Title:   Enough for Tonight  (11-12/22)
Author: Aglarien
Type: FPS
Rating:  NC-17
Disclaimer: Alas, not mine.  Except for the cat. 
Warning:  AU.  
Pairing:  Erestor/Glorfindel
Summary:  The elves prepare for battle.


*~*~*~*~*
Part 11


Dawn found ten elves in Elrond’s office, in the final stages of planning both their attack 
and the defense of Imladris.  All were dressed in tight brown or black leather tunics and 
leggings.  Pieces of armor, helmets and weapons lay to one side of the room, carefully 
guarded by a resting black cat.

Elrond was speaking to Glorfindel and Erestor, as his sons, Caladir and four other elves 
chosen to lead listened.   “ I have been feeling uncomfortable about two things.  The first 
is placing only two hundred on the Eastern border, and the second is leaving Imladris 
itself near empty of warriors, except for the wounded.”

“What do you know, Elrond?” Erestor cocked his head and looked at Elrond.

“Nothing with certainty, Erestor, nothing with certainty.”

The house servant Amarion entered the room, and Erestor gestured toward the remains of 
their hastily consumed breakfast.  

Glorfindel hovered over the maps again.  “Very well.  I suggest we move one hundred off 
each of the North and South borders, and bring the total on the East to four hundred.  
That will give us four hundred on the North, South and East, keeping still only two 
hundred on the less vulnerable West.”

“And what of Imladris itself?  We must have a plan for its protection if any border is 
breeched.”  Elrond looked to his Seneschal and Chief Councilor.  

“Forgive me, my Lords.”  Amarion was clearly nervous as he spoke.  

Erestor knew Amarion would never interrupt such a meeting without good cause.  “Go 
ahead, Amarion, you may speak.”

“My Lords, if I may, I think you may have forgotten to consider all of your resources.”  
Elrond and Erestor motioned for him to continue.  “We all heard what is happening.    
Well, last night all the workers – servants, weavers, blacksmiths, scribes, cooks, 
musicians, everyone – well, we met out in the training fields, my Lords.  We know we’re 
not as skilled as our warriors, but we’ve all been trained to use bow, or sword, or knife.   
We want to help, my Lords.”  Amarion looked around the room, meeting the eyes of 
every elf.  “This is our home, and we are ready to die defending it.”

“You are correct, Amarion, we did forget.  Thank you for coming to me.”  Elrond 
extended his hand, clasping Amarion’s arm in a warrior’s greeting.  “Have you chosen a 
leader, or would you like me to assign one of our captains?”

“They chose me, my Lord.”  Amarion was nervous, but he never faltered, and never 
looked away.  “But we need more weapons, my Lord, and arrows, we need hundreds of 
arrows.”

Elrond nodded.  “Excellent.  They chose well.  You shall have all you need, my friend.   
Stay with us while we determine our final plans.”

Elrond took down a new map from his shelves and spread it out on his desk.  “How many 
are you, would you estimate, Amarion?”

“Nearly two hundred, my Lord”

Elrond asked Elrohir to find Lindir and bring him to the office, and taking a quill in hand, 
began to mark the map.  Glorfindel and Erestor stood on either side of him, occasionally 
pointing to another section of the map, which Elrond would then mark.

When Elrohir returned with the minstrel, Elrond addressed him.  “Lindir, my friend, I 
will assume you know what is happening?”

“Aye, my Lord.  I plan to defend our home with the others here.”

“Thank you, my friend, for that is exactly what you will do.  You I place in charge of the 
house and all within it.  Now, this is what I want you to do,” and Elrond proceeded to 
give his instructions, occasionally assisted by Erestor or Glorfindel. 

All of the workers who would defend Imladris received a new name.  They were now 
dubbed “defenders”.  Thirty were to be handpicked by Lindir and assigned to protect the 
house and healing hall.  All elflings and their mothers, all elf maidens and wives, all hurt 
or wounded elves and any other that could not fight were to be housed in the Last 
Homely House or the healing house and put under the protection Lindir and his 
defenders.   

“Now go, my friend, pick your elves and start gathering everyone into the house and the 
healing wings.”  Elrond, Erestor, Glorfindel, and the twins all embraced Lindir, and he 
left to carry out Elrond’s wishes.

