7. towards the Misty Mountains
Three days of travel had passed, and since no evident danger presented itself they decided to rest to get on another day along the journey. As soon as they reached high ground, the guards mounted the tents quickly so they could rest for the night. Aldunil stared at the vast blue sky that now ran free without tree branches above them. He inhaled deeply and sighed, they were venturing to some territory unknown, the shadow his sister felt before he now knew its face and its reach, and it was too vast to ignore. The woods that had all types of natural sounds now stood quiet in the depth of the night, only the distant glisten of the stars arrived sadly to his ears.
"I see you are feeling better" The redhead elf said patting the commander's shoulder.
"You could say that, my body isn't exactly in pain but, I feel this emptiness… here…" he answered pointing near his heart, having a sudden flashback to what happened in Dol Guldur, the shadow that presented itself. It feels so familiar. He remained silent for a moment, as he stood still, he could feel as he was falling to a great speed into a void, getting each time colder and colder, and the shadows swirled around him until almost no light came through, and then, as if it was some kind of wall, everything broke down to pieces, at the sound of the voice of captain Tauriel:
"Can you help me with the camp, if you are not occupied staring at the landscape" said this he sighed deeply in relief and joined Tauriel setting camp, not before he instinctively looked back reassuring himself that it wasn't real. They did it quietly, almost mechanically. None of them were really in the mood to talk, the events of the past weeks still lingered within their memories, the deaths of many, the enemy's strength was something not even the King now was taking lightly. Their fight had just begun. When they were preparing their own tents, Sinnié passed by accompanied of Haldir, giving them a friendly nod. Tauriel instinctively look towards Aldunil's direction, to see his reaction. Surprisingly enough for her he wasn't thrilled about the she-elf's gesture, which triggered some sense of relief in her.
"Are you staying with Lady Sinnié tonight?" she asked him, while she tied up firmly her tent.
"I beg your pardon? She has her own tent, why would I stay with her?" Aldunil appeared not to have understood the elf's keen comment. "Besides she seems busy with diplomatic matters with Captain Haldir, I wouldn't want to ruin any of her chances of getting married… if ever he, he"
"Very well then, where will your tent be?" She asked, sitting on the floor with a smile of contempt after a long day of travel and work.
"I will sleep outside, there is no sight of rainclouds for miles, and I could do some fresh air after Dol Guldur's stench, but worry not I will be fine" he smirked standing up to look once again towards the sky, "have a good night Tauriel"
Meanwhile Sinnié was struggling on the roughness of camping; she had never done this before, not even when she was little she had such experience with her mother or brother, and a bit of anxiety was overwhelming her, all her life she had spent it inside stone walls or cozy wooden walls back home. Aldunil was always fond of horseback riding, fishing, hunting, getting dirty… all the activities the town boys were into, however, she had no interest on any of it, she preferred her books, and the safety of her mother's lap while reading them.
When Andreth died, and revealed to them their father's identity, Sinnié felt a massive void in her stomach, there was no home anymore and now she needed to travel the world to find the rest of her family. Her brother reassured her travel, telling her funny stories and defending her if needed of indecent men or burglars that saw her frailty. For all this she grew weary of the world, she locked herself from the outside, and made her new home at Lothlorien her own golden cage. There she learned about her lineage; the Noldor, her father, middle earth's history and the defeat of Sauron, different languages, different cultures and traditions, then again all from the safety of her own library, in which she'd grow but never flourish, but now she realized that these life experiences were needed to grow wiser, braver and bolder: what if we get attacked tonight? I can't fight, I don't know how. She repeated over and over and over, feeling the numbness of her physical abilities to fight comparing herself to her twin brother who was a very skilled fighter, rider and explorer.
"I should have practiced more when I had the chance with him" she said to herself frustrated, tossing and turning on her bed.
"~Yes, you should have~" Aldunil's voice reached her mind, ~but don't worry, we can practice while we arrive to Rivendell, if that is what you really want Sinnié~.
"~alright, tomorrow? ~"
"~First lights, and I want no complains, it's training not playing~." Then the usual mental door closed between the brothers as they fell asleep.
The night's pace went silent and calm, only the wind blowing between the trees gave a soothing sense to it that calmed down the commander of Thranduil's army. Although every one of them got some much needed rest, the sense of alert remained the same all upon sunrise, where the first lights through the edge of the forest slowly woke Aldunil and his twin sister, ready to have a necessary express training. The commander picked up his sleeping bag and walked towards a glade, barely five meters from the camp in which he took a pair of long daggers, not very sharp, in order to practice with Sinnié. After some minutes she arrived using a simple blouse and a pair of leather pants and long boots, carrying with her the daggers she took from the Mirkwood city.
"Good I didn't have to wake you up" he said proudly, swinging one of the daggers.
"I did not sleep much, so I figured out I could catch some sleep on the road, for now, teach me" Sinnié said, tying her hair up on a ponytail. "The pointy end goes towards the enemy right?"
