I realized that I forgot a disclaimer. This is not mine, I make no profit, just playing with someone else's characters and places. I will credit any direct quotes (such as the title of the story FYI)
"Maglor wake up!" Maglor pretended not to feel his brother shaking him, deciding that since he did not hear screaming or swords clashing there was no emergency that required him out of bed so soon. "Wake!"
Finally he sat up and glared at his brother. "Yes?"
Maedhros wordlessly pointed to the corner of the tent where the twins were supposed to be. Maglor groaned when he realized that they were, unfortunately, not there. "They cannot have gotten far," he said. "We set a watch."
"That is watching for an army, not two small children." Maedhros reminded him. He was standing, sword in hand and a dagger tucked into his belt. "They could be in danger."
Maglor threw himself out of bed, scrambling to his feet. As an afterthought he grabbed his sword, in case the boys had run afoul of trouble. There was no sign of them in the camp itself, but Maedhros pointed to two sets of foot prints leading back toward Sirion.
No words needed to be spoken as Maglor and Maedhros rushed after the tracks. The boys must have left almost immediately after their captors fell asleep, because it was apparent they had a tremendous head start.
Maglor lost track of time, wrapped in his fearful thoughts, long before a scream split the air, coming from somewhere in front of them, followed by a cry of, "Help!"
Before Maglor could yell back, Maedhros caught his eye and shook his head. If something was attacking the boys, it would probably be best for it not to know that help was on the way.
They found Elrond in the woods, sobbing. "Elros fell," he sobbed, pointing to the rock next to him. "He won't talk to me, help!" He lunged and grabbed Maglor's leg, shaking pitifully. Maglor knelt and attempted to calm the boy.
Maedhros strode to the rock he had pointed at and his eyes widened. Behind the rock was a deep hole with a rather narrow opening. "Elros!" he called. The boy was lying on his side on the bottom of the hole, but when Maedhros shouted he shook his head to clear it and looked up. He cried for Maedhros pitifully.
"Have you any rope?" Maedhros asked his brother.
"Rope?" Maglor demanded. He was sitting on his knees with his hands on Elrond's shoulders. "Why would I have rope?"
"I was hopeful."
"Rope," Maglor laughed, obviously distraught. "He thinks I just carry rope with me when I am sleeping?" He looked at Elrond as the question was obviously meant for him. Elrond seemed to shrug, though it may have just been the tremors running through his tiny body.
"You brought your sword!"
"So did you! Where, might I ask, is your rope, hmm?"
A wail from Elros prevented Maedhros from replying to Maglor and telling him exactly where he could keep his rope. "Can you climb out?" he called to the boy.
Elros shook his head.
Maglor hurried over, pulling Elrond with him, and looked down in the hole. "Hold Elrond, I think I can get him."
He pushed the child at his brother and knelt. Very slowly he descended the hole, glancing over his shoulder periodically to look for footholds, but otherwise feeling his way down blindly. Only when he reached the bottom and Maedhros relaxed did he realize how tense he had become.
Maglor knelt by Elros and surveyed him, looking for any injuries. "I think you shall be fine," he said quietly. "Bruised and sore perhaps, but that is all."
He looked up at the opening where Maedhros and Elrond were peering worriedly at them. He had not actually planned on how he would get Elros out once he reached him. "Could you carry him on your shoulders," Maedhros offered.
Maglor knelt by Elros. "Climb onto my back and put your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist."
Elros did as he was told, and Maglor stood, taking a few experimental steps to see how the weight affected him. Then he began his ascent.
Maedhros helpfully called out places where Maglor could attempt to grab, but whenever Maglor followed his instructions he slipped and found himself in worse situations than if he had ignored him. Halfway up Maglor called, "Be silent! You are not helping!"
Maedhros quieted and disappeared from view, knowing that the impulse to help would be too strong if he remained looking down at his brother. Maglor easily completed the climb now that his brother was being quiet. He allowed Elros to crawl out ahead of him, then drug himself out, cursing Maedhros for not helping.
"I would have if I could have," Maedhros replied calmly.
Maglor looked up and his eyes widened in fear. A half-dozen of Gil-Galad's warriors stood before them, arrows notched and pointing straight at Maedhros who was sitting perfectly still. Three of them redirected almost immediately to turn Maglor into a target as well.
"Give us the children," one called.
Maglor and Maedhros exchanged glances. They simply could not hand over their best bargaining tool. "Give us the Silmaril and we will," Maedhros promised.
"You are hardly in a situation for bargaining."
