Thank you so much for the awesome response for the last chapter :) Yes I am an evil writer, I'm sorry! A special thank goes to the unnamed guest reviewers and to Hermione Granger (I'm so glad you're so hooked, thank you!) and look! A quick update :D

As ever, please forgive my mistakes!

Read. Enjoy. Review.

Chapter Eighty Seven # The Mighty Fall #

Glorfindel had always had a soft spot for Estel. The child had been all of two years old when he arrived in Rivendell, and Glorfindel – to his smug delight – had been the favourite of Isildur's heir for years. He could not have been prouder of Estel – the lad was growing up very strong and brave and clever – an impressive combination that few mortals could claim to possess before the age of twenty.

Estel was making everyone proud, but many in Rivendell had been wary about allowing him to undertake such a mission. Glorfindel had insisted that he was old enough, skilled enough, and he had no doubt that his words were true. Besides, there was to be no danger, he had argued. Between Glorfindel, Elrond's twins and the ranger, Ned, Estel should be protected – not that he needed all too much protecting. He was a boy no longer – he was a young man now.

That is what Glorfindel had said. That is what he believed.

But when he saw two orcs push a bloodied knife into Estel's bare neck, all he could see was the little boy that used to fall asleep in his arms. There was defiance on Estel's face but there was fear in his eyes, and when he looked to Glorfindel he looked at him with desperate hope. He believed that the High Elf, the great warrior could save him.

If Glorfindel made a move, the orcs would slit Estel's throat before he could get to them. They knew that, and they knew that he knew it. It was a chance he could not afford to take.

So he did not fulfil Estel's hopes of an act of heroism worthy of the legendary Glorfindel of Rivendell. Instead, he complied. He walked ahead and he called the wolves. He fed them the poison the orcs had prepared from tobacco and other drugs, though he did manage to lower the dosage to ensure that they all lived. And then he returned, and allowed himself to be chained hand and foot like a slave. The look of confused despair in Estel's eyes when the shackles that had secured Sindri shut around Glorfindel's wrists was almost more than he could take, but he made himself wink at the lad anyway.

No point in Estel knowing that their situation looked grim.

The ambush had been unexpected – as most ambushes are. The orcs were at least three dozen, which was far too many to be a usual pack. That was the first worrying sign. The second was that they treated the prisoners Frár and Sindri as long lost masters. They had been all but kissing the ground beneath their feet.

"Now that that's taken care of…" Sindri purred, strolling up and down. "We're going to make some adjustments here…"

"I have an idea!" Frár laughed.

He strode over to one of the orcs' bags and pulled out a length of chain, shackling it onto the chain binding Glorfindel's wrists. Before he knew it, Glorfindel was hanging from his wrists from a nearby tree. It was a rather painful position – but what was worse was that it was a spectator's position, and Glorfindel had to watch.

He watched as Elrohir's eyes were covered with black cloth that looked far too tight. He watched as Elladan was dragged away by three orcs, and he watched as the orcs came back alone. He watched as the same orcs smeared blood from a pouch all over Elrohir's face.

Estel put up a fight then. He started to struggle, bucking and thrashing in the grip of those who held him.

"Elladan!" he cried. "Elladan, Elrohir!"

"Estel!" Glorfindel called, alarmed by how tightly the blade was pressing into the young man's neck. If he did not cease his struggles, Estel would be bleeding in seconds.

Frantic, Estel looked straight in the eye and begged brokenly. "Glorfindel-"

"Daro, Estel," he said.

Estel looked at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes, the same eyes that had stared into Glorfindel's when the elf tried to explain death to a four year old boy. It filled his stomach with snakes to see such a look in Estel's eyes again.

"Does that upset you?" Sindri crooned, dipping his hand in the pouch the orcs carried and leering over Estel. "This blood, the blood of the copy-elf, it makes you sad, does it? Here-" Estel cried out in wordless horror as Sindri dragged his bloody fingers over the boy's face. "Now he'll be with you, don't you like that?"

Glorfindel ground his teeth together. He wanted to shout, to order them to leave the lad alone and bring Elladan back immediately but he knew it would do more harm than good. Undoubtedly that was the only thing keeping Elrohir's mouth closed. That hurt him deeply, too. Glorfindel had known Elrond's sons since their birth, and to see them treated in such a manner made his stomach churn.

Elladan was alive. Glorfindel took this thought and held onto it with everything he had. They would not have killed him – they took too much care in taking them alive for that, and these particular dwarves were as twisted as they come. They wanted revenge, of some sort, and their plans were elaborate enough that they probably had something planned. The separation was likely due to convenience and control – that was why Elrohir was blinded, why Glorfindel was bound by six chains and why there was knife to Estel's throat.

It would not surprise the elf if they were separated further, and soon, but he prayed that he was wrong. They had more chance of escape if they were together. Unfortunately, Glorfindel knew that the dwarves must know that.

