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The Night Riders
Elrohir and Elladan rode like elves possessed after they heard their mother had been captured by Orcs near the pass at Caradhras in the Misty Mountains. A trip that should have taken several days took them a day and when they came into the clearing where the attack had taken place, they pulled their horses to a stop.
What was left of Celebrìan’s small coach was lying on its side, gutted and bloody. The fine upholstery was shredded and it smelled of the filthy creatures who had taken her. Dead horses littered the ground as well two of her guard. A third guard had made it out of the mountains to send word to Imladris. He reported the Orcs had left with their mother bound and gagged.
The brothers dropped from their horses to their knees, screaming in frustration that they’d been too late and in pain that someone had taken their own mother.
“This would not have happened had we been guarding her,” Elrohir said angrily to Elladan.
“Yes, it would. We would be dead along with mother’s other guards, right over there.” Elladan motioned to the dead elves. “You know how good her guard was. Father would not have let her roam these mountains without he felt she was safe and secure in doing so.”
“I know that but – but dammit! I want to think I could have made a difference.”
*
“We will find her. There is no choice,” Elladan told Elrohir as they heard someone approach.
They moved back into the shadows to await their unannounced visitors. Celebrìan had been taken down the mountain before they had reached the actual pass itself. There was clearing enough to camp and trees enough to hide in if need be.
They saw Haldir and two of his brothers make their way into the clearing on foot.
Haldir called out to them. “Lady Galadriel sent us as soon as she knew. We will help you find her. She is dear to our lord and lady and we will do all in our power to bring her home safely.”
The brothers came out of hiding and embraced their grandmother’s wardens.
“The Orcs went back down the mountain the way they came. I think they probably have an encampment and were waiting for someone from Imladris or from Lórien to come along. Our mother had the awful luck to be that someone,” Elladan told the wardens.
“Our horses are tied not far. Let us retrieve them.” Haldir motioned for Rúmil to get their mounts as the sons of Elrond mounted their own horses. Without another word, they took off in the direction of the footprints, riding as if Sauron himself were on their heels.
They rode hard and still didn’t happen across the Orcs until after the noon hour on the next day. The camp was quiet as Orc’s seldom traveled much in daylight. They didn’t bother to be quiet. The five elves hit the Orc camp like an angry storm, killing anything that got in their way. There were no Orcs alive in less than five minutes and all the elves were covered in blood and gore as the twins opened the tent where they found their mother.
Celebrìan had been brutalized beyond what they’d expected and they’d expected it to be awful. She was still bound and gagged and was lying on her side. Her clothes were gone and had they not known it was her, they’d have thought she was one of the dark women from the east.
Her golden hair was covered in filth and was the color of mud. Her skin was dark and slick with blood and things neither brother could dare speculate about. Her eyes widened when they saw her and for a moment, they thought she knew them but then they saw the fear. She was beyond rational thought and only reacted on an animal level.
Elrohir ran from the tent. He felt like his chest was going to explode. He ran into the woods and vomited. He heard Elladan talking to her.
“Mother, do you remember me? I’m Elladan. Papa has sent us to bring you home. Elrohir is here too. Will you let me untie you and find you something to wear?”
There was silence for a moment and Celebrìan began screaming. Elrohir rushed in to see his brother backing away from her as their mother screamed as though they were the Orcs who’d taken her.
Haldir stuck his head in and motioned the brothers to join him. “My Lady sent this to make your mother sleep. She feared that this might happen. All you have to do is rub a bit on her skin. It won’t last long but it will hopefully enable us to move her somewhere safer then clean her wounds and bathe her.”
She screamed as they approached but Haldir managed to rub a bit of the fluid on her skin with a cloth. She sank into a drugged sleep within a few moments. Elrohir lifted her and took her from the tent. The Lórien brothers looked around for any possessions of hers then finding none, set the tent on fire.
