Glorfindel tapped lightly on the door to his Lord's study.
'Enter,' came a far off voice from inside the room.
Glorfindel opened the door and found Elrond pacing steadily, completely entranced with the floor.
'You called for me, Elrond?' he asked, shutting the door behind him.
Elrond started at the snap of the door.
'What has you so worried, mellon nin?' Glorfindel crossed the room gracefully and sat down on a chair before the Lord's desk and watched as Elrond continued pacing.
'Men have been spotted along our borders; quite a few of them within the last year. This is not normal. They are planning something,' Elrond's brows furrowed in concentration, still staring at the floor.
Glorfindel chuckled, 'You amuse me.' He stood up and walked over to the clattered bookshelf against the wall. He scanned it quickly before pulling out a map and spread it out on the desk.
He looked up at Elrond, who stopped to stare at Glorfindel, 'It amazes me how you can even find anything in that mess.'
Glorfindel flashed his white teeth in a grin, 'The Valar gave me this mighty gift,' he said over-dramatically.
Elrond smiled and shook his head, 'You always know how to brighten my spirits.'
'The Valar must have given that to me, too,' he said teasingly. Elrond chuckled and leaned on his desk over the map along with Glorfindel.
'Whereabouts have they been spotted?' Glorfindel inquired, motioning his head to the map.
Elrond pointed to Imladris' western borders, 'Here, mostly. However, some were seen along the southern borders.'
Glorfindel examined the map, 'Has anything been seen along the eastern borders?'
'Nothing, that's what worries me,' Elrond said, his brow furrowing once again.
'Well, there is nothing we can do about that, but, if it makes you happy, I will place a few more patrol guards at the western borders,' Glorfindel said, rolling the map up and placing it among the mess.
He sat on the chair again, flinging his leg over the arm and resting his head in his hand, not seeing the need to be formal, 'Is that all?'
'No,' Elrond said as he sat in his chair behind his desk, looking a little less stressed. 'I would like to know – ' his sentence was cut dead as the door slammed open and Glorfindel tried to straighten his position in the chair.
An exhausted elf, clad in Mirkwood colours, leaned heavily on the door frame, panting like mad, 'Forgive me… my Lord…' he managed to say, 'but, King Thranduil… sends me… to you with… an urgent message concerning… Prince Legolas Thranduilion…'
With a blaze of golden hair, Glorfindel pinned the drained elf to the wall with his feet dangling and a terrified look on his face.
'What happened to Legolas!?' Elrond was sure that the entire manour heard that.
The poor Mirkwood elf was shaking like a leaf out of fear of the Balrog Slayer's menacing voice.
'Prince Legolas has been captured by a group of men, but – ' before he could finish, Glorfindel dropped him and sped out of the door.
Elrond, not even heeding the crumpled elf on the floor, raced after Glorfindel calling his name and trying to stop him. He followed him to the stables where Glorfindel was tacking Asfaloth up in a great hurry.
'Glorfindel,' Elrond tried to reason. 'You don't even know who you're dealing with!' Elrond grabbed the saddle from Glorfindel's hands. 'You can't go out there without any information, it's too dangerous!'
Glorfindel backed into the wall, eyes wide with terror, and slid to the ground. He tucked his knees to his chest and hid his face in his arms, his shoulders heaving from rage.
Elrond leaned the saddle against the opposite wall and kneeled down next the despairing elf.
"Shh… Glorfindel. Calm down. We will find him; he'll be all right. He is a warrior, he can survive anything, you know that," he stroked Glorfindel's hair, trying to sooth him.
Glorfindel sat there, trying to calm his racing heart with deep breaths. Finally, he looked up ahead, staring at nothing in particular, but thinking of everything. /Where is Legolas? Is he hurt? The Valar have mercy on those who captured him once they cross my path. I will find him; I will find my love./
"Glorfindel?" Elrond wasn't sure if Glorfindel was going to sob uncontrolably or punch a hole in the stone wall.
"I have to find him, Elrond," Glorfindel whispered with grim determination.
"He will be found, mellon nin," Elrond crooned. "He must be found."
Night fell swiftly upon the lands. The small camp near the Anduin was silent and still; not a soul stirred. Except for one lone man, as silently as his feet would allow, creeping along to a solitary figure lying on the ground. Faramir crept closer to the elf, noticing his eyes still open and staring, and thought the elf awake. He knelt down, the elf not heeding his presence, and touched the soft, fair cheek of the captive. Legolas started awake suddenly and panicked, feeling the hand touch his cheek. Faramir, not expecting the abrupt movement, started himself, but recovered quickly.
Seeing the unaccompanied man, Legolas calmed slightly, but kept a suspicious air about him, not trusting him fully. Faramir smiled reassuringly seeing the slight trust in the elf's eyes.
His hand came down to the gag that prevented him from speaking and untied the cloth, noting how tight the gag was and felt pity for the unfortunate elf. He moved the gag away slowly so as to not damage further the already sore mouth. This done, he sat the elf up, letting him lean against his chest, and grabbed a water flask from his belt. Faramir held it up the elf's lips, encouraging him to drink.
Legolas accepted the gesture and began to drink greedily.
Faramir pulled the flask away and whispered, 'Little sips.'
Legolas nodded once and Faramir placed the flask near his lips once more.
Taking small mouthfuls, he drank slowly until the flask was empty.
Though, he was still thirsty, Legolas was grateful for the man's kindness. 'Thank you,' was all he could rasp, his voice still weak from not speaking for days.
