Chapter two: The News

14-year-old Elladan looked longingly out the window. He wished he could be out there under the trees rather than being confined to their room for a week. A week!!! It was unbearable! All they had done was hang Erestor upside down for a few hours. Was that so bad? The twins smirked, they knew how bad it was, but it was worth it, seeing Erestor dangle upside down robe over head and screeching away. There was a knock on the door.

“Elladan, be a darling get that for me,” Elrohir said in the exact likeness of their mother. Elladan glared knives and daggers at his younger twin but proceeded to open the door, Elrohir had that little bad habit of mimicking other people, a habit which often got them in trouble. Outside the door stood the other set of twins in Rivendell, Gabrinel and Galineth.

“Sorry, Elladan and Elrohir are absent at the moment, please come back later,” Elladan said seriously, but he couldn’t stop the huge smile that lit up his face.

“Oh dear,” said Gabrinel with a smirk before they entered.

“We’ll just have to come back later,” Galineth said with an identical smirk.

“Please stay, or we risk the chance of being bored to death,” Elrohir said.

Gabrinel and Galineth were identical like they were, they were tall with long ebony black hair, eyes as green as the lush grass that grew around Rivendell, olive skinned and always smiling, despite the scars they bore from the horrors of their lives. Their bright green eyes would dull at the very mention of these. When they were 8 years old, they and their family were journeying to Lothlorien to visit their grandparents on their mother’s side. The company was ambushed by orcs and Gabrinel’s and Galineth’s older sister and parents were killed. The twin boys had escaped, but not before Gabrinel received three scars across his left cheek and Galineth one across his right cheek, Galineth also lost an ear. The boys had fled half way back to Rivendell but finally collapsed exhausted beside the road. Galineth had lost a lot of blood and was very weak, the boys were found three days later by Glorfindel, huddled in each other’s arms. They had been taken back to Rivendell and, once healed, were sent to live with their grandparents in Lothlorien. But the twins had become horribly homesick and were sent back to Rivendell. Now they lived with their aunt, uncle and their cousin, Rinthius*, who was also a best friend to Elladan and Elrohir.

“What are you up to?” asked Elladan seeing the mischievous smirks on their faces.

“I believe we are doing what we would call creativeness of imagination, but others would know it better as, getting up to mischief.” As Gabrinel finished speaking he and Galineth produced two long coils of rope.

“But our first priority is to get you out of this prison your father calls a room,” said Galineth, and with that, the two of them walked over to the window and, tying the cords of rope to the beds, looped them over the window sill. Elladan and Elrohir grinned at the other set and, climbing out the window, abseiled down the side of the building. Gabrinel and Galineth soon joined them on the ground and at one tug the ropes pulled free of their position and into the waiting hands of their mischievous masters.

“We may need these,” Gabrinel said with an evil smirk. “And we better get going before we get caught,” Galineth added, “The others are waiting for us by the old oak”.
Elladan and Elrohir grinned at each other. The others would be the other mischievous youths of Rivendell, all friends that they had included into their pranking gang over the years. They were Rinthius, Drinnion*, Losorron*, Orophin and Sindilyn*.

Rinthius was a lot like his cousins, tall, thin, with ebony black hair, a cheerful personality, but he was considerably rougher and wilder then Gabrinel and Galineth. It was only his greyish-blue eyes and his pale skin that marked him different to the twins. Drinnion was the grandson of an elf who had worked with Cirdan the shipwright. He had the sea and ships burnt in his blood and along with that burning he had skills that would be valued in a ship’s crew, like navigation skills and knots; this came in very handy when setting traps. Drinnion was average height with light brown hair and hazel eyes. Losorron, Orophin and Sindilyn were all cousins, though one could easily mistake them for brothers. Losorron was small for his age but was exceedingly fast and agile; he was of slim build with whitish-blonde hair, bright blue-green eyes and his face, neck and the tips of his ears were absolutely covered in freckles. Orophin was built unusually heavy for an elf, he was incredibly strong and could best anyone in wrestling, even most of the adults couldn’t even hope to beat him. Orophin had bright blue eyes and almost golden hair with a light freckling to his face. Sindilyn was tall with dark green eyes, whitish-blonde hair like Losorron’s and a light dusting of freckles on his face and neck. He was quiet and gentle with a caring nature, but he also shared the taste of adventure and mischief with his cousins and friends. But the fact remained that if Sindilyn hadn’t of been so into mischief, he could have been an apprentice healer by now.

