Title: Blood Bonds

Author: Nightshade3

Summary: Estel has been allowed access into the Valinor, much to Elrond's joy. But now they have another problem.

Warning: Child Abuse in this chapter. It is not graphic, but it is present and hinted at strongly.

Disclaimer: Yes I own the entire world and this story, didn't you see my name on the book binding? No? then I guess I don't own it do it? (smiles)

Okay appeasement time:

KFF: Thanks so much, here is some more of my story for you to read!

BabyBoo0968: Here's the next chapter as you requested.

Velvet12: Thanks for the compliment! Ask and you shall receive, granted it is late.

Acacia Jules: I don't know if Boromir is going to be there or not, depends on how far the group goes into the lands of the dead. Maybe Estel and Boromir will get to talk. Somehow though I think Boromir might be surprised to see Aragorn, or as he likes to be called in this story, Estel.

Ashley: Thanks so much! I am happy that you like my stories! Here is more of Blood Bonds for you to read.

LadyJadePerendhil: Sorry about the confusion with guest appearances! As for getting them out of the Dead Lands, I am seriously hoping to have them out within two or three more chapters. That is if everything goes the way I hope it does. That might mean a long chapter some where but I think I can manage. Estel is still unconscious, as is Elrond and Legolas. Everyone else, like Elros, Celebrian, the twins and Arwen are in the Valinor. Um where did you get the idea that Vilya was pregnant? smiles and shakes her head trying to figure out where that curve ball came from She isn't, but if you could tell me where you got that idea I would be grateful.. I don't think that she is going be in this story at all, because ironically in the present world time isn't really passing all that fast. And just a warning the first part of this chapter is a flashback.

Elven Kitten: Here ya go kitten, enjoy!

As always "" is elvish '' is common, kay? Cool!

Estel fought his hardest not to scream aloud. His mother had made it through being tortured and he would as well. Are you forgetting that she had to go to the Valinor to heal her wounds afterwards? The little voice in the back of Estel's mind whispered. Or have you forgotten that gorgaer (fearful one)?

'What does the little elf prince want his father? Oh how sad, you elves are pathetic! A bunch of scum that needs to be eliminated, your kind is.' The main man said with a sneer. 'Are you going to scream little prince, cry for your mother?'

Estel said nothing. He would be strong like his Ada and his brothers. You never will adan. He would survive. Oh, will you laito (baby). Yes Estel would survive this twist of fate and the voice of doubt in his own mind.

The man didn't like the son of Elrond's lack of reply to be agreeable. 'So we have a silent one here boys, it looks like we are going to have to do some convincing to get the little prince to talk.'

Estel felt his heart jump in his chest as he heard the man's words. Convincing? Somehow he didn't think that this was going to be a very pleasant experience. All he wanted was his Ada to come a save him from these men. They had already used a stick or had it been a rod? The darkness seemed to be closing in around him, it was to hard to contemplate if it had been a rod or a stick It had hurt as the implement had fall in cruel strokes upon his back.

Estel was propelled up into the air as the air's silence was broken by a large cracking sound and the sound of leather meeting flesh. Long strands of mid-back length ebony hair fell in the child's face. Estel let a whimper, but he tried to stand strong as he thought his mother, his father, or brothers would. He could not allow these men to beat his spirit down. He wanted to see his family once more. The first man reached into his pack, searching for something to "convince" Estel to talk. Estel was beginning to contemplate his options.

There was no way to escape from the men, there were too many of them to get away safely. They had bows, arrows, and swords just itching to draw his blood. No he would have to wait for a chance to make a run for it. Until then Estel only could hope that his father and brothers were looking for him.

Maybe grandmother and grandfather will find me. Valar please help me, I do not want to die. Not at the hands of these men.

No indication of any such luck came from the surrounding evergreens or majestic oaks that made up the forest. These trees only murmured soft reassurances and called out in grief of what was happening to the young lord of Imladris. Estel couldn't hear their words but he understood the tone of the great trees' voices. Please help me! Estel cried in his mind, do not let these men break me. Please bring my family to save me.

The main man made a pleased grunt in his throat, drawing Estel's attention away from the surrounding trees. Pushing his hair out of his face with his shoulder, Estel caught a glimpse of the weapon his torturer had chosen to use on him. The young prince felt all the blood leave his face as he looked at the weapon in the man's hand…

"Estel." A voice whispered softly. Estel felt his body being shaken by the man with the cruel whip. "Estel. Estel!" The youngest Lord of Imladris bulleted up from his place on the ground.

Elrond looked down at his son panting and looking around in terror. This was not his grown human son, but the frightened little boy that he grasped him for dear life after his first encounter with the cruelty of the world around them. Quickly he sank to the ground next to his son and drew Estel into his arms. "Hush tithen pen, do not worry. Ada will not let anything happen to you."

Estel buried his head into his father's tunic, a part of his mind realized how childish he was acting. The child in him needed to be comforted and to be held. This child was the one in control.

"Ada, amine mela lle. Please do not leave me alone. Please do not leave me." Estel pleaded with the elven lord. Tears were in the young man's eyes as he looked up at his father. The ex-king of Gondor was surprised to find tears in Elrond's eyes as well.

Elrond looked down at his child and wrapped his arms around the boy. "I will never leave you, ion-nin. Never ever will I leave, that time when you had to face a foreign world is over. I will not leave you again Estel nin."

