(-)Chapter 4(-)
The elf turned and frowned at his youngest son, "A glowing red stone? Only in... myths, ion-nin."
"Well that's what I saw."
Legolas nodded, "They must be more than myths."
Elrond frowned worriedly, "Apparently. Come, then."
"Ada?" Elorhir asked suddenly, "I do not know of these myths..."
"They say simply that the red stone is that of evil make. It is unnatural, and must be made, but we thought the knowledge of how to do so had passed out of existence. Therefore it became nothing more than a myth. The knowledge of these is little, only that they have the power to control for their master's."
"You make it seem as though they have minds of their own."
"They do. They take on the qualities of the one that made them. Obviously, one with good intentions would not make an object that is used to control another being. It takes evil to make them. Build them. Create their minds. And yet they do not think on their own at the same time. Their minds are a simpler copy of the one that made them."
"How can something with a mind of it's own be made?" Aragorn muttered, not quite able to grasp this concept.
"One with great power can do much if they give up much," Elrond sighed.
Aragorn frowned at him, "Ada you're starting to sound like Mithrandir. If you start that my brain is going to quit on me."
The elven lord smiled slightly, "Then I suppose I must appologize, valar know I do not wish to be like that one."
Elladan snickered.
Legolas shook his head in amusement.
Sardyn blinked, he had not known the wizard personally, and had not seen him since he had been banished so long ago, but they obviously knew him well. That or they had little respect for him, he didn't doubt that could be the case with the younger ones but with the Lord? He just shook his head.
Elrond paused suddenly, frowning and turned to stare in one direction.
The other five immediately stopped and went dead silent, all staring in the same direction in an attempt to find what had caught the elf lord's attention.
After a moment they caught onto what he sensed and they all climbed into the trees surrounding them, pushing the horses off to hide.
They made their way through the trees soundlessly, each focused on what was before them. They reached a small clearing just next to where Aragorn, Legolas and Sardyn had seen the two earlier.
Once their the elven lord settled into a tree and searched through the small pack he had dragged along, quickly pulling out two of what looked like tiny arrows along with small, weaker bows. He dipped a couple wrags into a small canister of something and wrapped them around the arrows before handing one of them to Legolas.
'They will not do any damage,' he informed them, hands moving swiftly, 'it will put them under for a while.'
Legolas nodded and accepted the small items before taking aim along with the other elf. He quickly adjusted to the weight of the smaller bow and shifted drawing back the string and shooting at one of the two in the clearing.
Two pairs of eyes widened before they crumpled to the ground.
The elves and human dropped from the trees a few minutes later, warily, quickly discovering they were out cold.
Aragorn knelt next to the closer of the two and carefully checked her over for any wounds, knowing their must be some now that he understood what had happened. Indeed there were some, a long, jagged cut down her arm along with many different cuts and holes where she had been shot or sliced into by some type of spiked blade. He winced and gently checked her back as his father worked on the other.
He glanced up as Legolas and Sardyn knelt beside him a moment later, a pot of heated water and clean clothes with them.
"Thank you," he smiled slightly.
"Don't thank us," Legolas smiled, "Lord Elrond made us help."
They laughed slightly at the slight snort said elf omitted as he turned to eye them a moment before turning back to what he had been doing.
Aragorn quickly cleaned her back and wrapped the wounds before turning her back over and cleaning her arms and neck. He paused and frowned at the deep cut near her eye, knowing it could have been close enough to blind her. He carefully lifted the eyelid before carefully inspecting the eye, freezing completely after he got a good look at it.
"Legolas," he muttered, the shock evident in his voice.
"Aye?" the elf cocked his head to the side with a frown.
"You remember you said you seemed to recognize them from somewhere?"
"Yes," he answered slowly, "you know who they are?"
"Oh yes I do."
"Well who?" Elladan asked from where he sat next to his father.
"Eavsdropping are we?"
"Estel..." Elrohir muttered, "please? Will you enlighten us?"
Aragorn nodded, "Elenoharthad and Menelür."
"What!" Legolas exclaimed, "How? How could this happen? Well... I suppose we know now why we couldn't recognize them," the last part was spoken sarcastically.
