(A/N) ok, a little bit longer of a chapter to make up for missing a night! Sorry…I'm not about to spend my Friday night at home by myself! And I prolly won't update tomorrow night either, that will be Monday! But it will happen! SWEAR!
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Later on in the evening, when everyone had excused themselves to retire to their chambers, the lord and lady sat in their own quarters, reading the message from Arwen.
Elrond reread the letter from Arwen before giving it to Celebrian. "I'm not sure why she wants us to come but whatever the reason, I am not able to go anyway, Mithrandir and Saruman have just arrived. I cannot just leave."
Celebrian gave her husband an annoyed look "You will put the Istari before your own daughter? It has been a rather long time since either of us have left Rivendell, much less seen my parents. Perhaps Naneth and Adar wish to see their new grandson, is that so hard to imagine?"
"Come now Celebrian" Elrond replied, an exasperated look on his face " you know good and well how much I love Arwen, but I cannot just leave at her request, I asked the Istari to come, and she has not said anything is amiss." He paused, a thoughtful expression on his fair features. "...although...there is no reason why you and Ellenion cannot go. I could arrange a traveling party and the two of you could go. The twins perhaps will follow in a few days time; they no doubt want to rest a bit before traveling again."
She crossed her arms over her chest, a gold and silver brow raised "Yet you will still not go?"
"Celebrian..."he sighed, coming to her "please, don't do this, do not be angry, once the Istari have left I will join you in Lorien. Please understand my bereth, I must not leave, not yet." He placed a hand gently on the side of her face, his expression pleading " everything will be fine"
She sighed, leaning into his touch "I am not angry with you...just come as soon as you can...when are we to leave?"
"I will have everything arranged for your departure two mornings after tomorrow, Thonaear will no doubt be very willing to go along. He has been wanting to travel for some time now, and he is becoming a fine warrior. And I will have Elladan and Elrohir either come with me when I go or if they wish to go with you they may."
Celebrian nodded and embraced her husband, kissing him lightly on the cheek "Very well. Come, let's go to bed, I'm sure you are as tired as I am."
……….
Elrond woke with a start as he felt someone staring at him. Once he opened his eyes, sure enough he saw two big blue eyes peeking over the side of the bed at him. "Ellenion…" he groaned The child giggled "Manor, Ada!"
Celebrian woke at the sound of her small son's voice and rolled over, slipping an arm around her husband's waist "why are you up so early little one? The sun has barely begun to grace the sky"
" 'Rohi said you should wake"
"Did he?" Asked Elrond, a smile starting to form on his lips, being unable to become angry or irritated at the giggling little boy who stood before him, still in his nightclothes.
"Well, we will deal with your brother later, come now "he reached down and pulled Ellenion up into the bed with him and Celebrian, placing him under the blankets between them" why you don't stay here with us a bit longer"
Ellenion nodded and snuggled up against his mother, enjoying the warmth of the bed and his parents rather than the cold floor, nodding off to sleep again as Celebrian gently embraced him back and kissed his raven hair.
Elrond lay awake, not being able to fall back asleep as he mentally went over the plans for his wife and son's travel to Lorien. He looked over to them, seeing Celebrian as well had joined her son in dreams, her silvery gold hair halfway covering her face. He reached over, gently brushing it away, tucking it behind her delicately pointed ear and kissed her lightly on the mouth before getting up from the bed, careful not to wake either of them. He dressed quickly and silently before leaving to speak with his advisors and sons.
/\\\\\\\\
Ulmain silently saddled the horse and placed Aramir on its back before climbing up behind her. She had drugged the small girl so she would sleep and not make any sounds as they rode away. She must ride hard so she would have a good head start, before anyone would notice their absence. If everything went as planned she would reach RedHorn Pass a bit before or the same time as the little party from Rivendell. She knew they would respond to the letter from 'Arwen' immediately. She sneered to herself as she rode away, knowing their loyalty and love to one another would be their downfall.
/\\\\\\\
"I would be most honored to accompany your wife and son my lord" said Thonaear, smiling brilliantly "Very good" replied Elrond, smiling back "You shall be ready for departure on the morrow. I will have others accompany as well. Though no orcs have been seen recently I will not risk anything to chance with them as it is a long journey"
Thonaear nodded "Yes my lord...will lords Elladan and Elrohir be going as well?"
"No, they will be going with me when I depart for Lorien, most likely in two or three weeks time"
"Right then, I will go prepare...I shall see you in the morning my lord" he bowed politely before walking away, leaving Elrond smirking slightly as he noticed a slight excited bounce in the young elf's step. The dark haired elf lord tidied up his desk and extinguished the candles before leaving his study, shutting the door behind him, hardly noticing the heavy rain and thunder outside.
He walked down the hall, musing over a document when he heard soft crying. He stopped to try and locate the source, finding that it came from a few halls over, from the nursery. He hurried to the room, opening the door to see Ellenion curled up in the corner of his bed, his dark head buried in his arms.