“Now, Amarion, come look at this map.”  Elrond led the elf to his desk..  “You will place 
your defenders, here, here, and here.”  Elrond indicated all the marks on the map.  “If the 
Orcs break through our perimeters, you and your elves will be our last defense.  
Understood?”  

“Aye, my Lord, we will not fail you.”

Elrond placed his hand on the elf’s shoulder.  “I have faith in you, Amarion, and in your 
defenders.  Take the map with you in case you need it.  Gather your defenders and go to 
the armory.  Take whatever you will need.  Our warriors are already prepared with what 
they need.  Should any question you, tell them it is on my orders.”   Amarion accepted 
the map and turned to leave.

“Amarion, hold a moment please,” Erestor said.  Walking over to where Tinnu was 
laying, he picked up the cat, held him against his chest, and placed his lips against the 
soft head.  “Keep safe. Tinnu,” he whispered.  “I will return, little friend.”  Handing the 
cat to Amarion, he said, “Will you ask your dear lady to please take care of Tinnu for me, 
my friend.”

“Aye, Lord Erestor.  Have no fear, Diwen will care for him and make sure he is safe.”  
Amarion’s spouse was a healer.  He would stop in the healing house on the way to the 
armory, and deliver Tinnu into her care.    Bowing to his Lords, he took Tinnu and 
hurried out.

“One final thing before we leave.”  Elrond had everyone’s instant attention.  “If any of 
the borders are attacked, you must immediately send runners for reinforcements from the 
others, except for the West border.  We still will have only 200 there, so they will not be 
able to provide reinforcements unless it is absolutely necessary.  No waiting, understood?  
You immediately send runners the minute you see Orcs approaching.”

The six elves who would control the borders answered, “Aye, my Lord.”

“Good.  Let’s move.”  The ten elves gathered their gear and assisted each other, putting 
on armor and weapons.

Glorfindel was helping Erestor tie on his chest plates.  “Erestor, promise me you will be 
careful and not do anything extraordinarily brave, please?”

Erestor lifted a hand to stroke Glorfindel’s cheek.  “Aye, love, if you will do the same.”  

Glorfindel nodded.  “I promise you, husband, if you should fall, know that I will not be 
far behind you.  I will find you in Mandos’ Halls.”

“As will I, husband.”

Outside homes and businesses had emptied.  The marketplace was deserted.  Warriors 
had helped arm the defenders.   Defenders and warriors gathered their families and 
friends and herded everyone to the Last Homely House or the healing house.  Inside the 
healing house, healers and even some of the wounded helped prepare bandages, salves 
and potions.  All would be in readiness if needed.

Lindir and Amarion stood in the courtyard, swords girded at their waists, knives and 
bows strapped on their backs, waiting for Elrond and the others to depart.  The entire 
valley was assembled.  

Elrond and the others mounted their waiting horses.  All was ready.

Lindir began to sing a prayer asking for the protection of Elbereth; choruses of elven 
voices soon joined him.  

Prayer completed, Elrond paused and looked around him.  He nodded to his sons, the four 
other elves chosen to defend the borders, Lindir and Amarion.  Raising his voice, he 
called, “Everyone, move out!”



*~*~*~*~*
Part 12

Diwen was so worried about her husband, Amarion, that she was having a hard time 
concentrating on her work.   Tinnu decided that this elf obviously needed him, and was 
determined to stay by her side, so together they moved through the healing house, 
checking on elves.  

Some of the wounded elves decided they were in good enough condition to aid in the 
defense of Imladris.  Maybe they couldn’t walk, but they would be just fine sitting on an 
upper balcony somewhere, armed with bow and arrow.  And so almost one hundred more 
were added to the defenders.  Most of the wounded were carried to places around the Last 
Homely House and healing house for ease of transport, allowing the others to be 
deployed to positions around the deserted marketplace and homes.

