More in the AU where Elrond and Elros are 16 years old rather than 6 when Sirion is sacked. Tag is "older kidnap fam fic" for previous installments
Elrond wakes up draped over the rump of a horse.
Not, to be clear, his own warhorse. His faithful stallion is being ridden by one of the few remaining warriors of the Gap, the great cavalry of the Noldor, who will be able to keep her seat regardless of what the horse tries.
Elrond isn't initially sure who is riding the horse that he's been set over like a sack of baggage. His arms are stretched out past his head, tied wrists dangling toward the ground, and his ankles are tied as well, tighter than the hobble that he had while walking. He can't see anything but horse flank.
Elrond wriggles around to try and get a better view, and someone notices.
"Lord Maedhros, it seems your guest is awake."
Maedhros pushes down the middle of Elrond's lower back to pin him more surely to the horse. "Lie still. If you fall off while riding in formation you're liable to get stepped on by the next horse, even if the rider wished to avoid you."
"I know how to ride properly."
"Yes, I saw that you were quite skilled when you killed my soldiers, which is why you're staying right there."
"Could I at least sit upright, even if I have to ride behind someone else like an infant?"
"Maybe tomorrow, if you give your word not to escape."
"I'm not stupid enough to try and bargain with you again, after you broke your word about setting us free from the cellar."
"I never said I'd set you free, I said I'd leave the city and wouldn't kill you. Sirion crumbled in the first assault, but I did no more damage after taking you and your brother into custody. If they're smart enough to repair the castle first, everyone should be able to keep warm this winter."
"And if they focus instead on burying their dead, or rebuilding their houses, or rescuing their kidnapped princes?"
"Who knows? But I'm not king of even the Noldor anymore, and the people of Sirion are not my responsibility."
"You would just let them die?" Elrond wanted to glare at the Feanorian, and nearly slipped backwards off the horse as he tried to sit up.
Maedhros caught Elrond deftly by the bound wrists and pulled him back into place. "Next time you do that, I'll let you fall"
"So you don't actually intend to even spare my life."
"I agreed to spare you, not to save you . None here will harm you, but I won't rescue you from consequences of childish stupidity, no more than I will rescue Sirion from winter. If you would rather bash your head open rather than remain my captive, I am not so cruel as to deny you that escape."
Elrond had nothing to say to that topic, as his first retort about more palatable escapes seemed likely just to enrage his captor, as did any question about cutting off hands. "Where's Elros? Was he at least left back in Sirion?" Elrond wanted his brother to be safe, and his people to have a leader with his mother drowned. But he, selfishly, also did to want to be alone with the kinslayers.
"He's here as well, don't worry. Nornmalo has him, and I trust him not to torture a prisoner, despite what it may sound like."
"The moans of pain might be a headache, he drank rather a lot of beer while we were trapped."
Maedhros laughed. "Well, a hungover child soldier. He will at least bother Nornmalo less with questions."
"Could I give him something to soothe the headache? I know a bit of healing."
"No. A headache won't kill him, and he'll get water when we stop same as you."
They stopped only once that day, to water the horses at a stream. Elros was pulled down from the saddle - feet first, luckily, though he still landed in a heap - and his hands untied. Maedhros tossed him a canteen, and said "if you need to piss, now's the best time. You won't get piss all over the horse or your clothes, and we're downstream of the rest of the company."
"My legs are still tied."
"The ropes low enough you should be able to unfasten your belt."
"Are you going to watch me the whole time?"
"Until I find another guard, yes."
Elrond drinks little enough water to avoid the issue, for the moment.
When it's time to ride again, Elrond puts up a fight about having his arms tied again. That just gets Maedhros pinning his face in the dirt while a soldier ties the rope.
Elrond is slung back on the horse like a parcel.
They stop again just before sunset to make camp.
Elrond's hands are untied again for dinner.
The food is simple, waybread and water, and Elrond wonders if he should mention that Men need to eat more than once a day.
Far more exciting than the food though is the figure dropped on the grass next to him, clutching his own canteen and waybread.
"Elros!"
"Elrond! By Ulmo, you're alright!"
"I am, just a bit bruised from the horse. You?"
"Here's something for your healer's notes: do not put people with hangovers upside down for hours. I must have thrown up a dozen times."
"That's terrible! Maybe we can ask-"
At that point the guard tells them to hurry up, they'll be taken to where they're sleeping in ten minutes regardless of how much dinner they've had. Elrond and Elros focus on eating.
They are not, apparently, going to be sleeping near each other. "Too much chance to plot."
The Feanorian soldiers have tents. Some of them share, some of them have their own. A few soldiers have tents obviously designed for two or three that they go into alone.
The horses stolen from Sirion are tied to a picket line. It's loped through the reins, but one person untying the end would let all the horses scatter.
The horses the Feanorians rode into town on are not tied at all. They are loyal old warhorses, and will not flee from orcs in the distance. If wolves do sneak past the guards into the camp, better for the horses to run, and come back at their masters' call when the danger is passed.
Elrond, by contrast, is tied to a tree trunk. His hands are tied in front of him rather than behind, and his legs are unbound. Maedhros's brother - and Elrond learned from a careless remark that their is only the one left - even tossed a blanket over Elrond's legs, to guard against the chill of the night air.
It is the most freedom of movement Elrond has had all day, but that's saying little.
He is stuck sitting up, feeling every root and rock underneath him, unable to reach his hands back to where the rope is tied behind the tree.
Elrond sleeps poorly, stirring at every noise, whether it's a guard on their rounds or an owl hooting its warning.
In the morning, Elrond is given a breakfast of water and waybread again.