"Not quite… it depends on which moves you intend to do" said this he held the dagger near to his forearm and swung it like he was giving a cross punch, cutting the bark of the tree near him. Sinnié opened her eyes wide, impressed by the quick movements of her brother. "But that's for later, for now we will practice without these, only with our arms"
"Do we really have the time for later?"
"Yes, I don't want you getting hurt or killed, besides I've seen how you devour those books, so you'll learn quickly Sinnié", this words made the she-elf confident enough so she left the daggers on the ground, expecting some instruction of her brother. "Now, put your hands like this and we will do these postures, one, two, three, and four. Alright?" as he said the numbers, he placed his hands upwards, downwards, in guard and blocking, respectively. He repeated the movements one more time standing in front of his sister as she paid close attention to it, then he stood by her side and made her repeat those movements, walking at the same rhythm, both together.
As the sun made its slow way to the bright lights of morning behind the misty mountains the twins practiced several times the movements, in simulated combat, with Aldúnil firstly giving his sister the right combinations of movements as he did his own, and then him letting her figure out how to proceed on the course of the fight. She wasn't particularly well skilled in any form of sport, yet their kin had always been graceful and with the outmost body control of the entire middle earth. He trusted that her body would respond in time instinctively as his, and that her capability to learn new things would help her become maybe not the best of the fighters, but a great opponent indeed. In any case, that these things he was teaching her would save her life if needed.
Right when the twins were thinking of taking a break the horn of Mirkwood sounded, announcing that they were reassuming their journey.
"Be ready Sin, this was only our first lesson, from this onwards it will get harder, and faster, but you can manage" Aldunil told Sinnié before splashing his face and wetting his hair with the waterskin he had prepared for the training.
"Give me some" Sinnié plead. He threw it to her and she drank it quickly. "We should get back quickly, I don't want to get behind" her brother nodded.
They picked up their respective daggers, and head up towards the camp, where there were barely no tents up, and the army was beginning to march into their destination. Aldunil ran up to where his horse was tied up to find him already prepared, being guarded by Tauriel with an impatient look, he thank her and road his horse, followed by the captain of the guard.
The journey went on through the rest of Mirkwood forest, and in each camping site, Aldunil and Sinnié practiced with the daggers, moving on towards wooden daggers for safety only in one occasion and making the training level higher, with the commander having some obstacles for his sister, yet, Sinnié wasn't really ready for an actual fight. After all, Aldúnil had practiced the arts of combat for millennia, and this was the first time the fine Lady of Lorien had an actual weapon in her hands. In spite of all this she became quite acute in throwing them, remembering when she used to through the kitchen knives against his brother when he bothered her; but that was almost six thousand years ago, she obviously had forgotten how to do that.
Around the 12th day they arrived to the side of the Misty Mountains, leaving the deep forest behind, ready to travel all over the mountain range, for their destination wasn't too far away. The humidity began accumulating as soon as they began the ascent, forming some dark rain clouds above them and some nasty winds hit the elven company at each corner of the path. In spite of being a big company of elves, army and courtship these were not safe lands yet, for goblins inhabited the deep parts of the mountains, eating and torturing those who enter their territory uninvited. Thranduil ordered a very tight security surrounding the camp, for they needed to stay there because of the bad weather, the mix of the winds and the rain, adding some thunderstorms would endanger the lives of everyone at his charge.
Everyone coordinated themselves to set camp as soon as possible and take some refuge out of the rain. That night, a huge thunderstorm hit the mountain, forcing Thranduil and his company to stay inside their tents, yet the king insisted on taking one turn on the night's watch. He was an obstinate man, with terrible mood, and absolutely small will to change his word, yet, he would give his life if needed in exchange for any member of his kin. After the battle at Dale and Erebor, he remembered the harshness of war, and the emptiness of losing valuable members of his army, since that day he promised himself he'd work even harder to earn the respect of his kin and to do anything to protect them. Between the rain and the wind he remained calmed, vigilant and alert.
When the rain ended, the dusk of dawn caressed his skin in between the clouds, warming his wet clothes, making him realize how tired he actually was, two and a half weeks of travel, in constant alert and little sleep had finally taken a toll on Thranduil. Aldunil was next on the watch, so he went to his tent so he could take his post, surprisingly he found Sinnié waiting for him outside the tent.
"Good morning my lord Thranduil" she saluted him with a slight reverence.
"Good morning Lady Sinnié, is commander Aldunil awake?" Thranduil asked.
"I am milord, I just had to grab these" Aldúnil came out of his tent holding the knives on his right hand, with a big smile on his face.
"Very well, I will retire to my tent, I'll leave you to your duties" said this; the elven king left the twins alone, giving them a respectful nod.
They both walked towards a flat space over the mountain side not far away from the last tent of the camp, from where Aldúnil could watch over the east side of it, while training with his sister. This time he was going to test his sister in real combat —not to the death of course—, to check how much she had advanced on her learning, he also asked Haldir's help, but he told him he'd be showing up later.
