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Elrond stood defiantly with the Rings in his hand as he desperately gazed upon his King and Galadriel. Mere moments ago, Elrond had reported to his King on what had transpired in Eregion, how Galadriel had willingly led non other than the Deceiver himself straight through the gates of Celebrimbor’s city and allowed the fiend to work together with the smith to create the very trinkets he was holding right now. He had expected more reason from his King, perhaps a scolding aimed at Galadriel and then an order to destroy the Rings but instead he found himself cornered like a trapped mouse while King and friend turned against him.
“Seize him!” Ereinion ordered harshly towards the guards who were witness to this frankly bizarre scene at the edge of Lindon’s magnificent waterfall shadowed by the dying tree that stood beside it, dropping its leaves marked with a darkness that spelled the doom of all Elvenkind in Middle-Earth.
Two of the guards moved in on the Peredhel standing there with a look of utter shock upon his face and a pouch firmly clutched in his hand. The advancing soldiers drove him backwards until he could feel the very edge of the cliff right behind his heels. There was nowhere left to go, nowhere to run except down, a route which might very well kill him but a risk he was willing to take if it kept Lindon free from Sauron’s influence. He swallowed quickly before shooting one last desperate look at his King.
Ereinion’s hand flew out, “Daro!” He shouted which made the guards halt in their tracks. He wanted the Rings, he needed the Rings to save his Kingdom from fading away while the Deceiver was free to take over the land. Yet here his stubborn Herald stood with the solution in his hand ready to throw his life away and the future of every Elf in Middle-Earth. How could he do this? Why couldn’t he just listen for just once.
The King slowly stepped forwards until he was face to face with his Herald at the very edge. “Give me the Rings Peredhel and I might yet forgive your transactions against the crown.”
“Can’t you see that these damned trinkets have already turned us against each other!” Elrond pleaded as a last resort to make his King see reason. “We need to destroy them as soon as possible! If you won’t do it, then I will make sure that Sauron’s taint will never touch Lindon even if it means that we must fade from this world.”
“You are a fool Peredhel!” Ereinion shouted angrily while taking another step forward. The King extended his hand to grab the front of his Herald’s cloak while Elrond at the same time took another step backwards but there was no more land any more left to stand. He tripped backwards and fell right over the edge of the cliff but the King’s hand was still upon his cloak and he did not let go. And so it was that in a split-second, both Herald and King fell from the edge of the waterfall before either Galadriel or any of the guards had the time to pull them back to safety.
They fell down out of sight to any of those who lingered on the cliff. The only thing that Galadriel could hear was the sickening sound of a loud splash which meant that they had both hit the water below. Whether the water was deep enough to break their fall or if it spelled the end of their lives, she did not know. The only thing she knew was to get down there as fast as she could so she sprinted away with the two guards at her heel.
Meanwhile the current of the river below was stronger than both Elrond or Ereinion had expected. They were dragged like rag-dolls downstream while both of them tried their hardest to keep their heads above the surface. After minutes of struggling against the current, the river slowed considerably which allowed Ereinion to catch his bearings and look for his idiotic Herald who had just dragged his Monarch down from a cliff.
Ereinion swam with some difficulty to the nearest shore of the river until he was left standing knee-deep in the shoals. He shed off his heavy golden cloak, which made it nearly impossible to swim, and turned around to face the river once more to confront his Herald. There was however one problem, he couldn’t see his Herald and he was pretty certain that Elrond hadn’t had the chance to escape from the river before he did.
Ereinion cursed out loud before he dove back into the river. He swam towards the middle of the stream and submerged fully to look for any signs of his Herald. Almost immediately he saw the shape of a man entangled in a blue cloak sinking deeper towards the bottom. Ereinion moved swiftly and grabbed his Herald from underneath his shoulders. He swam up towards the surface and pushed his Herald up so his face was above the water.
Something was wrong, Ereinion could tell immediately when he heard no gasp for breath or a struggle against his grip. In fact, Elrond’s weight felt like a bag of potatoes, unmoving and as unresponsive. Another violent curse escaped from the King’s mouth as he struggled to swim towards the shore with an unconscious Half-Elf in his arms. This effort took precious minutes in which Ereinion could feel his Herald’s life slipping away from him. With the strength of a desperate man, the King dragged Elrond out of the water and laid him down on the muddy ground.
