The Little Hunter

by Pippin's Sunshine
39   40

Chapter 39: Ungol

I.
Estel had been doing some small tracking with Aglarmir when he stopped suddenly. Estel just looked at him questioningly until the elf pointed down. Estel had never seen such strange tracks and he noticed that Aglarmir had turned very pale. He pulled at the elf’s sleeve until he got him going. They returned to the camp unexpectedly. Haldir was the only one to notice that they had returned early and saw the look of horror on Aglarmir’s face. He quickly ran over to them and pulled them back into the undergrowth so none of the others would notice.

“Aglarmir, what is wrong? You look as if you have seen a ghost!”
“Haldir, we must hurry and return to the city today!”
“But we are still more than a full day away.”
“Yes, I know. But, I have seen the tracks of an Ungol,” Aglarmir looked deeply at Haldir.

They both knew that this meant they were all in very grave danger. Estel looked at the two elves questioningly, but that question was not answered until much later. Suddenly, Haldir became just as pale as Aglarmir and whispered to him to get his men together but to not tell them anything even if asked. Just to mention that they were being followed and needed to return with all haste to the city.

The elves of Lothlorien knew of the giant spiders that had invaded parts of their eastern neighbor, Mirkwood, though very few had been seen inside their borders. It was quite a mystery to Haldir how they managed to jump the Anduin, but they had somehow and now they had a very big problem.

Most of the elves did as they were told, but there were a few who needed a little more prodding. Elladan and Elrohir tried to get Estel to tell them at least what they had seen, but he did not have the words to describe the tracks they had seen.

Within moments the company was ready and on their way back to the City of the Galadhrim. Haldir and Aglarmir were the only ones who knew what the danger was; they refused to even tell Elladan and Elrohir. The scouts came back and told them in hurried tones that giant spider webs blocked the path in front of them. They had tried to hack through them with their swords, but the strands seemed to be made of steel themselves and would not bend nor break.

The Elves quickly realized that they were trapped. They could not head back to their campsite but they obviously couldn’t continue in their present direction. Haldir called over to the sons of Elrond. Elladan and Elrohir had noticed their worried expressions and were seriously wondering what was going on. Aglarmir told them about the tracks that he and Estel had found and now their path was cut off by a huge web. The four held a longer than normal debate about what course they should take. It would be too risky to either stay together or split up. They all knew the forest paths very well, but as it was quickly becoming darker, they knew there would be great danger in trying to find the markers in the night. A shout interrupted them, it seemed as if their decision had been made for them, they would have to stay and fight. They could see three dark shadows on the edge of the circle that the elves had made.

Elrohir looked desperately for Estel in the crowd but could not see him. They would have to hurry. The guards were very sorely outnumbered on sheer size alone. The elves quickly began trying to pierce the thick hide of the spiders without much success. A few had already succumbed to the spiders’ poisonous bite.

Estel had quietly slid away when the first shapes of the beasts had appeared. He knew enough to stay out of the way and be quiet. But, he let out a sharp groan when someone tripped over him. He looked up to see Elladan, who quickly pulled him to his feet. “We may need your sword, nenth min. Stay low. I will come get you in a moment.”
“Elladan, wait,” Estel replied as he tugged on his brother’s sleeve. “I know how they can be killed.”

II.
Elladan looked down at his brother who was holding his short sword tight in his grasp. He had remembered Estel retelling them the story where he took the blade’s name from and very quickly understood what his brother was hinting at. “Okay, come on, just stay away from the stingers!” And with that, they ran into the fray.

The elves were hard pressed to keep the claws of the spiders away, but they parried the blows with their well-wielded swords. Elladan had quickly told all he saw of the possible way to kill the creatures. Then, suddenly inspiration struck.

He called out to all that could hear, “Follow my voice and join me in the center. Draw the spiders to you. I have an idea.” He figured that numerous blows to the spiders’ underside would do more good than a single blade as these spiders seemed to be older and far thicker than any they had seen before.

Once he had a small group of 5 or 6 of the elves together around him, he told them, “On the count of three, jab your sword upward as hard as possible. This should cut through the flesh.”

One…
Two…
Three…

The group of elves all did as Elladan had told them and were quickly rewarded with the sound of the monstrous beast dying. They all had to scramble out from the stench and the falling body. They had all made it out okay. Haldir had seen what Elladan did and commanded those around him to do likewise. Soon all three of the spiders lay in a heap in the middle of the forest floor.

