Chapter 30

The Beast Pool

~o~

The King's recommendation to visit Ithilien was tantamount to a royal command. The Elf knew better than to ask why since Sauron and water were in the same statement. And it was not very far away. First he saw to Broughtur Mülto's recovery and meeting with Reyald. The two men knew each other from being in Nag Kath's sphere but business was another matter. The Elf put another hundred Florin into Kathen. Mülto would work with Reyald, embassy time permitting, to purchase property and set up the rents. Broughtur thought this a fine idea. His health scare reminded him that he had already won his race and it was time to enjoy the fruits.

Two months after returning to Gondor, Nag Kath visited Osgiliath. Tum was pleased to see him and learned there was a new partner across the river. That was fine with him, though he had never met Reyald before. If he was kin to Nag, he was family. After a couple days, the Elf made his way up the Neussan to the original compound at Gimli's Cascade. It never failed to impress when the sun caught it right. He did not know any of the men there but they knew of him and served a fine dinner.

The bridge that started all of this was on the road he would take south exploring Lord Faramir's fief. He stopped in Emyn Arnen first to pay his respects and was received for tea by their Highnesses. Faramir looked as he always did but Eowyn was finally showing age, she less Dunedain than he. Alas, he had just missed the newlyweds from Rohan but Nag Kath told them of the nuptials in Dale. He was back on the road at dawn.

Three days south he pulled even with the tallest of the Ephel Düath mountains some thirty miles due east. They had the same sort of raging streams pouring down from year-round snow caps like the aqueduct waterfall. The road veered more to the Anduin than the peaks into the river flats as he got further down. From there he jogged cross-country east towards the mountains. Ground rose more slowly than near the Nuessan across rolling hills with a mix of trees and grasslands with streams running towards Pelargir. Before dusk, he made camp with enough time to sit as he often did with his arms around his knees holding a cup of hot tea. It was quite a view all the way to the Anduin and past, still a hundred miles from Pelargir.

The next day he crossed a valley hidden from the river view that was lush with flowers and fruits. It was perfect - a little too perfect. These were planted. Ents? Too far south. Radagast said he had not been here. Yet there were no men, tending and watering and pulling weeds the way they always did. Why had the King sent him here? It would be for a good reason. He helped himself to the little blue berries and had Lembas for dinner.

~o~

He heard them an hour before dawn. Two men, possibly three, had quietly taken positions in the brush some twenty paces from his camp. They did not speak to each other. Charlo was unconcerned, which was unusual. At first light, two men moved closer to each other and then approached the unoccupied bedroll near the cold fire. Both were wearing dark green cloaks with hoods over their heads. They also carried bows with arrows in hand but not nocked. Rangers? Neither said a word. He did. From behind them; "Drop those bows or we will have trouble."

People never listen! One caught a fist on the jaw and the other got a blade under his throat. Nag Kath said, "I asked nicely. Drop it." The man did. "And now the dirk at your side." That fell too.

Nag Kath pushed him towards his fallen comrade, pulling his hood back in the process. Then he gawked for a moment, "Eru bless us." His captives were Elves in the brown and green of field ohtars. Our Elf sheathed his sword and said, "Get his feet. We will take him to the camp site." They propped him sitting against a rock. He looked at the standing intruder and asked tersely, "What are you doing?"

The fellow stood straight and announced, "You are on Elvish lands. You will come with us." Perhaps he hadn't noticed who still had a sword.

Nag Kath leaned over the prostrate Elf and held his face, transferring a slight spell to help him regain his wits and heal the bruise. That would still take a few minutes so he turned to the other and said, "Where are you from?"

When the Elf said nothing, Nag Kath poured his canteen on the unconscious ohtar's head. His eyes slowly focused and then he awkwardly scrambled to his feet saying, "You are trespassing and must come with us!"

Nag Kath shook his head, "Very well, don't forget your weapons."

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

The Elves were on foot so he led Charlo about a hundred paces. The punched Elf was stumbling in less than a straight line so Nag Kath handed the reins to the other and helped his victim into the saddle. When he was up Nag Kath asked, "What's your name?" He got no answer for lack of focus. His companion said the rider was Athandoled. He did not give his own name.

After a bell they disappeared around a hill on a spur path that could not be seen from the main road. Before long, tilled farms with all manner of foods and livestock were growing along the stream plain as it widened into a lush valley. They were tended by Elves who waved showing no caution. After another hour they made a community built around several large structures in Elvish style and dozens of smaller houses, some free-standing, some like Hobbit holes dug into the bank.

Athandoled was alert by the time they tied Charlo outside the smallest of the main buildings. Nag Kath and the unnamed ohtar pulled him down and made sure of his balance before letting him stand on his own. The healthy one went inside and was back out a minute later with a robed Elf of seeming dignitas who walked up to Nag Kath and said in Westron, "You were taken on our lands without leave."

Looking around him Nag Kath asked, "What is this place?"

The high Elf said haughtily, "I will ask the questions here!"

Our Elf had enough silliness and said in Sindarin, "Then ask them quickly for I am here on the King's business!"

