Hildir and Ethelion grow up together as brothers, sons of Lord Thorongil Half-elven, princes of Rivendell. But few know that Hildir, who is loved by everyone he ever met, is adopted by Thorongil (who always wanted an elven-son), and is actually the son of a poor shepherd. Human-like half-elven Ethelion, the real son of Thorongil, is jealous and comes to hate his ‘brother’. The situation reaches a climax when Thorongil needs to indicate a successor for the Throne of Rivendell. This is the story of a life-long conflict between two brothers who were supposed to love each other and live in peace…

Except for Shallowdepths, all the places mentioned in the story belong to tolkien, not to me, and so do the races (like elves, half-elves and so on).

Warning: Multiple character deaths and some fighting.

Beta-read by Niphredill. Thank you very much!

***
Chapter one: The prince and the shepherd’s son

“Hildir,” Irweth whispered, and softly she lulled her newborn baby in her arms. It was her firstborn, her beautiful little half-elven son. It was the first baby in the poor hut at the edge of Shallowdepths, a little village near Bree. He was fair-haired and his blue eyes shone brightly, he had pointed ears and a smooth pale skin. Hildir.

It was a strange name for this little boy, given to him by his father, the herdsman Eumar. In a strange language from a far foreign land, it meant warrior. His father wanted him to be a skilled warrior, not a poor shepherd, like he was. Hildir’s mother was Irweth, an elf from Rivendell, but she was of no importance in there. She was beautiful as every elf was, but not remarkably so.

“Hildir,” she whispered again. At that moment, Eumar came in, and smiled happily to them. He was of the race of men, and he was not important, not handsome and not rich, but he was a skilled herdsman. He loved his family and simple life, though he wanted his son to have a better one. He walked towards Irweth and embraced her, an embrace full of warm love. He tickled his young child, and gently touched Hildir’s cheek.

“He is wonderful, is he not?” said Eumar, and Irweth smiled. “My sheep need me in the meadows now, but I will return before nightfall,” he promised his wife. He kissed Irweth goodbye and smiled to her again, and then he was gone.

****

Lord Thorongil looked at his newborn son and sighed. The young prince was raven-haired as his father was and had the pointed ears of an elf, but there was no starlight in his eyes; he looked like a human. Taurwen looked long and hard at Thorongil. Wasn’t he happy with their son?

“What is wrong my love?” she asked him, and she kissed the baby on his brows.

“There is nothing amiss with Ethelion, right?” She was a bit frightened and confused, because Thorongil seemed so defeated. She had never seen him like this, only when their first child, their lovely little daughter Maurwen, was killed by orcs on the passage to Rivendell, but that had happened years ago. Taurwen was very happy with her son, now she finally had something to take care of again.

“No,” said Thorongil, but Taurwen knew that he did not speak what was in his heart. She said nothing and looked at her little boy in silence when Thorongil turned and walked out of the room.

****
I would like to get some reviews, I want to know what you think about the story, even if you’re not very positive about it. I want to learn from the comments so I can do better in the next chapters.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email