-Half Blood-
-ElvenHope-
Chapter IV
"Glorfindel?" Sidhe shook the Balrog Slayer roughly. It was early morning and the sun had just risen the elflings were still asleep, but Sidhe had been woken by something out of the ordinary and now he knew what it was. He had searched for the young peredhel and had found neither head nor tail of him. Now he was certain that he needed to wake Glorfindel. The Gondolin elf had a habit of being in an incredibly bad mood if he was woken and so Sidhe had checked that he was certain Glorfindel would be in an even worse mood if he wasn't woken.
The Balrog Slayer grumbled swatting at the unwanted visitor before blinking as he woke, rubbing his eyes and trying focused on the bright light above him. His forehead creased as he saw the expression on the face that peered down at him.
"Sidhe?" he asked concerned, sitting up. "What's the matter?"
He looked over across the blackened ashes of what had once been a fire to where Elladan was sleeping. Correction, where Elladan should have been sleeping, the make-shift bed was empty.
"Where is Elladan?" Concerned azure eyes looked questioningly into Sidhe's flickering hazel ones and suddenly he knew what troubled his friend. "You do not know?"
"No," Sidhe replied anxiously. "I do not know where he is everyone else is here. It appears that he wondered off in the night."
"No," within two seconds Glorfindel was on his feet staring about him wildly for any sign of a struggle. Elladan wouldn't have just wondered off on his own, not in the middle of a thunderstorm. Not unless… no he wouldn't have. There was no way that he would have tried to find his way home, and in the dark no less.
Glorfindel sat down on a nearby log rubbing his aching temples as he felt a head ache coming on. He had told Elrond that he would look after Elladan! What was he supposed to do? Go back to his friend and Lord and tell him that he had misplaced his son? Something must have happened to the young elf, who would have taken Elladan? And how had they done so without him noticing?
"Something isn't right Sidhe," Glorfindel said finally looking at the other elf. "Elladan wouldn't have just… someone has taken him. I don't know how or why but he didn't leave this camp of his own accord."
"We have to get word to Imladris," Sidhe agreed just as troubled as his Captain. He knew that Elrond would not take any anger he had out on either of them, but he also knew that Glorfindel would place the blame squarely on himself. "We need a search party and fast. I think it best that we take the children home."
"Home?"
Glorfindel span around to see that they must have been speaking louder than they had thought for they had woken one of the boys.
"Rael what have you heard?" Glorfindel asked looked at the boy. He didn't entirely like Rael, but that was simply prejudice against the boy's father.
"Pardon me for eaves-dropping my Lord but I believe that I heard you say Elladan is missing and that you want to take us home," Rael said politely walking a little closer to the elder elves. "If it is not my place then I am sorry but I believe that instead of sending us home we may be of some help to you. We could all split up and search for Elladan, I would hate to think of him frightened somewhere, especially after the way he reacted to that storm. The weather has only just settled down."
Sidhe looked across to Glorfindel as both the elder elves considered the offer. Rael seemed genuinely concerned about Elladan and Glorfindel found his automatic dislike of the boy slipping away.
"I understand that you want to help Rael," Glorfindel said evenly, "but if Elladan did not leave this camp of his own free will then whoever took him may still be in the woods." In fact Glorfindel was banking on it, if they weren't then Elladan may not be either - or worse. "I would not risk any of you getting captured even if that is not what happened to Elladan."
Rael gritted his teeth and looked down, his plan wasn't going perfectly. He had hoped to find Elladan un-bind him and lead him back to the others being the hero. Instead it looked like the two Elven Lords would find the young prince tied to the tree where he had left him. It was not necessarily a bad thing, but it immediately excluded the explanation that Elladan had tried to find his way home and merely gotten lost.
"I understand my Lord," Rael said looking at his feet carefully thinking everything through. "I just wish that I could be of more help."
"Well you could help by waking up the others and starting to pack up camp," Sidhe suggested and Rael seemed to brighten immediately.
"Of course sir," the youth replied then left. Glorfindel found himself thinking that he had defiantly made a mistake about the boy as he continued to discuss plans with Sidhe. Maybe this time the apple had fallen far from the tree.
Rael returned to where he had been sleeping just outside the clearing and kicked a fallen log hard. Those who had helped him take Elladan had been sleeping nearby and now most were awake studying the elder boy concerned that something had gone wrong and they were about to get into heaps of trouble for it.
"We need to get back to that half elf," Rael informed the others thinking on his feet. Pointing to a few of his 'followers' he motioned for them to come with him. "Make sure that Glorfindel and Sidhe do not know that we have gone."
"What should we say if they ask?" Questioned one of the smaller children named Timothe.
"I don't know," Rael snapped. "Make something up. Tell them that we heard something and went to go and investigate." Without even checking that the others were following him Rael turned and made his way silently through the trees. He didn't need to check that they were following him. He knew they were.
Elladan shivered… he was cold and he hurt all over. His head was stuffed up and pounding as though an enraged dwarf had tried to reek havoc on his skull. He opened his eyes and shut them immediately as the bright morning light invaded his vision.
"Wake up," a harsh voice said snatching his arm. It was then that he remembered why he hurt all over and wondered vaguely how his hands had been untied without him being aware of it.
"Rael," he croaked out wishing the boy would go away. Pulling his heavy eye lids open he looked into the face of his leering tormentor. "What?"
"I really do not think leaving you tied to a tree is in out best interest, Elladan," Rael explained finally yanking the boy to his feet. "I have it all figured out Elladan so you'd better play along. You don't want anything to happen to your brother or sister do you?"
