Chapter 7
It had been a good plan, for all that it had fallen apart almost immediately, Elrohir thought as he rounded another tree, pressing his back against it to use as meager cover.
It did preciously little good. A mere moment later the tree burst asunder a foot above his head, splintering into a shower of wooden spray and shards, as the hill troll's stone hand crashed into it. Elrohir jumped forward, tucking his legs in and securing his bow as he rolled in an effort to increase the distance between himself and the enraged creature. The curved wood of his bow pressed uncomfortably into his bruised ribs but the weapon held and the string did not snap, allowing him to string a new arrow even as he jumped back to his feet, turning in midair to aim at the troll and release the arrow. It flew true, burying itself into the thick, hard hide of the creature's neck, but it did not penetrate deeply enough. The troll stopped for only a moment, reaching up to rip out the projectile but only managing to snap the shaft. The arrowhead was still embedded in its neck, yet all it seemed Elrohir had accomplished was enrage the beast further. It was entirely unimpeded as it came after him, bellowing in rage.
Elrohir turned and ran. He would have to change his approach, clearly arrows were not going to work if he did not have the time and angle to aim for the vulnerable eyes of the huge beasts. Another tree broke apart with a snap behind him as Elrohir ducked towards the center of the ring of destruction that had been wrought here in the last few minutes. The center of the clearing held the trolls' bonfire, still burning merrily, the only source of light in the night. Beside it lay the outstretched corpse of the first troll that he and Elladan had felled successfully. Jumbling over its outstretched palm, Elrohir risked a glimpse around. There was no sign of his twin, though he thought he saw trees come down to his left, opposite of where his own opponent was gaining on him with large, angry strides. Elladan must have lured the last of the trolls into the trees. Elrohir only hoped that he would be careful.
He ducked behind the head of the dead troll, past the eye that had been neatly pierced by two of his arrows, stepping over the large puddle of black blood oozing from the cut to the throat Elladan had made. That beast had fallen exactly as they had planned - if only their luck had lasted a little longer. If only there really had been two trolls in the forest like they had suspected and not three.
Elrohir strung another arrow and fired from behind the cover of the downed hill troll's shoulder, but again his shot ricocheted off the thick hide of the beast that was still coming for him. The beast that had been hidden from his and Elladan's initial approach, occupied somewhere in the forest but close enough to interrupt their planned attack on the second troll. Elrohir's ribs stung with every breath he took in the place where the troll's angry retaliatory swipe had grazed him, aggravating the injury left by the Old Willow's roots. And yet it was but a taste of how much worse an actual hit would be.
The hill troll roared again, and then, in a move that belied its enormous bulk, vaulted the corpse of its fallen comrade. In its hand was an entire birch tree which it carried like a club, swinging it down hard. Elrohir only just managed to evade the swing, jumping to the side and ducking into another roll amid the shower of soil and debris that had been flung up by the attack. But even as he regained his feet something heavy collided with his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. The air was knocked from his lungs and pain flared along his back, blinding in its intensity. But he had no time to even catalog his hurts. The troll was coming.
He gasped, forced a new breath into his empty lungs and pushed himself upright, dislodging the slim trunk of the young birch tree that had been pinning him down. The troll must have flung it at him. Before he could fully turn, the troll arrived. The earth shook with the force of its steps and something snapped under its heavy feet. With a sinking heart Elrohir realized that it had been his bow. Dark, polished wood and delicate silver tracings, now ruined, burst apart and ground into the mud.
The troll looked almost smug as it turned to him, an unmistakable look of glee in its oddly intelligent eyes.
All Elrohir felt was cold anger.
He drew his mithril sword. An errant beam of Ithil set the edge of it aflame with a cold fire that matched his simmering hatred and Elrohir charged. The beast's hand struck the ground beside him, throwing up bits of debris that pelted his side, but the strike had missed. And it had not slowed him down. He raised his sword as if to strike, making the troll move sideways to evade him, raising one of its legs and thereby giving him the room he needed to maneuver. He checked his swing at the last moment, tucked his sword close instead and dove between the legs of the troll, turning even while sliding over the disturbed slick mud at his feet before bringing his sword down on the back of the troll's supporting leg. He put all his strength into the stab that bit deep into the thick hide, severing skin, sinew and muscle. The troll, bereft of the function of its supporting leg, crashed heavily to the ground.
Elrohir did not hesitate, he jumped onto the troll's back, nimbly darting over the pocked, stony hide until he reached the point between the beast's shoulder blades. Grabbing both sides of the cross-guard of his sword he plunged it deep into the neck of the beast, pushing down on it with his weight to drive it deeper still. The troll reared up, screaming, shaking its back hard enough to fling Elrohir off. He landed heavily in the mud.
