Into The Shadow

By The Last Evenstar

A/N: Never again. I swear, never again. Advice to anyone who might be reading this: NEVER write an epic. Ever. Unless you have tons and tons of spare time. Honestly, Sadie, I don't know how you do it!

A few people have said that they didn't get an author alert for Chapter Nine. I guess that's because I replaced it instead of adding it as new. So in case you haven't, you might want to read that one first!

Chapter Ten: Claws of the Beast

Arwen stared down the dark shape approaching her. Every instinct told her to flee, but her feet were rooted to the spot as if by some magical force.

The creature stopped beside her. It rode atop a great fell beast, black in color and exerting an aura of evil that Arwen felt reach from the surface of her skin to the very depths of her heart. Nazgul.

It turned its faceless hood towards her, and Arwen felt rather than saw the shadow of a grin. "You aren't with the Elves anymore. Climb aboard, there's no one to assist you!"

The terrible screeching sound of its voice hurt her sharp Elven ears as if someone drove their nails into them. She closed her eyes and pictured Estel, trying desperately to swallow her fears.

She climbed nimbly onto the great thing, and perched hesitantly behind the wraith. It turned its head, and all of a sudden she felt the eyes that were not there staring at her, and the ghost of a starven man trapped inside them.

Without warning, the great beast took flight. Arwen felt herself jerk upwards, and in a desperate attempt to hang on she dug her fingers into the beast's scaly hide.

Higher and higher they went, higher than Arwen had ever been. Her stomach tied knots of terror as the fell beast rose and plummeted, its great black wings beating the air in a pulsing, sporadic rhythm.

She closed her eyes and tried to return to Lórien. She tried to recall the gently flowing brook, the rolling grassy hills, and the sweet feel of kisses on a summer's night, but the taste of fear was too imminent in her mouth to thing of anything else.

~~~~~~~

Elrohir felt the land of Moria before he saw it. The stale odor of darkness hung omnipresent in the thick air, until it became so suffocating that he felt he would choke on its raw presence.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he murmured to Glorfindel, whose usual smile had been replaced by an unspoken fear.

The golden-haired elf looked grimly at the elfling he had known from childhood. "It is a great danger, Elrohir son of Elrond. It goes against my teachings and my own moral values to lead you into its heart, thus, I offer you the chance to turn back." He smiled wanly. "But knowing you as I do, there is little doubt in my mind that my words are in vain."

Elrohir gulped, but stood his ground. "My sworn brother is held in the clutches of that beast, and my only sister is falling victim to its corruption. What kind of man would I be to turn back now, having come so far?"

Glorfindel nodded and turned toward the Black Gate, but Elrohir could have sworn he heard the elf mutter, "A wise one."

~~~~~~~

As Arwen rode on and on, and the thought of death drew nearer and nearer, she found her mind retreating not to the depths of sorrow and despair, but to a faithless sort of serenity. She found herself praying not for the chance to live, but for the chance that they might let her see him before he was released.

If he was released at all.

Arwen knew that she ran a great risk, trusting the word of Sauron, but it was all she had. If I don't do this, he will surely die. If I do, there may be a chance.

"What are you looking so happy about?" snarled the Wraith as they flew over Emyn Muil.

She turned an icy stare on him. "I don't believe you would know."

The soulless minion simply grunted and turned the beast East.

"Do you remember?" she pressed. "Do you remember what it was like to be a man?"

She felt a deathly glare radiating from his shadowy form. "A man is a mere servant to a higher power. There is no difference."

"There is a difference," she flung back. "If there was not you would find me at home with the Elves." Tears stung her eyes. "But it is for love of a man that your bear me to my doom."

His voice was impassionate. "Love makes you weak."

"Love makes you strong," she countered softly. "It gives you the strength to press on when the road is dark and cold. It gives you the strength to look beyond when all hope seems to have failed. It burns ever brightly in your heart, like a torch, lighting the way to safety, when you have nothing else left. For it was love, not bravery or strength of conviction, that led my great-great-grandmother Lúthien Tinúviel into the darkest dungeons to rescue Beren son of Barahir, and it is love, blind and hopeless love, that led me into this eternal Shadow."

She turned, wrought with emotion, only to see that her speech had been wasted on the foul creature who drove silently forward.

~~~~~~~

"Glorfindel, what should we do?" Elladan paced nervously around their hidden encampment.

"Stage an attack from the front. You and Halbarad shall lead thirty men to the Gate and demand Estel's return, while your brother and I take the remaining few in secretly."

"You know of such a passage?" Elrohir looked up with a start. "A secret entrance?"

His mentor nodded. "Aye, and a dangerous one. The task you set before me was not easy, elfling."

Elladan saw his brother roll his eyes at being addressed so, and decided to take the lead. "I trust you, Balrog-Slayer, so I trust your plan. But what will happen if the yrch overtake the company at the Gate?"

Glorfindel smiled sadly. "Amin sinta thaliolle e dagor, Elladan. Na voronwe, ar' lle nauva vanta. [I know you strength in battle, Elladan. Be steadfast and you shall be safe.]"

He gulped. "We march on Mordor then. To arms!"

~~~~~~~

Midday the next day, Arwen could see the land of Mordor. It was dark and bleak, everything that she had felt in her heart.

"It looks as if your kin have rallied to save you," sneered the Wraith, swooping low. "Meaningless, of course."

Arwen gasped. "That's impossible!" she blurted. But gazing down at the forsaken land, she could see distantly the host of her brothers gathering at the Gate. No. Please, no. Turn around, she prayed, turn around and don't look back!

As they flew in closer and closer, she could see the Gate opening. A poor, bedraggled figure was being dragged out to meet the procession. A man, on his knees, barely able to lift his head, but stubbornly staring his captor in the face –

"Estel!" she screamed. "Estel! Estel!"

She had nearly reeled backwards off of the beast in the shock of seeing him. A year of waiting, a year of tears, a year of sacrifice – and there he was. The man who had given her his heart and claimed hers in return. The man who had given her a reason to live, and a reason to die.

The beast landed suddenly, directly between her the man and her brothers, and she slid off from the shock of the impact.

Elladan jumped forward with a great cry. "Arwen?"

At once the man lifted his head. His face was contorted in fear and pain. "Arwen?"

And she stood, not knowing what to do next.

.

A/N: As promised, Chapter Eleven: Confrontation at the Black Gate will be posted tomorrow.