Would you believe it? I'm alive! The reason why i took so long was because i moved out of home, my little country town, into the big bad city! Wow! Scary stuff! Its the first time i've been away from my family too....(I'm 17 btw) So i've been trying to get used to being away from my parents, the city, uni and college life (lotsa drinking!). I'm studying Medical Radiation at uni, so its pretty full on! Kinda.... Well, most of this chapter was written over 3 weeks, around 2.30am, after coming back from the pubs and parties that college life details.....So yeah.... The die-hard Tolkien fans are going to kill me because i did some big NO NO's in this chapter. First of all, in LOTR, Gilrean did not die. She came to live with in Rivendell with her son. But i don't like that. And elven children are never that nasty. But, it makes a good story doesn't it? And the murder of Estel's parents, didn't go exactly like that. Hey, whats artistic license if u never use it?
And cue comments.....
Daw: Yyou are so right. Battle scenes and sad scenes are the worst to write. I'm glad you liked it though.
tmelange: Yeah, i did beat up the little snot-nosed kid didn't i? Oh, you're gonna have wait another chapter hey! Thanks for the info!
Babeyrachey: Well, i needed someone that could speak latin so that they could help me dechiper the phrase on our family crest. But now that i've moved out of home, i dont have the crest with me!
leggylover03: Heres the chapter you've been waiting for...or maybe not.....
Frisha: Sorry i made you wait hey.
Grumpy: I want snow! I've never seen snow! Hehe, i wonder if anyone else will join the club?
Morierblackleaf: Hey! You sound like you have almost normal times, if only just a little longer. Hmm...i think us aussies are just slack.
Keara: It gets worse. Just you wait. The year thing is WEIRD.
Galadriel: Hahah, if i had a beta reader they'd go insane with all the crappy things i do. I come from the land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder.....heheh, funny song. I come from Australia. And yes, this part instersects! Hooray! Finally hey!
pendraggink: Eh?
Spades: Nowhere near as good, nor as long as yours. Wow. theres so many latin-speakers out here hey! HEY HEY!
Elvett: I'm from Australia, therefore we're off school during summer. We're summer during xmas. I think it sux that u ahve to go to school during the xmas period! That's our huge break! You must've been fidgeting bad!
Trin: WHOA! Where'd da hell you come from....i'm obviously just sleep-deprived. I hope you like this chapter better or just as much! Yeah, that helped! I used to live in Darwin, and i was always scared we'd have a cyclone. We start an hour later cause us aussies are slackers.
Legolaslover: It gets sadder. I think. Don't worry, i've cried before in stories as well. None of mine though obviously. Enjoy this chappie!
Rosie: *sulking in a corner* Do not!
Bailey: How'd u find it? It would've been buried by now! Well, its posted. but it wasn't soon eh. Sorry bout that.
Singing swede: I'm afriad i probably wouldn't be able to handle a beta reader. i'd get all aggro and stuff. besdies with my updating schedule (WHAT schedule), i'm afraid it probably wouldn't work. Thank you sooo much for the offer though, no ones ever been that nice to me! I hope you like this chappie though!
Amlee: Nice to see a new face/penname!
I'm sorry, i missed some ppl but there were just so many! My god! I've never had that many ppl before! This chappy is longish...and i hope you like it! I know some things are way out of character, but please....don't kill me!
****And that, thus brought him to where he was in the present time. Running through the forest with a very sick child in his arms.
Throughout the night run, the boy's condition had deteriorated rapidly and Legolas had grown more and more worried and scared. His fever had increased tenfold to the point where the elf could feel the heat radiating off the boy through his clothes and his forehead had become slick with sweat as the child tossed and trembled in the elf's arms. Many a time the boy had forcefully pushed himself out of the elf's arms, causing himself great pain while retching viciously. More bile was all that was expelled. However, it was tinged with blood which worried Legolas even further. That could only mean that blood was somehow finding its way into the boy's stomach, which then meant that…….well……Legolas desperately hoped he was wrong, but he had the small niggling feeling that it might mean that the boy vicious retching had ripped the stomach lining, allowing blood in. That was very bad.
But what worried the elf the most was the punctured lung. He knew that a punctured lung was deadly to both elves and humans and even adults had been known to die from them. It was the slow drowning in the boy's own blood that would probably kill him.
