Elrohir felt for Elladan's pulse. It was far too fast; his heart was racing.
Elladan groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, wrapping his arms around his stomach and curling up on the floor. Elrohir put his hand on his brother's cheek, exerting as much healing power as he could.
"Father will be here soon," he murmured. Elladan made no sign of hearing him. His chest was heaving and a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead.He seemed to be having trouble breathing, and the muscles of his back and neck were spasming. Elrohir and Vivian exchanged a frightened glance.
000
Katie pounded down the corridors as fast as her feet could carry her, skidding around corners and hoping she wouldn't run headlong into anyone.
She slid to a stop and rapped urgently on Elrond's door. Elrond himself opened it and looked down at her in some surprise.
"What is it? What is wrong?" he asked.
Katie tried to catch her breath. "It's Elladan. He's been poisoned!"
Elrond turned a little white, but beckoned her to follow him into the next room, where some of his medical supplies were. "What are his symptoms?"
Katie fought down her panic. "He—he's kind of rolling on the floor; I think he must have stomach pains. His face is really white…"
Elrond began to pull bottles off a shelf. "How much of the poison did he ingest?" he asked.
"Just a sip, I think," Katie said, twisting her hands in anxiety.
Elrond nodded and headed swiftly down the corridor to the sitting room. He found Elladan where Katie had left him, Elrohir and Vivian kneeling on either side of him. Elrohir sprang up to make room for his father.
"His heart rate has slowed down toward normal," Elrohir reported relatively calmly. "He had very little of the poison, and I think his body is fighting it off."
Elrond checked Elladan's pulse and felt his forehead. His son did not move from his position, his eyes shut with an expression of pain.
Elrond had far outdistanced Katie, who now ran back into the room, entirely winded. Vivian took one look at her and got up from the floor.
"You need to sit down, Sweetie," she said firmly, and steered her granddaughter into a nearby chair. "If you start to feel light-headed or sick, I want you to put your head down, alright?" Katie nodded, gulping. She was sure her own heart was racing as quickly as Elladan's—a result of fear and running.
Please don't let him die, please don't let him die, please don't let him die, she thought over and over again.
"Where is the poison?" Elrond asked Elrohir, who handed him Elladan's glass. Elrond sniffed it, then looked for residue on the sides of the glass. What he found made him frown in consternation.
"Rat poison," he said shortly, and reached for the bottles he had brought. He murmured to Elladan in Elvish, and Elrohir helped his brother into a more upright position so that he could take the medicine. The act of swallowing it apparently made him feel sick again, because he clutched at his brother's arm and curled over his stomach again.
After what seemed to be a terribly long time, Elrohir helped his twin to stand and supported him out of the room and back to his own bedroom. Elrond rose and caught sight of Katie's agonized expression.
"He will be fine," he assured her. "Make sure no one touches any of that wine," he told Vivian before following his sons out of the room.
Katie put her down on her arms and began to sob with relief.
000
The rest of the wine was safely disposed of, and they met in Elrond's study and hour later. The meetings seemed to be all too frequent, lately.
Elrohir entered last of all. "He is asleep," he said, sitting down in an empty armchair. He shook his head. "Rat poison."
"I've seen a container of rat poison in the stable," Katie said quietly, Sadron on her mind.
"There is a similar container in almost every building in Rivendell," Glorfindel told her.
"It simply does not make sense, any more than the notes did," Elrond said, frustration creeping into his voice. "Rat poison has no odor, but a bitter flavor. Our poisoner simply dumped a very large amount of the powder into a flask of wine. He must have known that after one drink, the victim would not ingest any more."
"Elladan did make a bit of a face after he tried the wine," Elrohir said.
Katie hadn't noticed this, but then, the elves were pretty good at hiding their emotions, and she wasn't surprised that Elrohir had seen a reaction in his twin that she had not.
"That amount he took was not enough to kill him, just enough to make him ill," Elrond continued. "If the culprit intended to kill an elf with this wine, he planned his work very badly."
"Praise the Valar he did," Erestor murmured.
"Maybe the poison was meant for one of us—for Katie or me," Vivian spoke up. "That amount would probably kill a human."
Elrohir shook his head. "I noticed that flask of wine in the sitting room before we even asked the two of you to eat with us. I can only assume it was meant for Elladan or myself, or both of us. And the last note said 'your sons' and 'protect them'. If someone is trying to blackmail Adar, Elladan and I are likely targets."
"So who could have put the bottle there?" Katie asked.
"It was most likely placed in that room during the night; anyone could have done it."
Silence followed this remark. Everyone looked discouraged.
"If this person is trying to scare us, he's doing a damn good job of it, as far as I'm concerned," Katie grumbled. She glanced up at her grandmother, whose only reaction to her language was a steady gaze. "Sorry," she added automatically.
