Disclaimer: Okay so I don't own any part of LotR *sob* why must you keep reminding me!

Okay so this is my fist fic, so be nice! I haven't read all the books so if something isn't accurate don't hesitate to correct me! So I hope you enjoy =) And don't forget to review!

True to ones heart

~*Chapter One*~

Estel ran down the silent hallway, only the echo of the bare feet slapping against the cold marble floor could be heard. His vision was hazy from the salty tears streaming down his cheeks. He was angry with his father. Elladan and Elrohir went on a hunting trip every spring. And every year Estel tried to go, but it was always the was too young and inexperienced to go.

It wasn't fair! He made it to his room, where he opened the door, and slammed it furiously behind him before sulking over to his bed where he collapsed onto it and let out a small muffled sob. It was unfair with the way he was treated because he wasn't an elf. The child lay there for hours not moving a muscle, before he finally sat up on his bed. He got off and walked over to a chair where his dark green cloak was draped over. He wrapped the cloak over his shoulders, and slid on his boots, and grabbed his pack.

Slowly and quietly he made his way into the kitchen to fill up his canteen with water and grabbed a few pieces of lembas bread, since he didn't know how long he was going to be gone. Shoving everything into his bag, he crept into the palace gardens. Before making with way to the forest, he took one more glance at the place he called home.

There was a faint light coming from one of the higher rooms, Elrond's room. Tears welled up in his eyes once again. He sighed sadly and gazed up at the night sky trying to clear his eyes, he closed them and took a deep breath. He'd show them that he was no baby; he could handle himself. Within minutes he had left the safety of Rivendell, and entered the depth of the woods, which he knew absolutely nothing about.

Elrond sat at his desk starring at the blank sheet of paper before him; sighing softly he rubbed his tired eyes. His mind kept wandering to Estel. Poor Estel, he tried so hard to prove to everyone that he wasn't a child, and he could be just as brave as the elven warriors.

But there was still so much danger that Estel did not yet know about, and what if something happened to him while he was away with his older sons? What if he got lost, injured or ? The elf lord let out another distressed sigh, he could not bear to think about losing Estel, and it would break his heart. Ever since the young child came to Rivendell, Elrond had considered the child as his son and loved him dearly.

Glancing at the door, he wondered if he should go and see if Estel was all right, but thought against it as he remembered the amount of work that he had to accomplish. With that in mind he pushed his thoughts of Estel and continued to stare at the blank sheet in front of him. He needed to finish this letter this letter and send it to King Thranduil of Mirkwood, who was one of his closest friends. In fact Thranduil's only son Legolas would be arriving any day now with word from the isolated forests, and bring news of the orcs, who had been making themselves known; over the past few years they were traveling beyond their borders and into Mirkwood, and even near the boundary of Rivendell's forests.

Placing his quill down on his desk, he smiled, delighted to be seeing the young elf again. It had been at least 5 centuries since he had the pleasure of Legolas' presence. His brow furrowed as he recalled the not so pleasant circumstances under which Elrond had first encountered the prince. Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.

A knock came from outside his chamber, distracting him from his thoughts of Legolas. He gazed up at the door, wondering who else would be up so late at night.

"Enter."

Elrond was most surprised to see his two sons, Elladan and Elrohir, walk into the room. Both were pale, neither said a word, something had happened. Elrond frowned as he continued to stare at his sons.

"What is wrong?" He searched their eyes for some kind of hint to as what happened. But deep in his heart he knew what this was all about. " is Estel. He has disappeared from the palace grounds." Elladan's usually strong voice was a soft, unsteady whisper. Elrond's heart clenched as the news felt like a dagger to his heart. It was a good thing that he was already sitting because his strength left him, he felt numb, and was unable to stand. "Are.y.. ? checked..everywhere?" He managed to choke out the word, stumbling over them.

How could this be happening? Elrohir nodded at his father's question, as he went over to where his father sat and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder for support. Elrond's head slumped into the elf lord's hands. Where could Estel have done? Did he dare go into the woods? Estel had no idea how dangerous the forests were, especially during the night. The young human had no experience, no weapons, no knowledge of the woods, he was an open target!

"Ada?" Elrohir frowned at his father, concerned for the elf. Elrond took his eyes off the ground and gazed up to see two worried faces glaring back at him. "It is all my fault," the soft whisper was not ignored by the two younger elves, who were not at all impresses to hear their father say such things. As they exchanged glances, they turned their attention back to Elrond, who had gone back into his daze starring down at the floor. Elrohir strengthened his grip.

"No." he managed to sob out, "It is no one's fault!" The younger elf's voice faltered, and Elladan joined his brother, kneeling down next to him rubbing his back in small circles soothing him. "There are guards already searching the forest and every room in the palace. We will find Estel," he said, trying to comfort his silent father.

Elladan motioned to his brother that he wanted to talk alone, Elrohir nodded, and the two picked themselves off the ground and headed out of Elrond's chambers, closing the door behind them so they were hidden from Elrond's ears. Turning to his younger brother, Elladan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm going to go out and help with the search for Estel," Elladan held up his hand as Elrohir started to protest. "You stay here with father, he shouldn't be alone."

Elladan was about to turn when he felt a hand grab a hold of his arm, "Estel, he'll be fine right?" Elladan looked hard into the eyes of his brother, who was looking for some kind of encouraging word. "Yes. He is strong, especially for his age. Besides he can't have gone, he just needs to blow off some steam. He'll probably wander back around lunch, starving." His heart lifted as his heard his brother chuckle, "I hope you are right, for father's sake. I don't know how we could deal with never seeing him again." "Don't talk like that! Now I shall be back soon." Elrohir nodded and let go of Elladan's arm and watched him leave down the dark hallway.

