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Chapter 4

The Third Day

The next afternoon, all five elflings were wandering about and looking for the fourth casket of enchanted water. There was just one problem, their escort of ellith from the previous day had conspired to follow them about all today as well, and, if anything, it had grown larger. No matter where the twins, Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir went, they were constantly surrounded by a chattering, giggling crowd.

It was rapidly grating on four of the elflings nerves, but Haldir seemed quite at ease amongst the ellith; completely content to ignore the girly companions and continue gazing about him dreamily; occasionally singing softly. Maybe he did not care about the attention he was getting, or perhaps he was entirely oblivious to it; it was rather hard to tell. The other four elflings were gritting their teeth at this point however, and Elrohir was seriously considering drinking enough of the enchanted water in order to remain unconscious until the festival was over.

Finally, Elrohir had had enough and, swirling to face the group of ellith, he let out a cry of, "Would you stop following us around?! Don't you have something better to do?!"

The ellith just let out a peal of giggles, and some started blushing, but none showed any sign of leaving, much to Elrohir's frustration. He let out an annoyed growl and turned away; running his hand through his hair. It was nearly enough to make some of the ellith swoon.

"Don't encourage them," Lindir hissed warningly.

"Encourage them?! Encourage them! Is that what you think I'm trying to do?" Elrohir whispered back furiously, "I'm trying to get rid of them! We're never going to be able to find the other barrels with this pack of wargs following us around!"

"Enough!" murmured Elladan, "This isn't helping. What we have to do is somehow get the ellith to leave us, or at least some of us, alone."

"A diversion," agreed Legolas.

"So, how about some of us distract the ellith, and the rest leave without being seen," Elrohir began planning. "Then the ones who've escaped can search for the barrels in peace."

"What about the ones who are distracting them?" Lindir questioned disapprovingly, "We're just going to leave them at the hands of these ellith?"

"Their sacrifice will undoubtedly be honorable," Elrohir defended, "Besides, what other choice do we have?"

The other elflings (besides Haldir, who was watching the flight of a nearby butterfly) contemplated this before finally nodding, grudgingly, in agreement.

"Great! Now who's is going to remain behind?" Elrohir asked.

The scene suddenly took on a mood that was not unlike the calm before a battle.

"Well, Legolas should stay," Elladan decided, "What sort of elleth will be able to resist the crown prince of Greenwood?"

Legolas seemed about to protest, but suddenly thought better of it, "Fine. On one condition, however," Legolas turned to face Elrohir, "You also remain with me. I think it's only fair as most of this was your idea."

"What!" Elrohir began to protest, looking horrified, "That's hardly fair-,"

Elladan cut him off, "Agreed."

Lindir also nodded, "The wargs- I mean, ellith can have him."

Elrohir stared at them, open mouthed in shock. Before he could recover his voice, Elladan and Lindir gave Legolas sympathetic nods, and raced off, pulling Haldir along with them.

Finally recovering, Elrohir shouted after them, "Traitors! All of you!"

The group of ellith looked on, confused, and not sure whether to chase after the three ellyn that were running away or stay. Legolas decided to help them in their decision; putting on a the charming smile, that usually got him whatever he wanted and had some of the ellith close to drooling, he simply said, "Good afternoon, ladies," and struck a dashing pose.

The looks that he got from the ellith afterwards were enough to convince Legolas that they truly must be wargs. Turning, he grabbed Elrohir's arm, and they raced off; the ellith sprinting after them.

~.-Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir -.~

After abandoning Legolas and Elrohir to their fate, the other three elflings resumed their search for the barrels. For a time, they wandered around the Last Homely House without finding anything, but, by some measure of luck, they happened to overhear a conversation that would change their current circumstance.

Elladan led the way down yet another hallway and Lindir followed with Haldir in tow. Rounding a corner, they entered the servants' living room. Several elves sat around a table in the sitting area, chuckling at one elf was saying.