The four of them made their way to the old oak, an ancient oak tree that stood near the river that all elves knew to stay away from as the old oak was the favourite gathering place for the nine mischievous youths of Rivendell, and any who were caught spying on them could be sure of being captured, interrogated and tied to a tree for hours on end, without any hope of being found, until one of the nine had pity and released them (normally this was Sindilyn). Sure enough, all of the gang were there.

“Hello, fellow earth beings,” Elladan called out, “so, what’s the latest news?”

“We’ve been planning a ginormous prank on Lindir,” answered Losorron, who was currently swinging upside-down on one if the moss free branches of the old oak.

“And it’s perfect,” continued Drinnion, “all of us, different set tasks, in and out thirteen seconds flat”.

“It’s brilliant, vivid, wonderful, I tell you, it’s excellent,” Rinthius chimed in enthusiastically.

“Oh, please do tell,” Elrohir said mimicking Lindir which caused a ripple of amusement to go through the prank planning group. Elladan, Elrohir, Gabrinel and Galineth listened intently while Sindilyn read out the plans and the tasks they would carry out plus the consequences, but these were normally passed off lightly. After all this, the twins requested an update on the happenings around Rivendell while they had been locked up. They sat through most of this absentmindedly, they were just happy to be outside with their friends instead of being cramped up in their bedroom. They feared no recapture while they were at the oak, their father or Glorfindel or anyone who might have been sent to seek them out wouldn’t dare to even come within 500 hundred metres of the old oak while the others were with them. But there was one piece of news that did catch their attention.

“Last night Glorfindel brought in a young elf boy,” Losorron was saying, “I managed to catch a glimpse of him, he was quite small, but probably taller then me, he was really pale which made his red hair stand out more”.

“I heard that he was captured and tortured by orcs,” put in Drinnion.

“He’s probably alright by now, but I think that he may be unconscious for a few days,” added Rinthius.

Now Orophin, who had been quite quiet until now, spoke up. “I honestly think that he is older then we presume,” he said, “I mean, how many eight year old elflings do you see wondering the wilds with knives and daggers on his belt? I know that he would have been disarmed by the orcs but I accidently overheard Glorfindel talking to lord Elrond, and my guess is that he is at least our age.”

The others looked at Orophin now. Orophin was massively built for an elf and some people might mistake him for being dumb, but nothing could be further from truth. Orophin was a deep thinker and was perhaps the one who really held the group together, for that, they deeply respected him.

“Thank you Orophin, your opinion will be taken into account,” Sindilyn said gently smiling at him, causing Orophin to grin happily at the praise.

“I really think I would like to see this mysterious young elf,” Elrohir said thoughtfully.

“I think we all do, but I think I want wait until this elf boy is fully recovered, and I suggest you all do the same,” Sindilyn said, “I mean, we can hardly just come in or barge through the window when he’s in this condition, can we?” Sindilyn’s tone clearly said ‘argue and you will regret it’. So, wisely, the others agreed. But even so, they all couldn’t help wondering and the question remained unanswered, creating the tension that now hung in the air like a wisp of smoke that just wouldn’t go away, that seeped into their minds and hearts. Who was this mysterious child?

*Pronunciations:
Rinthius- Rin-th-ee-os
Drinnion- Drin- ne-on
Losorron- Los-or-ron
Sindilyn- Sin-dil-lyn