Everyone within earshot, and for Elves that covers a lot of ground, stopped and gawked. The official knew someone had made a mistake. Who would be determined anon. He said to the two ohtars, "See that he stays here" and went back inside. Nag Kath fetched a Lembas cake from his saddlebag and walked to a small garden next to the two largest buildings. The recovering Elf excused himself and followed the official. The sound Elf followed Nag Kath and sat on the bench next to him. Nag Kath offered him some of his faux-Lembas which the fellow took out of courtesy and ate ruefully.

~o~

About the time the cake was gone, a tall figure approached from a side door of the main building. The ohtar looked at him, nodded and left. The new Elf cleared his throat before saying in Westron, "I would have rather have never met you. Your kind were better destroyed."

Nag Kath said without looking up, "Then you need to speak to your welcoming committee." He looked over at his host for a long moment and cracked the smallest smile, "I see your father in you."

Prince Legolas was serious. Even though his friends Aragorn and Gimli said the Uruk changeling was fair company, the Elf could have done without meeting the last monster of an age.

The Prince was taller than average wearing long, blonde hair pulled back without ornamentation. Dressed as a field officer, he had no visible weapons. Nag Kath left his on Charlo, save the little pen-knife.

The prisoner asked, "How is your soldier?"

Legolas replied, "Better than he might be. Thank you for your care."

"You are welcome. Since my being here does not seem to be at your invitation, do you know why the King has sent me this way? He said something about water."

~o~

Oh that sneaky Ranger! Legolas mentioned one of his main streams having gone bad the last time he met the King and Prince Faramir. This was Kath of the Water, personally responsible for the hideous gouge from the mountains to Osgiliath. Legolas had asked folk not to mention his whereabouts. He supposed that had to end someday. The Prince appraised his guest now that he was sitting here. Big for an Elf, and he thought he must be a physical Elf now despite his origin, dressed like a man in new and expensive clothes with hair in the manner of city dwellers. He rode a Lossarnach mount. The ohtar had a cut under his throat from an Elvish longsword. Neither scout saw him coming. Yes, he had other talents.

Legolas sighed, "It may be. Come, I know you missed breakfast."

The Lord took him inside the smaller of the three public buildings where there was a commons. Elves seldom eat lunch. They break their fast lightly and have the larger evening meal based on when the sun goes down. As in Thranduil's halls, there were no bells. Everyone seemed to know the time, as measured in their needs. After helping themselves to delicious food on a serving table, they sat across from each other at a long dining table with another dozen male and female Elves, all dressed like Silvans but with a wider variety of hair color and complexions. All nodded to their liege but did not rise or babble obsequiously. One did pass a pitcher of cold tea over for Legolas to fill two mugs. After topping them he said, "I will call a meeting tonight. We are having trouble with one of our streams. Perhaps King Elessar thinks you can help."

"I would be honored, my Lord. In the meantime, please, tell me of your home."

Lord Legolas knew several of those seated with them did not speak the common tongue. Evidently this creature spoke theirs. Wanting to include everyone, he said in Sindarin, "This is a place of growing. Some of us raise food and other crops to for our sustenance and to trade along with other crafts along the Anduin. Others of us help restore the terrible damage done by the dark ones to the east."

Legolas emphasized 'dark ones' in the sentence. After all this time, Arwen still suspected him of secret loyalties. It might just be that if a man forgave a grudge held ten years, that was one in five parts of his adult life. For Elves, that could be a thousand years. Nag Kath did not know how many of the folk here knew his background. He would be careful and not as quick to anger as he was with the pompous official an hour ago.

In Sindarin he said to the table as a whole, "You have a lovely place here."

What a strange accent! It was understandable but certainly not like their northern dialect, not close to Lorien either. Legolas added, "This is Nag Kath and he will be staying with us for a while. Please help him learn of Emyn Vierald and introduce him to others."

That was the first Nag Kath knew he wouldn't be loaded onto Charlo with the town administrator smacking the horse across the backside. Looking around the table, he reminded himself that the beautiful women were not here for his entertainment. Pity; that, but rules are rules. The Prince said to a Quendu (male Elf) at the other end of the table, "Kendaroulas, would you see to our guest's accommodations?"

"Aye, my Lord."

Both took that to mean the meal was over. Kendaroulas and Nag Kath bowed to Legolas and took Charlo to the stable. It was quite a luxurious arrangement with large, spotless stalls and fresh hay. The horse was hungry and did not stand on ceremony. Some of Nag Kath's mannish came out in asking, "Kendaroulas, are you my guide because you have a sense of humor or because you don't?"

The Elf smiled, "That depends on who you ask. My wife would tell you no. Friends call me Kendar." He went on to explain a bit of the settlement. All told there were three hundred thirty people, most from the northern Kingdom but quite a few from Lorien spread over a circle about forty miles across. They would eventually go to Valinor but thought there was worthy work to be done in repairing the blight of Sauron.

The Prince has spent quite some time after the war in the Glittering Caves with his friend Gimli as the Dwarf explored their wonders and later made good on his promise to see Elf-tended forests in return. He wasn't here that often. Most of these Elves came twenty years ago after streams returned to health. Using soil and craft from their homes, trees grew tall and plants lush in their widening sphere of influence.

