CHAPTER TEN: The Mariner
Seven hours later, Brandon and Sophia were still asleep, and the Uruk Hai had not moved.
"We should wake them up soon," Liriel said, coming back into the cabin. "Only about two hours to go." Legolas nodded. Just then, they heard a knocking sound, and the plane bucked. Liriel spun around and ran back to the cockpit.
"Legolas!" she cried out in alarm, "I need you up here!"
He rose hurriedly and shook Sophia's shoulder. "Sophia," he said softly. "You need to wake up now." There was the sound of a racing engine, and then the plane began to rapidly lose altitude.
"Legolas!" Liriel screamed.
Once he saw Sophia sit up and start to shake Brandon, he turned and made for the cockpit.
"What is it?" he said, sitting in the co-pilot seat.
"We're out of fuel," she said grimly, "we've had an engine flameout."
"How could that be?"
"I don't know," she answered. "Maybe a puncture in the tank and a slow leak. I should have noticed."
"Are we near anything?"
"Rarotonga is not too far, but it's not close enough. We won't make it."
"Can you put us down in the water without breaking the plane apart?"
"I think so," she said, staring out the window. "You'd better go tell them. The plane will sink fast, so they need to get out as soon as possible. We'll be down in 15 minutes."
Legolas hurried back into the cabin, noticing right away that the Uruk Hai was standing in the aisle.
"We're out of fuel," he told Sophia and Brandon. "We're going to have to land in the water. You'll need to move fast once we're down to get out." He looked up at the Uruk Hai, and addressed him in his own language. "We are going to crash. You should sit down and put on a seat belt."
"Is there any point to putting it on?" The Uruk Hai said grimly.
"Yes," Legolas answered. "We should be able to land intact."
"I have to go back to the cockpit," he told the siblings, who did not look as scared as he would have expected. "But don't worry - Liriel will get us down safely."
He went back to the co-pilot's seat and strapped in.
"You want to steer?" Liriel asked, gliding the plane as much as she possibly could, trying to slow them down and improve the angle of approach.
"No," he responded calmly. "You are a much better pilot than I am. Besides, you have more experience crashing planes."
She made a face at him. "That was only once, it was fifty years ago, and I was just learning. You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Not a chance," Legolas replied.
Liriel sighed. "Just give me any course corrections." They continued their rapid descent. "Hold on," she called out as they neared the surface of the water. At the last second, Liriel pulled up the nose of the plane slightly, and Legolas helped her hold the steering column even to keep the plane from cartwheeling. The belly of the aircraft slapped hard on the water, and the cabin shook violently, sending the oxygen masks flying once again and the bin doors slamming open and shut. Both Sophia and Brandon were braced against the seats in front of them, arms crossed. The Uruk Hai sat straight up, clawed fingers shredding the armrests, as the plane rose up briefly, and smacked into the surface of the water again, submerging for a few minutes before rising back up to alight briefly on the surface, before the depths would swallow it down.
Sophia and Brandon were out of their seats immediately and heading for the exit, when Sophia paused and looked toward the back of the plane.
"Come on!" she yelled at the Uruk Hai, but he didn't respond. She ran down the aisle and found him, still strapped in his seat, unconscious, a small gash on his forehead across a rapidly rising lump. His blood was dark and thick.
"Sophia!" Legolas was calling her. "Leave him! You have to get out now!"
But Sophia leaned down and unbuckled the Uruk Hai's belt, slapping his face. "Wake up!" she cried. She put her hands under his arms, but there was no chance she would be able to lift him. Then someone grabbed her shoulder. It was Legolas, face red with rage.
"Leave him!" he yelled at her again. "You have to get out - the plane is sinking!" Water was rising along the aisles, but Sophia flung her hand out angrily, and the water disappeared, the plane bouncing up slightly.
"I can't move him by myself," she shouted. "Help me!"
Legolas glared at her for a moment, and then just sighed and pushed her out of the way, toward the exit. He leaned over and dragged the Uruk Hai out of his seat, lugging it up the aisle, its heels scrabbling along the floor. Sophia stayed at this side, unwilling to go ahead until she was certain he wouldn't just drop the Orc and run - or be sucked under with the plane. They made it to the door and Sophia looked out at an endless expanse of azure, with sky and water nearly indistinguishable. The orange inflated raft drifting away from the plane stood out like blaze in the water; Brandon and Liriel were in it, waving and calling to her frantically.
