Chapter 4
Erestor smiled contentedly at the sleeping and slightly snoring form of the Lord of Imladris before him. Finally Elrond was resting, even if it was in one of the beds in the Halls of Healing.
Knowing that Elrond was correct and the supplies in the healing wing needed to be restocked, Erestor had waited till Elrond was finished with the work before he had put his plan into motion. Thankfully the elven lord had been exhausted and his mind occupied with the worry about his sons, so he had not put up much of a resistance when Erestor had brought him a small dinner to his desk.
They had eaten quietly, both of their thoughts following the search party and wondering if Glorfindel had already found the twins. Then, not even ten minutes after they had finished eating, Elrond had slumped over in his chair and was out like a light. After that it had been easy to get him into the bed where Elrond rested now.
Erestor had wanted to make sure that his lord really rested after he had finished working and had slipped a sleeping potion into his drink.
'Even if Glorfindel had already found the twins, they would not be in Rivendell till the morning.' Erestor justified his actions to himself. 'And by then Elrond will be awake and fully rested, ready to look after Elladan and Elrohir.'
Erestor nodded to himself, satisfied, turned and made his way out of the healing wing. With a little bit of luck the search party and the twins would arrive right on time, before Elrond got too mad at him for the sleeping drought and all would be well.
-o0o-
The evening was dark. Although the rain had stopped in the morning, the clouds were still heavy in the sky and hid the moon and stars. The path ahead of Estel seemed gray, dark and shapeless in the twilight, as trees and rocks all blended into one. Thankfully that wasn't a big problem at the moment, since he and his pony were still safely in the realm of Imladris and knew the road. He had often come this way with his brothers and Glorfindel, and sometimes with Elrond. So at least at the moment he had no problem finding his way to the border, where he thought Dan and Ro had been seen last.
It was still very slow going though and Estel hadn't gotten very far in the last few hours. He led his pony very slowly along the path, so it wouldn't trip and fall. Estel knew from Glorfindel that it was dangerous to travel in the dark, so he was being extra careful. After all, it wouldn't do for something to happen before he even reached the border and could start the search for Dan and Ro.
If everything went according to plan, he would reach the border before midnight, long before anyone at home would notice he was not actually in his bed at all. Estel was hoping that Lindir was distracted enough and Erestor too busy worrying about Elrond to really check who or rather what was in his bed and that they would just assume the other had put Estel to bed. That way no one would notice he was gone at least till breakfast and no one would catch up with him until he reached the border.
Once Estel was there he planned to leave the safety of the road and cut through the forest. If he kept off the path he ran less risk of accidentally running into Glorfindel or his elves. It would also, he was sure, increase his chances of finding his brothers. After all, if they were on the road Glorfy would have found them already. No, they were anywhere but there, and who knows, he might just stumble across them. He would, however, stay close enough to the road to not get lost. And then he would show his adar and gwadors and 'Restor and Glorfy that he was old enough to help the elves. After all Dan and Ro were the ones that always got into trouble, not him.
-o0o-
Stones fell and thunder rolled deep within the earth, suggesting that more of the cave was collapsing. Glorfindel's heart sank. But before he could even consider the implications, could come to accept that they would not be entering the cave this way today, or perhaps at all, screams broke out below him.
He had kept his footing and slid with the stones rather than being buried beneath them by some miracle, or by the reflexive response of his finely honed warrior's instincts, and he securely skipped down the still shifting rubble now to reach the bottom of the stone pile.
Berandir was calling for help, digging furiously around the prone form of Cadwar who was buried up to his waist beneath rubble. A dark bruise was already forming around a nasty scratch on his forehead, clearly the result of an errant rock hitting him. Glorfindel slid on his knees to Cadwar's other side, helping Berandir's efforts. A brief look around showed that Cadwar was not the only one of his elves that had been injured. Mundil was being helped away from the rock slide by two of his comrades, heavily leaning on them for support and Feriel was standing at the edge of the forest, her eyes large in her pale face as she cradled an obviously broken arm to her chest.
Glorfindel fought the urge to curse and refocused his efforts on freeing Cadwar. At least, as far as he could see all his elves were accounted for, no one was left buried beneath the fallen stones. It was a small comfort amid a difficult situation. They could not continue the search, not with darkness already upon them and Cadwar and Feriel in need of medical attention that they could only receive in Rivendell. But even if none of them had been injured, the most recent rockfall had shown just how unsteady the cavern was. The wall that barred entrance to its deeper reaches had doubled in size and who knew how far inside the damage stretched, who even knew if there was any part of the cavern left at all?
Despair raised its ugly head but Glorfindel resolutely refused to acknowledge it. He would find out. After returning his injured elves to Rivendell he would leave with a new rescue party and would dig through the bare stone if he had to until he found the twins. That he vowed.
