Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: Hey there everyone! Thank you all so much for your reviews, I adore each and every one of them and they truly have gotten me through this past week. Evil sadistic english teachers trying to drown us in papers and the like. Hehe, okay, I'm done ranting now. A huge thank you to my beta enb2004 who has some of the best HP fanfic around, so go check it out. As promised, here is Chapter 21. Enjoy!

As Elladan left Elrohir watching over their brother and friend, it took all of his will power not to break into an immediate run. He knew that Gorothdil would hear him if he started running, but it didn't make it any easier.

Once he was positive that he was far out of hearing range, he went into a full out spring towards where he and Elrohir had left their horses. He had to find the others and quickly, before even more harm came to Estel and Legolas.

Elladan was worried for his twin as well. He knew that Elrohir could be impulsive at times, not that he was any better, but he feared that his twin would attempt to rescue Estel and Legolas without any help. He would probably do the same which was precisely why he was worried.

Elladan could only hope that he reached Glorfindel, Thranduil, his grandfather, and Haldir before his twin did something incredibly stupid, but something in the back of his mind told him that he was already too late.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Elrohir had seen the whip heading straight towards his brother and Legolas, he had reacted on pure instinct and put himself in the way of the whip.

"I don't think so," Elrohir said. "If you want to harm them, you'll have to come through me first."

In hindsight though, he realized this probably wasn't the smartest move he could have made when he remembered just out vastly outnumbered he was. Still though, he did not move. He would not allow any more harm to come to his brother and Legolas while he was there and could protect them.

"Elrohir!" Legolas hissed as the yrch circled around them in confusion for a moment. "Get out of here while you still can you fool."

Elrohir looked down at Legolas and smiled grimly. "I do not think so mellon nin. I will not allow either of you to suffer any more than you already have."

"Ro, don't do this," Estel's voice was suddenly heard, causing both Elrohir and Legolas to drop to his side.

"Shh, Estel, don't speak, you're severely wounded," Elrohir said, the yrchs forgotten for the moment. Unfortunately, they had not forgotten him and were now advancing.

"Go Ro! Ada will not need a third patient to attend to when we are eventually rescued from this hell hole," Estel said wearily, his eyes already drooping.

"Like I told Legolas tithen gwador, I am not going anywhere. If it is to be three of us that need rescuing, so be it. I will not let you go through this alone," Elrohir said as he drew his sword.

"I would not do that if I were you little Elrondion," Gorothdil said appearing in the middle of the circle of orcs.

Elrohir's silver eyes darkened and sparked silver fire in his fury at Gorothdil. "If you know what's good for you, you would release my brother and Legolas right now. If you do, we may just not kill you."

Gorothdil laughed. A chilling, hollow sort of laugh that sent shivers up and down Elrohir's spine. The laugh had not sounded as though it belonged to sane person, but rather, a psychotic one who was very dangerous, which Gorothdil was. Lovely.

"No my little elfling, it is you who will back down, for if you don't we shall kill your precious 'little brother' and his friend," Gorothdil said smiling.

"You will do no such thing," Elrohir said, his eyes narrowing as he slowly drew his dagger without it being obvious. "I know that you want Estel alive so that you can torture him."

Gorothdil smirked. "True, true, I won't kill the urchin, yet. The princeling though is another story. He just happened to be my bait and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have no qualms about killing him, as I have no qualms about killing you either."

"That will not happen. Not today, nor ever," Elrohir hissed.

"Are you forgetting that the urchin is mortal? He will die someday Elrondion, it is just a matter of when," Gorothdil said.

Elrohir glared at the creature that dared to call himself one of the eldar. "I am well aware of that fact but it doesn't matter to me. It is true that one day he shall die, but it will be when is a very old man and has lived a very long and fulfilling life."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Gorothdil hissed. "Now, lower your weapon that you are trying so hard to conceal or I will shoot the Prince."

Elrohir swore and reluctantly let go of the dagger that he had been about to throw. He would not risk Legolas's life. There was high chance that Gorothdil would shoot Legolas before his dagger would take him down.

"That's a good elf," Gorothdil said when he noticed Elrohir had lowered the dagger. "Bind him!" he ordered.

Elrohir glared but allowed the yrch to bind his hands and force him down next to Legolas and Estel.

"Leave them for now. We'll let them think about their fate and in the morning we will all have some fun," Gorothdil said before walking away.

The yrch smiled viscously but followed their master away from the bound elves and one human. They would indeed have some fun later on. They hadn't had any elves to play with in a long time.

Once the yrch and Gorothdil had moved some ways away, Elrohir hurriedly scooted over as close to Estel and Legolas as could possibly get.

"Tithen gwador?" he asked worriedly. Estel hadn't said anything since telling him to get away before he was captured as well.

Legolas shook his head sadly. "He has lost conscious again mellon nin. Frankly, I am surprised that he regained consciousness at all considering the amount of blows and beatings he has taken, not to mention the poison."