A second later the troll collapsed beside him, dead.
Elrohir allowed himself a deep breath, a single moment of respite. His injuries were screaming at him, pain blossomed across his back and sides now that the adrenalin was waning but there was one thought that drowned out all else. The forest had fallen utterly silent.
Where was Elladan?
-o0o-
A cold wind rose and rustled the leaves overhead. The trees were quivering, restless, afraid. But their fear paled in comparison to Estel's own. His father had collapsed. Hunched over, his eyes firmly shut, Elrond's lips were moving but Estel could not hear a single word his father uttered. What was happening?
This was worse than earlier, when his father had been lost in thought, overwhelmed by the age of the clearing in the forest's center. Caught in memory perhaps. His mother had said that elves could walk the paths of memories, and whatever that meant, Estel had thought that that might have happened then. But this was different.
Another rustle of disquiet passed through the leaves overhead and Estel shivered in the breeze, wrapping his arms around himself in a measly attempt at comfort. Longing only for the embrace of his father, a softly spoken word assuring him that all was well, a hug that would make all this go away.
But his father was unaware he was even there, had not answered his calls or his pleas. Elrond's face was creased as if he was in pain and there was nothing, nothing, that Estel could do to make it go away. Tears welled in his gray eyes and he flung his arms around his father's neck from behind, leaning on his back. Elrond did not react, did not even shift to accommodate for the new weight pressing down on him. Estel sobbed.
"Ada," he begged, sniffling, "Ada, please."
There was no response. Estel hiccupped, tightening his hold on his father and pressing his face into the soft material of Elrond's coat. His tears stained the brown wool a darker color.
He did not know how long he stood there, holding on to his father, silently crying, but after a while his father spoke. The softest whisper, just two words falling from his lips, but steeped in dread. "Elladan. Elrohir."
Estel recoiled. Letting go of his father as if burned as he realized what was happening. He had heard that his father could see things, that he had visions. Warnings of grave danger, granted to him so that he may prevent it, his mother had said. But Elrond had seen Dan and Ro! Cold fear gripped his heart as the thought sank in. His brothers were in danger! And there was nothing he could do. How would Elrond save them when they were so far away? Even Glorfy wouldn't get to them in time.
Fresh tears bubbled up and ran down his cheeks. The worry for his father now compounded by the knowledge that something terrible would befall his brothers. His father was still not moving, silent again, his eyes still firmly closed. But Estel ached for a hug, needed to hear his father's voice and feel safe in his arms. He walked around his father, trying to nestle into the space between his ada's arms, when he saw his closed fist. If his father's eyes had been open, he would be looking straight at it - why?
Glancing briefly at his father's face, still so tightly wound in a grimace of anguish, Estel wiped his tears aside and pried his father's fingers open. He found two acorns, perfectly identical and still green with the promise of vibrant life. His father had found the exact thing they had been searching for mere minutes - and a lifetime of terror ago. Estel glanced at the acorn he still held, the one he had shown to Elrond to explain the purpose of their mission. It was smaller than the other two, but just as perfect. He placed it next to the ones still in his father's hand, gently closing Elrond's fingers over it.
-o0o-
Elrohir's arrows flew true. Two, fired in quick succession, buried themselves into the soft tissue of the hill troll's eye. Elladan was already moving. His sword unsheathed, glimmering in the flickering light of the trolls' bonfire, he rushed forth from the concealing darkness at the edge of the shadow of light and struck. The troll had reared up, reaching for its ruined eye, howling in otherworldly pain; but Elladan, jumping on the beast's bent knee and then onto its shoulder cut the cacophonous shout short with a well-placed, two handed stab at the troll's exposed neck. Black blood rushed forth as Elladan jumped forward, off the troll's shoulder, letting the momentum transfer to his sword which drew a deep, brutal cut along the beast's throat.
The ground shook when it fell.
One troll down and another to go. Elladan turned to the second beast, seeing from the corner of his eyes how Elrohir was already stringing another arrow, aiming for this one's eyes. The beast was up on its feet, still caught between surprise and realization, but it would - What was that?
There was sudden movement at the edge of the forest, a deep rumble, and Elladan turned just in time to see a huge shape crash from the surrounding trees behind Elrohir - another troll.
"Elrohir!" his shout, meant as a warning, turned into an exclamation, a testament to his sudden fear as Elrohir was a moment too slow to evade the attack of this new opponent. His heart sank as he saw his twin get hit, lifted into the air and flung backward, his precious bow cluttering to the soft forest floor beside him.
