CHAPTER TWO
THE JOURNEY
Soon the group of Elven-rangers was packed up and on their way to the Northern realm. They had planned to follow the Misty Mountain range as it veered northward and then to the west through that part of Eriador. They intended to cross the Hoarwell River before making their way to the Ettenmoors and then into the old realm of Angmar that had been deserted by the Witch-king almost a thousand years before. It was known that Orcs still frequented the area and although Elladan and Elrohir had voiced their opinions that Aragorn and Legolas would have had no reason to venture that far north, some of the other rangers, including Gilfanon, put forth the idea that if their friends had been captured, the Orcs could have dragged them back to the Witch-king's old dungeons and were perhaps subjecting them to torture there, or at least keeping them captive.
This suggestion angered Elladan and Elrohir, and after exchanging a few sharp words with Gilfanon and Peleg, they stormed off, feeling more and more anxious to resume their journey to find Aragorn and Legolas as soon as possible. The way was safe for many leagues, and they had several uneventful days of traveling in which they could get to know each other better.
The Silvans, while friendly, tried to stay out of the way of the Imladrians, and let them play their games to while away the rest periods, preferring to sit back and watch them, rather than participating in the play themselves. Elladan and Elrohir were especially good at swordplay and would practice together at least once a day. Ilfrith enjoyed watching them. Their two identical muscular bodies were tanned and glistened with sweat in the strong sunlight as they sparred with each other, anticipating and blocking each other's moves. Occasionally, one of them would practice with another Elf for the challenge of using different skills that a fresh partner provided.
Once, Elladan had asked Ilfrith to spar with him. Penlod had tried to protest but Ilfrith had stopped him. "No, Penlod," he said. "Let me try. Though my weapon of choice is not sword but knife."
"I have no knife," said Elladan, his eyes glinting with the fire of anticipation, "but I can lend you a sword."
"Very well," said Ilfrith bravely, shushing Penlod's protests once again. He stared up at the large, dark-haired Elf who stood two heads above him. Elrohir had given Ilfrith a small but sharp, lightweight sword that Ilfrith found he could wield comfortably after a few practice swings.
They started to fight. Ilfrith attacked first, and Elladan managed to jump free of the blade easily, the muscles on his bare chest and arms rippling as he flexed them and circled Ilfrith. "This is hot work," he said. "You may want to remove your tunic and shirt as well, Ilfrith."
"No, I do not intend to work up a sweat as you have done," said Ilfrith evenly and made to stab Elladan in the ribs as these words were spoken, attempting to catch him by surprise while he was speaking. The dark-haired Elf deftly avoided the second attack. Next, he moved so quickly that Ilfrith did not see his intention until too late, and after leaping behind the slight Mirkwood Elf, Elladan wrapped one solid arm around Ilfrith's neck and quickly divested the Silvan of his sword by lifting the Silvan's slender sword-arm and shaking it until the blade dropped out of Ilfrith's hand and fell to the rocky ground below with a silvery clang.
"You certainly won't work up a sweat this way," said Elladan quietly into the delicate pink shell of Ilfrith's ear. The feel of Elladan's body pressed against his back and the sensation of the tall Elf's breath upon Ilfrith's ear caused a chill to run through his slight form. He could feel Elladan's heavy breathing and noticed the son of Elrond's not unpleasant odour of musk. After perceiving that Elladan had been holding him for a little longer than was necessary, and that all of the other Elves' eyes were upon them, Ilfrith put his small, slender hands upon Elladan's muscular arm and pressing down on it, twisted his way out of the Imladrian's grasp by ducking his head down and squirming free. The two Elves managed a swift but deep look into each other's eyes before they each turned and went their separate ways. Ilfrith noticed a look of astonishment in the dark recesses of Elladan's blue-grey stare and Elladan saw confused sadness in Ilfrith's. Shaken, neither Elf spoke another word to anyone for the rest of the night.
After breakfast the next morning, Elladan announced to all of the rangers that they were to close up camp, make tack and depart before the noon sun rose in the sky. "Be sure to relieve yourselves before departure," he shouted. "For we will not be stopping again until nightfall, not for any reason whatsoever."
His speech made, he chuckled and jumped down from the tree stump that he was using as a platform and started to make for a group of densely-planted bushes that stood on the outskirts of the woods. As he passed Ilfrith he noticed that the slight Elf was slowly packing his eating utensils while all the other rangers were heading to the bushes and some toward the woods in order to perform their toileting needs. "Ah, Ilfrith!" he cried, putting out his hand to grasp the small Elf by the upper arm and hoisting him lightly to his feet. "Why are you not going to relieve yourself? Come on! I will not let you delay us. And you'll be needing to do it before the sun sets!"
