Some time later, Galathon's older brothers went out on an extended hunting trip on the plains east of the forest. One morning, Seidiron called Galathon into his room.

"I am going to send you to find your brothers," he told him. "They have been gone a long time. I want to make sure that all is well with them, and that they have found game. Will you go and find them, and then bring word back to me?"

Galathon nodded, excited. This was the first time his father had sent him out on that long a journey by himself.

Seidiron smiled at his son's obvious enthusiasm. "Go on, then," he said.

So Galathon raced out and put on the beautiful robe his father had given him, packed a few provisions for the three-day journey, and fetched his horse from the stables and bridled her. Then, bidding his father and aunt and brother Fairion a cheerful farewell, he set out east down the road.

He rested that night beneath the shade of the trees, the gems on his robe flashing as did the stars through the canopy of leaves above him.

Galathon rode out of the forest the next morning and into the free sunlight of the Celduin valley. But his brothers were nowhere in sight.

Riding down the plain, he met another elf. "What are you looking for, Penneth, in your best clothes?" he asked him in a friendly manner.

Smiling, Galathon halted his horse and leaned his hands on his knees. "I am searching for my four brothers, who came out here hunting. I don't suppose you have seen a hunting party pass through here?"

"Yes, indeed I have," the ellon answered. "They moved on from here and traveled along the river."

Galathon thanked him and set off again. After an hour or so, he saw them in the distance, and rode in their direction.

000

"If our bad luck continues like this," Eglerion said to Ôlion, his eyes laughing, "we shall have to tell your betrothed that you are no good as a hunter, and you scared all the game away."

Ôlion rolled his eyes, but couldn't hide his grin. "Be quiet, or I shall push you into one of these traps," he said, gesturing at the deep pits in the ground left by other hunters before them. "She knows I can hunt well enough."

Simeon had begun to laugh as well, and Ôlion turned on him. "And what of you? Perhaps it was your presence that frightened the game—or so we could tell your elleth!"

Simeon grinned back. "She would not believe you."

Ôlion was about to retort, when he heard Hallon's grunt of irritation. "Lovely," he said under his breath.

"What?"

"Here comes the Dream-Master," Hallon said, pointing upriver. They all looked, and sure enough, they could see Galathon riding toward them, his beautiful robe winking in the sun.

"We should be rid of him," Eglerion said. "That dream of his will never come true." It was a conversation the four brothers had had many times.

"Come now," Lathron said in a low voice, "let's kill him and throw him into one of these traps and say he was eaten by a wild animal. Then we will see what comes of all his dreams!"

His three brothers were silent for a moment. Lathron had finally voiced the thing that had entered all of their minds many times in the past year.

Eglerion and Hallon nodded.

Ôlion felt a great confusion rise up in him. He was, after all, the eldest, and he felt responsible for his younger brother. But then, if he objected, his three brothers would gang up on him.

"Let's not take his life," he said finally. "We do not want his blood on our hands. Throw him in the pit and let him starve out here in the wild, but do not lay a hand on him." His brothers agreed. Later, I will come back and rescue him, and take him back to his father, Ôlion thought.

"Hail, brothers!" Galathon called joyfully as he approached them. "Father sent me to see if all were well with you." As he drew near them, his four brothers dismounted from their horses. So he pulled up and did the same. He opened his mouth to continue, but he never got the chance.

Lathron and Eglerion darted forward and seized him, and Hallon roughly pulled off his ornamented coat.

"Wha—what are you doing?" Galathon cried. Lathron was holding his arms behind his back and steadily pushing him forward. Suddenly, there was empty air beneath his feet, and he fell.

The jolt of his landing stunned him for a moment. His ankle began to throb where had landed on it. What had happened?

Looking up, he could see the faces of his brothers, staring down at him. He was in one of the hunters' pits!

With a struggle, he found his voice. "Why do you do this?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"If you starve in the wilderness, what will come of your dreams?" Lathron said coldly.

Terror made Galathon's stomach clench. "Oh, no. Please, no! Do not leave me here to die!" He could see himself, very slowly wasting away and weakening, going mad with thirst and solitude in the dark pit… "No, please! My brothers! Do not leave me here! Please don't leave me!"

But they all turned and walked away, and he could no longer see nor hear them. Galathon sank to his knees, shaking, his eyes wide with fear. "Please…"

TBC

AN: Gen 37:12-24

Thank you to all of my reviewers!