No Home Here

Chapter Ten: Sansdale

Elladan slowed his horse gradually, easing the animal back from its full-fledged gallop to a brisk trot, and from there into a walk. His twin continued a bit further down the road before realizing that his brother had stopped, but eventually halted and waited for Elladan to catch up.

Reaching back and slapping his horse appreciatively on the flank, Elrohir walked his horse next to Elladan’s, traveling for a while in companionable silence. It was a beautiful tie of day to be out on a ride: the sun was just beginning to set and hundreds of colors streamed across the sky,

The twins had discovered that it really wasn’t as hard to wait if you were actually doing something about the situation instead of twiddling your thumbs back at home. And for sure they were certainly doing something about the situation: they had already been to three towns along the road.

None of the villagers had seen any sign of a young man on a dapple-gray horse, but there were still plenty of towns left to check. As an added precaution, Elladan had even consented to weaving a bell into his horse’s mane: a trick often used by searching elves in case their quarry was hiding off of the road. The annoying tinkling of the little bell was bearable as long as it might be helping them to find their little brother. Even if, as Elrohir had helpfully pointed out, it was bound to bring any orc within a mile flocking to attack them.

Finally Elladan broke the silence. “Ro, aren’t we coming up on another town soon?” The younger twin frowned for a moment as he recalled maps of the area, but soon nodded his assent.

“Sansdale, isn’t it?” He commented. “Yes, I do believe we should be there shortly. Are we stopping?” Elladan rolled his eyes. The two had already agreed that they were stopping in every village, no matter how small. To pass by the one place that their brother was just because they felt that he couldn’t possibly stop in a town so small would be a mistake not easily forgiven by the twins.

As they traveled further down the road a dark patch in the distance could be discerned from the area surrounding it. A wall of stout logs sharpened to a point at one end surrounded the town, forming a palisade type wall, which was fairly efficient in attacks as long as they didn’t include fire.

The two horses along with their riders drew closer to the little town of Sansdale, and as if on cue the mounted elves flipped their hoods up as was the standard routine when the twins visited towns of men.

Turning from the main road, the two made their way along the path that led to the village’s gate. Without a word they made their way to the gate in the wall. The outline of a spy hole was visible to elven eyes where it would normally have lain concealed, and it was there that Elladan knocked, knowing it to be the thinnest place in the wall.

A moment’s wait was all that was required before the peephole slid aside to reveal the face of a young man with a messy shock of blonde hair. He spoke out in a bored voice after looking over the newcomers with a critical eye.

“State your names and purpose in Sansdale.” Such was the time-honored greeting given to all strangers seeking entrance to the town. With a quick glance at one another, Elrohir charismatically took control of the situation. “My name is Ron, and my brother is Dan.”

As he said this he heard an almost imperceptible snort from his twin. The slightly younger elf had no doubt in his mind that Elladan was turning blue from restrained laughter. “We are searching for someone, we were hoping that someone in this town might have spotted him.”

The man at the gate looked suspiciously at the two for a moment, seeming to ponder their intentions before finally sliding the portal shut with a nod and a bang. Quickly the two elves backed their horses up a bit, allowing the heavy gate to be pushed open by the man inside. A lantern was clutched in his hand, held up as if to stave off the swiftly oncoming night.

The twins were beckoned inside the gates of the small town, and in they proceeded to go, looking carefully around them as their horses clopped onto the cobbled street, the noise of their hooves barely muffled by the snow coating the ground. The gate was pushed shut behind the pair by the gate-warden, and they waited patiently until he finished.

At least it looked as if they waited patiently. In all reality they were chomping at the bit even more so than the mounts that they sat upon. It pained them to spend too much time in any one town when there were hundreds of other places to search. For all they knew their little brother could be stuck in a snow drift by the side of the road, freezing to death while they sat and waited for a scrawny gatekeeper to push closed a door far too big for him.

For the moment, however, the twins kept their peace and waited until the man came up to them, huffing and wiping his hands off on his trousers. A brief smile was flashed in their direction, and then the man put his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side. “So my good young fellows, who is it that you be looking for?”

Elrohir rolled his eyes at the words ‘good young fellow’ coming from the mouth of this cocky upstart, but he bit his tongue and let Elladan do the talking. “A young lad, barely fifteen, on a gray horse and sporting a green cloak. We were hoping that he might have wandered this way.”