"-So then, Lord Elrond finally manages to catch the snake, but as he goes to put it outside, the young Lord Elrohir and prince Legolas come running past with what must have been all the female elflings in Imladris following them! So he says to me, looking like he might just sail to Valinor and be done with it all, 'Please go get some of the Dorwinion wine king Thranduil brought-,' Elladan and Lindir froze, causing Haldir to stumble into them, '-and bring it to my study.' Can't say I blame him for trying to drown his sorrows in drink; taking care of those twins must be a nightmare."

Elladan turned and stared at Haldir and Lindir in horror before whispering, "We have to go get the wine before Ada drinks it! Who knows what will happen if the Lord of Rivendell is poisoned?!"

Lindir could imagine what would happen if Lord Elrond were to be poisoned, however: absolute chaos, and, if someone were to find out it was the Dorwinion wine from Greenwood that had caused it, well, Lindir shuddered to think of how the elves of Rivendell would react.

Thus Lindir and Elladan headed off towards Elrond's study as fast as they possibly could; dragging Haldir along with them. Unfortunately, it only took a single knock on the study door for the elflings to realize that they were too late.

Elladan quietly pushed open the door and peered inside, only to find that the situation was worse than they could possibly have imagined. Lord Elrond was sprawled on the couch in his study, unconscious and wine glass still in his hand and beside him was Lady Celebrian, also unconscious.

Elladan shoved the door open the rest of the way and ran into the study before freezing in front of the limp forms of his parents. He groaned in despair, "Oh no… Now what are we going to do?!"

Lindir was too panicked to think of anything, and simply stared in horror at the Lord and Lady of Rivendell. Haldir, however, meandered into the study, and, going up to Lord Elrond, gently poked the sleeping form. Unsurprisingly, the elf Lord didn't move or stir on the slightest. Haldir then simple shrugged and said softly, "They're asleep."

Elladan stared at him for a moment before exclaiming, "Well, I can see that!"

"So…. couldn't we just move them, so no one will find them while they're asleep, and take the wine?"

Elladan gazed at Haldir in surprise; apparently he could be sensible sometimes.

"I guess…," Elladan considered before a determined look came across his face and he took charge of the situation, "Right, I'll take Ada's feet and you and Lindir can grab his arms. Lindir?" Elladan looked over to where Lindir was still standing, frozen in horror, "Lindir! Come on! It's not that bad…"

"Not that bad," Lindir repeated quietly before finally registering the words and exclaiming, "Not that bad!? Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrian have been poisoned and you say, 'It's not that bad!' Well, let me tell you something, when they find out about this, which they will, mind you, they'll-,"

"Lindir!" Elladan wailed, cutting off Lindir's rant.

"Fine," Lindir moaned and came over to take one of Elrond's arms, "But there is no way we are going to manage all of this without someone eventually finding out…"

Though whether they were going to be able to find and hide all of the barrels of enchanted water without someone finding out remained unknown, they did manage to drag and shove Elrond's and Celebrian's bodies into the room adjacent to Elrond's study, and hide them, without anyone seeing.

Wiping sweat off their brows, they forced themselves to go back into the study and dispose of any evidence of the enchanted water, despite only wanting to lie down and sleep for the next age, before taking the barrel and slowly carrying it out to the caves. Once done, the elflings collapsed onto the stone ground, gasping for breath. Who knew elves and barrels could be so heavy? Their arms were strangely numb and lifeless. Elladan began wishing he had volunteered to distract the ellith instead of searching for the enchanted water…. Speaking of the ellith…

A little ways away, Elrohir and Legolas backed up as close as the dared to the cliff edge, a semi-circle of triumphant and ferocious ellith surrounding them. Legolas gulped, this was not going as planned. Not that they'd had much of a plan on the first place; he and Elrohir had merely come to an unspoken decision to run around aimlessly, with the ellith following them, until Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir returned.

Except now they were trapped between a thirty foot cliff, with a roaring river at the bottom, and at least twenty ellith intent on… Well, Legolas wasn't sure what they were intent on, but he was certain he wouldn't enjoy it. Beside him, Elrohir shuddered and tried to decide whether it would be better to face the ellith or jump off the cliff. It was a difficult decision.