"You'll have to jump," Legolas told her.
"What about him?" she gestured at the Uruk Hai. Legolas shook his head.
"I'll throw him in," he said, "and I'll jump right after and pull him up. It's the best we can do, Sophia."
She jumped out the door, gasping at the shock of cold water closing over her head. She and Brandon had spent several summers in junior lifeguards, which taught you how to keep your wits about you in the water, so she soon came up, sputtering, but calm. The water seemed to warm around her, and she barely even needed to move her hands and feet to keep up at the surface. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, and she felt it when the Uruk Hai hit the water, and Legolas a moment later. She tried to imagine a cushion, a column of water that would catch them and buoy them up, and when she opened her eyes, she could see it had worked. The Uruk Hai was floating face up on the surface, and Legolas was looking around in surprise.
"Sophia!" she heard her brother shouting frantically, and she reached out to tug the water around the Uruk Hai and the Elf toward the boat with her.
"Are you doing this?" Legolas called out, as he floated closer to her. A smile flickered at the corner of her mouth, but she didn't answer. She wasn't all that sure she could do more than one thing at a time just now.
They reached the life raft, and Sophia pushed the current of water up. "Help him!" she called out to her brother. Liriel and Brandon wrestled the Uruk Hai into the raft, Legolas gracefully pulling himself in behind. Sophia raised herself up out of the water, and more or less stepped into the boat.
There was an astonished silence, which Legolas finally broke. "Show off," he commented.
They all laughed with relief and just sat for a moment, breathing hard. Brandon moved closer to his sister and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Good thing we had a raft," Legolas mused, as they watched the aircraft sink below the waves. "You're not required to have one on a private plane like that."
"Elrond had me put it on before the last trip," Liriel noted.
"Really? Well, with any luck, that also means his sight told him he needs to come out here and rescue us."
Just then, the Uruk Hai groaned, and blinked rapidly. They all watched him in silence until he finally sat up.
"What happen?" he asked in English.
"Crash," Brandon said simply.
The Uruk Hai looked around in confusion. "How I get here?"
Legolas answered in the dark tongue. "You can thank the girl. She refused to leave the plane without you." He paused, and then added helpfully "I told her to leave you behind."
The Uruk Hai examined Sophia. "You save me now," he rumbled.
"It only seemed right," she said firmly, giving Legolas a disapproving glance.
"Right," the Uruk Hai said, staring at her.
"Yeah, you know: right and wrong, the golden rule?"
"I don't think he knows that one," Legolas muttered.
"Is your head okay?" Sophia asked, pointing to her forehead above her eyebrow. The Uruk Hai just grunted at her.
Everyone fell silent again, listening to the waves lap up against the side of the boat.
"Do we have any food or water?" Sophia asked.
Liriel shook her head.
"How far to land?"
Liriel squinted up at the sun and scanned the horizon. "Well, Rarotonga is the closest island, but it's many miles away, and the current doesn't run that way. We're more likely to be swept toward New Zealand, actually, but it would take us at least a week to get there even under power."
"We'll just have to wait for a rescue," Legolas said firmly. "Liriel sent a distress signal, and flight control in Rarotonga acknowledged it, so someone will come looking for us soon."
"We're out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!" Sophia exclaimed. "It's a really big ocean - they'll never find us in time!"
"You know what I like about you, Sophia?" Legolas raised his eyebrows at her, "it's your sunny, positive disposition."
She scowled at him, crossing her arms. "I'm a realist, Legolas. I don't see how lying to ourselves will help anything."
"It's called hope," Brandon said. "We might as well have it, Soph. Beats the alternative." He rubbed her back, and she slumped over, defeated.
"Right," she agreed. "I do hope someone rescues us. Soon. There. Happy?" Brandon smiled at her and continued rubbing her back.
They floated for hours, though, with no sign of any rescuers on the wide horizon.
"What language are you speaking when you talk to him?" Brandon suddenly asked Legolas, pointing at the Uruk Hai.
"The dark tongue. It's what Orcs speak."
"You speak Orc?" Sophia said incredulously.
"He speak bad," the Uruk Hai observed. "Sound like shrieking goat."
Sophia and Brandon cracked up, while Legolas raised his eyebrows at the Uruk Hai. "Well," he shot back, "you sound like a cement mixer."
