Annie: Actually, thank you for rambling. Made me feel better.
Dragonfly: Yes, the elflings are really in for it this time.
Joee: Oh, wonderful! You like that I'm sad because it makes my stories more interesting!? Well, maybe I'll just go get my fingers caught in a door. I'll be very sad—but I won't be able to write! He he!
Andi-Black: Naw, I'm not evil—just disgruntled.
Karri: You like angst? I'll give you angst!
Beta reader: Dragonfly
Warning: Remember, folks, this is an R-rated story. No especial violence in this chapter, but there will be a nasty scene in Chapter 3.
Green and Gold: Chapter 2
The next morning the Man again fed the elflings. Then he returned their boots and garments. Of course, having been closed in a chest all night, these were still sopping, and the elflings shuddered as they pulled on each clammy item. At least the rain had stopped, so they had the consolation of knowing that their garments would dry as they walked.
Keeping a secure grip on Anomen's wrist, the Man set a fast pace once they had left the cave. He strode with great assurance, as if he had a particular destination in mind. After awhile, he slowed a little and seemed to be looking for signs. "Ah," he muttered at last, peering at a tree trunk upon which some markings had been carved. "The southern rendezvous, I see. Good. That takes us in the direction of home—and we should make for it without too much delay, for no doubt we will soon be pursued."
Anomen overheard these muttered words, and they made him both fearful and hopeful and fearful in turn. He knew that the 'home' the Man meant to make for was not his home. Not good. On the other hand, Anomen hoped that the Man was right about Elves riding to the rescue. There was a bad side to that, though. Anomen was sure that, if the Man became aware of the rescuers as they drew near, he would kill him and his friends before fleeing.
No rescue had yet been mounted, however. By this time Elrond did know that his sons had not returned to the Hall during the night, but he had been neither surprised nor alarmed when they did not appear for breakfast. No doubt, he thought, the younglings realized that they were in a great deal of trouble and would try to avoid their elders as long as possible. He was not even worried when they did not show up for the noon meal. When they were still missing that evening, however, he became concerned, as did Glorfindel. Since the balrog-slayer was in charge of the scouts, he well knew that the vicinity of Imladris was not free of all perils. As the moon would be full that night, he decided to commence a search at once. First he had his Elves methodically scour all the places within the valley of Imladris itself where elflings could have taken refuge. When the elflings were not found, the scouts began to slowly move up the mountainside. Near the top they found a place where the marks of elfling feet could be seen. From there they had no difficulty following the trail, which was periodically marked by small wallows, spots where Anomen and the others had slipped and fallen. Glorfindel smiled a little, imagining to himself how besmirched the younglings must have become. "Serves them right," he chuckled to himself. "Taste of their own medicine, really."
Glorfindel's lighthearted mood was, however, replaced by one of alarm when he saw that the footsteps of the elflings had been joined by those of a Man. A Man who drew near to Rivendell yet did not descend all the way to the valley—that was not good. If the Man was a friend, why had he not presented himself at the Hall and sought shelter from the storm? Why was he now accompanying the elflings toward the crest of the mountain instead of escorting them to their home? Glorfindel was certain that, had this Man been a Ranger, he would have forthrightly taken the elflings in hand and seen to their safe return. This Man was no Ranger; it was therefore all too likely that he was a foe.
The balrog-slayer sent a runner to the Hall to inform Elrond that the elflings were making for the crest of the mountain in the company of a Man, and a strange one at that. Elrond would, he knew, put his warriors on the alert, for it was possible that this Man was a spy and that a force of his compatriots lurked nearby.
Having dispatched the messenger, Glorfindel and his scouts began to follow the trail with all possible speed. The Man may have had as much as a full day's head start, and the Elves meant to more than make up for his advantage. Thus it was that in short order they came upon the cave where the Man and the elflings had sheltered the night before.
"They must have left this morning," said Berenmaethor from the spot where he knelt by the cold campfire. "They have had the entire day to travel."
Glorfindel nodded unhappily. Berenmaethor was all too likely correct. While they had gone about their business in Rivendell, confident that the elflings would reappear at any moment, the young ones had in fact been journeying ever further from home. It was very near dawn now. The Elves could only hope that, once night had fallen, Man and elflings had again paused to rest. If they had traveled throughout the night, that would be very bad, particularly if this had allowed the Man to join up with any who might have accompanied him to this region.
Ai! Glorfindel's fears were to prove all too real! That first night the Man had taken shelter only because of the storm. The next night he had allowed the elflings no more than brief periods of rest. Inexorably he dragged Anomen onward, and Elladan and Elrohir followed doggedly in his wake. The two could have fled at any time, but they were too fearful for their foster-brother's safety to have done so.
It was now their second dawn as the unwilling companions of the Man, and they became aware of a thin spiral of smoke beyond a hill they were approaching. "Will have to mend that fire so it doesn't smoke," the Man muttered. "Right now we might as well be signaling to the Elves!"
The Man and his hostages climbed over the hill, and to the horror of the elflings, there lay an encampment of Men—thirty at the very least! They had never seen so many Men at once—not even the twins, who had been present at many feasts at which Elrond had entertained human emissaries.
The Man, however, was now in an excellent humor, and he addressed his prisoners in a jovial tone.
"Now you young ones will be able to rest a bit before we move on—aren't you glad for that!?"
The elflings stared back at him wordlessly, and he laughed at their fear and bewilderment. Then he dragged an exceedingly reluctant Anomen down the hill and into the camp, with Elladan and Elrohir once again bringing up the rear.
"Hey, look what the Cat has dragged in," shouted a Man, who looked up from a campfire where he was toasting a hunk of bread on a stick.