Elladan and Elrohir quickly looked for Estel, but he was nowhere to be found. “This is not good brother, Ada will have our heads if he has been hurt,” Elrohir looked at his brother with a scared look.

Elladan had never seen his brother so terrified. “I know. I’m worried too, but we both know he can handle himself.”
‘Hopefully,’ he added silently.

The brothers helped the other elves can down the webbed bundles that had been hung from a tree. They both reached for a smaller than normal one at the same time. They gently lifted him up and cut the cord that was hanging down. Slowly, they climbed down the tree while praying to the Valar at the same time.

At the bottom, the elves unwrapped their comrades and quickly lit a fire and placed them near it. Aglarmir had seen the looks of horror on Elladan and Elrohir’s faces and knew that they had found Estel. They laid him to the ground gently and began unwrapping his bonds. Apparently, he had been on the last ones caught because his bonds were not as tight or intricate as the elves’ had been. They all took this to be a good thing, but became a little worried when his breathing started becoming shallow.

Haldir came up to them and said, “I know you wish to stay with him. But, we need you to go fetch the Lord Elrond and some of the healers. Some of them do not look to be poisoned too bad, but we will still need the medicines to purge the filth from them.”

The brothers looked at him like he was crazy, but they understood that this was the best way to help Estel, so they grabbed some torches and took off down the path as fast as they could.

III.

A loud pounding at his door awakened Elrond. As he grabbed his dressing gown, he wondered who on earth would possibly have something so important as to disturb him at this hour of the night. As he opened the door, Elladan and Elrohir burst in. “Ada…we need your help.” “We were attacked by spiders on the march home, we need the healers and anything you can think of.” The twins got this all out in one breath despite the fact that they were completely rundown.
“Okay, I will get together what I can. How many were poisoned?” The twins
looked at each other fearing the worst from their answer.
“There were three or four of the elves and…”
“And?” Elrond asked incredulously.
“Estel was stung too. We got separated from him in the dark and found him wrapped in the webbing after they were killed.” Elrond could see from the looks of dismay in his sons’ eyes that they were telling the truth. “I will have someone bring you some tea and in a little while, I shall return, for both of you and we shall ride out with the healers to where they are.”
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Several hours later, Elrond arrived with the healers and his sons at the campsite where the wounded were. As he made the rounds to each elf, he told the healers exactly what to give each one and how much. The amount of the antidote for the spider stings that was to be given varied by age and stature. The healers meticulously followed the Elf lord doing as he said until he came at last to Estel.

“I admit. He does not look as bad as the rest. He was bitten last then?” Elladan and Elrohir nodded. That had been their guess as well. Elrond told the healer to hand him the vial of antidote and that he would do this one himself. “ Oh, Estel, why do you wish to be grown up so soon?” Elrond gently talked to his foster son as he lathered the serum onto a cloth and draped it over his forehead.
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By morning, most of the elves had actually recovered from the stings with very few side effects. Elrond sent these back to the city with the healers and the majority of the troops. Aglarmir, the twins and a few others stayed behind. Elrond was worried because with the rise of the sun, Estel had acquired a slight fever that was going up with every hour.

“Elladan, I need you to go to the river and get me a pot of cold water. Return as quick as you can.” It was a very rare thing for the twins to hear panic in their father’s voice, but it was definitely there. A little while later, Elladan returned with the pot. The twins then helped Elrond bathe Estel in the cool water so as to help bring the fever down. He silently prayed to the Valar to protect and watch over his foster son and to bring him back to them. It was not his time to visit the Halls of Mandos.

Elrond had been taking a short rest from watching over Estel when he heard Aglarmir call out a few hours later. “My Lord! His fever has broken!” Elrond rushed over to where Estel lay and took his hand in his. Aglarmir thought that the Elf Lord had swooned as he had laid his head over the top of Estel’s hand and had not moved for sometime.

Then, suddenly, Estel opened his eyes. Elrond had felt the movement in the hand that he was holding and tears of joy overflowed when he looked into Estel’s eyes. “I have been told you were the one who came up with the idea on how to kill the spiders. I guess your training has been useful,” he said with a smile. “Come, let’s get you home.”

After the fire had been put out, Elladan and Elrohir mounted their horses and Estel was put in front of Elrohir. Aglarmir and Elrond quickly mounted their horses as well and they all headed back to Lothlorien.