"Actually, you sound better," Brandon observed. "Your English seems to be getting better, or at least easier to understand." Brandon peered at the Uruk Hai. "In fact, you look a little different, too."
The Uruk Hai shrugged. "Feel different."
"You saved our lives and we don't even know your name," Sophia said. "We can't keep just calling you "Uruk Hai."
"No name," he shrugged. "Only leaders have names. I am just Uruk Hai."
Sophia scowled. "Well, we shall have to think of a name for you." The creature shifted uncomfortably, coming dangerously close to puncturing the boat with one of his clawed fingers.
"Are Uruk Hai immortal, too, like elves?" Brandon asked him.
Legolas snorted in disbelief, and the Uruk Hai shook its head.
"Wait," Sophia said, "elves are immortal?"
"Yes," Liriel said softly. "We can be killed through violence, but otherwise, we do not die."
"How old are you?" Sophia asked her.
"Young, compared to Legolas, and very young, compared to Elrond and Glorfindel."
"And that would be how many years old?" Sophia persisted.
"2,000, give or take a hundred."
Sophia sat back, stunned. "And you?" she demanded, turning on Legolas.
"5,000," he said softly.
They drifted in silence.
"Why are you here?" Sophia finally asked, to a boat full of confused looks. "I mean, why us, Brandon and me? Why were you looking for us? Why was Elrond pretending to be our grandfather?"
Liriel and Legolas glanced at each other, and she nodded at him.
"I wouldn't say Elrond was pretending, exactly," he said, as the last sliver of sun slipped passed the horizon. "You are, in fact, descended from him through his daughter."
Brandon gasped. "We're related to the King of Gondor and the Evenstar?" he asked excitedly.
Legolas nodded. "Many generations, but yes, you are of their line."
"Is that why?" Sophia persisted.
"Just tell them," Liriel said, exasperated. "They deserve to know."
Legolas shot a sidelong glance at the Uruk Hai, and began to sing softly, in a voice that rang through the air with a crystalline purity.
In the Seventh Age of Man
The song will end as it began
A breach in the Door of Night
Hate and rage stir the fight
Discord haunts Arda's dying lands
Destiny rests in the walker's hands
His duty to guide the Dunedain
A strong bond, the dark's bane
To the stones, borne of a father's death
Exhaled in long mountain's breath
Only then will the children of Eru rise
For the final battle as Arda dies
Then the song will start again
And end forever the Age of Men.
They sat in the dark, each lost in their thoughts.
"You are the last of the Dunedain to be born in the Seventh Age," Legolas finally said, "We always thought it referred to just one person. It would have saved us a great deal of trouble if it had said "children" or "heirs," but it is in the nature of prophecies to be vague. One thing is unambiguous at this point, though: you are both the Dunedain in the prophecy. And that's why we have watched over you, and helped you find your full potential."
"Prophecy?" Brandon finally asked. "I don't remember it from the books."
Legolas shook his head. "We didn't tell the Professor this one. He was a remarkable man and had begun to write a full mythology based on what he could find about us and his own considerable imagination, and we cooperated because we decided that our story should be known. But not all of what he wrote is the true history, and not all the true history is in what he wrote."
"Why not?" Sophia asked.
"This is the prophecy of Dagor Dagorath - the end of days. We thought it was better if it were not known. Humans tend to be easily spooked as it is."
"End of days?" Sophia whispered into the darkness. "The world is going to end?"
"Yes," Liriel responded. "It is already dying, our beautiful Earth. The dark angel's poison has been spreading into the minds of man and across the land for hundreds of years. There was nothing we could do to stop it."
"Dark angel?" Brandon asked. "You mean Melkor?"
The Uruk Hai hissed, and Legolas looked at him with interest. "You know him?" he asked the creature.
"Best not to speak of him here, or to use his name," the Uruk Hai told him in his own language. "We are vulnerable out here in this tiny vessel, and he wants those stones very much. He has other servants and allies than the Balrog and the Orcs."
Legolas regarded him. "We shall speak of this later, then." The Uruk Hai nodded briefly.
"Who's the 'walker'?" Sophia interrupted.
"He is," Liriel smiled, pointing at Legolas. "He was one of the original nine walkers on the quest for the one ring."
"Oh," the girl responded, eyes wide. "Like in the movie, with the hobbits?"
