Chapter 5

Aragorn nearly choked, "What?! You're sure???"

- Almost positive. -

Aragorn stood and glanced over at Legolas who was watching them, his confusion obvious.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly when he found his friend looking at him.

"Elen thinks her brother is nearby..."

"Her brother?!?!?! Ai..." he shook his head, "how could we miss TWO dragons???? I'll never understand how they managed to hide themselves... even from each other."

Aragorn laughed, "Neither will I my friend. But come! We must go find him then!"

Elen looked down at him, - You need not come... - she spoke carefully, - he... was never fond of humans... elves he would tolerate... but not nessecarily in a friendly way... -

"Well, he's going to have to learn to tolerate us eventually... he might as well start right away."

Legolas shook his head in amusement at his friend's statement.

- Well then, let us go. -

Elrond dropped from the tree he had been resting in, he'd heard the one half of the conversation and that was plenty to know what they were up to.

Aragorn turned at the light noise his landing made and blinked, "Ada?" he grinned, "Should you not be sleeping old man?"

Elrond crossed his arms, "Well I only got myself up so I could put my young child back to bed as he seems to have woken up. Wasn't another nightmare was it?"

Aragorn scowled at him.

The elf laughed lightly and glanced over at the dragon who seemed quite jumpy, "I suppose you wish to go and find your brother."

She nodded.

"Well then," the elven lord said, "it has been six years since I saw my son and would not have him leave again so soon."

Aragorn groaned, "Ada..."

"So," he continued, shocking the other three with his interruption, "I would ask to come with you this time."

Aragorn blinked and opened his mouth to reply, but after a moment of trying simply shut it again and stared.

"It could be interesting to see what you two always do to get yourselves in trouble."

Legolas grinned, "Surly the fire from last time answered your questions?"

"Nay, I'd have to blame that one on Mithrandir."

Aragorn laughed, "Well I suppose if you think of it, it was more his fault than ours," he put in innocently.

Elrond sighed, what was he getting himself into?

"Shall we go then before your brothers wake up and insist on coming as well?"

"Let's!" Aragorn laughed, "I think having you three around to mother me is quite enough..."

Legolas crossed his arms, "I do not mother you," he said indignantly.

Aragorn shrugged, "Of course you don't..."

Legolas glared at him for a moment before just smirking and shaking his head.

They climbed onto the dragon quickly and she was up into the night sky swiftly and heading into the direction she felt his presence.

{[]}{[]}{[]}{[]}

As they passed over the clearing they guessed to have the dragon on they were met by one sight they had certainly not expected.

The large golden dragon was tied down with ropes as thick as the men's arms. It had many arrows embedded in its side. No sooner than this was noticed were they fired upon.

Elen roared as she was hit by many of the arrows that came up.

Aragorn was simply glad that the men were shooting straight up so gravity helped keep the arrows from going in too deep to cause any fatal damage. He pulled his bow off his back at the same time the other two did and they all started firing back, though it proved difficult to do so over the dragon's sides.

They'd struck down a few of the men when Elen was hit dreadfully close to her neck and fell.

They landed with a loud thud and the three slid off as they lost their balance.

They quickly drew their swords but were hit before they were able to really defend themselves.

They were bound quickly and tied to trees near the dragons.

Aragorn had managed to kick off his captors and make it too Elen's side. He quickly assessed her wounds but was unable to do anything for he did not have his medicines and was taken back by the men.

He spun to glare at them, "If you don't let me do something they will both die."

The men froze and glanced at each other, finally one of them, which they guessed to be the leader of them, came up and glared right back at him, "You will help them, and I will not kill you."

Aragorn glanced back at Legolas and Elrond, "If I help them, you will not kill any of us."

The man grinned wickedly, "I had no intention of killing them."

Aragorn narrowed his eyes but accepted when the man looked through his herb box and handed it to him. The bindings on his wrists were cut and were replaced around his ankles.

Aragorn grumbled at them, it was going to make this very difficult if he was to get the ones he'd have to climb for, "I cannot get to the higher ones with my ankles bound."

"Can't risk you getting away and tellin' someone of our catch..."

"Then the dragons may die. Besides, I would not attempt escape and risk you hurting them," he glanced at the other two.

The man narrowed his eyes then cut the ropes from his ankles. That done he looped it around the man's neck.

"You try anythin', an' I'll choke ya' to death."

Aragorn sneered at him but turned and quickly got to work. It took his hours to do it all, and the man that was on the other end of the rope had been getting terribly impatient. By the time he finished, his neck was bruised and bloody from the rope being pulled and twisted.

Elrond had been struggling against his bonds ever since he caught the first traces of blood. He was cursing rather fluently now, causing Legolas and Aragorn to give him surprised looks.

Aragorn leaned against the golden dragon as soon as he was finished and sighed, wincing at every breath because of the stinging it caused.

The other man gave another strong yank on the rope, pulling the human away from the dragon and onto the ground.

Black spots danced in front of the man's eyes and he blinked in an attempt to get rid of them. He was feeling terribly light-headed and knew it wouldn't be long before he passed out.

That time came a little sooner than he thought it would though when the other man gave another yank on the rope and the ranger finally passed out.

{[]}{[]}{[]}{[]}

Aragorn came around slowly in time to see the men getting prepared to administer a drug of some sort to the two dragons.

The men had two boars and had sliced them open and filled them with a plant that Aragorn recognized as an extremely strong sedative, one so strong that it could send a man into a coma if he actually used the leaf plain. You were supposed to put a single leaf into a usual sized camping pot and no more.