Sighing softly, he stretched out his toes, trying to reach the ground. His arms were beginning to burn, and (not for the first time) he thanked the Valar that he was an elf. It was unlikely that his body would face irreparable damage from the way that he was hanging – unless he was left there for a day or two. However, that only dulled the pain – it did not nullify it.

Then he was distracted, for one of the orcs spoke loud enough for all to hear for the first time. "Am I s'posed to hold this knife 'ere all day? Can' I just slit his throat and be done with it?"

"Don't even think about it," Elrohir snarled, and even Glorfindel could not hold his tongue.

"If that boy is killed you will live long just long enough exactly what your own intestines look like," he promised.

Estel's eyes flickered to meet Glorfindel's with a little trace of hope in them, but other than that the boy did not move.

Sindri thought for a moment. "Rûm, you don't happen to half a Reg-Baug, do you?"

The orc that seemed to be in charge bared its rotten teeth in grin. "Yes, Master. We do…"

Glorfindel narrowed his eyes as one of the lesser orcs rummaged in a bag. From what he knew of Black Speech, Reg-Baug translated to something like 'lie-fork', which did not sound good. Sure enough, the orc pulled out a nasty looking iron device. Both ends of the iron bore a vicious fork, and a leather strap was attached to the middle.

Rûm himself secured Estel's hands behind his back and then sneered. "Chin up, boy."

Estel scowled back, but the orc took his chin and forced it into the air. The knife was removed only to be replaced by the Reg-Baug, and as the strap was secured Glorfindel realised what it was with a surge of worried disgust. While the top two forks pushed into Estel's chin, the other end was resting on his collar bone. If Estel moved his chin down a fraction, even to talk, the points of the fork would drive through his chin and chest. It was sickening.

Chuckling darkly, Sindri patted Estel on the head. "That was brilliant. 'Chin up, boy!' Oh, I'm writing that one down. If anyone tries to escape, orc, make the dog bow his head."

The orc who had been holding the knife grinned viciously and nodded. "With pleasure."

A long, loud scream ripped through the air and he stiffened. It sounded like one of the little hobbits – one of the girls.

"What are you doing?" Glorfindel asked, masking his concern with a calm tone. "I would ask you whether you would stoop so low as to hurt a little girl but I already know the answer to that question, don't I?"

He was not surprised when the dwarves and orcs ignored him.

"It must be done!" Frár grinned.

"Patience, patience," Sindri murmured, looking into the woods. "We don't want to jinx anything..."

Almost immediately Glorfindel heard it – the sound of feet, many feet, coming their way, and soon the bushes behind Elrohir parted and yet more orcs came through. His heart sank and sped up simultaneously as he saw two dwarves and a hobbit being pushed towards them, their heads covered in bags. Though he had not spent as much time as the twins had with the Bagginses and their company he thought he recognised two of their outfits – the full grown dwarf looked like Fíli, the crown prince of Erebor. The hobbit was one of the males, one of the two younger ones. Paladin or Saradoc. The other dwarf was smaller, younger, and Glorfindel did not recognise him.

In the same moment the last orc entered the clearing another scream rang through the air – it was more distant, and sounded like an adult, a man. Glorfindel was distracted from any further cries by the first orc speaking.

"Here you are, jus' like you said."

Sindri frowned. "I said one of each, if you could. Did you run into some trouble?"

"Well, we were spotted by the dwarf-scum on watch, but we disposed of him in an appropriate fashion to your plan," the same orc licked his lips. "But we got 'em, we got 'em all for you!"

"I see a dwarf and a dwarf child and a hobbit, but no hobbit child," said Frár. "So where is it?"

The orc frowned. "We took one, we did! Shataaz?"

A hunched, guilty looking orc spoke up. "Yes, Ulg?"

"What did you do with the little halfling?"

The next words made Glorfindel's stomach twist into knots. "You said I could eat it, you said-"

"Not now!" snarled Ulg.

"They'll be plenty of meat for you later," Sindri promised with a laugh. "Don't you worry about that. But for now I need the tiny one, and I need it alive."

Shataaz's face twisted into a sickening mockery of a pout. "Of course, master."

Glorfindel did not think that his heart could sink any further, but he was proven wrong when Shataaz held out a sack. It was tiny – only one of the toddlers could fit in so small a bag. Grinning with the face of a demon, Sindri shoved his hand in, only to swear and pull it out again.

"The little shit bit me!"

"Probably actually scratched you," Shataaz said hesitantly. "We did gag them all, we did, just like you said!"

"Don't worry," the dwarf soothed. "I'm not questioning your ability to do your job."

He put his hand in again and pulled out a tiny, quivering hobbit by his neck. It was little Pippin, the smallest of the hobbit children. Glorfindel shook his head in disgust. He had seen elven new-borns bigger than the toddler now kicking his little feet through the air. The elf had no doubt that the child was no taller than the length of his own forearm.