Legolas cursed again and wished that he could just scream, yell and pound his fists against the ground with the anger and worry that consumed him. But he couldn't and fear ate at him as he watched the boy fade before his eyes.
This couldn't possibly be happening! It was just a simple hunting trip! Simple! It was going fine! Things were going great, but then…..then THIS happened! And it happened so quickly……so very quickly. Oh Valar, Estel! Estel, you cannot die. Be your name, give me some hope, live some more. There is so much more ahead of you, so much more to come, you must be strong!
It caused such pain to the elf that held him to hear the boy whimpering so everytime he took a step. As the night grew longer, Estel began muttering, muttering meaningless words as his fever grew worse. The night progressed even further as did the child's fever. Soon, the boy's hair was drenched in sweat and Estel panted shallowly as he struggled to draw in breath. Meaningless words grew into meaningless sentences as the boy's feverish mind threw up odd memories.
Then the boy slipped into the fever stage where he began to relive all his worst memories.
Estel saw his real parents being slaughtered by the rocs in front of his eyes. Even though he was just but a babe, it was a horrific image that had etched it self forever into his memory, and still sometimes, when he was having a bad night, he would have nightmares about the incident. He saw his father fighting bravely against the hoard that assailed him, but then he saw him fall, an arrow through the eye. That never stopped making Estel feel sick, no matter how many times he relived it. His father's face had shown the extreme pain the arrow had caused, and Arathorn's mouth had opened slightly in surprise as he realised he was dying.
Estel jerked in Legolas' arms as his eyes moved frantically below his closed lids. His breathing speeded up until he was in danger of hyperventilating. "No! Ada!"
Legolas started and cursed as he realised that the boy was having feverish nightmares. He tightened his grip around the child so that Estel wouldn't fall and tried to whisper soothing words to him, but they didn't seem to make any difference.
And then Estel's father collapsed and stood no more. Arathorn was dead.
"NO! ADA!" Estel arched his back in remembered pain and his hand fiercely gripped Legolas' arm with such strength that the elf almost winced. "No……Ada……" This time the words were whispered and full of tears and pain. "Get up……get up…..please……no, you can't be…….up….fight! FIGHT THEM! Please…..just please, get up….."
Legolas' heart clenched in his chest as he realised that the boy was reliving the slaughter of his real parents.
He remembered his mother's shock and anguish, which had turned quickly into anger and hatred towards those that had killed her beloved. After hiding her precious child, she also had stepped up to the orcs. But she was only a woman, and although a fiery-spirited one and a good fighter, she was also greatly outnumbered.
She, too, fell.
Estel's body which had been taut and quivering, suddenly collapsed back into the elf's arms, limp and trembling. The boy was taking huge, panicked shallow breaths that hardly allowed any oxygen in yet would've caused immense pain. Legolas was afraid that the hallucinations that the boy was reliving would harm him in real life. "Amme….Amme! No! No……please no….."
Estel's chest heaved and Legolas tensed himself for another bout of vicious retching but it never came. Instead the boy began to sob quietly. Silent tears ran down his cheeks to fall onto the prince's arms that were supporting him. It tore at the prince's gentle spirit to see this boy, who had always been so radiant, so bright, so alive, reduced to this. "Amme….come back…come back….Amme….please….." the quiet, tear-filled words floated sadly to the elf's ears as he continued to run through the forest.
Estel had wanted to scream, he'd wanted to cry but something inside of him, told him to be quiet. His very life depended on it. However, the triumphant orcs started to search the area for anyone they might've missed.
They came closer and closer to the helpless child.
Suddenly Estel tensed and stiffened in the elf's arms, and snuggled in closer to Legolas' chests, burying himself deeper into the cloak that surrounded him. The child's silence was unnerving, even more then the noises of pain he'd been making before. Noises meant the child still lived, but silence, with silence, you were never sure. Legolas stopped, fear eating at him, suddenly thinking that the child had passed through the veil. But a quick examination proved his greatest fears wrong as he saw Estel just clutching him like a terrified child.
But his silent tears still continued to run down his cheeks.
But then a deadly rain of arrows fell onto the orcs and many of them fell with howls of rage and pain. Estel tried to make himself invisible as two nimble beings emerged from the leafy cover of the forest and continued to fight the orcs. They were fast, they were agile and they worked together. Estel squinted. Unless he was seeing double, these beings looked exactly the same…….maybe they were twins?