Before the troll could strike again, Elladan was already charging - but sudden movement in the corner of his eye alerted him to the other troll, the one he had almost forgotten in his worry for Elrohir. It had not forgotten him. He dived on instinct alone, barely avoiding the sweeping motion of the beast's large hand as it made a grab for him. He regained his feet just in time to dance out of reach of the other hand attempting what the first one had failed to accomplish, but his route to his twin was cut off.
A brief look was all he could spare; it showed him that Elrohir had regained his equilibrium - and his bow - and that he was already stringing another arrow, aiming for the third troll. Hoping that his twin's arrow would fly true, Elladan turned. However much he wished to be fighting by Elrohir's side, he could not risk bringing the other troll closer. Two trolls together could cut off their escape, their room to evade and regroup much more efficiently than a single one of the beasts. They would have to fight separately.
Asking the Valar to look after his twin, Elladan turned towards the forest and burst into motion. The trees were dark in the deep night, only their first row dimly illuminated by the flickering orange light of the fire in the center of the small glade. Beyond them, darkness ruled. And while his eyes adjusted to the absence of light, he had no doubt that the troll's night vision far outclassed his own. The creations of Morgoth thrived in the dark.
Wood splintered and cracked as the large shape of the troll entered into the rows of trees left standing and an ear splitting bellow echoed in the confined space between the trunks. The troll was angry.
Good.
Turning to face it, Elladan raised his sword, a glimmering beacon of defiance against the evil of the world. A shining light to pierce the heart of the darkness that infested it. He welcomed the dark waves of anger that rose in his soul, caressing the ever-present flames of hatred, stoking them into a frenzy, turning their heat into the energy that fueled his vengeance. Morgoth's creations were a blight on this world, a threat to everything that was bright and good - and he would put an end to them all. He dug his feet deeper into the soft forest floor, securing his footing as he waited for the troll to come to him.
The troll smiled, a wicked, evil grin, probably thinking him foolish to make a stand. It reached out with its hands once more, only to snatch them back when Elladan's sword cut a deep gash along the length of one palm. Pressing its injured hand towards its chest, the beast struck out with the other, but Elladan evaded the punch, ducking low and rolling beneath the legs of the troll.
The beast whirled around, kicking up soil and stones that pelted Elladan as he sought to bring distance between them once more. But the troll was fast. It kicked at him, again and again, flattening underbrush and toppling trees that he tried to use as cover. Elladan was running out of options and fast.
Another crash, as the heavy fist of the troll landed just to his right, close enough that he could feel the wind rush by, tugging on his braids. Elladan held his breath. That had been too close for comfort.
He dove the other way again, forcing the troll to turn once more, giving him a precious second to strike at the hill troll's exposed side. He scored a short gash, too small to cause real damage, and already the troll had turned and was striking out again.
With a snarl it grabbed for him again. Elladan evaded the attempt but the move left him unbalanced and when the troll kicked out, its foot caught him in the side. A glancing blow, but it threw him to the ground. Hard. Small stones dug into the side of his face, grazing skin and he tasted blood. Rolling, he sprang back just as the troll's foot crashed down on the place he had been lying seconds ago.
It looked at him then. Beady eyes intent and angry. They were at another stand-off, and again Elladan refused to budge, to turn and run. He spat the blood from his mouth and grabbed his sword tighter. Time to end this.
Before the troll could attack again, he rushed forward, relying on his own speed, on the surprise of going on the attack. The troll swatted at him, trying to shield its chest but that was not what Elladan was aiming for. He dropped low, skidding between the legs of the troll once more. Yet, unlike before, he did not spring back up, did not put distance between himself and the troll, but stayed instead close and to the ground. The beast was momentarily disoriented as it swung around, tracking the edges of the trees, finding him gone. It did not think to check the ground just in front of its own feet.
Its beady eyes were still piercing the darkness between the trees in the distance, its head swinging from side to side when Elladan raised the point of his sword upward and jumped. The mithril of his blade cut through the thick hide of the troll's stomach, its chest; through muscles and ribs and tissue, until it punctured the dark heart of the foul beast.
For a moment it stared unseeingly into the distance, still searching the trees for a sign of him, before the light in its eyes went dark. Elladan pulled on his sword, sliding it out of the ghastly wound and it came free in a spray of dark, thick blood that momentarily blinded him - just as the troll toppled. Before Elladan registered the danger, before he could spring to the side and evade the falling colossus, the troll fell, burying him beneath it.
-o0o-
tbc…
A/N: *hehe* I do love my cliffhangers. I also love feedback - so if you have a moment, please, please, please let me know that someone is still reading this. Thank you.