"Ellenion?" He asked softly, setting down the document before walking over to boy's bedside, sitting down next to him. The child looked up at him and immediately crawled into his lap, his small hands clinging tightly to his father's robes. "What's wrong little one? Why do you cry?" Elrond asked as he wrapped his arms around his son.
No answer was needed as a loud clap of thunder struck the sky, making the little boy whimper and hold tighter to Elrond, burying his face into his chest.
"Oh my hini, there is nothing to be afraid of, thunder cannot hurt you" No response came from the tearful elfling but some sniffling, his small shoulders shaking with childish fear and sobs. Elrond sighed and kissed the top of his head, holding him tightly.
Anther boom of thunder sounded in the room "make stop Ada" begged Ellenion, looking up at his father, tears streaming from his intense blue eyes, making his cheeks wet and sticky. Elrond gently wiped away his child's tears and kissed his forehead, lifting him into a higher position. "I cannot make it stop lissier, but it will stop before morning."
Ellenion sniffed and pressed his face into Elrond's neck, his voice muffled from tears and the stiff cloth from his father's high collar "stay?"
"Of course I will stay child" he stood, carrying his son over to the rocking chair and sitting back down, rocking slowly back and forth "would you like me to sing to you?" The little boy nodded, pulling a fold of Elrond's velvet robe to cover his face. Elrond smiled and reached over, pulling the soft quilt from the bed, draping over both of them before singing softly, his clear voice seeming to block out the menacing thunder, lulling the frightened child to sleep, finally finding peace in his fathers comforting embrace. Elrond stayed through the night with his young son, falling asleep in the rocking chair still holding him.
……..
Celebrian woke the next morning, and quickly became worried as she noticed that her husband's side of the bed had not been slept in. She dressed quickly and went first to the study, seeing he wasn't there. She chewed her bottom lip and contemplated on going to see if Glorfindel or Erestor knew anything, she then remembered the storm last night and wondered if he had gone to Ellenion.
Her suspicions were confirmed as she opened the door to the nursery and saw Elrond sleeping in the rocking chair, the quilt beloved by her tiny son draped over both of them. Her husband's cheek was resting on the top of Ellenion's head which was nuzzled against his father's neck. She smiled as she saw that Elrond still wore his mithril circlet though it was slightly askew from sleep.
Celebrian smiled and walked over to the pair, kneeling and placing a hand on Elrond's shoulder, her voice soft and gentle "Wake my lord, wake"
Elrond inhaled deeply, his gray eyes fluttering open to see his beautiful wife smiling back at him "Manor, my lord" she said, smiling as she caressed his cheek "we must prepare, the traveling party is leaving in a less than a few hours time"
He smiled and freed a hand to place over hers, moving it to his lips to softly kiss her fingers, then releasing it to rub his son's back, waking him. "Wake lissier, it is morning, the storm is gone."
Ellenion slowly opened his eyes at the sound of his father's voice, he looked out the window and smiled, before turning back to Elrond "you made storm go, Ada!" Elrond started to say it wasn't his doing but Celebrian interrupted him, smiling at her son, caressing his silky hair. "Yes little one, your father does wonderful things" she winked at her husband as she stood and took Ellenion into her arms, wrapping the quilt around him.
"Ill get him dressed my heru, why don't you freshen up as well, I'm sure sleeping in a rocking chair all night is not the most comfortable" Elrond smirked at her and nodded, slipping the circlet from his head as he left the room.
………
The twins helped prepare the horses by the gate, loading the last of the luggage onto the stock ponies. "There, that should do it" said Elladan, smirking "I think Adar has made sure there enough supplies for four trips to Lorien"
Elrohir chuckled softly "yes, but if I had my wife and three year old son going on this trip I would be paranoid too" Elladan laughed slightly "true. ah! Here comes Adar, Naneth and Ellenion...looks like Galen is going along too"
"Aye" said Thonaear who stood next to them as the finished "Lady Celebrian asked her to come to help with Ellenion, plus she knew that Galen wished to see the golden wood"
Gandalf and Saruman came out to see the traveling party off, arriving just as Elrond lifted Ellenion onto a large beautiful horse in front of Celebrian. The party was prepared to leave and the child was excited until he realized neither his brothers nor Elrond was coming along.
A pout started to form on his little face as he reached down to Elrond "Ada, come..." He looked over to his brothers who stood side by side a little bit away. " 'Rohi...Dan...come?" Elrond reached up to caress his son's intricately braided hair "No, little one, we are not coming, but don't worry, we will be along after you shortly. We will see you in a few weeks time."
He looked over to the twins, nodding at them to come over so they could bid farewell to their brother and mother.
Elladan and Elrohir came over, taking turns in bidding the child farewell, each rubbing his cheek affectionately. "We will see you soon Silme" said Elrohir softly, smiling at his young brother.
