Chapter Written by Elfhild

Elffled awoke to the sounds of birdsong, the steady drone of insects, the caress of a gentle breeze on her cheeks, and the bright morning sun blazing into her eyes. Her mind still not fully awake, she lay there on her back, closing her eyes to shut out the light of the bright blue sky. Then she was hit by a sense of urgency; she had to get up and make ready for the daily march or the orcs would whip her! Or rather the Southrons; it had been only three days before when the captives had changed hands. When dealing with the enemy, Elffled had found that there was often little difference between man and orc. Then she remembered that she and her sister had escaped from the slavers and were now wandering somewhere in the land of Anorien. Aimlessly, she thought, for Elfhild, who had appointed herself leader of this mad venture, knew little about the geography of Gondor and only had a vague idea of the route they should take to return to Rohan. Elffled rolled over on her side, not yet ready to face another day of a journey she felt would be brief and end in misfortune. If she pretended to be asleep, perhaps Elfhild would not know that she had awakened yet, and she would leave her in peace...

As Elfhild lay there, not quite asleep but not entirely awake either, she wondered why her sister was not yet bothering her, demanding that she get ready for another thrilling day of running from the slavers. Perhaps Elfhild was still asleep, although usually the firstborn twin was the first to awaken in the mornings. Her sister's silence was somewhat unsettling, but Elffled hesitated to do anything to call attention to herself. The moment Elfhild knew she was awake, she would start nagging her and bossing her around like one of the slave drivers. It was far better that Elfhild think she was still sleeping.

Yet still the silence preyed upon Elffled's mind, and her unease began to grow to uncomfortable proportions. They were alone in the wilderness with no weapons or way to defend themselves; any number of dangers could befall them. She had to make sure that her sister remained alive and well. Though she feared she might regret this, Elffled sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked over to where her sister should have been.

But Elfhild was nowhere in sight.

A pang of terror shot through Elffled. Where was her sister? Had something horrible happened to Elfhild while Elffled slept the hours away? She tried to think about this calmly. Perhaps Elfhild had gone into the woods to relieve herself and would be returning at any moment. Yes, that seemed logical – Elffled needed to heed the call of nature herself. Rising to her feet, she walked to the edge of the small clearing and softly called out her sister's name. She was afraid to speak too loudly, lest she be overheard by any enemy scouts lurking close by. When her calls were met only by the sound of the breeze rustling through the branches of the surrounding trees, she could no longer ignore her growing panic.

She was uncertain what to do. Should she go looking for Elfhild? What if Elfhild came back to the place where they had been sleeping and found her gone? Anorien was an unfamiliar country and the only landmark they had to give them a sense of direction was the Anduin. Elffled worried that she might become lost if she veered away from the river to search for her twin in the surrounding countryside.

Without the constant chatter of her sister to keep her mind occupied, Elffled began to feel an oppressive sense of loneliness and isolation, a feeling which was magnified tenfold by the desolate landscape around her. Though she was trying her best to think calmly and clearly, she could not control the gloomy and fretful direction her thoughts were taking. What if Elfhild had been caught by one of the slaver's search parties? In order to protect her sister, Elfhild might have tried to lead the slavers away from Elffled so that only one of them would be captured. That sounded like something Elfhild would do. Well, if Elfhild had been silly enough to get herself captured, there was only one course for Elffled to take: she would go back to Minas Tirith and turn herself in. Though it would mean going back to being a slave, she was not about to starve out here by herself. And, besides, she thought brightly, perhaps she would receive better treatment if she willingly surrendered.

In the meantime, though, she would search for Elfhild and pray that she had not gotten herself into too much trouble. She took a good look at her surroundings, memorizing every leafless tree and withered bush. She needed to know where to return should her search for Elfhild prove unfruitful. Then, with dread in her heart, she gathered her things and began her search.

‹•›‹•›‹•›

Elfhild sat upon the riverbank, gazing absently across the broad, slate-colored waters of the Anduin. The newly risen sun still hung low over the foothills of Ithilien and the dark ridges of the Mountains of Shadow, casting soft beams of early morning light across the dismal landscape. How sad and wretched the countryside appeared! The black clouds of Mordor had lain over Gondor and Rohan for months, blotting out the sun and sickening the plants and trees. It would be some time ere the land recovered completely.

But Elfhild was not looking at the desolate landscape; rather, her gaze was turned inward. Her sleep the previous night had been plagued by a long, meandering dream that seemed almost real. She had thought about waking her sister and asking her what had really happened, but she feared that Elffled would laugh at her and think her strange. Then they would have another quarrel, cross words would be said, and they would spend the rest of the day fuming and not talking to each other.

Elfhild had decided that the best thing to do was to let her sister sleep while she tried to puzzle out the strange dream. She did her best thinking when she was by herself, so she rose to her feet and quietly slipped away from the clearing. She had reservations about leaving Elffled, but she was not going far and would no doubt return ere her sister awakened. Elffled was a sound sleeper, and would probably not rouse until afternoon if left to her own devices. Still, just to be safe, she would keep within hearing distance.

