Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Authors Note(s): Ahoy and a big thankyou to viggomaniac, Nietta, whitedino, Elfinabottle, DawnStrider, viggoisagod, Lina and Lilandriel for the reviews. They are greatly appreciated :)
Beta: The fabulous Nietta, who loves International Talk Like A Pirate Day as much as I do.
Feedback be very welcome. Arrrrrr!
Carry On My Wayward Son
Chapter 4
The Suffering
It will be fine, Glorfindel thought as he edged towards his friend and lord's office. He was practically famous throughout Middle Earth for his calm and collected demeanour no matter what the situation, Glorfindel was positive he wasn't in fear of losing any limbs. Almost positive at least. Sure he might end up being shot one of Elrond's infamous glares, but he could handle that. Glorfindel had seen Elrond fly off into a rage before and he had no desire to repeat the experience. It just wasn't something one wanted to be on the receiving end of this early in the morning.
Glorfindel mentally cursed that wretched 'rock paper scissors' game; it clearly wasn't fair. Elladan and Elrohir where Elrond's sons! He was far less likely to lash out at them. Not that he thought that Elrond would lash out at him. No, that would just be foolish. He almost rolled his eyes at himself, he could face and defeat a widely feared and powerful Balrog but the thought of talking to his friend terrified him.
He paused as he reached Elrond's office and then steeling himself, knocked on the door.
"Come in," Elrond's voice came from inside the room.
He gulped before quickly entering the room and closing the door with a snap behind him. Elrond hadn't even looked up to see who it was, he was pouring over a document with a sour expression on his face, his eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows contracted so much that he looked positively hawk-like.
The golden haired elf stood in silence; he knew Elrond would not thank him for interrupting him at this very moment in time. How was he going to tell him? My you're looking tired today, I can see you're busy, by the way your youngest son seems to have gone missing, is that a new robe?... No, that would never do. Glorfindel could only imagine the reaction he'd get from that. The truth was though, they weren't entirely sure that Estel had gone missing at all. He hadn't been in his bed or turned up for breakfast, but he might have just gone for a walk. Elrohir had told him about the argument they had had last night so he might even be hiding from the elves because he needed to time to himself, which was understandable really, Glorfindel had been led to believe that the child had been very upset.
But the fact was, at the moment they had no idea where the boy was and Elrond had a right to know unfortunately. Why, at this very minute the twins might have already found him and they had hugged and made up. Somehow Glorfindel doubted it but it didn't hurt to hope.
After what felt like an eternity, but was in fact less than two minutes, Elrond finally looked up from his desk.
"Good morning, Glorfindel," he said, but he then seemed to notice Glorfindel's pained expression and frowned, "Is something the matter?"
Glorfindel decided on a direct approach, "As a matter of fact, yes there is. I'm afraid young Estel has gone missing. That is to say…we can't find him…as of yet…But I'm sure he'll turn up!"
Seeing the elf lord's darkening expression he quickly carried on, "We went to look for him in his room because much like you, he didn't turn up for breakfast this morning. So the twins and I have had a look around and we can't see him… Elladan and Elrohir are still looking while I thought I would come here and inform you of the situation."
Elrond's expression changed instantly to deep worry. He dropped his pen on his desk and stood up. "I'll help you look," he said, moving to the door.
Glorfindel couldn't help but sigh in relief and thank Valar that his limbs were still intact.
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Elladan and Elrohir had looked everywhere; they had even gone around the grounds to see if he had gone outside. Elladan was beginning to get seriously worried. There was nowhere else he could have possibly gone! Unless he had left Rivendell, which was stupid, Estel wouldn't leave Rivendell. He'd have nowhere to go.
"Where do you think he could be?" Elrohir asked in a low voice, rousing him from his musings.
Elladan sighed heavily, "I do not know. We've looked literally everywhere. Let's go back to his room and see if we can find some clue."
His brother just nodded and they turned around and headed back to Estel's bedroom.
Whilst walking they spotted Lindor who was walking towards them.
"Is something wrong?" Lindor asked upon seeing them.
