To Keep a Promise

Chapter 5

Glorfindel and Elrohir are woken rather harshly the next few days and forced to travel once again at a quick jog in order to stay caught up with the orcs dragging them along. The second day goes by with little conversation and is uneventful as the two elves are both much too lost in thought and coming up with schemes to escape. On the third day, the golden-haired warrior feels even more exhausted than the days before and while coughs have yet to consume him his throat burns as if he hasn't had water in weeks. Not to mention his stomach feels uncomfortably tight nearly making him nauseous, although that could very well be from the grog rather than the poison.

The younger elf is quiet as they travel, he looks nearly as tired as the injured elf beside him. Glorfindel wouldn't be surprised if he suffers from a nasty headache that the constant jarring and moving is doing little to help. Not that his own wounds are doing much better. They seem intent on oozing more blood every time he so much as shifts wrong despite how many times Elrohir looks after them. The small cuts, which have healed enough to be comparable to a paper cut, are no more than an afterthought. A mild sting in the background of everything else. His arm burns fiercely from the hole in his bicep getting yanked at constantly by the rope tethered to his hands. The other arrow wound above his hip fairs no better, while he is lucky it had only entered muscle, it still throbs painfully every time he puts weight on his left side. Then there is the large gash dug into his side that has continued to sting and bleed the entire time they've been moving, nearly turning the bandage wrapped tightly around it a bright red.

He knows his state will get no better and spends the silence trying to come up with a means of escape. He realized some hours ago, while they may have been able to sneak up on the three elves orcs are still dimwitted creatures. A few yards behind them moves a small sniveling orc that often gets pushed and shoved by the larger ones around it. The only reason Glorfindel had even paid the pitiful creature any mind was due to the objects gripped in its filthy long claws. Right behind them is their weapons. He has been pondering on a plan to obtain them and then escape that won't end with them dead or worse for wear but so far has come up short.

Although a glimmer of hope swells in his breast when he sees the plain dip ahead and the Glanduin shine brightly in the sunlight only a few miles away. A crude makeshift bridge seems to have been built over the river and he realizes that is where they must be heading. He has been able to make out some of the black speech that floats between the orcs. He has learned much the past few days of silence and planning. He had been correct; they are being taken to a larger camp. While he can't be sure what the full intention behind their capture is, he knows it has something to do with Imladris. He glances at the young elf briefly whose own dark eyes are focused on the ground, staring ahead distractedly. He cannot allow the orcs to take Elrohir further than the bridge. Whatever awaits them will not be pleasant, the large trees looming on the over side of the river leave a strange feeling of dread to fill him. The young elf does not deserve to suffer at the hands of these foul creatures who have already broken him once by taking away his mother. He promised Lord Elrond, the moment the twins were born, that he would protect them with his life as he has done for the family for centuries. He will not see that promise broken no matter what.

He formulates a quick plan, realizing the river ahead is exactly what they need for an escape to work. The Glanduin cuts deep through the plain it's banks near comparable to small cliffs as they fall away into the fast-rushing water. It is not a terribly dangerous river but swift enough it could carry someone downstream in the blink of an eye. If his plan works both of them should be able to use it as a means of quick escape from the orcs, at the very last he swears to make it one for Elrohir. Knowing the young elf needs to be filled in on the plan for it to work correctly he keeps his voice low as he speaks slowly, ensuring only the elven ears beside him can hear his words.