Disclaimer: See Chapter One
A/N: Hey there people! My god, this has been the week from hell! You're lucky I'm able to update at all. Yeesh. Anyway, thank you so much for your reviews! I adore each and every one of them! Many many thanks to my beta enb2004 who has two awesome HP stories, so go read those after you've finished reading mine. As promised, here is Chapter 22! Enjoy!
Elladan watched his grandmother depart with worried eyes. He wondered what had happened, but did not dwell on it for to long. If something was happening that he needed to be aware of, Galadrial would tell him.
Elladan turned to his twin who had not stirred, despite the shake his grandmother had given him.
"Elrohir, you must wake up," Elladan said shaking his twin.
"Go away," Elrohir mumbled, batting Elladan's hand away from his shoulder.
Elladan smiled in amusement despite his worry. He was often told by his father that is was nearly impossible to wake Elrohir or himself up. Now he understood what his father was talking about.
"No Elrohir, you must wake up now. Our grandmother wants us to watch over Estel," Elladan said.
At the mention of Estel, Elrohir immediately woke up.
"Estel?! Is he all right? What happened?" Elrohir asked worriedly, his eyes immediately scanning his little brother for some sort of ailment.
"Relax, Estel is just fine, or as fine as he could be under the circumstances," Elladan said frowning. "Grandmother just said that she was going to check on something," he said, frowning as he recalled the look of worry on her face.
Elrohir breathed a sigh of relief that nothing further had happened to his little brother. He had been worried that somehow Gorothdil had gotten to him again. He knew that what he had thought was ridiculous for Gorothdil was being watched over by Mithrandir and was bound.
Elrohir could not help but growl at the thought of Gorothdil and started to pace up and down the healing room. They had trusted him! Yet how did he repay them? By trying to kill their little brother.
"Shh, I know what you are thinking Ro, for I too have had the same thoughts. I too desire revenge for what he has done but Estel is far more important than that low life traitor scum," Elladan said soothingly, while trying to keep his own anger from showing through his calm facade.
Elrohir's anger visibly deflated. "I know Dan, I know. I just don't understand it," he said, tenderly pushing a piece of hair away from Estel's face.
Elladan sighed in agreement with his brother. "Neither do I Elrohir, but he...." Elladan started to say, but was interrupted by a shout that rang through the hallways.
"ELROND! GLORFINDEL! I NEED HELP DOWN HERE!" the twins heard their Grandmother shout.
The twins looked at each other with wide eyes. Something awful had just happened, they just knew it.
At Galadrial's shout, everyone in the healing room woke up with a start, including Estel.
Celeborn immediately ran out, fully intent on reaching his wife, with Haldir and Glorfindel on his heels as Estel started crying from a mixture of pain and fear.
"Ada!" he called out fearfully while crying.
Elrond was torn for a moment. On one hand, he desperately wanted to stay with Estel and comfort him, yet, Galadrial had called out for him urgently.
Erestor, seeing Elrond's torn look, took matters into his own hands. "Elrond, you go on, Galadrial did call for you. The twins, Arwen, and I will watch over Estel," he said comfortingly.
He knew that it had to be hard for his friend to leave just as his son had woken up after being horribly stabbed in the arm by a traitor.
Elrond still wanted to stay with Estel, but he headed out the door against his better judgment. Galadrial would not call for him without reason and he had to respond.
Before leaving, Elrond quickly headed over to Estel's bed.
"I'll be right back tithen pen, all right? Your brothers and Erestor will stay here with you. I love you ion nin," Elrond said and kissed Estel's brow lovingly.
"Love you Ada," Estel said while crying. He really did not want his father to leave but he could do nothing about it.
Elrond smiled at Estel before hurriedly leaving and going to aid Galadrial.
Once his Ada had left, Estel continued to cry, wanting nothing more then to be held by his father.
"Shhh, everything will be all right my tithen pen," Arwen said, picking Estel up and holding him to her closely, ever mindful of the stab wound.
"Oh Estel! We were so worried about you tithen gwador. We love you so much, you do know that, don't you Estel?" Elladan asked seriously.
Estel raised his head away from Arwen's shoulder, when he heard Elladan's voice.
"Dan! I know, I love you two also!" Estel said, still sobbing while trying to stop the tears from coming.
"Oh Estel, it's perfectly all right to cry! What happened was very scary and you were hurt badly," Elrohir said comfortingly, while rubbing Estel's back soothingly.
"I know for a fact that your brothers, nor myself would have handled what happened to you nearly as well as you have Estel," Arwen said, with the twins nodding in agreement.