Kendaroulas was one of the forest-keepers. His brother was a farmer. Both were married with one child each. Nag Kath asked him, "Do you feel a pull from the Undying Lands?"

"Yes, I do and so do most here. We know that our life-force is bound to those lands but this has been our home for our entire lives. We will go when the work is done here, done or ready to hand to those who come next."

~o~

The town of Emyn Vierald was laid in a semi-circle spreading from south base of a steep foothill so it got good sun all day. A stream about four paces across flowed directly through the middle of it spanned by a bridge large enough to support carts. As a bridge-man, Nag Kath always looked underneath and at the foundations. Kendar said he had errands and took his guest to a small house on the south end of the complex. Like most Elvish structures, the doors had latches but no locks. Inside was a large main room and kitchen with four sleeping rooms on each corner. Evidently this was a hostel for visitors except Nag Kath was the only one there just now. His room had a bed that was long-enough, suggesting that they had other tall travelers, a basin and a small dresser.

Kendar told him when to present himself at the main building for dinner with the Prince and they both left, Kendar to do whatever he was doing and Nag Kath to collect his pack. It was only mid-afternoon so he stopped at a lovely vista and pulled his sketch pad to doodle. It wasn't long before two children came fearlessly up to him and looked over his shoulder. One girl, one boy, of about the same age watched silently until he looked back and said, "How do you do? I am Nag Kath."

They bowed or curtsied and the girl said, "Fine, thank you Nag Kath."

In his experience, the fast way to get someone involved is to ask their advice, "Now, what do you call this hill directly in front of us?"

The boy answered, "That is Emyn Mantath, sir."

"Do you ever go there?"

The girl smiled and said, "Yes, mother and father take us there sometimes for picnics." Odd; that. Usually Elves aren't born within a hundred years of each other. Perhaps they were twins. Youngsters take about time-and-a-half longer then men to mature and seem to stop aging at round forty, almost his age now, although they seemed to know each other's age from signs he could not yet tell.

Nag Kath smiled himself and said, "Then I will just have to draw you there." He sketched a tiny family on the edge of a meadow sitting in the grass, too small other than to give it scale. Signing it at the bottom he gave it to the girl saying, "Here is something to remember your lovely day." She took it gracefully and they bowed again hurrying home to show their parents the new treasure.

That was enough art for one day. Nag Kath returned to his room for rest after the minor sorcery of healing the ohtar's jaw. If they were like him, it would have healed itself in a day or two but it kept him from falling off the horse.

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

Far earlier than someone with a sense of proper Elvish time, Nag Kath went to a large house close to the administrative building and loitered until he saw a few others making their way. A serious-looking ohtar on the porch wasn't quite a guard but he wasn't there for the scenery either. Nag Kath left his weapons in his room so the fellow gave him a professional appraisal and nodded as our Elf went inside.

Dinner was to be at a long, wide table that seemed rather more rustic than Thranduil's. He sat next to the couple he followed who smiled but said nothing. Other folk were coming in and sat in no special precedence except reserving the middle seats of one side. As the table filled, they all conversed with no seeming concern he would hear them. He kept his own counsel. By the appointed time, he counted seven males and three females plus himself.

Before long, Legolas arrived with a secretary or steward. Everyone seated rose and bowed. He bowed back just as deeply and said in Elvish, "Please, resume your chairs." This was not the start of a council. Folk kept on with their same conversations as wine was served and small plates of greens with bread. It was only after that that Legolas said, "Thank you all for coming. Joining us tonight is Nag Kath of Gondor and places north. King Elessar has sent him our way."

They looked at him again and nodded. He nodded back wondering again if any other than Legolas knew of his colorful past. It was probable. Some here might recognize him from his visits to the Elven Halls. The woman next to him was not put-off by history and said, "Welcome to Emyn Vierald, Nag Kath. I am Geniev and this is my husband Temuilen." The Elf next to her smiled and nodded, no shaking hands with this lot. She continued, "Is this about the water?"

He said soberly, "I am not sure, Geniev. I seem to be a mystery guest. Thank you for your warm welcome, though."

Temuilen added, "Yes, welcome. We have a mystery of our own."

~o~

They did not get much further before it became the official topic. The Elf who came in with Legolas cleared his throat and all conversation around the table stopped. He then said in a low voice of great gravitas, "We are summoned to discuss the toxic water and the damage it does our labor. As we have a guest, I will explain."

When you live thousands of years, you have to be gracious hearing the same things over again. The Elf continued, "Last year the north tributary to our main creek ran foul and killed all of the plants along it as far back as the mountain. When it joins the Ithielduin, the larger flows dilute it enough to water crops but they are not as healthy as they were before. Those of us who were here before the war recognized it was the same trouble as poisoned water coming from the Dark Lord's domain."

Legolas thanked him for the summary and said, "Now, friends, Aragorn has sent someone who might lend aid. Let us use his experience to see if this calamity can be assuaged. Nag Kath, know you of such trouble?"

"Some, My Lord. It will be hard to guess without seeing. Is there a smell or color that is new?"