The elves mounted and rode as fast as they could down the mountain to an abandoned village. There wasn’t much left but a few buildings still stood. They took Celebrìan inside the sturdiest looking one and Elrohir got his own water skin and began to wash her face and hands, then her body. Elladan and Haldir dressed and bandaged her wounds. Between the five of them, they dressed her in trousers and a clean tunic. They cleaned her hair as best they could with their limited water and bounded it in a kerchief they made from one of Haldir’s shirts.
All this time, they kept her sedated so she wouldn’t scream and think them Orcs come to finish what they’d started.
Her sons sat guard over her while the three brothers went out to find food and some fresh water to drink. They managed to get some water and a bit of broth in her in her semi-conscious state. They wanted to get her home but she was too sick and too injured to travel. They fed her and cared for her until sunrise the next day, at which time they set out for Imladris. They could not stay here any longer for fear that more Orcs might return to finish what the others had started.
When they got to Imladris, Elrond met them in the courtyard and held his arms out for his wife as Elrohir and Elladan gently placed her in his arms.
“My sweet one, what have they done to you?” His sons had never seen the elf lord cry before and it hurt them almost as much what the Orcs had done to see their father in such a state.
Elrond had her taken to her their rooms and had her put in the huge four poster bed where their children had been conceived and born. He was perhaps the best healer in Middle Earth, but he sent out for more healers. They kept her sedated because she began screaming every time they let her regain consciousness.
He sent for Galadriel.
When she arrived, she also wept at the sight of her daughter. She followed Elrond from the room.
“You must send her into the West. She is too broken to stay here.”
“I can help. She will get well. She just needs time,”
Galadriel had seen very few elves heal from such horrors as her daughter had been subjected to. She remembered seeing elves who had been captives of Sauron and all of them had been only a shadow of their former selves.
Elrohir and Elladan felt helpless. Neither of them could help their mother and their father was so devastated that he hardly ate or slept. He looked almost as haunted as their mother did.
“We have to do something,” Elladan said as they sat at an empty table for yet another meal that they really had no appetite for. Elrond and Arwen were with Celebrìan. Again.
“We can’t leave. What if she needs us? What if he needs us?”
Elladan sighed.
“Perhaps we should go hunting,” Elladan said as he stood. “No one will even know we’ve gone.”
“Let’s hunt them. Let’s kill as many as we can, save as many of their victims as we can,”
Elrohir agreed, passionate about something for the first time since they’d found their mother.
They found Glorfindel, told him that they were leaving, that they were going hunting and that they didn’t know when they’d be back.
“Your father needs you both. He needs your strength.”
“You be strong for him. You and Erestor be strong for him.”
They rode out before the sun set on that day. They would not return until their father sent for them to escort their mother to the Grey Havens.
*
“Mother, are you sure?” Arwen asked for the tenth or perhaps the hundredth time as they rode in the coach to meet with Círdan, who would take her to Aman to escape the pain she could not escape here in Middle Earth. Celebrìan had improved. She no longer screamed all the time but she still screamed in terror every time she fell asleep. She found this too much to bear and too much to ask her family to bear.
The brothers said little, blaming themselves for what happened to their mother. They were also angry at her because she was leaving and at their father for letting her go. They rode side by side behind the carriage.
Once they arrived, Elrond helped his wife down out of the carriage. She clung to his arm as if she feared Orcs would grab her at any minute.
Elrond walked her to the dock, followed by his daughter and sons. Círdan smiled gently at her and held his arm for her to take.
“All will be well soon, my dear Celebrìan. Your pain and fear will simply melt away,” Elrond assured his wife.
Elrohir wanted to ask who would heal their pain and sorrow. He was angrier now than he was when they’d found their mother.
*
Life went on after Celebrìan sailed.
Elrond still watched and waited for Mordor to wake. Arwen split her time between Imladris and Lórien now that her mother was gone. Life seemed to settle back into its normal routine.
Except for Elladan and Elrohir.
They rode through the forests in the north of Middle Earth, searching for and killing all the Orcs they could find. They killed and burned Orcs from the outskirts of Imladris to the northern ranges of Lórien down south into the edges of the Riddermark. They left nothing in their wake, burning their kills until there was nothing but ash left.