Legolas nodded, but did not elaborate. Even though the fellowship lasted for only a few of his many years, it was one of the most important and happiest times of his life. It did not bring him joy, however, to remember his long dead and departed friends, and he did not even try to hide the sorrow that welled up within him.
"Did you ever hook up with that girl Elf?" Sophia asked him. "Tauriel?"
"Tauriel wasn't even in the books," Brandon said disgustedly. "The director made her up. Hollywood."
Liriel made a sort of strangled sound and Legolas started laughing.
"The character of Tauriel was based on Liriel," he crowed.
"She was not," Liriel said heatedly. "I was never in love with a dwarf!"
"The character is exactly like you," Legolas teased, "right down to my unrequited passion for you."
Even in the darkness, they could all tell she was giving the chuckling Elf a dirty look.
"She's actually married to one of my closest friends," he explained to Sophia and Brandon.
"I don't even like dwarves!" Liriel insisted. "And they made her feisty. I'm not feisty. Fierce, okay. Iron-willed, fine. I'll even take lively, but feisty? Ugh."
Legolas was laughing hysterically.
"You should be saving your energy," she grumbled at him.
"I get the feeling this isn't the first time you've had this particular exchange," Brandon observed.
"No," Legolas said, wiping a tear from his eye. "We all worked with the film crew in New Zealand, and Elladan and I suggested the Tauriel character to the director. She didn't even know about it until she saw the movie. That was the best prank we've pulled in centuries."
"Elves, immortal creatures of otherworldly beauty and power, like to prank each other?" Sophia said in disbelief.
"You have no idea," Liriel sighed.
They all fell quiet after that, the three mortals drifting in and out of sleep through the night.
The sun rose on a horizon that looked just as endless and empty as it had the day before. Sophia's mouth was so dry, she didn't think she could even talk. Just then, Brandon's stomach grumbled, and she could feel the vibration through the inflated walls of the boat.
"Sorry," he muttered. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her. Watching them, Legolas knew he needed to distract them from their hunger and thirst or they would begin to despair.
"I know how you found the second Silmaril," he said softly, "but how did you come by the first?"
"It was our father," Brandon responded. "He found it in Afghanistan."
"Found it?" Legolas frowned.
"He was in the mountains, at a volcano actually, when a tribesman approached him. He knew our father's name, told him he had something to give him for us."
"Did he say what this man looked like?"
"Short, really old, big tangled beard, laughing eyes."
"Sounds like Radagast," Liriel commented, and Legolas nodded.
"He told my father he was going to die," Sophia croaked. "And he sent us the stone. We think our mother might have touched it."
"Ah," Legolas said, "That would make sense."
"Did you know him?" Brandon asked. "Our Dad?"
Legolas shifted around uncomfortably. "Um, yes. I did. Yes."
The siblings waited for him to elaborate.
"We were close, actually, when he was young. I taught him, trained him, showed him how to be a warrior."
"What happened?" Brandon asked.
"He joined the Army. Special operations. I didn't want him to and we fought about it. His life was too important to risk, but he was determined to prove himself. We had a falling out." He looked down at his hands. "Your mother blamed me, Elrond, Glorfindel, all of us. She blamed us when he died, too."
"How come we never saw you when we were growing up?" Sophia asked.
"It was my fault," he said softly. "I'm the one who sold him on stories of glorious war. When you were born, I didn't want to make things any worse, so I left. Glorfindel and Elrond agreed that was best."
"Not your fault," Sophia whispered, closing her eyes and reaching a hand out for his, squeezing his fingers. "It was his decision."
They all fell silent again, conserving their strength. Legolas knew the two humans could only last another day at most without water, given the bright sun and the constant breeze. He considered letting them bring out the stones, even though it would identify their location to foe as well as friend, and finally decided that would have to be a last resort.
By the end of the day, the Uruk Hai was holding up reasonably well, but Sophia and Brandon were slipping in and out of consciousness.
"How long do you think we will have before he finds us if we bring out the stones?" Legolas quietly asked the Uruk Hai.
"Not long. He will send something," he grunted.
"What will you do?" Legolas asked. "Will you fight for him, or for us?"
The Uruk Hai looked at him, and answered in the dark tongue. "Before the stone awakened me, there was no choice."
"And now?" Legolas prompted.
"I choose me," the Uruk Hai answered, tapping his own chest. "I choose having a choice. I will fight for him no more."
Legolas nodded.
"Will you sing to us again?" Brandon asked dreamily.