"None of this makes any sense," Glorfindel said, shaking his head.
000
Just after dinner, Lithorniel came to Lord Elrond to say that Arwen had arrived. Elrond had sent for her with news of her brother's condition, and she had come home to be with him and the rest of her family. Elrohir left to take her to see Elladan, and the table split up, still having come no nearer to an explanation for the strange and frightening occurrences.
Walking past the north balcony after dark, Katie saw a figure leaning against the railing, looking up at the stars. She wouldn't have known who it was, but for the fact that the silhouette in question had short hair, and she knew of only one short-haired elf in Rivendell.
She walked over and stood beside him, pausing to gaze up at the sky as well. It was as breathlessly beautiful as it had been every night she had spent in Rivendell. Neither of them spoke for a time.
"I'm scared," Katie finally admitted, her voice sounding small in the nighttime hush.
There was a pause. "I am as well," Elrohir said quietly. Katie turned to look up at him. His noble head, still beautiful despite his short hair, was encircled by a corona of stars.
"Elladan and I have gone through many dangers together. We battled the orcs in Rohan, and have gone questing against them for nigh five hundred years. Orcs are wholly evil, and tricky in their way. But even orcs you can trust to act in ways that make sense!" He gave a mirthless laugh, then was silent again. "I fear for my family. My brother, my sister, my father." He looked down at Katie. "And for you, gwathel-nín, and your grandmother. I fear for Rivendell, and all that I love. I fear that I cannot protect them as I would wish."
Katie moved a little closer to him, and Elrohir put his arm about her, warding her against the chilly night breeze.
"If it helps," she said, "I feel safer with you around."
He chuckled, and pulled her closer. "Believe it or not, that does help," he said.
000
So Katie went to bed that night no closer to a decision about Sadron. She had thought for a moment with the clue of rat poison that she had good proof, but as Glorfindel had said, there was plenty of it in Rivendell. She remembered seeing similar containers in the smithy and the kitchens. She really didn't have any proof whatsoever that Sadron had anything to do with the poisoning.
It disturbed her, though, that someone was imitating Dorlarth so closely—albeit badly. A knife in the grave of the elf Dorlarth murdered, two illegible notes on the door in an imitation of Dorlarth's handwriting, and an attempt to poison the twins as Dorlarth had poisoned Legolas. But the deeds pointed to no goal; they barely made sense. And the planning was not nearly as cunning as Dorlarth's had been. If it was indeed Sadron, then he was either very stupid or insane, and he certainly did not appear to be either. So once again, Katie decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
TBC
AN: You get one more chapter to tide you over until my return. :) My goodness, lots of reviews. I'll have to write evil cliffies like that more often…
EresseElrondiel: Oh, surely not the worst. Have you read Cassia and Siobhan's Mellon Chronicles?
Erasuithiel: It's not just you; I thought that when I read it. Putting a lot of thought into this, you are!
Princess Siara: Happy? lol
Fk306: Yes, not sure if I would've suspected the food or not. But so far the Dorlarth imitator hadn't actually done anyone any harm, so they weren't really looking for it. New school? Are you going to high school, or did you transfer?
Madd Hatter: Oh, I meant to tell you, I really like that painted landscape in your gallery. I can't comment on the page because I'm not a devart user.
Renegade Kitsune: Well, just make sure you're speaking to faded elves and not houseless fëar!
Laer4572: Sheared! lol I like that.
Darkened Dreams: Why on Arda would Lossefalme do something like that? She seems really sweet to me.
theycallmemary: You know, I'm honestly not sure what length his hair is to now. I have a suspicion it grows faster than human hair, but I don't really know. It doesn't quiet look like a buzz cut anymore, though. I'm able to write so much because I have no life. Seriously, all I've done most days this summer is sit in front of the computer all day. Is it any wonder I've written so much? lol Yep, Glorfindel's around, as you see by his comments in the little conference in this chapter.
Ravens Destiny: I have got to get a copy of that book. Seriously. I knew what symptoms I wanted Elladan to have, so I just wrote them. Then I got the idea that it might be rat poison, and looked that up. They used to use strychnine, so I (sort of) based it off of strychnine. "Strychnine is a white, odorless, bitter crystalline powder" found in a plant that grows in Asia. So what they've got in Middle-earth is probably similar, but not quite the same. Strychnine poisoning symptoms: Painful muscle spasms possibly leading to fever and to kidney and liver injury, Uncontrollable arching of the neck and back, Rigid arms and legs, Jaw tightness, Muscle pain and soreness, Difficulty breathing. So yeah, kinda accurate but not quite. Must get a copy of that book. It'd make my life that much easier…
werewolflemming: Thanks!
Thanks also to IwishChan and Neassa!
Please review!