Elrond heard the stories of his sons. He, too, was sad that his beloved wife had traveled into the West, but he knew that he would be reunited with her someday and that was enough for now. His sons’ anger was frightening. He’d never seen anger such as theirs turn out well.
He called for Glorfindel and Erestor.
“I am going to Lórien to talk with Galadriel. I fear for my sons.”
“There is no one who can harm them. They are fierce and can take care of themselves,” Glorfindel said.
“I know that but I fear for their sanity.”
Erestor nodded. “I have heard stories of them killing hundreds and hundreds of Orcs and of the fires burning high into the sky at night.”
“I’m going to talk to Galadriel. Maybe she has some idea that can help. I cannot let them ride until they are as driven and as mad as Maedhros and Maglor.”
Elrond arrived in Lórien a few days later.
Celeborn and Galadriel met with him.
“I know no cure for anger, Elrond. If I did, I would not be the last of those who crossed over from the West.”
Celeborn seldom said much, content to let his wife do most of the talking but he spoke now. “Perhaps they need something else to occupy their minds. Anger can take up all one’s time and harden one’s heart. Maybe they need something else to think about. Our wardens are good at protecting our borders but the day may come that they must go to war once again against the forces of darkness. Perhaps our grandsons can pour their aggression and anger into training our wardens.”
Elrond and Galadriel agreed and they began to plan how to make this happen.
*
It finally came down to simply telling the brothers that their grandfather had need of them to train his troops.
“Father, there is little we could teach such fine soldiers as those who guard the borders of Lórien.”
“Not about soldiering. That is true but you are the world’s foremost Orc killers. I daresay there is none alive who knows more or has more experience than you two,” Elrond said as they all sat around the table for dinner, a rare occurrence in Imladris these days.
“Where are we supposed to meet them?”
“In Caras Galadhon. Haldir and his two brothers will be your first trainees.”
“Father, they know as much as we do. They helped us find mother and bring her back,” Elladan complained. He knew what his father was up to but there was no real argument here that was going to change Elrond’s mind.
“Just do it.” Elrond excused himself and went to his rooms alone, a bottle of wine from the Shire to keep him company. He did that too often these days but there was little other to comfort him.
The sons of Elrond were not fools and they knew when they were defeated and this was one of those times. They repacked their belongings and headed out for their grandparent’s home before the moon rose to light their way.
Galadriel and Celeborn greeted their grandsons with joy. For all the thousands upon thousands of years they had dwelt here in this world, these two young men and Arwen were all the kinsmen they had left and they loved them fiercely. Galadriel already had a vision of her granddaughter’s future though she’d not yet told anyone, not even Celeborn, and she feared these two would not live out the winter if they continued in the reckless way they were going. She was not willing to give any of them up until she had to and now was not that time.
The wardens came down from the Northern Fences to celebrate Elladan and
Elrohir’s visit at a banquet that Galadriel held in their honor. Elladan and Elrohir were seated at the table with Haldir, Rúmil and Orophin.
“So, my friends, we are to be your Orc babysitters for awhile,” Elrohir said to Haldir.
Haldir laughed. “Are you sure it’s not the other way around?”
“I’ve suspected that all the time. I think our father and grandmother are worried,” Elladan added.
“Well, we can hunt Orcs with you for a while and maybe everyone will be satisfied,” Rúmil said. “I love to explore outside Lórien anyway.”
He loved exploring anywhere. His parents and Haldir had been chasing him for years, trying to keep him out of harm’s way or trying to keep him from getting lost. He’d wandered into Lord Celeborn’s study once or twice, had tried to take a bath in Galadriel’s mirror when he was but a tot. He’d even left the Golden Wood stowed away in Gildor’s wagon when the wandering elf and his band passed through once when he was still a child.
Haldir leaned toward him. “I swear if you wander away and get killed, I’ll kill you again!”
Rúmil blushed, as he was wont to do in front of the Imladris brothers.
Elladan grinned. “Arwen does the same thing or used to anyway. Every time either of us did anything, she was right behind us, trying to do the same thing. Then she began to wander outside Imladris into the woods. More than once, a traveling elf or even Gandalf would bring her home after she’d come up missing.”