'The Cat'—for this proved to be their captor's nickname—grinned broadly.
"Aye, three meek mice I found scampering about far from their nest," he chortled.
Men clustered around, poking and prodding at the elflings. The Cat had let go of Anomen's wrist, but, as he was surrounded by large humans, neither his situation nor his foster-brothers' had improved in the slightest.
"Say, Cat," said one Man, fingering Elladan's tunic, "this is fine stuff."
"Aye," agreed another, similarly examining Elrohir's garments. "Elves are generally nicely garbed, but these three are dressed well even for Fair Folk!"
As for Anomen, his clothes escaped examination, but only because a Man was running his large and dirty hand through the elfling's hair.
"Look at the hair on this one," he exclaimed. "Sure, you could weave it into silk, so soft and fine it is."
Anomen was now glad when his captor reached into the mass of bodies and yanked him out by the wrist.
"His hair is more valuable on his head," scowled the Cat. "Hands off!"
"But their clothes," retorted the Man who had first commented on the elflings' apparel. "Their clothes alone are worth a fortune."
The Cat considered.
"You have a point, Geldgier," he said at last. "Very well. Find some other clothes for them, and we'll sell each garment separately. Yes, they'll probably fetch more piecemeal than as a lot."
For the second time the elflings were forced to strip, and the experience was not improved through repetition. Indeed, the hostages were rather worse off, for they were surrounded by spectators who hooted and made ribald observations about the elflings' anatomy. Anomen couldn't quite grasp the mechanics, but he was beginning to gather some idea as to why the Man had said that he 'would never end up as a galley-slave'. On the whole, he thought being a galley-slave would be the better alternative.
After they had stripped—the Men stole even their boots—the elflings were tossed tunics that were rather too large for them. With strips of rope, they belted the tunics around their waists. No replacements were forthcoming for their boots; nor were they given leggings. The dirty, worn tunics were to be their only garments, apparently.
After they had donned the tunics, Elladan and Elrohir were set to gathering wood and fetching water. Once again the Cat kept Anomen close as surety for the twins. Although Anomen thus was spared any hard labor, he would have far rather joined the twins in their tasks. For one thing, the Man who had fingered his hair—Wollust he was called—lingered nearby, staring at Anomen in a most unpleasant manner. Once, when the Cat had gone into the woods nearby to make water, Wollust drew near and again stroked Anomen's hair. Anomen slapped his hand away, but the Man only laughed.
"I think I will buy you myself," he sniggered. Then he laughed all the harder at Anomen's expression before swaggering off. Elrohir and Elladan came back just then with armfuls of wood, and Elrohir glared hard at the back of the Man.
"Anomen, that's a very bad Man!"
"They're all bad, Elrohir."
"Yes, but he's very, very bad! You have to run away."
"But whenever we are together, we are watched! How can we run away?"
"I didn't say we had to run away. You do. And you can do it easily, too, I think. When you are in the center of the camp, they don't watch us because they don't think we'd run away and leave you behind. If we were in the center of the camp, perhaps they wouldn't watch you so carefully because they'll think you wouldn't leave us behind."
Anomen was horrified.
"But, Elrohir, I wouldn't leave you behind. The Cat said he'd kill me if you ran off; wouldn't he kill you if I ran off?"
Elrohir shook his head.
"Not now, he wouldn't. If we'd run off before, when we were so near to Imladris, he would have promptly killed you so as to make a quick escape before we could lead our warriors to him. But if you were to run off now, he would not feel the need to slay us at once. He could afford to wait and consider what it would be best to do because he is further from Imladris and his Men surround him now. They could try to beat back any Elves who came looking for us. So likely he will try to salvage some profit by holding on to us even after you have fled."
Elladan spoke then.
"Elrohir is right. We are worth a lot to these Men. Even if you run off, they won't want to hurt us. As soon as they realize you are gone, they may break camp to evade pursuit, but they will want to take us with them."
"But I don't want them to take you with them," said Anomen miserably.
"Of course not," agreed Elrohir. "But be mindful of this: if you run off, you will be able to summon help, even if you will not be able to do so immediately. In the end," he added confidently, "our people will rescue us."
"But why don't you and Elladan run off?" argued Anomen. "We already know that you can leave the camp, and then our warriors would have to rescue only one Elf instead of two."
Elrohir tried to explain as best he could.
"Anomen, you are in greater danger than either of us."
"I don't see why!"
"Trust me, Anomen. You are! I do not understand why, but I am sure of it."
"Besides," added Elladan cleverly, "as there are two of us, our absence will be noticed the sooner."
"Yes," Elrohir said quickly. "Also, you are smaller—your disappearance is more likely to be overlooked for a time."
At last Anomen reluctantly agreed. The three elflings settled themselves by a fire in the center of the camp. Anomen asked the Cat if he might have something to drink. The Cat handed him a water bladder. Anomen drank greedily. A little while later, Anomen asked the Cat if he might go into the forest to make water. The Cat nodded, but as Anomen arose, the Man seized the elfling by the wrist, drew his knife and pointed it at Elladan and Elrohir.
"Those two have been very loyal; they did not run off when they had the chance because they did not wish any harm to befall you. I trust that you will be equally loyal to them."
"I will," said Anomen, and he spoke with the utmost honesty. He was determined to fetch help as fast as ever he could.
Satisfied, the Cat released his wrist, and Anomen walked into the woods. As soon as he was hidden by the trees, he broke into a run.
As Anomen entered the woods, he did not notice another figure slinking into the brush. Now, as he fled toward Rivendell, he did not realize that this same furtive figure trailed after him, drawing ever closer to the elfling with every step.