It felt good to have the freedom to take a moment for herself. That was something she had missed ever since she had been captured... and even before then, as her mother had forbidden her to go off by herself when the black clouds filled the heavens. Mother said that the unnatural darkness attracted evil creatures, and the only place the twins were allowed to go by themselves was the familial burial ground behind their home, for the ancestral spirits would protect them from harm. So, after months of being forced to be in the presence of others, Elfhild took pleasure in this brief moment by herself. It would not be long before she would have to return to the clearing, rouse a grumpy Elffled from her sleep, and embark upon the second day of the journey back to their homeland.

She reflected upon the dream that had come to her in the night...

Ever since she had seen her mother murdered before her eyes, Elfhild had been tormented by nightmares. Again and again she watched in horror as the uruk plunged his knife into her mother's stomach, and just as it had been in waking life, she was helpless to do anything to prevent her mother's death. Dreams were strange concoctions of one's past and present, and many times loved ones who had passed on still lived in this strange somnolent realm removed from the bonds of time. The fantasies of sleep transpired upon a plane which was simultaneously no place and all places combined, all the years of one's life combined into one present.

This dream was not like any she had ever had before. It seemed far too real to have been a dream. There were not the usual incongruities, peculiarities, and random nonsensical elements which separated fantasy from reality. Though sometimes she did have dreams which mirrored her waking life - for instance, dreaming that she had finished all her chores and then waking up to discover that it was morning and she would have to do all the work she had dreamt she had completed - she had never experienced one like this.

In this dream, she and Elffled had just settled down to sleep, for the evening was far too foggy to continue their journey. Though it was dark and misty, she noticed a man watching them from beneath the shadows of a great yew. She and Elffled had tried to sneak away quietly, but when a bat swooped down and got caught in her hair, her shrieks rang out through the night air. Drawn by the commotion, the man approached them and commanded their attention, and the girls were too afraid not to do as he bade. Though at first Elfhild had thought that he was one of the slavers or a scout with the army, she soon realized that he was neither of these things, but rather some strange wanderer of the woods who cloaked his true intentions beneath words spoken in riddles.

One thing was for certain, though: he was a sorcerer of great skill and unknown allegiance.

She wondered why she had dreamed of a sorcerer. She seldom dreamed of magic or those who practiced the arcane arts. Most of the time, her dreams were about mundane things: talking with her family, visiting friends, shopping at the village market. Perhaps all her talk of elf circles had caused her sleeping mind to conjure up a sorcerer. A wry smile touched her face: though she had intended her talk of elf magic to torment her sister, it seemed that Elffled had gotten the last laugh because of this nightmare.

Elffled! That had been the most terrifying part of the nightmare, when Elfhild thought the sorcerer had murdered her sister. Her blood ran cold just thinking about it. And the grief she felt - it was not normal grief, for she knew that emotion well; rather, it was some sort of soul crushing sickness masquerading as sorrow and regret. Those feelings did not belong to her, but rather to one who had lost all hope and sought death's eternal release. The girl who had attempted to bludgeon the sorcerer to death with a rock to avenge her sister's apparent death - now that was Elfhild. The sorcerer had told her that she was dying... so that was what it felt like, to have your heart wither and die, consumed by pain more powerful than the desire to live.

Stricken by some malady born not of the physical world, Elfhild had fallen into a swoon, and when she awakened, the heavy weight of despair had been lifted from her. She had misunderstood the sorcerer's intent, and was greatly relieved to discover that her sister yet lived. Elfhild was still unsure what had happened, for everything had happened so quickly, but it seemed that those who tried to strike the sorcerer were struck down themselves. He must have reversed his magic and healed her while she lay unconscious...

Oh, what was she thinking, trying to bring logic to a dream? Dreams always unfolded like a series of tales told by the sleeper's mind, and when one tale drew to an end, the vision would abruptly change, and a new one would begin.

The next part of the nightmare caused her to wonder about herself, and how she came to possess enough knowledge of magic rituals to have such a vivid dream about them. Perhaps her Aunt Leofgifu had been right; maybe she really did listen to too many tales of ghosts and wights and draugar. How else was she able to dream about magic circles of green fire and magic runes written in the caster's blood? Yes, indeed she had listened to far too many ghost stories over the years!

Elfhild did not understand the meaning of the ritual the sorcerer performed, although she did know from tales she had heard that blood magic was the most powerful sort of magic there was. The sorcerer assured her that he had not cast a love spell upon her and her sister, but what sort of spell had he cast? And why did he do it in the first place? Why had he chosen them? What did he want? And what did Elfhild's vision of herself as the victorious warrior have to do with the rest of the dream? Though the whole thing was just a product of her imagination, the mystery and suspense infuriated Elfhild.

