Chapter 11
The three elves had been walking quietly for some time; Legolas broke the silence, "So how have you been getting on then?"
"Well," they answered in unison, "you? How have you and your father been?"
"Well," he answered, "He has been around for months," he told them they knew who he meant, "He has been attacking villages, settlements, travellers...it has been awful...very few have escaped alive, even then they died from wounds."
"Then how is it you managed to escape?" Elrohir asked.
"I just scared him off, fire it is what nearly every creature fears, if I'd have known it was your father I would have tried to bring him back to you, but it was not until after Estel..." he trailed off hearing the familiar growling, no sooner had the stopped, Legolas was on the ground.
The twins looked to the creature that had once been their father.
His clothes had been torn, leaving huge areas full of cuts, scars and bruises visible. The once perfect dark hair was at odd lengths, with things from the forest twisted into its tangled mess and it partly covered his scarred face, but they could see a large gash running from his left temple to the right corner of his mouth, which was turned up in a snarl.
"Ada," Elrohir started to move towards the elder, not noticing the warning growls coming from their attacker.
"Elrohir no," he shoved his younger brother away just before the creature attacked and took the blow for himself. "Ada," he spoke softly so only his attacker could hear, "Ada, saes, it's me Elladan, saes if you can understand me please..." they stood still a while, Elladan thought he saw a flicker of recognition in the elder's eyes but felt mistaken feeling a claw like hand scratch his face, creating a similar gash to that of the elder, he could feel the warm blood trickle down his cheek. He felt more painful strokes across his chest before the being on top of him collapsed, he looked up to see Elrohir standing there with a branch he had used to render the elder unconscious.
"Are you alright?" Elrohir asked helping his twin up.
"I'm fine Ro, come, we should take him somewhere before he wakes up."
"He cannot go home in this state." Legolas observed.
"No...there's that cave by the Bruinen, we could take him there," Elrohir suggested.
"That would be a good idea," Elladan agreed, "Legolas go home and bring some blankets loads of bandages and other cloth strips, as well as..." he gave the youngest elf a long list to remember before they separated.
"Do you think he will be alright?" Elrohir asked.
"I don't know Ro...ten years has done a lot to him...I just don't know." He trailed off, wondering what other horrors their beloved father had faced in the past few years and he wondered if there was any way to bring him back to even a shadow of what he once was.