Soon, no more orcs were standing and the floor was littered with bodies. Both of his parents and their murderers.
The two beings walked through the bodies and stopped suddenly when they came across the bodies of Arathorn and Gilrean. The beings body language talked of sorrow. Then one of them looked up and across and caught the child's eye. Estel turned away suddenly, afraid. But that didn't stop the beings. They walked across and gently picked him up and then took him home.
His rescuers became his new family.
Estel slowly relaxed back into Legolas' arms and his breathing slowed until it was almost even. His tears stopped as well and his hand which had been gripping the prince's arm so tightly, released itself to flop back down onto the boy's chest.
Legolas glanced down as he ran just to make sure the boy was still alive. When he saw that he was, he speeded up a little, scared of what the next nightmare might bring.
Human's fragility scared the elf. Elves never got sick. Humans did…..all the time. Legolas didn't quite understand why humans succumbed to illnesses so often, elves only became sick if they had been poisoned and suchlike. They just didn't get sick, like humans seemed to.
Legolas remembered one time when he had come to Imaldris just to deliver a message from his father to Lord Elrond and while he had been there, Estel had fallen sick. They had just been out, riding on their horses and Estel had been thrown into the lake. Now that the prince thought about it, he couldn't remember if the horse had been intentionally spooked by Estel's brothers or if something else had spooked it.
But that part didn't matter.
What mattered was that Estel had gotten soaking wet. Glaring at his foster brothers and friend who just laughed at him, Estel dragged himself out of the lake and back onto his horse.
"Thanks very much for that." The child growled while flicking his wet hair from out of his eyes.
"No worries little brother. We thought you needed a bath." Elrohir grinned.
"Yes. That was indeed a fortunate incident, you were beginning to smell." Elladan couldn't help but jokingly taunt his younger foster brother.
"Shut up Elladan. You and Elrohir cannot talk." Estel huffed and the argument continued well into the day.
However, all of the elves forgot about human's fragility, especially how young children could succumb to sickness more easily.
Estel didn't have a spare change of clothes and shrugged off the growing cold, he continued to ride in his wet clothing. The weather did not remain fine. Clouds covered over the warmth and light of the sun and the wind began to blow, making the leaves in the trees rustle.
Estel shivered on his place on his horse and tried to hunch up, so that the wind would have less to blow on, however it did not help and the boy knew that the only way that he could get warm again would be to strip off his clothes and wrap himself up in some warm blankets. At the moment, that was not going to happen and Estel resigned himself to getting even colder.
They were only halfway through their journey.
But then, the weather grew even more darker and oppressive and the elves decided to turn back so that they wouldn't get caught in the oncoming thunderstorm.
Estel sneezed and blinked in alarm as he recognised the fuzzy feeling in his head after the sneeze. He groaned mentally. He was falling sick. There would be no living with his brothers when they found out. They worried worse then clucky mothers. Now that he concentrated, he could feel the growing muzzy feeling that was concentrating itself behind his temples. He groaned again. It was going to turn into a fever, he just knew it. It seemed that every cold he got progressed into a fever.
"Hey Estel! Feel like a race?" Elladan called back over his shoulder to his younger brother.
Estel didn't feel like racing but he knew that if he didn't race, then either Elladan would call him a coward and taunt him for the rest of the week or he'd get all worried and start fussing over him. Neither were options that Estel liked.
"Are you sure you want to do that dear brother? I seem to distinctly recall you losing to me pretty miserably." Estel forced a grin and was surprised by the fact that his voice sounded perfectly normal, not even a croak could be heard.
Elladan's face darkened as he indeed remembered. "That is not likely to happen ever again little brother."
"Oh yes? Says you." Estel's smiled turned genuine despite how fuzzy it's owner was feeling. The cold was progressing quickly. The freezing cold winds which cut through the boy's wet clothes didn't help a single bit though. If anything, Estel believed that he was getting colder. However, he wasn't going to let a little bit of cold and a headache hold him back.
"Well, lets put it to the test." Elladan goaded his brother while Elrohir looked piercingly at Estel, after hearing something in the boy's voice that no one else had picked up on.
"Elladan…..do you need to show your manliness by having this race? Estel, are you sure you want to do this?" Elrohir's voice carried just a hint of worry and Estel groaned mentally again. His brother had some sort of telepathic ability to know what was wrong with him, if there was something wrong with him.