Elladan, Elrohir, and the four other border leaders were huddled together talking.  
Catching their father’s uneasiness about the East border, Elladan and Elrohir wanted a 
faster method of communication than runners if Orcs appeared.  They settled on the idea 
of tying messages to arrows, which would reach their destination much faster than 
runners.  They would utilize runners as well, in case one or the other method failed.  That 
settled, they moved out.

~~~*~~~

Elrond, flanked by Erestor, Glorfindel and Caladir, was in the lead of the three hundred 
best warriors, moving east toward the Misty Mountains. After several hours of hard 
riding, Glorfindel and Caladir rode to a rise to investigate what lay ahead of them.  
Reaching the top and looking into the distance, they instantly grew concerned, and 
signaled Elrond and Erestor to join them.
“Look.  There.”  Glorfindel pointed.  The others could easily see the tracks left by the 
passage of the Orcs.  The ground had been pummeled and torn.  

“There are, what, three groups?” Elrond asked in amazement.  

“Aye, it looks like one is still in front of us, and the two others have flanked us, both 
heading to 
our borders,” Glorfindel responded.

“Do we return to Imladris, my Lords?” Caladir asked.

“Nay.”  Erestor waited for Elrond’s agreement before continuing.  “We trust in the 
warriors and the others there.  This threat must be ended, or we will never be safe.  We 
must make Sauron rue the day he decided to threaten us.”

Glorfindel sighed.  “I just wish there was some way to tell their number.  But from the 
ground, I would say it’s large.”

Elrond nodded.  “Aye. We had better send out scouts ahead of us a ways.  We cannot 
afford to be surprised when we find them, nor let them find us.”

Glorfindel chose several warriors most skilled in scouting in stealth and sent them ahead, 
while the others followed at a slower pace.

Toward dusk, they decided to make camp and await the return of the scouts.  Glorfindel 
and Caladir set a ring of sentries around the camp, and ordered the elves to remain as 
quiet as possible, and light no fires that could be seen from a distance.  After a meal of 
way bread and fruit, the elves rested, waiting for the return of the scouts.

It was an hour or so after full darkness when the scouts returned.

“We found them, my Lord, no more than a half a league in front of us.  They’ve camped 
for the night.  We estimate they number five hundred.”  Another of the scouts added, 
“The earlier reports are correct, my Lord.  These Orcs are different than those we have 
dealt with before.  They are larger and appear to be stronger.”

“You have done well.  Go get something to eat and take some rest now.”  Glorfindel 
dismissed the elves, and joined his friends.  “Elrond, Erestor?  Did you hear?  We need to 
plan.  I would suggest we begin to move an hour or two before dawn begins to break.  
We need to catch them before they break camp.”

“Agreed,” Erestor said.  “We leave the horses and supplies here and move quietly, on 
foot.”

“Aye.”

“What are you thinking of for an attack plan, Glorfindel?” Elrond asked.

Glorfindel first moved them to the other side of camp, sheltered in front of their troops, 
where he could have light to show the others what he had in mind.  Then, lighting a very 
small torch, he picked up a twig, cleared a spot on the ground, and began to draw.

“Here’s the Orc camp.”  He drew a circle.  “We divide the troops into three groups.  One 
slightly smaller group anchored here.” A line on their side of the Orc camp.  “The other 
two groups move silently in a flanking movement, one on each side.”  A line was drawn 
from the end of the first group, around the side of the Orc camp and extending slightly 
beyond, and a matching line on the other side.  “We catch them in enfilade fire, (1) as the 
flanking lines move to encircle the rear, driving them into our anchor line.”

Erestor and Elrond grinned.

“I do love the way your mind works, my sweet,” and Erestor bestowed a brief kiss on 
Glorfindel’s lips.

Elrond chuckled.  “Come on, you two love birds.  We’ve got some troops to brief.”

Tbc…



(1)	The term enfilade fire originated in the Napoleonic Wars, and actually refers to 
gunfire, a sweeping gunfire, although I can’t see why it wouldn’t work for arrow 
fire just as well, so I decided to include it here.  When you flank an enemy, 
instead of having just one row of the enemy exposed to you, you basically have 
the entire length of the enemy’s force.  Enfilade fire after a flanking movement is 
particularly deadly because of the number of targets you have.  Glorfindel’s plan 
flanks the Orcs on both sides, then both lines of elves fire into the enemy 
camp/lines wreaking havoc, gradually encircling the Orcs.  The circling 
movement on the back side of the Orc camp should drive what’s left of the Orcs 
into the anchoring front line.  The elves on the anchor line stop/kill anyone left, 
and battle over!  At least that’s the plan.