DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Lord of the Rings; all rights to J.R.R. Tolkien!
All right, I'll finally answer the countless questions that have no doubt been bugging you guys since you first met Enceladus. :D Enjoy!
Aragorn wrinkled his nose in distaste as he saw the prone figure lying on the ground a few yards away. The man was lying flat on his back, one hand clamped over his shoulder, blood leaking between his fingers. A painful, gurgling chuckle escaped him as the Ranger approached.
Aragorn fell to one knee, grasping the collar of the other man's shirt, much like his father had done just minutes earlier. Lifting his upper half from the ground and letting his head loll back uncomfortably, Aragorn glared at his tormentor, wanting to kill him right then and there.
"Now," he said. "I think it's time all these questions were answered." He paused, watched Enceladus remain unfazed, then continued. "Who are you?"
Enceladus rolled his eyes. "I am a man, just like you." He jabbed one shaking finger into Aragorn's chest, and he quickly jerked away from the other man's touch.
"No, you're not. Normal men do not just disappear. Normal men do not command a host of orcs." He gestured vaguely towards the now depressingly quiet battlefield.
"Got me there." He said, mouth agape in mock surprise.
There was silence. "Well?" Aragorn demanded roughly, shaking his injured shoulder for good measure.
Enceladus winced. "Don't do that, will you? Thank you." He said before the Ranger even had a chance to reply. Then he shifted uncomfortably under his former victim's unwavering gaze and began. "You are right, I am no ordinary man." He hesitated. "These orcs are under my command, and they were given to me by none other than the Dark Lord himself." He smiled smugly. "And as for the disappearing part that was not right at all. I never disappeared, fool. I was never there in the first place. It was all an illusion."
The Ranger's grip on Enceladus' shirt slowly weakened, then he slowly put him back down. "What do you mean?" He asked suspiciously.
Enceladus sighed, rolling his eyes skywards. "So many questions, so little time."
Aragorn didn't like where this conversation was going.
"You know, I don't have to answer all these questions. I could simply die, leaving you here, still asking yourself how you had gotten into this mess in the first place." He closed his eyes seventy-five percent of the way, peering beneath his eyelashes to see his former victim's reaction. He loved playing with foolish people. Then he saw Elrond appear behind his foster son; the other three elves close by. He ignored them, but kept a wary eye on the elf lord, not wanting to let him out of his sight.
When no one would speak, the wicked man decided he would finally break up the growing silence.
"Oh, I was there at first. But the campsite, the fire…it was all so surreal, was it not?" He waited for Aragorn to nod slowly before continuing. "I must admit, I did quite the job on that place. And I had it all picked up by morning, while you were fast asleep by your little tree."
"How…?" He began, but Enceladus cut him off.
"It was the poison, Idiot. It was supposed to maintain the illusion of me being there, while I actually packed up and left. All I did was scatter some grass over the ashes of the fire and roll the logs away. Wasn't that difficult." He explained that topic no further. "As for the other time I appeared in your bedroom…" He shrugged. "That was the poison as well."
"But how did you give me the knife? And the bow?" Vaguely, the Ranger wondered why Enceladus was giving him all the answers.
"The knife?" Confusion reined on the evil man's face for a moment before it cleared. "Ah, yes. The knife. Yes, that was real." He said no more.
Aragorn, getting tired of prying the answers from this man, began to feel frustration mounting inside him. "But how did you give them to me if you weren't there?"
"It was there all along, Stupid. Before you got there I simply climbed up to the balcony and left it on your bed." Then, seeing the other man's next question before he even asked it, he said, "Again, the poison. It hid it from you until I was ready to reveal it."
"What about the bow?" Aragorn asked, his voice quiet.
"Oh, I was really there that time. I wanted to ensure that you got it." He winced, shifting his shoulder again. "The poison does have a tendency to glitch sometimes. I really should correct that…" His voice trailed off and a faraway look entered his eyes, as if he were thinking deeply about something. For a moment, Aragorn thought he had died, but suddenly Enceladus jerked back to life, speaking once again.
"Any more questions?"
Aragorn's eyes narrowed. "Yes. Why me? Why not someone else?"
Enceladus rolled his eyes. "Can you not ask an intelligent question for once? I chose you because you were human. And you were the weakest link in the Half-Elven family I could find. Or rather, not in the Half-Elven family. You certainly are not an elf."
On any other occasion, a comment like that would have hurt the Ranger deeply, seeing as the elves were the only family he'd ever had. But he ignored it, moving on to the next question he desperately wanted answered.
"But why would you want to poison anyone in the first place? Why would you want to kill the elves?"
"Because, if I poison you to kill the others, you'd be doing the dirty work for me. And I do not wish to slay all the elves." He turned his gaze to Elrond. "Just the select few."
"Why?" The Ranger demanded, his voice low and suspicious.
A light of sorrow mixed with anger entered his eyes, and that same faraway look came over him once again. "I was but a child. The town was being ransacked by bandits, killing everyone in their path and stealing all they could find. My father had already been killed, along with my brother. My mother died protecting me. The elves, not three hours away, watched as my people were carried off or slain." He turned to Elrond, his eyes alight with anger. "You did not help us in our time of need. When my people needed you most. You showed up when the village was nothing but ash, to take your share of the spoil." He spat in the elf lord's face, the pale pallor of his skin slowly turning to red from frustration and anger. Elrond snapped back as if he had been slapped. Then, using the edge of his cloak to wipe the saliva from his face, he glared at Enceladus.
