Startled by their leaders cry, the orc archers released their arrows. Not even orcs could fail to hit at least one target at such a close range.

Elladan cried out as his hand went automatically to the shaft protruding from his shoulder. As the orcs leapt towards the wounded elf, Elrohir sprang to his brother's defense.

The younger twin's mouth was set in a hard grim line as he slashed one of the groping hands. He had only one short dagger to fight with, and no brother to guard his back. It was only a matter of time before he was overcome.

An orc plunged forward, his hand outstretched to take hold of the elf. Elrohir twisted his upper body to one side and siezed the hand as he plunged the dagger up into the creatures ribs. He could hear Estel's voice rise over the clamour of the orcs and his heart twisted momentarily. The dark haired elf fervently hoped that Estel was free of his captor…

For a moment, the seething mass of orcs shifted enough that Elrohir could catch a glimpse of his little brother. He nearly groaned.

Estel was free of the orc that had been holding a blade to his throat. Unfortunately, the human was engaged in combat with another of the creatures.

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Estel held his dagger stiffly, clumsily blocking the blow his opponent aimed at his head. The sheer force of the orc nearly drove the wiry thirteen year old to his knees. The monster laughed evilly as he heard his prey gasp in pain. Estel ground his teeth together hard, suppressing a bubble of panic that rose up within him. His silver gaze darted around the orc's bulk, desperately searching for his brothers…as his eyes fell on them, the bubble swelled alarmingly. Elrohir had only a small dagger to fight with , and Elladan… the elder twin was on his knees, one hand clutching at an arrow protruding from his shoulder.

Estel quickly dove to the side as his foe swung at him again. The human knew he could not block many blows with his spindly arms, and he did not wish to wear himself out. Surprised that the youth had evaded him, the orc snarled and pressed forward, swinging wildly. Estel ducked under the blade and thrust blindly at the stinking mass rushing toward him. In later years, the young man was forced to admit that the Valar must not have hated him so very much after all. There was a thud, and Estel opened his eyes to see the orc had fallen backwards, dead.

The dagger in his small hand was coated with black blood.

"Estel!" Elrohir's voice rose in clear tones above the clamour of his battle. Estel nearly choked as he looked up. Elrohir was surrounded. The orcs were closing in, all of their attention fixed upon the elf, who was already bleeding freely from a jagged cut across his forearm.

"Drego, Estel! Drego Imladris!" Clawed hands took hold of Elrohir's arms, wresting his weapon away from him. "Drego!"

The youth wavered, realizing the importance of someone reaching Imladris…but unable to abandon his brothers. Elrohir caught his eye as the young elf lord kicked out viciously at his captors. A spark of anger kindled in his grey eyes as he realized Estel had not obeyed him.

"Bado!" he cried out once more, before he was finally borne to the ground under a black heap of orcs.

Choking back a sob, the slender youth fled into the woods.

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Rashneg pulled himself up against a tree, grinding his teeth in pain. Curse the human! The orc glanced down at his knee and grimaced. It was already swollen. Just wait until he got his fingers around that little weasle's neck…Speaking of which, where was he? The two elves, both unconscious, were being bound, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Tend to that," Rashneg snarled nastily, motioning toward Elladan's skewered shoulder. "I don't want him bleeding to death before we get home." Several orcs leapt to do his bidding as Rahsneg surveyed the remains of his command. His eyes narrowed dangerously. Incredible. Two elves had decimated his ranks down to fifteen unwounded orcs and five wargs. He had possibly twenty orcs, if he counted all that still drew breath, but the injured were of little use to him. "Where is the human?"

Blank stares greeted his question, accompanied by stony silence. "Well?" Rahsneg pushed himself away from the tree, ignoring the pain that shot through his leg. His yellow eyes burned with a cruel fire. "Find him. You, you, and you," he motioned to three orcs. "Take the wargs. Bring him back alive." The orc leader knelt by Taghak and stroked the animal's head. "Alive, pet. You can have your fun later."

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Estel ran until he could run no more. Tripping, the teenager fell flat on his face and could not force himself to rise. Instead, he lay, sobbing for breath and muttering every curse and swear word he had ever heard pass his brothers' lips. He cursed the orcs, but himself more. All this was his fault! His fault his brothers were captured. If only he had stayed home as they had told him to!

Slowly, he pulled himself up onto his hands and knees. His limbs were trembling with fatigue. He could not concentrate on how tired he was. His brothers needed his help. Sweat dripped down his pale face. The cut on his lip throbbed annoyingly, and he felt stupid and slow witted.

