Twas the night before midwinter and all through the house, not
a creature was stirring, not even a - well it was a rat actually
and it was stirring quite a bit. It wasn’t the only one
either.
A lone figure crept stealthily through the darkened hallways,
hunting its prey. Eyes narrowed as the hunter caught sight of
a small crumb. “Ah ha!” He whispered. Further along
the corridor there were a couple more crumbs. A movement caught
his eye and he saw a small grey form scurry across the floor.
“Got you!” He cried and gave chase. There was a
rather audible ‘squeak’ from the rat as it dashed
off, trying to escape its pursuer.
His feet pounded down the halls, always a little too far away
from the rat. He let out a growl as the furry rodent scrambled
up a tree in an attempt to escape. “You’re not getting
away that easily!” He cried and leapt into the branches.
He shook the tree violently, until he saw the animal drop out.
He jumped out of the tree and raced after the rodent, determined
not to lose it. Oh no, not this time.
The
rat raced across the courtyard that was cruelly absent of even
the smallest hiding place and scooted back into the halls. A
growl came from the hunter as he rounded the corner at incredible
speed, almost crashing into a statue of Elbereth that graced
the hallway. Uttering a very un-lord-like curse at the statue
he pressed on. He could only see the tip of the tail of his
quarry now.
“When
I catch you I’m going to roast you alive!” He seethed.
“Then I’m going to skin you and use your hide to
clean my sword!” To his utter chagrin this was met with
a resoundingly defiant ‘squeak’ from his prey.
“Why
you little…” He growled and resumed his hunt with
even greater vigour. No thieving rat was going to get the best
of him! He had a reputation to maintain, damnit!
The rat shot up the stairs to the first level, where the private
quarters were located. He followed, using his long strides to
gain an advantage. A few times he almost, almost caught the
ever-elusive creature. “You can’t evade me forever!”
He swore as he almost lost sight of his quarry around a corner.
Barely
maintaining his balance he flung himself after the animal, using
his long legs to gain ground. However, the rat was still managing
to elude him.
Finally, they came to a long, straight hallway. He grinned,
now he was sure to catch it. He just needed to gain a little
more ground! A circular holder in a small alcove caught his
eye. Within it were two slightly damp fishing nets, left there
to dry out after an earlier excursion. Swiftly he grabbed one
and began to try to catch the rodent in the net.
He let out a cry of frustration as the rat slipped under a tiny
gap through the door at the end of the hallway. He leapt, lunging
for the animal with his bare hands. However, the rat was just
too fast and he ended up crashing through the door and into
the room. His momentum carried him under a large bed, towards
a wall. He twisted and, by sheer chance, caught his elusive
prey in the fishing net. However, the move wasn’t enough
to get him out of the way of the wall and there was a resounding
crash as he and his prey collided with the wall! He groaned
at the force of the impact, but when he saw the limp furry form
in the net he grabbed it and let out a cry of triumph.
“Take
that you thieving rodent!” He cried, waving the still
form in the air like a trophy.
“Glorfy?”
Came a confused voice from the bed slightly above him. “What
are you doing?” Glorfindel looked up to see two sleepy
pairs of grey eyes looking at him.
“Hello
Elladan, hello Elrohir” he said with a slightly sheepish
grin at the eight year old elflings. “I was just…”
But at that moment, Elrohir caught sight of the limp form in
Glorfindel’s hand.
“Murderer!
You killed it!” He cried and promptly burst into tears.
The balrog-slayer was horrified.
“Oh
Elrohir, please don’t cry!” He begged the youngest
twin. “It’s just a rat!” This only caused
Elrohir to cry harder. Elladan on the other hand was far less
disturbed. “Can I mount it on my wall?!” He asked
with a great deal of enthusiasm.
“No!”
Cried Glorfindel. “It’s full of germs! It’s
going to the incinerator!” At that, Elrohir began crying
even louder and Glorfindel began to panic. Elrond would have
his head! “Elladan, Elrohir, listen to me!” he said
in an attempt to get some control over the situation. “Rats
look cute, but they carry lots of nasty germs that can make
little elflings get sick! They creep into the kitchens and steal
our food, they go to the toilet and don’t clean up and
they smell really horrible! We have to get rid of them!”