Faramir smiled hearing Legolas's voice: it was so beautiful and melodic, even if it was a bit scratchy.
'I am so sorry,' Faramir whispered, bowing his head in shame.
Legolas smiled sadly, catching the sincerity in the young man's voice.
''Tis not of your making,' he said, quietly, ''Twas your captain's decision, not yours, I am sure.'
'But I did nothing to stop him, I…'
'You tried, Faramir. Your brother has more power than you; you couldn't've done anything more than try.'
'I could have stopped him, though…' his voice trailed off.
'You saw what could have happened to me had you not retreated. Your captain can be dangerous, Faramir. It took a lot from you to even stand against him, let alone risking a fight with him for my cause. Do not blame yourself, you are not of fault,' Legolas rested his head back on Faramir's shoulder reassuringly, closed his eyes and sighed.
Faramir felt more than heard the troubled sigh.
'I do not know what my brother is planning for you, though I do have some thoughts, and those are ones I would not like to think of,' Faramir stated, troubled himself.
'I know your thoughts, and I fear them, as well. Should they prove true, there's no telling what the outcome might be,' Legolas's brows furrowed in thought and in worry.
Unexpectedly, Legolas's head snapped up and his eyes searched the clearing's borders frantically. Faramir looked at Legolas, confused and unaware.
'Go, Faramir,' Legolas said, fearing the worst. Footfalls from behind them both made Legolas look over Faramir's shoulder. But before anything could be done, the flat of a sword came soaring into Faramir's head, knocking the man to the side, which made the elf fly forward, his head taking a sharp blow against a tree and sending him into darkness.
So shocked was Faramir, that he could've passed off as one who was paralyzed, but that was far from the case, for he turned onto his back, groaning at the excruciating pain shooting through his head, to discern who his assailant was. His eyes widened in terror and alarm to see his own brother standing over him, Boromir's eyes blazed with anger.
As quickly as the blow to Faramir's head came, Boromir's eyes changed to that of mock kindness and compassion. Troubled by the sudden change, Faramir started to draw back, still on his back, anxiousness laced through his facial features.
Having none of that, Boromir stilled his brother by placing a foot on his chest and pressing down none to lightly, his eyes never loosing that dangerous kindness.
'Oh, my little brother,' Boromir kneeled, increasing the pressure on Faramir's chest two fold. 'Apparently, you have yet to learn the ways of war. Creating a friendship with the enemy, I find you. Do you have no respect for your own people?' Saying this, he shifted most of his weight to Faramir's chest, making him have to gasp to get a bit of air into his suffocated lugs. Boromir only laughed at his brother's predicament. 'You're so weak, brother. How can you even live with yourself knowing this?'
At this statement, Faramir's blood rushed through his veins, his cheeks flushing in pent up anger. Seeing red, he grabbed Boromir's foot and threw him off his chest, making his brother fly a good three meters away and hit the ground with an audible thud, knocking the wind from his body.
Getting up quickly, he looked over to Boromir's groaning, curled up figure, scowling at the man, though his full fledged anger fled quickly.
'Had you been me at this moment, you'd've already been at my throat with a knife pressed to it. However, this is not the case, and I pity you,' he said while walking over to the unconscious form of the elf who was stirring slightly.
Just as he stooped to pick Legolas off the ground, a body collided into his, both landing hard on the ground, but Faramir's taking the full blow of the painful contact. Faramir felt a cold, sharp blade biting into his neck and opened his eyes against the dull ache racing through his body just to look into the insane eyes of his brother.
'I don't need to be you to have a knife pressed to your throat,' he said as he applied pressure to the threatening weapon, drawing a thin line of blood.
Just then a glowing form flew into Boromir and shoved him off of Faramir and onto to the ground.
The sudden force that rammed into him stunned Boromir and when he realized what hit him, his eyes turned red with fury. He saw the captive elf, still bound hand and foot, lying not one foot away from him sending daggers at him with his hate-filled eyes.
/The elf dared to defy me for a second time?! He shall pay dearly for this./
The other soldiers had eventually heard the clamour and had gone over to where the three persons were fighting for dominance over the other.
Boromir had seen this and, without much care, picked up the elf and, literally, threw him over to his men. 'Watch him,' Boromir growled to the bewildered soldiers, then stalked over to his brother who was still trying to recover from his treatment.
'Coward!' Legolas shouted at Boromir from his position on the ground.
The guards looked down at the bound elf as if he were about to transform into a Balrog and kill them all. They backed away slowly, eyes wide and terrified, as Boromir spun around and met the elf's seething gaze with a withering, death-stare of his own.
/By the gods, this elf will know what pain really is once I've finished with him./
In seconds, Boromir had Legolas pinned to a tree trunk by the throat with his feet dangling a fair height off the ground.
'What did you call me?' Boromir tightened his grip on the elf's throat, which made him struggle for even an inkling of a breath.
Despite the fact that he couldn't breathe, Legolas kept the defiance and rage in his eyes. This angered Boromir greatly, but before he had time to do anything about it, Legolas brought up his bound feet and kicked Boromir hard in the stomach, sending him flying back as Legolas fell from his grasp in a heap at the tree's base.
Legolas coughed, trying to clear his windpipe to get air back into his lungs, then looked to where the Captain lay stunned and gasping for breath from the hard blow.
With one last cough and wheezing gasp, Legolas spat, 'You heard me.'
A/N
Don't kill me! throws arms in front of face I'll try to update as soon as possible, but, again, reviews spur me on.
Live long, die fighting