Legolas looked to a dark-haired Elf dressed in field green and tan. He surveyed the table and said, "Not that we can tell. Those who drank of it before the extent was known were ill. Men of Ithilien further downstream have been sickened even by the main watercourse. Last spring is the closest we can come to the time."

An Elf three down from Nag Kath said, "I saw these lands long ago and remembered most of the streams from the Düath ran rank and killed the greens along their path."

That started a general conversation among everyone, who were all here because they had a direct role in how the water affected their community. Legolas was eating and content to let them talk. About ten minutes in someone said, "It is water coming from Mordor!"

Nag Kath finally spoke, softly at first and building the way he had been taught to control the room, "It is not Mordor." No one spoke. They didn't even chew. "I was there two years ago riding the other side of these mountains. The leeward does not get nearly the rain you do, but the streams were running clear. I tested all of them as I traveled north from the Nûrnen."

No one was quite sure what would happen next. And who exactly was this man who spoke their tongue and was in Mordor, most forsaken of Arda? This was their Lord's idea so he broke the inertia, "Nag Kath, you have been to Mordor?"

"Aye, Prince Legolas. I went to destroy a surviving ring of power. I got there through Khand but returned to Gondor through Cirith Ungol. Water making its way east was drinkable and there were beginnings of plants along the banks."

So, what Aragorn had told him about the Dwarf ring was true! Legolas would bet diamonds against pebbles that old Stonehelm was fit to be tied. He was more interested in how the changeling knew. "Pray, Nag Kath, how could you tell they were clean?"

Our Elf started slowly, "After the war, I was given a gift by one of the Maiar that lets me divine the life-essence of the races. They show as a color. Orcs, and other creatures of Sauron, hint green with blackish threads. I can feel that in water as well. There were two such streams in Mirkwood, two days west of the turn to Your Lordship's lands. Some of you may remember them. They are gone now. I ran the same test on the raging waters from Minas Morgul and they were pure."

Oh, so he was Kath of the Water? Most here had heard of that, even if they weren't impressed by the graceless aqueduct. A robed Elf who seemed to know his business said, "I remember. Coming up from Dol Goldur. Running the wrong way, almost. Perhaps a foot across each?"

Nag Kath nodded.

A truly beautiful woman, who did not appear to be in the company of a male and who had not said much until now dabbed her lips with the cloth. She asked with some trepidation, "Are you sent to test the waters of the Telengaur?"

Nag Kath remembered not to be too charming and answered, "So it seems, My Lady, by Lord Legolas' leave."

Everyone at the table looked at the Lord and he nodded in agreement.

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

About half the people at dinner were mounted at first light. Charlo had been saddled and fitted. By habit, Nag Kath slid his fingers under the horse's belly strap to check the cinch and climbed aboard. The pretty woman who asked after his coming was among them and also on a horse with an ear-tattoo. Elves don't brand their horses. That is only for men who would argue over rightful ownership. It also said something about Legolas. Gimli pointedly told Nag Kath that the Elf Prince might not want to be found. If Legolas was riding the King's horses and lording over a meaningful swath of Ithilien, he would have been in those capitals several times while the aqueduct was built. Nag Kath was never the wiser. That said something about him too.

Prince Legolas said, "Chik, chik," and pulled his mount towards the southeast. They rode for an hour at a comfortable speed and reached a river about ten paces across running fairly deep but barren along the bank. It was bridged wide enough to fit a stout cart. They formed up in single file to cross, continuing another fifty paces until they reached green grass. The Lord dismounted and everyone followed suit, letting their horses graze as the rest of the troop walked back to the river.

Plants alongside were scabby and stunted as far as the grazing horses to either side stretching both up and down the flow. The Elf who spoke about the Mirkwood streams came over to Nag Kath and observed, "You can see the wasting. It grows worse further up but we cannot tell from the plants when we reach the rocks of the Ephel Düath."

Nag Kath listened carefully and looked at the Prince who gave him the slightest of nods. Then he walked to the bank and clicked his little pocket-knife, swishing it in the water for any sign of blue. If it glowed it was too faint to tell in sunlight. As everyone watched, He pulled off his boots and socks and pulled his pants up around his knees. One of the Elves was about to caution him against entering the water but the Prince shook his head and the fellow remained silent.

Much like in the Nuessan years ago, he walked almost knee deep in the water and soaked his hand. Raising his arm to the sky, Nag Kath began to glow Elvish silver. After a moment, the slightest aura of dark, almost like the steam of a doused campfire, circled him and snaked up his arm into the air. That lasted only a few seconds until he lowered his arm and walked back to Legolas saying, "It is fouled, all right, sorcerously too. Something old and rotten has returned."

In his mind, Legolas took back his half-hearted criticisms of Aragorn for inflicting the Uruk-hai on him. The Prince called all to sit in a circle in the grass near the horses. He looked to Nag Kath who reported, "Same as Mirkwood. Are there folk up or down this stream?"

The other woman of the group who had not spoken to him before answered, "We abandoned a settlement up this valley. Men live along the bank as this joins other streams into the Great River. They report sickness but not plagues."

