The wolf sought to sink his teeth in the arrogant March Warden. How dare he think such evil thoughts about his Lady, Blaze growled in his mind, the link their Lady created allowing them all to hear his sentiments, the other dire wolves agreeing.
Blaze step forward again, his growl more menacing than before. His purpose shown through his fire eyes, ready to attack the bastard that thought himself so great he could threaten an innocent woman, even if it had only been in his mind. Elves¸ he thoughtbitterly¸ the wisest of all beings? Bullshit. Try the stupidest of all beings. This will be the end of the arrogant March Warden, his reputation will be gone, injured by a Dire Wolf. Blaze snarled once more, before he jumped at Haldir, he moved quickly but just grazed the warden as he came down. Turning to pounce again he growled.
He is the March Warden, River snickered through the link.
Blaze growled again, getting ready to pounce when his Lady spoke.
"Blaze, calm yourself my friend. If the March Warden of Lothlorien wants to attack me, he may as is his right. He fears for his Lord and Lady. He has yet to determine if I am a threat or not, and threatening him will not help, my friend. Besides, we both know that if attacked I will not go down without a fight, and if I fall, you can be sure I will take every ellon here with me to the halls of Mandos. However, Lord Haldir is not a kin slayer. He would not have attacked me; he simply has to think of every possible scenario as the March Warden. He is after all the protector of all the elves in Lothlorien." The Lady said with what looked to be the least bit of interest as she was looking around at their surroundings.
Haldir stood watching her, his face the impassive mask he carefully constructed many millennia ago for diplomatic reasons, and to hide the torrent of feelings hidden beneath it. Only his brother's and his Lord and Lady ever saw him when some version of the mask wasn't firmly in place. He now found himself wondering who this Lady was, and how she possessed the power to read his mind. As far as he knew there was only one elleth to possess the power, and that was the Lady Galadriel, not even her daughter Celebrain held this power, no this Lady before him was quite a mystery, and he was determined to piece together who she was, and why she held so much power one could feel it radiate off of her. He looked at the strange elleth again and noted her hair to be dark locks of ebony in the sunlight, and found himself wondering if she was of Elrond's line, or one of the Noldorin elves. His thoughts were interrupted by her musical voice.
"I'm so sorry for my friends here" she said looking at Haldir and it was then that he found himself looking into the most beautiful emerald eyes he had ever seen. "I am trying to figure out where we are. That might give Mountain here a good idea of where we should go. Also worry not for your Lord and Lady; they are on their way here. They felt the surge of my power and now wonder who is nearby. Fear not they are in no danger from me."
"You are on the edge of the forests past the mountain pass. We are but a day's ride from Rivendale." Haldir replied.
"An elleth that does not know where she is," Rumil whispered "She must be young, though hopefully not so young that she won't want to have some fun. She is beautiful and strange. I'd say quite the exotic beauty."
Orophin chuckled nodding his head in agreement when a growl came from the grey wolf in front of them.
It was Mountain who spoke however, "Refrain from talking about our Lady as if she is some prize, something to be had and thrown away, as if she is something that you own. We do not disrespect your Lord and Lady by speaking of them in such a discourteous and disgusting way. Next time you speak in such an insulting manner I will not restrain Blaze from permanently removing your larynx." He growled at them.
"Enough," came the ice cold voice of the Lady before them, her voice going from soft rain to blood chilling ice. "Males will talk, that is not of any importance. We need to make for Rivendale. It is not safe out in the open like this." She turned in the direction of where Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn rode towards them waiting, in what she vainly hoped would be a few minutes of silence.
"My Lady, they can't speak of you in this way. We are not on Earth any longer, and here you deserve respect! If they knew who you were they would not speak of you in such a way, in fact they would be groveling at your feet right now." Mountain exclaimed, speaking the thoughts of the other four dire wolves present, although she already knew their sentiments through their link. Mountain's outburst was obviously for the Lothlorien wardens present around them.
Clarity signed. Out of the fire and into the frying pan. Now with the orcs dead she hoped that they could calm down, and find some place to rest, however that seemed to not be what the fates had decided on. Fate, that cruel mistress that always led Clarity from one danger to another. She turned back around to face Mountain and the other dire wolves. "Why should they know who I am, if I cannot recall who I am? I have no memory, so I will not ask for a respect I am not sure I am owed. Not until I earn it." Her voice was hard on the last sentence and left no room for further debate, she turned again, waiting patiently for the rulers of Lothlorien and the wardens who remained with them to get to where she was standing.