-o0o-
Erestor was beyond tired. After the excitement of the previous night, the assembling of the rescue party, distracting and looking after Estel for most of the day and finally getting Elrond to take a break, it had been a very long day. As Elrond's chief advisor he was naturally used to long days and hard work; he was responsible for running Imladris after all and there was always something happening in the Last Homely House. But the last day had been even harder than usual and the ever-present worry about the missing twins had drained him more than he had anticipated. It had been a long time since they had last disappeared. Ever since little Estel had entered their lives, Elladan and Elrohir had turned from their paths of death, destruction and hatred for all the creatures that had dared harm their mother. They had gotten much better at taking care of themselves, since they did not wish to worry Estel unnecessarily. Their love for their brother had certainly changed the twins' life for the better, which had been a great relief not only for Elrond, but for all of Rivendell. Erestor would never openly admit it to anyone, but Elrond's family was his family and Elrond's sons were as dear to him as if they were his own.
Sighing, Erestor slowly got up from his desk and stretched. He had spent the last two hours making sure that Rivendell continued to run smoothly this night and the following day, because he certainly would not have time once the rescue party returned. After putting everything in order, Erestor carefully made his way out of the office and went in search of Lindir and Estel. It was night already and Estel should have been in bed hours ago, but Erestor was not sure that Lindir would have remembered to put Estel to bed. He had better check to make sure before finally turning in himself.
A few minutes later Erestor stood in front of Estel's dark bedroom, which he hoped was a sign that the little one was deep in the lands of dreams. As quietly as only elves can be, Erestor opened the door and slipped inside. It only took his eyes a millisecond to adjust to the darkness and to see the little shape on the bed. Estel seemed to be asleep, just as he should be. Erestor was about to turn around and leave as quietly as he had come in, when he stopped and frowned: something was not right.
He was very tired, so it took him a moment to pinpoint what was amiss: the shape under the blanket was not breathing. There was no rhythmic rise and fall of the chest and no sounds that coincided with breathing in and out.
With three large steps Erestor was next to the bed. He pulled back the blanket and saw what he already knew to be true: Estel was not there. Two pillows were arranged in a way that made them look like someone was sleeping in the bed, but there was no sign of Estel.
Something was very wrong. The placement of the pillows suggested that they were meant as a distraction that little Estel had come up with and that could only mean a lot of trouble.
Immediately Erestor turned and, very un-elvenlike, sprinted from the room. Hoping against hope, he went in search of Lindir. The elf had to be here somewhere and he better have a very good explanation. After checking the kitchen, Erestor made his way to the library. Just as he suspected Erestor found Lindir sitting in his favorite spot in the library still pouring over his scribbles.
"Lindir," Erestor demanded but the other elf did not even bother to look up. "Lindir!" Erestor all but shouted. "Where is Estel?"
Finally Lindir looked up at the advisor towering above him. "What?" he replied, staring at Erestor with large eyes before turning back to the library scanning the empty rows between the bookshelves.
"Your only job was to look after Estel and make sure he is well taken care of. So where is he and why is he not in his bed?"
Lindir still appeared unsure of what Erestor was going on about and simply stuttered: "What? I did look after him. Then you picked him up to put him to bed at s...," Lindir stopped, when he saw Erestor's scowl. "...or perhaps you did not." Lindir swallowed.
"I never picked Estel up," Erestor growled. "I was taking care of Elrond and looking after Imladris, while you sat here so absorbed in your scribbles that you did not even notice when a six year old human boy disappeared from your care." Erestor was beyond angry. 'Of all the pig-headed stupid elves...'
"You cannot even be trusted to look after a child." Erestor turned and called back over his shoulder: "Get up right now and help me look for Estel!"
Erestor walked out of the library with Lindir hot on his heels for once. "You do not know when you last saw him?", he questioned Lindir.
The other elf lowered his head and answered: "It was in the library, after dinner." But they both knew that Estel was no longer there.
"Alert everyone!" Erestor ordered. "We need to search all of Imladris immediately. With a little bit of luck Estel has not gotten very far and is still somewhere in Rivendell."
Lindir all but ran to the main hall to follow the order, while Erestor made his way back to the family quarters to search for Estel there.
'Maybe I'm worried over nothing,' Erestor told himself. 'Maybe Estel is just sleeping in his father's or one of the twin's beds.' However, deep inside Erestor knew that the answer to Estel's disappearance was not that easy.
-o0o-
Elladan set a slow pace for them both, occasionally glancing at his twin to make sure the movement would not aggravate any of his injuries. Elrohir could feel his worried glances like an irritating itch that he could not scratch. But unfortunately, he was in no position to complain. Despite his twin's care and their slow pace Elrohir had trouble keeping up, and when he stumbled over a loose rock in his path, jostling his injured knee, Elladan's hold on him was the only thing preventing him from falling.