“Damn you Peredhel!” Ereinion cursed once more while he hurriedly removed the blue cloak from his Herald which had probably prevented him from swimming properly. Elrond’s lips were already starting to turn blue when Ereinion started to do compressions on his chest, dislodging the pouch with the Rings which the King threw carelessly away on the ground beside them without a second glance. His mind was so fully set upon making sure that his Herald would survive, that he completely forgot about the Rings at the moment.
“Come on, breathe for me you fool!” Ereinion continued to speak while willing his heart to beat on his own. This continued for a painstakingly long time, at least that is how it felt like to the King. These trinkets weren’t worth his life, he desperately thought. Only a minute or two had actually passed before Elrond suddenly started to cough loudly, expelling the contents of the river from his lungs in a violent manner.
Ereinion immediately turned his Herald on his side and patted him on the back to help dislodge any remaining water from his lungs. “That’s it Peredhel, just breathe come on!”
Elrond’s lips slowly regained his colour and his glassy looking eyes had once more life in them as he turned his head to see the face of a very worried looking King looming over him. What had happened? He did not actually mean to jump off the cliff, but apparently he fell down and judging by the state of a very drenched looking King above him, he gathered that he either jumped after him or worse, accidentally dragged his own King down with him.
The Half-Elf extended one of his hand towards his chest and discovered that the pouch of rings was gone. “The Rings, where are they?” Elrond mumbled while Ereinion grabbed the hand that was searching for the pouch.
“Really Peredhel, that is what you are concerned about right now? I just dragged you unconscious from the river, you nearly drowned and the first thing you ask about are those damn Rings?” Ereinion replied in anger. Yet despite his emotions, his head quickly glanced towards the side where he threw the pouch. There it lay in the grass, so innocently looking. The Rings that possessed the power of healing Lindon and saving all of their kind from fading yet it nearly had cost the life of his own Herald. Was Elrond right? Were these Rings tainted by the malice of Sauron?
“Would you have even cared?” Came the rather abrasive reply from Elrond who now struggled to free his hand from Ereinion’s grip.
The King immediately let go of his hand and sat backwards with a look of disbelief on his face. “Has the fall damaged your mind Peredhel or did something else happen in Eregion? How dare you even insinuate that I do not care about you. I just saved your life damn it.” Ereinion got back up his feet and walked towards the pouch that lay close by. “Here are the blasted Rings, and now they are in my possession to be judged while I make sure you remain in the healing chambers for at least a week before I decide what to do with your insubordination.”
Elrond swallowed another cough as he watched his King shout and curse with the pouch of Rings in his hand. He had never seen his King let go of his composure like this before. Not even Galadriel’s confession that she had worked together with the Deceiver had made him this angry.
“Call me many things but never call me uncaring!” Ereinion raged on now pacing around his stubborn Herald who had, hopefully, temporarily forgotten his good senses through the fall from the cliff. He put the pouch within his own soaked tunic before approaching his Herald once more, taking a deep breath to swallow his anger for now. “Come on and get up, we need to go back to Lindon so we can have you looked over by the healers.”
Elrond merely shook his head. “I am not going anywhere near Lindon while you possess the Rings. Sauron will destroy us all through those things, why am I the only one who sees this!”
“Get up or I will drag you along with me by force!” Ereinion warned him.
“Go ahead then and do your worst.” Elrond stated weakly. He knew that he did not have the strength to resist his King and even if he did, it would have been viewed as treason which was something that even the Elves punished most severely. Ereinion had no patience to wait for the return of Elrond’s reason and thus grabbed his Herald by his upper arms and hoisted him back on his feet. For a second it appeared as if Elrond was going to comply and walk back towards Lindon before a sudden loud cry interrupted the silence in between them and Elrond fell back towards the ground.
Ereinion frowned, the cry of pain had immediately softened his anger towards his Herald. “What is wrong? Where are you hurt?” He asked in a much softer tone.