The sorcerer acted as though he knew her somehow. How could this be possible? Elfhild was not the sort of girl who kept company with wandering conjurers... but perhaps her dream counterpart was a different sort of girl entirely. The sorcerer said he desired her as his companion, and he would have taken her with him on his journeys had not the danger been too great. What were the duties of a sorcerer's companion anyway? Did he want to take her as his wife or concubine? Would she become his apprentice, a student to train in the arcane arts? He said that she would be delivered to his home, but she did not even know where that was, or when her arrival would take place. He had left her with few answers and many questions. She did not even know his name, or whether he used his magic for good or evil!

...But the sorcerer only existed in her dreams, and it was silly and childish to spend this much time pondering the motivations of a figment of her imagination. It was harmless to suppose, but the whole thing was too absurd to take seriously. Though the nightmare had been strange and scary, it was one of those dreams which were intriguing and interesting, like a tale told by a storyteller. She had been terrified during the dream, but upon awakening, she wondered what would have happened next had she remained sleeping.

Of course, there was that part of Elfhild's mind that wondered if the encounter with the sorcerer had been real, but that was absurd...

That intriguing thought was interrupted by the sound of Elffled's hushed but frantic calling of her name. Elfhild turned her gaze towards the river and saw her sister wandering around through the trees, looking quite panicked and distraught.

"Elffled! Be quiet! I am right over here!" Elfhild jumped up and waved her hands for silence. "If you get any louder, you will alert every enemy in the area to our presence!"

"Oh, Elfhild, where have you been?" Elffled's voice was filled with both relief and annoyance. "I have been looking all over for you!"

"I have been here the whole time, silly." Elfhild walked over to stand in front of her twin. Her mind kept showing her visions of the dream she had the night before, of Elffled collapsing upon the ground at the feet of the sorcerer. The nightmare had seemed so real, and seeing Elffled alive and well filled Elfhild with an overwhelming sense of relief.

"Why did you run off while I was sleeping?" Elffled demanded irritably. "When I woke up, I was filled with fear when I did not see you. I was terrified that something horrible had happened!"

"I am sorry if I alarmed you." Elfhild turned away from her sister, casting an idle glance towards the Anduin. "I... I just needed a moment by myself. I did not mean any harm."

Elffled raised a suspicious eyebrow. "It was not like you at all just to leave like that! You certainly are acting strange!"

"I... I had a strange nightmare, and I needed some time alone to think about it." Elfhild hesitated to mention the dream but could not think of a reasonable sounding lie to explain her behavior. Surely Elffled would think her mad for worrying so much over so silly a thing.

"Oh, Elfhild, you fret so much about dreams." Elffled rolled her eyes. She should have known that her sister's absence was caused by something foolish like that, and that she was in no real danger.

Elfhild blushed hotly. "I know it is silly, but dreams, especially nightmares, are truly frightening when you think about them. I mean, how can your mind imagine so many strange and horrifying things?" She sighed and shook her head.

Elffled raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What exactly did you dream about that frightened you so?"

"Perhaps you should sit down," Elfhild told her. "It is a very long dream..."

When Elfhild had finished her story, Elffled stared at her in awe. "What a wonderful dream!" When she saw her sister's incredulous expression, she added, "Well, parts of it were frightening, but when you remember it all in the light of dawn, it seems more like a fantasy than a nightmare. I know I would love to have a dream in which a powerful sorcerer desired me as his companion!" She giggled and then sighed wistfully. "Alas, if only dreams came true! I think I would enjoy life as a sorcerer's apprentice. Just think of it, Hild: if an orc or Easterling tried to attack us, I would use my newfound powers to turn him into a toad!"

Elfhild frowned. "Before having any dealings with a sorcerer, I would first desire to know the source of his power, whether it was good or evil. Those who practice the arcane arts do not have the most savory of reputations, you know. Besides, he said we would be his companions, not his apprentices." Something about Elffled's words caused her to tense. The sorcerer had said that Elffled desired power... What did he mean by that? Did he know something about her sister that she did not? Oh, this was absurd... the man was not even real, and nothing he said even mattered!

"Still one can dream," Elffled giggled. Oh, how she wished Elfhild's delightful fantasy would come true! If they kept company with sorcerers, then no one could ever hurt them again. That thought filled her with a sense of comfort and security she had not felt since the war began. A pity it was not real.

Elfhild rose to her feet and brushed dust and crumpled leaves from her skirt. "We have talked about this silliness for far too long. It is past time that we eat breakfast and resume our journey."

As the twins cautiously nibbled on a crumbling piece of trail bread they had split between themselves, Elffled fantasized about being a sorcerer's apprentice. With magic at her disposal, she could turn these dry crumbs into a scrumptious feast, just like how men who studied the arcane arts could turn base metal into gold. Alas, the sorcerer was only a figment of her sister's imagination, but the pangs of hunger were very real.