Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Hey there everyone! Thank you all so much for your incredible reviews! I adore each and everyone of you! A huge thank you to my beta enb2004! Love you girl! As promised, here is Chapter 10. Enjoy!
Being a marchwarden of Lothlorien, Haldir had seen many odd occurrences during his many years of service. What see saw approaching the borders of Lothlorien this day though, very nearly topped his list.
From his vantage point in the trees, he could see Lord Elrond galloping full speed towards Lothlorien. While a person traveling at full speed was not all that unusual, it was for the said elf lord. What was even more unusual was that he had not even sent a letter or messenger to let Lothlorien know of his arrival.
All of this pointed to one thing in Haldir's mind. Trouble. Trouble that he was willing to bet had to do with Elrond's three sons and the Prince Legolas, judging by Elrond's immensely troubled expression.
"Welcome Lord Elrond of Imladris," Haldir said as soon as Elrond had stopped at his post. "What brings you to the Golden Realm with such haste?"
"A vision, a very disturbing vision that I must share with Galadriel," Elrond said, not bothering with niceties. He could literally feel time slipping away from him. The sooner he saw Galadriel, the sooner he could get to Mirkwood and protect his son.
Haldir nodded in acceptance, admittedly intrigued as to what Elrond's vision had been that had set him in such a panic. It was very rare for Elrond to seek his mother-in-laws counsel on visions.
"Follow me," he said. "I will take you to her."
Elrond nodded and hastily followed Haldir into the realm of the Lady of the Woods.
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Galadriel watched silently as Haldir led Elrond into Lothlorien. She knew what this visit was about for she too had had a most disturbing vision of Estel. Perhaps together they could figure out who the person with the knife was.
The one thing that she knew with absolute certainty was that her grandson was in extreme danger. Which was precisely what irked her. Without knowing who the assailant was or their motives, she had no way of protecting her grandson, and it was grating on her nerves.
She could tell that it was grating on Elrond's nerves as well. Even from this distance she could see the tenseness in his form and that his hands were clutching his robes. To most people, they would never have realized that Elrond was upset at all.
Galadriel had known Elrond for thousands of years though, and he was her departed daughter's husband. She knew him in a way very few others could claim to.
"Come, we have much to discuss," she said when Elrond had arrived.
Elrond nodded. He was far too used to Galadriel's foresight to be bothered by her knowing why he had come.
"What did you see?" he asked once they were far from prying eyes and ears.
"The same as you Elrond. A mysterious assailant attacking Estel while he was alone with blood, human blood, dripping off a sword. It does not take a genius to understand what that implies," Galadriel said.
"Aye, a fact that has haunted me my entire journey here. We must come to the bottom of who this mysterious assailant is. In the meantime, I've sent Glorfindel to Mirkwood. Valar willing, he will be able to protect Estel until the assailant can be identified," Elrond said.
"I do not believe that Glorfindel will be able to protect Estel, Elrond. Our enemy is cunning, very cunning. He will use that to his advantage. No, I fear the only way Estel can be protected is to find this mysterious assailant. We must go to Mirkwood ourselves," Galadriel said.
Elrond nodded in acceptance. He had planned to leave for Mirkwood right away anyhow in order to protect Estel. Galadriel would help with Estel's protection immensely.
"When shall we leave?" he asked.
"At dawn. I fear the longer we linger here, the more harmful the consequences shall be for your son. Celeborn will be in charge while I am gone with Arwen helping him," Galadriel said. "Speaking of, do you wish to tell them what we have foreseen?"
Elrond shook his head no adamantly. "Nay, absolutely not. If we were to tell them, they would only follow us. It is better that they do not know the truth."
"I figured that you would say that Elrond, and I must say, I quite agree. I do believe however that this will come back to haunt us," Galadriel said, a slight tone of amusement creeping into her voice.
"Oh I have no doubt of that. I'll even take it without blinking an eye so long as Estel is alive and well right beside me," Elrond said seriously.
"I will hold you to that Elrond. Come, let us have something to eat and then rest. We will need all our strength these next few days," Galadriel said, ushering Elrond out of the room and towards the dinning room.
Neither knew how true Galadriel's words would come to be. And when they did, it would already be to late.