"Alright my dear sister… let's dance" he said throwing at her one of the knives he had at hand. Sinnié caught it and after she twirled it with her hand and then adopted defensive position. Aldunil attacked fiercely upwards, but Sinnié blocked it correctly opening his defense and throwing a blow to his face, which he avoided pretty easily, marking a point towards his sister's neck. She accepted it and walked backwards. Then it was her turn to attack, she went for the middle, with all her might, determined to mark a point to her brother, yet he blocked every single one of her cuts, moving but a little.
The sky became eerie, making the ground shine in a weird gray light. A few raindrops began falling but nothing too serious to make them stop their fight. Sinnié continued on the offensive position, trying her best.
"You've made great progress, I'm proud of you!" he told her, while stepping back to avoid her knife.
"Don't congratulate me until I can actually put you in your place" she answered. Then, she placed the blunt side of the knife against her forearm and performed a pair of diagonal downwards cuts. The first one Aldúnil avoided it without trouble but:
"Aldunil, we're off" Tauriel's voice resounded due to the echo of the mountains, like a haunting voice, repeating itself slowly. For merely as spec of a second, he turned his sight to locate Tauriel, not paying attention on the trajectory of Sinnié's blade, locking his eyes with the eyes of the redhead. His hands lost all the strength and Sinnié's knife marked a deep cut on Aldunil's left upper leg. As soon as he felt the heat of the blood flowing, his eyes left Tauriel's and he looked at his sister with incredulity but absolutely no pain or anger in his eyes. Like Sinnié had done something a child would do.
"I didn't mean to, not my fault you hear her and lose it!"
"I am three minutes older than you, Sinnié, watch your mouth" he said, now feeling the pain of the wound, a warm acute feeling but nothing even closely compared to those burning leaves. "You did it well"
"Is everything ok?" Tauriel ran towards the commander, now realizing what was happening.
"Yes… I was training her again, and apparently she's improved considerably, so much that I could not block her" Aldúnil answered chuckling, trying to hide his shame of getting distracted by Tauriel and receiving a cut from his amateur sister.
"You should get that checked before we leave, King Thranduil asked us to check road ahead for possible goblin traps or ambushes" now Tauriel seemed worried, it was a nasty cut.
"I just need some stitches; we'll leave as soon as I have them." he said, walking with difficulty towards his tent, where he kept a small medical kit, for things like this, but he would never have thought that he will use it due to his sister.
"Are you going to be alright?" Sinnié asked him worried, trying to help him walk, to no use, for Aldúnil did not let her. She looked at him with disbelief but she trusted her brother, so after she saw him sitting down on his bed and taking out thread and needle, she went back to her tent. Tauriel on the other hand waited for him on his door, patiently. A few minutes later and with a new pair of pants he armed himself with a bow, quiver and a one and a half sword. Then the two of them went on, on their mission.
The road became stiff and rocky as they advanced. Very narrow paths and curtains of mist that cloaked some deep crakes that ran their entire curse into the depths of the mountain. Neither of the elves talked for most of their exploration mission, mostly because they needed to be careful in case of any party of goblins were near. An hour in thunders roared in the distance, followed by some raging winds that took strength in the composition of the mountain roads to howl as a whaling soul. They had gone far enough not finding anything dangerous or unusual, so they turned around.
"So, you WERE training" Tauriel broke the silence, smiling with contempt.
"Yes…" Aldúnil affirmed confused and after several seconds of receiving no answer he asked. "Why the specifics?"
"I thought…" she was about to say something that would make her appear jealous even though she was not, so she fixed. "I thought you were laying with her every time you disappeared in the woods under the excuse of training. It was so much I thought you were serious, or as serious as someone like you can be… At any rate I was worried it would distract you of your duties, but you are actually doing more work, which is good and honorable of you."
"Thank you? Why would you think there is a romance between her and me?" Aldúnil seemed exhausted by that idea; still he wasn't prepared to tell the elf that Sinnié was actually his twin sister. "You think ill of me Captain Tauriel, besides…" said this he turned around to look at her with the outmost confidence, "I prefer redheads."
Aldúnil's eyes locked again with Tauriel's, and they remained that way for a moment, not saying a word. The commanders look then went from absolute confidence to realization of what he said, and Tauriel turned away embarrassed. Both of them were about to explain themselves when a loud screech crossed the air and a thick net made of some kind of goo, animal guts and rope; fell over them both, to be then surrounded by a party of at least 15 goblin warriors. Neither Tauriel nor Aldunil could move due to the consistency of the net, making it easy for the goblins to tie the net up, hitting Tauriel hard against the commander hard, then them both against a sharp rock, hurting her bad.
"Looks like we've got a fancy dinner tonight fellas" said one of the goblins with blisters all over his face except of one of his eyes, with a big scar across the chest. The rest of the goblins cheered, as they carry the elves inside a hidden crack behind a boulder.