Aragorn smiled, "Indeed... they do seem to have changed slightly," he muttered.
"Ah yes... they're only about one thousandth of the size they were before and have seemed to have lost the scales and tales."
Aragorn smirked, "It seems they kept the fangs though," he grinned, pointing to the patially open mouth.
Sardyn frowned in confusion, "I think I missed something here."
"Aye, that you have," Legolas laughed, "these two we met a few years ago. They're most definately not elves, just as we figured."
"They're dragons," Aragorn put in helpfully, before frowning slightly and turning to his father, "how could they have changed like this?"
Elrond didn't even blink as he finished stitching a deep wound on Menelür's side, "Dragon's have many ways of hiding themselves."
"You don't seem overly surprised," Aragorn laughed.
"Not much surprises me anymore ion-nin."
Legolas snickered, "I can't imagine why."
Aragorn quieted again, "So you're saying they can simply change whenever they wish?"
"Aye. It is not unlikely, a few dragon's were gifted with this."
Aragorn cocked his head to the side, "They never mentioned it before."
"They may not have known before. It can take many years for one of their kind to learn how to do this."
The human shrugged and quickly finished bandaging Elen before pulling the overcoat back over her shoulders, "Now what? How do we get these off?" he pointed to the collar.
Elrond sighed, "I wish I knew."
Elrohir walked over and knelt next to his younger brother, reaching out and inspecting the tight collar, he frowned and turned back to his father.
"Ada, it's warm."
"It is around her neck 'Ro," Elladan rolled his eyes.
"No, I mean, it's unnaturally warm, it radiates heat."
Aragorn glanced back to it and frowned.
Elrond turned around to join them and frowned, "This I had not heard of."
"Few have young one, I myself am vaguely surprised at seeing it again."
Aragorn's gaze shot up and he grinned, "Mae govannen Mithrandir! Good timing you have my friend."
The grey wizard smiled as he entered the clearing.
Elrond smiled slightly, "It is about time you reached us Mithrandir. You are as slow as an old man."
Aragorn bit back a snicker at the comment and glanced to his father.
The wizard muttered slightly and slowly walked over to them, obviously in no hurry, he glanced over at the only man in the clearing and frowned slightly, "Telcontar."
Aragorn's gaze shot up at the name and he frowned slightly, "Aye Mithrandir?"
"I need you to take these young elves out of here for a while while Lord Elrond and I talk."
Aragorn blinked in confusion but nodded, standing swiftly, "Come then," he motioned to the four elves and they quickly left the clearing, the human shot a confused look over his shoulder before continuing, getting the feeling the wizard wanted them well out of sight.
They paused as a sudden flurry of power shot through the trees and they turned in confusion.
The twins frowned at each other before turning back to where they had caught the end of a bright blue flash. Their eyes widened and they glanced to where their brother stood.
Aragorn stared wide-eyed, never had he felt the effects of the power. He knew exactly what it was as well and knew the twins knew with one quick glance. The three quickly wiped the looks off their faces as the other two elves hadn't noticed what had just happened. They had felt the sudden rush of power but knew not where it came from.
Aragorn frowned slightly and headed back, "We can go back now."
The twins simply nodded in agreement.
Aragorn shook his head slightly as he walked, -Never once have I known ada to use it. This must be more serious than I thought,- that alone worried him, his first instinct now was to turn back the way they had been going before and get away from it.
He suddered at the thought of being near one of the, nay... two, of the rings of power. He knew these didn't draw people to them as the one did. But he still wished to keep from anything that reminded him of what happened. He frowned and shook the thoughts out of his head and continued on, lifting his gaze from where it had dropped to the leaf-littered ground. He started sharply as a hand fell on his shoulder and he unconsciously reached one hand up to cover his heart.
"Dear valar Legolas!" he breathed, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
The elf winced, "Sorry," he muttered with a worried frown, "You are okay?"
Aragorn just stared at him blankly.
A/N
Elven Kitten: And another for being late:) I hope this made up for my forgotten chapter last week and my lateness in this one :S I hope you all enjoyed it:D