Back in the cave, Elladan suddenly sat up; a worried expression on his face, "Something's not right."

"What?" Lindir asked sleepily; his eyes closed.

It looked as though Haldir had already dozed off.

"Something's wrong with Elrohir…," Elladan answered.

Lindir's brow furrowed slightly, "What could possibly be wrong? They're in Rivendell," Lindir opened his eyes, a frown appearing on his face, "being chased by a pack of ellith."

"Exactly," Elladan pointed out. He then poked Haldir to wake him up, "Come on, we need to go back."

Haldir simply rolled over curled into a tight ball.

Rolling his eyes, Elladan put his mouth right next to Haldir's ear and shouted, as loud as he could, "HALDIR!"

Haldir sprang to his feet, nearly hitting Elladan in the head with his flailing arms, "What!"

"Good, you're awake, we-,"

Elladan was suddenly cut off by an ominous rumbling noise and small chucks of rock falling from the cave ceiling. Once it had stopped, the elflings stared at each other in terror.

"We should get out of here," suggested Lindir in a small voice.

Without any hesitation, the elfings all rushed for the exit.

~.-Elrond's POV-.~

Elrond felt himself slowly awakening; it felt as though he was beginning to wake up from some sort of drugged sleep. What had happened? Strangely enough, no matter how hard he tried he could not remember. One moment he had been asking a servant… something, Elrond could not remember what, and now he was here, wherever here was.

Vaguely, Elrond realized it might be easier to find out where he was if he opened his eyes. However, even when he did open his eyes, he found he could see absolutely nothing but darkness. It was rather disconcerting; had he gone blind? But, no, if he held his hand directly in front of his face he could almost see it by the soft glow emanating from his skin.

Carefully, Elrond began to stand up from his awkward crouched position on the ground, but before he could stand up fully, his head hit something. Reaching up, he realized there was a horizontal wooden pole above him, feeling along it, his hand hit something made of metal. A hook, which was attached to… fabric? Where was he?!

After some more exploring, Elrond found that he seemed to be in some sort of box. It was approximately five hand widths wide, sixteen hand widths long, and, Elrond reached down trying to discover the height only for his hand to collide with something- something alive!

Jerking back in shock, Elrond took a moment to calm himself before tentatively asking, "Who is there?"

To his surprise, a familiar voice answered him, "Elrond?"

"Celebrain!" exclaimed Elrond, "What are you doing here?!"

"What? Where am I? How did I get here?" asked Celebrian, confused.

Suddenly, all of the facts Elrond had discovered in his exploration came together and created a single solution, "You are in a wardrobe," answered Elrond rather matter-of-factly, "As for how we got here, I have no idea."

"…A wardrobe?" stated Celebrian in disbelief.

"Yes," Elrond reached over and touched the 'fabric hanging from hooks' which he now realized were clothes, "There are robes hanging over here," suddenly, Elrond recognized the familiar texture, "My robes actually."

"We're trapped in your wardrobe?!" Celebrain giggled at the absurdity of the situation, "Can we get out?"

"I believe if I…" Elrond searched along the front panel until his fingers hit a latch, pulling it, the door swung open, and he and Celebrian came tumbling out, tangled in clothes. Hitting the floor with a crash, Elrond lay slightly stunned and blinded by the light that filled his and Celebrian's bedroom.

He was suddenly brought back to his senses by a knock at the door, "Er, my Lord? Are you all right?"

Quickly untangling himself from the clothes, Elrond swept towards the door. Opening it, he found a rather concerned looking Erestor on the other side. The concerned expression quickly changed to amusement however, as Erestor took in his Lord's rather rumpled appearance. Elrond's robes were creased, his hair was a mess, and his circlet was askew. Despite this, Elrond had a very serious expression on his face.

"Erestor, we may have to call on a state of emergency, I believe I and Celebrian might have been attacked."

Erestor's expression of amusement quickly disappeared as Elrond explained what he could, and couldn't, seem to remember.

