Outrun, Outlast by StarSpray

---

Chapter 3

---

That winter was only the first they spent hidden in the valley and doing their best to remain a thorn in Sauron's side. When they were not out hunting orcs, Eluréd and Elurín did as promised and taught Hulda to wield her knife, which they learned had belonged to her father; the lessons not only taught her a new skill, they kept her busy enough—and tired enough—that she gave no more thought to running away. The other older children saw these lessons, and soon they had an entire class full, using sticks to practice what Eluréd and Elurín could teach them.

The rest of the time Hulda followed them about, so that Elurín took to calling her Duckling, which made her stomp away the first few times he used it, but she always came back. She said they were the least boring of the valley's residents. Perhaps this was because they were the only ones bold enough to laugh at and tease Elrond and Celeborn, or indeed to laugh and tease anyone at all in such grim times.

When spring came the fighting picked up again, and Elurín and Eluréd spent more and more time away from the valley, keeping the orcs from finding it and leading Sauron's scouts on merry chases through the mountains. News came to them of the wider world through rumor brought by birds to Eluréd and Elurín and others who knew the speech of birds and beasts. Whether similar news reached Gil-galad of them, no one could be sure.

Elrond started to join the raiding and hunting parties. On one particular day he went out with Eluréd and Elurín, not to hunt orcs, but whatever game could be found. They had to roam farther and farther afield, deeper into the foothills of the Misty Mountains, looking for whatever had not been killed already or scared away.

They found themselves at the bottom of a deep ravine, through which a small stream flowed; the mountains towered overhead, even more imposing than usual, swathed in heavy grey cloud that, as they watched, tumbled like an ethereal avalanche town towards them. "It will rain soon," Elurín said. "And I would rather not find out whether this place is given to floods."

They turned back as the clouds moved to obscure the sun. They passed caves that doubtless led to tunnels beneath the mountains; Eluréd and Elurín had thought of exploring such places, once, but had decided against it—the chance of getting lost and never finding their way to sunlight or starlight again had been too great. But there were plenty of other caves in which they could take shelter that did not connect to tunnels, or house anything more alarming than a mountain cat or a bear.

They found one such cave not far from the end of the ravine, up a steep slope, just as raindrops started to fall. "This is cozy," Elurín remarked. He stretched his legs out across the entrance as Eluréd and Elrond made themselves comfortable just behind him. "We may be here all night."

Elrond leaned against his pack and glanced between them. "Do you spend much time in the mountains?" he asked.

"Not as much as we should, it seems," Eluréd said. "We've never discovered that ravine before today."

"We could have spent the past thousand years exploring these mountains and not discovered even half their secrets," Elurín said. This, of course, prompted Elrond to ask where they had spent the last thousand years. "Oh, everywhere, really," Elurín said. "We crossed the Misty Mountains at the beginning of this Age and spent many years getting acquainted with our distant kin on the other side, in the Greenwood and in Lórinand to the south, before we f

ollowed Anduin down to the Sea, and followed the coastline back to Eriador."
"We visited Lindon once or twice," Eluréd added. "And of course we visit Iarwain Ben-adar and the River-daughter whenever we find ourselves near her little river."

"We grew up in those woods, and on the eastern slopes of the Ered Luin," Elurín said. "Iarwain and Goldberry were our near constant companions." Elrond's eyebrows rose a fraction, as though this answered quite a few of the questions he had been wanting to ask. For a moment he looked so like their father Dior that Eluréd had to look away.

Neither Eluréd nor Elurín ever spoke of their parents, and Eluréd tried not to even think of Dior if he could help it. It was easier to remember Nimloth, who would certainly be released from Mandos one day, and of Elwing who had never died. But Dior had died long before Elwing and Eärendil had received their choice, that was then extended to their sons and to Eluréd and Elurín as well. Only Mandos himself knew whether Dior remained yet in his Halls or if he had followed Beren and Lúthien beyond the Circles of the World.

"The more I learn about you, the more mysterious you seem to become," Elrond said. "Celeborn says you departed Doriath with Nellas, after the Second Kinslaying. He seems to have guessed your names, but he won't tell me, and he seems troubled by it."

"And you in all your famed wisdom are still without any guess? For shame," Elurín said. He crossed his legs at the ankles and his hands behind his head.