The gatekeeper pondered this for a moment, but then shook his head. “I’m not the man to ask, no, ‘tis old Sam that you’ll be wanting to question. He’s the right and proper warden here, you see. I’m just doing him a favor by watching the old pile of logs while he gets his sleep. Apparently there was some commotion last night that kept him up, and I owed him a good turn. He’s training me up for when he retires, he is.”

An exaggerated wink was tossed at the mounted elves, both of whom were itching to shut the man’s mouth and move on. “Well, where might we find this Sam, young man?” Elrohir said with slight exaggeration on the last words, earning a frown from the blonde man and an incredibly false sounding cough from his twin. Right then, however, the younger elf didn’t care if the man brought the whole town down upon him for his ‘insolence.’

All he wanted to do was verify that his brother hadn’t passed this way and then move on. The two were perfectly capable of traveling through then night, just as they had been for the past several days. All they needed was a nod from whoever Sam was for them to be on their way to the next town. Unfortunately, the know-it-all that currently manned the gate seemed to have a different idea.

“Oh no, I’m afraid that I can’t let you in to see Sam, otherwise what’s the point of being off work if yer kept awake half the night anyways?” At this Elladan growled in frustration, but the sandy-headed young man continued on obliviously. “Now let me just point you in the direction of the Snoring Dragon, and you can skip back over to the gate at dawn to ask old Sam.”

Without warning the man was at the horses’ heads, grabbing for reins to lead the two steeds by. When his hands found only air, Elrohir resorted to drastic measures. Pretending in the dark to loop the reins tighter around his hands, the elf kicked his horse forwards a bit, Elladan catching on and following suit.

“Just point us to the nearest boarding house, my fine man, for we have no desire to stay at an inn tonight. Still suspicious, the blonde man merely nodded and started walking with the twins following behind. A little way down the street they came to a white-fronted establishment with a small placard next to the door reading ‘Barnum’s Boarding Bunk’ in bold letters with ‘and eatery’ below it in smaller text.

The man stopped, pointing at the house. “I know ye can’t see it from here, but that’s the place ye’ll want to be. Now, for your horses you will need to go to the inn, for that’s the only place ye’ll find stalls to let. It’s right down the street and on the left, very hard to miss. The stables are around the back, but I’m afraid I must return to the gate. Can’t be neglecting duty, can I?”

The twins nodded, willing to do just about anything to get the blonde to leave. As soon as he was out of hearing-range the two nudged their horses closer to each other. “So, what’s the plan, El?” asked Elrohir with a weary smile.

His brother rolled his eyes at him. “Why’d you have to tell him that we would stay the night?” He demanded. “We could have just gone back out and waited for dawn!”

Elrohir shook his head. “I would have agreed to anything to get him to stop groping for the reins. What do you think he would have done if he’d realized that the horses bear no tack? We’re lucky enough as it is that it was already dark enough that he couldn’t see us clearly!”

Reluctantly Elladan made a noise of assent, and without a word the two dismounted, swinging gracefully off their horses and landing on top of the snow. “Shall I take the horses, or do you want the task?” Elrohir asked with a mocking smile. He knew that His brother would rather tend to the animals than exercise public relations skills, though the elder would never admit it.

Grumpily Elladan waved his twin away before starting up the short path to the front door of the boarding house. A firm knock on the door brought a dark-haired youth to open it for him.

“May I help you, sir?” He asked in a polite voice.

Elladan fidgeted slightly. “Yes, my brother and I were wondering if you had a vacant room for the night.” Craning his neck to see over the tall elf, the boy searched for any sign of the aforementioned brother, but when he came up lacking, opened the door all the way for Elladan. “He will be along shortly, after seeing to the horses.” Offered Elladan by way of explanation.

Seemingly satisfied, the boy nodded and stepped aside, allowing Elladan to step into a warm hallway. The teenager squeezed past him, and then led the way back into a cozy sitting room. Waving his hand at the couches as an invitation for the visitor to seat himself, he walked up to one of the doorways leading from the room and bellowed in an extremely impressive manner.

“Garren! Get Mother!” A disgruntled yelp and several ominous thumps were heard somewhere in the bowels of the building. With a sigh Elladan lowered his hood and placed his cloak upon a half-filled rack before seating himself in a red armchair. Before long a small woman clumped down a stairwell at the end of the hallway, then poked her head into the room.

“Gareth!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “Why didn’t you say that we had a guest?”

Gareth smiled. “And another on the way, apparently.” The woman smiled quickly before entering the room all the way.

