Disclamer-this is so annoying...no, i don't own LOTR, Happy?
Chapter 4: Agutrot
Gilraen was hungry…and not just hungry…she was really hungry. Even elves could only go so long without the essentials of food and water. She looked in the direction of the other horse and the voice. She forced down her pride, it would not help her here and now. "I'm hungry." She said softly.
The voice chuckled. "I was wondering when you would admit to your needs." He said softly. "You have gone two weeks without any food. Alright…let's get you some food."
Gilraen dismounted slowly after the voice did. The voice handed her a piece of lembas, elfish whey bread. Gilraen hardly dared to believe that her captor had lembas. Few mortals carried the stuff. It almost had to mean that her captor was an elf.
Gilraen tentatively took the lembas that was placed in her outstretched hand. "It's not poisoned" The voice said. "I have no intention of causing you any further pain until we arrive at our location."
Gilraen bit into the lembas and relaxed slightly. The food made a serious difference. The break did not last as long as Gilraen would have liked for soon enough the voice was kicking her lightly to get her moving.
Gilraen sat on her horse nervously. She was able to smell salt water and heard the gently lapping of water against the shore over the oddly mixed sounds of the village that they had entered. Some of the voices she recognized were soft and fluid, like elf voices, while others were rough and course. She shut her eyes tightly as her sea-longing came viciously to the front of her mind. How could any elf live in a place like this? Tears began to flow down Gilraen's face as she remembered the last time she was near the ocean. She had been seeing her mother off…it had been awful. She could still hear her childish cries in her head.
"Naneth!" A tiny blonde girl cried. "Naneth, please don't go!"
Celebrian lifted her daughter off the ground and held her. "I am sorry, Gilraen," She whispered. She didn't know how to explain to her daughter that she couldn't stay in Middle Earth any longer. "I will see you again." She promised softly. "When many years have passed you will see me again, but for now you must stay here." Gilraen buried her head in her mother's neck.
Celebrian turned to the twins. "My sons, I am so proud of you. You have grown into fine elves." She smiled comfortingly at the twins tears and gently brushed them away. "Do try not to cause too much mischief for your father." The twins nodded and embraced their mother around Gilraen. Celebrian turned to her older daughter. She embraced her before speaking. "I am truly sorry for leaving you with so much responsibility, Arwen," She said softly. "I trust that you will take care of your sister."
"Of course, Naneth." Arwen said softly.
Celebrian gave her elder daughter a proud look that only a mother could give. Then she turned to her husband and the elf lord took her into his arms with Gilraen still between them. Elrond quickly placed a kiss on his love's lips and took his daughter. The small girl clung to her father and stared at her mother with unmasked confusion. Celebrian leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her youngest daughter's head. She gave her family a last longing look before turning away from them and boarding the elegant ship that would bare her to Valinor. She watched her family, and they watched her, as the anchor was taken up and the ship began to drift away.
They did not travel far before the horses came to a stop. When they dismounted Gilraen knew that she was standing on the gravelly sand of the beach. A strangled sob escaped her lips. She did not want to be at the ocean. "Why did you bring me here?" She ground out.
"I was under the impression that you wanted to see again." The voice said as if it was a question. Gilraen did not respond but she listened as there was a quiet splash. She fought with fear as her hands were held behind her and she was pulled down to the sand. She felt her eyes pried open and shrieked in pain as a burning liquid was poured into her eyes. Gilraen bit down on her tongue and forced herself to remain still. She guessed that the liquid was salt water.
As the water stopped pouring Gilraen blinked her eyes a few times and the world began to come into better focus. "Salt water?" She gasped out. "The cure was salt water?"
The voice wore a hood and he chuckled. "Yes." He said mildly as he retied Gilraen's wrists with her offering no fight. She was led to the horse that she had been riding for the entirety of their travels. It was a pretty roan mare with a domed nose. It had its neck bent slightly so that it was facing the ground. Its brown eyes were slightly sad. Gilraen found it much easier to mount and ride the horse when she could see.