"You are such a brave little boy tithen pen, and we are all so proud of you," Elladan said proudly.
Estel gave them a weak grin and buried his head in Arwen's dress once more.
"Estel, do you want to hear a funny story?" Elladan asked, hoping that a story would help Estel forget about his arm and what had happened.
Estel nodded, one hand around her neck, his other gripping Elrohir's.
"All right then, I think I have the perfect story for you Estel. It just so happens to deal with your brothers and their best friend Legolas," Arwen said, gently lowering Estel down on the bed. She shot the twins a devious look, which undoubtedly boded ill for the twins.
The twins groaned, but sat down on the bed next to Estel carefully, so as not to jostle him. If a humiliating story about them and Legolas cheered their little brother up, they would endure the story 1000 times over, no matter how embarrassing it might be.
For the first time that night, Estel gave them a true smile and laid on the bed, waiting for the story to start.
Arwen smiled and began the story, much to the twins horror, and Estel's and Arwen's joy.
Elrond cursed Galadrial's timing to call for him as he raced down the halls toward where in mother-in-law was. He wanted to be with Estel but when she had called for him and Glorfindel, it had sounded urgent.
Seconds later, Elrond caught up to Celeborn, Glorfindel, and Haldir, all of whom had come to a dead stop in front of Galadrial.
Galadrial heard their arrival and looked up in relief.
"Elrond, quickly, Gandalf is in need of your skills," she said urgently.
Elrond quickly made his way through the small crowd and blinked at the sight of Mithrandir, one of the most powerful wizards on Arda, unconscious and bleeding on the floor.
Pushing his shock aside for the time being, Elrond knelt down next to Gandalf and inspected the head wound. It was bleeding rather profusely but all head wounds had a tendency to do that.
While the wound was deep and had rendered the Istari unconscious, Gandalf would be all right.
"He shall be fine as soon as I have treated his head wounds. When he regains consciousness he may be a bit disoriented, but there will be no side effects, except for a pounding headache," Elrond told the others who were watching him anxiously.
They sighed in relief and started talking in low worried voices as Elrond wrapped a bandage around Gandalf's head in order to stem the bleeding.
"Where did Mithrandir's wounds come from?" Elrond asked suddenly while getting up from besides Gandalf and grabbing the attention of everyone present.
Glorfindel and Haldir stopped talking immediately and looked at anything and everything but Elrond.
Celeborn knelt next to Mithrandir, also avoiding eye contact with Elrond as well, leaving Galadrial as the only one looking directly at Elrond.
Elrond did not fail to notice this and suddenly became uneasy. How had Mithrandir come by his injuries? Injuries that appeared to have been gained during an attack. Who would dare to attack Mithrandir?
Suddenly, the pieces began to click into place. Gandalf had been guarding Gorothdil, who was no longer anywhere to be seen. The cut ropes on the floor and the piece of glass by them.
"No, it can not be!" Elrond exclaimed, looking desperately at Galadrial.
Galadrial nodded sadly. "I'm afraid Elrond that it can be. He appeared to have cut his bonds and surprised Mithrandir, along with attacking him. I'm afraid that he is long gone by now," she said sadly.
"I shall go track the traitor down," Haldir said vehemently. He was angry with himself for not having been able to stop Gorothdil's escape. "I should have helped Mithrandir instead of falling asleep," he thought to himself admonishingly.
"Nay! Haldir, Galadrial is correct. He is long gone by now and you are far to weary to be tracking a child, let alone a traitor," Glorfindel said logically, although his heart longed to find the traitor himself.
Elrond's legs suddenly gave out beneath him as realization set in after hearing Glorfindel's words. He would certainly have fallen had not Celeborn caught him and gently lowered him to the ground.
"Take it easy Elrond. I know that this is most disturbing but there is little that we can do about it now. You must remain strong, if not for your sake then for Estel's," Celeborn said.
Elrond only nodded, his mind still wrapped up in the notion that the traitor that had tried to kill his son was once more on the loose.
"Come mellon nin, Mithrandir needs to be in the House of Healing," Glorfindel said gently, knowing that his friend was most certainly unhinged. To be honest, he himself was somewhat unhinged by all that had happened this night.
"Glorfindel is right Elrond, Gandalf and your children need you right now. We shall worry more about Gorothdil come the morn," Galadrial said softly.
Elrond nodded and between himself and Glorfindel, they carried Gandalf back to the House of Healing, with Haldir, Celeborn, and Galadrial following behind them.
Translations:
Ada: Dad/Daddy
Ion nin: My son
Tithen pen: Little one
Tithen gwador: Little brother
Mellon nin: My friend
Arda: Middle Earth