"I – I am not feeling any urge to go," stammered Ilfrith, the pitch of his voice rising and falling as he tried to adjust it to a lower level.
"Well, force yourself! As I said, we will not be stopping for any reason before the sun falls in the West and the sky turns red."
"How can you be so sure that the sky will be red tonight?" asked Ilfrith, attempting to change the subject.
Elladan allowed himself a self-indulgent smile. "When you get to be as old as me and as practiced at living in the outdoors as I am, little one, then you should also be able to determine what will be the colour of the sky at twilight and at the dawn light. Ah, let us stop here," he ordered as they reached a row of thick shrubbery. He began to unlace his leggings and when they were undone, he dropped them to his knees. He then grasped hold of himself and began to urinate a glowing yellow stream into the bushes as Ilfrith blushed profusely, trying to avert his gaze from that which Elladan clutched strongly in his large hand.
"Ahhhh ---" sighed the son of Elrond with relief. Then he noticed that Ilfrith had not made any motion to untie his own breeches and relieve himself. "Ilfrith! For the Valar's sake, please relieve yourself now!"
"What is amiss?" a new voice was heard as Elrohir strolled up to them. He stood on the other side of Ilfrith and began to unlace his own pants. This was too much for the small Mirkwood Elf, to be surrounded by both Elladan and Elrohir in this way, and he quickly took a few steps backwards.
"Uh – uh – excuse me," he stuttered, his face flushing a deep shade of crimson. "I have to – uh – go and do the other thing." Then he began to run into the woods.
"The other thing?" Elladan called out to Ilfrith's back as the slight form hastily plunged into the deepest part of the woods, disappearing from his view. "Don't be long!" he added. Then he sighed. "What do you think of Ilfrith?" he asked his brother.
"What do you mean, 'what do I think of him'?" asked Elrohir.
"Well, do you not think that he is a bit strange?" asked Elladan.
"It is true, he is from Mirkwood," replied Elrohir with a shrug and a shake of his appendage.
"It is not just that." Elladan looked thoughtfully into the soulful blue-grey eyes of his twin. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh, and you must also swear not to tell another living, breathing soul or I will break your arms at the first opportunity that presents itself."
"Brother, brother!" cried Elrohir, feigning alarm while trying to suppress a smile as he re-laced his breeches. "What is it that troubles you so?"
"Well – when you stand close to Ilfrith, do you not feel something odd?" he asked, trying to choose his words carefully.
"Feel something odd? Like what?" asked Elrohir, stopping to stare at his twin expectantly.
"Ah – well – a disturbance of some kind –," Elladan spoke hesitantly as he absentmindedly re-tied his own leggings.
"Disturbance?" Elrohir's eyebrows shot upwards.
"Mmm – yes. Something like a tingling that starts in your knees and winds its way upwards –"
"Oh no!" laughed Elrohir. "Oh, I'm sorry." He put a large hand over his mouth. "Sorry. Please go on."
Elladan blushed furiously. "All right, laugh if you must. But I am inclined to tell you what I feel in every detail so that you may help in showing me how to interpret it," he said very seriously.
"I am sorry."
"Very well," Elladan continued. "It makes me feel that I should be – protective or something – toward Ilfrith in some way. I feel almost as if I should be putting my arms around him and comforting him somehow. Being in close proximity to him makes me break out in a sweat and my mouth becomes dry, and I – I feel a lump in my throat."
"Oh, no!" cried Elrohir, looking slightly alarmed.
"What is it?" Elladan demanded, now feeling alarmed himself.
"You love him!" Elrohir exclaimed.
"What? No! No!" cried Elladan. "No, I don't! I do not feel that way about Ellyn! That is why I am compelled to ask for your advice. I know that I am not drawn to males in that way, therefore the feeling must stem from some other source. Do you not feel the same when you stand beside Ilfrith?"
"I cannot say. I am afraid that I have not had as much opportunity as you, perhaps, to be that close to Ilfrith so far," said Elrohir. The twins were then interrupted in their conversation by the tentative approach of Ilfrith, who had finished his business in the woods and was now walking toward them.
"Here comes an opportunity for you to get close to him now," whispered Elladan, and retreated, leaving Elrohir alone with the object of his curiosity.
ILFRITH'S JOURNAL – ENTRY #2
Today there was an unpleasant occurrence when Elladan became too bold for my liking. The attention that he showed to me was worrisome, for I am afraid that it may lead to the discovery of my secret. Oh, that I could blend more easily into the background and not be noticeable but I am afraid that is not going to be a realistic option for me, and so I must learn to deal with the situation the best way I can.