Gilraen was disgusted when she saw the entirety of the town. She could not believe this place. She was absolutely appalled with the people here. There was every possible race in this village, from elves to dwarves and men to hobbits. But, worst of all there were orcs and uruk-hai. The theory of the town was stable but the orcs and uruk-hai were nothing but pure, unadulterated evil and they would never live in a peaceful society. This society had to be evil. Gilraen starred down at her horse. She could hear mild chuckling all around her. The voice laid a calloused hand on her thigh. "This is Agutrot (Ajhootroa)" He purred. "Do you like your new home?" He asked.
Gilraen narrowed her eyes and refused to respond. "Are we going back to this?" The voice asked silkily. Gilraen gave a subtle nod. "At least you're honest." The voice hummed softly.
The voice stopped the horses at a small house towards the center of town from what Gilraen could tell. He dismounted and Gilraen followed his example. The house was constructed out of what appeared to be drift-wood like the rest of the town. Gilraen was pushed into the house by the cloaked male. She had to admit, rather grudgingly that the home was furnished rather comfortably. There were elevated cushions on the floor in a sitting room that were similar to the cushions that Legolas had in Mirkwood palace. Gilraen felt a pang in her heart. She missed Legolas terribly and knew that he, along with the rest of her family, would be quite frantic by now.
Legolas climbed through the ancient trees that guided his sheltered him from the already chill wind. It had been a month and he was not as optimistic as he had been when the search had begun. The elf-prince honestly didn't think that his beloved was within the perimeters that Eldarion had assigned but he didn't dare leave, just in case.
Legolas had to squint through the pitch black of the forest. It was so dark and oddly chill, even for early winter. He sat onto the branch and clasped his cloak around his neck. His thoughts first turned to the human lad who was also out in this weather. Even though Legolas knew that his nephew had the sense and knowledge of how to keep himself warm he still worried. If an elf could feel the chill in the air, it must be positively freezing for any human. Legolas wondered how Eldarion's father, his best friend was feeling right now. He hoped that Námotur was doing alright. There was little doubt that the elven blood that flowed in his veins from his mother was helping him and all of the other children keep warm. Legolas' thoughts then fell to the thing he had been trying to force from his mind, his wife. He closed his eyes and with a sad smile recalled her soft grin that seemed to make the sun shine dull.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Legolas reached into his pack and took out a piece of lembas. He bit into the wafer and chewed thoughtfully. He wished that he was doing more. Unfortunately, he didn't know what else he could do without dropping his current search. Legolas let out an audible sigh and decided that he should take a rest and continue the next day.
Eldarion couldn't help but be somewhat suspicious of the pair that he had seen before. The woman hadn't seemed sick…in the ill sense. She had seemed delusional and frightened. Eldarion felt that he would have known if the woman was truly ill. He had watched his father take care of many of ill and injured people, for, as his father said, the hands of a king are the hands of a healer. So Eldarion kept about a day behind them. He had sent a letter to his uncle Legolas asking him to come and cover his assigned area. Eldarion had also asked a pair of young riders from Rohan, perhaps a year his junior, to cover Legolas current area. As loathe as Eldarion was to jumble everything so, he felt that the people knew something about his aunt and if worse came to worse he needed to have the best back up, who he could trust with everything, and that meant his uncle, Legolas.
Eldarion continued to follow the couple at his slow pace, backing off when he thought that he was getting to close. He hoped that Legolas would receive his letter soon. He felt like he was leaving his back open. He reined Loki in and dismounted smoothly. It was about time to take a short rest. He unbuckled the leather tube that held his maps and poured over the parchment for the millionth time. Eldarion pulled out a quill and ink well and he dipped the eagle feather into the ink and continued tracing his current path on the map.
On his second day of following the couple, Eldarion noticed that they turned off of the main road and onto a path that Eldarion would have missed if he hadn't been directly following their trail. When he had checked the map that evening, Eldarion had noticed that the path they had taken was not on the map. He made a note to himself to draw in the trail and put in whatever came at the end. It was quite troublesome, but it only made Eldarion's belief that they were up to something all the more stronger.
Gilraen was pushed roughly up the stairs by her captor and led to a room that had a door that was firmly barred. The voice, as Gilraen decided his title would stay, unlocked the door and shoved her in. Gilraen looked around. The room looked like the rest of the home, quite comfortable. She stood where she was as the voice came in behind her. "What do you think of your new home, my gem?" The voice asked.
