CHAPTER 25 - What sways their song
Down...
There was no intonation, nor indeed any timbre to the voice. She felt the word gain meaning in her mind, resounding through the lightless place the half-orc found herself in.
Down.
She wanted to demand who it was, but as ever the visions were not in her power to control. She was near always voiceless in the unstable planes of her nightmares. The earth shook beneath her feet, and all around her was crumbling away in a fiery chasm.
Kal felt a steady, wet warmth lapping at her cheek. Eyes opening blearily, the half-orc saw she was being regaled with the insistent nose and tongue pertaining to her four legged companion. She pushed his maw gently away from her face, and rose from the pallet.
What time it was, she had no notion. I must have... fallen asleep. The sconce in the wall still burned though with a dimmer light. Kal frowned, the remnants of her night vision still fresh in her thought. This had been a novel one. Usually her night terrors tended to repeat themselves in theme and visuals, each one causing various degrees of fright or unease. But never had she heard this voice, beckoning her... downward? She decided to attribute it all to the recent turn of events. It was then she noticed a change of garments similar to hers along with a few other pieces, placed beside the pallet.
Kal knelt and retrieved one of the items. She felt the material of the thick grey linen tunic between her fingers, impressed by the fresh scent to it. She noticed a clay ewer also stood close to the pallet and approaching was pleased to see it was filled with water. There was a bowl she had not seen before in another corner. After sparsely washing her face and hands Kal changed, and was about to renounce the chamber calling to Eron when a steady knock sounded against the wooden door.
Pulling at the metal handle to reveal who it was, Kal found herself staring into the blue-grey depths of the elf who led her here.
She saw his silvery hair was loose and falling freely over his shoulders, unlike the manner it was braided in when traveling the wilds. He no longer wore his green and brown traveling garb but stood before her in a belted grey long-sleeved shirt reaching to his knees, and fitted dark trousers tucked in what appeared to be soft grey boots. He was weaponless, which Kal found odd.
The elf raised a questioning eyebrow. "Ready to face the day?"
Kal opened the door wider, allowing Eron to greet him, its nose brushing his welcoming palm.
"Have I..." she blinked heavily.
"Slept the night away, aye. Come, there are things I wish to show you sooner than later," he started towards their left as Kal swiftly closed the door to join him.
They passed through a number of corridors, encountering other souls here and there. Irrespective of whether they were humans, dwarves, or elves, they all seemed to know the elf walking beside her. And they all cast uncertain glances her way.
Of course they would. Her hand involuntarily clenched around the hilt of Faramir's sword. She had taken the weapon with, as precautionary measures were never to be taken lightly, no matter the ill or good nature of the situation one was in. Another lesson learned in Mordor.
"Where are we heading?"
The elf glanced briefly at her. "You should know your way around the isle."
To say she was not intrigued would be a lie. And so they went together, following various hewn corridors and climbing numbers of stairs until they reached a platform leading to the outside world. The entrance was a natural opening in the mountain, inconspicuous to the foreign eye.
As they passed through, Kal found herself staring at the rich mountainous relief of the island. They were still well above the level of the sea, she surmised.
The sea. Kal saw it bordering the corners of her vision, heard the song of its dark green waters crashing against her mind, bringing peace but also desire. Desire, for what?
Eyes refocusing, they beheld an outcropping of various types of rock, rich in color and shape. They ranged from black to browns streaked with reds, to whitish grey. Many cliffs formed a chain strewn across the island.
"Once, this place was alive," said Legolas as her eyes trailed over the view. "Fire spewed from its depths, and its eruptions were a tumultuous, dangerous wonder to behold."
"Ones as those in the Fiery Mountain of Mordor," Kal mused, the image taking her to the volcano which she knew housed the Chambers of Fire in the Black Land.
The elf seemed to stiffen at her words, but said nothing of it, instead pursuing his explanation. "This isle was populated sparsely once before the Dark One ruled, and its climate and lack of proper harborage diminished the numbers of local populace dwelling here."
"But you found it suitable for... yourselves? All those beings dwelling here-"
"-came at their own free will," interrupted the elf. "We found this space as we sailed along the Great River, during a time when we were fleeing. We were desperate then."
"You and...?" Kal asked, truly curious.
"The elf maid you met earlier, another friend and a few others."
They had climbed down and reached what Kal saw to be a lower less rocky terrain on the island. Sparse trees grew here, and the plants seemed to fare better in health than those in Ithilien. Still the ever present grey clouds loomed above them, darkening the sight.
"We were in need of shelter and respite, and so moored here, in one of the few places we could. Its shores are mostly of rock and cliff you see, and its surroundings bring little hope for sailing. And then we found this place, and began to hope again. And as the years passed, we allowed more to come, ones desperate and driven enough to live free of the yoke of Mordor."