Legolas nodded, watching the boy with concern. They would have to bring out the stones soon, no matter the consequences. He considered what to sing, then decided Bilbo's Song of the Mariner would be most fitting, given their circumstances. He was just starting the third verse, when he heard Liriel gasp.
"Legolas," she whispered urgently, pointing at the horizon. He kept singing, not wanting to raise anyone's hopes until he was sure of what she was seeing. He narrowed his eyes, peering in the direction she pointed, and he saw it, too: a white shape, sparkling in the bright sun and moving swiftly toward them. He gave a silent prayer to all the Valar that the ship would come their way, for they had no means of signaling something so far off. He kept singing.
His prayer must have been heard and accepted, for the ship was, indeed, moving directly toward them. He frowned as he watched it approach. It was a sailboat, and it was under sail. That seemed impossible. There were certainly people who would from time to time sail these vast distances, but this boat was moving far too fast to be powered only by the persistent but soft wind. He broke off his song abruptly.
"Don't stop singing," Sophia whined. "It's so beautiful."
"There's a ship," Liriel told her, smoothing a hand across Sophia's brow. "It's heading right for us."
Sophia sat up, with a sudden surge of energy, Brandon following suit. "Look, Bran," she said excitedly. "Can you see it?"
"Yes," he said, attempting to lick his blistered lips. He smiled at his sister. "See? Hope is a good thing."
She laughed at him. "You know I'm not as pessimistic as I sound. It's just easier to exceed expectations when you lower the bar."
"I think it's time for you to raise the bar," Legolas said mildly, as he watched the ship approach. It was, indeed, a sailboat - a 72 foot yacht, really, with sparkling silver sails, and it was slicing through the water as though racing in a regatta. A tall man, with long fair hair, stood at the helm. Legolas stared at him.
"I think," Liriel said slowly, "I think the captain of that ship is an Elf." Legolas nodded. "Do you recognize him?" Liriel asked, staring at the boat. "I don't."
"I think..." he started, and broke off. It couldn't be.
The ship came along side, turning neatly so the sails emptied and went slack. The captain threw a weight over one side, and then dropped a ladder on the side closest to them and threw them a line, which Liriel caught smoothly. There did not appear to be any crew on the ship.
"Come aboard," he called to them in Sindarin, and though he had not raised his voice, it carried as though he had been using a megaphone. Liriel pulled the raft up to the ship, and handed the rope to Legolas.
"Perhaps I should go up first," Liriel murmured, "and see what we're dealing with, here."
Legolas nodded.
She scaled the ladder, accepting the hand held out to her at the top. Legolas gestured at Sophia and Bran to wait, and Liriel soon called out "safe to come aboard." There was a joy and lightness in her voice that Legolas had not heard in some time, certainly not since she had last seen Elladan and her daughter. His heart began to race.
"Go ahead, Brandon," Sophia urged him. The boy hesitated, and Sophia pushed him gently on the shoulder. He nodded briefly and pulled himself up, slowly and painfully, with the last of his energy. Two hands pulled him up over the side.
"Go, Sophia. You should warn the captain about the Uruk Hai, if Liriel hasn't already. We wouldn't want him to skewer your friend before we had a chance to explain."
She nodded, and started up the ladder. She was only one rung up, however, when she faltered and nearly dropped back into the raft. Before Legolas could move to her aid, however, the Uruk Hai was there, holding her up. She looked back at him gratefully, as he supported her weight. Legolas was shocked at the creature's action, but also that it was capable of moving smoothly enough not to upset the raft.
"Go next," Legolas directed the Uruk Hai, who looked back at him. "Go," he urged, and the Uruk Hai nodded. Legolas tied the guide rope onto one of the raft handles so they could pull it aboard later. He didn't want to leave any potential clues for pursuers as to where they might be. Then he scrambled up the ladder, jumping lightly to the deck.
"You are welcome aboard, singer," the Captain said in Sindaran, eyes twinkling. Legolas felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at the stranger, with his shining alabaster skin, deep blue eyes, and long, golden hair.
"No," he whispered. "It is impossible. It cannot be you."
"And yet it is," the man laughed. "And why are you surprised? It is you who summoned me, is it not?"
"Who is he, anyway?" Sophia interrupted impatiently. The captain looked at Legolas, who translated Sophia's question.
"I am the Mariner in his song, of course," the man said gently to her. "I am Earendil."