"Oh?" Maedhros asked. When Maglor had emerged Elrond had been to Maedhros' right, out of his reach, but Maglor had unwittingly shoved Elros to his left, and now the elder Feanorian reached and grabbed him easily, pulling him to his chest to use as a shield. All the arrows moved to Maglor.
Maedhros pinned the boy with his stump and placed a knife blade to his throat. "Harm my brother and I will not hesitate."
The archers looked at one another, then they all lowered their bows. Maglor moved quickly and picked up Elrond, holding him tightly and, he hoped, reassuringly. Elros was crying in Maedhros' lap.
"Tell Gil-Galad he can have the children when we have our Father's Silmaril. Until then the boys remain with us." Maedhros stood, his right arm lifting Elros off the ground. Still his left held the knife, farther away now, but close enough to kill in a second.
Holding their prizes the Feanorians slipped away into the woods. They began to run and did not stop until they reached their camp, where their absence had been noted and a search begun.
"Pack up camp!" Maglor shouted. "Gil-Galad's forces are near!"
Maedhros had long since sheathed his knife, so he could carry Elros easier, but the boy was still shaking and crying. The second he was set down he looked at Maedhros and sobbed, "You promised not to kill us."
"I never said I was going to kill you. I said I would not hesitate and they thought I meant I would kill you. I probably would have started with just a finger had the need arisen."
Maglor glared at him, still rocking Elrond in his arms. "He does not mean it," he said.
Maedhros looked at the child, still standing in front of him and shaking. "If you do not want harmed, then you should not have run. If I catch you at it again there will be consequences." He looked at where their horses were being prepared.
"He does not mean that either," Maglor said. At least, you had better not.
"We must move camp again; try to get away from Gil-Galad," Maedhros said in Quenya to his brother.
"Must we? Surely they would not risk an attack while we have the children."
"I cannot risk that." Maedhros looked at the sky. "It is high noon now, we shall ride till evening." He spoke this in Sindarian, so the boys would understand.
"Must we?" Elros asked. "We are tired." He seemed almost envious of his brother, still cradled in Maglor's arms and nearly asleep.
"It's your own fault," Maedhros reminded him. "You should not have run away, remember what I said about consequences next time." He left them.
Maglor said, "Come along, I shall find you something to eat."
After a light lunch the boys found themselves back in the saddle, once again Elros found himself with Maedhros who thought him to be the ringleader and wanted to keep a close eye on him. Maglor hummed and held Elrond, who had become oddly attached to him, and had allowed Maglor to carry him for several minutes before Elros begged him to stand with him.
Now that they were riding again and separated they were repeating their strange calls. Maglor leaned to speak to Elrond, "If I ride nearer to my brother do you promise not to reach for one another?"
Elrond nodded. Maglor guided his mount nearer to Maedhros, and repeated his question to Elros who was quick to agree.
Maedhros begged a song from his brother, and Maglor consented, for his sake and the twins. He sang a silly song that he knew Maedhros hated, just to spite him for threatening the twins. Maedhros was so glad to hear him sing that he did not even protest until the fifth repetition.
"If I hear 'twiddle on the fiddle in the middle by the griddle' one more time," he warned.
"But the moon slept till-" Maglor stopped mid verse at his brother's expression.
Not having seen Maedhros' glare Elrond quietly sang, "Dish from off the dresser pranced; found a spoon and gay-ly danced."
Maglor covered his mouth, biting back a smile, glad to hear the boy talking. However Maedhros did not seem so happy, so Maglor told Elrond, "Not right now child, perhaps later, hmm? I could play for you on my harp at dinner, and we could send Maedhros away for a while."
Elrond nodded shyly and received a gentle pat on his head.
"I look forward to it," Maglor said.
He fell silent after a while, finally beginning to feel exhaustion setting in. He envied Elros and Elrond, both of whom where slumped in sleep. Elrond had fallen asleep first, and Elros had fought until he could not force himself anymore.
"They sleep with their eyes closed," Maedhros said in amazement.
Maglor glanced at the boy sitting before him. "It must be the Blood of Men that runs in their veins."
Maedhros finally called for them to stop, before dusk, because it became evident that their men were all tired, even though most of them had gotten much more sleep than their leaders. Maglor woke Elrond and dismounted and was not completely surprised to have Elros shoved in his direction. He knelt and checked Elros for injuries, feeling his bones for fractures and pulling up his shirt to check for bruising. Amazingly the boy seemed almost unharmed.
He led them to where a soldier was trying to start a fire, and offered to take over from him. The elf thanked him and disappeared to help with something else, or perhaps to sleep.