Elrond merely shook his head in defeat and grasped for his left leg with both of his hands. Ereinion knelt down beside him and carefully removed the shoe from his Herald’s foot while trying not to cause him any further pain. Elrond gritted his teeth but nonetheless allowed his King to inspect his injury without resisting any further. Perhaps he had judged his King too harshly, the earlier worry and panic on his face and now his much softer tone and touch had convinced him that Ereinion did in fact seemed to care about his well-being, he cared a lot.
“I am sorry, my King.” He mumbled softly while his eyes filled with tears. He had nearly committed high treason against his own King whom he had always considered to be his friend. He had shouted towards him and dragged him from the edge of a cliff down below which could almost be viewed as an attempted regicide.
Ereinion merely sighted while he retrieved the heavy golden cloak that he had abandoned earlier when he left the river and used it to immobilize his leg so that his Herald’s injury couldn’t get any worse. “I am sorry as well…” He eventually replied while sitting back himself and looking his Herald in the eyes. “I should not have ordered for your arrest so easily but you are often quite stubborn and I refuse to give up Middle-Earth for Sauron without a fight.”
“I know…. But….” Elrond was however interrupted by Ereinion who continued to speak.
“I will see you safely back to Lindon and then I will call upon Cirdan so that we may together inspect the Rings. If Cirdan deems them safe, then I will not want to hear any further word from you on this matter and we can heal the tree. If not, then we will follow your path and destroy them. Is that something you can agree upon?”
Elrond nodded grimly. “Yes, I will agree to this. I am certain that Cirdan will know what do with these Rings, he is the wisest of us all.”
“On that last part, I agree with you.” Ereinion mused. He wasn’t certain if there had ever been a Monarch who had been pulled off a cliff by his own Herald or could bicker with one like children. They had both been foolish and he knew it, Cirdan’s wisdom might save them all.
“High-King, Elrond!” Came a sudden cry of relief as Galadriel came running down towards them followed by the same two guards who had nearly arrested the Half-Elf before their King made them halt in their tracks.
“Thank Eru we have been found.” The King sighed in relief. Ereinion had already been wondering how on earth he was going to carry Elrond back up to Lindon without causing him any more pain. He could have simply picked him up in his arms but that would have been agony for his Herald. Yet he also did not know how long it would take for their own people to find them. He was already worried that they would be stuck down here for many more hours but fortunately Galadriel had found them.
Elrond also could not hide his relief from his face. Like his King, he had also wondered how on earth they were about to go back up to Lindon again. His leg ached immensely and the fatigue from his near drowning made him feel rather sleepy. He let his head drop back on the ground again with a deep sigh. His King had finally listened to him, even though it had nearly cost him his life but he did it.
“Careful, Ereinion warned his guards as they approached the downed Peredhel. “He has a broken leg so we need to carry him as carefully as possible.”
“Perhaps we can create a make-shift stretcher from some branches here.” Galadriel suggested while looking worriedly at the rather pale face of her dear friend. She was immensely relieved to see that both were still alive and currently not at each other’s throat but her friend had gotten injured in the process, something she never wished upon him.
The four of them, Galadriel, Ereinion and the two guards gathered the materials needed for the make-shift stretcher while Elrond just looked on helplessly feeling his fatigue increase with every breath he took. He had convinced his King to take a better look at the Rings before even considering using them to restore the tree, that was perhaps worth a broken leg if it saved Lindon in the end.
Ereinion carefully placed Elrond on the improvised stretcher with the help of Galadriel and together with the guards, they began their way back up towards Lindon again. Elrond simply closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep. At least this way, the shocks from their footsteps could no longer cause any extra harm. Even though they all tried to walk as softly as possible, Elrond could feel every footstep echo through his leg quite painfully.
The next time Elrond opened his eyes, he was lying warm and dry on one of the beds inside the healing chambers while the golden glow of a newly restored tree beamed warmly inside through the window. Elrond sighed, apparently Cirdan had approved of the Rings and they did their job. They were safe from fading for now though at what cost?