With a groan, he raised himself to his feet and stumbled forward once more. The sun would not be in the sky very much longer now, and once it was dark he would be at a severe disadvantage.

Not for the first time in his life, he wished for elven eyesight.

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Taghak snuffled against the forest floor. He and the other four wargs were spread out, their noses pressed against the ground, searching for the human's scent. The orcs walked behind them. Useless, as usual.

Taghak snarled softly in warning as one of the orcs came too near. He did not suffer the companionship of fools lightly. The only reason he obeyed his master was that Rashneg had a way of seeing to it that the warg was well fed, and his cruel nature satisfied with the human slaves. No other orc dared touch the large male.

A sudden whiff caught the warg's interest. He froze, concentrating.

There it was again. Stronger now.

It it were possible, an evil smile would have twisted the animal's countenance.

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Something snapped beneath Estel's feet, bringing the boy halfway out of his stupor. He glanced down, and his eyes widened considerably. Had he been half as alert as he usually was, there was no way he would have wandered across such a poorly concealed trap.

Apparently, a hunter at some time had used the natural, shallow ravine as a snare…but it was a snare that had never been sprung. Branches and leaves covered the hole enough so that it would not be readily apparent to animals. Thanking the Valar that he weighed so little, Estel carefully stepped backwards, intending to go around.

A soft snarl interrupted the youth's thoughts.

Estel whirled around, only to be confronted by five wargs. The large male, Taghak, strode forwards slowly, his lips drawn back from yellowed fangs. The other creatures fanned out as they approached their prey.

"Nice, evil creatures," Estel muttered softly, as he reached for his dagger. Though his movements were calm and not hurried, the lead warg growled in warning. The slender youth froze, his fingers touching the dagger hilt.

Once again, panic threatened to overtake him. The animals had him almost surrounded. His only weapon was the dagger in his belt, which he could not draw without being attacked.

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Taghak's eyes glowed with cruel pleasure as he saw the fear in the young one's eyes. This was the moment he loved. The point in time when his prey realized that they were defenseless and had no hope.

Alive, his master had said.

Alive left so much room for imagination.

The warg snarled again as he saw the youth try to reach for the dagger once more. The silver eyes grew even wider than before. The slender fingers that had been groping for the blade's hilt shook uncontrollably. Ah, the smell of fear. It was almost addictive.

But wait…what was this? The warg wrinkled his nose as another scent struck his nostrils. It came from the human, of that much he was sure. And he didn't like it. He had never smelled something like this before.

It smelled like…elves. But not quite. It was almost a mixture of elves and human, the result being a smell that caused the warg no small amount of distress. In his mind, there was only one way to purge the offending odor.

Taghak crouched low, preparing to leap at the youth. The rest of the pack took their lead from him and moved in swiftly, eyes glowing with excitement.

In the moment before he sprang, the warg looked deeply into the human's eyes, expecting to feed on the fear he would see…

But something else had changed.

The fear! The fear was gone. So shocked, was he, he hesitated, and one of the others leapt towards the youth.

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A spark of something as yet untouched flickered deep within the boy's soul. A strength inherent. His fear vanished as he looked on the warg.

His brothers had been placed in harms way because of his actions. They needed help. The only way for them to receive it was to go through the beasts that threatened him.

The warg in front of him prepared to leap. The youth could see the others closing in out of the corners of his eyes. With lightning speed, Estel whipped the dagger from his belt and thrust his arm out to his right, holding it rigidly stiff. Moments later, he felt as if his arm had broken as a warg impaled itself on his blade and drove the young one to the ground. Estel fought desperately against the dead weight of the warg's carcass, kicking himself free just in time to greet another of the animals as it came over the body of its' comrade. With a wild slash, Estel drove the beast back a step. It bought him enough breathing space to come to his feet.

The four remaining wargs came forward as one, their teeth bared.

Fortunately for Estel, the beasts were too large to be most effective grouped together as they were. Still, they proved to be quite effective enough.

As they charged, Estel turned and fled. An idea was forming within the human's mind.

A perfect monster of a tree loomed in front of him. The trunk had to have been several spear lengths thick, and Valar knew how many around. As he reached the tree, the boy darted to the right, daring a glance over his shoulder as he did so. He almost smiled.

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Taghak saw what the human intended and would have grinned had he been capable. The youth meant to keep them circling the tree. It was so large and thick that the boy could dart away at any moment and then they would lose time tracking him again. With a snarl, Taghak nipped at the warg next to him, indicating it should head towards the right, along with one of the others. He would head toward the left with the last member of his pack.