Once the fire was going Maglor turned to look for the Peredhel twins, only to find that they had vanished. "Boys?" He jumped to his feet and looked around for them. Accepting that they were not in the immediate vicinity he ran to find Maedhros.
Maedhros was alerted to the twins' absence before his brother, when his squire's eyes suddenly went wide and he wordlessly pointed to something behind Maedhros. He was not pleased to turn around and find the boys attempting to steal his brother's horse.
In the moments it took for him to react and start toward them Elros saw him and panicked. He began attempting to shove Elrond aboard the horse. Maglor's mount, unused to such passengers, laid his ears back and began to prance nervously. Elros dropped his brother and he feel, landing just in front of the horses thrashing hooves.
Maedhros reached them and barely managed to pull Elrond away before a hoof landed where his head had been. Both children clung to him in tears.
That was when Maglor reached them.
Maedhros' squire was calming the horse, and the leader was trying to pry two sobbing elflings off of him. "Get them," he said.
As Maglor took the boys and tried to sooth them Maedhros closed his eyes and tried to remind himself why taking them had been a good idea. You did not have a choice, the Oath would have demanded you kill them otherwise. You did not have a choice. You did not have a choice. No choice. No choice. They would be dead otherwise. Their blood would be on your hands. He took several calming breaths.
"Children," Maedhros said. They looked at him, straining to see him as he towered above them. "What did I say about running away?"
The boys looked at one another. "We're sorry," Elros said quickly.
Maedhros ignored his plea. "Come with me." The twins followed him as he left, but for a moment Maglor sat in the dirt in shock. His mind, running on mere minutes of sleep, struggled to remember his brother's threat.
"Maedhros wait!" He stood and rushed after them, but his brother didn't stop. He led them to where their tent was waiting and shoved the twins inside.
"What are you going to do?" he demanded in Quenya.
"What I should have done yesterday." Maedhros knelt by a box that contained his armor. After searching for a moment he pulled out a length of rope and a knife.
Both boys were crying in fear, but Maglor had an idea of what his brother had planned and sat beside them. "Shhhh. He shan't harm you. Remember? He promised not to kill you, and I promised not to harm you." Maglor only differentiated between their promises because he knew otherwise his sibling would correct him.
"What is he going to do?" Elrond asked meekly.
Maedhros answered, having finished cutting the rope into short lengths, "I am going to tie you so you cannot escape."
Both bolted for the door of the tent, but Maglor grabbed them. "You were warned," he reminded them sternly, "and you are safest with us, you cannot take care of yourselves in the wilderness."
He held them in his lap as Maedhros bound them hand and foot. Maglor carried them to their bed and they sat silently, staring up at their captors. Finally Maedhros spoke, "I am sorry it had to come to his." Then he left the tent as quickly as he could.
Maglor sighed. "I will bring food in a few minutes." Then he too left the tent.
Once outside the brothers sat and looked at one another for several long moments. "What are we doing?" Maglor asked.
"I do not know, I thought to show them a kindness by sparing them, but now I wonder if-"
"No," Maglor interrupted curtly. "We need no more blood on our hands, least of all the blood of children."
Maedhros nodded. "When we reach Amon Ereb? What then? How long do we keep them and what do we do if they are not traded for the Silmaril?"
"We shall find something for them," Maglor replied. "Until then we shall have to decide how to raise them, they are our responsibility now. They will need clothes, a room, rules, lessons; what have we gotten into?" You started this, I might add, and you will help me.
"Forget that for now, we should eat, see to the twins, then sleep." Maglor nodded. When the food was finished he fetched four plates of the mostly cooked meat and carried it into the tent. Maedhros had untied their wrists, but left their legs bound.
He gave the meat that seemed the closest to fully cooked to the boys, and sat by his brother to eat his own portion. "At least they seem resilient," Maedhros said. "They were asleep when I came in. I believe they thought we were not going to feed them."
Maglor looked at the boys and recalled the previous conversation. "If they try again it might work, to keep food from them or limit their portions." He had intentionally kept the conversation in Sindarian so the boys would understand. They both seemed fearful.
"I doubt we shall have to worry," Maedhros said. "I do not plan to leave them unbound or unattended until we reach Amon Ereb."
Elros groaned dramatically.
Author's Note: I swear this chapter started out completely serious, but then Maglor and Maedhros reverted to two year olds over that rope!
The song Maglor sings is called The Cat and the Moon and it's from the LotRs Musical. Its sang in Bree and is a version of what Frodo sings there in the books and what the dwarves sing in Rivendell in the Extended Hobbit part one. Both the musical scene (look for the four minute version) and the extended scene from Rivendell can be found on YouTube and I highly recommend you look them up. AWESOMENESS!