"Yes. Our brother seems to have gone missing, have you seen him?" Elladan answered sadly.
Lindor shook his head, "No I'm afraid not. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Elladan's heart sank and he barely suppressed a sigh, "Can you just keep an eye out for him please, we are getting terribly worried about him."
Lindor nodded, "I'm sure he will turn up my lords," and with that he walked away, leaving the two brothers alone again.
They walked in silence back to Estel's room, each lost in their own thoughts. So much so that upon arriving, they didn't even seem to notice their father sat on his bed with his head in his hands or Glorfindel gazing sightlessly out the window.
Elrond looked up at Elladan, his eyes full of sadness.
"He has left."
Elladan was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that his travelling cloak has gone along with his bag, a few sets of clothes, his walking boots and his stash of food he is under the impression we don't know about hidden under the bed."
Elladan felt a pang of guilt and horror. How could Estel have gone…Where could Estel have gone? It was illogical, he was frightened of storms! He would never really go out in one alone. It was folly. But perhaps he had been pushed so far over the edge that he would rather brave a storm than stay in the warm comfort of his own home and have to keep the company of his elven brothers. Surely Estel had been overreacting…It wasn't his fault. It couldn't be. He looked at his twin and from the expression on his face could tell that he was thinking the exact same thing.
No! Had he been that awful that Estel had felt forced to leave? Elladan sought comfort in his father's grey eyes that reminded him so much of Estel's but found only worry. An all consuming guilt began to gnaw at his very soul. How could he have let this happen…He should have known that something was very wrong.
"We shall send out a search party," Elrond said, his voice not betraying the emotions Elladan could see shining in his eyes.
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Polinthor stifled a yawn as he looked at his piece of paper, poised to write. Fenneth was pacing up and down the small tent looking thoughtful. It was just after dawn and poor Polinthor had been dragged out of his restless doze by an active looking Fenneth who was demanding his services. Not that he minded especially, he just wished that it could have waited a few extra hours. Sleep had only actually found him an hour prior so he was still incredibly drowsy. Not that Fenneth had noticed. Polinthor expected no less from him really, when he had that strange cunning glint in his eyes he was clearly planning something, and while he did so nothing but that mattered to him.
He had gone to check on the child before he went to aid Fenneth; he was still in there sleeping thankfully. Some of his wounds looked like they would need some form of treatment though or he would get ill. He would be no use to them dead.
It had finally stopped raining and what golden sunlight could make its way through the thick leaves of the surrounding trees was doing so with full force. It cheered the man somewhat. The sun has a way of doing that though, things actually always seem better in the morning. He doubted the son of Elrond would see it that way, but at the moment he was in an inexplicably decent mood.
Fenneth stopped pacing and his scrutinising gaze fell on Polinthor. It was unnerving but Polinthor knew better than to react to it. One did not want to cross Fenneth, although he wasn't quite as beefy as most of the other men, he was tall, fast and absolutely lethal with a sword. The man had never been beaten in a sword or fist fight for as long as Polinthor had known him, which was quite a long time. Rumour had it was that the reason Fenneth had been cast out of his home town was for murdering his own father after an argument one night and then in a frenzied rage went on to kill his mother and little brother. Polinthor wasn't sure how much of that he believed, but thinking about it he wouldn't put it past the other man. He was ruthless, uncompromising and Polinthor had never known him to show mercy of any kind. Mercy was for the weak apparently.
Finally Fenneth opened his mouth to dictate what was to be written…
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…"Dear Lord of Rivendell," Elrond read aloud in a toneless voice, "Now that we have your attention, we expect your full co-operation if you wish to see your son alive again. Meet me at the fork in the river at sundown today ALONE. If my messenger is hurt in any way or is not back within two hours, your son will be delivered back to you in small sections."
There was a stunned silence. Even Glorfindel looked shell shocked.
They had all been very surprised when Erestor had found them in Estel's room and informed them that there was a man in Elrond's office demanding to see him. With slight hesitation Elrond had gone to his office followed closely by Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel. He had much more important things to do, like organise a search party, so this had better be fantastically quick he had thought.
