Child of frost

In wrath and in love...

Aytha didn't understand, in fact she understood next to nothing. The two humans hauled her off like a sack of flour and she tried to kick and scream and wriggle but she was too tightly bound and the gag muffled her cries almost completely. She sort of understood what these two males wanted though, and it caused her great confusion and also fear. It was apparent in their eyes and the way they touched her and she struggled with the very idea of what they were doing. She had only once heard of a male forcing a female into doing something of a sexual nature and that one male had been thrown off a cliff. Were these humans insane? Perhaps this was normal among them? She had no idea and she was dragged off into a small canyon which was rather hidden. A river had run through it once but it was gone now and dense bushes covered the ground.

At a turn someone had built a sort of shed, it had probably been used as a simple shelter for the guards when Imladris was being built but now it was more or less forgotten. It was still standing but that was simply because the roof was good and the walls of the canyon sort of leaned outwards and protected it from the rain and wind. The two had to have found it by sheer coincidence and they had cleared out the old leaves and moss on the floor. It was still just a shed but it was dry, and not too close to collapse. Aytha was tied to a hook in the wall and she felt her heart thundering in her chest, someone had to discover that she was missing, she needed help and she needed it now. The two men stood there and they were arguing, it was rather obvious. They were gesturing towards her and shouting and then they just left. Aytha was trembling, she was cold and wet and still very afraid and she had no idea of what these humans were planning to do next.

She was left there alone for a long time, she struggled to break free from her bonds but the ropes were solid and the knots good too and she just couldn't gather her strength in an efficient manner. She sobbed, nobody had ever treated her thus, her mind had problems coping with it for it was simply too alien a concept for her to understand. She missed Dilloth and Meril and Elrond too, she wanted his protection and his gentle care now and felt like a child once more. A couple of hours went by before the men returned and when they did they brought yet another prisoner. Aytha was just staring in absolute shock, it was another elleth but this one was just a child, perhaps at the mere start of puberty and still rather small and thin. She felt sick, her stomach dropped and she just couldn't believe it. They couldn't hurt a child? No, this had to be some sort of misunderstanding, it just couldn't be real? Nobody would harm someone that young?

The two men had brought a jar of something and they did drink from it, grinning and laughing and their voices got slurred and their eyes had that creepy expression yet again. Aytha saw that the other elleth was tied up just like herself and gagged and the poor thing was crying. She was a dark haired one with large grey eyes and those eyes were filled with an expression of disbelief and fear. She had a few bruises on her face and Aytha wanted to comfort her, to take her away from these creeps but how? She was helpless and she just hoped that help would come. Someone would surely discover that she and this little one were missing. Aytha closed her eyes and hoped that the men would become so drunk they didn't manage to harm the child or herself, that was the one hope she had now.

Dilloth had discovered that Aytha was missing when she came to the pond and saw that her clothes were there. At first she had just assumed that the somewhat wild elleth had run off in the nude since it was rather warm but then she saw footprints and drag marks and panicked. She ran to the city and rushed into Elrond's office so fast she almost collided with Erestor who was on his way out with his arms full of scrolls. The tall noldo almost reared back and raised an eyebrow and Dilloth bowed swiftly. " I apologize, but this is important"

Elrond looked up from behind his desk and he immediately knew that something was very wrong indeed, Dilloth looked like a sheet of paper and her eyes were huge and dark. "What is it?"