Elrohir is nice. He is less bold than Elladan and after our supper tonight he came to sit with me and we had a pleasant talk about our homes. Imladris does sound like a very open and good place in which to live. I did not tell him my true opinion of Mirkwood, and only dwelt on the positive aspects of Thranduil's realm when I talked to him about my home. Penlod and Bethos joined us and contributed their own insights into Mirkwood's problems. That left me free to continue with my plan to try to blend into the background and attempt to remain as unobtrusive and unnoticeable as possible. I was glad that my worries over the morning's occurrence have dissipated and do not now seem so ponderous.
When Elrohir returned later in the evening to the tent he shared with his brother, he was able to tell him, "I spent a while conversing with Ilfrith, brother, and did not have any unusual feelings about him such as you described." He undressed quickly and lay down upon his bedroll beside Elladan, who was already bundled up in his blankets.
"No?" Elladan yawned sleepily.
"No," said Elrohir firmly. "Ilfrith is very young, I think," he continued, "and the only thing that bothered me was that I think he may be too young to be on this journey. In that way I can see why you would feel protective of him. But his brother and their friend are strong, capable warriors and they should be protection enough for him. I think that you should try to stay as far away from Ilfrith as possible, for I fear that there is some attraction between you two. It is lucky that we have not run across any troubles so far in our journey, because I think that tomorrow we should ask Ilfrith to turn back and go home. We are only three days out of Imladris, after all."
The next day after lunch, when most of the other Elves were practicing either their sword moves or riding skills before it was time to move on again, Elladan and Elrohir had been called away to take care of a problem concerning one of the other Elves. Two of them, Diriel and Rimion, had been sparring with each other when an accident occurred, and Diriel had been stabbed in the foot. He was now quite lame as a result and there was no chance that he could continue on the mission. Not only that, but Rimion would have to accompany him back to Imladris as Diriel was unfit to travel alone. There was no question now that Ilfrith would have to stay with the group. It was suggested that Ilfrith could accompany Diriel back to Imladris but it was deemed that because of his small size, Ilfrith would not be of much help to Diriel if they were either set upon by enemies or even to lend support Diriel if he had to hobble to a bush to relieve himself.
Ilfrith was sitting back, leaning against a tree and writing in his journal when Gilfanon, who was returning from a round of swordplay with Erenol, another of the warriors, noticed the Mirkwood Elf and came to sit beside him.
"I see you are writing in your journal again," he remarked with a friendly smile and a twinkle in his eye.
Ilfrith looked up at the big warrior. "My doings seem to attract much more attention than I would have warranted," he said with a look of perplexity in his wide, sky-blue eyes.
"Perhaps that is because you are very attractive," said Gilfanon, and moved a little closer to him.
Ilfrith, alarmed, put down his journal and quill and edged further away from the large Elf, around the side of the tree, his blue eyes wide with fright. "Gilfanon –" he began to say in a wavering voice.
Just then Bethos returned from where he had been relieving himself among some nearby trees. "What is going on here?" he asked, worried when he saw Gilfanon and Ilfrith sitting too close for his liking.
"Nothing to cause any worry, friend," replied Gilfanon, looking annoyed as his black brows joined together in a frown. "I was just telling Ilfrith how attractive he is."
Bethos looked startled. His eyes grew wide and he ran a slender hand through his tightly braided hair. He had not anticipated that any of the Imladrian Elves would take a shine to Ilfrith and try to court him. Clearly, he would have to think of something to rescue his friend from what he assumed to be Gilfanon's unwanted advances, judging from the horrified look on Ilfrith's small face.
"Erm – Ilfrith and I have had an understanding for quite some time now," said Bethos, moving to put an arm around Ilfrith's waist. Ilfrith gladly picked up the cue and sank into Bethos's chest, leaning his head thankfully upon the slender but taut pectoral muscles of his friend and companion.
"Oh, I am sorry," said Gilfanon, looking distressed and taking a step backward. "I had no idea you two were together. You hide it very well."
"Yes, well, unfortunately this kind of love between Ellyn is not condoned in Mirkwood," said Bethos, "and therefore we have become so used to keeping our relationship hidden that we are rarely overtly affectionate with each other."
"I never would have guessed," Gilfanon remarked. "I'm sorry to have troubled you," he said to Ilfrith, and quietly took his leave.
"Thank you," said Ilfrith, much relieved, looking at his companion with clear blue eyes still containing an expression of worry.
"You're welcome," said Bethos, gently rubbing Ilfrith's back. "It was lucky that I came back when I did. I think that either Penlod or I will have to make sure we stay as close to you as possible from now on."
"That's probably not necessary," said Ilfrith. "I am sure something like that will not happen again. I am quite shocked by Gilfanon's overture. He always seemed so masculine. I never would have guessed he preferred Ellyn to Elleth."
10
