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Summary: none given
Author's Notes: I can�t express how sorry I am for how things turned out. At first I didn�t want to send in this story, because it turned out to be rather long, but all attempts to write something shorter didn�t work out, so now all I�ve got to offer is this little thingy, which is actually just the first chapter of the whole story. Sorry. Betaed version will follow later.
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At first
I hated him. I hated him as much as I pitied him, him and his brother.
Seeing him brought back so many memories, memories which had been difficult
to forget. Exchanging a quick glance with my own brother next to me
I saw that Maglor was thinking of the same thing as I was. I hated him
so much for reminding me of yet another mistake we made, causing innocent
children to die a cruel and lonely death.� �
His brother
was crying openly, hot tears running down his small face, eyes staring
up at us in fear. But he did not shed a single tear. He was looking
at us calmly, his gaze traveling from one to the other. He did not cry
or shrink away from us in fear, as his brother did. He would be famous
for those traits of character in the future, for his calm, his braveness,
and his wisdom. �
�Which
one is who?� Maglor asked quietly. �
It wasn�t
too difficult to tell them apart, they weren�t identical twins. But
having never seen them before it was of course impossible keep them
apart.�
I slowly
walked towards them, sinking down on my knees in front of him. His brother�s
frightened gaze was fixed on me as he quickly crawled away from me.
He just looked at me, his bright, calm gaze directed at my face. �How
is your name, little one?� I asked softly, trying to sound soothing. �
�Elrond,�
came the quiet answer. �
�There
you go,� I called to Maglor behind me. �He�s Elrond. Means this
one,� I nodded towards the frightened little elfling, �is Elros.� �
�It
would seem so.� Maglor sighed deeply, stepping up to me. �Poor bunny.
Just look how frightened he is.� Maglor slowly, carefully advanced
on Elros, who tried to get away from the strange, big elf. Maglor gently
caught him, picking him up and holding him against his chest. Elrond
watched the procedure calmly, apparently convinced that his brother
wouldn�t be hurt. �
His reaction,
or rather the lack of it, surprised me as much as it confused me. I
wasn�t sure if they had seen what had happened here, what had been
done to the people living here, but it was quite unlikely that they
had noticed at least a few things. Elros� reaction was more than enough
proof of this. But still he showed no sign of fear or even nervousness. �
I watched
Maglor sit down on a rock, gently rocking the distraught elfling. Elros
was now completely still in his arms, frozen in fear. His big eyes were
fixed on his brother, looking for support, even if only emotional. �
I looked
back towards the other elfling, still looking calmly at me with his
intelligent grey eyes. �What are we supposed to do with them now?� �
�Do,�
Maglor mumbled quietly. �There�s not much we can do with them.�
We both knew what we certainly could *not* do with them. �I guess�
we�ll just have to take them with us. At least for now. Perhaps their
parents will come back�� �
He didn�t
have to say how unlikely that was, we both knew this. We both sat silently
for some moments, thinking, the children staring at us. Finally I rose
to my feet, sighing.�
�Very
well. They�ll come with us. They can hardly stay here.� Here, in
the remaining of what had once been their home and what was now littered
with the dead, our own brothers among them. Everybody who hadn�t been
killed had fled. There was nobody left here to take care of them. Elros
was still crying, but more silent now; his crying had turned into soft
sobs and lots of hiccupping. I turned to take the other elfling with
me, to pick him up, but to my surprise he was already on his feet, looking
up at me expectantly. It was rather eerie how much they resembled two
other children, who had been lost so long ago. I shouldn�t be surprised;
they were his uncles after all. It was still quite a shock and I had
to swallow hard to fight back those unpleasant memories and the guilt
and disgust they brought with them and to force myself to reach out
to him. �
Elrond
took my hand and allowed himself to be led away. His brother was still
crying softly, but he did not make a sound as I lifted him up on my
horse to leave this gruesome place. �
With
a bitter expression on his face Maglor put Elros on his own horse. Steadying
the child to prevent it from falling down he remained standing next
to his horse, his gaze sweeping over the destroyed village and the dead
bodies. �Look at this.� His voice dripped with bitterness and sarcasm
as he nodded towards the smoldering ruins. �Just look at the great
deeds we have done today. At all those honorable and memorable things.
We have really lived up to the name of our family.� �
He finally
mounted his horse, pulling the crying elfling close to his body to keep
it safe. �I am so sick of it. I can�t even remember when the last
time that we led something like a normal life was. Those cursed silmarils.
They have brought us nothing but banishment, death and despair. How
many have already died? And how many of them by our own hands?� His
gaze traveled over to the two horses that carried the veiled corpses
of our last two brothers. �
�But
what can we do? Father made us swear it.� I felt conflicted. He was
right, of course, but on the other hand I felt loyal to my father. In
the end he had died for his main goal and to simply give up now would
somehow make his whole life pointless. �
�Swear
it,� Maglor spat. �That cursed oath. It has been a mistake, from
the very beginning. How can you not *see* it?� I was slightly surprised
by the force of his words. �I can�t do this anymore, Maedhros. I
don�t *want* t do this anymore. Do you really want this to continue?
Do you want even more innocent children to loose their lives for the
sake of some stones!� He looked at me, eyes burning with rage and
disgust. �Do you really want us to continue this?� �
�I
just want to live in peace,� I admitted. �I don�t want to think
about who of us will die next or if I will see the light of the next
day.� I looked at the dark-haired elfling in front of me, looking
at me with his intelligent and surprisingly rather trusting eyes. �I
don�t want them to die.� �
The relief
on my brother�s face was more that evident. �So this is it? No more
deaths? No more Silmarils?� �
A small
part of me still felt uncomfortable at the thought of abandoning our
quest, but this was just guilt for my father. �No more Silmarils,�
I agreed, surprised at the feeling of relief that washed over me. �It�s
over.� �
Maglor sighed deeply, a smile appearing on his face, something I had not seen in a very long time. �Then let�s go home. We have children to raise.�
The End