Elladan shook his head though he wished he hadn't. The motion hurt far more than he would have liked. He felt sick and he just wanted to go home. He didn't care about Rael or what happened to him as long as he just left him alone.
The door to his room creaked open and Elrohir stiffened but did not turn. Tears tracked their way down his cheeks and he swiped them away. He was not the one that had been hurt Arwen was, but he didn't understand what had happened.
"Elrohir," his father's voice was harsh and Elrohir couldn't force himself to turn and face the elder elf.
"Ada I didn't mean to," he began trepidly. "I don't know what happened… Please Ada don't waist your time on me, you need to go and check on Elladan."
"It's hardly a waist of time Elrohir," Elrond replied his voice still surprisingly calm. The elder elf moved around the bed to the opposite side where Elrohir sat unsure of what to do. No matter what he did he couldn't make it add up. None of his children had ever thought like that and he would never have expected such behaviour from Elrohir.
"I would never expect such behaviour from any of you. I don't know what to do with you Elrohir." Elrond carefully, he had never had to deal with any of his children in this way. He didn't want to punish Elrohir, but he knew he had to. "I cannot simply over look this. There will have to be some sort of punishment." He looked at Elrohir's sorrowful face and felt an odd mixture of compassion and anger. Why was he crying? Elrohir was old enough to know that crying when he had done something wrong would not help.
"Ada, I know what I did to Arwen was… just," his forehead creased he couldn't think of the words. He had made his little sister cry! The sister he had always protected, he had hurt her. "I can't find the words for it, and I know I deserve a punishment," he said softly, "but please go and find Elladan. I cannot stop thinking that there is something wrong."
Elrond looked at his son and saw the sadness in his eyes. Elrohir was sorry for what he'd done, he knew that, he could tell the look in the boy's eyes told the truth. He too felt the need to find his first born, there was a splinter at the back of his mind that would not be deterred. To be honest he could think of little but that nagging sensation.
"Alright," Elrond replied eventually standing up. "I want you to stay in here and think about what you've done Elrohir. If your mother can devise a punishment for you then fair enough, but if she does not I do not want you to leave this room until you are given permission to do so."
Elrohir nodded and waited for the elder elf to leave the room before laying down on his bed. The anger he had seen as well as the… what was it? That indiscernible emotion he had seen? Betrayal…? Whatever it had been that small flicker in his father's silver orbs had hurt much more than wrath ever would.
"Lord Glorfindel!"
Glorfindel span around at the sudden shout. A young boy dashed through the trees towards him a look on his face that the Balrog Slayer couldn't quite place. "We've found him! We found Elladan!"
"What?" The elder elf asked in complete shock. A wave of relief ran through him as the boy final reached where he was standing. "Show me, take me to him," the elder elf ordered and the younger obliged.
"Where did you find him?" Glorfindel questioned, his voice loosing the hard tone it had held a moment ago. "Is he hurt?"
"I do not think so my lord, just a few bruises," the boy replied. "Some of the older boys found him a little way away behind a fallen tree. We think he tried to make his own way home."
Glorfindel's brow creased. He was glad that Elladan was safe extremely glad, though there was something that just didn't add up. He was certain that the boy would not wonder off in a thunderstorm like that.
Elladan tried to pull his hand from Rael's but the elder elf was having none of it. Only when Glorfindel came into view and Elladan again tried to bolt did the elder relent and let him go. The peredhel ran to his tutor and hung on tightly to his mid-section shaking slightly.
"Glorfindel I'm so glad to see you!" Elladan exclaimed tears forming in his eyes. "I'm so sorry I ran away! I just wanted to get home!" What he had said about running away was a complete lie, but he didn't care. He just wanted to go home, he wanted to be away from Rael. As long as he could just get away from this nightmare he didn't care who got the blame.
"I know pen-neth, it's alright now," Glorfindel said picking the slender youth up easily. He had been so worried about the boy. He couldn't believe that he had been found so quickly, but he didn't honestly care. He couldn't imagine how he would have dealt with returning to Elrond to tell him he had lost his son. "I'm going to take you home now Elladan, it's going to be alright."
Glorfindel turned and Elladan buried his head in the golden haired elf's shoulder hiding his tears from the leering elves behind him. As long as he didn't have to stay here. He just wanted to be with his Ada.
"Sidhe," Glorfindel said to the dark haired elf who had just come racing into the small campsite. "Do you think that you can look after the others and bring them back safely? I want to get Elladan home quickly and riding will be the fastest way."
"Aye," the weapons master nodded and added sympathetically. Now that they knew that Elladan had wandered off of his own volition it was not as much of a worry that the other elflings were in danger of being kidnapped. "I'll look after them, you get him home safely."
A/N: Filler chapter? Yes. The end or even the penultimate? Certainly not. I have a way of having a simple idea and then letting it morph into something bigger. So we're looking at around ten chapters for this fic as it stands. And I think I can dub myself an official procrastinator. I don't know why but I find it rather hard to make myself write anything sometimes, I've been writing more now though… either because it's Autumn/Winter now or because some of the pressure in my life has eased off a little I don't know, but I'll be writing quite a bit more from now on.
And guys, I'm asking you a favour now, if you notice a grammar error anywhere in the text please point it out. I don't pick up the things the spellchecker doesn't and I really need help nipping these little problems in the bud. I quite often get a comment of 'the biggest problem is the grammar mistakes' and whilst I appreciate that it's kinda infuriating to read through the thing a thousand times and not be able to pick them out. So if you point out even one little error or a sentence which sounds odd to you I will be exceedingly grateful.
Thanks to my faithful reviewers who must be sick of me updating so irregularly.
-ElvenHope