him as soon as it's light, ok?"

Both twins agreed instantly and rushed of to prepare.

Elrond settled down to right a letter to Thranduil in Mirkwood, hoping that he would be in enough time to stop Legolas as well.

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The journey through Mirkwood towards Rivendell was blissfully uneventful for Legolas.

He managed to avoid all creatures, both elves and animals, that he came across and made it to the ruins before anyone even knew he was missing.

It was still only early morning and the sun had just begun to rise above the trees.

Having ridden non-stop for the entire night Legolas was rather tired and, and because he had arrived ahead of schedule he settled down for a rest and began to build a fire.

He let his stallion wander freely through the forest, knowing that he only need to whistle and it would return to him.

After having built the fire he stretched out under a large oak, he settled down to rest for a while.

He decided that it would not be good for him to sleep, but he found his eyes glazing and he only but up the minimal struggle before sinking into blissful oblivion.

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Even though he had lived in this area all his life, Aragorn still found himself lost in the large woods outside Rivendell.

He had no idea where he was and he knew he would never be able to find his way in the dark so he decided instead to find somewhere that he could shelter until dawn.

Of to his left he found a small clearing surrounded by large bushes where he could be sure that he would hear any intruder before they saw him.

After starting a fire he pulled a blanket out from his pack and settled down to sleep, hoping that no one would sneak up on him unawares.

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Legolas was woken by a gentle rustling in the bushes off to his left.

Rising slowly he picked up his bow from where he had laid it beside him and notched an arrow. He then crept silently towards the bushes.

He knew there was a clearing through there, but the only creature he had expected to find around here was Estel, and he wasn't due for another hour.

Quietly he leapt up into a tree that gave him a view over the entire clearing.

What he saw almost made him laugh out loud.

There was Estel, lying beside the smouldering remains of a fire. He had obviously been there almost all night, which meant he must have left at early evening the day before.

Legolas dropped down from his vantage point, purposely making as much noise as possible, and waking the slumbering man.

Aragorn jumped to his feet as he heard something thud the ground behind him. He grabbed his sword from the ground beside him and swung around to face his attacker.

There in front of him was Legolas, who had quickly jumped back to avoid the killer blow Aragorn had just tried to give him.

"What the-" he began, but was cut of by Legolas.

"Your early, that's a first for you!"

"Why did you sneak up on me like that?" Aragorn demanded, thoroughly annoyed. "It's not funny!"

Legolas just about collapsed with laughter at the look on his friends face.

Eventually he managed to get himself under control long enough to ask:

"So was it you rustling that bush just know?"

"What do you mean? You know perfectly well that I was asleep until you rudely woke me up just now!"

"Well who was it then?" asked Legolas, starting to worry.

"I don't know, do you want to check it out?"

"Alright."

They both turned towards the bushes, and there before them stood an orc.

Before they could react, 10 more orcs appeared behind the first and a noise behind them told them that there were more on the other side of the clearing.

How they had managed to appear without either of the friends noticing them was a mystery, but what both Legolas and Aragorn knew was that they had been caught unawares and that they were now totally surrounded without even the trees to escape to.

With nothing else to do both friends knew that the only way out of this was to fight. So with a quick smile and nod at each other, they both started to hack their way through the surrounding orcs, hoping that help would arrive soon.

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I'm really sorry, but I'm going on holiday for the next week and won't be able to post. Thanks for the great and reviews and please keep sending them in.