“Well, my name is Engle, I run this establishment with my husband Erron. Is there anything we can do for you master…” She died off, waiting for a name.

“Elladan.” The elf supplied. “And my brother’s…” Here he was cut off by persistent knocking at the front door. “… Name is Elrohir. He would probably appreciate being let in.” He added a smile to the last statement, finishing it off as a joke.

Gareth got up and ran down the hallway to open the door, while Engle continued her questioning. “Younger or older brother, master Elladan?” The elf smiled.

“Younger, but…”

“…Only by a few minutes.” Elrohir finished his statement from the doorway. Engle smiled, nodding her head knowingly.

“Gareth and Garren should be happy. Finally they found someone other than their parents to pester.” Elrohir was at this time dragged into the room by a panting Gareth. As the teenager opened his mouth, Elladan motioned to his twin to cover his ears, which Elrohir thankfully consented to.

“Ay, Garren, get down here!” Came another roar. When the teenager glanced over at Elrohir and noticed that their guest had his fingers stuck in his ears, he grinned sheepishly and shrugged in apology. “Sorry ‘bout that, but it’s impossible to hear anything short of a shout on the other side of the house.”

“That’s quite all right.” Elladan chimed in. “I think Elrohir’s ears needed cleaning anyways.” He winked to his twin who played along, daintily wiping his two forefingers off on his trouser legs. Someone laughed from one of the doorways, and the twins noticed another boy exactly identical to Gareth.

“Oh, so you’re the famous Garren that we’ve heard so little from. Tell me, can you yell as loud as your brother or is it a special gift?” That brought a chuckle from Engle, who had moved over and was relieving Elrohir of the two’s packs.

“Now there, let’s get you settled in a room before we get off track, shall we?” The elves nodded and obediently followed her up a creaking wooden staircase. Another hallway was revealed, and the woman brought out a key from one of her apron pockets. She walked quietly over to the third door down and unlocked it before handing Elladan the key.

Pushing the door all the way open, she showed them into a small room with two half-beds. She spoke much more softly as she set the packs down on a chair in the corner. “Quietly now, wouldn’t want to wake the young man sleeping next door.” The twins weren’t really listening, however, as they both attempted to stalk around the room at once.

There was very little room to walk, seeing as the beds and small chair took up most of it. Engle went on however. “There’s a washroom down the hall on the right, and I can probably get one of the boys to bring you up something to eat. Dinner’s already been served, you see, but there should still be something left in the cupboard.”

Elladan smiled politely and thanked the woman. Engle backed carefully out of the room, shutting the door softly behind her. Elrohir’s elven hearing heard her shuffling around in the next room, having a one-sided conversation with someone. Smiling slightly, he turned back to his twin, who was now staring out of the small, curtained window. There wasn’t much of a view, just the sight of the snowy street and the houses across the road. The daylight was all but spent, but the keen eyes of the elf were still able to make out the people below with ease.

Elladan sighed before turning away from the window and pulling the curtains closed. His twin was already sitting on one of the beds, pulling off his boots and socks. The elder eldar grimaced and pulled an exaggerated face, waving a hand before his nose as if attempting to ward off the foul smell. Elrohir simply rolled his eyes and continued to ignore his brother.

The twins had already stripped down to breeches when a knock on the door was heard. They spun to face each other before peering suspiciously back at the door.

“You answer it.” Hissed Elladan in Sindarin.

His brother wore an incredulous face. “Why me? I always have to answer the door, and it always turns out to be someone that wants to either hurt us or drench me in ice cold water.”

Elladan snarled. “You are closer to the door, dear brother of mine!” Resignedly Elrohir threw a light shirt on, tucked his hair back behind his ears, and opened the door. Gareth and Garren were both waiting patiently with trays of food and pitchers of drink.

A disgruntled Elrohir squinted in the brighter light of the hallway before realizing why they were there and stepping back so that they could enter the room. The boys, however, didn’t move, but continued to stare at the dark-haired elf as if their lives depended upon it. With a frown, Elrohir playfully waved a hand in front of the twin who he figured was Gareth.

“Hello? Are you still there?” He asked with a little grin. The boy in the back shook his head as if to clear his vision, then brought a hand up to his ear. Realizing his mistake, the younger elf closed his eyes with a quick prayer to the Valar. “Why don’t you boys… come in for a talk?” He said, hoping against all hope that everything would work itself out.