Unspoken Words

By The Terrifying Threesome (Lily Frost, Sparx and Rhonda)

Chapter II: Bound

* * *

Elrohir barely had time to react to his younger brother's predicament before having to dodge an attack by a man standing to his left. Suddenly, jumped from behind and slowed by the water, the elf had no time to react before he found himself outside of the lake and being pinned flat on the ground by two men. They quickly bound his wrists with coarse ropes, in spite of his struggles. A quick glance to his right told him that his twin was caught in the same dilemma, although the men handling Elladan were much rougher with him.

As they bound his wrists, Elrohir winced; the wet ropes were made by men, and scraped against his tender skin. One of the men noticed this and let out a cruel laugh.

Then, as the men roughly pulled the elf to his feet, the other ruffian snarled a warning, "You make a noise an' the boy gets a beatin'."

Elladan was pulled to his feet as well, dripping and glaring like a disgrunted kitten after a bath. He gasped when his gaze fell upon his human brother again; Estel, grey eyes clenched tightly shut and trickling tears, was not only bound with the same rope, but also gagged.

* * *

Estel was brought before a group of half a dozen unruly men with wild hair and deep-set eyes, standing in a semi-circle. The apparent leader, a man called Guryn, came to stand before the boy, and Estel was roughly pushed towards him and ungagged.

"Unhand me!" Estel cried, quickly being gagged again with a grimy rag. Guryn ignored his protests as he scrutenized him for a moment, at length nodding to the men behind him, "Take him to camp, with the elves."

Elves! Estel thought in a panic, did he mean Elladan and Elrohir? Had they been captured too?

The young human looked desperately about himself, trying to catch a glimpse of his brothers through the trees, but all he saw was an occational glimpse of a human limb. Once or twice he thought that he had seen their dark hair, but to his dismay it turned out to be someones clothing.

* * *

Trying to struggle against the ropes and the men holding him earned Elladan a harsh blow across the side of his head from a heavy hand and the elf nearly fell to the ground. Elrohir cringed as he mentally felt his twin being struck, though they could not see one another, their bond allowed them to feel such things.

Elladan was pulled roughly to his feet and forced to amble ahead, trying to regain his bearings so as not to be walloped again.

* * *

At last Estel saw them, but not as he would have liked to. The twins too were bound and gagged now, and being dragged by the other men, both struggling in vain when they caught sight of the child.

"Let them go!" came the cry in his mind, and he tried to voice it, but the gag absorbed his words before they had even left his lips.

Seeing that he was speaking, or trying to, the man holding Estel removed the gag and demanded in his coarse voice, "How is it that you have come to be with elves?"

Estel steeled himself and replied in his most sincere tone, "They are my brothers."

"Then you shall suffer the same fate as them," Guryn said, approaching him from behind again. Fear crept into Estel's heart at the thought of what was to come, and suddenly he wanted to go home, and more than anything he wanted his ada!

"This is a mere taste of what the three of you are in for," the man holding Estel told them, satisfaction and pleasure written all over his face. He gagged Estel once more and patted his head as if with affection but for the gleam in his eyes.

"Let us move on." Guryn commanded, "The day is still young."

And thus the three captives were dragged off in a new direction, leaving their horses and their lighthearted moods behind. Questions rushed through their minds, all unanswered. Who where these men, and what did they want? They wondered exactly what was going to happen to them.

* * *

When they came upon the make-shift camp Elladan and Elrohir were chained to a tree and locked there. The men knew of the strength of elves and did not want to risk an escape. Estel, however, was kept in the ropes they had put him in originally, for they did not think one so small could do much harm as such.

Night had fallen, and the men eaten their fill. In the light of the fire Guryn approached the elves again now, watching them with cool loathing. "So," He drawled, looking from one brother to the other, "You believe that you are special?"

"You believe that you are better than us," He continued, ignoring the protests from Elladan, "blessed by the Valar, immortal.. above us.. special?"

"We do not belie--" Elrohir started, but was cut off by his twin, "We are better than men such as you!"

Crack!