He looked hopefully at the twins, praying they’d understood.
“But
you didn’t have to kill himmmmmmmmmm!” Elrohir wailed
loudly.
“Elrohir,
there was no other way!” Glorfindel said desperately.
You wouldn’t have wanted him eating your breakfast would
you?! It was for the best really!” He tried to hug the
little twin, but Elrohir cried and pulled away.
“No!
Go away! You’re a murderer!” He sobbed.
“Elrohir,
it was going to…” He started, but was suddenly cut
off.
“What in the Illuvatar’s name is going on?!”
Elrond glared at Glorfindel. Behind him, Celebrian was also
giving him a filthy look. Glorfindel blushed deeply as Celebrian
moved to hug the still-crying Elrohir.
“Well?”
Elrond demanded. The Balrog-slayer coughed nervously.
“Ah,
well, you see, this rat here had been pillaging the larder for
weeks and I saw it when I went to get a snack and gave chase,
which led me here where I killed it and Elrohir got rather upset….”
He trailed off, feeling rather like an elfling who had been
caught playing a prank. This feeling was further enforced by
Elrond’s icy glare.
“They
are vermin, mellon nin.” He said weakly. Elrond leaned
in close.
“I
know that!” He hissed. “But you do not go killing
them in front of my sons! They are too young for such things!”
Glorfindel bowed his head.
“I
am sorry my Lord. It will not happen again.”
“See
that it doesn’t.” Elrond scowled. “Or I shall
re-name you the great rat-slayer!” He might have said
more, but he was distracted by Elladan, who was prodding the
dead rat. “Elladan stop that!”
"But
Ada, look!" Elladan protested. "Look at what it does!"
Elrond sighed and leaned over as his eldest prodded the rat
again. To his utter surprise, the rodent flicked it's tail and
it's chest moved. Elrond gasped and touched it.
"It's
still alive!" He cried in shock. How the small creature
had survived being bashed against the wall was beyond him! At
these words Elrohir immediately stopped crying and scooted over
to the rat. Despite his father's protests, he picked the furry
creature up and cuddled it. A few minutes later it regained
consciousness and looked warily at the elfling whose hand it
was in.
"Squeak?"
Elrohir beamed.
"Hello!"
He replied cheerfully. He turned to Elrond. "Oh Ada, can't
we keep him? He's so cute!" Elrond looked dismayed. A pet
rat! What a dreadful thought! He was about to tell Elrohir that
he really didn't think that was a good idea, when Elladan cried
out.
"Ada
look over there!" All those in the room turned to where
Elladan was pointing. By the door was another rat, about the
same size as the one Elrohir held. Behind it were three much
smaller rats. All were looking at the furry form that Elrohir
held.
"Why,
no wonder it stole so much food!" Celebrian cried. "It
was just trying to feed it's family! Oh Elrond, we can't throw
them out!" Elrond cast a desperate look at Glorfindel as
his family ganged up on him, but the Balrog-slayer was quite
sick of the whole situation! Elrond could get himself out of
this one!
Elrond looked at his wife, then at his sons. Then he looked
at the little rat family. Each one, from his wife to the smallest
rat, was giving him pleading puppy-dog eyes. It was hopeless!
"Very well." He sighed. "They can stay."
Elrohir let out a shriek of joy and hugged the rat to his chest.
Elladan grinned as the mother rat and babies climbed up the
sheets onto the bed. "You have to care for them properly."
Elrond lectured his sons. "Keep them clean and fed and
happy." The twins responded with enthusiastic nods. "Are
you going to name him?" Elrond asked Elrohir. The younger
twin nodded.
"Oh
yes!" He grinned. "I already have! His name is Bill!"
All in all, Glorfindel thought as he left the room, he much
preferred balrogs.
THE
END
Sorry
it’s so short! I tried to make it longer, but it wasn’t
happening! Hope you like it!
