-I do not own LOTR or any of it's characters, but Aron Thelin and Elomier are mine! Ok then? Ok.-
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Estel made his slow progress through the woods, keeping low to the ground, looking for tracks. He had been searching for over an hour, his hope ebbing slowly away as every moment passed.
He thought of the day he and the Little One had met. It was very strange, meeting this particular hobbit, then going to look for him. The hobbit had been very scared of him at first, but when he had noted that his name was indeed elvish, he had become very friendly. Though Merry hadn't seemed quite as nice. Merry had been very suspicious of him, not trusting him in the least bit. And how could he blame the lad? He was a man, not to be trusted by a hobbit! He was so much bigger and stronger than they!
Estel mused on this a bit more, when his eyes landed upon a small clearing. He straightened, and walked to the center of it. A dying fire was held in the center of it, the ashes churned to make sure no more flames sprang to life without anyone's knowing. Next to the fire were small signs of three Men sitting around the fire. Small scraps of food were scattered on the ground around the fire, the three Men not being very good at keeping food in their mouths.
He looked around the clearing some more, and found that behind some bushes there had been someone hiding there. The size of the imprints on the ground seemed just right for a hobbit like Frodo. And then he saw the footprints of the men in front of the bush. He studied the area for a moment, pondering many things. And then his mind finally clicked...
Frodo was gone! Taken! Kidnapped! What was he to do! Where had they gone, what were they going to do to them!?
Estel followed the footprints of one man, who seemed to have walked away from the others. No, not just walked away. He must be taking Frodo with him. But to where?
Estel followed the boot-prints, not knowing where they were leading him, but wherever they were, he was willing to follow to get Frodo back.
~*~
Frodo slowly came to awareness, hazy and grey at first, but it became clearer and clearer with every passing moment. He vaguely became aware of his head laying in someone's lap. Big, like Estel. But certainly not inviting and warm, and kind. This lap was hard and cold, not at all the lap he liked.
As his mind became clearer, he suddenly and disgustedly became aware of something wrong.. Very wrong..
A large hand was slowly running along his chest, running down and then up, dipping lower and lower every second, rubbing slowly. And then suddenly, terribly, the hand ran down fast below his waist line, between his legs.
Frodo sat up with a horrified cry. He may be a bit young, but he knew that was not meant to happen. The hand stopped and found a place on his shoulder, as if to comfort him, but he found no such thing in it. This man had ill intent, and he knew it. Aron looked at him inoccently and cheerfully, and Frodo was disgusted.
"Ah, you have finally awoken! I was waiting for that, for you are not much fun asleep!" Aron said, smiling, trying to keep the bad nature from his face, but Frodo could see it clearly. Frodo knew what this man meant, and he was terrified. He had to go! He couldn't - WOULDN'T let this happen!
"I know of what you speak, and there will be no such happening!" Frodo lifted his foot up, drew it back, and kicked Aron hard in the gut with the speed of an elf. Aron doubled over with pain, his large hands gripping his stomach in pain. Frodo shot up and took off before Aron could even move.
After a few seconds, Aron got up, one hand gripping his stomach, and yelled after the qiuck hobbit, "Hey! Come back here!" And off he went, chasing Frodo through the trees, his feet pounding hard on the ground. Somewhere near in the woods, pointed ears twitched slightly, and a fair head turned in the direction of the terribly loud sounds that hurt his ears so.
Aron was on the hobbits' heels, and to Frodo's dismay, he was heading straight for a dead end, a small river lay not more than three meters away from the two runners.
"Come back here, you-" But Aron could not finish his sentence, for at that moment, an arrow flew through the air and embeded itself in his shoulder. With a cry and a groan, he fell to the ground clutching at his shoulder.
Frodo looked back with surprise at Aron, leaning over with an arow in his shoulder, desperatly pulling at it, trying without success to get it out. But that was Frodo's mistake. Frodo had not stopped running, and no more than a second after he had looked back, he tripped over a large root of an Elm tree protruding from the ground. He fell with a cry, tumbling head over heels, straight into the river.
With a splash, he fell into the river, sending water everywhere. He was flailing about in the water, not knowing in the least bit how to swim, terrified of the water because of the unfortunate drowning of his parents. He saw something that completely took him off his guard however, and he stopped his flailing for a moment. An elf, tall and slender, with light blue eyes and white-blonde hair was racing towards him, casting down his weapons as he went. But that one off-guard moment proved ill for him. He was swept under the current of the water, wetness closing over his curly head.