One of the men turned to him and grinned, "Ay captain! Let's make that one go back there and put the creature into the back of their throats!"

The captain grinned, "Tha's a good idea... tha' way we wont lose any men for sure today! Cursed creature's swallowed many a' my men al'ready... dunna' need ta' lose more of 'em if I don't need ta!"

Aragorn glared at them, "You'll never make me sedate them."

"'Ear tha' Faltren? 'E's goin' 'gainst you 'e is!"

The captain growled, "You will, or your little friends will die."

Aragorn winced and glared, after a moments hesitation took one of the creatures and walked over to the golden dragon. He gulped slightly and slowly stepped into the partially open mouth and past the row of teeth. The creature had been waking from the sedative but was beginning to wake up so Aragorn knew if the creature felt him too surly he'd likely try to kill him.

The man moved slowly, stepping carefully and shifting his weight slowly. When he was out of sight of the men he quickly pulled out a bunch of the leaves and stuffed them into his outer tunic being sure to keep them flat so the thin leaves would be nearly impossible to see. He then set the boar on the creatures tongue and closed his eyes, almost waiting for the creature to react. Luckily, he was still under the influence of the drug and didn't move much. He growled but that was it. He sighed in relief and quickly but carefully escaped.

He hid a grin as he made his way to Elen and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Elrond had let out a sigh of relief when he stepped out. He sighed slightly and picked up the other boar and made his way to the silver dragon. He carefully stepped inside her mouth and did the same thing he had done with the other. Unfortunately for him she had been given to little the last time and was already partially awake though he missed that in his slightly groggy state.

The dragon snorted when she felt the movement and weakly attempted to lift her head. She shook it and roared, forcing the man to grab hold of one of her teeth in order to not fall back. Of course she did not like this and with a growl lowered her head and shook it again. The man let go just in time to keep from having his arms bitten off. He ran to the front of her mouth and began speaking swiftly in elvish.

"Gwilb Elen! Hana amin! Estel!" [Quiet... it (is) me]

The dragon immediately calmed, she seemed to freeze in place, -Estel?!-

"Uma mellon-nin, hana amin." [Yes my friend, it (is) me]

The dragon was panting slightly though she forced herself to calm, -How did... I mean... what happened?-

"You were drugged Elen."

-And why are you in my mouth????-

"Well... I was actually supposed to drug you again," when she felt her tense slightly he quickly added, "but of course I couldn't do it... you got what the leaves were in but I have the leaves... though some of the leaf juice may have ended up in the meat it wouldn't be nearly enough to do anything to you my friend."

She calmed again and closed her eyes, allowing the other men to think she had been drugged.

"Hmm..." Faltren said slowly, "A shame... I'd hope he'd last longer... ah well..."

Elrond stared, looking absolutely horrified.

Legolas opened and closed his mouth a couple of times then bowed his head in order to hide his tears.

Aragorn thought quickly, "Elen? We cannot let them think that I'm still alive. This way I can get you untied and we can escape... hopefully tonight. Tell your brother... he'll still be groggy... but he cannot let them think he is fine."

-I'll tell him now,- she informed him.

There was silence for a moment, -Done. He seems... reluctant to trust you... but he'll do as you asked because I asked him to do so...-

"An odd conversation for two that haven't spoken in quite some time."

She had to fight to keep herself quiet, -Estel, do not make me laugh. You'll give us away...-

He bit back a laugh, "Sorry."

-But we did speak before we were sedated the first time.-

"That must have been when I was unconscious..."

-Aye, it was.-

"Any human deaths?" he asked in amusement.

She was silent.

"Elen???" he sounded amused.

-It wasn't on purpose...-

Aragorn had to cover his mouth in order to keep from laughing, "Elen shame on you!"

-Oh shush... unless you wish to join him...-

He smacked her lightly.

-I'd be laughing if I could...-

Aragorn stifled another laugh, "So would I..."

Elrond had his head bowed, his expression was completely blank though even the least perceptive of the humans in the group could see the anguish and shock in his eyes.

Legolas hid it much better than the other elf and had forced himself to try to comfort the other. It felt rather odd to him though, it was always Elrond helping he; not the other way around.

Faltren glanced at the silver dragon, "It'd better stop doing that or I'll have to be rid of her sooner than I had intended to..."

Elrond simply glanced up and stared at the silver dragon and did something he had not done since Celebrian left... he wept.

A/N

Elven Kitten: Hey everyone! Hope this is okay! I tried to get this one up quickly and I hope this helps makes up for the large wait from before... XP... I'll also try to get the next chapter up quickly as well.

marbienl- lol, yup, Estel is lucky to have her! . Cha... silly little human, leaving so soon! Lol, but I'm only trying to stick with what it said in the back of the book... lol. Elen's brother... hmmm... lol. Double Trouble... I thought that was the twins?! OO... lol!

Alexandra- I hope this was soon enough! I'm very sorry for the last wait... XP... lol Glad u like!

A Sly Fan- Smaug??? Naw... 1... Smaug is red and I had said her brother was gold... and 2... well... considering the timeline Smaug is dead. Lol. Tsk tsk... trying to force us into freaking out over da cheese... we can do that without encouragement! lol

Elf Side: Oh no...

Frodo: Runs in carrying a large piece of cheese as he has decided to amuse a certain reviewer... then flees

Gollum Side: Squeals CHEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!!!!!!!! Clings to the fridge

Elven Kitten: XP... see what you started? Lol

Elf Side: Ugh... Uh... namarie!

Elenmeoi