"How can I guess?" Elrond asked. "Your hints all lead to Doriath, but my mother was a mere babe in arms then, and I not even a distant thought. And I have other things to worry about, more important than your guessing game," he added, but not sharply. "Though I do wonder why you never came to Lindon after the War of Wrath. Many who survived Doriath yet remained, especially in the earliest years of this Age. I remember Nellas came to seek her own family, though she left quickly enough when she found them all gone or sailed."

"We had all the news we wished from others," Elurín said.

Dark came early, with the steady rainfall, and they bedded down with it. Eluréd felt uneasy, and traded places with Elurín to take the first watch. Few things would be out in the rain, and fewer still that might mean harm, but he had not survived so long by ignoring his instincts. Yet neither he nor Elurín had noticed anything earlier in the day.

Nothing came during Eluréd's watch, but he woke to a yell from Elurín in the middle of the night; it had stopped raining, though clouds still obscured the moon and stars, and Eluréd could barely make out Elurín grappling with something that hissed and snarled in the cave's entrance. Happy they had insisted Elrond sleep farthest back, he grabbed his knife and lunged forward, meeting a familiar mass of leathery wings and thick dark hair, an Elven form half-transformed into that of a great bat. They had met such a creature before, on their very first journey to the Misty Mountains.

But as Eluréd made his move the vampire seized Elurín, and they tumbled out of the cave and down the rocky slope. Eluréd reached the cave's entrance just in time to see them fall into water—where a mere trickle had been that evening was a rushing, swollen creek filled with debris from farther up the mountains. "Elurín!" he shouted as his brother disappeared into it. Fear gripped him, icy and suffocating—but not paralyzing. He scrambled down the hill, ignoring Elrond's voice calling behind him, and raced along the edge of the creek. It was hard to tell anything apart in the darkness, but twice he saw Elurín surface, still grappling with the vampire, both of them trying to push the other down as they clawed themselves up.

Finally, Elurín managed to catch hold of the roots of a gnarled old tree still clinging to the increasingly muddy embankment. Eluréd slipped and slid over to it, not liking the way it leaned and lurched when the vampire tried to claw Elurín's fingers free. "Elurín!" he called again. "Elurín, hang on!" He reached the edge of the bank and, grasping a low-hanging branch, leaned out over the water, reaching for Elurín.

The vampire launched herself out of the water with a snarl, knocking Eluréd back onto the bank, and Elurín back into the swirling current. As she sank needle-sharp teeth into Eluréd's arm, something shot past them with a blur—it was Elrond, diving into the water after Elurín. Eluréd cursed in all the languages he knew, and twisted, rolling so that he was on top of the vampire.

Overhead, the clouds parted, and in the faint starlight he recognized the creature—the vampire Daedheleth, who had hunted he and Elurín before, the first time they had crossed Eriador alone to see the Misty Mountains. She snarled at him, spitting curses on the line of Lúthien as they fought, she with teeth and claws, he with his knife. By the time she managed to free herself they were both slick with blood, and with one last snarl she vanished into the night.

Eluréd swayed on his knees, before forcing himself up to his feet. Elurín and Elrond. He had to find them; they could hunt Daedheleth later, wherever she had gone. He stumbled along the water as the clouds passed back over the stars. After a few minutes it began to rain again, a small smattering of drops first, and then a steady downpour, making it even more difficult to see. Eluréd had trouble keeping his footing, let alone seeing anything floating in the creek. "Elrond!" he shouted, just to feel like he was doing something, for surely neither Elrond nor Elurín could hear him. "Elurín!"

He didn't know how long he ran through the rain. He fell twice, and getting up was harder each time; Daedheleth's teeth and claws were sharp, and the deep cuts she'd given him bled freely, but he couldn't stop to bind them. He found his thoughts turning to Ulmo. He was lord of all waters, it was said, not only of the sea. "You took pity on our sister once," Eluréd said aloud. He did not know if Ulmo could hear him—if he was even listening—but surely if anyone was… "Please do not let them drown!"

Then he saw them, in the dark water two darker shapes, clinging to a large stone in the middle of the stream. "Elrond!" Eluréd shouted over the roar of the water and the pounding of the rain. "Elrond, I am here!"

