At the sight of his sons joining the melee, Elrond quickly jumped to his feet and rejoined the battle, ignoring the blood that ran down his arm as he made his way to the twins.
"Ada!" Elrohir exclaimed, seeing his father alive.
"Get out of here!" Elrond replied, quickly scanning them for injuries and seeing bruises on both of their faces. "Both of you!"
The twins ignored his command, continuing to fight.
Elrond sighed with exasperation, turning to see that the battle was pretty much over. Looking over at the elves who had managed to protect two of their four charges, he saw that they were still firing arrows at the remaining orcs, freeing up the other elves to see to their injures.
Elrond turned when someone grabbed his injured arm, to see Elladan looking at it with a frown.
"You're hurt!"
Elrond pulled his arm back. "It is nothing. How are Estel and Legolas?"
The twins sighed as they made their way to the others. "Legolas is hurt very badly, ada…"
Elrond sighed, quickening his pace.
Aragorn looked up when his father and brothers suddenly appeared, kneeling beside them.
Elrond glanced at his son first, seeing bruises on his face similar to the twins. Giving him a slight smile, he looked down at Legolas.
Aragorn and the twins watched as he tended to their friend. Their father's grim expression didn't escape their notice.
Elrond slung his healer's bag off his shoulder, quickly digging through it until he produced a needle and thread. "How long has he been unconscious?"
"Since the wound was inflicted, early this morning," said Aragorn, sighing. "The orc used a large rock for a weapon. He lost much blood."
Elrond sighed as he wordlessly examined the gash. Pulling up Legolas' eyelids, he found the elf's pupils very dilated, signaling a serious concussion.
Aragorn and the twins watched silently as their father carefully stitched the gash closed and wrapped a bandage around the elf's head.
"When did this happen?" Elrond asked, pointing to the broken arm.
"Two days ago," Elladan said. "The orcs purposely did it more damage since then."
Elrond clenched his jaw at those words, knowing well the pain of a broken arm, and the agony that any touch to it would cause.
Unwrapping the bandage and removing the sticks that Aragorn had used for a splint, Elrond carefully laid bare the younger elf's arm…and gasped at the sight.
His sons quickly echoed it.
Legolas' entire forearm was a mass of colors: black, blue, and purple.
Elrond was almost afraid to touch it, not wanting to cause further damage. He glanced at his sons, seeing the shock on their faces. Obviously they had been unaware as to the seriousness of the injury.
The broken bone was not protruding, to Elrond's relief, and he placed his hand just above the skin, still not wanting to touch it. "Who set the bone?"
"I did," said Aragorn.
"Where is the break?"
Aragorn looked over his friend's bruised arm, trying to remember the exact location. He finally pointed, and Elrond gently placed his hand on the skin.
The healer immediately felt the break, and he frowned at its severity. "He was fortunate; the orcs did not dislodge it from its rightful place." He looked at his human son. "Your splint held."
Aragorn smiled his relief.
Little more was said as Elrond re-splinted and wrapped Legolas' arm. Taking another long piece of bandage, he carefully bound the arm to Legolas' body so that there was no way that it could move. However, as he did so, a drop of blood suddenly fell onto the white cloth.
"Ada!" Elladan suddenly exclaimed, remembering his father's injury.
Aragorn and Elrohir only now noticed Elrond's blood-soaked sleeve, as they'd been too preoccupied with their injured friend.
Aragorn grabbed his father's arm, shocked that he hadn't seen it before. Of course, the fact that his father's tunic was a deep burgundy color had helped to conceal it.
Elrond tried to pull his arm away, but the twins restrained him as Aragorn pushed up the sleeve.
At the sight of the gash, he looked at his father, in shock that he'd been able to use his arm so much. "This needs stitches."
Elrond shook his head, pulling his arm away. "It can wait!"
"No it can't!" Aragorn answered, grabbing it again.
Looking back at Legolas, Elrond sighed. "I am not in danger of bleeding to death, ion-nin. Bind it if you must, quickly, so that I may finish with Legolas."
Aragorn took the roll of bandage that Elladan handed him, and together they bound their father's arm tightly, to hopefully halt the bleeding.
Elrond smiled at them when they finished, in thanks.
Elrohir sighed from where he sat beside Legolas, feeling his friend's ribs to see if any were broken. The unconscious elf's torso and midsection were covered in bruises from the orcs' rough treatment. Elrohir was still shocked at the fact that the stitches in Legolas' midsection had remained in place.
It was quite a while before they were finished tending to the elf-prince, and not once did Legolas stir or make a sound. That fact caused massive anxiety to all of them, and after being sure that Legolas was 'comfortable', Elrond's sons discussed their next action.
"I want to do it!" said Elladan.
"So do I!" Elrohir said.
"And I," said Aragorn. "However, only one person can."
"Will someone just do it?" said Elrond, unwrapping the bandage on his arm, which had soaked up quite a bit of blood. "I cannot understand why you would argue over who does the deed."
His three sons turned to look at him.
Elrond blinked at the seemingly evil grins on their faces. His eyebrows shot up when he realized what was going on. "You are not serious…?" he said.
"Oh yes, ada," said Elladan. "Sweet revenge!"
Elrond gasped when Elrohir grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to lie flat on the ground.
"Now," said Aragorn, trying to copy Elrond's voice. "This will not hurt a bit."
"I have never said that—" Elrond started, but choked when Elrohir started to pour something down his throat. "What is that?!"
"Just something to ease the pain," said Elladan, with a smirk.
Elrond pushed it away, licking his lips. "That tastes like the tea that puts the patient to sleep!"
"It is," said Aragorn matter-of-factly, threading the needle.
"I will not drink it!" said Elrond, trying to sit up, while Elladan fought to keep him flat. "Legolas may need me!"
Elrohir saw that he was right, and put the cup down.
"What do you wish to take for the pain then?" Aragorn asked.
"The bit of tea that I drank helped," Elrond said, suddenly sounding drowsy. "Just do it."
Aragorn nodded, looking at his brothers.
Elladan placed a restraining hand on his father's shoulder just in case, while Elrohir scooted closer to Legolas, not wanting to leave their friend unattended.
Aragorn carefully began to stitch the gash in Elrond's arm, glancing at his father's face to see his reaction.
Elrond had his eyes closed, but remained quiet through the procedure.
Aragorn wrapped a bandage around the wound when he finished. "You all right, ada?"
Elrond reopened his eyes, still looking drowsy. "Of course."
Aragorn chuckled when Elrond blinked slowly, on the edge of sleep thanks to the tea. "Would you two check on everyone else?" he asked his brothers, speaking of the elves that Elrond had brought with him. "I'll stay with ada and Legolas."
The twins nodded and walked off.
Scooting closer to his friend, Aragorn checked Legolas' pulse. It was weak, but steady, and Aragorn carefully pulled up one of Legolas' eyelids to see if his eyes reacted to the sunlight. They did, thankfully, and Aragorn sighed with relief, passing a hand over his weary eyes. The four of them had been through a lot in the past few days—especially Legolas. He began to wonder if their lives would be filled with nothing but danger forever…
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LOL I was DYING to post that scene with Elrond's sons arguing over who stitches his arm...lol! Thanks for your reviews, everyone, I LOVE each one of them! :)