"We came to help you. You were lucky we got there when we did, just in time to save your pathetic life." The elf was seething with anger, and Aragorn knew someone needed to step in before it got any worse.
"But why the Half-Elves? Why not the others?" He asked, hoping to distract the two from their current anger.
"Because he was the one leading them." He said, motioning with his good arm towards Elrond.
Suddenly, Aragorn noticed just how quiet Enceladus' words had become. The sleeve of his tunic was drenched with scarlet blood, and he trembled fiercely. The Ranger knew he didn't have much longer to live. But he had one more question.
"Why did you want to wipe out the Rangers, though?"
"Because," he coughed, his muscular frame shaking. "Since you would not fall prey to the poison, I decided to punish you and your filthy breed." He paused, taking in a few feeble breaths. "That is how I came to the conclusion I would need a larger force. It takes more than one man to wipe out a ranger encampment. So I beseeched Sauron for help." He smiled wickedly at Aragorn's horrified expression. "And he granted me my request."
The Ranger sat back on his heels, blinking several times as he digested this newfound information. He could sense the mounting anger in the four elves surrounding him but decided to ignore it. After all, they were not the ones who had been poisoned and tricked into killing their family.
There was a sudden movement behind him, then that familiar rasping of steel on leather, and knew what was happening. He stood abruptly, stepping between Elladan and the fallen Enceladus.
"No, Dan." He said.
A look of astonishment crossed his elder brother's face, and he shook his head. "No, Estel. Let me finish him off. He deserves to die."
Aragorn shook his head, grabbing the elf by the arm and leading him a few feet away from the sight of interrogation. The other three elves followed, momentarily turning their backs on Enceladus.
"I know he deserves to die. But now is not the time. We should take him back to Imladris for further questioning, see if we cannot keep him there." Aragorn reasoned, though he had little hope the man would survive the trip back to the elves' haven.
Elrond nodded slowly. "Estel is right. We have all been blinded by our hatred for this man. It would be wise to take him back to Imladris and see what else we can discover about him. Besides, if he knows anything about the Dark Lord, it would be best if we find out what it is. I do not have a good feeling about what is going on here, and I feel it is only a foreboding of what is to happen in the future."
Legolas nodded. "I agree."
Then, seeing the group of elves nodding their assent, Aragorn turned around.
And saw something he would never forget.
The patch of grass Enceladus was lying on was dried and flattened.
And empty.
Dun dun dunnnn! Well, another evil cliffie. :D I can't say I'm sorry, though. :P But anyways, I hope you all liked it. Only a few more chapters till the end. Actually maybe only one or two. Anyways, review replies are below, as always.
REVIEW REPLIES
Thalion Estel: Glad you liked it! I was really trying to make the ending sweet, so I'm glad I accomplished that. :D I would love to go to Minas Tirith, too. Though I can't say it would be a pleasure to meet Denethor…hehehe…I'll reply to your answer to question 2 below this. ;D Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Silenthunder: Oh, thanks for pointing that out! I really appreciate it when my readers help out pointing out errors. Thank you! Yes, Rivendell would be beautiful, wouldn't it? I would love to go there. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
SaphiraloevsTolkien: *evil laugh* Glad you liked it. Yeah, I've seen the BoFA trailer. It's so awesome isn't it? I can't wait to see Thranduil AT WAR! :D Yep, another Rivendell answer. It's such a beautiful place, don't ya think? I would love to go there and see the elves. I will reply to your answer to the second question below. ;) Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Greenleaf: Hmm…that could be weird. Or not, depending on who you are. But for you? Nah. Probably not weird at all. :D Don't worry, I'm about as weird as they get. :D Yeah! I would ADORE going to Rohan! Especially with all those horses! I LOVE HORSES! Okay, anyways, I'll reply to your answer for the second question after these review replies. ;) Hehehe…Anyways, yes, I agree with you on the Sam thing. Sam is so awesome but he doesn't get near enough credit. YAYAYAYAY! I LOVE SONIC SCREWDRIVERS! So I'm guessing you like Doctor Who too? Which is your favorite Doctor? Yeah, I can't wait to see Tauriel die. Though she probably won't…But I hope she does! :D Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Ranger Turien: Yay! Glad you liked it. :D I'll reply to your answer for the second question after these review replies. ;) Hehehe…Anyways, I have no idea what your answer means since I haven't read the Silmarillion yet, but whatever it is it sounds cool! :P Thanks for reading and reviewing!
EvenstarWarrior: Hehehehe….Mwuahahahahah! You probably really hate me after reading this, don't you? Ah well. A lot of people hate me, after all, I AM Halt the Fantastic. :P Yup. Another Elven Refuge Answer. Basically everyone except for one person answered Rivendell. Can't say I'd disagree, of course. It would be so awesome to go there. Anyways, I'll reply to your answer for the second question right below here. ;) Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Okay, before I get to the QUESTION OF THE DAY, I am going to give you the answer to the second question from the last chapter. It was 'Of the two twins (Elladan or Elrohir) which is your favorite?' I must say, I was vaguely disappointed that some people said Elladan, because it was a TRICK QUESTION! *rolls on the floor laughing* Okay, sorry about that guys. But when I got that suggestion from _, I just couldn't help it. :D
QUESTION OF THE DAY
If you could have one of the LoTR character's hair (style, color, everything exactly how they wear it) who would you pick?
SONG OF THE DAY
She Walked Away
Artist: BarlowGirl
Arrow :D