They had ceased walking after a while. Her eyes went to the sea to her left, at the black cliffs surrounding steep shores. Kal turned her vision forward and found herself in a grey vale, staring at various steaming pools of water. "What... is this place?" she inquired of the elf, having never seen such a sight before.
He beckoned to her and went to the edge of one of the brimming frothing pools. Kal approached, and saw the water was steaming and overflowing, of a certain depth if she were to guess. It bubbled in hues of blue and green, and there was a strange scent in the air around them.
"These are natural warm springs from the bowels of the earth, and are safe to bathe in. Though there is a system and freshwater within the mountain dwelling, some come here as well. There is another space lined with such pools which the men use."
Kal raised an eyebrow. "Why separate males and females?"
"Some cultures, especially humans, hold to the custom," the elf returned.
This was new. Kal thought back at all the times she had carelessly shed her clothes to bathe when traveling. Of course, she would never have dared to bathe naked in the presence of orcs, but that was due to other reasons. Her unease went unnoticed as Legolas continued on his path, Eron in tow.
The pair traversed across the land in silent companionship, a state Kal found aided to dispel the strange recent nightly vision from her mind. In the afternoon they reached what Kal assumed was the eastern side of the isle. She noticed the enticing winds from across seas unknown were milder here. She also saw that different type of trees lined the area. They grew together in groves lined with a rich, bushy thicket and thorny shrubs. She saw plenty of birds making their nesting onto the different sized cliffs facing the sea, all grey and white, and a sliver of liveliness compared to the tame surroundings.
They walked through the sparse wood and ascended higher. Kal went ahead, astonished at the thick round crowns of the sturdy trees in their way.
She stopped before one and clambered up through its boughs, intent on seeing the wide view of the area from above. But there was no such luck as she could not get to a certain angle; and the half-orc felt not as sure in her balance atop slender branches as an elf would. And so Kal carefully descended to sit onto a lower branch, the backs of her knees grasping it tightly. She then let her upper body hang upside down from the large wooden guardian atop the lonely hill. This was good. There was no fear, no thralldom, no fumes, no whips. Only clean, breathable air, blowing in gusts across the wide world. A world beyond the forbidding peaks of the Mountains of Shadow, only now beginning to take shape in her mind. Kal stretched downward as her legs continued to hold onto the branch.
She remained so, her arms hanging freely, until the elf reached her in his slow stride. Eron jumped up and down, perceiving a game in attempting to catch the flowing tresses of her unbound hair between his teeth, though they were sorely out of reach.
"Climb down from the tree, Kal," she heard him say, and meeting his eyes saw the elf looking up at her, his arms crossed.
She stared at him from her inverted position, a ways above his head. A corner of his mouth curled upward.
A swift strong wisp of air caught through her hair then, and Kal saw his eyes flutter closed briefly as long dark strands feathered over his face.
Even so she beheld him from above as the winds lashed at his own figure, his hair, his clothes, revealing the bare outline of his collarbone through the neckline of his tunic. The half-orc reasoned that the swift and reckless beating against her rib cage had merely been a fleeting sensation, its source the mounting fatigue from their journey here. She turned swiftly atop the branch and let herself drop to the ground, straightening before him.
Kal palmed the dust from her hands and the leaves from her garments, fighting a sudden wince when his hand reached to her left, somewhere near her pointed ear. A leafy twig was retrieved from her hair.
"I thought you did not scamper through trees," said Legolas, a tint to his voice which accompanied the look in his eyes. They both recalled these words, which the half-orc had said to him once, before they fought on the same side for the first time.
Strange it was that he remembered such things. "How many things did you once think you would never do?" asked the half-orc, turning her head to gaze towards the open view behind them.
The elf was watching her in silence, and Kal felt a sliver of unease when their eyes met again. "More than I dare to consider," he replied.
That unnerving curl of his lip became more noticeable for a fleeting moment, but was soon overcast by a shadow falling over his expression. The elf tore his gaze away and cleared his throat, pointing silently to the sea before turning to descend the rocky hill for her to follow.
Legolas led them down towards a narrow slip of black sanded shore, and Kal felt all the freer and lightheaded as she breathed in the salty freshness. The sea was calm that day, waves lazily crashing against the isle in the very rhythm devised by the laws of nature.
Looking to her right, Kal found it strange that the elf stared straight ahead, his gaze as lost as that time she had seen him beaten and bruised, tied against a tree in the close whereabouts of the Black Land.
"Legolas?" she dared ask, seeing him stand so silent and grim. It was then Kal recalled this was the same look she had seen on the elf maid earlier.
The elf appeared to reemerge from the shade of whatever turmoil he had sunken in, light eyes staring into reddish gold.
"It is the Sea. You may find this strange, but my kind feel an endless pull towards it."