"Yes Elrohir, I'm sure. You ready Elladan?" Estel ground out between gritted teeth.
"Uhm…hang on…I just go to….."
"Ready, set, GO!" Estel didn't wait to see if his brother had heard him or was even following him. Instead, just to distract the elves from his worsening condition, he kicked his horse into a gallop and leant forward over the horses neck to lessen the wind resistance as child and beast raced above the ground.
"ESTEL! That's cheating!" Elladan cursed as he too followed his little brother.
The race had been a gruelling and long one. Estel had become even colder. So cold, that he couldn't feel his fingers. It was a hard task to stay awake, or just to balance on his horse's back so that he didn't fall off.
The race never seemed to end.
But the ending was etched indelibly into Legolas' mind.
Of course Elladan and Estel had raced far ahead of Legolas and Elrohir and therefore they passed the gates long before the others did.
Estel won the race, but the child was by then, so disorientated that he hardly even realised he'd won. In the end, it had just been a battle to stay on the horse and conscious. The cold had enveloped and fogged up his mind. His vision had narrowed and tunnelled until it only showed just what was in front of him and the obstacles that he might encounter. His head was pounding unmercifully and he couldn't think or see straight when he passed through the gates of Imaldris.
Elladan had been concentrating so hard on the race that he hadn't noticed what state his little brother was in.
"I guess you win little brother." Elladan's voice was annoyed as he realised he'd lost the race to a human, and his little brother but there was a hint of admiration in his voice as well.
At that very moment, Legolas and Elrohir rode through the gates to join the competitors.
To Estel's ears, Elladan's voice seemed to come from a long way away and seemed to be muted. Muzzily, he raised his head to see the other elves ride up and then slowly turned to face Elladan. He was so spent that he was swaying on the back of his horse, even though the human didn't realise he was doing it.
Elladan's face instantly changed into a worried expression as he saw the boy's eyes were cloudy and weren't focussing on anything. "Estel?"
"Y-yes…..I w-w…..w-won….." The child smiled slowly, closed his eyes, and slid off the horse to land unconscious on a pile on the ground.
The thud that the boy made when impacting heavily with the ground made Legolas wince.
Obviously, the next couple of minutes were filled with panicked and worried actions as the elves rushed to their human brother and called out for their father.
Legolas was scared. It was the first time he'd seen a human fall sick. The only time he'd seen elves act like that, they'd been grievously ill and most of the time, came very close to death. The child was going to die. That's what Legolas thought.
But of course, after a few hours sleep, some medicine and a days enforced bed rest, Estel was back to his normal perky self.
And he was wrong. His cold didn't progress into a fever.
Unlike this horrific fever which held the child in it's unmerciful grip.
Legolas snapped back to the present as Elrond's son tossed slightly in his grasp, and moaned pitifully. The boy's skin was pale, so white in the dark that it seemed that the boy was glowing. But Legolas could see and feel that the boy's lifeforce and accompanying glow was fading with every passing second.
The human was so badly injured. So grievously hurt.
No human could possibly live through the injuries that Estel had sustained. Well, Legolas hoped desperately that that statement was wrong and the boy did have a little bit of elven in his blood from his long ago ancestors.
The prince of Mirkwood hoped that that would help pull the boy through.
As Legolas skidded on some wet leaves, he glimpsed something that filled his heart with joy. He was getting very close to Imaldris. Very close indeed. Salvation would be at hand soon.
However, his joy was ripped to shreds as Estel entered another dangerous fever-induced hallucination.
A young Estel, no more then 8 years old, skipped along the old hallways, his young eyes barely looking at the murals and paintings that aligned the walls. Paintings that would've made historians and other humans in other profressions, drop their books with joy and sit and study them all day. Artists would've eaten their own ears to be able to glimpse or have the chance to study such paintings.
However, this was Estel's homes and beautiful paintings, landscapes and people were just everyday occurrences.
Legolas frowned as he felt the boy's body temperature drop. Estel's breathing grew faster, signifying that the boy was indeed in another one of his hallucinations. Legolas didn't like this. Another spasm, another hallucination could kill the very weak boy. But so far, nothing was happening.
Estel passed many other elves and they smiled gently at the boy and his joyful antics as he continued to skip down the corridor. Estel reached the door that he had been travelling to and allowed his eyes to look all the way up the door to the ceiling. It was a big door. But then admittedly, Estel was only young and therefore smaller. Everything looks bigger when you're younger.