The creature was sent for a purpose. Legolas raised his eyebrow and asked, "What do you recommend, Nag Kath?"

"An expedition up the mountain, My Lord. I must follow the rivulets until the source is discovered, just the opposite of Minas Morgul. It will be a long, hard business and I will need a half-troop of hardy rangers, or whatever they are called among your folk."

That netted some surprise. Wasn't he of their folk? While they considered that he added, "Do you have mules or donkeys that can carry packs in rough terrain?"

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

Back at Emyn Vierald, Nag Kath was at leisure while someone else did the organizing. Even in high summer, those peaks would be cold so stocks were laid-in of coats, food, packs and other kit for a month on the slopes. The plan was for six of their folk and Nag Kath to leave three days hence. They would travel by horse with pack animals in tow until and if they reached the point where the horses could not manage the ground.

In those three days Nag Kath got an overdue lesson in Elvish reproduction. A couple of their community, young at less than a thousand years each, had entered into their joining. She sensed her first fertility coming a month before and told her husband who felt it soon afterwards. This was not the monthly cycle of human women except for the advent of conception. From now on they would go about their duties but stay near home in each other's company. By the time Nag Kath arrived, they were starting their physical intimacy at night but out and about during the day. He only saw them once and thought they looked like any other couple who enjoyed themselves the night before.

The odder thing was the reaction of the community. In the company of men, just as in the barge camp on the Dusenorn, one man's pleasure would either be envied or garner good-natured appreciation by men who wished it was them. Not here. Everyone respected the couple's privacy and sometimes finished chores for them, more like aiding an injury than recreation. As this was their first joining, there were no children to mind over as many as three weeks of physical closeness. No one was inspired to take their woman, or any other, home to roll in the hay.

Nag Kath wondered about the male. His ardor was conditional on the receptiveness of his female. Did Elf men also have fertility cycles? Had he ever had one? Would it take a She-Elf to awaken his seed? Thinking about it made wakeful rest very difficult and he was glad to get on the road with his fellow celibates.

This lot traveled with real Lorien Lembas. Four were soldiers, one was of their restoration corps and one was their equivalent of an engineer. They all had horses along with three donkeys carrying tents, food, heavy outerwear and grain for the animals if they climbed higher than forage. Brown river banks continued due east for several days. When the vegetation lessened in the hills, Nag Kath tested the water at confluences. Once when he did two rivulets in one day, he told his troop he needed to sleep rather than rest that night. Most of the time, he could simply pass his hand over the water for a sense.

After five days of slow going, they reached the point where the horses were a liability. One of the ohtars made camp with a tent and was to watch them for two weeks. The remaining six clambered up the mountain with two donkeys that had their own opinions about the effort. Even Elves, famous comforters of horses, only held so much sway with donkeys.

~o~

Only one stream in each confluence was tainted. Alas, it was always the big one. Even this high, the foul water was fully six paces across and raging deep.

Even not needing sleep and seeing well at night, it was policy not to press on with this kind of footing. They huddled in the two remaining tents to stay warm and fed the donkeys that had taken to trying to steal oats from each other's packs until someone barked at them in wargish.

In luck, after a fashion, there was a trail through the crags for another three days, enough for the animals to get decent purchase. That ended abruptly in a field of broken shale covering acres down the side of a sawtooth ridge. The tainted stream gurgled through it on the way down and emerged at the bottom. A considerable amount of this mountain had collapsed recently. There was no going forward so they backtracked half a day and tried climbing further to the south. That went fairly well, finally gaining an allied peak the next day. The donkeys needed more food at night but their hooves held fast in the snow.

This high, they could see a crater or bowl just below the former peak at the source of the water. Time was running low. They had plenty of Lembas and water but the donkeys would run out of grain in a week. Nag Kath explained, "I need a look in that hole. Does anyone remember an earthquake about the time the water went bad?"

No one recalled any such thing but this was far from the world. "With fortune on our side, I figure it will take a day to get there on foot without the beasts and a day back. You do not have to go, thought I would be glad of company if there is rope-work needed."

Cristigir and Doronthial immediately said they would be honored to come. At dawn, the three took as little as would sustain them for three days and started picking their way through the rocks. Whatever had collapsed the adjacent mountain had not happened here and footing was fair until they reached the rubble itself. From there it was three hours of treacherous slipping and clinging. Doronthial was hit in the shin by a sliding tile of slate that took Nag Kath's healing powers and the Elf's own restoration to close.

When they made the edge of the pit, all three vomited.

~o~

Uruk-hai do not lose their Lembas easily. In the water swirling below them were the bones and flesh of huge trolls and what Cristigir explained were fell-beasts the Nazgul rode in the sky. All was floating in the current like boiling stew with a nauseating stench. They were not decomposing, just chunks and bones with thick greasy foam lapping at the sides. Nag Kath put the pit at perhaps sixty paces long by thirty across. The top of the mountain had collapsed, diverting the snowmelt into this cauldron of evil, like the Dead Marshes, waiting in malevolence. All the drainage between these two peaks was pouring through this fell pool.