Chapter 40 Homecoming

After a few weeks of bed rest, Estel was more than ready to go outside. He had had less of the poison, but it had affected him the worse since he was the smallest. Even just a tiny bit more would have been enough to kill him. Gilrean was worried when Haldir returned with the other elves and had been informed that Lord Elrond had been called out to treat some injuries. No one would tell her exactly what had happened, so she became frantic when Estel was nowhere to be seen. Finally, Haldir gave in and told her what had happened and that Estel had been stung by one of the spiders. But he gave her reassurance that Elrond and his brothers were still out there and they were going to take the best care of him that they possibly could.

It didn’t matter if he had been able to get up and move about sooner because his mother would not have allowed it. She knew that it was not his fault what had happened, but she was still angry enough to try and punish him. But like always, she couldn’t stay mad at him long, she was just happy he was relatively okay. It had been decided that once he was well enough to travel, they would begin their journey home. Estel was very sad to have to say goodbye to everyone in Lórien, but they just told him that they would meet again someday.

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Finally, all was made ready for their journey home and they left the fair wood of Lothlorien. All of them were very reluctant to take the passes through the mountains but it was decided that it would be the quickest way home. They left a few days after Estel turned 10.

They met very few if any travelers on the fields to the river. Estel enjoyed this part of the trip the most because he could ride ahead with no danger of getting into trouble because there were no trees anywhere close to the path they were riding. He had missed being able to really take Melian riding while in Lórien. Estel definitely knew how to handle her well for he would get her going at a gallop for a while, then slow her back down or even backtrack their path and ride back with the others for a while.

On their first full week out of Lórien, Elladan and Elrohir challenged Estel to a race. It was hard to come up with markers so they decided to wait until they could see the river and then race to it. A few days later, this challenge was accepted. The three raced to the river as fast as they could trying to beat each other. It was refreshing to feel the wind in their faces and see the green grass and flowers flowing swiftly under the hooves’ of the horses. Elladan ended up beating his brothers, but not by much. Gilrean and Elrond had sped up their pace too so that they could see the race. They all stopped by the riverside for their mid-day meal and a small nap even. They were in no real hurry to return, so they paced their days at a fairly even rate. When it was time to continue, Estel suddenly froze where he was as the memories of Reneal’s attack came back to him.

“Estel, you must hurry. We need to reach the mountains before dark; it is growing more dangerous now for us to be in the open. What is wrong?” Elrond asked him as he re-crossed the river to see why he wasn’t moving.

“I don’t know. I can’t make myself get across the river.”
Gilrean had heard Elrond’s question and rode back and whispered to him, “This is close to where Reneal attacked him.”
“Oh, I see now. Estel, you cannot be afraid to cross water just because of one very unfortunate incident. Come on, I will ride across with you, no matter how slow it goes.” He called to Elladan and Elrohir, “Take Gilrean and set up camp as soon as you can, we will catch up with you when we can.” The brothers nodded and rode off.

“Okay, Estel. It is just you and me. I will help you get through this. I know you know how to ride, so just kick your legs and Melian will do the rest for you. It is alright to be afraid, but you can’t let that fear stop you. Courage is to kick that fear in the face by accomplishing what it is you are afraid of.”
Estel tried but he couldn’t stop his brain from thinking about what had happened. Finally, he managed all his willpower and concentration in telling his feet to move the way they were supposed to and within a few minutes they were across the river. Elrond smiled at his foster son. “Now that that is over, let’s go catch up with your mother and the twins.” They rode at a fairly fast, but steady pace and found where they had set up camp for the night just as the stars were rising in the sky.
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Spring was in full bloom as they reached Imladris. Estel never thought he would be so happy to see everything that was so familiar to him. They took their horses to the stables and got washed up for the feast that was to follow later that night for their safe return.

Glorfindel had been a twist of knots, he knew he was capable of being in charge while Elrond was gone, but it was a great relief to see his Lord finally home. “Mae Govannen, Glorfindel. I take it everything went well since Imladris is still standing.” Estel laughed, it was good to be home.

“Yes, my lord. Everything went very well and I imagine will go better now that you have returned.” Estel ran to hug him. Glorfindel held him back at an arm’s length so that he could look at him. “You have indeed grown in the year that it has been since I last saw you. What is that hanging by your side?”

Estel had grown so used to wearing his sword that he had almost forgot it was there. “Oh! That is my sword!” He took it out and let Glorfindel hold it. “This is a good blade. I am sure that you now rival your brothers at swordsmanship,” he replied with a wink as he handed it back.

Later that night, they all enjoyed the feast that had been put together in their honor. Afterwards, there was much singing and dancing in The Hall of Fire, but Estel was too tired to join in for once. He had dreadfully missed sleeping in his own bed. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep and did not wake until the next afternoon.
 


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