Ellenion sniffed back tears and nodded, raising his chin, causing his parents and brothers to laugh softly, the rest of the party smiling, touched and amused.
The three raven haired elves stepped back, Elrond nodding at the head of the party "Namarie" he said quietly "May the Valar keep watch over you"
/\\\\\\\\A week later/\\\\\\\\\\\\
Celenril urged his horse faster, his silver hair blown out straight behind him, Haldir and half of the Galadhrim guard behind him, trying to keep up. He could not stop now, he was so close, she would pay, Ulmain would pay. She would never get away with taking his daughter, his firstborn, his only child. He should have never trusted her, loved her, everyone had warned him about it, even his own mother, but he did not listen. By then Ulmain had been with child and he would not abandon her, and now he could not imagine life without his Aramir, his golden haired jewel.
Haldir urged his own mare faster, trying to catch up to Celenril. When Celenril had first noted his daughter and wife's absence, he had been the first the prince had come to.
They had gathered all they could in the short time period and set chase for the missing two. Haldir cursed himself, he had known something was wrong with that woman, that she was planning something. He loved the small child almost as much as Celenril, and would fight to the end to get her back.
……..
Ulmain smiled to herself kicking her horse hard to keep up speed, keeping an arm tight around her squirming daughter who cried for her father. "Your father will not be here little brat. By the time he and whoever he is with gets to us we will be gone. RedHorn Pass approaches."
………..
The party from Rivendell made their way up the mountains. Celebrian sighed, the mountains always made her nervous. She looked over at Galen who held Ellenion infront of her. She had offered to take him for a while, and he leaned against her comfortably, laughing at the birds as they flew by.
...a strange flock of big black birds...how curious
"Ah, RedHorn Pass" said Thonaear "We are halfway to the Golden Wood"
Barely had the words escaped his lips when a black feathered arrow whistled through the air, piercing a blond haired elf in the chest. A shocked silence proceeded before screams and yells came from both the party of elves and from the army of orcs that appeared from hidden caverns in the mountain walls.
Yells from the elf warriors said to protect the women and the child, as they quickly wielded their bows and swords killing as many orcs as they could.
Celebrian took her son from Galen, backing away as far as she could from the fight and suddenly screaming as she saw an arrow end Galen's life. She looked up and saw a dark blond haired woman on a horse farther away on a slight rise in the terrain, tightly holding a screaming golden haired little girl, she saw the sneer on the woman's face. ...Ulmain...
The fighting continued as Celebrian hid behind a boulder, protecting her son, though killing her fair share of the foul creatures with the long knife Elrond had given her before she left. She suddenly heard a thunder of hooves and looked up from behind the boulder, sighing with hope as she saw her brother and Haldir, and so many other faces she knew from Lorien.
Haldir and the others killed orcs left and right, showing no mercy as they slew them, Celenril viscously slew the disgusting creatures as he made his way to Ulmain, intent on retrieving his daughter.
Celebrian's momentary laps of concentration cost her dearly. A rather large orc grabbed her by the wrists, yanking her up and causing her to drop the knife while another ripped away Ellenion, holding a foul hand around his neck to keep him from moving too much, as he nearly crushed the child with its other arm as it carried him away, the opposite way from Celebrian as she screamed for her son.
Haldir saw Celebrian, the one he loved as his own sister, and the child he guessed to be the young Ellenion torn away from each other, as did Celenril, knowing with a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing that if the orcs had not killed her yet, they were not going to...they were going to take her into their dark mountain holes.
Ulmain sneered, knowing the little display of anguish from Celenril's sister would cause him to turn away, to break his concentration. She used that second to launch a single white feathered arrow into his stomach, she sneered again, yes, it would be a slow death, he would see his beloved daughter depart.
She threw down the bow and dismounted the hors, reaching out her arm for the sobbing dark-haired elfling that was brought to her, The Lord of Rivendell's brat, the other to the twins of light prophecy, she had them both now, the two children she was brought into existence for. She held both children tightly, uttering words that would pull her and the twins away from this middle earth.
The sky seemed to grow dark as she said the words, no one being able to understand them as anything but deep guttural sounds, the earth opened up, a huge gaping hole in the ground, seeming to radiate a sickly yellow glow.
Haldir saw the arrow pierce his lord, and raced over to him, catching him as he fell, holding his friend till his last breath, looking with horror as Ulmain uttered the strangest noises and opened the ground, and before he could do anything, jumping into the abyss with the twins of light.
Celebrian fought will all her might, witnessing with horror as she saw he beloved brother fall, trying to get back to her son, remembering her oath to protect him until her last breath.
Before the iron fist of the orc came down upon her skull, bringing her into the utter darkness unconsciousness offered, she saw the woman Ulmain jump into the yellowish abyss, pulling her niece and son down with her. A tear fell down her cheek, she had failed him.
To Be Continued
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(A/N)…..goddamnit…..I hate having the hiccups….