Maedhros says "You know it would be suicidal to flee, alone in the wilderness, yes?" and lets Elrond ride behind him sitting up.
Elrond's hands are still bound, and a rope leads passed Maedhros to the saddle horn. If he fell off, he better hope he can keep pace with a cantering horse, or else be dragged on the ground.
Elrond stays on the horse. He figures out his balance well enough to turn, and sees Elros riding similarly.
Thing continue like this for over a week, until they reach Amon Ereb.
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Whumpuary #8: Muffled Screams / Hostage / "You look awful" Alt #5: Headache
CW: uhhh...unhealthy self-sacrificial mentality? Nothing too intense
Caretaker had a headache.
It shouldn’t have been a big deal; headaches were something that just happened in people’s day-to-day lives sometimes. But it was a really painful one. And they couldn’t just sleep it off, they had responsibilities.
They needed to be around for Whumpee. Whumpee might not be as fragile or incapable as they’d been earlier in their recovery, but they still deserved someone stable and dependable.
The painful sensation relentlessly pounded through their brain, but Caretaker braced themself and moved on to the next thing they had to do for the day. They could do this. It would hurt, but they could do this.
Caretaker winced, then frowned, displeased with themself. They were being a baby about this. Whumpee had experienced so much worse. Caretaker really had no excuse to be this out of sorts over a headache.
They grimaced as pain lanced through their skull. This wasn’t going to be fun.
Well, nothing to do but push onward. Caretaker took an ibuprofen and started cooking the next meal for the two of them. Partway through the process, Whumpee entered the kitchen and started chatting with them. Caretaker hid their pain behind smiles and pleasant conversation, not wanting to concern Whumpee.
Unfortunately, Whumpee was too observant for that. They caught Caretaker wincing and squeezing their eyes shut in a moment of weakness.
“Caretaker, are you feeling alright?” Whumpee looked worried.
“It’s just a headache,” Caretaker said, hoping to dismiss the subject. It wasn’t Whumpee’s issue to have to worry about.
Whumpee didn’t seem convinced. “Okay, but how bad of a headache? You don’t look like you’re feeling very well.”
“It’s…yeah. I’m not,” Caretaker confessed.
“Why don’t you take a break? I can take care of things here.”
Caretaker shook their head, and immediately regretted it. Ow. “You shouldn’t have to do that. You’re still in recovery.”
“The late stages of recovery. It’ll be alright. I can manage for one day.”
“But it’s my job to take care of you! You’ve already been through so much, I can’t add to your plate.”
“Caretaker.”
They flushed, chastised. “Yeah, okay. You’re an adult. If you say you can manage, it wouldn’t be fair of me to insist you can’t.”
Whumpee gave them a smile in response.
“But,” Caretaker added, “if it starts to feel like too much, or you need something from me, please tell me and let me help. A headache is something I can push through, and I don’t want you sacrificing your health for mine.”
“Okay. Fair enough.”
Caretaker allowed themself to relax a little more with that established. A refreshed awareness of their discomfort drew a groan from them as less worry for Whumpee made room for more focus on their own pain.
“Let’s get you off your feet,” Whumpee said. They walked Caretaker to Caretaker’s bedroom. Caretaker couldn’t help but sigh in relief as they entered the room with the light left off, the darkness easing their headache.
Whumpee sat them down on the bed. “Take a rest. I’m going to go finish cooking the food.”
Caretaker sat on the edge of their bed, feeling useless.
Pain danced under their skull as they waited. Being in darkness and not having to do anything both helped, but didn’t get rid of the headache entirely.
After a few minutes, Whumpee came in with a plate of hot food. They handed it to Caretaker and sat down next to them with a gentle smile. “You’ve done so much to take care of me. Now it’s my turn to take care of you.”
“Thanks, Whumpee.” Caretaker looked down. They felt torn between being guilty that Whumpee had to do this, and touched that they were so willing to. But Whumpee was pretty capable; maybe everything would be fine after all.
They ate. Whumpee took the plate after they were done. Caretaker hesitated to just let this all happen; they didn’t want to make Whumpee do the work.
“Come on, Caretaker. Lie down.” Whumpee pushed them back, gently enough that they could resist it if they wanted but forcefully enough to make it clear what they wanted from Caretaker.
Caretaker gave in with a small sigh and lay back on their pillow.
“You just worry about getting better. I’ve got this,” Whumpee reassured them. Whumpee left the room and closed the door behind them, shutting out the light from the hall.
Caretaker believed it. The pain eased up a bit more as they finally allowed themself to fully relax.
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What’s the art queue looking like at the moment??? Any sneakpeaks??)
Currently the art queue is organized from nearest deadline to farthest, i am excluding sneak peek pictures of projects i'm doing for the hatchetfield yearbook project.
Sticker designs for a valentines day event at my school that i'm selling these to (pride hearts, cat stickers, chibi people wearing our school uniform, phrase stickers, nearest deadline of "this week")
art requests that are currently pending (there's definitely a few of them stacked up since december 30 but im trying to eliminate them one by one, also who tf is the anon who requested overall shorts trevor with some specifics....pls....its for scientific research, i need to dissect your brain)
Artworks for the Hatchetfield High Yearbook Project run by my good friend, Birdie! (check it out once its released!! also shameless advertising)
npmd screenshot redraw (guys...i literally just started drawing that earlier in class while the biology teacher was gone for almost 2 hours, no deadline but tis a quick project)
npmd shimeji's (Richie draft, this is gonna take SOOOOO long, especially if you make 200+ frames for all characters in total, youch, also no deadline but longer to finish)
additional context: Shimeji's are desktop pets that move around your screen, when i'm done with all frames i'll be releasing the frames in either a google drive or somewhere else for you guys to access
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