Chapter Five

By nightfall there had been no improvement in Elrohir’s condition. The stress and worry was starting to make everyone irritable. Finally Elrond ordered everyone to leave his son’s chamber to get some food and sleep.

“Driving each other insane and exhausting ourselves is helping no one,” he pointed out as he pushed the protesting group out the door. Then, turning back to his injured son, Elrond resumed his vigil.

The elf-lord was starting to doubt that Elrohir would make it through the night; the young elf had bled right through five bandages and now was running a high fever. Elrond placed a cool cloth on his son’s forehead and frowned as he saw blood seeping through the bandage around his chest. The wound refused to stop bleeding.

What would he tell Celebrian if Elrohir died? He could not sail to the Grey Havens without one of their children. With Estel, Elrond was prepared to eventually lose a child. Estel was human, a mortal. Elrond had always known that the day would eventually come when he passed on. But Elrohir was an elf, an immortal. He was not supposed to meet with death.

Bitter tears stung Elrond’s eyes as he leaned down and kissed his son’s warm head. “You cannot leave us, my son,” he whispered. Picking up where he had left off, the elf-lord began to pour his strength into his son, knowing he was already running low. He just hoped it would be enough.

*****

Legolas watched with a frown as Elladan pushed the food on his plate around with his fork. The blond elf did not like being so suspicious of his friend but he could not help it. How else had Elladan’s arrow ended up in Elrohir’s chest? Legolas considered Aragorn’s theory that the arrow had been stolen. It was the preferable theory, Legolas admitted, but how likely was that?

A small voice in the back of his mind reminded him that Elladan was his friend and that he knew how much the older twin loved his brother. Legolas felt a pang of guilt for suspecting his friend. He knew that Elladan shooting Elrohir under any circumstances was just as far-fetched as any other theory he and Aragorn had come up with, but until they knew what happened, Legolas was not throwing any possibility aside.

****

After they had finished their dinner, Elladan, Aragorn, and Legolas followed Glorfindel back up to Elrohir’s room. Elrond was finishing changing the bandage around his chest. The grim face he wore scared Aragorn.

“He went through another bandage?” Glorfindel asked, his tone as grim as the expression on the elf-lord’s face.

Elrond just nodded. Suddenly he looked older and more tired than Aragorn had ever seen him. “Old” was not a word normally used to describe an elf.

“Get some rest, mellon nin,” Glorfindel said to his friend as he approached Elrond. “You have already given nearly all your strength to him, you cannot kill yourself trying to heal him.”

“Ada, I will stay with him,” Elladan offered, cutting his father off from protesting.

“I will stay as well,” Legolas put in a little too quickly, stealing a glance at the older twin.

Elladan stared hard at the prince. “You think I did it, Legolas?”

The blond elf hesitated. “I do not know,” he admitted finally.

“We have been friends since the day we met, nearly 2,000 years ago. Now you honestly believe that I am the one who put Elrohir in this condition?” Elladan cried.

Legolas was silent. Aragorn shifted his weight uncomfortably. Elladan looked between the two of them and then to his father and Glorfindel, both of whom wore awkward expressions on their faces and refused to meet his eyes. Elrond’s eldest son realized then that they all had their doubts. Angrily, he turned and left his twin’s chamber in a hurry.

There was another moment of awkward of silence before Elrond spoke. “I trust you are still willing to sit with Elrohir for a few hours, Legolas?”

“Of course, Milord.”

Elrond nodded gratefully. “I will come back as soon as I am rested, but if anything happens promise me you will come get me.”

“Come get me as well,” Glorfindel added. The younger elf nodded to them both as they headed out the door. Elrond cast a worried glance at his injured son before shutting the door behind him.

Legolas looked at Aragorn expectantly.

“I am staying here,” the human told him defiantly, taking a seat next to Elrohir. Legolas said nothing in reply; he took the chair on the other side of the bed.

A cool breeze blew through the room and Aragorn shivered. All was quiet except for the chirping of crickets outside. Legolas hoped for a quiet night but feared it was not to be.

*********

Elladan stormed into his room and headed straight to his quiver of arrows. Pulling them out, he sat on his bed and counted them. Fifty. Exactly the number he’d had the previous morning when his brothers and Legolas had left on their hunt. Sighing with frustration, the elf counted them again and came up with the same number.

Staring down at his arrows, Elladan wondered how, if he was not missing any arrows, one of them had ended up hitting his brother. He had held the arrow in his hands himself; he knew without a doubt it was his arrow, unless someone had gone to all the trouble to make an exact replica of his just to kill Elrohir. Who would do that?

Remembering that he had told his father he would sit with Elrohir, the elf put his arrows away. He realized that Legolas and probably Aragorn were sitting with his twin. Going to Elrohir’s chambers would mean having to confront them. How could he look at them knowing they actually thought him guilty?

Elrohir was his twin brother, his best friend. Even when they were extremely angry with each other, as Elladan had been with Elrohir, they were the closest of friends. Elladan would rather die than face this world without his twin brother. He could not believe Aragorn and Legolas actually thought he had shot Elrohir. What was worse, his own father had doubts, as did Glorfindel. They were supposed to know him better than nearly anyone else in all Middle Earth.

Elladan decided he did not have to talk to his human brother or his friend, but they were not going to stop him from sitting with his twin. Elrohir needed him now. He had not been there when his brother was hurt, but the older twin was not going to let anyone stop him from being there now. He would find whoever did this as soon as his brother was well. Elrohir would recover, Elladan told himself. He was not about to let his brother die.

TBC

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