"This will never be my home." Gilraen said softly.
The voice sighed. "I assumed as much." He whispered, setting a hand on her hip and kissing her neck. "Though, eventually, it will be the only place you remember." Gilraen turned and gave the man a solid look. "Oh, Gilraen," The elf flinched at the male using her name for once. "You never wondered who it was that drugged you and sent you to that healer in the first place." He stated smoothly. He reached up and pulled down his hood with a satisfied smirk.
"No," Gilraen whispered as she recognized the elf, backing up in fear. She shook her head as tears gathered. "Why do you keep coming after me? Why will you not leave me alone?"
Taranel reached forward and grabbed Gilraen's chin in a bruising grip. He had a demonic smile on his face as he spoke. "Because my gem," he whispered in her ear as Gilraen stood frozen. "You and I were meant to be together."
As he pulled away and turned to leave Gilraen spat at him. Taranel turned and backhanded her, but as Gilraen laid on the ground, starring up at him she whispered, "You are a sick excuse for one of our race-I will never be with you."
"You say that now my gem." Taranel said. "But shortly, you will have no choice."
Gilraen glared as he left but as the door was barred she let herself cry. "Please hurry, Legolas," She whispered, "We don't have much time."
Legolas was still perched in his tree when he saw a carrier pigeon come towards him. He reached up his arm to give the bird a place to land. He looked at the name it was addressed to and saw that it had indeed been sent to him. He frowned and took the letter from the bird.
Dear Uncle Legolas,
This is Eldarion, I ran into a suspicious couple the other day and am currently tracking them. I need you to go to quadrant 4c and cover for me. I am certain that the couple knows something about Auntie Gilraen and I need to know that someone I trust, and Gilraen trusts, unconditionally has my back if something goes wrong.
I will be in touch,
Eldarion
Legolas' brows were creased. This was indeed quite odd, but Eldarion was in charge when it came to these matters and he would do what was asked of him. Legolas quickly scrawled a letter to have one of the scouts on stand bye take his quadrant. Then he stood, stretched and leapt from the branch hurrying to Eldarion's quadrant.
Gilraen laid on the floor crying for close to an hour before she pulled herself up. She looked around her accommodations and had to again admit that it was nice. The bed was done in shades of blue and had a canopy.
There was a armoire in the corner and she decided she wanted to see what was inside. She opened the door and looked into the dresses. They were all finely made and it made Gilraen sick. She did not want these things, she wanted to go home. She looked around and her eye caught a mirror. She tried to look away but she found that she couldn't. She could only look at herself with morbid curiosity.
She walked closer to the mirror and touched her cheek. Her face was pale as death and the lines across her face stood out bright red still. Her hair hung limp down only to her shoulders and was caked with dirt and grease. There were deep circles under her eyes that were bloodshot from the rough treatment earlier. She could see that a bruise was forming on her cheek. She would never have recognized herself and she was sure that no one else would either.
Gilraen turned and walked over to the bed. She sat down and looked at the bed-side table. She pulled open the drawer to reveal multiple drawings. She lifted out the sheaf of paper to see that they were all drawings of her. The first was the most recent. It was her wedding. She had no idea when Taranel had put it there. The picture was well done, probably with charcoal. It showed her so blissfully happy with her hand in Legolas'. Gilraen couldn't see Legolas' face and found tears on her face again. She set the picture aside and found the next to be one of her when she was with the healer. It was a portrait that it looked like she had posed for. The further back she went the weaker the drawings got and the younger she was. The last one in the pile couldn't have been a year after she and her mother had been rescued from the orcs.
She shook her head at the pictures. Taranel had followed her movements like a hawk. He had stalked her from the time she had come home with her mother. It made her horribly uncomfortable that he had drawings of so many familiar and intimate moments. How many other things had he seen?
Gilraen put all of the pictures back and walked around to the other table. She opened the drawer to reveal pictures of the same nature. However, this time the pictures were not of her, rather, they were drawings of Arwen. There were pictures of the wedding, Estel's coronation, among others. Gilraen quickly put the pictures away because she couldn't stand to look at them. Why had Taranel targeted Arwen and herself?