"Poison!" Elrohir yelped. "What poison!" Everything just kept becoming worse and worse and there seemed to be no end in sight.

"I'm sure exactly what it is, but I do know that it is not lethal. However, it does cause violent nightmares that feel real to the person who is afflicted with it," Legolas said with a shudder.

Elrohir looked at him and then at Estel, his face frozen in horror. "Estel..." he began to say but could not bring himself to continue the thought.

"Yes, he went through the nightmares. I will not lie to you Elrohir, it was not a pleasant experience for either of us. I only pray that you will not have to witness the effects," Legolas said.

"As do I, for his sake," Elrohir said looking at Estel's prone form.

"Get some rest Elrohir, I'll watch over Estel and the camp and see if I can't find a way to get us out of this mess," Legolas said.

"Nay, I will not be able to sleep. You go on ahead and rest Legolas, I'll take care of everything," Elrohir said.

Legolas looked doubtful. "I don't know Elrohir, I think that you should take some rest."

"I'll be fine mellon nin. Besides, you have been in Gorothdil's far longer than I have. Rest," Elrohir said.

Legolas scowled. "Fine, only so long as you wake me if anything occurs."

"Of course," Elrohir said.

Legolas nodded and allowed his mind to drift. He could not fall asleep however as images of Estel's torture session echoed through his mind. It would be a long night for both Legolas and Elrohir.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Celeborn was very near the brink of his patience, a feat which had not occurred for several millennium. For over a day now, they had been looking for any sign of the twins or Legolas and Estel, and not one clue had turned up.

"Why did you have to teach the twins to have such good wilderness skills," he said scowling at Glorfindel.

"Because I knew that they would turn into fine warriors which they have indeed. A bit too fine if you ask me considering that we can not find a trace of them," Glorfindel said, scowling as well. Elrond was going to murder him if he returned without the twins.

"Whatever possessed you to teach them wilderness skills when you knew they would use it against you!" Thranduil exclaimed. Far too many times he had been a victim of the twins infamous pranks.

Haldir watched the three powerful elf lords bicker like elflings with amusement bordering on disbelief. Had he not known better, he would have sworn that the three elf lords in front of him had deaged by a few millennia.

Haldir knew that it was their worry that was getting the better of them, but really, they sounded like Estel, Legolas, and the twins on one of their bad bickering days. He couldn't help but grinning at that thought. All four of them took after their fathers more than they knew.

Looking in the distance, he hoped that the twins were all right on their own. Knowing them of course, they had to have found trouble. As he stared at nothing in particular, he suddenly became aware of the sound of pounding hooves.

"Rider ahead!" he warned quickly.

Thranduil, Glorfindel, and Celeborn all stopped bickering instantly and drew their weapons in readiness. Whatever was headed their way would be dealt with quickly so that they could continue on with their search.

As the rider came into seeing distance, Celeborn instantly recognized Elladan. "Hold! It's Elladan!" he said.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and put their weapons away while they waited for Elladan and Elrohir. As they waited however, they noticed that a second horse never followed the first. Elladan was alone.

Celeborn inwardly fretted. The twins never separated from each other save in the most dire of circumstances.

"Elladan! Where is Elrohir?" Glorfindel asked as soon as Elladan had dismounted.

"He stayed behind to watch over Estel and Legolas. We found them but we were unable to rescue them as we were vastly outnumbered. He is working with the yrch and has a large assortment of them guarding their camp. It was nothing short of a miracle that we weren't discovered.

Thranduil frowned grimly. This was worse than he had feared. "And what of Estel and Legolas? Could you ascertain their condition?" he asked.

"Legolas seemed to be all right, a bit shaken up and a bruise or two, but nothing serious. Estel though..." Elladan said but did not continue.

"What about Estel," Thranduil asked feeling a sense of panic for the young man who had stolen his heart at the tender age of four years old.

"He, he does not look well. There was blood, a lot of blood," Elladan whispered heart brokenly.

"We will rescue them Elladan, and Estel shall be fine, just you wait and see," Glorfindel said trying to soothe everyone's fears, including his own. Needless to say that it didn't seem to have any effect.

"Come, rest a bit Elladan and then you can show us the way," Celeborn said.

Elladan nodded but his eyes never left the spot on the horizon where he had left his twin, his little brother, and best friend. If something were to happen to Elrohir while he was away, he would never forgive himself.

While Elladan, Glorfindel, Thranduil, Haldir and Celeborn rested, the setting sun burned fiery orange and it's rays of light reflected in the water a bright red. The river of blood had started to flow and the run off seemed to have no end in sight.

Translations:

Mellon nin: My friend

Tithen gwador: Little brother

Ada: Dad/daddy

A/N 2: Oops, hehe, I forgot to mention on top that I have some bad news. I'll be out of town for the next five days and I will have absolutely no connection to the net at all. Sorry! I promise to try and update as soon as I get back after the 25th. Sorry again! Hehe, running away now! Tata!