“When shall we leave?” Haldir asked his four companions.
“As soon as this dinner is done,” Elrohir said. “I do not relish saying goodbye to Grandmother and Grandfather. Sometimes even I am afraid of Grandmother.”
So it was agreed. As soon as they could manage to slip away, the five elves did so and hurriedly grabbed their packs and provisions and set out for the border of the Golden Wood.
They rode south toward the land of the Rohirrim.
The elves rode all night and into the morning without seeing anyone at all. They made a base camp to use as they scoured the area for Orcs. They divided into two groups; Elladan with Rúmil and Orophin, and Elrohir with Haldir. They went in opposite directions from their camp, leaving at sunset each day, for Orcs tended to raid and travel at night.
The pickings were slim and they’d only killed three Orcs in their first week out. Not having much violence to commit, they’d all settled into a rather idyllic routine. They rose late in the day and fished or hunted their food, then spent the afternoon lying about in the shade of a tall tree or swimming in a sparkling stream.
Elrohir spent hours and hours with Haldir. He had never actually spent that much time in the company of anyone but his brother.
“Do you ever wish you could just be alone?” Elrohir asked Haldir as they lay on the bank of the stream near their camp.
“Now?” Haldir rose up on one elbow and looked over at Elrohir.
“No, I mean from your brothers.”
“Ahh. Of course I do. I often wonder what it might be like to have a wife and children, or to travel like Gildor or Gandalf.”
“I wonder what it would be like not to have someone always expect so much from me all the time. Our father expects us… to… he expects us to be perfect like Arwen.”
Haldir laughed. “Your sister is not perfect. She just always acted like it when she was in Imladris. She was always a wild thing here. She rode with the wardens on the southern border one whole summer. Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn let her and never said a word to your mother or father about it.”
Elrohir was amazed.
“She even rode around on your grandfather’s black stallion. Your grandmother has never been able to say no to anything Arwen wanted.”
Elrohir lay back and looked at the blue sky. “I feel like we were born old, Elladan and I. It seems as if our father always felt like we had great things to do. Arwen though, she got to be a child. I’m not sure why they doted on her so.”
He rolled up on one elbow and looked at Haldir. “We weren’t mistreated. Mama and Papa were good to us too… and Erestor and Glorfindel. But it seems as though we grew up too fast.”
Haldir laughed. “I remember when you used to journey here with your mother. The two of you had Lord Celeborn running all the time to keep your grandmother from finding out the things you did.”
Elrohir laughed. He remembered the fun times they’d had visiting when they were young, how they’d spent all their time doing things they weren’t allowed to do at home.
“We used to think that you and your brothers were mean little elves but I suspect you didn’t know what to make of us.”
“Actually, we were jealous. Lord Celeborn always treated the three of us as if we were his own kids until you and Elladan came to visit.”
Elrohir stared. “Really?”
“I even remember thinking it wasn’t fair that we had dull yellow hair while yours and Elladan’s were dark and shiny, something we seldom saw here.”
“We could have been friends all these years,” Elrohir said.
Haldir put a hand on Elrohir’s arm. “We’re friends now. And I suggest we go hunting or we’ll be eating Orophin’s awful stew again. It’s just hot water with some herbs thrown in, but he calls it stew.”
Both elves made a face. “Hunting it is then.” Elrohir rose and reached out his hand for Haldir’s to help him to his feet.
Their hunt didn’t yield any large game but they did get a half dozen rabbits, which made a much better stew than Orophin’s inedible mess did. The five of them eat every drop of it.
Rúmil rubbed his belly. “It doesn’t get better than that, Elladan,” he said to the cook. “Orophin makes hot water taste bad.”
“I take offense to that,” Orophin said with a huff. They all laughed then, even Orophin. “I will admit it was better than my herb stew.”
“Swampwater tastes better than that!” Rúmil exclaimed and the two fell into a brotherly wrestling match that spilled into the forest edge. All motion ceased when they heard something in the woods and all five elves came to instant attention.