They would catch the little upstart between them.

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Estel saw the wargs split and he did smile. Perfect. Now he had only a few seconds, but it could be enough. With four, he wouldn't have stood a chance, but two…two he might be able to handle.

He spun on one boot and leapt at the charging wargs, dagger raised. The surprise at such a move gave him the advantage he so desperately needed. Both animals wasted time trying to stop, and before their tiny brains could assimilate what was happening, Estel was on them.

One foot lashed out viciously, catching a beast on its nose. There was a most satisfying 'crunch', and the warg howled in pain. At the same time, the boy thrust his weapon deep into the other's throat. Blood gushed in a sticky hot wave over Estel's hand, and the animal crashed to the ground.

Driven to new heights of rage by its' injury, the remaining warg launched itself at the human's throat.

Estel hit the ground hard, the beast very firmly atop him. Teeth flashed, and it would have buried its' fangs in the boy's soft flesh had he not punched it as hard as he could on its' already bleeding snout.

The warg took the time to howl anew, and therefore sealed its' fate. Estel plunged his dagger into the smelly bulk that threatened to crush him where he lay, burying it up to the hilt.

With an almost foolish look of bafflement on its' face, the warg toppled over onto its' side. Dead.

The human pushed himself away from the carcass and dragged himself to his feet wearily. Two down, two to go. As if on cue, Taghak and the other warg rounded the tree, fangs bared.

They did not even slow at the sight of their slain packmates.

Estel slashed once, catching one warg across its' ugly face. Then Taghak was upon him. The leader did not pause, but lunged swiftly. The only thing that spared Estel was his left arm as he threw it up to guard his face. Instead of sinking his teeth into the boy's throat, Taghak bit down hard on the limb. The youth cried out in pain and kicked, catching the warg beneath the ribs.

Taghak released Estel's arm with a yelp. The human did not wait around, but turned and fled back the way he had come. Ignoring his wounded packmate, Taghak bounded after his quarry.

Estel forced his legs to keep moving. Forced his screaming lungs to draw in air. Adrenaline was keeping him going at the moment, but he knew that he couldn't last forever. If only he could see! Twilight had passed and night was settling into the woods. Not very comforting for someone who was being chased by a bloodthirsty beast.

A very large something seemed to materialize beneath the boy's feet, tripping him. Estel fell face forward with a gasp. Pain flared from his wounded arm, but he valiantly pushed it back. The pungent smell that filled his nostrils informed him that he had fallen over the carcass of the first warg he had killed.

A ray of hope flickered.

Estel could hear Taghak drawing near. With enormous effort, he pulled himself to his feet and rushed forward, listening intently.

'snap'

There. The ground gave beneath his feet slightly, and the youth smiled. Now all he had to do was make it to the other side of the hunter's snare. The warg was too heavy for the ancient trap. He would crash through, and Estel would be free to make his way back to Rivendell.

Without warning, something extremely heavy slammed into his back. Estel was knocked to his knees. He cried out as he felt teeth tear into his shoulder.

The branches beneath him splintered under the sudden onslaught of weight.

With a cry, and a snarl, the boy and warg disappeared into the hole.

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"They have to be here somewhere. Taghak was right pleased with what he smelled."

"Aye. Then he went haring off and the rest followed him, curse their lousy hides. Now we're stuck tracking the trackers."

"Quiet, both of you. What's that?"

"What?"

"Where?"

"There. That."

"It's one of the wargs."

"What happened to it?"

"Dead. It's been stabbed."

"The little squeaker had a dagger on him."

"Where's the rest of them?"

"Aye. Where's Taghak?"

"Here comes one. Murgh, you foul dog, come here."

"What happened to him?"

"Looks pretty obvious to me. He got himself a nice slash across the face. Didn't you Murgh? Hold still, dratted animal, let me look at it. If you bite me, it will probably be the last thing you do."

"What's that?"

"Looks like a hole."

"That's not an animal hole. It was made by something. A hunter's trap."

"What did it catch today, I wonder?"

"By the eye!"

"Oh no."

"Rashneg won't be happy about this. He wanted the boy alive."

The three orcs turned away, already squabbling over who would be the unfortunate one to deliver the bad news. Murgh sniffed lightly at the edge of the hole, then recoiled sharply as the scent of death stung his nostrils. The warg loosed a mournful howl of farewell to his leader before turning and following the orcs into the night.

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Drego, Estel! Drego Imladris!- Flee, Estel! Flee (to) Imladris!

Bado!- Go!

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