He clawed desperately at the water surrounding him on all sides, having taken no more than one breath before being completely swallowed by the water. The current was taking him further down river, and he tried as hard as he could to stay in one place, and get to the surface at once. And then he felt something wrap around his ankle. He looked down and saw a long and thin plant had somehow wrapped itself around his small ankle and was keeping him from moving further downstream. Suddenly he heard a splash, muffled by the pounding water in his ears, and he saw the elf again.
The elf was looking around for him, completely submerged in the water, his blonde hair floating lazely around his fair face. Frodo cried out, and was rewarded with water flowing into his mouth. Frodo coughed, the terrible tasting water almost making him gag. The elf did see him, however, and swam toward him. Frodo faught against the darkness slowly taking over his vision, for he couldn't breath at all, his breath had been taken out of him when he had tried to get the elf's attention.
The elf saw this, and swam faster toward the hobbit. He could see that he couldn't breath, and started kicking his long legs harder. He soon reached the halfling, taking his long knife from his boot and cutting the halfling free from the plant. The plant let go, hacked in two, and the halfling floated away from in, barely moving because he was so tired.
The elf swam forward before the current could take the small hobbit again, and grabbed him around the waist. Once he had an arm securely around the slim waist of the hobbit, he kicked off from the ground with all his might kicking his legs hard and using his free arm to help. Soon they broke the surface, and he swam to shore, careful to keep the hobbit's head over the water.
The elf got onto land finally, hauling Frodo up with him, and holding him, waiting for something to happen. The hobbit wasn't breathing. In a panic, he started rubbing his slender hand up and down the hobbits' spine, to the middle of the shoulders, and back down again. He was doing this for only a few moments, when the hobbit opened his eyes and started coughing nonstop, coughing and spluttering, water falling out of his mouth and onto the dry earth. The elf soothingly continued rubbing his back until the coughing subsided, and that was not for a long time.
When the coughing did finally stop, the hobbit turned his head and looked at the elf with curiosity and a hint of surprise. But before he could say anything, something a few feet away moved suddenly, and a loud groan was heard. Frodo and the elf's heads both whipped around in the direction of the movement. Frodo gasped and stood up shakily. It was Aron.
"We've got to go, now!" The elf stared at him for a moment in curiousity. "Please! We've got to go now, before he wakes up!"
The elf looked back at the man, who was now trying to sit up, and back at Frodo. He nodded in acknowledgement, and picked up Frodo an set him on his hip. He then started off at a trot through the woods, careful not to trip over anything. Frodo was keenly aware of everything, every movement, every shadow, he didn't want anything else to happen anymore.
Suddenly a sharp CRACK! Sounded not to far ahead of them, and Frodo's eyes widened, not again!
"Stop! Stop!" He squeeked to the elf. The elf started to slow down, and Frodo jumped out of his arms onto the ground, his knees bending on contact. Suddenly something burst through the bushes in front of them, but Frodo didn't stop to see what it was. In a split second, he had taken off and was flying through the woods. His instinct told him to do something, get away from whatever it was. And he did just that.
Frodo stopped at a large ash tree and started climbing. He climbed as high as he dared to, which was about eight feet from the ground. Enough to terrify any regular hobbit. But Frodo was no regular hobbit, and he stayed there, backing up until his back hit the trunk of the tree. He drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, setting his chin on his knees and looking down warily.
"Frodo! Frodo! Come back here!" Strangely that voice sounded familiar.
Two men and an elf burst through the underbrush, frantically looking around for him. The elf was the one who had saved him before, the other was Thelin, and to the hobbit's utter surprise, the other man was Estel. Frodo was overjoyed to see Estel down there, but was terribly frightened that Thelin was also down there. Despite his excitement, he decided to keep quiet and try not to make any sound.
"Frodo! Frodo! Where are you?" Estel yelled.
"Frodo! Frodo!" Thelin yelled. Why was Thelin looking for him? This was starting to get complex again.
But the elf hadn't said a word. Not a single word. Frodo looked around for the elf, and to got a terrible shock when he found him on the branch next to him. Frodo cried out, so aghast was he to see him there, and to the horror of the elf, he fell off the branch.
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Ha ha! I left you guys hanging! Well, your just gonna have to wait and review some more if you want the next chapter, won't cha? Sorry, I just love leaving people hanging! It's so much fun!
Ok then, read and review, because that will make me type much fast, and you know it! ^^