The three Elves sat down away from the edge and gathered themselves. Nag Kath said, "Forgive me but I know nothing of Elvish lore. Do you know if any of Sauron's troops were this far south?"

Doronthial shifted his leg painfully and considered that, "Troops; I do not think so. A loremaster might correct me but I would say this was a breeding pool, perhaps for the fell-beasts and their minder-trolls. My brethren near Dale would not have seen them. I hail from Lorien and they fouled the sky coming and going from Dol Guldor."

Concerned for his friend, Cristigir interrupted, "Nag Kath, if you have seen what you need, let us return to the flat ground an hour back to make camp away from this horrible place." Nag Kath nodded and they did just that.

~o~

Crawling out of their tent at dawn in a raw wind, Doronthail had a noticeable limp. He needed more healing or he would have trouble on the loose rock. In the lee of the tent, Nag Kath had him remove his boot and sock, rolling his pant leg up to expose an angry wound. The cut had opened and bruised so our Elf used his fishhook and thread to stitch it shut. Then he applied a healing spell using both hands, this time silver on silver, to help with swelling. Neither Elf had seen that before. This came from the wizard school of cures rather than their own and Nag Kath had not learned to summon the Elvish healing of Elrond. They were still impressed and, more importantly, the pain was manageable.

Doronthail was sore for the rest of the hike down the hill but they took the risk of leaving his pack behind, hoping to join their friends by the end of the day. There was still more work to do. One of the other ohtars stayed with Doronthial so Cristigir and Nag Kath could climb the pass to the Mordor side of the range. The leeward had a more gradual slope. Footing was better too. Nag Kath was glad he looked.

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

Legolas called another council the evening they returned. All of the riders and the same group of advisors were met this time after dinner in the same room.

Nag Kath started the report, "My Lord, ladies and gentlefolk, we discovered that a landslide toppled one of the mountain peaks, diverting the main watercourse through what Doronthail explained is the remnant of a breeding pool for the Nazgûl fell-beasts. There is sorcery still there, still active, that keeps foulness from dying.

Engineer Dythas, who stayed on the neighboring peak added, "There are not enough Dwarves in the world to divert the stream away from the pool. It is the largest single supply of water to the Telengaur, making perhaps a third of it by the time it runs through Emyn Vierald."

Prince Legolas allowed a quarter of an hour of discussion on the pool and contents. If it could not be rerouted, what were his options? Nag Kath kept quiet throughout until Legolas called on him with the essential question, "Nag Kath, what keeps that place befouled?"

"My Lord, I think this runs much further than a beast pit, and I am speculating here, for which I apologize. I have traveled, as many of you have, from here to the northern wastes and there are instances of continued dark spells the whole way.

"The Dead Marshes should have faded. Barrow-wights still prowl. People will swear ghosts haunt the Mournshaws waiting for infamy. And now we have the very mounts of the Nazgûl roiling in undeath. What they all have in common is the Witch-King, dead by the hand of the fair Lady of this very land.

"Loremasters please correct me, but I suspect that he had talismans and repositories of his own foul sorcery before being bound completely in the service of Sauron. They continue in his purpose though he is gone."

The oldest Elf in the room was Fallingahs. He nodded gravely and said, "It is far-afield but makes more sense than anything else. I would add that Dol Guldor also seethes with blackness. The nine were much there at their master's bidding as necromancer. It is reliably said that the horses of the nine were swept away at the Bruinen. Perhaps the Lord of the Nazgûl was tasked to replace them with the fell-beasts."

Legolas looked at his wisest counsellor and said, "Fallingahs, do you think the answer lies in those wretched ruins?"

Fallingahs shook his head and said softly, "Angmar."

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

The Elves could not cleanse their water from here. That river and everything it touched would suffer. Legolas recalled his most senior counselors the next morning. Most of their farming and reforesting was unaffected but it seemed there was no end of ancient malice. It was a short meeting. Legolas would go see his old friend the King of the Reunited Kingdom and tell him what they found. And as much as he did not like it, the Uruk had been of service, just as others had said of him. He might have been less impressed if he knew how distracted the changeling was with joyous coupling only four doors from his guest quarters.

Prince Legolas had more time than he wanted. Any incursion into Angmar would come from Arnor. Troops would follow their sovereign but might not be enthusiastic about cleaning Elvish water. The threat was to Ithilien and by extension Gondor and by extension the entire Kingdom. Now late summer, it would come, if it came, from the King returning to Annúminas next spring. The water would have to be foul at least that long, longer if the Uruk or his advisors were wrong about what was keeping these cesspits of Sauron alive.

Legolas thought about the Uruk. He was forbidden Erebor. Did that include greater Erebor of the Glittering Caves? Legends had it, now more believable than before, that the changeling had negotiated with orcs. There would be orcs aplenty in the crescent of Angmar. As long as they stayed there no one was inclined to bother with them. But the orcs would not be in charge. It would be men in Angmar, the same disgruntled, bitter men that had always lived there. They might have nothing to do with this sorcery either. For all he knew, it could be a glowing spire that did not have the common sense to know it had been abandoned!