Elrond slowly lifted himself off of his chair, and glided over to the balcony, which looked out towards the large forest. Estel, how could you have been so thoughtless? But Elrond knew, he knew why the young child had run away.

How could he have been so blind? Elrond felt like kicking himself. The young human always thrived on the taste of adventure, but Elrond had always been too over protected to allow for such a thing to happen.

"Oh Estel, please hold on." They couldn't lose him. Ever since the young the heir of Islidur had been brought to Rivendell, Elrond had raised him and had always thought of him as his actual son. Estel had become part of their family. Even if Estel was human, it didn't matter to him, Elrond held him close to his heart and that's where he would stay for eternity.

Hearing the door open, he turned to see Elrohir returning to his side. Elrond met his son and pulled him into his arms, and they stayed like that, giving support to each other.

Estel groaned, his feet had begun to hurt, how long had he been walking? Estel had no idea. A twig from behind snapped, Estel's eyes widened as he came to a stop. He spun around, fear sprang into his heart and his breath quickened as he came to the horrifying realization that something was following him, him without any protection to defend himself in a forest that his brothers had said terrible monsters roamed. And to make matters worse-he was lost.

Tears welled up in his eyes once again. He tried to calm himself, saying that it was only his imagination playing tricks on him, and so continued walking. This was not a good idea, he thought.

He was lost, never before had he traveled this far away from his home, and at night. And no one knew where he was, Estel wrapped his cloak tighter around him as the cold wind set in. Stumbling blindly along the forests trail, trying to find his way around in the dark. Estel swallowed hard and he snorted to himself, him trying to show everyone that he could take care of himself. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to go off alone in a part of Rivendell he had never seen before, and in the middle of the night!

Maybe if he just turned around and try to make his way back to the gates, then no one would have to know. As he was about to turn around another tree twig snapped, he froze. Now that wasn't his imagination, something indeed was following behind him-and getting closer, he could hear the faint footsteps, and who ever it was wasn't alone! Swiftly Estel hid in the nearest bushes and crouched close to the ground so as not to be seen. He held his breath as he waited in silence, heart pounding in his chest. A few seconds later, out from the darkness came a group of five orcs.

Estel's eyes widened and he clapped his hand over his mouth to muffle his small gasp of surprise. He remembered Elrohir and Elladan telling him stories of these horrible creatures, and they had always frightened Estel the most. These stories were about the orcs hunting beings, torturing them and keeping them as slaves. Elladan said most who have been captured, were never seen alive again. Estel shivered as just the thought of running into these ugly, cruel creatures face to face terrified him. He watched as the orcs disappeared from his vision, but he dared not make a move.

Orcs never before dared to trespass into Elf territory, well, that's what he had been told, so why was it that the orcs were traveling here? Finally after what seemed like hours to him, came out of his hiding spot and continued on his way in the opposite direction of the orcs and hopefully back towards home.

He longed to be held by his father. He missed his family. His heart pounded against his chest, never had he been his scared in his life, and in a strange way, it almost excited him, and almost craved more, as he recalled his brother's also telling him, of their own adventures and run-ins with the orcs.

Walking along the dark path wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, he had tripped a few times over some rocks and roots sticking out from the ground. In the distance there was a slight glow, of a fire maybe? Estel strayed towards the light, and stopped looking where he was going.

He tripped over a large tree root and felt himself falling towards the ground. Putting his hands in front of him to lessen his fall, he hit the ground with a light thud, but what he didn't count on was being on a hill. Estel tumbled head first down the steep hill, everything was a blur.

He came to a stop at the end of the hill, where he stayed for a few minutes trying to piece together what had happened. His muscles ached, his cloak ripped and he was going to have one horrible headache later on. As he got up he could hear a heavy breathing over him.

Looking up, which he then regretted against, was a large ugly orc. He had come face to face with his nightmare, he had accidentally stumbled upon an orc camp! Another two orcs were already getting up and heading towards them. The frightened boy spun on his heels, and hit the orc on the jaw with his bag, surprising the orc, and angering him also.

That wasn't good.

Estel's eyes darted around the area, looking desperately for a way to escape, but his heart sank as he realized there wasn't any, and began to panic. He turned to face his opponent who had raised his large arm ready to strike the frail boy. Estel dropped and quickly ducked in between the orc's legs. Crawling away, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted farther from the orc. Looking behind him, he slammed himself into something hard and rebounded off of it.

Slightly dazed, he glanced up to see what he hit, expecting to see a tree. Estel gasped, it was another orc! And this one was enormous! His hands were the size of Estel's head. The orc towered over him, who managed to swallow back a small gasp. The creature stared at him,

"Uh oh."

Estel used his sore muscles in his legs and arms to shove himself away from the orc, who in turn took two large steps and picked the boy up by his collar and smirked, pleased to see the young boy trembling before him. Estel struggled against the grip, pulling away trying to get free, but he was no match for a creature who was more then three times his size. The orcs hands tightened around his neck, cutting off his air supply. Estel gasped, as he tried to get air, but he couldn't breath. Feeling the air getting squeezed from his throat and lungs, Estel renewed his struggles against the beast that held him off the ground. The creature's twisted face was a blur of black and through his misty eyes.

Finally the orc dropped him, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap. Estel's hands flew to his neck, as he struggled for breath. Completely forgetting about the orc, until he heard a snarl and his head shot up to see the orc's sword raised high above his head.

Estel squeezed his eyes shut, and in his mind he saw his father and brother, oh how he wished he could see them again. The orc brought the hilt of the sword down hard behind the boy's neck.

Estel let out a small cry of pain, before darkness over took him and fell to muddy forest ground unconscious.

TBC...