Knives appeared in the hands of all five elves almost as if by magic and the twins had their swords and the Lórien brothers had their bows in hand before the first Orc bounded through the brush. In less than ten minutes, ten Orca lay dead all around them and none of the elves looked as if they’d even been breathing hard.
Haldir sighed. “Now we shall have to find a new campsite. This one smells too bad to stay in.”
They dragged all the bodies into a pile and packed up their camp before setting fire to the bodies and leaving them burning to light the night.
They rode until daylight, heading back toward the Misty Mountains. The closer they got, the more subdued Elladan and Elrohir became. Haldir walked beside Elrohir as they led their horses through a narrow part of the pass of Carahdras.
“I am sorry for what happened to your mother. She was a wonderful person and we always enjoyed meals with the Lord and Lady when she was in Lórien. She told delightful tales of your life in Imladris. I miss her.”
Elrohir silently reached for Haldir’s hand, not saying anything but gently squeezing his hand in response.
“Father will see her again someday. I am glad of that but I am not sure that Elladan or I ever will.”
Haldir looked stricken. “I… surely you will sail someday.”
“We have the choice. We look more like elves than men but the man is strong in us both. We have spent a good deal of our lives with the men of the North. They are as much our kinsmen as elves are.”
Haldir held Elrohir’s hand tight and turned the other elf to face him. “I do not want you to go. I would – that is to say. I want you to stay here only as long as I do.”
His meaning got through, surprising Elrohir. He had always liked Haldir and even though Elladan loved females of all kinds, he had never had much interest in them. He had been too busy most of his life to stop and consider why. He did not let go of Haldir’s hand but squeezed it back as he looked into the Lórien elf’s blue eyes.
The rest of the day passed slowly, ever so slowly. Elrohir wanted a chance to be alone with Haldir, to make sure he understood what Haldir meant. When at last they reached the other side of the mountains, Haldir and Elrohir went to hunt in the thick forest.
As soon as they got out of sight of the others, Elrohir grabbed Haldir, staring deeply into his eyes. “What did you mean?”
“When?”
“When you said you wanted me to stay. Did you mean – do you want - ” He stopped, frustrated that he couldn’t find the words. Haldir pulled him close and kissed him, a short peck on the lips but Elrohir got it. “Yes, that… is that what you want?”
“Do you?” Haldir whispered as he closed the distance between them again and kissed Elrohir once again, a bit more of a kiss this time.
Elrohir suddenly felt his breath quicken as he smelled the scent of Haldir’s skin, outdoorsy, clean with a hint of whatever made Lórien so distinctive. He wrapped his arms around Haldir a bit awkwardly but any trace of that was gone as Haldir reciprocated, wrapping his arms around Elrohir.
“What do we do now?” Elrohir asked. “I – well – not with an elf, just the human men we rode with.”
Haldir laughed, a low, sexy growl. “We are not different from men, are we?” He slid his hand between them, rubbing Elrohir to hardness as he kissed him again, quite hungrily this time.”
“I’d need you to be naked to know that.” Elrohir began unfastening Haldir’s clothing, beginning with his shirt.
“Then naked I will be.”
They both lay naked on a bed of their own clothing in minutes. Haldir was not very different from the men Elrohir had been with, though the experience was quite a bit more intense. Perhaps their growing affection was the reason for that.
Afterward, they lay quietly as the sun began to set.
“I suppose we should dress and get back to camp,” Haldir said lazily.
Elrohir rolled onto his side and ran one hand down Haldir’s body from his chest down, stopping only to circle the other elf’s growing erection. He grinned as he dipped his head to lap at the tip. “I think our brothers can take care of themselves for a few more hours. I want to take care of you.”
Haldir completely agreed though he was struck speechless when Elrohir’s hot mouth enveloped him.
*
Several months later, Elladan and Elrohir visited home for a few days. The Lórien brothers returned to Lórien to serve the Lord and Lady.
Elrond wondered what happened. He’d heard stories of the five elves riding the wilds, killing Orcs with a mad ferocity. Perhaps Lord Celeborn’s idea had not been so successful after all. Time would tell.
~the end~