The boy eased the door open, smiling evilly as the door didn't even make a creak. Ada wouldn't even know he was here.
Legolas started as he saw an evil smile trace its way across the unconscious boy's features. Evil smile? Well, Estel had been a horror as a young child, that was true.
The young boy crept along the ground on all fours, his hands and knees scrabbling on the stone floor but still making no sound, or so the child thought. Estel grinned in the comparative darkness as he reached Ada's chair.
Then he tensed himself to spring up and scare the elf lord. Estel crouched, readying himself for the spring, opened his mouth so that he could yell and just as he was about to jump up, Lord Elrond spoke.
"I know you're there Estel. And if you're thinking of scaring me, don't."
Estel slumped back to the ground, astounded. How did Ada know? Sullenly, he got to his feet and stood up.
"How did you know Ada?"
Elrond smiled gently at his youngest son, and had to stop himself from chuckling at the childish pout that lined the boy's mouth. "I could hear you breathing."
"Breathing? Really?"
"Really, really." Elrond put down his quill and motioned for the boy to come over to be beside him. However, he was slightly surprised as the child didn't just come to stand beside him, instead the boy clambered up onto the elf's lap.
Legolas began to untense as the boy relaxed into his arms, and his breathing evened out. Maybe this time it wouldn't be so bad.
"So what is it that you want little one?" Elrond smiled as he ruffled the boy's brown hair. It was growing long.
"Ada?"
"Yes?"
"It is such a nice day outside, won't you come out and play with me?" Estel looked up so that he could see into the elf Lord's eyes.
Elrond blinked. He hadn't been expecting that one. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't played since his own children had been only elflings. He looked down into the human's eyes and saw how much Estel would love him to do this one task, but then Elrond sighed as he remembered all the work that he had to do. No matter how much his human son wanted to play, the elf Lord had to work.
"I am truly sorry Estel, but I have to stay here and work." Elrond watched as his human son's face fell at the bad news. "Why don't you find your brothers?"
Estel's face brightened up again. "That is a good idea Ada! I am sorry that you cannot play. Maybe Elladan and Elrohir can!" Estel jumped up and flung his arms around the elf Lord's neck, giving Elrond a hug before scrambling off the elf's lap and running helter-skelter for the door and hallway beyond.
"ESTEL! What did I tell you about running? No running in the corridors!" Elrond called out uselessly, as the boy had already run out of normal human hearing distance.
The lord of Imaldris picked up his quill and began to write, a smile on his features. Ai, how much he loved his human son, but……. "Ai Elbereth! You give me so many scares with your reckless behaviour!"
But of course, Estel didn't hear this comment either and the elf lord only smiled secretly to himself before he continued with his writing.
Legolas watched his charge warily as the boy began to breathe quicker.
Estel skidded to halt when he'd come to a clearing. Looking around him, he didn't spy his brothers but did see another elf. Turning to her he asked, "Have you seen my brothers? Elladan and Elrohir?"
The she-elf smiled, as she knew about Elrond's adoptive son……as did all the other elves in Rivendell. "Nay, little one. But on a day like this, I would not be surprised if they were training down on the fields."
Estel thought this over and grinned suddenly. He bowed gracefully to the she-elf, shouted a thankyou and ran off in the direction of the fields.
However, he was only halfway there, running through a foresty clearing when his path was blocked by several elflings playing. Estel slowed down to a walk and was about to pass the elflings by with a customary nod of acknowledgement when one of them called out.
"Hey! It's the human!"
Estel stopped in his tracks. "E-excuse me?" He turned back around to confusedly face the young elves.
"You're that scummy human!" The group of elves laughed and advanced on the young boy.
Suddenly, Estel got a claustrophic feeling and looked frantically around for a way out or help. There was no one around and the elves had effectively managed to block the only way out.
The boy was on his own.
Estel tensed suddenly in the elf's arms and Legolas worried glanced down. He noticed with fear that the quietness of the start of the hallucination was gone, placed with edgy tension. If only he could hold out for just a little longer. Imaldris was almost visible. It wasn't far away. It wasn't far away at all.
"What? I……." Estel was lost for words. No one had ever spoken to him like that before. Not in that tone. Not in the tone that suggested that he was the lowest thing on Middle-Earth. Like he shouldn't have even been born, that he was just an annoyance.