A large log came floating down, and Elrond—it had to be Elrond—pushed himself and Elurín off the rock to latch onto it. Eluréd jogged along the shore, watching the log as it bumped into other pieces of debris, never quite getting close enough to the bank. If only they had rope! But their coils were back in the cave, and there wasn't time to go back for them.

But finally, the log swung around, and got close enough to another large rock close to the bank that Elrond could get an arm around. With his other arm he held Elurín, only barely managing to keep his head above the water; Elurín seemed to be unconscious. Only unconscious, please, Eluréd prayed as he reached out to pull them onto solid ground. He and Elrond hauled Elurín as far from the water as they could, beneath an overhang that somewhat sheltered them from the rain. Once they were safe, Elrond pushed sodden hair from his face and bent over Elurín, checking him over as thoroughly as possible, in the dark and wet and dirt. "Is he—" Eluréd began.

"He's alive," Elrond said. "I think he hit his head, somehow, but he's breathing." He looked up, and frowned. "You're bleeding. Everywhere."

"I'll be fine." Eluréd fell to his knees beside Elurín and shook him gently by the shoulders. "Elurín? Elurín, wake up!" He put power into his words, and after a few tense moments Elurín stirred, coughed, and started to retch. Elrond and Eluréd rolled him onto his side so he didn't choke on the muddy water he'd swallowed.

"Ugh," he said finally, when he stopped heaving. He rolled onto his back, half sitting, propped up against Eluréd. "I hate spring." Elrond snorted, and Elurín squinted up at Eluréd. "…Are you bleeding?"

"He is," Elrond said. "And now that you are awake, I can see to it."

"There isn't much you can do here," Eluréd protested as Elrond further ripped his shirt in his quest to see the claw marks.

"At least let me bind it so you don't bleed out before we get back to our camp." Elrond's eyes glinted in the gloom. "I'm a bit short on relations, Uncle. I would rather not lose the ones I do have. Especially before they are able to answer my questions—of which there are many."

Elurín laughed, though it dissolved into a coughing fit almost immediately. "What gave it away?"

"The screams of Elurín made it rather clear."

"Ah, Eluréd! We had been doing so well."

"Well, next time don't fall into floodwaters," Eluréd retorted, but he took Elurín's hand and squeezed it. They had been in some tight spots before, but nothing like this. And he had acted rather foolishly, Eluréd realized as Elrond used bits of their shredded clothes to bind up the worst of his wounds. Running about and shouting—especially before the rain started again, anyone could have heard them. Or anything. He did not know how Daedheleth had found them, unless she'd somehow caught their scent, but who knew what else was out roaming? They would have to be extra cautious on their way back to the valley, and that would be difficult with Eluréd bleeding all over the place and Elurín no doubt suffering the effects of a concussion. How Elrond had gotten out of it unscathed, Eluréd could not guess. Perhaps Ulmo had been listening after all.

By the time the rain let up and the clouds started to break, dawn was approaching, and they could at last see well enough to make their stumbling way back to their shelter. It had not been disturbed, and there was no sign that Daedheleth had returned to it, to their relief. Eluréd had told Elrond about their previous encounter with the creature. Elurín wanted to know how badly Eluréd had wounded her, but Eluréd could not answer. He hoped that he had managed to kill her, but in the dark and the rain it was impossible to know for sure.

In the cave, Elrond got out the proper supplies and saw to Eluréd and Elurín's hurts properly. It involved a distressing number of stitches. It would have been better to rest after that, but all of them agreed that the sooner they left the area, the better. All of them were limping, stiff and bruised on top of their various other hurts. They hadn't even any game to make the trip worthwhile. Eluréd kept his bow out and his eyes open, as Elrond concentrated on helping Elurín navigate the muddy, slippery ground.

They made good time in spite of everything. As dusk fell, though, Eluréd felt the same prickle on the back of his neck. He held up a hand to silence Elrond and Elurín, and turned slowly, listening hard and scanning the trees. A glimmer of movement, and a faint hiss was all he needed to take the shot, cutting the creature off mid-shriek as she started to charge them. The arrow struck her squarely in the chest, and she went down. Eluréd approached cautiously, turning her over with the toe of his boot. Black eyes stared skyward, glassy in death. He breathed a sigh of relief, and retrieved his arrow.