Upon arriving, the man had said nothing to them but handed Elrond a weather beaten looking piece of paper with hurried writing scrawled across it. Elrond had pursed his lips and taken the paper with an annoyed glance at the interrupting man and his horrible timing. As he read the letter to himself he had felt his heart drop into his stomach.
Now Elrond was absolutely stunned. How could this have happened?
Elladan turned angrily to the Fenneth's messenger but Elrohir put a hand on his arm.
"Don't hurt him," Elrohir said, "The might hurt Estel."
From his seemingly calm appearance an outsider might think that the younger twin was unaffected by the news, but everyone else could see how he had clenched his hands into fists so hard that his knuckles had gone white. Elladan shot the messenger a glare before nodding to his brother.
Elrond saw the man smirk slightly and felt anger bubbling up inside him, "Leave us this instant and tell your leader that I will meet him at the suggested time and place, but so help me if you have harmed one hair on my child's head I will personally kill every single last one of you in the most horrific ways I can think of."
The man's smirk faded as he realised this was no idle threat, he gave a swift nod and turned on his heel, leaving the elves alone in Elrond's office.
As soon as the messenger was out of earshot Glorfindel faced Elrond with a frustrated expression on his face, "What did you say that for? This could be a trap! They could be waiting there to ambush you!"
"What did you want me to say, Glorfindel! I hardly had a choice in the matter did I?" Elrond replied quietly.
The twins mutely stared hard at the floor, until finally Elladan said, "This is all my fault."
"Don't be absurd El-"
"No! It's my fault! I should have paid more attention to him instead of snapping at him all the time! If it wasn't for me then Estel wouldn't have left in the first place."
"It is equally my fault brother, for I too treated Estel with the same attitude," Elrohir said sadly.
Elladan opened his mouth to protest but Elrond cut him off, "Now is not the time, everyone deserves a small share of the blame but at the moment it is not important. Please concentrate on the problem at hand."
"Fine. You can't go alone though, Ada. Glorfindel is right, it could be an ambush."
"I do not have a choice, we cannot do anything to jeopardise Estel's safety."
"His safety has already been jeopardised!" Elladan said throwing his hands up in frustration.
Elrond almost flinched as his son shouted at him but he tried to remain calm and rational. It would be no good if they all flew into a rage. He shuddered to think how Estel must be feeling now; he had never been away from his family for more than a few hours before. He wondered if Estel felt as helpless as he himself did now.
"Well what do you propose we do, Elladan?"
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He tried to open his eyes but found he couldn't, they seemed to be swollen shut though he didn't know why. Come to think of it he also seemed to be lying on the floor, this most certainly not what his bed felt like. He tried to roll over and groaned in pain, now he remembered what happened. There was a sharp stabbing pain in his chest where his rib was broken and his throat was dry and scratchy, he tried to swallow but that just made him cough violently and painfully.
He bit his lip and tried to open his eyes again. He could only widen them a few millimetres before he had to shut them again because of the dazzling light. It was obviously morning now but Estel didn't want to wake up. His limited sleep had been so peaceful and painless. His eyes were still stinging from crying but he didn't care. He desperately clenched them shut and made a futile attempt to go back to sleep.
He heard someone opening the tent and he wanted to cry, but instead he pretended to be asleep. Maybe they would leave him alone if he were sleeping, then after they were gone he could try and think of an escape plan.
A large bucket of cold water was suddenly thrown over his prone body, making his feigned sleep impossible to keep up. He jumped up in alarm and tried to get away from the source of icy water. In his haste to move away he tripped over and a familiar bark like laugh rang through the tent.
Morfran towered over him with a look of immense amusement on his face. Estel groaned and tried to roll away but the man put a foot on his stomach, making him incapable of movement and said, "No there'll be none of tha' my lad. Fenneth wants t' see you."
Estel blinked against his blurry vision, he was still finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. He let Morfran pull him to his feet and lead him outside into the bright sunlight. His muscles also seemed to be rebelling against him and he was having trouble staying on his feet, partly because of tiredness and partly because of the beating he took last night.