Gilraen closed the drawer and walked to the desk. If she could just write out a letter, all she would have to do would be to find a hawk, or even call her own. As she opened the desk drawer she was pleased to see that there was indeed parchment along with quills. Now all she would need was an ink well. She opened the second drawer and found a neat note.
Gem,
You have not been here long and yet already you are looking for a way out. I have provided you with parchment and quills but I will not provide you with ink, that is up to you. Just as I will not provide you with ink, I will not provide you with a bird and good luck finding a bird not aligned with any of my men. I hope that you are enjoying your rooms, I decorated for you.
Much Love
p.s. It would please me greatly if you would wear one of the dresses I had made for you.
Gilraen sneered and tore the note. She tore through the drawers in an attempt to find ink. She found nothing but a wax seal and a letter opener. She picked up the seal and looked down to see that it was a single jewel, a princess cut. Gilraen threw it across the room an picked up one of the gold-nib quills. She inspected the point which was luckily quite sharp. She laid her left hand flat and brought the tip of the quill to the ivory skin. She struggled to hold her hand steady as she prepared to push the tip in. She inhaled deaply and plunged the tip under the skin, jerking slightly im pain. Gilraen shut her eyes tightly as two tears pushed their way out of the silver orbs. It had hurt considerably more than she thought it would.
She deaply inhaled three breaths before opening her eyes. Gilraen slowly pulled the nib from her hand. Blood flowed steadily from the wound and the nib had filled. Gilraen put the quill to the parchment.
This is Lady Gilraen. I need help. I have been captured by a rogue elf and am in need of assistance. I am in a city of mixed races, there are orcs ad uruh kai. The city is by the sea and nearly a months travel from Rivendell. I do not know what the elf plans to do to me but I know that I have little time. Please help.
Gilraen quickly rolled the note and used the wax to seal it. She shoved the roll into the folds of the ratty dress that she wore. She toed to the wardrobe and once more opened the door. She looked at the dresses and pulled them out of the wardrobe. The counts were in the twenties. She carried them to her window and picked up the candle from the desk. One by one, she ritualistically lit the dresses on fire and threw them from the window.
She was only half way through the garments when some of the locals began to notice and as soon as they noticed, Gilraen heard soft footsteps coming up the stairs. The door was opened to reveal Taranel. His eyebrow was raised. "Dare I ask what you're up to?" He asked silkily. Gilraen just stared at him, not daring to respond. His eyes fell on the candle in her hand and he glided forward, easily snatching it from her grasp. "Why must you resist me, my gem?" He asked softly, taking her hand. Gilraen tried to pull away but his grip was firm. He ran his thumb over the puncture from the quill and Gilraen flinched.
Taranel turned the candle over but he moved to slow for Gilraen to realize what he was doing. As the candle turned over, the hot wax dripped on her hand and it wouldn't have been so awful if the slowly freezing wax hadn't found its way into her self-inflicted wound. Gilraen let out a choking noise in shock and in pain. The scented wax burned inside her hand and she whimpered, trying to pull away from Taranel.
The elf patted her hand in a would-be gentle manner before releasing her. Gilraen fell to the floor clutching her hand. "Do you understand why I had to punish you, my gem?" Taranel asked softly, as though he were distracted. Gilraen did not respond but looked up at him with hate-filled eyes. "I am sorry," he continued after a moment, "It will not matter in a few days, you won't remember this anymore." He gave her one last apologetic look before turning and leaving the room.
Gilraen's anger turned to shock and fear. Days? She had anticipated weeks, months even, but not days. Her thoughts were immediately of Legolas, she could not let herself forget him again. Her eyes darted around the room nervously and then fell onto the bloody quill. She once again raised the tip but this time she put the tip to the inside of her ring finger. She methodically scratched her husband's name into the skin there. She watched as the blood flowed freely before it slowed and finally stopped. She wiped the excess blood away and stared at the name there, it was legible and would with any luck scar that way.
Sorry that this has taken so long guys. I sat on this chapter for a long time and in the end, it was still short. Sorry about that. Please make sure that if you haven't voted on the poll on my page that you do so if you want to read more about Gilraen and the cast of characters of R2B4