"How so?" Kal wondered, listening to the whispers of the boundless waters without. A faint, illicit call which the half-orc may have considered akin to music, had she known how to define such.
The elf stared ahead as he stepped forward, and removed his soft boots. Barefooted he then walked towards the water, his feet sinking into the wet sand.
Without a second thought Kal swiftly did the same, and the moment her feet touched the sand she nearly purred in contentment. She walked closer to Legolas, until the foaming waters languidly swished against her ankles.
"It is cold, but good," she voiced the thought. "What is this pull you speak of?"
"The Firstborn had a choice to sail back to the lands of the Valar when wearied of this world, and dwell there in the light of their might. This was done by crossing a Path open to those of our kind; for Arda, this world, was not designed to be our home ever after. And now," he sighed, "here we are."
Kal took in the bitterness of the words, but posed another question. "What about other races, was the same Path you speak of not open to them?"
The elf shook his head. "Their fate is, or was, of a different ilk. It was all in the design of the One. But now..." his words trailed away.
Kal saw a deep grief mar his face, the likes of which she had seen once before, by the graves of Faramir and Celeg.
"Now, we have no means to reach Elvenhome. We are trapped, as it were, until we die here, and beyond that none even know anymore."
"And so, you endure?..." asked Kal, her chest too tight at the sight of his lowered gaze.
"And so, we do," Legolas gazed across the horizon, uncaring at the significantly colder breeze strongly snapping at his figure.
They stared ahead for a good while in quietude. A type of silence which would at times settle between them during their travels through Ithilien. There was a certain cold peace to it which brought forth a restive, ruminative state.
"Who built your home carved into the mountain?" Kal asked when the light of day slowly began to fade from their line of sight.
Legolas met her gaze. "You may have heard dwarves are quite gifted builders and masons."
Her mouth dropped agog. The straight structures, pillars, arches and walls she had seen. The strange symbols. All of it, their doing?
"If that is their work, then I see the truth of it indeed," she admitted, forcing memories of Mordor and whipped slaves from her mind. "But, how do you avoid detection?" she had to know.
At this the elf was silent, hesitating. She frowned.
"We are cautious."
"But you mentioned more than caution before," Kal insisted, her curiosity getting the better of her.
He threw her a sharp stare, at which her eyebrows lifted further in confusion.
"As I told you, we are cautious. Either way this place had never been densely populated due to less than thriving living conditions, and became utterly abandoned in time. Especially after the Empire lost interest, having far more important and strategically valued places to ensnare and occupy."
There had been a reticence in his answer which made her wonder, but Kal decided not to press further. And then she heard the sounds again. The soft wisps. "Do you hear it?" she asked suddenly, reaching for his shoulder without thought. "Arching waves of... sound," she caught his eyes, which appeared all the brighter in the descending twilight of dusk. "As if it speaks, in an unknown language all its own, but it does... do you hear?" Kal continued, bewildered that she felt it all.
The elf slowly pulled away from her touch and walked forward, looking to the endless nothing.
Kal stayed behind, unsure why she should be as affected as she felt by such a meaningless gesture.
"What I would find surprising, Kal of the Black Land, is that you do," came the somewhat wooden words.
Her brow furrowed at his words, and Kal wanted to ask his meaning when the elf sharply turned and bent to take his boots. "We ought to return. The others will be at the evening meal," he followed and started ahead without her, and the foreboding aura enveloping him now discouraged the half-orc from spilling her ardent question.
They traveled a different path to the one originally taken, and soon the pair reached the dwelling, housed under one of the many peaks lining the isle of Tolfalas.
At their destination Kal recognized the dining space when her eyes beheld the tables. Many of them were now occupied and bristling with more activity and murmurs than the first time she had been in this place. And yet, there were not many gathered in numbers. The population of this community seemed sparse, colorful though it was.
"Wait here," the elf told her and Kal did so, mouthing soothing words for Eron to stay put.
She had been standing there for a few moments before the half-orc heard a voice snarling behind her.
"You!" a male voice called in the common tongue.
Turning on her heel Kal saw two men approach. They wore leathers and dark beards lined their stern faces. Their heads were shaven and their almond shaped eyes shone black and sharp. Tattoos were upon their brow. "We came here to escape the Shadow, and now we find it dwelling among us," one of them spoke then with an unmistakable accent. Easterlings.
Kal straightened even as the wolf began to growl lowly, leaning on its front legs, its ears tilted backward.
The two men trailed their gazes over her figure, then her eyes and fangs as she opened her mouth to speak. "I want no manner of trouble," Kal said as levelly as she could, wondering where Legolas had gone. It was not hard to surmise that her word alone would not count for much with these men.