As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light and he looked around. There were fewer men than there had been before; Estel wistfully decided that they were probably still asleep. He wished he was still asleep…
Looking straight ahead he saw the man who had been in his Ada's office and who had found him last night, he was sat at some kind of portable wooden table with the taller man who had greeted them when he and Morfran had arrived. Fenneth was chewing on something and Estel suddenly realised that he was desperately hungry; he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon after all. The taller man, who Estel later learnt was called Polinthor, was sat resting his head in his hands. He seemed as tired as Estel felt, although unlike Estel he also looked quite content and relaxed.
He stumbled but Morfran grabbed the back of his shirt and kept him upright. Estel struggled to get away from his grasp but it was too firm. He closed his eyes briefly in resignation and let himself be steered towards the table without too much resistance.
Estel shuddered as he saw Fenneth's cold blue eyes sweep up and down him, sizing him up. He hitched a deceptive smile on his face that Estel recognised as fake immediately. His brothers wore the same expression when they were trying to trick him into doing something and he wasn't fooled for a moment. Polinthor made no such pretence though; his eyes kept flicking over to Fenneth but expression remained neutral with a slight hint of apprehension.
"Thank you, Morfran, you may leave," Fenneth said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Morfran just grunted and obeyed.
Once he was out of earshot Fenneth turned back to Estel with the same false smile plastered on his face, "So my lad," he began, "Why don't you sit down."
Estel didn't have the strength to argue so he sat down on the stool that Polinthor had risen from and was indicating.
"I hope you slept well," Fenneth said. Estel almost snorted; of course he hadn't slept well! He had a broken rib for Valar's sake!
"Now we didn't get a chance to talk last night as I had other things to attend to. So we can have a chat now I think. What is your name?"
Estel sighed and looked down at the floor, not this again, he thought. Fenneth waited almost a whole two minutes before talking again.
"Well fine then, Estel, if you don't want to tell me your name we'll have to talk about something else!"
Estel looked up in shock. He noticed Polinthor looked surprised too.
With a smug expression Fenneth nodded, "Yes my lad, I already know your name. But what I really want to talk about is your elf friends. I'm having a meeting with your father this evening and I want your opinion on how many of my men I should station around the area just in case he tries something. It really all depends on how much you mean to him and whether he will risk his own life for yours."
Estel's heart sank as it hit him once more that this was all his fault. Fenneth must have read his expression because his face suddenly split into a sly grin.
"It's a shame really, the Lord of Rivendell being killed over a stupid child like you. Oh yes, I remember that little scene you made back in your home, a nice vase you smashed there. I'm surprised Elrond wasn't angrier at you, but I suppose parents are blind when it comes to their children, even when they aren't their real children," Fenneth said nastily.
Estel was horrified, "No! Don't hurt Ada! I thought you just wanted his land?"
The man laughed and he leered at Estel malevolently, "Well yes, at first I did. But this is the perfect opportunity that I doubt anyone will ever get again. I will move to the highest circles when people find out that I am responsible for the death of the protector of Rivendell. There will be songs written about me!"
Estel felt his eyes well up with tears once more which seemed to amuse Fenneth greatly, "Do not worry," he began, "If Morfran is feeling kind, he may make your death as quick and painless as possible…once we have disposed of the rest of your family."
"Please leave them alone," Estel begged. He couldn't let these men hurt his family…He just couldn't.
Fenneth's eyes suddenly flashed dangerously, "Stop your snivelling, I do not have time for this. It is time you accept that this is all your fault and move on. Although if you are lucky I might bring one of your friends back alive and you can see them one last time before I kill them."
Somehow Estel was not comforted by this idea, he opened his mouth to argue but Fenneth had waved a hand above his head and Morfran came trotting obediently back over.
"Take some guards and our young friend here further into the forest for just in case the elves realise what is happening. I need you to keep him away from them so we can still use him as leverage later. Don't take too many though, I need to take most of them with me."
Morfran grunted and grabbed Estel by the back of his shirt once more and pulled him backwards off his stool. "Come, little Estel," he whispered in Estel's ear, "We need to finish our conversation from last night I think."
To be continued…