In the end, Legolas was a creature of action. Decisive movement was needed. After the harvest he would talk with the Lords of Gondor.

Nag Kath came to the same conclusions. He also knew that if Aragorn intended to take troops into Angmar, he would ask his help. The orcs outside the crescent said there were orcs inside. The latter would certainly defend their lands unless someone gave them a good reason not to. He smiled wondering if Lake Evendim had whisker-fish.

~o~

No one from the Prince's staff had spoken to him since their return from the mountains so he decided he would learn what he could, starting with healing, and now he had an excellent excuse to ask. Kendar said their healer was the quenda (woman) Loniel. Nag Kath asked for an introduction since Elves do not share their secrets with former orcs. Late in the afternoon they went to a modest home on the other side of the community from the guest quarters and waited in a sitting room while she attended a patient.

Not long after, an Elf left her healing room gingerly with his foot wrapped in a bandage. He smiled and said hello to Kendar on his way. He was no sooner out the door than the beautiful She-Elf of the water meetings greeted them. Both visitors stood to exchanged bows. Kendar began introducing the guest and their reason for coming. When Loniel saw the chance, she interrupted saying, "Thank you dear Kendar. I have already met Nag Kath."

Duty done, he said goodbye and followed the limping Elf to see if he could help. Both Nag Kath and Loniel remained standing, saying nothing. When the silence was overwhelming, he stated his reason for coming, "Forgive me, I had not heard your name before. It is Loniel, yes?"

What a curious accent. "Loniel, yes."

He supposed that a healer should be one of the water council. It also gave him cover for his more general questions. There was no time like the present, "I came to ask more about the effects of the taint for your people and those downstream."

'Your people'? Yes, he was not really an Elf. The Prince did not trust him but told his subjects to assist, a delicate balance? On the other hand, he found the poison at its source, something none of them could do. To buy a little time she asked, "Would you like tea? It is cold."

"Cold is how I like it in the summer."

Please, sit over here. I'll just get some."

Finally, a chair that fit him. He made mental notes about the size to have one made back home. She brought him a mug and one for herself, sitting at a right angle to her strange guest. Adjusting the smallest pleat in her skirt she wondered, "What would you like to know, Mr. Kath?"

"Please, just Nag Kath. I wanted to learn when these troubles started and what it did to people."

She looked slightly upward as if to recollect and said, "Spring, last year. Plants along the Telengaur died quickly and the brown spread as far as you saw on our ride. Our Tanduiviel community upstream drank the water and became ill with digestive complaints." He imagined she put that charitably but his face registered nothing but concern. "I am told that men further downstream had the same difficulties. The impure water was more diluted but they do not have our resilience."

"Thank you, Mrs. Loniel." He paused but she offered no diminutive. "What remedies did you find effective?"

"Burney root in tea and Cholis leaves ground and eaten. I believe your people call it Red Colich."

It was Nag Kath's turn to wonder who 'his people' were. He plodded on, trying not to sound like a guardi, "Were there reports of troubles of the mind like; anger or confusion?"

She took a sip of her tea and answered, "Yes, both, some folk more than others. They passed with the lower disorders and all are fine now." She eased into a lovely smile and said, "I confess, I was a bit disordered when I went there to attend our people, but I only drank of the water once and then we determined that was the cause."

He smiled too, "You seem fine now. Would you like me to see if any has remained?"

~o~

Oh dear! It sounded so innocent. She saw with her own eyes how the changeling had divined the nature of the water with sorcery, the sorcery of Saruman if that rumor of many was accurate. The Prince might not approve. Loniel decided that as healer to Emyn Vierald she should know so she said primly, "What must I do, Mr. Kath?"

He had a moment of pause himself. This would involve physical touch, an anathema to Elves. She was lovely and seemed to be single. Even being a healer, how could someone like her not be married? How could any of them not be married? The Prince was unclaimed. Every prince he had ever heard of could take his pick of the available womenfolk. What was wrong with this woman? That and having the young couple squeaking the springs all night lessened his concentration.

As close to his practitioner's demeanor as he could manage, Nag Kath said, "Nothing too intrusive. If you would untie your cuff and roll your sleeve back to your forearm …"

She chose the closest arm and offered her lovely hand. He gently took it with both of his and concentrated. Having applied a blood spell on the ohtar, he had some feel for Elvish pulse and blood flow. Nag Kath closed his eyes and imagined her nature as it should be. A soft silver glow emanated from all three hands for a few seconds until he slowly released his grip to end the spell. With a smile he said, "You show no lingering signs. I will make discreet inquiries in Pelargir as well."

Loniel had braced herself for something much less pleasant. He sensed her resistance had eased, if only slightly. Now it was time to weave this into his general curiosity. "Mrs. Loniel, did you use any drawing spells as remedies?"

The Prince said nothing about this! Oh, she wished she knew what he approved. Something was called for so she looked in her lap and said, "I do not have those skills, Mr. Kath. Not many of us did and they are now in the Undying Lands." She hoped he would not press. She did have small drawing powers but had not used them against Sauron's malice. Loniel was about to put more distance between herself and her talent when she realized that this creature would know her capabilities from his sorcerous touch! Oh dear! Did he mean mischief or was he truly a healer?