Estel looked up at Elrond, his hands unclenched from Elrond's tunic. He stayed in the half elf's warm embrace. "Amine hiraetha Ada, amine hiraetha. (I am sorry father, I am sorry)"

"Mankoi ion-nin? Mani marte?"(Why my son? What happened?) Elrond looked in to his son's fearful eyes, his heart tightened in his chest.

"They beat me and I could not stop them Ada. I tried to escape but I was too small. I…I tried to fight them Ada, but there were to many of them. Amine mela lle Ada, please do not send me away." Little Estel was pleading with his father the dream was not wholly shaken off.

Elrond lifted Estel's chin so he could look the young man in his eyes. "I would never send you away Estel. Never will I abandon you hen nin." Elrond's serious silver eyes spoke in volumes to his youngest son. The older Estel was able to start reestablishing himself as he looked into his father's pained orbs. Still he buried his head in his father's tunic once more, weeping for the innocence that he had lost that day.

Legolas walked over from where he had been talking to Vardamir and his younger brother. He saw his friend and Elrond on the ground holding on to one another for dear life. He was surprised to see Estel with his head leaning against his father's chest crying. "Hir nin what is wrong with Estel?"

Elrond closed his eyes as his son's body shook with the force of his sobs. "He is reliving when he was beaten."

"But that was not his fault Elrond! He was probably attacked from behind. What has he?" Legolas exclaimed in a semi-hysterical voice. He would kill the men that had done this to his friend if they hadn't already been dead. How could they do this to another one of their kindred?

"It is not his fault at all, you are quite right young prince. But this recent beating is not the one I speak of in this instance." Elrond said as he held his son to his heart.

"Then what do you speak of hir Elrond?" Legolas asked looking down at his cowering friend. At this moment he looked no older then a young child, not more then a babe in his father's arms.

Elrond rubbed his hand in circles around Aragorn's back. "The first time he was beaten. Estel was only a child when a group of rouge humans came to Imladris. Estel must have been on the boarders of our land because they managed to capture him without stepping foot on to our land." Elrond looked down at his child with a small sad smile.

Then he looked back up at Legolas. "Estel was always a sweet child, believing in the good of all people. He loved so many people and still continues to do so, but this almost tore him apart They were devils for what they did to my son."

"Mani marte?" (What happened?) Legolas asked in a soft voice as to not disturb the child like Estel.

"Only Estel knows everything that happened in that place that he was taken. To this very moment I do not know all of that transpired those terrible day." Elrond told the young prince quietly. "Estel only told me bits and fragments over all of these years. I always believed that what had happened had been too much for him. At that time I thought I was going to lose my son, like I had lost my wife."

"They beat me repeatedly." Estel whispered in a hushed and strained voice. "They told me that I was weak, that my people where weak. That the Elves were weak."

"Did they not realize…?" Legolas asked softly the logical question. Then he looked at Estel and realized how it would be possible for one to mistake him for one of the eldar. A longhaired human child, who possessed the practiced grace of one of the firstborn, would have easily been confused as being one of them.

"Nay, mellon nin, they did not realize that I was human." Estel looked up at his eldest and best friend a small smile lit his features. He knew that Legolas realized the slight idiocy of his question.

"Throughout the entirety of my beating they referred to me as the 'little elf prince' or 'little prince'."

"They were not very observant mellon nin." Legolas said with a small grin, mirroring Estel's own.

"Not all of us are as observant as you are, ernil-nin (my prince)" Estel replied in kind.

"I am glad you finally realize this brannon neth nin (my young lord)." Legolas said with a wink.

Elrond just quietly spoke once the jesting between the two friends had come to an end. "It was easy to confuse Estel with an elf when he was a child, just as right now it would be easy to do so. I remember that day I had his hair up in prince's braids, Galadriel and Celeborn were coming to visit. I wanted my little boy to look presentable for his grandparents."

"Estel, saes, kwenta lye i'narn" (please, tell us the tale.)Legolas questioned gently.

There was a long silence. Elrond and Legolas were beginning to think that Estel had retreated into himself. The man's eyes were closed. Then suddenly Estel's voice could be heard. It was soft at first but it grew louder as he remembered his dream and those nights.

"First came the rod, then the whip. It was a terrible whip. It had many prongs like the one a little while ago. This whip though tore large quantities of skin off of my back. If they hadn't gotten bored with using that whip then you may have never have met me Legolas." Estel took a deep breath and opened his eyes before he continued his tale. "The whip had metal hooks at the ends of its many prongs. At the end of each hook was a piece of glass, so the whip not only tore skin off, it embedded more deeply into it."

Elrond looked down at his son in horror. Yes, he had seen the deep scores in his child, but he had never heard the description of the object used. The elf lord had only seen the by product of the weapon each time his son woke up screaming for the next few years after his physical wounds had been healed.

Estel continued to speak. He did not look at anyone, as if he was ashamed of what he was saying. It gave one the sense also that he was not actually speaking to Elrond or Legolas at all, but just recounting the nights of horror to himself.

"I just kept praying Ada or grandfather and grandmother would find me. I kept begging the Valar to allow me to live to see my family once more. To allow me to see them one more time before I died so I could say good by." Estel whispered softly to the wind. Then he said no more.

TBC