When he saw the face of the dwarf that held him, Pippin whimpered through the dirty cloths stuffed in his mouth and tried to cringe away.

"You scratched me, little rat," Sindri said. Then, without warning, he slapped the child across the face so hard that Glorfindel winced.

Poor Pippin's screams were muffled through the gag, but they were loud enough to send the adult hobbit into a frenzy. His angry cries were also muffled, so he was presumably gagged beneath the hood over his face, but his movements were hardly subdued at all by the ropes around his wrists and legs. He thrashed around, crashing into the orcs holding him and struggling to get to the boy.

Sindri's mouth popped open and he gasped. "Oh! That's interesting…"

He walked slowly over to the hobbit, and Glorfindel watched Pippin's little hands flicker up, automatically reaching for the struggling, hooded halfling.

"Is this your papa?" Sindri crooned, jabbing his finger into the hobbit's shoulder.

There were tears upon tears streaking down Pippin's cheeks, and his nose was running. He began to try and draw in breaths – struggling breaths. Glorfindel hesitated. These people were sadistic, and their plans, even in this early stage, were elaborate. So he took a chance.

"Master Sindri," he called, and all eyes flickered to him. "You might want to remove that gag."

Sindri did not even bother replying, turning straight back to the hobbit, who had stilled at Glorfindel's words.

"He will suffocate," the elf warned. "That child is little more than a baby, and if you leave those rags in his mouth he will not be able to breathe for very much longer."

The dwarf was quiet for a long moment, and then he grinned, pinching Pippin's cheeks together.

"If you scream, little rat, I will cut your tongue out. Do you understand me?"

Pippin nodded desperately, and the rag was torn from his mouth. The boy spluttered and choked, drawing in hitched, frightened breaths, but otherwise he remained quiet. Glorfindel send a silent prayer of thanks to the Valar.

Frár strode over and ran a hand through the child's hair. The babe shuddered with a soft whimper.

"I'll never get over how tiny hobbit babes are," Frár scoffed. "He looks more scared than that black-haired runt did when I drowned his parents."

Pippin's eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Frár, and then something happened that Glorfindel had not anticipated. The little hobbit growled and kicked Frár clean in the nose.

Clutching his face, Frár swore, but then he started to laugh. "My, he's got some fight in him."

Sindri chuckled, lifting Pippin further into the air. "That he does. Take off their hoods."

The orcs tugged the hoods off of the other three. Glorfindel had been right – he recognised Fíli and Paladin, but the younger dwarf was unknown to him. He supposed it must be one of the new additions to the group that Ned and Estel had spoken of after their last check-in with the others. He looked to be in early adolescence – around sixty if Glorfindel's knowledge of dwarven aging served him well. Were he of the race of men, the elf would hazard a guess at twelve, or perhaps thirteen.

He looked scared. They all looked scared. Glorfindel did not blame them – he was scared, too.

"You got the prince?" Frár laughed with glee. "That's perfect!"

Fíli scowled, and (not for the first time) Glorfindel wished that looks could kill. If that were possible the young dwarf prince would have slaughtered all their captors and freed them all in the few seconds in which his face had been revealed.

"Now, here's how things are going to work," Sindri declared, stalking up and down like a prison guard. "If anyone screams too loudly, one of you will be tortured – severally – and then killed. If anyone tries to escape, one of you will be tortured and then killed. For example, if this fellow here-" he pushed Paladin roughly. "Was to try and escape, we would take his little brat here-" he shook Pippin up and down, and the little hobbit squeaked. Paladin's eyes lit up with fury. "Break his little fingers and toes, beat him to within an inch of his life and then kill him in some interesting, inventive way. Got it?"

Along with the others – bar Estel, who could not move his head – Glorfindel nodded, absolutely seething.

"Right, now we're going to move out." Sindri declared.

The blindfold over Elrohir's eyes did nothing to hide his fear from Glorfindel stiffened. "What about my brother?"

"Oh, your brother's long gone," Frár laughed, and Glorfindel's heart froze.

Still blindfolded, Elrohir snarled. "Where's my brother?"

"The next time you ask we'll impale the man-brat," Sindri snapped. "We're moving out."

Glorfindel could not help but sigh in relief when he was taken down from the tree – his arms were burning something terrible – but as he was marched away at sword point to an unknown future, he had no doubt that something worse, much worse, was soon to come.

So I updated quickly! Didn't necessarily tell you about Nori, though :P I promise I'll update as soon as I can though, and I will disclose the fate of our beloved trickster then ;)

As a side-note, I hope I did Glorfindel's character justice. I haven't read the Fellowship of the Ring in ages. He didn't get much action in this chapter but hey, there wasn't much he could do.

I hope you enjoyed it, please do review if you can.