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Within Mirkwood, Thranduil was having his own dilemma. How did one tell eight extremely overprotective elves that one of their loved ones was being targeted by a psychotic elf? Better yet, how did he tell them that it was the same psychotic elf who had attacked Estel when he was only four years old?
The only conclusion he could come to was that it would not be pretty no matter how he told them. This was not something he was looking forward to at all, but it had to be done. They would find out, one way or another, and he would rather they hear it from him than find out the hard way.
Sighing, he took a deep breathe and turned to face the eight anxious faces that were all watching him.
"Well?!" Elladan finally demanded, his limited patience having given out at last.
"Estel shall be fine, but his recovery will be long. He was fortunate, very fortunate," Thranduil said wearily.
"How did he get injured though Adar?" Iaurdil asked.
Thranduil took a deep breathe. There it was, the question he had been dreading. "I'm afraid, that Estel was attacked and had a sword thrust rather brutally through his right arm. The screams you heard was when Himband had to take the sword out."
At once, everyone started talking and shouting, all apparently ready to storm into Estel's room and see for themselves how Estel was.
"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Thranduil roared.
His roar gained the attention of all eight young elves and all talking ceased.
"Thank you. Now, listen to me very carefully. We know who the attacker was although Estel does not," Thranduil began.
This earned him several puzzled looked but he ignored it. "I'm afraid that Estel was attacked by a dark elf. His injury was what told us who attacked him. The sword was thrust through his right arm as a reminder. It was thrust right where there was scar tissue from a previous attack."
Elladan, Elrohir, and Legolas caught on right away. "WHAT!" the twins roared together along with Legolas.
Legolas's siblings looked at each other with confusion but knew that all would be explained in due time.
"He's here! In the palace!" Elrohir said faintly.
Thranduil nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so. Glorfindel has gone to write a letter to your father about all that has transpired here. We should expect him quite shortly I believe."
"I had hoped that this was long over, that we would never hear from him again," Elladan said weakly. He remembered all to well the first time that evil creature had gotten his hands on Estel.
"Hoped what was over!" Delelen exclaimed, finally fed up with the riddles and half answers.
"Gorothdil," Elladan growled out.
"He was the one who attacked Estel when he was four. We caught him but he escaped our custody. If you recall, that all happened only a mere few weeks before Estel and Legolas first met, and ended up here," Elrohir supplied.
The looks of puzzlement at last faded into one's of understanding, and then fury. How dare this cowardly elf attack Estel!
"Adar, we must have guards search the grounds," Iaurdil demanded.
"Aye, I know ion nin. I fear though that he will escape detection. He did manage to get into Mirkwood without our knowing somehow," Thranduil said.
"What of Estel? How are we going to protect him?" Legolas asked.
"Someone will always have to be with him, even when he sleeps. I will not risk being caught off guard again," Thranduil growled.
He was very angry with himself. Estel had been attacked under his own roof and that did not sit well with him at all. Elrond was going to flay him alive and he deserved it.
"Ada, do not blame yourself," Fuina said softly, somehow sensing her father's mood.
"She is right Ada, you could not have known. None of us could have! Not even Estel did!" Aruviel said.
Thranduil smiled and embraced both his daughters. "Thank you girls, you always keep me rooted. You are right, none of us could have foreseen this."
"Speaking of Estel, he does not remember the attack on him when he was little. I see no need to remind him of it either. If he asks us who the elf is, we should say that we know as little as he does," Elladan said.
"I don't know about that Elladan. Won't he find out eventually?" Fuina asked worriedly.
"Not if we have anything to say about it," Elrohir grumbled.
Fuina sighed but saw that she would never be able to sway their minds on the issue. Not yet at least.
"It shall be kept a secret for know. Estel doesn't need any more stress to deal with at the moment," Thranduil said, which effectively ended the discussion.
Seeing that the peace wouldn't last long, he continued on. "Come, I know you all want to see Estel. We can all stay in his room tonight," he said.
His plan worked. Any arguments that may have been brewing were stopped at the prospect of seeing Estel. Without even looking twice, all the young elves ran into the room.
Thranduil followed at a much slower pace. "Hurry Elrond. I fear that the clock is ticking and that time is against us once more."
So involved with his thoughts and silent plea, Thranduil never saw the elf skulking in the background wearing a malicious smile.
Translations:
Ada: Dad
Adar: Father
Ion nin: My son
Mellon nin: My friend