He would have groaned in frustration but he feared that if he opened his mouth he would only give voice to his pain instead. Elladan stopped, giving him a much needed chance to catch his breath and asked: "How do you feel?"
"Lightheaded," Elrohir admitted. Then he huffed out a dark laugh before he added: "Claustrophobic." He had no problem admitting as much. Elladan knew that he struggled with being underground, that he could feel the eternal darkness of the stony surroundings creep into his spirit and drain his strength. Too close were the remembered horrors of another winding cave, a passageway to despair that would never fully close.
In response Elladan gripped him tighter. "We will get out," his twin declared - and Elrohir believed him. He gave a small nod and Elladan understood the sign. Together they moved again.
"There is a small stream formed by water that filters through the stones here," Elladan said and indicated the wall that was slick with moisture. "If we are lucky it might be an underground river that will flow up to the surface eventually."
"A river would certainly explain the depth of this cave," Elrohir agreed, but as he narrowed his eyes, trying to pierce the oppressive darkness ahead he slowly shook his head, mindful of his splitting headache. "But I think you are wrong. The path ahead is blocked."
Elrohir could feel Elladan tense beside him and then deflate as his eyes confirmed what Elrohir had seen. The tunnel ended abruptly, another twenty feet or so into the darkness. Their one way out was blocked by stone.
"Wait here," Elladan said, his voice suddenly terse. He guided Elrohir gently over to the wall and helped him sit down. "I will go have a closer look."
Morose, Elrohir let him go. What else was there to do? They were well and truly stuck in this dratted dark place underground.
-o0o-
It was deep into the night when Estel reached the border of Imladris and the site of the battle that he had heard Glorfindel talk about. He had all but stumbled right over the corpses of the dead orcs.
The foul creatures had been everywhere, sprawled over the clearing along the path out of Rivendell. Even in the dark, Estel had been able to see that the once green ground had been drenched in blood and mud, and that the bushes and trees around the clearing had taken heavy damage. But the worst part had been the dead bodies themselves. Estel had never seen a real-life orc to begin with; just some crude drawings the twins had secretly shown him. He hadn't liked the look of the orcs even then; he certainly hadn't liked them any better in real life. They were a nightmare taken shape, even uglier than Estel had imagined, terrifying; especially with some of them having been hacked into pieces and having their guts spilled on the floor. Naturally, Estel hadn't stayed long at the scene of the battle, but had tried to get away from that horrible scene as fast as possible.
Now, however, Estel was beginning to regret his hurry to leave the battle scene. He had basically just turned in one direction, just away from the battle, trying not to be violently sick. As he had ridden away from the horrible sight he had not taken a single moment to note where it was that he was going. In fact, he had been in such a hurry to get away that he hadn't even looked for any clues as to where the twins could have gone. And now he was lost and had no idea where to look for them. A fine rescue this turned out to be. He chastised himself, mainly to distract him from his rising fear. He had no idea anymore where he actually was, except that he was no longer in the realm of Imladris and no longer on the path to and from it.
"Stay calm", he muttered more to himself than to Rochdithen, his little faithful pony. He stopped and after a short hesitation turned his pony around. Estel knew there was no point in going forward, if he didn't know where he was going. He needed to go back and start over again or he wouldn't stand a chance of finding his brothers - or back home for that matter.
Low clouds were still hanging in the sky, blocking out most of the light of the moon and stars that could have helped him find his way. And to top it all off, it was now beginning to rain as well. Estel huddled into his jacket and slowly rode through the forest for the next half hour as the rain got steadily worse. By the time he stopped again he was soaked and shivering with cold. He worriedly realized that he hadn't managed to return to the road and the clearing with the dead orcs. Estel was pretty sure that it should have been around here somewhere. He should have found it by now. Scanning his surroundings, Estel's heart sank further; He didn't recognize any of the surrounding area.
Turning around once more Estel steered his pony to the right, looking for anything that would seem familiar. Seeing nothing Estel began to get more and more agitated and beneath him Rochdithen, too, was getting more and more nervous. It seemed that they were now well and truly lost. Frantically searching for anything that could help him find his way, Estel spurred his pony on, going in yet another direction. Feeling his desperation, Rochdithen was going ever faster and faster over the uneven terrain.
Estel looked around while trying to hold on. However, when he suddenly saw something move in the corner of his eyes, his concentration broke just as his pony jumped over a fallen log. Estel was thrown off his pony and hit the ground hard, his head colliding painfully with the dirt. Pain surged through him and all Estel could do was lift his head and watch Rochdithen ride off, before passing out.
-o0o-
tbc...