This was unfair to her but he would not have a great deal of time and it was for a good cause, the last defense of the unscrupulous, "I understand. Please excuse my being so forward. I simply wondered if the Athae Áma might help others I meet."

That was the hook. It came from Elrond's book of cures. The Elf Lord had used it, or a variation, on Frodo years before. Countering the Morgul blade needed both physical care for the wound and relieving the horror sown with it. Neither could be completely successful after days of festering but they were as effective as any in Middle-earth.

Loniel knew of the cure but it was beyond her powers. How on earth did this creature know? Could he actually do it? That spell and others like it were of Rivendell and Lorien, places of learning and calm. She was from the Woodland Realm, a much more militant strain of firstborn. Elves were still not so harmonious that the enclaves shared all their secrets. Loniel knew healing of her tribe but never studied with the greats.

For his part, Nag Kath knew the incantation but not the summoning. His seemingly off-the-cuff question might just break the impasse. Loniel's curiosity got the better of her. If this changeling could help her help her community, she would take the risk. It had to be done subtly. There was no telling how much the changeling knew. At it happened, he knew barely enough. He knew the wizards' healing sorcery of the confusion spells; how to relieve and how to induce them.

The Quenda took a few moments to construct her response, "It might, Mr. Kath"

"Please, Nag Kath."

She allowed herself a smile, "Nag Kath, then." Then, as if it scarcely mattered, she played her hand, "Do you know cures of Imladris?"

"A few, though I summon them as the Istari would." That was pure surmise. With the exception of Radagast's pencil call, his party tricks were self-taught. It was close enough. He continued, "I used one for the poor ohtar I struck. Said in Quenya, 'Bring clarity forth. Set aside distraction.' The cadence must be timed to breath. My poor effort is more by feel. Please, give me your hand again."

Loniel still hesitated but this was fascinating. He used his confusion clearing spell. With no disorder to remove, it was over in an instant but her face flushed slightly. He hoped she was not so clear-headed that she saw through his ruse. To seal the exchange he asked, "How would you summon such a drawing?"

The woman added her other hand making four and pulled the slightest power from inside her. It was of water, as was his, but was not taken from the elements outside. Was Elvish recovery why Mrs. Skilleth said that cures were nothing to his kind? Yes, it must be. At some point in the lives of men they were in a constant losing battle with strength. These folk kept getting stronger. She was probably old enough that her power was restored almost instantly.

~o~

It took half a dozen tries until she was able to separate the syllables into a more rhythmic cadence. There was no color but the image of their hands together blurred slightly as she concentrated on the incantation he told her. He felt a wave of clarity, not unlike mindful rest. When she got it right, it was over in seconds.

The healer leaned back in her chair, not from fatigue but in the awe of discovery. She knew there would have been little power in her cure but it was there and could be developed in time. Now he knew where to summon the power, even if he could not replenish it as quickly. Was it from his existing resources or did they build reserves against the need? Loniel did not seem the worse for wear.

A compliment was in order, "Yes, I think you have it! Perhaps that can help your folk." More gravely, "We still have work ahead in managing that vile humor from the mountains. You will be needed. The source is found but not repaired."

Nag Kath was ready to keep touching but Loniel rose gracefully and said, "If you will forgive me, Nag Kath, I must rest after that experience and then attend a first-time mother whose time draws near."

He stood and bowed as she showed him the door.

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~

The next day there was no summons from the Lord. He sketched some of the unique homes and scenery and checked on a split in one of Charlo's hooves. It would heal. In the meantime, he mapped a course to follow the river west to Pelargir. That would let him observe the effect of the mildly tainted water closer to the Anduin and he could stop by Lentaraes'. It seemed a pleasant city. He would take his leisure and then either ride up through Lossarnach or take the riverboat to Osgiliath if Charlo's hoof needed more rest.

Nag Kath sensed it was time for a graceful exit so he asked to speak to the Lord. "With your permission, Prince Legolas, I thought to take your merchant road to Pelargir and gauge the damage of the water on men of the river."

The Prince saw that offer the same way and said, "Yes, thank you, Nag Kath. A mannish healer is known to us in that city who may be of use. His name is Vellund Kieff. Mention us."

"Then I will fare you well. Is there any message I can take the King?"

Legolas said, "Merely the same things you told us. I will confer with Prince Faramir shortly, anticipating, a council before long."

Nag Kath rose and bowed.

~o~

An Elf, burlier than usual, was hoisting crates of fruit onto a well-sprung wagon. Another Elf brought a team of horses to the traces. Nag Kath walked up to the big one and said, "Your pardon, I seek Tol Avrendi."

"You have found him. How can I help?"

"I am Nag Kath and heading for Pelargir. I thought you might like company."

"You are the fellow who went up into the mountains, yes?"

"Along with a troop of brave Quendu to steady me."

"Aye, we leave within the hour."

Nag Kath said, "I have to say a few goodbyes but I will have no trouble catching you if I am late."

"Fine, we move fast though. Tables of the White City want this fresh."

~o~

~o~o~o~

~o~