Patience
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
"We don’t know and he is still unconscious." Replied Legolas.
Legolas got up and moved away from the bed so that Elrond could sit down. Sitting on the bed, "Leave me alone with him."
They nodded and left the room, "You don’t think that Anteru had anything to do with this do you?" Asked Legolas.
"I don’t know. We will just have to wait for Arthon to wake up and tell us."
"If he tells us," muttered Legolas as he headed toward his room.
Aragorn knew that Legolas was right, that when Arthon woke up he may not tell them anything purely because of the fear of getting hurt again. Aragorn could hear words being said in elvish and knew that Elrond was in process of healing Arthon.
Back inside the room
Elrond had just finished healing Arthon and was now waiting for him to wake up. Slowly Arthon began to stir and open his eyes. He was surprised to find that his body wasn’t in any pain. He also noticed that he was now lying on clean sheets. Suddenly Arthon noticed a figure over by the table, "Please no more I don’t want to be hurt anymore."
Elrond immediately turned toward him. He could see the panicked look in Arthon’s eyes. He walked up to the bed and sat down, while Arthon tried desperately to get away from him.
"Meleth nin please relax you are safe. No one is going to hurt you again."
Arthon relaxed slightly at the sound of Elrond’s voice, but he refused to let the older elf touch him.
"Arthon calm down. You are safe now. I will not hurt you."
Pushing Elrond away from him, "No stay away from me Anteru."
Shocked, "Anteru! Is that who did this to you?"
"No."
Elrond stepped away from Arthon so that he would calm down. He would definantly have to question Anteru on his whereabouts tonight. Aragorn was standing right outside the door and heard Arthon mention Anteru’s name. He immediately turned and headed for Anteru’s room. Once he got there he knocked on the door. There were no candles lit inside. When there was no response Aragorn knocked harder. There was a few more minutes of silence before the door opened. Anteru was only wearing a pair of leggings and it looked like he had been sleeping.
"What?"
"Have you been in here all night?"
"Yes, why?"
"Because Arthon was hurt and I saw you leave his room earlier."
Anteru tensed slightly, "I don’t know what you are talking about. It must have happened after I left his room."
"You are lying. Legolas and I went to see what was up right after you left and found him injured."
"I didn’t do anything. I have been here all night, so leave me alone Aragorn."
He slammed the door on him. Aragorn walked back toward Arthon’s room. He wanted to see how he was doing.
Walking into the room, "How is he
adar?""Terrified but he has finally drifted off to sleep."
"Can I talk to you for a minute
adar?""Sure, what is wrong?"
They walked over by the door so that they would wake Arthon.
"I saw Anteru leave this room right before we found Arthon."
"What!"
Nodding, "When I questioned him about it he claimed that he was in his room all night, but I do not believe him."
"You think that he did this to Arthon."
"Yes I do."
"But why?"
"I don’t know why. The only thing I know is that the two of them have never gotten along."
Lord Elrond also knew that Anteru and Arthon did not get along, but he didn’t want to believe that he would hurt Arthon because of his hatred.
"I will question him tomorrow."
Aragorn nodded and left the room. Elrond sat down in the chair by the bed. He didn’t want to leave Arthon’s side, even if the young elf was afraid of being hurt again. Elrond also wondered if Arthon had been raped. By his injuries he guessed that he had been and that was one of the reasons why the boy was so scared. Elrond began to doze off.
When Elrond woke up the next morning he was alone. Arthon wasn’t anywhere in the room. Elrond immediately got up and went to find him. He saw Aragorn down the hall and walked up to him.
"Where is Arthon?"
"Down by the river. Don’t worry
adar he is safe and Legolas is with him."Sighing, "OK."
Elrond turned and headed for the river. He wanted to see how Arthon was doing. When he got there he found Legolas standing a little ways away from Arthon. Arthon looked tense and uncomfortable even around his own brother.
Walking up to them, "How is he?"
"He won’t talk to anyone and the minute I try to get close to him he moves away from me."
Elrond sighed, he knew that this was hard on Arthon, but he hadn’t expected him to fear his own brother.
Turning toward Arthon, "Arthon."
Arthon looked at them. Elrond could see the panic and fear in the younger elf’s eyes. Suddenly the panic in his eyes disappeared, he jumped up, and ran to Elrond, throwing himself into the elf lord’s arms. Elrond wrapped his arms around him and held him tightly.
"Help me." Arthon muttered as tears began to fall from his eyes.
"Shh, it is ok. You are safe now and I will not let anyone else hurt you."
"I was so scared."
"Who hurt you Arthon?"
Arthon pulled away from Elrond. His eyes were red and puffy from crying.
"I don’t know."
Elrond had a feeling that he wasn’t exactly telling the truth, "If you tell me who hurt you then I can have him punished."
Arthon didn’t say anything, he just walked away from them. Legolas was about to follow him when Elrond grabbed his arm.
“Let him go.”
“We saw Anteru leave his room last night.”
TBC