"I see what you are from afar, creature of Mordor. Your kind has no place here," the second man spoke then, joined by the first as they began to loom over her.
Eron released a low rumble, his jaw snapping twice.
"Eron, heed," Kal tried, her hand grasping the hilt of her sword.
But one sudden move from the Easterling and the wolf was upon him, its jaws aimed to bite. Though still slight and young, its frame had grown enough to cause damage and disruption in the case of an attack.
"Eron!" Kal attempted to reach the wolf as the elf had shown her, as she had succeeded once. It was all in vain. She could not think straight enough to focus now, and its mind was too turbulent.
"Call off the beast, you vile urchin!" the other man cried, taking Kal by the shoulder as she knelt to pull the gnashing wolf away. She fell back in shock and partly drew her sword.
The other's eyes glinted. "Who allowed one such as you here?"
"I did," a new voice said, and Kal closed her eyes before turning to see the approaching elf.
"Master Elf-" the men looked all manner of astonished, their eyes drifting between Legolas and the half-orc.
Narrowed eyes assessed what was before them, setting on Eron. The wolf calmed gradually, releasing the booted ankle from between its teeth. "She is no threat to you. Be on your way," Legolas said to them, though not menacingly. It was the same firm tone he had taken when lost in her grief, Kal had wanted to hunt down the Uruk-hai in the forests of Ithilien.
The two men appeared disturbed still, and unease creased their faces but bowed their heads in greeting to Legolas alone, before they went on their way without another glance toward Kal.
Kal breathed a sigh of relief, but that lasted little when he rounded on her.
"What did you think you were doing?" the elf hissed, his way confusing her yet again. There was no trace of the one she had witnessed earlier, standing so vulnerable barefooted near the seaside.
"I did nothing, I was about to defend myself-," Kal spoke into his stare.
"You do not draw your weapon here," stressed Legolas, the blue of his eyes drowning in the fiery glow of the lamps.
Kal looked away. "They approached me. They were saying-"
"I know what they were saying-," the elf interrupted impatiently, causing her eyes to snap back at him. They held a hurt in them, and he saw it well and good. Perhaps that caused his scathing retort to die on his lips.
Remember, you brought her here.
Kal saw him breathe in deeply before the elf continued. "No one will harm you here," he followed closing his eyes, his voice more lenient than before. "But they will talk, and most of it will be scorn caused by fear." He looked her in the eye again. "You must not heed it."
Kal turned from him, feeling a sudden and ardent need to be alone. Not much different to how things stood in Mordor. Did you truly think it would be otherwise, fool?
"Kal," she heard her name and found it strange that despite the nature of this, she wished to hear it from him again, and again. "Will you do as I ask?"
"Aye, I will do as you ask," she spoke with her back to him, her eyes tightly shut, her hand still clutching the sword hilt. "I will try."
"Good," she heard Legolas say, and a strange tension gripped her chest. Why feel so incensed? He had interceded on her behalf. She had not needed him to, but this was his world, not the Black Land. She would need abide by their rules. And yet, it was not she who had caused any sort of discord. Why must I be the one to be meek, to surrender? All owed to what she was, a small, bitter voice spoke from the depths of her. Kal wished the thought away.
"A craven, good for nothing, hiding, tree-climbing, flower-kissing, moss-wearing sprite!"
Kal whirled around at the new booming voice, which seemed to grow in magnitude as it struck the cavern walls.
Her eyes caught a fast approaching figure. His form was stout, his hair long and curled around his face, streaked with white. His rich beard was reddish and braided, reaching down to his belt. His hair was spun in side braids ending in colorful beads, and his eyes were hooded and keen, sheltered behind reddish eyebrows. He wore brown leathers under a belted red tunic, studded boots and metal vambraces circled his forearms. And he was rather menacingly eyeing Legolas.
"When I will be done with you, princeling, you shall heartily descry your lack of consideration, and you very well know I do not forget easily!" the speaker planted his feet before Legolas.
To her utter surprise, the dwarf before her then broke into a low honest rumble of laughter, meeting the elf's smile as they clasped their arms together in a salute. Then the dwarf caught the elf in a hardy embrace, and she grinned upon seeing Legolas grimace.
"Escaped the Black Land yet again. Now that counts as one point added to your score," the dwarf grumbled when he released Legolas. He crossed his strongly built arms over his sturdy middle.
"I never agreed to this, Gimli," the elf said morosely despite his small smile, even as the dwarf huffed his words away with a shake of his head.
"It is good to have you back, lad," grinned Gimli the dwarf, sounding truly relieved. "Good indeed."
A/N:
Thank you for your reviews, follows, questions... everything!
WickedGreene13(Guest): All will be revealed. :)
Sommee(Guest): I do not think there is danger of her getting the wrong idea with regards to Arwen and Legolas. You will see what I mean.