"What? Are we talking too fast for you human? Your slow mind can't take it all in? Want us to talk slower?"
Estel was stunned but his child mind rebelled against the insults. "I'm not dumb!"
"Really?" The ringleader of the elflings stepped forward and sneered at the confused and hurt boy. "My father believes that all you humans are quite stupid."
"Welll, that's not true! Your father's wrong!" Estel shouted back at the elf, his blood rising.
Legolas started as Estel's hand, once again, gripped his tunic tightly. A death-white grip this time. Legolas tried to run faster but knew he could not. Elves were fast indeed, but every animal has their limitation and the elf had reached his. No matter how much he wanted to run, there was no way that he'd be able to go any faster. Not even if someone else's life depended on it.
"My father is never wrong! Don't you say that about my father!" The elfling shouted back, this time shoving the human backwards into the arms of the waiting elves behind the boy.
Estel yelled in fright and anger as the other elves shoved him backwards and forwards between them. "Stop it! STOP IT!"
But the younger elves took no notice. Instead they laughed and hurled insults at the young boy.
"Look at the weak human! How pathetic."
"Look at his strange ears! He doesn't have pointy ears! What a freak!"
"No wonder his parents abandoned him, they didn't want to look after such an ugly, stupid freak!" The ringleader shouted out gleefully as he shoved the human away from him.
Estel's body shivered violently in the elf's arms before going into a quick spasm. Legolas gasped as he felt the body writhe momentarily in his arms. He tightened his grip on the boy and, while still running, managed to force some leather, off of something, into the boy's mouth. Lord Elrond would not thank him if his human son bit off his own tongue in a fever-induced delirium.
But then again, Legolas doubted that Lord Elrond would thank him at all.
At the last comment about his parents, Estel completely lost his mind. He lost any control that his young mind had mustered and instead, charged at the ringleader and while the elf was stunned by the sudden change in demeanour, the human punched the elf forcefully in the face.
After that moment, the whole thing just turned into a huge brawl. Estel managed to get a few good punches in, but three against one was never good and never likely to succeed. And since he was a human, the elflings had the greater strength.
Soon, the boy was being held by one of the elves while the other two pounded the boy unmercifully.
Estel cried out, and curled up in the prince's arms before instantly straightening out and going into a spasm. Legolas could only watch in fear as the boy writhed, pain written on his face, sweat matting his hair and making his skin cold and clammy to the touch. His eyes moved quickly beneath his lids, focussed on something that neither the elf nor anyone in this reality could see.
Whatever the boy was reliving, it was a nightmare. And, by the way the boy was reacting to it, this nightmare could very well kill him.
"Filthy human scum!" The ringleader shouted into the boy's face. "Because of you, my grandfather died!"
Estel cried out in pain as a fist punched him in the stomach. The boy doubled over, retching and gasping for breath.
Estel went into another spasm in the elf's arms. The child flung his arms out, ignoring the pain of his wounds in his shoulder and the punctured lung and began to cry out, his cries echoing all through out the forest. "No! Help! Someone!" Legolas' heart wrenched as the child cried out in a panic.
"My father believes that all you humans should've died in the war. Because of you, and your greed, we lost so many warriors so uselessly!" The young elf was rattling off words that he'd heard his father use, phrases the older elf had said, without really realising what they meant. The young elf was really only regurgitating what he'd heard. He didn't understand.
"No! I didn't!" Estel's reply was lost as he was pummelled again. The young elves were strong, stronger then he could ever be and they were making easy work of the young, defenceless human. Of course, the elves didn't realise that the human's were more fragile then themselves. They thought they were only roughing him up a little bit. They didn't realise that they were treading dangerous ground with the limitations of the boy's body.
"You know Lord Elrond only took you out of pity? It's true you know! He doesn't even like you! And why would he? You're just a human! A human in the elf Lord's house! You're his little pet! He only took you out of pity after your parents abandoned you! He doesn't even like you! Stupid human!" One of the other elves joined in on the taunting.
It was more then the hurting human child could stand.
"NO! That's not true! NO!" Estel ripped himself out the other elf's grip and launched himself at elf who had said the hurtful words. "It's not true! Take it back! TAKE IT BACK!" The two tussled on the ground for a while, but then the other two elves who had been watching and laughing took a hand.
Both of them, grabbed the human and threw him away from the elf who had been fighting them.