Haldir stood watching the exchange. Her comments only made him question more who she was, and why would these skin changers follow her so devotedly. He had lived a long life, but had never heard of such a thing before. He beckoned to the other wardens still hiding behind a cluster of rocks. They ran easily to him, Sarthelion going directly to him.
"I have never seen such skill in an elleth before," Sarthelion said to Haldir. "Even I had trouble following her movements. I am sure those orcs did not see her move at all, dead before they could lift an arm to fight back."
"Yes, I saw. She is skilled. The question now is who is she." Haldir replied.
The company stood in silence as they waited for the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien to join them. The dire wolves surrounded Clarity as they waited, ensuring that she would be protected from these other wardens, refusing to allow her to meet any form of danger, even from the elves. The dire wolves knew of the elves history, of the kin slayings and how they swore it would never happen again, and although the kin slayings stopped, and those who participated in it treated as pariahs, the elves had little faith in the immortal race, for they may have stopped killing each other, but in all their wisdom, they allowed evil to live on.
You trust so little my friends, their Lady whispered in their link, can you not try and be a little more trusting? These elves could be our allies and friends. The Lord and Lady may even know who I am. They could answer questions I have.
In all the long years they spent protecting Lady Clarity she had never asked them who she was. It was the bond they had before they were brought to that accursed Earth that held them together, and it had been her love for them, her unwavering trust and loyalty that led her into danger from the despicable Federal Agency that wished to use them as lab rats and lock their Lady away in order to find some way to use her DNA to allow all of those humans to live for eternity. Mountain shuddered again as he thought of the one time the Feds had actually gotten her. He would never forget the fear that spiked through their link as they tied her down to the tables and locked her in a room, so men in white coats could run tests on her. In all the long years of their unwavering friendship, he had never felt such unrelenting fear from her and the dire wolves swore to get her our as soon as possible. Ever since then she hated any form of cage, or prison and could not be in small spaces without the absolute certainty that she could get out. Mountain growled at his thoughts, had they stayed longer in that accursed world he would have ended the lives of every person responsible for making her feel that way, but even as he thought this, he felt the approval from the dire wolves and the disagreement from his Lady. No, he thought, she would not have allowed us to the end the lives of those despicable men. Too pure is her heart, too good, just as she has always been, just like she was when she was here, when she was home, and elves looked to her for protection and wisdom.
The Lord and Lady of Lothlorien finally joined them with the wardens Haldir had left behind to defend them. Lord Celeborn helped his Lady gracefully dismount from her horse, the two a beautiful slivery blond couple, radiating power, wisdom and grace.
"So it was you my friends," Lord Celeborn said to Clarity, "It has been a very long time since I have felt such power. We thought you to be dead. There are not words to express how happy we are to see you have returned to us. Your people will surely celebrate your return."
"Sure does not remember who she is, she does not remember who we are. Her journey to the other world has clouded her mind, removing all traces of this world for her." Lady Galadriel said. "It was magic that locked your memories, perhaps it is magic that will unlock them as well. Mithrandir is supposed to go to Rivendale for Arwen's begetting day celebration. Perhaps he will be able to supply a solution for your memory loss my dear friend."
Clarity smiled, "I must be old then for us to be friends. I'd have to say I'm older than King Thranduril at the very least, though I may be older than that, if the look on Mountain's face is any indication." She finished laughing softly. "Come we must leave of Rivendale now, I sense a dark presence not too far away, and I'd rather be within the safety of Rivendale than out in the open when it passes by."
With that small command, the Lord and Lady gave the order to head to Rivendale, as Mountain shifted into his wolf form again, allowing his Lady to climb on his back. She looked at the wardens who did not have horses and smiled.
"You may ride on the backs of my friends. They are big and two of you should fit. I promise they will be nice." Their Lady commanded.
With that the wardens wearily climbed onto the dire wolves they deemed skin changers and their company was off. All of the wardens watched in amazement at the speed these wolves got to, easily out running the horses. At this rate they would make it to Rivendale far faster than Haldir, Galadriel or Celeborn had anticipated, they could only hope the wolves would stop before Lord Glorfindel's defenses sprang to action and shot them all.