A barbed oxen whip that had been hidden within Guryn's sleeve was taken out and slapped Elladan across the side of his fair face. He yelled out in surprise, but recovered quickly. Though he grimaced he refused to yeild to the pain before the man. Instead he glared, his eyes narrow slits and face burning.

"Listen elf," Guryn spat the word as if it were some foul, vile thing, "I have a few rules to explain to you. First, there will be no countering what I say. You are not to insult myself, nor my men."

"And if we do?" Elladan challenged, receiving a glare from his brother who knew he was goading the cruel man.

Guryn sneered at him, "I would hurt you then, but that would not hurt you enough..."

"No, instead I think, I should be forced to injure," Crack! the whip struck against bare skin, "your" and again, Crack! "other half." Elrohir winced, turning his face to the side until the burning sensation stopped. His cheek was torn by the barbs, dripping blood down the pale skin.

Elladan gapped in horror, "Ro!"

Guryn stopped for a moment, smiling smugly at Elladan.

"Please, do not hurt him!" He begged.

"Oh?" Guryn mocked, again bringing the whip to Elrohir's face, arms and legs, "And why should I stop?"

Finally Elrohir could take it no longer and a scream erupted from his lips as the whip continued to make contact with his flesh. Estel and Elladan struggled against their bonds to get to him to no avail. With every loud crack of the whip, Elrohir cried out, his shoulders slumping a little more.

"Dartho.. Stop!" cried Elladan, quickly switching languages so as not to anger the men, "please you will kill him."

"That is the point, filthy elf, but have no fear yours will come." He signaled to his men and they approached Estel and Elladan now.

Estel screamed at the sight of the whip, his eyes impossibly wide and unblinking. Elladan grimaced at the thought of his human brother taking that kind of punishment when he had done nothing to wrong the men.

The screams from Estel continued for over an hour, and it was then that Elladan and Elrohir at last gave in, bloody and bruised, and allowed themselves to cry out as well, revealing their weakness.

Eventually Estel managed to get free of the ropes and ran for his brothers, both of whom were close to losing consciousness. *SNAP* was the sound that echoed through the hills. Estel screamed nearly loud enough to wake the dead, his arm now laying limply at his side. "I'll bet you don't try that again now will you?"

"N—no," Estel stuttered through his tears. He was bound again his agony building as his arm was retied.

"Enough of this play they need to suffer said Guryn. A bottle of foul smelling liquid was brought out and each of the three prisoners made to drink it. When Elladan refused a swift kick to the stomach made him open his mouth to scream and it was poured in. All three retched, Estel heaving his to the forest floor.

"Ah so you need another dose do you?" Estel was in no shape to resist as another dose was poured into his mouth.

Estel's mind now swarmed with deep dark thoughts and his mind played tricks on him.

"It's your fault they were caught." Tears stung his eyes and they fell silently to the ground. Their screams were heard throughout the night as all were slashed, whipped and tortured until darkness took them.

* * *

Galadriel stepped up to her mirror, the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach growing stronger with each passing moment. She had felt it at breakfast just moments ago and she did not bother with fighting it. As she looked into the mirror, what she saw horrified her.

Galadriel had seen many things in the thousands of years of her life, but the sight of her twin grandsons being beaten senseless was not something she could stomach well. She was reminded of her daughter, Celebrian. Celebrian had been captured and tortured by orcs hundreds of years ago, and Galadriel had seen it in her mirror. Unfortunately she had not had time to stop the capture, although her visions did help Elladan and Elrohir to rescue their mother.

Galadriel eyes widened in shock as she saw the young human Elrond was raising as his own, Estel, being beaten along with Elladan and Elrohir. Unlike the two elves, who were able to hide the pain and trauma they faced to a certain extent, the young boy was sobbing and looked completely horrified.

Galadriel stepped away from the mirror and turned at once to inform Celeborn. This must be stopped.

TBC

A/N: Thanx for all your reviews mellyn nin! We love to get them, so keep them coming! We do apologize that this chapter took so long to come out but we had difficulties lol. We think we have resolved them and hopefully the third chapter will be coming out fairly soon! Ta-ta for now. *points to "submit review" button*