They had thrown him with all their strength and Estel flew through the air momentarily before coming back to earth with a heavy thud. Unfortunately, the place where he landed was strewn with largish rocks and the child landed on one at the exact angle and pressure so that the edge of the rock connected solidly with one of the boy's ribs.
With the velocity and force of the throw driving him, and the solid rock not budging an inch, the unfortunate inevitable happened. The boy's rib snapped.
Estel's cry echoed throughout the forest.
Estel's cry echoed throughout the forest as the boy went into another fearful fit. No! Legolas cried out in his mind as he saw the boy going through his death-throes. Not now! Not when they were so close! Imaldris was within seeing distance! He could almost see the buildings! Estel couldn't die when they were so close to hope, so salvation, to help.
Legolas could not bear to lose the boy when they were so close to the end.
Two elves training in the fields stopped suddenly, their heads jerked up as they listened intently to the cry of pain. Their faces blanched and one turned to the other and said:
"That sounded like….."
"Estel, I know."
Then they dropped everything and ran towards where the sound had originated.
Estel was sobbing from the pain and the hurtful words as he lay on the rocks.
The boy was still convulsing, his arms and legs trying to kick out while in the elf's restraint. Legolas cursed. He could feel the damage the boy was doing to himself. It was tearing open his wounds and making them bleed profusely. The prince could feel the sticky substance running down his tunic. The boy was gasping and retching, his breaths coming panicked and too far in between for the elf's liking.
"Hang on Estel! Hold on! Just a little longer! Just wait a little longer! We're almost there…..please Estel. Just wait. Just a couple of more minutes, stay with me, STAY WITH ME! Please, Estel! We're almost home, we're almost there…..just a couple more minutes!"
The elves hung back, scared and realising just what they had done. It seemed that they had just seriously injured the Lord's adopted son.
Estel just cried on the rocks, his tears mingling with the blood from various gashes and cuts he'd sustained from the fight and fall on the rocks.
The boy's convulsions were becoming weaker, as if he was losing energy, NOT that they were stopping of their own accord. Legolas could feel the boy fading in his arms, the boy's life force was draining through his fingers, literally.
"No Estel! Stay with me! Do not pass through the veil, do not leave me now! You are too young! You have your destiny to fulfil, without you, we will all be lost! Do not give up hope, be your name! Fight little one! FIGHT!" Legolas tried to will the child to stay with him, his earnest voice, lilting and filled with worry and fear.
Imaldris was so close, so very close indeed. However, the boy was fading too fast, way too fast. With grim realisation, Legolas realised unless there was a miracle, or if the boy managed to just hold out, the child would be dead before the prince would reach the gates of Rivendell. With earnest concentration, Legolas fed the boy some of his strength and like a drowning person, Estel's body reached out and desperately grabbed onto the lifeline.
However, Legolas knew that it wouldn't last long. He had only bought him a couple of minutes. He needed more then just a couple of minutes.
Suddenly the hallucination changed. Instead of running true to reality, it began running in it's own reality. But to the boy, it was real.
In real life, before anything else could happen, Elladan and Elrohir sprinted into the clearing and skidded to an astounded halt, when they surveyed their distraught and bloody brother.
In real life, they scooped the trembling child up into their arms and tried to calm the boy down. In real life, Estel clung to his brothers as if to make sure they were real and sobbed into their tunics. In real life, Elrohir held the child tightly to his chest while glaring at the embarrassed and scared elflings. In real life, Elladan stroked Estel's hair and wrapped his cloak around the shivering child.
In real life, the little family went home, Estel was healed and life continued happy as it used to be.
But in Estel's hallucination, his brothers did not race in to save the day. And the elven children did not hang back.
In Estel's hallucination, the elflings advanced back towards the boy, evil grins alighting their faces. In this hallucination, they just hauled the crying boy off the rocks and continued to taunt and hit him.
Legolas could've screamed in frustration. He was almost there! He could ascertain the shapes of the old elven buildings, and the child was dying in his arms! He didn't have much longer, it was going to be over one way or another.
Legolas prayed that it would be over with Lord Elrond healing the human child.
But the way it was going, it was not going to be likely.
And the elven children continued to beat the human child, the outsider, to death.
****I'm sorry, but i don't know when i'll be able to update again. Uni and college life tends to take up most of my time, sorry! Leave a review and tell me how much i suck!