~.-.~

Meanwhile, Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir had just managed to drag themselves back to Rivendell, only to come across a rather horrifying sight. Elrohir and Legolas were perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, a group of ellith surrounding them.

For a moment, Elladan could only stare. What had happened? Surely his twin and Legolas hadn't been outrun by a bunch of girls? The thought was absurd; something must have gone horribly wrong, but how to fix it?

~.-Legolas's POV-.~

Legolas glared at the group of ellith surrounding them, so far they had done nothing but giggle and chat to each other, but Legolas recognized this for what it was. It was the final stalking and taunting of the prey before they were finally attacked. Desperately Legolas tried to remember what his father had told him to do if attacked, did he fight? Run? Pretend to be dead? Somehow Legolas doubted that would help in this situation.

Perhaps he should just jump off the cliff? He doubted he would be able to live with the shame of knowing he had been outmaneuvered by a bunch of ellith anyways. The things had finally gotten smart and split up. They had then come at him and Elrohir from three directions and effectively trapped them against the edge of the precipice.

Suddenly, one of the ellith, who Legolas assumed must be the leader of the pack, split off from the group and came towards him.

"Prince Legolas," the girl began, flashing him a wide, fake smile.

'So it begins,' thought Legolas grimly.

~.-.~

A little ways away, Elladan and Lindir were watching the scene unfold in horror; Haldir having decided a robin was more worthy of his attention. They had desperately tried to come up with a way to rescue Elrohir and Legolas, but how did one convince a massive group of young ellith to leave the Crown Prince of Greenwood, and a son of the great Lord of Rivendell, alone? Short of killing them of course.

It was quite impossible, thus Elladan and Lindir were forced to watch as a girl slowly advanced towards Legolas, clearly trying to convince him to do something.

Lindir was fairly sure he knew what. Undoubtedly, the girl imagined that she would be able to persuade Legolas to go to the dance with her, and they would then share a daring kiss on the edge of the cliff while all of her giggling friends watched. It was disgusting to picture.

Unfortunately, it seemed the only possible outcome of this situation, as there was nowhere for Legolas to go. Except off the cliff, which Legolas seemed to be actually considering, but surely he wasn't that desperate?

No, it didn't seem so; Legolas appeared to have accepted his fate at the hands of the girl. She was edging ever closer towards him, a fake smile on her lips, which caused Legolas to look highly uncomfortable. Lindir's and Elladan's hearts filled with pity for their friend and perhaps Haldir had finally realized what was happening, for he began to hum what sounded like an elvish lament.

The elleth began to lean towards Legolas, and he desperately tried to lean away; wobbling on the edge of the cliff. Elrohir seemed to be trying to figure out a way to help, but what was he supposed to do? Push the girl off the cliff?

Suddenly, a figure appeared at Elladan's side, "Young ones, as much as I hate to end the… fun you are having, a state of emergency has been called over Rivendell and I must ask that you all return home until the situation is resolved."

The group of girls groaned in unison, shot glares in Glorfindel's direction, and there were a few muttered complaints, but none dared to argue with the great Balrog-slayer. Slowly they wandered off in groups, the leader of the pack flashing Legolas a nasty glare, as if Glorfindel's appearance had been his fault. Finally, the young ellyn and Glorfindel were the only ones left on the cliff.

Glorfindel turned to Elrohir and Legolas, an amused look on his face, "Do I want to know what that was about?"

They shook their heads violently, expressions suggesting that they were going to be traumatized for life.

"Then I suggest we all head in inside, there may be one of evil hidden somewhere in Rivendell."

Elrohir shuddered, if Glorfindel though there was only one evil person in Rivendell, he was sadly mistaken. There were dozens, and none of them even tried to hide…

~.-.~

Ellith: the plural form of elleth, so a group of female elves.

Wargs: wolf like creatures.

Elleth: a female elf.

Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.

Valinor: Also known as the Undying Lands, this is where elves will sail when they tire of Middle-Earth or are called by the sea.

Ada/Adar: Dad/Father

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